Strawberries & Cream… Wimbledon updates… again

Huge upset today in the 3rd round…

Laura Granville has defeated Martina Hingis on the ‘Graveyard of Champions’ – court 2. Granville beat Hingis, 6-4, 6-2. Not even close.

In other matches of note:

• Serena Williams wins (is ‘win’ an appropriate description? How about DEMOLISHED?) 6-1, 6-0 against Milagros Sequera.
• Justin Henin straight sets victor, 6-4, 6-1 over Elena Vesnina.
• Daniela Hantuchova had a difficult win over Katarina Srebotnik – 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
• In what should’ve been his first challenge of the tournament, Federer defeated Marat Safin with little real difficulty, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
• Fernando Gonzalez (5th seed) was upset by Janko Tipsarevic. 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-8.
• James Blake (9th seed) beaten by the 20th seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 6-7 (4/7).
• Andy Roddick cruised past Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).

Days of Our Lakers… a review of the draft.

It’s worth noting that of the 3 draft picks the Lakers got, only one of them really has any positive light from Kobe’s point of view… Anyway, that aside – let’s have a look at ’em!

Drafted with the 19th pick – Javaris Crittendon. The Lakers have a need at point guard, that’s for sure. And without-a-doubt Crittendon was the best player at that position still on the board (after Acie Law IV & Mike Conley). I doubt that he’ll have much impact in the next season, but with Aaron McKie & Smush Parker gone, maybe he will (depending on trades et al). Still, the Lakers do have to look beyond Kobe, and most draft picks at that stage of the game are ‘projects’. I must admit that I was hoping for him to drop this far (and as we got to the mid-teens, was pretty sure he would: Washington, New Jersey & Golden State all have established PGs) – he’s young, has good vision & will (eventually) make a good point guard… one day (not sure that’s what Mr Bryant wants to hear). He’s also eminently tradeable (which would please Kobe).

The second pick with the 10th pick of the 2nd round (40 overall) was Sun Yue. This
pick initially took me by surprise. A very, very long player with point guard skills… ok. Why haven’t we heard of him? Supposedly quick, can jump, and has good passing skills. Still as is typical for Chinese players, he is very, very skinny, and would need to bulk up considerably before having an impact on the NBA. Another project? Chalk up some displeasure for Kobe…

With the 18th pick of the 2nd round (48th overall) the Lakers took Marc Gasol (Pau’s baby brother). Now this pick interests me. Gasol’s a big body, and has all-round good skills. Ready to roll now… in my preview, this was a guy I targeted with this pick, and I’m happy we got him. I’d suggest that Gasol’s presence means that the Lakers are seriously looking to trade Andrew Bynum. Is that a hint of a smile I see Kobe?

 

For more reviews of the draft for other teams, go to Sports Projections!

 

For a response on the draft from Kobe (I think…), try Pyle of List’s Live-Blogging from Kobe’s House!

Jubilo soccer star sacked for sex suspicions!

Jubilo Iwata (Japanese soccer team based in Shizuoka prefecture) cut ties with Naoya Kikuchi due to Kikuchi being arrested on suspicion of having had sex with a 15 year old girl. He was fined, his contract was terminated, and rumors abound as to whether some officials were aware of the incident prior to the arrest – as fines have been placed on both the team president, and the head of team development.

What amazes me is the attitude of people in general here in Japan. It’s met with a pretty blase attitude – enjou kosaii (compensated dating with schoolgirls) is as bad as it’s always been, so this situation involving a football (soccer) player raises nary an eyebrow.

Imagine what Roger Goodell’d be doing…

Top Sports Stories in Japan… (June 30)

Humid today… surprise, huh?

Today’s top sports stories…

• Rhodes leads Buffaloes over Fighters (NPB)… [Daily Yomiuri]
• Former Detroit Pitcher Greisinger enjoys Japan (NPB) … [Mainichi Shimbun]
• Toru Taniguchi stays at the top (Japanese golf)…[Daily Yomiuri]

Have a great day… tired post NBA draft!

