Whelliston.com

Game! Of! The! Night! 11/30/2009: Fairfield at Hofstra

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:30:59 -0800

Fairfield at Hofstra
Hofstra Arena - Hempstead, NY
7:00 EST

Early on this season, it's striking how many of last year's BracketBusters match-ups have the potential to turn into a G!O!T!N! here on The Mid-Majority. Of course schedules don't always line up, as many of these games take place on weekends due to heavy travel, and we only do the G!O!T!N! thing Monday through Thursday. And, sometimes the teams involved just aren't any good. But in this instance, the stars have aligned and we're taking the bait. In the return game from last year's BracketBusters showdown, Fairfield and Hofstra will meet at 7 ET in Monday's Game! Of! The! Night!

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Red Line Lounge, Week 03

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:00:48 -0800

KW: Happy Cyber Monday, Hoops Nation. It's Damon and Kyle all over your computer screen, getting our Lounge on. He's back in the capital, I'm here at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Morehead, Kentucky, but we're both watching this Portland-West Virginia game in the distant past of Sunday night. How did your weekend go, sir?

DL: The weekend really couldn't have gone much better. The early season tournaments are providing exposure for our teams below the Red Line...and they're taking advantage of that exposure! Winning 16% of the games against teams above the Red Line is no small feat! My weekend was spent watching as many games as I could get my eyes on, but centered around the 76 Classic and Old Spice Classic. Some good, some bad...but that's to be expected.

KW: A lot more good than bad. We have 57 RLU's so far this season, and last season we didn't have our 57th until December 6. So we're definitely ahead of schedule. But we definitely have to give major props to the team that crashed into the general consciousness of casual fans everywhere, and that's the Portland Pilots with their performance in Anaheim. To drop UCLA and Minnesota on national TV is something that every school at our level dreams of. How have the Fightin' Revenos looked to you?

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Noisy Alphabet (via DTMM)

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:40:13 -0800

Noisy Alphabet (via DTMM)

Sunday Funnies: The Pros

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:32:51 -0800

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♫ John Vanderslice “Time To Go” My iTunes says that,...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:00:05 -0800

♫ John Vanderslice “Time To Go”

My iTunes says that, from a pure mass/magnitude standpoint, this is the official ironmen rally song of Season 6.

♫ Mo’Reese Marks “Return of the Mack (A...

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:48:00 -0800

♫ Mo’Reese Marks “Return of the Mack (A Capella)”

Stripping this song down to its basic elements really brings out the primal truth hidden within.

Mid-Majority Chat Block, Episode 603

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0800

Mid-Majority Chat Block

Damon chats from 2 to 3 pm Eastern, and Kyle's up from 3 through 4.

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Road Report: November 27

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:44:37 -0800

NEW ORLEANS -- Most of the holidays on our calendar commemorate real-life events: revolutions, births, deaths, etc. People knew at the time that history was being made, and they set aside a date so that future generations would always remember. Some are tied to celestial events, and others are prefabricated celebrations for which folks simply agreed on a date -- Mother's Day, Secretaries' Day and Arbor Day, for example.

So Thanksgiving is pretty fascinating, if you ask me. When early American settlers first set aside a feast day to thank God for their harvest, they probably had no idea that they were creating a holiday. It wasn't until later when a calendar date was set (fourth Thursday in November), and when the ground rules were laid. Then secular pressure took the Lord out of Thanksgiving, and other things crept in: uncomfortable family gatherings, overeating, those weird hand tracings that are supposed to look like turkeys, and American-style football. Lots of American-style football.

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TMM's Weekend Warriors: Week 3

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:05:34 -0800

So, tell me again why today is called "Black Friday?" What's so black about it? For being the preeminent day in America where capitalism is never more clearly encouraged and displayed, doesn't it seem like today would be called "Red, White, and Blue Friday?" Or, perhaps "Green Friday" due to how much money is thrown into department store cash registers throughout the day? That seems a little more logical...more logical than choosing black anyway.

The closest thing to a "Black Friday" in Hoops Nation would probably be the day after our last team below the Red Line is eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. Luckily, we don't have to think about that for several months, and we'd never think of hitting the streets and throwing around gobs of money to celebrate anything on that fateful day. We're just different, Hoops Nation, but in a very normal, non-psycho consumer sort of way.

I'm alright with that if you are.

Today (and for the rest of the weekend) I'll be doing the exact same thing I did yesterday, watching hoops from the early afternoon until the early morn'. The pre-season tournaments are in full swing, with lots of potential RLUs waiting in the wings. By the way, did you notice we're above 14% now? This week's already been a big one, with 11 RLUs...and it's only Friday. Last weekend we had 12 RLUs on Friday and Saturday alone. I wanna ride that roller coaster again, even if it is at a Disney Park. Lee Frederick, however, may not have the same sentiment...and understandably so.

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Hippies. Eat. Babies. (via FFFFOUND!)

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:57:22 -0800

Hippies. Eat. Babies. (via FFFFOUND!)

Death is Wack (via FFFFOUND!)

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:55:37 -0800

Death is Wack (via FFFFOUND!)

The State of the Other 24: Cashin' In At the Line Edition

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:58:56 -0800

The State of College Basketball is a ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long- winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the Final Four in a simulation of 2006-07, did pretty well as a predictor for the last two seasons, and enters 2009-10 ready to rock. For our purposes here, it gives the world's only hype-free, non-voting, computer poll of teams in the lower 24 conferences. This is the full chart, and this is a recording.

As I explained last week, it takes a little while for us to get correctly computed State Ratings. In the meantime, we're stacking teams in order of specific criteria...seeing if success in certain tempo-free stat categories equates to success in the win-loss column. Last week we grouped teams which pulled RLUs and ranked them according to their Efficiency Margin in those victories, which gave us an idea of who truly dominated their power conference opponent.

I'm willing to bet that almost every time you watch a game, whether on television or in-person, the topic of free throw shooting is addressed in some manner. Sometimes when a team is struggling to score buckets, one of those TV-analyst-guys will suggest that team dump the ball inside, or "get to the rack" and try to draw a foul and score points from the charity stripe. Getting lots of attempts at the free throw line is good...but if you're going to shoot a lot of FTs, isn't it even more effective to MAKE those attempts? I thought so. Luckily, we've got a stat that measures who's the best at not only getting to the line often, but also taking advantage of those opportunities. It's known as *Free Throw Rate.

*Free Throw Rate (FTRate) - Number of points scored from the free throw line, per possessions used: FTM / (FGA + TO + (0.44 x FTA))

In any game, each possession results in either a Field Goal Attempt, Turnover, or Free Throw Attempt. So, taking a team's total Free Throws Made, and dividing that number by their total FGAs, TOs, and FTAs, will give you an idea of which teams are doin' work at the free throw line (the 0.44 multiplier is used to account for "And-1s" and technical foul shots). You can get the full explanation here, and now that you're feelin' me, here are the teams that are BFFs with the free throw line (through Wednesday's results).

1. California-Santa Barbara (Big West), 0.324, 3-0

Is it any wonder the Gauchos are off to a perfect 3-0 start? Well, maybe it is, since this was a team that finished just one game over .500 last season. Sophomore newbie Orlando Johnson is the man getting to the line for UCSB. Through his first three games, he's got 33 FGAs and 31 FTAs. That's nice balance, but only making 18 of his 31 free throw attempts is a bit of a concern. Guys like James Nunnally, Jon Pastorek, and Paul Roemer are the real reason why the Gauchos top this list.

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Game! Of! The! Night! 11/26/2009: N. Carolina A&T at New Mexico St.

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:36:31 -0800

*Before we get started, a quick reminder that we WILL have the TMM Chat Block on Friday from 2-4pm ET. I'll handle the first hour, and Kyle's got the second hour on lockdown. Join us, won't you?*

As Kyle described Tuesday, the foundation for Season 6 is still being built. We have the tools, the know-how, and the passion...but sometimes there are outside factors that slow the process. During Essay Season, Kyle outlined the appreciation he and I have for the game of baseball. Since most baseball games are played outdoors, Mother Nature can ultimately decide whether or not a game even gets off the ground. Luckily, the concept of make-up dates and doubleheaders came along. Relatively speaking, we've had some nasty weather the past few days. The waters rose far beyond flood stage...not good for a guy that can't swim. But, the continued construction of our Season 6 foundation (read: TMM entries) was merely "PPD," not cancelled.

Although we're all about hoops, we operate like baseball club. So when make-up dates and doubleheaders are necessary, we'll make it happen. There simply aren't enough mid-on-mid games today to double up and follow the "let's play two" mantra, and the fact that we no longer do a G!O!T!N! on Friday means, in baseball terms, "no make-up date announced." You can rest assured, however, that this will be made up.

North Carolina A&T at New Mexico State
Pan American Center - Las Cruces, NM
9:00 EST

It's an unspoken rule around here that the G!O!T!N! can't be a game in which The Mid-Majority was in attendance. Today, there are only three games which pit two teams from below the Red Line against each other. And, as you have come to expect, Kyle will be taking in two of them. That leaves the tussle between North Carolina A & T and New Mexico State as our sole option for the Game! Of! The! Night!. This isn't some sort of last resort, however. Instead, it's yet another chance to shine the light on an area of Hoops Nation that can sometimes seem neglected. Let's do that...right now.

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You are Elvis Presley. I am Andy Kaufman. (via Letters of Note)

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:46:40 -0800

You are Elvis Presley. I am Andy Kaufman. (via Letters of Note)

Assistant Coach for a Night

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:59:17 -0800

NATCHITOCHES, La. -- Last week, when I talked to Northwestern State assistant coach Mark Slessinger about my visit to Natchitoches for the Demons' game against Houston Baptist, one of the first questions he asked me was, "Where do you want to sit?"

I spent considerable time around the Northwestern State program in 2008-09, working on a you-are-there book about three mid-major schools, a project that ultimately failed when each had horrible seasons. The Demons went 11-20, including a 3-13 record in the Southland Conference. I sat in a lot of places during my visits there: press row, the bleachers, and for one game against Southern-New Orleans, right on the bench.

"You want to be 'Coach Kyle' again?" he asked.

"But Houston Baptist is a Division I team, Sless," I replied. "This isn't a NAIA team like last time. I'm not sure Coach Mike would go for that."

"Oh c'mon, you know he will."

Mike McConathy was last seen in the national spotlight four seasons ago, when No. 14-seed Northwestern State knocked off third-seeded Iowa in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament. After that last-second shot in Auburn Hills, Michigan, the Demons had two good days of wide-angle media coverage, and the nation was introduced to a head coach with an easy Southern drawl and a full quiver of one-liners.

McConathy did things a little differently than most coaches -- he subbed his players five-in, five-out, ran an offense that was almost as old as the NCAA Tournament itself. He often allowed coaching friends and local children into the locker room at halftime, even for big games. He let national journalists give pregame pep talks. And for the middle part of this decade, his unconventional ways were paying off. The Demons had a long string of 20-win seasons, and made four consecutive Southland title games.

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Road Report: November 24

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:30:25 -0800

NATCHITOCHES, La. -- As we explained exactly one year ago today, The Mid-Majority doesn't feed you everything at once at the start of a season. Castles are built over carefully-built foundations, full power requires a steady rampup, and even Usain Bolt needs a few strides to gain top speed. So both Damon and I will be adding features as we proceed through November.

As you know or have guessed, Damon is handling the day-to-day nuts and bolts; the scores, details and analysis are his domain now. He's at a relatively fixed position back in Hoops Nation's capital, and is better able to report on the wide-angle stuff. I'm out here on the road, and my job is to relay what I see.

What I saw yesterday was a lot of asphalt. I set out from Daytona Beach in the early morning, around 4 a.m., and drove 650 miles west. I made it to New Orleans by 5:00 pm Central time, exactly 20 minutes before my rental car was due back. That was the silver Chevy Cobalt I rented last Monday after I flew in from Indianapolis; it had to return to its home after seven days, as per the rules of the rental location.

I dragged my luggage across the rental return road from Avis to Budget, stood in line for an hour, and picked up my car for the next leg of my journey. It's a Nissan Versa, which goes from zero to 60 in more time than a VMI possession, and it has no auxiliary jack for an iAnything. At least it has comfortable seats, which is an improvement over the Cobalt, which became the standard-issue rental car of the late 00's despite being initially marketed as "Corvette's little brother."

Sponsored Link: Matching Funds Madness! - Help us guarantee completion of Season 6.

MMBOW #2: Norris Cole, Cleveland State

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:12:50 -0800

Coincidence is a funny thing.

Last Thursday night, among many outstanding individual performances, there were two that stood head and shoulders above the rest. In a victory over Florida A & M, Cleveland State's Norris Cole was superb...while Sam Houston State's Corey Allmond shot lights out in an almost RLU of gargantuan proportions over Kentucky.

Those two players, and their respective teams, met on the same court Saturday night in Cleveland as part of the Cancún Challenge. Pure coincidence allowed yours truly to be in attendance, as I was able to witness a portion of the contest up close.

Exactly one year ago today, we honored a MMBOW who wore the number "30" on his jersey. That Baller was Stephen Curry. Today, we honor another No. 30 as our Mid-Majority Baller of the Week. His name is Norris Cole, he plays for the Cleveland State Vikings, and his stats last week are certainly no coincidence.

A season ago, Cole was somewhat of a forgotten man as Cleveland State began their Viking-Quest to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over 20 years. All eyes were on Cedric Jackson and Protobeast. But as the team stumbled in mid-January, Cole was the player who stepped up his game and got his team on track, eventually averaging over 13 points-per-game on the season. During the Horizon League tournament, he scored 66 points over the course of four games, and helped lead CSU back to the Big Dance. He was a star in the making.

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Red Line Lounge, Week 02

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:43:30 -0800

DL: Friends, wherever you are, we'd like to welcome you to the second installment of the Red Line Lounge! It's early Monday morning, and hopefully you've filled your belly with a fantastic breakfast of your choosing. I'm happy to report I've done the same... a 5-Hour Energy, some apple juice, and mini muffins. Kyle, how 'bout you?

KW: Well, Damon, there's heaven, and then there's a Starbucks in Tallahassee. How was your weekend?

DL: My weekend took me outside of our lovely Capital, to a city which will remain nameless at this time, but I'm happy to report that I was able to watch this week's MMBOW (announced tomorrow) in person...and he didn't disappoint. Let's get to topic #1...all those RLUs this weekend! Who stood out?

