한채영 Han Chae Young
Nom nom nom.
Heh Heh Heh.
This went in the wrong blog. Re-upping for archival purposes.
W looks really happy lately. I think he's resigned to the fact that he was a shitty president so he's just gonna enjoy himself now. Especially cause he doesn't have to clean up the mess.
international ball part 2: the reality team
short recap on the USA-russia game, since the olympics have already started and i'm late on analysis that's probably already been said. here's the stadium "in shanghai." yeah it's "in shanghai," but, unbeknown to me, it was an hour drive outside of the actual city.
-most interesting thing i noticed were the different line-ups. i dont know much about international ball, but there was nothing traditional about the 5 players coach k put on the floor. sometimes 2 pgs (paul and williams...i still like williams better than paul, and i also believe it's too early to say paul is the better overall pg), sometimes going with a bunch of sg's around one big man, sometimes going really small ball with boozer and center with 4 guards matching up with whoever was most similar on the opposing team. no traditional roles, just match ups. it makes for pretty interesting basketball. i'm sure all of the players will be better for this learning experience.
-chinese people love kobe more than anyone. every time he touched the ball, it was "mvp! mvp!" there were ooh's and ahh's every time a shot went up. general amazement all around.
-the difference maker on this team? sorry to lebron (no consistent and/or real outside shot), kobe (too much black mamba for international play), and melo (though, a close second place), but as much as i hate to admit it, dwyane wade is the difference. boy scouts honor, this was my main thought leaving the game in shanghai, even before wade tore up angola and china. it's already been said before by many writers, but actually getting to see his importance in person was pretty...amazing (god dammit...). he's not the best player on this team for sure (kobe), but he's the most well-rounded. he can do it all on both ends of the floor, and he's got the right size, height, and agility for stardom in international play. ...i think he is the unsung leader (not kobe, kidd, lebron, or anyone) coming off the bench as the 6th man, and i think he's doing it with an incredible quiet confidence (i get the feeling that maybe the last two nba seasons have humbled him a quite a bit). and i'll never fawn like this over dwyane wade ever again.
gotta balance this out somehow:
-i never noticed this, but this observation was courtesy of my cousin (and i really wish i took some video evidence of this). maybe it was the long baggy shorts that made it look like he was wearing a skirt (though everyone was wearing the same shorts and didn't look like that), which wasn't helped by the fact that he's pretty skinny, tall, and lanky, but chris bosh runs like a "sissy." you probably haven't heard that word in a while, but it's absolutely true. he runs with his knees in and legs going out, making a V shape. kind of looks like an nonathletic girl/gay dude running, no joke. just watch him play sometime, i promise. john amaechi part deux?
he ran kind of like this:
of course, i wouldn't ever say it to his face, but i'm pretty sure this is fact.
-chinese people love the wave. i'm guessing maybe the concept is new to them, because the announcer encouraged the crowd to give themselves a hand after a successful 2 minute wave.
-willis reed, dominique wilkins, and sam perkins were at the game. something about youth basketball in china. i dunno, ask sam perkins' son, he goes to UT now, and lives in plano too.
-89-68, US. didn't really expect anything too exciting since it was just a warm-up and it's international ball (zone defense limits dunking, for the most part, to just on break aways; though kobe had a pretty sweet 360 that drove the crowd wild. and then right afterwards michael redd pulled a "hey, me too guys!" and started cherry-picking on the next 3 possessions. which, if i remember correctly, resulted in an offensive foul, a turnover, and a missed shot. in other words, 0 points. rein it in a little michael (and team USA)). that said, it was still a pretty interesting game from an educational stand point; that'll happen when you know you're not waiting for the next spectacular play/dunk. great stuff, i enjoyed the game, and i'm happy i got to see the best american (or i guess i could just say black) players from the nba (tayshaun prince? uh...) on their way to hopefully redeeming themselves. btw, "redeem team" is a fucking lame name.
-it was pouring outside after the game. no umbrella, so i did the smart thing and covered up with packaging used for the game programs. trust me, the idea way outweighed the goofiness. and yes, i wore my jason terry (team USA reserve #57) shirt to the game. i probably confused a lot of people.
-these people had a better idea than i did.
enjoy the rest of the olympics (btw, i missed the 4x100 everyone's talking about. someone wanna link me to some video?). and yes i had a big WTF moment when taiwan was introduced as "chinese taipei" and carried some fake ass olympics/KMT flag to represent the country. but watch out for the taiwanese in men's singles badminton. just upset malaysia's supposed "king of badminton." if you haven't watched competitive badminton, trust me, it's awesome, and it's pretty intense. no lie, seriously check it out, and at the least, watch the finals. guaranteed good time. also guaranteed: an all asian final.
ode to olympic studs
with the olympics in full swing, i found it necessary to post on a standard list of american olympic heroes from the past. nothing too surprising here, and i'm sure you'll recognize most.
