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Secretasianman

Monday - 6/30/08

Manny Pacquiao is LEGEND! - Manny Pacquiao is undoubtedly the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. His Saturday night destruction of David Diaz was just painful to watch as he knocked out his opponent in the ninth round of a one sided fight. In doing so, Manny becomes the first Asian and Filipino fighter to get four world titles in four weight classes. Manny went into the ring at 135 lbs and carried the weight well not showing any effect in his speed or power. The result was a badly bloodied and battered Diaz who to his credit showed incredible heart and courage in defeat. "His punches are just too fast," Diaz said. "I could see the punches perfectly, but he was just too fast."

Even before the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr, Pacquiao was already being mentioned as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I think Manny could legitimately claim that title even if the "Pretty Boy" comes out of retirement in the near future. Manny! Manny! Manny!

Manny also got another treat on Saturday, as he was congratulated by the Boston Celtics "Big Three" after his victory. Pacquiao is a big fan of Kevin Garnett and invited him and the Celtics to attend the fight. Also in attendance were Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Sam Cassell. Talk about a room full of worthy champions!

Thursday - 6/26/08

Yi Jianlian is Heading to New Jersey - Yi has been traded to the New Jersey Nets along with teammate Bobby Simmons for forward Richard Jefferson. The move comes some three months after the Milwaukee Bucks fired general manager Larry Harris who was pretty instrumental in bringing Yi to Milwaukee. After an abysmal 26-56 finish, the Bucks under new GM John Hammond decide they wanted to move in a new direction and that did not include Yi Jianlian.

I think this is good for Yi because he will be getting away from the ball-hog guards of the Bucks. Besides he had always wanted to go to a bigger market with a larger Chinese population and New Jersey is definitely both. He also already has a big fan in Rod Thorn, the Nets' Team president. "We certainly gave up a good player, but to get a good player you have to give up a good player. With Yi, we feel his upside is very up," Thorn said. "We feel strongly he's going to be a real good player for us."

I think Yi will do just fine with the Nets as long as he can bulk up some and keep the injuries at bay.

Poor Milwaukee fans hardly got to know Yi.

Tuesday - 6/24/08

Yi Jianlian's Back! - The kid is back and looking pretty good to boot. Yi Jianlian scored 26 points last week in a friendly match against visiting Croatia in Beijing. It was the Chinese basketball teams third game against Croatia and they won all three. China benefited from the play of their big men in the middle namely Yi and Wang Zhizhi, but Yao Ming was noticeably absent. While there are mixed reports about Yao's expected comeback date, most insiders do expect him to suit up on August 10th for preliminary play. He better be there too, cause Team China will need all 7 feet 6 inches of him. They will be facing Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwight Howard on that day.

Slipping, Sliding & Falling on Grass - "Falling" pretty much sums up how Asian men did at Wimbledon these past two days. Early exits include American Kevin Kim, Japanese Kei Nishikori, S Korean Hyung-Taik Lee and Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu. The women did much better with many making it into the 2nd round including Chinese Jie Zheng, Na Li, & Shuai Peng, Japanese Ai Sugiyama, and Taiwanese Su-Wei Hsieh. 

Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori was the youngest player in the men's draw at 18 years old and to his credit was not bounced but had to withdraw due to a stomach injury. He had won the first set 6-4 against Marc Gicquel and retired after losing the 2nd set 7-5. "It was my first Grand Slam and so I was disappointed," Nishikori said. "I thought I could play as normal, but it started hurting during the set. I wanted to play Roger Federer, but maybe next time."

A tough break for the young Nishikori but something tells me that he will have much brighter days ahead at future slams. He has already shown that he can hang with the likes of James Blake, Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal and soon he will get his chance to face the mighty Fed in real combat. (As a junior, Kei took a few sets off Federer as a practice partner but Fedex gave those to him no doubt!)  

Saturday - 6/21/08

The Little Asian Celtic - Many of you were probably wondering about the Asian guy who was celebrating with Kevin Garnett & Paul Pierce in the NBA Finals last week. His name is Bryan Doo and don't let his small stature fool you (anyone will look short next to KG), he has been the strength and conditioning coach for the Celtics going on 5 seasons now. I must say he did his job well cause Garnett was a defensive beast this year and KG peaked in that game six to dominate in style. While I was pulling for the Lakers, Boston deserved to be the World Champs and I'm sure Mr. Doo was a big part of that success. Congrats to him and the Celtics.

