Ramble On... Custom made

While My Guitar...

Click on Ramble on headline for a very cool look at a photo essay of the Gibson Custom guitar factory in Nashville, TN ...

At the Gibson custom factory in Nashville, the famous guitar manufacturer makes its most expensive and exclusive instruments, including an ongoing series of limited-edition replicas of historic Les Paul instruments.

As part of Road Trip 2008, CNET News.com reporter Daniel Terdiman visited the custom factory and got a rare look at how guitars are built with the express cooperation of rock stars like Jimmy Page and Johnny Winter. (The public can visit the company's regular factories in Memphis and Nashville, but not the custom facility.)

Here are dozens of finished guitars that are awaiting a case and shipment to a dealer. The guitars can easily go for more than $10,000 at retail and some, like a very small series of Les Pauls that Jimmy Page played and signed, are worth more than $100,000 on the open market.

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A quick note in support of ESPN Radio's upcoming radiothon to raise money for the V Foundation. The radiothon will be held this coming Wednesday. One of the small elements of support to the V Foundation is the "Blow the Whistle Against Cancer" campaign that professional referees and officials (at all levels of sport) in sports work together in memory of the great Jimmy V.

Refs at every level can donate one game's pay to the V Foundation effort. So, no matter if you make a few bucks as a Jr. High School ref or make bigger bucks at the NCAA, NBA or NFL level, there is a solid program in place to contribute.

Too often sports fans complain about referees.

When I played competitive hockey, our team would sometimes implode if it allowed referee calls to dominate the focus of the game. It was always an excuse. Only when we realized that the calls always seem to even out in the end, and if we concentrated on what we did best - playing the game to the highest level - then we would FOCUS and excel. If there was too much banter with the refs and it side-tracked our concentration, we often were forced into stupid mistakes and paid the price.

The key issue to always remember when discussing the role of refs and officials in games - they want to get the calls right. They are human and they do make mistakes. Sometimes that might be a game changing issue. But, the refs are good, hard-working people and they deserve some respect.

The work behind the scenes on the "Blow the Whistle vs Cancer" campaign is only one small example of the major contributions the officials are making to make the world a better place. Remember that. And, maybe next time - give the ref a hand instead of a mouthful.

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I thought this NYT column was interesting and thought provoking:

If You’re Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow
By JANET RAE-DUPREE

WHY do some people reach their creative potential in business while other equally talented peers don’t?

After three decades of painstaking research, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck believes that the answer to the puzzle lies in how people think about intelligence and talent. Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they’re ever going to have approach life with what she calls a “fixed mind-set.” Those who believe that their own abilities can expand over time, however, live with a “growth mind-set.”

Guess which ones prove to be most innovative over time.

“Society is obsessed with the idea of talent and genius and people who are ‘naturals’ with innate ability,” says Ms. Dweck, who is known for research that crosses the boundaries of personal, social and developmental psychology.

“People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes. But people who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch, confront their own mistakes and learn from them.”

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The Book Review section of the July 6 Sunday New York Times included a review of COVERT, My Years Infiltrating the Mob by Bob Delaney. Here is the review, word for word as it appeared:

COVERT
My Years Infiltrating the Mob.
By Bob Delaney with Dave Scheiber.
Union Square, $19.95.

As a 23-year-old New Jersey state trooper, Delaney was enlisted in 1975 to go under cover for Project Alpha, a groundbreaking organized crime investigation. With the help of a consigliere-turned-informant named Patrick Kelly, he gained access to some of the era’s top crime bosses. Acting as president of a front business, Alamo Trucking, Delaney over the course of more than two years collected 400 hours of recordings that provided prosecutors with a virtual encyclopedia of shakedown artists and their methodologies. The operation ended with the arrest of 35 suspects. A mob-infiltration memoir for the “Sopranos” age, “Covert” has a postmodern self-consciousness about Mafia mythology, shared by the wise guys who mimic poses from “The Godfather.” Also like “The Sopranos,” “Covert” struggles to update a genre steeped in now-unfashionable ethnic caricature, with Delaney fondly recalling his hometown neighborhood, “where there were no Mafia guys, but they were all Italians.” Psychotherapy even plays a role, when Delaney learns he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder during informal consultations with a psychology professor. There was great potential in this tale of a thoughtful lawman adapting to the thug life, but “Covert,” while entertaining, lacks the nuance to do the story justice. There is a final twist. A decade after he emerged from undercover work, Delaney made a radical career change: he became an N.B.A. referee. Last month, Delaney was accused by a fellow referee of helping to manipulate a disputed 2002 playoff game. (He has denied any wrongdoing.) In any case, he writes here, his basketball recollections will “have to wait for another book.”

