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Secretasianman

Thursday - 7/24/08

Yao Ming is Ready to Face his Nightmare - You would think that a guy who has to look down on 99.999999999% of the human race would not be afraid of too much. In the case of Yao Ming you would be right. Despite getting what he described as the worst draw he could have imagined, Yao is confident that a quarter-final place in the Olympics is still a possibility. China is in Group B which also includes the US, World champions Spain, African champions Angola, Germany and Greece. Yao says that they will stay focused regardless of who they play but was confident that they would beat Angola and even Germany. 

““I am very sure we can beat Angola. We are not afraid of Germany either. Yi Jianlain has improved tremendously after playing one season in the NBA and he can limit Nowitzki. And I can take care of Chris Kaman,” said Yao.

Wow that is some confident words coming from the big man, almost bordering on cockiness. That is a good thing cause if China wants to have a chance, Yao's gotta BRING IT big time with attitude and conviction. Still he was not really too arrogant and its nothing compared to LeBron James telling the world that he guarantees the gold for the USA, even after suffering a sprained ankle. I will say we are all witness to either words of great wisdom or madness, only time will tell.

Yao and LeBron can guarantee this Olympics will be as commercialized as ever.

Tuesday - 7/22/08

Dice-K Commands the Mound - Okay it was against the abysmal Mariners who are 24 games under .500. Still Daisuke Matsuzaka looked damn good as he pitched well into the eighth and gave Boston the 4-2 victory over Seattle. He was replaced by Hideki Okajima after Ichiro belted an RBI double followed by an RBI single from Jose Lopez. Matsuzaka's record now improves to 11-1 overall with a 5-0, 2.20 ERA in eight starts away from home.

What about Ichiro and the poor Mariners? Ichiro had a double, a RBI and a pair of walks in this game, but his Mariners lost again. They have dropped four straight games and seven of the last nine. They are so bad this year and team morale is so low that there is even talks about potentially trading Ichiro Suzuki who is the face of the team. I don't see it happening though.

Sunday - 7/17/08

Rookie Mistakes Abound for Wie - The strange life of Michelle Wie did not fail to disappoint as she again was in the midst of controversy this weekend. Despite finishing a great third round on Saturday in second place, Michelle was disqualified from the State Farm Classic because she had failed to sign a scorecard a day earlier. Ultimately the title was contested by two other Asian women not named Wie and the winner was Korean Ji Young Oh in a playoff over Yani Tseng. Michelle was left wondering what the hell happened in another crazy episode known as her life. "It's just really unfortunate. I don't know what happened to me," Wie said. "Usually, I sign it first, but I forgot to sign the scorecard. It was an honest mistake."

Honest mistake? Maybe. But come on now Michelle you aren't really a rookie anymore. Time to grow up.

Thursday - 7/17/08

Another $%#!@ All-Star Game comes and goes for Ichiro - The Ichiro Suzuki pre-game tradition and winning streak survived the 2008 MLB All-Star game but just barely. In what has become an AL tradition, Ichiro delivered another obscenity-laced motivational speech to his teammates in the locker room before the game and the American League won the game. He has been doing this rally cry for the past 8 years and it seems to be working as his AL teams have won every year. They won on Tuesday night too 4-3 in the 15th inning of the longest game in All-Star history.

The night was also memorable because it was a farewell sendoff for Yankee Stadium and there was a ceremony honoring 49 Hall of Famers. Ichiro was thrilled saying, "Everyone came by the dugout and stopped by to say hello to me. That was a very special moment for me, because they (Hall of Famers) knew who I was. To me, that was very moving."

Yup, sounds like it was a truly #@!$% memorable night for baseball fans everywhere.

We knew he had an arm, but who knew he had a MOUTH like that?!

Tuesday - 7/15/08

China Welcomes the World Through Song

The song's lyrics sing out "Beijing Welcomes You" and I believe it. The Chinese people truly want to welcome the world and share their culture with others in the spirit of understanding and goodwill. Despite all the ups and downs, China has come a long way. Am I proud to be Chinese? Hell yeah!

