Welcome to our Atlanta Hawks NBA from ESPN. You can watch live streaming about basketball http://ift.tt/1Ap8JKA
Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
Sabtu, 28 Februari 2015
basketball stream live Former Knicks Player Anthony Mason Dead At Age 48
basketball stream live NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Mason, the rugged power forward who was a defensive force in the NBA from the 1990s into the early 21st century, has died. He was 48.
The Knicks confirmed Mason's death, which was first reported Saturday by the New York Daily News. He had been battling heart problems.
"We would like to thank everyone for their heartfelt thoughts and strong prayers. Anthony felt each and every one. He fought like a warrior to the very end," the Mason family said in a statement provided by the Knicks.
Mason won a Sixth Man Award with the Knicks and later made an All-Star team, but it was the toughness he provided alongside Charles Oakley while surrounding franchise center Patrick Ewing that made him beloved in New York.
"MY MAN MY MAN A. MASON R.I.P, WE GONNA MISS U BROTHER," Oakley wrote on Twitter.
The 6-foot-7 Mason won the NBA's Sixth Man award in 1995 with a Knicks team that was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs in one of its classic clashes with the Indiana Pacers. Mason also won all-defensive-team honors two years later with the Charlotte Hornets.
Knicks President Phil Jackson, who coached the Chicago Bulls teams against the '90s Knicks, said that "as a competitor, there was none fiercer than Anthony Mason."
"Standing on the opposite end of the playing field, coaching in those great Chicago/New York battles, No. 14 in the orange and blue always stood out," Jackson added.
Mason's career averages — 10.9 points, 8.3 rebounds — don't tell the full story of his game. A solid, muscular presence down low, Mason was there to play defense, and on coach Pat Riley's bruising teams, he could shine.
Mason played for New York from 1991-1996, and then for the Hornets until 2000. He made his only All-Star team in 2001 as a member of the Miami Heat, after reuniting with Riley.
"Anthony Mason exemplified perseverance for all players fighting for their chance in the NBA," Commissioner Adam Silver said.
"NBA fans and players around the league admired his tenacity on defense and playmaking on offense."
He wasn't all grit, though. Despite his plodding look, Mason was a nimble athlete and deft ballhandler who often showed up for games with words or designs styled into his hair.
Mason was drafted in the third round out of Tennessee State in 1988 by Portland, but he never played for the Trail Blazers. After a brief stint overseas, he played sparingly in 21 games for the New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets before he finally caught on with Riley's defense-first Knicks in 1991. He was a force for them as they made a run to the 1994 NBA Finals, and clashed with other powerful Eastern Conference teams, including Michael Jordan's Bulls.
He was dealt to Charlotte in a July 1996 trade that brought Larry Johnson to New York. With the Hornets, Mason played three strong seasons in four years, missing 1998-99 due to injury, before Riley brought him to Miami, where he was coaching a Heat team that played with the same style as those Knicks teams with which Mason flourished.
At Tennessee State, Mason was dominant, and was the school's first All-Ohio Valley Conference selection. In the 1987-88 season, he took a school-record 247 free throws.
Anthony Mason was born Dec. 14, 1966, in Miami. He went to high school in the New York City borough of Queens, where his son Anthony Jr. would later play for St. John's University before going on to a pro career in the minor leagues and overseas. Another son, Antoine, is at Auburn this season after transferring from Niagara, where he graduated after finishing second nationally with 25.6 points per game last season.
___
AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1Bq6Jay
via basketball stream live
The Knicks confirmed Mason's death, which was first reported Saturday by the New York Daily News. He had been battling heart problems.
"We would like to thank everyone for their heartfelt thoughts and strong prayers. Anthony felt each and every one. He fought like a warrior to the very end," the Mason family said in a statement provided by the Knicks.
Mason won a Sixth Man Award with the Knicks and later made an All-Star team, but it was the toughness he provided alongside Charles Oakley while surrounding franchise center Patrick Ewing that made him beloved in New York.
"MY MAN MY MAN A. MASON R.I.P, WE GONNA MISS U BROTHER," Oakley wrote on Twitter.
The 6-foot-7 Mason won the NBA's Sixth Man award in 1995 with a Knicks team that was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs in one of its classic clashes with the Indiana Pacers. Mason also won all-defensive-team honors two years later with the Charlotte Hornets.
Knicks President Phil Jackson, who coached the Chicago Bulls teams against the '90s Knicks, said that "as a competitor, there was none fiercer than Anthony Mason."
"Standing on the opposite end of the playing field, coaching in those great Chicago/New York battles, No. 14 in the orange and blue always stood out," Jackson added.
Mason's career averages — 10.9 points, 8.3 rebounds — don't tell the full story of his game. A solid, muscular presence down low, Mason was there to play defense, and on coach Pat Riley's bruising teams, he could shine.
Mason played for New York from 1991-1996, and then for the Hornets until 2000. He made his only All-Star team in 2001 as a member of the Miami Heat, after reuniting with Riley.
"Anthony Mason exemplified perseverance for all players fighting for their chance in the NBA," Commissioner Adam Silver said.
"NBA fans and players around the league admired his tenacity on defense and playmaking on offense."
He wasn't all grit, though. Despite his plodding look, Mason was a nimble athlete and deft ballhandler who often showed up for games with words or designs styled into his hair.
Mason was drafted in the third round out of Tennessee State in 1988 by Portland, but he never played for the Trail Blazers. After a brief stint overseas, he played sparingly in 21 games for the New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets before he finally caught on with Riley's defense-first Knicks in 1991. He was a force for them as they made a run to the 1994 NBA Finals, and clashed with other powerful Eastern Conference teams, including Michael Jordan's Bulls.
He was dealt to Charlotte in a July 1996 trade that brought Larry Johnson to New York. With the Hornets, Mason played three strong seasons in four years, missing 1998-99 due to injury, before Riley brought him to Miami, where he was coaching a Heat team that played with the same style as those Knicks teams with which Mason flourished.
At Tennessee State, Mason was dominant, and was the school's first All-Ohio Valley Conference selection. In the 1987-88 season, he took a school-record 247 free throws.
Anthony Mason was born Dec. 14, 1966, in Miami. He went to high school in the New York City borough of Queens, where his son Anthony Jr. would later play for St. John's University before going on to a pro career in the minor leagues and overseas. Another son, Antoine, is at Auburn this season after transferring from Niagara, where he graduated after finishing second nationally with 25.6 points per game last season.
___
AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1Bq6Jay
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Spurs End Four-Game Skid Against Kings
basketball stream live 
Sacramento, CA - DeMarcus Cousins sat out with a sprained left ankle and bruised left hip. Without him in the lineup the Kings were unable to contain the San Antonio Spurs who ended their four-game skid behind a revived Tony Parker. Sacramento lost their second game under new head coach George Karl behind Parker's aggressiveness in the fourth quarter.
"Tony played great," said Spurs head coach Greg Popovich. "He got to the basket, he shot open jumpers, he distributed the ball. He was what we're used to seeing from Tony Parker."
Parker came out his slump to power the Spurs past the Kings 107-96. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. Kawhi Leonard added 17 points and seven rebounds posing problems for Rudy Gay who had 16 points and 8 turnovers that proved costly.
"He got off to a great start, but Kawhi Leonard is a good defender," Karl said. "Rudy didn't have a bad game, we just maybe forced the flow to him too often. He made a few mistakes, but I don't think we would've even been in that game without Rudy. Rudy was a big part of why we hung around until the fourth quarter."
"They didn't make any mistakes; we made a bunch of mistakes," said Gay. "I made most of them to be honest with you."
Sacramento got off to a great start leading by as much as 10 points but the turnovers in the end were too much. The Kings shot 49 percent but had 17 turnovers. Ben McLemore scored 21 points and Ray McCallum who started in place of Daren Collison (out with a right hip flexor strain) had 20 points.
Karl warned his team that a struggling San Antonio team meant nothing and that they were still the defending NBA Champions. He explained that a four-game skid was merely their way of playing "possum" until they move further up the Western Conference standings.
"I think they're playing possum," Karl said. "They're still a championship team and I don't care how many games they've lost, they know how to play playoff basketball and I'm sure they're looking to move up the Western Conference."
The Spurs became more aggressive in the fourth while the Kings were cooling off. Carl Landry who started in place of Cousins picked up his fourth foul late in the second quarter. San Antonio never trailed in the second half and kept their lead to six until Parkers layup with under six minutes for the 93-86 lead.
"Yeah, much better execution down the stretch," said Tim Duncan. "Defensively, I thought we were much better tonight. Actually got stops. Got some boards and turned it into transition points for us. Just good to get a win, good to get off the slide a little bit there and get a win and hope we build on that."
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AFPBwH
via basketball stream live
Sacramento, CA - DeMarcus Cousins sat out with a sprained left ankle and bruised left hip. Without him in the lineup the Kings were unable to contain the San Antonio Spurs who ended their four-game skid behind a revived Tony Parker. Sacramento lost their second game under new head coach George Karl behind Parker's aggressiveness in the fourth quarter.
"Tony played great," said Spurs head coach Greg Popovich. "He got to the basket, he shot open jumpers, he distributed the ball. He was what we're used to seeing from Tony Parker."
Parker came out his slump to power the Spurs past the Kings 107-96. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. Kawhi Leonard added 17 points and seven rebounds posing problems for Rudy Gay who had 16 points and 8 turnovers that proved costly.
"He got off to a great start, but Kawhi Leonard is a good defender," Karl said. "Rudy didn't have a bad game, we just maybe forced the flow to him too often. He made a few mistakes, but I don't think we would've even been in that game without Rudy. Rudy was a big part of why we hung around until the fourth quarter."
"They didn't make any mistakes; we made a bunch of mistakes," said Gay. "I made most of them to be honest with you."
Sacramento got off to a great start leading by as much as 10 points but the turnovers in the end were too much. The Kings shot 49 percent but had 17 turnovers. Ben McLemore scored 21 points and Ray McCallum who started in place of Daren Collison (out with a right hip flexor strain) had 20 points.
Karl warned his team that a struggling San Antonio team meant nothing and that they were still the defending NBA Champions. He explained that a four-game skid was merely their way of playing "possum" until they move further up the Western Conference standings.
"I think they're playing possum," Karl said. "They're still a championship team and I don't care how many games they've lost, they know how to play playoff basketball and I'm sure they're looking to move up the Western Conference."
The Spurs became more aggressive in the fourth while the Kings were cooling off. Carl Landry who started in place of Cousins picked up his fourth foul late in the second quarter. San Antonio never trailed in the second half and kept their lead to six until Parkers layup with under six minutes for the 93-86 lead.
"Yeah, much better execution down the stretch," said Tim Duncan. "Defensively, I thought we were much better tonight. Actually got stops. Got some boards and turned it into transition points for us. Just good to get a win, good to get off the slide a little bit there and get a win and hope we build on that."
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AFPBwH
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Kobe Bryant's New Documentary Goes Beyond Basketball To Explore Fatherhood And Failure
basketball stream live Kobe Bryant doesn't have the patience to write a book. He says so in the trailer for his new documentary on Showtime, “Kobe Bryant’s Muse.” Directed by Gotham Chopra, the film shows a side of Bryant that will be new to those used to seeing him in NBA warrior mode, as he examines his own upbringing, setbacks and failures and contemplates a life beyond pro basketball glory.
“I have things I want to think about," Bryant says, "things I want to dive into and get off my chest.”
Bryant and his wife Vanessa joined friends at a private screening in Los Angeles on Thursday night at the London Hotel in West Hollywood. The room fluttered with pro athletes dressed to the nines and sports agents in expensive suits. Former Lakers forward Rick Fox walked around looking for a place to charge his phone. The music of Ray Charles and Etta James floated from the speakers. Bryant was all smiles and posed with just about everyone who asked for a picture.
"Kobe Bryant's Muse" is more than a glorified highlight reel. Yes, there is great footage of him at every stage of his career, including air balls from his first season with the Lakers. But instead of focusing on Bryant's all-star games, championship rings and milestones -- like recently surpassing Michael Jordan on the NBA’s all-time highest scorer list -- the filmmakers aim to go deeper, and darker. Chopra and Bryant, who executive produced the film and was involved every step of the way, explore some of the more complicated and conflicted emotions behind Bryant's success.
For starters, the documentary anchors itself on Bryant’s devastating 2013 Achilles injury. Many professional athletes who have suffered the same injury have retired. But the subsequent recovery become a source of motivation for Bryant and the film focuses heavily on the ripple effect the injury and recovery had on him personally.
For Bryant, who has sometimes been called arrogant and smug, the film is an opportunity to reveal personal stories and vulnerabilities. He talks about how it felt to grow up as a complete outsider in Italy and then come back, even more an outsider, to the United States. Basketball was his refuge and his antidote to loneliness. As he grew up, Bryant reflects that basketball even became his equivalent of a psychiatrist.
The darkest parts of the film are quite painful. Bryant talks openly about feeling he had let his wife and family down, though he doesn't explicitly address the widely-publicized (and later dismissed) 2003 sexual assault case that made him a fixture in the tabloids. These moments show a version of Bryant far more vulnerable than in any of his on-court appearances. He speaks of waking up every morning wondering if that would be the day he would lose his wife and kids. And recalling his wife's miscarriage, during a time of extreme marital stress, Bryant bluntly says, while looking at the camera, that he blames himself.
Throughout "Kobe Bryant's Muse," the sense of joy and purpose Bryant derives from being a father is palpable. And after 18 years on the court, it's clear that the 36-year-old superstar has learned to accept some of his own limitations. At the end of the film, Bryant says his brain cannot process failure. He even admits that the idea of failure feels worse to him than death. “When do determination and drive become unreasonable?” he asks.
