Odom Staying in LA; Local Candy Stores Rejoice

Who saw this coming? Odom staying in LA, for a deal somewhere between what the two parties wanted....c'est pas possible!

Sigh. So, the Lakers? Still really fucking good. And now our attention can turn to Ramon Sessions (and Nate Robinson, I guess). Yay?

Eurobasket 2009 Final Qualifying Round

Ahead of Europe's continental basketball championship, which will begin September 7th, 6 teams will fight for the final spot in the tournament. Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Belgium will make up Group A, and Italy, France, and Finland will be in Group B of the qualifying mini-tournament. The group stage, beginning August 5th, will consist of each side meeting the others in their group twice. After that, the top team in each group will progress to the final.

Here are the rosters for the six teams in the final qualifying round, which will start August 5th:

Portugal:

Jorge Coelho
Nuno Cortez
Jose Costa
Paulo Cunha
Filipe da Silva
Fernando José Da Silva Sousa
Elvis Evora
Mário-Gil Fernandes
João Figueiredo
David Gomes
Joao Gomes
Marco Goncalves
Mário Gonçalves
Fábio Lima
Diogo Matos Carreira
Miguel Minhava
Miguel Miranda
Rui Mota
Joao Reveles
Joao Santos
José Silva

Bosnia:
Kenan Bajramovic
Edin Bavcic
Nihad Dedovic
Henry Domercant
Bremer Ernest Lenell
Nemanja Gordic
Miralem Halilovic
Jasmin Hukic
Goran Ikonic
Ermin Jazvin
Zlatko Jovanovic
Elmedin Kikanovic
Milan Milosevic
Aleksej Nesovic
Ivan Opacak
Vedran Princ
Esmir Rizvic
Oliver Stevic
Mirza Teletovic
Mujo Tuljkovic
Sasa Vasiljevic

Belgium:
Christophe Beghin
Sébastien Bellin
Lionel Bosco
Piet Hubert De Bel
Maxime De Zeeuw
Thomas Dreesen
Yannick Driesen
Axel Hervelle
Dimitri Lauwers
Aleksander Lichodzijewski
Domien Loubry
Sacha Massot
Ilunga Mbenga
Roel Moors
Guy Muya
Kristof Cecile A. Ongenaet
Randy Oveneke
Thomas Van Den Spiegel
Jef Van Der Jonckheyd
Sam Van Rossom

France:
Alexis Ajinca
Nicolas Batum
Rodrigue Beaubois
Yannick Bokolo
Aldo Curti
Nando De Colo
Mamoutou Diarra
Boris Diaw
Yakhouba Diawara
Antoine Diot
Laurent Foirest
Mickael Gelabale
Joseph Gomis
Dounia Issa
Alain Koffi
Claude Marquis
Adrien Moerman
Tony Parker
Johan Petro
Florent Pietrus
Mickael Pietrus
Ali Traore
Ronny Turiaf
Ludovic Vaty

Italy:
Valerio Amoroso
Pietro Aradori
Andrea Bargnani
Marco Belinelli
Massimo Bulleri
Daniele Cinciarini
Alessandro Cittadini
Andrea Crosariol
Marco Cusin
Luigi Da Tome
Giacomo Galanda
Luca Garri
Jacopo Giachetti
Angelo Gigli
Daniel Lorenzo Hackett
Stefano Mancinelli
Marco Mordente
Giuseppe Poeta
Tomas Ress
Matteo Soragna
Valerio Spinelli
Luca Vitali

Finland:
Samuel Haanpää
Shawn Huff
Tuomas Iisalo
Mikko Koivisto
Petteri Koponen
Tuukka Kotti
Gerald Lee
Sami Lehtoranta
Ville Mäkäläinen
Vesa Mäkäläinen
Jukka Matinen
Hanno Möttölä
Kimmo Muurinen
Antti Nikkilä
Teemu Rannikko
Juha Sten
Petri Virtanen
Ilkka Vuori

Clearly...er, probably clearly, France and Italy have the most star-laden squads from this round. France are likely the favorites, but then they were never supposed to have to take this route, as most would have considered them locks to get through the previous qualifying round. With so few games to play, there is little margin for error.

Secession Plans Nixed; My Bad

Oops?

Well, that kind of sucked, but...oh well. I'm sort of enjoying the Lalas-led "Remain calm, casual fans!" from ESPN right now. I guess the tournament wasn't a total waste, as hopefully it helped Bradley learn who does and doesn't suck from this group, and we'll only see Holden, maybe Rogers, and possibly a couple others ever again.

PS: Here's Brian Phillips from the excellent Run of Play writing something coherent about it:

US-B into Gold Cup Final; consider seceding

Following (another) 2-0 win over Honduras, the United States' team hodgepodge of...stuff have reached their third consecutive Gold Cup final, where they'll meet Costa Rica or Mexico. Stuart Holden was once again key in midfield, and has probably gained the most in terms of having a place in the "legit" national team from this squad.

