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Thursday - 2/19/09

Return of the King - Congratulations to Tiger Woods and his wife Elin on their new son, Charlie Axel Woods. With his son's introduction to the world out of the way, Tiger quickly announced his comeback to golf next week at the World Golf Championships. He has been out since June of last year making it a 8 month departure that has been very good for his fellow PGA competitors. But with this return, the question should be on how his surgery went and will Tiger be the same dominant player? If he returns back to form, will there be anyone to challenge him the way Nadal, Murray, and Djokovic have stepped up to challenge Federer in tennis? Hopefully we will see some other Asian golfers take the mantle, guys like Asian-American Anthony Kim or 17 year-old Japanese teen Ryo Ishikawa. Time will tell, but for now the KING is back!

Tender & sweet here, Tiger only delivers the kiss of death on the golf course.

Yi's Comeback Success - Two games into his comeback, Yi Jianlian is starting to look a little bit more like his old self. He had 5 points and 6 rebounds in a losing effort against the Rockets on Tuesday and his shooting was clearly off. But he rebounded the following night looking better and more active, scoring 9 points in a loss against the Mavericks. He didn't start either game and played limited minutes but he did well on defense and the Nets clearly benefited from his height and length. With the prospect of Vince Carter being traded, New Jersey definitely needs Yi to get back to speed fast and help carry the offensive load for this team. Take care of that pinkie Mr. Yi.

Yi's pinkie is still bandaged up nice and thick, so don't be surprised if he fat fingers a lot of his shots for the next few weeks.

Monday - 2/16/09

NBA Update -  The All-star weekend is over and it was a great event for all. Most notable for me was watching little Nate Robinson jump over good sport Dwight Howard to win the Slam-dunk contest and then seeing Shaq and Kobe share in the MVP award on Sunday. A truly welcomed feel good story for the sports world considering all the negative publicity over the past week involving the A-Rod roid scandal and Michael Phelp's marijuana pipe debacle.

Yao was a non factor in the All-Star game playing very limited minutes and scoring only 1 bucket in the entire game. I thought Phil Jackson had something against Yao until the announcers reported that the Rockets had specially requested that Yao's minutes be limited so they could save his energy for season games. I guess this is smart considering the speed in which the all star games are played is a bit on the fast side for Yao and other bigs. But this game was all about Shaquille O'Neal as it may be the last All-Star game for the Big Diesel. Asked about this Yao replied, "I can't imagine the game without Shaq...No way it will be as fun without him." Shaq was equally complimentary, basically passing the torch to Yao as he pointed to the Great Wall as the next center to carry in his footsteps. "Yao Ming, I understand why everybody loves Yao... He's an honorable man, he's a great man," said the Big Aristotle.

Yao will get a chance to show off his greatness tomorrow night when he faces Yi and the Nets in Houston. While it's not official if Yi will play in this, his first game coming off his finger surgery, he is hopeful to be cleared to compete against his Chinese teammate and so will a few hundred million people in China too no doubt.

If Yi can pick up his game from where he left it in early January, he could potentially have a double-double in Houston.

Thursday - 2/12/09

Goliath Wins Again -  Kei Nishikori must feel that slaying Goliath is much easier when God is on your side and much harder when you have to do it alone. Tonight he lost once again to his fellow freshman nemesis Juan Martin del Potro at the SAP tennis tournament in a 6-2, 6-2 rout. The towering 6'6 Del Potro also took out the 5'10 Nishikori at last year's US Open tournament and seems to overwhelm Kei with his huge serve, but then he does to everyone else too. After a good victory in the first round, I was hoping that Nishikori could deliver a upset win against del Potro but it's no shame to lose to a competitor that is both physically more mature and higher ranked than you. When Kei finishes growing he will definitely be more competitive even against all the towering brutes that are coming into professional tennis. But he will need to dramatically improve his serve to win against the top pros on the ATP tour regardless of whether they resemble more David or Goliath. 

Saturday - 2/7/09

Asian Athlete Injury Update - There are a lot of Asian athletes coming off injuries and surgeries these past months and fortunately most seem to be healing well.

Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang may be cleared to go back to his home in Shanghai in March after his ankle surgery and rehabilitation in Houston. His coach says that his recovery went much better than expected and should recovery fully in 6 months and ready to compete at his top level.

Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang was looking strong on the mound as he threw 27 pitches in a practice session on Tuesday. Wang had foot surgery in 2008 and missed a good 3 months of the season's end. He didn't have any problems with soreness or discomfort and his performance was a good sign to his pitching coach that he will be ready for spring training later this month. He will be part of a powerful rotation this year for the Yankees that also include C.C. Sabathia and AJ Burnett.

Net's forward Yi Jianlian had the cast removed from his broken pinkie and has been shooting with that hand but is not expected to return for another few weeks. Look for him to return after the All-Star break. And what is this talk about a potential trade involving Yi to the Phoenix Suns for Amare Stoudemire!? Gotta keep on top of this one.

Houston's Yao Ming just can't get a break. After having to sit out several games because of a bruised knee, Yao is now having to battle the flu while being hacked and fouled by smaller centers that can't handle his talent and resort to cheap fouls which they often get away with. Still compared to past years, Yao can't exactly complain cause at least he is still in the game and not watching from the sidelines with an injury. That's Tracy McGrady's job this year.

Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori is playing in this weeks SAP open in San Jose, California. The kid is coming off a disappointing first round loss at the Australian Open in which he was hampered by a sore forearm injury. Hopefully he can do better here and can contest this tournament which includes many big names including Andy Roddick, James Blake and Lleyton Hewitt. This tournament even has an exhibition match between Pete Sampras and James Blake. I know that Federer and Nadal are awesome, but Sampras was the MAN!

Sunday - 2/1/09

CONGRATULATIONS to Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Chris Kemoeatu and the Pittsburgh Steelers for wining Super Bowl XLIII! - These guys all rep hard for Asians and Pacific Islanders in the NFL, and I'm sure all their South Korean, Samoan, and Hawaiian football fans are very proud of their achievements on the gridiron.

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