Bye Vancouver-See You In Sochi In 2014

The XXI Winter Olympics concluded yesterday with the closing ceremonies being held at BC Place.

Despite Vancouver's games getting off to a tragic start with the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili during a practice run hours before the opening ceremony, they spent the next sixteen days of competition building toward a triumphant climax.

I concur with IOC president Jacques Rogge's remarks. Vancouver did a wonderful job hosting the games and as always, I'm sad to see any Olympics end.

While the host Canadians are keeping an Olympic record 14 gold medals, Team USA is taking 9 golds and 37 total medals south of the 49th parallel. It's the best total Winter Olympics haul we've had since the 1932 Lake Placid Games and broke the record set by Germany at the 2006 Torino Games.

All eyes will be on Sochi from February 7-23 in 2014, to whom the winter Olympic hosting torch was passed. While we're waiting for the start of Russia's first winter Olympics, next year in Durban, South Africa the IOC will determine which city gets the nod to host the 2018 winter games.

The 2018 contenders are PyeongChang, South Korea, who is making their third winter Olympic bid and has finished as the runners-up to eventual 2006 and 2010 winners Torino and Vancouver, Annecy, France, and Munich, Germany. If Munich's winter bid is successful, it would become the first city to host a winter and a summer games.

Fear not, Olympic junkies. Singapore will be hosting the first ever Youth Olympic Games this summer. They will be held from August 14-26 and will feature athletes aged 14 to 18 competing in the same events that are contested in a Summer Olympic Games. There will also be a Youth Winter Olympic Games as well contested in 2012 with Innsbruck, Austria hosting it.

Both should be interesting to watch and keep us Olympic junkies happy until London 2012. In the meantime, it's going to be an interesting four years between now and 2014.

This Time It's For The Gold Medal

It's hard to beat a team multiple times in any sport, but that's what Team USA's men's hockey team will have to do today if they wish to return to the States with a hockey gold medal for the first time in 30 years.

The Hockey Border War between the United States and Canada will kick off again at 3 PM EST. It's not only a rematch of the preliminary round game the US won last Sunday 5-3, it's also a rematch of the 2002 gold medal game in Salt Lake City that the Canadians won 5-2.

Team USA scored early and often in their semifinal game versus Finland Friday and made those goals stand up for a 6-1 victory.

Ever since that 5-3 preliminary round defeat the Canadian men have been on a roll themselves with victories over Germany, Russia and Slovakia.

They also have the pressure of an entire nation on their backs as well.

Go Team USA!

When North Americans Dominate An Olympic Sport, Why Does The IOC Want To Cancel It?

While I'm still disappointed about the Team USA women losing to Canada in the gold medal game last night, what has bothered me even more are the comments attributed to IOC president Jacques Rogge concerning the future of women's hockey in the winter Olympic games.

He said this to the Vancouver Sun on the same day of the US-Canada women's final.

“There is a discrepancy there. “Everyone agrees with that. This is maybe the investment period in women’s ice hockey. I would personally give them more time to grow, but there must be a period of improvement. We cannot continue without improvement.’’

The IOC doesn't have enough women's sports in the Olympic program to begin with, and refused to add women's ski jumping to it for this Olympic cycle.

So why the chatter about canceling women's hockey?

I believe much of this carping about women's hockey has to do with the fact that it has been a US-Canadian party so far. How much of a hue and cry would there be to end it if a European nation such as Russia or Sweden were dominating it instead of the United States or Canada?

When the Russian women were dominating women's Olympic basketball by capturing the 1976, 1980, and 1992 golds, deafening silence.

Softball got yanked as a Olympic medal sport for the 2012 London Games probably because of American domination of it. Never mind the fact that Japan knocked off Team USA for the 2008 gold medal in Beijing.

An attempt to bring it and baseball back into the Olympic program for 2016 was defeated despite the fact both sports are played all over the planet.

