blast from the past

In an interview with KCAL 9 (local LA news station), when answering a question about how reacted to Shaq’s rap about him, Kobe Bryant said he had more important things on his mind – the Olympics. “This is basketball,” he said. “This is our game.”

I’m just glad Kobe sees it that way, too.

The next 1.43.86

The Olympics are coming up real soon, which means Michael Phelps is in the news an awful lot. But what’s drawing more attention than Phelps’ performance is what he’s wearing – the new Speedo LZR RACER suit.

Already responsible for 44 of the 46 new world records since the suit’s debut in February, the LZR suit has less drag, is faster at starts, sprints and turns, and has 5% better oxygen efficiency than the best suits on the current market, like the Adidas Tech Fit Powerweb and the TYR Sport, Inc. “Tracer Light”. Speedo was so motivated to outdo the competition that it performed research with NASA when designing the product. So, naturally, this is raising some eyebrows from international swimming federations – mainly because the starting asking price for the suit is a whopping 320 euros, or about $500. Throw in the fact that some swimmers are sponsored by other companies and can’t legally wear the LZR racer, and houston, we have a problem. We’ll call it “technological doping.”

The US Olympic team is sponsored by Speedo, and American swimmers have been told to wear the LZR for the Olympic trials or else they’ll probably be watching the Beijing games from the comfort of their own couch. Clearly, there is a competitive advantage to the suit. Phelps says, “It feels like a spacesuit” and he feels like a rocket coming off the wall. World record holder Natalie Coughlin likewise deemed the LZR “incredible” and Libby Trickett says, “It feels like I’m swimming downhill.” The suit is perfectly in line with Olympic rules and Japanese athletes have just been given the green light to buy their LZR’s. But even Americans agree there can be a problem. Trickett’s teammate Kieren Perkins worries that the high-tech suits are creating “a slippery slope when you create a haves and haves-not society in the sport.”

Why the LZR has raised so much more controversy than prior suits is a little unclear. Speedo came out with a Fastskin FS Pro that was donned by many swimmers during last year’s world championships, including 15 of the 16 that set world records. So why the buzz over the newest look?

Furthermore, skeptics are claiming that Phelps’ Olympic performance will be tainted somehow if he breaks Mark Spitz’ record of 7 gold medals. But, even if Spitz was wearing an itsy-bitsy speedo, the rest of his competition was, too. So while it may be justified to raise caution when Phelps’ times are compared to the marks of swimmers in the past, if the Baltimore native wins 8 gold medals, he’ll have beaten swimmers also wearing the LZR racer. No problem, right?

In 1972, Mark Spitz and his tiny speedo made a huge splash in the pool. Thirty-some years later, the LZR racer doesn’t splash on the water – it just glides. But it’s made a remarkable splash on the sports scene nonetheless.

Is Coach K reading this blog?

Some people dislike Coach K’s prominence in commercials for American Express and other companies and view it as an unfair recruiting advantage. Hey, whatever works. Check out this commercial for Cadillac:

Listen closely at the 1 minute 20 second mark.

“street cred”.

Coach K, you don’t have to admit you’re reading the blog. We know. My life is complete.

Dear Andy

(Note – this is the first in a three-part series (if I’m not lazy). Here’s a “letter” to Andy Roddick.)
Dear Andy,

WTF MAN!?!??! You’ve disappointed me again. I’m sure you’re pretty bummed out about your latest early loss at Wimbledon. You lost in the 3rd round to this dude named Tipsarevic. Sure it was in 4 sets (and 2 of them went to tiebreaker) but you’re Andy FREAKIN Roddick. You can’t let some of these unseeded guys continually beat you in the first week of grand slams. This loss really sucks considering I had just started following you again. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but with Federer looking as vulnerable as he’s ever been and with Safin stunning Djokovic, I thought you had a chance to make a great run at Wimbledon. Things were looking up for you – you were finally recovered from that shoulder injury and you didn’t have to play the grueling clay at Roland Garros. And all of that for was naught (hope that’s not too Plaschke-sounding).

Maaaaan, sh@&. Andy, you were the man back in the day. You had that sweet babolat racquet that all the crazy-good junior players had. Your style of play was awesome, you would dominate every single service game. You would routinely hold players at love, and have 2, 3 >130 mph aces a game. I mean, with a serve like this you were unstoppable. That was awesome. You would yell, scream, and curse out rowdy fans, umpires, and other players. You would argue bad calls and when it wasn’t corrected, you’d pull one of those: “Screw you, I’m serving this as hard as I can/hitting the ball right at you next time you come to the net.” And then you’d give them a brutal stare down, just to say “yeah…you’re my b@^#”. Umm…as I was saying, you were a great tennis player. You were world #1 in 2003, and you were the U.S. Open Champion. You were even dating Mandy Moore.