KW: Hmmm... who could that Baller be? It was indeed a great three days for the Other 24, with no fewer than 14 Red Line Upsets. There were a lot of great and heroic performances, but I think we have to start with VCU's 82-69 win over Oklahoma. To beat your old coach on your own floor is really special.

Sponsored Link: Matching Funds Madness! - Help us guarantee completion of Season 6.

36 Hours of Hoops: The Glenn Wilkes Experience

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:59:21 -0800

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Cures and diseases are so closely related. They often define each other -- a cure is designed to erase a disease, which in turn must build resistance and immunity in order to survive and destroy. As I found out again this summer, booster shots introduce a small amount of the disease in order to help the host recognize and withstand a larger attack. And in very rare instances, a cure can manifest itself in an overwhelming dose of the disease.

So it might be for Basketball Madness. At some point during the 12-hour stretch of five games on Saturday, I felt my strength and gumption flag. I was woozy and overcome, and experienced the very first pangs of disinterest. I was facing down a firehose of college hoops at close range, a huge and highly concentrated amount, and I felt myself drowning.

I looked up at the Ocean Center game clock, and it read 11:23. I looked up soon thereafter, and it read 4:23. I zoned out. I lost focus. I stood on apathy cliff, and stared over the edge into the swirling darkness.

The Glenn Wilkes Classic is no televised 24-hour college basketball marathon, where you're free to get off the couch, go take a nap or walk the dog. You can always catch up later with the DVR. No, this was 36 hours of total basketball immersion over three days -- the college basketball ironman triathlon. It was a test for the body, the stomach and the soul. At every moment there were two choices: keep going and keep watching basketball, or give up.

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The Mid-Majority Interview: Jon Schaeffer

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:01:06 -0800

Jon Schaeffer announces college basketball games. Not just any games -- NJIT games. The broadcasting veteran of over 1,000 games is entering his second year as the Highlanders' announcer, and he called every and ever home contest of the team's 1-30 season in 2008-09. He was previously the play-by-play voice of another transitional program, following Longwood from coast to coast for three seasons. In 2004-05, in the Lancers' first Division I slate, the team posted a 1-30 record -- and Mr. Schaeffer described all 30 of those losses for the folks at home.

So don't call Jon a front-runner or anything. We caught up with him this week on the electronic chatterbox, where we discussed the current state of affairs at NJIT, his memories of the endless road at Longwood, and how to stay positive and philosophical while describing loss after loss. Along the way, we also talked about the new Great West Conference, Jon's summer job as a baseball announcer for the Phillies' AAA affiliate, and his broadcasting heroes.

TMM: I haven't been at the Fleischer Center for a few years. What's it like now? Still as well-lit?

JS: There are very few venues in Division I basketball similar to the Fleischer Athletic Center. It is the definition of a no-frills gym - with bleachers on just one side (potentially the only such occurrence in Division I) and no bells or whistles at all. Quite simply, it's just a gym and one of the smallest in the nation at that. However, the building did undergo a renovation in the summer of 2006 with the installation of a new court, new lights (!), sound system, bleachers and more. Interestingly, NJIT also plays a handful of home games in downtown Newark at the $375-million Prudential Center.

TMM: That's quite a contrast, playing home games at both a place I used to refer to as "Ikea Arena" and one of the most state-of-the-art sports palaces on the east coast. What have the NJIT games at "The Rock" been like?

JS: It really is a remarkable contrast. The buildings are obviously polar opposites. NJIT's campus is only about a mile or two from downtown Newark, so the opportunity to play at "The Rock" is significant. It's the nicest arena I have ever been in - with similarities to the Galen Center in L.A. or the JPJ in Charlottesville - but on a much larger and even grander scale. This season, they will play a pair of conference games at the Prudential Center (vs. Houston Baptist, 2/18 and vs. South Dakota, 2/25) and there will probably be a couple of thousand people in the building. It's obviously not like a New Jersey Devils game (the primary tenant of the Prudential Center) but against the right opponent, I think they could put a decent crowd in the building. They also play as a road team at the Prudential Center against Seton Hall this season on November 30. As some may know, Seton Hall plays all of their home games in the Prudential Center and the two schools are only a few miles apart. I would imagine that those two schools could hook up on a somewhat regular basis based on the proximity and the local interest level. I am eager to see the announced attendance for that one, too.

Sponsored Link: Matching Funds Madness! - Help us guarantee completion of Season 6.

TMM's Weekend Warriors: Week 2

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:36:35 -0800

Sticking with the idea that Everything's Different Now, I present to you our first edition of TMM's Weekend Warriors! Every Friday (typically MUCH earlier than when this is being posted) we'll take a look at one player, one team, and one conference to keep an eye on over the weekend, in turn branding you as the genius when you hit the water cooler on Monday Morning. Think of it...you'll be your workplace's resident Mid-Major guru. Who wouldn't want that? Just don't forget about Kyle and I when you're kicking us to the curb.

This post will come in lieu of a featured Game! Of! The! Night! on Fridays, since there really aren't many games played on Fridays once January rolls around. OK...enough with the informational babblings, let's get to the hoops!

One Player: Robert Glenn, IUPUI

The MMBOW panel of judges caught plenty of flak for looking past Robert Glenn earlier this week, so here's his chance to shine. True, 37 points on 15-of-17 shooting (vs. Drake) is impressive, but it was only one game. In his next appearance, against Eastern Illinois, Glenn only netted three field goals (10 points) in a 69-66 victory. This weekend he'll have plenty of opportunities to be the baller everyone thinks he is. Aside from having two games against pretty weak defensive teams (Austin Peay, Georgia State), he'll have the chance to lead his team to a Red Line upset of Auburn...something that goes a long way toward getting noticed 'round these parts.

Sponsored Link: Matching Funds Madness! - Help us guarantee completion of Season 6.

Ideas/enemies (via scott c)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:39:24 -0800

Ideas/enemies (via scott c)

“Outside The Law”, by Jon Smith

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:30:13 -0800

“Outside The Law”, by Jon Smith

“Hardcore mittens”, by Marc Johns

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:22:27 -0800

“Hardcore mittens”, by Marc Johns

Frank Zappa/Warner Bros. Sucks (via FFFFOUND!)

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:11:05 -0800

Frank Zappa/Warner Bros. Sucks (via FFFFOUND!)

Twins Insignia Change (via flickr.com)

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:07:55 -0800

Twins Insignia Change (via flickr.com)

Drexel Shaft Implosion - official video

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:28:00 -0800

They asploded that giant cock reeeeal good

Rhode Island: The Biggest Little State

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:25:51 -0800

Get back on that horse and RIDE son!! (via FFFFOUND!)

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:22:47 -0800

Get back on that horse and RIDE son!! (via FFFFOUND!)

Eisenhower Interstate System in the style of H.C. Beck’s...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:07:33 -0800

Eisenhower Interstate System in the style of H.C. Beck’s London Underground Diagram (via flickr)

♫ Neko Case “That Teenage Feeling” Live 4/9/2006 @...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:50:39 -0800

♫ Neko Case “That Teenage Feeling” Live 4/9/2006 @ NPR

The Bloomer-Leg

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:24:31 -0800

I wanted to share one of my favorite passages from the book I helped Tony Ingle (the head coach at Kennesaw State University) write. The book is called I Don't Mind Hitting Bottom, I Just Hate Dragging. The forewords were written by basketball Hall of Famer (and current ESPN NBA analyst) Hubie Brown and multimillion-selling author Stephen Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People). It's available for direct purchase, and ships this week. Buy it, you'll love it!

This is a story from 1978, when Tony was a first-year head coach at Cherokee High in Georgia.

Later on, we were playing at Marietta High School. Charlie Hood was the coach there, a living legend in Atlanta-area high school ball. His team at the time featured Dale Ellis, who went on to the University of Tennessee and hit a lot of 3-pointers for the Seattle SuperSonics. A lot of people forget that Dale had a twin brother named Darryl, who was an exceptional athlete in his own right.

And both Dale and Darryl were on this team. Marietta was a powerhouse, ranked second in the state.

Marietta had us down by 25 points at their place, and time was winding down. I called time out, and everybody came running over to the bench.

"Guys," I said. "Remember what Bart Starr said about champions? He said that you can always tell a champion, no matter if he's up 30 or down 30. He's still playing and giving the best that he's got. The game's never over. Remember when he said that?"

Said all the players in unison, "Yes, sir!"

"Well, this game's over," I told them. "We're getting beat like dogs."

They all looked at me, dumbfounded.

A guy on my team named Russell Simmons - I loved him for being such a competitor - spoke up. "C'mon, coach, we can still win!"

"Nope, game's over," I repeated. "We're down 25 points with a minute to play, and there's no 30-point shot in the rulebook. We're beat."

"But here's what we're going to do," I continued. "We're going to have some fun for the rest of the night. We're not going to let them destroy us, we're not going to be down and out and unhappy because they beat us like a bass drum. We're going to leave here happy. So who wants to bloomer-leg one?"

The players were stunned. They didn't know what I was talking about.

"Ummm, coach, what's a bloomer-leg?" asked Russell.

"You get the ball, you put it down between your legs," I explained. "Just like Rick Barry shoots foul shots. Then you underhand that ball with all your might up towards the rim. So who wants to bloomer-leg one from half-court? Kevin Foster, what about you?"

Kevin was kind of a shy kid. "Welllll," he said tentatively, before his face broke out in a big smile. "Okay, I'll do it."

I knew Marietta was going to sit in that 2-3 zone and stay off our shooters, so I had Kevin dribble the ball up to half-court where it said "M.H.S." in big letters. He looked over at me, and I gave him a little wink.

"Let 'er fly, big man," I said.

And he took the ball and put it down between his knees, and Kevin Foster bloomer-legged it from half-court. When that ball hit the rim, my whole bench stood up. They thought it was going in. But it rattled off the iron and bounced out.

Robert Thomas grabbed the offensive rebound and dribbled out to the top of the circle, and then he bloomer-legged one too. That shot almost knocked a hole in the backboard.

The game was over, Marietta won by 25, but we made our statement. They might have won the game and embarrassed us, but we weren't going to let it ruin our lives. We weren't going to leave that gym feeling sorry for ourselves.

♫ ‘Til Tuesday - Everything’s Different...

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:51:00 -0700

♫ ‘Til Tuesday - Everything’s Different Now

Hadn’t heard this in about two decades. Matthew Sweet and Jules Shear wrote it!

Apeshit in Puerto Viejo (via C-Monster)

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:31:14 -0700

Apeshit in Puerto Viejo (via C-Monster)

Weekday Newspaper Circulation 1990-2010 infographic (via...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:11:42 -0700

Weekday Newspaper Circulation 1990-2010 infographic (via theawl.com)

US Foreclosure Activity infographic (via Consumerist)

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:06:41 -0700

US Foreclosure Activity infographic (via Consumerist)

Book #2

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:29:56 -0700

Is this a book you might be interested in?

I DON'T MIND HITTING BOTTOM, I JUST HATE DRAGGING
by Tony Ingle with Kyle Whelliston
with a foreword by Hubie Brown

Release date: November 2009

----

When Tony Ingle grew up in the government housing projects of Dalton, Georgia, he was so poor that he had to fish his first pair of basketball shoes out of a dumpster. And after a horrific knee injury during the national junior college basketball tournament ended his playing career, he set about chasing his championship dreams as a coach. His long climb up "the ladder" from high school to college was chock-full of high-octane offense and circus plays, culminating in a dream job as the interim bench boss at Brigham Young University. But after a nightmarish 0-19 campaign full of season-ending injuries and blowout losses, BYU put Coach Ingle out on the street. During his three years in basketball's wilderness, he performed a series of odd jobs to provide for his wife and five children -- including carpet salesman, TV pitchman, and stand-up comic. Coach Ingle's second chance finally came at Kennesaw State University, a small college near Atlanta, where he took the Owls from utter mediocrity to the Division II National Championship in just four years.

With a foreword by Basketball Hall of Famer Hubie Brown, "I Don't Mind Hitting Bottom, I Just Hate Dragging" will entertain, motivate and inspire. It is the engaging and unique story of a life full of resilience, perseverance, faith and family... told by a man the Deseret News once called "the Will Rogers of basketball."

Thomas Rubick, R.I.P.

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:56:00 -0700

Thomas Rubick, "Return of the Return" - self-portrait ©
I lost my sensei today.

Thomas Rubick was my primary graphic design professor when I lived in Oregon, he was the best teacher I ever had, and he passed away Sunday morning just before 8 a.m. Pacific time. He had brain cancer; he and his doctors thought he had it beat with chemo this past summer, but it came back much worse once autumn arrived. I've promised to always speak of him in the present tense, a high respect afforded only the greatest of artists, but I can do so only when it doesn't end up confusing the timeline.

When he died, it was three hours later here on the East Coast, and what I was spending my Sunday morning doing was -- of all things -- drawing a three-panel cartoon on a bristol pad. I was having trouble rendering an expressive hand gesture, and I was thinking about him. I was remembering a time back in school when I stayed up all night on a deadline and completely screwed up an illustration by putting somebody's thumb where the pinky would be. Thomas made me draw 50 hands if I wanted to save my grade. Twelve years later, wearing through the pad with pencil scratches and eraser snibbles, I could swear I felt pressure coming from over my shoulder.

I didn't find out until much later in the day that he had died.

This wasn't a random spiritual experience or anything. I've been thinking a lot about Thomas for the past seven months, and I wrote extensively about him here back in March. Mostly, I've been racked with regret that I didn't keep in better touch beyond annual three-paragraph Christmas cards (his were always signed, "Your Sensei"), and that I never figured out the proper way to say farewell while I still could. But that's what people do. We're programmed to take things for granted, to forget about things when they're present and abundant, to despair and panic when their scarcity and absence become evident.

Heroes for the Desperate

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:17:25 -0700

Human loneliness, and the sheer desperation that too much of it inevitably causes, is the 21st Century's most potent and powerful driver of everyday action in the First World. I'm convinced of it. Nearly all bad life-changing decisions come from wild and selfish desires for human connection, and our municipal court hallways are littered with the endings and by-products of desperate acts: gang shit, quickie divorces, restraining orders, and children of ridiculous unions cursed at and by birth.

None of this fits into the narrative structure we've commonly accepted as entertaining or enlightening -- except maybe for the shows on the teevee down at the laundromat during which viewers are invited to pick a side whilst ignoring the larger picture. There's no place in Joseph Campbell's hero-story arc for a journey that ends in a victory over desperation; it tends to be a second-act problem for Good Guys, who are saved by quest completion, religion or a Good Woman. It's a first-act issue for villains.

