long beach grand prix

i recently visited long beach during the long beach grand prix and had a primo spot watching this car racing thing. as i have previously mentioned, i really have no clue as to what was going on. and seeing it hasn't really changed that.

apparently, these drivers (who were both from irl and champ or lemans - whatever that meant) had to go around this track (or, as i say, in circles) 85 times or in 2 hours. strange sport.

franchitti (a.k.a. ashley judd's husband) -- the second red car in the video below -- won and danica patrick came in fourth. the video below was the last lap with a bonus view of a crash at 00:35.




so i thought the race was ok. but i really came for the food that included: lumpia, pansit palabok, chicken dijon pressed sandwhich and an assortment of goodies like pork crackling, nuts, chips, chocolates, and, oh yeah, some fruits and salads.

long beach grand prix: qualifiers

i'm not into cars. or racing. or car racing. but, i had access to a condo with a view of the racetrack -- and particularly, of one of the turns. so, off i went to the LBC. it wasn't officially the grand prix yet but there were some drifting (i don't even know what that means) qualifiers this past saturday.

as much as i know nothing (zip, zilch, nada) about car racing, this i knew. the first video was not a good race while the second video was better.






ok, so i really wasn't in the LBC for the grand prix. i was really in the LBC to hang out with a family i met back in the czech republic in november 2006 who were in town for a visit. while those cars roared loudly below us, i had a great time reminiscing about the CR by chatting and reconnecting with them, and enjoying the company of their daughter, who is now a ripe old age of 5 and a half. wow. time flies.

either that, or, i'm just old. bah. those cars were loud. they needed to turn down that ruckus!

joking aside, the CR was a fantastic place to visit. if you don't believe me, just watch:
1. the illusionist - the backdrop for showing the main characters when they were young, was filmed in cesky krumlov. the backdrop for the rest of the movie was prague (doubling as vienna).
2. casino royale - the casino was the grand pupp in karlovy vary and some outdoor scenes also showed karlovy vary.

if the location does not convince you, then tasting fresh beer at the pilsner urquell brewery in plzen or budweiser brewery (the original, please) in ceske budejovice just might. sure beats cringing every time those cars loudly made a turn below us.

sybil and the new york times

on the heels of my 2 second appearance (at 1:19) on friday on tv (cbs2/kcal9) extolling the nickel diner's bacon donut, i found myself today on the pages of the new york times.

to be exact, there was a picture of people stretching/jogging and some photographer shot a picture of me bending/stretching. no one can see my face but i know my pony tail and my outfit (second from left).

this is no admission of guilt. the law says no one can stretch on the median, i.e. the grassy strip. i was on the street. with no grassy strip in sight. so there.

that being said, here are my two cents:

my understanding is that the santa monica ordinance prohibits any activity on grassy strips in santa monica except for walking and jogging. that means that those doing ab exercises or stretching exercises on the grassy strip are violating the law.

is this ordinance constitutional given that the grassy strip is on public property?

well, methinks that the city can regulate the use of public property based on time, place and manner (TPM). so, for example, i would think that if the ban is enforced at noon or 1 pm when no one in the neighborhood is reasonably expected to be asleep and not be bothered by the exercisers, the ban is probably too restrictive. the idea is that while people have a first amendment right to associate whenever and wherever, the government can still restrict that right based on TPM regulations.

but hey, what do i know?

oh right, i guess i have 14 minutes and 50 seconds of fame left...

ucla athletes rock!

we got rhodes scholars awarded to bruin football and rugby players. guess they're not wearing their IQ's on their jerseys.

go bruins!

an olympic sized blunder

so the guardian broke the news that the spanish basketball teams took group pictures with each player appearing to make slit-eye gestures and had this picture run daily in a newspaper ad sanctioned by spain's basketball association. apparently, laker pau gasol, a member of this olympic squad, the coach and everybody else do not find anything offensive with the picture.

to be fair, pau gasol purportedly said, "If anyone feels offended by it, we totally apologise for it." but, he doesn't really apologise for doing it. he just apologised if anyone found it offensive. i guess he doesn't get it either.

jose calderon blogged the following about the event:

I would like to share a story with you about something that happened with the Spanish National Team that someone interpreted incorrectly. It happened in the photo session where the Spanish National Team was introduced; one of our sponsors asked us to pose with a “wink” to our participation in Beijing, we made an oriental expression with our eyes. We thought it was something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as somewhat loving. Never the less some of the European media did not see it this way.