As was pointed out by IIHF president Rene Fasel men's hockey in his Swiss homeland experienced a lopsided 22-0 butt kicking in the 1930's administered by the Canadians. Swiss hockey grew to the point in which they knocked off the Canadians in the 2006 Torino games, and extended them to a hard fought 3-2 shootout loss in Vancouver.

Same story with the USA men's dominance of Olympic basketball. We went from sending collegiate all star teams to blow out the world's best to having to send our NBA ballers to uphold national basketball pride.

Even the NBA ballers now are challenged to the point where they only came home with bronze in 2004 and were severely challenged by Spain in 2008 before subduing them for gold.

Team USA women's basketball since the 1996 Atlanta Games has won four consecutive gold medals and six overall (1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008). Instead of jibber-jabber about canceling the sport, the rest of the planet is rolling up their sleeves and raising their level of play to compete with us.

The result is that Team USA, even with WNBA players in the lineups are being stiffly challenged now by the Australians and the Russians. The Russians upset us in the 2006 FIBA worlds semis, and the Aussies have been our Olympics finals opponent in three consecutive Olympiads.

So if you non-North Americans want to end Canadian-US dominance of women's ice hockey, lower your level of complaining and raise your level of play.

We had to do that in the States and Canada to be competitive in sports Europeans dominate like Nordic combined, bobsled, speed skating and ice dancing.

Team USA has had to step up their hockey game just to be competitive with the Canadians. It's paid off with consecutive world hockey championships, two silvers and a bronze medal in Olympic competition, but no gold since 1998.

But as we American sports fans painfully know, all good Olympic sports dynasties come to an end, and this current Canadian run of Olympic hockey success will one day as well.

Step up your game, don't end it.

It's On Renee-USA Vs Canada Women For Gold

At 6:30 PM EST what me and Renee have been trading barbs across the 49th parallel about for several months will finally happen.

The Clash of the Women's Hockey Superpowers at Canada Hockey Place.

It's the two time defending Olympic gold medalist Team Canada versus the two time reigning world champion and number one ranked Team USA.

This game is also taking place in the shadow of the 30th anniversary of the 'Miracle on Ice' game and the historic men's win over Canada on Sunday.

Interestingly enough, Mark Johnson, one of the major catalysts of the 4-3 win over the Russians is Team USA's coach.

Team USA has outscored its opponents 40-2 enroute to this Olympic final with 12-1, 13-0 and 6-0 wins over China, Russia and Finland in the preliminary round and a 9-1 semifinal win over Sweden. It avenged a 3-2 upset shootout loss in Torino that denied Team USA a trip to the 2006 Olympic final.

Canada has been just as dominant on its side of the Vancouver bracket. It steamrolled Slovakia 18-0, Switzerland 10-1 and Sweden 13-1 before posting a 5-0 shutout win over Finland in the semifinals.

It may be your house Renee, but we're coming to spoil the party. We want to do unto Canada what was done unto us at Salt Lake in 2002. Deny them the opportunity to win gold on their home soil.

My two time defending world champion girls won't be intimidated either.

"There's nothing better as an athlete – let alone a hockey player – than to play in a building of this magnitude, to have all the fans screaming," said Angela Ruggiero, who is one of two Americans to play in all four Olympic women's hockey tournaments.

"A lot of us were able to see the men win just, if anything, to get a sense of what the atmosphere is going to be like – hostile, fans chanting against you. And that's OK because I think our team thrives off of that."

It's on, Renee. Looking forward to watching my girls win gold, owning your podium and seeing the Stars and Stripes rise high in Canada Hockey Place.

Shani's Best Event Coming Tonight

So far Shani Davis' attempt to win four gold medals in Vancouver has come up empty with a 12th place finish in the 5000m and withdrawing from the 500m Monday due to bad ice conditions.

I'll be parked in front of the TV to watch Shani Davis compete in his best long track speedskating event, the 1000m. It along with the 1500m are the two speedskating distances he has dominated.

Davis is the world champion and world record holder in the 1000m meters and the favorite to take gold in this event.

Here's hoping that tonight turns out to be a golden one for Shani Davis at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Good Day For Team USA Hockey

Team USA men's and women's hockey players took to the ice today at their respective venues and won.