The ability to refrain from making stupid decisions is not, sadly, considered a superpower. They'll never make a movie out of any of those old German novels in which the protagonist achieves a victory over a baser self by way of internal monologue, or from Saul Bellow's Herzog. As a result, there's no real cultural roadmap for breaking the desperation cycle, no hero to turn to. Is this, too, something the internet and its new complex media can help with?

(Image via DTMM)

How To Be an Internet Superstar

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:49:20 -0700

Here's a real Debbie Downer way to start a conversation: how many of your blog readers, Twitter followers and Facebook friends will come to your real-life funeral? There have been a lot or recent studies and magazine articles trying to make sense of new evolutionary shifts in 21st Century interpersonal communication, but I'm not paid by the word and didn't feel like pussyfooting around. Someday, you and I are going to be just as dead as 18th Century people. We'll be remembered, or we won't, and we'll each have our own lasting legacy based on our contributions -- that's an eternal equation that's not going to change for anything, not even MySpace. The modern way to make online friends with virtual strangers is to make soft, safe statements about popular topics. In June 2009, here are some good ones to start out with:

Iran's ruling government is bad
iPhones are cool, but AT&T's policies are bad
#inaperfectworld, cats would audibly speak in LOLcat language

All this will get you, however, is a tiny and anonymous place in a massive crowd, which can be a lonelier existential state than the emptiest room. Some internet-people rebel against this dejection by saying the exact opposite, in order to draw a sharp reaction. Examples include, "Ahmadinejad is awesome!" and "I like killing kitties with my gun." These people are called trolls, which is a bad name for them because there isn't anything particularly fearsome, powerful or Norse about them. They're just dicks.

So Sad

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:40:42 -0700

Sure I love Twitter. I love teh tweets so much that I ditched my "personal" account and opted into a read-only experience. Twitter is history's most advanced way yet of obtaining small blips of useful information... anywhere you are. On the desktop, on the phone, in the van, in the can. I'm not so convinced that its legacy is as a interpersonal communication tool.

A lot of people are going to point to recent situations on Moldova and Iran as proof that Twitter has come of age, supplanted traditional journalism, changed the world. These people won't likely mention that week of endlessly cascading Swine Flu misinformation and paranoia last month, or the service's losing battle against truth verification and endless spam. Try this: read 1,000 scattered updates from #iranelection, then read a dispatch from a BBC reporter who's lived in and studied the region for years. After that, go ahead and tell me what the future of journalism is all about.

Smoke, The Wonder Horse: A Loving Tribute

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:54:25 -0700

Recently, I came across the 1936 B-Western California Mail on Turner Classic Movies. The late Dick Foran, who had the worst teeth of any of the singing cowboys, has top billing, and there's a thin plot about romantic jealousy, mistaken identity, and the end of the Pony Express.

But the real star is Smoke the Wonder Horse, a grey palomino with an complicated harness who's credited as "himself" and is responsible for all the major plot turns. I was watching the movie in the "background" while doing some divorce paperwork on the couch, but halfway through, Smoke turns on a bad guy who's stolen and mounted him, throws him off, then kills him with his front hooves before galloping off and leaving the man for dead. I was, like, "Whoa! I didn't see that coming!"

Then, in the climactic chase scene, Smoke runs down another black-hat and stomps him until he dies. It's shown in quick-cut edits (because of the Production Code, most likely), back and forth from close-ups of the dying man's frightened, bloodied face to the rearing horse shown from an upward perspective. The blood-curdling neighs and the screams signaled the day was saved. I leapt from the couch and gave the film a standing ovation, much as folks in the theater must have all those years ago!

Finally, I checked the Internet Movie Database so I could find out what other movies Smoke appeared in. He was in 13 other B-Westerns from 1936 through 1941, forgotten films like Empty Holsters and Winners of the West. He's credited as Dick's Horse, Red's Horse, Rod's Horse, Chip's Horse. The grey wonder-steed never found a regular rider, never had the opportunity to be Silver to any Ranger, lone or otherwise.

NYTimes.com: Sweeping The Clouds Away

Sun, 31 May 2009 23:57:38 -0700

NYTimes.com: Sweeping The Clouds Away:

The concept of the âinner cityâ â or âslums,â as The Times bluntly put it in its first review of âSesame Streetâ â was therefore transformed into a kind of Xanadu on the show: a…

WSJ.com: French Open: In Tennis, the Cool Kids Love Clay

Fri, 22 May 2009 06:16:00 -0700

WSJ.com: French Open: In Tennis, the Cool Kids Love Clay:

In the tennis world, labeling someone a “clay-court specialist” was once a backhanded compliment — code for inferior players often hailing from sunny climes in Spain and Argentina who outlasted…

MyFoxAtlanta: Top 50 Text Acronyms Parents Should Know

Thu, 21 May 2009 18:13:37 -0700

MyFoxAtlanta: Top 50 Text Acronyms Parents Should Know:

RUH

The Circle of No Life (via recovering lazyholic)

Wed, 20 May 2009 01:11:01 -0700

The Circle of No Life (via recovering lazyholic)

Sifl & Olly Retrospective

Sun, 17 May 2009 13:02:11 -0700

“Fake Blood”

“Prostitute Laundry”

“Claire Danes”

“Llama School”

“Dude’s House”

“Laser Eyes”

Some Birds Talk Too Much (via bpx)

Sat, 16 May 2009 19:59:41 -0700

Some Birds Talk Too Much (via bpx)

NYTimes.com: A New Book Details Jack Kerouac’s Obsession With Fantasy Baseball

Sat, 16 May 2009 06:53:56 -0700

NYTimes.com: A New Book Details Jack Kerouac’s Obsession With Fantasy Baseball:

Almost all his life Jack Kerouac had a hobby that even close friends and fellow Beats like Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs never knew about. He obsessively played a fantasy baseball game of…

Artist Unemployed, Will Take Any Job (via C-Monster)

Sat, 16 May 2009 01:52:17 -0700

Artist Unemployed, Will Take Any Job (via C-Monster)

Bloomberg.com: Crunch Fitness Bankruptcy Shows the Limits of Pole Dancing

Fri, 15 May 2009 21:52:53 -0700

Bloomberg.com: Crunch Fitness Bankruptcy Shows the Limits of Pole Dancing:

Crunch Fitness, the health-club chain with cardio-strip tease and pole-dancing classes, may have marked the end of an era when it filed for bankruptcy last week after about a 25 percent membership…

Brazil Poster, by Jeff Peppers

Fri, 15 May 2009 18:49:12 -0700

Brazil Poster, by Jeff Peppers

Twitter trending topics (via Meg Pickard)

Fri, 15 May 2009 15:09:08 -0700

Twitter trending topics (via Meg Pickard)

Nick's Flick Picks review of Holiday (1938)

Fri, 15 May 2009 10:52:25 -0700

Nick's Flick Picks review of Holiday (1938):

A lesser movie would invent some deus ex machina plot device to rearrange these characters where the final scene needs to find them. Holiday, enormously to its credit, never really does that. The…

IMDb: Holiday (1938)

Fri, 15 May 2009 10:52:25 -0700

IMDb: Holiday (1938)

ESPN Soccernet - Le Havre AC 2:4 St Etienne

Thu, 14 May 2009 06:44:07 -0700

ESPN Soccernet - Le Havre AC 2:4 St Etienne:

Le Havre’s relegation to Ligue 2 was confirmed tonight after a home defeat to fellow strugglers St Etienne. Mamadou Diallo and Massamba Sambou netted to put the hosts in the ascendancy after Ilan had…

SI.com - Campbell to leave Atlantic Sun

Thu, 14 May 2009 06:44:07 -0700

SI.com - Campbell to leave Atlantic Sun:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A person with knowledge of the decision says Campbell will leave the Atlantic Sun Conference and return to the Big South in the 2011-12 academic year.

LF Examiner: Is IMAX the next "New Coke"?

Tue, 12 May 2009 05:28:46 -0700

LF Examiner: Is IMAX the next "New Coke"?:

Yet this is the position in which Imax is now putting customers who pay $15 to see Eagle Eye: The IMAX Experience at New York Cityâs new AMC Empire 25 IMAX digital theater, with its 28x58-foot…

My Life With Editors (via christophniemann.com)

Mon, 11 May 2009 04:08:20 -0700

My Life With Editors (via christophniemann.com)

Wikipedia: Peter Herbolzheimer

Sun, 10 May 2009 10:25:25 -0700

Wikipedia: Peter Herbolzheimer:

Peter Herbolzheimer (* December 31, 1935 in Bucharest) is a German jazz trombonist and bandleader.

Dear Mom, Thanks a Bunch

Sun, 10 May 2009 08:14:54 -0700

Dear Mom, Thanks a Bunch

“Thank You For Your Mother” @ Tokyo Disneyland (via...

Sun, 10 May 2009 05:14:24 -0700

“Thank You For Your Mother” @ Tokyo Disneyland (via Japan Probe)

Excellent Birds

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:28:13 -0700

I like the Twitter a lot. I live-Twittered 109 college basketball games last season, and I've even created several Twitter robots. One of them has sports scores from America, and another one has soccer results from places that are not America. I even made a special robot that tells me what the weather's going to be today where I live. I like Twitter so much I own a Fail Whale t-shirt to help support the artist who drew it. I've been on Twitter long enough that my KyleWhale avatar is usually somewhere near the top of follower lists ranked by tenure. In that time, I've defined my relationship to Twitter, as one must eventually do with any technology, and I've made my decisions about what it is.

Millions of other people have made that decision for themselves, too. Twitter is telegrams without the news, a ball-point pen, a subway platform conversation, maybe even the second coming of the telephone itself. Twitter challenges creative folks to shoehorn big thoughts into 140 characters, and it's a way for others to consume celebrity culture in unprecedented ways. What's fascinating to me is that such a uncomplicated data construct is capable of being so many different things to so many different people.

My Napoleon Dynamite Pilgrimage

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:47:53 -0800

On the evening of New Year's Day, I was sitting in a hotel room in Pocatello, Idaho, flipping around the channels, and "Napoleon Dynamite" was on E!. It was an amazing feeling -- watching the best movie ever made about Idaho in Idaho. It's been five years since it was made for $400K and made over 100 times its costs back, but everybody's over it because in America, sensations die easy. Napoleon's legacy lives on well into 2009, however, because he's screwing up the Netflix Prize.

During one of the 379 commercial breaks, I checked the map to see how close I was to the town where the film was shot. Too close not to make a pilgrimage, it turned out. On my way south to Utah, I slid off the interstate down the one-lane mountain road to the small town of Preston. I'm not the first to make the trip, and it's to the point where it's organized religion, but my trip was flippin' sweet anyway.

The Olympics This Week - December 1, 2008

Kyle Whelliston — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:08:47 -0800

We're coming up on 14 months to go until Vancouver, and those who laid out hundreds for VIP ticket packages are finding it difficult to find places to stay. The recently-held Beijing Olympics featured no problems with hotel shortages due to the Chinese government's highly restrictive visa rules, but the recent Olympic tradition of skyrocketing lodging costs will return when the Winter Games commence in February 2010.

Also, the Olympic year 2008 is coming to a close. For those in the United States (or with a web proxy) looking to get back on "the bus" and relive as much of the Beijing Games as possible: the revolutionary free on-demand service that offers thousands of hours of international-feed broadcasts will be shutting down on December 31. You have one month left.

Watching the events of four months ago may remind you of one of the few failures of Beijing 2008, and probably the difference between "remarkable games" and "the best ever." The events were technically sold out, but pictures sent around the world showed thousands upon thousands of empty seats. The International Olympic Committee is taking steps to make sure this doesn't happen again, with the added challenge of a global financial crisis that, if it lasts, will surely depress ticket sales for London 2012. Last week, IOC and LOCOG officials met in London to mull over lessons learned from Beijing.

IOC higher-ups, while generally praising Beijing's efforts, are still positive about the chances for London to pull off a successful festival in four years, despite any and all financial problems that will surely come the organizers' way. In a key psychological boost, London's first venue specifically constructed for the Olympics has been completed -- a US$10m marina on the south coast of England has been completed to accomodate the sailing competition.

When London 2012 does arrive, it will be short a few sports. Most know about the banishment of baseball and softball from the Olympic menu, but one of the classic yet underloved events will be missing a discipline. Modern pentathlon, the only sport on the program invented by the modern Games' founder, will be cut to four in the name of streamlining and lowered attention spans. Shooting and running will be combined into a single event.

And it won't get much attention or press until the event actually occurs, but the inaugural Youth Olympic Games are less just nine months away, to be held in Singapore. The bidding is now open for the second edition, to be held in the interim year between London and the as-yet-determined 2016 host. Next week, the IOC will announce the first Youth Winter Olympics host, either Kuopio, Finland or two-time Winter Olympic host Innsbruck, Austria.

Innsbruck hosted in 1976, stepping in when Denver voters rejected a bond measure that would fund the event, won in a 29-20 decision over Sion, Switzerland. Now, more than three decades later, the rapidly-growing Colorado city has begun the process to bid for the 2018 Winter Games. At this point, Denver's bid looks like a 50-50 proposition. If Chicago wins the 2016 Summer Games (a proposition buoyed by local Barack Obama winning the U.S. presidency, then lobbying actively for the bid), Denver's chances are likely dashed. If 2016 goes to Madrid, Tokyo or Rio, Denver 2018 would be a virtual certainty.

Finally, a mascot controversy. Vancouver 2010 originally designated Mukmuk the marmot as a "sidekick" instead of a fully accredited furry ambassador to the upcoming Winter Olympics, relegated passing out literature and cheering in the organizing committee's official videos. Many Canadians complained that Mukmuk is the only real, actual animal (a trio of sasquatch, “sea-bear” and spirit were selected), and for a long time, there was no way for fans and Facebook friends to take a little Mukmuk home. But now, finally, there is merchandise available.

The Olympics This Week - November 3, 2008

Kyle Whelliston — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:44:56 -0800

We're three months beyond the highly successful Beijing Games, but there's still plenty of developments in the Olympic world -- there's a Winter Games coming soon, after all. Here's some sports-related news as we approach Vancouver 2010.

