When word broke that Pops Mensah-Bonsu signed a one-year deal with the Rockets this morning, my brother (who’s a senior at George Washington this year) was the first one to tell me how this is finally the chance that Pops needs. But despite bleeding school colors, signing a 6-9, 240-pound forward who has played a total of 34 games in his NBA career is not going to replace Yao Ming. Read More »

This is just crazy…

This actually makes me look forward to seeing the whole fight when it airs on Shaq Vs.

We argue. You decide.

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL (by A. Burton) November 2008: “Shaq has never truly gotten the credit he deserves for what he’s accomplished on the court and what he’s meant to the game. There was a good 6-7 year stretch (arguably much longer) where Shaq was the most problematic force in basketball. Like Lawrence Taylor did in the NFL, Shaq in his prime altered game plans and made teams create new strategies (Hack-a-Shaq, stockpiling not-so-talented bigs just to have fouls available, etc.) to deal with him. And inexplicably, he only has one League MVP to show for it.”

Nine months later, I still believe every word I wrote in that paragraph. Read More »

Are you ready for the dumbest NBA feud since Cheryl Miller and Scot Pollard got into a deathly intense, impromptu pissing contest in the “NBA Gametime” studio a few months ago? This one’s between Shaq and Steve Nash, and it started over Shaq’s reality show that nobody we know is currently watching. As the story goes, sometime last year when they were still teammates, Nash told Shaq about an idea he had for a reality show where he’d take on famous pro athletes in their own sports — a.k.a. the exact same concept of Shaq’s new show. (Which totally sounds like something Nash would do. He might even take a crack at some of those X-Games guys, and could play hockey with no danger of breaking the ice.) Read More »

I mean, this is just crazy. Usain Bolt destroyed another record today, this time blasting through the 200 m in 19.19 seconds, .11 seconds better than the previous record (video below). In light of the Smack item this morning that relayed the story of a female sprinter being subjected to a gender test, we were joking about how Bolt needs to “tested for alien.” Or to quote Austin Burton, “‘District 9,’ starring Usain Bolt.”

Is there anything close to this type of dominance in NBA history? Wilt? MJ at his most vicious?

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Earlier this summer, I went to Chicago for our Dime #50 cover shoot with Derrick Rose. Going in, we’d decided not to waste anyone’s time doing a generic studio shoot with Derrick wearing a Bulls uniform that could’ve been done anywhere, by anyone. Authenticity was the objective. So we went back to the roots: two blocks from Derrick’s childhood home in the South Side, at the park where he became the player you see today. Here is the shoot and story that transpired… Read More »

Over on HighSchoolHoop today, there’s a good story about the stars of tomorrow night’s Elite 24 game at Rucker Park and their quest to earn quality playground nicknames at the Mecca of streetball.

It got us talking here in the office about our favorite playground nicknames that we’ve heard over the years. Read More »

Just another day in the gym…

After seeing Brandon Jennings play last night as Dime got exclusive access to the Elite 24 Midnight Run At Madison Square Garden, you understand why the Bucks are ready to let Ramon Sessions walk. Check the clip below of Young Money showing off his new and improved jumper, and BJ attacking the rim in front of Kevin Love in another clip after the jump.

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