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.

It's A Boy

Li -Chin baby shower

I missed last week's blog post as I was in Sacramento most of the day bowling in the annual California State Senior Bowling tournament.

Four days later on November 15, after 24 hours of labor, my sister-in-law Kat gave birth to a healthy 7 pound, 9 ounce boy. Mom and Dad are home resting comfortably.

Proud dad (my brother Sherman) has been sending Cindy and me pictures almost daily since his birth. And I can't get enough of them. The proud auntie in my saw his latest photo at 10 days old and he already looks like he's 3 months old.

Best part since his birth, he sat with dad watching Ohio State annihilate Michigan 62-39 yesterday. Never too early to begin father-son bonding traditions.

I'll close with a song dedicated to Kat and Sherman, Talking Heads's 1985 song, "Stay Up Late".

Shannon O'Keefe - 2018 Qubica AMF Women's Champion

source: PWBA
Shannon O'Keefe

Big congratulations to McKendree Women's Bowling coach and 2018 PWBA Player of the Year Shannon O'Keefe on her exciting win over Malaysia's Sin Li Jane in the 2018 Qubica AMF World Cup held at Sam's Town in Las Vegas.

Without further ado, here's the semifinals and finals women's matches from Bowl.com:

Bowling Players Packing Review at Mightygoods.com

Come check out the Mightygoods.com review site. Included is my review of how I pack bowling equipment.

In awe that my review is featured alongside PBA legend Parker Bohn III.

Click here to read the review.

Dom Barrett - 2018 PBA US Open Champion

source: Bowl.com
2018 PBA US Open Champion
Dom Barrett

On the right side of my blog page, there is a list of links which are labels I've added to all entries.

You'll notice bowling and San Francisco Giants are the biggest and darkest. It's no secret among professional bowlers, Danielle McEwan and Dom Barrett are my favorites.


So it was only fitting that this past Wednesday during league night, Dom Barrett climbed the stepladder as the 4th seed to win the 2018 PBA US Open.

Before league shadow practice started, I caught about the first 4 frames of Dom's match with Kris Prather live on CBS Sports. My first thought, wow, Dom's defeated Marshall Kent and EJ Tackett.

Kris had a rather sizable lead over Dom. I figured then it'd be a Prather-Buttruff final, especially after the way both bowled all week. Our scoreboards came up and I had to go to my pair to start league for the night.

It wasn't until my last game my teammate Jason asked me if I wanted to know who won. I said yes. He showed the picture from his phone.

Dom's wearing a green jacket. WOW.

Fist pumps follow and cheers of yes! yes! yes!

Along with Liz Johnson's climb as the 5th seed in the 2017 PWBA US Open, the 33-year old native of England demonstrated poise, experience, grit, grind and determination to defeat 4 bowlers in their 20's (Kent, Tackett, and Prather are 26, Buttruff is 24).

I've already watched the match twice. I'll likely watch it again tonight. I watched his 2013 PBA World Championship match versus Sean Rash at least 6 times.

Congratulations Dom!

ESPN's Basketball: A Love Story

source: ESPN

On September 25, ESPN2 aired the first 5 episodes of Basketball: A Love Story from Dan Klores. The full series is 10 episodes, 2 hours each.

From the ESPN Media Zone:
The unique format of “Basketball: A Love Story” gives ESPN the chance to offer it to viewers in a variety of ways. Beginning on Tuesday, September 18, all 62 short stories will be available on the ESPN App. The full film will air in a serialized format in primetime on ESPN over five Tuesdays: October 9, from 7-11 p.m., October 16, from 7-11 p.m., October 23, from 7-11 p.m., October 30, from 8 p.m-12 a.m., and November 13, from 8 p.m-12 a.m. (all times ET.) For a more binge-style experience, a special preview of the full film will be shown in two installments on ESPN2 on September 25 (9 p.m. – Episodes 1 through 5) and September 27 (9 p.m. – Episodes 6 through 10).

This is one of the most thoroughly told and entertaining documentaries on the game of basketball. Among my favorites: early 20th century stories of point shaving, player profiles of college and NBA stars in the 1960's and 70's. Very excited to see my big NBA crush Gail Goodrich interviewed from his UCLA and Los Angeles Lakers days. Another favorite was interviews from some of the greatest female players ever to play basketball: Nancy Lieberman, Cheryl Miller, Lynette Woodard, Ann Meyers, and Carol Blazejowski.

Here's a preview clip:

Baseball, Bowling, Betts in 2018

source: zimbio
Mookie Betts

The 2018 season cemented Boston Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts as one of the best in Major League Baseball.

Batting average: .346 (1st)

Home runs: 32

Stolen bases: 30

Betts and teammate J.D. Martinez are heavy favorites to win the league's MVP.

Mookie is also an elite level bowler. PBA Commissioner Tom Clark invited him to participate in the 2015 World Series of Bowling (see October 11, 2015 blog entry). Due to injury in 2016, he did not bowl.

Before the 2018 baseball season began, Mookie participated in the 2017 World Series of Bowling at National Bowling Stadium in Reno. On November 12, 2017, Mookie bowled a perfect 300 game in the PBA Scorpion Championship.

