USA cheated in the Baseball World Cup

[persianfire]

nope

Thanks.
What about the NBA, NHL and NFL?

[Mr.Click]

Thanks.
What about the NBA, NHL and NFL?

NFL;

Shar(Shahriyar) Pourdanesh:
#68 Shar Pourdanesh | OT
Full Name: Shahriar Pourdanesh
Born: July 19, 1972Teheran, Iran

Height: 6-6
Weight: 312 lbs.
Age: 32
Pos: OT
Experience: 6 years
College: Nevada
FANTASY
Percent Owned: (Week +/-):
NFL: 0.0% (0.0%)
Avg. Draft Position:
NFL: UD







PAINFUL PAST GIVES WAY TO BRIGHT FUTURE AS A CHILD, SHAR POURDANESH FLED HIS NATIVE IRAN AND FOUND PREJUDICE IN AMERICA. NOW, HE SEEKS A HOME ON THE SKINS' LINE.

Shar Pourdanesh had a normal childhood in Teheran, Iran, in the late 1970s.
As normal a childhood, that is, as one could have in a nation that was imploding.
He rode his bike and his skateboard. He played video games. He also obeyed martial law because he saw the bodies of those who didn't. He saw the riots. He saw the fear on his parents' faces.
At 6-foot-4, 326 pounds, he almost certainly will make it as a left offensive tackle for the Washington Redskins and the NFL's first native Iranian.
He has become one of the most popular players on the team. The other night, players began chanting ``Shar ... Shar ... Shar,'' the unofficial call for rookies to stand and sing their alma mater.
Reluctantly, Pourdanesh stood, then told the team he would sing the Russian national anthem instead. Pourdanesh uttered some gibberish, but did it with such gusto that his teammates loved it. He speaks three languages. Who knew Russian wasn't one of them?
``He's a fun-loving guy,'' quarterback Gus Frerotte says. ``The guys have really taken to him.''
And he to them. But Pourdanesh clearly remembers his roots and the pain that came with being of Iranian descent.
His family left Teheran when he was 9. Now 26, he hasn't seen nearly 40 of his relatives since.
His two sisters arrived in California in 1979 to attend Catholic school. He, his father and mother hopscotched through Europe for 3 1/2 years before getting visas to join them in the United States.
But leaving Iran behind was no simple task. Once, Pourdanesh was leaving a building in Hamburg, Germany, on a holiday similar to our 4th of July. When he heard fireworks, Pourdanesh threw himself to the ground, hands covering his head, reflexively quaking at what might come next.
``The worst part was that I knew they were firecrackers,'' he says, ``and this was a year after I had left Iran. I thought, `Boy, am I really messed up.' ''
In 1983, the family arrived in Costa Mesa, Calif. Pourdanesh, who was in the eighth grade, barely spoke English. Changing classes one day, a student bumped into him. Instead of apologizing, he asked Pourdanesh if he was from Iran. Pourdanesh said yes and ducked an instant before his face was used for a punching bag.
Daily for the next couple of years, Pourdanesh says, kids challenged him to fight.
``I had so much pride I'd tell myself I couldn't back down,'' Pourdanesh said. ``I'd get one guy, then his older brother would come up with his friends and we'd go. I finally developed a plan. I'd go right at the biggest guy. The others would join in, but I figured if I had the biggest guy in my hands, there wasn't much the rest would do.
``One time, there were three of them, and one guy stripped the cover off an umbrella. I was on the ground with the biggest guy, rolling, and this guy with the umbrella would whip that at my head.
``It was like, `punch, punch, duck . . . punch, punch, duck.' I developed a pretty good sense of timing.''
From eighth grade until his sophomore year in high school, Pourdanesh had no friends, just bitter, faceless enemies. Sometimes, teachers would escort him between classes for protection. Sometimes, they just let him go. When school administrators did anything, he says, they suspended him for fighting.
``I've never disliked this country. I did dislike the people who were doing that to me, because they didn't know me,'' he says of his classmates.
Pourdanesh never asked his parents to leave America because ``you don't go through four years of living in hotels, then leave a country that offers what this one does.''
In middle school, Pourdanesh stood 5-9. As a high school sophomore in Irvine, Calif., however, he was 6-4, 180 pounds and an excellent wrestler. He went to the weight room one day and asked the attendant if he could join a friend who was pumping iron.
``Turns out he was the football coach,'' Pourdanesh says, laughing. ``He suddenly put his arm around me and began telling me that I should play football for him. I could get a college scholarship. I could someday sign a big professional contract. It was all bull.''
Except that it came true.
Pourdanesh had two college scholarship offers for wrestling and one for football - from Nevada-Reno. In wrestling, his father reminded him, the Olympics were the end of the line. In football, there was the NFL.
Only it wasn't that easy.
After college, Pourdanesh had a tryout with the Cleveland Browns, but was cut. He went back to Reno, finished his degree and figured he was done with football.
That was fine. He missed his Reno friends too much to devote his life to a game.
Then he watched a friend on the Browns play ``and I said, `Oh my God, what have you done?' It was the first time I realized how much I loved football, that I wanted to have a career.''
An opposing coach he knew from college had just accepted a job as offensive line coach for the Canadian Football League's Baltimore franchise. He saw Pourdanesh's name on the waiver wire and called.
``He told me, `You stay here two years and they'll be begging for you back in the NFL,' '' Pourdanesh said.
He was right. Pourdanesh was All-CFL two straight years and the league's lineman of the year in '94.
The Redskins found him when they he was in Washington to process papers to play for the London Monarchs of the WLAF. They asked him to come by Redskin Park before he left the country. Tight ends coach Russ Grimm gave him a workout. Pourdanesh never made it to the airport.
``I really like him, but you're always concerned about a lineman until you see him perform in pads,'' offensive line coach Jim Hanifan said. ``He's held up his end. He's got a tremendous work ethic, is very smart and coachable and he's some kind of tough. He's an excellent prospect.''
Pourdanesh is closing the gap behind starter Joe Patton. He soon could win the job as starting left tackle. At worst, he's the first sub.
``Sure, I think I'm living a dream,'' he says. ``Two years ago, I thought I was out of football for sure. Now, I'm getting paid to do something I love. God willing, for this season and many more to come, I'll get paid for having fun.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MICHAEL HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY

[MoJo23]

Thank you Mr. Click, i have not have heard of him before.

Thanks.
What about the NBA, NHL and NFL?

In the Nba, Jaber Rouzbahani was very close to getting drafted in the nba last year, but i dont know what happened to him. Hopefully he can try to get drafted by a NBA team next year.

Here is an article on him:



By Aran Smith
NBADraft.net
5/15/04

He's 7-5, 260 pounds, with a 8-foot wingspan. He turned eighteen less than a week ago. He’s a shot blocker with a soft shooting touch. He comes from Iran, and he can grab the rim flat footed and dunk on his tippy-toes!

The natural reaction to “from Iran” is, “So he can’t play, right?” But he can. He’s still raw but not as raw as you might imagine.

Jaber Rouzbahani has been playing basketball for less than four years. He played Yao Ming in an Asian Tournament last year and held him to 15 points. (About half of what Yao was averaging in the tournament.) He also played at the (19-under) World Junior Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece last summer in front of NBA scouts averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds per game and an eye opening 7 blocks, leading the entire tournament.

Jaber (pronounced JAB-er) has been working with Ansar Alameen, a (NBA skill development) coach since moving to America. Alameen said, “His development since I’ve been working with him is like nothing I’ve ever seen. It really comes down to his attitude.”

Rouzbahani was brought over from Iran three months ago after acquiring the necessary visa. He is currently staying in the Bay Area and works out at Contra Costa College.

His caretaker/advisor/translator Hashim Alauddeen, who works for Lebron James’ agent Aaron Goodwin, has brought the kid over and taken him into his home.

“Jaber expected there to be a disco tech on every corner.” said Alauddeen describing Jaber's misconceptions about the US being similar to our misconceptions about Iran. "There are a lot of misconceptions, in Iran it’s obviously a different culture, there is a more traditional dress and public presentation there, but people are people".

Alauddeen, from the Bay Area, is a long time friend of Goodwin who met his Iranian wife while studying in Tahran.

“They would never have allowed me to bring Jaber here if it wasn’t for my wife.”, explained Alauddeen. Describing the pitch he made to Jaber’s family, “I told them that Goodwin represents LeBron James and helped him get a 100 million dollar shoe deal from Nike, they looked at me like I was crazy. For shoes?”

Jaber had a normal family upbringing with loving parents. His father is average height standing roughly 6 foot. While his mother is tall at about 5'11.

Jaber was born with the same pituitary gland disorder as fellow draft prospect Pavel Podkolzine. Also known as “giantism”, it is a disorder related to the pituitary gland which is involved in growth. Left untreated people with this disorder often die from it in their 30‘s or 40‘s as their body cannot sustain the growth.

Unlike Podkolzine, Rouzbahani had his pituitary gland removed 2 years ago. Pavel however is currently taking medication to combat the disorder.

As with much of the world, basketball is an afterthought to soccer. In Iran, basketball is almost non-existant. There is one gym in the city where Jaber is from and it is used by the professional team. Growing up, Rouzbahani had heard of "Shaq" but didn't know what he did.

