Whale Tail
July 27th, 2010
A memorable year for Major League Baseball continues. But which is the bigger fluke: Five no-hitters in four months, or two players getting injured celebrating victories?
Archive
Archive for the ‘The sporting life’ Category
Before ‘The Decision,’ there was ‘The Annullment’
July 20th, 2010
With Juwan Howard officially joining the Miami Heat - 14 years after the team first tried to get him - the word “irony” is getting thrown around a lot. But here’s a small one:
When Howard signed with Miami in 1996, he almost broke the NBA. As Howard signs with Miami in 2010, the NBA is almost broke.
Howard’s annulled deal of ‘96 was essentially the pinnacle of his career; he’d been an All-Star in his second season, carried a woefully under-talented and oft-injured Bullets team to the brink of the playoffs and now had teams fighting to offer him a $100 million contract. Read more…
The Great Crimson Hope
July 17th, 2010
I’ve been a fan since his freshman year.
Lin could become the first Harvard player in the NBA since Ed Smith in 1953. As a senior, Lin nearly guided the non-scholarship Crimson to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1946. He averaged 16.4 points and 4.4 rebounds. He went undrafted and was widely considered a nice story but not an NBA player.
Much like his 8.0 scoring average with 2.0 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 15.7 minutes in four summer league games, Lin’s stat line doesn’t tell the whole story of his production and value. The Mavs came to Las Vegas seeking to train the electrifying guard Rodrigue Beaubois to run the point but will leave knowing that Lin — while not the complete athlete or pure shooter as Beaubois — is the superior point guard.
–Kaplan, ESPNDallas.com, 7/17
Semi-charmed life
July 16th, 2010
Yanks’ best free-agent signing during the Steinbrenner era? One Michael C. Mussina.
I play defense for Cleveland about as well as World B. Free
July 10th, 2010
Click here to see Eric and DD’s full discussion of LeBron James.
Dan-
A few things about Cleveland: it’s a city like anywhere else, where people live and work, raise families, have friends, and enjoy parks, world-class cultural activities, and occasionally major-league level sports. I get that for people who want to be clubbing and partying it up constantly, is as the prerogative of some young multi-millionaires, Cleveland is not the promised land. But for the vast majority of people, including myself, why the naysaying?
I’d like to point out to our reader, if there is one, that you are only one generation removed from living in Cleveland, and that you sound as grateful to not be here as if you left Siberia for the gilded streets of Manhattan in 1895. Cleveland has no Monopoly on depressed areas and economic problems, Mr. Parker Brother. Read more…
In which I find your argument lacking and spurious
July 10th, 2010
Click here to see Eric and DD’s full discussion of LeBron James.
Eric,
You get to be McEnroe, I’ll be Borg. Like aging tennis stars, it’s fantastic that we can still serve and volley on sports, at least for one round. And I’m thrilled by your recent comments - because I totally disagree and can’t wait to take them apart.
Perhaps I’m not getting your A-level material. I’d imagine that blogging isn’t top-of-mind as area businesses fail and bread lines stretch to Chagrin Falls (such was my expectation from a June 2009 e-mail exchange, when you informed me that you’d be leaving Ann Arbor for Ohio):
DD: Cleveland?? I hear they have two buildings there, and the economy’s built on LeBron James.
Eric: I am truly a bit concerned about what will happen to the economy in Cleveland if LeBron leaves next year. It’ll kill property values and unemployment will spike. (Only half-kidding.)
My pressing question: Has the LeBronpocolypse begun? (And if so, how could you tell?)
And now for the view from the banks of the Cuyahoga…
July 9th, 2010
Click here to see Eric and DD’s full discussion of LeBron James.
Dan, thanks for inviting me to this debate. Actually, I pretty much invited myself, because your own comments on Facebook and Twitter made me curious to hear more than 140 characters from you. I root for my hometown Boston teams first and foremost, but do have an interest in the Cavaliers doing well. I was very torn watching the 2010 Eastern Conference finals because of the potential long-term impact of a Cavs’ loss, which has been realized.
You ask why so many fans are upset at Lebron for providing entertainment, given that his primary job description is “entertainer.” (Secondary job descriptions: one man economic stimulus package; property owner; and lung-damager. And yes, this was a form of entertainment, but lots of people doing bad things draw ratings and mass attention, whether they be criminal acts (O.J.), socially frowned-upon behavior (Tiger; Jon and Kate), or general inanity (Paris, the cast of the Jersey Shore). None of these people require last names, by the way. Read more…
Yet another opinion about LeBron
July 9th, 2010
I think about sports. My friend Eric W. - a writer, scholar and adopted Cleveland Cavaliers fan - also thinks about sports. Strangely, we don’t always think the same things. We’re taking our latest debate online.
Eric-
I’m glad we’re going to try this, in the tradition of Slate’s film club or a long-forgotten sports blog.
So onto today’s topic: LeBron James. Specifically, the TV special that launched a thousand blog posts and Facebook status updates last night.
Crashing the White House Super Bowl party
February 7th, 2010
With no cable - a casualty of snowmaggedon - all options are on the table tonight, public scorn be damned.
Bu hao xie zi
January 26th, 2010
Something has caused Ron Artest to develop plantar fasciitis in both feet, and Lakers CoachPhil Jackson believes that something might be the shoes his small forward wears…
“I’ve called his shoes concrete boots for about the last month,” Jackson said. “Those shoes look like they are made for the Hudson River. But he stays with them and he gets his feet worked on. But he does not move really quickly. He looks like he’s clogging around out there.”
Artest endorses a shoe by a Chinese company called Peak Shoes, as do Dallas’ Jason Kidd and Houston’s Shane Battier.
Turner, Los Angeles Times, 1/25
