I'm so Popular

Based on the overwhelming response to my last post, I wasn't going to bother typing tonight, but I just can't resist. Hooray for Naperville!

- One thing I have to say about corporate business training is that it generally really sucks. I don't understand where they get these "trainers" from. It's pretty clearly almost always people who don't understand the underlying business concepts, and have just memorized everything about a particular technique or software package. I get so frustrated every time because it's like being back in junior high they move so slowly. And even worse, there are always a few people who don't understand these elementary concepts. And they are the type that ask question after question, so when the training is supposed to end at 4:30, you end up stuck there until five because they won't shut their whorish mouths. I hate people so much it hurts sometimes.

- You want a sleeper pick for this week's Buick Open? Nick Faldo is supposed to be submitting a full preview, so I won't get all into it and what not, but look for Woody Austin to be involved on Sunday.

- A little more NBA Draft chatter - Chad Ford has a dude from Italy by the name of Danilo Gallinari going at #6 overall. What I don't understand is why all this love for international players hasn't subsided. How many have worked out? Yao Ming when he's not hurt? Drazen Petrovic before he lost an argument with a car? Arvydas Sabonis after he turned fifty? Let's look, because I have nothing better to do and clearly, neither do you.

2007: It's a bit early to evaluate this draft - obviously since Corey Brewer kind of sucked this year but will end up being totally awesome. At #6 we have Yi Jianlian, who ended up playing 25 minutes a game this past season and put up 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds, while shooting 42%. Yes, he's seven feet tall and shot 42%. That has to be some kind of record. Not the good kind. Other internationales from the year included Marco Belinelli at #18, Rudy Fernandez at #24, Tiago Splitter at 28, and Petteri Koppenen at 31. Belinelli averaged less than 3 points per game last year, and none of the other three have even joined their NBA team. Splitter recently signed a contract to keep him in Spain through at least the 2009-2010 season.

2006: The first pick this year was the Raptor's, and they took Italy's seven footer Andrea Bargnani. The girls name is a bad sign, obviously, and Bargnani has averaged double figures in points in both of his seasons, but just barely. He's also not managed to crack four rebounds per game. So basically a pretty good role player. At number 1 overall. Very Wolvesian. Others in round 1 were Senegal's Mouhamed Sene (10), Switzerland's Tabo Sefolosha (13), Ukraine's Oleksiy Pecherov (18), Spain's Sergio Rodriguez (27), and England's Joel Freeland (30). Sene never got out of the D-League before destroying his knee, Sefolosha has been a good bench guy, Pecherov is Rick Rickert, Rodriguez hasn't played much, but has at least shown flashes of being a good, streetball style point guard and has a sweet nickname in "Spanish Chocolate", and Freeland is still in Europe.

I'm not going to go year-by-year, because I'm already bored, but here are some names, stop me when you hear a quality player: Fran Vazquez, Yaroslav Korolev, Johan Petro, Ian Mahinmi, Andris Biedrins, Pavel Podkolzine, Viktor Khrypa, Sergei Monya, Beno Udrih, Sasha Vujacic, Darko Milicic, Mickael Pietrus, Zarko Cabarkapa, Sasha Pavlovic, Boris Diaw, Zoran Planinic, Carlos Delfino, and Leandro Barbosa since 2003.

Biedrins is a pretty solid center, Petro has shown some potential, Vujacic has found a niche by being annoying, Pietrus is athletic but can't shoot for crap, Diaw and Barbosa are good in the right system, and Delfino is a quality backup guard. Nice legacy. Seriously, if the Wolves go foreign with a first round pick ever, they're idiots. Although the second round is different, go ahead and take a shot at the next Ginobili.