Serbian's Can Take 3 Steps?

I'm not quite sure what Bo Ryan is talking about here...he probably doesn't know what to do with himself when his team isn't getting all the calls. Belgrade is a loooong way from the Kohl Center:

Afterward, coach Bo Ryan didn't mince any words in discussing the outcome.

"Tonight's game was exactly what I thought it would be, and it's what we were very concerned with," said Ryan. "They sent a message. They are bigger and stronger inside. They are going to take it there, and they are going to try to shove it down our throats. When we try to do the same at the other end, we have to learn about the contact and what officials are going to call.

"The main thing is not to overreact to how a game is being called. It's a different game, and for some of our guys, the extra step really hurt. The Serbians really know how to use that. We were thinking we were in position to take a charge, and they took one more step to go by the defensive player."

Ooooo, That Smell...Can't You Smell That Smell....

Now THIS is the sort of NBA talk I can follow. An interview with some NBA writer I've never heard of on TheBigLead:

Q: Because it is our favorite question: Confrontations. Had any good ones with players or coaches? What’s the best one you’ve witnessed? Charles Oakley and Tyrone Hill seems to be the gold standard, but we hope you can top it.

Some time ago – this is going back 20 years – the Nets were very late in returning to the floor after the halftime break. The reason was that chaos had erupted in the locker room – not fists or tirades, but a very heated argument over who had to guard a certain Eastern European forward from the Atlanta Hawks whose body odor was such that nobody wanted to be stationed in the same zip code, much less touch the poor guy. It was my understanding that one player eventually paid an intrepid teammate a large sum to perform this task without the coach’s knowledge or consent. I still don’t know whether the story is 100 percent accurate, and I don’t condone sharing half-truths. I just repeat them in the public interest.

The wonders of the porn download interface Internet shows the only Euro on the Hawks approximately 20 years ago was Alexander Volkov (1989-90). Unless Roy Marble was originally Royov Marblesovich, but I doubt it. Congrats, Volkov...you smelled so bad guys were fighting NOT to guard you! Impressive indeed.

Little Big League...

I attended the Wilson Park little league game last night between the kids that proudly were wearing their Milwaukee Brewer jerseys, vs those pesky Colorado Rockies (an expansion team that has been struggling in the league since they were created a couple years ago).

The Brewers couldn't get past the Rockies though, falling 4-3 after a big comeback late in the game. There were typical little league mistakes though, but everybody got a pat on the back and some Bazooka Joe when they got back to the dugout...especially when...
-Ryan "Ryno" Braun got picked off first base. Coach Yost told him to keep his head up.
-Corey "I Hart New York" got picked off first base. Everybody clapped and high-fived him when he got back to the dugout. His Mom recently has been sick and they're not sure whose going to wash his jersey and pants. I hear she smokes cigarettes.
-Russell "The Muscle" Branyan (He's really big for his age!) struggled at 3rd base and looked like he was scared of the ball. But that's ok...physical mistakes are fine at this level. The coaches were happy he knew what he did wrong when they asked him about it later.

The Rockies made some bad plays too! They dropped two pop flies in the infield! The parents understand though. The coaches didn't have time to go over that since there was only time in the two practices before games started to go over infield/outfield and cutoffs to 2nd base.

All in all though, it was a good game. The parents were happy and the kids enjoyed themselves. They shook hands at the mound after the game. After the game most of the parents took everybody to Westy's on the South Side for personal pan pizzas and RC Cola. Prince even rode there with his Dad on his Harley. It's cool because Prince hasn't seen his Dad in a while. Apparently Prince's Dad and Mom don't talk anymore because Prince's Dad likes to bet on the ponies. By the time all the kids got in a few games of Street Fighter 2 (E. Honda was dominant) everybody had forgotten about the game. They even let the new kid (a husky feller named CC) play a few games. Nobody teased him about his weight.

The kids play again tonight.

Detroit: Heating Up

Jim Leyland, sparking Detroit's resurgence. 7-3 in their last 10 highlighted by dropping 19 (2 missed PATs) on Texas last night.