Und nach 30 Minuten war es fertig: Basketball / Streetball hab ichs getauft. Hier soll nicht über Basktetball philosophiert werden, hier sollen sich Leute finden die spielen wollen.

Schau ma mal, ob dieses Netzwerk wächst.

Olympics

In some other dive a thousand miles away
I played a thousand times before
And like pathetic stars, the truck stops and the rock club walls
I always knew
You saw them too
But you never will again

It's too late
Don't you know
It's been too late
For a long time

Elliott, man, you played a fine guitar
And some dirty basketball
The songs you wrote
Got me through a lot
Just wanna tell you that

But it's too late
It's too late
No, don't you know
it's been too late
for a long time

Oh no
Things were looking up
Least that's what I heard
Oh no
Someone came and washed away your hard-earned
Peace of mind

When desperate static beats the silence up
A quiet truth to calm you down
The songs you wrote
Got me through a lot
Just wanna tell you that

But it's too late
It's too late
No, don't you know
It's been too late
For a long time
It's too late
It's too late
No, don't you know
It's been too late
For a long time

Extended footage:

• How is this team better than the one that lost to Greece in 2006? Chris Sheridan has all the answers.
• Everything you need to know about the format of the tournament and the competition. I really recommend reading this.
• Dwight Howard has a little roundup/summary of what is happening with Team USA on nba.com. Inside Presence.
• nba.com's Olympic Basketball Tournament Preview - it's a must read
• The schedule of the upcoming tournament brought to you by insidehoops.com - plus strengths and weaknesses
• The FIBA Olympic Basketball page will keep you up to date

Team USA is in group B - who else is in that group?

TEAM USA - China - Germany - Spain - Greece - Angola

This group is way harder than group A (Argentina, Russia, Croatia, Lithuania, Australia, Iran). Spain and Greece are great teams and they always give Team USA trouble. Germany has Nowitzki and Kaman, but they aren't a real threat. USA vs. China will probably be the most viewed basketball game in history.

What NBA player is participating and not playing for Team USA?

Spain - Pau Gasol (LAL), Marc Gasol (MEM), Jose Calderon (TOR), Rudy Fernandez (POR)

Argentina - Manu Ginobili (SAS), Andres Nocioni (CHI), Luis Scola (HOU), Fabricio Oberto (SAS)

China - Yao Ming (HOU), Yi Jianlian (NJ)

Germany - Dirk Nowitzki (DAL), Chris Kaman (LAC)

Russia - Andrei Kirilenko (UTA)

Australia - Andrew Bogut (MIL)

Lithuania - Linas Kleiza (DEN), Darius Songaila (WAS)

Coaches Jong Uichico of Barangay Ginebra and Siot Tanquingcen of Magnolia are used to the playoff atmosphere.

So it’s not surprising at all that they are bracing themselves for a tough grind Wednesday night, totally different from the one their troops faced in the opener of their respective semifinal series.

With close to 11,000 spectators on hand at the Cuneta Astrodome, the Barangay Ginebra Kings dominated and silenced the Red Bull Barakos, 108-82, and Magnolia pounced on undermanned Air21, 113-87, Sunday to gain a headstart in the 2008 Smart PBA Fiesta Conference best-of-seven series.

The Kings and the Beverage Masters were clearly in their best in Game 1, looking every inch certified title contenders. But neither Uichico nor Tanquingcen was ready to proclaim that this series – which will send the winners into a championship showdown – could end sooner than expected.

“It’s always a relief to win the first game. But this doesn’t mean anything,” offered Uichico, noting it would be a big mistake to count the Barakos out this early into the series.

Not even the Kings’ nine-game winning streak, it seems, is enough to convince the two-time Coach of the Year that this series would be a simple walk in the park for his troops.

“We’re not too concerned about the streak. Our goal has always been play to win,” Uichico said.

The fact that Red Bull managed to secure a seat in the Final Four without the so-called “superstars” is a testament to the resiliency of the Barakos – something that Uichico said should not be overlooked by the Kings.

