Slava Medvedenko

Preseason 2005-06

2005-10-21T18:59:00.000-04:00

After three games, Medvedenko is averaging 11 minutes, 3.3 points, 2 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 0.33 steals. Upcoming games, Thursday 20 October vs Denver and Friday 21 October vs Charlotte or Washington.

vs Washington, 18 October, 111-108 OT
in just over 11 minutes, Slava went 1-4, had on off and one def rebound, an assist, a turnover and two fouls for 2 points

vs Golden State, 12 October, 81-112
in 12 minutes, went 1-2 and 4-4 from the line, two defensive rebounds, 4 fouls and a turnover for 6 points

vs Golden State 11 October, 101-93
went 1-4 with one off and one def rebound, 2 turnovers and two steals for 2 points in 10 minutes of play

EuroBasket 2005

2005-08-30T11:38:00.000-04:00

- Slava's bio from tourney site, I believe he may be wearing #15 for this

- Ukraine's national basketball page

-Games for UKR are:
16 Sep v Russia
17 Sep v Germany
18 Sep v Italy

- Scheduling can be found here

UKR - Zaschuk waits for word on Drozdov
BELGRADE (Eurobasket) - Ukraine coach Gennady Zaschuk is waiting on the fitness of Artur Drozdov as he continues his preparations ahead of next month's EuroBasket.

Zaschuk currently has 14 players in his squad but could add Drozdov if his club, French side Pau-Orthez, pass the small forward fit.

Los Angeles Lakers forward Stanislav Medvedenko is included after agreeing in July to represent his country at the tournament.

Former Golden State Warriors centre Serhiy Lishchuk also provides NBA experience after starring in the qualifying rounds last year, guiding the Ukraine to second spot in Group C behind Germany.

Zaschuk must trim his squad to a final 12 before the tournament begins.

Ukraine squad: Stanislav Balashov, Artem Butskyy, Kyrylo Fesenko, Roman Gumenyuk, Volodymyr Gurtovyy, Viktor Kobzystyy, Volodymyr Koval, Igor Kryvych, Rostyslav Kryvych, Andrii Lebediev, Serhiy Lishchuk, Oleksiy Pecherov, Yevgeniy Podorvannyy, Oleksandr Rayevskyy.

Ukraine: Medvedenko Links Up With National Team

Ukraine: Zaschuk Names Squad For Friendlies

Pecherov Looks to Medvedenko for Ukraine

NBA "Read to Achieve" Class Visit

2005-08-30T10:15:00.000-04:00

In January, Slava visited a CA school as part of the league's "Read to Achieve" program. The kids were amazed that he had to duck to enter the classroom and had a chance to ask all sorts of questions. They learned that Slava's favorite subjects were biology and history, both his parents are 6'2" and that he speaks five languages (including Polish, Russian and Ukrainian). I would assume English is 4th... so what would be the fifth?

Here are some photos from that day...

Late April

2005-04-25T14:59:00.000-04:00

The Lakers cleaned out their lockers earlier this week, had their exit interviews, and now begin a very long summer vacation.

After this weekend I can update all the games I've missed since March or so. I have box scores, pictures from a lot of the games and more, just had a lot to do and couldn't really update after every game.

On TV of note this week:
Monday, 25 April on ESPN2 @ 8:30p and again on 5/2 @ 8pm (both NY time), a new show called "Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame..." and this one is subtitled "Kobe Bryant and the Breakup of the Lakers." Other features include Art Modell, Steve Bartman and John McEnroe.

Friday, 29 April on G4-Tech TV @ 11:30am (NY) a show called "Players" with the episode title "Got to Hal" with Fear Factory, Hal Sparks, Luke Walton and Dat Phan.

Week Twenty-Five

2005-04-17T09:43:00.000-04:00

Well, this is it, the final week of a very long season. Take a look at this team, it won't be the same for next year. The Lakers play their final home game and then finish the season with two on the road. They are 34-45 on the year and now fourth in the division.

Sunday, 17 April vs Dallas
12:30pm PDT; Regional ABC Coverage

Monday, 18 March @ Golden State
7:30pm PDT; NBA TV

Wednesday, 20 March @ Portland
7:00pm PDT; NBA TV

Week Twenty-Four

2005-04-10T14:35:00.000-04:00

The Lakers - in official NBA-speak known as "Eliminated from Playoffs contention" - have three games this week. The team is 34-42 overall, with a 22-16 home record and that torturous, nail-in-the-coffin 12-26 on the road.

The Lakers will particiapte in the Second Annual Casino Night on Thursday, a benefit for and hosted by the Lakers Youth Foundation. Action starts at 7:00pm at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar.

Wednesday: Slava was in the yellow jersey for practice today, with the usual sweats too

Sunday, 10 April @ Sacramento
12:30pm PDT; ABC partial National Coverage

Monday, 11 April vs Phoenix
7:30pm PDT; Actual NBA TV

Friday, 15 April vs Sacramento
7:30pm PDT; ESPN National Coverage

Week Twenty-Three

2005-04-03T19:08:00.000-04:00

The Lakers, according to the numbers are still alive, but it isn't looking good. They continue their road trip this week with two away games, then a back-to-back pair of home and road games.
Currently LA is 33-39 on the year, 11-24 away and 22-15 at home. Minnesota is 2.5 games out of the 8th spot, the Lakers are 7.5 and the Clippers are at 8.5 games back.

Monday, 4 April - Slava's Birthday

Friday, 8 April - ESPN Outside the Lines on Lakers
"8 Is Not Enough" - 10pm PT on ESPN
After last year's season of discontent, Lakers management was forced to decide whether to keep Shaquille O'Neal and risk Kobe Bryant leaving as a free agent or sign Kobe and trade Shaq. Kobe got his wish, a seven year Lakers contract and no more Shaq, but he didn't bargain for a free fall from grace. The Lakers will be out of the NBA Playoffs for the first time since 1994 and Bryant's popularity has plummeted. Outside the Lines examines the Lakers collapse and their prospects for the future. Jeremy Schaap hosts. Guests include: Bill Walton, Basketball Hall of Famer & J.A. Adande, Los Angeles Times Sports Columnist

Sunday, 3 April @ Memphis
5:00pm PDT; NBA TV

Tuesday, 5 April @ Phoenix
7:00pm PDT; NBA TV

Thursday, 7 April vs Houston
7:30pm PDT; TNT National Coverage

Friday, 8 April @ Seattle
7:30pm PDT; NBA TV

Week Twenty-Two

2005-03-27T18:05:00.000-05:00

LA, though technically still in the playoff hunt, appears to have a long summer ahead of them. The team is 10th out of the 11 still in contention for the postseason, a half game ahead of the Clippers and trailing Minnesota by three and 8th-place Denver by 6.
The Lakers have four games this week, three at home before hitting the road for a short stretch the start of April. Los Angeles is 32-36 overall, 21-13 at home and 11-23 on the road, and have lost seven in a row.

Saturday: Slava in purple and giant gray sweats
Sunday: Game notes has Medvedenko as probable starter for Philly game tonight, though Grant ended up with the start

Sidenote: On Friday, 1 April HBO will re-air "Chernobyl Heart" (see sidebar for more) on HBO (4:30pm NY time) and then HBOW (7:30pm NY time)

Sunday, 27 March vs Philadelphia
4:30pm PST; ESPN National Coverage

Tuesday, 29 March vs New York
7:30pm PST; NBA TV

Thursday, 31 March vs Minnesota
7:30pm PST; TNT National Coverage

Saturday, 2 April @ San Antonio
5:30pm PST; Actual NBA TV

Week Twenty-One

2005-03-20T19:41:00.000-05:00

The Lakers return home for a game before (shocker) hitting the road for a pair. LA is 32-33 on the year now, and they are slipping down the ranks of playoff contention. Minnesota is 2 games out of the 8th spot, LA is 2.5 games back and the Clippers are hanging around at 6 games back. Within the confines of home, the Lakers are 21-12, but their road record stands at 11-21.

Monday: Try to catch ESPN's Outside the Lines just after 9pm CA time, great piece on John Wooden. It's one of those nice sports stories that isn't really about sports. He's also interviewed by Bill Walton, interesting interaction between the two.
Also, Odom won't be making the trip to Utah on Tuesday, could be getting more evaluation on the shoulder and possibly put on the injured list. If so, he won't be available before the March 31st game. As of now, Slava is listed as a probable starter.

Sunday: Odom's shoulder injury should keep him out at least one game this week, meaning that Slava could start for the Seattle game. A loss tonight would be the first five-gamer in over 10 years for LA. It was the 93-94 season, Kobe was still a sophomore in high school, and no current active Lakers were even in the league.

Seattle's Game Notes listed this:
"USELESS STAT OF THE DAY
The Lakers are undefeated this season with Medvedenko as a starter (1-0)."

Here is their matchup on forwards:
"With Odom unlikely to play tonight, the Lakers media notes list Stanislav Medvedenko as their likely starter at power forward. After starting 38 games last season, Medvedenko has seen his role shrink this year, averaging only 8.5 minutes per game. Medvedenko had one of his best games of the season Tuesday, scoring 12 points and nine rebounds against Philadelphia, but did not play on Friday. The Lakers would ordinarily go small without Odom, but Reggie Evans' presence on the glass might keep them from doing that tonight. Evans had 13 rebounds, six offensive, in 23 minutes in the last meeting and sparked the Sonics third-quarter surge. Medvedenko has size but isn't a good rebounder, so Evans could still be in for a big night on the boards."

Sunday, 20 March vs Seattle
6:30pm PST; NBA TV

Tuesday, 22 March @ Utah
6:00pm PST; NBA TV

Thursday, 24 March @ Denver
6:00pm pST; Actual NBA TV

Week Twenty

2005-03-14T00:55:00.000-05:00

LA continues their road trip with four games this week. They are 32-29 overall, 21-12 at home and 11-17 on the road. The Lakers are back in the eighth playoff spot, for now. They'll play a pair of back-to-backs this week, something that's been hard for them this season, with Monday and Tuesday and then Thursday and Friday.

On a side note, I'll try to post my NCAA bracket on Tuesday. Normally good for a couple of laughs, I'm an upset-selector, even if I'm the only one that sees it as a possible upset.

Monday, 14 March @ Washington
4:00pm PST; NBA TV

Tuesday, 15 March @ Philadelphia
4:00pm PST; NBA TV

Thursday, 17 March @ Miami
5:00pm PST; TNT National Coverage

Friday, 18 March @ Indiana
4:30pm PST; ESPN2 National Coverage

Week Nineteen

2005-03-06T22:56:00.000-05:00

The Lakers have four games this week, each every other day with two at home then two on the road. LA is still at 8th in the playoff race, but tied with Denver right now at 16 games back. Minnesota is in there too, at 16.5 games back. The Lakers are 29-28 overall, 20-11 at home and a poor 9-17 on the road. And for the rest of the season, 15 of their games are on the road and, including tonight, ten are at home.

*** For Sunday's game against Indiana, the Lakers are holding "Stanislav Medvedenko Foundation Night," haven't seen anything in the papers on this (of course) but here's what the Lakers' game notes say about it:
The Los Angeles Lakers will host "Stanislav Medvedenko Foundation Night" on Sunday, March 6, 2005 at the Lakers vs. Pacers game at STAPLES Center. The Foundation's goal is to help raise awareness and money for needy children in Slava's homeland, the Ukraine, and in the USA. All fans that make a minimum contribution of $10.00 to the Foundation will receive a free MATRESHKA Slava Medvedenko Collectible Nesting Doll. The Foundation's table will be set up on the Main Concourse across from Aisle 12.
The primary objectives of the Stanislav Medvedenko Foundation are:
1. Medvedenko/Orphanage Improvement Fund - Slava will visit orphanages to motivate and brighten the spirits of Ukrainian neglected children. Sponsorship will provide funding, gifts, toys, clothing, sports gear, and share his warm spirit in efforts to motivate achievement and positive mental outlook amongst children.
2. Medvedenko/Children's Hospital Fund - Slava will deliver vital equipment and supplies each summer to a variety of children's hospitals. Sponsorship provides essential necessities such as critical first aid items, health foods, medicine, vitamins, gifts and toys for needy children in the Ukraine.
3. Medvedenko/Children's Basketball Fund - Slava will be providing support for the Ukrainian National Basketball Federation, Basketball Foundation BC "Kiev" and Alexander Volkov Children Basketball Fund. These organizations are responsible for the development of Ukrainian basketball and provide financial and professional support to youth basketball programs in the Ukraine.

Sunday, 6 March vs Indiana
6:30pm PST; NBA TV

Tuesday, 8 March vs LA Clippers
7:30pm PST; NBA TV

Thursday, 10 March @ Dallas
6:30pm PST; TNT National Coverage

Saturday, 12 March @ Charlotte
4:00pm PST; NBA TV

Week Eighteen

2005-02-27T22:59:00.000-05:00

Los Angeles hits the road for three games in four days before returning home to Staples center to close out the week. The Lakers are 28-25 overall, 9-14 on the road and 19-11 at home. They are still third in the division and still hanging on to that eighth and final playoff spot. Despite the rumors, LA didn't make any trades last week and a healthy Butler has returned to the lineup.

Mentions of Medvedenko

Thursday: This one you so have to read! Not sure what to make of it, but man, I love things like this off the wire! It says Slava could be in a movie, "Oh Vey! My Son is Gay!"
PR story

Thursday: The Lakers have today off, making it up with a longer shoot-around before the Mavs game tomorrow night.

Saturday: After a light practice today, a lot of players stayed afterwards for some four-on-four. Kobe dished cheers and ribbing to the guys from the sidelines. Slava was in the jumbo grey sweats and purple jersey, he had some good plays.

Friday, 4 March vs Dallas
7:30pm PST; ESPN National Coverage
LA was able to keep the four-game losing streak from becoming a fiver with a 108-103 win over the Mavs. Someone really needs to remind Dallas that blue and green just do not go together. Back to business, Slava was on the court for the Dallas game a bit after getting no time against Boston.
On Slava: In his six minutes of play, Slava had three defensive rebounds (yes, three) and block and two fouls. LA had their Denver-looking old Minneapolis blue home uniforms on.
ESPN box score

Wednesday, 2 March @ Boston
4:30pm PST; NBA TV
Los Angeles has lost four in a row now with tonight's 101-104 loss in Boston. Medvedenko didn't get any playing time for the first time since the Feb 9 game at New Jersey.
On Slava: Slava, in blue warmups, spent a lot of time in the middle of the bench. Didn't appear to have gum in the first half, though Grant and Odom now appear to be wearing the same style of shoe as Medvedenko. In the third quarter he was in shorts with the white pullover jersey and had his gum, but a minute later had the pants draped. Clapped as team cam to the bench to close the 3rd, up 79-77.