There is an air of deep contemplation about Bryant; an almost philosophical musing about how what we love and what we do informs the core of our identity. As he nears the end of his career, his thoughts are clearly tending toward the existential. “I'm no spring chicken. And that’s okay,” Bryant says. “But when do you know? When do you walk away?"
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/189fzgw
via basketball stream live
“I have things I want to think about," Bryant says, "things I want to dive into and get off my chest.”
Bryant and his wife Vanessa joined friends at a private screening in Los Angeles on Thursday night at the London Hotel in West Hollywood. The room fluttered with pro athletes dressed to the nines and sports agents in expensive suits. Former Lakers forward Rick Fox walked around looking for a place to charge his phone. The music of Ray Charles and Etta James floated from the speakers. Bryant was all smiles and posed with just about everyone who asked for a picture.
"Kobe Bryant's Muse" is more than a glorified highlight reel. Yes, there is great footage of him at every stage of his career, including air balls from his first season with the Lakers. But instead of focusing on Bryant's all-star games, championship rings and milestones -- like recently surpassing Michael Jordan on the NBA’s all-time highest scorer list -- the filmmakers aim to go deeper, and darker. Chopra and Bryant, who executive produced the film and was involved every step of the way, explore some of the more complicated and conflicted emotions behind Bryant's success.
For starters, the documentary anchors itself on Bryant’s devastating 2013 Achilles injury. Many professional athletes who have suffered the same injury have retired. But the subsequent recovery become a source of motivation for Bryant and the film focuses heavily on the ripple effect the injury and recovery had on him personally.
For Bryant, who has sometimes been called arrogant and smug, the film is an opportunity to reveal personal stories and vulnerabilities. He talks about how it felt to grow up as a complete outsider in Italy and then come back, even more an outsider, to the United States. Basketball was his refuge and his antidote to loneliness. As he grew up, Bryant reflects that basketball even became his equivalent of a psychiatrist.
The darkest parts of the film are quite painful. Bryant talks openly about feeling he had let his wife and family down, though he doesn't explicitly address the widely-publicized (and later dismissed) 2003 sexual assault case that made him a fixture in the tabloids. These moments show a version of Bryant far more vulnerable than in any of his on-court appearances. He speaks of waking up every morning wondering if that would be the day he would lose his wife and kids. And recalling his wife's miscarriage, during a time of extreme marital stress, Bryant bluntly says, while looking at the camera, that he blames himself.
Throughout "Kobe Bryant's Muse," the sense of joy and purpose Bryant derives from being a father is palpable. And after 18 years on the court, it's clear that the 36-year-old superstar has learned to accept some of his own limitations. At the end of the film, Bryant says his brain cannot process failure. He even admits that the idea of failure feels worse to him than death. “When do determination and drive become unreasonable?” he asks.
There is an air of deep contemplation about Bryant; an almost philosophical musing about how what we love and what we do informs the core of our identity. As he nears the end of his career, his thoughts are clearly tending toward the existential. “I'm no spring chicken. And that’s okay,” Bryant says. “But when do you know? When do you walk away?"
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/189fzgw
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Spurs End Four-Game Skid Against Kings
basketball stream live
Sacramento, CA - DeMarcus Cousins sat out with a sprained left ankle and bruised left hip. Without him in the lineup the Kings were unable to contain the San Antonio Spurs who ended their four-game skid behind a revived Tony Parker. Sacramento lost their second game under new head coach George Karl behind Parker's aggressiveness in the fourth quarter.
"Tony played great," said Spurs head coach Greg Popovich. "He got to the basket, he shot open jumpers, he distributed the ball. He was what we're used to seeing from Tony Parker."
Parker came out his slump to power the Spurs past the Kings 107-96. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. Kawhi Leonard added 17 points and seven rebounds posing problems for Rudy Gay who had 16 points and 8 turnovers that proved costly.
"He got off to a great start, but Kawhi Leonard is a good defender," Karl said. "Rudy didn't have a bad game, we just maybe forced the flow to him too often. He made a few mistakes, but I don't think we would've even been in that game without Rudy. Rudy was a big part of why we hung around until the fourth quarter."
"They didn't make any mistakes; we made a bunch of mistakes," said Gay. "I made most of them to be honest with you."
Sacramento got off to a great start leading by as much as 10 points but the turnovers in the end were too much. The Kings shot 49 percent but had 17 turnovers. Ben McLemore scored 21 points and Ray McCallum who started in place of Daren Collison (out with a right hip flexor strain) had 20 points.
Karl warned his team that a struggling San Antonio team meant nothing and that they were still the defending NBA Champions. He explained that a four-game skid was merely their way of playing "possum" until they move further up the Western Conference standings.
"I think they're playing possum," Karl said. "They're still a championship team and I don't care how many games they've lost, they know how to play playoff basketball and I'm sure they're looking to move up the Western Conference."
The Spurs became more aggressive in the fourth while the Kings were cooling off. Carl Landry who started in place of Cousins picked up his fourth foul late in the second quarter. San Antonio never trailed in the second half and kept their lead to six until Parkers layup with under six minutes for the 93-86 lead.
"Yeah, much better execution down the stretch," said Tim Duncan. "Defensively, I thought we were much better tonight. Actually got stops. Got some boards and turned it into transition points for us. Just good to get a win, good to get off the slide a little bit there and get a win and hope we build on that."
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1GAorbb
via basketball stream live
Sacramento, CA - DeMarcus Cousins sat out with a sprained left ankle and bruised left hip. Without him in the lineup the Kings were unable to contain the San Antonio Spurs who ended their four-game skid behind a revived Tony Parker. Sacramento lost their second game under new head coach George Karl behind Parker's aggressiveness in the fourth quarter.
"Tony played great," said Spurs head coach Greg Popovich. "He got to the basket, he shot open jumpers, he distributed the ball. He was what we're used to seeing from Tony Parker."
Parker came out his slump to power the Spurs past the Kings 107-96. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. Kawhi Leonard added 17 points and seven rebounds posing problems for Rudy Gay who had 16 points and 8 turnovers that proved costly.
"He got off to a great start, but Kawhi Leonard is a good defender," Karl said. "Rudy didn't have a bad game, we just maybe forced the flow to him too often. He made a few mistakes, but I don't think we would've even been in that game without Rudy. Rudy was a big part of why we hung around until the fourth quarter."
"They didn't make any mistakes; we made a bunch of mistakes," said Gay. "I made most of them to be honest with you."
Sacramento got off to a great start leading by as much as 10 points but the turnovers in the end were too much. The Kings shot 49 percent but had 17 turnovers. Ben McLemore scored 21 points and Ray McCallum who started in place of Daren Collison (out with a right hip flexor strain) had 20 points.
Karl warned his team that a struggling San Antonio team meant nothing and that they were still the defending NBA Champions. He explained that a four-game skid was merely their way of playing "possum" until they move further up the Western Conference standings.
"I think they're playing possum," Karl said. "They're still a championship team and I don't care how many games they've lost, they know how to play playoff basketball and I'm sure they're looking to move up the Western Conference."
The Spurs became more aggressive in the fourth while the Kings were cooling off. Carl Landry who started in place of Cousins picked up his fourth foul late in the second quarter. San Antonio never trailed in the second half and kept their lead to six until Parkers layup with under six minutes for the 93-86 lead.
"Yeah, much better execution down the stretch," said Tim Duncan. "Defensively, I thought we were much better tonight. Actually got stops. Got some boards and turned it into transition points for us. Just good to get a win, good to get off the slide a little bit there and get a win and hope we build on that."
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1GAorbb
via basketball stream live
Jumat, 27 Februari 2015
Atlanta Hawks Magic at Hawks has tipped (ESPN)
Welcome to our Atlanta Hawks NBA from ESPN. You can watch live streaming about basketball http://ift.tt/1LT4H3L
Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
basketball stream live 30 Original Jokes About #TheDress
basketball stream live 1. Good one.
2. Nice.
3. Hah!
4. Oh, you.
5. Zing!
6. Classic.
7. Got 'em!
8. Ka-boom!
9. Ka-blam!
10. Ka-wow!
11. Ka-huh?
12. There we go!
13. There it is!
14. Yes.
15. Yes!
16. YES!
17. YES!!!
18. Love it.
19. Hah, yes!
20. Good one, guys.
21. Amiright?
22. LOL!
23. Here we go!
24. Now that's comedy.
25. #True.
26. Hahahahaha.
27. Ohhhhhh, yes.
28. It's funny because it's true!
29. Dying.
30. I can't even!
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1870BYz
via basketball stream live
We see purple and black, if you were wondering.
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) February 27, 2015 2. Nice.
The dress is red and black.
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) February 27, 2015 3. Hah!
Pretty sure the dress is purple and gold... #justsaying
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) February 27, 2015 4. Oh, you.
#TheDress looks silver and blue to us.
— Coors Light (@CoorsLight) February 27, 2015 5. Zing!
There is no debating the color of this! http://ift.tt/1N04K12
— LIRR (@LIRR) February 27, 2015 6. Classic.
Doesn't matter if it’s blue/black or white/gold, they still taste delicious. #thedress http://ift.tt/1ARokpR
— Dunkin' Donuts (@DunkinDonuts) February 27, 2015 7. Got 'em!
idk what color that dress is but pancakes are definitely gold and butter is definitely white
— IHOP (@IHOP) February 27, 2015 8. Ka-boom!
It’s black. End of discussion. #ElevationEdition #TheDress http://ift.tt/186ZQP8
— GMC (@ThisIsGMC) February 27, 2015 9. Ka-blam!
Whether you're #TeamWhiteandGold or #TeamBlueandBlack — everyone is on #TeamBreadsticks. #TheDress http://ift.tt/1ExC9N0
— Olive Garden (@olivegarden) February 27, 2015 10. Ka-wow!
So do you think this is #whiteandgold too? http://ift.tt/183Ks6c
— Xbox (@Xbox) February 27, 2015 11. Ka-huh?
Don’t let people guess what color your teeth are…#TheDress #WhatColorIsThisDress #3DWhite http://ift.tt/1Ai6ysg
— 3DWhite (@3DWhite) February 27, 2015 12. There we go!
We see #blueandyellow...of course. Bring out #TheDress
— Hellmann's (@Hellmanns) February 27, 2015 13. There it is!
The only colors I see are #Yellow and #Black #TheDress
— Waffle House (@WaffleHouse) February 27, 2015 14. Yes.
No matter what color you see, there's no denying our Ram trucks look great. #TheDress http://ift.tt/1FGbJXo
— RamTrucks (@RamTrucks) February 27, 2015 15. Yes!
Let's settle this once and for all, it's blue and white. #Effortless #TheDress http://ift.tt/1aweukJ
— AT&T (@ATT) February 27, 2015 16. YES!
I have no idea what you guys are talking about. It looks Rainbow to me. #TheDress
— Skittles (@Skittles) February 27, 2015 17. YES!!!
Does #TheDress debate really matter? #teamgold http://ift.tt/1aweuBs
— Yuengling Brewery (@Yuengling_Beer) February 27, 2015 18. Love it.
Clearly it's copper and black. #TheDress
— Duracell (@Duracell) February 27, 2015 19. Hah, yes!
Proud to be black & white, or is it white & black? #TheDress
---
Drinkaware.ie http://ift.tt/1AAyVqu
— Guinness Ireland (@GuinnessIreland) February 27, 2015 20. Good one, guys.
Definitely Red and White! #HaveAbreak #TheDress #breakfromthedress #TeamRedAndWhite http://ift.tt/1DhpR71
— KITKAT (@KITKAT) February 27, 2015 21. Amiright?
We see it as blue and yellow, but we may be a tiny bit biased. #TheDress http://ift.tt/1BEaBWZ
— Cirque du Soleil (@Cirque) February 27, 2015 22. LOL!
You're not the only ones @Cirque! We see blue & yellow too :) #TheDress http://ift.tt/1AAyVGY
— IKEA USA (@IKEAUSA) February 27, 2015 23. Here we go!
You all have it all wrong. It's red & red. #TheDress
— Fireball Whisky (@FireballWhisky) February 27, 2015 24. Now that's comedy.
Obviously, the dress is blue and gold. #Rams
— St. Louis Rams (@STLouisRams) February 27, 2015 25. #True.
Nice try #blueandblack / #whiteandgold dress
The only colors that matter are #pewterandred http://ift.tt/186ZRCF
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@TBBuccaneers) February 27, 2015 26. Hahahahaha.
Black and Blue. http://ift.tt/186ZRCH
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) February 27, 2015 27. Ohhhhhh, yes.
Seems pretty obvious what color it is...
#TheDress http://ift.tt/186ZRCI
— Syracuse Athletics (@Cuse) February 27, 2015 28. It's funny because it's true!
All we see are #RedandBlack. #TheDress http://ift.tt/1APYKBA
— GoAztecs.com (@GoAztecs) February 27, 2015 29. Dying.
The dress is none of these colors so we move on http://ift.tt/186ZQPe
— Duke Basketball (@dukeblueplanet) February 27, 2015 30. I can't even!
You people are all crazy. All I'm seeing is blue and white.
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) February 27, 2015 from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1870BYz
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Derrick Rose Could Return In As Little As Four Weeks
basketball stream live
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1ExyPBy
via basketball stream live
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bulls can breathe a little easier. They expect Derrick Rose to return this season from his latest knee surgery.
General manager Gar Forman said the star point guard will miss 4-6 weeks after Friday's operation to fix a medial meniscus tear in his right knee. Forman described it as a quick outpatient procedure and said Rose was able to walk out of the hospital.