“We know what Red Bull is capable of doing. We just have to match their intensity and keep our defensive mentality,” said Uichico, who expects their 4:50 p.m. encounter at the Araneta Coliseum to be a little bit more physical and aggressive.

Modesty aside, even Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao believes his charges should have no trouble bouncing back from Sunday’s lopsided loss. But he also said they have to find a way to slow down Ginebra import Chris Alexander, who completely dominated Adam Parada in Game 1.

“He’s big and quicker than Adam. He’s a very big problem for us if we can’t find a way to slow him down,” Guiao said.

Alexander posted 16 points and 17 rebounds in Game 1 while holding Parada to just 6 points on 2-of-8 shooting.   

Tanquingcen is also convinced that their 7:20 p.m. date with the Air21 Express won’t be easy.

“Definitely, it will be a different story in Game 2,” said Tanquincen.

The Beverage Masters had an easier time controlling Game 1 mainly because Air21 import Steven Thomas wasn’t around.

“He’s back. So we’re back in business,” said Bo Perasol, the low-keyed Express coach who was pleased to see his reliable reinforcement back in the lineup.

Thomas, who made himself available for Korean Basketball League draft, arrived early Monday morning from the U.S. and headed straight to the Xavier gym in San Juan to join the team in practice.

Without Thomas in Game 1, the Express gave up 25 markers on second chance points, 16 more than their average in the eliminations.

“We really had a tough time without him. But it will be an entirely different story on Wednesday,” Perasol said.

Red Bull guard Warren Ybanez was suspended for one game and fined P20,000 by the PBA Commissioner’s Office Tuesday for hitting Barangay Ginebra’s Paul Artadi at the back of the head early in the fourth quarter of their 2008 Smart PBA Fiesta Conference semifinal opener Sunday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Though no foul was called by the game officials, commissioner Sonny Barrios classified Ybanez’s act as falling under Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 upon review of the gametape with technical officials and the referees concerned.

“It is the Board’s mandate that we crack down on flagrant and dirty fouls,” said Barrios. “We want the teams to showcase their talents and win games on merits according to the rules of the game.”

On July 14, 2008, the PBA Board of Governors approved new guidelines in the classification of grave offenses under Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 (F2) or Flagrant Foul Penalty 1 (F1). Those classified under F2 are subject to automatic ejection and at least a one game suspension plus a minimum P20,000 fine. Those falling under F1 do not merit an automatic ejection and suspension.

Two unsportsmanlike technical fouls in a game, or one unsportsmanlike technical foul and one F1 for a separate incident in a game will also cause the player to be ejected from the game but with no automatic suspension.

The new classification took into effect at the start of the best-of-seven semifinals.

After the Board approval, the technical officials went the rounds of the four teams left standing to explain and further clarify the matter to the coaches and the players. Commissioner Barrios also went to the extent of going to the team captains one by one before Sunday’s games to remind them on the new guidelines.

“The Board and the Commissioner’s Office are really serious in efforts to take away, or at least minimize, dirty plays in the PBA,” Barrios said. “They have no place in a professional league like ours. They do not do anybody any good, and in fact could even end, or hurt, a player’s career. What we want are hard, tough and intense plays and not dirty and underhanded tactics.”

Meanwhile, Air21 was fined P50,000.00 for playing without an import in their game against the Magnolia Beverage Masters also last Sunday.

Express import Steve Thomas skipped the series opener to attend the Korean Basketball League camp for imports in the United States.

That's the kind of thing I don't like to see on a sports ground, but... when a game gets tough physically, well that's the way the cookie crumbles!

Here's the video, but be aware it ain't for the faint-hearted!

From AP: Detroit Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn, center, grabs the arm of Los Angeles Sparks' assistant coach Laura Beeman while being hit on the back by Sparks' DeLisha Milton-Jones, second from right, during a fight in the closing seconds of a WNBA basketball game on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 in Auburn Hills, Mich. Mahorn was ejected from the game for pushing Sparks' Lisa Leslie while attempting to keep Leslie from approaching the Shock bench during a bench-clearing fight in which four were ejected. The Sparks won 84-81.