Dude's got game. Nike needs to come out with a reboot of the "Bo Knows" commercials with Mr. Betts.

Whitehall-Yearling High School - 40th Reunion, Class of 1978

Senior Photo/Reunion Badge

Last weekend I took Thursday and Friday off to attend my 40th high school reunion (see April 8, 2018 entry).

On previous reunions, I usually take an early flight on Friday, arrive early evening, have dinner with Cindy, attend the reunion on Saturday and fly back Sunday morning.

This flight for this reunion was different. For the first time EVER, I flew direct. Southwest Airlines now has a single daily non-stop from Oakland to Columbus (John Glenn International). It's about a 4 to 4.5 hour flight.

Man, what a difference. I saved so much in travel time and the drudgery of catching a connecting flight. I now can consider making weekend trips without feeling like all my time's been sapped traveling.

As the last 3 reunions have been, it was loads of fun. It was expanded to 3 events: Friday school tour, Saturday banquet, and Sunday brunch. Most attendees participated in 1 or 2 events. I attended all 3.

After the Friday tour to see the remodeled school, we met at Gatsby's in Gahanna for drinks (club sodas for me). Toward the end of the evening, we pushed picnic tables together for a high school-like girls only chat. On Saturday, I took selfies with many classmates, participated in a very fun, hammy sing along/karaoke to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, and had a few very meaningful conversations with others I've known since elementary school.

My most favorite part of the weekend was to see classmates that had not attended previous reunions connect as Facebook friends. There were at least 5 to 6 classmates that had 5 or more new friends by the end of the weekend.

If you've never attended a high school reunion because it's too painful and/or you don't have fond memories, I respect your decision. I can't speak for everyone, but my experience has been if you get to a 30 year reunion, all the cliques are pretty much gone. Everyone will have experienced death, divorce, illness, or some other kind of life changing event.

We are now on common ground on an even playing field. We share life experiences which connect us to our past and present. We reflect and look forward to seeing everyone again at the next reunion.

If you're interested in reading my blog entries from previous reunions, click here.

San Francisco USBC Board Member

source: SFUSBC

On my way to Wednesday night league last summer, I was unloading my bowling equipment from my car when the current president of San Francisco's USBC approached me.

She told me my comments at a previous meeting open to league bowlers impressed her. She asked if I'd be interested in becoming a board member.

Surprised, honored and flattered I accepted. Due to a schedule conflict, I didn't become a board member right away. Meetings were taking place Wednesday nights, the same nights I bowl league.

This past November that changed. Meetings were moved to Sunday mornings. Perfect day and time as I'm already at the center for practice every week. Our most recent board meeting took place this morning.

In my capacity as a San Francisco USBC board member, some duties include:

• Lane inspection/certification
• Fund raisers 
• Local tournaments
• Management of sanctioned leagues at Classic (Daly City), Sea (Pacifica), Brentwood (South San Francisco), and Presidio (San Francisco).

As the 2018-19 season has officially started, I attended 3 league meetings last week (including my own) to introduce myself and briefly describe San Francisco USBC's role and upcoming events.

Being a board member requires time, dedication, and passion combined with a strong grasp of diplomacy. Not all that different than a full-time job. I find both roles very fulfilling and hope that I'll continue in both roles for a long time.

Hello Cinemark Movie Club

Shortly after I cancelled my Movie Pass membership, I enrolled in a new movie club membership, Cinemark Connections.

I chose this membership because most movies I watch are at Cinemark owned theaters. I can purchase in advance my tickets, choose my seats and have the tickets downloaded to my phone's wallet in minutes.

With Movie Pass, it required me to be at the theater to check in through the app, choose the desired show time, and then purchase the ticket with the Movie Pass issued MasterCard.

If I wanted decent seats, then it would require for me to arrive at the theater at least an hour before  show time. On top of the lack of movies eligible, this sealed my decision to cancel my membership.

In case you can't read the screenshot, here are Cinemark's Movie Club benefits:

• One credit per month good for one 2D ticket.
• Unused credits roll over and never expire when you're a member.
• Pay just $8.99 for additional tickets.
• 20% off concessions.
• Waived online fees.
• Earn Connections points for every purchase.

If you visit other movie houses on a regular basis besides Cinemark, this membership probably won't work for you. 

Goodbye Movie Pass

CineArts @ Empire West Portal
September 3 2018
movie times

As Labor Day 2018 comes to an end, I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday.

For me, it was my annual trip to Reno: weekend stay at Silver Legacy and a walk across the street to bowl 5 squads over 2 days in the Asian American Labor Day Tournament. I bowled well in yesterday's squads, including a 225 game in my doubles match with Leo. Hopefully it will be enough for us to cash out.

Today, it was an encore viewing of Crazy Rich Asians. I knew from the time I saw it 3 weeks ago I would see it again. I laughed and cried as much as I did the first time.

I paid for the first viewing by Fandango. As the movie just came out, it wasn't likely I'd have the option of buying it through my Movie Pass membership.

Three weeks later, I thought that would change. It did not.

First photo is a screenshot of today's movie showings at CineArts @ Empire in San Francisco's West Portal neighborhood.