This is the youngest USA men's hockey team to take the ice since the 1998 Nagano squad. Unlike the women, they are also playing in the same group with Team Canada.

They got their Olympic tournament off to a promising start with a 3-1 victory over Switzerland at Canada Hockey Place.

Goaltender Ryan Miller faced on 14 Swiss shots as Team USA tallied goals by Bobby Ryan, David Backes and Ryan Malone. Switzerland avoided the shutout by scoring a power play goal at 9:45 of the third period.

Their toughest competition, the Russians and homestanding Canadians also won their opening round games with Russia beating Latvia 8-2 and the Canadians rolling to an 8-0 victory over Norway in front of a flag waving sellout crowd after being held to a scoreless first period.

The USA men's team will face a critical game on Thursday with Norway.

Meanwhile over at the UBC Thunderbird Arena, the Team USA women continued their domination of Group B with a US record setting victory over Russia.

Team USA tallied a record seven power play goals and Jenny Potter scored her second hat trick of this Olympic tournament enroute to the 13-0 win.

The Team USA women have scored 25 goals in their initial two games while surrendering only one. The win clinched their spot in the February 20-22 crossover round, and they will play Finland Thursday to decide the winner of Group B.

Albania Unanimously Bans TBLG Discrimination

One of the things tat has irritated me about the lack of action on ENDA is watching other countries pass laws banning TBLG discrimination while the so-called leading democracy on the planet can't do the right thing and pass employment discrimination bans.

On February 4 the Albanian parliament passed with a unanimous 71-0 vote banning discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The law's language guarantees every person "equality before the law and equal protection by law; equality of opportunities and possibilities to exercise rights, enjoy freedoms and take part in public life; and effective protection from discrimination and from every form of conduct that encourages discrimination."

The law also covers employment, housing, provision of goods and services, education and access to public places. It also specifically mentions health care, banking, transportation, entertainment and social protection.

12-1, Renee: USA! USA! USA!

The back to back world champion and number one ranked Team USA played their first game in this 2010 women's Olympic hockey tournament versus China.

Team USA unleashed 61 shots on goal and took a 5-0 lead after the first period concluded enroute to tying an American Olympic record with their 12-1 victory.

The game was played in front of a flag waving crowd that included Vice President Joe Biden and his wife and 1980 USA Olympic hockey captain Mike Eruzione.

Jenny Potter scored three goals in only 22 minutes to become the all time leading scorer in US Olympic history male or female.

“You don’t ever like to beat a team, 12-1,” Natalie Darwitz, the American captain, said, adding, “I think we got a little sloppy there in the middle and the end. It’s kind of a tough game when you’re controlling the play and it gets to be about goals and points. You get away from doing the little things.”

Team USA's next Group B game will take place on Tuesday against the Russians, who lost to Finland 5-1 in their opener.

One down, four to go

So Canada Beat Slovakia 18-0: It's Still Early

The opening ceremonies are over, the Olympic flame has made it to its dual cauldrons in BC Place and downtown Vancouver and the competition is now underway.

A certain Canadian and I have been engaged in trash talking for several months over our respective world number one and two ranked women's hockey teams. When the opening ceremonies were over she wasted little time reminding me we were on Canadian soil and chanting 'feel the thunder', the Canadian Olympic slogan for these games.

The two time defending gold medallists opened Group A preliminary play against first timers Slovakia. The Canadians raced out to a 7-0 first period lead and never looked back in their record setting 18-0 blowout.

The previous record was a 2006 16-0 Canadian romp over Italy

But am I feeling the thunder? Nope.

If Team Canada rings up double digit goals to Sweden, the defending Torino silver medalists, then that's a cause for concern.

The Swedes are no women's hockey slouches. They upset Team USA during the 2006 Olympic semis in Torino enroute to the silver medal and won their opening Group A game against Switzerland 3-0.

Reminder to Renee and my other Canadian readers, they are in your group. Sweden wants to take a chunk out of both our squads and think they can.

