Some oil drilling, but mainly Base and Basket ball blogging

Been way too busy defending the existing moratorium on off shore drilling to blog much - actually at all - in the last few weeks.  I think the drilling ban will survive, mainly due to the personal interest and involvement in maintaining the moratorium by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and to a lesser extend the great messaging from Barack Obama and T. Boone Pickens.  If we make it to August 1st - the day Congress goes on recess - without a vote I think we'll survive. 

My hope is that between the Olympics, the Democrat and Republican conventions, and the end of the summer driving season, the hysteria fueling calls for more drilling will subside.

Now, on to the blog!  I've missed quite a few blog opportunities in the last two weeks, including:

BASEBALL

• the All-Star game, which I thought was a great game to watch.  Lots of action, defense, plays at the plate, etc. I'm glad I stayed up and watched the entire game.
• For me, the three most interesting stories of the first half had to be: Chicago, where the Cubs and White Sox lead their division - the Cubs stayed on top despite lots of injuries, and Guillen has the ChiSox playing over their heads; the Rays, who are coming of age sooner than anyone expected, and are a fun bunch to watch; and finally Josh Hamilton, a pretty powerful story of redemption and taking advantage of second chances.  What a phenomenal display at the Home Run Derby, and pretty inspirational too.
• Evan recently asked "how much worse can the Nats get?"  I wish I knew.  That line up, even with Zimmerman back, is Double A quality.  With a little more hitting our home town team could be decent; four of the Nats starters have ERAs below 4.25. 
• The bull pen has been almost as bad as the hitting; short term things will get worse with Rauch traded to Arizona.
• Long term, the Nats could be good in two years.   They have Lannan and Bergman as starters, with decent arms at Triple A and Double A, and Milledge (CF), Dukes (RF), Flores (C), and Zimmerman (3B) are all under 23.  Add the second baseman they acquired from Arizona in the Rauch trade, and the Nats could be solid up the middle.  Let's hope these guys develop into legit major leaguers, Stan Kasten fires Bowden, and hires a GM who can lure one or two power hitters here as free agents.

HELLENIC HOOPS

• For a while, this blog was not the ONLY spot for Greek basketball news.  The biggest splash was made by Josh Childress' decision to spur the Hawks and the NBA and sign with Olympiacos.  The signing put Hellenic hoops in the sports pages and on ESPN for two or three straight days.  In the course of the Childress coverage the Greek basketball league was acknowledged to be one of the top leagues in Europe, and Athens came out looking good too.  Though Olympiacos plays in Pireas not Athens, at one point Childress was quoted as saying he was unsure whether to go through with the deal - worth $21 million after taxes - until he visited and liked Athens.
• The oddest part of the coverage - at least for me - was the coverage itself.  Who knows who Josh Childress is? Greek hoop fans are pretty knowledgeable about the NBA, but I bet you would be hard pressed to find a more anonymous NBA player - in the US or Greece - than Josh Childress.   Despite that anonymity, the coverage of the signing was extensive.  
• Of course, most of that was due to the prospect that a weak dollar may lead to a larger exodus of NBA talent to Europe and a handful of players with similar talent, sixth men such as Carlos Delfino, Bostan Nachbar, etc., have signed with European teams.  But none of the players going from the NBA to Europe were front line players, so why make a big deal about it? I know I'd take $21 million to move to Greece.
• The Childress signing was not the only Hellenic hoops news to make it into the sport pages.  For the two days prior to the signing, Greeks hoops made into the American press for qualifying for the Olympics and then being placed in the same group as team USA.  
• Greece was one of three squads to qualify, along with Germany and Croatia, after playing in the Olympic tournament in Athens the week of July 14th.  Teams that did not qualify from their continents were invited to the tournament, with the top three making it to Beijing.   Greece routed Lebanon, Brazil and Puerto Rico in the tourney.
• Greece, the reigning world silver medalists, are grouped with the US, Spain (the world champs), China, Angola and Germany.  Greece, Spain and the US are three of the four best teams on the planet, so it will be a tough group.
• I remember watching the US play Greece - in the 2004 Athens Olympics - in the PIRG conference room. Although I was the only Greek-American in the office, I'm pretty sure I was the only person rooting for the US.  No big whoop; I always root for the US when they play Greece, and that team had fellow Tar Heel Larry Brown on the bench.  In addition, that team featured guys I like such as Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and Shawn Marion.  But no one, at PIRG or anywhere else, liked that team.  I think that team was hamstrung by a roster with no outside shooters, and by bad/anti-American officiating.  Ironic that refs called lots of fouls on Tim Duncan, a classy player and great ambassador for American hoops, as opposed to 'less savory' players like Carmelo Anthony and Iverson.
• Childress, the qualifying tournament, and the announcement of the Olympic groups kept Hellenic hoops in the media four straight days.
• Finally, as most of you know, I rooted for Greece to defeat the US in the 2006 world championships, and will do the same in the Olympics due to Mike Krzyzewski and his right-wing running buddy Jerry Colangelo (BTW, Colangelo in Greek roughly translates into 'colon/butt angel').  Without a doubt, I am a Tar Heel first, so even when coaching the American team playing the American game, I can not root for a Dukie.  Having the motherland as a rooting option makes it a no brainer.
• That said, I think the US will win the gold medal.  I can't see a team with Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and LaBron James losing, even WITH Krzyzewski on the bench.  
• However, the one thing that should give the US pause is our lack of size.  Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard are the only big men on the roster, and they're skinny big men at that.  The international game is more physical than the NBA version, so watch if the US gets pushed around much on the boards.  If that happens, even with a team of all-star wings, the US could lose a game in the medal round.  Finally, watch the US at the point.  Krzyzewski should play Chris Paul more at the point; if he stubbornly sticks with a rapidly aging Jason Kidd the U.S. could stumble.  But both of those are ifs, and I expect the US to win our first gold medal in hoops since the 2000 Vince Carter Olympics [greatest dunk of ALL TIME! If you disagree, check out KG's reaction].
• I'm kind of conflicted about the Olympics.  I genuinely get hyped up for watching the summer games, but am not enthusiastic about China hosting.  I've said it before, but nothing can be more cynical than going from the cradle of democracy and individual rights to a totalitarian/hyper-capitalist state in four years.  

