At Cup of China, Miki takes silver behind again Kim Yu-Na

Still lacking a really strong convention about the usage, the US press seem to want to employ the surname (family name) placement of the country of origin- Ando Miki-, but she's probably one of the reasons the convention isn't holding. Ando Miki. Kim Yu-Na, yea, we can do that one. But she finished 21 points ahead of Miki, her closest competitor, at Cup of China. Sweden's Sarah Meier, the 2006 Grand Prix final bronze medalist, was sixth. China was probably less than happy with their ninth, tenth and 12th place finishes. Below Ashley Wagner . . .

. . . and, uh, Miki . . .

Photo sources: Yahoo! News

Although Skate Canada was all Joannie Rochette, US' Alissa Czisny took bronze

Skate Canada results were remarkable: Fumie Suguri silver, Carolina Kostner not on the podium, US' Caroline Zhang and Beatrisa Liang 5th and 6th respectively just behind Carolina. Below, Alissa Czisny at Skate Canada:

Photo sources: Yahoo! News

Mao

Photo sources: (in order) Yahoo! News/REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak; Yahoo! News/AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man

Jelena is in!

Backing up her boasts, Jelena has won a wildcard berth in next month's Australian Open. Okay, it took her two hours to put down the junior Monica Wejnert 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 6-3 and okay her wildcard position almost guarantees her a first round against a really top seed, but, for the first time in years, she is in.

There's even been talk of her representing in some Fed Cup action. (We Dokic fans are a stalwart bunch.)

Some additional expressions from Skate America

Kimmie Meissner

Rachael Flatt

Mirai Nagasu

Photo sources: Yahoo! News

Hide this story under lots of good

I have fallen behind only in writing: I have been . . . (sorry academic world I have been . . . so . . . intruding into). . . so blogging with my feet: I've actually pursued my druthers with most satisfying results. I'll get to these, but since I have so much to catch up on today, I'll make this the bottom story (and I hope it shows the commercial, too):

Ivanovic finding love?

Venus takes the Doha dukeout

Checking the results link of the just previous post below, it was Venus.

Doha dukeout: the results so far

I am getting something of a headache trying to decipher the official results. I believe that the 4 players in both groups play each in the group, then the two best records in each group based on matches won-lost and sets won-lost advance.

The press has made much ado of a Serena/Venus match up, but they must play each other in even these preliminary rounds: they are both in the Maroon group.

Ana (pictured) is fighting a virus, and hasn't eaten in two days. Her two loses to this point reflect that. Story.

Photo source: Yahoo! News/AP Photo / Kamran Jebreili

If I had my d'ruthers . . . complex (pictured: prescient Yukari Nakano during the long at Skate America)

Let me help rescue the blogosphere from idiots like me who so want to mirror something mainstream, whatever something that is (I guess in a McLuhan sense it is an extended type of both Jungian and Aristotelian social unconsciousness being.) Perchance these reflections appear anything other than personal, let me explicitly interject "self". First, background-wise, this is what I am "supposed" to be doing.

Okay? Feel better. ...(?)

So I returned from my Ike displacement, and finally got lights. On the scheduled Saturday, I was out on my annual photo must-do (preempting even Shawn Johnson and Co. several blocks away), so Ma Bell actually called knocking Sunday. Nice dude. He's been here before (and I pride myself that my service is as effectual as all the telecommuters in the current endeavor.) He also suggested a very plausible explanation for how our five buildings could have no electricity while there was light as far as our eyes could see. CenterPoint, responsible for the grid (and I have nothing but the highest compliments for them since they've taken over these past few years) started with the interruptions from the power plants to those wires connected immediately thereto and solved half their problem. Then they went from those to those big wires you see with the 6, 8, 12 rows of lines and solved another fourth of their problems. Then they went on down the line in the grid until they came to the individual wires that run down the streets, then to the individual houses. Makes sense.

