Will we have to learn Italian to follow Kobe?

Hey what’s going on? Just sitting here after hearing Barack Obama give his acceptance speech for the Presidential nomination. Good stuff.

In try to not get political here but I will say this. The Republicans are going to have to do A LOT very, very soon to have a chance in this presidential election.

This post is going to be about the possibility of NBA players going to Europe to pursue their professional careers.

My thoughts on this have been inspired by three things and I will break down my theories based on these three.

-High school star Brandon Jennings decides to forgo college basketball to play for an Italian team. This was spurred by two things. First, the NBA now has an age limit on when players may enter the draft. Second, he struggled to meet the minimum academic requirements to get admitted to Arizona.

He decided to avoid the hassle of getting qualified and is going to Europe to play basketball. Some are looking at him as an innovator; some are looking at him negatively.

-Former Atlanta Hawks player Josh Childress decided to not sign with an NBA team and joined a team in Greece. I will always remember him as the idiot that former worst general manager in the NBA Billy Knight took instead of Andre Iguodola or Luol Deng. Never, ever become a Hawks fan kids.

-With the recent success of the USA Olympic team in Beijing, some are now speculating that current NBA superstars like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant will look to offers from European teams in the future.

Here’s how I look at each situation.

1) Jennings never wanted to go to college. He intended to stay at Arizona one season and then go to the NBA. Those types of athletes are usually negative towards the college game. Noticed that I didn’t say that he was a negative person. Jennings is a man and has the right to do whatever he wants and if he feels that the college system isn’t something he wants to be a part of, I’m fine with that.

It’s done in so many other sports like tennis, golf, soccer, auto racing, baseball, hockey, etc. There are teenagers and young adults becoming professional athletes from 16-20. College basketball and college football are trying to hold on to the current system because it makes money. Jennings wants to make money too. You can’t fault him for that.

Furthermore, the aspect of him improving his game in Europe is a yea and nay. He will get to play against professionals out there, which is good for development, but the European teams tend to not play players unless they can help the team win immediately. Jennings will have a hard time getting on the floor while he would have been an immediate starter in Arizona and played a full season. He will get paid a nice sum of change because the Euro is strong, which brings me to point #2.

2) Childress is just going for the money and prestige and you can’t hate on that either. The Euro is very strong right now and is actually worth more than the US Dollar. Therefore, when you look at the salary of Childress in Europe, some will say that he’s taking a pay cut, but when the conversion is done, he’s making a nice penny.

He would have been a marginal bench player for a contending team and maybe started for a crappy team like Memphis, Minnesota or Oklahoma City. He’s not that good of a player. He knows he can go to Greece and be a star and get his international profile up, which brings me to point #3.

3) Of course Kobe and Lebron will consider playing in Europe for several reasons.

First, let’s just look at the money factor. There is a set limit on the salary that each player can make in the NBA. Those limits don’t exist in Europe. Either one can receive an offer to make 40 or 50 million dollars a season to play, not to mention part ownership and percentage points for things like TV ratings, marketing deals and sponsorships.

Americans tend to look at sports from a narrow scope. We like to talk about how big the Super Bowl is. It’s a big event, but the Olympics, Soccer World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Cricket World Cup and other events are much, much bigger.

There are still untapped sports markets for basketball in Africa, the Middle East, South America, Asia and even Australia. Playing in Europe makes the players more accessible to these markets and that means more exposure and money.

There is so much money out there to be made and Kobe and LeBron are smart enough to realize this.

Did you see how the rest of the world reacted when the USA men’s basketball team made appearances at the Olympics? Kobe was treated like a rock star. Even in the USA vs. China opening game, Kobe got louder cheers than Yao Ming and I saw Chinese people in Kobe's Lakers jerseys. You don’t think Kobe noticed this and took note.

Furthermore, Kobe does various camps throughout the world in the off season and has a major international profile. He also grew up in Italy and is familiar with the culture. He’s fluent in Italian and speaks other non-English languages well and will adjust well there.

Lebron is developing his profile as well. He’s been focused on making the Olympics his launching pad into the international scene. Why do you think he is the American athlete in that Coke commercial with Yao Ming that was played all throughout the Olympics?

I will say that each of them wants to make their mark in the NBA because that’s the league that everyone aspires to play in. Kobe wants to win some more titles with the Lakers and Lebron still has to win his first.

BTW, if they go to Europe, they won’t be forgotten.

I’m a huge fan of Arsenal, a football team that plays in the English Premier League. Yeah, I said football and not soccer! I can watch them play every single match live if I want to, like when they lose to crappy Fulham last week!!! They will finish fifth in the EPL this year, which is pathetic!

Anyway, I can get video highlights of all the games, receive statistics, see transactions online, order clothing and be a complete fan even though I’ve never been to England and never seen Arsenal play in person.

This is for English soccer in America. Imagine Kobe playing in a league in Italy. We would know all of the information like scores, how many points he had, we would even see highlights on ESPN.

Do I think that either one of them is going to Europe? I would lean towards no because the NBA means so much to them, but don’t dismiss the idea.

