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Asian-Nation

Secretasianman

Tuesday - 9/30/08

- Daisuke Matsuzaka will face the Angel's Ervin Santana in game two of the AL first-round matchup on Friday. Who should have the advantage in starting pitching? Dice-K and Boston of course. Here is an insightful preview of this series.

- Kosuke Fukudome has fallen on tough times as of late, losing his starting job in right field and ending his rookie year hitting .257 with 10 home runs and 58 RBIs. So are the Cubs regretting the $48 million deal they spent on him? Not according to general manager Jim Hendry who has faith in a turnaround

- Hiroki Kuroda did not receive all the initial media attention and praise of Fukudome, but he has been more consistent and dependable. He will be the Dodger's Game 3 starter against the Cubs and will have the benefit of home filed advantage plus his memory of a four-hit shutout of the Cubs back in June of this year.

- Ichiro Suzuki ties another record, this time the Iron Horse record held by Lou Gehrig since 1937. He did it by reaching the 100-run and 200-hit level for the eighth straight time in as many tries. Ichiro is also close to breaking the 3085 hits title held by Isao Harimoto in Japan baseball. Just Ichiro being Ichiro.

Thursday - 9/25/08

Dark Clouds hang over Sun Yue's Parade - Yesterday's news conference for new Lakers guard Sun Yue was all good, with a slew of reporters pondering about Sun's nickname (Monkey King, Q, Q-tip?) and asking about his supermodel girlfriend. Less than 24 hours later, it's a more somber mood as Sun Yue checked into the hospital from an illness. The diagnosis? Sun Yue has mononucleosis. Looks like he will be out for a least a few weeks, potentially more. Since Sun will miss most of training camp, he will not be able to prove his worth to Mitch Kupchak. Hopefully he will be given a spot on the team anyway because of these special circumstances.

Sun can take heart in the fact that tennis great Roger Federer also had mono earlier this year but still got to three major finals and even won the US Open.

Ichiro Suzuki - Teammates said to Knock You Out! - The Seattle Mariners had a horrid year and obviously their players were frustrated. So when they see good 'ole Ichiro doing his thing, breaking records and making headlines as usually, the green monster of envy is bound to appear. So there might be some truth to an insider's report that some Mariners were unhappy with Ichiro with one even threatening to knock him out. Of course if these guys swing their fists like they do their bats, Ichiro was probably not in much danger. Hey, look at the man in the mirror first before pointing your fingers at a future HOF player. 

"Wanna fight, fight me!" - Ichiro is not a big guy but something tells me he would be a tough scrapper in a fight.

Monday - 9/22/08

Congratulations to Anthony Kim and USA for Winning the Ryder Cup on Sunday - Young Kim had the game to rout Sergio Garcia, the brashness to concede nothing to his competitor and perhaps even the cockiness to body-check European rival Ian Poulter. Watch out for this kid, cause something tells me he is gonna continue to make the headlines in golf for many years to come.

Thursday - 9/18/08

200 Again! Ichiro Ties 100 Year Old Record - Ichiro Suzuki had his 200th hit yesterday to make it eight seasons straight. That's right, 8 straight seasons of 200+ hits! This unbelievable feat has not been accomplished since Wee Willie Keeler did it way back when, between 1894-1901. Since Ichiro has been doing this fairly easily every single year since he came to the majors, I think it's safe to say that Wee Willie's record will be broken next year. But for now, it's just another notch on the baseball bat for one of the greatest batters in the history of the game.

Ichiro's ability to connect against modern day pitchers is just insane good.

Monday - 9/15/08

Daily Tidbits

-- Daisuke Matsuzaka (17-2) today became the first Japanese-born pitcher to win 17 games in a season. The previous record was held by Hideo Nomo who won 16 games in three separate seasons for the Dodgers.

-- The Yankees have had a tough 2008 season based on a myriad of factors. However the biggest loss IMO was when they lost Chien-Ming Wang to injury. The guy was 8-2 before going down and there was no reason why he couldn't have had another 19 win season for the third straight year. Would have been something to see, but it was not to be.

-- NBA hopeful Sun Yue has been called the "Chinese Magic Johnson" because of his height and ball handling skills. However he would rather be known as the "Monkey King" a mythical simian hero from Chinese culture. The monkey character's name is Sun Wukong and Chinese fans in Los Angeles are already calling Sun Yue by that name. If Sun possesses just 1/1000th the leaping ability of Sun Wukong then he will do just fine in the NBA.

