Some of them were in Chinese.

Well, it’s not that weird, considering Yao Ming plays for the Rockets, and there will be millions of Chinese watching many of his games.

Chinese companies have been advertising at the Rockets arena ever since they drafted Yao.

From the Wall Street Journal in 2003:

Last summer, the U.S. distributor for Yanjing Beer Group Corp., of Beijing, leased billboards lining the Houston Rockets’ arena, home court of the 7-foot-5-inch Mr. Yao. The advertising deal, valued at just over $6 million for five years, marks the first time a Chinese company has sponsored a National Basketball Association team. It probably won’t be the last.

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I’m sure that hour will make up for the many hours of energy used by Gillette Stadium before, after, and during games.

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His goal 7:40 minutes into overtime etched his name forever in Canadian hockey lore and sent the Canadian crowd into raptures, as they finally got the gold medal they had desired for eight years.

And with a gold medal on the line, the two teams produced one of the greatest hockey games ever played.

Canada seemed on their way to the gold after a first period goal from forward Jonathan Toews and a second period goal from forward Corey Perry gave them a 2-0 advantage.

For Toews, it was just his first goal of the Olympic tournament, but he had recorded seven assists, which was the top in the tournament. It was also the first goal given up by USA goalie Ryan Miller, who kept a shutout streak of 124 minutes and 28 seconds over four games.

And it was star American Brian Rafalski who lost control of the puck, which led to Canadian forward Mike Richards taking a shot that was parried by Miller right to Toews, who finished from an acute angle.

The second Canadian goal came after an odd man rush by the U.S.A was snuffed out, and the Canadians skated towards the opposing net with numbers of their own. Getzlaf passed the puck from the left side towards the right side, and teammate Corey Perry had a wide open shot, and he buried it past Miller.

But the Americans, who matched the Canadians physicality step for step (or skate for skate) throughout the whole game, kept attacking, and finally American forward Ryan Kesler had enough.

After starting a dash up ice from his own blue line, the Livonia, Michigan native passed the puck off to teammate Patrick Kane, who hesitated before pulling the trigger and taking a wrist shot on goal.

Kesler, who was charging at the net, got a piece of the puck, which deflected it just enough to go under the right arm of Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo and into the back of the net.

That made the score 2-1 to Canada, and it stayed that way into the third period.
The final period of regulation was a back and forth affair, with numerous scoring chances for both Canada and the U.S.A, but both squads goalies coming up big and keeping the score close.

Fans hearts were in their mouths one minute, and the next, back in their chest.

With 1:17 left in the third period, the Americans pulled their goalie, Ryan Miller, to add an extra attacker, and it paid dividends, when a loose puck was caroled by Patrick Kane, whose shot was parried by Luongo right to American Zach Parise, who slammed the puck into the net with 24.4 seconds left and tied the score at 2-2.

As fitting as it was for Crosby to end his scoring drought with the game winning goal for the Great White North, it was just as fitting that Zach Parise, the son of the famous Canadian hockey player, J.P. Parise, would be the hero for the United States.

The 2-2 score line sent the game into overtime, where the competitive and physical play that we saw throughout the first three periods continued.

But finally, after a few chances for both teams, Crosby passed to forward Jerome Iginla, who gave it back to Crosby to the left of the net.

From there Crosby took a quick shot, which slid right under the pads of Miller into the back of the net, and gave Canada a 3-2 win.

The win made gave team Canada their eighth gold medal in their history, and it was just the third time ever that the home nation had won the gold. The first two times were the USA, in 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, and the famous 1980 team, in Lake Placid, NY.

After the game, both teams received their medals, the Americans, silver, and the Canadians, gold, before the raising of the Canadian, American, and Finnish flags and the playing of the national anthem of Canada, “O Canada.”

Also announced after the game, USA and Canada combined to place five of the six players on the all-star team of the tournament.

USA goalie Ryan Miller, defenseman Brian Rafalski, and forward Zach Parise made the team, as did Canadian defenseman Shea Weber, and forward Jonathan Toews.

The lone European was forward Pavol Demitra of Slovakia, who finished with 10 points on three goals and seven assists.

Miller was named Tournament MVP, as well as the best goalie. Rafalski was named top defenseman, and Toews was named the top forward.

Miller finished with just eight goals against in six games, good for a 1.35 goals against average, and a tournament best 94.56 save percentage and 139 saves, also a tournament best.

Rafalski and Parise both finished with eight points on four goals and four assists, good for third place among skaters.

And Toews seven assists lead all skaters, as was his +9 rating. In fact he was never on the ice when Canada gave up a goal.

