MooPig Tech Coroner :: "Gold Bricks"

Is it Fake, or is it Gold?
Mixed mashed articles by Pat Darnell  |  May 28, 2014  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK] These "fake" gold bricks usually have a core made of Tungsten steel that has roughly the same density as gold.

You don't need to go to ITT TECH to wake up to the current state of things in the world. Just browse content in the Internet, search for things, and you will get a cross section of State of the World.

Yes, there are rings of unsavory persons around the world, in the Philippines, China, and places yet to be discovered who are gold plating bars of tungsten to create fake gold bars.  I think it is hilarious. Who buys gold bars? The fabulous rich buy gold bullion. And they can't tell the difference. I hope Mitt Romney bought himself some fake gold.

I would love a sneak peek into the Bush's family meeting when they discover they have a load of fake gold bricks, literally; fake gold bricks for a family of gold bricks. "DUBYA, get in here," says George senior, "I'm gonna give your mayonnaise, pin striped ass a whippin'!"

Jump start your Summer and buy some Krugerrand's, but don't forget to take your portable drill so you can check them.

Listen, MooPig Financial Advisers cannot verify if having a gold standard currency is good for the world financials, or not. We have been gold plating Cow dung for years now, because we want to corner the market on Cow dung.

What makes me such a self-righteous bastard? I don't have a photo of my grandad posing with Hitler, that's what makes me self-righteous.

America's Book Of Secrets Episode Guide - Season 3 -  HISTORY.com:

"The Gold Conspiracy Premiere,"... Date:April 19, 2014 - 10:00-11:00PM ET Gold. It is one of the most precious metals in the world. A glittering commodity so rare that people will go to great lengths to obtain it. But who sets the price? And what are the secret methods to control its value? Uncover the clandestine world surrounding the highly prized precious metal. How much gold does the United States really have–and where is it locked away? Is the American government overstating the amount of gold in its reserves to create the mystique of financial superiority? Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich discusses the gold standard and the possible manipulation of the commodities markets. Chairman of Euro Pacific Precious Metals Peter Schiff describes how gold could replace credit cards. And author Matthew Hart details how the U.S. is storing gold that belongs to other countries–but may now be missing from the Federal Reserve's vaults."
'via Blog this'

"... There is a difference of around 9% in duty on gold between India and Thailand. This has encouraged unbridled smuggling of the yellow metal. However, since the traditional routes of smuggling such as Thailand-India and Dubai-India are heavily monitored, smugglers have begun using Nepal and Bangladesh route to bring in gold through porous borders. In fact, both countries have even seen their gold imports double in the past one year without any evidence increased demand for the yellow metal in their domestic markets. In another incident, SSB Bagha unit in Bihar under Muzaffarpur Sector recovered fake Indian currency notes worth Rs 83,000. The currency was being carried by two youths belonging to a minority community, said SSB sources. They were coming from Nepal and had boarded a train in India.(Deeptiman Tiwary,TNN | May 23, 2014, LINK)..."

[Picture LINK]

CONCLUSION
The History Channel says that all of the world's gold fits on a rectangle the size of a tennis court, and would be about thirty feet tall. That's 120 feet by 60 feet by 30 feet to a whopping grand total of 216,000 cubic feet of gold. That's it! That's all. Yet nations scurry around and hoard gold.

1 cubic foot = 30.48^3 cubic centimeters gold = 28316.8 cubic cm gold
Mass = 19.3g/cm^3 * 28316.8 cm^3
Mass = 546,514 grams

Now we can convert to troy ounces or pounds:

1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 grams
546,514 grams / 31.1034768 grams = 17,570.8 troy ounces

1 pound = 453.59237 grams
546,514 grams / 453.59237 grams = 1,254.65 pounds

That comes to a world total of 270,864,000 pounds of gold. You can go figure out how much in ounces for yourselves. But it comes to about $13 quadrillion dollars at $3000 per ounce of gold.

That's all folks. What a racket.

"...Meanwhile, Russia and China keep accumulating gold bars in their central banks vaults. A year ago, a Chinese official was saying that their central bank’s gold buying must be done softly, so as not to provoke a excessive hike in its price that would impede gold buying by the Chinese consumers (did it slip his tongue?). Not only is the central bank of China accumulating gold (without reporting it) to be ready when the dollar fails, but it’s encouraging the Chinese to do the same. Quite a contrast with the West! It should be no surprise that the Chinese rushed toward physical gold in 2013, eclipsing all their previous buying records and surpassing the Indians, whose hands have been stupidly tied by their government. If one follows the gold trail, one will find the countries preparing to dominate the world tomorrow (Léonard Sartoni. Feb 11, 2014. LINK)..."