ICE HOCKEY: Few historically successful teams are as tied to their national icon as the Canadian men's hockey team. Displaying the maple leaf, Canada built the first dynasty in the sport, winning six of the first seven gold medals awarded. After the era of Soviet dominance and the rise of European hockey powers like Sweden and the Czech Republic, the country stormed to the 2002 Olympic championship, with the leaf proudly emblazoned on their chests.

When the team, masterminded by Detroit Red Wings hero Steve Yzerman, takes the ice in their home country 15 months from now, it's unlikely that they'll be wearing the leaf. The IOC has long had a rule the forbids federations displaying their logos, but Beijing 2008 was the first crackdown. The Brazilian football team, representing a country trying to sway votes for the 2016 games, wore plain shirts instead of their national uniforms. Needless to say, Canadians aren't happy.

"I can't believe that they're taking a chunk of history, especially when we're hosting it in our country," said Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson. "They're putting Team Canada at a disadvantage in its own country.

FIGURE SKATING: The most marquee of marquee events at the Winter Games lately has been figure skating, most specifically the women's singles. A possible leading indicator of the results occurred at the recently-completed Skate America competition, held in a country that has appeared on the medal stand every cycle since 1948 and has claimed three of the past five gold medals thanks to Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes. But in Everett, Washington, the United States was blown out, with South Korea's Kim Yu-Na dominating the competition and Japan claimed the other two podium positions. Kim, the 2006 world junior champion looks like the early favorite for 2010, and would be the first medalist for her country in the sport. Here's her short program from the 2007 world championships.

SPEED SKATING: Two weekends ago, a World Cup short-track event that helped break in the venue that will host that competition in 2010 -- the first test event of the Vancouver runup. Canadians used the home-ice advantage to win eight medals -- since the sport debuted in 1994, Canada has claimed 20 Olympic medals, tied with China behind powerful South Korea (29, 17 gold). American five-time medalist Apolo Anton Ohno, perhaps the world's most popular short-tracker, was bumped around and edged out in the 1000m final by Canadian Charles Hamelin.

SOFTBALL: Two stick-and-ball sports that are popular in the United States but few other areas, baseball and softball, were eliminated from the Games' program and won't appear in 2012. But with two open spots that will be filled when the IOC meets in Copenhagen next summer, softball is lobbying for re-entry against golf, karate, sevens rugby, squash and roller sports. Its strategy, slowly being rolled out with its members, is to completely break its ties with baseball.

“This move will prevent some of the confusion that exists surrounding softball’s links with other sports,” ISF president Don Porter said in a statement Thursday, adding that all members should be independent within two years. “We’re confident that all our national federations are strong enough to stand on their own.”

In Lausanne, the capital of the Olympic Movement, IOC president Jacques Rogge is going about his campaign for a second term (an uncontested one), and in a press conference last week announced that the continued pursuit of doping cheats will be his top priority when re-elected next summer in Copenhagen to serve through the Sochi 2014 Winter Games. He also claimed that the governing body's finances are solid, despite a worldwide credit crunch that has affected plans for both Sochi and London 2012. But he was cautious to claim smooth sailing for the IOC. “It would be naive and shortsighted to say that nothing will happen. Yes, the situation is so volatile that it is too soon to draw conclusions,” he said.

Rogge noted that the Vancouver 2010 financial situation looked sound, helped in large part by strong early ticket sales. Expensive VIP packages being sold in the campaign's first phase are sold out,

In the city where the following Winter Games will be held, Sochi, Russia, mayor Vladimir Afanasenkov has resigned. The reason has nothing to do with the preparations or the associated financial trouble, he is leaving office due to health problems. Dzhambulat Khatuov, formerly mayor of the neighboring town of Armavir, will take over -- he may be the one who accepts the Olympic flag in 2010 at the Closing Ceremony.

No weekly update would be complete with some drug news, but this is a more positive development. As a followup from an earlier story, the 300 tests from Beijing 2008 that had been reported missing by the World Anti-Doping Agency were located, and all were negative. The lab temporarily lost them.

Photo © Icon/SMI

The Olympics This Week - October 28, 2008

Kyle Whelliston — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:17:47 -0700

As has been the case over the past month, the biggest news about the Olympics has had less to do with sports and is primarily concerned primarily with financial matters, in the midst of a global economic downturn. Falling oil prices have hurt the Russian economy, which could end up impacting plans for the Sochi 2104 Winter Games. The organizers of London 2012 are scrambling to change venues for certain sports and having difficulty finding available funds as the credit markets remain tight.

The Olympic Delivery Authority and developer Lend Lease Corp. haven't secured bank financing for the 1 billion-pound Olympic Village, a 3,000-apartment complex where athletes will stay during the games, and a 400 million-pound broadcast center to be built by a group led by Carillion Plc.

2012: But it's not all gloom and doom in England as the countdown to the next Summer Games goes on. Tessa Jowell, the minister in charge of Games preparation, maintains London 2012 will be "economic gold in a time of economic need." And one of the country's greatest exports, rock music, will play as key a role in the Opening Ceremony that it did in the preview in Beijing two months ago. Reportedly, the Rolling Stones will play the open, along with David Bowie, Elton John, Phil Collins, Sting and others -- creating the largest rock supergroup in history. Mick Jagger will be 69 years old when the Games begin.

And one of the most important part of a modern Olympics is in the incubation phase. Organizers have put out the call to Great Britain's creative community to begin submitting their interest as design consultants for the yet-to-be-determined London 2012 mascots. Parties are welcome to contact LOCOG through the organizers' Business Network.

2016: The race to host the Games of the XXXI Olympiad may be defined by the initial negatives of its participants. Consider all of this: the Asian bid from Tokyo is hurt somewhat by the time proximity to this year's Games -- there were five festivals between Tokyo 1964 and Seoul 1988, and another six between that and Beijing 2008, testament to the IOC's desire to spread the Games around the globe. Madrid, a well-regarded close call for 2012 and boasting nearly a full set of venues already, could suffer from the same dynamic, as it would be the third European Games in a row after London and Sochi.

Rio's chances might be dampened by Brazil's hosting of the World Cup in 2014, and hosting both in the space of two years would be an immense burden on the country's economy. Then there's Chicago -- perhaps the frontrunner by proxy, and a city that would receive a major boost if hometown boy Barack Obama wins the United States presidency next week. Active support from heads of state have been key to Olympic bids (Vladimir Putin of Russia's political help to the Sochi 2014 bid the most recent example), which could counteract the chilly relations between the IOC and the U.S. Olympic Committee over money issues.

Chicago will also be the first stop on the IOC's group tour of the four 2016 finalists next spring.

The IOC evaluation commission will visit Chicago from April 4-7, followed by trips to Tokyo from April 16-19, Rio de Janeiro from April 29-May 2 and Madrid from May 5-8. The dates were announced Wednesday by the IOC. The 13-person panel, headed by Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco, will meet with bid leaders and city officials and tour the venue sites during the visits.

Also, there were some controversial comments by Canadian IOC member and Vancouver 2010 board member Dick Pound in a French-language interview during the Beijing Games. Roughly translated:

"We must not forget that 400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages, with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European descent, while in China, we're talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization," he said.

Native advocacy groups, a bloc that organizers have taken pains to include in the Winter Games' runup, derided the comments as racist, and Pound, a former IOC vice president, issued an apology, claiming that his use of the multi-definition word sauvages was lost in translation. Some did not accept the apology, and pushed their case to the IOC. Last week, the Olympic governing body ruled out an inquiry.

In Lausanne, Switzerland, the Olympic Movement's capital city, IOC president Jacques Rogge made it official last week and sent a letter seeking a second term. It's not expected that anyone will oppose him, and with the organization flush with cash and coming off a strong Olympic cycle, he's assured of a walkover election next year to add a four-year term to his current eight-year stint.

The Olympics This Week - October 20, 2008

Kyle Whelliston — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:29:20 -0700

Another week goes by, technically the eleventh of the 29th Olympiad if you prefer that type of calendar. Vancouver 2010 is just over 15 months away, and in less than a year (October 2, 2009, to be exact) the IOC will name a 2016 host at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen. Word comes that Mexico will stage its own mini-Olympics (presumably with the blessing of the International Olympic Committee) to coincide with its bicentennial. And don't forget about the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games over 12 days in August 2010, one of IOC president Jacques Rogge's favorite pet projects. Those will be held in Singapore.

2016: Those four finalists -- Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo -- are ramping up their bids for the long home stretch. Due to IOC anti-corruption measures put in place after the Salt Lake 2002 bid scandal, IOC members cannot make official visits to any of the aspirant cities. So the organizing committees have to pack up and proclaim their cases around the world, at places like the upcoming Africa National Olympic Committee secretary generals' conference in Kampala, Uganda.

And they're using the media in whatever ways they can: with a press release last week, the Madrid 2016 group proclaimed itself a "safe choice" in the midst of a global economic downturn -- they're also trying to downplay the city's growing reputation as a racist sports town. Atletico Madrid was forced to play its next two home Champions League football matches at neutral venues.

Atletico has denied all claims of racism, insisting that UEFA officials confused chants of ``Kun, Kun, Kun'' - in support of the club's striker Sergio Aguero, whose nickname is ``Kun'' - with monkey cries.

Tokyo, which scored highest of the four in the IOC's evaluation process earlier this year, received the backing of former French president Jacques Chirac last week. Chirac was in charge when Paris was narrowly defeated by London for the 2012 Games three years ago. And Chicago, in its first formal presentation as an 2016 Olympic finalist on Oct. 12, stressed the city's large Latino population in a regional meeting with IOC leaders in Acapulco. And Rio is working on a new high-capacity transit system it hopes will help land the coveted honor of hosting the Olympics after three missed attempts (1936, 2004, 2012).

2014: With the Sochi Winter Games just six and a half short years away (the happy winners are shown above at last year's Guatemala IOC session), Russia named Dmitry Kozak preparations manager for those Games. Russia Today visits the resort area and files an extended video report on local enthusiasm and venue construction.

2012: With bank failures and government bailouts occurring around the world, the London 2012 organizing committee (LOCOG) is trying to find ways to hold a sensibly-budgeted event in four years' time. It's true, as posited by U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Jim Scherr, that gigantic television deals make the Olympics fundamentally recession-proof, but host cities don't have the luxury of living fully inside that insulated bubble -- local morale was shaken by the news of a secret bailout of 95 million pounds for Olympic Village construction, and Wembley Arena may be taking on a larger role as a multi-sport venue. Another recent development is Sport England's plan to sell venues after the Games are over. Included in the sale will be temporary training pools for swimmers, and the entire water polo venue.

A source said: "Everything that is not screwed to the floor will form part of what can be sold off. The venues will be marketed as having had one careful owner."

Not all of London's financial news is of the down variety, however -- Cadbury has signed on to be a tier-two sponsor of the 2012 Games.

2010: The next major Olympic event will be held in Vancouver in February 2010, and the organizers announced that they ran a $40.5 million deficit in fiscal year 2008, after a $51.3 million surplus in the previous annum. The total budget for the Winter Games is $1.3 billion.

And in sports news...

While most of the statistics out of the Olympics have to do with medals, records, times and (in recent years) doping cases, here's another angle. The IOC released a report last week that stated 1,055 athletes were injured in Beijing two months ago -- that's one in every 10 participants. Most were leg and foot issues, and the details of the report showed which were the most likely sports to result in injury.

The sports most dangerous to Olympians' health were boxing, soccer, handball, field hockey, taekwondo and weightlifting. Each reported injuries to around one in seven athletes. Four sports reported that none of its athletes lost training or competition time: flatwater canoeing, diving, sailing and synchronized swimming.

Obviously, this doesn't takie into account the wounded pride of this blog's watchlisted Egyptian synchronized swimmers, who finished dead-last in every discipline.

And, of course, there's doping news too. In a story that looks small and innocuous now but may blow up into something bigger later, 300 drug tests from Beijing 2008 are missing, according to independent observers who filed a report to the World Anti-Doping Agency.

They also uncovered some surprising deviations from normal drug testing procedures, including the fact that the Beijing laboratory couldn't test for one banned substances - insulin. The observers noted that the samples would be stored for eight years and could be retested if the IOC deemed it necessary. Another concern was that the laboratory had failed to detect one of the quality control samples that had contained a prohibited substance.

But by far, the most sensational Olympic story of the past week, the one that made its way into mainstream news reporting, is that of Liu Zhihua. As vice-mayor of Beijing and head of coordinating Olympic venue construction, he was charged with accepting US $1.45 million in bribes -- and passing a portion of that to several mistresses -- before being fired in June of 2006. Over the weekend, his sentence was handed down: death.

Photo: Icon SMI

The Olympics This Week - October 13, 2008

Kyle Whelliston — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:25:52 -0700

The countdown to Vancouver 2010 is now just over 480 days, but there are always developments in the Olympic world. Here's the latest.

Nearly two months after China's Olympics, one of the host city's successful environmental experiments will be duplicated going forward. The smog that has covered Beijing since its rapid industry boom disappeared during the second week of the Games, thanks in large part to efforts to curb pollution by keeping half of the city's 3.3 million cars off the road. The city will fine drivers 100 yuan (US $14.70) if they break new rules that aim to keep one-fifth of automobiles off the road each weekday. For instance, cars with license plates ending in 1 or 6 must stay off the local highways.

Meanwhile, American network NBC-TV has posted an unspecified loss for its involvement in this year's Olympics. NBC paid $894 million to beam the images of Beijing 2008 back to the United States, and had earlier claimed $1 billion in advertising revenues from Beijing. With operating expenses decreased thanks to remote hosting and BOB's excellent coverage, this is likely a strategic loss.

The massive television rights fees that American networks pay are, undoubtedly, what has helped the Olympic Movement escape its low-budget ebb in the 1960's and 1970's and ushered in an age of Gigantic Games that began with Los Angeles 1984. The chief of that organizing committee, Peter Ueberroth, went on to become the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee, a position he recently relinquished. In his final speech as president, he made prominent mention of the United States' contributions to the cause.

"Who pays the bill for the world Olympic movement?" Ueberroth said Saturday in his final speech as USOC chairman. "Make no mistake about it. Starting in 1988, U.S. corporations have paid 60 percent of all the money, period. Be sure you all understand that. The rest of the world pays 40 percent. It’s pretty simple math."

Ueberroth's comments were in response to June statements by IOC officials that the USOC receives an "immoral amount of [Olympic revenues] compared to what other people get." "Who do they think they are?" asked Hein Verbruggen of the Netherlands. Either way, any IOC-USOC rift could damage the chances of Chicago's candidacy for hosting duties in 2016.