btw, opening ceremony: it was pretty bad ass, especially the beginning and the dancing/rolling around/painting shit. unfortunately, i got extremely bored for the next two hours during country intros, waiting to see dirk carry the german flag. so bored in fact, that after team china came into the stadium, i passed out, missing the actually lighting of the torch. props to albert for tivo'ing the rest for me. i hear the end was pretty sweet.
onto the list:
1. Jesse Owens - 1936 Olympics in Berlin
stuck it in hitler's face by not having blonde hair and blue eyes, but mostly for being black. it goes without saying that it would have been even more awesome if owens were jewish. this is also notable as the beginning of the end for whites in sports (except swimming and hockey of course).
nazi taps owens on the shoulder. "flugerhasterfaustenschiesterweinerschnitzel" = "dude, move. i can't see my furher."
2. Mark Spitz - 1972 Olympics in Munich
yeah yeah he won 7 golds while setting world records in all 7 events; whatever, i did that last weekend too. but as you may have guessed by my track record, the real story here is that righteous mustache. swimmers nowadays are pussies, shaving all body hairs for supposedly less drag (and that oh so soft skin), but mark spitz defiantly said no (or maybe there was no such thing as science in the 70's, whenever that was), and he was rewarded handsomely by the gods. michael phelps, take note.
a line popularized in the 70's after his timeless performance - "do you spitz or swallow?" and for mark spitz, and mark spitz only, those choices were both one and the same.
3. Tommie Smith and John Carlos - 1968 Olympics in Mexico City
if i were black, i would have a poster of this on my wall, to go along with MLK jr., malcolm x, and will smith. it takes balls the size of the moon to pull this kind of move, especially in front of all these white people. and i'm all about sticking it to The (White) Man. no words necessary, just shoes off, head down, and fist in the air. awesome.
a little history for ya'll: might seem like an awkward situation for silver medalist australian peter norman, but in fact he supported the actions of smith and carlos. note the round patches on each sprinter; it was a symbol for athletes who opposed apartheid in south africa (big ups to nelson mandela rofl), australia's 70-year old "white australia" policy, and racial injustice in general. did you ever wonder why smith and carlos are raising different hands? no lie: carlos left his gloves at the olympics village, and it was norman who suggested they just split smith's gloves. big shout out to peter norman, who's probably out riding kangaroos and shit down under.
that being said, i've always found it funny that sports, especially the olympics, could be used as a podium for political statements. i love sports, but cmon...it's sports. this is just supposed to be who is better at what sport. yeah, the world is watching, but unless you pull something off like in munich (which was not cool), you're just gonna cause a fuss, and then everyone will forget that it happened at all. i am not at all taking away from the significance of this act because it is an incredibly striking and inspiring image in civil rights history, but at the time, it was probably forgotten a few weeks after it occurred. did the president say, "oh shit look at those nigs on the podium with their fists up. better give them some rights." probably not. again, great statement, but unless they were active members of the black panthers, all they did was have blacks celebrate for about a week, and then realize they still didn't have any rights. this still applies today: conditions in tibet and sudan suck, and no matter what happens at the olympics, they will still suck until actual governments, not athletes, try to do something about it. feel free to prove me wrong. back to the list...
4. Michael Johnson - 1996 Olympics in Atlanta
first, i just want to know who decided, of all the cities in the US, that Atlanta was the best choice to hold a worldwide event that takes place only once every 4 years. anyway...
before there was bling, there was gold. and no one put this on display in a better way than dallas-native (hell yeah) michael johnson. if big chains wouldn't have slowed him down, he probably would have worn them (though to be fair, with the way he was running, it might not have even mattered). even more incredible is that johnson gave the finger to traditional running technique, choosing to run with his torso completely upright and with short, quick steps, as opposed to leaning forward and taking long strides (not to mention one of his feet is longer than the other). as young as i was, i was still in awe of his incredible speed and his "i'm so awesome i'm gonna look at the timer while making a world record" move.
umm...no real caption for this one.
who wants to take a trip to planet hollywood in dallas with me? i believe that's where his shoes are currently put on display. and then we can eat some extremely overpriced shitty food.
btw, michael johnson - mustache? check.
coincidence or trend? to answer that question, all i got to say is that things are looking up for the US men's basketball team...and curiously enough, the women's as well.
attack of the LINKS
a smattering of links, a few new, but mostly some old favorites that i'd like to revisit:
1. OLD: "oklahoma oklahoma oklahoma." (and for good measure)
2. NEW: the artist formely known as the big hurt misses a prime opportunity to refer to himself in the third person: "Just Frank Thomas' presence alone can help." doesn't that sound much better? apparently his presence will be enough to lift the A's into the playoffs, despite having only 0.6% chance to win the wild card race.
3. OLD: we are taught from an early age about the value of teamwork. it's working (almost). apparently time out isn't taken kindly 'round those parts.