For the Americans, as tough as this loss is to swallow, they proved to the world that you don’t need a team of superstars to win games, and that heart, emotion, and passion, as well as an amazing goalie, can help get you a medal.

More importantly, team USA’s overall performance in Vancouver got more and more people to watch a hockey game, and certainly for the immediate time revived interest in the sport.

And for the Canadians, they certainly earned it, and deserve to celebrate the gold medal that they won.

See you in four years in Sochi, Russia!

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SCOTT JACOBS

If you found yourself rooting for a goalie you had never heard of, before these 2010 Vancouver games began, you weren’t alone.  Aside from your hard core hockey enthusiasts, America wasn’t exactly making U.S.A goaltender Ryan Miller their Olympic poster child.  Many didn’t even expect the country just south of Canada to even medal at all.

And then Miller played the tournament of his life, and team U.S.A. put on a spectacular performance themslves, falling just short of Olympic gold in a take-your-breath away classic that won’t soon be forgetten, by sports fans, and Americans alike.

Whether you knew who you were rooting for, whether you knew a blue line from a red one, didn’t matter in these Olympic games.  All that mattered is hockey took center stage, in a country that had seemingly abandoned it.  No, not Canada.  The country that invented the games, got what they wanted: gold in the sport that they live, breathe, and sleep.

But in the U.S.A. where hockey has become a blip on the underpants of our sports crazy society, team U.S.A.’s gutsy Vancouver showing opened up some eyes, and had to of– at the very worst– drawn a new curiosity to the sport that may have not been there before.

Canada beat the U.S. 3-2 in overtime in an instant classic that rivals some of the greatest hockey games I can recall.

The argument for the olympics has always been– and will continue to be– that we watch because it’s a national pride thing.  We watch speed skating, and ice skating, and hockey because it’s a “our country” versus “theirs” type of thing.  As soon as the Olympics end, our interest in those sports does too.  At least for four more years.  But ya know what?  This just might be different.

And we got to see sports in their most perfect form: with no commercials.  Like seriously, if you were lucky enough to see the GOld Medal game, you saw uninterrupted periods played out entirely, creating suspense unlike anything any other sporting event could create.  This was sports at its finest.  Sports at its purest.  This was truly awesome.

The NHL hopes to capitalize on the wave of emotion and maybe some new fans when they resume play tomorrow, turning back on a season that was paused for the Olympic games.  How much influence this game and this tournament has on joe casual remains to be seen.  But there is nothing more exciting than a winner take all hockey game, and that’s what made this Gold Medal showcase a stunning display of grit, determination, and pure athleticism.

There’s a reason hockey isn’t close to being the most popular sport in the U.S.A.

It’s tough. It’s the only sport of the so called “Big 4″ which puts its athletes on skates.  It’s expensive to play too.  All those pads and equipment aren’t cheap.  Hockey is a tough sell on TV.  Many have complained over the years that the puck is too hard to follow and the game is too complex.  Anyone who likes sports even a little probably recalls Fox’s mockery of the sport, when they used to put a glow on the puck during their 1990’s coverage, making games feel more like video games.  And ESPN leaving hockey to die hasn’t helped either.  Sure Versus has taken the reigns and their coverage is hard-core, but it’s hard enough to find the channel, and for joe casual it doesn’t exactly pop up on your TV.

Many will argue that when the best athletes from their own countries are playing it’s different.  The games are more well played (probably true), the games are more emotional (I wouldn’t disagree), and there’s a natural connect (possibly).

But maybe, just maybe, Ryan Miller and co.’s performance, and the hockey tournament itself in hockey crazy Canada opened up some bright eyed kids’ eyes to a sport that can create the finest of moments.

Maybe.  Maybe new interest will creep up regarding the NHL.  Again, maybe.

No matter what happens though, one thing is for sure: Canada won the gold, but brand awareness and a new found appreciation for a ’sometimes buried sport’ reached an all time high.  What that all means going forward, well only time will tell.

Photo: Getty

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He made all the traditional space-filling comments that you would expect from an athlete: “We felt that we had a competitive advantage due to our international experience.” “The Canadian game, we were a little more worried about, because they had home ice.”

He did go a little bit past the traditional athlete’s cliches when he called Canada and Russia “overrated” then when he guaranteed a gold medal for the US, but hell, that just made the interview more interesting and informative than a real interview.

My point is that in sports (or many other news topics), there is really no reason to interview people, because they don’t say anything. All the cliches and everything can be just as easily and accurately said by someone who isn’t even on the team.

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The Hoosiers are working towards their final out-of-conference game the next day versus Bryant University, who hold an 0-12 record on the season.