"I talked to Derrick a couple times this week and obviously, he was really disappointed about being injured," Forman said. "But I think he's in a really good place and I think he's ready to attack this rehab the next several weeks and I know he's really anxious to get back out onto the floor with his teammates."
Rose played in only 10 games last season before having surgery for a similar injury in November 2013, cutting short his long-awaited comeback from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
He had the meniscus reattached in that operation. Team physician Dr. Brian Cole, who operated on him last year and repaired the ACL in 2012, removed the damaged part this time. The procedure could lead to arthritis later in life, but Forman said it "should eliminate" the possibility of another tear, something the Bulls were told could happen after the operation last season.
The Bulls are not sure when the latest tear occurred. Rose had an MRI Tuesday after complaining of pain in his knee.
"The way it's been explained to me is there may be a number of players in the league that have meniscus tears right now and don't even know it," Forman said. "Until you start to have pain — that's when the MRI is taken and that's where the tear was found."
It's not clear if Rose will be limited once he comes back. A return in about four weeks would give him eight to 10 games to tune up for the playoffs. The six-week mark would put him back on the court around the start of the postseason.
That's assuming no setbacks and that Rose and his advisers are on board with the timeframe.
Rose sat out the 2012-13 season even though he was cleared to return later in the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the playoff opener the previous year.
"He never got to a point where he was comfortable enough to be out there," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "You don't know how a player's body is going to respond. He did the best he could. He couldn't quite get there."
The Bulls made it clear: They expect Rose to get there this year.
"I think Derrick's ready to attack it," Forman said. "I do. Like I said, I think he's anxious to attack this rehab and to get back on the floor with his teammates."
Rose, averaging 18.4 points and 5.0 assists, has been inconsistent this season. Yet the Bulls know they need him if they're going to make a serious run in the playoffs.
For now, they're simply trying to keep pace with Cleveland in the Central Division.
"For where we want to get to, we need Derrick back," Joakim Noah said. "There's no question about that."
Rose, the 2011 MVP, averaged 22.6 points over his final 14 games before the All-Star break. But he struggled in his three appearances after that, shooting 23.5 percent. He had eight points on 1-for-13 shooting in Monday's win over Milwaukee.
"I thought right before the break, he was playing great basketball," Thibodeau said. "It's unfortunate that it happened, because of the way he was playing. I think he had regained his confidence. He had great rhythm. He was doing all the things that he had done before."
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1ExyPBy
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Kingsford Charcoal, Of All Brands, Burns The NCAA With Hilarious Novelty Bag
basketball stream live So, it appears that the ever-political Kingsford charcoal brand has decided to pick a fight with the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Wait, what?
If you can’t see what’s on that speciality Kingsford charcoal bag in the tweet, it says, “Lights 25% Faster, Doesn’t Burn Any Athletes.” Then, below, it depicts former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon alongside #PayEd.
We don’t know why the brand has decided to go after the NCAA, but it’s funny. According to Yahoo, Kingsford will give O’Bannon a dollar every time someone uses #PayEd (for the first 25,000 tweets anyway), an obvious jab at the NCAA’s unwillingness to compensate college athletes outside of tuition, room and board.
Of course, #PayEd is a clear attempt to manipulate our emotions in hopes of spreading the word about a “fun” brand, but we’ll allow it in this case because it’s a clever and genuinely rebellious idea.
The brand also released a funny statement, via For The Win:
O’Bannon headed up and won a lawsuit against the NCAA last year over a rule that disallowed college athletes from seeing a cent of the money made off their images and likenesses in NCAA broadcasts and video games. It was and remains a big deal.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1Ainpez
via basketball stream live
Here's a first: An endorsement targeting the NCAA. Kingsford is selling charcoal bags featuring Ed O'Bannon's image. http://ift.tt/1E3ybwz
— Jeff Eisenberg (@JeffEisenberg) February 27, 2015 If you can’t see what’s on that speciality Kingsford charcoal bag in the tweet, it says, “Lights 25% Faster, Doesn’t Burn Any Athletes.” Then, below, it depicts former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon alongside #PayEd.
We don’t know why the brand has decided to go after the NCAA, but it’s funny. According to Yahoo, Kingsford will give O’Bannon a dollar every time someone uses #PayEd (for the first 25,000 tweets anyway), an obvious jab at the NCAA’s unwillingness to compensate college athletes outside of tuition, room and board.
Of course, #PayEd is a clear attempt to manipulate our emotions in hopes of spreading the word about a “fun” brand, but we’ll allow it in this case because it’s a clever and genuinely rebellious idea.
The brand also released a funny statement, via For The Win:
Kingsford Charcoal has become one of the many companies to use the likeness of a former amateur basketball player for marketing purposes during that mad, mad month of March. Kingsford is just adding a surprising twist: the charcoal brand is actually going to pay that player -- Ed O’Bannon -- for placing him on the front of a limited bag of charcoal.
O’Bannon headed up and won a lawsuit against the NCAA last year over a rule that disallowed college athletes from seeing a cent of the money made off their images and likenesses in NCAA broadcasts and video games. It was and remains a big deal.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1Ainpez
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live University Of Oregon Decides Not To Sue Rape Survivor
basketball stream live The University of Oregon dropped a countersuit Thursday against a student who had reported being gang-raped by three of the school's basketball players and who subsequently sued UO for the way it handled her case.
UO sparked outrage among students and faculty this month when it filed a counterclaim against a lawsuit from a current student known only as Jane Doe, demanding that she or her attorneys pay for the university's legal fees and any other damages the court is willing to issue. Last month, Doe filed a lawsuit against the university and against men's basketball coach Dana Altman, alleging that they'd recruited a student athlete despite knowing about his previous sexual assault allegation, and that they'd later created special arrangements for the accused assailants based on their athlete status.
In its updated response to Doe's suit, the school maintains that it did not know about the athlete's previous sexual assault case during recruitment, and says it did not violate any laws in how it responded to Doe's sexual assault report. However, UO retracted the line that her "claims are frivolous, unreasonable, and without foundation," and is no longer suing Doe.
"Today I decided that it is in the best interest of the university community to file an amended answer to the lawsuit that withdraws the counterclaims," Scott Coltrane, UO's interim president, said in a statement Thursday. "The university never intended to seek costs, fees, or damages against our student. With this action, we make that clear."
More than 2,100 people had signed a petition asking the university to drop the suit against Doe.
Thursday's filing from the university keeps the language that "plaintiff's counsel's false allegations threaten to harm not only Oregon and Altman, but all sexual assault survivors in Oregon's campus community." In an email to the UO administration, three faculty members -- law professor John Bonine, media studies professor Carol Stabile and psychology professor Jennifer Freyd -- expressed disappointment that the school kept some of the "most victim-blaming language."
"Someone has confused a legal filing with a press release," the professors wrote to the administration Thursday night, according to a copy of the email shared with The Huffington Post. "A response to the court is no place for public relations talk about the University’s supposed devotion to women and Title IX. It is a place to admit or deny factual allegations."
UO is also claiming that while it did access Doe's therapy records in the weeks prior to her suit against the school, it did not violate any laws in doing so.
Last week, 12 faculty members, including five law professors, sent a letter to the UO administration objecting to the university's having accessed Doe's therapy records, which it did in December 2014. The school has insisted it acted legally in handling her records, but the professors said even if that was true, "that would not make this action right," according to a copy of the letter obtained by HuffPost.
The university said that after the 12 faculty members sent their letter, school officials met with them to discuss their concerns. It also said that it only collected Doe's records and has not viewed them. UO is also planning a campus event Monday to discuss sexual violence.
Doe says the three athletes sexually assaulted her in March 2014. In June, all three athletes were found responsible for sexual misconduct and were suspended from campus for a minimum of four years.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/18vaikw
via basketball stream live
UO sparked outrage among students and faculty this month when it filed a counterclaim against a lawsuit from a current student known only as Jane Doe, demanding that she or her attorneys pay for the university's legal fees and any other damages the court is willing to issue. Last month, Doe filed a lawsuit against the university and against men's basketball coach Dana Altman, alleging that they'd recruited a student athlete despite knowing about his previous sexual assault allegation, and that they'd later created special arrangements for the accused assailants based on their athlete status.
In its updated response to Doe's suit, the school maintains that it did not know about the athlete's previous sexual assault case during recruitment, and says it did not violate any laws in how it responded to Doe's sexual assault report. However, UO retracted the line that her "claims are frivolous, unreasonable, and without foundation," and is no longer suing Doe.
"Today I decided that it is in the best interest of the university community to file an amended answer to the lawsuit that withdraws the counterclaims," Scott Coltrane, UO's interim president, said in a statement Thursday. "The university never intended to seek costs, fees, or damages against our student. With this action, we make that clear."
More than 2,100 people had signed a petition asking the university to drop the suit against Doe.
Thursday's filing from the university keeps the language that "plaintiff's counsel's false allegations threaten to harm not only Oregon and Altman, but all sexual assault survivors in Oregon's campus community." In an email to the UO administration, three faculty members -- law professor John Bonine, media studies professor Carol Stabile and psychology professor Jennifer Freyd -- expressed disappointment that the school kept some of the "most victim-blaming language."
"Someone has confused a legal filing with a press release," the professors wrote to the administration Thursday night, according to a copy of the email shared with The Huffington Post. "A response to the court is no place for public relations talk about the University’s supposed devotion to women and Title IX. It is a place to admit or deny factual allegations."
UO is also claiming that while it did access Doe's therapy records in the weeks prior to her suit against the school, it did not violate any laws in doing so.
Last week, 12 faculty members, including five law professors, sent a letter to the UO administration objecting to the university's having accessed Doe's therapy records, which it did in December 2014. The school has insisted it acted legally in handling her records, but the professors said even if that was true, "that would not make this action right," according to a copy of the letter obtained by HuffPost.
The university said that after the 12 faculty members sent their letter, school officials met with them to discuss their concerns. It also said that it only collected Doe's records and has not viewed them. UO is also planning a campus event Monday to discuss sexual violence.
Doe says the three athletes sexually assaulted her in March 2014. In June, all three athletes were found responsible for sexual misconduct and were suspended from campus for a minimum of four years.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/18vaikw
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings Filmed Telling Player, 'I'll F*****g Kill You'
basketball stream live Sometimes coaches have to learn the hard way that if they don't watch their language, somebody else will.
Vanderbilt University men's basketball coach Kevin Stallings was caught on camera profanely berating one of his players after the athlete taunted a member of the opposing team following a win Thursday night against Tennessee, outlets reported.
Stallings was seen trailing guard Wade Baldwin IV, yelling, "You fucking apologize" and "I'll fucking kill you." ESPN noted that a Tennessee coach had informed Stallings that Baldwin clapped in the face of a Tennessee player at the end of the game.
Stallings pulled Baldwin out of the handshake line and yelled at him.
"Wade's got some things to learn, some growing up to do," Stallings said in post-game remarks. The coach later apologized for his own behavior via the team's Twitter account.
As for Baldwin, he said he took no offense.
The Huffington Post reached out to the university for comment but didn't immediately hear back.
H/T Uproxx
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1LS68kR
via basketball stream live
Vanderbilt University men's basketball coach Kevin Stallings was caught on camera profanely berating one of his players after the athlete taunted a member of the opposing team following a win Thursday night against Tennessee, outlets reported.
Stallings was seen trailing guard Wade Baldwin IV, yelling, "You fucking apologize" and "I'll fucking kill you." ESPN noted that a Tennessee coach had informed Stallings that Baldwin clapped in the face of a Tennessee player at the end of the game.
Stallings pulled Baldwin out of the handshake line and yelled at him.
"Wade's got some things to learn, some growing up to do," Stallings said in post-game remarks. The coach later apologized for his own behavior via the team's Twitter account.
The following is a statement from Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings following an incident between he and one of his players...
— VandyMBB (@VandyMBB) February 27, 2015
Following the Commodores’ game with Tennessee. "After the game, an incident occurred in which I need to apologize for..."
— VandyMBB (@VandyMBB) February 27, 2015
cont. "One of our players acted inappropriately and violated what we believe is good sportsmanship following the game."
— VandyMBB (@VandyMBB) February 27, 2015
Stallings: “In my haste to resolve the situation, I made a very inappropriate comment..."
— VandyMBB (@VandyMBB) February 27, 2015
"While obviously it was not meant literally, it was still inappropriate. I apologized to the player immediately following the game."
— VandyMBB (@VandyMBB) February 27, 2015
Stallings: "Displaying good sportsmanship is of the highest priority in our program win or lose."
— VandyMBB (@VandyMBB) February 27, 2015
Stallings: "I am very remorseful of my actions tonight."
— VandyMBB (@VandyMBB) February 27, 2015 As for Baldwin, he said he took no offense.
Coach Stallings is the best coach in America. I felt no offense to anything. We are both fiery people and that's why I chose Vandy ⚓️
— Wade Baldwin IV (@The_Fourth_Wade) February 27, 2015 The Huffington Post reached out to the university for comment but didn't immediately hear back.
H/T Uproxx
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1LS68kR
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Watch These Bolivian Grandmas Play A Mean Game Of Handball
basketball stream live When you think of the aches and pains that often accompany old age, you'd imagine women in their 70s and 80s taking it easy -- not playing a competitive sport. But that's what a group of grandmas and great-grandmas are doing in a Bolivian town, all while wearing skirts.
The Associated Press captured this amazing video of the grandmas at one of their weekly handball meets. From the video, handball appears to be something of a cross between soccer and basketball.
