OXI - 28 Οκτωβρίου 1940 ( sofia vembo )

Giant World Series Preview

This should be an interesting World Series, played by two outsider teams in the Rangers and the Giants.

But before looking at the Series, how great is it to NOT have the Yankees or the Phillies in the Fall Classic?  It actually would have been a pretty good match up - in spite of the two most obnoxious fan bases this side of Durham or the Tea Party - like last year's was.  

But who wants a rerun? Reruns are for the summer, both in terms of TV shows and the NBA finals, which always feature the Celtics and/or the Lakers.

How unappealing are the Yankees? It made folks like me fans of a team: once owned by George Bush; based in a state that is barely civilized (first in executions, last in citizens with health insurance - per capita - and test scores); that plays in a metropolitan area dominated by SUVs and highways; based in a state that declared it's independence from Mexico so it could preserve slavery, then joined the US and later the Confederacy for the same reason.

I was also happy to root for fellow North Carolinian Josh Hamilton.  Most folks know his story; a former number one pick whose career was nearly undone by drugs, alcohol and too much free time.  I appreciate the way he says his religion changed and saved his life and Jesus saved his soul, and to my knowledge Hamilton has never claimed that Jesus helps him hit a baseball or the Rangers win. When you sink to the depths Hamilton did you probably realize the limitations of religion. Jesus can save your soul but it's up to you to do something with it once he does.

Nolan Ryan's philosophy of letting starting pitchers figure out how to get out of jams without looking to the bull pen is also admirable.  And Ryan has maintained his cool, Gary Cooper-like image.  

But it's easy to root for the Giants.  Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey are compelling players, and Madison Baumgarner, a country boy with a country club name, is also from North Cack.  The Giants play in a beautiful - and privately funded (check out this blog post on AT&T Park) - stadium and represent one of the world's greatest and most liberal cities, a city that is also Sierra Club's home town.

And bottom line, they represent the National League.  Got to stick with the NL (unless Tony LaRussa is managing).

One reason it should be an interesting Series is that both teams have huge holes. After Cliff Lee I'm not that impressed with Texas' starting pitching.  And the bottom third of their line up is more like a National League team, full of outs, than an American League one.

The Giants have even more holes in their line up. They have Posey and Aubrey Huff on offense, get a little from Freddie Sanchez, and that's it. Their line ups - in the playoffs! - have had a spring training-like quality: let's give Uribe some innings at short today;  Torres has a sore back so let's have him play center today at home rather than bus to Peoria tomorrow; Cody Ross is looking for a job and at bats, we should give him a look, etc.

But the Giants have lots of starting pitching, led by Lincecum - who has looked nervous in the post season - and Matt Cain is almost as good.  Third and fourth starters Jonathan Sanchez and Baumgarner have pitched big down the stretch and in the playoffs.  

I'm rooting for both the Giants but also for a seven-game Series.  We haven't had a really good World Series in a while, since the Angels-Giants maybe, or Marlins over the Yankees?  Last year's was pretty good but had a terrible ending.

This year the Series will have an interesting ending.  Either way it will be the first World Series title for each respective city. The Rangers (Dallas, Fort Worth?) have never been in a World Series, and the baseball Giants have not won a championship since moving from New York in the late 50s.  

And for a sport that is supposedly top heavy it will be the 10th different champion in the last 11 seasons (only the Red Sox of all people have repeated in the last Spinal Tap-decade).

So I'll take the Giants in seven, with Aubrey Huff as MVP. 

Diabetes in Greece

Greece has always juggled the west and the east.  For a while, actually a long while, basically from the conquests of Alexander the Great and the founding of Alexandria in 350 BC to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (an 1,800 year run; for contrast the Tea Party threatens to end our run after only 235 years) the Hellenes pulled it off.

But now Greece can't win for losing.  

In 1980, Greece officially joined the west when it became a member of the European Union. It may sound odd to think of the founders of western civilization as joining the west but Greece has historically looked east. Consider everything from defeating the Persians to Alexander the Great spreading Hellenic values and culture as far east as India to the melding of Greek and Egyptian cultures in Alexandria to the eastern Roman empire based in Constantinople, all those things happened facing east.  Combine that orientation with unhappy events that came from the west: the conquest of Constantinople by the Catholic crusaders of the Fourth crusade in 1204 - the event that really started fostering Greece's anti-western bias - and the perceived western favoritism towards the Ottoman Empire in opposition to an independent Greek state.  In modern times,  US and NATO support for the Colonels during the military dictatorship from 1967 to 1973, and similar support for Turkey during their 1974 invasion of Cyprus, re-enforced Greek mistrust of the west.

That ambiguity was finally settled when Greece joined the EU in 1980. And Greece has benefited from being part of the EU. Since 1980, EU money has flowed into Greece in the form of funding for infrastructure and farm subsidies, and in increased tourism and the construction of vacation or second homes for prosperous northern Europeans.  Bottom line, the country is much more modern than it was in the 1970s, and after decades of exporting people it now imports people from poorer parts of the region, not just the Balkans but from the Middle East and north and west Africa.