Five days earlier, the team lost a stunner at home to Loyola Maryland, 72-67, despite a  furious comeback in the waning minutes of the game. Their record is now 5-6.

However, despite that loss and the losses in Puerto Rico, the team has played exceptionally well, and even beat Pittsburgh in New York at Madison Square Garden, and stuck with fourth-ranked Kentucky for a good 25-30 minutes before inexperience and lack of poise at the free throw line let Kentucky take over.

Freshman guard Maurice Creek was the star of that game, scoring 31 points on some of the nations top players, shooting 9-14 from the field, including five three-pointers, and went 8-8 from the free throw line.

He was also leading the nation’s freshman in scoring, and along with fellow freshman forward Christian Watford, sophomore guard Verdell Jones, and junior guard Jeremiah Rivers, the Hoosiers were brimming with confidence, and ready to take the Big Ten by storm and upset some teams.

Fast forward to now.

The Hoosiers are currently mired in an eight-game losing streak that shows no sign of ending.

There is blame to be all around, but mainly, this team just doesn’t believe in themselves anymore.

In the game against Bryant University, Indiana wins convincingly, but loses Maurice Creek to a season ending knee injury.

Just a few days later, the rest of the Hoosiers step up as Indiana wins their first Big Ten game of the season, 71-65, over Michigan.

Since then, the squad has gone through many ups and downs.

There was the overtime win versus Minnesota and the road win at Penn State, IU’s first road victory in 23 months. There was the two point loss at the buzzer at Illinois, and the three point loss at the end to Purdue.

Those were the days when it seemed like Indiana had turned the corner, and was on their way towards being in the middle of the pack this season, and maybe better in the future.

But then there have been the recent blowout losses. And the margin of defeat tells a whole new story.

Fifteen (Iowa), 17 (Northwestern), 17 (Ohio St.), 28 (Wisconsin), 14 (Michigan St.), 23 (Minnesota).

Earlier in the season, the Hoosiers would have deficits, but they always had the scrappy fighting mentality that they just would not go away, and they kept playing hard and always found a way to score.

Now, that mentality is not being shown by the players wearing the cream and crimson on the court.

Indiana has not held a lead in their last five games, and have gotten off to horrific starts, constantly having to fight back from the first moments of the game.

Jeremiah Rivers has lost his mid-season form, refuses to drive the lane, and continues to take off balance shots, while on defense he hasn’t been the lockdown defender everyone had expected him to be.

The Indiana frontcourt of Tom Pritchard, Bobby Capobianco, Christian Watford, and Derek Elston have been pushed around so much all season, that they have seemingly hit the wall, and excluding Watford, they have combined to score just 33 points in the last five games, all blowout losses.

Its certainly tough to watch this team now, when a loss is almost assured.

Unless the squad can dig deep down inside and find some motivation to play their hardest in their final three games this season, the season which has already proved to be too taxing on the players and fans alike, will become even worse.

I don’t really believe in moral victories, but in a team that is in the situation of the Hoosiers, games like the losses to Kentucky, Illinois, and Purdue should have been considered victories to the team.

Most fans in the nation (except IU fans of course) never would have thought the Hoosiers could keep the games close before they began, but the Hoosiers hung tough and fought their way to a couple of close losses, as well as one that spiraled away from them after one of their best performances of the season at that point.

The Indiana Hoosiers must take a deep breath, close their eyes, and instead of thinking back to Dec. 27, 2009, they must look forward to Feb. 25, 2010, when they host the Wisconsin Badgers.

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More buzz on Super Bowl ads:

Hyundai’s full shoot with Favre:
The commercial that I thought was funniest

“Humanitarian News”: “Denny’s acknowledges suffering of egg-laying chickens.”

Yes, because everyone cares so much about the plight of chickens! Because chickens are people!

(You can copy and paste this url if you really care: http://humanitariannews.org/20100210/denny-s-acknowledges-suffering-egg-laying-hens-super-bowl-ads

I’m not linking it.)

“Isn’t it funny that in order to watch Super Bowl ads on Hulu, you have to watch their other ads?”
- AllyPea on Twitter

“It’d be hard not to be impressed by the Dante’s Inferno ad that aired during the weekend’s epic Super Bowl match-up, but some viewers might be surprised to learn the lavish visuals it displayed don’t necessarily bear a great deal of resemblance to the actual gameplay.