Monday - 7/14/08

More Michael Chang Hall of Fame Inductee Pictures

Michael with fiancee and fellow tennis player Amber Liu. You're a lucky man Michael, she is quite the looker. Now get married and get busy already. We want to see the next generation of Asian-American tennis champions ASAP!

Chang with fellow tennis great Monica Seles. Michael was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. on July 12, 2008.

Michael Chang was pretty instrumental in helping China get the Olympic games, which incidentally just granted a wild-card invitation to Japanese tennis sensation Kei Nishikori to compete next month. The young rookie will get a chance to represent his country against the very best in the world as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will all fight for the gold medal in Beijing. 

Sunday - 7/13/08

Dice-K is Still an Enigma - Into his second year, Daisuke Matsuzaka's game is as much a mystery to baseball fans as it ever was. His pitching lacks consistency and efficiency and he doesn't pitch late into games. Still he has a very impressive 10-1 record and 2.65 ERA. So what if he needs 115 pitches to get into the sixth inning when he allows 0 runs, four hits and seven strikeouts like in his last game against the Orioles. The guy is so good he can afford to try and work out of trouble and even afford to be bad. As long as the results are good. "When he locates, he’s as good as there is,” says manager Terry Francona. Winning ugly is still better than losing pretty right?

No style points for Dice, but you can't argue the results.

Michael Chang inducted into Tennis Hall of Fame this Saturday. - He is still the youngest man to ever win a tennis grand slam event. Well deserved my man, well deserved!

Thursday - 7/10/08

NJ Nets Expecting Great Things from Yi - Both on and off the court, Yi Jianlian could bring a lot of good fortune to New Jersey. The Nets went into the offseason looking to get bigger and better at shooting, and Yi could definitely help with with his size and nice outside jumper. While he still needs to improve on defense, you can't teach height and his 7 foot frame will clog up the middle and help the Nets against the Kevin Garnett type of player. Aside from his basketball skills, Yi will no doubt be a great marketing windfall for the Nets considering the large Asian-American populations in New Jersey and New York. At yesterday's Nets news conference the team officially introduced Yi Jianlian and teammate Bobby Simmons. Yi was optimistic saying, "I think this is the right fit for me," ... "It's a new, young team with a lot of talent."

While he may be downplaying his excitement to show respect to the Bucks, Yi must be damn happy to be out of Milwaukee. Hopefully he can stay healthy in his second season and have a better showing with his new team. He needs to work on getting stronger and becoming more durable cause in two years things could get real exciting if the Nets sign LeBron James as a free agent? One can only hope to see Yi and King James on the court as teammates both playing in their primes. Off the court it would sure be fun watching LeBron trying to communicate with Yi in Mandarin Chinese which he has been trying to learn to improve his marketability in China. Teaming up with Yi sure wouldn't hurt. Your Highness James are you listening?   

    NOW.   COMING IN 2010?

Monday - 7/7/08

Kuroda Flirts with Perfection - Man, so close but not meant to be. Hiroki Kuroda took a perfect game into the eighth inning tonight, but he couldn't hold on and ultimately had to settle for a one-hitter. He was touched by Mark Teixeria on his 70th pitch of the night, a double leading off the eighth. Except for that one pitch, Kuroda was exceptional all night. "He was throwing 95 mph sinkers that were dropping off the table," Atlanta catcher Brian McCann said. "There was nothing we could have done. He had awesome stuff. He was phenomenal." Manager Joe Torre was equally impressed saying, "He was close to perfect. That's the only way to describe it. You can't get much closer to being perfect than that."

Kuroda just missed out on becoming the first Dodger to throw a no-hitter since Sept. 17, 1996, when his countryman Hideo Nomo did it against Colorado. The only consolation prize is the fact that this was his second complete game and he gave the Dodgers a close 3-0 victory. Hopefully he will have another opportunity in the future.

Hiroki Kuroda came close to matching the no-hitter of Hideo Nomo.

