Obama said what he had to say last Wed.   But of course there are no real coalitions out there.  I have not heard anyone willing to put troops on the ground.  So if NATO countries are not sending troops nor are Arab countries, then it is impossible to destroy ISIS.  It will be a prolonged war of attrition.

Couple of years ago I considered Spain to be best sporting nation in the world.  They were the world champions in soccer, second best in basketball and had Rafael Nadal and many other great tennis players.  But since then, Spain has lost badly in the World Cup, lost in the quarter final in basketball as host country, and Rafael Nadal is injured and no longer number one.  So fortunes can come and go quickly.

U.S. wins world championship in basketball by destroying all competition.  This is a team without James, Durant, Paul, Howard, Anthony, Love, Griffin.  Any other country would not field a decent team without seven of their best players.  But the U.S. won easily.  It was felt that since the original Dream Team, the gap had closed significantly between international teams and the U.S.  But with this tournament it seems the gap had widened again.

My last blog before going on vacation!  China wins chess Olympiad with India finishing third.  China becomes the first Asian country to win what is essentially the world team championship in chess.  It is also the first time two Asian countries medal in the same Olympiad.  This has to be very frustrating to Russia as it finishes fourth and has failed to win the championship for 4 straight times!  Russia in chess is like the U.S. in basketball.  Their number 5 player is better than most teams' number one.  Sure a Bobby Fisher can beat any Russian but in a team competition over 11 rounds of play, you would think they cannot lose.  In fact China did not send 3 of its top 5 players, including their number 1.  So Russia's number 5 is ranked higher than Wang Yue, who played first board for China in this championship.  India is also missing its top 2 players, including its former world champion!  So how did this happened?  I have no idea.  But with this result, you can bet there will be a surge in chess in China, India and maybe other places in Asia.

First night on the NBA schedule:  Houston at Lakers.  I did not know that the NBA wants to give Jeremy Lin a chance at revenge so fast!  Well, Lin vs Rockets is not the top story line here.  How about Kobe vs Dwight after they parted ways last season?  Or Kobe vs Harden since Kobe is upset that people are saying Harden is the best SG in the NBA. Looking forward to opening night on TNT!

Now that the Tigers have traded for Price and Soria, they just need couple more starting pitchers and couple more relievers and they can maybe catch the Royals!

I have just finished reading Jason Collin's article in SI.  I applaud him for coming out but I don't agree with some people who compare him with Jackie Robinson.  When Robinson came to the Majors there was not much movement in the areas of civil rights.  Even some of his teammates were against him.  I think the gay right movement is much further along now and judging by the response Collins have received, I don't think he will face challenges anywhere near what Robinson faced during his time.  That is not to say that he won't be heckled by fans.  Jeremy Lin was heckled even during Ivy League games and those fans are affiliated with some of the greatest institutions of higher education in this country.  But Collins will not be bothered in the locker room or by opponents.  Ironically everyone who has come out against him (and there are very few), has been attacked themselves in the court of public opinion.  Take Chris Broussard of ESPN.  He gave his opinion that as a religious person, he is against gay life style.  He was immediately attacked.  While I don't agree with him, he has the right to what he believes.  If you only have to listen to opinions that is agreeable to you, then you are not living in a democratic society.

Even though Collins is technically an active player in the NBA, he is at or near the end of his career.  In fact, if this article did not come out, the chances of him of getting a contract next year is slim.  So I don't think he will be hurt in terms of staying in the league by coming out.  I don't think you can accuse any team of prejudice for not signing Collins for next season.  It will be more interesting when a player near the peak of his career come out and is a free agent.  Then we will know what teams think.  I bet that most team will act depending more of that player's ability than sexual orientation.

It is interesting that Jason's identical twin Jarron is not gay.  Obviously having identical DNA does not mean same personality.  On the other hand environment do not determine personality either as both Jason and Jarron grew up in the same household, went to the same high school and college.  So who knows what really make up who we are.  Interesting enough of the 4 sets of identical twins I know of in NBA, the skills of 3 sets of twins are about the same.  Tom and Dick Van Arsdale, the Morris twins of Phoenix Suns and Jason and Jarron Collins are all about same in style and skill as each person's twin.  Only Brooke and Robin Lopez are somewhat different with Brooke being a better offensive and overall player whereas Robin is better on defense.  But given that Brooke and Robin have big difference in hairstyle whereas the other 3 sets of twins look exactly the same, I conclude that hairstyle is the ultimate determining factor in skills of NBA twins.