Daily Archives: April 21, 2017

George Bridges/Associated Press

Jimmer Fredette was surprised by how easy the transition was. He knew what he was getting into when he made the decision to move across the world from Denver to Shanghai. He'd spent a significant amount of time mulling over the decision to move to China, talking to several players about the transition, and the Shanghai Sharks, Fredette's Chinese Basketball Association team, set him up with a nice apartment. The research, the conversations and the accommodations all made the landing a bit smoother.

The food, however, would prove to be one of the toughest parts of the move.

Chinese food in China is wildly different from Chinese food in America, and Panda Express classics like General Tso's chicken and fortune cookies are nowhere to be found. Initially, cultural culinary differences didn't prove to be a problem. In Shanghai, the world's most populous city, Fredette could find anything he wanted to eat.When the Sharks began to hit the road, though, Fredette soon understood why he'd been warned.

"Once you got to different cities, it was like, 'Oh, I don't know what I'm going to do,'" Fredette tells Bleacher Report. "It was like, 'Pizza Hutshould I order that again?' I ate a ton of hard-boiled eggs and a lot of rice. I haven't eaten that since I've gotten home [to the United States]."

Whatever difficulties Fredette had with food, however, didn't hinder his abilities on the court. The former BYU star and 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft, now known as the "Lonely God" overseas, tore up the CBA. He averaged 37.6 points per game while shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 39.6 from beyond the arc, and he took home both the All-Star game and league MVP awards. The accolades, combined with Fredette's 73-point performance in a February regular-season game, stirred up memories of Jimmermania, which swept the country during Fredette's senior year at BYU in 2010-11.

Interestingly, Fredette's numbers in the CBA compare favorably to several players who went to China and returned to the NBA. Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith averaged 32.4 points per game on 49.7 percent from the field, while Wilson Chandler averaged 26.6 points on 45.7 percent from the field. The game in China perfectly suited Fredette's strengths. The CBA favors quick guards confident in their scoring abilities. Deep threes are taken regularly, and when an offensively skilled player travels overseas, they are given "the greenest of green lights," according to Andrew Crawford, writer for Chinese basketball website Shark Fin Hoops.

"Someone like Jimmer who is confident about his shot, that's perfect for him," Crawford says. "You can't be a shrinking violet in Chinese basketball. You're going over there and they're paying the money that they are, you have to be able to shoot and you have to be confident about your shot."

Fredette wanted an opportunity to showcase his abilities after toiling on the ends of NBA benches and D-League (now G-League) rosters for years. Fredette spent most of 2015-16 playing for the Westchester Knicks, scoring 21.1 points per game while shooting 45.8 percent, but he couldn't find the right opportunity stateside for 2016-17.

Feeling he'd accomplished all he could in the D-League, Fredette began looking overseas. When Jackson Emery, Fredette's teammate from BYU, heard his friend was heading to China, he was surprised.

"I was thinking a little more Europe. I thought he'd fit them better in terms of their lifestyle and wouldn't be as much of a culture shock," Emery says. "Once [Fredette] started talking to me about the shorter season, the money paid, the endorsement opportunities and the marketshare, it made more sense. He definitely made the right move."

Fans in China fell in love with Fredette and his performance for the Sharks, the former CBA home for Hall of Famer Yao Ming. The adoration of Fredette overseas reminded Emery and former BYU teammate Noah Hartsock of the madness of Jimmermania.

"It brought back Jimmermania a little to the states," Hartsock says. "Hopefully next year we'll see a 120-point game. That's what I'm waiting for. He's still Little Jimmo to us."

Fredette, while consideringoptions for next year, reportedly turned down a couple of 10-day contracts as opportunities to audition late in the season. His actions thus far indicate he's positioning himself for an NBA return.Thinking back to the heat of Jimmermania, Emery said that Fredette's career certainly hasn't gone as many teammates and friends expected.

"At the time, you had guys like Kevin Durant tweeting that he was the best scorer in the world. When you get guys like that tweeting, it's funny," Emery says. "Steve Kerr, that's the type of guy you thought Jimmer would be and the career he'd have. It's about fit and timing, and it hasn't felt like he's had the right fit or timing. That's why he's taking the time and thinking about it."

Emery, now a sales manager at Domo, a software company in Utah, sees Fredette as a business opportunity for any NBA team willing to take a chance. Beyond what he brings to the court, what Fredette brings with fans in the seats and jersey sales still holds value.