-- Ichiro Suzuki will surely get his eighth 200 hit season, but will he also get his eighth consecutive team batting title? He is battling his good friend and teammate Raul Ibanez for the honor. As of Sunday Ichiro is at .311 and Ibanez is at .312 batting average. This is the first time he has been seriously challenged for the title and we'll see how he handles the pressure.

Sunday - 9/14/08

Chinese Giant Passes Away at 59 - Former Chinese basketball star Mu Tiezhu passed away on Sunday from a heart attack. Mu played for the PLA (People's Liberation Army) during the 1970s and led the Chinese team to it's first Asian championship in 1977 and a gold medal in the Asian Games in 1978. Mu averaged 20 points a game throughout his career but once had a Kobe-like performance in a domestic game where he scored an incredible 80 points. At an estimated height of 7 foot 10 and 400 lbs, Mu was an imposing figure that could slam dunk without leaving the ground. He battled another Asian giant in Japanese basketball player Yasutaka Okayama who stood 7 foot 8 tall but Mu usually pwned his Japanese rival. Yasutaka interestingly was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1981 though he did not play for them. Mu Tiezhu never played in the NBA either but was a household name in China and a hero to young Yao Ming growing up.

Mu is on the left and Yasutaka on the right. The twin towers of Asia.

Yao first met Mu when he trained with the Chinese under-18 team. "I looked up to him when I first saw him," he said. "Not literally. I mean I admired him very much." Yao was saddened to have lost his second idol, the first being NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain who passed away in 1999 at 62. Mu like another Chinese giant Sun Ming Ming, had acromegaly which means his size was due to an overactive pituitary gland. This is not uncommon in China as you can see on this page which shows a bunch of Chinese giants. What is surprising to me is the fact that Yao is not the tallest Chinese basketball player of all time and he is not even the tallest Asian player ever to be drafted in the NBA, Yasutaka was. Guess you learn something new everyday.

Mu is survived by a wife and his two grown children who are of normal size. RIP big guy.

Friday - 9/12/08

Israeli "Hero" is a Total Zero - Shahar Zubari won Israel's only medal at the Beijing Olympic games and went home as a hero, the toast of the town. A week later he was looking like a total zero and his reputation was toast. The 20 year old windsurfer had just returned to Tel Aviv after spending the past month in China; a stay that cumulated in his bronze medal performance. During his time in China he received the generous hospitality, accommodations and support of the Chinese people who went out of their way to make his life easy and comfortable. So how did Zubari repay the goodwill of his hosts? He described the Chinese people as, SHITS.

In an interview with a major Israeli newspaper, Zubari made fun of Chinese accents, their food and their mannerisms.

Ironically, the Chinese embassy in Israel was ready to hold a reception to honor the Israeli Olympic delegation in Tel Aviv when they heard the news. As you can imagine, the shit hit the fan and the embassy cancelled the reception altogether. The Israeli minister of sport came out and denounced the comments and apologized saying that Shahar Zubari's comments in no way represents Israelis' views of the Chinese people. Zubari apologized himself saying, "It was a slip of the tongue, I retract what I said."

Too late young fella. You can't get rid of shit by trying to polish it and by the smell of things, the biggest piece of shit is YOU. (Apologies on the language, but necessary to describe this guy.)

This guy stinks from a mile away. Smear campaign not necessary.

Tuesday - 9/9/08

Dice-K 2.0 Update - With three weeks left to go in the season, Daisuke Matsuzaka has proven that he was worth the hype from last year. In his second year in the majors, Dice-K has made the proper adjustments by shaving more than a run and a half off his ERA, allowing 80 fewer hits while giving up 60% less homers when compared with 2007. Matsuzaka's 2.88 ERA ranks third in the league and the Red Sox has a 21-4 record in his starts. He is also a contender for this year's AL Cy Young award but will probably not be able to catch frontrunner Cliff Lee who has had a magnificent season. Unfortunately his loss tonight will not help that cause either.

Still Dice-K has proven his worth this year and could arguably be considered the ace for Boston this season. Not bad for an supposed over-hyped import that many proclaimed a total dud.

Dice has a good laugh at all the nay-sayers.