The women say handball actually helps their aches and pains subside, rather than aggravating them. "There are days my knees hurt from rheumatism, but when I play it goes away," 77-year-old Rosa Lima told The Associated Press.
Lima and the others are among the 1,000 seniors who play sports locally. Others have said it not only helps them stay active, but also maintain their weight.
And that's not the only benefit. The sport gives the women social interaction -- something so important for older people. Studies have shown that social interaction helps keep older adults mobile and their minds sharp. Activity also helps improve one's mood and reduces stress.
Well done, ladies!
Like Us On Facebook |
Follow Us On Twitter |
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AhrlMA
via basketball stream live
The Associated Press captured this amazing video of the grandmas at one of their weekly handball meets. From the video, handball appears to be something of a cross between soccer and basketball.
The women say handball actually helps their aches and pains subside, rather than aggravating them. "There are days my knees hurt from rheumatism, but when I play it goes away," 77-year-old Rosa Lima told The Associated Press.
Lima and the others are among the 1,000 seniors who play sports locally. Others have said it not only helps them stay active, but also maintain their weight.
And that's not the only benefit. The sport gives the women social interaction -- something so important for older people. Studies have shown that social interaction helps keep older adults mobile and their minds sharp. Activity also helps improve one's mood and reduces stress.
Well done, ladies!
Like Us On Facebook | Follow Us On Twitter |from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AhrlMA
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live All For One and One For All
basketball stream live Midway through the fourth quarter is when it happened. The bench erupted, huge grins appeared on flushed faces and hands flew up into the air.
When the basketball found the bottom of the net, it wasn't a buzzer-beater. The shot made wasn't part of a comeback giving us the lead.
It was a moment that had nothing to do with winning or losing, but everything to do with teamwork. It was a small moment in time that a group of 10-year-old boys will talk about long after they hang up their basketball sneakers and are gray with middle age.
As coaches, we realized at half time that an opportunity for everyone to score was emerging. Chris, Trevor, Michael, Ryan and Ben had already contributed to the scoreboard and we needed the remaining six to find their place on the stat sheet.
In the third period, a play opened Teddy up on the baseline for a jumper. "Swish."
Five to go.
Everyone held their breath as Dexter drove in for a left-handed layup. Nope. But on the next drive, a missed shot landed in Dexter's hands. He went up with the offensive rebound and banked it off the glass. "Swish."
Four to go.
Caden broke free with a defensive rebound, ran the length of the court and beat out the defender as he gracefully flew through the air for an easy layup. "Swish."
Three to go.
It was now the fourth quarter; eight minutes were all that was left. Coach Hill gave the word that no one was to shoot. All efforts were to get the ball to those who hadn't scored.
Patrick got open on the left side of the court near the three point-line. He received a pass and chucked it up. The ball rocketed toward the basket, smacked off the backboard and sank through the net. "Swish."
Two to go.
Cameron popped open near the top of the key, received the ball and threw it up. The ball arched through the air... "Swish." Parents and fans were all smiles and clapping. It had clicked as to what we were trying to accomplish.
One to go.
Our team called a time out.
I subbed in our tallest players to grab rebounds. We had to get our last player to score!
"Pressure is on," coach Hill told him.
Watching our team playing together to get their final teammate the ball... listening to the players buzz with electricity on the bench; it was goose bump-worthy. It felt like we were in the high school state finals, not a Metro-West fourth grade basketball game.
Every screen set was to open him up. Every pass landed in his hands. As he took a shot and the ball rose through the air, we started to our feet. It fell short.
Everyone sat back down.
Another pass. Another missed shot. The clock was ticking and the energy in the gym was building.
Then it happened.
As Owen cut to the basket, he got the ball on the right side of the key. He set, lifted his arms and released. The ball sailed through the air and wobbled as it connected with rim. Round and round the ball rolled about the circular orange metal rim. Finally, the ball paused... then fell through the net.
"Swish."
We jumped up, arms pumping and those on the court fist pumped Owen and whacked him on the back.
His face said it all.
As a coach, it was one of those moments that you hope resonates.
Some of these boys will give up basketball and move onto other sports, some will continue on to play in middle school, high school, maybe even college. They will have different teammates, different coaches and play on different teams.
But on this day, they worked together, a group of 11 became one in an effort to accomplish something together.
Hopefully it is a lesson they will take with them throughout their lives, that unselfish play can result in some of the greatest rewards, and sometimes those moments have nothing to do with the final result posted on the scoreboard.
These boys will always be connected. When they reminisce at their 20th high school reunion, in between talking about their jobs and families, I hope they reflect on this game. The game when they were 10-years-old and discovered the true meaning of team.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AARcUC
via basketball stream live
When the basketball found the bottom of the net, it wasn't a buzzer-beater. The shot made wasn't part of a comeback giving us the lead.
It was a moment that had nothing to do with winning or losing, but everything to do with teamwork. It was a small moment in time that a group of 10-year-old boys will talk about long after they hang up their basketball sneakers and are gray with middle age.
As coaches, we realized at half time that an opportunity for everyone to score was emerging. Chris, Trevor, Michael, Ryan and Ben had already contributed to the scoreboard and we needed the remaining six to find their place on the stat sheet.
In the third period, a play opened Teddy up on the baseline for a jumper. "Swish."
Five to go.
Everyone held their breath as Dexter drove in for a left-handed layup. Nope. But on the next drive, a missed shot landed in Dexter's hands. He went up with the offensive rebound and banked it off the glass. "Swish."
Four to go.
Caden broke free with a defensive rebound, ran the length of the court and beat out the defender as he gracefully flew through the air for an easy layup. "Swish."
Three to go.
It was now the fourth quarter; eight minutes were all that was left. Coach Hill gave the word that no one was to shoot. All efforts were to get the ball to those who hadn't scored.
Patrick got open on the left side of the court near the three point-line. He received a pass and chucked it up. The ball rocketed toward the basket, smacked off the backboard and sank through the net. "Swish."
Two to go.
Cameron popped open near the top of the key, received the ball and threw it up. The ball arched through the air... "Swish." Parents and fans were all smiles and clapping. It had clicked as to what we were trying to accomplish.
One to go.
Our team called a time out.
I subbed in our tallest players to grab rebounds. We had to get our last player to score!
"Pressure is on," coach Hill told him.
Watching our team playing together to get their final teammate the ball... listening to the players buzz with electricity on the bench; it was goose bump-worthy. It felt like we were in the high school state finals, not a Metro-West fourth grade basketball game.
Every screen set was to open him up. Every pass landed in his hands. As he took a shot and the ball rose through the air, we started to our feet. It fell short.
Everyone sat back down.
Another pass. Another missed shot. The clock was ticking and the energy in the gym was building.
Then it happened.
As Owen cut to the basket, he got the ball on the right side of the key. He set, lifted his arms and released. The ball sailed through the air and wobbled as it connected with rim. Round and round the ball rolled about the circular orange metal rim. Finally, the ball paused... then fell through the net.
"Swish."
We jumped up, arms pumping and those on the court fist pumped Owen and whacked him on the back.
His face said it all.
As a coach, it was one of those moments that you hope resonates.
Some of these boys will give up basketball and move onto other sports, some will continue on to play in middle school, high school, maybe even college. They will have different teammates, different coaches and play on different teams.
But on this day, they worked together, a group of 11 became one in an effort to accomplish something together.
Hopefully it is a lesson they will take with them throughout their lives, that unselfish play can result in some of the greatest rewards, and sometimes those moments have nothing to do with the final result posted on the scoreboard.
These boys will always be connected. When they reminisce at their 20th high school reunion, in between talking about their jobs and families, I hope they reflect on this game. The game when they were 10-years-old and discovered the true meaning of team.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AARcUC
via basketball stream live
Kamis, 26 Februari 2015
basketball stream live Earl Lloyd, First Black Player In The NBA, Dead At 86
basketball stream live Earl Lloyd, the first black player in NBA history, died Thursday. He was 86.
Lloyd's alma mater, West Virginia State, confirmed the death. It did not provide details.
Lloyd made his NBA debut in 1950 for the Washington Capitals, just before fellow black players Sweetwater Clifton and Chuck Cooper played their first games.
Ft. Wayne's Mel Hutchins (9) and Syracuse's Earl Lloyd (11) stretch for a ball during the first period of a 1955 NBA playoff game in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/File)
"The State family mourns the loss of a fellow Yellow Jacket and trailblazer who was a true champion both on and off of the basketball court," West Virginia State President Brian Hemphill said in a statement. "When Earl stepped out on the court on that fateful date in 1950, this remarkable man rightfully earned his place in the historic civil rights movement and, more important, he opened the door to equality in America."
Lloyd helped the Syracuse Nationals win the 1955 NBA title, joining teammate Jim Tucker as the first black players to play on a championship team.
The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 8.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 560 regular-season games in nine seasons with Washington, Syracuse and Detroit. He missed the 1951-52 season while serving in the U.S. Army.
Earl "Big Cat" Lloyd, center, is honored by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, left, and Atlanta Hawks Vice President Dominique Wilkins on Feb. 12, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 as a contributor, Lloyd was 22-55 as Detroit's coach in 1971-72 and the first nine games in the 1972-73 season.
Lloyd, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, lived in Crossville, Tennessee.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1C2LlsX
via basketball stream live
Lloyd's alma mater, West Virginia State, confirmed the death. It did not provide details.
Lloyd made his NBA debut in 1950 for the Washington Capitals, just before fellow black players Sweetwater Clifton and Chuck Cooper played their first games.
Ft. Wayne's Mel Hutchins (9) and Syracuse's Earl Lloyd (11) stretch for a ball during the first period of a 1955 NBA playoff game in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/File)
"The State family mourns the loss of a fellow Yellow Jacket and trailblazer who was a true champion both on and off of the basketball court," West Virginia State President Brian Hemphill said in a statement. "When Earl stepped out on the court on that fateful date in 1950, this remarkable man rightfully earned his place in the historic civil rights movement and, more important, he opened the door to equality in America."
Lloyd helped the Syracuse Nationals win the 1955 NBA title, joining teammate Jim Tucker as the first black players to play on a championship team.
The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 8.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 560 regular-season games in nine seasons with Washington, Syracuse and Detroit. He missed the 1951-52 season while serving in the U.S. Army.
Earl "Big Cat" Lloyd, center, is honored by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, left, and Atlanta Hawks Vice President Dominique Wilkins on Feb. 12, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 as a contributor, Lloyd was 22-55 as Detroit's coach in 1971-72 and the first nine games in the 1972-73 season.
Lloyd, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, lived in Crossville, Tennessee.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1C2LlsX
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Texas Sports Anchor Dale Hansen Delivers Stirring Anti-Racism Speech On Air
basketball stream live The Texas sports anchor who defended Michael Sam in a viral clip has delivered another rousing speech on air -- this time, against racism.
Dale Hansen of ABC's Dallas affiliate WFAA used a recent "Unplugged" segment to denounce the display of two fan signs at a local high school basketball game that together read "White Power." According to the Dallas Morning News, one current Flower Mound High School student and one former student were implicated in the incident, which happened when Flower Mound hosted Plano East. District officials said the signs were up for about 30 seconds.
Hansen, who last February expressed disbelief at the ugly reaction to Sam coming out as gay prior to the 2014 NFL Draft, got more personal this time. "I used to be one of those kids," he declared, describing how he had to unlearn the prejudice of a father who used a racial slur "like it was a proper noun."
"Kids have to be taught to hate," Hansen said. "And it's our parents and grandparents and our teachers and coaches, too, who teach us to hate. Kids become the product of that environment; I was and they are."
But Hansen held out hope for the young sign perpetrators and others like them, saying, "That ignorance will be replaced someday by the wisdom they learn when they live in the real world, when they meet the people who don't look like them, didn't grow up the way they did. The people who make this life worth living."
H/T For The Win
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AcXN2H
via basketball stream live
Dale Hansen of ABC's Dallas affiliate WFAA used a recent "Unplugged" segment to denounce the display of two fan signs at a local high school basketball game that together read "White Power." According to the Dallas Morning News, one current Flower Mound High School student and one former student were implicated in the incident, which happened when Flower Mound hosted Plano East. District officials said the signs were up for about 30 seconds.
Hansen, who last February expressed disbelief at the ugly reaction to Sam coming out as gay prior to the 2014 NFL Draft, got more personal this time. "I used to be one of those kids," he declared, describing how he had to unlearn the prejudice of a father who used a racial slur "like it was a proper noun."
"Kids have to be taught to hate," Hansen said. "And it's our parents and grandparents and our teachers and coaches, too, who teach us to hate. Kids become the product of that environment; I was and they are."
But Hansen held out hope for the young sign perpetrators and others like them, saying, "That ignorance will be replaced someday by the wisdom they learn when they live in the real world, when they meet the people who don't look like them, didn't grow up the way they did. The people who make this life worth living."
H/T For The Win
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AcXN2H
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live LeBron James Not Happy Colleges Recruiting 10-Year-Old Son
basketball stream live LeBron James says there are colleges recruiting his 10-year-old son, and the superstar isn't happy about it.
James told a Detroit radio station this week that his son, LeBron Jr., has already received scholarship offers. James did not specify which schools have contacted the youngster, but feels any such courtship "should be a violation. You shouldn't be recruiting 10-year-old kids." James has been through the recruiting frenzy before. At Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, James was the most sought-after prep player in the country. He bypassed college and went straight to the pros as an 18-year-old.
James is highly protective of his three children, and the 30-year-old intends to let LeBron Jr. enjoy his childhood.
On Wednesday, before the Cavs hosted Golden State, James said his oldest son loves to play basketball, video games and doing his homework. James says: "Let him be a kid."
