The U.S. men are about to get their toughest test of the Olympics. And it still won’t be a game. Lithuania plays the record-setting Americans on Saturday, two days after they detonated Nigeria by 83 points. After that one, a mini-controversy has erupted around whether the team purposefully ran up the score on the helpless Olympic debutantes. Nah; we mean, the U.S. just could not miss. Now, they weren’t exactly holding the ball in four corners, but even though we aren’t quiet buying Coach K saying that Nigeria’s coach would have been “humiliated” if the U.S. didn’t play hard the whole way, they did have to put the ball up every 24 seconds. Read More »

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Alas, the NBA season is upon us. And, finally, pertinent NBA questions may now enter the purview of the DimeBag. So flood the inbox with your musings, compatriots. Sadly, the short-lived NBA Fight of the Week has come to an end. No longer need we fill our minds with mindless thought experiments. Anyway, today’s installment will quantify the return of the NBA season, discuss jerseys and assess UNC and Kentucky – among other things, of course. Let’s get to it. Read More »

Our Saturday started off as perfectly as possible with news greeting us as our alarm clocks rang that a tentative labor agreement had been reached, and that the lockout was finally, if unofficially, over. For now, we can’t completely invest ourselves in a new season – scheduled to be 66 games, starting on Christmas day – but pretty much everyone agrees on one thing: this deal will get approved and will get done. Book it. So who won and who lost? With the cancellation of games, everyone loses: the fans, the owners and the players. But as far as the approved deal, many of the leading names on both sides came out of this looking as good as they could’ve under the current circumstances. Read More »

After all the frustration and anger, lonely nights stuck watching whatever college game we can find, we are getting NBA basketball on Christmas day. David Stern got his wish. Maybe this wasn’t our ultimate wish (it would’ve been better to have it done earlier), but this announcement just gave the holiday a little extra juice. Unless the scheduling is changed, the 2011-12 season will open with the Boston Celtics traveling to play the New York Knicks, followed by a Finals rematch, Miami at Dallas. The nightcap would be MVP Derrick Rose and Chicago against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. How hyped are you? Read More »

We sort of called this. Duke lives and dies by the three. They did again last night. Tyler Thornton, the last guy you might expect to take a big shot – maybe the last guy you’d even expect to be in the game – hit not one but two huge threes in the final moments against Kansas. The second one was an end-of-the-shot-clock heave from nearly out of bounds that you just knew was going in the moment he released it. Combine those shots with a three from Andre Dawkins, and Kansas – who played them even all the way – couldn’t finish it off and lost 68-61. Read More »

In the words of one of our more eloquent Twitter followers: “What the f— am I supposed to watch after the Super Bowl?” The season hasn’t exactly been canceled yet, but with the players rejecting the latest proposal from the owners and threatening to take them to court, the ugliness might’ve just started. David Stern promised that the next time the two sides do negotiate – whenever that’ll be – the owners will be discussing 47 percent BRI and no more, and yet the players still hit the owners with a backhanded slap. So now Stern is calling it a “nuclear winter,” the players are saying it’s a good move and everyone is all wrapped up in self-destruction. Read More »

Doesn’t it feel like Isiah Thomas is always behind the bad stuff going on in the NBA? It’s happening again. Billy Hunter has taken his fare share of shots so far during this lockout. But now his job might be in jeopardy. Thomas has great relationships with a number of players, and he’s angling to get Hunter’s job as head of the union. Thomas has a notorious track record for screw ups, but has done some good things in the NBA as well. Is that a good thing if he were to takeover the union? What does this teach us? If something bad is going on in the NBA, blame Isiah … Read More »

HOW TO SUBMIT: E-mail dimebag@dimemag.com with your question/story/idea and include your name and hometown.

Another week, another DimeBag. We’re a little downtrodden this week – okay, let’s be honest – depressingly terrified of the owners’ “take it or leave it” demands, or, the day basketball blew up in a puff of immature bargaining smoke. It’s a sad state of affairs, especially when the owners can roll around in their leverage and hurl ridiculous ultimatums wrapped in extended middle fingers. Alright, enough lockout talk. Let’s get to the mindless minutae that will carry us through. Read More »

Were we the only ones to criticize Michael Jordan in light of the recent reports that the Bobcats’ owner might be trying to draw too hard of a line against the players? Not even close. Players now seem to be taking their frustrations to Twitter in regards to this whole MJ/BRI thing. Washington Wizards guard Nick Young tweeted this weekend that he is never going to wear Jordan sneakers again, referencing what he saw and heard in relation to Jordan’s actions at the lastest negotiation meeting. But Young wasn’t the only one to voice anger over Jordan actions. Golden State Warriors rookie Klay Thompson tweeted: U think 1996 MJ would pull this? Straight hypocrite bro… Indiana Pacers guard Paul George then chimed in, responding to Thompson’s tweet: Man straight hypocrite bro…He should have been the first one behind us smh. Read More »

We are so tired of writing words like “lockout” and “canceled” and “meetings” and “George Cohen” and “decertification” that we can’t imagine how y’all feel reading it. It all makes us want to run up in the meetings shouting and screaming, slapping people across the face. The bad news never seems to stop. No matter if he’s playing or in a suit, Michael Jordan is always in between the lines. Amazingly, even nearly a decade after he officially retired for the final time, MJ’s influence can still be felt across the league, from the owners to the players and onto the fans. People still love him. His sneakers still sell. And the players still respect him. Tomorrow will represent some of the most important meetings yet, and the two sides are basically fighting to save the season at this point. Read More »