Except the huge basketball fans (like me) or sport nuts (again, like me), not many will be interested in the 2006 World Basketball Championship which is taking place right now. Given that USA hasn’t won on the previous two occassions, they want to give a strong performance this time. They took a much more solid team to meet this end as well.

The favourites, as far as I am concerned, are Argentina. They have always performed well at international basketball events. In the recent history, they have won the gold at Athens and came second to Yugoslavia in the World Basketball Championships in 2002. The Argentinean team works well together but more importantly, they are more adept to playing the international basketball rules play (which is quite different from the NBA rules).

As far as this championship is concerned, the big plus for Argentina is Manu Ginobili returning for them. Ginobili has some thing to prove too via the tournament as Draft Express wrote in their preview:

The tournament will be a great opportunity for Ginobili to show the world that he can be a legit go-to guy without the presence of a player in the mould of Tim Duncan.

The tournament will soon enter it’s knock out stages soon (August 26th) and a Spain-Argentina semi final clash and possibly Greece vs. US in the other semi final makes it interesting.

Whom am I supporting? The burger guys of course. The rise continues with a round of 16 spot secured. They face Argentina next and I can see Manu Ginobili is scared to death already.

Barry bonds is in the news again. I didn’t care. Neither do you I am sure. The reason is not because you may not be an American and thus not interested in a lot of what goes on in US sports. Even Americans don’t care as this poll shows. [Via Blogcritics]

The Barry Bonds don’t care maybe due to the constant over coverage in the media during his home run chase. Each time Bonds hit a home run, ESPN cut regular programming to cover it. The result was that people went numb when they heard the words Barry Bonds. The senses system told them - shut every thing or your brains will burst.

We saw some thing similar in India not long ago during the Ganguly-Chappell controversy. First, people were either in favour of Ganguly or Chappell. The issue dragged and the media dragged it along. By the end, people didn’t care any more. They just wanted to hear no more of the Ganguly-Chappell issue. Tendulkar is back once again in the Indian team. Got the don’t care feeling? I guessed so.

Constant repitition maybe cause this numbness. For example, how many of you got excited when Roger Federer won Wimbledon again this year? Even against a promising Nadal, most people new Federer had little chance of losing. Had the opponent in the final been some one else, the Wimbledon final would have recieved much lower television ratings. The don’t care phenomena would have been much more evident.

Some how, flawed geniuses excite us and help us avoid the don’t care phenomena. So, a Kobe Bryant will never fail to bore us. One day, he scores truck loads of points and we can’t get enough of his talent. The next day, we wonder if he failed. Breaks in successful performances avoids repitions. Would we have got as excited for the second Jordan three peat had he not had the gap to try baseball despite scenario in which he achieved the second three peat very different?

We care about our sports but only that much and no more. For, the don’t care stage isn’t too far off.

Update: Read Ravi Gurnani’s flawed sporting idols here.

The New Zealand basketball team isn’t as widely followed as their rugby team. How many of you would like to back a team which won only against Angola in basketball in the 2000 Olympics?

Wikipedia has more vital information:

The Tall Blacks is the nickname of New Zealand’s national men’s basketball team and not a number of large black coffees. The name was chosen as it reminds people of New Zealand’s Rugby Union team, the All Blacks. For sponsorship reasons, they are often referred to in New Zealand media as the Burger King Tall Blacks.

So with the biggest win versus Australia, tying the on going 4 match series 1-1, the Burger fellas are bound to feel good. The New Zealand domestic league is followed religiously by all of three people but that number is bound to grow as well after this big win.

Whatever happens, I will love the innovation behind the name of the team. All New Zealand teams contain black (All Blacks, Black Caps). Basketball players are tall.

So we will call you the Tall Blacks!

Do check out the Kiwi Hoops and Basketball.org.nz websites for an indepth look into Kiwi basketball. New Zealand basketball is growing and it is evident from New Zealand being the semi finalists in the 2002 Basketball World Championships. Burger King is very pleased.

Update: The tall blacks are 2-1 ahead in the series now with a convincing win in Australia!

Dunking is hep. Dunking excites the spectators. But how is it for the players? Marcus Thompson II writes in Contra Costa Times:

“As a lot of times, you go up to dunk and you feel like you want to break that backboard, break that rim,” said Warriors guard Jason Richardson, who with Michael Jordan is the only player to win consecutive slam dunk titles during NBA All-Star weekend. “But 10 times out of 10 you’re not. What you’re really breaking is yourself. … When you dunk it hard and come down screaming ‘Ahhhhh,’ everybody gets into it. But you’re really screaming, “Ahhhhh, my arm!’” … Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant said he used to bust up his fingers until they bled. New Jersey Nets guard Vince Carter showed off the marks on his right forearm, which he stuck inside the basket during his famous jam from the 2000 dunk contest. “I dunk so hard sometimes,” Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett said, “I can’t feel my hand for a couple plays.” “One time,” Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade said, “it hurt so bad I couldn’t pick up a ball. You can mess yourself up dunking so hard.”

[Hat tip: Bessie Smith from NBA LJ]

The whole piece is a must read. Jordan was known for his dunking skills early in his career but I hardly saw him dunk when I watched him from the mid-90s. Vince Carter had promised not to dunk (as also revealed by the piece) but still does so on ocassions.

Dunking is the eye catcher in a basketball game. This means that young players who want get noticed, play for bigger teams have to either by a superstar or should know how to dunk in style. Would Varter really have drawn as much attention had he not dunked as much early on? Would he have got the sponsorship deals? Not really.

The earlier NBA gays saw glass shattered when players dunked. Thank fully this occurence is a thing of the past in the NBA and international games courtesy better equipment. However, the lower levels every where, not just in the US, hardly have as good equipment. I remember a news of some one dying trying to dunk a few years earlier. A quick google search gives me this occurence which happened about 1 and half years ago. I am sure there have been more immediate and long term injuries because of people going the dunking route.

In a game, I support dunking only when some one cannot score points via jump shots or lay ups. What is the point of dunking when there is open space and you are sure to get the two points any way? If it is too close and you feel safe regarding the two points by dunking, go for it. Else not.

The next time you see a basketball player dunk, remember the pain he goes through!