basketball stream live UConn Coach Ollie Won't Travel To Final Four Because Of Indiana Law

basketball stream live HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — UConn men's basketball coach Kevin Ollie will not be traveling to the Final Four this week, abiding by a travel ban ordered by Connecticut's governor because of Indiana's new religious-objections law, the school announced Tuesday.



Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other critics contend the law would allow businesses to deny service to gays and lesbians based on religious beliefs. The governor on Monday signed an executive order banning state spending on travel to Indiana. Malloy left the decision to travel to the Final Four up to Ollie and the university, which had already paid for much of his trip. UConn was the 2014 national champion and Ollie was to attend coaches meetings and other events surrounding this year's championship.



University President Susan Herbst issued a statement Tuesday evening in support of the governor's ban and said neither Ollie nor any other member of the basketball staff would travel to Indianapolis.



"UConn is a community that values all of our members and treats each person with the same degree of respect, regardless of their background and beliefs and we will not tolerate any other behavior." Herbst said.



Warde Manuel, UConn's athletic director, told The Associated Press on Monday that he also finds the law unacceptable. He said he hopes the state of Indiana rectifies the situation before UConn or any other institution considers a boycott of the 2016 women's Final Four, which also is being held in the city.



"They have a choice to make and I think others have choices to make on whether they'll spend money at the businesses in the state of Indiana," he said.



Indiana Gov. Mike Pence urged lawmakers Tuesday to send a bill to his desk by the end of the week to clarify the intent of the new law. He said he does not believe that lawmakers meant to create a vehicle to allow discrimination.



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basketball stream live Aunt Gave Rum To 1-Year-Old Nephew To Celebrate Kentucky Win: Police

basketball stream live When the University of Kentucky basketball earned a spot in the NCAA Final Four Saturday night by beating Notre Dame, Angela Spoonamore celebrated the victory by passing around a bottle.



Problem is that it wasn't exactly the kind of bottle suited for her 1-year--old nephew. Police allege that she served rum to the baby whom she was babysitting, Lex18.com reports.



Police said Spoonamore, 29, took the child to a viewing party in Garrard County, Kentucky, where she became increasingly intoxicated during the game.



At some point, Spoonamore allegedly put rum into the baby's sippy cup. At another time, she supposedly threw him to the ground.



The child was eventually taken to a local hospital to be treated for a busted lip, according to the Sporting News.



The baby's mother didn't seem worried about the allegations, telling WKYT that her son never actually drank any of the booze. She also said her child didn't suffer any serious injuries despite the hospital visit.



Spoonamore admitted being drunk to Lex18.com, but doesn't remember being arrested or much else from the afternoon.



"It's really hard for me to believe that I tried to give that baby something to drink or hurt him," Spoonamore told the station.



The man who owns the house where the party took place recorded an encounter with Spoonamore before the police arrived which he shared with LEX18.com.

Homeowner: "The baby's gonna stay in the house."



Spoonamore: "My niece is gonna.."



Homeowner: "It's not your niece, it's your nephew, first of all, and second of all, you're drunk and belligerent and you're obviously on something. You need to get your head together. I'm telling you now, dude, you're going to jail."

Spoonamore was arrested on charges of wanton endangerment, endangering welfare of a minor and criminal abuse. She pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday, according to Local8Now.com



A preliminary hearing is set for April 7.











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basketball stream live March Maaaaadness

basketball stream live Something just happened.



Ok. I've never been a complete "girly girl."



When I was younger I was always into sports. My older sister played softball and basketball, while my older brother played baseball and basketball. I went to sports camps, played on teams, and to be quite honest, I thought I had a career in sports. However, that has since changed. My ability and my age grew in an inverse relationship and I think for the benefit of sports and any team, amateur or professional, it would be best if I grab a seat in the stands and cheer. After all, this blog is coming from a girl who, at my first college football game, asked when the jump ball was coming.



Nevertheless, I love basketball, I'm a die-hard Celtics fan (although saying that in L.A. is a sin, so I apologize to Laker fans now) and love watching the games. So it surprises me that I haven't gotten into NCAA basketball. Until now.



March Maaaaadness is real, people.



MM happens every year, but sadly I missed it before. It's embarrassing and I was clearly delusional. In high school, each spring, I watched sports-fanatic boys at my school field their pools and fill their brackets. Sweet sixteen, final four, terrible twos. What did I care? It seemed like every station lauded millions of hopefuls (including our POTUS) across the nation creating brackets, picking which teams will win, each round of the tournament leading up to the "magical" final four. This absurdity outrageously reached its zenith last year when gazillionaire Warren Buffet challenged America to create a perfect bracket and in doing so, win one billion dollars. I watched even more people all over the nation, rich and poor, men and women, young and old, put in picks and money to take a stab at their chances of winning the cash. By the way, the chances of this are in 9.2 quintillion to one. It was absurd. How could grown people...



Ok, again, what do I know about sports? Mostly nothing. But I know this: when the buzz and bracketology swept my college campus this year, I got the fever. Like Scarlett Johanssen in Lucy, all of a sudden I could hear March Madness talk from across the quad, distinctly. From third floor classroom windows, my eyes honed in on brackets peeking out beneath backpacks on lunch tables three stories below. I couldn't help it. I began planning my days and study sessions around campus venues set aside for the games. I am in the tournament, I am March Mad, I am get-out-of-my-way competitive, and I am all in.



If you haven't caught March Madness, don't miss it. It's not too late, even for the clueless. Lessons learned so far:



1. I DID A LOT BETTER THAN EXPECTED. (so yay me, for guessing).



Some people have techniques to picking their brackets, but I just went with my gut and for teams that I had heard had done well in the past. One of my friends picked based on the mascots. Either way, whatever you do works. You do you.



2. IT'S ADDICTING AND FUN.


I found myself watching the games, screaming with strangers, planning with friends, becoming so engaged with each team, following their journeys, and hoping that my bracket was perfect or as close to perfect as I could get it. We've even had to regulate our breathing to get through a few final seconds and games are just getting better and better. Kentucky? Duke? The Spartans? The Badgers?



So if you aren't in get in!



One thing that's really awesome is that my college has designated venues across campus and is hosting a viewing party in one of our lounge spaces for everyone to come together and watch the final games. This has been a great way to connect with other March Madness fans and celebrate one of our nation's treasures, college athletics.



To any college folk out there, I would strongly suggest getting involved as a way to meet people, immerse your self in the excitement of the tournament, and just have fun! As the Final Four carry us into the exciting peak of March Madness, the NCAA championship, hosting a viewing party or creating a final bracket together as a dorm, floor, etc. is a great way to create community and embrace the madness! I did.



By the way, Mr. Buffett, get out your pen now. I will be seeing you in 2016.



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basketball stream live If Michigan State Wins The NCAA Championship, This Man Could Win $1 Million

basketball stream live By now, most people's hopes for a big March Madness payoff have run dry. But for one man in Nevada, a bet he made four months ago on Michigan State winning it all is painfully close to putting $1 million in his pocket.



ESPN reported Tuesday that Derek Stevens placed a $20,000 bet on the Spartans on Dec. 5 at The Golden Nugget, a Las Vegas hotel and casino where he regularly places bets. Stevens posted a photo of the ticket to Twitter on Monday:

I'll be @theDlasvegas #LONGBAR to #SpartyOn THX @GoldenNuggetLV & @Gollumlv for giving me the shot @darrenrovell http://ift.tt/1Gc22SX

— Derek Stevens (@DerekJStevens) March 31, 2015

"In my nine years at this sportsbook, I never accepted a bet that could result in us paying $1 million," Tony Miller, the casino's sportsbook director, told ESPN.