TL comment: I thought the closing line was totally irresponsible, cheap-shot journalism and a disgrace to the book review section and its author Mick Sussman. The review included a line of 'denying wrongdoing' but it certainly fell short of stating the truth that would be fit to print. If he felt the need to bring it up without any merit, Sussman, at least, should have noted that the US prosecutors in June filed papers dismissing Donaghy's empty claims. Here is the AP report on that fact which was readily available to the writer:

Prosecutors rebuffed defense arguments that Donaghy should get a break on his sentence for voluntarily coming forward and giving prosecutors inside dirt about alleged game-fixing and other misconduct by other referees and league officials.

In the court papers, prosecutors said that by the time Donaghy decided to cooperate last year, “the government had a clear understanding of the criminal conspiracy, and who was involved.” Though he deserves credit for giving investigators information on his two co-defendants, his claims of other internal NBA corruption “did not lead to evidence of prosecutable federal offenses,” the papers added.

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On Monday of this week, ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan wrote a thoughtful column/Q&A on the state of the USA national team. Sheridan has covered nearly every USA game since the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and has some pretty good insight into the trials and tribulations of the Olympic and world basketball scene. In short, he among the very few people in the world who really understand just HOW HARD it is to medal at a major international basketball tournament. On the other hand, Sheridan likes to place a thorn in the side of the various USA teams and often tries to stir the pot to make his point.

Lately, he has focused on the (possible) Achilles heal of the current team - lack of front-court depth. Sheridan is champion of the cause to have Tyson Chandler added to the team at the expense of a perimeter player or extra point guard.

I come down on the other side of the argument: "In Jason Kidd I trust."

I truly believe that the USA big men need to shoot, score and stay out of foul trouble by excelling on the perimeter and scoring from outside. I believe the USA will lose the rebounding stats in place of an advantage at fast break points and points off turnovers.

If the Olympic tournament comes down to the USA needing an extra big man and shots blocked (by the likes of Chandler), the USA is in T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Here is Sheridan's Monday eve Q&A --

Breaking down the key questions surrounding Team USA
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com

They held minicamp for one day in Las Vegas just a few blocks from where Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce of the NBA-champion Boston Celtics were frolicking at the Palms pool, and they hit New York two days later with an all-day media blitz that left Cleveland wondering whether LeBron James will be a goner in two years.

Now, Team USA is on vacation for the majority of this month before training camp reopens July 21 in Las Vegas.

The Americans will be together for 36 consecutive days after that, a trip that'll take them from Vegas to San Jose, Calif., to Macao to Shanghai to Beijing before they board a charter flight back to the United States and clear customs in Minneapolis on Aug. 26.

Then, they get a month off before NBA training camp begins.

So before things get started up again, let's take a look at a few key questions and answers surrounding this so-called Redeem Team, the United States senior men's national team that'll try to end America's eight-year gold-medal drought.

Q: Has the potential big-man problem been solved?

A: The potential problem, for those unaware, is that Team USA put only three true big men -- Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer -- on its roster. And after some second-guessing, the decision was made to invite Tyson Chandler along on the trip to Asia, too, as the team's No. 1 alternate. So, if anyone is injured prior to Aug. 7 (the day the final roster must be submitted), Chandler will be the replacement.

However, in order to replace one of the 12, each of whom has certain rights as an Olympian under IOC rules and U.S. law, there must be an injury to one of the 12 that can be verified by a neutral observer. That's why Larry Brown was unable to throw Stephon Marbury off the U.S. team in 2004 just before they arrived in Athens.

So, to answer the question, no.

Q: So, who are the starters going to be?

A: Howard at center, Carmelo Anthony at power forward, LeBron James at small forward, Kobe Bryant at 2-guard and Jason Kidd at the point.

Q: And the rest of the rotation?

A: Dwyane Wade starts out as the sixth man, but his hold on that spot will depend on how well he plays in the Americans' five exhibition games prior to Beijing. If he looks like the D-Wade of 2005-06, he'll hold the spot. If he turns back into the turnover machine he was last season, he'll be supplanted in that role -- most likely by Michael Redd.

Chris Paul and Deron Williams will compete for the backup point guard spot behind Kidd, with Paul having a slight edge since Williams can also play the 2-guard spot. Bosh backs up Howard at center, Boozer backs up Anthony at the 4, and Tayshaun Prince can be used at the 2, 3 or 4 spot depending on the circumstances.