The back to back world champions and number one ranked Team USA women make their Vancouver hockey debut versus China in Group A play.

Interesting note about Team USA is they are coached by Mark Johnson, who was a member of the 1980 Lake Placid 'Miracle on Ice' gold medal squad.

There are also several members of this team that remember the less than satisfying results in Salt Lake and Torino and want some redemption.

But the pressure is on Canada to defend their home turf and threepeat as Olympic champs.

So yeah, a lot of hockey has to be played before we get to the women's Olympic hockey final on February 25.

And as any sports fan can tell you, anything can happen when you play the games.

Winter Olympics: Why Team USA Is Nearly White As Snow

TransGriot Note: My latest piece for Global Comment

With the Vancouver Games starting today and it also being Black History month, I have pondered why we haven’t had as many excellent African-American winter Olympians as we consistently produce for the Summer Games. The Olympics, after all, mean a lot to me.

Whether they take place in the summer or winter, I’m parked in front of the television during that fortnight of competition. I get excited when I see the torch lighting ceremony happen in Greece and eagerly count the days down to the opening ceremonies in the host nation. I get a little emotional when the closing ceremonies occur and see the flame extinguished until the next Olympiad.

There are many reasons why I love the Olympics. For that two to three week period the Games are occurring we are literally one planet cheering the athletes no matter what nation they are from.

It’s unpredictable and controversial at times. Just ask the Russians and Americans about the 1980 ‘Miracle on Ice’ or the 1972 USA-USSR basketball gold medal game in Munich. The Canadians, meanwhile, are still angry about Jamie Sale and David Pelletier being robbed of an 2002 pairs figure skating gold medal by shady judging.

You never know who the star athlete of that particular Games may be, which is why we have all been delighted by Michael Phelps in 2008, Nadia Comaneci in 1984, and Jean-Claude Killy in 1968.

The games are always a perfect blend of pageantry, history, high level sporting achievement, heartbreaking defeats, upsets, victory and high stakes drama all played out on an international athletic stage.

African-Americans have a long and distinguished history in Summer Games competition dating back to the 1904 St. Louis Games. George Poage not only was the first African-American competitor, he took two bronze medals in the 200m the 400m hurdles.

From Jesse Owens to Flo Jo to the Dream Team, it’s a long and proud history of sterling athletic achievement. But when it comes to the Winter Games, we’ve been invisible.

The Winter Olympics were first held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. It wasn’t until the 1980 Lake Placid Games that Willie Davenport and Jeff Gadley became the first African Americans ever to qualify for a US winter Olympic team. Davenport and Gadley were members of the USA 4 man bobsled team that finished 12th.

Davenport stated in a February 21, 1980 JET magazine interview,

“There is myth in this country that Blacks can’t make the American winter Olympic team. Jeff and I proved this to be wrong and that you don’t have to be rich and white to make it.”

The interesting footnote to this piece of sporting Black history is that Davenport was the 1968 gold medalist and 1972 bronze medalist in the 110m hurdles. He was also a five time Summer Olympian dating back to the 1964 Tokyo Games.

The first African-American Winter Games medalist was Dr. Debi Thomas, who won a bronze medal in the 1988 figure skating competition in Calgary. The first African-American winter gold medalist was Vonetta Flowers, who won it while competing in the 2 woman bobsled with Jill Bakken during the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Four years later, in Torino, speedskater Shani Davis became the first African-American male ever to win a winter Olympic gold medal and the first to win an individual event Winter Olympic gold medal when he won the 1000m.

So why the imbalance of African-Americans in Winter and Summer Games participation?

There are several things factoring into the 84 year gap between the first medals awarded to African-American participants in the summer and winter Games.

One of the first is exposure. Many of the winter sports contested in the Olympics are dominated by Europeans and don’t get the type of television coverage in the States as they get overseas. If it’s not covered on TV in the States, that particular sport is virtually invisible to the casual US sports fan.