__________________________Reference
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SSB-seizes-gold-and-fake-currency-worth-Rs-2-crore-at-Nepal-Border/articleshow/35526455.cms
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/19578206/fake-gold-bars-turn-up-in-manhattan
http://www.history.com/shows/americas-book-of-secrets/episodes
https://www.goldbroker.com/en/news/overall-look-gold-market-part2-central-banks-gold-reserves-423
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/604092/6-arrested-for-peddling-fake-gold-bars-in-digos-city
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/09/19/fake-gold-bars-discovered-at-store-in-midtown-manhattan/
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080207161440AAEhYVN

MooPig 'Stuff No One Wants to Hear About' Department :: "Devaluation of our Dollar"

I Believe It, because I Lived It
Compiled articles by Pat Darnell  |  Mar 16, 2014  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK] Rockefeller is probably hoarding tons of gold, I bet he has a few rooms like this.

After 3000+ posts, MooPig Wisdom is finally putting the final pieces in to complete the jigsaw puzzle that is our current government, and business environment. Finding reasons for current events is a humbling task. We cannot say it is not without a bunch of zigging and zagging to go from the question "What in the name of God is our government doing?" ... to today's question ... "Oh, so that is why they are doing all this boondoggling?"

We have in essence been rehashing issues that bubbled up during the 60's - 70's. UCLA Berkeley says:

1971 Termination of Gold/Dollar Convertability - Timeline - Slaying the Dragon of Debt - Regional Oral History Office - University of California, Berkeley: "Under the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944 the U.S. dollar was the only national currency directly backed by gold. Other currencies were valued against the dollar, which could be exchanged through the U.S. government's "gold window" for a fixed amount of gold. Over the course of the 1960's, however, this system came under strain. Spending on the Vietnam War and Great Society as well as the revival of Western Europe and Japan led to a decline in the U.S. balance of payments. This, in turn, placed significant pressure on the dollar: U.S. gold holdings could not keep pace with the expanded money supply required by domestic and international economic growth. Fearful that other governments would rush to convert their dollars into gold and thereby precipitate a run on the dollar, on August 15, 1971 Richard Nixon unilaterally suspended dollar-gold convertibility."

'via Blog this'

CONCLUSION
It is as if Globalization, and International ambiguity hit the USA like a conflagration in the 1960's. Due to the spending on international pet projects like the Vietnam War and the Great Society, Nixon took away the gold standard of our currency. Our gold holdings could not keep up with our spending abroad. What would happen if Vietnamese suddenly turned all their dollars in for gold?

That act set in motion ripples in every phase of government, industry, business, and life withstanding. We are still riding this ripple today, like surfers with lots of fiat cash in our hip pockets.


___________________Reference
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/debt/terminationgolddollar.html
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread448462/pg9
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/debt/oilcrisis.html

MooPig Government Shutdown Department :: "Who Profits?"

Default would be an inexpressibly stupid event
Mashed articles by Pat Darnell  |  Oct 12, 2013  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK unknown]

Every investor should be afraid of a U.S. government debt default. But tearing a portfolio apart because of the risk of a default is risky, too. A U.S. default would be catastrophic. Even one day in default would harm the nation's credit rating, and have serious ripple effects, including:
• Damage consumer confidence, and possibly the economy.
• Cause interest rates to spike higher.
• Hurt stock and bond prices.
• Wound the value of the U.S. dollar on international currency markets. (John Waggoner, USA TODAY 9:34 a.m. EDT October 7, 2013. LINK)

Here's Who Profits If the Government Defaults | Mother Jones: "1. Short sellers: Most folks invest in stocks and bonds hoping the value of their investments will increase. But there's also money to be made by short selling—betting that the value of a stock or bond will drop. Short selling is an investment strategy that's typically employed by sophisticated investors and financial firms, but technically anyone can do it. Investors who bet that the value of US Treasury securities will dip would likely profit. Because a default could cause the US stock market to crash, shorting almost any US stock could make you money. In fact, you can even invest in specific mutual funds that specialize in short selling. "It's a very powerful and disillusioning feeling to know that smart rich people can make money even when America goes over Niagara Falls in a barrel," says Jeff Connaughton, a former investment banker and White House lawyer during the Clinton administration."

