The Black Mamba: Kobe Bryant

Wow! My blog is in a new style. Today I’m going to introduce basketball. When we talk about NBA, many peoples always associate Michael Jordon with basketball, but today I’m not going to talk about Kobe Bryant instead of Michael Jordon.

When I have watched NBA games, Michael Jordon had already retired, so I don’t know MJ very well. Kobe is the first NBA player whom I knew about. The first time I saw Kobe was on the TV broadcast, I was shocked by his amazing dunk in the slam dunk contest, and after that day I began to watch NBA games.

Kobe is well known for his talent and personality. When Kobe was in high school, he was recognized as the top basketball player in high school, and Kobe was the first person who entered into NBA after graduated from high school. He showed his talent in the first year and won the fame and favorite from the audiences. As Kobe become more and more famous, many peoples start to argue Kobe’s playing style. Some peoples argue that Kobe is an arrogant and selfish player; he doesn't  cooperate with his teammates. But I recognize those are Kobe’s characteristic, his arrogant pushes him to be the winner, he always keeps training himself and playing hard. His arrogant is the motivation of progress. In the end, I want to show one of my favorite quote from Kobe.

Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise.

                                                                                                              Kobe Bryant

NBA is coming soon!!!

The baseball season is over and the coming one is basketball season. The new 2011-2012 season scheduled to start on 1^st November 2011, but was postponed by labor strike. NBA announced lockout and all the gyms were close by management.

Fortunately, the players and owners had a temporary deal, including 66 games (regular season: 82 games), and the first game is on Christmas day.

The lockout was officially on December 8^th, and the player could start to use team’s facilities and get the training by the coaches. For this reason, my blog can’t update some NBA’s news until last week, but everything is OK now, so my blog is going to introduce some information for the basketball and NBA in my next post.

In the below picture, you can see that person whom I will introduce in next blog

Baseball Film

Yesterday, I saw a wonderful movie, The Rookie. I was touched by the plot so much, so I went to Google and searched some information about this film. I was shocked by the information which I had found. This film is based on the real story of Jim Morris.

Jim was a science teacher and the baseball coach in his school. One day he had bet with his baseball team. If the team can win the champion, he would go to the tryout of MLB. In the end, he kept his promise and got the contract with Tampa Bat Devil Ray. When Jim entered to MLB, he was already 35. He was the oldest “rookie” in major league since 1970.

This film gives me a idea about never give up. This film encourages me to keep chasing my dream. Although this is very difficult to achieve the goal now, if we keep this mind maybe we will get the dream in the future.

I hope you guys can enjoy this movie.

There is also baseball film, Moneyball in 2011. Bred Pitt is a main character in the film. Moneyball is based on the book by Michael Lewis in 2003. I have not seen this movie, but all my friend said this is a good movie. I will watch this film after the final exam, and I will introduce this for you next time.

The Wonderful Baseball Cartoon: Major

As a crazy baseball fan, I am always looking for the things which relate to baseball, like clothes, cartoons, baseball cards, and every products of baseball.

In Japan, there are many cartoons, operas and games about baseball. Now I want to introduce my favorite baseball cartoon for all of you.

Major (棒球大聯盟) is a famous baseball cartoon series in Japan. If you are a baseball fan, I believe that you will love “Major”. Major is the story about the life of Gorō Honda ( Gorō Shigeno) , from kindergarten to being a Major League professional baseball player. There are a lot of challenges on his way to achieve the goal.

 I love this cartoon because I can see the passion and strong faith for baseball. In the story, Gorō Shigeno never gives up playing baseball even though his right shoulder is injured. Although Gorō Shigeno can’t use his right hand to throw the ball, he puts much effort in training himself to switch to be a left hand pitcher. When I read this part of story, I was touched by Shigeno’s effort and spirit. I used to play baseball, but in the end I gave up playing baseball. So every time I read “Major” I always recall the precious memory of playing baseball.

By the way, I use one of character’s name to be my English name. 

Basic Baseball Terms

When we watch the baseball game in TV broadcast, some of people may don’t understand 

what the anchorman is talking about. For me, hearing the anchorman’s report and comment is the most interesting part in baseball game because sometimes anchorman will tell some jokes or history record during the game. But sometimes I can’t understand those terms because they speak in English. Ha ha!! Accordingly I go to search those terms in English, and now I’m going to list some terms for you guys.

SP: Starting Pitcher, who pitches in the beginning of game. 先發投手

RP: Relief Pitcher, who pitches after the starting pitcher.  中繼投手

CP: Closer Pitcher, who pitches in the end of game and keeps the victory. 救援投手

HC: Head Coach, who controls the whole team 總教練

Switch Hitter: the player who can hits in the right side and left side. 左右開弓打者

DB: 2 base hit 2壘安打  TB: 3 base hit 3壘安打   HR: HomeRun 全壘打

FO: Fly out 飛球   GO: Ground out 滾地球  SB: Steal base 盜壘

DP: Double play 雙殺  TP: Triple play 三殺(very rare)

Tied run 追平比數  Back to Back Homerun 連續全壘打

Heater: fast ball 快速球  sinker: 伸卡球  slider: 滑球 change up 變速球

Breaking ball: not the fast ball 變化球

After looking this list, I hope you guys can know more about baseball and enjoy the game.

If you want to learn more, you can come and ask me more. I will glad to answer you.

The Best Closer: Mariano Rivera

In the baseball game, the pitchers play the very important part in the team. We can distinguish pitchers into three different kinds, starting pitcher, relief pitcher, and closer pitcher. In the previous article, I have introduced starting pitcher and relief pitcher. One is starting pitcher, Chien-Ming Wang, and the other is Kuo. Now I’m going to introduce the greatest closer pitcher in MLB.

Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian right- handed pitcher, who has already played 17 years in MLB. He always uses his cutter ball to strike out batters. Rivera is well known for his accurate pitching and his calmness. He always makes his emotion steady in the game and keeps the victory in the end. Some peoples regard Rivera as an existing legend because he has a lot of remarkable records in MLB. 12 times all star games, 5 world champions, 603 saves ( the leader of MLB history).

I appreciate Rivera because he always keeps in steady condition every year. Now, he is old, but he still performs well. This is very difficult to the athletes. When he is on the field, he always let everyone feel relieved. Rivera is still in the field and continues to pitch. I believe that Rivera will make a greatest legend in the baseball history. 

MLB All-Star Series in Taiwan

Last week, all of Taiwan can feel the heat of baseball. There were the All-Star series in Taiwan last week. This time MLB all-star team had five games with Taiwan national team in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung.

 Curtis Granderson who is Yankees center fielder and other 26 players. Even though the midterm is coming, I still watched these five games in TV. Although Taiwan national team didn’t win any game, I still feel excited. Because this is the rare experience for the entire baseball fans in Taiwan. We can see the MLB player performs their power and hitting skill.

        In MLB all star team, we can see Robinson Cano, the second baseman of Yankee,

        After this all-star series, I found that we still have some good player. They are very young and potential. I can see Taiwan baseball’s future from their performance. I think those young player can have a big progress by this rare and precious experience. Next time, I hope that I can see the top and super player in MLB all-star team.

Ps. there is good news from The Washington Post, “The Nationals took a significant step toward setting their 2012 starting rotation Thursday afternoon, finalizing a one-year contract with right-hander Chien-Ming Wang, a team official said. The deal, pending a physical, is worth $4 million plus performance bonuses” by Adam Kilgore