Random Photos We Don't Mind Seeing

Well Then: So We See The Wie Wins Again

All I have to say is take that you Wie Haters because she just won again over the weekend by beating out Shin Ji-yai at the Canadian Women's Open.

From Twitter To Michelle Wie

I was checking out Twitter and seeing what people were conjuring up about Michelle Wie, and you know - I think we have to give her a break and in a way - because women's golf will never have the audience that men's golf will (at least in the near future - and I'm not stating my opinion on either, but an observation like the NBA versus the WNBA) - I think she's been doing enough.

And she makes 10 mil a year (and is also a 1/2 time student).

I think that's pretty damn good.

Ed Wang Signs Four-Year Deal With The Bills

You've heard me talk about Ed Wang before and apparently he's that much closer to actually playing in the NFL for a few years to come hopefully inspiring a lot more Chinese American - and any Asian American - to pursue their dreams of getting their ass kicked on the field (because football is not golf).

The Bills did not disclose terms of Wang's contract but local media reported it was a four-year deal [...] Following his selection by the Bills at last month's draft, Wang said he would be honored to be the first Chinese-American player in the 32-team league.

Sizeable.

NACBA: If You're In Toronto

North American Chinese Basketball Association Tournament

Rumors + Wrestling + WWE = Su Yung Drop Kicks You In The Nads

I don't really know much about wrestling - but apparently there's a rumor going around that the WWE has signed Memphis Wrestling's Su Yung to a developmental deal - and while you may balk at things like this - you have to admit - it still takes skill - and honestly - I wouldn't want to be dropped to ground like that because I like my back...

And Ed Wang Goes To The Buffalo Bills

In a past post - as well as everywhere else (at least where it matters) - you've been hearing about Ed Wang who was looking to be the first Chinese American NFL player.

Well look no more.

The Bills chose Ed in the fifth round of the draft and while I could lament about how long it's taken to get the first Chinese American player in the NFL - well - things do take time - and I'm just happy we're seeing what we're seeing.

Here's to seeing Godzilla get some playing time.

You Could Be A First: Ed Wang

Caught this from the Northwest Asian Weekly.

Since his college football season ended, he has been working out and staying in shape. Wang’s draft prospects continue to rise due to impressive workouts in front of team scouts at the NFL Combine and pro day at Virginia Tech.

“It’s a waiting game,” Wang said, referring to the time leading up to the NFL Draft, which begins on April 22. Wang is projected to be drafted in the fourth or fifth round.

Wang is proud of his Chinese heritage and recognizes the significance of being the first Chinese American to be drafted in the NFL. “It’s going to mean the world to me. It will make me so happy. It will make my parents happy, too. I am doing it for them.”

Although he acknowledges that being the first Chinese American player does come with pressure, Wang tries to focus on football.

“I do [feel pressure] a little bit, but at the end of the day, it’s just about playing football.”

Read it in full here.

On Caster Semenya

I've been hearing a lot about teen wunderkind Caster Semenya from South Africa, and I've checked out the videos, the pictures, the birth certificate, the nanny who said they changed her - and who says without a doubt that she's most definitely a girl - and I do have to question whether or not some piece of this inquisition is in fact due to race, not necessarily on a personal level, but in a global sense, the way rich countries try and control poorer countries - making every effort to try and keep them in their place, because invariably, for someone to move up, someone else needs to step down (or at least that's what we've sometimes been taught on an implicit level).

I like this quote by Leonard Chuene who's head of South African athletics:

"If gender tests have to take place, they should have been done quietly. It is a taboo subject. How can a girl live with this stigma? By going public on the tests, the IAAF has let down this young child, and I will fight tooth and nail to protect her."

Describing the speculation about Semenya's gender as "racist", he added: "Who are white people to question the makeup of an African girl?

"I say this is racism, pure and simple. In Africa, as in any other country, parents look at new babies and can see straight away whether to raise them as a boy or a girl. We are now being told that it is not so simple. But the people who question these things have no idea how much shame such a slur can bring on a family.

"They are doubting the parents of this child and questioning the way they brought her up. God has his say on what people are. He made us all. A young girl has no input as she enters the world on what she will look like. It is outrageous for people from other countries to tell us 'We want to take her to a laboratory because we don't like her nose, or her figure.'"

Well said.

Caster Semenya - keep your head up.

Hmong Sports Fest

What's up Wausau! This one's for you (but you probably already know about it anyway - but just in case - this is for you!)