'via Blog this'

Precious metals and Virtual Money [BitCoin] will ride out the Government shutdown. Housing will suffer and jolt owners into foreclosures due to soaring interest rates -- but the banks, and holding companies make out like banshees. It will be a wild west land grab for greedy bankers.

" ... Jacob Lew, the current Treasury secretary, said in a letter to Congress in September: "The debt limit impasse that took place in 2011 caused significant harm to the economy and an unheard of downgrade to the credit rating of the U.S.. The drawn-out dispute caused business uncertainty to increase, consumer confidence to drop, and financial markets to plunge. If Congress were to repeat that brinkmanship again this time, it could inflict even greater harm on the economy. And if the government should ultimately become unable to pay all of its bills, the results could be catastrophic. (John Waggoner, USA TODAY 9:34 a.m. EDT October 7, 2013. LINK) ... "

With those poor credit ratings brought on by default, we pay higher interest rates for our credit. And government securities for sale would have to offer higher interest rates of return to attract buyers. That also increases interest rates for long term money like Housing, and would make borrowing for home buyers and businesses higher at the same time.


CONCLUSION
Markets will probably sell off as the deadline looms. If there's a last-minute resolution – as there was in 2011 – stocks and bonds should soar in value, as should the U.S. dollar.

 _________________________Reference
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/10/who-would-benefit-government-default
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/10/07/investments-in-default/2933457/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/10/07/position-your-portfolio-for-default/2935395/
http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/gold-investing-100720136
http://www.investing.com/news/commodities-news/gold-gains-as-u.s.-government-shutdown,-default-fears-weaken-dollar-253567
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/what-is-bitcoin-explained
http://thegenesisblock.com/us-debt-ceiling-highlight-bitcoins-role-asset-class/
http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/12/30/106350-financial-crisis-gives-pawnshops-a-boost/
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-5-things-20131008,0,6197200.story
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/perverse-incentives-lead_n_328378.html
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/preppers-survivalist-doomsday-obama

MooPig Mercantile Department :: "Meteorites"

It Shattered Windows and Injured Thousands
Retrieved by Pat Darnell  |  Feb 19, 2013  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK]

Rubles from heaven: Russians scoop up meteorite chunks for sale - latimes.com:   ... "They're calling it the meteorite rush.

Prices asked for purported pieces of the alien visitor range from $20 to $30,000.

Typical Ad:

“For sale: a piece of meteorite. Cures cancer, AIDS and prostate. Improves academic performance at school, “ reads one ad, which was posted under the name Yevgeny and is perhaps overreaching a bit. He is asking $10,000 for his space rock, without specifying its size."

'via Blog this'

Russia's massive meteorite: By the numbers ... the big space rock that crashed into the Ural Mountains last week was the largest in a century, and worth more than its weight in gold ...

55 -- Diameter of the meteorite, in feet, according to NASA

10,000 -- Weight of the meteorite, in tons

500 -- Amount of energy, in kilotons, put out by the meteor as it neared Earth — 30 times the energy of the atomic bomb that struck Hiroshima

40,000 -- Estimated speed of Friday's meteor, in miles per hour, before crashing, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos

567 -- Typical cruising speed of a Boeing 747, in miles per hour

25 -- Diameter, in feet, of a hole in frozen Lake Chebarkul, believed to be where a large chunk crashed through the ice

53 -- "Small, stony, black objects," confirmed as meteorite fragments, that scientists have recovered so far from around Lake Chebarkul

$2,220 -- Price per gram of recovered fragments of the meteorite — 40 times the price of gold — according to Dmitry Kachkalin, a member of the Russian Society of Amateur Meteorite Lovers

5,000 -- Rough estimate of known meteors 100 feet in diameter or bigger that could hit Earth,

... according to NASA Sources: Bloomberg Businessweek, CNN, Guardian, Reuters, Space dot com, Wall Street Journal, Wired

