Flag Bearer Bingo

After struggling to keep my eyes open through the entire Opening Ceremony last night, something, somehow, caught my eye - the flags.  There are so many different and great flags - from countries not named America - and I just wanted to make it clear that I am all for this international awesomeness.

There are also some pretty cool names in these Olympics, as is to be expected, so without further ado, here's my list of some of the more gnarly names that had the distinguished honor of carrying a flag for their country last night.

• Max Mirnyi - Berlarus - Max is just a great name
• Sherab Zam - Bhutan - ZAM!!
• Marko Blaževski - Macedonia - I just liked the little marking over the "z"
• Ruddy Zang Milama - Gabon - ZANG!!
• Winston George - Guyana - It just sounds so distinguished
• I Gede Siman Sudartawa - Indonesia - Referring to yourself as "I" rules
• Kilakone Siphonexay - Lao People's Democratic Republic - Do I need to say anything?
• Hortense Diédhiou - Senegal - Hortense is such an intense name
• Zamzam Mohamed Farah - Somalia - Zam-Zam!!
• Ismail Ahmed Ismail - Sudan - The old Ismail sandwich
• Chinyere Pigot - Suriname - It's one of my wife's athletes at UConn - Go Chin!
• Nuttapong Ketin - Thailand - Say it and you're bound to smile
• Mariel Zagunis - United States of America - USA!! USA!! USA!!
• Nguyễn Tiến Nhật - Vietnam - Certainly not a shortage of accent marks?
• Prince Mumba - Zambia - The royalest of names

I am headed to Bermuda tomorrow, where flag bearer Zander Kirkland hails - and sails.

The People's Republic of China leads the medal count with 6 total - 4 gold and 2 bronze followed by Italy with 5 (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) and the good old U.S. of A, also with five (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze).

Kazakhstan has a medal - a GOLD medal - courtesy of "Vino" Alexandr Vinokurov in the cycling road race.  Borat was not in attendance - or maybe he was.

Brew Crew Trade Greinke to the Angels

After a terrible first month of the season, the Angels are right where everyone thought they'd be: in the thick of a pennant race.  On Friday, July 27 the Angels worked out a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers  to trade their Ace in exchange for some minor league talent (top position player prospect + 2 AA pitchers).  Greinke, 2009 AL Cy Young winner,  is scheduled to pitch for the Angels on Sunday against the Rays.

Let me break this deal down.  Greinke goes to the Angels to add to an already stellar pitching staff. The Angels finally have their Ace to lessen the burden of Weaver, their most consistent starter.  However the  Angels are only renting him because Greinke is headed into Free Agency after this season and do not have a guarantee that he will sign with the Halos after this season.  Zach is making $13.5M this season and turned down an offer for over $100M from the Brew Crew earlier this month. With this trade the Angels have continued to deplete their farm system in search of a World Series.  

The Angels turned Brewers:  All three were at AA Arkansas but they may be shifted in the Brewers DEEP farm system.

Jean Segura, SS (b.3/17/90 ht: 5'11, Dominican Republic) signed with the Angels in 2008 and he is currently holding his own down in AA Arkansas, his batting stats .294/.346/.404 (via. MLB.com) with 33 steals in 46 attempts. He is the crown jewel of the trade because the Brewers really wanted a Shortstop.

Ariel Pena is a 22 year old 6'3 right handed pitcher from Dominican Republic that signed with the Halos in 2009.  He is  nothing much to write home about but he does have potential. The one standout statistic is that he has 180 strikeouts in 151.2 innings at Single-A last year (Via Baseball cube).

John Hellweg is a 23 year old 6'7 right handed pitcher drafted in the 16th round of 2008 draft out of Florida State.  This tall glass of water was born and raised in Michigan which is close to Milwaukee, which means the Brew Crew is taking a gamble on his talent to get the hometown fans  to switch allegiance to Brewers from the Tigers.

The Angels want to win and they want to win NOW.  They made this move not to keep up with the Yankees and Rangers, but rather to keep ahead of the scorching Oakland Athletics.  How mad would Arte Moreno be if he misses the playoffs this season because of a bunch of no-named Moneyball 2.0 stars beat his team out for the playoff spot all for  a fraction of the payroll cost.

Tune in on Sunday to watch Greinke in an Angels uniform against the Rays.

-Dan