Category Archives: sports

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Defending the Worm? Why we shouldn’t beat up Dennis Rodman too much

An old pair of Dennis Rodman Converse high-tops, the ones emblazoned with that weird sun shape, are somewhere in my Smithsonian called a garage.

I didn’t have Jordans. I had a pair of Rodmans.  So you know, I have a passing appreciation for the style and basketball ability of the old Rodman.

That was the Rodman of the NBA. Not the UN.

Known as “The Worm,” Rodman was valued as a tough guy defender and rebounder. That’s all.  He didn’t score points. Wasn’t his job.

That’s the way we should see him in his role as Diplomat Dennis.

The guy’s  no Madeleine Albright.

And after his history making trip to North Korea, he’s certainly not scoring points for himself, or Kim Jong Un for that matter.

But he’s grabbed the media’s attention, and in doing so, he’s created the chance for us all to see what truth, if any, we can glean.

So much isn’t known about North Korea in the U.S., we can hardly stand it when even an aging pop/sports star gets a glimpse behind the curtain. No one gets that kind of access to the country or its leadership. With or without a jockstrap.

That’s why blasting Rodman for not knowing the contents of your standard CIA dossier or for his inability to recite the human rights violations of the North Korean government, just seems—to mix sports metaphors—like piling on.

It would be better to just ask him without judgment all that he saw. Dennis’ world is part fantasy, after all. I mean, the guy did date Madonna.

Instead of berating him for his ignorance of the evil of North Korea, because of his unique trip, we should be happy getting his different look of a country that’s generally under cover.

And then, most certainly, juxtapose it with what we know of the ongoing misery of a starving nation, and the refugee situation along the China border. Rodman doesn’t refute that. Rodman was never known for his articulation.  Just by going there, he accents the contradictions in North Korea.

Remember Rodman was never the scorer. Just the rebounder. Kim Jong Un may be using Rodman. But this odd pairing, only puts the issues of the North Korean people back on the mainstream radar, where North Korea seems to come into focus only when it lets out a little steam with a nuclear test.

Now, thanks to Rodman, it’s time for the human rights activists and the North Korea specialists to make their points and score.

The Worm has done his job.

Remember, he’s no Madeleine Albright.

 

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My Super Bowl prediction and an appearance on KQED’s “This Week in Northern California”; Plus, a late final addition about the 49ers’ super failure

Game time is coming up and I have completed all my superstitious rituals that have helped bring me to a vision, of which I will share with you now.

But before that, this could have been a very literary SuperBowl, what with the Ravens named after the masterpiece of famed Baltimore homey Edgar Allen Poe. 

What if the 49ers had been named after the work of a San Francisco literary figure. Kerouac? The Roadies? Jack London? The White Fangs? Danielle Steele? The Romancers?

No, no, no.  Last night, the movie version of the great Dashiell Hammett classic was on. Imagine the Ravens vs. the Maltese Falcons. 

No?

OK, nevermore.

I’m feeling 24-20 for some reason.

Here’s how it goes, 49ers score first with an Akers field goal (hooray!) , then add a TD, a run by Frank Gore, then another by Kaepernick.  That’s 17 in one half.

The Ravens come back after the field goal to go ahead 7-3.

Niners make it 10-7.

Then make it 17-7 at half-time.

In the second half the Ravens come back, scoring to make it 17-14.

Twice more they penetrate 49er territory, but get only field goals to go ahead 20-17.

In the final quarter, the 49er offense wakes up with some long passes to Vernon Davis.

And then sensing man coverage at the line, Kaepernick uses his legs to score a game-winnng touchdown.

49ers go ahead, 24-20.

That’s my copyrighted vision of today’s SuperBowl  that I have licensed the 49ers to use as they wish.

If you’re a better and take the Ravens and the points, or the 49ers giving, the line is 4, and what do you know, it’s a push, a tie.

That should make the Harbaugh’s parents’ happy.

But the 49ers win the game.

BTW, I made a rare appearance on the KQED “This Week in Northern California” program where I joined a panel talking about immigration reform.

If you missed it, here’s a link to the TV show.