Strawberries & Cream… Wimbledon updates…

• Tim Henman gone. Beaten by Feliciano Lopez, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 2-6, 6-1
• Rafael Nadal breezes through in 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 against Werner Eschauer
• Federer through 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 versus Juan Martin Del Potro
• Hewitt defeats Simone Bolelli in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
• James Blake wins 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 against Pavel
• Journeyman Aussie Wayne Arthurs defeats 11th seed Tommy Robredo 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3
• Sharapova wins 6-0, 6-3 over Severine Bremond
• Venus proves too much for Hana Sromova winning 6-2, 6-2
• Amelie Mauresmo wins 6-1, 6-2 over Yvonne Meusburger
• Dinara Safina is upset by Akiko Morigami losing 4-6, 5-7

Top Sports Stories in Japan… (June 29)

Today’s top sport headlines in Japan…

• Sumo dies during training… [Mainichi Shimbun]
• Morigami advances at Wimbledon… [Japan Times]
• A preview on Japan Athletics… [Daily Yomiuri]

NBA Draft 2007

 

Really good running commentary on this at Henry Abbott’s TrueHoop at ESPN.com too (Blogger Live Draft)… we got a mention there on the Laker’s pick, and that of Houston too…

Minute-by-minute updates on With Malice… stay tuned!  Commentary for some picks…

* trade notes at the bottom of this page…

1. Portland Trailblazers – Greg Oden. With the first pick of the 2007 draft, Portland select Greg Oden!  No brainer…
2. Seattle Supersonics – Kevin Durant – again, a no brainer.
3. Atlanta Hawks – Al Horford – Next best player after Oden/Durant…
4. Memphis Grizzlies – Mike Conley Jr. – I don’t even think he’s the best PG in the draft.  That’d be Acie Law…
5. Boston Celtics – Jeff Green (Traded to Seattle) *1 – OH!  Wingman attained to play with Durant!
6. Milwaukee Bucks – Yi Jianlian – Trade-bait.  Yi’s not a good fit at the Bucks…
7. Minnesota Timberwolves – Corey Brewer – Great defensive player, good for a ‘rebuilding team’…
8. Charlotte Bobcats –Brandan Wright – (Traded to Golden State) **4  – workouts saw this player’s stock plummet…
9. Chicago Bulls – Joakim Noah – an “energetic” inside presence… great rebounding.  Hold a sec… wasn’t that Tyrus Thomas a year ago?
10. Sacramento Kings – Spencer Hawes – I know a lot of Kings fans that are going to be disappointed they took Hawes…
11. Atlanta Hawks – Acie Law IV – a steal at #11.  In my mind the best PG in the draft…
12. Philadelphia 76ers – Thaddeus Young
13. New Orleans Hornets – Julian Wright – perhaps one of the unsung, but I think 13’s a lil’ high.
14. Los Angeles Clippers – Al Thornton – lotsa upside on this guy…
15. Detroit Pistons – Rodney Stuckey – damnit… was hoping this guy would drop to the Lakers – GREAT player, a steal at 15!
16. Washington Wizards – Nick Young – (only two more picks Lakers… Crittendon is STILL on the board!  And why would New Jersey or Golden State take a Point Guard?)
17. New Jersey Nets – Sean Williams – Bad boy with huge upside.  Better attitude could’ve seen him go higher… (JC STILL there!)
18. Golden State Warriors – Marco Benelli – first of the Euro-guys to fall!  (what will the Lakers do!???)
19. Los Angeles Lakers – Javaris Crittendon – an absolute STEAL at #19… further commentary below! **
20. Miami Heat – Jason Smith – (traded to the 76ers) *2
21. Philadelphia 76ers – Daequan Cook – third of the Ohio State boys… (traded to the Heat) *2
22. Charlotte Bobcats – Jared Dudley
23. New York Knicks – Wilson Chandler – just what the Knicks need.  Another shooter.
24. Phoenix Suns – Rudy Fernandez – (traded to the Trailblazers) *3 – bizarre that they bailed on him – a big future…
25. Utah Jazz – Morris Almond
26. Houston Rockets – Aaron Brooks ***
27. Detroit Pistons – Arron Afflalo
28. San Antonio Spurs – Tiago Splitter – the man with the name we’ve all been waiting for to be in the NBA… should be a (quite literally) HUGE addition… still, may not make it over to the NBA for another year (buy-out clause)
29. Phoenix Suns – Alando Tucker
30. Philadelphia 76ers – Petteri Kopenen – a great pick up – young and with very, very good vision, Koponen could end up being a big acquisition… (traded to Portland)