First, there's the Brandon Jennings saga. To recap: Jennings, rather than spend one year playing for the University of Arizona for free, opted instead to sign a multi-year contract (including NBA release provisions) with an Italian professional team.

Much hand-wringing followed Jennings' pioneering decision, but it's a problem of the NBA's making. Commissioner David Stern's minimum-age requirement for the NBA draft means players can no longer enter the draft directly from high school. The rule came about because Stern believed the on-court rawness and social immaturity of high-school draftees was hurting the brand. So, bolstered by the assumption that the players in question would spend the idle year in college (thereby giving the NBA a year of free development time), Stern and his associates decreed that no more 18-year-olds would be making the leap.

But Jennings proved to be smarter than Stern. Almost certainly, Jennings' flanking maneuver will start a trend, and that trend will ultimately unravel the minimum-age requirement. But here's another worry for Stern and the Association: the global economy.

Bostjan Nachbar, formerly of the New Jersey Nets, just inked a $14.3-million contract with Dynamo Moscow, and he had a few choice parting words for his old league:

"The NBA had better be careful," Nachbar said. "European teams are offering a lot of money. It's much more, considering there are no taxes, than what I could make signing for the midlevel exception."

As Nachbar says, many European players pay no taxes, and, with one Euro trading at more than $1.50, the exchange rates make the U.S.-to-Europe jump all the more alluring--whether you're Brandon Jennings or Bostjan Nachbar. Furthermore, as Hoops World observes, Nachbar's exodus is not an anomaly, and the European leagues know this. Heck, Josh Childress could be next.

In any event, I see a couple of eventual consequences. One, the NBA's structural salary restrictions may be necessarily rolled back. After all, the League will tolerate only so much talent drain before they institute the reforms needed to attract players back to the States. Two, the emigration in tandem with the NBA's zeal for international expansion makes me wonder whether we'll eventually wind up with a system similar to that of international soccer. You know, one in which major leagues (i.e., hoops analogs for the Premiership, Serie A, etc.) are competing for the same players and are also taking on one another in international tournaments. In other words, are we soon going to see the UEFA of basketball?

However you envision the future of the NBA, sweeping changes are on the way. And the best part is that they're asking for it.

You also gotta see the guy he's dunking on for Argentina, on the left, with The Moustache. Easily my favorite player for the Argentines, he looked like straight out of Prefontaine. If you can't see it on this version, click through to Flickr for higher-res.

[W]NBA related post. Candace Parker related post. As I said before, CP3 is my girl.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.639327&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

You've got Bill Lambeer and Michael Cooper; Rick Mahorn pushin Lisa Leslie to the ground; Cheryl Ford, Karl Malone's daughter, twisting her knee; Delisha Milton-Jones stealing on Rick Mahorn in the back; and 4 people ultimately being thrown out the game for the final few seconds in a wild game where the Sparks led in the 3rd quarter by as many as 21 points.  Who says women's basketball isn't exciting?

Couple more fights and dunks and they may have a fan in me.

lik dot

Brandon Jennings- is termed a shoot first, pass second player and has skill development to play the point as the number one priority to make him a better player. His athleticism and skills are nothing short of sensational, but he has been typecast as a one dimensional player. Not able to play the point and get other teammates involved.

At any rate, Jennings would fit well in Coach Lute Olsen system, of dynamic point Guards, however apparently we will not get to see him play, as it is rumored that Jennings will forgo college baksetball all together and play in the European Basketball league. According to his lawyer agent, a number of European teams have expressed interest in signing him.

So the formality of playing one year of college is thrown out of the window for Jennings, a Los Angeles native. It was widely reported that Jennings was expected to be the starting point guard, for the Arizona Wildcats. Lute Olsen was understandably disappointed with Jennings decision ; but wished him the best.

This is the first time that this type of decision had ever happened with a High School player. It is probably a roll of the dice for Jennings. Whatever he is thinking; he can not turn the clock back after making this decision. On the plus side, European Basketball has a produced a number of Lottery picks over the last few year.