Monday, 28 February @ New York
4:30pm PST; Actual NBA TV
After somehow coming back 12 points in the final 70 seconds to force OT, LA faltered in the final minutes and lost 115-117 to the Knicks.
On Slava: Medvedenko went 1-2 in shooting and 1-1 from the line for three points to go with his three fouls in six minutes tonight.
ESPN box score

Sunday, 27 February @ Toronto
10:00am PST; NBA TV
The Lakers lost tonight against the Raptors, 102-108.
On Slava: Slava played nine minutes, went 2-3 FG for four points and had one foul.
ESPN box score

Week Seventeen

2005-02-24T09:44:00.000-05:00

The Lakers regroup after the All Star break and the return of Kobe this week with three games, two at home. Slava got his first start of the season last week against Utah and the team is enduring a lot of trade talk - mainly on Butler, Divac and George. Aside from Thursday's trading deadline, the other big league news this week stems from the "new rules" that go into action about beer size/sales and behavior.

Mentions of Medvedenko

Hoops Vice recap of Portland game

Monday: In practice Slava was sporting the sweats, purple jersey and a Kobe-like white tank underneath.

Friday, 25 February vs Detroit
7:30pm PST; ESPN National Coverage

Wednesday, 23 February @ Portland
7:00pm PST; NBA TV
It took 52 games, but LA has now won three games in a row, though they didn't play particularly well against Portland, winning 86-83. Butler sat out the 2nd game in a row, still listed as a stomach flu. Anyone else wonder what Webber really did to piss off Sacramento management?

Box score from ESPN

Tuesday, 22 February vs Boston
7:30pm PST; Actual NBA TV
LA, wearing their old blue and white colors, defeated the Celtics 104-95.

Box score from ESPN

Week Sixteen

2005-02-14T20:58:00.000-05:00

The Lakers finish up their road swing, then return to LA for games before and after the All Star break, then split a pair of home and away games to end the stretch. Heading into Cleveland, LA is 25-23 on the year. They are still third in the division and are clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Kobe is rumored to play against Cleveland, just in time for a national audience and to be able to suit up for the Denver All Star game... coincidence, I think not. Wisest choice, I think not.

Mentions of Medvedenko

LA Times mini sidebar on Slava

Daily News bit on Slava's start

LA Times report from Tuesday night

Daily News another story

Daily Breeze notes

Ventura COunty Star report from game

Deseret News (Utah) story from game

Monday: In practice, Slava was in the purple jersey and the usual sweats

SATURDAY: Rumors are starting about a possible Laker trade, HoopsWorld take on possibilities

Sunday, 13 February @ Cleveland
12:30pm PST; ABC National Coverage
Slava got 5 minutes of playing time and scored on his only attempt, finishing with a defensive rebound and 2 points.
Box score from ESPN

Tuesday, 15 February vs Utah
7:30pm PST, NBA TV
More later (obviously I have a lot of catching up to do), will work on in the next couple days. Wednesday I am working the Knicks-Bucks game, lucky me. Unfortunate that others have to pay for this matchup. However...
Slava got the START tonight, a 102-95 win over the Jazz! He played 34 minutes and netted only 7 points, but he also had a game-high 9 rebounds (3O, 6D) and tied a career-high with three steals. I am a little surprised that there are no quotes from Medvedenko himself, but here are some blurbs of what others said about his game on Tuesday.
After the game, Hamblen said he "started Slava because LO wasn't here. He's a little bit rusty offensively, but he contributed with nine rebounds and stayed in there and battled." Later he also said, "He's familiar with things we're trying to do, I just want to give Slava a chance."
Another from Hamblen: "I just want to give Slava a chance to play. I think it's fair. He hasn't had a lot of playing time this year, and he's played well for us in the past, and he's familiar with things we're trying to do, and it keeps Cookie" -- second-year forward Brian Cook -- "in his same spot coming off the bench."
From the Daily News, Chucky Atkins had this on Slava: "Slava's been in this circumstance before at a high level. He was in this situation last year in the (NBA) Finals. Karl went down, he had to start and do his thing. This is the regular season, last game before the All-Star break. This is the chance, the opportunity that he's been dying for to get some playing time. This is the time for him to show not only that he should have been playing but that he should play once we get back."
And this from Atkins too: "When you've been in the league as long as Slava has, you know somewhere in the season you're going to get called upon,'' guard Chucky Atkins said. "It's a chance for him to show the current coaching staff that not only he should have been playing in the past, he should be playing in the future." So there was nothing that needed to be said to Medvedenko. "This is not his first year. If it was his first year, I probably would have said something,'' Atkins said. "This is his chance, his opportunity that he's been dying for.''

Box score from Yahoo Sports

Week Fifteen

2005-02-06T20:55:00.000-05:00

The Lakers hit the road for the entire week with four games in five days.

Sunday, 6 February @ Houston
12:30pm PST; ABC National Coverage
LA, as has become their habit, fell behind big and then made a run to get back into the game - only to lose 102-103
No minutes for Slava

Monday, 7 February @ Atlanta
4:30pm PST; NBA TV
The Lakers were defeated 108-114
Medvedenko played 9 minutes, went 1-3 and 2-2 from the line for 4 points. He also had two fouls, an off rebound, a steal and a turnover.
Box score from ESPN

Wednesday, 9 February @ New Jersey
4:30pm PST; NBA TV
LA pulled out a come from behind win, forcing OT and won 104-103
No game action for Slava

Thursday, 10 February @ Detroit
5pm PST; TNT National Coverage
Lakers lost 81-103
Slava played 12 minutes on the night, shot 2-5 and 2-2 from the line. He added a steal, a defensive rebound and a block to his 6 points.
Box score from ESPN

Week Fourteen

2005-01-30T23:44:00.000-05:00

The Lakers finish up this endless homestand this week with three games. They then hit the road for nine out of the next thirteen games, taking them into early March. Currently, LA is 22-19 and third in the Pacific and now sitting in the eighth and final playoff spot. At home, the Lakers are 15-9 and 7-10 away.

Mentions of Medvedenko

No link for this one, but on Sunday morning's ESPN Sports Reporters, Slava was in the clip they used as their teaser for a segment on Phil Jackson and his coaching options. Shaq seemed to be quite unpleased with Slava, who was demonstrating his abilities to not look Shaq in the face and turn his head to ignore him.

Tuesday: In the words of Monica from Friends in "The One in Vegas"...
It Just. Got. Interesting.
Reports are that Rudy T was going to resign tonight, but when word got out, there was an announcement that there would be no announcement. After the loss to the Nets on Friday, remember - the ones who only suited up 8 players that night, there was a meeting between Rudy, Dr. Buss and GM Kupchak. Word has it Rudy could be ill but it's said not to be related to his cancer, and that he isn't very satisfied with the way the team is playing, but also feels that he isn't being supported that well. If Rudy goes, Frank Hamblen should seriously be considered to coach for the remainder of the season. Bringing in someone new just makes things worse, and things right now aren't all that terrible for the Lakers. Just think of all that's happened in the first half of the season: (after all the player changes and Phil Jackson departing) still off-court Kobe issues in progress, no Malone, then their whole tiff, no Divac, Devean George out and having issues with the other foot just as he was ready to return shortly, Kobe and his ankle, and now the coaching thing with Rudy - and they are still hanging on.
ESPN and Sports Illustrated articles on the situation

Tuesday, 1 February vs Portland
7:30pm PST; NBA TV

LA, in their second game without Rudy T on the sidelines, won 92-79. No one else seemed to notice that for 33 seconds or so, the shot and game clock were stuck at 10:20 to go in the first half... weird. On a side note, am I the only person who finds the new Nike/Mask commercial somewhat disturbing? Especially Pujols.
On Slava: Yellow, gum, pants on and snapped up about 90 seconds into the third quarter. Clapped at the nice Sasha to Odom pass in the 1st and as the team came to the bench at the end of the 3rd quarter. With 8:37 to play in the game, Slava was without his warmups but on the bench, put the pullover jersey back on and finally got the nod to go in with 3:14 remaining. He entered for Mihm on an Odom FT and was 0-2 on shots, looked a little wild but his two chances.
Box score from Tuesday

Sunday, 30 January vs Charlotte
6:30pm PST; NBA TV
LA prevented their three-game losing streak from turning into a four gamer with a 101-90 win over the Bobcats. Talk about a must-win game for them. Slava was in the game for a flash (0-2 FG in 2 minutes), but still an improvement from a week ago and riding the bench. It may have been brief, but there's a photo of it.
More to come, promise.
Box score from ESPN found here

Thursday, 3 February vs San Antonio
7:30pm PST; TNT National Coverage
Slava played 3 minutes and picked up 3 fouls
Box score from ESPN

After my recent personal comments on the dangers of sports travel, news of this hockey team accident over the weekend.

Sunday: My tangent for the day (which technically has a Laker tie-in as Phil Jackson was there), I am totally thrilled that Marat Safin took the Australian Open in a match that began at 3:30am my usual time. Safin is absolutely one of the most gifted athletes I have ever seen, Top Five - easily. This is a guy that if you put him into any sport, he'd be a pro. He defeated Federer in a 4 1/2 hour semi in one of the best matches in a very long time and already a favorite for match of the year, on his 25th birthday no less. He's got the goods - he's 6'4" and 200 pounds, has speed, solid court smarts and uncanny shotmaking abilities, great hands and enormous power, plus he's devilish and considerate, laid back and intense, has a great sense of humor and can be grumpy as all hell. The downside... only his mind, nerves and self-doubt, which push him over to the inconsistent side and obviously frustrating to everyone. Not just inconsistent here and there, but he'll seemingly tank a match as soon as things get bad, he mumbles and yells at himself, he yells at umps, he throws racquets, he breaks racquets, and he almost never disappoints in a press conference. He says what's on his mind - which can be dangerous in sports, but with Marat there is no ill-will, what he says always reflects upon himself and how he feels. He doesn't call other people out, start things for the sake of starting them or carry on fights in the media. But, in his own words, "I never believe in myself before at all."

Today, down 1-6 and 0-3, he was literally halfway to being the runner-up of the Aussie Open, again (would've been his third time). But then you could see it happen... for Marat, he kept his cool and only threw his racquet three times in an eight point span and he just plodded on. There was a different Safin out there, one that didn't flick the switch where the desire, effort and mental edge went dark, but a slow turning of the dimmer dial. The lights were getting brighter, you could see it, the confidence was taking shape and the momentum was turning his way. After the match, he commented that "I was playing ridiculous, I didn't believe I could play that badly," when down to Hewitt by so much, so fast. He got out of the second set with a win, took the third with some great tennis, and in the fourth you knew it was Hewitt that would play the role of bridesmaid.

Safin blew onto the tennis scene in 1999, missing the year-end # 1 ranking at the time by 15 points and the chance to be the youngest ever. He continued with a solid 2000 and a truly stunning upset of Pete Sampras in the US Open. Stunning as in three straight sets, absolutely smoked him. Since 1995, Sampras (remember him?) was in the midst of winning each of the eight Grand Slams where he made it to the finals. Until Marat came along, and then he was gone. That player came and went in certain spurts, but he never won another Grand Slam. Sure he tanked, admittedly over-indulged and lived the life of a pro athlete to the fullest, he wrestled with injuries and here we are, eight years now on the tour with a new coach and a new approach. As his coach said, "I think it must be frustrating when you've heard everybody tell you that you're one of the most talented players ever, but 'Would you get your head put on properly'. That's tough to hear. It's a lot easier to hear you've got a shitty second serve. How do you work on your head?"

When he won on Sunday, this Russian named for a Frenchman who speaks Spanish and wears more necklaces than I own, didn't drop to the court in exultation or do the now boring climb-into-your-box for a celebration. There was a small, slight smile on Safin's face - almost as if there was a recollection of an inside joke - but not to be confused with a smirk. They say the second title is always the toughest, but that look also conveyed that the second one is indeed the sweetest.

Week Thirteen

2005-01-23T22:12:00.000-05:00

Los Angeles is 22-16 on the year and still in third place within the Pacific (6-3 in the Division, 15-12 within the Western Conference). The Lakers are 5 games behind 2nd place Sacramento and 5 games ahead of the 4th place Clippers. At home, they are a strong 15-7, but struggle on the road with a 7-9 record. Again, they have a chance to win a third straight, we'll see if it happens on Tuesday.

All-Star voting came to a close Sunday night, I'll share with you my "for fun fan picks" that I just submitted...
East: Dwayne Wade, AI, Shaq, Grant Hill and Emeka Okafor
West: Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Kobe, Kirilenko and yes, as a write in... Medvedenko.
I don't care, if people can honestly vote for Al Sharpton for President, I can put down Slava for my other forward.
Not like it'll take away any votes for Nowitzki or anything.

Mentions of Medvedenko

Daily Breeze Lakers notebook with this bit from Rudy T on Slava:
Forward Slava Medvedenko has played only 41 minutes all season but that didn't stop Tomjanovich from offering effusing praise of his end-of-the-bench reserve after Tuesday's loss to Seattle.
"It isn't about what kind of player he is," Tomjanovich said. "We had a rotation that got established when he was hurt. We did reasonably well. What I do is I try to stay loyal to that rotation. Somebody's got to really fail or the team has got to really fail for me to change that thing.
"The guys that were playing have done a pretty good job. It could very well have been him who got the job and somebody else was injured. He has been a true professional. I don't know if I could have handled it as well."