Thus ends the first round of picks… 

Round 2…

1. Seattle Supersonics – Carl Landry – wow… Josh McRoberts’ stock has really, really taken a nose-dive!
2. Boston Celtics – Gabe Pruitt – PG who could nearly have gone late first round.
3. San Antonio Spurs – Marcus Williams
4. Dallas Mavericks – Nick Fazekas – another player who could’ve gone first round…
5. Seattle Supersonics – Glen Davis – Big Baby obtained via trade for this pick… (traded to Boston)
6. Golden State Warriors – Jermareo Davidson (traded to Charlotte)
7. Portland Trailblazers – Josh McRoberts – kinda surprised he lasted this long… anti-Duke thing?
8. Philadelphia 76ers – Kyrylo Fesenko
9. Miami Heat – Stanko Barac (traded to Indiana)
10. Los Angeles Lakers – Sun Yue – ok… I’m a lil’ shocked.
11. Minnesota Timberwolves – Chris Richard
12. Portland Trailblazers – Derrick Byars (traded to Philadelphia)
13. New Orleans Hornets – Adam Haluska
14. Orlando Magic – Reyshawn Terry
15. Los Angeles Clippers – Jared Jordan
16. Golden State Warriors – Stephane Lasme
17. Washington Wizards – Dominic McGuire … show me the money?  Sorry… couldn’t resist!
18. Los Angeles Lakers – Marc Gasol – The other Gasol… big guy, should have some impact.  Does this mean Andrew Bynum’s gone???
19. Chicago Bulls – Aaron Gray
20. Dallas Mavericks – Renaldis Seibutis
21. Chicago Bulls – JamesOn Curry … you’re kidding…
22. Portland Trailblazers – Taurean Green – nice get…
23. Portland Trailblazers – Demetris Nichols
24. Houston Rockets – Brad Newley – woot!  An Aussie!!  This guy’s actually pretty good…
25. Utah Jazz – Herbert Hill
26. Milwaukee Bucks – Ramone Sessions
27. Detroit Pistons – Sammy Meija
28. San Antonio Spurs – Giorgis Printezis
29. Phoenix Suns – D J Strawberry
30. Dallas Mavericks – Milovan Rakovic

Trades:

*1 – The Celtics traded the No. 5 pick, Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak to the Sonics for Ray Allen. Green may be the perfect wingman for Kevin Durant.  And a nice get for Boston… not sure it’s exactly what Paul Pierce was wanting… but time’ll tell!

*2 – At this stage it looks like 76ers gave their pick + cash to get the guy they wanted from Miami…

*3 – Traded to the Trailblazers for cash…

++ Big news – New York Knicks land Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau & Fred Jones for guard Steve Francis and Channing Frye.  Thus ends the Zach Randolph stakes, and Channing Frye ends up in Portland alongside Greg Oden… it would appear Frye became expendable when Eddie Curry improved outta site last year.  Portland plan to buy-out Steve Francis, and make him a free agent this summer…

*4 – Brandan Wright was only a very short time a Bobcat, traded to Golden State for Jason Richardson.