Q: When can we catch a glimpse of these guys?

A: Their one and only game in the Western Hemisphere takes place July 25 in Las Vegas when they play Canada at the Thomas & Mack Center (the game will be televised on ESPN2). Other exhibitions will be played July 31 against Turkey and Aug. 1 against Lithuania (in Macao), and Aug. 3 against Russia and Aug. 5 against Australia (in Shanghai). Their first game of the Olympics is Aug. 10 against the host team, China.

Q: Is Yao Ming going to play in that game?

A: From all indications, yes. Yao was expected to join Team China for training in early July. He'll play along a front line that should include Yi Jianlian, now of the New Jersey Nets, and Mengke Bateer, who played sparingly for several NBA teams.

Q: What comes after that for Team USA?

A: The Americans know the identities of only two of their other first-round opponents: Angola and Spain. The other two opponents will be determined in a new pre-Olympic qualifying tournament to be held July 14-20 in Athens.

The field for that tourney includes Greece (which will not have Jazz draft pick Kosta Koufos), Germany (which has added Chris Kaman of the Clippers to a squad that already includes Dirk Nowitzki), Croatia, Slovenia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Lebanon, Korea, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Canada and New Zealand. Three teams will qualify for the Olympics, and a draw will be held at the conclusion of the tournament to determine which two teams go in Group B with the U.S., and which team will be placed in Group A, which already includes Argentina, Russia, Lithuania, Australia and Iran.

Q: Aside from the Americans, who are the best teams?

A: Argentina is the defending Olympic champion, but there's a question as to how effective Manu Ginobili will be as he continues to recover from an ankle injury. He flew to San Antonio on July 2 to receive an anti-inflammatory shot in his ankle. Other NBA players on Argentina include Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola, Fabricio Oberto and Carlos Delfino. The only non-NBA player in Argentina's starting five is Pablo Prigioni, who plays professionally for Tau Ceramica in Spain.

Spain is the defending world champion, with a deep roster of NBA players or soon-to-be NBA players, including Paul and Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Jose Calderon, Juan Carlos Navarro and Jorge Garbajosa. Point guard sensation Ricky Rubio, 17, is also expected to compete for Spain.

Russia, which upset Spain in the final match of Eurobasket '07, is led by Utah's Andrei Kirilenko and American point guard J.R. Holden (of CSKA Moscow), and Lithuania is always a solid contender led by former NBA guard Sarunas Jasikevicius and 2-guard Ramunas Siskauskas, who filled in admirably at the point last summer when Jasikevicius was injured during Eurobasket.

Greece should qualify, too, and should not be taken lightly despite significant changes to its roster. The Americans looked past the Greeks two years ago at the World Championship in Japan, and Greece pulled off the upset of that tournament by defeating the United States in the semifinals.

Q: China doesn't make that group of contenders?

A: No. As strong as China is up front, its weak spot continues to be its guards. And until the Chinese guards can master the act of breaking the press, they can't crack the top half-dozen teams in the world.

Q: How big of a favorite is Team USA?

A: Most international sports books are listing Team USA as the 1-3 favorite, followed by Spain at 7-2 and Argentina at 8-1, Russia at 15-1 and Lithuania at 20-1. Looking for the ultimate long shot? Iran's odds of winning the gold are 2,500-1.

Q: And you, Sheridan, who you picking?

A: Too soon to say. I expect Team USA to cruise through the first round, but the quarters, semifinals and gold-medal match (should the Americans make it) will bring an entirely different level of competition. I want to see how they perform in their friendlies against the big squads from Russian and Lithuania before committing to a pick. My pick will also be impacted by whether they're able to find a way to get Chandler onto the active roster. So you can expect to see my pick, and read my explanations for it, a day or two before the tournament starts.

Chris Sheridan is an ESPN.com Insider. He has covered the U.S. senior national team since the 1996 Olympics.

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The Australian men's team is flying a little 'under the radar' as teams prepare for the Olympics. They recently added Andrew Bogut to the mix. Here is a quick AP round-up on that topic that I clipped on Friday Am:

Center Andrew Bogut was selected to Australia's Olympic basketball team Friday, a day after agreeing to a $60 million, five-year contract extension with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.

Bogut will join European-based players David Anderson and Matthew Nielsen on a strong team that also includes veteran Chris Anstey and six players making their Olympic debuts.

"We really have a talented group of guys going over and if we can push through the first round we have the ability to surprise everyone with our results," said Anstey, who was a member of the Australian team that finished fourth at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

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