Finally, one semi-political sports note: Lance Armstrong is a cheater.  There are so many cheaters in that sport that it seems incredibly unlikely that a guy rehabbing from cancer could be clean.  I used to give him the benefit of the doubt but am now convinced that everyone in that sport cheats.  And on top of that, Armstrong is shilling for John McCain.  Perhaps the only thing more cynical that going from Athens to Beijing in four years is my attitude towards a cancer survivor who used to dominate the Tour de France.

Arenas and Guzman

A couple of DC-centric sports stories to blog about.

One is the Wizards signing Gilbert Arenas to a six year contract for $111 million, roughly $15 million less than the maximum the team could have offered.  The Wizards also resigned Antawn Jamison, so the good news is the core of a team that is talented enough to make it to the Eastern Conference finals is coming back next year.

Arenas, who negotiated his own contract without an agent, agreed to less money so the team could sign Jamison and have more money to spend on a free agent, perhaps a power forward like Elton Brand. He was famously quoted as saying 'there's nothing I can do for my family with $127 million that I can't do with $111 million,' an interesting quote when it's coming from an athlete.   Countless fans say the same thing about every free agent signing, especially for stars who leave a team after years of service for a few more million a year (i.e. Johnny Damon).

The other good news is that Arenas is an elite player and personality, someone who creates buzz for the Wizards and unlike Chris Webber (who I really liked) has been able to sustain that buzz for a few years.  Arenas made the Wizards a big time team, both in DC - a great hoops town with deep and real hoops roots - and in the NBA by being talented but more importantly winning games and leading his team into the playoffs.  And with Butler and Jamison, along with an improved Haywood, this is a very good team and one that is generally fun to watch.

Of course, there is another shoe; 'this is a good team' . . . when healthy.  And Arenas has not been healthy for two years now.  Washington is taking a huge risk on a player whose knees have given out on him in consecutive seasons.  Even if he is healthy, as Michael Wilbon pointed out in today's Post, for that kind of money a team expects a championship.   

Who knows, stranger things have happened in sport, but I doubt this Wizards team can win a championship.   But with Jamison turning 31, and Butler and Arenas each having injury problems, the pressure is on this team to win now (or at least soon).  And that's the rub here; the Wizards had no choice but to sign Arenas: he's their best player, the face of the franchise, and a marquee talent.  

But when you look at his history of injuries, and the likelihood of this current team winning a championship, the signing of Arenas to a $111 million contract seems like a mistake (even if the team saved $15 million).   

Christian Guzman is an all-star

Not sure if this is a sign of the apocalypse or not, but you have to hand it to Christian Guzman for making the All-star team.  Granted, there was no one else on the team remotely resembling a star player; Guzman is the only starter hitting over .300, and though John Lannan has an All-star team worthy E.RA his lack of run support has left him with a losing record.  But Guzman is currently riding a 14-game hitting streak, has a respectable .340 on base percentage, and has batted .328 for the last month, so he kind of earned it.