4. NEW: "GIVE ME MY SAUCE."
5. OLD: "Well, you know I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it." -tim hardaway
it's been only a year (i forgot it actually happened relatively recently), and i completely forgot about this incident and the john amaechi bullshit. who fucking cares that he's gay. being gay does not affect your athletic performance or your will or your heart, only the size of your butthole.
on a related note: this doesn't surprise me at all, considering who it is.
6. NEW (kind of): if it wasn't already apparent, steroids will make you fucking nuts. also noteworthy because it happened in plano, where nothing really happens. the initial story, if you care at all.
7. OLD: more food related terrorism. i was looking for history on an old domino's mascot, bad andy, and came across this gem. all the man wanted was a pizza.
8. OLD: hilarious anecdote by dallasbasketball.com writer mike fisher (superb dallas beat writer, btw) on his talk with devin "milkface" harris. not so funny if devin turns into everything avery hoped him to be. (yeah, i kinda miss him too)
9. OLD: "The "Real Deal" appears real broke." as cool as his house sounds, what the fuck do you do with 109 rooms? a map is seriously necessary.
10. FUN: hilarious compilation of tv anchor O-faces. seriously, it's funnier the dirtier your mind is...so let's get filthy.
Michael Jordan is an Asshole
Inflation finally hits the D's (McDonalds)
Rising gas prices... and now this??
Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal.
Quick hits on the article:
"...Don Thompson, president of McDonald's U.S. business, said the company has tested ways to make the burger less expensive to make."
-Is this even possible? It might not matter for you, but for people like me where about 60% of my sustenance intake is from the D's, this just makes it a whole lot worse.
"Some are selling the traditional double cheeseburger at prices ranging from $1.09 to $1.19."
-Is this the demise of the DCB, double cheeseburger, on the dollar menu? I hope not. I should hedge my loss and start buying some DCB futures.
"Mr. Thompson said if McDonald's moves the double cheeseburger off that menu, there would still be some type of $1 burger."
-Like... just a regular cheeseburger? Damn, this is so lame.
On the bright side... I had a good weekend. Gotta love those Galveston beaches!
Justin's addendum:
The Economist's Big Mac index. Please notice Hong Kong at the very bottom beaten only by Malaysia in terms of the most D's for your buck. Although it might have something to do with the fact that the HKD is tied to the USD. Still cheap though.
international ball part 1: let's get stank-y
game 1: angola vs. russia
those pointy chin motherfuckers brought their junior team, aka no AK47. once i found that out, there was no doubt these men in need of some sunlight were gonna get burned by the olympic, and very black, angolan nationals (real comment from some mainlanders behind me: "how do you see these people at night?"). size, speed, and strength (though they are lacking in the height department) overcame 1 huge guy and a bunch of perimeter players (though i guess that's what you need in international play). angola relied on about 3 scorers for the heavy hitting, but they played some great, incredibly active defense (think crazy hands + spirit fingers) all around. they just kept reminding me of pshs star abdullah lawal (except without henry writing school papers for them).
second row action:
89-70, angola
game 2: china vs. serbia
another junior team brought to compete against an olympic team. still fun to watch and get to familiarize myself with the chinese team before they get demolished by the big names in group play (USA, angola, germany, spain, greece). your leading scorer? yao? NO. yi? NO. that's right, wang zhizhi led the way with 18 points and a surprising arsenal of post-up moves and (mostly) three-pointers.
your chinese nationals and their respective hos (cheerleaders).
in yao's first (i think) public game back from injury, he had limited time, playing about 1 and half quarters (kind of disappointing). national hero that he was, of course he got the most cheering during intro's (they were introduced to...THE FINAL COUNTDOWN. no joke.), and just about every time the crowd thought he might have the rock coming his way. it actually got pretty loud in an overwhelmingly small stadium (which also meant better seats though).
halftime: went to go get some popcorn...and jesus what is this dense fog in the hallways? my mistake, it's literally about half the stadium taking a smoke break. it was hilarious:
notice all the hands raised to faces, and the guy in black on the left covering his mouth. the smoke was that thick.
fine, it was against a junior team, but i saw some encouraging things. this team is actually pretty well-balanced, and though they will still most-likely be yao oriented, they can switch him out with outside shooting with wang, or let yi do his "i will eventually be better than pau gasol" thing (saw a few flashes of nba-style brilliance during the game, but he's still got quite a few rough patches), or go with incredibly speedy and quick chen jianghua (he's got nba written all over...his legs), or even the lesser known swingman zhu fangyu who at times reminded me of a late mavs/pre-spurs michael finley (except you know, not as good). again, i'm gonna try to not get too high on this team cause they're gonna have a tough time getting out of group play, even if 4 out of 6 make it out.
96-72, china
china ends up losing to angola by one point the next day, and finishes second at the stankovic cup.
part 2 after the weekend: team USA vs. the real Russia in Shanghai. pretty pumped for this one.
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