But Greece has suffered, too.  Parts of Greece look like the worst of Florida, with cheap hotels full of sun burnt tourist wandering from taverna to t shirt shop in a bloated holiday stupor.    

And now we find out the vaunted - and healthy - traditional Greek diet is taking a hit.  I found out this week that almost 9 percent of Greeks have type II diabetes, a shocking number but even worse when you consider that 20 years ago the disease was unheard of there.  That's how quickly the Greek diet has changed from healthy - primarily due to 160 days of fasting in conjunction with the Greek Orthodox calender and a lower living standard - to a western junk and processed food one.  

Greeks also used to shop at local shops for fresh food - from bakers, butchers, etc.  But supermarkets - full of processed food - are taking over in Greek cities and villages. 

The Greek lifestyle has changed as well.  As it is in the American south, where for decades folks stayed healthy even when eating a fried foot diet, both Greeks and southerners no longer do much hard, physical, historically-rural work.  Like Americans, most Greeks live in cities and work at a desk or behind a cash register at a tourism-related business.  

Finally, junk and processed food - potato chips, ice cream and candy bars, sugar soda - is everywhere in Greece.  Greek life is so western that Ariadne and Evan don't actually notice much difference between the U.S. and the motherland.  I just asked them to compare Athens and Washington, and Greek like with American life, and Evan said "Athens is a lot older" and that "Greeks eat a lot more food and spent more time eating" than Americans.  Ariadne said she wished "we had siesta time in America," noted that neither city has big sky scrapers, and though Athens is not as clean as Washington it is much cleaner than New York.  


Joining the EU and the west has been a huge win for Greece. Even with the current economic crisis Ellas has never been this prosperous.  Hard to believe that Greece survived the 4th Crusade, the Ottoman Empire, and a military dictatorship but may lose out potato chips and ice cream. 


A Few Random Thoughts

•  One reason things are kind of looking up in Greece is increased foreign investment.  Cosco, the Chinese trading company, has signed a 35-year deal to run the port of Pireas, a deal that will bring in billions of dollars.  Qatar is also investing heavily in Greece's energy infrastructure. Greece and Turkey are starting to cooperate with green energy companies to build a new, regional, energy grid.
• And the French are going as nuts as the Greeks did in reacting to an increase of the retirement age there so we are no longer on the front page.
• Finally, since I brought them up I do want to point out that: Evan hit a triple in his game on Saturday, a line drive that reached the warning track in the air, and Ariadne has a A- minus average so far in the first trimester, with her lowest grade a B.

Ads on CHB

As some of you have noticed, and a few have even commented publicly, I run Google Ads on my blog. So far, I think I have raised 149 pennies as a result, money I have plowed back into the site.  

Most of the ads are for Dish Network, Toyota (both of which I have mentioned in talking about Greek TV and our car, I guess) and usually the ads are for Carolina merchandise, Ranger Rick has gotten some traffic on there, and vacations to Greece.

But somehow, I assume via my critiques and frustrations with the U.S. Senate, some Republican ads have run.  Even though I recently belittled capitalism and always use the term 'tea baggers,' an ad for '39 seats in 39 days' popped up on my blog.  And two months ago I received a fund raising letter from non-other than Sharron Angle.

Wacky weird stuff.  So for all those bots that search blogs I'll say it again: capitalism stinks, right-wing boobs stink and tea baggers stink (and just to be gratuitous, Dukies like Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Ken Starr, Richard Nixon, and Elizabeth Dole really stink; though I have to admit the Paul boys make Nixon and Dole look like, you know, reasonable people).

Sports and Politics

Those fine endeavors share a number of traits.  One, money generally ruins or at least perverts both of them.  Two, you keep score.  Three, the worst part of each is speculation and hype.

I thought of the third one in response to the preseason hype around the Miami Heat AND the breathless speculation about the November midterms.

The preseason Heat hype is pro basketball at it's worst.  The trio of James, Wade and Bosh may indeed one day win a championship, but until they do all the hype is worthless.  I love the coming out/pep rally teams hold when they sign a new player, and the wall to wall coverage of practices and the video of players walking into a gym.  The fog machines, the stupid dancing and preening, all before a game has been played.  Stupid fans fall for the bread and circuses when they should only celebrate two things: wins and effort.

In sports there is no need for hype or pregame shows.  You can talk all you want but at the end of the game there will be an indisputable winner and loser (except is soccer/football, which needs to eliminate the tie since you play games to win).

One last thing on the Heat; will someone explain to me the fascination with Chris Bosh?  He's a very good player and I hear he has a good sense of humor.  But he's not that good.  He was a good player on a decent team in Toronto, but he's not Dwight Howard.  Or, for that matter Pau Gasol and Al Horford or a bunch of other big men.   Rather than third amigo I imagine Bosh as more of a third wheel.  

And just as I am not handing the Heat the 2011 NBA championship - not sure they are better than last year's finalists in the Lakers and Celtics - I also urge folks to resist the hype around the Republicans in the upcoming midterms.