But that is not the story here of my druthers. The next weekend after my return from San Antonio, I was back in San Antonio for the WNBA playoffs. That following weekend, however, I was home, and Saturday morning I was up promptly for my cartoons. No cable. I was up Saturday morning for my cartoons, and there was no cable. No prob, I should be much calm by Monday when they'd be open (one did not call that answering service with anything near that attitude.)

"We've stopped servicing that complex." Complex, indeed. Their affordable $10 monthly service gave the major locals, TNT, TBS, FAM and ESPN. Earlier this year, they suddenly dropped WGN, the station I got the service for.

The reason I've avoided full cable or satellite is that I live in a library, and all this must be read. So, with the cable unhooked, nothing (I thought) happened on the TV without an antenna. This is mostly true, but I've rescanned most of my devices for channels, and I can get some of the major local stations. But decision time: outdoor antenna (in an apartment complex where recently if I go out at 5 am looking for the newspaper delivered 10 minutes earlier I am most often totally out of luck) confining myself to the locals, cable, satellite, ATT's provision, etc. But, if I get anything other than the RCA Flat Indoor Amplified Antenna I am going to pick up Tuesday after voting, I d'ruther have the Tennis Channel included (and, of course, that's part of only the most expensive plans.) But, you know, if I really had my druthers of all the women sports, there would be professional indoor volleyball in the United States. And I was thinking that I'll defer a decision on paid service until the first of the year when I'd try catching the college vball games.

But waiting on something to work while working the other night, I thought I'd check to see when the NCAA vball season began. Began, indeed: it's almost over (didn't I just finish writing about last year's three California school final four a month ago?) Note: those rankings are rpi.

Plan B: antenna and catch some live vball action. Adopted. But you're talking about complex: next weekend, the Division III regionals will be in San Antonio (man, were I from Houston I'd have a complex about how much NCAA action SA sees) while SWAC will be at Grambling. Grambling, SWAC, pickup tickets for the turkey day Bayou Classic in New Orleans (Grambling vs Southern University football) (hey, they have cheerleaders and (the event's stars) majorettes), spend the night in New Orleans on the way back this trip (pics of the levees that failed in reconstruction, make turkey day weekend reservations.) Division III in San Antonio.

Complex? Miki Ando's expression during the women's long program last Sunday (I was not only able to see the NBC broadcast but also able to produce a (really snowy) recording.) It wasn't so much that, determined not to fall, she executed jump after jump, then in the last 90 seconds "threw in" some "artistry" (reflected in the technical score that exceeded Yukari Nakano's by 0.03 points but trailed her execution score by almost four and a half points). Miki . . . never smiled: there was no "Miki".

Photo sources (in order): Yahoo! News/REUTERS/Robert Sorbo; Yahoo! News/REUTERS/Robert Sorbo; Yahoo! News/AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey); Yahoo! News/AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey; Yahoo! News/REUTERS/Robert Sorbo; Yahoo! News/AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey

Ana wins Linz in a stunning 6-2 6-1 victory over Vera Zvonareva

Story

Photo sources: (all) Yahoo! News/AP Photo/rubra

So going into the long, its Yu-Na Kim, Miki, Yukari Nakano and the the US

Actually, here is that international panel for the short from the ISU's offical Skate America site. With the long scheduled for broadcast on NBC at 3 CDT I see, this was these are the results in the women's short program this evening:

Current Standing	Name	Nation	Total
1	Yu-Na KIM	KOR	69.5
2	Miki ANDO	JPN	57.8
3	Yukari NAKANO	JPN	57.46
4	Mirai NAGASU	USA	56.42
5	Rachael FLATT	USA	54.92
6	Kimmie MEISSNER	USA	54.9
7	Annette DYTRT	GER	48.32
8	Susanna POYKIO	FIN	47.82
9	Yan LIU	CHN	46.96
10	Mira LEUNG	CAN	45.74
11	Tugba KARADEMIR	TUR	41.26

Miki Ando does . . . Skate America, again

The results of the short program are just beginning to come in, but I see that Miki Ando (pictured immediately above and below from practice yesterday) chose to do Skate America again this year. Wasn't that part of the very same strategy that kept her out of the Grand Prix finals last year and - oops, I don't know how she did at worlds last year because I still have not watched my taping of it? On it. Official lineup I am sure that there is an international panel of judges for the event, but it seems so hard for a non-American to win our ISU Grand Prix event.

