1. Watch the Birdie
By Ryan McGee
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3384003

For Americans, badminton means grabbing a $19.98 set at Wal-Mart and
swatting a plastic birdie 'til the burgers are done. But for the
Chinese, it's a sport of 200 mph serves and handcrafted goose-feather
shuttlecocks. Badminton is the toughest ticket at the Beijing Games.
Seriously.

"It's going to be rocking," says U.S. captain Howard Bach, a 2004
Olympian and 29-year-old Vietnamese-American who grew up in San
Francisco. "Americans have no idea. Countries have signature cheers,
crowds throw water bottles and trash at you. It's scary. But when you
realize we're talking about badminton, it's pretty cool, too."

Of the 37 U.S. Summer Olympic teams, none operates on a smaller budget
or is on the wrong end of more jokes than badminton. But with respect
to Michael Phelps and LeBron, no American will compete in an arena as
crazed as badminton's 7,500-seat Beijing University of Technology
Gym—a.k.a. the BUT.

"Going to Beijing is going right into the heart of the badminton
world," says team director Dan Cloppas. Since the sport went Olympic
in 1992, China has won a world-leading 26 medals. "When tickets went
on sale, badminton was the first to sell out."

Bach stunned the badminton world when he paired with Tony Gunawan to
win doubles at the 2005 worlds, the first U.S. medal in international
competition. In Beijing, he will likely compete in mixed doubles, with
21-year-old Eva Lee, winner of a trio of golds at the 2007 Pan Am Games.

"The atmosphere will either be a boost for the Chinese team, or the
pressure will wear them down," Bach says. "If we win, there won't be
any parades back home, but believe me, it will be a big deal."



2. USA Badminton Olympic Team
Source: http://www.usabadminton.org/page.asp?Page=News&iID=495



3. Rules to be reassessed after South Korea throws matches
[Interesting! Losing matches on purpose to gain better results...]

Source:
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/05/13/sports/OUKSP-UK-BADMINTON-RULES.p\
hp



4. REMINDER: 2008 Susan Jurkonis Memorial Tournament
May 16th & 17th, 2008
Willowbrook High School
1250 S. Ardmore Avenue
Villa Park, IL 60181
Deadline May 14, 2008 (THAT'S TODAY!)

Entry form: http://clbp.webhop.net/08sj-entry.pdf
or http://www.midwestbadminton.com/tournaments/2008_SueJurkonis.pdf


-- CLBP Moderators