Minoru Park
Minoru also happens to be a 5-star park in Richmand, BC, Canada.
Minoru Park & Lake (via http://www.richmond.ca)
That’s pretty nice!
Shaq keeps running his mouth
ME ME ME ME ME ME!
Here’s an excellent short article by Chris McKendry from today’s Daily Dime on ESPN, which totally expresses my opinion on the latest news featuring Shaq generating buzz about Kobe, Phil, and the Lakers once again.
I don’t think there’s a way to link to #2 on the Daily Dime, so I’m gonna paste the whole thing here:
Shaq can’t beat them, so he’ll praise them. After the Lakers beat the Suns on Thursday night, Shaq said, “They’re the best team. They’re 9-1. They’re playing good. Kobe’s playing team ball, keeping everybody involved. He’s got a lot of shooters around him. They’re a very dangerous team.” O’Neal had 15 points.
It would strike me as gracious if it didn’t stink of insincerity. Shaq wants everyone to think he’s the bigger man. We know better.
At their worst, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were no better than brats in a sandbox. O’Neal called Bryant a ball hog and Bryant responded by calling O’Neal fat and out of shape. With half a decade now to reflect on their pairing, O’Neal calls it creative differences that Phil Jackson wisely used to motivate the team to victory. Revisionist history, according to Shaq. “Phil never called us into the office and said, ‘Both of you, shut the [heck] up.’ Never did that in four years. He knew that when I read something, I was going to get upset. And he knew Kobe was going to always come out and play hard. So I think it was all done by design.”
Really?
What was by design was Jerry Buss’ decision to keep a younger Bryant and ship an older Shaq out of town. It was the right move. And one Shaq cannot let go of, clearly. As Shaq’s career reaches its twilight and the spotlight shifts off of him, he drags Kobe and Phil into conversation and gets our attention, if not theirs. Then their paths cross and he apologizes, denies, expresses his unending love and respect. How desperate. How boring.
Sponsored by mino
Look, I’m famous!
I know Jason has the old version of flip… he should be fasionable and get the mino.
Don Wakamatsu, JA Pioneer
Today, Don Wakamatsu was named manager of the Seattle Mariners, becoming the first Asian-American manager in major league baseball. He was previously a bench coach for the Oakland A’s, and was also with the Texas Rangers for five years before that.
He was a 3rd base coach with the Texas Rangers in 2007 (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
I think this is great for the representation of the JA community, as well as the greater Asian-American community. But to be honest with you, I’ve never heard of Don Wakamatsu before today. I did a little research on him and found out he’s a half-Irish yonsei hapa, originally from Hayward in Norcal.
From Nichi Bei Times:
A three-sport star at Hayward High School in the East Bay, the Yonsei Wakamatsu was a member of the school’s baseball, football and basketball teams.
[…]
After starting his collegiate career at Arizona State University — where he earned All-Pacific 10 Conference honors in each of his last three seasons — the catcher was eventually selected in the 11th round of the 1985 amateur draft by the Cincinnati Reds.
[…]
And while his major league baseball playing career was over in a flash — he had merely 31 at-bats over 13 games in the 1991 season for the Chicago White Sox — he made a name for himself as a coach, first in the minors and then in the majors.
In 1998, in fact, he was named “Manager of the Year” for the California League, as the head skipper of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Single-A minor league team.
I wasn’t really sure if he was the type that identifies strongly with the JA and API consciousness, but judging from this interview, he seems to have a genuine link to and involvement with some of the history:
But the recognition of his cultural identity also has a serious undertone. His father was born in the Tule Lake concentration camp near the Oregon border in California, while his grandparents — who were incarcerated in the Tule Lake and Jerome, Arkansas concentration camps — still live in Hood River, Oregon, the city of Wakamatsu’s birth.
He spoke to his grandparents last year about their camp experience, yearning for more knowledge about their wartime struggles as part of some 120,000 persons of Japanese descent forcibly relocated from the West Coast during World War II and herded into desolate detention camps.
“I want my children to understand the sacrifices they went through,” he said.
I’ve read a few message boards indicating that he had played J-league baseball and basketball, and had been an active part of the JA community in the Bay Area during his time with the A’s. In the Seattle Mariners’ news conference earlier today, I think you can tell that Don Wakamatsu does strongly identify with the Asian American community:
From ESPN:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
“I’m proud to represent some of what they went through in their lifetime,” Wakamatsu said. “If I can set a future stepping stone for Japanese-Americans and just the equality in baseball, I’m glad to bear that torch.”
Congratulations to Don Wakamatsu and I wish him all the best.
Zach Randolph, SG Extraordinare
This has got to be the worst possession in basketball history.
…and he had 7 seconds left on the shot clock. WTF?
Anagrams
Basketbawful has a hilarious post based on anagrams, featuring one of my favorite ex-UCLA Burins, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute:
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. It’s not just a name, it’s an epic journey into the unknown. And Basketbawful reader flitzy bravely delved into that riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Here’s what he found…
Check it out here. I think my favorite is “I’m a bad, cruel, macho hurt.”
Fires hit socal, crush hearts
My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the Socal fires this week.
Still shocked at all of this. So many people losing homes, some homes of people I know, homes that I’ve seen or been to.
Everybody please take care and be safe.
#3
Who was it that said “Trevor Ariza is quickly becoming my favorite player on the Lakers” the other day? Oh, right, it was me.
Copyright 2008 NBAE (Photo by Tim Heitman/NBAE via Getty Images)
Please excuse my man-crush moment for a minute.
Ariza was so influential to the game last night–there were so many instances that his hustle and athletecism alone kept the team in the game, helped get the lead back, and preserved the victory for the Lakers (with a massive block on Jerry Stackhouse’s 3-point attempt in the final minute of the game).
He does the little things in the game–getting into passing lanes, blocking or altering shots, on-ball steals, help-side D, weak-side rebounds, tip-ins, tip-dunks, keeping the ball alive, throwing it down with a vengeance. All that combined with his improved outside shooting? I think we’re seeing a alternate version of the ’97 Eddie Jones here.
For years, I’ve been looking for a Laker worthy of the #3 they carry on their back, since Sedale “The Theif” Threatt donned the number back in the early 90’s. Deaven George? Not my guy. Von Wafer? All potential, no results. (Von actually wore #23. Oops.) Shammond Williams? Shammond Who? Did he ever even start for the Lakers? (He didn’t)
Time to go get myself an Ariza jersey. (Please don’t get traded as soon as I get it…)
—
UPDATE:
LOL at Sasha’s attempted chest-bump after Ariza’s dunk: FAIL
minoroots 
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