"These Hmong sports tournaments are becoming a huge part of what it means to be a Hmong-American," said Noah Her, 24, of Wausau. "You pick up chicks, meet with friends, shop at different stores and vendors. A lot of it has roots way back in Thailand, where we come from. It's just a sense of community and bringing the community together again." The Wausau tournament is small by national standards. Tens of thousands of athletes, including Her, competed in a tournament over the July 4 weekend in St. Paul, Minn.But it's growing.

"When I started, it was slow," said Moua, 35. "I guess it has grown about 30 percent." There's a low-key, backyard/street vibe to the tournament, but the competition is serious. Moua said first-place teams can take home as much as $2,000. "I have some friends who play volleyball every night, training," Her said. "I have friends who have ruined their shoulders from spiking the ball."

The best athletes become national stars in the Hmong community, he said.

And there you have it. Picking up dudes and babes and your own chance at becoming a national Hmong star.

Wazzup!

P.S.

I have no idea why I decided to use all these exclamation points in this post.

The Yao Of The Tiger, And Maybe A Little Green

In two brief sporting news updates - which you might already know if you either play golf, follow golf, or just happen to be keeping tabs on something called the NBA Playoffs - Yao is out for the season, and Tiger lost his stroke.

Better luck next time?

Err...season?

And in other news - is it really possible?

Don Wakamatsu: First Manager Of Asian American Descent In MLB

Peeped this down at SFGate as I've been catching up on news and damn - that's some pretty cool news and it just goes to show you that after year and years, and well - a lot of years - we're finally making some headway:

Wakamatsu, 45, got his start coaching in the Seattle system 13 seasons ago, and he told The Chronicle, "It's like it's meant to be. It's coming full circle."

Wakamatsu spent the past season as the A's bench coach and he was well respected by the players. Third baseman Eric Chavez recently said that Wakamatsu was right at the top of the list of the best coaches he's ever had.

Wakamatsu and A's catcher Kurt Suzuki were so close that this month, Suzuki jokingly told Wakamatsu he planned to call the Mariners and bad-mouth him to try to prevent him from leaving Oakland.

Suzuki compared Wakamatsu to the mentor in "The Karate Kid," saying, "He's like the Mr. Miyagi of baseball."

I guess when you say it in this context - maybe it's not so bad after all.

Basketball is America's new pastime

The bottom line is that the demise of baseball as "America's pastime" has been happening for a while now - the latest report and steroid scandal which features players from every single Major League team - just puts the final nail in the coffin - albeit a pretty big nail.

With the widespread use of steroids and human growth hormones (which aren't even tested for) the game and the records of those players will always be in question, they'll always have an asterisk next to them.

When you can't trust the people playing the game - that it's being played fair, that in the end it's about just doing your best, win or lose - nothing else really matters.

It makes you wonder if baseball even remembers what it's about anymore.

Compare the history and tarnished future of baseball with the past and future of basketball and the two aren't even close.

While basketball has had its share of lockouts, player stupidity, and agents and refs gone wrong - you never really question the players or the institution as a whole in regard to legitimacy - not anywhere near like you do in baseball.

When there's a problem in basketball, it gets fixed - and fixed quickly because for all of its hype and world domination - at it's core - it really is the people's game - and basketball knows its people won't tolerate the use of synthetic body altering drugs to make a play or beat a record.

We want it fair, we want it the way it should be.

But it's also more than that.

Basketball hoops can be found almost anywhere on city blocks or in rural pastures - you can't say the same about baseball fields, or even the spaces needed to create them on the fly.

In basketball the only piece of equipment you need outside of the hoop is a 10 dollar ball from your local superstore. In baseball, you need bats, gloves, plates, and like golf - you need more than one ball because one is bound to go missing.

Basketball is a more accessible game. It can be played by more people, rich or poor - and while you can play a game of five on five - you really only need two people to play a game of one on one.

With a baseball, two people is really just catch.

Asian golfers impress

Check out some of the recent press on Asian golfers who are opening the eyes of U.S. pros.

Golfer Mickelson amazed at Asia talent, singles out Chapchai

World number two Phil Mickelson has been amazed at the number of talented golfers in Asia, singling out Thailand's Chapchai Nirat as someone who could easily play in the United States. The American, playing at the Singapore Open, is on a rare foray to the region and admits that he knew little about the standards here before his arrival. But he says his eyes have been opened.