Thursday - 6/19/08

2008 = The Year of the Chinese Leg Curse - This year has not been a good one for athletes of Chinese descent. First there was Houston Rocket's Yao Ming who had a stress fracture in his foot back in February and had to miss the rest of the NBA season. Then in early April, Milwaukee Bucks' rookie Yi Jianlian injured his knee and also sat out the rest of the season. Just last weekend, NY Yankees' ace Chien-Ming Wang torn a tendon in his foot running the bases and will potentially be out the season. And now we hear that even Tiger Woods will miss the rest of 2008 because of a knee injury. But wait, Tiger is not Chinese you say? Well he is 25% Chinese by blood and I guess that was enough to give him the 2008 Chinese Leg/Foot Curse!

This is a very bad thing and even worse than the Bruce/Brandon Lee curse when you consider the potential ramifications of the 2008 Chinese Leg Curse. With the Beijing Olympics coming up, a lot of Chinese athletes will need their legs to compete, so I would suggest they all find a safe room with cushioned walls and hide out until the Olympics arrive. That way the 2008 Chinese Leg Curse can't get them. Hey it worked for the girl in the Final Destination horror movies. Chinese athletes need to be very careful this year or their final destination could be for a MRI at the hospital.

Yao was the first victim of the 2008 Chinese Leg Curse.

Tuesday - 6/17/08

Obama Says Asians are Short - Okay, so many people know by now that Barack Obama was a basketball player and is still a big fan of the game. Unfortunately he had the disadvantage of growing up in Hawaii and playing with short Asian people. In a interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Obama was asked if he could slam dunk. Obama said, "There’s pretty good basketball in Hawaii but the only thing is, since obviously there are a lot of folks from Asian ancestry in Hawaii, generally the teams aren’t as tall. So I was going down and posting up quite a bit."

Way to throw Asians under the bus to cover you lack of hops, Obama!

While this may be a true statement in many ways, I don't see why Obama had to bring race into this. He said "generally", but people can speak generally about many racial differences that are considered to be true. When they do, they are often called racists. I mean for someone who is supposed to be color blind, why does he have to bring race into a conversation when it was not at all warranted? He could have just as easily said he was taller than most of his competitors instead of actively pointing out their ethnicity. While I don't think he meant anything negative by it, it does disturb me that he has the ability to differentiate between races so casually when his goal is unity.

Okay, PC Police come and get me! But don't blame me for being critical. I'm just another short Asian with short man's syndrome. ;)

Kimmel gets a cheap laugh at Obama's short Asian reference. (2:40)

Monday - 6/16/08

Congratulations to Tiger Woods on winning the US Open. That's 14 and counting, Mr. Federer!

Wang May be Done for Season - AGHHHH! This absolutely sucks. Just when Chien-Ming Wang was starting to pitch well again he goes and tears a tendon in his right foot in a game on Sunday. He was running the bases in an interleague game with the Astros and pulled his foot cornering third base running to home. Wang will be out at least 8-10 weeks and could very well miss the rest of 2008. What a stupid freak accident and it's wrong for the National League to not have a designated hitter for the AL pitchers who are not accustomed to running the bases. This  means that Wang has no chance to go for his third straight 19 win season this year. What a damn pity.   

Friday - 6/13/08

Kei Nishikori Pushes Nadal to 3 - Japanese tennis sensation Kei Nishikori put up a good fight against Rafael Nadal on Thursday at the Queen's Club. The 18 year old lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 but was impressive and left a good impression on Nadal. "He is very, very good. he is going to be top 10 for sure, top five. I am 100 percent sure. He's a very talented player," said the 4-time French Open champion. Wow, there is gonna be some pressure now for the young Nishikori who just broke into the top 100 earlier this year. I haven't seen much of this guy, but I have mad respect for Nadal. If he thinks this kid is the real deal then I'm thinking that Kei will be the next great tennis star out of Asia. About time too!

Is Nishikori the Japanese Prince of Tennis?