But like with sports, the 24-hour news cycle demands speculation until game time/election night.

The Dems will certainly lose ground in November, as parties in power do in midterms.  In the Senate the retirements of Byron Dorgan and Evan "Worthless" or "This Job is Hard So I Quit" Bayh make defending those seats difficult, but Harry Reid will still be majority leader on November 3rd.

Best of all, Nancy Pelosi will still be Speaker of the House.  There is no way the Rs can flip that many seats.  

To me it was always a long shot. The Democrats defending swing seats, folks like Piriello, Space, Boccieri, Teague, etc. are smart and know what they are doing AND how to run in those districts.  

I was incredibly impressed by Rep. Boccieri's speech at the recent LCV Victory Fundraiser.  He's been taking tough votes for two years now, including voting for the climate bill even though Ohio gets 80 percent of their energy from coal, but best of all knows how to frame those votes and defend his beliefs.  The D caucus is full of stars like that, representatives who know what they're doing and will get reelected.

I spent about an hour on Monday phone banking Greek-American voters in Tom Piriello's district with the Greek-American Progressive Network.  Out of 16 voters contacted, 13 were voting for Piriello, a PIRG alum, 2 were undecided and only one was voting against him.  Obviously Greek-Americans are not representative of the body politic at large (many consider us superior to none-Greeks, for instance) but that's a great ratio.

I will take a stab at predicting the outcomes of all the swing races this week, so stay tuned.

But I hate the hype about the tea baggers.  Then again, the hype will likely help the Dems in November.  I think the nomination of crazies like Christine O'Donnell, Sharon Angell, and others will help drive an uptick in Democratic enthusiasm, or more precisely turn out, on November 2nd.

As election day draws closer it will become clearer and clearer to liberals that we need to turn out to turn back the tea baggers and the Dukies (like Rand Paul) and save the republic.  

Finally, I also have to point out that the President continues to draw big crowds on the campaign trail.  As another PIRG alum, Chuck Todd, pointed out this week the Beltway crowd may think Obama is damaged goods but the public does not.  Obama drew more than 25,000 voters to a rally in Wisconsin and a huge crowd in Maryland, too.

There is still lots of work to do, and thanks to the Reagan Memorial known as the Supreme Court outside groups are spending millions helping Rs, but look for the Ds to do better than expected, and more importantly look for Reid and Pelosi to keep their current jobs.  

In other words, don't believe the hype.

Back on the Braves Bandwagon

Even though they won today, our Nats will not be in the playoffs.  Sorry if I'm the first to break that news to CHB blog readers.  At least the Nats were a little more relevant this season and finished with 69 wins.  More importantly, they avoided 100 losses.  

Instead of limping through another lost season there were some highlights.  At one point they were 20-15 and in second place.  And of course we saw the debut - and injury - of Steven Strasburg, we drafted and signed Bryce Harper, and saw serious promise in players like Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa, Wilson Ramos, Jordan Zimmermann, Sean Burnett, and Drew Storen. 

Plus, we started the best brawl in baseball this season!

There is finally legitimate hope for Washington baseball.  Even without Strasburg improving to 81 wins is NOT out of the question next season.  Hopefully we resign Adam Dunn and sign Carl Crawford to protect our one legit star in Ryan Zimmerman and add to the roster of youngish talent. Then who knows?   

But progress will mainly depend on finding a legit lead off hitter, and the development of their core of young starters.  If Zimmermann, John Lannan, Ross Detwiler, Jason Marquis and Livan Hernandez can hold things together they could make a run at a .500 record in 2011.

This October I am happy to get back on the Braves bandwagon.  As many of you know, I moved to DC from Florida and was a pretty serious Braves fan until the Nats came to town in 2005. Though Chipper is out for the rest of the season I will happily root for Bobby Cox to make a deep run in the postseason.  The guys wins, and knows how to lead. 

However, it is hard to see anyone taking down the Phillies in the National League, especially with a pitching staff that will go Halladay to Oswalt to Hamels.  Their bullpen is still a little vulnerable but they have six or seven legit stars on the that team.

In the AL, the dark horse pick seems to be the Twins.  I don't know much about the American League teams; when we got the Nats I also stopped following the Orioles.  I do know the Yankees have only one reliable starter in CC Sabathia, that without a healthy Evan Longoria the Rays look vulnerable, and that Nolan Ryan is instituting some interesting changes in how the Rangers handle pitchers and train starters.  

So I guess I'm going Twins versus Phillies in a World Series that will pit America's second most obnoxious fans versus those who eat lutefisk.