More stories:

• Asian golfers impress world stars at Singapore
• Trio Upstages Big Names in Singapore
• Que shines in Singapore

Another coach, another player

Bad coach, or bad player? Something to keep an eye out for in the coming weeks for college football fans.

UNT's Dodge denies allegations of racism

North Texas football coach Todd Dodge denied allegations by a suspended player of racial bias by his coaching staff Tuesday, when a second suspended player said he will join in a complaint made to the Texas chapter of the NAACP. Junior cornerback Dominique Green filed his complaint Monday after being suspended Sunday. Sophomore defensive back Desmon Chatman, who was suspended earlier in the season, contacted the NAACP on Tuesday to join in the complaint. Both Green and Chatman are black.

World Series Winners Daisuke Matsuzaka And Hideki Okajima

Congratulations are in order to the Red Sox - and two of their Asian players Daisuke Matsuzaka And Hideki Okajima - for winning the MLB World Series - and for giving young Asian baseball fans some great faces to look up too.

More news and articles on Matsuzaka:

WORLD SERIES: Matsuzaka and Sox tough it out

Inches last night separated Daisuke Matsuzaka's first career World Series victory from a baseball nation's worth of "This is what the Red Sox got for $103.1 million?" [...] Two bullets, two outs, and Matsuzaka - who had departed with one out and two on in the inning - remained the pitcher of record on the winning side.

• Matsuzaka wins Game Three, enjoys duel with Matsui Guardian
• Matsuzaka's winning effort eventful MLB.com
• Matsuzaka not lone star in Japan anymore Boston Herald

Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian two of the stories to watch for in the NBA this season

As the official start of the NBA season approaches, ESPN and their analysts are predicting all the stories, the drama, the teams, and the players to watch out for - and two of them are Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.

John Hollinger - ESPN’s resident stats man and forecaster - is predicting Yao Ming will have the best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) in the league this year above players like Dwane Wade, Lebron James, and Kobe Bryant. For those of you that don’t follow basketball too much (or the stats) - that just means Yao is predicted to be one of the best players in the league this year.

Pretty cool.

Yi Jianlian, while not as impressive, is still being mentioned in the top 10 of first year players who may be in the running for the Rookie Of The Year award (although mostly due to more guaranteed playing time than anything else). Whether or not he’ll wither from the cold weather in Milwaukee versus LA where he was training for six months, and garnering a base of rabid female fans, might end up being more of the story.

Soccer still has a ways to go...

Bottom line is that when you have a player such as American DaMarcus Beasley, who was pretty well known in the MLS before playing for the Glasgow Rangers, getting racist taunts from fans and no one really bats an eye - it becomes an issue. The UEFA has had a long tradition of turning a blind eye to racism in soccer and it needs to get things cleaned up before soccer can truly become a world sport.

Be like Nike: Nike Racism Lawsuit Settled for $7.6M, but did the slavemasters get off too easy?

So here’s the deal. According to the lawsuit the Chicago Niketown store and its managers used racial slurs against its black employees and shoppers, segregated jobs so that the higher paid jobs went to white workers, and routinely told security to monitor not just black customers but also black employees because of their race.

Accordingly - although it has taken 4 years since the 2003 claim - Nike finally had to accept defeat. They have to pay out $7.6 million to 400 employees (those who have worked from 1999-the present), hire a diversity consultant not only for the Chicago store but also for their home base in Beaverton, hire on an ombudsperson, conduct diversity training, institute a mentorship program, and review store policies from equal opportunity to theft.

It’s definitely a win and I congratulate all the workers there who had the courage to stand up and fight in what must have been an already hostile environment.

But….

If you figure the settlement to be about $20,000 per person, you have to ask yourself if Nike got off TOO EASY? I mean for 400 employees, some as far back as 1999 that got relegated to the back of the bus status - shouldn’t that be worth more?

Actually scratch the question of if NIKE got off too easy.

NIKE DID GET OFF TOO DAMN EASY.

I mean c’mon - for a company that has built its name on some of the greatest athletes and icons in the world who are people of color you’ve got to be kidding me - I mean basically Nike is saying to the world:

If you are a person of color and you are a great athlete, please come and sit at the dinner table with us, because we would love to have you. But if you’re not, go to the back of the bus, drink at the other fountain, don’t vote, stay below the ceiling, and be a nice little slave boy and girl like you should be.

If that’s the message - and it is - Nike definitely got off too damn easy.