11.07.07
Posted in Volleyball at 7:08 am by Nicole
Best news out of USA women’s volleyball since 2002…at least as far as it concerns world powerhouse and archrival Brazil. The U.S. women upset Brazil for the first time since, well, 2002, and pulled a Boston Red Sox on them to boot, going down 0-2 in the best-of-five match before rallying to win the final three games. Team USA is still undefeated in the FIVB World Cup, the first of three Olympic qualifying tournaments - and only Team Italy can match that record. There are three Olympic berths up for grabs in this event - and Team USA is doing everything right so far in making sure they come home with one of them.
For readers of Chinese, Team USA coach Jenny Lang Ping, a Chinese volleyball legend and star of the 1984 Olympic-gold-medal-winning Chinese team, writes a blog on Chinese web portal Sohu.com. Great reading to get the latest scoop on how things are going with Team USA in Japan.
Lang Ping’s Sohu.com Blog
Official Lang Ping Website
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11.06.07
Posted in 2008 Olympics at 1:25 pm by Nicole
The Financial Times has its own website dedicated to news on all things related to the Beijing Olympics.
FT.com: Beijing Olympics
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Posted in 2008 Olympics, Track and Field/Athletics at 9:12 am by Nicole
The saddest possible news came out of last weekend’s U.S. men’s Olympic marathon trials, held a day before the New York City Marathon on a criterium course in Central Park. Ryan Shay, a national-class marathoner who won the 2003 national championship in that event, died suddenly on the race course about 5-1/2 miles into the race. It’s widely believed that he had a cardiac event related to an enlarged heart, a condition he was first diagnosed with at age 14. Conclusive autopsy reports aren’t due until the end of the week.
Olympic reporter John Powers of the Boston Globe writes about the shock of Shay’s death in a story that includes many Olympic updates for several national teams, including volleyball, cycling and swimming. Powers is one to read as the Olympics draw closer - to say he’s an experienced sports reporter is a vast understatment. He’s among the best.
As 2008 approaches, we send our prayers and thoughts out to Shay’s family and teammates, and wish the best of success to the men who qualified for the United States men’s marathon team for 2008 last Saturday: Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Brian Sell. No doubt Shay will be in their minds when they line up for the Olympic marathon next August.
Marathoners deal with toughest loss (Boston Globe)
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Posted in Basketball at 8:30 am by Nicole
The new and improved Houston Rockets have had a stellar start to the 2007-08 season, but that unbeaten record has to end sometime. That happened last night at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks - an expected result, given Dallas’ fabulous regular-season record last year, but still, a bittersweet result for Rockets watchers who want to see the Adelman Offense tear apart the Southwestern Division. How cruel a basketball fate can it be to be considered the fourth- or fifth-best team in your conference…and the third-best in your division? Dallas and San Antonio cast a very long shadow towards Houston, but with the Rockets’ best start in a decade, you have to believe there are many more good things to come for this team.
Terry and Mavericks send Rockets to 1st loss (New York Times)
Rockets fail their first early-season test (Houston Chronicle)
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Posted in 2008 Olympics at 8:23 am by Nicole
Gotta love this story from today’s New York Times about one of the United States’ Olympic hopefuls in archery. She’s 64 years old - you go girl!
Retired principal rekindles competitive fire for archery (New York Times)
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Posted in General at 2:11 pm by Nicole
From ESPN.com, a report that Justine Henin, the defending Olympic gold medalist in women’s tennis, may not go to Beijing because the pollution there aggravates her asthma.
Henin trying to manage asthma, may skip Olympics (ESPN.com)
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Posted in Volleyball at 9:30 am by Nicole
With a roster chock-full of Olympic experience, the USA women’s volleyball team continues its quest for a Beijing 2008 berth. The team is currently undefeated in World Cup tournament action in Japan, 3-0, with wins against Peru, Cuba, and Poland.
Italy, Brazil and Serbia are also undefeated so far in tournament action as the second round of the event begins. The top three teams out of the twelve entered in the tournament, ranked by record, will advance automatically to the Beijing Olympics.
USA Women’s Volleyball home page
FIVB World Cup home page
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11.01.07
Posted in Basketball at 3:10 pm by Nicole
Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix has spent a substantial amount of time with Yi Jianlian since he was drafted for Milwaukee. Yesterday he filed this report on how life is shaping up for Yi in Wisconsin.
Elsewhere on the ‘net, NBA.com presents a Q&A with Yi Jianlian, which features his thoughts on his first NBA start, the pressure he’s under as the new kid in town, and yes, his thoughts on Halloween, a holiday as foreign to China as Yi is to the NBA (at least for now).
And, yes, there was a game last night. The Orlando Magic took apart the Bucks 102-83 in Florida in both teams’ season opener, on the strength of (sigh) former Seattle SuperSonic Rashard Lewis’ 26 points.
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