But it helped that at the time, Michigan State's odds to win the NCAA Tournament were 50-1 and their record stood at just 5-3, according to ESPN.



Fast forward four months and the No. 7 Spartans are headed to Indianapolis for their Final Four game against No. 1 Duke, just two games away from earning Stevens (a Michigan graduate, but Spartans supporter) a massive payout.



Stevens, who owns a number of properties in Las Vegas, hasn't decided whether he'll hedge his bet, but he does know what he'll do with the money should we win: give his employees a bonus. He said he'll also donate some to a basketball academy and reinvest a little as well.



Guess we'll find out in a few days whether it pays to take big, risky bets.







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basketball stream live Fear the Underdog

basketball stream live Everybody loves an underdog. I'm no different. It just feels right to root for the long shot.



Happy March Madness, everyone. Tis the season of the bracket buster, the upset story, the Cinderella team. Tis the season when we turn on the TV rooting for no one and, in the final seconds, find ourselves shouting for a team we know nearly nothing about.



The bracket fascinates me. Before a point has been scored in the tournament or a shoe has been laced up, the teams have been ranked. I wonder about the mindset of a one-seed team versus a sixteen-seed team. A two versus a fifteen. What's it like to be told you have a small, if any, chance of succeeding?





De Sena interviewing Nate Carr, Olympic Wrestler



I'd argue that being an underdog gives you an advantage. I know the sixteen would disagree, but I truly believe it. Our chances of succeeding in life are similar to college basketball rankings. We are given a certain chance to achieve great things in life with obstacles of varying difficulties in our way, and we must decide whether we have what to takes to win.



I did a podcast with Nate Carr. He comes from a massive family with 15 siblings (yes, 15!). He explained that his father couldn't afford weights when he was a kid, so Nate went to the junkyard to find things to work out with. At home, he'd fill up suitcases and curl them. He had five All-American wrestlers in his family, two of whom went to the Olympics -- including himself. Having to be mindful of money could have been a disadvantage, but it fueled Nate and his family to succeed.



An underdog has to turn every disadvantage into an advantage in order to be successful. "'No' just means 'next opportunity,'" Nate told me. "Say 'yes' to where you're going and 'no' to anyone going the other way."



Let's consider that Nate was given a low seed to succeed in the game of life. You might also consider that it is one of the reasons he achieved such great heights. "Don't just go through something. Grow through something," he told me. "I had a 'yes' to my goals and a 'no' to everyone trying to pull me in other directions."



Nate's perspective taught me another key to his triumphs: the underdog must know that he or she will win. An underdog with a losing mentality has no chance. An underdog with a winning mentality is dangerous.



As you continue to watch the last few rounds of the tournament, consider this: a sixteen seed has never beaten a one seed (including this year). But I bet a one seed is absolutely terrified to step on the court against the sixteen. The expected victor has everything to lose; a sixteen has only greatness to gain. They will leave it all on the floor, and then some.



There is no feeling like the ability to shock the entire world. It's easy to see ourselves in the underdog. We've all been told we can't do something. We are too short or too young. Unqualified. It's up to us to accept what we are told, or to fight back. Or maybe it's just boring to root for the frontrunner. At the end of the day, maybe it just doesn't matter. What does matter is what the underdog does to overcome all odds.



I'll always consider myself an underdog -- even when I'm not. Nothing pushes me more. It makes me work harder, fight longer and do everything to win. I believe the underdog has the advantage. We should all aspire to have the mentality of an underdog: expecting ourselves to win when no one else does.



That way, we have the ability to shock the world but never shock ourselves.



Spartan Up! the Podcast can be found at http://ift.tt/1z4jEx6, on iTunes, Stitcher, and YouTube.



To find a Spartan Race in your area, visit: www.spartan.com.




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basketball stream live Tom Brady Jumps Off A Cliff And Wins At That, Too

basketball stream live J.J. Reddick, Once The Most Hated Man In College Basketball, Hates College Basketball

basketball stream live J.J. Reddick, who more or less trolled the entirety of college basketball for his four years at Duke, just can’t stop.



During a podcast with with Grantland’s Zach Lowe last week, the former national college player of the year basically said college basketball is so horrible that he can’t bring himself to watch it.



“I can’t watch college basketball. I can’t watch it,” he said, unprompted. “I watch Duke games occasionally. This [season] was the most I’ve ever watched. I probably watched eight games this year.”



Lowe had asked Reddick whether he watched a lot of NBA basketball before Reddick took the time to rip the association where he made his name, which is just so perfectly Reddick. (He also said he wouldn’t watch a Sixers-Knicks game.)



Reddick, who now plays with the Los Angeles Clippers, was an all-time college basketball player -- “the gold standard for modern-era shooting guards,” as Sports Illustrated once put it.



But he was also infamously despised. Seriously, that same Sports Illustrated article referred to him as “the most hated player in college hoops.” If you look up J.J. Reddick on UrbanDictionary.com, you’ll find the definition, “Most hated NCAA Basketball player in the country and maybe ever.” And if you ask J.J. Reddick himself about his college years, he’ll admit he was “sort of a prick.”



So, Reddick implying without provocation and amid March Madness that college basketball is complete garbage? Nothing could be more poetic.



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basketball stream live Kentucky, Wisconsin Head To Final Four

basketball stream live CLEVELAND (AP) — Pushed to the brink, Kentucky's still perfect and still playing.



Andrew Harrison made two free throws with six seconds remaining, and the top-seeded Wildcats kept their unbeaten season and national title hopes intact with a 68-66 win over Notre Dame on Saturday night in the Midwest Regional final.



The Wildcats (37-0) advanced to the Final Four in Indianapolis next week, where they will meet Wisconsin.







It took everything Kentucky had to hold off the Fighting Irish (32-6), who came within seconds of shocking the tournament's overwhelming favorite. Notre Dame, which has a history of stunning upsets in football and basketball, wasn't done until Jerian Grant's double-clutched 3-pointer from the left corner was long.



Kentucky's bench stormed the floor and the Wildcats celebrated knowing they had ducked a major challenge.



Karl-Anthony Towns scored 25 to lead Kentucky.

BREAKING: UK cutting nets http://ift.tt/1F5azpi

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 29, 2015

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basketball stream live NBA Promises 'Inclusion' In Face Of New Indiana 'Religious Freedom' Law

basketball stream live WASHINGTON -- The backlash to Indiana's new "religious freedom" law grew stronger Saturday, with professional basketball organizations and teams condemning the measure.



“The game of basketball is grounded in long established principles of inclusion and mutual respect. We will continue to ensure that all fans, players and employees feel welcome at all NBA and WNBA events in Indiana and elsewhere," said a joint statement issued by the National Basketball Association, the Women's National Basketball Association, the Indiana Pacers and the Indiana Fever.



Indiana Pacers and Fever owner Herb Simon added that all fans and players will continue to be welcome at his games.



“The Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever and Bankers Life Fieldhouse have the strongest possible commitment to inclusion and non-discrimination on any basis," he said. "Everyone is always welcome at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. That has always been the policy from the very beginning of the Simon family’s involvement and it always will be."