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AcXKUt
via basketball stream live
James told a Detroit radio station this week that his son, LeBron Jr., has already received scholarship offers. James did not specify which schools have contacted the youngster, but feels any such courtship "should be a violation. You shouldn't be recruiting 10-year-old kids." James has been through the recruiting frenzy before. At Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, James was the most sought-after prep player in the country. He bypassed college and went straight to the pros as an 18-year-old.
James is highly protective of his three children, and the 30-year-old intends to let LeBron Jr. enjoy his childhood.
On Wednesday, before the Cavs hosted Golden State, James said his oldest son loves to play basketball, video games and doing his homework. James says: "Let him be a kid."
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AcXKUt
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live This 2-Year-Old Sang The Most Adorable Version Of The National Anthem We've Ever Heard
basketball stream live Few celebrities have a stage presence as commanding as Trent Harris.
Trent is only 2 years old, and though he fumbled a bit with both the lyrics and the tune, he brought the house down when he sang the national anthem prior to a high school basketball game in New Jersey on Wednesday night.
In an email to The Huffington Post, Trent's mom Jessica Harris said she used to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" to Trent before bedtime. It partially explains his talent, particularly because he never practiced prior to his Wednesday performance save for a couple rounds on a karaoke machine his aunt and uncle bought him for Christmas.
The national anthem was Trent's favorite song this past NFL season, Harris added, which was likely solidified by watching so many Cincinnati Bengals games. Trent's dad, Chris Harris, is a long snapper for the Bengals.
After Jessica Harris shared a video of Trent singing the national anthem on Facebook, a friend who helps manage a local high school basketball team asked if he'd be interested in doing it at the next game. "I said, 'Sure, with no expectations!'" said Harris, who explained that there was a backup plan in place in case Trent got cold feet.
When the time came for the adorable toddler to take the court, however, "Trent wasn't nervous at all, and neither was his dad."
Harris, on the other hand, said she "was shaking like a leaf," then "cried a little bit when he strutted off the court."
"We are just so crazy proud of him," she added.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AOWyKI
via basketball stream live
Trent is only 2 years old, and though he fumbled a bit with both the lyrics and the tune, he brought the house down when he sang the national anthem prior to a high school basketball game in New Jersey on Wednesday night.
In an email to The Huffington Post, Trent's mom Jessica Harris said she used to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" to Trent before bedtime. It partially explains his talent, particularly because he never practiced prior to his Wednesday performance save for a couple rounds on a karaoke machine his aunt and uncle bought him for Christmas.
The national anthem was Trent's favorite song this past NFL season, Harris added, which was likely solidified by watching so many Cincinnati Bengals games. Trent's dad, Chris Harris, is a long snapper for the Bengals.
After Jessica Harris shared a video of Trent singing the national anthem on Facebook, a friend who helps manage a local high school basketball team asked if he'd be interested in doing it at the next game. "I said, 'Sure, with no expectations!'" said Harris, who explained that there was a backup plan in place in case Trent got cold feet.
When the time came for the adorable toddler to take the court, however, "Trent wasn't nervous at all, and neither was his dad."
Harris, on the other hand, said she "was shaking like a leaf," then "cried a little bit when he strutted off the court."
"We are just so crazy proud of him," she added.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1AOWyKI
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Here's The Minnesota Timberwolves' 'Welcome Home' Video For Kevin Garnett
basketball stream live After stints in Boston and Brooklyn, Kevin Garnett officially rejoined the first NBA team he ever played for on Wednesday.
And as is required by federal law, that team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, created a video montage of their former star during the good old days, placed its over an emotional backing track, dimmed the lights and played said montage in hopes of an emotional moment during team introductions.
We can’t confirm, but at least one season ticket holder probably cried.
Overall, we give the video a “B.” While the video clips are good, filled with lots of screaming and dunking and emotional head-banging-against-basketball stuff, the choice of Kanye’s “Homecoming” seems a little misguided. Too light-hearted.
For Garnett, something like Slayer’s “Raining Blood” feels like it would have been a more appropriate choice here.
Oh, and the Timberwolves destroyed the Washington Wizards, 97-77.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1vC9UuA
via basketball stream live
And as is required by federal law, that team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, created a video montage of their former star during the good old days, placed its over an emotional backing track, dimmed the lights and played said montage in hopes of an emotional moment during team introductions.
We can’t confirm, but at least one season ticket holder probably cried.
Overall, we give the video a “B.” While the video clips are good, filled with lots of screaming and dunking and emotional head-banging-against-basketball stuff, the choice of Kanye’s “Homecoming” seems a little misguided. Too light-hearted.
For Garnett, something like Slayer’s “Raining Blood” feels like it would have been a more appropriate choice here.
Oh, and the Timberwolves destroyed the Washington Wizards, 97-77.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1vC9UuA
via basketball stream live
Rabu, 25 Februari 2015
Atlanta Hawks Mavericks at Hawks has tipped (ESPN)
Welcome to our Atlanta Hawks NBA from ESPN. You can watch live streaming about basketball http://ift.tt/1Bwudwh
Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
basketball stream live Why Sport Matters
basketball stream live I attended Duke University. And I loved Dean Smith. Perhaps only those who have spent significant time on that storied stretch of Tobacco Road will know how remarkable a thing that is to say.
Since Dean Smith's passing at the age of 83 on Saturday, the testimonials and accolades have come in at an inspiring rate and with awe-inspiring praise bordering on adoration. We are, it would seem, in the presence of a secular saint.
Smith's great cross-town rival, Mike Krzyzewski, referred to his friend as one of the greatest coaches in any sport, ever, and as a man whose loss to us can never be compensated. Michael Jordan referred to him not just as a mentor, but as a second father.
We have also learned some remarkable things about this remarkable man's activities off of the basketball court. What is still more remarkable is how little of this was known before now. When Dean Smith arrived in Chapel Hill, N.C. in 1958, both the town and the state were racially segregated. This came as some surprise to the man from Kansas. A man who had grown up in the church, Smith consulted with his pastor and the two agreed that Smith and one of his fellow parishioners who was black would go together to a local lunch counter and essentially dare the establishment not to serve them.
They were served. And so began the de-segregation of Chapel Hill, to be followed by the far more public sit-ins in Greensboro, N.C. two years later. Smith was an entirely unknown assistant coach at the time; he could have been arrested, or fired, or worse.
It was a quiet determination of conscience that matched the quiet determination of his coaching. He was quiet about what he did, what he had done. When asked about these events many years later (it was 1981) by sportswriter and his close personal friend, John Feinstein, Smith expressed dismay that Feinstein even knew the story. When Feinstein told him that his pastor had relayed the story, Smith characteristically said that he wished he had not. "But this is something to be proud of," Feinstein pressed. "You should never be proud of doing the right thing," Smith answered, "you just should do the right thing." And that was that.
The University of North Carolina's mascot is the Carolina "Tar Heel." This refers to a nickname given by Robert E. Lee to a North Carolina regiment that refused to retreat or surrender and scolded fellow soldiers from other regiments who had been tempted to do so. "God bless the Tar Heel boys," the General quipped. The name, like their heels, stuck.
Dean Smith had landed in a part of the country where that history and that legacy were still very much alive. Over the course of the next 40 years, he was to transform that place as much as he would transform the game of basketball.
I would like to suggest that there is a closer connection between those two transformative practices, and that Dean Smith's formation in sport was at least as determinative as his formation in the church had been. Put more pointedly, the sports arena was itself a form of church.
To make good on that strange-sounding claim, I turn to one of the finest books ever written about sports, C LR James's Beyond a Boundary. The book was published in 1963, just one year after Trinidad had won its independence; given James' long involvement in the movement for West Indian independence, the book is a cautionary tale of sorts. Without the requisite virtues, James believed, no revolution could succeed for long.
The story told in Beyond a Boundary is the story of an ambitious and highly talented young man, a colonial subject, but one who thought himself and aspired to be British. They were two eminently British, and eminently imperial, institutions that radicalized the young CLR James: Victorian novels and the game of cricket.
James was addicted to the game, and since a cricket match can last for days, it takes real commitment to play and to spectate. James did both. He graduated in 1918, played for a league team from 1919 to 1932, then reported on the game from 1933 to 1938. He appreciated the subtle artistry of cricket, the choreography which pitted a bowler against a batsman, the way personality and character were intimately tied to success and failure.
When the West Indian team was scheduled to play a match in England, James was mystified to discover that the captain of the West Indian team had been selected and that its most gifted black batsman had been passed over for a less talented white player. "I adhere stubbornly to my juvenile ethics," James tells us, "that the captain should not be [a black or white] man but the best man" (135).
The stakes of such games are high: to beat the empire at its own game is a vast achievement. But the West Indian team seemed to care about looking more like the imperial center than the colonial periphery... and James's identity crisis was born in that moment.
In short, the practices of cricket and of close reading radicalized CLR James. He took the rules of the game seriously, off the pitch and on it. To fail to live up to the code of honor of the game was, to him, almost unthinkable. The British empire failed this test, and so too would some of his fellow revolutionaries.
James' radicalization through cricket first drew him to be a Marxist critic of economic injustice and later to be a post-colonial critic of imperialism. While the experience of the West Indian cricket team had made him aware of race, and of his own blackness, it was a 15-year sojourn in the United States, from 1938 to 1953, that made him aware of a more virulent form of segregate color-consciousness. He would not be consumed by this, but he never forgot it.
The time in the U.S. bore other lessons for James. He quickly came to see that he was far more similar to his British than to his American friends. Americans raged at the umpires of sporting events, something he had vowed never to do (James admitted that he'd cheated wildly in school as a child, but on the field of play, never). His American friends raged at racism, but in unproductive and vicious ways. Most of all, James felt that the Americans he met had no sense of loyalty to a team, or a school, or much of anything. And so when a cheating scandal broke out in college basketball, James broke with the whole show, and promptly returned to Trinidad... where he began working on West Indian independence, and on this book.
There was a close connection between the two.
James published his only other major book in 1938. This was The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, his landmark historical study of the rebellion of enslaved people on the island of Hispaniola that resulted in the birth of the independent state of Haiti. Clearly, his interest in Caribbean independence movements was lifelong. And just as clearly, James understood the strange confluence of race, religion and politics in any complex social movement.
He broke with Soviet-style Marxism in 1940 when Stalin made his pact with Hitler. He left the U.S. in 1953, just one year before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, and just five years before Dean Smith went to North Carolina.
More significant than Supreme Court decisions, to James, was the game of cricket. Virtue enacted on the field of play were enacted in the realm of politics too."'The Case for West Indian Self-Government' and 'It isn't cricket' had come together at last and together had won a signal victory" (241). James was to break with many of his independence-minded colleagues over questions of tactics and vicious compromises similar to the ones the Trotskyites had made. A revolution without virtue was no revolution, just a moral perpetuation, more of the same.
The whole thing hinges on a simple idea, but like most simple things the moral reach of a simple idea can be long. The rules matter. They matter whether you are oppressed or not; they matter whether you win or lose. To violate the rules in order to win would be to strip the victory of its value. That is as true for a revolutionary as it is for a cricketer. To cheat is quite literally to fail to understand the nature of the game and its value (or values). "Cricket had plunged me into politics long before I was aware of it" (65), James concludes.
Most of the book is a spirited catalogue of the greatest players James ever saw or studied: the great bowler George John, the great batsman George Headley, and Learie Constantine who excelled at both. Fully one quarter of the book is an encomium to one man, W.G. Grace, the Babe Ruth of British cricket. "Grasp the fact that a whole nation had prepared the way for [W.G. Grace]," James observes, "and you begin to see his stature as a national embodiment" (170). "Cricket was a religion and W.G. stood next to the Deity" (165).
We have heard similar encomia for Dean Smith this week; his stature is quite literally an embodiment of the game he loved.
James' reasons for writing in this way are complex. On the one hand, he was participating in the Renaissance and Humanist essayist's tradition of teaching through exemplary persons. A virtue is, only as it is displayed in action. James was also attempting to explain the unique thrill and moral passion that sports can inspire. He wishes, then, for us to understand how a game can produce forms of greatness.
James admired the Olympics just as he admired cricket was shocked to note that so few intellectuals took the Games seriously. Sport, James knew, is organized, ritualized, and subtly choreographed social activity. It's very much like religion, that way. The Olympic religious festivals in Greece were a magnet for everything else--the philosophy, the politics, even the art.
What the Olympics was to ancient Greece, cricket was to the British empire in the 19th century, and what the modern Olympics became in the twentieth. Athletes and umpires all swear a sacred oath; cheating is quite literally the blasphemy that would undo the game.
For many young men around the world, sport is as crucial a source of moral formation as it is physically liberating. CLR James thought nothing of cheating at school, but the cricket pitch was sacred to him. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, insisted that his revival had simply been one piece of a life-long work: education reform. Athletes learn discipline, learn to appreciate excellence--the excellence of a performance, and not just their own. Athletes learn how to lose. Athletes learn that winning is not valuable at all costs. Athletes learn how to recognize when a game, or a career, is over. These are not small things to learn.
And that is why Dean Smith matters so very much.
There is far more to Dean Smith's legacy than 879 basketball victories, an Olympic gold medal victory in 1976, two Division I National Championships and an astonishing 11 Final Four appearances. There is the far-from-simple virtue of a life well lived. Comprehending that fact--what it entails, and how such things are to be measured--is why sport matters. In the hands of a coach with the gifts of Dean Smith, sport is not just an arena for transcendent performance and the thrill of spectacle; it is quite literally a school of virtue.
Here is how James understood it:
"The aesthetics of cricket demand first that you master the game, and, preferably, have played it, if not well, at least in good company. And that is not the easy acquisition outsiders think it to be" (207n1).
In Dean Smith, then, we witnessed far more than mastery of a game. He was one of the most remarkable moral teachers this game has ever produced. And he produced it, always, by creating good company.
Louis A. Ruprecht Jr.
Georgia State University
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1DbOnXd
via basketball stream live
Since Dean Smith's passing at the age of 83 on Saturday, the testimonials and accolades have come in at an inspiring rate and with awe-inspiring praise bordering on adoration. We are, it would seem, in the presence of a secular saint.
Smith's great cross-town rival, Mike Krzyzewski, referred to his friend as one of the greatest coaches in any sport, ever, and as a man whose loss to us can never be compensated. Michael Jordan referred to him not just as a mentor, but as a second father.
We have also learned some remarkable things about this remarkable man's activities off of the basketball court. What is still more remarkable is how little of this was known before now. When Dean Smith arrived in Chapel Hill, N.C. in 1958, both the town and the state were racially segregated. This came as some surprise to the man from Kansas. A man who had grown up in the church, Smith consulted with his pastor and the two agreed that Smith and one of his fellow parishioners who was black would go together to a local lunch counter and essentially dare the establishment not to serve them.
They were served. And so began the de-segregation of Chapel Hill, to be followed by the far more public sit-ins in Greensboro, N.C. two years later. Smith was an entirely unknown assistant coach at the time; he could have been arrested, or fired, or worse.
It was a quiet determination of conscience that matched the quiet determination of his coaching. He was quiet about what he did, what he had done. When asked about these events many years later (it was 1981) by sportswriter and his close personal friend, John Feinstein, Smith expressed dismay that Feinstein even knew the story. When Feinstein told him that his pastor had relayed the story, Smith characteristically said that he wished he had not. "But this is something to be proud of," Feinstein pressed. "You should never be proud of doing the right thing," Smith answered, "you just should do the right thing." And that was that.
The University of North Carolina's mascot is the Carolina "Tar Heel." This refers to a nickname given by Robert E. Lee to a North Carolina regiment that refused to retreat or surrender and scolded fellow soldiers from other regiments who had been tempted to do so. "God bless the Tar Heel boys," the General quipped. The name, like their heels, stuck.
Dean Smith had landed in a part of the country where that history and that legacy were still very much alive. Over the course of the next 40 years, he was to transform that place as much as he would transform the game of basketball.
I would like to suggest that there is a closer connection between those two transformative practices, and that Dean Smith's formation in sport was at least as determinative as his formation in the church had been. Put more pointedly, the sports arena was itself a form of church.
To make good on that strange-sounding claim, I turn to one of the finest books ever written about sports, C LR James's Beyond a Boundary. The book was published in 1963, just one year after Trinidad had won its independence; given James' long involvement in the movement for West Indian independence, the book is a cautionary tale of sorts. Without the requisite virtues, James believed, no revolution could succeed for long.
The story told in Beyond a Boundary is the story of an ambitious and highly talented young man, a colonial subject, but one who thought himself and aspired to be British. They were two eminently British, and eminently imperial, institutions that radicalized the young CLR James: Victorian novels and the game of cricket.
James was addicted to the game, and since a cricket match can last for days, it takes real commitment to play and to spectate. James did both. He graduated in 1918, played for a league team from 1919 to 1932, then reported on the game from 1933 to 1938. He appreciated the subtle artistry of cricket, the choreography which pitted a bowler against a batsman, the way personality and character were intimately tied to success and failure.
When the West Indian team was scheduled to play a match in England, James was mystified to discover that the captain of the West Indian team had been selected and that its most gifted black batsman had been passed over for a less talented white player. "I adhere stubbornly to my juvenile ethics," James tells us, "that the captain should not be [a black or white] man but the best man" (135).
The stakes of such games are high: to beat the empire at its own game is a vast achievement. But the West Indian team seemed to care about looking more like the imperial center than the colonial periphery... and James's identity crisis was born in that moment.
In short, the practices of cricket and of close reading radicalized CLR James. He took the rules of the game seriously, off the pitch and on it. To fail to live up to the code of honor of the game was, to him, almost unthinkable. The British empire failed this test, and so too would some of his fellow revolutionaries.
James' radicalization through cricket first drew him to be a Marxist critic of economic injustice and later to be a post-colonial critic of imperialism. While the experience of the West Indian cricket team had made him aware of race, and of his own blackness, it was a 15-year sojourn in the United States, from 1938 to 1953, that made him aware of a more virulent form of segregate color-consciousness. He would not be consumed by this, but he never forgot it.
The time in the U.S. bore other lessons for James. He quickly came to see that he was far more similar to his British than to his American friends. Americans raged at the umpires of sporting events, something he had vowed never to do (James admitted that he'd cheated wildly in school as a child, but on the field of play, never). His American friends raged at racism, but in unproductive and vicious ways. Most of all, James felt that the Americans he met had no sense of loyalty to a team, or a school, or much of anything. And so when a cheating scandal broke out in college basketball, James broke with the whole show, and promptly returned to Trinidad... where he began working on West Indian independence, and on this book.
There was a close connection between the two.
James published his only other major book in 1938. This was The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, his landmark historical study of the rebellion of enslaved people on the island of Hispaniola that resulted in the birth of the independent state of Haiti. Clearly, his interest in Caribbean independence movements was lifelong. And just as clearly, James understood the strange confluence of race, religion and politics in any complex social movement.
He broke with Soviet-style Marxism in 1940 when Stalin made his pact with Hitler. He left the U.S. in 1953, just one year before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, and just five years before Dean Smith went to North Carolina.
More significant than Supreme Court decisions, to James, was the game of cricket. Virtue enacted on the field of play were enacted in the realm of politics too."'The Case for West Indian Self-Government' and 'It isn't cricket' had come together at last and together had won a signal victory" (241). James was to break with many of his independence-minded colleagues over questions of tactics and vicious compromises similar to the ones the Trotskyites had made. A revolution without virtue was no revolution, just a moral perpetuation, more of the same.
The whole thing hinges on a simple idea, but like most simple things the moral reach of a simple idea can be long. The rules matter. They matter whether you are oppressed or not; they matter whether you win or lose. To violate the rules in order to win would be to strip the victory of its value. That is as true for a revolutionary as it is for a cricketer. To cheat is quite literally to fail to understand the nature of the game and its value (or values). "Cricket had plunged me into politics long before I was aware of it" (65), James concludes.
Most of the book is a spirited catalogue of the greatest players James ever saw or studied: the great bowler George John, the great batsman George Headley, and Learie Constantine who excelled at both. Fully one quarter of the book is an encomium to one man, W.G. Grace, the Babe Ruth of British cricket. "Grasp the fact that a whole nation had prepared the way for [W.G. Grace]," James observes, "and you begin to see his stature as a national embodiment" (170). "Cricket was a religion and W.G. stood next to the Deity" (165).
We have heard similar encomia for Dean Smith this week; his stature is quite literally an embodiment of the game he loved.
James' reasons for writing in this way are complex. On the one hand, he was participating in the Renaissance and Humanist essayist's tradition of teaching through exemplary persons. A virtue is, only as it is displayed in action. James was also attempting to explain the unique thrill and moral passion that sports can inspire. He wishes, then, for us to understand how a game can produce forms of greatness.
James admired the Olympics just as he admired cricket was shocked to note that so few intellectuals took the Games seriously. Sport, James knew, is organized, ritualized, and subtly choreographed social activity. It's very much like religion, that way. The Olympic religious festivals in Greece were a magnet for everything else--the philosophy, the politics, even the art.
What the Olympics was to ancient Greece, cricket was to the British empire in the 19th century, and what the modern Olympics became in the twentieth. Athletes and umpires all swear a sacred oath; cheating is quite literally the blasphemy that would undo the game.
For many young men around the world, sport is as crucial a source of moral formation as it is physically liberating. CLR James thought nothing of cheating at school, but the cricket pitch was sacred to him. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, insisted that his revival had simply been one piece of a life-long work: education reform. Athletes learn discipline, learn to appreciate excellence--the excellence of a performance, and not just their own. Athletes learn how to lose. Athletes learn that winning is not valuable at all costs. Athletes learn how to recognize when a game, or a career, is over. These are not small things to learn.
And that is why Dean Smith matters so very much.
There is far more to Dean Smith's legacy than 879 basketball victories, an Olympic gold medal victory in 1976, two Division I National Championships and an astonishing 11 Final Four appearances. There is the far-from-simple virtue of a life well lived. Comprehending that fact--what it entails, and how such things are to be measured--is why sport matters. In the hands of a coach with the gifts of Dean Smith, sport is not just an arena for transcendent performance and the thrill of spectacle; it is quite literally a school of virtue.
Here is how James understood it:
"The aesthetics of cricket demand first that you master the game, and, preferably, have played it, if not well, at least in good company. And that is not the easy acquisition outsiders think it to be" (207n1).
In Dean Smith, then, we witnessed far more than mastery of a game. He was one of the most remarkable moral teachers this game has ever produced. And he produced it, always, by creating good company.
Louis A. Ruprecht Jr.
Georgia State University
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1DbOnXd
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live New Sports Exposé: Changes Needed in All Directions
basketball stream live Make no mistake about it: Sports are important.
That's true if for no other reason than the fact that sports absorb billions of hours of people's time -- at all ages. Whatever you think about sports, they're clearly important for that reason alone.
Sports are also important because they have become a multibillion-dollar industry, one of the 10 biggest industries in the country. According to Plunkett Research, the estimated size of the entire sports industry in 2012 was $435 billion. That makes it much bigger than the U.S. auto industry, movie industry and many others.
Sports are important because professional and big-time college sports basically operate as self-regulated monopolies. That creates problems that filter all the way down to sports at the high school and youth levels.
Finally, sports are important because sports ethos, mentalities and policies impact, in one way or another, virtually all aspects of our society.
While sports started as a form of play, recreation, and fun for family and friends, they have increasingly become commercialized and professionalized spectacles, at all levels (See: Little League World Series). The result is that our games suffer from a general soul sickness, resulting in problems that are zapping the human spirit out of the games we love at their best.
Clearly, sports are worthy of more serious examination than they receive in the United States today.
Nevertheless, controversial sports problems and abuses haven't received the persistent, timely attention they deserve, including the development of well-conceived remedies for the games' ills.
Until now.
How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan, by Dr. Ken Reed, a former college athlete, coach, longtime sports marketer, sports management instructor and sports issues columnist, and now the sports policy director for our League of Fans (see leagueoffans.org), is unlike any other sports book I've seen.
There are plenty of books on the market about each of our most popular sports -- football, basketball, baseball, hockey, tennis, golf, etc. There are numerous books that profile our well-known sports figures. And there are a few books on specific sports issues like concussions and taxpayer-financed stadiums and arenas.
But Reed's book is different. It covers the whole waterfront of sports issues and looks at how they're all interconnected. It's basically a sports manifesto that looks at nine of the most important sports issues we face today and the red thread that weaves through them all, from youth sports to the pros.
And what is that red thread?
According to Reed, it's ego and greed, and the win-at-all-costs (WAAC) and profit-at-all-costs (PAAC) policies and mentalities whose vices have spawned throughout the world of sports.
In fact, it is these WAAC and PAAC policies and mentalities that are the foundation of the numerous issues Reed addresses in his book, including adult-dominated youth sports; the demise of physical education and intramural sports in our schools; militaristic coaches who berate and abuse our young athletes; the lack of adequate concussion safety protocols and return-to-play guidelines throughout sports; a college sports model in which athletes' economic and civil rights are denied; wealthy pro sports owners who hold taxpayers hostage in order to get publicly financed sports palaces built; and an ongoing lack of equal opportunity in sports for female, disabled, and LGBT athletes and administrators. The list goes on.
One issue that Reed addresses in his book really hits home with me. He points out the fallacy behind the idea that the United States is a "sports-mad country," as many outsiders have called us. In effect, we're a country that's mad about spectator sports. Our sports pages should really be renamed "Spectator Sports," because that's all they cover. They have nothing to do with community participatory sports.
Americans love watching sports, usually while sitting on their couches eating junk food. It's interesting to note that in a University of Arkansas Little Rock study, highly identified sports fans had significantly higher health risk behaviors than non-sports fans on a range of health behavior measures, including a higher body mass index (BMI) along with higher fat, fast food and alcohol consumption.
Reed also takes a jab at the sports media. He points out that the media will occasionally identify scandals and other symptoms of problems in the sports world but then stop. What's left missing is a discussion regarding how to mitigate these problems. Also, mostly left out is any reporting of sports reform initiatives and grassroots movements designed to change sport -- unless there is a major eruption or scandal that can't be ignored.
Why? Because sports media corporations, and most sports journalists, have too much invested, economically and psychologically, in the current system to push for significant change. As Reed says, the dominant ideology of commercialized and professionalized sport is diffused through corporate entities, including sports media.
Therefore, it's up to citizens who love sport at its best to rise up and push for change. Reed labels his call to action "citizenship through sports activism." He provides would-be sports reformers and activists the analytical foundation, recommendations and resources needed to improve the valuable sports experience for all stakeholders.
He also identifies where people are already fighting for needed change around the country.
That's good news, because sports can be a healthy sociocultural practice of much value when win-at-all-costs and profit-at-all-costs thinking aren't driving the bus.
Let's hope that a significant number of sports fans -- including concerned parents of young athletes -- take Reed's lead and start debating and discussing these issues in their communities.
It's time for a grand-slam look at the entire sports scene.
Click here for more information on How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1DbOnGH
via basketball stream live
That's true if for no other reason than the fact that sports absorb billions of hours of people's time -- at all ages. Whatever you think about sports, they're clearly important for that reason alone.
Sports are also important because they have become a multibillion-dollar industry, one of the 10 biggest industries in the country. According to Plunkett Research, the estimated size of the entire sports industry in 2012 was $435 billion. That makes it much bigger than the U.S. auto industry, movie industry and many others.
Sports are important because professional and big-time college sports basically operate as self-regulated monopolies. That creates problems that filter all the way down to sports at the high school and youth levels.
Finally, sports are important because sports ethos, mentalities and policies impact, in one way or another, virtually all aspects of our society.
While sports started as a form of play, recreation, and fun for family and friends, they have increasingly become commercialized and professionalized spectacles, at all levels (See: Little League World Series). The result is that our games suffer from a general soul sickness, resulting in problems that are zapping the human spirit out of the games we love at their best.
Clearly, sports are worthy of more serious examination than they receive in the United States today.
Nevertheless, controversial sports problems and abuses haven't received the persistent, timely attention they deserve, including the development of well-conceived remedies for the games' ills.
Until now.
How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan, by Dr. Ken Reed, a former college athlete, coach, longtime sports marketer, sports management instructor and sports issues columnist, and now the sports policy director for our League of Fans (see leagueoffans.org), is unlike any other sports book I've seen.
There are plenty of books on the market about each of our most popular sports -- football, basketball, baseball, hockey, tennis, golf, etc. There are numerous books that profile our well-known sports figures. And there are a few books on specific sports issues like concussions and taxpayer-financed stadiums and arenas.
But Reed's book is different. It covers the whole waterfront of sports issues and looks at how they're all interconnected. It's basically a sports manifesto that looks at nine of the most important sports issues we face today and the red thread that weaves through them all, from youth sports to the pros.
And what is that red thread?
According to Reed, it's ego and greed, and the win-at-all-costs (WAAC) and profit-at-all-costs (PAAC) policies and mentalities whose vices have spawned throughout the world of sports.
In fact, it is these WAAC and PAAC policies and mentalities that are the foundation of the numerous issues Reed addresses in his book, including adult-dominated youth sports; the demise of physical education and intramural sports in our schools; militaristic coaches who berate and abuse our young athletes; the lack of adequate concussion safety protocols and return-to-play guidelines throughout sports; a college sports model in which athletes' economic and civil rights are denied; wealthy pro sports owners who hold taxpayers hostage in order to get publicly financed sports palaces built; and an ongoing lack of equal opportunity in sports for female, disabled, and LGBT athletes and administrators. The list goes on.
One issue that Reed addresses in his book really hits home with me. He points out the fallacy behind the idea that the United States is a "sports-mad country," as many outsiders have called us. In effect, we're a country that's mad about spectator sports. Our sports pages should really be renamed "Spectator Sports," because that's all they cover. They have nothing to do with community participatory sports.
Americans love watching sports, usually while sitting on their couches eating junk food. It's interesting to note that in a University of Arkansas Little Rock study, highly identified sports fans had significantly higher health risk behaviors than non-sports fans on a range of health behavior measures, including a higher body mass index (BMI) along with higher fat, fast food and alcohol consumption.
Reed also takes a jab at the sports media. He points out that the media will occasionally identify scandals and other symptoms of problems in the sports world but then stop. What's left missing is a discussion regarding how to mitigate these problems. Also, mostly left out is any reporting of sports reform initiatives and grassroots movements designed to change sport -- unless there is a major eruption or scandal that can't be ignored.
Why? Because sports media corporations, and most sports journalists, have too much invested, economically and psychologically, in the current system to push for significant change. As Reed says, the dominant ideology of commercialized and professionalized sport is diffused through corporate entities, including sports media.
Therefore, it's up to citizens who love sport at its best to rise up and push for change. Reed labels his call to action "citizenship through sports activism." He provides would-be sports reformers and activists the analytical foundation, recommendations and resources needed to improve the valuable sports experience for all stakeholders.
He also identifies where people are already fighting for needed change around the country.
That's good news, because sports can be a healthy sociocultural practice of much value when win-at-all-costs and profit-at-all-costs thinking aren't driving the bus.
Let's hope that a significant number of sports fans -- including concerned parents of young athletes -- take Reed's lead and start debating and discussing these issues in their communities.
It's time for a grand-slam look at the entire sports scene.
Click here for more information on How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1DbOnGH
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live Larry Sanders Says Players Forfeit Freedom Of Speech When They Join The NBA
basketball stream live In a video interview with The Players’ Tribune, published Wednesday, former Milwaukee Buck Larry Sanders explains why he mysteriously decided, at 26 years old, to walk away from the NBA and the millions of dollars still owed to him.
"I love basketball, and if I get to a point where I feel I'm capable of playing basketball again, I will," Sanders says, "[but] I've had to make the difficult decision to follow my intuition and allow myself the space and time to explore my true purpose in life."
Sanders, who had essentially gone missing from the team in recent months, reveals in the video that during that time away he had checked into a hospital that specializes in anxiety, depression and mood disorders. The NBA life had taken a toll on him, and he felt he was giving up too much of what made him happy for money.
"It taught me a lot about myself,” he says. “It taught me about what's important and where I would want to devote my time and energy."
The revelation that Sanders was being treated for mental health-related issues puts many of the comments recently made by Bucks players in better context: "Everyone goes through tough times; everyone has some demons," Bucks forward Jared Dudley said of Sanders recently; "We just want to make sure he's healthy, first and foremost,” teammate O.J. Mayo said.
Sanders completed a buyout deal with the Bucks just last Saturday night. As a result, he reportedly gave up roughly half of the money owed to him from the $44 million deal he had originally signed with the team in 2013.
But, in the video, Sanders doesn’t look like a man who just lost, like, $20 million. He looks at ease, happy with his decision and excited for what will come next.
“We all are more than just one thing,” he says in the video. “In a lot of situations, it’s very admirable for a person to take that risk to follow their heart and go after their intuition and their passion. I think for me it just seemed like a crazier, higher risk because of my higher paying, [high] profile job.”
Sanders also describes his frustrations with the league in the video. According to Sanders, once you join the NBA and get your first paycheck, your relationships start to change -- “We become ATMs to some people,” he says -- and the league starts to dictate what you say and how you act.
“You have to be correct in your statements. You have to state things a certain way,” Sanders says. “You give up your freedom of speech. For real, you really can’t say how you feel.”
Sanders was known during his time in the NBA as an outspoken proponent of marijuana legalization.
“Cannabis came later on in my life,” he says now. “It was, for me, used medically for some of the symptoms that I was having due to a lot of stress and pressure I was under given my work.”
Near the end of the video, Sanders leaves open the possibility that he will one day decide to come back to the NBA. But for now, he really wishes he could have left the Bucks on better terms. "I want them to know it was never about them,” he says.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1vzYmrC
via basketball stream live
"I love basketball, and if I get to a point where I feel I'm capable of playing basketball again, I will," Sanders says, "[but] I've had to make the difficult decision to follow my intuition and allow myself the space and time to explore my true purpose in life."
Sanders, who had essentially gone missing from the team in recent months, reveals in the video that during that time away he had checked into a hospital that specializes in anxiety, depression and mood disorders. The NBA life had taken a toll on him, and he felt he was giving up too much of what made him happy for money.
"It taught me a lot about myself,” he says. “It taught me about what's important and where I would want to devote my time and energy."
The revelation that Sanders was being treated for mental health-related issues puts many of the comments recently made by Bucks players in better context: "Everyone goes through tough times; everyone has some demons," Bucks forward Jared Dudley said of Sanders recently; "We just want to make sure he's healthy, first and foremost,” teammate O.J. Mayo said.
Sanders completed a buyout deal with the Bucks just last Saturday night. As a result, he reportedly gave up roughly half of the money owed to him from the $44 million deal he had originally signed with the team in 2013.
But, in the video, Sanders doesn’t look like a man who just lost, like, $20 million. He looks at ease, happy with his decision and excited for what will come next.
“We all are more than just one thing,” he says in the video. “In a lot of situations, it’s very admirable for a person to take that risk to follow their heart and go after their intuition and their passion. I think for me it just seemed like a crazier, higher risk because of my higher paying, [high] profile job.”
Sanders also describes his frustrations with the league in the video. According to Sanders, once you join the NBA and get your first paycheck, your relationships start to change -- “We become ATMs to some people,” he says -- and the league starts to dictate what you say and how you act.
“You have to be correct in your statements. You have to state things a certain way,” Sanders says. “You give up your freedom of speech. For real, you really can’t say how you feel.”
Sanders was known during his time in the NBA as an outspoken proponent of marijuana legalization.
“Cannabis came later on in my life,” he says now. “It was, for me, used medically for some of the symptoms that I was having due to a lot of stress and pressure I was under given my work.”
Near the end of the video, Sanders leaves open the possibility that he will one day decide to come back to the NBA. But for now, he really wishes he could have left the Bucks on better terms. "I want them to know it was never about them,” he says.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1vzYmrC
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live LeBron James Wants College Coaches To Stop Recruiting His 10-Year-Old Son
basketball stream live LeBron James said Tuesday that his 10-year-old son, LeBron James Jr., has already received a number of offers to play college basketball, and he’s not pleased about it.
"Yeah, he's already got some offers from colleges," James said, according to Fox Sport Ohio. "It's pretty crazy. It should be a violation. You shouldn't be recruiting 10-year-old kids."
James didn’t name any schools specifically when he said his son had received some offers, but a number of college coaches are already, uh, putting out feelers and making connections with his son, who also goes by Bronny.
Thad Matta, the heach coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes basketball team, for one, said in October -- when Bronny was still only 9 years old -- that he “will be” on the coach’s radar in the future. (James has a well-established link with the university.)
And, at a minimum, Bronny has already been in Kentucky coach and famed recruiter John Calipari’s office wearing his championship rings:
The NCAA recruiting rules and regulations can prove convoluted and often difficult to completely understand, as evidenced by UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma receiving a secondary violation from the NCAA last year for calling Mo’ne Davis during the Little League World Series. The university had given Auriemma permission to do so, thinking it permissible according to NCAA rules.
But it's likely that Bronny has yet to qualify as a “prospective student-athlete,” a technical NCAA term mostly applied to high school-level athletes that institutes stricter recruiting rules. That's because Bronny hasn’t even reached middle school yet.
Of course, that hasn't stopped the rankers from ranking him among the best players of his age group, at least according to WKYC, an NBC affiliate in the Cleveland area.
We couldn’t find a ranking like that ourselves. But as the Washington Post notes, there are a number of websites trying to nationally rank the skills of sixth graders, and Bronny certainly has one of the highest profiles of any basketball player his age. In recent months, multiple highlight videos showcasing his game have received millions of views. One, published on Monday, has already racked up more than 3.8 million:
Regardless, it’s highly likely that James mentioning any “offers” his son has received made the schools offering those offers incredibly, incredibly nervous.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1BuWCCT
via basketball stream live
"Yeah, he's already got some offers from colleges," James said, according to Fox Sport Ohio. "It's pretty crazy. It should be a violation. You shouldn't be recruiting 10-year-old kids."
James didn’t name any schools specifically when he said his son had received some offers, but a number of college coaches are already, uh, putting out feelers and making connections with his son, who also goes by Bronny.
Thad Matta, the heach coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes basketball team, for one, said in October -- when Bronny was still only 9 years old -- that he “will be” on the coach’s radar in the future. (James has a well-established link with the university.)
And, at a minimum, Bronny has already been in Kentucky coach and famed recruiter John Calipari’s office wearing his championship rings:
LeBron James Jr. is in Lexington and hanging out in John Calipari's office. http://ift.tt/1BtUQ4J
— Dan Bodner (@DanBodnerKSC) July 18, 2014 The NCAA recruiting rules and regulations can prove convoluted and often difficult to completely understand, as evidenced by UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma receiving a secondary violation from the NCAA last year for calling Mo’ne Davis during the Little League World Series. The university had given Auriemma permission to do so, thinking it permissible according to NCAA rules.
But it's likely that Bronny has yet to qualify as a “prospective student-athlete,” a technical NCAA term mostly applied to high school-level athletes that institutes stricter recruiting rules. That's because Bronny hasn’t even reached middle school yet.
Of course, that hasn't stopped the rankers from ranking him among the best players of his age group, at least according to WKYC, an NBC affiliate in the Cleveland area.
We couldn’t find a ranking like that ourselves. But as the Washington Post notes, there are a number of websites trying to nationally rank the skills of sixth graders, and Bronny certainly has one of the highest profiles of any basketball player his age. In recent months, multiple highlight videos showcasing his game have received millions of views. One, published on Monday, has already racked up more than 3.8 million:
Regardless, it’s highly likely that James mentioning any “offers” his son has received made the schools offering those offers incredibly, incredibly nervous.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1BuWCCT
via basketball stream live
basketball stream live John Wall: 'When I Have A Guy One-On-One Guarding Me, I Feel Like He's At My Mercy'
basketball stream live Call it a coming-out party for John Wall. The 24-year-old Washington Wizards point guard and former No. 1 overall pick is enjoying his best season to date, posting career highs in assists (10 per game) and in rebounding, and hoping to lead the Wizards on another playoff run. Off the floor, Wall has become a brand ambassador for Adidas and American Express, showing that success comes in a variety of ways.
The Huffington Post caught up with Wall before his first-ever start in the Feb. 15 All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden. We chatted about his growing prowess on the court, his sheer love of the open floor, why he still appreciates John Calipari and whether or not Kentucky can run the table en route to a national championship.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
You have taken another step forward this season and your numbers speak for themselves. What was the one thing from last summer you felt you had to improve?
Just improving my jump shot, adding post-up moves, adding a floater. Just trying to change every aspect of my game every year. You can get better and add something new, but you also gotta keep working at the things you’re already good at.
Have you seen defenses guard you differently this year, now that your jump shot has become that much more consistent? Specifically in pick-and-roll where they’re not necessarily going under the screen anymore.
Yeah, I think so. That’s making the job a lot easier for me of getting into the paint and finding my teammates and letting the court open up even more where we’re able to knock down shots.
What, then, is the next step in your maturation process as a lead guard?
My jump shot. The more and more I keep improving that and getting consistent with it on a nightly basis and keep knocking down open shots, it’d make my job a lot easier.
You say that, but it seems like you’re taking -- and making -- big shots. It seems like you are quite confident already in doing so.
I’m confident any day. You know, I missed a couple of easy shots that would have been game-winners or put us ahead early in the season, but I still have the confidence to take those shots. I believe in my ability.
The league has a number of great point guards. Who do you get most up to play against?
Oh yeah. You get up for Dame [Damian Lillard], you get up for Kyrie [Irving], you get up for Russ [Russell Westbrook], you get up for Derrick Rose, CP [Chris Paul]. You get up for all those guys. It’s fun, it’s exciting. You know it’s going to be a challenge and everybody’s watching.
I’ve never seen a point guard finish like you do on the break, even a great one like Westbrook or Lillard. What is it about the open floor that makes you so comfortable?
When I have a guy one-on-one guarding me, I feel like he’s at my mercy.
And you have the luxury of going full speed.
Yeah, I’ve got the full speed, and then it’s like there’s no way he can stop me. He can either foul me or I’m going to get a layup because I have the opportunity to change directions still going at a fast speed.
When you receive the outlet pass, at what point are you really starting to think 'pass or shoot'? It happens so fast, are you even thinking?
I don’t think about that. Right when I catch the ball, if I see a guy ahead, I’m looking to pass. And then if I get into the paint, I’m reading to see if I have a layup or if the weak side defense is coming in.
When you look at a guy like Bradley Beal, your teammate at shooting guard, how good do you think he can become? How good can this backcourt combination become?
I think it can be real good. I got him to shoot the ball. I think if he can keep improving on his pocket passes and making passes and reading [defenses] -- I think sometimes he can’t get the shot because guys are double-teaming him and forcing him to make a pass, and I think the Atlanta game showed a lot when he started attacking a little bit more. And that’s what I say, is that when you’re a great jump shooter, you can attack the basket a lot. That’s the thing he should improve on, is getting to the free-throw line more.
You’re actually getting to the line at a frequent rate and converting 76 percent. Are you saying to yourself on a nightly basis, 'Be more aggressive, be more aggressive'?
Oh yeah, even when Bradley’s being aggressive I have to be the same aggressive player and not just back off. I could be more aggressive. I think in transition sometimes I pass on shots a lot.
Do you have conversations with yourself where you do pass up a shot in transition where you’re being almost too unselfish?
No, I just view the defense. I know guys are coming to block my shot, so I just try to make the right read and make the right play for people.
Your alma mater, Kentucky, is undefeated and hoping to win a second title under coach John Calipari [pictured below]. Are they going to do it?
It’d be fun, it’d be exciting. They’ve got a great defensive team, I can’t lie. They block shots and they do a great job down there, but we had the guard play.
What do you think are the chances that they can run the table?
That’d be great. I wish that Coach Cal could do everything -- win more championships and to be the first coach to go undefeated like that. It’d be exciting. They’ve got a great young group of guys. I’ve played pickup with them a few times, and they’re all hard workers and they all want to improve.
What are you able to draw from your time with Calipari?
Everything that you need to know about the NBA. He had the opportunity to coach there for a couple of years, he knew what it takes, and he was preparing us like professionals.
When Coach Cal says that Kentucky’s not for everyone?
It's not. If you can’t play basketball and get a basket one-on-one, he doesn’t want you to be there. He’s going to tell you that.
That’s unbelievable. Can you elaborate on that?
He wants you to be able to beat your guy off the dribble. If you need plays called for you, like pick-and-rolls and all that, [he doesn't want you]. Coach Cal wants a guy that can get a bucket. If you can get a bucket or create for someone, he’s perfectly fine.
With that in mind: the Harrison twins. Those guys aren’t explosive one-on-one.
Yeah, they’re not explosive, but they can make shots, shoot the ball and attack the basket, and I think they’re improving. He has a different type of guard with those guys, so he's running more plays and pick-and-rolls for them.
At what point during your one year in Lexington did you realize that it’s bigger than just wins and losses when you’re playing at Kentucky?
The first day. First day, I was like, 'Yeah, this is all about [basketball and winning].' It’s everybody’s Super Bowl when they play us. So once you lose, the other guys are celebrating like they won a championship.
And playing at Rupp Arena?
Oh, it’s amazing -- 24,000 people every night. It’s bigger than a lot of NBA arenas, so every opportunity [you get to play there], you're ready.
I was at your game when you guys played at the Garden against UConn. It was one of your first games as a freshman.
Yeah, I scored the last 15, 16, 17 points.
I’m not going to say it was a coming-out party, but it was the first time people really saw you play. Was that a big moment for you at the Garden, and do you draw from that ever?
Oh yeah, I had just played UConn at the Garden and that was my first real test in college, and then like a week later we were playing [North] Carolina at Kentucky and I had another big game. Yeah, that UConn game was pretty good.
How much do you look at the sabermetric stuff? If you see you’re 5 percent better from the top of the key, do you try and get more looks there?
Yeah, my sweet spots are the elbows, so during the games I try to get to those spots.
That 16-foot area or so.
Yeah, that kinda elbow jump shot where you can attack the basket.
With that in mind, when you see what Charles Barkley said about sabermetrics, were you surprised?
Nah, well, I don’t look at the numbers or my percentages. I just know that’s where I’m comfortable and that’s where I work out of. So it’s not about the numbers. Sometimes my numbers might be better from the wing, but I know where I’m comfortable in certain situations.
When I watch you play, it seems like you are more comfortable shooting in rhythm than spot-up situations.
Yeah, I like more rhythm. I’m more of a rhythm type of player.
Lastly, can I get a Kentucky prediction?
I just want them to win the national championship.
Email me at jordan.schultz@huffingtonpost.com or ask me questions about anything sports-related at @Schultz_Report, and follow me on Instagram @Schultz_Report. Also, be sure and catch my NBC Sports Radio show "Kup and Schultz," which airs Sunday mornings from 9 to 12 EST, right here.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1DVyauI
via basketball stream live
The Huffington Post caught up with Wall before his first-ever start in the Feb. 15 All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden. We chatted about his growing prowess on the court, his sheer love of the open floor, why he still appreciates John Calipari and whether or not Kentucky can run the table en route to a national championship.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
You have taken another step forward this season and your numbers speak for themselves. What was the one thing from last summer you felt you had to improve?
Just improving my jump shot, adding post-up moves, adding a floater. Just trying to change every aspect of my game every year. You can get better and add something new, but you also gotta keep working at the things you’re already good at.
Have you seen defenses guard you differently this year, now that your jump shot has become that much more consistent? Specifically in pick-and-roll where they’re not necessarily going under the screen anymore.
Yeah, I think so. That’s making the job a lot easier for me of getting into the paint and finding my teammates and letting the court open up even more where we’re able to knock down shots.
What, then, is the next step in your maturation process as a lead guard?
My jump shot. The more and more I keep improving that and getting consistent with it on a nightly basis and keep knocking down open shots, it’d make my job a lot easier.
You say that, but it seems like you’re taking -- and making -- big shots. It seems like you are quite confident already in doing so.
I’m confident any day. You know, I missed a couple of easy shots that would have been game-winners or put us ahead early in the season, but I still have the confidence to take those shots. I believe in my ability.
The league has a number of great point guards. Who do you get most up to play against?
Oh yeah. You get up for Dame [Damian Lillard], you get up for Kyrie [Irving], you get up for Russ [Russell Westbrook], you get up for Derrick Rose, CP [Chris Paul]. You get up for all those guys. It’s fun, it’s exciting. You know it’s going to be a challenge and everybody’s watching.
I’ve never seen a point guard finish like you do on the break, even a great one like Westbrook or Lillard. What is it about the open floor that makes you so comfortable?
When I have a guy one-on-one guarding me, I feel like he’s at my mercy.
And you have the luxury of going full speed.
Yeah, I’ve got the full speed, and then it’s like there’s no way he can stop me. He can either foul me or I’m going to get a layup because I have the opportunity to change directions still going at a fast speed.
When you receive the outlet pass, at what point are you really starting to think 'pass or shoot'? It happens so fast, are you even thinking?
I don’t think about that. Right when I catch the ball, if I see a guy ahead, I’m looking to pass. And then if I get into the paint, I’m reading to see if I have a layup or if the weak side defense is coming in.
When you look at a guy like Bradley Beal, your teammate at shooting guard, how good do you think he can become? How good can this backcourt combination become?
I think it can be real good. I got him to shoot the ball. I think if he can keep improving on his pocket passes and making passes and reading [defenses] -- I think sometimes he can’t get the shot because guys are double-teaming him and forcing him to make a pass, and I think the Atlanta game showed a lot when he started attacking a little bit more. And that’s what I say, is that when you’re a great jump shooter, you can attack the basket a lot. That’s the thing he should improve on, is getting to the free-throw line more.
You’re actually getting to the line at a frequent rate and converting 76 percent. Are you saying to yourself on a nightly basis, 'Be more aggressive, be more aggressive'?
Oh yeah, even when Bradley’s being aggressive I have to be the same aggressive player and not just back off. I could be more aggressive. I think in transition sometimes I pass on shots a lot.
Do you have conversations with yourself where you do pass up a shot in transition where you’re being almost too unselfish?
No, I just view the defense. I know guys are coming to block my shot, so I just try to make the right read and make the right play for people.
Your alma mater, Kentucky, is undefeated and hoping to win a second title under coach John Calipari [pictured below]. Are they going to do it?
It’d be fun, it’d be exciting. They’ve got a great defensive team, I can’t lie. They block shots and they do a great job down there, but we had the guard play.
What do you think are the chances that they can run the table?
That’d be great. I wish that Coach Cal could do everything -- win more championships and to be the first coach to go undefeated like that. It’d be exciting. They’ve got a great young group of guys. I’ve played pickup with them a few times, and they’re all hard workers and they all want to improve.
What are you able to draw from your time with Calipari?
Everything that you need to know about the NBA. He had the opportunity to coach there for a couple of years, he knew what it takes, and he was preparing us like professionals.
When Coach Cal says that Kentucky’s not for everyone?
It's not. If you can’t play basketball and get a basket one-on-one, he doesn’t want you to be there. He’s going to tell you that.
That’s unbelievable. Can you elaborate on that?
He wants you to be able to beat your guy off the dribble. If you need plays called for you, like pick-and-rolls and all that, [he doesn't want you]. Coach Cal wants a guy that can get a bucket. If you can get a bucket or create for someone, he’s perfectly fine.
With that in mind: the Harrison twins. Those guys aren’t explosive one-on-one.
Yeah, they’re not explosive, but they can make shots, shoot the ball and attack the basket, and I think they’re improving. He has a different type of guard with those guys, so he's running more plays and pick-and-rolls for them.
At what point during your one year in Lexington did you realize that it’s bigger than just wins and losses when you’re playing at Kentucky?
The first day. First day, I was like, 'Yeah, this is all about [basketball and winning].' It’s everybody’s Super Bowl when they play us. So once you lose, the other guys are celebrating like they won a championship.
And playing at Rupp Arena?
Oh, it’s amazing -- 24,000 people every night. It’s bigger than a lot of NBA arenas, so every opportunity [you get to play there], you're ready.
I was at your game when you guys played at the Garden against UConn. It was one of your first games as a freshman.
Yeah, I scored the last 15, 16, 17 points.
I’m not going to say it was a coming-out party, but it was the first time people really saw you play. Was that a big moment for you at the Garden, and do you draw from that ever?
Oh yeah, I had just played UConn at the Garden and that was my first real test in college, and then like a week later we were playing [North] Carolina at Kentucky and I had another big game. Yeah, that UConn game was pretty good.
How much do you look at the sabermetric stuff? If you see you’re 5 percent better from the top of the key, do you try and get more looks there?
Yeah, my sweet spots are the elbows, so during the games I try to get to those spots.
That 16-foot area or so.
Yeah, that kinda elbow jump shot where you can attack the basket.
With that in mind, when you see what Charles Barkley said about sabermetrics, were you surprised?
Nah, well, I don’t look at the numbers or my percentages. I just know that’s where I’m comfortable and that’s where I work out of. So it’s not about the numbers. Sometimes my numbers might be better from the wing, but I know where I’m comfortable in certain situations.
When I watch you play, it seems like you are more comfortable shooting in rhythm than spot-up situations.
Yeah, I like more rhythm. I’m more of a rhythm type of player.
Lastly, can I get a Kentucky prediction?
I just want them to win the national championship.
Email me at jordan.schultz@huffingtonpost.com or ask me questions about anything sports-related at @Schultz_Report, and follow me on Instagram @Schultz_Report. Also, be sure and catch my NBC Sports Radio show "Kup and Schultz," which airs Sunday mornings from 9 to 12 EST, right here.
from Sports - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1DVyauI
via basketball stream live
Langganan:
Komentar (Atom)