A few more sports notes

• Evan and I tried to watch the Skins game versus the Eagles, and even with the drama of McNabb going back to the city that traded him that game had no zip or energy.  It was flat out boring, and we quickly went back to MLB Network's look ins to the Braves-Phillies and Giants-Padres games.  Baseball is way better than football.
• But the Heels are relevant again after dismantling ECU over the weekend.  As T.J. Yates told the News and Observer, 'we're probably the happiest 2-2 team in America.'  The Heels are getting some of their suspended players back, and despite all that off the field tawdriness it's hard to give up on the Heels.  Traditional nemesis Clempson visits Chapel Hill next week.  A win over the Tigers will even the Heels' ACC record at 1-1.
• Evan's Little League Phillies lost over the weekend but he had a nice game.  He's generally been a dead pull hitter throughout his Little League career, but he had a great at bat late in the game, taking an outside pitch - with 2 strikes - to right to drive in two runs.  Oddly enough, he has played in four games and has yet to have a ball hit to him even though he has played at third, short, first, and center field. He's played four innings at first and has not even made a put out.

FYIWDWYTM

So as part of my recent ‘rediscovery of music I listened to a few years ago’ series – made possible by a generous contribution from the Annie E. Casey Foundation* – I’ve been listening to a lot of Rage Against the Machine lately.

Hard to beat songs like “Ghost of Tom Joad” and ‘Renegades of Funk” but for me the all time classic Rage song will always be ‘Killing in the Name Of.”

Revisiting that catalogue, and in particular “KITNO” has been interesting.

One, listening to Rage in the olden days helped deal with the tepid liberalism of the Clinton years, but also complimented them.  At least we were kind of in charge back then.

Two, the left could use a band like Rage right now, to energize and piss off young people again.  It’s easy to forget that Rage wasn’t a fringe band like many lefty acts or punk rock band; they sold tens of millions of records, and their second album debuted at number one.

Three, funny to realize that the tea baggers would probably enjoy singing along with the chorus of ‘Killing in the Name Of,” at least the part where Zach repeatedly shouts “Fuck You I Won’t Do What You Tell Me!”

Four, what’s really funny is a 48-year old man listening to a song where you repeatedly shout “Fuck You I Won’t Do What You Tell Me!”  Who am I talking to?

Finally, I guess our 13-year old has been dipping into my iPod.  This morning as Ariadne got out of the car she said ‘Love you mom, love you Evan, don’t love you dad.”  At least she used the PG version of “Fuck You I Won’t Do What You Tell Me!”

* I'm lying about that.

I'm Not An Economist

But do you have to be one to admit that capitalism is not working?  This week's news that one in seven Americans - Americans, not Greeks or Mexicans or Chinese but Americans - live below the poverty line is the latest argument that the current incarnation of the free market simply does not work. 


The yutzes on the right will claim that 'government regulation blah blah blah' is killing capitalism, but can anyone point to a time when capitalism ever worked in building a stable middle class and democratizing capital without heavy regulation and aggressive, leveling taxation?


I'm not an economist but the golden age of the American economy, roughly the period from World War II until the middle 1970s, corresponded with heavy taxation of individuals (the upper rate during that time period was almost 90 percent for some income brackets), active and successful trade unionism (more than a third of workers were in a union) and massive government spending (in defense, roads and infrastructure, higher education especially science and math and engineering, and research and technology).  


America basically civilized capitalism via taxation, unions, and government spending, in the process transferring wealth from folks who hoarded it - rich people and corporations - to entities that spent it and hired workers: unions and government.


But that balancing act started to erode in the late 70s.  The oil crises of that decade ended the era of cheap gas, but that wasn't the main culprit.  Economic powers such as Japan and Germany, for instance, succeeded in spite of paying more for oil and energy.


As Robert Reich opined in The New York Times on Labor Day, the 70s also saw revolutions in global communications and shipping that allowed companies to cheaply manufacture goods over seas for export back into the U.S.  Capital followed, pouring out from the U.S., Europe and Japan into non-union third-world countries eager to join the global manufacturing economy. 

The anti-tax revolts launched in California in the late 70s culminated in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  Reagan slashed taxes for the wealthiest Americans; with less tax money, state and federal governments starting cutting back spending on education but also on infrastructure and other needs - with the federal government eventually spending money only on three things: defense, Social Security, and interest on our debt (debt of course built up after taxes were slashed).


And in my opinion the death blow for America's economy was the fall of the Soviet Union.  Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal started the process of humanizing and civilizing capitalism in the 1930s. Unions and the Democrats carried that on after the war.  But I think one reason corporations went along with that process was a shared goal of wining the Cold War.  Everyone was invested in defeating Communism and showing that the American way was better.  Everyone knew the best way to demonstrate that was by building a massive middle class, a middle class who's wages were set by unions, whose taxes would pay for public schools and universities, the common defense, government pension programs like Social Security and Medicare, etc. 


The nexus of: globalized communications, shipping and capitalism; the fall of the Soviet Union; reduced taxation for the wealthiest Americans; the new left's (hippies if you will, not the civil rights movement) attack on the American liberalism in the 1960s have now culminated in the sobering stat that 14 percent of Americans live below the poverty line.  


Of course, the wealth is still there.  The capitalist class is going great.  The stock market is thriving, but no one is working and one in seven Americans are living in poverty.   Banks get bailed out by the federal government then refuse to lend money to others.  No, the swells are doing great.  They're hoarding their money, or worse, investing it in emerging capitalist hell holes like China, India, Brazil, etc. countries where investment is thriving but trade unionism is not.  