" ... The best bet, Ford [Mark Ford, a longtime collector who is chairman of the British and Irish Meteorite Society] says, is to buy from a dealer who is a member of the International Meteorite Collectors Association, a self-policing group of dealers. Ordinarily, after a major meteorite fall, “the dealers are on the next plane,” he says. “But this being Russia, it’s a bit more difficult. They have to get visas, and there are some security issues because Chelyabinsk is a nuclear city.” (Carol Matlack on February 19, 2013. LINK) ... "

____________________Reference
http://theweek.com/article/index/240276/russias-massive-meteorite-by-the-numbers
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-russians-scoop-up-meteorites-20130219,0,327561.story
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-19/first-came-the-russian-meteor-now-the-meteorite-deals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/18/hunt-russian-meteorite-fragments-comet
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/18/us-russia-meteorite-idUSBRE91E05Z20130218
http://www.space.com/19847-russian-meteorites-found-chelyabinsk-fireball.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323764804578312264130040432.html
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/russia-meteor/
http://www.imca.cc/

Michael Phelps in England 2012

20 Medals, 16 Gold.
Snagged by Pat Darnell  |  Aug 2, 2012  |  Bryan TX

Michael Phelps is back on top. In winning the 200m IM in London over fellow American Ryan Lochte Thursday, Phelps captured his 20th Olympic medal and became the first male swimmer to ever win the same event in three consecutive Games

Read more: http://nbcnews.to/NOjeoJ

Photo: Tim Wimborne / Reuters

He [Michael Phelps] knew then that if he wanted to be serious about swimming, serious about this grueling and demanding event in particular, he had to get his backside into the cold pool early in the morning and re-dedicate himself to being the champion he was and could yet be again.

"... He [Phelps] went out hard and fast from the get-go, flirted with world-record pace and won in 1:54.27. It was his 20th career Olympic medal; 16 are gold. Say that out loud and let the thought linger: 20 medals, 16 gold. ... "

Sidebar
The OTHER American Swimmer, Ryan Lochte's, meet is over. He won five medals. That is, and let's be plain, big. Moreover, Lochte now has 11 for his career. Among all male American Olympians, only Phelps has more.

In London, Lochte, who turns 28 on Friday, won individual gold in the 400 IM and relay gold, a brilliant swim, in the 4x200 free.
________________Reference
http://nbcnews.to/NOjeoJ

MooPig's Big Surprise Department :: "Gold price forecast to drop"

Retrieved by Pat Darnell | Dec 18, 2011 | Bryan TX

[Picture LINK]

Gold price forecast to drop - Commodities | IOL Business | IOL.co.za:  ... "The precious metal is now heading for its first quarterly loss for the fourth quarter after its second-worst rout since September 2008 when the global credit crunch was at its height." ...

'via Blog this'

[PICTURE LINK]

_____________Reference
http://www.iol.co.za/business/markets/commodities/gold-price-forecast-to-drop-1.1200321
http://www.motifake.com/122294

http://www.luxurylaunches.com/other_stuff/year_of_the_dragon_spitsfire_with_a_2012_shaped_gold_statue.php
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MooPig's Report from the Half-Past ...

Desperately Looking for Explanations
Retrieved by Pat Darnell | October 16, 2011 | Bryan TX

[Cartoon LINK]

Article from Aug 10, 2010 -- [LINK]

Stage 1. Nixon irresponsible, dumps gold, U.S starts spending binge


Stage 2. Crushing debts from domestic excesses, war mongering


Stage 3. Wall Street's deadly 'vast, unproductive expansion'


Stage 4. New American Revolution class-warfare coming soon

[ ...]
Oct 16, 2011  | PD
If you are honestly confused by the events you read about, so am I. The confusion comes from my not being able to absorb the degree of betrayal that has occurred in my short lifetime. Sound familiar?

Just yesterday, it seems like, the Berlin Wall was toppling down. It meant a great deal in my view of things. But it turns out while that was happening, many were positioning themselves to cash in on the event. Cashing in is what a man with three sons does with the factory he built -- as he realizes he is not going to get another chance to do so. Dad sells the factory, and the three sons are left to fend for themselves, possibly for the first time.

This article is a Republican's "mea culpa" for what went down starting with the Nixon decision to not back USA currency with gold anymore.

Then the author describes the greed of the next Republican regimes, as in: "Commentary: How: Gold. Tax cuts. Debts. Wars. Fat Cats. Class gap. lead to No fiscal discipline."

It is not a pretty scene.

In fact it is catastrophic ... dealing a death grip on us dogs who have tried seemingly in vain to make good on our promises to spouse, children, earth, and parents.

