10.30.07
Yi to start in Bucks’ opener
Whew. Sure am glad this one got sorted out well, after all the draft drama in JuneJulyAugustSeptember…
Yi included in Bucks’ starting five to start season (ESPN.com)
Athletes: Human beings or state property?
From Reuters India today comes a story that illuminates one of the many complications of being an elite athlete in the PRC. Athletes are normally considered the property of the state in China, and that extends to the provincial level. Provincial sports authorities stand to make money when their province’s athletes do well in competition. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s a recipe for corruption. Having just weathered the Marion Jones doping scandal in the U.S., I’m pretty down on any sports system at this point in which huge amounts of money are made by people other than the competing athlete and the coaches who guide that athlete, but then, it was Jones’ coach who allegedly provided her with performance-enhancing drugs, so corruption exists at the coach-athlete level as well. Add in the extra layer of a state-sponsored sports development program, and, well, you get trouble.
China weightlifting champion in provincial tug of war (Reuters India)
10.29.07
More on Beijing’s air quality
From National Public Radio, a report on the concerns USA Track and Field has about the air quality in Beijing for the Olympics.
News of the day
Many clips from many places today.
NBA:
Yi Jianlian: Not just a face in the crowd (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
Baseball:
Ripken to visit China as envoy (Baltimore Sun)
Doping:
Powell fears fallout from Jones confession (Jamaica Observer)
Athletes take anti-doping exam at Chinese City Games (www.chinaview.cn)
Sport and Environment:
World conference on sport and the environment underway (London 2012)
Air pollution remains concern - IOC (China Daily)
IOC chief says bad air could disrupt Beijing Games (AFP)
Table Tennis:
Guo Yue on watch for Beijing Olympics (www.chinaview.cn)
Olympic Tickets:
1.85 million tickets for Olympics to go on sale this week (The Hindu)
Suns v. Sonics, Part II - and the Rockets
It was a great game on Friday evening - and, chalk it up to preseason, Mike D’Antoni resting Steve Nash through the fourth quarter even though the crowd cheered “We Want Nash!” for much of the last quarter of the game, or just good Pacific Northwest basketball vibes in a town that hasn’t seen an NBA game since the Grizzlies left for Memphis…but in a very decently played game, the Sonics prevailed, 121-108.
Sonics close preseason with win (NBA.com - Sonics website)
While the crowd at GM Place enjoyed the Suns-Sonics game, the Rockets were visiting San Antonio and came away with a 99-92 loss.
Rockets close preseason with setback to Spurs (NBA.com - Rockets website)
10.26.07
17,704
Attendance at GM Place tonight. For an NBA preseason game.
Yes, Steve Nash can sell tickets in Canada. As well as everywhere else the NBA plays. But what a treat to see him here in Vancouver.
P.S. Great game - much more competitive than I anticipated. 39-37 Phoenix with 4:34 to go in the first half.
The WSJ on Beijing’s air quality
From Beijing-based WSJ writer Mei Fong, a report on the still-disturbing environmental conditions in Beijing:
Hazy outlook for Games (Wall Street Journal Online)
Suns v. Sonics, Part I
The Sonics are the home team tonight in name only. Steve Nash received a standing ovation from the GM Place crowd when he was announced, and a foursome of Canadian guys who have a “100 things we want to do before we die” list (evidently one of them was singing “O Canada” for a pro sports contest) announced “Steve-Frickin’-Nash is here!” to the cheers of the crowd before leading them in the national anthem. For a preseason game, this is lovely - and the game (right now 13-12 Suns with 6:17 to play in the first quarter) is pretty great too.
“Play The Game” In Iceland
Next week Iceland will play host to the Play The Game conference. This innovative, Denmark-based conference brings together world leaders in sport, journalists, policymakers and athletes to create conversations about the biggest questions facing world sport today. Follow all of the action from the conference live at The Pulse, the conference website created by students from the Danish School of Journalism.
Kelli White on doping
Kelli White continues to speak out against doping, more than four years after failing a test for modafinil at the 2003 world track and field championships in Paris. She remains the only athlete ensnared in the BALCO scandal to have taken the opportunity to publicly combat doping in sports. The International Herald Tribune reports on her recent speech to the 2007 Anti-Doping Conference in Louisville, KY.
White spreads anti-doping gospel (International Herald Tribune)
World’s fastest female had guilty secret (Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal)