Posts tagged Basketball
Wizards’ New Uniforms Perfect Except For The Word “Wizards” On the Front. Rumors have been flying for a while now that the Washington Wizards were going to go back to their old color scheme, from when they were the Bullets. And today, they confirmed those rumors with these new and most excellent uniforms. But man oh man, that team nickname looks more pointless and out of place than ever. DITCH IT, TEDDY. -DM [DC Sports Bog]

Wizards’ New Uniforms Perfect Except For The Word “Wizards” On the Front. Rumors have been flying for a while now that the Washington Wizards were going to go back to their old color scheme, from when they were the Bullets. And today, they confirmed those rumors with these new and most excellent uniforms. But man oh man, that team nickname looks more pointless and out of place than ever. DITCH IT, TEDDY.

-DM

[DC Sports Bog]

“ In person, Carmelo is disarmingly casual about pretty much everything.
”
That’s New York magazine’s Will Leitch with a rather glowing profile of Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, who leads New York into a first round matchup with the Celtics on Sunday night. The above quote is notable because it can be as damning as it is flattering, and it was only but a few weeks ago when people were saying Carmelo played ”sloppy, scattered and selfish basketball.” Very soon, we’ll find out if that carefree attitude is valuable or toxic.

-DM

[Will Leitch]

“Folks, This Is ‘Love Song.’” It may not give you pause that the NBA’s Sacramento Kings are on the verge of moving to Anaheim, but announcers Grant Napear and Jerry Reynolds were unable to hide their sadness at the end of last night’s presumably final home game at the Arco Arena. And between all the choking back tears and then queuing up one of the greatest hair metal songs of all time without a trace of irony, I think this is probably one of the most touching sports moments of 2011. Love IS gonna find a way.

-DM

[Amanda Rykoff]

“ Maybe we’ve even made sports a little more appealing to people who don’t get off on X’s and O’s or tired macho posturing.
”
That’s Bethlehem Shoals of the great FreeDarko NBA blog, which is folding up shop today after six years of slung knowledge and pretty illustrations. And I like the above quote the best for the likes of FreeDarko and Fire Joe Morgan, and other legacy sports blogs that endeavored to get rid of the whole “fan as armchair coach” mentality, a mentality I hope dies in the gutter one day very soon.

-DM

[New York Times]
“ The sports world is pushing back hard against hip-hop, baby-mama athletes. You can call it racism. I call it a rejection of values that don’t contribute to consistent winning, brand enhancement and the maximizing of profits. It’s a business decision.
”
That’s Jason Whitlock of FOX Sports roundly criticizing Jalen Rose’s recent “Uncle Toms” rant about Duke basketball. While most of Whitlock’s essay is fairly on-point (just ask him), I think the phrase “hip-hop, baby-mama athletes” is the kind of term that the Colin Cowherds of the world like to use to criticize ANY black athlete, regardless of individual personality or history. So take care in this kind of argument, because it can feed stereotypes all too easily.

-DM

[Jason Whitlock]

NCAA Tournament's 'One Shining Moment' Should Be Destroyed 

This Song Is Not Happy. While I think Spencer nails the sadsack spirit of the song, I can’t fault “One Shining Moment” for that. Scratch any apparently happy song, and you’ll find a morose undercurrent: “Bang the Drum” is about a man who imagines the beating he would like to give his coworker; “Louie Louie” is the song of a man who will likely die alone at sea; and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” includes the most depressing qualifying-statement-as-lyric I’m aware of.

-JN

[SBN]

Bob Knight’s Son Fired. Yuks Ensue. The above tweet is brought to you by the always delightful DJ Gallo, reacting to the news that Texas Tech University has fired head basketball coach Pat Knight after three relatively lackluster years in Waco. Pat Knight succeeded his father as head coach of the Red Raiders, which leads me to two thoughts. 1) Has any succession plan in coaching ever worked? Like, ever in history? And 2) There will never be a second generation of successful coaches created in Bob Knight’s image. The whole militaristic, chair-throwing hothead routine? That’s officially a dated concept now.  -DM [@sportspickle, The Dallas Morning News] 

Bob Knight’s Son Fired. Yuks Ensue. The above tweet is brought to you by the always delightful DJ Gallo, reacting to the news that Texas Tech University has fired head basketball coach Pat Knight after three relatively lackluster years in Waco. Pat Knight succeeded his father as head coach of the Red Raiders, which leads me to two thoughts. 1) Has any succession plan in coaching ever worked? Like, ever in history? And 2) There will never be a second generation of successful coaches created in Bob Knight’s image. The whole militaristic, chair-throwing hothead routine? That’s officially a dated concept now. 

-DM

[@sportspickle, The Dallas Morning News] 

Why Are The Coolest Freak Baskets Always High School Baskets? Okay, so here’s a kid trying to inbound the ball for Sacopee High School In Maine. He can’t find anyone, so he decides to do the “deliberately throw the ball at the feet of a defender so it goes out of bounds” trick that usually gets you another chance at the inbounds pass. Instead, it goes off the defender’s foot and right into the basket. This is the kind of freaky play you only see in high school basketball, because there are so many high school basketball games played every year that you’re bound to get a few wildly unlikely baskets such as this one. It’s why the NBA regular season should actually be 1,082 games instead of just 82. Foot baskets are cool.

[Deadspin]

-DM

Cute of the day - Bracket Face-Off: Sports reporter vs. 2-year-old.

Mom: Georgetown or Iowa, hunny, which one do you want?

Daughter: Daddy!

Mom: Daddy’s not playing in the tournament, do you want Georgetown or Iowa?

Daughter: George.

Bill Murray’s got game.