Indiana's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act will allow any individual or corporation to cite its religious beliefs as a defense when sued by a private party. But what most troubles opponents of the legislation is that it could open the door to widespread discrimination. Business owners who don't want to serve same-sex couples, for example, may now have legal protections to discriminate.



Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed the legislation despite opposition from business leaders, convention organizers and even the Republican mayor of the state's largest city.



The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is set to hold its men's Final Four game in Indianapolis next week, also came out Thursday and condemned the new law. Reggie Miller, the former NBA star who played for the Pacers for 18 years, tweeted his disappointment Friday:

http://ift.tt/1NkoFHl

— Reggie Miller (@ReggieMillerTNT) March 27, 2015

Other businesses that have criticized Pence for signing the law include tech giant Salesforce -- whose CEO said the company will be cancelling events in the state -- and Angie's List -- whose Republican CEO said he will not be moving forward with a $40 million expansion of the company's headquarters in Indianapolis.



"Angie's List is open to all and discriminates against none," Bill Oesterle said, "and we are hugely disappointed in what this bill represents."



Under pressure, Pence told the Indianapolis Star Saturday that he will back the introduction of a bill to "clarify" that the law does not promote discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Such a measure could come next week.



“I support religious liberty, and I support this law,” Pence said. “But we are in discussions with legislative leaders this weekend to see if there’s a way to clarify the intent of the law.”



But gay rights advocates greeted Pence's announcement skeptically. Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin tweeted that legislation would need to include explicit LGBT protections -- something that Pence has already said is not on his "agenda."

Note to @GovPenceIN: 'clarification' is phony unless it has explicit LGBT nondiscrim protections & RFRA civilrights carveout. @JohnRussell99

— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) March 29, 2015

"You can't 'clarify' discrimination. Indiana now has billions of dollars and thousands of jobs on the line, all because the Governor wouldn't stop this dangerous bill," added Katie Blair, campaign manager of Freedom Indiana. "He has a second chance to save our reputation for Hoosier hospitality, but he has to stand up and protect LGBT Hoosiers."



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basketball stream live Charles Barkley Calls Indiana's New 'Religious Freedom' Law 'Unacceptable'

basketball stream live A new "religious freedom" law in Indiana has NCAA basketball analyst and NBA legend Charles Barkley calling foul -- and calling on officials to move next week's March Madness Final Four tournament out of the state.



"Discrimination in any form is unacceptable to me,” Barkley said in a statement Friday afternoon. “As long as anti-gay legislation exists in any state, I strongly believe big events such as the Final Four and Super Bowl should not be held in those states’ cities.”



The legislation, signed into law Thursday by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R), does not explicitly mention discrimination against gays or anyone else. Rather, it "prohibits state or local governments from substantially burdening a person's ability to exercise their religion," according to The Indianapolis Star.



But critics say the bill could give businesses a legal foothold to refuse service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the name of religious freedom.



Barkley's remarks echo the NCAA's own position, which President Mark Emmert voiced Thursday in a prepared statement.



"The NCAA national office and our members are deeply committed to providing an inclusive environment for all our events," said Emmert. "We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees. We will work diligently to assure student-athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week’s Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill."



"Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce," Emmert's statement continued.



Reggie Miller, a former NBA star who spent 18 years playing for the Indiana Pacers, also voiced concerns over the law, sending this message Friday to his 651,000 followers on Twitter:

http://ift.tt/1NkoFHl

— Reggie Miller (@ReggieMillerTNT) March 27, 2015

Many other prominent figures have spoken out against the law, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, likely 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who promptly canceled the company's planned events in the state following the bill's passage.



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basketball stream live Fierce Backlash Mounts Over Indiana's 'Religious Freedom' Law

basketball stream live A new "religious freedom" law in Indiana touched off a firestorm of criticism across the country Friday, after opponents warned that it could lead to legal discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the state's business establishments.



The measure, which Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed into law Thursday, allows any individual or corporation to cite religious beliefs as a defense when sued by a private party. The legislation has already prompted threats of boycott from public officials and celebrities. "Star Trek" actor and LGBT activist George Takei expressed his outrage on Twitter using the hashtag #BoycottIndiana. Jason Collins, the first openly gay NBA player, also took to Twitter to ask Pence whether it would "be legal for someone to discriminate against me." San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee (D) prohibited the use of taxpayer money to fund any city employees' trips to Indiana. And Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has canceled the company’s events in the state.



In some Indiana cities, stickers reading "This Business Serves Everyone" have been spotted in shop windows.



The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which will host the Final Four games of its men's basketball tournament in Indianapolis, said on Thursday that it was "especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees."



Other prominent names also weighed in by Friday. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who came out as gay last year, said he was "deeply disappointed" with the law. And likely 2016 presidential candidate and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also took to Twitter to denounce the measure. "Sad this new Indiana law can happen in America today. We shouldn't discriminate against ppl bc of who they love #LGBT," the former secretary of state wrote.



Pence, a potential 2016 presidential contender, has defended the law as a fair protection for those who "feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action.” Supporters of the law, which takes effect in July, maintain that it is being mischaracterized as something that specifically targets LGBT people, rather than something that defends religious freedom in general. They further note that similar measures were passed by 19 other states, and that discrimination against LGBT people hasn't automatically followed everywhere. The Associated Press reports that in Mississippi, for example, there haven't been "any high-profile instances of the law being used by businesses to deny goods or services to gays."



"It gives our courts guidance about evaluating government action and puts the highest standard -- it essentially says, if a government is going to compel you to act in a way that violates your religious beliefs, there has to be a compelling state interest," Pence said of the bill in a radio interview Thursday.



On Friday, the Arkansas state Senate passed a similar bill that drew criticism from one of the nation's largest retailers, Walmart. "We feel this legislation is counter to this core basic belief of respect for the individual and sends the wrong message about Arkansas, as well as the diverse environment which exists in the state," said a spokesman for the company.



CORRECTION: A previous version of this article mistakenly identified Jason Collins as the first openly gay NFL player. He played for the NBA.



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basketball stream live Paying College Athletes: Take Two

basketball stream live Last week an article ran in the Huffington Post that cited several economists, all affirming that big-time football and basketball colleges had more than enough money in their athletics departments to pay student athletes. Mistakenly, I was lumped in with that group. I write this piece in an attempt to clarify what I believe is a complicated, yet important, issue.



First, college athletes have been paid since the 19th century. Some are paid cash under the table, some are paid in goods and services and the vast majority are paid in scholarships. When the NCAA was formed in December 1905, the clear policy was that the student athletes were to be amateurs -- that meant "any inducements" to attend a school based on their athletic skills were prohibited. There was no ambiguity that this policy did not allow scholarships based on athletic prowess. (Of course, the NCAA also had a policy of home rule, which meant that there was no enforcement of this principle.) The issue at hand, then, is not whether or not college athletes should be paid, but whether they should be paid a salary.



Second, let's get the numbers straight. Not all 350 athletic departments in Division I make money. In fact, only 20 do, and that's before considering millions of dollars a year in capital expenses. When capital expenses are included, there are fewer than 10 athletic departments a year that generate a true surplus. (Of course, it is true, as David Berri says, that if there were less waste and extravagance that more schools would have a surplus, but this is unavailing. A potential surplus does not pay any bills.)