Monday: Practice had Slava in the grey sweats and purple jersey over grey tshirt

Tuesday: Before the Seattle game, Medvedenko was shooting around in game shorts with the grey Lakers tshirt

Thursday: If you can catch it, Caron Butler will be a guest on Leno's The Tonight Show this evening. The appearance stems from an LA Times piece by Mike Bresnahan about Butler's youth in Wisconsin. He was arrested as a high school freshman for possession of a firearm and crack cocaine, and how he's gone from a detention center and solitary confinement to playing in the NBA and supporting numerous youth causes. One amazing note, Caron didn't play basketball until this and played to get points/money for food and extras in the facility. Also look for Butler on an upcoming episode of "The George Lopez Show."

Wednesday, 26 January @ LA Clippers
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
At the half, Lakers down 43-48, but Slava has seen some playing time already. Entered the game with 0:15.2 to go in the first quarter and stayed in until the 8:39 point to play in the first half. Then was called off the bench with Atkins going to the line, LAL trailing 41-48 and 0:07.4 to play. Put in after Atkins made the first, subbing in for Grant.
Slava played the entire fourth quarter too!

<-- I think this picture sums up the need for Slava's layers, chicken legs

Won't be able to update any more until at least Thursday afternoon, another road trip.

Tuesday, 25 January vs Seattle
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
LA, who needs to attack the zone and the boards more, let Seattle pull away and take the win, 93-104. Once again, I think it's the 9th time this season, they failed to turn a two-game "winning streak" into a three gamer. Oh well. Slava got in the game, it was at the end, but at least he got in this one.
On Slava: Yellow warmups, spent a lot of the game at the end of the bench - but not the usual side, he was the 1st seat next to Mike Wells. Got tapped by Rudy T with 3:30 to play in the game to hit the court, didn't get in until 2:55 remaining when play stopped for Fortson's free throws. When he got off the bench, the small crowd behind the Lakers definitely clapped and when he was announced, there was also some positive crowd acknowledgement. Was fouled by Fortson, certainly they got tangled up but I believe that stonefaced Slava has a touch of a dramatic flair, just a touch. Medvedenko got an off and def rebound, tipped in a Sasha shot and made his first two free throws of this season, finishing with 4 points in three minutes for the night. Technically, Slava's ahead of last year's FT percentage of 77%, a career high.
Box score from ESPN found here

Friday, 28 January vs New Jersey
7:30pm PST; NBA TV

Week Twelve

2005-01-16T04:19:00.000-05:00

The Lakers return home this week for three games. They are 20-15 overall, with a 13-6 home and 7-9 away record - still third in the division. Out of their next nine games, only one is "away" - and that's on Jan 26 against the Clippers.

Mentions of Medvedenko

LA Times bit from Saturday. About Walton and lack of playing time, contains this on Slava:
"The guys who really missed training camp are the guys that are playing catch-up," Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. "It's unfortunate because they've already proved they can play in this league to the coach who was here last year and the management that was here last year. But it's a new coaching staff and Rudy [Tomjanovich] came in with a blank slate."
Kupchak met recently with Walton and power forward Slava Medvedenko, who has also lost playing time. Medvedenko is averaging 2.9 points and 5.4 minutes.
"Normally over the course of a season it all works out," Kupchak said. "I know they're both frustrated and they want to play. I encouraged them both to stay ready and be a professional. That's all you can do."

Friday, 21 January vs Golden State
7:30pm PST, NBA TV
LA defeated the Warriors 105-101, again no Slava
On Slava: Yellow

Wednesday, 19 January vs Minnesota
7:30pm PST, ESPN National Coverage
The Lakers pulled out a 93-90 win tonight, no Slava.
Here's what Minnesota went through to get to LA (courtesy of the Press-Enterprise):
"They were scheduled to depart Minneapolis at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, but their chartered jet had mechanical problems. They waited at the airport until 9 p.m. before they were sent home. They were back at the airport for an 8:30 a.m. departure Wednesday, but didn't leave until 10:45 a.m. because of more mechanical problems. The Timberwolves took a commercial plane and finally arrived in LA at 12:30 p.m. for a 7:30 game at Staples Center."
And LA won by 3.
On Slava: Yellow

Monday, 17 January vs Utah
7:30pm PST, NBA TV
The Lakers lost to the Timberwolves, 94-102. No Slava in the game.
On Slava: Yellow warmups, working on the gum. Chatted a bit through the 3rd with Cook on the bench, didn't call for the pants as a drape until 4 minutes to play in the 3rd, snapped up a minute later.

I'll be updating as I can, can't promise it will be prompt, but I will do the best I can. Super busy with work and travel the next two weeks, there's a Slam about to start up and the time change and everything gets a little crazy. ** Hope to update the "On Slava" parts soon

Week Eleven

2005-01-09T21:23:00.000-05:00

**Thursday updated, Kobe Bryant ankle injury and my take on poor weather sports travel.
Scroll down to area above and below the "Mentions of Medvedenko" section.

The Lakers, now 17-14 on the season and 3rd in the Pacific, hit the road for three out of their four games this week. They have a meager 5-8 away record and are 12-6 at home. On paper, this is a stretch that the team could really use as a base to get something started. But that's on paper, and this year's team doesn't really follow any usual happenings. LA, 5-5 in their last 10, could get three wins this week, and do we dare mention any three-game-in-a-row possibility? Minnesota is 17-15, Denver is 14-19, (Cleveland is 20-12) and Golden State is still technically an NBA team at 11-23. They're just glad Atlanta and New Orleans exist.
I'd love to know how some of these NBA games are scheduled, sometimes they bounce around with no rhyme or reason. It's all computers now, but there was a great article on the couple that used to plan MLB's season - by hand, for years until they too got 'upgraded.' I'll look for that story and post it. *Update - check farther down in this week's post for the story.
On Monday I can update "On Slava" sections better, maybe add a few more pictures and info portions to the sidebar.

Sunday: In practice, Slava in the giant sweats and purple jersey; team left early afternoon for MN without Devean George who is now supposedly returning at the end of the month. More triangle work today too.

Monday: not Laker related, but this will become a national mention, for whatever reason. Randy Johnson made his 'debut' in NY today and it didn't go so well. Giant (as in size, not San Fran) Randy was walking down Madison Ave between 58th and 59th and being filmed by a local CBS TV station. He didn't like it, he and his little security guy (actually dir of NYY team security) tried to make the cameraman stop, they exchanged words, comments went back and forth, there was some shoving, "get outta my face" "don't talk back to me" "you'll see what I'm like". We know what Tuesday's presser and Letterman appearances will certainly mention now. Johnson later apologized, but man is he in for it. Even if he is a Yankee now.
Randy, Randy, Randy - this is NY, they're already calling it a "tirade" and that you "walk on snitty streets". With NY media, just do what they say, pretend you love it (and them), and welcome to the biggest fishbowl in the entire world. And remember that you wanted to come here.
2nd sports bit: Randy Moss will so get fined for his "mooning," as he should. But the motion is nothing new for Packer fans - they drop their pants as a salute to the losing team as they roll away in buses. Moss' cheeks never saw the cold light of day.

Tuesday: Lakers were to practice today in Denver, but their flight from MN was delayed for over two hours.

Wednesday: Lakers conduct their shoot-around in the hotel ballroom, Mihm takes out a lamp.
Not LA related, but ESPN's Outside the Lines for tonight is about:
Warming up to Russia / Wednesday, January 12, 2005 / 11:58 pm ET, 8:58 pm PT ESPN
With no end to the NHL lockout in sight, playing time and paychecks are scarce for NHL players. Some of the league's stars have found both in remote areas of Russia where millionaire owners are willing to spend what it takes to get the world's best hockey players on their team. For Stanley Cup winners Vincent Lecavallier and Brad Richards it has meant exchanging St. Petersburg, Florida for Siberia. Even superstar Jaromir Jagr is braving the below zero temperatures for a chance at a huge paycheck. Tonight on OUTSIDE THE LINES, Reporter Rachel Nichols travels to Siberia to talk with these players about their difficult adjustment to a foreign culture and language, all in an effort to keep playing a familiar game. Bob Ley hosts.
GUESTS: Rachel Nichols, ESPN Reporter / Michael Farber, SI Sr Writer

Thursday: Lakers had a flight situation upon landing early this morning when they got in from Denver. ESPN report on it, as Sasha said, "better not to know."
Team had a shoot-around a few hours before the game.
Providence sure knew about it on their flight, Tues night/Wed morning story from ESPN.
In covering sports, as an employee of the team or as a writer, my only issue's the travel. I don't mind living out of a suitcase, different hotels throughout the week, sitting on a plane, typing on a bus, making sure I always have fresh batteries, etc. I have no familial ties and actually enjoy life on the road, it beats the pants off a desk. However, it's the 15 passenger vans going 75+ on the highway and the bus rides at 2:30am in bad weather (think Notre Dame) and the small planes (think Payne Stewart), and especially the small planes in bad weather (think Ebersols, Okla State, Hendrick Motorsports). And I refuse to get in a helicopter, which is all NASCAR seems to use these days - no way. And I am not some spooky flier or nutcase, I've been on planes since before I could walk and my father was a commercial pilot for 25+ years (the no helicopter rule comes from him). Deep down, sports travel in bad situations continues due to the almighty dollar, and I think there should be some sort of plan for inclement weather and team travel and scheduling. Take Denver coming back to play the Laker game this week. Would it have been terrible if they either didn't take off and then left in the AM or when they landed and decided to bus it, to just have stayed there and get some solid sleep and regroup during the day. Baseball seems to make it through every season just fine with postponements and rescheduling from weather. I've been to Colorado Springs for Olympic stuff, they have hotels.
Hmmm, inconvenience a few thousand people and maybe lose a sponsor here or there, or just risk the loss of the whole damn team?

Friday: Team off to Oakland for Saturday's game; Kobe, for now, to go on IL for 5 games, ankle to be re-evaluated on Monday.

Mentions of Medvedenko

Hoops World has this piece on how the triangle rides again

InsideHoops analysis of the West

AllSports NBA News states how Slava or Luke can start at forward with Butler during Kobe's absence

Saturday, 15 January @ Golden State
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
LA, in the midst of a 14-4 run in the 4th quarter, is holding onto a slim lead. After letting the Warriors back into the game and then proceeding to fall behind, the Lakers have played some good basketball (granted, it's against a not-so-great team) and could very well conclude this week at 3-1. Sasha got his first NBA start tonight.
I'll stop now, no jinxing.
Slava in the 4th, for Slava, has been quite animated. Clapped on the Odom bucket with 4 minutes to play, then with 2:40 remaining there was a big exclamation on the Atkins' three.
>>> Lakers pulled out the win, thanks to Lamar Odom with 1.3 seconds to go, winning 104-102. No clapping from Slava on the eventual game-winner, but Tierre Brown's pretty steal with 2:14 left got some approval.

And, just because, here's Bill Simmons' latest ESPN column

Thursday, 13 January vs Cleveland
7:30pm PST; TNT National Coverage
Team is hanging in there as they are just getting into the 4th quarter, 71 apiece. Odom has played well, Sasha's in there, no Slava and no Luke. Game over, and with less than 15 seconds to go, LA almost lost this one... but they hung on and defeated the Cavs 98-94. Butler with 11 rebounds, as Worthy said in the locker room, "this brother ate glass for dessert."
On Slava: Yellow warmups, actually clapped while still in the 1st half, gum & bubbles. Spent game pretty much in the middle of the bench, clapped at the Tierre Brown to Odom back to Brown play as well as the Brown shot tipped in by Jumaine Jones. Even clapped on one of Grant's FTs with a minute to play in the first half. Didn't call for the pants until 6:14 to play in the 3rd. Chatted a bit with Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas during pregame warmups (Lithuanian league alums).

Kobe injured his ankle 6 minutes into the game, carried off, x-rays are negative for a break (but sometimes it takes a week to show up), MRI on Monday to see about ligament damage - there could be an injury to two in there that would mean trouble, but need to see the tests. As they said on TV, the way Bryant turned it, not just outside but how he didn't have his heel on the ground - that isn't good.
     Lakers fans, learn these terms, impress your coworkers... calcaneofibular ligament (outside of ankle, back towards heel) and the anterior talofibular ligament (sort of where your right shoelace comes out of the sneaker; the weakest of the four ankle ligaments). Extra bad news if the posterior talofibular ligament (which is the strongest lateral ligament) is also involved, normally happens with dislocation of the talus.
Easiest way to explain:
calcaneous = heel
talus = top of foot
tibia = large shin bone
fibula = second smaller, outside shin bone.
The ligaments made up of these word combinations are the bridges to those bones.
     My RX based on seeing the injury - inversion ankle sprain (more common to roll ankle out than in), swollen, bruised, can't tell ligament damage on an x-ray anyways and that's where the MRI comes in, probably started swelling almost immediately - also why MRI to be done later. Other tests on an ankle include the talar tilt, anterior drawer and the highly sophisticated but careful-how-you-say-it "shuck" test.
     I'm guessing at least a Grade 2 sprain (partial tearing and stretching) and very well could be a Grade 3 (complete tear). We won't even get into nerve supply. The no-weight-bearing as he went off the court isn't good, also not good if he heard a popping or felt a snap. In a normal person, a 1st degree sprain is 4-6 weeks recovery, 6-12 for a 3rd. (Note - normal person isn't a pro player with full-time medical care at their disposal.)
Found these graphics, ankle anatomy and ligament specific. Both view are of the right ankle, pinkie toe closest to you.

This is the very reason I took tons of athletic training courses in college, so I would know what was going on when someone went down and not have to run around and look stuff up or ask every medical person I found. My ankle recall is pretty good (I also tape a mean ankle), but I'm a knee expert however, have had surgeries on both mine and problems with them since I was around 11. Yet, to the amazement of my surgeon (yes, it's to the point where I have my own guy), I can still ski. There is a god.

Wednesday, 12 January @ Denver
6pm PST; NBA TV
They say one is the loneliest number, not in Laker-land - it's three. Bad news: they haven't been able to string together three wins in a row all year; Good news: they have yet to lose three straight too. LA, who was pretty poor all night, fell apart in the 2nd quarter and came up short, 83-95 against a pretty bad Nuggets team. Weather problems even had Denver arriving home from their Tuesday night road game in Sacramento at 8:30am Wednesday morning. Rudy T after the game, "it was a big bleepin' disappointment." Maybe he needs to get pissed off a bit more, though the team didn't respond to his half-time rant at all.
The up-side, Slava got some minutes and some points.

