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Some of us are old enough to recall what is known as “ping-pong diplomacy” of the early 1970s when Richard Nixon was U.S. president. It involved China and the United States. With former Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman having recently visited North Korea and met with that country’s leader Kim Jong Un, we might be living in an age of “basketball diplomacy.”
A photo of Dennis Rodman or Lariyah Daniels? We’ll go with the lovely Lariyah every time.
OK, maybe not. But stranger things have happened. OK, maybe not.
“He [Kim] loves basketball. … I said [U.S. president Barack] Obama loves basketball. Let’s start there” as a way to warm up relations between U.S. and North Korea, Rodman told ABC’s “This Week.”
“He asked me to give Obama something to say and do one thing. He wants Obama to do one thing, call him.”
Rodman also said Kim told him, “I don’t want to do war. I don’t want to do war.”
Actions, however, speak louder than any words Rodman might relate. North Korea is notorious for human-rights violations, among other serious transgressions — far worse than any behavior Rodman might have exhibited during his career.
Rodman was traveling with the Harlem Globetrotters in North Korea.
“He’s a good guy to me,” Rodman said of Kim, adding, that “as a person to person, he’s my friend. I don’t condone what he does.”
If the U.S. government truly wanted to use a basketball player to serve as some sort of liaision to the North Korean government, chances are it would have selected someone other than Rodman.
Leading candidate: Metta World Peace, anyone?
OK, maybe not. But you have to admit the name of the occasionally volatile player formerly known as Ron Artest is the same as the goal of a rationale planet.
* Speaking of formidable international figres, lovely Lariyah Daniels (a native of Poland who resides in Chicago) is scheduled to be an in-studio guest on the March 7 “Sports & Torts” show with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris at noon Chicago time on talkzone.com. Just another reason to hope all the snow predicted to hit the Chicago area doesn’t.
*Speaking of Chicago and the possibility of snow, a fund-raiser for for Bears defensive tackle Steve McMichael’s bid to be mayor of Romeoville, Ill., has been postponed because of the prospect of winter weather. The event — originally scheduled for Tuesday (March 5) at the Old Town Pour House, 1419 N. Wells St, CHicago — has been postponed until March 15.
* Speaking of basketball and former Bulls players (well, we were before the McMichael mention), Toni Kukoc will be the next subject for Comcast SportsNet’s next “Inside Look” interview show. It will air Sunday (March 10) at 9:30 p.m. It is scheduled to be re-run on March 13 (8 p.m.), March 15 (9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.), March 20 (8 p.m.), March 26 (9 a.m.) and March 30 at noon.
Kukoc on his Team Croatia facing the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream Team” that included Bulls star Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen: “I don’t think there was a team that could hang with Dream Team. They just had so much talent, so much knowledge, basketball knowledge … we knew it would be hard [for Team Croatia], but obviously that team would make the game interesting.”
While waiting for another snowstorm to hit Chicago (nothing yet as of 4 a.m. around here), the editorial staff at elliottharris.com thought it was as good a time as any to run some video from the Arnold Sports Festival. Here we have some from the amateur physique competititon:
More videos from the Arnold Sports Festival will be forthcoming in the next few days and week or two or possibly even three.
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