Chris-TIMMMMMMMMMMM

>>>I don't understand why they can't clearly state, this event
>>>will be on channel such and such at this time. NBC sucks.

http://tinyurl.com/62djjj

I thought it stated it pretty clearly on that page...

5-6:45 - Spain-Lithuainia online

5-5 - both games on the Basketball channel

5-7 - Spain Lithuania on USa

6:55 to 10 - unclear which game on Telemundo

7:15 to 9 - online - US vs Argentina

and...

10-12 - NBC - US vs Argentina.

So your 10-1 timer should catch the game.

The listings at nbcolympics.com are a bit overwhelming, but
for the major events they are pretty clear about when and
where. If you wanted to watch ping-pong, it would be a lot
harder to find a specific game in a specific round, even if it
was televised. But things like Mens Basketball and Beach
Volleyball, they're pretty clear about who's playing when and
on what channel.

Taliq,

here you go:

2006-07 season: Turiaf is one of the league's most underrated players. Though he barely gets a breath of playing time in one of the NBA's most crowded frontcourts, he's been consistently effective in his two pro seasons and has shown himself deserving of a far greater role.

His per-minute averages won't blow you away, but Turiaf has a lot of subtle skills. He shoots a high percentage, hitting 55.4 percent from the floor last season and finishing in the top 15 among centers in true shooting percentage. He's a vastly underrated shot-blocker who had the eighth-best rate of blocks per minute among centers last year. And he's a very good ballhandler for his size, with both his assist and turnover ratios ranking in the top 15 at his position.

Scouting report: Calling Turiaf a high-energy guy is like calling a Maserati a peppy car; it doesn't really do justice to the description. Turiaf is totally hyper, which has positives and negatives. On the plus side, his energy is a big help at the defensive end and he's almost always in the mix even when his man is on the weak side; it also helps him compete on the boards despite being short for a center and just an average leaper.

On the minus side, Turiaf hacks like a madman. He had a very high rate of fouls last season, and that was one factor preventing him from playing longer stretches. Turiaf averaged six fouls every 32 minutes last season, so it would be pretty much impossible for him to get his average minutes above the low 20s because of the constant foul trouble.

2007-08 outlook: The Lakers' frontcourt isn't any less crowded now that Chris Mihm is back from injury, so it's possible Turiaf will again be the odd man out and forced into duty as a fifth big man. On the other hand, Phil Jackson is talking about starting him. But if he can't get out of purgatory this season -- by playing or being traded -- then look for him to walk after the season.

What happened to only Tiny URL's being allowed on the blog from now on? I think you should also disallow posting of full article text like 10milliondollarzen did there too, it's just more and more clutter. If you can link to it, no need to also paste the full text.

It's Official. Various news agencies are now reporting that Barrack Hussein Obama has selected Lebron James as his running mate.

Sonnybelfast

Taliq,

Can you please put the Slam article in Tiny URL form? From now on, BK and I are doing our best to only post links in that form. Go to tinyurl.com if you have any questions. It's easy to use.

Thank you,

AK

"It's Official. Various news agencies are now reporting that Barrack Hussein Obama has selected Lebron James as his running mate"

This trite, mildly political, totally unrelated and provocative post is brought to you by your favorite troll, Sonny.

As usual, you find a way to disrupt the flow of things.

NOT IN TOP FORM, TEAM USA STILL TOO TOUGH
By Charley Rosen for FoxSports.com

http://tinyurl.com/5ofxw2

>>>>>Biggest surprise performance: Kobe playing lock-down defense
>>>>>against Carlos Delfino.

Tom

Taliq,

Chuck has been pretty complimentary of Kobe lately.

THE WORD ON KOBE BRYANT FROM HIS OLYMPIC TEAMMATES: RESPECT
By Bill Plaschke for the LATimes

http://tinyurl.com/6alyv9

>>>>>Every game, Bryant has been the first player in a defensive stance, the first guy
>>>>>guarding the opponent in the backcourt, squatting and straining alone in front of
>>>>>four guys who have no choice but to imitate.

Tom

>>>>>Biggest surprise performance: Kobe playing lock-down defense
>>>>>against Carlos Delfino.