"Obviously he knows he's not Russell Westbrook ... but he thinks he can be Raul Neto for the Jazz. He can bring five to 10 minutes, hit some shots and contribute," Emery says. "I'm a Utah Jazz fan and I wondered why teams wouldn't bring in Jimmer to sell jerseys at the very least. There is value from what he can do on and off [the court]."

"I compare him to Tim Tebow. People didn't want to play around with the Tebow circus. You feel like there's a similar sentiment around Jimmer."

A return to China, however, could prove to be equally, if not more, lucrative. Foreign players can become legends in the CBA, as evidenced by the success of Stephon Marbury, who now has a museum in Beijing and is a naturalized citizen of China. Crawford says Fredette could prove to be equally successful if he continues playing at a high level.

"There is a legacy of overseas players coming over and committing themselves to a team and it goes over really well in that city," Crawford says. "If Jimmer came back and stayed in Shanghai and kept the success going, he would create an enormous legacy."

Those are the two paths present-day Jimmer Fredette can choose from: a chance to potentially become a bench player in the NBA or an opportunity to become a legend halfway across the world.

"I envisioned myself being a great basketball player in the NBA. I felt like I had the skill set to be able to do that," Fredette says. "I can shoot the ball and score the ball in today's NBA with the three-point shot. I had some great times in the NBA, I had some not-so-great times, but it's something that I've continued to work towards and not let it keep me down."

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Continued here:

Jimmer Fredette Has a Decision: Immortality in China or Role Player in America - Bleacher Report

Rose Byrne, Oprah Winfrey.

Rose Byrne, Oprah Winfrey.

Rene Elise Goldsberry.

Rene Elise Goldsberry.

Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah Winfrey.

Henrietta Lacks story gains greater immortality in HBO film

The story of Henrietta Lacks and the long and ultimately successful campaign to identify her posthumous contributions to medical science is so emotionally compelling, it would take complete incompetence not to tell it well in a TV film.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the HBO film based on the book by Rebecca Skloot and airing Saturday, April 22, has been created with more than competent direction, writing and performances. Its an emotionally powerful film that does justice to Lacks, her legacy and her family.

When Lacks died in 1951 of cervical cancer, cells from her body were preserved by doctors at Johns Hopkins University Hospital and were found to have the ability to live and multiply outside the body. Labeled HeLa (from the first two letters of the decedents first and last names), they have been used ever since for medical research around the world. Yet Lacks descendants never received any compensation, even as companies and doctors profited from breakthroughs enabled by the HeLa cells.

The HBO film tells the story of how research by Skloot (Rose Byrne) for a book on Lacks led her to her family, including her daughter Deborah, who went by Dale. Dale is played to stunning perfection by Oprah Winfrey, who snapped up the rights to film Skloots book even before it was published.

Dale is a complicated and often cantankerous woman, and like other members of her family, naturally distrustful of a young white reporter asking questions about her mother. Only 2 when her mother died, Dale is desperate to know more about who her mother was, but she is given to mood swings, often certain that Skloot is looking to make a buck off Lacks story.

The campaign to find out what happened to Lacks takes Skloot and Dale to the tiny tobacco town of Clover, Va., where Henrietta Lacks lived, to the cemetery where she is buried in an unmarked grave, to the home of other family members, including Dales best friend and cousin, Sadie (Leslie Uggams). Piece by piece, the women put Lacks story together.

Throughout the film, written by director George C. Wolfe with Alexander Woo and Peter Landesman, moments of the past and the brief life of Lacks (Rene Elise Goldsberry) flash into view. As the film progresses, we learn more about Lacks and who she was, the revelations paralleling Dale and Skloots exhaustive, challenging search.

The performances are extraordinary on every level. In addition to Uggams, Goldsberry and Winfrey, the film boasts great work from Courtney B. Vance as an oily con man named Sir Lord Keenan Coefield; Rocky Carroll as Dales older brother, Sonny; and Reg E. Cathey as Zakariyya, Dales younger brother.

Byrnes Skloot feels more like a plot convenience than a three-dimensional character in the first half of the film, but she finds her footing after she and Dale learn to fully trust each other.

Henrietta Lacks achieved a kind of immortality after her death. But Skloots book and, now, this gripping film adaptation will ensure that the world knows who she was.

David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle and co-host of The Do List every Friday morning at 6:22 and 8:22 on KQED-FM, 88.5 FM in San Francisco, 89.3 FM in Sacramento. Follow him on Facebook. Email: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WaitWhat_TV

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Dramatic film. 8 p.m. Saturday, April 22, on HBO.