From here I would like to declare that we have a huge respect for the East and their people, some of my best friends in Toronto are from China and one of our Spanish National Team sponsors is the Chinese brand Li Ning. Anyone who would like to interpret this differently is absolutely confused.

ummmm... calderon definitely doesn't get it. "orientals?" let me be clear, asians are not furniture. and what is the deal with "i have asian friends"? that doesn't mean anything!!! strom thurmond fathered a child with an african american woman yet he was an advocate for segregation of the races. so calderon having asian friends does not translate to having "huge respect" for asian peoples.

so, let me say why i find their conduct offensive:

first, it makes fun of an immutable physical feature.

second, it emphasizes differences in people that has been the basis for treating people unfavorably in education, employment, public accommodations, etc.

third, it is neither funny nor endearing. so why do it?

while the spanish might not find it offensive, other people might (and do). what were they thinking?

the ad showcases a team competing in an international event. their players play internationally -- particularly pau gasol for the lakers (california having a large asian american population) and jose calderon for the raptors (toronto also having a large asian american population). thus, while the ad was intended to appear only locally, the team has an international profile and each has a responsibility to promote tolerance of all cultures -- whether they are at home or abroad.

what is even more disturbing is that it appears that the international olympic committee, the nba, or the lakers/raptors will do nothing about this atrocity.

olympics: "redeem team"

so it is really quite annoying that the media keeps on calling the american men's basketball team as the "redeem team."

yeah, us men's basketball lost in 2004. yeah, they should have won. and yeah, it was embarrassing.

but what is this team redeeming itself from? clearly, from a team that was not a dream team.

in 2004, the us decided to field a team with mostly young players. yeah, they had some all stars like tim duncan but they also had allen "it's only practice" iverson. the big players around that time, shaq, kobe, jason kidd, kg, t mac weren't even there.

the 2004 roster had 2 (two!!!) all stars:
stephon marbury
dwyane wade
allen iverson*
carmelo anthony
richard jefferson
lebron james
lamar odom
shawn marion
amare stoudemire
tim duncan*
carlos boozer
emeka okafor

d wade, boozer, lebron and melo were just babies.

in comparison, this 2008 men's basketball team is a very good team. this team has mvp kobe bryant, a much matured and improved lebron james, dwayne wade and carmelo anthony, a proven point in jason kidd, and a decent supporting cast.

indeed, in this 2008 roster, 3 out of 9 are not all stars:
carmelo anthony*
carlos boozer*
chris bosh*
kobe bryant*
dwight howard*
lebron james*
jason kidd*
chris paul*
tayshaun prince
michael redd
dwyane wade*
deron williams

(one would even argue this 2008 team has a better coach in coach k than larry brown, who seems to have a problem getting along with players -- i disagree of course, as yes, i am an admitted dookie hater.)

point being is that the us did not field a "dream team" worthy team in 2004 and the media had no business calling that team a "dream team."

this 2008 team, on the other hand, is a dream team. (ok, maybe not like the original dream team with magic, jordan, bird... but waaaaaaaaaay closer than the 2004 team ever will be.) this 2008 should be given its due title as a dream team because that is what it is. it is not this 2008 team's fault that the media mistakenly named the 2004 team a dream team.

perhaps this bunch of media pundits should call itself the "redeem team" from screwing it up last go around. but, let us not call this team that title.

hell, if the media really wants to name someone a "redeem team," they should have named the 1992 team as such. after all, before that, the us was dominating in the sport (the us boycotted the 1980 game) until it suffered its first lost (to the soviet union, its then political arch-enemy.

so please. stop calling the 2008 team a "redeem team" already.

reflections on my recent trip to spain

last time i was in spain (barcelona) was in 1999. since then, spain has joined the eu and adopted the euro, and the dollar's value has plummeted. so what the heck, perfect time to go back to espana!

i was fortunate enough that my trip was timed with spain battling germany for the euro cup. and, like many spanish, i watched the game rooting for spain. below are some video highlights of the celebration in sevilla.










another reason i visited spain was the food. currently, the us does not import the high grade jamon iberico (the us started importing the lower grade only recently). so, i was very pleased to enjoy jamon iberico de bellota. a lot. below is actually a video of a cool old school dude cutting a jamon serrano at his bar, antiguo cafe mundial, in cadiz. my picture and video taking prompted him to ask, do they not have ham in the philippines?




before going to spain, i have been enamored with wines from the rioja region. while i never went to rioja, i did try their varied selection. i also tried cava and sherry, both of which i enjoyed. i am currently enamored with pedro ximenez -- although i can only take it in small doses.

below is some cool stuff that servers do with the wine cork. pretty neat.



i had a fantastic time in espana. much thanks to simon, who was taking a break from writing his book, EAT MY GLOBE, for showing me around and making sure i ate lots and drank lots.

he bent it like himself

so i went to the home depot center in carson, ca to see the los angeles galaxy open their season at home against the san jose earthquakes. ok, to be honest, i went to see what all the hoopla was about DAVID BECKHAM.

so i went. and i saw.