In competition news, more specifically doping developments, the IOC announced last week that it will keep all drug testing samples from 2008 until those 2016 Games are held. The IOC will also retest every sample it collected during the Beijing Olympics to check for a recently discovered blood-boosting drug named CERA, or Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator. It's believed that the drug is gaining favor with endurance athletes who are ditching the now-easily detectable EPO.

The governing body took 4,770 samples (3,801 urine and 969 blood) during the three weeks it superceded all sporting organizations. Six humans failed those tests.

"Our message is very clear. The IOC will not miss any opportunity to further analyse samples retroactively. We hope that this will work as a strong deterrent and make athletes think twice before cheating," said IOC President Jacques Rogge.

The vice president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, also has threatened to remove men's road cycling from the Olympic menu due to its long and growing history of EPO and CERA abuse.

It was definitely a busy week for the Olympic gatekeepers, as the IOC officially approved the venues for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. But the remainder of the world of the Games has been dealing with the rapidly-increasing global financial crisis. The London 2012 organizers have been forced to mull over the idea of cutting back on venue construction, as the credit crunch is "hitting the Olympics hard," according to John Armitt, the chairman of the London Delivery Authority. Temporary venues for basketball and shooting may be scrapped.

Despite current money problems, London mayor Boris Johnson is promising free hand-held television sets to visitors to the 2012 Games. Johnson hopes for an open and fun event, instead of what he refers to as "great soulless piazzas" of Beijing.

Finally, economic problems have sunk the bid of Tromsoe, Norway to host the 2018 Winter Games. It could be argued, successfully so, that the Lillehammer 1994 event marked a turnaround in the fortunes in the Olympic snow and ice festival, proof positive that a winter host city could balance a big budget and small-town warmth.

The Olympics This Week - October 6, 2008

Kyle Whelliston — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:13:32 -0700

With under 500 days until Vancouver 2010 and the London 2012 countdown moving past the 1400-day point, here's what's going on in the world of the Games this week.

LONDON 2012: Since the Closing Ceremony in Beijing, there have been major seismic shifts in the world financial markets, with credit dissolving and fortunes lost around the globe. These dynamics also affect the world of the Olympics, and the staging of future Games. The organizers of the next summer event four years from now are considering scaling back a bit, and with banking collapses as background, London's Olympic Board will meet this Thursday to discuss matters including privatization of some construction projects. The BBC's Mihir Bose explains:

Back in July, just before the Beijing Olympics and despite the gathering economic clouds, I was confidently told that the funding for the Village would be in place by August. Now it is clear that such plans are not ready and the developers will only be granted bank loans if they are underwritten by the government, making it the lender of last resort. It is worth knowing that the government has already pledged extra funding of its own, committing an additional £250m for the building of the Village.

For his part, IOC president Jacques Rogge doesn't believe that the current financial crisis will have a devastating effect on future Olympic planning. "No one has certainties today, but I am not pessimistic for the Olympic Games," he said last week.

We're one year away from London's first large-scale Olympic test event, the Gymnastics World Championships at the 02 Arena (formerly known as "The Dome") on the east side of the city.

VANCOUVER 2010: The next Olympic winter event are a mere 16 months away, so best to make plans now if you're attending. Last Friday, the ticket application system for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games opened, which will accept requests until Nov. 7. Here's the link.

The Vancouver festival will be the first for a new regime at the United States Olympic Committee, which elected a new chairman this past week. Larry Probst was one of the executives from the early days of video game company Electronic Arts, and helped grow the company into a $3 billion empire. Probst replaces former Coca-Cola executive Peter Ueberroth, best known for his successful organization of the Los Angeles 1984 Games which ushered in the age of Gigantic Olympics. The USOC brought him on in 2004 to help reorganize and streamline the national Olympic governing body.

And in sport-related news...

GYMNASTICS: One of the ongoing Beijing sagas in August was speculation that the Chinese women's gymnastic team, winners of the overall gold medal, was not made up of women at all. A decade-old rule prohibits gymnasts under 16 (achieved at any point during an Olympic year) to compete, and accusations flew about forged documents for several members, including He Kexin, who won the uneven bars in a tiebreaker decision over American all-around champion Nastia Liukin. Documents found on the internet suggested she was 14, but the Federation of International Gymnastics concluded that the documents presented by China were accurate after a six-week investigation.

"The FIG has shared its conclusions with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which originally requested the inquiry. It is considered that the case is now concluded," FIG said in the statement. "Originals of official documents received from the Chinese Gymnastics Association, specifically passports, identity cards and family booklets or 'Household Registers', confirm the ages of the athletes."

But the story's not over. After a check of the 2008 accreditation list, the focus switches to the 2000 Chinese team, which finished with bronze in Sydney behind Romania and Russia. Two of the gymnasts from that team, Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun, may not have been old enough to compete at the Olympics, according to the FIG.

Dong's official birthdate is listed as Jan. 20, 1983. But her accreditation information for the Beijing Olympics, where she worked as a national technical official, lists her birthdate as Jan. 23, 1986, said Andre Gueisbuhler, the FIG's secretary general. "If that document is the correct one, that would suggest she was 14 years old at the Sydney Olympic Games," Gueisbuhler said.

ATHLETICS: Over the weekend in Monte Carlo, the IAAF officially ratified the three sprint world records of Jamaica's Usain Bolt set in Beijing's Bird's Nest: 9.69 in the 100m, 19.30 in the 200m, and the 37.10 4x100m relay in which Bolt handed off to countryman and former World's Fastest Man Asafa Powell.

EQUESTRIAN: The fallout from the second consecutive Olympics with horse-doping scandals continues. Late last week, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) stripped Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa of the fifth-place finish of he and his horse Rufus from the 2008 jumping competition. The sad irony is that Pessoa finished in silver position in 2004, but was elevated to gold when Ireland's Cian O'Connor was found to have applied drugs to his mount. There were six drug cases after this year's Olympics, up from two four years ago.

Photo © Icon SMI

Paralympics Closing Ceremony: A Letter to the Future

Kyle Whelliston — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:50:44 -0700

As he had with the two Olympic ceremonies and the Paralympic opening, film director Zhang Yimou crafted a fourth distinctive and powerful show on the final night of these games. He had spoken of his desire to build "four ceremonies out of an organic whole," and this ceremony's theme touched on the paper and document themes touched on in the Opening Ceremony on 8/8/08, which now seems a lifetime ago.

The Paralympics' closing, like their opening 11 days ago, was preceded by the athletes' parade, a rare gesture that allowed them to watch the artistic portion, titled "A Letter to the Future." Millions of petals floated down from the Bird's Nest. And, as should have been expected, there were miles and miles of beautiful fireworks. The ceremony can be viewed in its entirety at this link, and many great wire service pictures can be seen at the New York Times website.

IOC president Jacques Rogge, in his address at the Olympic Closing Ceremony over three weeks ago, stopped short of calling Beijing 2008 the Greatest Games Ever. He chose instead to deliver nearly the same "truly exceptional Games" line that his predecessor Juan Antonio Samaranch had used at the end of the troubled, over-commercialized Atlanta 1996 event. International Paralympic Committee leader Philip Craven was far less reserved. "These are the greatest Paralympic Games ever," he said in his speech.

London will be the next host of this gigantic two-stage festival in four years' time when Beijing 2008's letter to the future finally arrives by post. While the city's Closing Ceremony presentation -- Leona Lewis, David Beckham and a bus full of grass -- met with decidedly mixed reviews in the next host country, a guitar player dressed up as a glam-rock version of the one-armed 1st Viscount Nelson (picture here) undoubtedly sent British cynics into paroxysms.

London mayor Boris Johnson, who was besieged by Chinese media for his hands-in-pocket, one-handed-flagbearing, open-jacket slouching at the Olympic closing, was on better behavior.

Yang Wei, a 10-year-old deaf Chinese child, signed the words "Sacred flame, you are burning in my heart; are you hearing me? I'm singing for you." And then the torch was extinguished, this time for good.

The final medal count for the 2008 Paralympics, ruled in every possible way by the host Chinese, follows. With the final fencing (dominated by China and Hong Kong), athletics and 5-a-side football events accounted for, 473 podium ceremonies were held over 11 days. A total of 1,431 medals were awarded, far more than the 958 given out at the Olympics last month for 302 events. The difference was due to many different events held for various disability classes -- for instance, there were five separate marathons held on the games' final day.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	89	70	52	211
2	Great Britain	42	29	31	102
3	United States	36	35	28	99
4	Ukraine	24	18	32	74
5	Australia	23	29	27	79
6	South Africa	21	3	6	30
7	Canada	19	10	21	50
8	Russia	18	23	22	63
9	Brazil	16	14	17	47
10	Spain	15	21	22	58
11	Germany	14	25	20	59
12	France	12	21	19	52
13	South Korea	10	8	13	31
14	Mexico	10	3	7	20
15	Tunisia	9	9	3	21
16	Czech Republic	6	3	18	27
17	Japan	5	14	8	27
18	Poland	5	12	13	30
19	Netherlands	5	10	7	22
20	Greece	5	9	10	24
21	Belarus	5	7	1	13
22	Iran	5	6	3	14
23	Cuba	5	3	6	14
24	New Zealand	5	3	4	12
24	Sweden	5	3	4	12
26	Hong Kong	5	3	3	11
27	Kenya	5	3	1	9
28	Italy	4	7	7	18
29	Egypt	4	4	4	12
30	Nigeria	4	4	1	9
31	Algeria	4	3	8	15
32	Morocco	4	1	2	7
33	Austria	4	1	1	6
34	Switzerland	3	2	6	11
35	Denmark	3	2	4	9
36	Ireland	3	1	1	5
37	Croatia	3	1	0	4
38	Azerbaijan	2	3	5	10
39	Slovakia	2	3	1	6
40	Finland	2	2	2	6
41	Thailand	1	5	7	13
42	Portugal	1	4	2	7
43	Norway	1	3	3	7
44	Cyprus	1	2	1	4
45	Latvia	1	2	0	3
46	Singapore	1	1	2	4
46	Venezuela	1	1	2	4
48	Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	2
49	Hungary	1	0	5	6
50	Chinese Taipei	1	0	1	2
50	Turkey	1	0	1	2
52	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
53	Israel	0	5	1	6
54	Angola	0	3	0	3
55	Jordan	0	2	2	4
56	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
56	Serbia	0	2	0	2
58	Argentina	0	1	5	6
59	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
60	Bulgaria	0	1	1	2
60	Iraq	0	1	1	2
60	Colombia	0	1	1	2
63	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	1	0	1
63	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
63	Papua New Guinea	0	1	0	1
63	Romania	0	1	0	1
63	United Arab Emirates	0	1	0	1
68	Lebanon	0	0	2	2
69	Belgium	0	0	1	1
69	Estonia	0	0	1	1
69	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
69	Laos	0	0	1	1
69	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
69	Namibia	0	0	1	1
69	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
69	Syria	0	0	1	1

(Photo credit: Reuters)

Paralympics Update, Day 10

Kyle Whelliston — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:26:03 -0700

Even if you didn't follow a second of the wheelchair basketball tournament, there's no misunderstanding the power of this storyline. Canada came in as the world's best team, winning gold medals in 2000 and 2004 and crushing all opposition. But plucky Australia, which had a rough start to the tournament in beating Brazil 73-72, ended up winning the opposite Group B, and methodically did away with Japan and Great Britain on its way to the gold medal game. Once there, they shocked the Canadians with a 72-60 win, their first title since 1996. Because every Australian national team is required (by law?) to have a nickname, these guys go by the name "the Rollers."

Today is the final day of the 2008 Paralympic Games. With 465 medal events complete, all that's left to do is wrap up the five-a-side football tourney (in which China and Brazil will square off) and fencing, and end the track meet at the Bird's Nest. As in the Olympics, the marathon closes the show, but here there are four separate marathons -- for blind and wheelchair athletes.

And then, the closing ceremony, which will take place tonight.

RUGBY: Australia only had one upset in them on Day 10. The United States, dominant in this sport but still stinging from an upset in the 2004 semis, rolled over the Aussies by a 53-44 score in the wheelchair rugby final. The other "redeem team" clung to a three-goal lead in the third quarter, but put the hammer down in the final eight-minute period.

After the game, co-captain Brian Kirkland (who had trouble containing his excitement in the final moments) talked about the accomplishment and the sport's growing profile.

"I've been playing this sport for 17 years, and it used to be that people had no idea what I did," he said. "But most definitely more and more people have become aware of it in the last few years. And these Paralympics in Beijing have done a lot for disabled sports in general, no question."

FOOTBALL: The seven-a-side football tournament (primarily for those with cerebral palsy) ended yesterday, and the Ukraine defeated Russia by a 2-1 count at one of the Olympic Green stadiums used for field hockey last month. The two teams dominated the rest of the field, outscoring their opposition by a combined 40-2 in pool play and neither yielded a goal in their respective semifinal. Ukraine successfully defended its 2004 championship, but needed a silver-goal overtime to win after a scoreless tie in regulation. Volodymyr Antonyuk, Ukraine's team captain, scored twice in the extra period.