Only mildly surprising. If Ginobili had stayed healthy, Kobe would
have been guarding him. With Kobe all amped up to the level of shutting
down Ginobili, switching onto Delfino was a much simpler task.

Delfino did score 17 points, but on 6 for 18 shooting.

Early in the game, it looked like LeBron and DWade were
trying to get the team back into the bronze medal game - they
were both missing shots, Le Bron kept turning the ball over,
and DWade kept fouling. But they both eventually settled
down and played well at the end.

But LeBron's 4 turnovers and only 2 assists was a pretty bad
line for him. And he failed miserably when he was given a
shot at guarding Luis Scola. But then so did Howard, Bosh,
Carmelo, and Tayshaun.

Kobe did get too 3-point happy. He shot them well in the last
couple of games and I guess he thought after hitting his first
one that he'd just start raining in 3's and drown Argentina.

What do you mean Scola destroyed us inside and Bynum will be the future savior? Let's give the credit where it is due, right now the credit goes with Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh. We're a bunch of homers in this blog, keep on lifting Lakers chairs, even in an Olympic event. Is 20 pts. not enough for a win? How did ever Scola made the Argentines win over USA? The most important part in any game is the score in the end, not in the middle, in 3 Qtrs?

The same with NBA Finals, we can twist, spin, justify, politicalize, stastiscalize (if such word exist since there are so many psuedo-statisticians in this blog.) and explain in so many versions, the bottom line we're short of winning two games against the most hated Leprechauns. Let that be the rallying cry for next season not a hallmark of proud achievement.

Edwin G,

"The same with NBA Finals, we can twist, spin, justify, politicalize, stastiscalize (if such word exist since there are so many psuedo-statisticians in this blog.) and explain in so many versions, the bottom line we're short of winning two games against the most hated Leprechauns. Let that be the rallying cry for next season not a hallmark of proud achievement."

Hmm I was going to write you a ticket but I mean we know u ... u bleed purple and gold ... we aint even gonna give u a warning ... we just gonna tell da newbies u an old g and dem shudnt take ya werdz 2 much 2 heart

Yeah we came 2 games shy of the nba championship but it's definately something to be proud of. Our team worked very hard and also dawg dont tell me you forgot where we came from ... smush to kwame to trade demands

Yeah I understand it hurt but lets allow ourselves to take a step back and enjoy the journey especially when the future looks so bright. I dont care what stats any of y'all throw at me regarding defense or any such thing , Big Baby would have made a difference and next year will e the birth of the dynasty ... amen ...

picture me quiting on da kobe, never dat
picture me quiting on purple and gold, never dat
before gasol we wuz on the 55 win bandwaggon
with smush and kwame we still believed
now dem want tell us not to scream championhip ...
nah b4 da experts call us legit, we be dem laker fans dat believe
we believe cuz we see how hard #24 works, and we believe hardwork pays off

purple and gold baby, rocking em with pride ... who want test us?

Hey Taliq baby,

Before you were born I already bled purple and gold. I will say what I will way and no way I'm under anybody's law and order not even within the world of K-Bros. If I am wrong so be it, I will take that opinion to that grave. When many posters here abandoned Kobe last year b/c of his rants, I was there defending him. When we have all kinds of scrubs playing with purple and gold, I was there. So take it or leave it but this fan will not bend. However, you can't teach fanaticism to oldtimers. so you better behave as a fellow laker fan. lol! It's hard to teach old dogs w/ new tricks.

Also, a lot of these Chinese athletes (diving, gynastics, etc.) are not adults. These girls can't be older than 12. It's plainly obvious to the eye, no matter what official excuse is given.

Finally, watching some of the judging, there's an odd pro-China bias. I see Chinese athletes doing maneuvers that are not particularly impressive and getting VERY high marks. Then athletes from other countries do significantly more impressive routines and get lower scores. Something is just not right.

GO USA!

GO LAKERS!

Posted by: Jon K. | August 21, 2008 at 11:53 AM

=========================
I completely agree and the age thing in gymnastics is a total communist lie. I read xrays can determine real age but I bet it won't ever be allowed by Red China.