See original here:

Henrietta Lacks' story gains greater immortality in HBO film - SFGate

Those who know Jeff Hastings well say he is the last person to take credit for anything, no matter how hard hes worked or how much hes accomplished.

Recognition is not something the Norwich native seeks out, despite an accomplished career in ski jumping as an athlete and an Olympic broadcaster with NBC.

Thats a difficult thing to keep up when others see you as a vital centerpiece for a sport in the process of rebuilding its national image.

Hastings was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame on April 8 in Stowe, Vt. The honor, Hastings said this week, caught him completely off-guard.

Its a hard thing to have a reaction to, he said. Ski jumping has been a huge part of my life since forever. To get recognition like this, its something I never could have dreamed of. Its an enormous honor.

Hastings, a Hanover High graduate, began skiing at 4 years old and was part of the Ford Sayre ski jump program in Hanover growing up. He attended Williams College in Massachusetts to continue his ski jumping pursuits before joining the U.S. Ski Team. Hastings qualified for the 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, where he finished in fourth place, setting a modern American record. He also is a four-time U.S. national ski jumping champion.

After his Olympic stint, Hastings took to the broadcast booth, where he has worked as a network ski jumping expert at every Olympics since the 1992 Games in Albertville, France. That streak will come to an end next year at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but Hastings, 57, said hes happy that hes been able to stay involved in the sport for so long.

(Broadcasting) is not something that comes naturally to me, he said. To have that front-row seat with a credential, to watch the sport up close and watch its athletes develop, to keep that connection to the sport was really exciting to be a part of.

Rex Bell, a ski jumping coach for the U.S. team from 1980-88, lauded Hastings for his contributions to the sport.

Jeff is one of the most successful ski jumpers of all time. Certainly in the modern era. He and Mike Holland are the best ski jumping athletes the U.S. has ever produced, Bell said. Beyond his success on the playing field, so to speak, hes someone who has meant a tremendous amount to the sport in the form of developing and creating programs.

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association cut funding for ski jumping in 2010 and Nordic combined events in 2014. Bell the vice chairman and member executive of USA Nordic, the organization now responsible for developing future ski jumpers and Nordic combined athletes said Hastings was heavily involved in getting it started.

The way of thinking, the culture, is in large part shaped by Jeff and his attitude, Bell said. When we talked about whether to go ahead and form this organization and what the priorities should be, we agreed that one of the big focuses should be on the grassroot programs and to really get back to the basics.

Jeff was the most passionate, he added. He really took it upon himself to create all these really cool, fun programs to help recruit kids and keep them involved. Hes been doing it all this time, quietly and behind the scenes, not asking for help.

Hastings has helped organize the USANS Story Project, a ski jumping and Nordic combined blog where he acts as a curator for shared photos and stories throughout the season.

Hes also helped start an online event called Virtual Nationals, where youth athletes from across the country submit videos of their jumps to be judged by former and current Olympians.

The sport of ski jumping is kind of a niche sport. Its certainly a minor sport, Bell said. But were beginning to see, in part because of the programs Jeff has created and the efforts of this organization providing advance training opportunities, success at the international level.

Outside of the sport, Hastings has used his organizational skills for philanthropic purposes. He devised the Childrens Hospital at Dartmouth Hero Half Marathon while he was a volunteer board member for Friends of CHaD in 2006, and now serves as its race director.

Not only is he a ski Hall of Famer, hes also a CHaD Hero Hall of Famer, said Sharon Brown, director of community relations at CHaD. Hes continued to not only be the brains, but the brawn. ... Its our single biggest event; last year we raised $800,000.

Its an amazing event because Jeff keeps pushing us to think bigger, better, stronger, she added.

Hastings, who works full-time at Pro-Cut International in Lebanon, said he is looking forward to putting more of a focus on family and work and that watching the Olympics next year will be surreal after so many years on the air.

I think we hit bottom and were coming back, Hastings said of ski jumping. Its an incredibly unique sport, an individual sport in a team environment. Its a lot like life. Youre not competing against other people, youre competing alongside them. ... Its never going to be football or golf; it wouldnt be suited for that. But it will continue in pockets. Its a great sport for parents and kids.

Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.

Read the rest here:

Soaring Into Immortality: Norwich Ski Jumper Enters Hall of Fame - Valley News