And some how, in a nation where capitalism has resulted in 14 percent of our fellow citizens living below the poverty line, being labeled a 'socialist' is a negative? 

A few, non-economic random thoughts

• Last weekend I extolled The Replacements.  This week I urge folks to rediscover Elvis Costello, but from his 'angry' period of the late 70s and early 80s, especially 'Trust' and 'Imperial Bedroom.'  Hard to beat those records for distilled anger and wit.
• But if you're looking for a brilliant and forward thinking album check out 'Mind Bomb' by The The.  One of the most underrated and overlooked bands and records of all time.
• Like a car wreck, need to check in on the football Heels today at home versus Georgia Tech. I want the Heels to win at everything, but the football program just seems cheap now, tainting the finest institution of higher learning of all time.
• For the record, Jim Love is the sweetest man of all time.

Parental Shame

Most parents, at least at some point, have to admit that they are sometimes ashamed of their children (or often ashamed; for instance, my parents from the time I was about 11 until I got married).

But smart parents keep that shame/embarrassment threshold pretty high.  That's why I'm trying to play it cool with my recent twin - and silly - shames from Ariadne and Evan.

ARIADNE 

As the half-dozen readers of this blog know (my market research says it may be a dozen, depending if you count hits from inside of prisons), I am a punk rocker and conversely very anti-hippie.  But two weeks ago Ariadne announced that she is a hippie.  Not the drug-taking kind, she quickly added.  Nor has she stopped bathing, making things out of macrame, nor is she sitting around the house lazily complaining about how bad things are but getting high instead of working to solve those problems (the latter is my true definition of a hippie).  

I'm not reacting, similar to my non-reactions to claims of being an atheist - followed contradictory claims of being a Buddhist.   

And luckily she is not listening to old hippies or new jam bands.  One of my patented anti-hippie screeds is a complaint against the Beatles song 'Let It Be.'  Did Rosa Park let things be?  Did Abe Lincoln? Did Dean Smith? Did Paul Wellstone?  Did John Lewis?  No.  You can NOT let things be.

Not only does that song and sentiment stink, but it's not ever the best 'Let It Be' in music.  This morning I'm listening to The Replacements album of the same name, simply one of the best albums of all time, an album that shows a punk band using that attitude and energy to guide their often sloppy - which is so punk rock! - musical evolution into one of the best rock bands of all time.  You want sloppy brilliance?  'LIB' includes 'I Will Dare' a classic piece of songwriting that features a mandoline solo courtesy of  REM's Peter Buck, and ranging from 'Unsatisfied' to 'Gary's Got a Boner.' It sounds like a compilation album for an era, not a young punk band making their second full-length album.  The last best band on the planet.

The Mats' version "LIB" proves something that does not even need to be said, but I will to continue to keep the record straight - punk rock is better than non-punk rock (and the civil rights movement had better music than the anti-war movement, too).

EVAN

So I'm proud of playing it cool over my hippie daughter.  We'll see how I do with Evan, who last weekend timidly asked 'Is it okay if I become a Redskins fan?'

I haven't followed the NFL closely for years, since the year the players went on strike and he owners fielded replacement teams full of strike breakers at line backer.  Fans actually showed up and tuned in to watch the scabs play - hey, violence is violence, right?  The union quickly caved in the face of public support for the owners, and as a result football players - with the exception of uber-protected quarterbacks - have been treated like meat ever since: few guaranteed contracts, pretty limp pension and health benefits, longer seasons that turn a players body to pulp, etc.   

Anyway, during the baseball strike of 1994 I realized how much I missed baseball; I didn't and haven't missed the NFL since their strike and the owners' defeat of the union.

But one consequence of living in DC is you live in a Redskins town.  And all of Evan's friends, at least the guys he plays baseball with, are Skins fans. And I started the slippery slop by watching the Heels play on Saturdays, and taking him to Chapel Hill four out of the last five seasons to watch a game.

So even though they have the most offensive nickname is sports, are owned by a guy who makes George Steinbrenner look like Dean Smith, and the entire NFL is nothing more than 'right wing theater' we've got a Redskins fan in the house.

His room is next door to the hippies'.

Football is Hazardous

Interesting quote this morning from UNC Chancellor - and Fayetteville native - Holden Thorp: "Competitive, big-time football is a hazardous undertaking,

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/11/674980/davis-gets-modest-support.html#ixzz0zDxUO54r

Big Stages on the Horizon

The US continues to replay the 1972 Olympics this weekend as we take on Lithuania in the semi-finals of the FIBA World Basketball Championships.  

Earlier this week the US defeated Russia by 10.  I was hoping for a bigger, blow out win after Russia's American-born coach, David Blatt, opined that upon further review the Soviet Union was the rightful winner in the gold medal game of the 1972 Olympics in Munich.  What a moron.

For years and years Lithuania was kind of the New York City of the Soviet Union, producing most of the USSR's best players.  This year they are led by Linus Kleiza, who played for George Karl and the Denver Nuggets prior to spending a year in Greece with Olympiacos last season.  But Kleiza went to high school at Montrose Christian near the District.