The US' success in this competition brought up a (sort of) interesting conversation between me and a friend: could the US qualify two teams to the World Cup. If that weren't, you know, illegal. I said no, as I'd be surprised to see this team get a point away in CONCACAF and I think they'd also have trouble against the a-sides (not to be confused with A-Teams) of the less-crap CONCACAF teams at home. But it does seem like this B-side is less horrible than previously thought, and probably wouldn't be too shabby with a couple additions. We could even leave Jay Heaps! Or not. Preferably not. Actually, there are like four or five of the whole group that have a chance of breaking into the 23 for South Africa. But, still: less shitty than expected. Huzzah for low expectations.

Odom and Boozer and Sessions and stuff

Still available. Just throwing it out there. NBA GMs, make something interesting happen with these players. Please? I don't even care about Boozer, but Sessions and Odom...come on!

(/posting so this thing doesn't die even though nothing is happening. Only two weeks to Eurobasket qualifiers, though. Yay!)

Bolt Ran

edit: 9.79, with a poor start. In the rain. Into a headwind. Yea. Daniel Bailey came in second, at 9.91, Yohan Blake in third with a 9.93.

Gay keeps the year's best time, for now.

Estudiantes Campeón

After a 0-0 draw in the first leg at home, Estudiantes were underdogs heading into the deciding match of the Copa Libertadores. Cruzeiro had been strong at Estádio Mineirão, and had created plenty of chances away from home. Tonight's match remained scoreless until early in the second half, when Cruzeiro's Henrique scored a deflected goal to give the home side an advantage. At that point, it would have been difficult to imagine Estudiantes winning, at least without at least having to go to penalties. But Los Pincharratas answered almost immediately, with Gata Fernandez touching in Cristian Cellay's brilliant centering ball. The next 15 minutes passed with both sides threatening, until Veron's corner was met by the head of Mauro Boselli, giving Estudiantes a 2-1 lead they managed to hold.

It is Estudiantes' fourth Copa Libertadores win, and their first since 1970, when Juan Ramon Veron captained the team. Tonight, his son Juan Sebastian captained the side. La Brujita was all over tonight, performing well in virtually every phase of the game, playing a key role in route to winning his first Libertadores title at the age of 34. The victory means Estudiantes, whose win may come as a shock to some (they didn't finish in the top 5 of this season's Apertura or Clausura in Argentina), will compete in the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. They'll likely be seen as the main challengers to FC Barcelona.

Revisiting Beijing

(not that I've been to Beijing before, but, you know)

So, because the NBA is charging $15 to watch the Summer League coverage, I decided to watch the USA-Spain final from last summer again instead. You'd think that I would take this as a hint from the basketball gods to take a fucking break and perhaps get a life, but no. That was never really an option.

Anyway, the USA-Spain game was pretty much as awesome as I remembered. The standard of play, and offensive efficiency, was fucking ridiculous. I mean, I guess it had to be for both teams to get well into the 100s in a 40 minute game, but it was still somewhat stunning. Nobody on either team had a particularly poor game, and Dwyane Wade was ridiculously good (especially) early on. I have to admit that rewatching the performances of Rubio, Paul, and Rudy was probably the most fun, as all three had brilliant stretches (of greatly varying lengths, of course). Ultimately, in case you forgot, Spain kept it close throughout, but the US was able to finally pull away a little bit in the last couple minutes, and won 118-107.

Oh, and that Usain Bolt guy also did stuff in Beijing. Rewatching that 9.68? Still awesome (as well as the 19.31). But Tyson Gay managed a 9.77 the other day in Rome, to make things slightly more interesting as we inch towards this year's IAAF World Championships, in Berlin.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, nothing is fucking happening right now. I am not going to write about Paul Millsap, Brandon Bass, and Jarrett Jack. Today, anyway.

En unión y libertad

Pretty gigantic couple weeks in Argentine football. After Velez' controversial title win, leaping ahead of Huracan thanks to a 1-0 victory against El Globo, we still have three crucial two legged ties to worry about. On the domestic front, Belgrano will meet Rosario Central and Atletico Rafaela will meet Gimnasia de la Plata to determine who will get the final two places in next season's Primera Division. Meanwhile, in the Copa Libertadores, Estudiantes will meet Cruzeiro in one of the competition's more interesting recent finals. Still unconfirmed whether Juan Sebastian Veron will be able to play for Estudiantes, but hopefully he's deemed fit.

What Does it All Mean? (NBA Free Agency Edition)

Turkoglu to Toronto. Artest to the Lakers. Ariza to Houston. Sheed to Boston. Kidd....still with Dallas. Gortat to Dallas (is that confirmed? whatever). Gordon and Villanueva to Detroit. Other stuff that I'm likely forgetting.

For a much maligned free agent class, it's been an interesting week or so. What does it all amount to? Well. To me, it doesn't look like anyone's drastically improved their team. Sheed comes to Boston with little downside. Even if he coasts through the season, like he did with Detroit, he'll still add something they didn't have- a guy who can guard the likes of Rashard Lewis. And if he's motivated? Well, then he's a motherfucking good sixth man. No matter what, Sheed and KG on the same team will be fun.