This is brief for now, 1am and have to be up at 5am and off on my own road trip at 7am, will update Thurs if possible...
On Slava: Purple warmups, put into the game with 5:39 remaining. Nice feed from a Sasha to Luke pass, that Walton pinballed over to Slava who skyhooked it in for his 1st bucket with about a minute to play. Tipped in a Jones three-pointer as time was winding down for his second.
Box score from ESPN

Monday, 10 January @ Minnesota
5pm PST; Actual NBA TV
Lakers pulled out a win tonight as they defeated the Timberwolves, 105-96. It was quite a decent showing for the team, they were down throughout the game, 16 at one point and it became Minnesota's to lose - which they did. Fueled by a 23-5 run in the 4th, LA came back to win their 2nd in a row. Shhh, there could be a 3rd on Wednesday.
No Slava, Luke or Sasha in the game.
On Slava: Purple warmups, middle to end of bench tonight, had some clapping action in the 4th as team came back. Slava was working the gum, but could also be working a cold - either that or he's developing an odd habit.

I came across this and just think it's funny

Some recent articles that may be of interest...

- ESPN's Bill Simmons has this take on the first 1/3 of the NBA season with his favorite 33 things. If you love sports, you'll think he's funny. If you've only sort of heard of the Red Sox, you'll think he's funny. If you like to laugh and you like sports, you have to love his stuff. I try to laugh all the time, or at least a few times a day - even if mainly at my own expense, but who cares. He just plain cracks me up. Constantly. And anything he writes about going to Vegas with his friends has me in tears from laughing so hard. I confess, I can just sit and read his stuff and laugh, whether at work or at home. Did I tell you, he's funny.

Here's a sample from his list of 33 NBA things...

21. Kobe Bryant
My favorite e-mail of the season, courtesy of Houston reader John McMurray: "We need, at a bare minimum, a 5,000 word column on Kobe Bryant. Can you believe the drama that surrounds this guy? He is absolutely crazy, but in a Michael Corleone kind of way. Can't you just see Kobe sitting alone in the boathouse at his mansion on Lake Tahoe, just staring into the darkness?"

17. Heat-Lakers, Christmas Day
One of the better regular season games in recent memory: High drama, high caliber of play, tons of wacky celebs on hand, satisfying conclusion (Kobe missing the game-winner), and most importantly, Hubie Brown's dramatic return to TV. You couldn't ask for much more.
(Well, except for one thing: I would have loved to have been able to wager on the pregame greeting between Shaq and Kobe. One of the internet sites should have provided this -- we could have had possibilities like "Touching fists: 2-to-1," "Kobe goes for the hug, Shaq spurns him: 5-to-1," "Double butt slaps: 20-to-1" and "Shaq punches Kobe in the face: 100-to-1." I probably would have wagered on what ended up happening - "Kobe comes over like a big phony, Shaq obliges with a half-assed hand-shake and refuses to make eye contact: 3-to-2.")

11. The Pacers-Pistons Melee
I know, I know ... just a terrible night for the league. But look at it this way:
-That was the most memorable TV night in years, possibly since the OJ Bronco Chase.
-Nobody was seriously hurt -- not even the stubby Pistons fan who looked like Turtle from Entourage and took the right cross from Jermaine O'Neal.
-Stephen Jackson somehow becomes funnier every time you watch the tape -- he's like Reed Rothchild in "Boogie Nights" at this point. My favorite part is when he exits the tunnel with his arms raised as everyone throws beer on him. Even a WWE wrestler would have been ducking for cover -- he was waving the crowd on. What a lunatic.
It gave us some of the funniest David Stern moments in recent memory -- including his "It was a 1-0 vote and I won" quote.
-Every game that involves Ron Artest from this point forward becomes riveting TV, especially if he's wheeled out on the Hannibal Lecter stretcher for the introductions.
-You know something's good when it gets the coveted "Save Until I Delete" status on my TiVo. Now that's an achievement.

8. Talking to my Dad after Celtic home games
Every conversation goes pretty much like this:
- Me: You go to the game?
- Dad: Yeah, we lost.
- Me: I know, I watched. How was it?
- Dad (long pause): I mean ... Mark Blount ... it's like he's not even trying out there! At least Perkins, he tries. Blount doesn't care. Put that in your column, you need to write about this. He's stealing money!
_____
And this from an NBA season preview...
     When I'm running ESPN some day, I plan on switching our announcers to different sports for November sweeps. Imagine Joe Theismann broadcasting NBA games, saying things like "You're not gonna last too long in the National Basketball Association by making passes like that" and "I want to tell you guys something, that turnover was caused by the defensive pressure of assistant coach Dick Harter, who's been doing an extra-ORDINARY job all game"? Comedy would ensue. Everyone would live happily ever after.
     Sadly, this can't happen. They won't even put me in charge of ESPN6. Still, I was thinking of Joe when I typed the following paragraph last night: "In the National Basketball Association, the East and West conferences are like the Hilton Sisters. Maybe they look alike, and maybe they're both overrated products that receive far too much hype, but one of them is ten times more interesting than the other. And in this case, the West is Paris Hilton."
Check out his regular column stuff on ESPN/Page 2 here. You may have to pay ($40 a year with perks) but there's also a 30 day preview option, so some rainy weekend, hunker down and read all about it.

- The latest Sports Illustrated that's out now (Jan 10, 2005 with USC on cover) has a really unique article by Michael Farber on NHL players who are suiting up in Russia, entitled "Tampa Bay to Tatarsan." Had to include it, aside from a Mike Modano sighting at the Lakers-Rockets game, this is all the hockey there is.
Story could possibly work via this link, no promises though

- The New York Times from Jan 09, 2005
European Pioneer: A Rough Road Paved the Way
(Reprinted here because NYT links are only valid a few days, otherwise everyone has to register, it's a pain and the article's short. So there.)
By Liz Robbins

     Sarunas Marciulionis wondered if it was worth it. Don Nelson, the Golden State Warriors' coach, was constantly criticizing him, publicly and privately, at practices and games, in a foreign language.
     There was also the pressure back home. At 25, a new father, Marciulionis had left Lithuania with the half-serious advice to succeed or be sent to Siberia. It was 1989, and he was the first Soviet player to join the N.B.A., when government officials grudgingly granted him his release.
     Then in Oakland, Nelson was in his face. "He was pushing me to the edge to contribute," Marciulionis, now 40, said by telephone this week from his home in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he has built a basketball school and developed a hotel and a mall. His reaction to Nelson? "It's my life, I don't need the money," he recalled. "I can't be humiliated like that in front of 15,000 people. I'll just pack my bag and go back."
     But he had won a gold medal with the Soviet Olympic team in 1988 and played professionally in Lithuania in the Soviet league. He knew he belonged in the N.B.A., and he remembered his responsibility.
     "I thought of who was behind me," he said. "And it's not just me, it's other players like Vlade, Petrovic, Volkov. That was a frontier. If we would fail, I don't think there would be 18 percent of European players there are in the league today."
     Today, 79 foreigners play in the N.B.A. But in 1989, the only Eastern Europeans aside from Marciulionis were the Serbians Vlade Divac (Lakers) and Zarko Paspalj (Spurs), the Croat Drazen Petrovic (Trail Blazers) and the Ukrainian Alexander Volkov (Hawks).
     "It was a whole different era," recalled Donnie Nelson, then an assistant coach for his father at Golden State. "In a lot of respects, these guys were living the Jackie Robinson years. Nellie is hard on rookies, period, not to mention international rookies who don't speak English. It was difficult for all of us."
     Marciulionis, a major figure in the development of Lithuanian basketball, played four seasons for the Warriors and finished his N.B.A. career with Denver in 1997. "Sarunas had to break through a number of barriers to achieve success," Donnie Nelson said. "He's a national hero. He's also an international hero that helped build a bridge to the N.B.A."

- Mercury News has this AP piece on the MLB scheduling pair

- USA Today story on the new MLB scheduler

Week Ten

2005-01-02T21:38:00.000-05:00

The Lakers face Denver at home before taking on Texas the rest of the week. Back-to-back games at San Antonio and Dallas finish up with Houston back at Staples Center on Friday. Word is that Sasha (that's Sasha, not Slava) could be getting more minutes soon. Entering this week, LA is 15-12 overall, 10-6 at home while Denver stands at 14-15 and 4-9 while on the road.

Monday: Lakers practice before leaving for TX has Slava in purple with the grey sweats. His pants are enormous, they're like MC Hammer pants or something

Tuesday: For anyone interested, ABC's Nightline tonight will have a sports related topic, when is it time to retire/walk away as a pro athlete. If the Orange Bowl ever comes to an end.

Wednesday: From the mouth of Rudy T in the San Fran Gate... Tomjanovich said not having Divac could mean more minutes for Slava Medvedenko, who hasn't played much lately. "I think the guy deserves to start playing."

And from the Press-Enterprise: Divac on the shelf could mean more playing time for forward Slava Medvedenko, who hasn't been part of the rotation this season, playing in six games.
Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said Medvedenko could earn more time. "He deserves a shot," Tomjanovich said. "He was a victim of circumstances early because there was nothing established here and guys did well. He's done well. He deserves a shot. I'm happy for the guy."
Medvedenko fell behind in training camp when he bruised his right heel. He averaged 8.3 points and 5.1 rebounds, both career highs, in 68 games last season.
"It ain't easy being a coach where you know you've got a guy who is a good player," Tomjanovich said. "I still agonize over that.
"I just think the guy deserves to start playing," he added. "I don't know how you can cut it up. But I'm going to go and see how he does."

Mentions of Medvedenko

Hoopsworld.com's 2nd Annual New Year's Resolutions list. Eric Pincus had this main blurb for Slava: "Slava Medvedenko - Go to confession. You must have done
something horrible to Rudy . . . I'm more likely to get into the game than you.
Get absolution . . . apologize . . . and then beg for a minute or two.
Then, when you do hit the floor, make it impossible for Rudy to take you out."

San Antonio Express-News had this blurb from Tuesday: "They'll see a little more of California tonight, albeit on their own floor, when the Los Angeles Lakers return to the SBC Center for the first time since Derek Fisher skipped off the court after Game 5 of last season's Western Conference semifinals.
While the locals won't soon forget Fisher's .4-second catch-and-release, most of the Lakers have trouble recalling it. Of the 12 players on Los Angeles' active roster, only Kobe Bryant, Luke Walton, Stanislav Medvedenko and Brian Cook were among the 19,000 witnesses that night."

San Francisco Gate from pre-Dallas on Divac's back and the quote on Slava playing more

Press Enterprise notebook, has the extended version of Rudy T's Slava comments

LA Daily News article on Divac and some Slava playing time

Star-Telegram recap of game, mentions a Slava shot attempt

BBC Sport has the wire report as well

Sports Illustrated NBA's Roundup with a little press for Medvedenko

Friday, 7 January vs Houston
7:30p PST; National coverage on ESPN
For the second night in a row, the Lakers net 104 points - but tonight they won, defeating the Rockets 111-104. No Slava in the game.
On Slava: Yellow warmups, middle of the bench through the game, had shorts on to start the 3rd but called for the pants a few minutes later

Wednesday, 5 January @ Dallas
5:30p PST; NBA TV
Game over, Lakers lose 104-118. Medvedenko played 7 minutes (actually 6:48) and had a defensive rebound and an assist. Tapped to enter game with 2:22 to go in the first but didn't get in until 1:11 remaning. Played until 7:12 to go in the half, a little winded towards end of his time, but really to be expected. Re-entered game with 39.1 seconds to go in the 1st half and got his assist in that spurt.
On Slava: Purple warmups, got in the game for the 2nd night in a row, a first this year. Pinkie = untaped. Spent his time mid-bench in shorts and then had a towel draped over legs. I tell you, the man must have poor circulation, he's always covered - pants, draped towels, shoot around jersey and normally the jacket on over that to boot. Had a couple clapping bursts in the 2nd half from the bench, for Butler's three and a Mihm bucket, also when Mihm was fouled.
Two riveting shots from the Mavs game

ESPN box score

Of note: we have hit the 1000 hits mark, thanks to all those who stop by - either on purpose or by accident
I have a couple random shots from this game to put up as well, am a little surprised that there's only one professional pic from Tuesday's game.
Oh well, no respect.

Tuesday, 4 January @ San Antonio
5:30pm PST; Actual NBA TV
- Not only has Slava entered the game (LA getting waxed), but he has scored his first bucket of the year!! It drew animated clapping from Rudy T and also Cook and Odom on the bench.
- Holy crap, with just over 2 minutes to go, he's played 10 minutes, had 12 points and 2 rebounds. Second in points to Kobe's 17 and ahead now of Mihm and Odoms's 10 points!
- Ha! 11 min, 14 points now! On his second FGM had a nice spin move on Massenburg to his right,
- Well, game over, still a loss, but talk about making the most of a rare chance! Huffing a bit by end of game, but he was in there and he made'em count.
ESPN's box score of the game. After missing his 1st shot 30 seconds into the 4th, he ended up 8-10 FG with an off and def rebound in 12 minutes for 16 points. Bryant 17 points, Odom and Mihm at 10 apiece. For Slava's final buckets, some of the guys on the bench were high-fiving and shaking their heads. Early in the fourth, when jumping around under the basket, it looked like Slava came down unevenly with his right foot on another player's foot but didn't appear to roll it or even have the ankle hit the ground. Everyone who wore a uniform got in the game tonight for both sides.
I will be watching this one tonight when I get home, someone better get some ink in the papers tomorrow, all I gotta say. One of my closest friends writes for an area TX paper, I'll be getting made fun of with that appearance from Slava since he's been nonexistent this season. I went to college with a player on one of these Texas teams LA faces this week, there will be no discussion about any European players. The beauty of the internet, eh?

These are quick things late Tues night, more on Wed/Thurs...
ESPN recap of the game, no Medvedenko in the writeup, but he and Duncan have pics as top performers from the night
San Francisco Gate had this from the night
ESPN page where you can see the shot chart of his 3 from the paint, 4 of the money shot (17/18-22 footers) and 10 footer, and here is the play-by-play for the fourth
SA's broadcast team of Sean Elliot and Bill Land had high marks for some players that never seem to get off the Laker bench. Elliot, when Slava was out there at the start of the 4th, said that he's not in the LA lockerroom, but Slava and Luke are guys that should be getting more playing time.
Also, as Slava was entering double digit territory, "Medvedenko is absolutely killing them" and "He's a European ballplayer, a big man. How many players from Europe that are also that size come over here to block shots and play defense? How 'bout none! They're here to shoot."