It is also true that a little more than half of the 128 football teams in FBS and that a little less than half of the FBS men's basketball teams run an operating surplus (again, before capital and some administrative expenses are reckoned). It is further true that these operating surpluses, where they exist, eventually are transferred to support non-revenue sports in the department, to bloat artificially-inflated salaries for coaches and administrators, and to finance extravagant expenditures on stadiums, arenas, training facilities, recruiting, and team travel.



The mechanism of this transfer is manifest. Schools do not compete for players by offering higher salaries; rather, with salaries proscribed, they attempt to attract the desired recruits by having the most famous coaches, the best performance records, the fanciest facilities, the most lenient course requirements, and so on. In short, the coaches end up being paid for the economic value of the athletes they help to recruit.



So, the idea that there's plenty of money to pay the athletes a salary largely comes from the existing system of surrogate pay and superfluous expenditure that currently exists. If the athletes get salaries, then the coaches no longer get the proxy pay -- and one cost offsets the other. This is logical at first blush, but there are problems.



First, many coaches are on multimillion dollar long-term contracts that go as long as eight years. Even when these contracts end, there will be expectations and momentum that will prevent an immediate adjustment to much lower compensation levels. Hence, we can expect a transition period of a decade or longer during which the schools will be paying both high coaches' salaries and salaries to the student athletes. Along with athlete salaries comes the obligation to pay into social security and workmen's compensation. This transition period will further bleed academic budgets and/or put additional pressure on escalating student fees.



Second, many of the largest expenditures to attract students in lieu of offering market salaries to athletes entail major capital projects, such as new stadiums and arenas. The funds for these projects are already encumbered, as they come from long-term bonds and must be paid off over decades. Paying athletes a salary will again constitute a doubling of the financial burden and lead to large deficits over a long transition period.



There are other reasons why we should be cautious before paying athletes a salary besides the financial drain involved. It would be disruptive to academic culture. We don't use the market system to allocate resources within the university. I don't auction the right to be in my sports economics class to the students willing to pay the highest fee. The first violinist in the school orchestra does not get paid even though tickets are sold to the concert; nor do leading thespians or dancers get paid for their public performances.



A labor market for high school football and basketball players would be both chaotic and emotionally difficult for 17-year-olds. Once in college, the existence of disparate pay, where one player received $3 million and another $10,000 would be disheartening to team spirit.



Finally, non-revenue and women's sports would take a significant hit. College sports, in addition to providing entertainment and excitement for the college community, offer important developmental experiences for the participating athlete. Those positive experiences should be made equally available to men and women.



So, absent paying football and basketball players a salary, what is to be done? The leading athletes on these teams are being exploited in economic terms. Worse still, a majority of them come from low income, minority families. These players help generate the revenues that then subsidize the non-revenue sports, such as tennis, volleyball, golf and swimming, whose athletes are predominantly from white, middle-class families. There is a reverse Robin Hood, racial injustice here.



If we want to preserve the educational model of intercollegiate athletics, here's a more attractive option: Take the definition of amateurism away from its current arbitrary, hypocritical and morphing state imposed by the NCAA and follow the lead of the AAU and other amateur organizations. The working definition should be simple: an amateur athlete is one who is not paid a salary for playing his or her sport.



So, a college athlete could continue to receive the considerable benefit of a tax-free athletic scholarship and, in addition, earn outside income from use of his or her publicity rights (perhaps via a trust fund and/or group licensing). A college athlete could sign with a lawyer or an agent and enter a professional sport draft, and not become ineligible to play college sports until they sign their first professional contract.



Further, in addition to offering a cost of attendance stipend (approved at the 2015 NCAA Convention) as part of an athletic scholarship, institutions should be mandated to provide a "benefits package" consisting of: (a) year-round health insurance, (b) lifetime health insurance for injuries related to playing their sport (including concussions which might not show obvious symptoms when the athlete stops playing in college); (c) disability insurance that covers lost income, including those with a professional career trajectory; and, (d) due process rights for accused violations.



Naturally, to extend these benefits will cost money. As discussed above, there are many sources of waste in our current system -- some of which can be controlled by Congress granting the NCAA or another organizing body a limited antitrust exemption, which would be conditioned on capping coaches' and AD salaries and providing the "benefits package." It may also be necessary to cut back on the athletic scholarships issued to middle class athletes in non-revenue sports.



Lastly, the NCAA controls the postseason tournaments in all of its sports except the football playoff championship for the Power Five conferences in FBS. The NCAA should take control over that competition and use the funds (annually over $500 million in 2015 and anticipated to rise to $1 billion) to support the reform program outlined above. Congress could mandate such control and use of funds as a condition for the limited antitrust exemption or Higher Education Act funding.



The bottom line is that while the current system could be converted into a college football and basketball minor league existing outside the non-profit educational institution, there is a more attractive educational reform option available.



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basketball stream live From Egyptian Revolutions To March Madness, Louisville's Anas Mahmoud Has Seen It All

basketball stream live With seven seconds left in the first half of Sunday's third-round NCAA Tournament game between Louisville and Northern Iowa, Anas Mahmoud entered the court.



He set up a screen for one of his Louisville Cardinals teammates before the clock ran out and the players retreated to their respective locker rooms for halftime. Later, with no more than 90 seconds left in the game, the 7’0”, 200-lb. forward took to the floor, sinking two of his free-throw attempts as his team headed toward a 66-53 victory over the Panthers.



Still just a teenager, the 19-year-old Mahmoud is now forever a part of Cardinals history, as the fourth-seeded team enters a Sweet 16 berth for an unprecedented fourth consecutive season. But unlike his other teammates, the Egyptian has already witnessed a different sort of history: Only a handful of years ago, he was living in his native Cairo, surrounded by violent unrest that even claimed the life of one of his cousins.



The freshman spoke to The Huffington Post about how it felt to play in his first March Madness so soon after he witnessed political turmoil taking over Egypt.



“The violence was everywhere,” Mahmoud said of the tensions in his country before he left in 2013.



“I saw a couple people get shot sometimes,” he recalled. “It was bad.”



***




Mahmoud said he was not a basketball player at first. His towering height only came later, and he said he first excelled in volleyball and soccer. But he picked up basketball at the age of 12 and fell in love with the sport.



“My dad told me, ‘You’re a much better volleyball player,'" he explained. "I said, ‘Yeah, but I love basketball more.'"



“I loved Dirk Nowitzki,” he added, "and Kevin Love, and Kobe Bryant, for sure.”



It didn’t take long for others to notice Mahmoud’s talent. After success playing with Egypt’s national teams, including taking second place in the 2013 International Basketball Federation's (FIBA) Africa Championship, Mahmoud said people started talking to him about playing in the United States.

Mahmoud in a game vs. N.C. State in February.

“At the beginning, I didn’t really find it interesting for me,” he admitted. “Just because I was with my family, I had a nice life, and I was thinking more about engineering.”



Discussing his time in Egypt, Mahmoud spoke of the unrest that was sweeping his country. Egypt had endured violence and revolution in the years prior to his departure, with former President Hosni Mubarak stepping down in 2011 amid the Arab Spring demonstrations. At the height of the strife, Mahmoud's younger brother got caught between police and demonstrators. "He was trying to just go back home," Mahmoud said, "but he was alone and he couldn’t really find his way."