Lithuania blew out Argentina in their quarterfinal game this week, an impressive achievement, but I can't imagine them hanging with the U.S.  With Argentina, Greece and Spain already eliminated our squad should have a pretty clear path to the U.S.'s first world basketball championship since 1994.  Game time for the tilt against Lithuania is noon eastern on Saturday.

Turkey takes on Serbia in another battle between Ottoman Turks and Byzantine-era Orthodox Christians.  

Champions League

On Wednesday, Greek soccer champion Panathinaikos travels to Catalonia to take on one of soccer's most famous and glamorous clubs, Barcelona.  Barca and PAO are in the same European Champions League group, along with two other teams.  The top two advance to the knock out round of 32.  

Barca features arguably the world's best player in Lionel Messi, and the game will be an interesting test for Pana and Greek soccer.  Game time is 9:30 am on Wednesday. 

Greece blows it against Spain

After being competitive the entire game against the defending world champs -  and then taking the lead in the 3rd quarter - Ellas lost their concentration and blew it against Spain this afternoon in the first leg of the knockout round of the 2010 World Championships in Constantinople.

Greece took a four-point lead late in the third behind the shooting and defense of Dimitris Diamantidis. But midway through the final quarter Greece turned it over 3 straight possessions to literally hand the game to Spain.  The turnovers were the result of incredibly sloppy passes, more unforced errors than turnovers.  

Down the stretch Greece looked uber-European in a basketball sense: no concentration, which manifested itself in a 7 for 16 night at the free throw line; and terrible decisions and bad passes, a simple lack of basketball sense that is the biggest difference between American and European players - we are just smarter and concentrate more than they do.

Greece bows out way too early, in the round of 32, instead of competing for a medal.  Both Greece and Spain underachieved in the group stage; that's why they met so soon. Greece ended up third in their group behind Turkey and Russia - a team they should have beaten.  Doing so would have meant a second place finish and more importantly avoiding Spain.

So instead of defending their silver medal from 4 years ago Greece goes home way too early.  It looks like Ellas really missed the back court play of Theo Papaloukas, a smart point guard who rarely made mistakes in leading Greece to the 2005 European championship and the silver medal in the 2006 world championships, including the semi-final win over the U.S.

The good news out of the world championships is the play of the U.S.  Spain may give US a  game, but the US has played very well and should win the gold in a walk.

Some good news for the Heels

It's not all bad news for the Heels.  It looks linebackers Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant have been cleared to play tonight versus LSU.  The other piece of good news is that the Tigers' offense had little ept last year, so even with a weakened defense the Heels could be okay.

On the offensive side the story is the same as last year. If QB T.J. Yates plays well the Heels should move the ball, even without Greg Little to throw to.  Besides Yates, pressure will be on third string running back Johnny White.  White has been more of a special teams player in Chapel Hill but now gets to start his last year as a Tar Heels running back as the starter.  Perhaps that Cinderella story line will result in a 100-yards plus game.  

Good news for the Heels football team but not so good news for the Hellas football team.  Playing their first game in the EURO 2012 qualifying round and under new coach Francisco Santos, Ellas could only manage a 1-1 tie against their Orthodox co-religionists from Georgia last night.  FYI, the game was moved to Pireaus to accommodate a U2 concert at the Olympic Stadium.

Greece is in a pretty underwhelming group.   Besides Georgia, Ellas is grouped with Malta, Latvia, Israel and Croatia. Israel is decent, but Croatia is good and should be Greece's only real competition.  Then again, we could only muster a tie at home.  

Croatia's talent, and the tie versus Georgia, makes Tuesday's game in Zagreb a BIG one for Ellas.  The good news is Greece thoroughly outshot and outplayed Georgia, and Santos appears to have them playing a more attacking style.  But it's only be one game.  

Stealing one on the road against their only real rival in the group will go a long way in determining if Greece will qualify for Euro 2012 in Poland/Ukraine (P/U?  Is this the 'incredible history of anti-Semitism Euro?).

•  In honor of TJ Yates' home state AND the EURO 2012 game last night this post is in Georgia font.

Wide World of Sports

Lots of post-Strasburg sports news to focus on, including a smorgasbord of baseball, world basketball championships and more bad news, this time from Carolina.

Nationals Notes

Another weird week for the Nats.  The up side for me was the pitching of Jordan Zimmermann.  In his second start after "Steven Strasburg" surgery (formerly known as Tommy John surgery) Zimmermann was dominant is striking out 9 Marlins in six innings of one-hit, shutout ball.  It's only one start, but some good ju-ju for Nats fans contemplating Strasburg's return from the same surgery.

With Zimmermann's return, the signing of Bryce Harper, the September call up of Danny Espinosa, the minor league progress of Cuban pitcher Yunesky Maya and catcher Wilson Ramos, the second half progress of Ian Desmond, Roger Bernadina, Michael Morse, and Drew Storen, plus Gold Glove/Silver Slugger/Face of the Franchise Ryan Zimmerman there is legitimate light at the end of the Dr. Yoakum's scalpel.  