PS - An academic "hello" to our new reader from Harvard.

Slava Shots from Tuesday night

Sunday, 2 January vs Denver
6:30pm PST; NBA TV
Lakers won 99-91, Kobe had 42 - third straight game with 40+ points, Odom had 15 rebounds. Slava, Luke and Sasha didn't play
On Slava: White warmups, it's Sunday after all. Spent the game on the bench, but more in the middle. We'll take any sort of progress at this point. 1st half in the full outfit with jacket, 2nd half was the pullover shirt (and of course the 3rd quarter began with the draped pants). Appeared amused when little* Earl Boykins drew the offensive foul on Butler and Caron went to the bench. *Boykins is 5'5 and 135, Butler 6'7 and 215 - I've even got nearly a half foot on Earl. As the game ended, Medvedenko turned around and gave Devean George a bop on the head after a Butler FT.

Sunday: Have had to sit through printer and computer nightmare for work in closing out the programs for the year. We put men on the moon, have a RC toy on Mars that even sends us images, I have an $18,000 computer system - but still have to sit here for 6+ hours in order to approve and babysit a printing job that uses up two reams of paper.
Ridiculous.
I am selling my business in the next 2-3 months and getting back to what I love as "my real job" soon after. I really don't care if I end up moving to another state or time zone, back to sports is all I want, hell, I'll even do NASCAR. My only rule: nothing super hot, so no AZ, TX, or any of those places where they say "but it's a dry heat" - no way! Working on my resume right now during this day as well. Won't miss doing this job the first two days of 2006, that's for sure.
This NHL news makes the whole day even worse. Maybe 2 years?!
MSNBC's whiner of the year in sports
And one story with a happy ending from the tsunamis found here.
I've been fooling with and adding to the sidebar, pardon it's weird appearance for now. Also been finding and editing a bunch of new Slava pics to add to the site somehow, whether during weekly posts or just to throw them in for variety.
So, while "working" with the aid of the new Green Day and U2 albums, here's the lineup for the week.

1 January 2005

2005-01-01T10:43:00.000-05:00

Moscow,
Kiev and
New York
kiss 2004
goodbye...
Hello 2005!

Week Nine

2004-12-26T17:50:00.000-05:00

Just one game this week, still at home as the Lakers take on Toronto. The team had Sunday off after the Christmas OT loss.

Mentions of Medvedenko

San Bernardino Sun interview with Kupchak on the current team status

Tuesday, 28 December vs Toronto
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
Lakers won 117-99 after finally pulling away in the fourth quarter. They are now 15-12 and are third in the Pacific. Currently Phoenix and Sacramento are 1 and two while the Clippers and Golden State are 4 and 5.
They next play Sunday at home, then they take on the state of Texas (@ SA, @ DAL, vs HOU).
On Slava: No Slava in the game, yet again. Luke and Sasha didn't see any action either. Was in the yellow and Slava spent the game towards the end of the bench, next to Walton. Had pants draped and then snapped on in the 3rd, seems to get some amusement from watching Rudy T's sideline antics

I'll update more from 12/25 and 12/28 in the next day or so, am fooling with the way the weekly posts are setup in an effort to make them even more readable. Currently I am fighting VHF-UHF and S cables, splitters and input/output wires in trying to connect a new Christmas toy to existing ones. I am a pretty good gadget girl, but can't get "the system" to work all together. Who would have thought that an existing and working setup of (1) TV, (2) TiVo, (3) 5 DVD surround sound player and a (4) VCR cannot connect sensibly to a (5) DVD recorder. After my adjustments, 1-2-4 work and 1-2-5 work, can still connect 1-2-3-4 no problem, but throw 5 in there and nothing!
Grrr.

December 25th

2004-12-24T23:02:00.000-05:00

Hope you enjoyed eight crazy nights, had a great Festivus, that Santa was good to you, you have a fabulous Kwanzaa, a relaxing Boxing Day, and will party like it's nineteen-ninety-nine, er... 2005.

<-- This is my idea of some classical holiday music, Merry Merry.

Week Eight

2004-12-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

The Lakers begin a lengthy homestretch of five games between now and January 2, they enter this week an overall record of 13-10. You may have heard, their game on Saturday (Christmas) is against the Heat and a some player they acquired over the summer - Shaq.

In Sunday's practice, Slava was in the purple jersey with his usual grey sweatpants, seemed pretty upbeat.

Tuesday: Shaq is out of tonight's game with a calf injury and therefore could be questionable for Christmas Day. This comes the day after he warned Kobe that running fancy cars into brick walls is not advised. And that comes a day or so after he told ESPN that he wanted the game on Saturday to be the highest rated NBA game ever. Just goes to show, talk enough trash - implied or straight out, and it may happen, but he needs to be on the court. Update: Calf seems to be better, played Wed night, "game-on" for Xmas.

Thursday: Slava in purple for practice

Mentions of Medvedenko

San Bernardino County Sun on space that'll be made for Grant to return this week

Old ESPN link from 2001 that talks about Slava and summer league play, they weren't too nice. But, they couldn't even spell his name correctly, "Slanislav" - nice fact checking.

Google Israel's listing of the site, pretty interesting to see one of their pages, I've only seen German and Russian Google before. Also, we have not only managed to get on Google (regular Google.com), but the site is a first page result for searches of Slava Medvedenko (with or without quotes). No such luck yet for Stanislav Medvedenko however.

Daily Breeze article on the TV show "Catch It" that will highlight fishing as well as some Lakers, including the Santa boat trip with Slava. Airs Dec 25 at 5pm PST on KDOC, ch 56

Saturday, 25 December vs Miami
12noon PST; ABC National Coverage
(aside from the game, KDOC ch 56 in CA at 5pm is airing a fishing show from the Lakers and kids trip, check link in section above)
LA fell to the Heat 102-104 in OT. Kobe had a season-high 42, Shaq had 24 points and 11 rebounds before he fouled out with just over 2 minutes to go in regulation. Bryant didn't score again after that. Numbers are in and the game was not the highest rated ever. However, it was the highest rated since the Feb 1998 Lakers vs Bulls (and Jordan) game.
On Slava: No playing time for Slava, white warmups, working on the gum, appears to have gotten another haircut, pinkie untaped, sort of made his way up and down the bench throughout the game but sat more in the middle again. Was in the background of the NBA/ABC halftime video of Christmas visits by teams and players when they were showing Grant. Had a clapping burst towards end of 3rd when Kobe passed left to Atkins who nailed a big three to make it 71-63.

Wednesday, 22 December vs New Orleans
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
The Lakers avoided extending their home court losing streak to three games (unheard of) by defeating NO 101-89. It still wasn't pretty, but it's a win. Any good from that is lost because Caron Butler will most likely be suspended for Saturday's game against Miami due to throwing a "punch." He was tripped and then intentionally hampered in getting up by some little Hornet guy, then turned to take a swipe at him for laying awkwardly on his legs. He was ejected, but he'll miss another for sure. The guy who pinned him only got a technical foul. I didn't see all of the game, no real details, Grant is back and played 13 minutes while Vlade is on the DL due to a "flare up" with the back.
My Miami preview - look for Shaq to come in and steamroll. Kobe has the capability to have a huge game (remember 50+ vs Michael) but the Heat have won 9 in a row and they're playing well. Lakers haven't won more than two in a row, no Butler, it'll be Grant's 2nd game back, and Mihm cannot get in foul trouble. Mihm had a great night tonight, 21 rebounds! He's really impressed me, good solid player, calm and thoughtful person, a nice addition to the team.
On Slava: Will try to post the incredible details of a night on the bench sometime on Thursday. Slava (in yellow, with gum) did clap in support for Butler as he left the court. During the pregame show he got some camera time while working on his money shot from the left side, usual sleeves pushed up.
After work I have to run errands, go into the city to pick up my sister at the airport at the real convenient time of 11pm, and get some last minute food things before Xmas - I am making a Cranberry-Apple Kissel with topping as my holiday feast contribution before we head over to the parental units on Friday. I was going to make either a chocolate Prague or Kiev cake, but I don't have the time to create flowers from icing and who wants a plain cake? Maybe for New Year's. My sister is coming in from Libya, yes that read Libya. Don't knock it, she's fresh off of almost 9 months in Mosul. The very same Mosul with the explosion this week, where she ate countless times.

Monday, 20 December vs Memphis
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
Lakers drop two in a row at home, falling 72-82 to the Grizzlies. Things could get even uglier before they start looking up. Sasha and Vlade didn't play, Vlade would've had a hard time since he wasn't even inside the Staples Center due to reinjuring his back. Two reports are heard: it's mild and he'll be back after some rest but another says it's more serious and he could be out awhile. But back to the game because there was a major event - Slava entered the game to start the 2nd quarter and remained until 6:51 to go in the first half. So far the box score has it as 3 minutes, but that's wrong. I'll review it later, but I used to keep the official NCAA book at the table for a Div I school, and I think he should be credited for five minutes. I couldn't hear the crowd when he got onto the court, but he got a nice reception when he went back to the bench. He had one foul, which looked more like he was the one getting fouled, and he attempted one (quick) shot. The crowd booed the team as the game finally ended. I have yet to find any photos from his playing time.
Update: game over, Lakers lose, box score now reads Medvedenko with 5 minutes.

Before the game started, a cameraman got stuck between the team huddle and Slava, causing him to crack a smile. Then had a humurous exchange with Devean George where he actually laughed. Terrible photos (roll over for comments), but any proof of a smile from the usually self-contained Slava is fair game.
On Slava: Yellow warmups, had the gum, played for 5:09 in the 2nd quarter (though not sure if he plays with the gum). Spent part of the third in his pullover and shorts, then back to the warmups covering his legs and at a commercial break/time out they get snapped back up. Can't say the man doesn't have a routine. Seemed that the pinkie wasn't taped. Again, was more towards the middle of the bench. When Medvedenko left the game, the commentators mentioned that he needs to do more offensively, but considering he's only been in three games for 2, 4 and 3 minutes before tonight... not really fair. Let's give this a shot... Сегодня вечером, мне нравится смотреть Славу играть в баскетбол. Not sure if my cases are correct, however. It's only been a few months.
Here is ESPN's box score

Personally, I think it's nuts to play a pro sport on Christmas. I can deal with Thanksgiving, a number of times as a little girl I saw Celtics games either Turkey Eve or Turkey Day. I don't remember the exact days and don't recall who Boston played in any of them, but it was back when Bird was still playing really well - so you know that was awhile ago, I'd say 1982-88ish. I do remember it took hours in the car to get to Boston, and whatever job my uncle had, his company had box seats at the Garden and I vividly recall leaning out over the rail (looking down at the Celtics bench) to watch the games - and make my mother nervous. I still remember which Bruin banner hung where, how it seemed all those retired circled numbers and the championships way up in the rafters were right there in front of me - almost eye level, the breeze on my face - yes, it got windy up there, and how the banners would sway back and forth throughout the night. No wonder I don't know who the Celtics were playing. Going to the Garden for some basketball was exciting, but it was better the couple times when the Bruins were the ones in action around Turkey Day. And the Bruins were never even 'my team' - it was the history of them that I loved, an Original Six member and the man behind the 'legend of the fours' - Bobby Orr, who even though he was a retiree, was my favorite growing up.
Back to holiday games... even Easter games are fine with me - I'm not religious at all, but it just seems that Christmas should be left alone. Or, if you have to do it, make it teams that are at least nearby so that the players can then go to their actual home quickly - like NJ vs NY or Indiana and Chicago, LA vs LA. Let's not even mention all the other people that have to come into work... parking attendents, janitors, all folks who should be able to spend the whole day at home with their family. Just my opinion.
Technically, Slava plays on both Christmas Days, Dec 25 and Jan 7.
Week Nine next week has only one game, so I'll come up with some other theme and start gathering pictures or something to add to the post.
Second sidenote: Why do people lose their minds the week before Christmas? It's best to avoid any place where people may gather, thank god for shopping online. I've done all my shopping online for years, I won't even consider going back to the old way, or the malls. I even get my groceries, set up dog food deliveries, you name it, I buy it online. Today I had the pleasure of finishing up my shopping and adding a second car to my insurance. Not that I got a new car (I've never had a "new" car), this is a car I've had for years (found it online and went to Chicago to pick it up) but never wanted to sell - for some reason I get attached to cars. It just sits in the driveway, especially the past four years when I bought my 1994 SUV (online, thank you eBay!), and I need to sell it and get some money out of it, so it needs to have all the paperwork updated, etc. Yeah, what does a girl need with two cars, nothing - she doesn't need them... so I'm entering the final months of ownership of my beloved diesel 1985 Mercedes station wagon. The cost to add it? $185 dollars. That's not a monthly payment, that's $185 total! Hysterical! Yes, I own a nearly 20 year old car and a nearly 11 year old SUV. We're all almost the same age!

Week Seven

2004-12-12T14:05:00.000-05:00

The Lakers enter this week with four games on tap - a pair of road games sandwiched by home appearances. The team is now 11-8 on the year, with records of 7-3 at home and 4-5 on the road. At least we get to see the Sunday whites, which has become my favorite of the uniforms. Man, that yellow is still atrocious, didn't they learn anything from the Kings and dropping purple? That's okay, I referred to the playing arena as The Forum last month, old habits die hard. Scroll down for game notes, after the fishing story.
Side note: I refuse to call 'the facility' in Boston anything but The Garden. I even have three seats from that great, original building. I drove up there when they were selling things off before the wrecking ball came through. Yes, I got up at 4am and didn't get home until 9pm (my time was spent driving and standing in line) to spend (in my opinion) a small fortune to buy rickety seats with countless layers of nasty yellow paint. I love them. My Garden ties come from worshipping Bobby Orr. He and Vladislav Tretiak have to be my all-time favorite athletes, even though they were really before my time. God, I miss hockey. It was nice to see Brett Hull on Saturday Night Live last weekend, reminds people that there once was a fourth major sport. It's been 90 days! Of all the people in the entire world, I run into Brett Hull more than anyone else when I am in airports. Like five random times in the past 10 years or so, plus twice at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games (when he wasn't playing). I see him at the airport more than my family. Also, he's not 5'11, unless that's counting his skates. We stand blue eye to blue eye. Earlier this fall I ran into Jeff Van Gundy twice in one day in a little Connecticut town, but that doesn't count. He's not tall either.