China won the gold column at the Olympics last month, but its dominance was still open to interpretation due to the United States' lead in podium finishes. During the Paralympics, however, the host nation has left no doubt in any respect. With 20 overall medals won on Day 10 (seven gold), the Chinese team has more than doubled second-place Great Britain in golds, silvers and overall medals. China won 141 medals in Athens four years ago (63 gold), so this will be the second consecutive Paralympics at which they've won the medal race.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	87	68	52	207
2	Great Britain	42	29	31	102
3	United States	36	34	28	98
4	Ukraine	24	18	31	73
5	Australia	22	29	27	78
6	South Africa	21	3	5	29
7	Canada	19	10	21	50
8	Russia	18	23	21	62
9	Spain	15	21	22	58
10	Brazil	15	13	17	45
11	Germany	14	25	20	59
12	France	11	21	19	51
13	South Korea	10	8	13	31
14	Tunisia	9	9	3	21
15	Mexico	9	3	7	19
16	Czech Republic	6	3	18	27
17	Poland	5	12	13	30
18	Japan	5	12	7	24
19	Netherlands	5	10	7	22
20	Greece	5	9	10	24
21	Belarus	5	7	1	13
22	Iran	5	6	3	14
23	Cuba	5	3	6	14
24	New Zealand	5	3	4	12
24	Sweden	5	3	4	12
26	Kenya	5	3	1	9
27	Hong Kong	5	2	3	12
28	Italy	4	7	5	16
29	Egypt	4	4	4	12
30	Nigeria	4	4	1	9
31	Algeria	4	3	8	15
32	Morocco	4	1	2	7
33	Denmark	3	2	4	9
34	Austria	3	1	1	5
34	Ireland	3	1	1	5
36	Croatia	3	1	0	4
37	Azerbaijan	2	3	5	10
38	Slovakia	2	3	1	6
39	Switzerland	2	2	5	9
40	Finland	2	2	2	6
41	Thailand	1	4	7	12
42	Portugal	1	4	2	7
43	Norway	1	3	3	7
44	Cyprus	1	2	1	4
45	Latvia	1	2	0	3
46	Singapore	1	1	2	4
46	Venezuela	1	1	2	4
48	Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	2
49	Hungary	1	0	5	6
50	Chinese Taipei	1	0	1	2
50	Turkey	1	0	1	2
52	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
53	Israel	0	5	1	6
54	Angola	0	3	0	3
55	Jordan	0	2	2	4
56	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
56	Serbia	0	2	0	2
58	Argentina	0	1	4	5
59	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
60	Bulgaria	0	1	1	2
60	Iraq	0	1	1	2
62	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	1	0	1
62	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
62	Papua New Guinea	0	1	0	1
62	Romania	0	1	0	1
62	United Arab Emirates	0	1	0	1
67	Lebanon	0	0	2	2
68	Belgium	0	0	1	1
68	Colombia	0	0	1	1
68	Estonia	0	0	1	1
68	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
68	Laos	0	0	1	1
68	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
68	Namibia	0	0	1	1
68	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
68	Syria	0	0	1	1

(Photo credit: Xinhua)

Paralympics Update, Day 9

Kyle Whelliston — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:03:26 -0700

Wheelchair rugby is a four-on-four sport designed for quadriplegics. It's a wince-inducing, teeth-grinding sport to watch -- all the repeated metal-on-metal scrapes and collisions with the specially-designed wheelchairs that look like they have Roman shields attached to the wheels.

The United States team, profiled in the aptly-titled documentary Murderball, escaped the same fate that gave that movie an unhappy ending. In Athens 2004, a semifinal loss sent them to bronze. On Monday, the U.S. murderballers edged Great Britain in the 2008 semis with a 35-32 win (above). They'll face Australia in the final.

A total of 428 of the 472 medal events have been completed. On the penultimate day of the Paralympics, finals will be held in athletics (including Oscar Pistorius' run at a 100/200/400 treble), seven-a-side football, powerlifting, table tennis, fencing, and wheelchair team sports basketball (featuring the juggernaut Canadians) and the aforementioned rugby tournament.

VOLLEYBALL: Iran had a difficult sporting weekend -- between the basketball team's sudden and controversial withdrawal from the tourney to the country's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordering a full investigation into the "miserable" performance of Iranian athletes at last month's Olympics (two medals, one gold in taekwondo), there hasn't been much good news. On Monday, there was nothing miserable about the Islamic republic's gold medal victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the men's sitting volleyball tournament in a 25-22, 18-25, 17-16 three-setter. It was Iran's fifth Paralympic gold medal in its history.

BASKETBALL: The United States women's team, showing the same level of dominance as has their able-bodied compatriots, won its second consecutive Paralympic gold medal with a 50-38 win over Germany. No German player scored more than six points in the Americans' defensive lockdown.

TENNIS: The wheelchair version of this sport is played on a regulation court, and allows two bounces instead of one. The Beijing games were another triumph for Esther Vergeer, a Dutch player who had full use of her body until age six, but lost control of her legs when surgery for a brain hemorrhage went wrong. As she grew older, Vergeer became a powerful wheelchair tennis player. Vergeer and partner Jiske Griffioen lost in the gold medal doubles match on Day 9. But after winning the women's singles, she has a match streak of 349, making her one of the most dominant athletes in the world.

With two days remaining in the 2008 Paralympics, China has built an unassailable lead over the rest of the field. Second-place Great Britain did not hear its anthem played once on Day 9, but the host nation collected 17 gold medals to nearly double the Brits' total. China collected 28 total medals yesterday.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	80	60	47	187
2	Great Britain	41	27	28	96
3	United States	33	33	26	92
4	Ukraine	23	17	29	69
5	Australia	20	26	25	71
6	Canada	18	9	20	47
7	Russia	17	20	20	57
8	South Africa	17	2	5	24
9	Spain	14	20	21	55
10	Germany	13	23	20	56
11	Brazil	13	12	16	41
12	France	10	21	15	46
13	Tunisia	9	9	2	20
14	South Korea	9	8	13	30
15	Mexico	8	3	7	18
16	Czech Republic	6	3	17	26
17	Poland	5	12	13	30
18	Netherlands	5	10	7	22
19	Greece	5	9	8	22
20	Cuba	5	3	6	14
21	New Zealand	5	3	4	12
21	Sweden	5	3	4	12
23	Kenya	5	3	1	9
24	Japan	4	10	7	21
25	Italy	4	7	5	16
26	Belarus	4	7	1	12
27	Egypt	4	3	4	11
28	Algeria	4	2	7	13
29	Iran	3	5	1	9
30	Nigeria	3	3	1	7
31	Denmark	3	2	4	9
32	Hong Kong	3	2	2	7
33	Morocco	3	1	2	6
34	Austria	3	1	0	4
34	Croatia	3	1	0	4
36	Azerbaijan	2	3	4	9
37	Switzerland	2	2	4	8
38	Slovakia	2	2	1	5
39	Ireland	2	1	1	4
40	Portugal	1	4	2	7
41	Thailand	1	3	5	9
42	Norway	1	3	3	7
43	Cyprus	1	2	1	4
44	Latvia	1	2	0	3
45	Finland	1	1	2	4
45	Singapore	1	1	2	4
47	Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	2
48	Hungary	1	0	5	6
49	Venezuela	1	0	2	3
50	Chinese Taipei	1	0	1	2
50	Turkey	1	0	1	2
52	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
53	Israel	0	5	1	6
54	Jordan	0	2	1	3
55	Angola	0	2	0	2
55	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
55	Serbia	0	2	0	2
58	Argentina	0	1	3	4
59	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
60	Iraq	0	1	1	2
61	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	1	0	1
61	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
61	Papua New Guinea	0	1	0	1
61	Romania	0	1	0	1
61	United Arab Emirates	0	1	0	1
66	Lebanon	0	0	2	2
67	Belgium	0	0	1	1
67	Bulgaria	0	0	1	1
67	Colombia	0	0	1	1
67	Estonia	0	0	1	1
67	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
67	Laos	0	0	1	1
67	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
67	Namibia	0	0	1	1
67	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
67	Syria	0	0	1	1

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

Paralympics Update, Day 8

Kyle Whelliston — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:49:43 -0700

Goalball is a three-a-side version of handball for blind athletes, and makes use of a ball with bells inside so that competitors can judge its position. Much like five-a-side football, players with partial sight are outfitted with blindfolds to ensure an even match.

Yesterday, the United States claimed the title in the women's tournament, overcoming hosts China (including Chen Fengqing and Wang Ruixue, above) by a 6-5 count in sudden death. The final was surprising for the lack of Canada's presence, a team which had won the previous two Paralympic championships but lost in the semis 1-0 to China. On the men's side, the home team was far more fortunate, beating favored Lithuania in a come-from-behind 9-8 win.

After eight days of Paralympic competition, 377 events have been completed with 1,146 total medals awarded. Monday will see finals in athletics, powerlifting, table tennis, basketball and fencing. It's also the final day for tennis, archery, shooting and the swim meet. There are three days left until the Closing Ceremony.

BASKETBALL: It's the final stage of the wheelchair hoops tournament, one that's been overshadowed by Iran's decision to forfeit its final games instead of playing enemy Israel. Powerful and undefeated Canada, seeking its third consecutive Paralympic gold medal, has moved to the final after a 69-62 victory over the United States in double overtime. The champs were down 25-12 after one quarter, but used the last three to cut into the U.S. lead. Australia, which beat Great Britain 67-54 in the other semi, will attempt to end the Canadian gold streak.

VOLLEYBALL: The United States-China women's goalball final was close, but the gold medal match between those two countries in women's sitting volleyball certainly wasn't. The Chinese team successfully defended its Athens 2004 title with a convincing straight-set win over the Americans, 25-14, 25-19 and 25-15. The match was played in front of a boisterous crowd of 5,000, which saw the homestanding red-clads take full advantage of a series of U.S. errors.

These games will be remembered (among those who will remember them) for all the right reasons -- inspiring athletes, incredible organization, and the kind of standout stars that any event of this type needs. Natalie du Toit of South Africa won her fifth swimming gold on Sunday with a close victory in the 50m freestyle, and graced the Watercube with three world-record performances this week. Double-leg amputee Oscar Pistorius has lit up the track at the Bird's Nest with an electrifying sprint double.

But these high points should not obscure the need for reform in the Paralympics system. The athletes are tested and classified as per their disabilities, primarily on official diagnosis from physicians. But they are subject to reclassification or disqualification at any time at the discretion of observers representing the sporting federations. On several occasions, this divide between doctors and experts has resulted in chaos.

Irish seven-a-side football player Derek Malone, after a particularly productive game last week, was removed from the team by the classification cops, who deemed his cerebral palsy as not impactful enough on his playing ability. Australian track and field athlete Jess Gallagher was then judged not blind enough to compete in her class, and was asked to leave the games.

But the saddest episode was that of British discus thrower Rebecca Chin. The 16-year-old won a silver medal in the F37/38 event, after being reclassified to the cerebral palsy division after a rediagnosis of a balance problem before leaving for Beijing. She had originally been scheduled to compete in a division for lower limb impediments. But after her medal ceremony, the International Paralympic Committee declassified Chin altogether and took away her medal. An IPC spokesperson said that she "showed significantly different skill sets and subsequently the chief classifier lodged a protest under exceptional circumstances."

Tim Jones, manager of the Great Britain delegation, commented to the Daily Mail yesterday.

"Top line is that she is a 16-year-old and I don't want her hung out to dry by the process. She has been an absolute failure of the system. She is taking it as well as you could hope."

The bottom line is that the Paralympic Games want to be taken seriously, and is trying to keep its sports purely for those who are disenfranchised by the Olympics due to physical ailments. But reclassifications, snap judgements and medal snatchings are hopelessly farcical. Perhaps the Paralympics will learn the lessons the Olympics took years to understand in regards to amateurism -- set simple rules, forget the minutiae that detracts from the competitions, and never change your policies between ceremonies.

On the eighth day, China strengthened its grip on the medal count by winning 14 golds and 29 overall. But the biggest move in the standings was made by Canada, which jumped from 10th to sixth with nine medals in one day, five of them gold. Two of those were claimed by wheelchair racer Chantal Petitcler, who won the 200m and the 800m races in the T54 division, upping her personal haul to four championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	63	54	42	159
2	Great Britain	41	23	26	90
3	United States	30	26	24	80
4	Ukraine	20	15	24	59
5	Australia	18	26	24	68
6	Canada	17	8	18	43
7	South Africa	17	2	5	24
8	Russia	16	20	18	54
9	Germany	13	20	20	53
10	Spain	13	19	17	49
11	Brazil	12	9	14	35
12	South Korea	8	6	11	25
13	France	7	20	12	39
14	Mexico	7	2	7	16
15	Tunisia	6	8	2	16
16	Czech Republic	6	2	13	21
17	Cuba	5	3	6	14
18	New Zealand	5	3	4	12
19	Sweden	5	2	3	10
20	Kenya	5	2	1	8
21	Italy	4	6	4	14
22	Belarus	4	6	1	11
23	Egypt	4	3	4	11
24	Algeria	4	1	5	10
25	Poland	3	10	11	24
26	Japan	3	9	6	18
27	Netherlands	3	8	7	18
28	Greece	3	6	5	14
29	Nigeria	3	3	1	7
30	Denmark	3	1	4	8
31	Austria	3	1	0	4
32	Iran	2	5	1	8
33	Switzerland	2	2	4	8
34	Hong Kong	2	1	1	4
34	Ireland	2	1	1	4
34	Morocco	2	1	1	4
37	Croatia	2	1	0	3
38	Portugal	1	4	1	6
39	Thailand	1	3	5	9
40	Azerbaijan	1	3	4	8
41	Norway	1	3	3	7
42	Cyprus	1	2	1	4
42	Slovakia	1	2	1	4
44	Latvia	1	2	0	3
45	Finland	1	1	2	4
46	Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	2
47	Hungary	1	0	5	6
48	Venezuela	1	0	2	3
49	Chinese Taipei	1	0	1	2
49	Turkey	1	0	1	2
51	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
52	Israel	0	5	1	6
53	Jordan	0	2	1	3
54	Angola	0	2	0	2
54	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
54	Serbia	0	2	0	2
57	Argentina	0	1	3	4
58	Singapore	0	1	2	3
58	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
60	Iraq	0	1	0	1
60	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
60	Romania	0	1	0	1
63	Lebanon	0	0	2	2
64	Belgium	0	0	1	1
64	Bulgaria	0	0	1	1
64	Colombia	0	0	1	1
64	Estonia	0	0	1	1
64	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
64	Laos	0	0	1	1
64	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
64	Namibia	0	0	1	1
64	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
64	Syria	0	0	1	1

(Photo credit: Xinhua)

Paralympics Update, Day 7

Kyle Whelliston — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:18:31 -0700

With seven days in the books, 322 events have been completed -- that's already more than the 2008 Olympics registered, and there are four days left in the Paralympics. The 1000th medal from this event will be awarded sometime today. Sunday will be the busiest day of the games, with medal events in archery, athletics, cycling, powerlifting, swimming, volleyball, fencing and tennis. It's also the gold medal game in men's goalball, which will put the underdog United States, which came out of a No. 8 seed to reach the final, against hosts China.

ATHLETICS: A little under a month since Jamaican Usain Bolt streaked to a sprint double at the Olympics, Oscar Pistorius of South Africa (above) performed the same feat at the Paralympics. The "Blade Runner" took the T44 200m race in 21.67 seconds, and will compete in the 400m, which is his strongest event. He missed the Olympic A standard by .7 seconds in July. Here's a video of Pistorius in action against able-bodied runners at a Golden League event last summer.