Commentary… (made on TrueHoop)

**I was quite excited leading up to this pick – some real quality still available (due to some baffling picks earlier)!  And as we got towards the Lakers pick, New Jersey & Golden State were obviously not going to take Javaris Crittendon – could he end up a Laker???  Really happy to see the Lakers take him…  He’s got tremendous upside and with McKie & Parker gone, he should be able to have an impact immediately.  Happy as a pig in the proverbial… Surprised to see Crittendon still on the boards at this later stage!  A steal to get him at #19…

***Aaron Brooks will do pretty well at Houston, where his lack of height should be offset to some extent by the mere presence of Yao.  He has quite good vision, and wants the ball.  I’m a little surprised that he got drafted at this point, I had him pegged for a mid-to-late second round choice – and especially given that Josh McRoberts is still on the board (who would do pretty well in a Rockets uniform).  Still, Brooks should do ok in Houston, playing behind Alston & James.

NBA Draft ’07…

Well… it’s nearly here, and I’ve been looking forward to this… kinda. Trades are going to happen like wildfire (I hope) giving bloggers plenty of ammunition… hopefully some monster-trades this year – and not a fizzle like the last one.

Word is Oden goes #1 (suuuurprise, suuuuurprise!)…

It’ll be 8am here in Japan when it all starts, but you can bet your behind I’ll be here… commenting & posting…

Career Tanked?

I was actually relatively surprised to see the Bears cut Tank Johnson. That’s not to say it upset me… quite the reverse actually – a pro-sports team taking a player’s actions and holding him accountable is a well-overdue. If only the players at the Tennessee Titans & Cincinatti Bengals were held to the same level of accountability…

So Tank Johnson was out at after 3:30 am, and was arrested for being “DUI Impaired to the Slightest Degree”. 3 days later, the Chicago Bears waived Johnson, cutting ties with the the trouble-ridden inside linebacker.

Seriously ridiculous stuff. Especially after the speech he made…

“… One day I wanna be the face of the league for guys who… come through adversity… and ultimately became, you know, the man of the year in the NFL, you know? That would be a tremendous ending to the story. That’s something that I’m… striving for, I’d love to do that…”

Riiiiight. Excuse me if I don’t hold my breath.

Talk about stupidity. Guy is under the microscope due to his own actions, and he does this? Ok, no-one’s saying that you cannot go out late at night, but to do so when the whole NFL world (and that’s a pretty big place) is watching, waiting for you to slip up… well… it beggars belief that Johnson did so, so willingly, so readily, so quickly.

The big question for me is why the Titans haven’t broken ties with Pacman Jones. Or the Falcons with Michael Vick. Well… I know the answer I guess – guys are both good players, and it’s hard to weigh up the fear of them going to another team (and playing with a MASSIVE chip on their shoulder) against that of a franchise’s social responsibility. Even so, both the Falcons & Titans should be hanging their collective heads in shame over the lack of accountability that they’ve placed on Vick & Jones.

And now, the Bears cutting Johnson leaves him with no team, and the 8 game suspension still hanging over him. Now, that’s not to preclude him being taken by another team… but if they did, he serves the suspension (which is highly likely to be extended given this latest foolishness), and STILL has to apply to be reinstated by the Commissioner. And that is anything but automatic. Additionally, Com. Roger Goodell has also stated that any team taking him on will face ‘repercussions’ should he stray from the straight & narrow (although those ‘repercussions’ are as yet unclear).

Still, I guess he’s a pretty good player – someone’s likely to take a chance. Bet it’s not the Bengals.

That’s not a water hazard… THIS is a water hazard!

Whilst golfing in Venice, Florida, Bruce Berger went to retrieve a ball and an 11 foot one-eyed alligator seized his right arm, and dragged him into a pond. A la Crocodile Dundee, Berger beat on the gator with his left arm until it freed him… then crawled out of the water-hole, and yelled for help. Janet Pallo was playing on a nearby hole, and drove him to the clubhouse.

Berger was taken to hospital, but wasn’t seriously injured.

Course Manager Rod Parry stated, “Unfortunately, that’s part of Florida. There’s wildlife in these ponds.”

[source: Mainichi Shimbun]