Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Chair LARRY TANENBAUM will be honored tonight with the Sports Business Award's Lifetime Achievement Award, and in Toronto, Doug Smith speaks to him about the honor, while calling him as "fine and decent human being as there is." While Tanenbaum "may not relish the attention ... he deserves it." It is not his nature "to seek the spotlight or revel in it." Tanenbaum, deflecting praise onto those around him, said, "I always believe that having people surrounding you that are smarter than you -- their star shining bright only makes your star all that much brighter. It's always been my thing." He added, "Partnership is really important to me, having partners, having people of various views and you weigh them and then make a decision of which one is on the right track and you go with it. It's not always right, doing that, but 99 per cent of the time it ends up being the right decision." Tanenbaum: "You try to look at the bigger picture, where you're going, what you're doing and you get there somehow." He said of responsibility, "It just gets down to the values you live with. I guess it's sort of always focusing on bigger issues and if you get stuck in the details, it's hard to lead" (TORONTO STAR, 9/30).
TAKING THEIR TIME: The STAR's Smith notes the long-term future of Raptors President MASAI UJIRI, whose contract runs out at the end of the next season, is a "growing concern among the team's fans but Tanenbaum knows there is no need to rush." Tanenbaum said, "Our fans, they love Masai for all that he's contributed to the Raptors franchise and to our community and to our country. ... But it was his and my game plan to secure his management team extension before his own." Tanenbaum: "We have time and we're going to work through the process in the right time and the right way, I know that for sure. He's so incredibly caring and he's an important person for the world to understand. It's not only the Raptors" (TORONTO STAR, 9/30).
