What. The. F?!?!, Or Ato Bolden Is A Flip-Flopper

Last week, I made a bold prediction in contradicting Ato Bolden in his statement that Carmelita Jeter would win the 200m at the World T&F Championships in Daegu.


I correctly called that Jeter would lose to Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica. I'm not going to lie, I was feeling pretty boastful. I even texted Elijah Moon (the biggest Tim Toone fan I know). Only to have them drop this one me on night coverage on Universal:

Studio Host: You (Ato) said it. One of the greatest fields ever assembled for the women's 200m final and VCB came through just like you predicted.

Ato: Yeah, it's probably the only prediction that I've had right from one to three.

What?!?! That is NOT what he said. At all. That is kind of annoying. It makes me wonder if Ato Bolden isn't out there reading this blog for tips. If we see him out there helping drive the Derek Anderson Bandwagon, I think we'll have our answer. (In fact, we (well, I) would welcome Ato on the DAB... it can be a pretty lonesome ride.)

Patterson to NBDL

I hate to say I called it except that I'm totally lying about that.

I CALLED IT!

From Rotoworld:

The Rockets have assigned Patrick Patterson to Rio Grande Valley of the D-League.

Read this for a competing view from a delusional Rockets fan. Funny stuff. He reminds me of my brother who is still convinced that William Campbell (U of M DT) could be good. (However, I will acknowledge that being sent to the NBDL is not the end of the story - but the dude still needs a ticket to visit reality.)

We still await the debut of Epke Udoh (out with a broken wrist).

Ricky Rubio Is Awesome

Another one for the It's too early to say 'I called it' file... but I will acknowledge I am dying to do so.

I am referring to the play of Ricky Rubio in the ongoing FIBA World Championships.

Long before the Furriners blog existed... I had opinions. Many of them involved Derek Anderson. Some of them did not.

One of the opinions I expressed around the office was that I was extremely disappointed in what I saw of Ricky Rubio in the 2008 Olympics. We were told he was a new Pistol Pete/Steve Nash. And although I am too young to have ever seen Maravich play, I consider myself a Pistol Pete fan... so I was excited to see this kid. I was extraordinarily underwhelmed - but, of course, Rubio was a 17(!) year old playing in the Olympics against the likes of Chris Paul and Deron Williams - so I didn't want to be too dismissive of his talents.

Of course, now Rubio is all of 19 and I admit it's still too early to call him all hype with no substance - and not to bring up a 20+ year old take on Larry Bird by Dennis Rodman - but one can't help but wonder if Rubio would be such a big f'n deal if he were a black kid from Baltimore?

Today, Spain lost in the first round of knockout round of the World Championships. The rest of Spain's starting lineup are all very fair NBA players (& Marc Gasol has improved to the point where he has to be considered above-average for an NBA center). Here is the basic stat breakdown for the Spain starting five:

Juan Carlos Navarro - 27 pts, 5 ast
Jorge Garbajosa - 18 pts, 6 reb
Rudy Fernandez - 15 pts, 5 reb
Marc Gasol - 13 pts (6-7 fg), 5 reb, 3 blk
Ricky Rubio - 3 pts, 3 ast, 3 to

What's the word for the Rubio performance? Underwhelming... yeah, that is it.

And, for the record, this is from the Sports Guy 2009 Draft Day Diary:

5:03: ... An orgasmic Fraschilla says Rubio is "the best passer in the last decade of drafts" and he's "got a Gretzky-like feel, he sees the game two and three plays ahead." Totally agree.

We'll see.

And I will say that I watched preliminary round coverage of the tournament and the same Fran Fraschilla was decidly non-orgasmic when saying that it was time for Rubio to start becoming a dominant player rather than just a vat of potential.