2018 Sports Stories of the Year

source: E:60's ESPN
L: Deland McCullough, R: Sherman Smith

source: Washington Post
L: Lin Wang, Charles Barkley

If you know me, or follow this blog regularly, a BIG part of my life is sports. I don't follow NCAA Division I College and MLB, NBA and NFL as closely as I did as a kid. These days, it's the sports history stories with gripping, memorable programs such as ESPN's SC Featured, E:60 and 30 For 30.

Here are my top sports stories of 2018:
Lin Wang and Charles Barkley
My Twitter feed was blown up about a story from NPR's It's Only A Game. People like Soledad O'Brien and Seth Meyers tweeted at how much they sobbed reading Shirley Wang's essay about her father Lin and his friendship with former NBA standout/current TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley.

I've read the print story at least 3 times, but it was Shirley's voice in the podcast that had me bawling for hours.
Click here to read or hear the podcast.

Deland McCullough and Sherman Smith
Their story has become one of my favorite sports stories ever. Deland is currently the running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs. Sherman is a retired running backs coach for the Seattle Seahawks. Deland and Sherman first met when Sherman recruited Deland in high school to play football for Miami (Ohio) University.

Here's the YouTube video:


Wishing everyone a safe, warm and wonderful 2019.

Mookie Betts in 2018

source: ESPN
Mookie Betts

What a year for Boston Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts.

In 2018:

• American League MVP
• American League Batting Champion
• Rawlings Gold Glove Winner
• American League Silver Slugger
• World Series Champions

Betts also threw a 300 game on November 12, 2017 in the PBA World Series of Bowling in Reno, Nevada.

Here are his 2018 baseball highlights:

PBA Tour debuts on FOX Sports

source: Twitter/PBA
L to R: Rob Stone, Kimberly Pressler, Randy Pedersen

UPDATE: Two of my favorites on the PBA tour, Dom Barrett and Marshall Kent made the PBA Clash Finals. Marshall surged back with 4 consecutive strikes (HAMBONE) to defeat Dom 218-215.

Next week, on December 23, the PBA moves from ESPN to Fox Sports. The televised schedule on the PBA website has broadcasts begin next week and go through mid-June.

For this avid PBA fan, this is very exciting. The move to FOX reunites former ESPN PBA sportscaster Rob Stone with Randy Pedersen and Kimberly Pressler.

Here's the promo trailer:

Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)

source: CAAM

Lately, my Sunday afternoon and evenings have been spent on the Cinema Asian America channel watching films from Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).

CAAM is how I found out about Abacus: Small Enough to Jail featuring the Sung family. Last month, I got to see a great sports documentary directed by Ursula Liang called "9 Man". It's a modified street game of volleyball played in Chinatown playgrounds.



The other documentary is from Canadian director Jeff Chiba Stearns called "Mixed Match". The documentary explores the challenges of those with blood diseases of multi-ethnic heritage.



If you don't have Xfinity/Comcast, they are available for viewing on YouTube for a small fee.