And in that lineup, Mirai Nagasu (below also from yesterday's practice session), who just whisked, just swept, just stormed her way to the US (senior) championship title last year, is listed as the world junior bronze. Oops. Rachael Flatt is reigning junior world champion. (Wait, last year's worlds is coming back to me: the US continent who were old enough to go, didn't they totally embarrass themselves or something. I watched.)

Photo sources: (all) Yahoo! News/AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

this! is what I've been waiting on . . .

'Dis hea'! battling for 'dat $million. No Sharapova. Jelena Jankovic has been on a tear since her US Open final lost of dat $million to Serena (who has tasted 'de sweet taste of 'dat $million now). Heck, only half the field is Russian, what's up wid' 'dat, huh?

Ana has floundered, as I expected, since Wimbledon, but (big but) I expect her in every final every slam next year. Ana has stepped into the public eye (GOD forbid); that takes some adjustment. She'll make that adjustment to her liking (that's her fight here) in the (brief) off-season, but (big but again) she could break out here, too.

Jelena and Nadia lean on the Porsche Carrera 911

Jelena Jankovic won it in her 6-4 6-3 victory over Nadia Petrova in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix tournament in Stuttgart, Germany on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008. But Nadia is hanging around later and later in the tournaments, and that is good news: Nadia is good people. What actually caught my attention about the tournament, though, was Jelena's 6-7 (6-8) 7-5 6-2 victory over Venus the day before. During the US Open, I was really pulling for Venus over Serena in the semis, because I thought that Venus would more probably win the tournament. Serena beat Venus then Jelena Jankovic to win the Open. So, I guess all is well, huh?

Ike sent hiking . . . to a couple of WNBA playoff games

Okay . . . wait, strike that . . . not okay.

See, it wasn't so bad not having electricity: it was seeing everyone literally as far as the eye could see not not having electricity. Five buildings in a forty building complex with no electricity. All of the residences and businesses south of what may become an increasingly definitive artery in this area- West Belford Boulevard- all lit up. I watched my unopened box of Klondikes slowly but completely leak out upon the freezer bottom.

That was the last straw.

But mind you - and this was utterly important in my decision making processes: I was not hiking away from Ike. Houston is beginning to learn that New Orleans and Katrina is a special case of a city built under the coast it sits on. You sit on your porch in New Orleans staring at the levees 50 yards away. New Orleans, quiet as it is kept, is zero miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Houston is 50 miles inland. A 50 foot storm surge is not going to travel 50 miles inland. So we are learning to hide from the wind, stay our bucks off the freeways and let the people who really need to flee the surge do so.

So I was not running from Ike: this was a pull in the after wake of Ike. How do I telecommute with no electricity?

Frustrated, I went to San Antonio.

Now remember, as far as the eye could see was lit up. I was thinking to myself: there's something else at work here. Something not in the ordinary . . . so let me check the ticket sources to see if the Silver Stars have any games left in their WNBA season. Sure enough there was a game showing for Saturday. And versus Sacramento.

I had seen a line of something somewhere suggesting that Ruth Riley was with San Antonio. That alone would have gotten me to a San Antonio game even without Ike. Then there's the knuckle head who thought like most Americans that the Cold War was over: excuse me, with even just week's left in his presidency, and I'll leave that there.

But I knew that Sacramento would never part with Nicole Powell, and to me she is an incredibly beautiful spirit. But I really wanted to see Sacramento, though, because of Kara Lawson: I loved her Olympic gold medal game. Kara came in halfway through the first quarter, and said: "This game is over." It was never close again!

Wow, sistu!

I was still in SA for game three. Caught that one, too.