LATIMES article

How do you tell the age of a Chinese gymnast?

Don't bother with those new passports or birth certificates.

Go for the X-rays.

For all the global hand-wringing over how international gymnastics officials will ever figure out whether all six members of the Chinese women's team are at least 16 years old -- as Olympic rules require -- doctors and forensics experts said it's actually not too difficult.

The science of determining age is a well-established craft, honed after decades of treating patients with growth disorders, identifying murdered children and determining the deportation status of illegal immigrants.

``It would be relatively easy,'' said Dr. David Senn, a forensic odontologist at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center who has analyzed numerous X-rays of immigrants apprehended at the border.

The science is based on measuring the growth of bones and teeth as children mature. Decades of data have been distilled into detailed tables recording the precise size and shape of skeletal components broken down by age, sex and race.

The task is so quick and straightforward that Dr. Peter Hampl, president of the American Board of Forensic Odontology, said the Chinese government should just consent to X-rays and let them speak for themselves.

``If there is nothing to be afraid of, let their kids be X-rayed,'' he said. ``It's almost incriminating if they don't.''

It may seem strange that amid the outsized pageantry of the Beijing games, the biggest controversy has surrounded three tiny Chinese gymnasts whose combined weight is 216 pounds.

The ages of He Kexin, Yang Yilin and Jiang Yuyuan came into question weeks ago after the discovery of online registration records listing birth dates that would make all three girls 14 years old. The government attempted to put the issue to rest by producing passports that declared the girls were 16.

The controversy reached Olympian proportions after the Chinese team beat the American gymnasts in the team competition. In addition to the team gold, He edged American Nastia Liukin for the top prize in uneven bars by a tiebreak, and Yang won the bronze medal in that event and in the all-around competition.

After new complaints surfaced, the International Olympic Committee announced Friday that it was asking the international gymnastics federation to re-examine the Chinese gymnasts' age.

Instead of searching through documents, the matter could be settled with X-rays, said Dr. Gil Brogdon, a professor emeritus of radiology at the University of Southern Alabama in Mobile and author of the textbook ``Forensic Radiology.''

Bones fuse together according to a well-documented schedule. For girls between the ages of 13 and 17, the best places to look are in the knee, wrist, elbow and iliac crest on the pelvis, he said.

The younger they are, the more obvious the evidence.

``Those bones fuse in this age range,'' he said. ``A Caucasian girl is going to fuse her knee centers at about age 15, they're going to fuse their iliac crest at about age 16, and part of the elbow will start fusing around 13 or 14. That's the way you do it.''

For the Chinese gymnasts, investigators would have to consult growth tables for Asian girls, Brogdon said. ``I imagine the Japanese radiologists have those.''

Brogdon said that by comparing multiple bones, ``you could come pretty close'' to distinguishing a 14-year-old from a 16-year-old.

Teeth are also key identifier. U.S. immigration authorities often rely on dental X-rays to determine the ages of illegal immigrants. Senn said he can pinpoint ages within 18 months using images of a person's wisdom teeth, which start forming around age 9 and are not fully developed until around 19.

For the Chinese gymnasts, Senn said he would also look at their second molars, which grow until age 15 or so.

Times staff writers Mary Engel and John Johnson Jr. contributed to this report.

Jon K,

>>>Curse you and your accurate statistics!
>>>
>>>My apologies to the blog for relying on my faulty memory
>>>and not checking my statistics before quoting them.

Hey, your point was right on. Josh Powell was a more effective
offensive player than Ronny, and I think that may well carry over
to his play with the Lakers.

Posted by: Long Time Laker Fan | August 21, 2008 at 07:32 PM

=============================
I think JP is a drop off from Ronny but his real value is that he will be ok and is a hella lot cheaper for FO to pay.

How do these so-called experts expect the Lakers to win two fewer games with Gasol all season AND presupposing that Bynum is back healthy? And with the youngsters more experienced? I would guess 60+ wins if health issues aren't prominent.

Speaking of health, does anyone know when Kobe is scheduled to have his finger surgery? I would guess very soon as Kobe doesn't subscribe to the philosophy of "I got injured on company time, and I'll recover on company time".