“It was bad situation,” he said. “So I had to go get him. My dad told me not to, but I was like, ‘Dad, I’m the only one who can go get him because I know my way out.’”



The brothers eventually made it home safely. But Mahmoud says that caution and concern were part of everyday life during that time -- and for once, his height was not an advantage.



“My dad won’t allow me to go anywhere because he knew that I can get hurt and he’s like, ‘You’re tall and you’re the first one they’ll look for,’” Mahmoud said, laughing. “He’s always told me that.”



Mahmoud noted that the violence even affected his basketball seasons, two of which were cancelled as a result of “the condition of the people and the condition of the streets."



Ultimately, Mahmoud did decide to go to the U.S. He explained that he moved because he would be able to play basketball, but would also get a good education and could still work towards becoming an engineer if he wanted.



President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown in the summer of 2013 after a year in power, leading to another period of unrest and tension. By the end of that year, Mahmoud had left to attend West Oaks Academy in Orlando, Florida, where he played for the school’s basketball team. He said that by that time, most of the violence in Cairo had settled.



Less that two years later, he’s at the University of Louisville (where he ended up studying engineering after all), playing in his first March Madness tournament for Hall of Fame Coach Rick Pitino. Still learning to play at the elite levels of college basketball, Mahmoud is not the star of the school's program: He ended his first regular season averaging about 8 minutes and just one point a game. But Pitino has said that Mahmoud is improving.





Mahmoud, 19, moved to the U.S. from Egypt in 2013. (Source: YouTube)




Mahmoud’s family hasn’t been able to visit him since he came to America. And he’s only been back to Egypt once, last summer, to stay with his family while attending his sister’s wedding. It's been tough on his mom, he said, but FaceTime allows them to talk every day, and his family can watch his games online.



And it’s through sports that he feels he makes a difference, by helping to make basketball more popular in his home country.



He's starting within his own family. Mahmoud said that his younger brother, who is 16, is also planning on coming to the U.S. for what will be his sophomore year of high school. As the big brother, Mahmoud said he's helping to find what high school program will be best, and hopes to keep him close by in Louisville, Kentucky.



"I think [for] him to be around me more, especially in the first couple years, would be much better for him," Mahmoud said, noting that his brother is a good basketball player and has a good upper body.



"I’m taller, but he’s still younger," he said, laughing.



Mahmoud likely won’t enter the NBA Draft this year, acknowledging that he needs to work on his game and “get more muscles and just get stronger.”





Mahmoud, a freshman, is a forward for the Louisville Cardinals. (Source: YouTube)




But even though he was initially hesitant about coming to the U.S. for basketball, Mahmoud now says his dream is to play in the NBA one day. If he does, he will be following in the footsteps of Portland Trail Blazer Alaa Abdelnaby, the only Egyptian to play in the league. (Abdelnaby, unlike Mahmoud, had been living in the U.S. since he was two.)



Heading into Friday’s game against No. 8 N.C. State, Mahmoud has more than just basketball on his mind.



“I think more about my family. And that’s being here and being successful in what I’m doing, how can it affect my family?" he said. "How can it help my brother coming here next year? How can it affect my family, my sisters, my mom, my dad? I think that in my thought more than anything else."



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basketball stream live Denver Nugget Jusuf Nurkic Asked A Special Olympics Athlete For An Autograph

basketball stream live Jusuf Nurkic, the NBA’s rookie darling, recently met with about 150 Special Olympics athletes to give them some shooting and dribbling advice. That’s great, obviously. But then Nurkic also asked some to sign his shirt, which is unambiguously endearing.









This, of course, is very different from the Nurkic we have come to know and love on the basketball court. Brownie points all around.





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basketball stream live This Happy Kid Dancing To 'Happy' At A Basketball Game Will Make You Very Happy

basketball stream live Basketball makes us happy. Dancing kids make us happy. Kids dancing at basketball games make us extremely happy.



So behold this happiness-inducing video, posted Friday, of a small boy dancing at a Kentucky high school basketball game to what else but Pharrell's "Happy."







And let us highlight some particular stand out moves:





Walk it down.






And point.






Walk it forward. Aaaaand walk it back.






The clapping.






The--amazing--clapping.






To the sky, y'all.




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basketball stream live Kevin Durant Is Done For The Season, Will Have Foot Surgery

basketball stream live

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — NBA MVP Kevin Durant will miss the rest of the season and have bone graft surgery next week to treat a fractured bone in his right foot.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had said last week he likely would be shut down for the season. The team was trying to figure out why his pain remained long after he was supposed to be able to play.

General manager Sam Presti said Friday the team expects Durant to return to basketball activities within the four to six months.

He said this decision was aimed at Durant's "long-term health and stability" and represented a consensus of Durant and his representatives, specialists and the team. The procedure was termed the "most proactive and recommended approach."

The Thunder are in position to make the playoffs without Durant, but they clearly will miss one of the game's most dynamic players. Durant last played Feb. 19 before the discomfort became too much to bear. He has played in just 27 games, averaging 25.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

Durant had his initial surgery in October and had been healing well. But in late February, he had a procedure to replace a screw that was rubbing against another bone. After that second surgery, the Thunder expected him to return in one to two weeks.

Durant then consulted with three foot and ankle specialists. It was determined there still was pain from the rubbing, plus regression in the initial break. It was then decided to proceed with the bone graft, Presti said.

A week ago, Presti said Durant was struggling and the team did not want to rush him back. When asked if it would be best to end Durant's season, Presti said: "Essentially, that's the direction that we're taking right now."

Presti said the bone graft is a common procedure to fix the less than 10 percent of such foot operations that don't work out.

"While everyone is disappointed that Kevin falls into that group, we are encouraged that the bone graft procedure has historically demonstrated long-term health and stability," Presti said.

The Thunder entered Friday three games ahead of Phoenix for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference standings. Point guard Russell Westbrook has emerged as an MVP candidate. He leads the league with 27.3 points per game while averaging 8.7 assists and 7.1 rebounds.

___

Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: http://ift.tt/19vUddr .

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basketball stream live Kentucky Basketball vs. College Basketball, In 14 Vines

basketball stream live

This is Kentucky basketball:

And this is college basketball:

Again, this is Kentucky basketball:

And this is college basketball:

Kentucky basketball:

College basketball:

Kentucky basketball:

College basketball:

People who play on Kentucky:

People who do not play on Kentucky:

People who represent the University of Kentucky when they step on a basketball court:

And people who do not represent the University of Kentucky when they step on a basketball court:

This is the kind of thing non-Kentucky players say before they've played Kentucky:

"Salute to them getting up to 36-0, but tomorrow they're gonna be 36-1." -- West Virginia freshman guard Daxter Miles Jr.






(Source: Getty)

And this is the sort of thing Kentucky players say after they've destroyed said non-Kentucky player's team 78-39:

36 and won

� Devin Booker (@DevinBook) March 27, 2015

This is what a Kentucky fan looks like (yes, that's Ashley Judd):

And this is what a non-Kentucky fan looks like:

We hope the distinction is now clear.

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basketball stream live Basketball Player's Name Is Spelled Like The F-Word, And He's Proud Of It

basketball stream live After nearly a full season, a star basketball player finally got to be who he really is: Guilherme Carbagiale Fuck.



Medicine Hat College in Alberta, Canada, gave the go-ahead to local media to include the player's four-letter last name for this month's Canadian Colleges Athletic Association tournament. Before that he was just called Guilherme Carbagiale.