I am back in Houston, commuting to the brick and motor (by car, by rented car) 60 miles each way in, not Houston's, but the nation's worst traffic situation.

But I'll be back in SA Saturday v LA.

Godspeed, Becky

This was hushed: South Dakota born and raised Becky Hammon (center front) was not among the 29 players selected to tryout for the US Olympic women's basketball team. It is not so hushed now: and the sheer incredulity! Unimaginable. The star player on each of the WMBA teams - the two star players- at least should be invited. Becky Hammon has been the face of the WNBA this century. America needs to pause, and listen. I am a Becky Hammon fan: always have been, always will be.

With not really representative pics of Australia's Penny Taylor

No surprises in the selection of the US Olympic women's indoor volleyball team. Unfortunately.

I have searched for three hours now for a good picture of the US women's indoor volleyball team, and found not one. Mug shots of the twelve players, yes: a good picture of the team, no. I am convinced that such does not exist. How about, instead, a coupl'a two three good photos of the Japanese swimming team arriving at the Olympic village with . . . adrenaline and humility and modesty in the face of a world of competitors; not 'ho-bitch funky attitude that this retarded world just does not appreciate that this sport belongs to us, adrenaline in the Olympic village. Humility. Adrenaline.

2008 USA Women's Olympic Indoor Volleyball Team

#	Name	Pos	Ht	Hometown	College	Born
1	Ogonna Nnamani	OH	6-1	Bloomington, Ill.	Stanford	7-29-83
2	Danielle Scott-Arruda	MB	6-2	Baton Rouge, La.	Long Beach State	10-1-72
3	Tayyiba Haneef-Park	OPP/OH	6-7	Laguna Hills, Calif.	Long Beach State	3-23-79
4	Lindsey Berg	S	5-8	Honolulu, Hawai'i	Minnesota	7-16-80
5	Stacy Sykora	L	5-10	Burleson, Texas	Texas A&M	6-24-77
6	Nicole Davis	L	5-4	Stockton, Calif.	Southern California	4-24-82
7	Heather Bown	MB	6-3	Yorba Linda, Calif.	Hawai'i	11-29-79
9	Jennifer Joines	MB	6-3	Milpitas, Calif.	Pacific	11-23-82
10	Kim Glass	OH	6-3	Lancaster, Pa.	Arizona	8-18-84
11	Robyn Ah Mow-Santos	S	5-9	Honolulu, Hawai'i	Hawai'i	9-15-75
12	Kim Willoughby	OH	6-0	Napoleanville, La.	Hawai'i	11-7-80
15	Logan Tom	OH	6-1	Salt Lake City, Utah	Stanford	5-25-81

Head Coach: Lang Ping Assistant Coaches: Yong Li, Sue Woodstra, Tom Hogan

Lang Ping is currently the only female head coach of a national volleyball federation with a team in the top 20 world ranking.

This is the official site for indoor volleyball.

Women's Olympic Games 2000 Qualified Teams 1.China (host country) 2.Italy (1st World Cup) 3.Brazil (2nd World Cup) 4.U.S.A. (3rd World Cup) 5.Algeria - Africa 6.Kazakhstan - Asia * 7.Russia - Europe 8.Cuba - Norceca 9.Venezuela - South America 10.Poland (1st World Olympic Qualification) * 11.Serbia (2nd World Olympic Qualification) * 12.Japan (3rd World Olympic Qualification) * * The Asian Continental Qualification Tournaments were played combined with the World Olympic Qualification Tournaments in Japan

FIVB World Ranking: 1. Brazil 2. Italy 3. Cuba 4. USA 5. Japan 6. Serbia 7. China 8. Russia 9. Poland 10. Korea * 11. Dominican Republic * 12. Kenya * 13. Germany * 14. Netherlands * 15. Peru * 16. Turkey * 17. Thailand * 18. Chinese Taipei * 19. Puerto Rico * 20. Egypt * 21. Algeria 22. Kazakhstan 29. Venezuela * not qualified for the2008 Olympic Games