Larry Brown Sports

LB spoke with Olympian Misty May-Treanor on Tuesday about her preparation for the upcoming Summer Games in London. May-Treanor and her volleyball partner Kerri Walsh have teamed to win back-to-back gold medals in the Summer Olympics, first at Athens in 2004, and then at Beijing in 2008. I talked with her about her practice routine leading up to the Olympics, how she stays focused during the actual games, and whether she’s contemplating retirement. We also talked about her relationship with husband Matt Treanor, who recently signed with the Dodgers.

Misty spoke with me on behalf of Stouffer’s, and she’s encouraging couples to “Put the Two Back in Tuesdays” by enjoying a Stouffer’s Saute for two. You can go to the Stouffer’s Facebook page to receive weekly coupons for six weeks. Below is our interview.

The Timberwolves held their own in a 106-101 loss to the Lakers on Sunday night.  With fellow countrymen Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio sharing the court, some friendly trash talk was expected.  I’m sure there was some chatter going back and forth in Spanish during the game, but the trash talking was done after the game.  When Kobe Bryant passed Gasol and Rubio in the hallway, he and Rubio threw some friendly jabs about the Olympics back and forth.  Check out this video that Marca.com shared with us:

“You talking about London?,” Bryant asked Gasol and Rubio outside the locker rooms of the Target Center.

“Oh yeah,” Gasol said.

“You’re gonna be there?” Rubio asked Bryant.

Kobe said that he was, to which Rubio responded: “You know you’re getting the silver medal. You know that.”

“S*** . I’m taking bets! … If I win I get the keys to Barcelona.” Kobe fired back

Nice to see the new guy isn’t intimidated by the best player in the NBA.

H/T to Sporting News and Hoops Hype

Above all else, Mark Cuban is a businessman. That is the reason he is one of the most successful men in America. He may love guys like Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd on a personal level, but at the end of the day, they are assets to his company. Cuban pays them to play for the Mavericks, so if they are going to get hurt and jeopardize their careers, he wants to make sure it is done on company time. Dirk is currently nursing an knee injury that may have been caused while playing for Germany in international competition, and Cuban is not happy about it.

“It’s just the epitome of stupidity that we would allow ourselves to be used so other corporations (like the Olympics) can make tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars,” Cuban said according to ESPNDallas.com. “There’s some guys sitting at the Olympic headquarters going, ‘Those dumb-asses, we’re taking all their best guys for nothing.’

“I understand from Dirk’s perspective. We should never put our athletes in that position. For some sports the Olympics are very, very important. For basketball, it’s meaningless. It’s not that they’re not decent games. All things being equal, it’s fun to watch us play Argentina and Spain, but it would be just as fun if they were 21 and under.”

Cuban said he has tried to get the debate put up for vote but has had no success. Obviously his belief is shared by other owners, as evidenced by the fact that Amar’e Stoudemire may have been left off the Team USA roster this year over a similar dispute.

It’s easy to understand both sides of the argument. Cuban has a valid point; he and other NBA owners pay their players hundreds of million of dollars, and the Olympic teams get to borrow them without offering compensation. If someone should suffer a serious injury, it would be accompanied by nothing more than an “oops.” On the other hand, it is important to some players to be able to represent their country. It’s a matter of pride. Unfortunately for Cuban and others, pride is likely to continue to win out — at least for the immediate future.

The 2012 Team USA Olympic basketball roster of 12 players will be chosen from a list of 20 candidates.  One player who is not among them is Amar’e Stoudemire.  While he doesn’t appear to be holding a grudge or displaying any hard feelings, Stoudemire is obviously disappointed that he was not invited to try out for the team.

“It’s definitely not my choice,’’ Stoudemire said according to the NY Post. “I would love to play. My loyalty is with USA Basketball. … If they need me, I’m there.’’

Differences of opinions exist regarding why Stoudemire was not chosen.  As the Post reminded us, the Knicks did not allow Amar’e to participate in the FIBA World Championship last summer because they didn’t want him to suffer any type of injury after they had just inked him to a monstrous contract.  That decision is believed to have annoyed USA Basketball CEO Jerry Colangelo, so it’s possible he didn’t want to give New York the opportunity to raise a stink again.

As Eye on Basketball pointed out, Amar’e may have also been left off the invite list for basketball reasons.  The 2012 team is loaded with talent and includes forwards Blake Griffin and Kevin Love.  Both are tremendous players who are playing at an incredibly high level this season, so it is possible that there just isn’t any room for Stoudemire on the 20-man invite list.  In any event, I’m sure he is not the only player who is upset he wasn’t asked to help defend the gold medal.