In 2012 Nats, fans could have a young, exciting and legit line up of CF Carl Crawford (would love to sign that guy from Tampa Bay), SS Desmond, 3B Zimmerman, 1B Dunn/Someone Like Him, LF/!B Morse, RF Harper, CF Bernadina, 2B Espinosa, C Ramos, complimented by a starting rotation of Strasburg, Zimmermann, Maya, Ross Detwiler and John Lannan, with Storen closing with help from set up men Sean Burnett, Tyler Clippard, Garrett Mock, and Colin Balester.  

Of course, one name missing from that list of man of the hour, Nyjer Morgan. I'm all over the place with Nyjer.  

Frankly, he lost me on the inside the park home run he 'gave up' to the Orioles' Adam Jones by slamming his glove on the ground in disgust after missing a deep drive.  I say he gave it up because even though he failed to make the catch, the ball did NOT clear the fence.  But instead of finding the ball he slammed his glove down in a fit of pique. Morgan never found the ball, and by the time left fielder Josh Willingham came over to throw the ball back in Jones had an inside-the-park home run.  

Morgan's concentration and production seemed to go south shortly after than unprofessional play.  His on base percentage, base running, and fielding suffered but things really came unglued in the last few weeks.  First he was accused of throwing a ball at a fan in Philadelphia.  Of course, Phillies fans are pains in the Manasses, but a professional DOES not do that.  There have been a few eyewitnesses who exonerate Morgan, but MLB did suspend him 7 games.

That suspension was on appeal when Morgan collided with not one but two catchers. The first collision, against the Cardinals, was just odd.  He bumped the Cards' catcher Bryan Anderson even though there was no throw home. Of course, he connected with Anderson but missed home plate. Morgan was eventually ruled out after Ivan Rodriguez grabbed him and pushed him towards home so he could eventually step on the plate, which is against the rules. Morgan's play was at best odd, at worst stupid.

Instead of trying to bump the catcher, Morgan should have slid and scored.  But Morgan did not seem to learn that lesson; two nights later instead of trying to slide under a tag in the top of the 10th inning (of Zimmermann's gem) Morgan really slammed into Marlins' catcher Brett Hayes in an attempt to jar the ball lose.  It didn't happen.  Hayes made the tag but Morgan had separated the Marlins catcher's shoulder.  He's out for the season.

Morgan and Nats expected retaliation.  Nothing wrong with that as long as it's not at a player's head.  Morgan was plunked in the side, and it seemed like that was that.

But Morgan kept the flames going, at least to the Marlins, by stealing two bases and scoring on a sacrifice fly.  Though the Nats were down at the time 3-14, in Morgan's defense it was only the 4th inning and the Marlins were holding him on. The steals prompted the Marlins to do something you NEVER see - a player getting thrown at twice in one game.

The next time Morgan game up the Marlins threw behind him, and a massive fight ensued.

Like I said, I'm torn.  Morgan has been a below-average player this season, mainly due to mental errors and a lack of professionalism. In Miami, he is not solely to blame for the fight.  You don't throw at a guy twice in one game.  

But again, it goes back to the inside-the-park home run he game up.  A professional makes the smart play, and in this case it meant sliding in to home instead of trying to run over the Marlins' catcher.  Morgan does that - the Nats score and no one gets hurt - and a bean ball war does not start the next game. 

In each instance you can find a scapegoat - obnoxious Phillies fan, Ivan Rodriguez grabbed him, the Marlins threw at him twice in one game - but bottom line you need to be a professional and play with your head.  Perhaps a bad season - Morgan had been demoted to 8th in the Nationals line up - prompted him to take out his frustrations against two catchers.  But neither play made sense, and neither one was the smart baseball play.  

In firing obnoxious blow hard Rob Dibble from the booth and cutting malcontents like Elijah Dukes the Nats front office has demonstrated a willingness to fire employees who rhyme with pass moles.  We'll see how they deal with guys who are unprofessional and unfocused like Morgan has been the last few weeks.

Anyway, remember the good paragraph about the 2012 line up.

Time to Drop Football?

There is disheartening news out of Chapel Hill, too.  It's been hard to keep track of all the fires swirling around Carolina's football team.  Contact with agents, problems with tutors, and academic issues have plagued the Heels all summer.

My gut reaction is Carolina should stop trying to chase the fool's gold that is big time college football, which of course is incredibly impractical but does make sense.  For a great piece on the greed that dominates college football, and undermines a school's mission, check out today's John Feinstein column in The Post.  Ever since Mack Brown left football has suffered, but not from lack of trying. The Heels have never gotten over the hump despite spending millions on new facilities and expanding Kenan Stadium.  

And now 6 of the 11 starters from the famed Tar Heel defense are suspended, as are the Heels two best running backs.  College teams often rally in the face of this kind of adversity; it's almost a coaches dream scenario (at least for pre-game speeches).  But the Heels have so many top players suspended you wonder if there is enough depth to paper over the losses.  