What’s the deal? The Dante commercial (in common with many video game trailers) was put together from pre-rendered cut-scene footage, not actual gameplay. The ad acknowledges that with a small disclaimer on the closing screen, but one Techland blogger obviously doesn’t think that’s good enough.”
- PluggedIn Blog

“Twitter where most of Beavers fanbase lives. Let’s hit em where hurts! #onionring RT and spread the word!”
- TheOnionRing on Twitter, whose Onion Ring group got more fans than Canadian Aaron Carter-wanna-be Justin Beiber’s fan page (and was subsequently deleted by Facebook). Now The Onion Ring is trying to take down the Beiber Beaver on Twitter.

Twitter winners in Super Bowl ad wars:

via Ad Age

Betty White Snickers ad was “most recalled” by viewers.
- Ad Age

“Historically, we’ve been able to depend on Budweiser and Bud Light to entertain us with over-the-top jokes … to be funny and fun. Not this year. Five spots all fell flat.”
- Bob Garfield reviewing the ads for Ad Age

Garfield’s three favorite ads were: Audi’s “The Green Police”, FlowTV’s Guy Shopping With His Wife, and Chrysler’s Dodge Charger Ad.

I also mentioned “The Green Police” as one of my favorite ads.

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DAN KARELL

With just a couple days to go before the NBA All Star Game, Knicks center David Lee finally got the call he was waiting for. Pack your bags, you’re headed to Dallas as part of the Eastern Conference All Star squad.

Lee, the 6′9” center out of the University of Florida, was originally not picked for the All Star Game because of a new rule that says, if a team has a losing record, no players from that team can be selected for the All Star game.

However, Lee will finally be getting his chance to go to Dallas, where he will join up with teammates, Nate Robinson (Slam Dunk Contest) and Danillo Gallinari (Sophomore-Rookie Challenge).

Lee replaced guard Allen Iverson on the Eastern Conference squad, after Iverson withdrew due to “personal matters.”

The 26 year old Lee is having a career year for the Knicks, averaging 20 points (first in East among centers), 11.4 rebounds (third in East), 3.5 assists (first in East) 1.02 steals (fourth in East), and 37 minutes (first in East) so far this season. He also has 31 double doubles in his 51 games played so far this season, good for third in the Eastern Conference among centers.

Finally, David Lee will have his chance to prove to the Knicks that he deserves a new long term contract when he plays in front of 90,000 people at Cowboys Stadium, in front of millions at home, as part of the Eastern Conference All Star team.

Photo: AP

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DAN KARELL

The Indiana Hoosiers usually can be forgiven for losing to Ohio State and Northwestern.

Ohio State is back to being ranked in the top 15 in the nation, and Northwestern this season has played some incredible basketball, and has even taken down Purdue and Illinois.

But the Hoosiers can not be forgiven for their lack of effort, passion, and intensity seen in the past two games.

It is hard to play well after losing two games that went right down to the wire.

But it is no excuse for this Hoosier squad.

They must understand that they are not talented and experienced enough to just assume that they don’t have to give 110 percent.

Unfortunately, many of the mistakes they made don’t end up on the stat sheet, but they are in the film, and I’m sure coach Tom Crean and his staff are looking at it as we speak.

Most notably, on defense versus Northwestern and Ohio State, was the lack of defensive positioning and help defense.

In many cases, no one knew where they should be standing on the court, or what to do if more than one player was in their “zone.”

This miscommunication and lack of positioning and focus helped Northwestern get easy shots from beyond the arc, as well as some easy dunks inside.

Against Ohio State, the Hoosiers forced the Buckeyes to play in the paint, but the defensive intensity that viewers saw Ohio State use when they were on D, was not what the Hoosiers used, as time and time again the Hoosiers let William Buford, David Lighty, or P.J. Hill drive the lane for an easy bucket.

Also, the Hoosiers were committing to the man driving the lane too early, which opened up either a man outside the arc or a man underneath. As a result, the weak side defense, which is supposed to respond to the double team, was constantly late.

On offense, Indiana failed to execute plays on a consistent basis, and began to go away from team play to one on five.

An obvious reason for the lack of success is the starting lineup.

While Christian Watford, Jordan Hulls, and Verdell Jones III can all be trusted to make shots, when the ball is in the hands of either Tom Pritchard or Jeremiah Rivers, it’s almost a fact that they will either miss a shot if they take it, or look only to pass.

This makes it much easier to defend the Hoosiers, because Pritchard’s lack of strength down low and lack of any jump shot makes him useless on offense, and without the ability to drive to the net for Jeremiah Rivers, he can’t do much on offense aside from set back screens.

Also, the bench right now isn’t much better offensively, with just six points against Northwestern, and three against Ohio State.

Another reason for the poor offensive form is the lack of success under the rim.