Speaking of which, Roger Federer brought up Michael Chang's name in a recent interview when discussing his struggles in defeating a 342nd ranked qualifier in the Halle, Germany tournament this past week. Federer said the match reminded him of his quarter-final loss to Chang in 2000. "It was my first match on centre court that week and I thought, 'You will not lose to Michael Chang on grass,"' Federer said. That was kind of a cheap shot from Roger. Michael Chang had a tough time on grass true, but he was no 342 ranked qualifier. The guy was the #2 ranked tennis player in the world at one time, so give the guy some respect. Tough loss yes, but get over it Roger. You DID lose to Michael Chang on grass and to the line of 7-5, 6-2 too!

Thursday - 6/12/08

Yao Ming, Victim of NBA Corruption? - Disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy has been doing a lot of talking lately and according to him game fixing is alive and well in the NBA. Donaghy claims that referees were told to target Yao Ming in the 2005 playoff series between the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks after Dallas owner Mark Cuban complained. He said they closely called Yao for illegal screens to limit his time on the court and while it sounds fantastic, Rocket's coach Jeff Van Gundy did get fined $100,000 during that series for saying the same things. The Rockets who had a 2-0 lead went on to lose in seven games.

While no one can be sure if the fix was in against Yao in that series, I do believe that he is officiated differently than most other players in general. Hopefully he will have more luck during the Beijing Olympics seeing how he has home-court advantage and the refs will be afraid to piss off 1 billion Chinese people. On a different note, Yao recently donated $2 million US to help rebuild earthquake resistant schools for the earthquake victims in his native China. Yao may not be a NBA or Olympic Champion but he will always be the People's Champion in the hearts of the Chinese people.

Tuesday - 6/10/08

Beijing Olympics Videos

Cool One

Corny One

Sunday - 6/8/08

Weekend Summary

Hiroki Kuroda had one of his most dominating performances in the majors on Friday, delivering a four hit, 11 strikeout complete-game shutout. His masterful pitching got him a standing ovation from the crowd of 52,484 at Dodger Stadium as LA went on to defeat the Chicago Cubs 3-0. Manager Joe Torre was impressed saying, "He was about as close to perfect without being perfect as you can be. He was in total control. He was just dominant." Great comeback game for Kuroda considering his last start was his worst.

Johnny Damon went a very impressive 6-for-6 on Saturday including a walk-off RBI single which gave the Yankees a 12-11 victory over the Royals in the ninth. The six hits were a career high for Damon who became just the second player in Yankee Stadium history with six in one game. A truly memorable day for him doubt considering he went 0-for-5 the night before. It had to be the mustache!

Another week, another impressive win by a young Asian woman on the LPGA tour. This time it was Taiwanese rookie Yani Tseng who won the the LPGA Championship on Sunday over some great championships including Ochoa and Sorenstam. Read more here.

Thursday - 6/5/08

Manny Ain't No Mikey - Manny Pacquiao gave a public workout for the lucky fans in the Bay Area last Saturday and is in great shape heading towards his June 28 title fight with lightweight champion David Diaz. Unlike a lot of the brash arrogant characters in boxing, the Pac-man is actually very thoughtful and humble. "It's very important to me to be popular here in the States," Pacquiao said, "because my goal is not only for that reason . . . but someday, I want to show people that to be a boxer is not about boxing only. To show them that we need to be approachable to the people and communicate with the people; and the fighters should know that there's God in the ring. Not like some boxers, you know, Mike Tyson, 'I'm going to knock you out!' "

Good words coming from a man who knows he is a role-model and is not too selfish, lazy or wimpy to accept it. Manny is a class act both in and out of the ring.

Pacquiao's greatest asset is his heart and will.

Monday - 6/2/08

Young South Korean Golfers Win Big - Amy Yang won the German Open golf tournament with a comfortable 4 shot lead on Sunday. The 18 year old South Korean shot a 5 under 67 and finished with a 21 under 267 total. After the win, Yang said she would donate the $61,260 prize money to the victims of the recent earthquake in China. Considering this was her first victory as a professional and first real payday, many would expect the young woman to go out and spurge a little but not Yang. "I was thinking about the China earthquake for some time. And I thought, if I win the tournament, I would give them the winnings to help them build up," said Yang. "A few days ago they had big rains and a lot of them lost their houses. I saw a lot of news. And every time I would be thinking about it. It's really sad." WOW, I love this girl. She is all heart and at an age when all kids care about is name brand fashions and materials goods, Amy Yang shows that some young people are still being raised right in the world.