As Tiger Woods, Peter Westbrook and the Williams sisters have proven, if you see yourself represented on the screen in a non-traditional sport, kids will gravitate to it. There’s a wave of African American kids participating in golf, fencing and tennis as a result of the trailblazing efforts of those athletes. Since Shani Davis’ 2006 gold medal winning appearance in Torino, speedskating has witnessed an uptick in participation by African American kids wanting to be like Shani.

Contrary to Willie Davenport’s 1980 statement, money matters in making a winter Olympics team. Most winter sports require expensive outlays for equipment, training, and coaching. They also require access to facilities that are hundreds or thousands of miles from the urban areas where most African-Americans live.

Read the rest here.

Yes, Jamaica Still Has A Bobsled Team

The Jamaican bobsled team made their competitive debut at the Calgary Games in 1988 and were immortalized in the movie Cool Runnings.

But what have they been up to since their auspicious turn on the Olympic competition world stage 22 years ago?

They made respectable showings in Calgary, the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville and are still competing on the World Cup circuit. Despite having little funding and substandard equipment, the Jamaicans still managed to get into the world Top 50 4 man sled rankings and give their longshot hopes of competing in Vancouver life.

They dearly wanted to return to the country where their program debuted in Olympic competition, but unfortunately when the competition gets underway that won't happen.

"We've been in battles for many, many years," Chris Stokes, a founding member of the Jamaican bobsled team more than 20 years ago, told The AP in a phone interview. "This is one more. But it's disappointing, no question about that. The guys worked really hard and did well. Not qualifying, it's by no means a failure. It's a step going forward.

They failed to qualify for the Vancouver Games, but they are still planning to be at the Whistler Sliding Centre if for no other reason than to give the team a taste of what an Olympics is like.

"It's very important for them to go and see," Stokes said. "They'll remember what the games are like and watch the start line of a four-man Olympic race and feel that adrenaline. I hope it acts as a motivation for them."

Jamaica is already setting their sights on competing in the 2014 Games in Sochi.

They are hopeful of adding more sleds and drivers and intend to offer retired US bobsled pilot and 2002 silver medalist Todd Hays a coaching position.

The three time Olympian was recently forced to retire after suffering a concussion following a December crash during a 4 man training run at a World Cup event in Winterberg, Germany.

Hays has lent the Jamaican federation equipment and his expertise in the sport.

"There are many things we can, and we will, do to improve our chances," Stokes said.

And hopefully we'll see the Jamaicans back at the 2014 Games as well.

Olympic Heartbreak For Philip Boit

Three time Olympian Philip Boit had hoped to close out his Olympic cross country skiing career in Vancouver. Unfortunately he fell a heartbreaking two points shy of making it happen.

Philip Boit is the first Kenyan to compete in the winter Olympics and is the 38 year old nephew of Kenyan running legend and Olympian Mike Boit. Mike Boit was the 800m bronze medalist at the 1972 Munich Games.

Boit like his uncle was a middle distance runner but switched to cross country skiing and began training in Finland. In 1996 Nike began sponsoring him and he qualified for the lone 1998 Nagano Olympic spot available to Kenya for the 10k classic field.

He garnered international attention as the first Kenyan winter games athlete but finished 92nd and last in the 10K classic.

Gold medalist Bjorn Daehlie of Norway delayed his medal ceremony in order to greet Boit at the finish line with a hug. Boit was so moved by the gesture he named one of his sons Daehlie after him.

Nike dropped their sponsorship after the 1999 Nordic World Championships, but Boit continued to compete. He did dry training for two years in Kenya and qualified for the 2002 Salt Lake Games. His results were better in these games, finishing 64th in the sprint race in front of three other competitors and retired when the Games concluded.

The retirement was short lived and once again Boit put on his cross country skis to compete in the 2006 Torino Games. He once again finished 92nd in the 15k class race, but ahead of five other competitors.

He stated during a 2006 interview that Vancouver would be his last Olympics. But in the run up to Vancouver the International Ski Federation or FIS decided to tighten the qualifying standard from 500 points for the 15k sprint race to 300.