Folks probably remember that four years ago Guzzy had one of the worst seasons at the plate in the modern era. He was hitting below .200 for 5 months before a late surge raised his average to .219 for the year.  He lost a year due to injury, but hit .328 last year in 50 games before getting hurt again.  You have to hand it to him for coming back from two injuries and a dreadful 2005 to become an All-star.

This season has prompted Jim Bowden, the Nationals' hopeless GM, to offer Guzman a two-year contract extension.  There is no way the Nats should resign Guzman; he's 30 years old and doubtful to get better.  And .340 is not that respectable for an on-base percentage.  But bottom line, this guy is not going to get better.  Save the money and sign a legit power hitter this off season.

He's been good, but you also need to be lucky, and Guzman would not be an All-star if he wasn't lucky enough to play for such a bad team.  Things are likely to get even worse for the Nats with Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge hurt, and Jesus Flores in a dreadful slump.  But at least those guys - along with Ryan Zimmerman, Lannan, Chad Cordero, and other young pitchers - are all under 25.  Ideally, those five or six players will lead the Nationals to the playoffs within the next 3 or 4 years.    

Hopefully, Stan Kasten will fire Bowden, and hire a GM who knows how to put together a legit major league roster, not one full of Expos-era rejects.  This team has money to spend. More importantly, the Nationals play in a weak division.  One or two smart free agent signings ideally of power hitters, coupled with the continued development of their starting pitching - which has actually been pretty good - and the young talent this team has could land them in the playoffs.  

Hey, if Christian Guzman can make the All-star team anything is possible.

Quick Wimbledon Note

I watched the end of the Nadal-Federer final today, and it was pretty good stuff.  A five-set match is usually pretty epic, and this one was.  To play that hard for that long is impressive.

Tennis players are underrated athletes.  It is hard to do what they do, and when you look at Nadal and Federer in particular, those guys look like line backers or A-Rod.   Big time athletes.

Finally, a great fortnight for Spain: a Wimbleton champ and the Euro 2008 championship.  I would type a lame Spanish phrase here, but will fight the temptation.

Blog Dump

We didn't have free Wi-Fi at our hotel in San Francisco so I stayed on line via my Treo and 'journaled' a bit instead of blogging. Here's all I came up with in seven days:

July 3, 2008 (on plane to Atlanta)

Independence Day thoughts

• I like our flag; looks good when it waves. But like most folks would be happy to change our national anthem to either: America the Beautiful: This Land is Your Land; The Bill of Rights Song (still unwritten); or my dark horse: Roll Over Beethoven;
• I wish we would declare independence from fossil fuels, at least in my kids’ lifetime;
• I am tired of talking about gas prices and drilling. The November election can’t get here soon enough for me.

July 1, 2008 (hotel room in San Francisco)

Just got back from watching the Giants defeat the Cubs 2-1 at AT&T Park. Impressive performance by Matt Cain, who struck out 11 in 8 shut out innings. Brian Wilson made it interesting in the ninth when he gave up a lead off triple to Derrek Lee and left two more on before he finally got the third out.

Many consider AT&T the finest of the new parks, and it’s hard to argue after our visit today. First and foremost, it is impressive how they fit that park on such a small parcel of land. AT&T is wedged in between the water and the Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco. That alone makes it one of the most authentic of the throwback parks. 

Wrigley and Fenway – and parks like Shibe Park in Philly or the Ebbetts Field and everyone other old time park – are quirky in part because they are squeezed into a cityscape or crammed into one or two city blocks.  It's like Fenway in that if you were walking down the street you would have no idea that there was a ball field behind the outer wall (at least the one that faces the Embarcadero. The other side of the Green Monster is the same; from the street it looks like the wall of a warehouse or factory, at least to me).  AT&T is as small as those two classics, and intimate does not do it justice. I felt like we were ON the field from our seats in the 18th row down the third base line. 

For being on such a small strip of land the stadium doesn't feel steep or crammed in, either. From our seats it felt like we were at eye level with the players in the Giants bullpen a few yards in front of us.

We were hoping to see Manny Burress, the first DC native in 30 years to make it to the majors, a DC Little League alum, and graduate of Wilson High School, play but he never got off the bench.   Even though Omar Vizquel is hitting a Nats-like .180 Burress did not play.