"I don't know if it was ever an issue for he or I," Medicine Hat coach Craig Price told The Huffington Post. "It was more for the school and its image. ... For us it's just a shoulder shrug."



But the player told the CBC that he had enough of hiding his surname, which he said is German in origin. "I'm proud of it," he said. "Doesn't matter if it means something bad."



According to the news service, the 6-foot-6 Brazilian player pronounces it "Foo-key."

Give all the newspaper awards to @MedicineHatNews for this. http://ift.tt/1H40Z60

— Shane Gibson (@tsgibson) March 19, 2015

The basketball player competed two years at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, with the web press guide listing him only by his first and middle name. He returned to Brazil to teach for a year and landed at Medicine Hat, Price said.



By any measure, the player is making a name for himself. He averaged a team-leading 18.3 points and 10.1 rebounds a game. He earned all-Canadian status, and the team finished seventh in the Canadian tournament.



And now moving forward people will know who he is.



"I would always rather use my last-last name," he told the Medicine Hat News.



Here he is (No. 14) with his Rattlers teammates:







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basketball stream live NCAA Schools Can Absolutely Afford To Pay College Athletes, Economists Say

basketball stream live A growing chorus of critics are calling for the National Collegiate Athletic Association to pay student-athletes. Just this month, a coalition of professors banded together in support of labor rights for men’s football and basketball players. And just this week, former NCAA basketball stars Ed O’Bannon and Shane Battier said student-athletes should be compensated for their hard work.



But ask the NCAA and its member institutions whether they can afford to pay student-athletes, and their bottom line is clear: no.



That’s what the NCAA implied when The Huffington Post posed that exact question earlier this week. Spokeswoman Meghan Durham said that only 20 of the roughly 1,100 schools that constitute the NCAA make more from sports than they spend on sports, according to the association’s most recent estimates. Earlier this month, ESPN reported that over two-fifths of the teams in the March Madness tournament either broke even or lost money last year.

John Oliver wants the NCAA to pay its players, but can they afford it? (Video from YouTube)

That so many athletic programs are struggling just to break even would seem to make nonstarters out of all the ethical and legal arguments surrounding the issue. Why waste breath on such questions when the schools couldn’t afford to pay the players if they wanted to?



But when The Huffington Post asked five sports economists whether the NCAA and its member institutions could afford to pay student-athletes, the response was quite different: a resounding yes. Some of the economists were almost surprised by the question; the answer seemed so obvious to them.



“It’s pretty clear that they would be able to,” said David Berri, a professor of economics at Southern Utah University. “I don’t see any reason that they wouldn’t be able to, in fact.”



As Rodney Fort, a sports economist and professor of sports management at the University of Michigan, succinctly put it, “The money is already there.” The NCAA alone brought in nearly a billion dollars in revenue in its most recent financial year, and top-tier athletic programs regularly bring in tens of millions of dollars as well.



Sure, you might say, there’s a lot of money coming in. But if the schools are still losing money or only breaking even on their sports programs, won’t additional labor costs hurt those programs and the schools?



“That’s a silly argument,” Berri said. “They’re nonprofits, and their incentive is to spend every cent that comes in.”



“That doesn’t mean they aren’t making money,” he added. “That just means they spent all of it.”





The money at a nonprofit needs to go somewhere, which may explain the building of many state-of-the-art facilities. (Photo: RollTide.com)




Duke’s athletic program, for example, pulled in revenue of nearly $80 million during a recent fiscal year. But it ended up with just $146,000 in excess revenue. That’s also why the NCAA had a surplus of only $80 million on $989 million in revenue for its last fiscal year.



The system is set up so that almost all the money that comes in from college athletics is soon spent.



“Schools quite often move around or spend money to basically get rid of excess revenue -- what would be called profit in a profit-making corporation,” said Michael Leeds, a professor of economics at Temple University. “‘[That’s why] you have several coaches [in the NCAA] getting paid NFL money, despite working for an enterprise that really does not match what the New England Patriots and the New York Giants take in.”



That would explain why some universities end up with state-of-the-art sports facilities. Or why Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski makes nearly $10 million per year, much more than the typical NBA coach. Or why in so many states, the best-paid public employee is a basketball or football coach.





That's a lot of coaches. (Source: Deadspin)




To pay the players would simply require a reallocation of resources, the economists said. Assuming the university declined to increase the football or basketball team's funding, that program would just have to move the money from some other part of its budget.



Most of the economists agreed that it would likely be the highly paid coaches and athletic directors who would take the hardest hit if players were paid. Andrew Zimbalist, the Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College, said that it might take a few years for head coaches’ salaries to adjust to the new economic reality, but in time there would probably be less pay for people like Coach K.



That would explain in part why some coaches so vehemently oppose the idea of a system in which players get paid.



“The coaches very likely are very upset over [the prospect of] players being paid because, for one thing, that means a pay cut for them,” Leeds said.

“A for-profit business would not give Mike Krzyzewski $10 million,” said Southern Utah professor David Berri. (Photo: AP)

But Stefan Szymanski, a sports economist working in the sport management department at the University of Michigan, argued that head coaches should not fear a world in which student-athletes get paid.



“I don’t see the process by which coaches suddenly become less valuable,” he said. “I think they’ll [just] demand a bigger allocation from the university.”



The coaching change that Szymanski expects if players start making money is not one of pay levels, but one of skills valued. In a world in which student-athletes are paid, he said, coaches would likely be compensated less for their recruiting abilities -- the money will talk, after all -- and more for their coaching abilities.



David Carter, executive director of the USC Marshall Sports Business Institute, agreed with the economists’ conclusion that many top athletic programs could afford to pay players without any “devastating effects.” But he worried that such a change would lead to “further polarization” between the haves and have-nots of college sports.



That concern is the same one voiced by President Barack Obama in a sit-down interview with HuffPost last week. Obama expressed some frustration with the way universities treat student-athletes -- suggesting that universities guarantee four-year athletic scholarships for students in good standing -- but said paying athletes would lead to “bidding wars” that would “ruin the sense of college sports."



To a degree, that’s likely true. Sports programs at smaller colleges often have tighter budgets than the big names, and they might not choose to shift resources to pay student-athletes even if it were legal. That could hurt them in recruiting efforts.



But as the economists noted, the bidding wars Obama fears are already being waged. Duke basketball is already a powerhouse; Kentucky basketball is already a recruiting machine. Allowing colleges to pay players may give the top-tier programs with their greater revenue streams an additional recruiting advantage, but they already offer famous coaches, first-class facilities, greater visibility and a better shot at the big time, on top of the permitted scholarships. Jahlil Okafor already chose Duke, and Karl-Anthony Towns already goes to Kentucky.



HuffPost asked the five schools in the March Madness tournament that lost money on their athletic programs last year and the five schools that earned the most profit about paying their student-athletes. None of them directly addressed the issue.



So, yes, there are still moral and legal concerns about paying student-athletes. But when it comes to whether the NCAA and its member institutions can afford it, the answer appears to be absolutely yes -- and that shouldn’t be surprising.



“This is not arcane theory,” Leeds said. “This is something that ‘Intro to Econ 101’ students would be able to tell you.”



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basketball stream live Late Coach Dean Smith Arranged To Buy Former Players A Nice Dinner Out

basketball stream live Legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith died last month at the age of 83, but he's still taking every single letterman who played for him out to dinner.