Boit did his best to make the new FIS standard. He had to battle visa restrictions, long expensive travel from his Finnish training area back home to Kenya, broken poles, drastic acclimatization, and illness but still managed to bring his FIS point rating down from 526 to just two points shy of the new standard.

But it wasn't good enough.

The Kenyan National Olympic Committee filed an appeal on his behalf with the FIS and the International Olympic Committee. FIS rules allow them to potentially draw athletes who have fallen outside of the qualifying standard when the quota of 310 athletes has not been met, but it was denied.

Boit will consider closing out his cross country skiing at the Nordic world championship, but it's a heartbreaking end to the Olympic career of a pioneering athlete.

Serena Repeats As Australian Open Champion

It took her three sets, twelve aces, 32 winners and two hours and seven minutes of high quality tennis, but Little Sis outlasted Justine Henin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to complete a very successful business trip to Melbourne to defend her Australian Open championship.

Serena captured her fifth Australian Open title to add to the 2010 doubles title she won with Big Sis. It is Serena's 12th Grand Slam title, tying her with Billie Jean King for sixth place on the all time women's Grand Slam champions list.

The fifth Australian open title is the most by any woman in the Open Tennis Era since 1968, surpassing the four held by Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.

The next targets on the all time women's Grand Slam champions list are Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with 18 majors each.

Margaret Court is the all time women's Grand Slam title holder with 24, and has won the Australian Open 11 times. She was in attendance along with Billie Jean King to be honored on the 40th anniversary year of her 1970 Grand Slam.

But Henin made Little Sis fight for it. At one point in the match she won 15 straight points to close out the second set, even the match and take a 1-0 lead in the deciding third set.

But Little Sis eventually stepped up her game to another level and took a 3-2 lead in the third set she never relinquished. She's also the first woman to repeat as champion since Jennifer Capriati won back to back Australian Opens in 2001-2002.

Now if Serena can figure out how to win some French Opens, everything will be copacetic.

Shani Davis Will Attempt To Win Five Speedskating Gold Medals

Speed skater Shani Davis just gave me another reason to watch the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympic Games besides the anticipated USA-Canada women's hockey showdown.

In 1980, Dr. Eric Heiden won a record five speed skating gold medals at the Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid. He is the only man who has done so.

When the cauldron is lit and the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games start on February 12, Shani Davis will attempt to match that feat. He's qualified for the 500m, 1000m, 1500m and the 5,000m and 10,000m long distance races.

Shani Davis is the first African American male to win a Winter Olympic gold medal, He is the three-time 1500m and two-time 1000m world champion, the world record holder at 1000m and 1500m, and the defending Olympic champion at 1000m.

If you've seen a few more kids of African descent at your local speed skating oval, you have Shani Davis to thank for that.

His quest to match Dr. Eric Heiden will start on February 13 with the 5000m.

Here's hoping he makes some Black history of his own in a few weeks.

2010 FIBA World Championship For Women Draw

Now y'all know I wasn't going to talk about the USA 'Menz' basketball team and the upcoming FIBA World Championships in Turkey without talking about the women's tournament since it's taking place this year as well.

Hey if we don't care about women's sports, especially at the international level, who will?

But I'm digressing here.

The FIBA World Championships for Women will be contested in the Czech Republic from September 23 to October 3. Unlike the men's championship, only 16 nations are competing.

The various national organizations have expessed a desire to expand the number of teams to 24, given that women's basketball is becoming more popular internationally and give more teams a chance to compete for the title.

For now FIBA is keeping the women's tourney at 16 teams. One automatic qualifying slot slot went to the 2008 Olympic Champion USA, the other to the host Czechs. The other 14 teams qualified through their various FIBA regional zone tournaments.

The draw for the women's tournament was held in Karlovy Vary on November 24, the city hosting the final rounds of this year's tournament. The Group play and second rounds will be contested in Brno and Ostrava.

Here are the Groups for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women.