Mentions of Medvedenko

Daily Breeze had this nice piece about Slava and some Lakers helping disadvantaged children and their families enjoy a special fishing trip last week. Learn more about the 976-Tuna program here, the following photos are from their site as well (roll over pics for brief details). It's a little weird to see Santa out fishing, as it's snowing while I am typing this. I can't imagine a Christmas without snow.

Orange County Register's piece on the event as well

Old link but it's the only reference to Medvedenko in French that I've come across

ESPN's Marty Burns latest Burning Questions with a Medvedenko mention at the end

Sports Central editorial on why college is better than pro with a Slava note on Point #8, for whatever this one is worth

ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher has this take on the Kobe/Karl issue, while the LA Times had this piece on Kobe. I'm not here to take sides, these are just two stories on different takes of current events, neither mentions Slava

In case the Daily Breeze link isn't active after a certain time, here is a reprint of the entire article:

Weekly Fishing Column: Kids enjoy memorable holiday trip
By Phil Friedman, Correspondent
Janet Simon from San Pedro was stringing garland across the stern of the Toronado out of Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach on Monday morning. Linda Chilton from the Cabrillo Marine Museum was hauling in a touch tank as 20 other volunteers from the 976-TUNA Youth Fishing Program were arriving.
Over 120 jumbo hot dogs, 130 In-N-Out burgers, 200 soft drinks, 100 rods and reels, hot chocolate, cookies, hooks, sinkers and more were being loaded on board the Toronado.
The occasion was the 2nd 976-TUNA Youth Homeless Fishing trip.
"These are the poor of the poor," said the Rev. Bill Thomas from the Long Beach Rescue Mission. "You can't believe how much these kids have been looking forward to this trip."
Fifty children and 25 adults arrived to Pierpoint Landing from four homeless shelters and headed right for the touch tank to actually touch a variety of marine animals.
"Look at their faces," homeless activist Ted Hayes said. "This is something special for these kids, and they're learning and loving it at the same time."
After a great lunch and wonderful experience with the touch tank, the kids lined up to board the Toronado for a day of catch-and-release fishing.
"You tell me the Lord is not shining down on this trip," Thomas said. "Heavy rain yesterday and beautiful weather today."
Toronado skipper Ray Lagmay anchored the Toronado and the kids started fishing. Maria Martinez had her two sons on board, and they could not have been more excited.
"Last year, Alejandro and Jose missed the boat and they were so sad for so long," Martinez said.
In fact, the two boys were on the docks last year when the Toronado arrived from the days fishing and could not hold back the tears.
"They were so sad. All they wanted to is fish, but I couldn't afford it and I didn't know how to teach them," Martinez said.
That was then and this was now.
"I've got another one," yelled Alejandro, smiling from ear to ear.
"Me too," Jose said. "That makes four."
The boy's mother couldn't help but catch three tom cod herself.
"You have no idea what this trip means to my family," Martinez said. "This is the best day of my children's lives."
This same kind of magic played out on the deck of the Toronado as smiles, laughter and joy were omnipresent. It was a special time indeed or kids who needed it most. And then came an announcement over the loud speaker.
"Children; the Coast Guard has just issued a Santa Claus advisory. Keep your eyes open as Santa Claus has been sighted on a yacht," said the voice.
The kids looked off the stern of the Toronado and sure enough, there he was. It was Santa Claus with some very special elves. Riding with Santa Claus were Brian Cook, Chris Mihm and Slava Medvedenko, along with five members of the Laker Girls dance team.
You could just feel the excitement and joy on the deck of the Toronado as the kids shouted for Santa Claus to stop. Santa Claus came on board with a new rod and reel courtesy of Shimano for every child on board. Kevin Jamieson from Booyaa had a new shirt for ever child.
The Laker players and Laker girls went to each child and wished them a Merry Christmas. They talked with the kids, ate with the kids and of course fished with the kids. Each child also received a Lakers backpack loaded with goodies.
Alejandro and Jose just sat mesmerized looking at their new rods and reels.
Fighting back tears and looking at here two boys, Martinez could only say, "finally my boys have had a Merry Christmas."

Friday, 17 December vs Washington
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
LA donned very ugly light blue uniforms as part of a throw back deal, Washington was back in orange Bullets garb. It could be worse, Denver wears a similar nasty blue the entire year. The Lakers fell short in OT and lost 116-120, they were in it until Kobe's lane violation with a few seconds to go and down by three.
I watched the OT in 'real time,' after watching Team World vs Russia in hockey from Moscow, the replay of Igor Larionov's last game. Those first Soviet players into the NHL are real class acts, the current ones aren't bad, but it's hard to find better people. Yes, it was real hockey, at it's best - european style with big ice, skills, no clutch and grab and some real speed. I really believe one of the reasons I never took to basketball was that I could not put up with someone shoving me, locking arms all the time, the pushing, etc. (Another reason would be my issues with aim... I am used to small object, large goal from 20+ years of soccer and hockey.) If I played basketball, I would foul out constantly, probably from retaliation and annoyance. Sure, there's grabbing and holding in hockey, but I couldn't stand all that chaos under the basket. My idea of basketball is just shooting around for the fun of it, like my idea of golf means going to the driving range and hitting the hell out of the ball. I'm good at those, put me on a court or course, I don't think it would go so well. I digress, back to Slava...
On Slava: Medvedenko and his pale blue attire stayed on the bench, however he's moved more towards the middle, not stuck a seat or two from the end. He had the gum going, not much clapping at all, first half wore the jacket and second half had the white pullover shirt on. Blue pants as a cover to start the 3rd. I don't believe the pinkie was taped (nothing like 'pinkie-gate' updates). Lakers next game is Monday and starts a 5-game home stretch.

Thursday, 16 December @ Sacramento
7:30pm PST; National on TNT
LA gets a big road win - in both points and as a boost - with a 115-99 win over Sacramento. And yes, ladies and gentleman, Medvedenko got in the game!
On Slava: Purple warmups - pants the whole time and in the 1st half he had on both his pullover shootaround jersey and the jacket, gum, only a couple clapping episodes, couldn't get a clear shot but the left pinkie may not have been taped... almost the usual. With 3:10 to go Rudy T tapped Slava, and at 2:42 remaining in the game (offically 3 minutes in the box score), he got on the court during Evans' FT. The score was 113-91 at the time, and Slava soon touched the ball, passed it off, then later took a shot from just inside the 3-pt arch. That brought the attention of the announcer Steve Kerr who stated that he doesn't see anyone shoot the ball quicker than Slava, then 'corrected himself' and said Sasha Medvedenko, and that if he gets the ball, it's going up. They also referenced his heel injury from the start of the year and that this was only the third game he's appeared in all season. Medvedenko also was under the basket and put up a shot and tipped the rebound but it didn't fall. He was jumping around going after off and def rebounds, but only snared the one. Slava fouled Songaila twice, and I think after the first one he was mumbling to himself.
Box score from ESPN can be found here.

Tuesday, 14 December @ Seattle
7:00pm PST; NBA TV
Ukrainian Vitaly Potapenko, their 6'10 center was just activated (broken finger) on Saturday, so maybe the two will share the court, aside from a quick visit.
I don't really watch the games in real time per se, more checking in from time to time and then watch it on TiVo normally the next day on slow visual fast-forward. Told you at the start, basketball is not my sport. However, the pair calling the game for FSN Northwest, Craig Ehlo and Kevin Calabro are quite good. They are easy to listen to and right on the mark with their info and timing. Ok, now a final, the Lakers lose 93-108.
On Slava: Slava and his gum remain on the bench, getting pushed around by an animated Vlade. Purple warmups and the pants snapped back on in the third too. Hmmm... Slava, Vlade and Sasha are the only ones not playing, what is this - a foreign conspiracy? This is getting ridiculous. Even if LA wanted to float Slava as trade bait, wouldn't another team want to see some recent numbers from the guy? Sasha got in for about a minute at the end.

Sunday, 12 December vs Orlando
6:30pm PST; NBA TV
The Lakers, using a stronger second half, held off the Magic in the closing minutes and won 105-98 on Sunday, meaning they are off to a good start of an important week.
On Slava: The white warmups, no sleeves to push up in pregame drills, pants draped and then on in the 2nd half, left pinkie taped. Basically, the usual. No game minutes. In pregame he used Cook's shoulder to get some height for a shot. Was mentioned during the game that Rudy T was asked about Slava's playing time, which was explained away with not being able to play everyone all the time. Medvedenko clapped the most in the first half, a few times for some of Jones' three-pointers and on the nice Odom to Vlade pass.

Since there aren't any recent game photos of Slava that actually count, I've resorted to some 'from the archives' to use. The site is so much better with pictures, eh?
Keeping with the for-whatever-reason 'food theme' of this week, I've got a great shot - I believe from when Medvedenko was first in the US and to the Lakers. Can you imagine, everyone calling him Stanislav (and if my Ukrainian to Russian to English translation is correct, he's never gone by Stanislav) and then commanding him, "here, put this on."
Welcome to America, he must've wondered what he was getting into. The picture is large (also roll over for details), it's just not as amusing in a smaller size. Besides a laugh, the good thing that comes out of this photo shoot is the recipe that goes with it. Whether some Laker PR person just looked it up in a random cookbook or it really comes from Medvedenko, I'm not that good at getting the background. However, he did admit that he cannot cook, and if he must, it's scrambled eggs and potatoes.

As promised, here's the recipe for the bread, one of the few things I can cook, too bad it doesn't count as a meal.
Any readers have some great Ukrainian, Russian, etc recipes? Let's go crazy and see what happens. Wouldn't hurt to have some genuine culture on the site.
Georgian Cheese Bread (Khachapuri)
Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached white flour
half teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
2 eggs
quarter cup plain yogurt
one and a quarter pounds Suluguni cheese
1 egg yolk, beaten

Put the flour and salt in a medium bowl and cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Beat 1 egg and stir in the yogurt, then add to the flour mixture. Form into a ball and chill for 1 hour.

Grate the cheese coarsely, beat the other egg, and stir it into the cheese. Set it aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a large baking sheet. On a floured board roll the dough to a square about 14 x 14 inches. Trim the edges. Spread the cheese mixture into the middle of the dough leaving an equal distance on all sides. The cheese should form a square about 9 x 9 in the middle. Fold the four sides of the dough over the cheese. They can overlap.

Transfer the bread to the baking sheet and brush with beaten egg yolk. Bake for 50 minutes, or until browned. The bread is best served slightly warm, cut into small pieces.

Khachapuri can be made using other cheese variations. You can use Salted Feta Cheese (needs to be soaked first) with Mozzarella, or Mozzarella with Farmer Cheese.

History of Khachapuri - Khachapuri is the national fast food of Georgia. There are many variations of Khachapuri which vary from city to city in Georgia. It may be found in round, rectangular, and boat-shaped.

Week Six

2004-12-05T21:14:00.000-05:00

LA doesn't play another game until Wednesday, when they host the Suns and then 'visit' the Clippers on Saturday.

It's another short game week, so I'll be adding some random Slava things I've found to add to the entry.

Just a reminder as to what Slava Medvedenko looks like in a game, here's a shot from when he was starring for BK Kyiv. This is from the 14 Feb 2000 NEBL game against TSKA (Moscow), they lost. We've seen him in white, yellow and purple, so here's one in green.

Mentions of Medvedenko

HoopsWorld article on Rush trade and Bobbitt signing

LA Daily News had this small article on Slava and his lack of playing time. Positive aspect: the heel isn't a problem any more, he's practicing well, and Rudy T knows Slava's frustrated; the bad: the lost time cost him in learning the new offense and just isn't breaking into the rotation.

Saturday, 11 December @ LA Clippers
7:30pm PST; Actual NBA TV
LA (the visiting ones) built up a two-digit lead again in the 2nd half, only to let their opponent chip away and come back. However, on Saturday night, it was the Lakers that won it in the closing seconds, defeating the Clippers 89-87.
On Slava: Purple warmups, no playing time, heavy on the gum through the night and an unusual amount of bubble-blowing. Had the (left) pinkie taped, the pants draped and snapped back on in the third, a little clapping and it seems a lot of heavy sighing. Either that or he's got intense breathing problems. Four games coming up next week, hopefully Medvedenko will get on the court for more than pregame run-throughs. One other observation, Vlade seems to use Slava an awful lot as a launch pad when he jumps off the bench to complain about calls or cheer plays. Really, the boy could be getting bruised from all that!
The other news of the night, I am quite happy that the $50 Klitschko fight went into the 8th (and won by Klitschko) and that it wasn't over in just one or two rounds, that would have uber-been annoying.
And, as scary as it is to admit, I've found two 'appearances' by Slava in the game pictures from Saturday. (Roll over the pics for details. It's very weak, but that's him.)

Wednesday, 8 December vs Phoenix
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
After trailing almost the entire game, LA came back to take a double digit lead in the fourth. However, the 3pt shooting of the Suns was working and they tied it late in the fourth and won in the final seconds, 110-113. And you may have heard the latest tiff, Kobe made Karl mad... blah blah blah. Mini update: appears that before Kobe made Karl mad, in November Karl made Kobe mad. Won't go into it more, I'm not reporting on any such outside situations, plenty of details can be found elsewhere.
On Slava: Yellow warmups, decent amount of clapping, annoyed at the late offensive foul called on Mihm in the third. Continues to drape or wear warmup pants in 2nd half when rest of team is in shorts, his skinny legs must get cold. Gum chomping Slava got no playing time, yet again, sigh. * See article listing

Here are two Medvedenko-items that the Lakers put up for charity auctions in May 2004, and fortunately they both sold:

Staying with the autograph theme, here's a shot of Slava in action (signing after practice) from an eBay auction (seller said I could copy the picture, hence their marking):

This one is from the summer when Slava stopped by a basketball camp and spoke with the kids, some who were Russian and they got a huge kick out of it:

What the hell - here's another of Slava and fans. As a former teammate (Laker) said in May 2003, "But Slava's a scorer, man. I mean, this guy can sit on the bench for the whole game and then come out and make nearly every shot."