Olympic runner Nick Symmonds is offering people the chance to advertise their Twitter handles on his body through a temporary tattoo. Symmonds was a member of the 2008 U.S. Track and Field team and is currently ranked first in the country in the 800 meters. He’s looking for sponsors and using eBay to auction advertising space on his body.

As part of the agreement, Symmonds will wear a temporary tattoo on his left shoulder of the winning bidder’s Twitter name during every event in which he participates. He’s also offering to tweet a monthly message of support for the auction winner. The only catch is that the winning bidder’s Twitter name cannot conflict with existing Olympics team sponsors.

Symmonds’ schedule has eight events, including the Olympic Games in London. There have already been over 44 bids placed, and the price is over $1,500.

Let’s just hope the winning bid doesn’t end up being a dud like this one.

Note: This post also appeared at Medal Detector

In case you don’t remember, The USA National Basketball Team won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.  That team looked pretty impressive, but anyone who has been around for a while would stop short of calling them the Dream Team.  Dream Team is a title reserved for the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, which consisted of some of the greatest players to ever play the game like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan.  According to USA Basketball President Jerry Colangelo, it’s fair to compare the 2012 team to the 1992 team.

“I think it will be a fair comparison with the Dream Team,” Colangelo said in a phone interview Thursday with FOX Sports Florida. “Look at the progress our players have made since (winning Olympic gold in) 2008. We have some of the greatest players of all time.

“You’re hearing Kobe (Bryant) right up there with the greatest of all time. Dwyane Wade and LeBron (James) are right up there. You’ve got to add up the names, and you look at the young guys like (Kevin) Durant as an example and (Derrick) Rose as an example. There’s so many. There’s only been one Dream Team, and that’s the way I think it should be. But there’s no question our team will be much stronger than we had in 2008. They’re more mature, more experienced and we’ve got more talent.”

Nobody wants to hear it, but Colangelo could be right.  The current USA Basketball players are not legends because they are still playing — but most of them will be.  It is made up of the same type of Hall of Fame-caliber talent that the 1992 team consisted of.  The key, as always, will be chemistry.  The 2008 team had it, but many argue that no team has ever gelled the way that the Dream Team did.  If Durant, Rose, Bryant, Wade, and LeBron play well as a team, there’s no reason to believe they won’t be as good as the Dream Team.  They just won’t be the Dream Team.

Chest bump to Pro Basketball Talk for the story.

Lindsey Vonn won a World Cup super-G on Beaver Creek’s Birds of Prey Wednesday. I have no idea what that means, but she won a race.  What was more important was what she did after the race.  Since she is now friends with Tim Tebow’s older brother, Robby Tebow, Vonn decided to do what this fetus, this NBA star, this soccer player, and this NFL player have all done before her.  She dropped down and started Tebowing after the race. Check it out:

According to the Denver Post, Vonn is currently going through a divorce after being married for four years.  She insists she is not dating anyone and said she met Robby at the ESPY awards and they became “good friends.”  She asked Robby for permission before busting out the Tebow at the podium.

“I asked him if Tim would be upset if I did it,” Vonn said. “I said that if I won in Colorado, I would do it, ‘Go Broncos.’ And I did it. Gotta represent.”

When in Colorado…

Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn made one young boy’s dream come true when she said yes after being asked to go to his homecoming dance Thursday.

Parker McDonald is a sophomore at the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy in Colorado. He did not have a date for his school’s homecoming dance Friday, so he decided to ask Vonn, who was visiting the school, to be his date.

“I thought, ‘I need a date and there’s Lindsey Vonn. I’ll ask her!’” McDonald said. “She walked by my lunch table and I whipped out the question.”

Vonn recounted the tale on her Facebook page Friday.

“Yesterday I visited the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy and while I was eating lunch with all the students a 15 year old boy named Parker asked me if I would be his date for their homecoming dance which is tonight. When Parker asked me he was cute, nervous and very polite so of course I said YES!

“All through school growing up I never got the chance to go to a school dance so I’m excited for tonight!”

Vonn was in town to train with the U.S. Ski Team. Why not mix in a little fun while she’s doing some work? Hopefully her husband didn’t mind sharing her for a night.

Vonn has been a swimsuit model and made Maxim’s Hot 100 list. She also made Parker the coolest kid in school, and a national hero.

On behalf of every guy who was too afraid to ask the hot girl to the dance, we salute you Parker.

H/T Diehard Sport, Fourth-Place Medal

Photo via Doug Haney

Note: This post also appeared at Yardbarker’s Medal Detector