Group A (Ostrava) Canada, Belarus, China, Australia
Group B (Ostrava) Senegal, Greece, USA, France
Group C (Brno) Mali, South Korea, Brazil, Spain
Group D (Brno) Japan, Czech Republic, Argentina, Russia

After round robin play is completed, only the top three teams in each group will advance to the second round. They will form two new groups, Groups E and F

Group E based in Ostrava will be comprised of the six survivors from Groups A and B, while Group F based in Brno will be comprised of the six Group C and D survivors. They will play another round of games to determine the top four teams in those reconstituted groups.

The top four teams in Groups E and F will advance to the knockout eliminations in Karlovy Vary to determine the 2010 FIBA Women's world basketball champion.

Our northern neighbors qualified on the FIBA women's side, and will be playing in Group A. Canada has a tough opening game September 23 against the 2006 defending FIBA women's champion Australians.

Meanwhile, the 2008 Women's Olympic Champions are in Group B and on September 23 will take on Greece in their quest to reclaim the FIBA crown for a record eighth time.

Team USA was unbeaten and cruising to another basketball confrontation with the Aussies until the Russians upset Team USA 75-68 in the semifinals and ended their chance at a FIBA World Championship threepeat.

The Opals then demolished the Russians 91-74 to take their first FIBA title while a stunned Team USA regrouped and blew out the host Brazilians 99-59 for the bronze medal.

Head coach Geno Auriemma and his staffs mission will be threefold. He has to return Team USA's women to FIBA golden glory, retool with the next generation of outstanding women players and prep for the 2012 London Games.

Unlike the men, the Number One FIBA ranked Team USA women have been kicking butt and taking names at the international level since 1996, have won this event seven times, and taken four out of the last six.

The final USA women's team lineup hasn't been set yet, but we already know it will be a team in transition with longtime center Lisa Leslie retiring from international competition after the Beijing Games.

Team USA is in excellent shape with a core roster that includes Olympians Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings, Diana Taurasi, Seimone Augustus, Sylvia Fowles, Kara Lawson, Candace Parker and Cappie Pondexter. There are other talented players that could possibly make the squad such as WNBA Rookie of the Year Angel McCoughtry, Jia Perkins, Crystal Langhorne, Rebekkah Brunson, Maya Moore, Tina Charles and Candice Dupree.

While it would be a longshot, I'd be thrilled if my Houston homegirl and Baylor freshman phenom center Brittney Griner ended up making the trip to the Czech Republic. Frankly, with all the talent at center I see her either on the Youth Olympic Games Team, a Pan Am Games team or maybe the 2016 Olympic team in Rio.

Whoever ends up on the final roster, it will be fun to watch. The winner also gets the automatic bid for the 2012 London Games.

2010 FIBA World Basketball Championships for Men Draw

While most of the planet's sports fans were waiting with breathless anticipation for the 2010 World Cup soccer draw in Cape Town, or in Canada were tracking the progress of the Olympic torch relay across their country, back on December 15 the draw setting up the groups for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men took place in Istanbul.

The draw determines the composition of the groups for the 24 teams participating in the August 28-September 12 tournament.

The 2008 Olympic champion USA will be in Group B, and will open group play in Istanbul August 28 against Croatia. The 2006 defending FIBA champions Spain will play in Group D and open defense of their title in Izmir versus France.

Our northern neighbors Canada also qualified for the 2010 field. They are in Group D and will playing their opening round match versus Lebanon.

Here are the groups for the 2010 FIBA World Championship For Men:

Group A (Kayseri): Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Germany, Angola
Group B (Istanbul): Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia, Iran, USA
Group C (Ankara): China, Turkey, Russia, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast, Greece
Group D (Izmir): Lithuania, Lebanon, France, Spain, Canada, New Zealand

Group of Death so far looks like a toss up between Group A and Group C.

After the Group play round robin, the top four teams in each group advance to the knockout Eights round until the new FIBA champion is crowned.

The final composition of Team USA FIBA World Championships lineup hasn't been determined yet, but we already know who will coach them.