He had a chance to meet his favorite player (Shaquille O'Neal) on a chance meeting on a trip up to Portland. As the two biggest people for miles around, the two spotted one another from across a parking lot. Shaq walked the length of the parking lot to shake the big fella’s hand. Shaq said, "You're the big kid from Iran right?". When asked how he knew of Jaber, Shaq pointed to his head and said, "I know everything."

Jaber’s English is still in it's infant stages. Since coming to the US, one of the first English words he learned is "foul". Since not knowing the word was causing arguements in pickup games as opponents didn’t believe that he didn't know how to speak English. He’s still reluctant to call fouls, so his trainer tells him to continue going hard to the basket even after the foul.

In Iran everyone plays soccer, and because of his size he was always the goalkeeper. When asked about how he started playing basketball, he said someone handed him a ball (smiling) and he liked the way it felt.

What about the thought of playing basketball for a living? (through Alauddeen) "I knew I would play for the rest of my life, but I didn't know I could get paid doing it."

Jaber comes from a city of 3 million in Iran called Isfahan which means "half of the world's beauty". It is a city widely known in the Middle East for it's beautiful scenery. There’s a famous bridge there called the See-o-Seh where people go to relax and walk around. It’s ironic that his first home in America is the Bay Area which is home to another beautiful and famous bridge: the Golden Gate.

In Iran, Jaber’s basketball development was slow. They lack the basketball fundamentals in coaching and the mindset is different compared to the kids here in the U.S. To give an example, Alauddeen explained that in Iran, if 9 kids show up to play and there's no tenth person to play full court, they all just go home.

Jaber has been playing in daily pickup games with former Georgetown center and 7-footer Wesley Wilson. “When Wesley started playing him a month ago he was killing him”, Alauddeen said. “Now, Jaber can play him head up.”

Seen in the photo below posting up against Wilson, Jaber would hit a shot from the top of the key to win this game and walked off the court with a big grin on his face.

Jaber is in the same boat with Pavel Podkolzine and Peter Ramos as he’s young and has great potential but still a big project. He is more raw than the others but defensively there is even more intrigue because of the development curve. He won't ever be a 20 game scorer, but he could be a big value to a team as a shot blocker.

Jaber has declared for the draft and will stay the course and hope to get drafted or worst case scenario hope to get picked up by a team as a free agent and put on IR for a few seasons to develop.

One “unnamed NBA team” has already inquired about hiding him, so apparently teams have interest. With his considerable upside, how could they not?

So how high can he be drafted? It will probably depend on his progression between now and the draft, but he is obviously a long term project but with enormous potential rewards.

Just seeing him workout and play in a few pickup games, it’s tough to project where exactly he will be picked in the draft. With the language barrier, and the rawness, late first round is unlikely but not completely out of the realm of possibility.

When considering Jaber has only been playing for just over 3 years, and has only had intensive training for 2-3 months, one can't help but fantasize about his considerable upside. You could be looking at a future Yao stopper.

Right now his biggest obstacles are learning English (he speaks through his advisor Hashem) and developing his body and skills. He has tremendous size and runs the floor something like Ghorge Mueresan. However, expect it to improve.

When asked what he thinks about possibly being famous in America, he smiles and says, “I’ve already become famous in Iran.”

What stands out most about Jaber, besides the obvious size, is his positive attitude. He has an infectious smile and a great personality which shines through despite the language barrier.

Jaber will leave on Monday, accompanied by Alauddeen, for Atlanta to work out with Shareef Abdur-Rahim for the upcoming NBA draft.

Though he first picked up a basketball less than four years ago, his progression in the past few months is something that will surely peak the interest of the NBA come draft time.

The reach of International basketball continues to grow. Talk of this kid making the NBA is no “jibber-Jaber”.



I dont think there are any iranian players playing the NHL, but in the NFl there is also a half iranian player named T.J Houshmanzadeh playing for the Cincinatty Bengals. He is a wide receiver.
Search for a thread named "T.J Houshmanzadeh"

[persianfire]

Thanks Mr.Click and mojo.
They make me proud!

[greatpersian]

Are there any Iranian players in MLB?

A half Iranian (and half Japanese) may play in USA someday.
His name is Darvish and lots of American teams wanted him before he joined a Japanese one. The 20-year-old has been very impressive so far in Japan, Baseball World Cup champion
According to Japanese reports, he and his father are planing to meet Daei



Another half Iranian and half Japanese athlete called Aria Jasuru Hasegawa is doing well in Japan. He is a soccer player and has been named in U-19 Japan NT squad. We will play against Japan in U-20 AFC Youth Championship this summer