It’s not like you’ve fallen off the face of the tennis world or anything. You’re still a solid top 10 world tennis player, and millions of people would die to be in your position. You led the U.S. to a Davis Cup Championship, a huge accomplishment. You were probably responsible for a mini-surge in tennis popularity in the U.S. and have been a boon for the USTA. Maybe you’ve just had some bad luck? Your losses can’t be attributed solely to effort. I still remember that Wimbledon final you had against Federer, when you were leading 1 set to none and up in the second set. And then there was a long, long rain delay, followed by Federer coming back to win the championship (and setting him on a course to become one of the most confident/cocky sports figures alive). Your power game has never been suited for clay, and maybe Federer really is one of the best of all time. But you beat Federer once this year, and you’ve made some huge improvements. Hopefully you can make a great run in the US Open, and begin to reestablish yourself as one of the best players in the game.
What’s that? You married Brooklyn Decker? A Sports Illustrated swimsuit model?? Umm..ignore everything I just said. Andy…you’re definitely the man.

John Henry is the MAN

Is it because the Red Sox which he owns are leading the AL East? Nope, not that.

Because he owns 50% of Roush-Fenway Racing? Nah.

What about the award he just won? Nope, not that either.

It’s because he’s the funding behind iRacing, which is the most amazing racing sim I’ve ever seen. Definitely have to give credit to the old Papyrus boys for actually building the thing, but without his funding this would never be possible in such incredible precision. Each track is scanned so it’s not just accurate, it actually is the track down the the last bump. And the racing… yeah let’s just say damn good.

The coolest part is that this is the first attempt to organize online racing into a real worldwide competition, with weekly races adding up in a 3-month championship. Also, regions of the world “compete” through the points scored by drivers depending on where they live (reppin’ the mid-Atlantic here).

So far it’s invite-only with the first wave of 7,000 or so having gone out yesterday – there also are a few hundred drivers in there already from beta testing. I’ve run 7 races with 5 wins, a 2nd, and a 9th (I was off-road with the Solstice more than on at first haha). If I keep doing well, this threatens me going back to school. Kidding……………… kind of.

Some Assists

Quite a few noteworthy happenings in sports yesterday (6/25), so a quick recap of the best in each.

TENNIS: Djokovic slams Federer, saying that he himself, along with many others, are capable of taking down the FIVE-TIME defending Wimbledon champion. Then, he goes and gets crushed in straight sets. Hey, Novak, just keep your mouth shut next time when you’ve only gotten out of the first week of Wimbledon once.

HORSE-RACING: Big Brown trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. – aside from having a big mouth and prematurely crowning his horse before the Preakness – is facing a 15-day suspension for one of his horses, Salute the Count, having excess of a substance that increases lung capacity before the Kentucky Derby. Even if it wasn’t Big Brown, the last thing any sport needs is a drug scandal.

BASEBALL: Probably should be higher on the list, but Fresno State pulled off one of the greatest Cinderella stories in sports by winning the College World Series. (according to espn.com voters, it’s the second best cinderella winner) Major props to the so-cal team.

SOCCER: Turkey might be the only team in Euro history to provide three instant classic games in the same competition. Everyone knew not to write them off against Germany – the writers still took Joachim Low’s European juggernaut – and although the Germans won, the Turks gave such a great show, again. Semih Senturk, “the lifeguard”, has cracked my top 3 fave soccer players. Unfortunately, the whole world except for Switzerland missed two goals because of technical difficulties from a storm. Maybe UEFA should think about weather when they pick the next host.

BASKETBALL: Aside from Candace Parker dunking for the second game in a row (ok, so that was two days ago), Jermaine O’Neal is likely getting traded to the Raptors. Couldn’t be happier for the Pacers – I really loved them and it’s awful what has happened to that franchise since the brawl. If it can just get rid of Jamal Tinsley now, Indiana can finally move on.

Today, make sure to watch Spain-Russia in Euro 2008′s second semi-final. It promises to be real exciting. Also, check out the NBA draft. If you can get past the excess of Stephen A. Smith, the heckling of the New York fans is great. I will never forget the day the Knicks passed on Marcus Williams to draft Renaldo Balkman (Rondo was on the board too, but that wasn’t a real crime at the time). I think God made sure that Balkman wasn’t there to endure that reception. HILARIOUS, but sad.

Pat Riley must be nuts

If you weren’t already sufficiently bombarded with draft news, Pat Riley has developed new reservations about Michael Beasley – he’s apparently “uncomfortable with [Beasley's] personality”.

Ok, Riley has got to be an IDIOT to be pass up on one of the best college prospects of the decade. Beasley’s a beast. He averaged over 26 points and 12 rebounds. Double-double machine. He’s more of a knockout than Kevin Durant and no one had any doubts about him. You put Beasley with Wade and Marion and that’s an Eastern Conference playoff team.

So, now there’s some speculation that Riley is bluffing about not wanting Beasley so that a team with the No. 4 of No. 5 pick trades up, and then the Heat can still get Mayo or Bayless. For instance, they could trade the No. 2 pick and an expiring contract to the Grizzlies for the No. 5 pick, maybe Mike Conley Jr. and mike Miller – although why Riley would want that instead of Beasley is beyond me. I get that he wants to win now, but they can’t get out the East with this roster.