All too often, Christian Watford, Tom Pritchard, or Bobby Capobianco will have the ball near the hoop and try to put up a shot, which either gets easily blocked, or just doesn’t go in because they don’t go up strong to the basket.

The lack of any interior scoring lets the defense focus more on keeping the guards out of the game, and recently it has been working.

The Hoosiers are currently mired in a five game losing streak, and if they keep playing the way they have been, there is a good chance it will be seven by this time next week.

Indiana has to go to Wisconsin to face the No. 13 Badgers, before returning home to take on the No. 10 Michigan State Spartans.

Both teams are extremely efficient on offense and defense, and will take advantage of any errors that opponents make.

In just two weeks, Indiana went from a team that looked to have turned the corner, coming just two points short from winning at Illinois and three points away from beating a Purdue team that is ranked No. 8 in the nation, to a team that doesn’t belong on the same court as any team in the Big Ten.

While a sign of a young inexperienced team is inconsistency, to go from one extreme to the other in such a short time is not a good sign.

The Hoosiers have just a couple days to regroup and get their act together, before heading up to Madison.

All fans can hope for is that, even if they lose, they leave it all on the court, and come home with their head’s held high.

Photo: Getty

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SCOTT JACOBS

Sometimes things are so bad that to avoid crying you just have to laugh.  Maybe the New Jersey Nets should start laughing.  Not that their fall from respectable team to historic challenger of the worst record in the league (the all-time worst record) is funny, but at this point, what other choice do they really have?

Today the Nets season hit another low in a season filled with them, when they dropped their 8th straight game to the Milwaukee Bucks in front of barely a four digit crowd.  A snow storm which dropped nearly a foot of snow on the New York area (including the Meadowlands) kept many fans at home, but the ones who did make it to the game probably would vouch they didn’t miss much.

Andrew Bogut scored 22 points for the Bucks who trounced the Nets by 22 sending one of the most embarassing seasons by one team spiraling out of control even further.  New Jersey, which once had its pawprint all over the Eastern Conference dropped to a porous 4-48 entering the All Star Break, which shockingly won’t include a single Net.

It’s hard to believe that this is the same franchise that made the playoffs every year  from 2002-2007, including back to back trips to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.  Those teams had Jason Kidd.  He’s now a Mav.  Remember Richard Jefferson?  He’s now with the Spurs.  Vince Carter who never led the Nets to a title, but did keep them respectable is now in Orlando.  The carnage left behind is a team that is lost and confused, in search of an identity, and after this season, a coach too.

They don’t have an All Star but they do have Brook Lopez.  And not much else.  Literally.  Unbelievably, or unfortunately, Lopez leads the team in — get this — points (19.0), rebounds (9.1), assists (2.3), and blocks (1.94).  (Devin Harris who has  only played 35 games this year is averaging 6.3 assists, but apparently he hasn’t played enough games yet).  If Lopez was on any other team this year you’d know his name by heart.  Instead, he’s stuck on the dreadful Nets, this season’s NBA punching bag.

When you look at the numbers you almost feel sorry for this team.  That just doesn’t happen very often these days.  But look.  This is just sad.

They’ve lost 9 times by 20 points or more.  Nine!  They’re dead last in the league in scoring.  So not only are they not good, they can’t score either.  Not that they’re stopping anyone either (teams average 101.6 ppg on them).  Their scoring differential is like the opposite of the UConn Lady Huskies.  Instead of beating down the opponent, their average loss is by 11.5 points.  The next closest team, Minnesota, is almost a full 3 points better (not that that’s good either).

It’s too bad more games don’t come down to the wire for the Nets.  And by wire I mean the foul line.  New Jersey as a team is 5th in the league.  That’s a bright spot I suppose.  Shockingly they’re not the worst team in the league at drawing butts to the seats.  That honor somehow goes to the semi-decent Memphis Grizzlies, who only add more merit to the idea that Memphis can’t support an NBA team if they can’t outdraw the putrid Nets.

How bad is New Jersey?  The Flint Tropics would probably beat them.  Too soon?  Too soon?  Maybe.

But this season can’t end soon enough for the Nets.  They’re dead even with the 1972-1973 Sixers porous pace for the worst record in league history as they crawl to the break.  Break?  More like mercy timeout.  The Nets need to win 6 more games to avoid infamy.  Then they can fade into history as the NBA’s version of the 2007 Miami Dolphins: a team that flirted with futility nearly the entire season, before doing just enough to avoid being the worst ever.  Unfortunately for the Nets, all Miami needed to do that year was win a game.  Six sure seems like its asking a lot.

A whole lot.

Photo: AP

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