And, finally, in honor of fellow Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko and his title defense on Saturday, here's Vitali, Rocky Balboa, Slava and Wlad:

There's a great story of how when they were younger in Kyiv, Slava and his teammates used to beat up on Vitali for Klitschko's sparring sessions! (I could be wrong, but I think they may have even been paid to do so.) The basketball team shared a building with the boxers, and they were the only ones with size that could be found to go against Vitali. Win or lose, Vitali leaves for Kyiv on Sunday to help in the new election for Ukraine.

On a personal note, these few days are the three year anniversary of when I was nearly killed due to a medical mistake. Since then, each December I treat myself to a little silly something to celebrate, and this year it's forking over the dough to watch the fight (plus keeping tabs on the Laker game). What better way to say 'yeah, I'm alive' than watching someone get beat up?! Sports-a-plenty this weekend, gotta love it. Add that to my Wednesday feast of genuine Russian and Georgian foods (from Brighton Beach), and it was quite a good week. Next week I'll post a great Georgian cheese bread recipe. I am so not your typical girl - I prefer fleece to furs, Nikes and Merrells to Jimmy Choo's, SUVs with ski racks to fancy cars (it may be an SUV, but my car is from 1994), and I can't cook. Honestly, making rice is difficult. But there are maybe 10 dishes I can do really well, and that bread is one... love it, love it, love it. I can bake up a storm, but as they say, you can't live on desserts alone. I'll stay with the food theme and put up one of the most unfortunate photos of Slava ever taken. It's hysterical, I promise.

Week Five

2004-11-28T16:02:00.000-05:00

The Lakers start this week at home and then hit the road for two games in two nights before returning home again. They are currently 7-6 and 5-2 at home, and following the Golden State game the team will have a four-day break from games.

For Monday's practice, Slava was in purple with... all together now - sweatpants. In the game notes for Tuesday he is listed as probable.

Friday, 3 December vs Golden State
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
LA 'improved' to 10-7 on the year with a 97-88 win over the Warriors. They don't play next until Wednesday, so let's hope anyone still injured or not playing gets a chance to heal up or rest up so that they can play more... cough, cough. Medvedenko didn't play, again.
On Slava: Those terrible yellow warmups - man, that really is an awful color. Left pinkie taped again, some clapping, seemed happy during Fisher tribute.

Wednesday, 1 December @ Chicago
5:30pm PST; NBA TV
LA failed to complete back-to-back wins against two of the worst teams in the league tonight, falling to the Bulls, 84-92. It was Chicago's (Чикаго) second win in the last ten games - let me repeat that - their second win in the last ten games. Ugh. In a continuation of a crappy theme, no Medvedenko in the game yet again.
Another thing to think about - Slava has played six more minutes THAN I HAVE this year in the NBA. And I'm a 5'9" female who's never played organized basketball in my life. And he's got six more minutes than I do. Poor Slava, yeah he still gets paid for sitting on the bench, but I don't think that's what he was hoping for this season with Phil and the damn triangle finally gone and the potential for some real playing time right there in his reach. We'll just adopt and adapt the mantra from the Red Sox fans... there's always next game.
On Slava: Purple warmups, appeared that everyone's pants were matching. Haven't watched the game tape yet.

Tuesday, 30 November @ Milwaukee
5pm PST; NBA TV
The Lakers are on the lucky side of getting on the bus with a 95-90 win against Milwaukee and heading to Chicago. Cook had a great game, Bryant was good on defense and Rush played 5 minutes, Vlade had 6 while Medvedenko and Walton didn't get in the game. Bryant, as the game wound down, had a great block to keep LA ahead.
On Slava: Was in the purple warmups, but I swear he had on different pants than the rest of the team. Still has the left pinkie taped, and clapped on a few occasions - at least five. Now that's a full report of a night on the bench.

Sunday, 28 November vs New Orleans
6:30pm PST; Actual NBA TV
Lakers won this one, 89-76, with Bryant scoring 20 and Odom pulling down 14 rebounds. Slava and Vlade did not see any playing time, which is surprising since NO is so terrible, it would have been a great chance to get some minutes.
On Slava: Sporting a new buzz cut to go with the white warmups

Week Four

2004-11-22T19:49:00.000-05:00

The Lakers enter this week at .500 and finish up the month of November at home (four of the next five at the Staples Center). Medvedenko made it onto the court (pregame drills not included) during last week's loss at Phoenix, hopefully he'll get some quality minutes this week.

I've received lots of emails from Medvedenko fans out there - and they are out there! Throughout the US and even readers in Ukraine and Russia - glad that you found the site! I am going to try to get the folks on "Lakers Live" - a half hour show that airs on FoxSports West before home games - to get Slava on camera to answer a question or two. No promises that he'll ever be picked, but I will try. Email or post any further questions and I'll keep forwarding the best ones for their consideration.
Jack Haley, you out there?

On Monday, Slava (in yellow and sweats) was working up a sweat going against Vlade, with Divac possibly playing Tuesday night.
Lakers had Wednesday off but did practice on Thursday in order to prepare for the Kings game.

Mentions of Medvedenko

Hoops World piece on the Lakers and the future, mentions how Slava could be traded after Dec 15th

Friday, 26 November vs Sacramento
7:30pm PST; ESPN
In a close game, the Lakers lost in the final seconds to the Kings, 106-109. Slava entered the game in the 3rd quarter to a nice reception from the crowd. He tried one three-pointer from the corner in front of the Kings bench that rattled out, and showed emotion when Cook got the basket and the foul as the 3rd quarter ended. Here is the game's box score.
On Slava: Yellow warmups, wore the pants when most other players stuck to shorts when on the bench

Tuesday, 23 November vs Milwaukee
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
LA got to the 7-5 mark with a 100-96 win over the Bucks. Vlade returned, but looked a little rusty while Slava didn't see any playing time.
On Slava: Yellow/gold warmup suit; actually laughing a couple times while on the bench and even during warmups

Sunday, 21 November vs Bulls
6:30pm PST; NBA TV
The Lakers got a win at home tonight, 102-93, over Chicago - who thankfully remain winless. No court time for Slava tonight.
On Slava: White warmup suit

Sidebar Showing Up?

2004-11-22T19:46:00.000-05:00

The sidebar to the right should have pictures, bio, links, etc. If the page loads and the sidebar doesn't come up, try typing the full www.slava14.blogspot.com vs slava14.blogspot.com. I'm not sure why that does the trick, but it seems to work - thanks to the readers for pointing that out.

Pacers-Detroit Brawl

2004-11-20T10:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, this isn't Laker-related, but I have to add my two-cents on the whole Pacers-Detroit incident that happened last night.
It's my site, I said so.

This season on FOX... "When Athletes Attack"

My first reaction as I saw the fight last night... "Oh sh*t, this isn't good." Then followed by a "holy crap" as more and more players were in the stands and then as the fights started popping up all around the arena. Second reaction, "How relieved are the NFL, ABC, Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan right about now?" Makes dropping a towel seem like nothing.

Rule Number One in pro sports, you don't leave the playing surface for any sort of situation and direct anger towards the fans. All following rules, simply revert back to Rule Number One. Obviously, there were some fans at that game - and there are fans like that almost nightly at any pro game, not just NBA - that went too far. Overall, it was a chain reaction - would fans at the end have been pouring things on exiting players if players had not entered the stands to beat up fans who were reacting to an obvious hack at a meaningless basket as the game came to an end? Things were cooling down when Artest jumped off the scorers' table (lying on the table while a fight was brewing around him as others tried to get to him was obnoxious, arrogant and taunting) and then charged into the crowd, hell, he even started beating on a guy who did not throw the beer on him. If that had happened in a bar, outside the arena in the parking lot, or at a PTA meeting, I could understand the retaliation a bit more... but not when you're on the court.

Due to uncertain circumstances... whether it's players who hop from team to team for a paycheck or ring, the increasingly high cost of tickets, the fact that people now know all about players' lives on and off the court, or the attitudes of some players who believe they are 'holier than thou' - fans feel they have a right to yell at or verbally abuse players. Maybe they do and maybe they don't. I don't mind some heckling - I think the more creative and funny the better, but it shouldn't be tasteless or offensive. It's been happening since people first gathered to watch sports, it happened during the 'Golden Age of Sports,' and it will most likely always just be part of the game. Should they throw things at players, of course not, but they do.

The culture around sports has been turning in the past few years, it's not so much about the actual game or the adoration of superstars, it's 'I'm on TV' or selling memorabilia and what can be made off of players, even collecting mugshots of athletes along with their latest trading card. But the players know better, and it doesn't matter if they choose to wear or ignore the label 'role model' - it applies. Remember when Charles Barkley was just spitting on people? Who would have thought that would be tame compared to last night. Every person, no matter their job, paycheck or status is a role model and they need to act as one. The NBA has got to come down hard on this, anything less than 25 games for the major participants would just solidify pro sports and 'responsibility' as a running joke. Isn't this the "fan-friendly NBA" the one that is always promoting youth charities, literacy and global goodwill? Good luck, it's not looking so "FAN-tastic" right now. After poor Rudy T getting clocked by a guy named Kermit, this is just as disgusting an incident. This is the league that still stings from it's Sports Illustrated cover story on illegitimate children and now endures the whole Kobe saga, among many other off-the-court storylines.

I also take issue with the four NBA commentators from ESPN (not at the game) who kept dictating to the television audience that this was not the players' fault and to not blame them. I'm sorry - Rule Number One people, that's the bottom line. A better reaction was Walton and Mike who were calling the game, they were obviously upset at the situation and knew that it was going to change the NBA immediately. On the court, as a player/employee you have to walk away. Yell and scream at the offending fan, say you'll meet him outside, stare him down, do anything but take a swing. The NBA (and all leagues) need to remind the players of this. If you don't want people screaming at you, don't do things that would give them fuel for the fire. As for fans, make announcements that the crowd is under video surveillance and that anyone found throwing things or threatening players will be removed and prosecuted. There has to be a reestablishing of the boundaries. Monica Seles was stabbed by a fan during a match, baseball managers are jumped from behind while on the field, players have batteries thrown at them, people are hit on the sidelines at football games by bottles and snowballs - make them accountable. I was at the 2002 Olympics where there was security and cameras and emotion everywhere, and there was not one incident that I witnessed - and I believe it was due to the fact that everyone knew what was expected of them. Bring that back to professional sports.

Here are some clips of actual NBA rules...
"PUNCHING, FIGHTING AND ELBOW FOULS: Violent acts of any nature on the court will not be tolerated. Players involved in altercations will be ejected, fined and/or suspended. Officials have been instructed to eject a player who throws a punch, whether or not it connects, or an elbow which makes contact above shoulder level. If elbow contact is shoulder level or below, it shall be left to the discretion of the official as to whether the player is ejected. Even if a punch or an elbow goes undetected by the officials during the game, but is detected during a review of a videotape, that player will be penalized. There is absolutely no justification for fighting in an NBA game. The fact that you may feel provoked by another player is not an acceptable excuse. If a player takes it upon himself to retaliate, he can expect to be subject to appropriate penalties.
PLAYER CONDUCT-SPECTATORS: Any coach, player or trainer who deliberately enters the spectator stands during the game will be automatically ejected and the incident reported by E-mail to the Commissioner. Entering the stands to keep a ball in play by a player or the momentum which carries the player into the stands is not considered deliberate. The first row of seats is considered the beginning of the stands."

I don't know what's worse, the fact that a maximum fine appears to be a rather paltry $35,000 or that Stern's email inbox must have reached it's capacity. He's notified by email? Sure sounds intimidating. Are we to believe that $35k is a sum that will make some players really reconsider their actions? The players should serve their suspensions all at the same time, too bad if it means the team's season is essentially over, or that injured players may have to dress. There have to be consequences, we try to get it through the heads of children, let's see if these adults can grasp the concept. It's like Dale Earnhardt, Jr being fined $10,000 for swearing - please, he's a multimillionaire. That's like a $23 fine to the rest of us. What really hurt Junior was the 25 points deducted from his chance to win the championship. And now that we - people in our homes just wanting to watch any sporting event - can't even possibly see a flash of skin shown on TV, we're now subjected to 5 second delays so as not to maybe hear a bad word, but let's all sit back and watch fans, coaches and players in an all-out brawl repeatedly shown on every newscast. Not just sports stations, but morning news shows, all day cable shows, and local broadcasts throughout the country - and you know it's gone global. Last night alone, I stopped watching after 45 minutes of fight coverage - and we haven't even gotten to the Sunday sports shows and the NBA's punishment phase. I was waiting for the Klitschko fight in December, I don't think even that fight will last as long.

Review the tapes, isolate every player and follow them throughout the fight and make harsh suspensions accordingly, even if it takes a week to get everything sorted out. If Artest had sworn at the guy, given a few hand signals, or even just walked towards center court and feigned deafness (it would be hard for him to feign ignorance), I doubt the brawl would have happened. Wallace was fouled, sure, maybe a little rougher than he should have been with the game seconds from ending and the game out of reach, but that was a bit more than expressing your displeasure. Find people in the crowd and prosecute them, have better security than college kids, elderly men and some petite women in matching uniforms trying to keep players and fans apart, use this incident as an example as much as possible. Suspend and fine those players and coaches involved, arrest fans, rework the security procedures in playing arenas around professional sports, restore order. I'd love to know how many tickets were sold to the Christmas game of these two teams as of Friday afternoon, and what it will be now. That's a bottom line that may not be so publicized in the wake of the fight, that even though some will add it to the list of what's wrong with sports and athletes and talk about disgust - it will increase viewership. Shaq and Kobe just took a back seat to that holiday lineup.

And I thought that I was going to miss the entire hockey season, last night, now that was a fight.

There, that's my rant, maybe it turned into my 77-cents-worth.

Week Three

2004-11-15T14:44:00.000-05:00

The Lakers only have two games during this stretch, one home and one away. Medvedenko could play on Wednesday, nothing definite has been announced as of yet. After having Sunday off, Monday and Tuesday were to be tougher practice days for the team, and Vlade Divac should be on the practice court as well. Slava, who seems to practice a lot in sweats, was in them again earlier in the week, but on Thursday broke out the matching purple shorts. Who says you can't find out all-Slava, all the time on this site?