What do you readers think? Would you leave your home country to go somewhere else to make more money and increase your exposure and start a new, less challenging job?

I was going to post some more Talking Heads for you because playing their music has been my soundtrack this week and I have become a bigger fan of them.

However, since this post was about Europe, I have to represent for my fellow Frenchmen, Daft Punk. I love these guys so much. Here’s their return concert at Coachella from 2006. I recommend playing this completely while you work; it makes the time go by.

Have a good day or night or whenever you read this.

Sunday Reflections

Another Sunday, another time to reflect…

-Some amendments on my final thoughts on the Olympics.

1) I stayed up to watch the gold-medal game between the USA and Spain in men’s basketball. Props to the US for getting the win and bringing the gold home. Kobe, that was a man performance. He’s the best player on the planet and there’s no doubt about it.

Spain is legit and could have won that game. Missing Calderon was a major deal for them. However, the point guard Rubio is going to be a major player in the future, especially considering that he’s only 17. Furthermore, Rudy Fernandez is going to ball hard for Portland. One more thing, how is Navarro not on an NBA roster? He’s a solid guard.

I’m calling it right now, the top four for MVP this season will include Kobe, LeBron, Chris Paul and Dwayne Wade, in some order. Wade is going to have a monster, monster season for the Heat this year.

International basketball is back in the mainstream and that’s a good thing. I’m going to post on this more this week.

2) Congrats to the USA men’s volleyball team for their thrilling win over Brazil for the gold medal. Tremendous match and effort throughout the games considering the tragedy that took place with the family of the head coach.

3) My brother and I are making serious plans to go to the London Olympics in 2012. any one of you is down with the plan, just shoot me a holler. I’m looking at you Mr. McMahon, People’s Champion and icon of the masses, Sean Sawyer, Sager and Meggie. Let’s make it happen.

Just remember that we’re going to have to attend handball, table tennis, tons of judo, avoid diving and gymnastics and probably check out rhythmic gymnastics and women’s volleyball for my “research.”

-This weekend was solid overall. Saw some soccer action, washed the clothes and got some relaxing in.

-The undergraduates have returned to Belmont and I’m hyped. I love school and am looking so forward to going back to classes myself. I’ve missed learning, seeing my friends consistently and many other things. I’ll have a post on this topic tomorrow after orientation with the new sports administration graduate students.

-While washing my clothes, I went to Harris Teeter and flipped through some magazines. I came across a Cosmo I think with Blake Lively from Gossip Girl on the cover. I rarely look at this magazine but had some time to kill and checked it out. Wow, interesting stuff. There’s content on woman issues like breast cancer, but then the next article will be on sexual positions and how to spice up your love life. Just odd. Decent read though.

-This week, I’ve taken my nephew’s advise and ignored the ladies, which was kinda odd. I’m a social guy and I like to know what going on with people but I don’t want to be overbearing. To be honest with you, I really didn’t think about any of the women that I discuss and detail here this week at all. I’ve really just moved on and just living my life.

I did put my nephew’s ideals to the test when I saw Amber at the gym Saturday after not seeing her for about two weeks. Usually, when I see her, I stop and speak with her for a few minutes. However, when I entered the gym, I gave her a hello and walked right past her and did my workout. When I finished my lift, I was leaving and Amber said what’s up to me and we chatted some. I let her initiate the conversation and lead things.

We finished and I just said goodbye and left. I wanted to tell Amber later how it was great to see her, how great it was to see her smile and wanted to talk with her some more because I can spend everyday with her, but I haven’t spoken or called her or text messaged her since I saw her.

I’m not saying that this is the right approach or something that I would normally do, but it’s definitely different. I’ll give you an update if something happens.

-The two most poitntless things that go on during this time of year for me. Little League Baseball World Series and Preseason football. I’ve watched none of the first one and maybe 10 minutes of the second one.

-I’ve just joined a fantasy football league and I’m geeked about that.

-That’s all for Reflections. Here’s a tentative schedule of the posts schedule this week:

Monday: Why I’m hyped about returning to school
Tuesday: Why I still represent for the NYC contrary to popular beliefs
Wednesday: Why I’m feeling international basketball again and why its 40% possible that Kobe Bryant ends his career in Italy and Lebron James in Greece
Thursday: Wildcard
Friday: A proper MMA Review
Saturday: Whatever I damn well please
Sunday: Reflections

-I was bumping some Depeche Mode hard this weekend. Here’s some music.

Sunday Reflections

Some Sunday Reflections while watching the NBA Finals:

-The Euro 2008 Tournament has been excellent so far. I know that some of you may not be soccer fans, but you have to give this tournament a try. The play has been amazing, especially from the Dutch. Holland is looking scary good right now. Their dismantling of France was a thing of beauty. Spain got incredibly lucky yesterday in their game and I saw the best comeback of the year, maybe ever, when Turkey scored three second-half goals against the Czech Republic. You have to look up the highlights of that game. I picked Portugal to win the title, but I can see Spain, Holland or even Turkey pull it out.