I feel like I have existed in a pretense from the start of my adulthood. Something alien has surfaced in my life experience. Is this the year we make contact? Gather your mettle and read this article. It should be shocking that it was written over a year ago. This is the conclusion, here below:

Conclusion

Warning: this black swan won't be pretty, will shock, soon

His bottom line: "The day of national reckoning has arrived. We will not have a conventional business recovery now, but rather a long hangover of debt liquidation and downsizing ... it's a pity that the modern Republican party offers the American people an irrelevant platform of recycled Keynesianism when the old approach -- balanced budgets, sound money and financial discipline -- is needed more than ever."

Wrong: There are far bigger things to "pity."

First, that most Americans, 300 million, are helpless, will do nothing, sit in the bleachers passively watching this deadly partisan game like it's just another TV reality show.

Second, that, unfortunately, politicians are so deep-in-the-pockets of the Wall Street conspiracy that controls Washington they are helpless and blind.

And third, there's a depressing sense that Stockman will be dismissed as a traitor, his message lost in the 24/7 news cycle ... until the final apocalyptic event, an unpredictable black swan triggers another, bigger global meltdown, followed by a long Great Depression II and a historic class war.
So be prepared, it will hit soon, when you least expect. (Ferrell, Paul B. Aug. 10, 2010)

Reagan insider: GOP destroyed economy - Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch:

'via Blog this'


__________Reference
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reagan-insider-gop-destroyed-us-economy-2010-08-10?pagenumber=2

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Blogging for GOLD ??

Blogging is self-defeating, here's why:

by Pat Darnell
If you are a blogger, one who has a propensity to excel with your writing and appeal to readers, then eventually you will attract attention. What is frightening is being put in categories: Retired or Retiring, Conservative, Baby Boomer, Eat up with a dumbass, Money Grubber, ... now, apparently with a Gold Fetish Jones. Here is the letter of late burning my brain -- Now I am not a stand out, but an Insider... YIKES!!

"Patrick, We Miss You
You've probably heard the buzz about investing in gold. Learn why it's gaining in popularity—and why skeptics compare it to burying money in your backyard!"

-- AND --

"...Manage My E–mail Subscriptions

You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the AARP Webletter. If you would like to cancel your subscription, please click here. We welcome your feedback about the newsletter, but please use our contact AARP link if you have questions about AARP or your membership."

What’s Behind the Recent Gold Rush?
Shaky financial institutions and fears of inflation make a risky investment hot again

By: Michael Zielenziger | Source: AARP Bulletin Today | March 31, 2010

"What is it about gold that fascinates people?

You can’t eat it. It doesn’t pay interest. It costs money to store, and it’s heavy to carry around.

Yet its price has risen like a rocket over the past 18 months. The cost of a troy ounce jumped more than 70 percent between October 2008 and December 2009, when it topped out at $1,214.80, and this year it has hovered near $1,100. ... On March 30 it traded for $1,103.60.

“You couldn’t give it away at $700 an ounce, but at $1,200, everybody wants some gold,” said Michael J. Wright II, whose family has operated Fort Knox dealership of Alameda, a suburb of Oakland, Calif. for more than 30 years.

“When the horse is winning, people just want to climb on that horse,” adds his wife, Linda, after weighing a small nugget of dental gold and paying a customer $34 in cash. “It’s psychology and the media,” she adds. “When people get nervous about the economy, or about the future of the banks, they buy gold. They want to have something tangible they can hold on to.”

A popular investment in conservative circles

In the 24-hour universe of cable television and radio, the pitch seems almost ubiquitous. Tune in to conservative talk-show hosts Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham, or to Fox News commentators Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck, and you are likely to be bombarded with pitches about the safety of owning gold, usually in the form of bullion coins.

Ads pushing gold point to the shrinking value of the U.S. dollar against foreign currencies, rising budget deficits and massive government spending as sure signs that gold remains the best investment money can buy.

“When the system eventually collapses, and the government comes with guns and confiscates, you know, everything in your home and all your possessions, and then you fight off the raving mad cannibalistic crowds that Ted Turner talked about, don’t come crying to me,” Beck has said. “I told you: Get gold.”

Critics note that Beck and other gold bugs also appear as paid spokesmen in gold dealers’ ads.

A shield against inflation?