Sun Yue's Laker Workout Video - Hopefully he will get some decent playing time!

Hopefully his Chinese supermodel girlfriend Gu Chen will be in the stands and get some decent face time on TV!

Sunday - 9/7/08

Why Yao is NBA's MDC (Most Dominant Center) - A good article written by Darren at Bleacher report on why he thinks Yao Ming is the best center in the NBA and not Dwight Howard. What are some of his key points? Yao has the total package including jump-hook, hook shot, fade-away, turnaround jumper and is a great passer. He is a better offensively than Dwight Howard and even a better man-to-man defender. Plus Yao also dominates Howard every time they play so the head-to-head is also in his favor. Ouch!

You won't get any arguments from me as I've been saying that Yao>Dwight for a long time. Granted Howard is more fun to watch sometimes with his superior athleticism and dunking ability, but Yao is way more polished and talented in pure basketball 101. The only knock that one can have against Yao is that he has been injured for much of the past two seasons. I swear they should have designed him some custom made steel toe boot sneakers a long time ago to protect his feet. Still even those shoes may not stand up to jolly 300 lb NBA centers who stomp away with their two left feet. Yaowers! 

Yao would look totally kick-ass in some steel toed boots!

LPGA Comes to Senses After Damage is Already Done - On Friday, the LPGA Tour rescinded on their plans to penalize their players if they did not pass a English speaking proficiency test in 2009. This came just days after there was a large backlash from many groups with even some cries of discrimination. This is because of the 121 non-American players on the tour, 45 are South Koreans and Koreans have been dominating the tour in the past few years. Guess who spoke the least amount of English on the tour? Yep, Koreans.

"After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every tour player.In that spirit, we will continue communicating with our diverse tour players to develop a better alternative. The LPGA will announce a revised approach, absent playing penalties, by the end of 2008", said LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens.

Still the funny thing is that even most of the the S Koreans spoke some English and there were only 3-4 individuals who really needed an interpreter at all. This was a classic example of carrot or the stick. Most of the Koreans were already trying to learn English anyways because they knew it was beneficial for them to do so. The LPGA just wanted to show how big and bad they were and swung a big stick. Unfortunately it bounced back and hit them in the face giving them a big black eye for the world to see.

Tuesday - 9/2/08

Clock Strikes 12 for Kei Nishikori - Well as you may know by now, Kei Nishikori's Cinderella run at the US Open ended last night as he lost to to Juan Martin Del Potro in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. While Kei looked good early on in the 1st set, breaking Del Potro to go up 3-0, he quickly faltered showing the signs of wear from his previous match against Ferrer. Also at 18, Nishikori's body probably has not fully matured either. In tennis as in most sports, teenagers don't have the size, speed or endurance to hang with grown men and Nishikori's lack of physical maturity may have hurt him especially since he is only 5'10 and 150 lbs. Hopefully he can add a few inches and put on some weight and make some noise next year. From what I have seen, he already has the game to beat many top players, he just has to be more careful with cramps, fitness and injuries. Having talent and game doesn't mean nothing if you don't have the physical endurance and durability to back it up. 

Speak English or Get Out - Last week, the LPGA announced that they were going to require all golfers on the tour to speak English during pro-ams, trophy presentations and media interviews starting in 2009. Those ladies who have been members of the tour for two years could face suspension if they don't get with the program and pass an oral evaluation for English proficiency. The reason for the change is because the LPGA wants the players to communicate better to help improve the image of the tour with fans and sponsors. Of course we all know that it was the South Korean golfers they had in mind when they created this rule. S Korean women have been dominating the sport and a good portion of them need translators for English so naturally some xenophobia's gotta rear it's ugly head. Still from a purely marketing standpoint I understand why they would want to do this. Pro-golf like everything else is ultimately about money and the majority of the tour is played in the US. Still there may be better, less controversial and more fair solutions.

From the mouth of babes, "You still need a high level of golf to be out on a tour. Last I heard, speaking a language wasn't part of Q-school. If that was part of Q-school and that was laid out before and everyone that came before the girls now had to deal with it, then it would be different."

That was Korean-American golfer Anthony Kim's take on the matter and it makes a lot of sense to me. Grandmother clause that bad boy. It's not fair to change the language rules in the middle of the game.

Dyeing their hair blonde is also more marketable. Is that the next LPGA Rule?

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