Turkoglu to Toronto...whatever. I thought it would have been a bad move for Portland to pick him up, and I don't like his contract, but...whatever. He'll be alright, and I guess he gives them another ball handler. I'm not sure if that's actually a good thing, as Calderon is pretty nice with the rock (ugh), but we'll see. Toronto really wants that 7th or 8th spot, I guess.

Artest to LA and Ariza to Houston....come on. Everyone and their mother has written about that already. If Artest takes bad shots, it could kill the Lakers. And signing him was obviously a huge risk. But it could definitely work out, and if it does Phil Jackson will (rightly) be praised. Ariza to Houston makes them more athletic, but it won't really matter next season. After that, everything depends on what they do to replace McGrady and whether Yao can get right.

Gordon and Villanueva, well, I've covered that. Meh. Meh squared, even. Gortat and Kidd with Dallas is...whatever. They'll likely be pretty much the same "pretty good but not great" team they've often been over recent years. The Kidd contract is awful, but Cuban obviously doesn't care. So, like I said. The last week has been interesting, but hasn't changed things THAT much.

So. That Happened.

Holyfuck. 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14, and number 15 for Federer.

Title Decider in Argentina

Velez and Huracan are not the most glamorous clubs in Argentine football. Neither are in the traditional "big 5" (Boca, River, Racing, San Lorenzo, and Independiente). Neither have made winning things a regular occurrence of late. Velez' only title of the last 10 years came when they won 2005's Clausura, after they had a very successful period in the mid 90s that brought them to prominence. Huracan have only won a single first division title in their professional history, 1973's "Metropolitano", and in recent years they've spent much of their time in the second division.

But today they will meet to decide the winner of the Clausura (closing tournament). This isn't technically a playoff, as it's merely coincidence that it worked out that the top two would meet in the season's final match. Both sides have taken advantage of the "bigger" clubs all having a relatively weak tournament, and all three of the clubs that formed the Apertura playoff (Boca, Tigre, and San Lorenzo) have finished in the bottom half of this Clausura. Much of this Clausura has been a three horse race, with Lanus acting as the other...horse. They were only knocked out of the equation when they drew with Velez 1-1 in the last round of matches, after having taken a 1-0 lead into the final 20 minutes.

For Velez, it is not a complete surprise to be in this position. As previously mentioned, they have enjoyed a decent measure of recent success, and even over the past few seasons, they've consistently finished in the top half. For Huracan, this is somewhat shocking. They finished 17th in the Apertura, and they were in the second division as recently as 2007. Near the end of the Apertura they were beaten 4-1 by archrivals San Lorenzo, as they seemed to be heading for a title (they eventually lost out in the aforementioned playoff). In the Clausura Huracan flipped it, beating San Lorenzo 1-0 in a vital match. They head into this final match on 38 points, 1 ahead of Velez, and therefore will only need a draw. But Velez will be playing at home, and are considered slight favorites heading into the match.

Roddick Wins

Sorry, couldn't think of anything more creative for this. Could have gone for something patriotic, I guess, but fuck that.

Anyway, pretty stunning stuff from Roddick. One of, if not the best match I've ever seen him play, against an on form Andy Murray, at Wimbledon. Pretty big stuff. Considering that it wasn't that long ago that Roddick seemed to really be falling off, it's a pretty brilliant resurgence. Semis at the Australian, a best ever finish at the French, and now his fourth Wimbledon final.

He'll obviously be the underdog, but Roddick has never seemed more likely to beat Federer. Or, perhaps more accurately, less likely to get his ass kicked. It will be fun to watch, no matter what, as Roger (who beat Haas in three sets today) goes for his record 15th grand slam.

Roddick's victory means that there's an American in every major Wimbledon final. Men's singles (Roddick), women's singles (Williams sisters), men's doubles (Bryan brothers), women's singles (Williams sisters). It will be interesting to see how this form carries over to next week's Davis Cup quarterfinals in Croatia, on clay.

...All the Words Past the Margins

A random assortment of stuff

- It's mostly been a lot of "meh" at Wimbledon so far, but today's match between Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick was quite an enjoyable exception. Five sets, all of them close, with a very high standard of play. Roddick's victory sets up a semifinal with Andy Murray, who he's beaten just twice in eight attempts. Tommy Haas upset Novak Djokavic in four sets to set up a semi with some guy named Roger.

- So, it looks like Ben Gordon (and Charlie Villanueva) might end up in Detroit. This is just a bit lamer than getting Bosh, Wade, or LeBron, I guess.

- Nacional-Estudiantes and Inter-Corinthians tonight. Estudiantes beat Nacional 1-0 in the first leg of their Copa Libertadores semifinal, and Corinthians take a 2-0 advantage into tonight's second leg of the Copa do Brasil final. Both ties are still pretty wide open, so it should be pretty good stuff. Basically, it's just sort of nice to have meaningful club football.

- Rudy to return to Europe? Alright, probably not. But, still, it seems sort of bizarre for this rumor to even exist.