And why does everyone want Rose over Beasley anyway? The Bulls could REALLY use Beasley, too, since all of their post players can’t score.

Regardless who the Bulls and Heat pick, this draft will be remembered as a pretty lame class. Truly, after the top 6 or so, there’s NO depth. We’re going to be talking about this one with the 2000 draft. Remember anyone from that one? Yep, didn’t think so.

How could we miss this?

Man this blog’s had a huuuuge slew of posts recently. There have been some great posts ranging from soccer to Imus. But no mention of our true passion? Our real, original calling for this blog? That’s right! THIS IS OUR GAME. I’m going to save this article for someone else (Re: I’m lazy) but here are some quick hmm…observations:

Straight from ESPNHoopGurlz, there’s an e-ticket on the 6-8 women’s basketball player Brittney Griner.

That, she definitely is not. Brittney Griner wields the biggest booby trap of all — she is a high school girl who can dunk a basketball.

Last summer was her first on anything resembling a national circuit and, in Birmingham, Ala., she collected 19 blocks against Essence, the team that went on to win Nike Nationals and earn acclaim as the best team in club basketball last year.

I gotta admit, 19 blocks is pretty sweet

“I watched Candace Parker since she was 13 years old,” says Lynch, who’s coached seven McDonald’s All-Americans with the Belles. “You could see her special skills. But what makes Brittney Griner different is that she plays more like a boy than any girl I’ve ever seen. She’s now taken the game above the rim, which no female has ever done.”

That sounds like a challenge. I think people (and not just WNBA fans) might, might watch a game between Parker and Griner.

And in completely unrelated news (but tailored for capitalsports), here’s a video of Clinton Portis’ costumes:

That was awesome, I just gained so much respect for 1 Redskin.

Pacman praying for Don Imus

Yeah, so I’ve been gone for a while (still need to catch up on some posts), but when I saw this on ESPN I knew it had classic potential.

Don Imus said Tuesday morning on his radio show that he was trying to “make a sarcastic point” with his latest on-air remarks about race, but that they had been misunderstood.

Problem is, I wouldn’t put it past him to think his remarks a year ago were just “sarcastic” too. Meanwhile, for him to get back in the news, he must have said something awful. Here come the horrible racist comments:

“What people should be outraged about is that they arrest blacks for no reason,” Imus said Tuesday. “I mean, there’s no reason to arrest this kid six times. Maybe he did something once, but everyone does something once.”

Uh, wait a minute. This is what people are mad about? I mean, Imus has no idea if he “did something” 6 times or not, but it seems like he’s standing up for Pacman! I think people are assuming that when the guy opens his mouth about race, it’s racist.

“I’m truly upset about the comments,” Jones said. “Obviously Mr. Imus has problems with African-Americans. I’m upset, and I hope the station he works for handles it accordingly. I will pray for him.”

If Pacman Jones had made these comments, I would have died laughing. But because it was “Adam Jones”, it’s OK right? HAHA, if Pacman thinks changing his name can make him like some angel “praying for Imus” and make us completely forget about all he’s done in his past, he is mistaken.

Imus called the flurry of criticism surrounding the comments “ridiculous” and said that his program’s cast is now more diverse than ever — and includes a black producer and two black co-hosts, a man and a woman.

The best thing about this is that they’ll keep Imus in check. In the event he says something racist, they’ll all start a brawl on air. Since this didn’t happen, it’s safe to say Imus’ comments weren’t racist. More comments:

The latest comments by Imus to come under scrutiny were aired on Monday’s broadcast. During a conversation about Jones’ run-ins with the law, Imus asked, “What color is he?” Sports announcer Warner Wolf said Jones — formerly known as “Pacman” — is “African-American.” Imus responded: “There you go. Now we know.”

These comments are racist by themselves, but in the context of the first comments it makes sense. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he meant “Now we know why he was arrested 6 times – because he’s black and blacks get unfair treatment.”

When he returned to work, Imus gave a lengthy on-air apology and pledged to use his new show to foster an open dialogue on race relations.

I don’t listen to his show, and I don’t really care to. But from what I’ve seen here, he’s kinda trying to have this open dialog – why don’t we just let him be?

Shaq vs. Kobe. Part…too many to count

In case you missed it, Shaq had some choice words about Finals loser Kobe in a freestyle rap in New York.

“You know how I be,” Shaq rapped. “Last week Kobe couldn’t do without me.”

And he went on to talk about Kobe’s destructive effect on his marriage.

“I’m a horse. Kobe ratted me out,” he rapped. “That’s why I’m getting divorced. He said Shaq gave a [woman] a mil. I don’t do that ’cause my name’s Shaquille. I love ‘em, I don’t leave ‘em. I got a vasectomy, now I can’t breed ‘em.”

All while repeating the chorus, “Kobe you can’t do without me.”

Of course, O’Neal, always the comedian, said it was all in good fun and it would be wrong to take anything he freestyled too seriously.

Here’s a link to the full show.