US Basketball Loses to Greece: I almost stayed up for this one. I had reading to do for class as well as some other work and I figured that I could survive today and sleep through the three-day weekend. Then 2:00 rolled around, the game had not yet tipped off, and I zigged when I planned to zag. I think I am glad I missed this debacle. It seems odd to me that the NBA is accused of doing nothing but playing for one-on-one matchups and if that fails passing it out to the guy on the wing for the three, and yet this basketball team, supposedly constructed to win international tournaments, had no reliable three point shooters on the roster. Four years ago many of us wondered, where was Michael Redd? Or at least Ray Allen? Beyong melanin, what possible skil set does Brad Miller bring to this roster that either one of those guys would not have surpassed by their ability consistently to shoot the three from the shorter international distance? And, as the Thunderstick pointed out this morning, how on earth can the US guys be unprepared to defend the pick-and-roll, the bread and butter play of the NBA? Ghastly.
But here is what it comes down to for me: Toss out the rationalizations. get rid of the chauvanism. The United States might have the most good basketball players on earth. But we are not the best basketball playing nation anymore. Not at the level of national teams. That designation really ought to go to teams that win. It is a quaint and self-serving notion to argue that the better team did not win last night, but you know how you guage who is a better team when two teams play one another? By which team wins. really. That's what "better" means. Of all international team sports, only in soccer can one team thoroughly outplay another and lose, and even then, at least in the World Cup, no team will sustain that luck for a tournament.
Agassi Outduels Baghdatis: My God. That was all I could say. In one of the greatest tennis matches I have seen in my life, everybody's darling, Andre Agassi (and how and when did that happen? has any athlete transformed himself more than Agassi in the last two decades?) outlasted Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in five gut-wrenching sets last night in Flushing Meadows. After taking the first two sets, Agassi gave up the next two, including what most os us assumed to be a disheartening fourth set in which he led 4-0. The 36-year-old crowd favorite had given his all, gave the loving American crowd one last burst of entertainment, and was going to go down in five sets.
Nothing doing.
As Baghdatis (who probably won himself a few fans last night) fought through cramps and pain, he consistently bent Agassi without breaking him. The game came down to three factors, in my mind: Agassi's ability to weather Baghdatis' serve; Baghdatis' "unforced errors," a misleading tennis term that includes some errors that Agassi very much forced; and a battle of will and heart. It was compelling tennis, the sort that one associates with a bygone era from which Agassi remains.
I'll be the first one to admit, I pay attention to tennis exactly four times a year: Wake me when the majors roll around. But that still means that I've watched lots of tennis. Last night was as enthralling a display as I have ever seen. next up for Agassi is a B. Becker from germany. No, not that one. Benjamin. Let's hope that Agassi can pull out that old magic one more time, as did Sampras and Connors before him on their final run through the U.S. Open.
Wells to the Padres No one in Red Sox Nation is thrilled about us being sellers and not buyers as August gives way to September, a month that has held plenty of action for the Red Sox for the last four years. But too many injuries coupled with some seriously inopportune slumps meant that this was our fate. So here were our options: One more month with David Wells, who had serious value on the trade market, in which he may have gotten five or so starts and then walked, giving us nothing in return. Or trade him for a prospect, in this case George Kottaras, a prospect rated in the top ten on many catching lists. I'll take the prospect. I am all about winning now. But if winning anything this year (We believe!) hinges on David Wells, I think I can say we've dug ourselves a hell of a hole. he has been our best starter for three weeks, but that is not enough to justify losing him for nothing given the collapse we have seen of late.
For those of you who are more into the stathead side of things, and who care about PECOTA, EqA, and the like, here is Kotteras' Baseball Prospectus page. (OK -- so I lied. One link.) I'm not certain what it means that he looks like Zach Braff from Scrubs (which is one of those shows that I really like every time I catch it, but for some reason do not go out of my way to watch).
College Football is Back!: Little to add, really. BC looked great then didn't but won. The Ballcoach showed a little trickeration. Arizona State almost became this year's top 25 team to lose to a I-AA in the first month and head down an ugly spiral. There are games all weekend. Most excellent.
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