“People seem very, very fearful of inflation, even though there are no signs of it yet,” Potts said. “Our customers are saying that when you do $3 trillion a year of government spending, inflation has got to be lurking just around the corner. And what’s unusual this time is that people seem less worried about a return on their investment. They just seem to be looking for financial insurance—protection.”

... December 2008, ... the metal was selling for $749 an ounce,... Even though prices have declined from their peak, they’re still around $1,100 per ounce.

To skeptics, buying gold seems the equivalent of burying money in your backyard. It doesn’t provide dividends or help create new jobs like investing in a company’s common stock.

And they point out that gold can be a bad bet—especially after a batch of good economic news. On just a single Friday, last Dec. 4, gold fell a stunning $48.60 an ounce after a surprisingly good report on jobs in the U.S. Old-time traders recall the early 1980s, when the price fell from about $850 an ounce to below $300 in the space of 2 1/2 years. (Zielenziger, M; 03.31.2010; retrieved HERE today)"

Michael Zielenziger writes about business and the economy. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area (Gold and precious metals are measured by the “troy ounce,” which is slightly more than an ounce at the grocery store.)

Olympic Gold Melee and Primeval Jousting: Basketball Team USA

USA versus Spain for the Gold 2008 in Basketball, by Pat Darnell

I remember being excited once. We were watching and cheering our basketball team in junior high school. For some reason our Pershing Pandas had a fantastic team who played and passed with a flow of motion. It was an emotional team. They had one guy named Mars who looked like a giraffe. He was tall for our age, and he was contrasted with a short guy named Keys. So Keys and Mars created an incredible tension for the other team, and great drama for us fans.

It's 4 AM and the US Basketball team just won its last game for the gold medal. It was very exciting. Our guys ran hard and played like they were a foot off the ground at all times. The Spaniards are taller over all, or so it seems. They are fleet too. They have some too tall forwards, who seemed to always be standing in the middle of the pathways to goals.

Yes, Spain's forwards looked like those enormous balustrades that are placed in the ocean where ferry's maneuver for docking. Big horns blowing, feet the size of Brooking to Alaska, huge white drawers catching the breeze of Kobe Bryant zipping by... describes the Spaniards. Those fellows must be drinking unpasteurized whole milk in the mornings; Tequila in the evening.

Team USA were golly-gee-bewhiskered all night, smiling at every shot, furrowed brows at every ref whistle and call, and a new way to pass the ball at every offense attack. They wanted badly to "play" but they were denied this by the big salamandar arms with knuckles dragging on their opponents.

One time the ball went back and forth like volley ball as our guys stole then they stole, all crazy like. Each time one broke for his goal, the camera would get caught going the wrong way, because the ball was intercepted again. The shot clock kept restarting. Then somebody tripped, and it was one of those get the man with the ball. I am positive the Spaniard's seven footers were tripping our guys. Both of them would be eight feet 6 inches tall if so much of them wasn't turned under. Their feet looked like river barges with a little extra ramp attached for loading tanks.

Every time the ball whipped through a bunch to the middle, some how all the crisis's converged on that very moment. It resembled a loose ruck in a rugby match underneath the basket, not just once but all night long. Once USA grabbed the lead, they held onto it for the rest of the game, though. Much due to the completion of free shots from the melee under the rims.

Our big guy, Duane Wade, sometimes looked like he was doing a butterfly stroke as he started toward the basket with the ball in both hands; only to have his arms slapped down while only his head continued to the hoop. Then with sweat flying everywhere, it resembled Mike Phelps on third leg of the swimming relays.

There also were unusual moments when bodies were sliding across the key, and piling up there amid lots of squirming. One or the other team mate would squirt out from underneath, and toss to a standing team mate; that's right, a lateral from the floor. In the old days, like I remember, this used to be a jump ball. The ref's in this match were alternating from turning into pillars of salt to back into ref's.

I remember the game got sweaty and hot in the gym at our alma mater Pershing. The floors had to be wiped several times by team supporters, because of players falling and sliding. Olympic Gold playoff tonight was just that playful. China's towel guys and gals had to mop up plenty all night. I got the feeling that this was a major joy for them.

Near the end Kobe Bryant sidled up to Coach, and sort of giggled, then poured a bottled water all over him. Very funny, you should've been there.

USA 118 -- Spain 107
Bronze goes to Lithuania