 

The next 2 screenshots show why I cancelled my Movie Pass subscription today. There is only ONE of THREE films showing at CineArts @ Empire eligible on Movie Pass.

This was also the case at Cinemark Tanforan. After 3 weeks from its wide release, Crazy Rich Asians is still NOT available on Movie Pass.

If I can't see a new and popular film from Movie Pass, then my subscription is useless.

hapa.me -15 years of the hapa project

source: KipFulbeck.com

As I'm still riding on the Asian American identity theme for the past 3 of 4 weeks, I'm going to shift gears a little and update you on my August 10, 2012 entry, The Hapa Project.

Continuing through October 28, 2018 at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles is the exhibition "hapa.me - 15 years of the hapa project".

Taken from the first paragraph from the exhibition page: The word “hapa” is the Hawaiian transliteration of the English word “half.” Much of its current usage derives from the phrase hapa haole, meaning “half white.” The phrase was originally coined by native Hawaiians to describe the mixed offspring resulting from encounters between islanders and White settlers. In subsequent years, hapa (or Hapa) has come into popular usage away from the islands, most frequently embraced by Asian/Pacific Islander Americans of mixed descent.

Some well known Hapa:

• Oiympic swimmers Nathan Adrian, Natalie Coughlin and Jay Litherland
• Actors Keanu Reeves, Chloe Bennett, Maggie Q, and Daniel Henney

For me, I need to make this as a must-see on my next visit to Los Angeles.

Crazy Rich Asians on Food and Family

source: Mother Jones
L to R: Michelle Yeoh, Henry Golding, Constance Wu, Ken Jeong, Awkwafina

Yesterday, I attended the early bird showing of "Crazy Rich Asians".
Love versus family with east versus west complications told in a fun yet very heartfelt way. With lots of eating in-between.

I'm ethnically biased, but it's the best movie I've seen this year.

From USA Today, here's the film's cast on their own experiences with food and family. Can't stress it enough. Especially if you or loved ones are Chinese. GO SEE THE MOVIE. And if you can, with a group of friends and/or family.

Nationwide PWBA Columbus Bowl - 2018 August 16-18

source: PWBA

With only 3 tournaments remaining for the 2018 PWBA season, the next tour stop is in Columbus, Ohio at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl.

Bowl Fearless.



Bowlers featured in video in order of appearance:
Diana Zajvalova, Kelly Kulick, Daria Pajak, Stefanie Johnson, Liz Johnson, and the heavy favorite for Player of the Year, Shannon O'Keefe.

Crazy Rich Asians Film Premiere 2018.08.08

source: Amazon
novel by Kevin Kwan

In recognition of lucky 8 in Chinese numerology, the highly anticipated motion picture based on Kevin Kwan's best selling novel, Crazy Rich Asians will make its San Francisco debut in limited release on August 8, 2018.

I haven't read the novel but likely will see the film.

There have been some grumblings about casting Henry Golding, who is British Malaysian, in a Chinese role.

This isn't anything new.

Michelle Yeoh (Golding's mother in Crazy Rich Asians), Ziyi Zhang and Gong Li, who are all Chinese, were cast as Japanese in Memoirs of a Geisha. 

The late Miyoshi Umeki and James Shigeta, who are both ethnically Japanese, were cast as Chinese characters in Flower Drum Song. Tamlyn Tomita, ethnically Japanese, was cast as Chinese in The Joy Luck Club.

As we do every time we see a film, exercise your suspension of disbelief. Get an overpriced fat tub of popcorn lathered in real butter. Munch. Enjoy.

2018 PBA-PWBA Storm Striking Against Breast Cancer Doubles

source: PBA/PWBA
L to R: Storm Bowling founders Bill and Barbara Chrisman,
EJ Tackett, Liz Johnson and Luci Bonneau Tournament founder Donna Conners

Article by bvint - link to PBA/PWBA article

EJ Tackett, Liz Johnson Win PBA-PWBA Storm Striking Against Breast Cancer Doubles in Dramatic Fashion

As a big fan of the PBA and PWBA, I'd like to see more mixed tournaments. I eagerly await the match to be shown on YouTube.

Again, congratulations to EJ and Liz.

Alaska and Canada Vacation

Norwegian Spirit
 Western Mediterranean

Norwegian Jewel, Alaska

It's been a month since my last posting. I spent the first two weeks of July on vacation with my family to Alaska and Canada.

As it was last year, our visit to Alaska was on Norwegian Cruise Lines (Jewel). The cruise ship (Spirit) we took last year to Italy, Spain and France began service in 1998 and is 879 feet long (see June 4, 2017 entry). Jewel entered into service in 2005 and is 965 feet long.

This was my third cruise vacation. My first cruise was on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas in 2008 to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It was the last vacation Cindy, Sherman and I took with them. My parents had a great time, staying out late most nights.

We continue to do cruises as a family vacation because it's great value. Tremendous bang for the buck. No schlepping luggage, no extra expense for dinners and/or arguing where everyone wants to eat. You get to visit a bunch of different ports and cities.

It all can become a blur after awhile. But what you will remember beyond the countless photos is the time spent with your travel companions.