BASKETBALL: Iran has a troubling record of withdrawing from events whenever Israel is competing. Last month, Iranian swimmer Mohammad Alirezaei withdrew from a 100m breaststroke heat when Tom Be'eri (ISR) was scheduled to swim against him. The country's Olympic committee stated that Alirezaei withdrew because of illness, and the IOC bought it. Perhaps the IOC had forgotten that Iranian football player for German club team Bayern Munich pulled out of an international match with Maccabi Tel Aviv several years ago, and Arash Miresmaeili refused to go up against an Israeli in the Athens 2004 judo tournament -- which earned him no medal but a hero's bonus of US $125,000 from his country's government.

This unspoken policy seems to extend to the Paralympics as well. Before its basketball quarterfinal against the United States, the Iranian team pulled out of the games altogether. It was originally thought that this was over simmering tensions with the U.S., but the bracket indicated a virtually assured possible matchup with Israel if they both had won (semifinals) or both lost (classification round). Israel played defending Olympic champions Canada in the opposing bracket, losing 55-47. Indeed, the classification game between Iran and Israel, scheduled for Monday, has already been registered as a 20-0 walkover for the Israeli team. Iran will automatically finish eighth in the tournament.

As has been the pattern, Iran denied the pullout was for political reasons. Their officials announced that the team had forfeited because the U.S.-Iran and Canada-Israel games, originally scheduled for 9:15 and 11:15, had been switched without notice. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation stated that the quarterfinal A and B game switch was made on Sept. 5.

Perhaps it's due to London 2012 fever, but the most thoughtful and thorough English-language coverage of the 2008 Paralympics is coming from Great Britain (or perhaps it's the nation's second-place showing in the medal table). As Guardian/Observer scribe Eddie Butler puts it, sometimes it feels like he's the only one there.

Of course there is a difference between the Olympics and the Paralympics. Perhaps it is at its most stark in the International Broadcast Centre, a vast convention centre next to the national stadium, converted for the duration of the two games into a giant television production house. In August, NBC, the American rights' holder, had 2,700 employees on site. For September's Paralympics there are just five NBC staff here. The IBC is a mausoleum.

If you're not plugged in to the British media and you want to get a good grasp of what's going on in Beijing, make sure you watch this excellent recap of events on YouTube (which is called Sixty Seconds but is actually six minutes long). The complete medal table after seven full days follows. China has stretched its overall medal lead by nine to 49, and picked up 12 gold medals to extend its dominance in the gold column over second-place Great Britain. Germany picked up seven medals to move from 10th to eighth on the Paralympic charts.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	49	48	33	130
2	Great Britain	37	21	23	81
3	United States	26	19	21	66
4	Ukraine	18	12	21	51
5	Australia	15	21	21	57
6	Russia	15	17	14	46
7	South Africa	15	2	5	22
8	Germany	12	18	17	47
9	Spain	12	18	16	46
10	Canada	12	7	15	34
11	Brazil	11	8	12	31
12	South Korea	8	6	11	25
13	France	7	16	9	32
14	Mexico	7	2	5	14
15	Tunisia	5	6	2	13
16	Cuba	5	3	6	14
17	Czech Republic	5	2	13	20
18	New Zealand	4	3	4	11
19	Kenya	4	2	1	7
20	Algeria	4	1	5	10
21	Sweden	4	1	2	7
22	Japan	3	8	3	14
23	Italy	3	4	4	11
24	Belarus	3	4	1	8
25	Egypt	3	2	3	8
26	Nigeria	3	2	1	6
27	Austria	3	1	0	4
28	Poland	2	9	9	20
29	Greece	2	6	5	13
29	Netherlands	2	6	5	13
31	Denmark	2	1	3	6
32	Morocco	2	1	1	4
33	Croatia	2	1	0	3
34	Ireland	2	0	1	3
35	Iran	1	4	1	6
35	Portugal	1	4	1	6
37	Azerbaijan	1	3	4	8
38	Switzerland	1	2	3	6
39	Cyprus	1	2	1	4
39	Slovakia	1	2	1	4
41	Thailand	1	1	4	6
42	Hong Kong	1	1	1	3
43	Latvia	1	1	0	2
43	Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	2
45	Hungary	1	0	4	5
46	Venezuela	1	0	2	3
47	Finland	1	0	1	2
47	Turkey	1	0	1	2
49	Israel	0	5	1	6
50	Norway	0	3	3	6
51	Angola	0	2	0	2
51	Jordan	0	2	0	2
53	Argentina	0	1	3	4
54	Singapore	0	1	2	3
54	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
56	Iraq	0	1	0	1
56	Lithuania	0	1	0	1
56	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
56	Romania	0	1	0	1
56	Serbia	0	1	0	1
61	Belgium	0	0	1	1
61	Colombia	0	0	1	1
61	Estonia	0	0	1	1
61	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
61	Laos	0	0	1	1
61	Lebanon	0	0	1	1
61	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
61	Namibia	0	0	1	1
61	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
61	Syria	0	0	1	1

(Photo credit: Xinhua)

Paralympics Update, Day 6

Kyle Whelliston — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:35:59 -0700

Paralympic sitting volleyball, a game which dates back to the Netherlands in the 1950's, is a fast-paced game designed for amputee and polio-stricken athletes. It's played with a meter-high net, and quick hands are an absolute necessity. Above, a moment from a classification match between Latvia and Ukraine in the women's tournament, in the first round of the fifth through eighth place pool. The Ukranian side won in straight sets.

A total of 272 events have been completed, with 831 medals awarded. On Day 6, podiums will be set out for athletics, cycling, shooting and swimming. It's also the last day of the boccia tournament, a gentle game of balls and jacks that may seem out of place with all the physicality going on in Beijing.

Especially when compared to a sport making its 2008 start on Day 6: wheelchair rugby. Open to quadriplegics, it's colloquially called "murderball" and inspired a documentary of that same name three years ago after Athens. The United States team featured in the film is expected to reclaim its Paralympic title after finishing third in 2004, and opened the eight-team, five-day tournament with a 65-30 rout of host nation China.

"There's a lot of shock and awe because people aren't used to seeing athletes in wheelchairs running into one another," U.S. coach James Gumbert said. "It goes against everything we are taught — we're frail, we can break easily."

BASKETBALL: Wheelchair basketball, like murderball, not only challenges common preconceptions about what's possible in a chair -- it redefines the hoops map of developed nations. While the able-bodied Great Britain side is just getting over its struggles with getting out of European qualifications, the wheelchair team won bronze in Athens and ended the round-robin in Beijing at 4-1, including a four-point win over the United States. Canada, whose national team fell apart in qualifying earlier this summer, has a Paralympic team to be proud of. Defending gold medalists, the Canadians roared into the medal round with a perfect 5-0 record and the tournament's hottest offense. They'll play Israel in the quarterfinals today.

SWIMMING: One of the more recognizable names of the Paralympics, South African swimmer Natalie du Toit (right), won her fourth gold medal of the 2008 Beijing games on Day 6, a 4:43.81 world record in the 400m freestyle. She has one more race to go on Sunday, the 50m free.

ATHLETICS: In the do-over race after a spectacular crash wiped out half the field in the women's T54 5000m event, more excitement. A photo finish put American Amanda McGrory in first this time, as two athletes injured in the wipeout did not take part and crash-causer Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland was not allowed to take part. McGrory won by one-hundredth of a second, or in her words, an inch. "I didn’t even see the finish line," she told reporters afterwards "I was going to just push as long and hard as I could."

Here's the complete medal table after six full days of competition. China has maintained its overall 40-medal lead, and is staving off a strong challenge from Great Britain in the gold column. While Ukraine won't medal in women's volleyball, the nation has leapfrogged over Australia for fourth in championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	37	42	30	109
2	Great Britain	33	20	16	69
3	United States	23	16	17	56
4	Ukraine	15	10	17	42
5	Australia	14	18	17	49
6	Russia	13	14	14	41
7	Spain	12	17	14	43
8	South Africa	12	1	4	17
9	Brazil	10	8	10	28
10	Germany	9	17	14	40
11	Canada	9	7	13	29
12	South Korea	7	6	9	22
13	France	6	12	8	26
14	Tunisia	5	4	2	11
15	Czech Republic	5	2	11	18
16	Cuba	5	2	4	11
16	Mexico	5	2	4	11
18	Sweden	4	1	2	7
19	Algeria	4	0	5	9
20	Japan	3	6	3	12
21	Belarus	3	4	0	7
22	New Zealand	3	2	4	9
23	Austria	3	1	0	4
23	Nigeria	3	1	0	4
25	Poland	2	7	9	18
26	Netherlands	2	4	5	11
27	Italy	2	3	3	8
28	Kenya	2	2	1	5
29	Denmark	2	1	3	6
29	Egypt	2	1	3	6
31	Greece	1	6	4	11
32	Azerbaijan	1	3	2	6
33	Iran	1	3	1	5
33	Portugal	1	3	1	5
35	Cyprus	1	2	1	4
35	Slovakia	1	2	1	4
37	Thailand	1	1	4	6
38	Switzerland	1	1	2	4
39	Hong Kong	1	1	1	3
40	Croatia	1	1	0	2
40	Latvia	1	1	0	2
40	Morocco	1	1	0	2
43	Hungary	1	0	4	3
44	Venezuela	1	0	2	3
45	Finland	1	0	1	2
45	Ireland	1	0	1	2
47	Saudi Arabia	1	0	0	1
48	Israel	0	4	1	5
49	Norway	0	3	3	6
50	Jordan	0	2	0	2
51	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
52	Angola	0	1	0	1
52	Iraq	0	1	0	1
52	Lithuania	0	1	0	1
52	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
52	Romania	0	1	0	1
52	Serbia	0	1	0	1
58	Argentina	0	0	3	3
59	Singapore	0	0	2	2
60	Belgium	0	0	1	1
60	Colombia	0	0	1	1
60	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
60	Laos	0	0	1	1
60	Lebanon	0	0	1	1
60	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
60	Namibia	0	0	1	1
60	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
60	Turkey	0	0	1	1

Photo credits: Reuters, AP

Paralympics Update, Day 4-5

Kyle Whelliston — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:12:45 -0700

Five-a-side Paralympic association football is a game specifically for athletes with sight impairments. Those with partial sight may compete too, so long as they wear blindfolds to ensure an even playing field. Above, Brazilians Marcos Felipe and Damiao Ramos make an appeal to the ref in their match against Spain. Brazil won 1-0, and has not conceded a goal in its first two matches.

As of Day 5, 231 events have been completed, with 708 medals awarded. Today's action will feature finals in athletics, equestrian, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, swimming and table tennis.

POWERLIFTING: Whether in the Olympics, Paralympics or on the planet Glerbtron, people who compete by lifting heavy objects are going to take performance-enhancing drugs. That much is evident after the second major doping scandal of these games, in which two more powerlifters have been expelled from the Athlete's Village and given two-year bans. Facourou Sissoko from Mali, and the Ukraine's Liudmyla Osmanova both failed tests for boldenone metabolite and 19-norandrosterone, respectively, on the day of the opening ceremony. Both are anabolic steroids.

In addition to a previous powerlifting removal, there are now four athletes who have been sent from Beijing by the International Paralympic Committee. Ahmet Coskun, of Germany's wheelchair basketball team, tested positive for finasteride, an active ingredient in hair loss treatment. While it's not illegal to banish baldness at the Paralympics, it's a known masking agent.

TABLE TENNIS: Polish table tennis sensation Natalya Partyka won her second consecutive Paralympic championship in Class 10 on Day 5. She won each of her matches in straight sets against a phalanx of Chinese paddlers, overcoming an 8-5 deficit in the first set against Fan Lei and cruising to victory from there on out (11-8, 11-4, 11-9). "It was a difficult match for me even though the scoreline suggests it was easy," Partyka said afterward to reporters. "It was a close game and I had to concentrate hard. So I am very happy to win the title again."

Partyka was the only 2008 Olympian/Paralympian with a disability from birth, and is still only 19 years old. She competed at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics as an 11 year old.

FOOTBALL: Seven-a-side football is reserved for cerebral palsy sufferers, the same way that five-a-side is limited to those without sight. Seven-a-side has a list of complicated rules as to whom can compete -- it's not as if you can give everyone blindfolds and call it even. Athletes are classified on an eight-point scale, and C5 (walking/running difficulties, but can kick the ball) to C8 (non-severe disabilities). At least one C5 or C6 player per team must be on the pitch at all times.

The existence of the C8 class has opened the game to plenty of unfortunate controversy. When the Netherlands lost to Russia 12-1 in the preliminary round, the Dutch coach intimated that some of the Russian players were physically able to play professional football -- of course, there is no professional Paralympic football. But the IPC threw the issue into the spotlight by banning Irish player Derek Malone, after officials watched him for 20 minutes and decided he did not meet the requirements.

Malone, who has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, had a previous run-in with the IPC -- four years ago, he lobbied for inclusion in a men's 800m event.

"I refuse to let a flawed process cast aspersions on the integrity of the achievements I have made. Cerebral palsy has shown to be a very trainable condition but if you stop training for any length of time, the symptoms will return. There's no cure for cerebral palsy."