Jennings could mold himself into that type of player, but it will take time and patience. Lute Olsen will recover, but the number one priority for him will be recruiting and nurturi

Here's parts 1 & 2 of episode 2...

Parts 3 & 4 up later...

Ummm, hello?  "Mars"?  Try, "vastly improves".  Or, "makes watchable".  I hope one of the board members Carl Icahn installs knows something about sports...

An interesting image broke a few weeks ago of the US mens Olympic Basketball team in their new Nike designed uniforms. The offending piece centered around mens coach Mike Krzyzewski covering Dwight Howards adidas sponsored footwear - blocking the 3 stripes from display. Further controversy surrounded the image was directed at Howard, who while holding the ball blocked the Nike swoosh with his dangling arm.

Nike have invested hundreds of millions of dollars on sponsoring the US team and it’s in their best interests to protect where possible the whole experience from head to toe. In team sports it should be expected that individual stars have their own deals that can often compromise the exclusivity and impact the teams endorser stands to gain.

Take for example Ronaldinho (Brazilian sccer star), at Barcelona he was head to toe a Nike guy, they used him in almost every campaign piece – such is his iconic status and reach. This week Ronaldinho signed for AC Milan, an adidas endorsed team. Adidas immediately announced that they had pre orders of 11,000 Ronaldinho shirts within 2 hours of his shirt number announcement. Nike, like most sports brands, would rather a situation exist where an authentic end-to-end Nike branded experience can be communicated to its audience. Until last week that was exactly what happened whenever he stepped out for FC Barcelona. In contrast Ronaldinho now dones the 3 stripes, with limited visibility given to his Nike sponsored boots.

Past rumors within sport marketing circles tell stories of certain brands paying big money to keep their major stars contracted to teams that have endorsement deals with their brand. The ability to control the whole experience is a scenario any sports manufacturer would want, as the ultimate platform to showcase their brand.

I predict the ability to control this seamless experience to become even more of a prevailing trend in the years to come.

check out full US basketball piece here:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/07/nike-vs-adidas.html

http://www.cnbc.com/id/25513177

Even more interesting is that Rick Mahorn got ejected.  He is an assistant for the Shock and was sent to the showers for allegedly shoving LA's Lisa Leslie.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.639132&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

With ESPN it’s easy.  Ask if your players if they watched SportsCenter.  With all the Top Ten lists they produce, the kids love it. Now that it’s baseball season, there are so many baseball-themed shows (This Week in Baseball is a favorite) that watching games isn’t even required.  It’s almost time for college football and they have almost perfected the art of the highlight.

If a player is truly interested in sports, that’s great and they will probably gravitate toward this programming.  If you think your player, son or daughter might need a little nudge, why not channel surf over to the World Cup?  Talking sports is a big part of participating in sports.

Hopefully this acquisition of a young and talented PG will nix the interest the Golden State Warriors are said to have in Lou Williams, the 76ers backup point guard.  In my opinion the 76ers NEED to re-sign Lou Will and Andre Iguodala in order to keep their contention hopes alive in the East.

What do all of these have in common? Players are willing to leave behind the supposed prestige that comes with the NBA to make more money and to travel the world. Frankly, I don't blame them. For lack of a better term, the NBA has essentially been a monopoly. They have been able to force changes in how basketball is played because they are such a powerful entity. The leverage that players have against their teams has been gradually been reduced with each successive Collective Bargaining Agreement since the 99' lock-out season. Leaving for Europe is just a small step in regaining their advantage.

In order to understand why leaving for Europe is appealing and how this will change the NBA, we must look at the structure of the soccer leagues of Europe. For a while, all the top players came to England to play. The game was invited there and it followed that the top players should take up residence. Yet over time, players gradually left to play in La Liga, Serie A, or Eredivisie. With all of these different leagues, each with some of the best players in the world, a transfer market system developed. While all of the leagues are their own separate entities they operate under certain common guidelines. They operate without a salary cap, meaning that the structure is similar to baseball. They can loan players to teams for money and they can sell their contracts. Players can sign with other teams once their contract expires. In short, with so many potential markets, players are always able to maximize their profits based off of their ability. It is a free market.