LATE ADD: OK, my prediction, the game, nothing worked out quite the way I said. For the most part, Beyonce won the game, as the 49ers were lip-synching through three quarters. But then came that 34 minute delay due to a power failure. You mean a 49er power failure wasn’t enough, now the Superdome had to be less than super?  And though what usually is spawned by a power failure is a baby boom nine months later, this power failure birthed an explosion of energy from the 49ers who nearly made it all the way back from the dead. 28-6 certainly made us all more interested in whatever buffet was before us and not the football game. But then, the 49ers began to play,  outgaining, outscoring the Ravens, topped off with a Kaepernick score to bring the 49ers to a 31-29 deficit.  The Ravens added a field goal making it 34-29. Then, with the ball on the Baltimore 5-yard line, the 49er juggernaut hit a wall–the Ravens defense. Four plays, goal to go, and nothing. No runs, passes. Lots of penalties. Oh, those aren’t penalties? Well then, the pistol was shot. The 49ers empty.

Oh, what could have been? From 34-29, the Niners go 36-34. Flacco and the Ravens still had a lot of time to drive for a game winning FG or a TD. Or maybe the 49er defense finally prevails. We won’t know that ending. We’re stuck with the one we’ve got.

A Super Bowl win you cherish and commemorate.  A Super Bowl loss burns eternally.

You do learn from it, as team and as a fan. And you go on from there, perhaps to achieve or witness greatness again.

But until that happens, you can never quite turn off the lights on such a super loss.

 

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Manti denies he’s in on hoax, speaks to ESPN: “No, never ever would I be a part of this.”

On Friday night, Manti Te’o broke his silence on the dead girl friend prank heard ’round the world. In an off-camera interview with ESPN, he denied being part of the prank, saying that “never, ever would I be part of this.”

The report said three people were behind the prank, led by Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, a friend of Te’o’s who confessed to him earlier this week by Direct Message on Twitter (naturally).

Te’o laid out a timeline for ESPN that said the internet relationship with someone named “Lennay Kekua” began three years ago on Facebook.  It was intermittent until 2011, when more phone and web contact took place. A first meeting on New Years Eve 2012 in Hawaii ended in disappointment when Kekua did not show up.

But the relationship didn’t die, and Te’o told ESPN, when he learned Kekua had leukemia, the two conducted long sessions on the phone and internet studying the Bible. Even Te’o’s parents took part.

It was the day after Te’o’s grandmother died that he got a call from someone saying they were a relative of Kekua with news of her death.

He mourned by sending flowers to an alleged home in Carson, California. But a few months later he was stunned when he got a call from someone who said they were Lennay.

Manti gets a big hint here.  It was on Dec. 6th. “I didn’t know what was going on,” he told ESPN.

But he carried on with the tale, and admits to some fudging, his “biggest regret.”  By now he’s thinking what we are all thinking. This guy is in love with someone he never met. Now she’s dead. So he wasn’t absolutely truthful at this point saying, “I didn’t want people thinking I was some crazy dude.”

OK, he’s not crazy. Just a young, gullible kid who got played.

Tuiasosopo wasn’t available to ESPN, so maybe that’s the imaginary interview we should do. If Te’o’s the victim, he’s the perp. But he’s nowhere to be found.

Te’o was in Florida when he talked exclusively to  ESPN.

“I think it started out as a joke, a joke that got out of hand,” said Te’o, who told ESPN his pranksters never asked for money.

And now that Te’o has spoken, do we know the whole truth?  The off-camera interview was recorded for audio, accompanied by still photos.  The restriction wasn’t explained. Why couldn’t he face up to the world? So while ESPN scored a news coup that leaves us closer to the truth,  there are still some questions that remain about the three perps (supposedly a Tuiasosopo and two women)  For all we know, they could be imagined. Like O.J.’s real killers. And Lennay Kekua.

That’s the level of trust we’re left with when it comes to Manti Te’o.

 

See my original post on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pacquiao-Marquez V? Count on it.

After the Pacquiao Bradley debacle, I stayed true to my word. Not another pay-per-view dollar from me. Pacquiao Marquez IV to me seemed like Manny’s “Groundhog Day.” Haven’t we been through that before?

But indeed, there was a new scene we didn’t expect.

Manny Pacquiao lying face down on the canvas.

It’s an image we rarely saw–until Saturday.

He stayed down a long time.

But within minutes our champion was back up, on his feet. Just like the Frank Sinatra song, “That’s Life.”

In one of the post-fight interviews in the ring, almost immediately after (the one I saw was with ESPN) Pacquiao was asked the simple question: Was he ready for another?

Pacquiao didn’t flinch. “Why not,” said the Filipino champion. “My job is to fight.”

And with those words, I think I finally saw the truth.

I don’t think he was punch-drunk. Mind you, I was one of those who for the last three Pacquiao fights have suggested that Manny retire with his brains intact.  What can I say, I’m an ardent fan of boxing, but I value a man’s brains.