Sunday - 7/6/08

Anthony Kim Wins AT&T, Gets a Call from Tiger Woods - Young Korean-American golfer Anthony Kim won the AT&T National today with a two-shot victory over Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson. This is the second victory in his last five events and the young 23-year-old is the first American player under 25 to win twice in a season since Tiger Woods did it back in 1996. He even got a congratulatory call from Woods just before the trophy presentation where Tiger told him to keep working hard and the sky's the limit.

"I guess I want to beat everyone I play against, and whether I'm friends with somebody or not, it doesn't really matter," Kim said. "I love beating up on my friends at home. A lot of them like to talk and say they're going to beat me that day, and I just love hammering them. I love the competition, and I love winning."

Watch out for this kid Tiger, he is a competitor! His intense desire and brilliance under pressure kind of reminds me of Rafael Nadal, who just won his first Wimbledon championship. Congrats to both these young guys.

Friday - 7/4/08

Happy Fourth of July!

Can you name America's Greatest Athlete? - With the Olympics coming up, who is the greatest American athlete going to Beijing? Is it Kobe Bryant, LeBron James or Michael Phelps? Nope, it's probably America's top decathlete Bryan Clay.

The decathlon is an athletic event combining 10 track and field events and the winner typically gets the title of "World's Greatest Athlete". Our best hopes this year of winning the gold in this event lies with 28 year-old Bryan Clay. Bryan who is of Japanese-American & African-American heritage, has dominated the decathlon in recent years and was the gold medalist at the 2005 Helsinki World Championships and 2008 Valencia World Indoor Championships. He won a sliver at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

At last week's 2008 Olympic trials, Clay finished first scoring a personal best 8,832 points, just shy of Dan O'Brien's 8891 American record. Thus Clay should be going to Beijing with a load of confidence and hopefully he will come back home with the gold medal and title of Greatest Athlete in the World on land. I think that Michael Phelps is undoubtedly the Greatest Athlete in the water. Both could be Wheaties box contenders. Just don't talk to me about Paul Hamm who is also heading to Beijing. Blah!

Bryan Clay is arguably America's greatest male athlete.

Wimbledon Update- Unfortunately but predictably, Zheng Jie lost to Serena Williams 6-2, 7-6 in the semis of Wimbledon yesterday thus setting up a Williams sisters dream final. I am pulling for Venus because she is 0-2 against Serena in Wimbledon finals appearances. The article mentioned that the British had trouble pronouncing Zheng's name and some in the crowd had resorted to "Go China" in voicing support for the 5'4 tall Zheng. That must of been funny to hear! Zheng will head into the Olympics next with probably China's best hope for a medal in the tennis events.

The men's final should also be an epic as 5 time winner Roger Federer meets arch-nemesis Rafael Nadal. I'm picking Federer in a close 4 set win.

Tuesday - 7/1/08

Zheng Jie Makes Wimbledon Semifinals! - Chinese tennis star Zheng Jie made history today becoming the first Asian woman to reach a grand slam semifinal. She beat Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 which was actually not a big surprise. That is because she has been playing incredible tennis these past two weeks as evidenced by her previous dismantling of top seed Ana Ivanovic in a 6-1, 6-4 match. The 133 ranked, 5'4 tall Zheng will have her Cinderella run put to the ultimate test tomorrow as she faces Serena Williams in the semifinals.

I wish her the very best but I don't see her beating Serena on grass. Still, I would love to see a Chinese tennis player make it to the finals of Wimbledon and will be pulling for her all the way. Zheng is a native of Sichuan Province which was the part of China that was devastated in the earthquake last month. This girl has a heart of gold as she plans to donate a portion of her winnings to the relief efforts. "I gave the French Open prize money and after Wimbledon I want to go back to do some more to support them in my city and maybe I will give the money (from here)," said Zheng. Good luck Zheng Jie!

Congratulations to Tamarine Tanasugarn who made it deep into Wimbledon too before losing to Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. The Thai tennis star hopes her historic run will help encourage the development of tennis in Asian countries.

"I hope it's good for Asians to prove we can do well. With Paradorn Schrichapan and me doing well, the regions have started to realize we have this kind of sport", said Tamarine." I hope the foundations or governments improve and support tennis." Way to rep Tamarine. You go girl!

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