In a touching posthumous act of gratitude, Smith's trust, following the late coach's instructions, has mailed out $200 checks to each of the nearly 200 varsity lettermen he coached. The coach had one last directive: "Enjoy a dinner out."

Coach Smith willed his trust to send a $200 check to each his former players following his passing. #DeanSmith http://ift.tt/1Gud2f0

— Jim Dempsey (@ChestPassDemps) March 26, 2015

The letter reads, in part:

Each player was important and special to Coach Smith and when he prepared his estate plan, Coach wanted to reach out to each of his lettermen. Accordingly, Coach directed that following his passing each letterman be sent a two hundred dollar check with the message 'enjoy a dinner out compliments of Coach Dean Smith.' Enclosed is a check in the amount of two hundred dollars.

In an email to The Huffington Post, UNC spokesman Steve Kirschner confirmed the letter's veracity. The checks were sent to athletes who earned a varsity letter, Kirschner says, which each coach determines on an annual basis and at their own discretion.



During his tenure as coach from 1961-97, Smith named around 180 lettermen, Tim Breedlove, who oversees the trust, told USA Today. That means the total cost of buying his players a dinner out is around $36,000.



But at least one player won't honor his coach's last request.



"My wife opened the letter and handed it to me," former player Serge Zwikker told ESPN of the check. "At first I didn't know what it was, but when it hit me, it put a tear in my eye. Even after he passed, he was still all about his players."



Zwikker added, "I don't think I can cash this. If anything, I will donate it to a good cause."



Yet another item to add to the list of reasons Smith was so much more than just "Michael Jordan's Coach."



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basketball stream live Why I Root for the Underdogs (and You Should Too)

basketball stream live Once again we find ourselves in the greatest month of sports: March Madness. Year after year I find myself watching on-court battles between well-known teams, and teams that I've never heard of.



After spending several Marchs in front of a television, I have finally come to a conclusion about sports: I love the underdog.



If there is even the slightest chance that a no-name team can beat a powerhouse teams, I am cheering for the no-namers like I've been a fan of theirs my whole life -- regardless of who my bracket would logically lead me to root for.



This year, in the first round of the tournament, we had several underdogs beat the odds. The University of Alabama Birmingham, a 14 seed, beat Iowa State, a 3 seed. Georgia State, also a 14 seed, beat 3 seeded BYU.



I was watching the Georgia State game with my sister. For those that don't know, the coach's son made the game winning shot with just 2.5 seconds left . When the shot went through the net, my sister and I erupted in cheers.



And it got me thinking, why do I root for the underdog?



I have always had a passion for the game of basketball, and at an athletic level, I know what it is like to go into a game where everyone is expecting you to lose. Regardless of how mentally tough one is, it's incredibly difficult to deter the impending negativity of others.



I also know what it's like to aspire to achieve greatness, even if I wasn't always willing to put in the work to realize those aspirations. Yet, there lies the difference between an average athlete, and a college athlete. They view the obstacles to their dreams as stepping stones, and understand that it will take hard work and several leaps of faith to get there.



Though, if the dream of a Division One athlete is to win a game in the NCAA tournament, it will take more than hard work. Some of the most dedicated athletes in the country will never play in the tournament, because they never received the opportunity. They, for one reason or another, never got invited to play on basketball's biggest stage.



But for those that finally receive a bid to play in the tournament, and enter an arena full of people that are expecting them to lose, and end up proving every last one of them wrong, while simultaneously proving to themselves what they already knew, well that's simply inspiring.



It is very easy to become discouraged in today's ultra-competitive world. My dreams are shared by thousands of others, and many of them surely have resumes that exceed the qualifications of my own.



But what Georgia State and UAB prove, is that dreams can be reached without having the best resume in the pile. There were plenty of teams that, statistically, would have been picked to give Iowa State and BYU a better game. However, I doubt any of them would have provided a more thrilling 40 minutes than what we watched -- because statistics on paper do not measure things like heart and passion.



As a college student, the future can be relatively depressing at times. We are told to work hard for a chance to achieve our dreams, and the "chance" part is scary. But for anyone that is truly passionate about something, just a chance is enough.



Nobody can guarantee us anything in our life. But then again, not having a guarantee is the thrilling part. Nobody can tell us we will accomplish our ambitious goals, in the same way nobody can say we won't. Ultimately, because we have that chance, we should be working hard each day to set ourselves up for success. Because one day, we might get a chance to showcase our talents on the big stage, proudly representing, and hopefully validating, the underdogs.



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basketball stream live North Korea Leader Kim Jong Un Wants To Boost Country's Sports Presence 'Guerrilla-Style'

basketball stream live Human rights travesties aside, North Korea's Kim Jong Un is not happy with his country's athletic prowess, reportedly saying it's "trailing behind the world."



"At times of peace, only athletes can fly the DPRK national flag in the sky of other countries," Kim said in a letter to a national meeting of sportspeople and officials, the AFP reported, citing a state-run outlet, the Korean Central News Agency.



The AFP added that Kim, who said it would be best to focus on sports such as judo and boxing where the country has had past success, said improvement could be seen within a few years and pointed to military strategy as a means to achieve these goals.



"Sports officials and coaches must implement the tactics of anti-Japanese guerilla-style attacks in each sport event in order to take the initiative in every game and triumph," Kim's letter read.



Kim has been known for his interest in sports, perhaps most notably through his friendship with former NBA star Dennis Rodman.



Rodman, along with a handful of other former players, traveled to Pyongyang last year for what Rodman called "basketball diplomacy," which included a a game against a North Korean team in the country's capital.













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basketball stream live The One Shining Moment of March

basketball stream live I love this time of year. My colleagues strut around the office pretending to know who is going to win the NCAA Tournament. They spend countless hours on the web studying bracketolgy, only to lose to someone who knows nothing about basketball, but likes the names of some schools more than others. You guys know who you are. Yes, we are in the midst of March Madness.



Despite what the nickname suggests, it isn't all madness. Some things have become very predictable. You must be at least an eight seed to win. A twelve seed always upsets a five seed. No team has ever gone undefeated and won the tournament. Basketball players are at the greatest risk of sudden cardiac arrest.



It's true. Heart conditions and sudden cardiac arrest have become just as much a part of the NCAA tournament as Cinderella stories and Big Dances. This year, at least five teams faced this start reality.



Jay Simpson (Purdue) was forced to retire earlier this season due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Justin Moss (Buffalo) was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but was able to continue playing because he received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). DJ Bowles (Wichita State) collapsed on the basketball court during his freshman year, two years ago, and was forced to retire. DJ actually played along side Carl Hall, another Shocker, diagnosed with a heart condition. Dwayne Polee (San Diego State) was diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia earlier this year, but was cleared to return. Tyler Adams of Georgetown was forced to retire three years ago after discovering a heart condition. He graduates this season.



During this mad month, we are inundated with statistics. However, no one is talking about this one - eight percent of the teams in this year's tournament could have seen their teammate collapse and die on the court. So why aren't we hearing more about this threat?



Actually, we finally are. Earlier this month, Dr. Brian Hainline, the first Chief Medical Officer of the NCAA told the world that basketball players, and other high risk athletes, should be required to undergo an EKG exam prior to participating in sports. This is a tremendous development in amateur sport.