Unfortunately the sound bites from another young golfer in this tournament was more self-serving. Everyone's favorite underperforming phenom Michelle Wie finished in six place. "I feel a lot more confident about my game," Wie said. "With that being said, a person's greed is always wanting something more. I'm very happy with my score, but at the same time, I could have done better." While I understand what she is trying to say, GREED was not the best choice of words coming from someone with 10 million dollars in Nike endorsements and no wins to show for it. With her personal dating life becoming media fodder that gets more attention than her game, Michelle Wie definitely has a lot more work to do to prove she has the substance to match the hype. (Michelle is dating 7-foot-1 NBA bound Stanford center Robin Lopez)

Also on the same day fellow South Korean Seon Hwa Lee won the Ginn Tribute due to some luck from her competitors' late collapse and collects $390,000, one of the richest paydays in golf. Man, when can I have that kind of luck?

Sunday - 6/1/08

Asian Pitchers are Down but Not Out - It has been a difficult week for Asian MLB pitchers.

First off, Daisuke Matsuzaka is currently on a 15 day disabled list after suffering a mild strain on his rotator cuff last. He won't be back in action until around June 14th and is feeling guilty that he is getting preferential treatment to rest when his other teammates are also tired. Says the Dice-man, "Even though I might feel OK, the club has told me to rest up,'' he said. "I do feel bad being the only one getting rest on this team...dwelling on that isn't going to help me heal. I'm going to treat this as a minicamp."

Which is what he should do according to Boston's Josh Beckett. Beckett who was in the same type of situation last season had some good advice for his ailing teammate. “A pitching coach told me, ‘This is your time to get in the best shape of your life.’ That’s what I told Daisuke and it’s the truth,” said Beckett.  “That was the one thing about my built-in break, I was in better shape when I came out of it than when I went in.” Hopefully Dice-K will have get the same rejuvenating benefits from this break as Beckett did, cause Josh was an absolute monster late last season. For fans who can't wait for his comeback, they can have dinner with Dice-K and wife Tomoyo if the price is right. Matsuzaka is auctioning off a sushi dinner on Ebay to raise money for a the Good Sports children's charity. As of tonight, there have been 32 bids and the bid is up to $10,000!

Meet Tomoyo "Rockets" Matsuzaka! Oh and Dice-K will be there too.

Redsox player's wives (l-r) Ashley Papelbon, Tomoyo Matsuzaka & Yuka Okajima.

Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang is going through a minor slump having lost another game on Saturday pitching only five and a third innings and giving up five runs on nine hits to the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees rallied late to win 7-6, but they must be worried about another tough outing from their ace. Wang is 0-2 with three no-decisions and a 5.67 ERA in five starts since starting the season 6-0. What is wrong with the Wanger? Well he strained his calf a bit last week and he thinks his trademark sinker is not as hard or consistent as normal. Hopefully he can make the proper adjustments and get back to winning soon cause NY has enough problems this year already.

Hiroki Kuroda had a disastrous start on Sunday giving up six runs in 2 2/3 innings in a 6-1 loss to the New York Mets. He was struck hard in the third allowing two homer, two doubles, a single and two walks in what would turn out to be his shortest outing yet in the U.S. He was replaced by Taiwanese pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo who pitched well not allowing the Mets to score again.

Incidentally Kuo was part of a historic moment in baseball a little over a week ago when for the first time in MLB history, three pitchers from three different Asian countries appeared in the same game for the same team. South Korea's Chan Ho Park, Taiwan's Hong-Chih Kuo and Japan's Takashi Saito combine for eight-hitter in a 6-3 victory at Angel Stadium. It started with Chan Ho Park who threw four innings, giving up two runs and three hits, before handing the ball to Hong-Chih Kuo, who threw four scoreless innings before giving way to closer Takashi Saito, who pitched the ninth. Read more about this very interesting coincidence here. 

ONE, TWO, THREE - YOUR OUT! 

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