It's the same group of coaches that led Team USA to a 36-1 record in the last two year cycle.

Mike Krzyzewski will be back as Team USA's head coach along with his staff of Jim Boeheim, Mike D’Antoni and Nate McMillan.

Can't wait to find out not only which NBA ballers will be representing the USA as we reestablish our international basketball prominence, but for the action to start in Turkey as well.

The FIBA Championship winner is also playing for another prize. Winner gets the automatic qualifying spot for the 2012 London Olympics b-ball tournament.

2010 Australian Open-Williams Sisters In Third Round

The professional tennis tour kicks off with the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open. The 2010 edition began play in Melbourne on January 18, and my favorite tennis playing sisters are still in it to win it.

The Williams sisters are on the same side of the Women's singles draw and would meet in the semifinals if they keep kicking butt and taking names.

While the rest of the tennis world is buzzing over the return of Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, with some peeps hoping they start slowing down the Williams sisters Grand Slam tournaments juggernaut, defending Australian Open singles champ Serena and big sis Venus served notice that they are still women to be reckoned with.

Serena won her opening match of the tournament over Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-1 and only took an hour and 13 minutes to do it.

In her second round match versus Czech Petra Kvitova she took an hour and seven minutes to advance to the third round in a 6-2, 6-1 straight set victory.

Little Sis faces the woman who eliminated Big Sis from last year's Australian open tournament, Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

Speaking of Big Sis, Venus began her singles tournament play by quickly overpowering Czech Lucie Safarova in a straight set 6-2, 6-2 win.

Her second round match against Austrian Sybille Bammer was more of a struggle, but she prevailed 6-2,7-5 to advance to the third round against Aussie homegirl Casey Dellacqua.

The sisters are playing doubles in this 2010 Australian Open and are the defending Women's doubles champs. They won three of the four Grand Slam doubles titles during the 2009 season with only the French Open eluding them.

They opened defense of their Women's doubles title with a 6-1, 6-1 straight set victory over Australia's Sophie Ferguson and Jessica Moore. They face Ioana Olaru of Romania and Ukraine's Olga Savchuk in their second round doubles match.

The tournament concludes on January 31, and here's hoping my fave tennis playing sisters add a few more Grand Slam titles to their trophy cases this season.

Renee...The Olympic Hockey Beatdown Is Coming!

The Vancouver Winter Olympic Games will be starting February 12, and Renee's finally starting to get Olympic fever since the torch run passed within two blocks of her house.

One of the many things we have in common is that we are big women's hockey fans. Of course, she's Canadian and it's their national sport.

We've had some good natured trash talking going on about which one of our squads will take home the women's hockey gold from Vancouver. Canada and the United States have been the two best teams on the international women's hockey competition scene and the rivalry is an intense one.

When the Vancouver Games kick off the women's hockey tournament will feature the anticipated battle between the current two time women's world champion Team USA versus the two time defending Olympic champs Team Canada.

Both teams are in separate pools, so barring upsets, they will meet in the gold medal match. And as you can see, the trash talking is only beginning.

May I remind you Renee and all proud Canadians, when women's hockey was first contested as a medal sport at Nagano in 1998, we beat Team Canada twice to skate away with the first gold ever awarded in Olympic competition.

The 2010 USA women's Olympic team has been selected. There are six Olympians on that squad including Angela Ruggiero and Jenny Potter, who were on the 1998 Nagano gold medal squad.

My girls will be training hard to make sure that gold medal comes back to the States with them. Yeah, we definitely haven't forgotten Salt Lake 2002 and owe y'all an Olympic butt kicking y'all so richly deserve.

I have already composed a special version of the Canadian National Anthem I will post to TransGriot when the Olympic tournament is over and the Stars And Stripes is being raised above the Canadian flag to the rafters of GM Place.

(singing to tune of the Canadian national anthem)
Oh Canada,
Your fans will get to see
Your women lose
The gold in women's hockey

You'll see the rest of it on February 25. FYI, that's the date the women's Olympic hockey gold medal game will be contested.

USA! USA! USA!