For years, professional sports leagues have been checking the hearts of their athletes. Last year, we were reminded about the benefit of this policy. Isaiah Austin (Baylor University) was disqualified from the NBA draft after being diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome. In addition to stories, there is research to show that an EKG, coupled with a physical exam and medical history, is the most effective way to detect heart conditions that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest. They've been doing it right for professionally athletes. We are now one step closer to taking care of our student athletes too.



For years, my nonprofit organization, Simon's Fund, which was founded in memory of my three-month old son, Simon, has provided free heart screenings for students. We find that approximately one out of every 100 students has an undetected heart condition. We are one of many organizations doing this kind of work. Check out Screen Across America to find the others.



In 2013, while Louisville, Michigan, Syracuse and Wichita State were facing off at the Final Four, Simon's Fund was up the road in Gwinnett County conducting a heart screening with the CardioVascular Group. Earlier that year, two student athletes from Buford, both basketball players, died from sudden cardiac arrest -- Jeremy Nelson and Adam Smith. They will never travel down the road to the Final Four. That's when we realized the importance of connecting the Final Four to the cardiac safety of our student athletes.



This year, Simon's Fund will be in Indianapolis with Giving Hearts a Hand, the John Stewart Foundation, Play for Jake Foundation and Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health to provide free heart screenings for high school students in Marion County. Every student who attends the screening at Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School will receive a physical exam, EKG and echocardiogram.



If Kentucky goes on to win this year, we will all witness history. It will be the first time that a national champion has gone undefeated in the era of the sixty-four team tournament. However, the one shining moment of this March is clearly Dr. Hanline's commitment to checking the hearts of our student athletes. Kentucky's accomplishment will give us much to talk about in the decades to come. Dr. Hainline's effort will save lives.



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basketball stream live NCAA Troubled By Indiana's New Anti-Gay Law

basketball stream live WASHINGTON -- The National Collegiate Athletic Association expressed concern Thursday with a new "religious freedom" law in Indiana that could open the door to legalized discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.



"The NCAA national office and our members are deeply committed to providing an inclusive environment for all our events," said NCAA President Mark Emmert. "We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees."



The Final Four games in the March Madness men's basketball tournament will be held in Indianapolis next week, putting the issue front and center for the NCAA. Emmert said he will "work diligently" to make sure that visitors and athletes at the event will not be "impacted negatively."



"Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce," he added.



Indiana's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act will allow any individual or corporation to cite its religious beliefs as a defense when sued by a private party. Many opponents of the legislation, which included business leaders, argued that it may open the door to widespread discrimination. Business owners who don't want to serve same-sex couples, for example, may now have legal protections to discriminate.



Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed the legislation Thursday in a private ceremony closed to the public and the press. He denied that the law authorizes discrimination and argued that "many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action."



Jason Collins, the first openly gay NBA player, also said he was concerned about traveling to the state next week for the Final Four games.

.@GovPenceIN, is it going to be legal for someone to discriminate against me & others when we come to the #FinalFour? http://t.co/uBlKbIf8YK

— Jason Collins (@jasoncollins98) March 23, 2015

Business leaders and organizers of major events set to be held in the state were cautioning Pence against backing the legislation in recent weeks. Leaders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which plans to hold its 6,000-person General Assembly in the state in 2017, said they were reconsidering because of the legislation. Organizers of Gen Con, which has been called the largest gaming convention in the country, threatened to stop holding the event in Indiana.



And Marc Benioff, CEO of the tech giant Salesforce, said Thursday that the company would now be "canceling all programs that require our customers/employees to travel to Indiana to face discrimination."



HUFFPOST READERS: If you live in Indiana, and feel you've been discriminated against due to your sexual orientation or gender identity, we want to hear from you. Email your story or any tips to openreporting@huffingtonpost.com. Include your name, the city you live in, and a phone number if you're willing to be contacted by a reporter.



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basketball stream live Mortified Wisconsin Basketball Player Caught Whispering 'God, She's Beautiful' During Press Conference

basketball stream live Nigel Hayes thought someone at his recent press conference was beautiful, but he did not think the entire room would hear when he told his teammate.



“God, she’s beautiful,” the Wisconsin basketball player whispered to Frank Kaminsky. He was talking about someone in the crowd -- do you know who? -- in what he thought was a low enough tone that it wouldn’t get picked up by the mic.



When he found out everyone had heard, he was understandably embarrassed.







It’s alright, man. Maybe she thought the same about you.



H/T Deadspin



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basketball stream live Putting on a New Uniform

basketball stream live Self-doubt is often overwhelming. What if I lose my job? What if I lose my children? What if I lose my house? What if no one likes what I write? What if no one likes what I'm wearing? What if no one likes me? What if my parenting is scrutinized?



Insecurities can be paralyzing and can completely take over. There are days I find myself filled with so much fear that I make myself physically ill with headaches and stomach aches. In those moments I isolate myself and let the negative voices take over.



I truly thought that by becoming an adult, all those thoughts would magically vanish. Sadly I find at times they are intensified during moments of extreme stress.



If only I could learn to attack life the way I did when I participated in athletics.



On the fields and courts it was a different story. Out there, I escaped. I never doubted my skills. I didn't need anyone to be my cheerleader and tell me I was a good athlete. I just was.



Some call it being in the zone. But when I played, I heard nothing. I didn't care that I was drenched in sweat, that my hair was plastered to my head, my legs covered in dirt or that I was sans makeup.



Wearing my uniform, I was free. Free to let out my frustrations in a positive way. Off the field? I've always stumbled.



I could be dolled up in a little black dress with my hair perfectly coiffed and a roomful of people will tell me how beautiful I look; yet I wonder if they are just being polite.



I'm told that an article I've written has made an impact and I question if they really mean it, or again, are they simply being kind?



Where does all of this self-doubt come from? I am at the point where I care less about what other people think of me, yet what do I think of me? Why am I so hard on myself?



Why can't I be the confident athlete off the field as I am on? How do I transfer those powerful feelings and emotions I experience when playing or coaching and apply it to everyday life?



Life's not as easy as playing basketball. In a game there is a clear set of rules, a ref to call you out if you do something wrong and teammates to support you.



In life, it's harder to determine who is actually on your team.You aren't all wearing the same uniform. There are no rules, only your conscience and moral compass to guide you.



The ref doesn't exist; there really is no one to tell you how it works. You have to figure it out on your own.



It's easy to feel good about yourself when you are good at something, like I was playing sports. It's harder to find that confidence once the athletic journey is over.



I need to realize that the athlete is still there -- she's still a part of me. It's just a different playing surface.



Instead of practicing shooting hoops I now practice the art of writing. I cover news stories that provide people with factual information so they are educated. I write a column to help us all connect. I share in order to validate feelings of those who also struggle.



As a mother I'm fierce. I tirelessly try to raise my children to be confident, well rounded and caring people. There are days motherhood is exhausting. I'm ready to collapse after homework, driving to school, soccer, basketball, lacrosse and play dates -- just as I was after doing wind sprints.



And if you mess with my kids, similar to if you messed with my teammates, watch out. I volunteer coach. When coaching I find myself once again in the zone. The joy I feel when it clicks and a kid learns a new skill; I celebrate knowing I had a hand in that small victory.



The ghost of my younger self is still there, buried in my arthritic bones. The uniform is different, but the athlete? She's still there, because underneath the clothing, it's about being confident in the skin.



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