-I’m now a golf fan. I usually don’t like watching golf on TV because I find it boring. Yet, I love soccer, strange. Anyway, I decided to give the U.S. Open a chance this weekend and I was riveted. I watched some of the action on Saturday and the last three pairings on Sunday. Amazing stuff. I was pulling for someone else to win besides Tiger Woods, but that man is a beast. I guess Tiger has had knee surgery and is still recovering, but he manned up and gutted out a tie. He did blow the lead, which isn’t good. I would watch someone like Rocco Mediate or Lee Westwood miss a putt on the 12 or 13th hole and say to myself that they lost the tournament. However, they kept their composure and were in it until the end. That putt that Tiger made on 18 to force the playoff, incredible. I was riveted by the drama. I’m mad that I can’t see the 18-hole playoff on Monday because I will be traveling to South Carolina, however, when the next major comes on TV, I will watch the final day. I can’t commit to watching all four days of coverage of a major and I definitely won’t watch all of the no-name tournaments, but this is a start. Also, wondering out loud, why does Phil Mickelson always finish either terrible for his standards in a major or be in contention to win. I’m not a golf expert, but it seems that he should be a better golfer then he is according to all of the experts that I hear. If someone can give me an explanation, I would appreciate it.

-Kennesaw, Ga. is the same as it ever was. I’ve spent the last few days in Kennesaw with the family and everything looks the same as when I was here a few months ago.

-I love watching the Baseball and Softball College World Series. I should have mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I love the College World Series. I always watched the baseball one, ever since I was a kid. It was the early to mid-1990’s when LSU used to win it almost every year. I always had a soft spot for Cal. State Fullerton and Long Beach State for some reason. I never liked Miami because they seemed cocky and didn’t like Stanford because of the uniforms. Yes, that’s a pathetic reason to not go for a team. I’ve grown up and now have evolved thoughts on the teams. I think UNC will win it all, but unfortunately as a Georgia Tech fan, watch out for Georgia.

Softball is a different deal for me because I didn’t grow up around it. I do respect it and would like to head to Oklahoma City to check it out one day. It looks like a good time and I have grown to like softball from CofC and Belmont now.

-People may think I have a beef with Kobe because I’ve never liked him, but it really isn’t personal. The thing about it is that in our society, especially in sports, we are always trying to compare someone to something. If you hear a song on the radio, people say that sounds like Zeppelin or the Stones. If you watch a TV show, people compare it to Cheers or M.A.S.H or Seinfeld or something. In sports, if there’s a good hockey player, he’s compared to Gretzky. If there’s a good baseball player, they get compared to Willie Mays. Finally, in basketball, if someone shows any skills, they always want to bring up Michael Jordan. I get so tired of the media and fans trying to compare every perimeter player to Jordan. We can go down the list from Harold Miner to Grant Hill to LeBron James to now Kobe Bryant of all the people that get compared to Jordan. Michael was the greatest player ever and they’re will never be another player like him. Just like they’re will never be another Kobe, Magic, Bird, Miner, Hill, LeBron and everything in between. I think I get tired of Kobe because gets stuffed down our throat. If the Lakers win this series, good for them. If the Celtics win, good for them as well. Just leave the comparisons alone, please.

-I’ve watched less and less sports channels and loving it. I made a decision a few weeks ago to not watch so many sports channels like ESPN and just watch the games. I get oversaturated with information and it makes the experience of watching a game less enjoyable. The over analysis of sports has gotten out of hand. I’ll elaborate on this more another time.

-I’m going to meet up with Ms. Smith on Tuesday! Your boy is looking forward to catching up with Alicia. If you need a recap of who she is, check this out: http://pourtoutpancakes.blogspot.com/2008/05/facebook-and-feeling-yes-at-same-time.html Yeah, looking forward to it.

That’s it from me. Have a good week.

My quick thoughts on the NBA Finals

My quick thoughts on the NBA Finals…It’s over.

That is all.

My NBA Finals Prediction

I’ll make this prediction quick and dirty, that’s what she said. Ha! Anyway, the Lakers and Celtics go at it in the NBA Finals. Feel the excitement people.

I’m looking forward to this series because I haven’t watched the constant media coverage of this series. I’ve read maybe two or three articles about it and have avoided ESPN because they kill any excitement with over coverage.

I learned from watching the Stanley Cup finals this past week that the less I know, the more I enjoy it.

Working in the sports industry is fine and I love sports, but I get burnt out over it often. I need some distance and just watching the hockey games between Detroit and Pittsburgh without the over-coverage was a delight.

Lakers in six. The key will be the bench play and the coaching. Doc Rivers scares me.

I was watching Two and a Half Men doing this post, but I also stumbled upon some old NBA footage on YouTube.

Here’s are Games Five and Game Six of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals between the Knicks and the Bulls or as I call it, “The moment I learned to hate the Bulls and declared Jordan the greatest of all-time.”

I still hate the Bulls to this day, but Respect.

Enjoy the series.