AMMO!!! The STACHE!!! Adam Morrison drafted number three by the Charlotte Bobcats. I think this is a good home for the guy who loves to score. I mean even Gerald Wallace was scoring in Charlotte. His defensive liablility can be covered a bit by all the great defenders on that squad - Wallace, Okafor, Knight.
Here is the bad news. You may not know this but Adam Morrison is diabetic. This is a tremendous stroy but if you live in the Northwest you have heard an Adam Morrisson diabetic story once a week every week for the last four years. One thing that has not changed about this story. It has not stopped AMMO from balling it up ( I am talking about scoring not crying).
I am not a Morrison fan but I have seen him grow as a player and leader since high school. I don't think he is an overly nice guy, a good defender, or easy to look at, but I must say he knows how to score and hates to lose. He also has not let diabetes get in the way of his game.
Congrats North Carolina!! You not only got a great scorer but a beautiful weekly story on AMMO and his diabetes once a week for as long as he plays on the Bobcats.
1. World Cup or Stanley Cup or NBA Finals? Chose one to write about and tell why.
2. Make an all-star lineup of any sport (exp. NBA- C- Bill Russel; PF- Tim Duncan; SF- Larry Bird; SG- Michael Jordan; PG Magic Johnson). You have to fill up all positions too (that includes DH for Baseball)
1. I would be lying to myself if I chose anything besides the World Cup. If you read my latest blogs it is obvious that I am most interested in the event that truly crowns the world champions. In a grueling process that happens once every four years and takes almost two years to qualify for, this is the one tournament that brings the entire world to a stand still. But I would also be lying to all of you if I said I was not interested in all three. I am a sportsnutt after all.
I like most of America have not been watching much of the Stanley Cup although if it were not for the World Cup I would be watching it a lot more. I like playoff hockey for its speed, intensity, physical play, and goal tending. Maybe it comes back to my appreciation of World Cup soccer that I do not need to see a goal to be enternained, but can be equally and sometimes more entertained by the brilliance of one man's sheer will to keep a ball or puck out of his net. It is this position that can make nobodies like Hislop of Trinidad and Tobago and Dwayne Roloson of Edmonton into heroes for there teams, cities, or even nations.
NBA Finals are a blast. This year has been a great NBA postseason and again it has been something else to see how often a game can come down to the final minute. Game three of Heat and Mavs for example. Gary Payton, the old almost washed up ex-Super Sonic, hit the game winner over the Miami Heat in the final seconds last night for a moment of glory in a game and series that looked to be all but over a few minutes earlier. Who would have known that across the world a half day later Tunisia would tie Saudi Arabia in the final minutes of there match and that Germany would break the hearts of an entire country in the final minute of there match. And lets not forget the Stanley Cup. Game 1 seemed like it was all over when the Canes tied it up with 30 seconds left and then went on to win in OT.
So whats my awnser? I guess I don't have one. I am a sportsnutt to the core. I love the drama, unpredictability, passion, and competitiveness of all sports. Even the ones I don't like I have a deep appreciation of the hard work it took to get to there level. This is why I will make sure to see Stanley Cup highlights, watch the NBA Finals, see all of the World Cup, and even tune in for the U.S. Open. Its my life.
2. Ok this is my all-star steroids using baseball team.
C. Pudge, I mean slim, Rodriguez
1b. Rafael, I did not do steroids, Palmiero
2b. Brett, chix dig the long ball, Boone
3b. Ken, RIP, Caminiti
SS. Every quick fielding 40 homer hitting shortsop since 1993
LF. Barry, I take the good stuff so you will never prove it, Bonds
CF. Alex, first to get busted for steroids, Sanchez
RF. Sammy, I apology, Sosa
DH. Mark, lets not talk about the past, McGwire
PH. Jason, I am back on the good stuff try to catch me, Giambi
P. Jose, I taught you how to Juice now I am telling on you, Canseco
RP. Ryan, cheapest roids ever, Franklin
That is one solid steroids team. Some of you forgot Canseco pitched in a game?
I love the NBA and the NBA Finals, but I have to admit I am sidetracked tonight. It is halftime and the first half has been great. The old Franklin High School Quaker Jason Terry has been lighting it up and both teams have had decent to big leads only for it to be close at half.
But I hardly care.