Perhaps most frustrating is the contact with agents.  Why did these guys come back to Chapel Hill for another season - at least four Carolina defensive players were projected as high draft picks in the spring - only to allegedly start taking money and gifts from agents?  And now in addition to not playing they are tarnishing the reputation and embarrassing the university.  

But at least they did not try to steal a pass in the 4th inning.

World Basketball Championships

The U.S. has looked pretty good in the World Basketball Championships in Turkey.  Despite having Krzyzewski as 'our' coach Kevin Durant and Derek Rose have looked great in leading the US to a 5-0 record.  We play Angola in the knock out round tomorrow in what will likely turn out to be another 40-point rout.

Greece, on the other hand, has yet to get their groove back.  Ellas was blowing out teams prior to the bad-karma-inducing game and fight with Serbia a week ago in the Acropolis Tournament.

After winning their first three games - versus China, a good Puerto Rico team, and Ivory Coast - Greece lost to Turkey (no shame there; the Turks have 3 NBA players on their roster and are playing at home) and Russia by 3.  The greater shame is losing to two nations who WE civilized. 

Anyway, that two-game losing streak means Ellas has to play Spain, who also under whelmed in the first round of play, on Saturday in the knock out round.  Instead of playing - as expected - for a medal Greece and Spain are playing for their lives tomorrow. It should be a great game between two of the four best national teams (widely considered to be the U.S., Argentina, Spain and Greece), and I think it will be on NBA TV live at 2:00 pm eastern if you want to tune in.

 

Worst 24 hours in DC since . . .

probably the day the Supreme Court decided that George W. Bush was president.  On that day in 2001, I remember thinking "well, there goes the Arctic Refuge."

The good news is, of course, that didn't happen.  We won.  But it's harder to find some good news in the last 24-hour news cycle.

One, phenom Steven Strasburg needs Tommy John surgery.  When that news came across my phone Friday morning I almost cried.  That fact alone, that I felt like crying about a baseball player I've never met, proves that old phase: 'sports fans are the most miserable people on Earth'. 

As I tweeted yesterday (@AthanDCTarheel), the Curse of Lez Boulez is real.  DC sports teams can not catch a break, and the only team that has historically won (history leaves out DC United) is the one with the most racist name in history, and boasted a proud racist owner for years in the 40s, 50s and early 60s.

Soul sucking as Strasburg's injury is, a sucking compounded by the timing since we found out about the diagnosis a day AFTER Bryce Harper's hope-inducing introduction and awesome batting practice session, there are SEVERAL silver linings. 

1. there were 10 pitchers in this year's all-star game who had the surgery, and almost 85  percent of the hurlers who have had the procedure come back just as strong or stronger
2. Stasburg is only 22 years old; his body is still growing and his youth should aid his recovery.  
3. hurting a shoulder is a much bigger problem for a pitcher than an elbow or forearm; many have opined that he can strengthen his shoulder while rehabilitating after Tommy John surgery.

Finally, their is Strasburg's attitude.  And I'm not talking about his work ethic.  I'm talking about his quote that it's better to have this happen now than say, at a time when the Nats are in a pennant race or battling for a World Series. Clearly, Strasburg is thinking big picture about his injury, surgery, recovery and career, so so should we.  But it still stinks to have to wait and hope things go well. 

Speaking of hope, let's hope John Wall or Bryce Harper are not hit by a bus.

Two, speaking of speaking of hope, the other bad thing to befall your nation's capital is the Glenn Beck rally.  I don't have much to add to the discussions about how outlandish it is for Beck to be linked to Martin Luther King and the "I Have A Dream" speech.  MLK was about making the country better and fulfill the meaning of it's creed; Beck's message is based on fear of the other and turning the clock back.  

And how can someone who claims President Obama is racist against white people and hates white culture profess to reclaim the civil rights movement?

But I do want to point out the irony of standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  Not only is it inappropriate for Beck to stand near where King stood, but what about Lincoln?  Does it bother Beck and the Tea Party that Lincoln: 

• was the father of big government, a government that swelled in size to fight and win the Civil War?  
• actually fought a war against white culture, at least white slave-owning culture?  Many Confederates thought that Lincoln hated white people;
• supported redistributing land, for free, via the Homestead Act, an act that gave away 160 acres to anyone over 21 years old and was loyal to the United States. According to history.com, similar bills were proposed prior to the Civil War but were defeated by southern members of Congress who feared new territories populated by non-slave holding homesteaders who supported laboring over slavery.
• supported labor over capital: "labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
• strongly opposed the Tea Party's intellectual forefathers, the Know-Nothings, on immigration, stating that if they gaining power the Declaration of Independence would be amended to "all men are created equal except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics."  That sounds Tea Partyish to me.

I really think the Palins, Becks and the Tea Party have already hit their high water mark.  I just can't see folks, except maybe in Utah or Idaho maybe Kentucky, voting for these guys in November.  Their time has past, and Americans rarely if ever vote their fears rather than their hopes.  

Hopes, for Strasburg's recovery, and in November.