After five days of Paralympic action, China has broken free of its tie with Great Britain in the gold medal count. Australia is picking up steam, picking up six gold medals in the past two days to climb into fourth place behind the United States.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	34	40	27	101
2	Great Britain	29	17	15	61
3	United States	20	12	15	47
4	Australia	13	15	14	41
5	Ukraine	12	9	15	36
6	Russia	11	12	11	34
7	Brazil	9	7	10	26
8	Spain	8	15	11	34
9	South Africa	8	1	3	12
10	Canada	7	5	8	20
11	Germany	6	15	13	34
12	France	5	11	7	22
13	South Korea	5	5	9	19
14	Tunisia	5	3	1	9
15	Cuba	4	2	4	10
15	Mexico	4	2	4	10
17	Sweden	4	1	2	7
18	Belarus	3	3	0	6
19	Czech Republic	3	2	10	17
20	New Zealand	3	2	2	7
21	Nigeria	3	1	0	4
22	Algeria	3	0	4	7
23	Austria	3	0	0	3
24	Poland	2	6	6	14
25	Japan	2	5	2	9
26	Netherlands	2	3	5	10
27	Italy	2	2	2	6
28	Kenya	2	2	1	5
29	Denmark	2	1	3	6
29	Egypt	2	1	3	6
31	Greece	1	3	4	8
32	Azerbaijan	1	3	2	6
33	Iran	1	3	1	5
34	Slovakia	1	2	1	4
35	Thailand	1	1	4	6
36	Switzerland	1	1	2	4
37	Cyprus	1	1	1	3
37	Hong Kong	1	1	1	3
39	Croatia	1	1	0	2
39	Portugal	1	1	0	2
41	Hungary	1	0	2	3
42	Finland	1	0	1	2
42	Ireland	1	0	1	2
42	Venezuela	1	0	1	2
45	Latvia	1	0	0	1
45	Saudi Arabia	1	0	0	1
47	Norway	0	3	3	6
48	Israel	0	3	1	4
49	Jordan	0	2	0	2
50	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
51	Angola	0	1	0	1
51	Iraq	0	1	0	1
51	Lithuania	0	1	0	1
51	Morocco	0	1	0	1
51	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
51	Serbia	0	1	0	1
57	Argentina	0	0	3	3
58	Singapore	0	0	2	2
59	Belgium	0	0	1	1
59	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
59	Laos	0	0	1	1
59	Lebanon	0	0	1	1
59	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
59	Namibia	0	0	1	1
59	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
59	Turkey	0	0	1	1

Photo credits: AP, Xinhua

Paralympics Update, Day 3

Kyle Whelliston — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:41:39 -0700

Three days are in the books -- 129 events have been completed, with 397 medals awarded. With Day 4 just starting, medal events will take place today in athletics, cycling, equestrian, powerlifting, shooting, swimming and table tennis.

ATHLETICS: Oscar Pistorius, also known as the "Blade Runner," wasn't able to make the 400m qualifying time for the Olympics and had run-ins with the world track body that turned ugly in the runup to Beijing. But at at the Paralympics, he's been dominant. He won the 100m championship in the T44 class in 11.17 seconds, a performance that wowed visiting journalists. The double-amputee has two more races to go in the next few days, the 200m and the 400m.

Pistorius' T44 class is for track (T) amputee athletes; divisions 41-46 are reserved for those with missing limbs. For instance, Australia's Heath Francis, who wears a prosthetic right arm, set the world record in the T46 200m race (21.75 seconds), besting a 16-year-old mark and winning his country's first 2008 Paralympic medal in the process. Nigeria's Adekunle Adesoji advanced to the final in the T12 100m (for visually impaired runners) while wearing these fantastic shades.

The fifties are for wheelchair athletes, and that's where the Bird's Nest's biggest controversy occurred yesterday. The women's T54 5000m featured a spectacular crash, and officials determined that the entire race be rerun on Sep. 12. Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland, who was charged with obstruction after taking a turn incorrectly on the penultimate lap, won't be in the restart, as she took out seven of the 11 participants. If you like crashes, you can watch it here.

TABLE TENNIS: Similar to modern able-bodied competitions, Paralympics paddling is simply owned by China. In the 10 different classes, there are 15 competitors from the host nation in the semifinals. The divisions are based on severity of disability, with 1 through 5 for wheelchair athletes and 6 through 10 for those who are ambulatory. In Class 10, a name familiar to anyone who's been reading the site for the last month is one of those five non-Chinese players -- 19-year-old Natalia Partyka, who won matches for the Polish team in the Olympics, is through to the semis after winning three straight 3-0 matches. Partyka, one of two athletes to compete at both festivals in 2008 (the more famous Natalie du Toit is the other), is the only one to have a disability from birth. Her right arm ends at the elbow, but that hasn't stopped her from being the 148th best overall women's player in the world.

"I had a lot of dreams. I also dreamt about the Olympics, so now my dreams have come true."

BOCCIA: This form of bocce for cerebral palsy sufferers, similar to the French pétanque, is one of only three Paralympic sports that has no direct Olympic match -- wheelchair rugby and goalball being the others. Balls are thrown at a jack, points are awarded for closeness to the target, and there are four classes (BC1 through 4) that are not necessarily organized in terms of severity. In BC1, players may participate with assistants that must stay outside the area of play during throws. BC2 is for wheelchair athletes, BC3 is for those who need in-game assistance and BC4 allows for athletes without CP.

Day 3 was the first day medals were awarded in this sport. In BC2, Kwok Hoi-ying from Hong Kong won her country's first Paralympic gold of 2008 with a 5-3 victory over Nigel Murray (GBR).

China, as expected, is dominating the overall medal count after three days of competition. But Great Britain, site of the Paralympics' forerunner, the Stoke-Mandeville Games, are tied for first in the gold column.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	16	21	16	53
2	Great Britain	16	10	7	33
3	United States	10	5	11	26
4	Ukraine	8	5	10	23
5	Brazil	8	4	5	17
6	Australia	7	8	11	26
7	Russia	7	3	9	19
8	Spain	5	9	6	20
9	South Africa	5	0	1	6
10	Germany	4	9	8	21
11	South Korea	3	3	3	9
12	Canada	3	2	6	11
12	Czech Republic	3	2	6	11
14	Mexico	3	2	2	7
15	Algeria	3	0	3	6
16	Netherlands	2	2	2	6
17	Belarus	2	2	0	4
17	Tunisia	2	2	0	4
19	Cuba	2	0	4	6
20	Sweden	2	0	1	3
21	Nigeria	2	0	0	2
22	France	1	7	4	12
23	Japan	1	4	1	6
23	Poland	1	4	1	6
25	Azerbaijan	1	2	2	5
26	New Zealand	1	2	0	3
27	Denmark	1	1	2	4
28	Hong Kong	1	1	1	3
29	Cyprus	1	1	0	2
29	Portugal	1	1	0	2
31	Hungary	1	0	2	3
32	Italy	1	0	1	2
32	Venezuela	1	0	1	2
34	Austria	1	0	0	1
34	Saudi Arabia	1	0	0	1
34	Latvia	1	0	0	1
34	Slovakia	1	0	0	1
38	Greece	0	3	3	6
39	Iran	0	2	1	3
40	Israel	0	2	0	2
40	Jordan	0	2	0	2
42	Kenya	0	1	1	2
43	Angola	0	1	0	1
43	Norway	0	1	0	1
43	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
43	Thailand	0	1	0	1
47	Argentina	0	0	2	2
47	Egypt	0	0	2	2
49	Belgium	0	0	1	1
49	Finland	0	0	1	1
49	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
49	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
49	Slovenia	0	0	1	1
49	Laos	0	0	1	1
49	Ireland	0	0	1	1

Paralympics Update, Day 2

Kyle Whelliston — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:40:11 -0700

After Day 2 of the 2008 Paralympics, 68 events have been completed, and 213 medals awarded. On Day 3, championships in athletics, boccia, cycling, equestrian, judo, swimming and shooting will be decided.

SHOOTING: After winning eight gold medals last month, American swimmer Michael Phelps has won 14 golds in total -- the most of any Olympian. Yesterday, Jonas Jacobsson of Sweden won his 14th Paralympic gold medal, in the SH1 men's 10m air rifle. The 43-year-old has been collecting medals since his first Paralympics in 1980, and won four championships each at Sydney and Athens. In his first of four Beijing events, he smashed the world record with a 697.4 point performance, eclipsing the old mark by 3.4.

SWIMMING: More world records yesterday in the fastest pool on earth -- nine in total. Andre Brasil, who happens to come from the same country as his last name, finished the men's 100m butterfly for S10 competitors in 56.47 to begin Day 2's competition. In the final event of the day, South Africa's Natalie du Toit won her second gold in as many days by taking the women's S9 100m freestyle (1:01.44).

Think doping violations only occur at the Olympics? Think again! The first positive drug test of the 2008 Paralympics occurred when Pakistani powerlifter Naveed Ahmed Butt produced an "adverse analytical finding," which is to say that the International Paralympic Committee found that Butt had the anabolic steroid methandienone in an out-of-competition urine test on Sep. 4. He was banned from competition for two years.

The crowds in Beijing have been much more impressive than last month. While the Games of the 29th Olympiad were sold out, many seats were empty due to block sales and heavy security. In the first two days of the Paralympics, venues have been packed thanks to affordable prices (US $4.50 to $12). Some volleyball players and coaches are overwhelmed by the response.

Ruta Cvirkiene, coach of the Lithuanian women's team, said: "Our girls were shocked to see so many people because we have no fans at home.

"Several of them cried when they walked out on to the court because the spectators cheered and applauded so loudly for them."

Here's the complete medal table after two days of competition.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	8	10	10	28
2	United States	8	4	5	17
3	Great Britain	7	5	3	15
4	Australia	6	5	10	21
5	South Africa	4	0	1	5
6	Canada	3	2	4	9
7	Brazil	3	1	2	6
8	Czech Republic	3	0	3	6
9	Algeria	3	0	1	4
9	Mexico	3	0	1	4
11	Ukraine	2	4	4	10
12	Russia	2	3	5	10
12	Cuba	2	0	2	4
14	Sweden	2	0	0	2
15	Germany	1	8	3	12
16	Spain	1	7	2	10
17	France	1	3	1	5
18	Belarus	1	1	0	2
18	New Zealand	1	1	0	2
20	Denmark	1	0	2	3
20	Hungary	1	0	2	3
22	Venezuela	1	0	1	2
23	Cyprus	1	0	0	1
23	Saudi Arabia	1	0	0	1
23	Latvia	1	0	0	1
23	Slovakia	1	0	0	1
27	Japan	0	3	0	3
28	South Korea	0	2	1	3
28	Netherlands	0	2	1	3
30	Iran	0	2	0	2
31	Greece	0	1	2	3
32	Poland	0	1	1	2
33	Israel	0	1	0	1
33	Norway	0	1	0	1
33	Tunisia	0	1	0	1
36	Argentina	0	0	2	2
36	Azerbaijan	0	0	2	2
38	Belgium	0	0	1	1
38	Finland	0	0	1	1
38	Italy	0	0	1	1
38	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
38	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
38	Slovenia	0	0	1	1

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

You are Godzilla

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:50:03 -0700

I'm all about leaving things as they were. As anybody I've ever visited knows, I'm a low-impact guest to the point of annoyance. I always do the dishes, make the bed better than it was initially presented to me, and I refuse any and all offers that have anything to do with making my stay more comfortable. Nobody cleans up after me, because I make sure they don't have to.

This mindset has helped me immeasurably when it comes to being less of an embarrassment as a journalist -- at least less so than my meager training indicates I should be. I go in, ask around, record things, then organize them. The end-result is some kind of verbal conduit-product, one that bridges a moment in time and an audience that couldn't make it. If I do my job right, there's no piece or part of me at all in the story. It's as if I was never there.

And this is all why, I've finally realized, video games are not for me. I've had a PlayStation 2 for years now, as well as a dusty stack of jewel cases containing games that were played for about half an hour each. I never upgraded to the PS3, and had four different trial accounts with GameFly before I finally realized that it was a waste of money. For a long time I thought this was some sort of generational thing, but I didn't like video games when I was 16 either.

I Quit, But I Get It

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:41:12 -0700

Each time I've seen this car insurance advertisement (and with the Olympics on television non-stop, the impressions are well into the hundreds), I've gained a deeper appreciation and affection for it. It just never gets old. It may be the first 30-second ad spot in the history of television to utilize Existentialism and pataphysics, and may possibly be based on a lost work of Eugène Ionesco.

Independent Economics

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:58:24 -0700

My two favorite XM channels are 20 and 115: the "20 on 20" pop countdown and Radio Disney. I love the way pop music sounds (they've engineered it so I will), but there's also something comforting to the soul about it. The music styles and the production values are different than they were 10 or 20 years ago, but it's still the same 10 messages delivered by the same 10 high school archetypes. As long as America is the land of the free, it'll always be this way.

Another thing I like to do is look up the bands and singers on the internet. That's how I learn how they got their start, how they were "discovered," and how many fans disowned them once their public personas were styled after the peppy cheerleaders, mysterious rebel loner boys or doe-eyed heart-scribbling female diarists that the general public easily recognizes. I believe that artists don't sell out to giant entertainment conglomerates, they sell out to audiences.

The Illusion of Accessibility

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:44:21 -0700

This entry takes no comments. No trackbacks, shoutbacks, pings or dings. It exists on its own, just like all the others I've written, residing entirely within its own context. Whether it's read by anybody or not, it is as real as a tree falling in the woods, and it's certainly more searchable, indexable and Googleable than one of those. What this is not, however, is interactive.

I can't find an authoritative history of website comments anywhere, but I recall seeing feedback solicitations on blog entries as far back as 1999. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to write. "Hey, good job?" "I really agree with what you're saying?" "Me too?" If I disagreed with whatever theory was being posited, I could always post something myself somewhere and reference it via a newfangled "hyperlink." Written opinions have been traded in similar cross-referenced fashion for centuries.

But as the new century began, it was clear that people wanted the ability to elicit responses that were not only instant, but inline and attached. In my life as a developer, I was being asked to build not only blogs, but comment submission forms as well. In a relational database, this is roughly what the relationship between the two looks like.

WHELLISTON - Announced new website.

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:07:31 -0700

Back when newspapers were king, in the pre-internet, pre-ESPNews era, one of my favorite parts of daily sports news consumption was the transaction section. Sports sections contained, and still do, a concise guide to signings, hirings, firings and trades, all organized neatly by sport and league. I credit my excellent eyesight to hours and years of sharpening my reading skills on that sans-serif agate type, there on the sports section's back page.

This, to me, represented the absolute root, the nerve center of the sporting world. Just as the stock and bond grids were to the financial section, those block paragraphs (team name in all caps, followed by an em-dash and a succinct description of the action taken) represented the heart of what was really going on. Most of the stories on the preceding pages were just longer versions of what was found there, colored with interviews and other flowery details.

Simply, Jim

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:47:50 -0700

James Kenneth McManus died today. He was 86. He was my hero.

Along with millions of Americans of my general age, Jim McKay introduced me to the beauty, the grandeur, the full width and depth of the Olympics. More than any other, Mr. MckKay ignited in me a life-long love for the Games and all they represent, in spite of the forces and elements that would corrupt and cheapen them. When drugs, bid-fixing and gigantism threaten to render the Olympic Movement irrelevant, I remember all those things Mr. McKay would say in those post-Games monologues. He'd use those few post-Closing Ceremony minutes to remind us about how those past 16 days had represented the best parts of the human spirit, how the modern Games can serve as a fleeting glimpse into a truly peaceful world, one where sport promotes cross-cultural understanding.