Why? Because to me this game 1 of the NBA Finals is miniscule in comparison to what begins tomorrow. Don't get me wrong I love just about every sport and can embrace the competition, storylines, controversy, importance and unimportance of them all. But only one sport can stop the world in its tracks. Only one event can literally put a halt on a violent Civil War (Ivory Coastans lets just all get along for a little while and watch Didier Drogba work his magic). Only one event can cause a government to spend three years in court trying to find out why there team did not bring home the coveted trophy (see Brazil after losing the 98 Final to France). The list could go on and on and on. But I still care enough that I want to watch the fourth quarter of Mavs vs. Heat so we will stop it here.
I am obviously talking about World Cup. Now I know a bulk of Americans could care less but I doubt if they are real sports fans they could watch all of the first games and NOT get sucked in enough to want to watch the rest of the games. Last World Cup (with the help of Senegal and there sacrificing of the jersey) I converted a hard core american football player/fan and passionate soccer hater into a World Cup fanatic in about 10 minutes.
Just qualifying for the World Cup is a phenomenal task and some of the worlds best soccer playing countries do not qualify because of the difficulty. Ghana is in its first World cup despite winning the African Cup a number of times. Reigning European Cup winners Greece did not qualify, and # 4 team in the world Netherlands was not in the last World Cup. And unless you are Brazil, winning the World Cup is a near impossibility.
You think March Madness is mad?
I love March Madness. The upsets, the drama, the passion of the students. Now turn those little colleges and its students into entire countries and make it once every 4 years and you have a glimpse of the magnitude and pressure for a World Cup.
It is this pressure, passion, excitement, unpredictability, and glory that makes the game 1 of the NBA Finals seem borderline uninteresting for a NBA fan.
I can not wait until 9:00 am to watch the opening game of Germany and Costa Rica. And I hope on Monday when our country takes on the daunting Czech Republic in a hostile European crowd that you will tune in, sing your National Anthem, and cheer your team to victory like the rest of the countries will be doing for theres!!! This is the year Americans to hop on the World Cup train!! Because whether you wan't it to or not this is one bandwagon that is never stopping.
Only one event has all this and more. I am talking of course about the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. Where 9 year olds take on veteran 14 year olds. Where the sound of a bell doesn't signal the beginning but the end. Where the possibility of duel champions is present yet hasn't happened in over 40 years. Where young women and young men battle head-to-head on the same playing field. where makeup, contacts, and a hair brush is frowned on. See this sport isn't about looks. the weirder you sound and look the more you can intimidate one of the zillions of other spellers. Where being homeschooled is not only coold but an eery advantage.
Unpredictable? Look at the young Samir. He is in his 3rd or 4th Bee now and still hasn't won. He was in the final four when he was like four? He is most definetely the greatest speller to never win the Bee. You think Phil Mickleson had pressure? Try carrying that label at age TWELVE!!!!
After watching the great Katharine Close win the Bee right now I knew I was witnessing greatness. No "repeat the definition please" from her. No "language of origin?" She would just ask the word and meaning and S.P.E.L.L. the mother. Unshakeable confidence. She laughed when she got her word Ursprache to win it all. Saying after I was just glad they said "Ursprache." She spelled it like no one had ever spelled it before. This girl knew the whole dictionary people.
What makes them even more impressive is the consistency and the age they do it all at. I mean if I went back to early middle school I am pretty sure I would domin8 just about every sport. But I would not be able to outspell these little 4 eyed nosepickers. I watched about 4 hourse of Bee coverage yesterday. And I don't just watch I join the competition. Me against my wife with a pen and a paper. We see who can get the most words right. We can spell until the word pops up on the screen. If its not spelled by then were out. I whooped my wife in that game. But you know how many I got correct in 4 hours? nine. Nine. A college graduate spelled 9 correctly. My wife just got her masters in teaching and she spelled 4 correctly. Roughly one word per hour. These kids are incredible.
Last but not least I want to let everyone know that I saw this greatness first. Before ABC put them in primetime I have been watching since ESPN first started airing. I have seen the documentary Spellbound and I have been glued to anything BEE for years. Just wanted to add that. Oh and I am not going to spell check this post, but I am sure if I did plenty of errors would come up.
Practice... we talking about practice?" 