I also recognized the charismatic power of Pacquiao and saw him four years ago as someone who could rally the Philippines and maybe even spark the country with a massive dose of the pride that comes from being a world champion.

Isn’t that a bigger challenge than fisting a boastful Floyd Mayweather into submission?

Beyond the ring, there’s real life. Manny Pacquiao could be the leader of the Philippines.

That idea first came to me when I noticed the power of Manny’s charisma rising at the same time another politician was acting like an international rock star—Barack Obama.

Based on charisma and appeal, I even called him the Philippines’ Obama.

That may have been my dream. And maybe it was Manny’s too, for a brief second, as he did run and win a congressional seat in his Philippine district.

But I don’t think it’s Manny’s dream after his fourth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.

Pacquiao-Marquez IV has totally changed my view.

Manny Pacquiao is not the savior of Philippine politics. He is not the statesman, the diplomat, the political leader. He’s not the future of Philippine politics or governance.

He’s a fighter. He’s a guy who works in  satin underwear with his name on it.

And hearing him talk from the weigh-in to the post-fight interviews has made me see that all too clearly.

It’s like the knockout blow from Juan Manuel Marquez knocked fans like me to their senses.

I also think it knocked a little reality into Pacquiao’s life.

Pac-man’s passion, his life, and his future is in the ring. Not in the Philippine legislature. Not in Malacanang.

It’s not in movies, nor music, either.

Pacquiao said it himself, repeatedly, even after the most vicious punishment any human could take in a sanctioned athletic event.

“I’m a fighter,” he told ESPN repeatedly. “It’s my job. I’m willing to fight.”

What did we expect after that fight? A cowering Manny? No way.

“I never expected that punch,” Manny said about the right-hand smash from Marquez that Manny walked into squarely in the 6th round. “He got me (with) a good one.”

And then the question came again. Do you want another fight, a rematch?

“Why not?” he answered.

The questioner came back, “Do you want it?”

“Of course,” Manny said. And then he repeated himself, “I’m a fighter. My job is to fight.”

It would have been nice had Manny broken into a bit of diplomatic rhetoric.  A line about “what a great champion Marquez is…” would have worked there, too. Marquez, in his post-fight interview talked about celebrating the victory for Mexicans around the world. Maybe Manny could have responded with a message to all the global Filipinos out there, that despite the defeat, they should all keep their chins up. Surely, there should have been some kind of message to those Filipinos ravaged by the recent typhoon in Mindinao. Now that was a knockout blow.

At the weigh-in, even HBO’s Larry Merchant threw Pacquiao  a softball on the typhoon to give Manny a chance to enlarge his scope beyond boxing.

Manny showed his concern, but it just wasn’t that  rhetorical flourish akin to a jab-straight-hook combo. That’s not who Manny is. But he can do wonders in the ring.

Even after the knockout blow, in his interview Manny knew his business. His true calling.

And you could sense he wanted another round.

Reports indicate that the brutal blow from Marquez may have given Pacquiao a concussion.

But when you are a boxer, concussions are as natural as blood, sweat and spittle. Those punches aren’t love taps to the head.

It’s all part of the world in which Manny belongs and is paid well for being part of. Where else is he going to get a $26 million dollar pay day just for showing up to work. That’s dollars, not pesos. His pay-per-view share, undoubtedly in the millions, is all extra. (You can watch it free this Saturday on HBO).

So I will give up my crusade insisting that Manny quit to save his brains and take on the mantle of being the Philippines’ rock star political leader.

Manny’s role goes beyond politics. He’s above all that. People go from movies and TV to politics all the time. But boxing champions are different.

They are our mythical warriors, cultural heroes. Manny doesn’t need Malacanang. He’s already head datu to Filipinos everywhere. That’s enough burden for one man. He doesn’t need the pettiness of politics. Pacquiao leads from the ring. And when he’s done, he’ll take his role as national folk hero, buddy, and humanitarian. National spirit lifter.

He doesn’t have to be Joseph Estrada.

But why rush things.

Manny turns just 34 on Dec. 17th. He’ll have a good birthday. And I’m sure an even better Christmas.

And, besides, you heard him indicate, he’s not done.

He’s a fighter. So maybe for a change we’ll really see him train like his life depended on it. And dedicate himself to showing the world that the champion can get back up and answer the bell again.

That’s what Pacquiao-Marquez IV has spawned.

Forget Mayweather. Forget the others. The franchise is set and so is the need—for Pacquiao-Marquez V.