A few more impressions:

• San Francisco has always been a great baseball town. Even when they played at Candlestick and did not draw well – mainly due to the weather – television ratings were always high. AT&T has proven that San Francisco is a great baseball city; they continue to draw without Barry Bonds and with a fairly lackluster team. Bengie Molina is their clean up hitter and they have no marquee players on that squad but are on pace for 3 million fans.
• Ran into some great fans at the game. I wore my Cuban X-Giants Negro League jersey and received three unsolicited compliments.
• The concourses are narrower than the ones at other new parks I’ve been to, and there were lines for the MEN’S ROOM!  What, I ask you, is up with that?
• The Giants pull it off even though there is almost no parking around the park. To compensate there are three trains that service the area near the stadium, and tons of folks walk down the Embarcadero water front to the game from other parts of downtown.  The Nats should take note on how the Giants do it.
• Good selection of food and beer; at the Say Hey sausage stand you can chose from Italian, Bratwurst, Spicy Louisiana, Lemon Chicken, or a Kosher hot dog. There were some local restaurants stands offering things like garlic chicken, a ravioli bowl, churros, etc.

• And despite cheesie elements like the giant Coke bottle in left, it’s a gorgeous stadium. It’s like Camden Yards with it’s brick, iron and green seats, but has nice unique touches such as palm trees, McCovey Cove, and an open right field fence where you can watch the game for free (obstructed view, but still free). I’m a sucker for that style, and prefer the brick and green seat style to the more modern and sleek look of Nats Park.

If I had to rank all the stadiums, new and old (existing parks only), that I’ve been to it would be:
1. Wrigley
2. Fenway
3. Camden Yards
4. AT&T Park
5. PNC Park in Pittsburgh
6. Tropicana Field in Houston
7. Nationals Park
8. Ballpark in Arlington, Texas
9. Jacobs Field in Cleveland
10. Joe Robbie in Miami*
11. Shea Stadium*
12. New Comiskey*

* Kind of hard to rank these since they all stink; special dispensation goes to New Comiskey for building such a terrible park in the modern, supposedly more enlightened era.

A final AT&T Park note - at the end of the game, a great win with the crowd way into it, they played "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" by Tony Bennett.  Now I love Tony Bennett, but that is a very sedate song, so it was odd to hear it after such an excited game and finish.  Where 'New York New York" is an energetic song that fits in after a win or a loss, "ILMHISF" is too mellow for a post-game song.   I'd go to the East Bay and play "I Fought The Law and I Won" by the Dead Kennedys after a win.

One last baseball note: check out the Fire Jim Bowden page at Facebook, courtesy of Stephen Biel @ http://www.facebook.com/groups/edit.php?gid=18696068003&members=1#/group.php?gid=18696068003

June 25, 2008 (plane to San Francisco)

EURO Final Four

When you look at the Final Four of Euro 2008 you see nations that did not have a great 20th century. All four have quite a bit of baggage, to say the least. You can take your pick from a depressing slate of human tragedy, from fascism (Spain, Germany), totalitarianism (Russia), genocide (Turkey, Germany), and of course crazy nationalism (Russia, Germany, and Turkey). Of course, things have gotten better in at least 2 of those countries, but that foursome is hardly Greece, France, Holland and the Czech Republic. [That second foursome is not based on the 20th century history, rather than historic contributions to liberty and liberalism.]

Even though the Hellenes did not earn a point in defending their title, in retrospect they had a decent tournament when you compare them to the final four. Greece outplayed Russia but lost due a terrible goal given up by Nikopolidis and a bad off sides call, led Spain for most of their contest, and during qualifying marched into the city and defeated Turkey 1-0 in Constantinople.

On to the World Cup! If I win the lottery between now and the spring of 2010 the kids and I are off to South Africa to watch the United States, who should qualify, and hopefully Greece.

Carolina Baseball

The Tar Heel baseball season ended very much like the basketball season did – a loss in the Final Four with a nagging feeling that the best team did NOT win. Against Fresno State on Sunday Carolina looked worn out, at the plate and on the mound. Nonetheless, a third straight trip to Omaha is hard to do, so by any stretch it was a very successful season.

That said, it still stinks to lose so close to the championship.

No Heels in Draft

With Lawson, Ellington, and Green withdrawing from the NBA draft, anything less than the national championship in 2009 will be seen as a disappointment for Carolina.

The good news is if anyone can handle that kind of pressure and expectations, I think it’s Roy Williams. The only player not returning is Alex Stephenson, who is transferring to a school closer to home in California to be near his ailing father.

The expectations going into this season will be very similar to the ones placed on the 2005 team (and the 2007 Florida squad). There were lots of comparisons between the 2005 and the 2008 teams. Those comparisons will only increase this season.

As always, Go Heels!