The largest exception to this system is the MLS. In the MLS, the players contracts are owned by the league and the players rights belong to certain teams. If one is wondering why this league has been floundering since its inception, that would be the first place to look. The second would be the lack of talent. The MLS is a joke. In short, the MLS is administratium . Instead of allowing the market to dictate itself they are instead choosing to set regulations in place that do not encourage growth and competition. They managed to take an already restrictive model (much the way that the NFL, NBA and other American sports league operates) and impose even tighter regulation. An apt comparison can be made between the acquisition of David Beckham to the Galaxy and Microsoft's attempts to buy Yahoo. Both the MLS and Microsoft decided that instead of fixing their broken structure, to buy an expiring talent. Both Beckham and Yahoo peaked years ago and are coasting by on reputation alone. They are applying a band-aid to a mighty large flesh wound. If the NBA wants to brace for the future, they need to study the European soccer market closely and learn from it.

What can the NBA learn from the European clubs? While a salary cap can help inspire parity, you cannot restrict an open market. Very few people have the talent and athleticism to make it to the professional leagues. They should not be guided by a misplaced sense of loyalty to a team that drafted their rights. The NBA may have the prestige and a national audience, but that can be fleeting. Basketball fans want to watch the best players and as of now that can be found exclusively in the NBA. With current limitations in place that soon could change to Europe. Between the falling price of the dollar, the lack of a salary cap in Europe and the fact that the clubs are willing to pay all the taxes that the players incur, it is hard to believe that mid-level players will not be jumping ship at a rapid pace to get theirs.

The NBA is going to resist these changes. They like the current model and believe that they are infallible to another league rising up and taking their mantle. It is thinking like this that will ultimately lead to a mass exodus in talent. All it will take is one superstar player in his prime: a LeBron James, a Kobe Byrant, anyone who transcends the sports/popular culture boundary, to leave for Europe. Once that happens, the NBA can never return to how it was.

I don't know if the open-source versus close-source argument is the most appropriate to make in comparison, but it certainly seems relevant. The NBA right now is trying to restrict the talent to remain in their league while the European ones favor a system that makes both the player and the club the most amount of money possible. It is going to be interesting to see how David Stern responds to these changes. If he tries to use muscle to win, he may come up victorious in the short term, but in the long-run we will begin to see a crumbling infrastructure.

On Wednesday, July 16, over 120 young athletes were given the rare opportunity to meet and learn from Michael Jordan’s former trainer Tim Grover and push their athletic skills and abilities alongside professional basketball star, and Team Jordan athlete, Michael Finley during the annual Jordan Training event.

The event took place at Finley’s alma mater, Proviso East High School, in Maywood, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.

Get in the gym, schoolyard or driveway and get up your shots.  Don't let a day slip by this summer where you don't shoot.  Whatever happened to the player who spends hours in the gym shooting? Many schools and organizations have the 'Shooting Gun' now where you don't even need a rebounder or passer.  If you have access to one, utilize it.

Grab your sister, girlfriend or parent and have them rebound for you.

Shoot from 7 spots.  Two corners, two wings, 2 elbows and the top of the key.  Two's and three's.  Make ten from each spot.

**********

This morning I was watching NBA TV and they had an interview with 76ers head coach Maurice Cheeks.  Cheeks was asked what it meant to 'Play Hard'.  His response?

"Listening, trying to help your team win every day, and looking to get better..."

]]> http://onlinemedicalsupplyblog.wordpress.com/?p=56 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:41:53 +0000 duseetin http://onlinemedicalsupplyblog.wordpress.com/?p=56 Check out the only Paralympic coverage out there so far.

Title - Team USA Prepares For Paralympics

In-case it does not load, copy and paste the link:
http://www.wtvm.com/Global/category.asp?C=5482&nav=menu91_4