trueD
10-29-2006, 12:43 PM
This piece could also go in the policital forum, but why tarnish Kim Jong Il's love for the game with political rhetoric? :smokin
It's a great piece, here's the beginning then the link:
While the rest of the world watches Kim Jong Il, fearful of North Korea's nuclear threat, the dictator often can't take his eyes off ... the NBA
By Mark Zeigler
STAFF WRITER
October 29, 2006
The image most Westerners probably have of Kim Jong Il, the reclusive North Korean leader who recently tested a nuclear device, is that of a diminutive, diabolical dictator with big glasses and even bigger hair, sitting in one of his lavish palaces with a tray of Beluga caviar and Hennessy XO cognac, one finger firmly on the button.
Which probably isn't too far from the truth – the button being on a television remote control.
Click.
It's Shaq and the Miami Heat against the Chicago Bulls.
Click.
There's Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Phoenix Suns.
By most accounts, Kim is a totalitarian despot who is hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons to gain diplomatic leverage against the rest of the planet and who may or may not sell that technology to raise cash for his impoverished nation. But he also is an avid basketball fan, experts on North Korea say, so much so that he is said to have regulation courts at most of his palaces plus a video library of practically every game Michael Jordan ever played for the Bulls.
Read the rest here (http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061029/news_1n29kim.html)
It's a great piece, here's the beginning then the link:
While the rest of the world watches Kim Jong Il, fearful of North Korea's nuclear threat, the dictator often can't take his eyes off ... the NBA
By Mark Zeigler
STAFF WRITER
October 29, 2006
The image most Westerners probably have of Kim Jong Il, the reclusive North Korean leader who recently tested a nuclear device, is that of a diminutive, diabolical dictator with big glasses and even bigger hair, sitting in one of his lavish palaces with a tray of Beluga caviar and Hennessy XO cognac, one finger firmly on the button.
Which probably isn't too far from the truth – the button being on a television remote control.
Click.
It's Shaq and the Miami Heat against the Chicago Bulls.
Click.
There's Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Phoenix Suns.
By most accounts, Kim is a totalitarian despot who is hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons to gain diplomatic leverage against the rest of the planet and who may or may not sell that technology to raise cash for his impoverished nation. But he also is an avid basketball fan, experts on North Korea say, so much so that he is said to have regulation courts at most of his palaces plus a video library of practically every game Michael Jordan ever played for the Bulls.
Read the rest here (http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061029/news_1n29kim.html)