to be exact, i saw him score a goal.

i saw him assist in a landon donovan goal.

i saw him bend it like, um, himself.

i also saw how crappy the team is. generally speaking.

i also saw other people. like his kids. who were sitting with their mom, POSH SPICE. she is a cutie. they were all sitting behind me. ok, behind and up above me. in their fancy box.

i managed a few blurry shots of the kids.

and of POSH SPICE. that was her in the tan outfit. clearly, i cannot be a papparazzi!


that's the blurry shot of KOBE BRYANT, who was sitting in posh's box.

here is a more detailed account of my outing and more pictures.

places to see before i die

someone recently gave me a book entitled, "1,000 places to see before you die." it is great! but, it made me depressed that i have only been to 65. 65 out of 1,000!!!! UGH!

i can't help that going to nick san and seeing lance armstrong is not on that list! or going to pauley pavilion and seeing coach wooden is not on that list either. heck, watching the u.s. open in flushing meadows isn't on there either. or watching a lakers game at the forum (back in the day) or at staples center isn't on there either. oh well.

cabo sports sightings

who knew that cabo san lucas, and specifically, nick san, is a hotbed for sports figures....?

michael strahan of the ny giants was on a date with eddie murphy's ex-wife.

one table over, was lance armstrong with a group of dudes.

and of course, one table over was.... me.

i took off for the nowhere bar. a few minutes later, lance followed. and later still, strahan and his date followed.

that was funny.

btw, thanks to fc for the photo.

bruin haters redux

no apology from the bruin hater. instead, he now claims he was complimentary and not sexist or dismissive of women athletes in general and of male athletes not playing football:

1) In the column, I wrote, "UCLA’s women’s teams have won 30 championships. That’s more than the total titles won each by Tennessee, Colorado and Nebraska." Period. That’s what I wrote. Folks, this was a compliment. Nothing more. Some thought I was mocking women and being sexist.

2) I also wrote, "The Bruins have been more successful than any other school in sports that don’t make headlines or money. But that’s not the worst development, particularly when mixed with 11 men’s basketball championships and that whole Wooden Era thing." Period. That’s what I wrote. Again, this was intended as praise. Nothing more. Do you really think someone would attempt to demean the contributions of John Wooden? No one, not even me, not even 10 of me, is that big of an idiot.

Given the tone of my column, it’s understandable how these points were misconstrued.

misconstrued? folks, this is called revisionist history. again, here is the original column entitled, "ucla's titles add up, but do they count?" hard to misconstrue that one.

and then i laughed again for his sorry attempt to re-write his original column.

bruin haters make me laugh

i recently read this sports column in the orange county register regarding ucla's place in history as the first school to win 100 ncaa national championships when ucla's women's water polo team won.

the columnist wrote:

Impressive, 100 championships certainly are. That's a nice round number. Then again, so is zero — the roundest of them all, in fact — and also the total number of football championships won by the Bruins since 1955.

Isn't that the real way colleges are compared on the sports pages, by who beat who on Saturday and who outranked who on Sunday? Especially in this town, where everyone knows the name of USC's backup quarterback even as the Bruins themselves struggle to name their starting quarterback?

Sorry, UCLA boosters. Sorry to mention the four-letter word USC in a story about Bruins brilliance. But it's hard to escape the shadow of Trojans football, especially with the season opener lurking only 108 days away.

the article was so filled with hate that my knee-jerk reaction was anger. then, i just laughed. because the columnist apparently is a fan of u$c and couldn't contain his jealousy, he ended up sounding petty and jealous of ucla's accomplishments in sports....

in addition, he sounded like a hater of title 9 and a hater of anything not involving u$c football when he diminished the accomplishments of ucla's female and male athletes who played on non-football teams. he said:

The Bruins have been more successful than any other school in sports that don't make headlines or money. But that's not the worst development, particularly when mixed with 11 men's basketball championships and that whole Wooden Era thing.

Someone has to win men's volleyball (UCLA has 19 times), men's tennis (UCLA has 16 times) and softball (UCLA has 10 times). So three of the school's past five titles have come in women's water polo. That's better than not winning three championships in a row.

what he doesn't understand is that these "non-money making" or "non-headline making" sports produce world class (female and male) athletes that make every american proud. think of those women gymnasts and softball teams winning medals in the olympics; think jackie robinson; think arthur ashe; think jackie joyner. i guess, to this guy, they don't count and were "the worst development."

considering that ucla swept u$c in basketball, football and baseball in the 2006-2007 season, i suddenly found the article funny. i also remembered that ucla has the longest winning streak against u$c in football (8 years). that made the article funnier.

by the way, i did not misquote the columnist when he said, "Sorry to mention the four-letter word USC in a story about Bruins brilliance." (emphasis added.) then, i laughed some more.