** TV Note: "NBA TV" in my listings means it's shown as part of the NBA League Pass that's on DirecTV, etc. On the few occasions when the game is on the actual NBA TV station, I'll note that difference.
** 2nd TV Note: it appears that the Sunday, 28 November game against New Orleans is the only game that I can't get on TV - anyone want to record and send it to me, I will pay you, or trade you an upcoming game you want to see.

Since it's a short week, let's have some fun...

I don't know how young Medvedenko is in this picture, but man he looks like he's 16 or something! I think I got this off a Ukrainian roster page.

And Slava makes an appearance on the cover of Jackson's book as well as one of the inside pages with other role players. I haven't bought the book so aside from the great line about Kobe threatening to take Slava with him if he left the Lakers, I don't know if there are other references to him.

And yet another finding this week, on Barnes and Noble they have this 2005 calendar for sale. Slava graces two months, possibly as Mr. May and Mr. November

Mentions of Medvedenko

LA Daily News from Sunday

LA Daily News Monday piece

LA Times from Monday's practice (may need to register, free)

LA Daily News from Wednesday

San Bernardino County Sun also from Wednesday

LA Times on Thursday

Daily Breeze Friday article

LA Times from Phoenix game

Press-Enterprise report from Friday night (may need to register, free)

LA Daily News article

Friday, 19 November @ Phoenix
6pm PST; NBA TV
Good news and bad news - good: Slava made his 2004-05 season debut and that's an actual photo from last night's game, who woulda thunk it; bad: it was just a couple scoreless minutes in a game the Lakers should have won. Maybe he'll get more time on Sunday under the Rudy T rule since they lost. LA lost 102-107, Mihm didn't play due to an apparent gastrointestinal disorder, and Bryant, Butler and Odom led the way for the team.
Here is the boxscore from Sports Illustrated.
On Slava: Medvedenko was in the game with just over 8 minutes to go in the 1st half and played about 2.5 minutes. He got a couple mentions from the FoxSports Arizona broadcasting team, but more for some Suns powering by him. Well, Dan Majerle's pool commercial is terrible, there, that evens it.

Wednesday, 17 November vs LA Clippers
7:30pm PST; NBA TV
Slava, finally, is in uniform for the 1st time this season. Thankfully no more plain fashion updates - plain more of a reflection on my descriptions and not so much on his style. As of now, not in the game and pretty sure he will not play tonight, but he's had some good practices as of late. Medvedenko definitely had a little spring to his step while coming onto the court and going through warmups, and once again, getting into the clapping again - this is a whole new Slava here compared to the tapes/film I've seen of prior seasons. The Lakers took control of the game in the second half and won 103-89, Medvedenko was dressed but not put into the game. Friday could be iffy because Tomjanovich likes to leave things alone after a win, but maybe Slava will see some minutes if the game isn't close.
On Slava: Yellow warmup suit, we're making progress

Week Two

2004-11-07T13:31:00.000-05:00

The Lakers move into their second week trying to improve to .500 and still feeling out the team for the upcoming season. Medvedenko, George, Divac and of course Malone have yet to play, and while some things look good for the team, there is still work to be done.

Mentions of Medvedenko

ESPN from Wednesday's wire report on Slava being activated

Ukrainian Sports site, saying how Slava missed five games and was activated for the Memphis game but didn't play

Saturday, 13 November @ Houston
5:30pm PST; Actual NBA TV
After a nice ceremony to honor Rudy T, the Lakers spared him the permanent reminder of losing on his own night with an 84-79 win over the Rockets. LA heads home with a 2-2 record from the road trip and will play twice next week.
On Slava: Black shirt and pants; even clapped again - this time during the Rudy ceremony

Friday, 12 November @ Orlando
4pm PST; NBA TV
The Lakers dropped to 1-2 on this road trip and 3-4 over all with a 113-122 loss. Bryant and Odom (broken record) led the team as they now go to Houston for a homecoming of sorts for Rudy T.
On Slava: Back to the red/maroon shirt and black pants. Curious readers want to know his gum of choice.

Wednesday, 10 November @ Memphis
5pm PST; NBA TV
Medvedenko is able to come off the injured list for tonight's game, but Rudy T doesn't think that Slava will play. Rudy says he wants Slava to get some full practices in first. LA got spanked tonight with an 87-110 defeat, Bryant and Odom were the leaders again.
On Slava: Blue sweater and jeans, and I believe he has shown the most emotion yet - clapping 4-5 times in the 1st quarter alone. That has to surpass all of last year's total "outbursts."

Tuesday, 9 November @ New Orleans
5pm PST; NBA TV
Bryant and Butler led the way for the Lakers as they won 106-98 in the first game of this road trip. Despite having a 30+ point lead, the Lakers allowed new Orleans to creep back into the contest as time ticked away.
On Slava: Must admit, looking quite sharp with a black sweater and black pants, was only a matter of time before the black made it's debut. I am no fashionista, but since this is a site about Slava, it's the only thing to write about when he's on the bench. Let's all hope he's in a jersey sooner rather than later.

Sunday, 7 November vs. Atlanta Hawks
6:30pm PST; NBA TV
After posting a rather easy 106-90 win, the Lakers are 2-2 and now hit the road for an interesting test. Let's add a little diversity, Odom with 11 rebounds and Bryant with 24 points. Medvedenko could return for Wednesday's game, I am assuming he is making the trip. Divac will return later in the month.
On Slava: maroon/red shirt and once again not there for 2nd half.

Week One

2004-11-03T15:22:00.000-05:00

I've figured that the best way to post updates on the season is to clump the games by week. It seems pointless to do a separate entry per game, so we'll go Sundays through Saturdays and then I'll update that week's entry with any news, stories, photos, etc for the game in question. Remember, basketball is not my sport of choice, it really wouldn't even make a Top 5 list, so this isn't going to be a site that has statistical overload. For that, I put some links in the sidebar that note Medvedenko's specific stats, and from off of those sites you can click for more details on team and other players.

Mentions of Medvedenko

Russian Sports site had this blurb about the injured list, says that Divac, George and Medvedenko are on the list and that leaves only four regular Lakers players on the roster: Bryant, Rush, Walton and Cook

Friday, 5 November vs San Antonio Spurs
7:30pm PST; ESPN
Lakers close the first week with a 1-2 record after losing at home to the Spurs, 96-105. Bryant (28 pts) and Odom (11 rebounds).
On Slava: cream colored mock turtleneck shirt, MIA 2nd half (I assume he's getting treatment).

Wednesday, 3 November @ Utah Jazz
7:30pm PST; ESPN, also check ESPN alternate programming
Lakers fall to 1-1 on the season with their loss on the road, 78-104. Once again, tops for LA was Bryant (38 pts) while Odom had 9 rebounds.
On Slava: didn't spot him, not sure if he made the trip or I'm just not up to my full spotter abilities yet.

Tuesday, 2 November vs Denver Nuggets
7:30pm PST; TNT
Lakers had a pretty easy win in their season and home opener, winning 89-78. Kobe had a good game and a nice showing for Mihm.
On Slava: dark gray shirt.

UPCOMING
Slava is technically able to come off the injured list for Wednesday's game at Memphis. He didn't travel to Utah, but I figure he will be making this road trip. Lakers are on the road for four games in five days, comprised of to two back-to-backs.

New Look, New Season

2004-11-02T13:16:00.000-05:00

Today marks the start of the 2004-2005 NBA season, and the Lakers will play host to Denver tonight (national coverage, game on TNT). Medvedenko was put on the injured list yesterday (11/1) and will subsequently miss at least the next five games, meaning he won't be seen (on the court) before the Memphis road game on game Nov 10. The other two players on the list for the Lakers are Divac and George while Malone is 'out indefinitely'.

Medvedenko was injured in the October 12 preseason game against Seattle, he had a rather decent boxscore to boot. Last week he was reported as being close to returning, but now it's off to the the IR list. Remember, if it's November, it's heel injury time. Technically, according to the official NBA injured list, it's right heel bursitis.

All this leaves us with only the prospect of catching a glimpse of Slava sitting on the bench - looking his usual 'bored out of my skull', and the age old question... the black shirt or the gray shirt?

UPDATE: 2nd quarter of the Lakers/Denver game... almost fell outta my chair, there was a very bored looking Slava at the end of the bench, in a dark gray shirt. Kills me!

Preseason

2004-10-12T10:53:00.000-04:00

The Lakers start their preseason this week with a Tuesday matchup against Seattle. The game will be on NBA TV if you get DirectTV. In this posting I'll link any news that happened between Medvedenko's free agent signing and the start of the season.
Schedule listing can be found here, as well as broadcast information. Information on both pre and regular season

Free Agency

2004-08-02T03:33:00.000-04:00

Here is where I'll post any articles from the off-season concerning Slava's contract talks.

Mentions of Medvedenko

LA Daily News reports on Slava's signing another 2 yr deal with the Lakers.
"There was obviously a little concern on his part to see what direction the team would go," Marc Fleisher said. "He has a lot of respect for Rudy Tomjanovich. He was particularly pleased to hear they were going to have a running style for the team. That's an area he excels in and an area he's not been able to take advantage of. For a guy his size, he can get up and down the floor. That was lost because a lot of times the Lakers were running the triangle offense," said agent Marc Fleisher while GM Mitch Kupchak added, "We've seen him improve every year. Last year, we relied on him a lot with the injury to Karl [Malone] and of course when Horace Grant went down, even more so. We think he's turned the corner. Having said that, he does have to continue to work and he's shown us that he'll do that."

Press-Enterprise report on contract deal, Fleisher quotes: "He's looking forward to playing in Los Angeles again and showing what he can do. Several teams made offers but this is where he wanted to be. He's looking forward to playing in a new style," Fleisher said. "Slava likes to get out on the break and run, and I think this will suit him better."

Sports Illustrated wire report on signing, as well as MSNBC and ESPN

NBA announced the schedule on the same day, here is ESPN/ABC's TV schedule as well as the entire league daily schedule

Slam Sports Canada with a flashback of Medvedenko signing with the Lakers in August 2000

I never saw any actual story on ESPN or ESPNEWS about Slava's signing, just on the ticker early on Tuesday morning. However, Slava was all over the clip when the Mavs were saying that Walker was going to be traded. There was Medvedenko shoving someone out of the way under the basket and then about to inbound.

LA Daily News from 29 July

LA Daily News

Pasadena Star-News

Lorain Morning Journal; Ohio

LA Daily News

ESPN brief on the fantasy basketball side of the off-season changes

MSNBC's Michael Ventre had this commentary on the Lakers changes

San Jose Mercury News article on an 'older Shaq'

USAToday on Bryant staying in LA, as well as this piece in Newsday (NY)

Palm Beach Post article on Shaq trade and free agency, quotes from Fleisher

ESPN report from resigning in July of 2002

Basketball Without Borders

2004-07-27T15:04:00.000-04:00

NBA's Summer program for youth around the globe to play basketball with current and former pros as coaches. Basketball Without Borders also involves educational sessions for all the selected 50 young athletes. Through the NBA's site there is also a blog from the Europe camp. Here is part of a press release about BWB: "Since its inception in 2001, Basketball without Borders has served as a basketball instructional camp in Europe for young people designed to promote friendship, healthy living and education through sport. This year, Basketball without Borders expanded to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (June 28-July 3) and Johannesburg, South Africa (September 6-10). Basketball without Borders Europe will collaborate with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, for the second consecutive year to support education and HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The camp is sponsored by Champion, Nike, Spalding, and United Colors of Benetton, among others and co-organized by the NBA and FIBA. The three-day basketball camp also will feature 2003 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs Assistant Coach P.J. Carlesimo, Orlando Magic Assistant Coach Paul Westhead, Memphis Grizzlies Assistant to the President of Basketball Operations Gary Colson, and Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Dick Harter."
Slava Medvedenko was picked for the squad to go to Treviso, Italy for a July 24-27 camp session. Other players and coaches who made the trip are Boston's Jiri Welsch (Czech Republic), 76er Samuel Dalembert (Haiti) and former Bullets center Gheorghe Muresan (Romania).

Top photo: Medvedenko is in back row, under the circle Unicef logo... can't tell from the distance, but he could actually be smiling in that shot.
Lower photo: Slava with Lithuanian camper Martynas Andriuskevicius on 25 July 2004. It must be strange to be 6'10" and feel small at times (standing next to Shaq doesn't count). (photos from Getty Images)

Mentions of Medvedenko

Sunday Herald; Glasgow, Scotland

Business Wire press release

Why Slava?

2004-07-19T01:06:00.000-04:00

Welcome to what appears to be the first Slava Medvedenko page of anything!

Sure, you can find some stats and a small bio here and there, some game photos if you look a bit more - but that's about it. This page is being created more from a project standpoint than a typical fan site. I am not into the NBA at all, I don't particularly care for the Lakers, and until Summer 2004, I had never heard of Slava Medvedenko. However, I am an internet and media junkie of sorts and thought this would be a unique way to demonstrate just how much you can learn about something online. I run a tennis website that went from total obscurity to a top Google result, so why not try it again here.

I picked Medvedenko more for the Russian/Ukrainian aspect because I am learning Russian and thought that as the foreign language articles were discovered, I could practice. I know, he's Ukrainian, but he's covered more in Russian sites than any random Ukrainian ones I have come across. Besides, it's not Ukrainian I am learning! There's also my wonderful 8-yr-old friend that talks hoops constantly, he's from Ukraine and lives here now. Мы разговариваем о спорте, it's made me learn my numbers in Russian very quickly.

So, onto the basics of Stanislav Medvedenko - aka Slava Medvedenko...

TeleBasket scouting report on Medvedenko

I'll basically try to link to any sort of article that he's mentioned in, post any photos I come across, and possibly watch a few games when the new season begins. But no promises there. I am a huge sports fan, but basketball was never my thing - but it fits into the task of learning about something new.
One thing I have also learned, that out of the 500+ photos I have seen since starting this project - maybe two have Slava smiling or slightly smiling. One of which is at the top of the sidebar of this site - yes, that's apparently a smile in the world of Slava. So far there's ONE picture where you can actually see teeth, though the smile seems quite forced. Oh well, he doesn't look grumpy, but just apparently never smiles.