When you’re going good, or you hit a big-time shot, you want to celebrate. It’s human nature to express our joy when we’ve accomplished something incredible. Nowhere is this more true than the NBA, where big shots are often followed by big celebrations; where players can get so hot everything starts to go in, and where a last second shot can birth new legends. With all that drama, there are bound to be some incredible celebrating. Read More »

The NFL season is finally upon us. We’ve had a couple of weeks to break in the new Madden and we’re all sitting atop the standings in fantasy football (unless, of course, you started Brandon Weeden). Not only did Week 1 bring some huge plays and great games, it also provided us with one of the worst touchdown celebrations of all time. San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis’s botched dunk celebration was downright awful. Read More »

In a calmer, maybe more reasonable world, the Miami Heat could lose a game like the game they lost to the Boston Celtics last night and it wouldn’t be a big deal. In that world, LeBron James and Miami fans could adopt the same attitude Kobe Bryant and L.A. fans have after every one of their high-profile L’s in the regular season: Don’t panic, it’s only (fill-in-the-month). This is bigger to them than it is to us. We’ll be fine in the playoffs. … But there are five diamond-studded reasons why a Kobe-led team gets that kind of leeway and a LeBron-led team does not. Read More »

It was hard to fathom the amount of hype a high school kid named LeBron James had. We had never seen it before, and may not ever see it again. Could he live it up to it? Even the kid’s biggest supporters probably couldn’t have scripted a better first game. It’s the same thing with Cam Newton, the Carolina Panthers first-year quarterback who seems poised to break all types of rookie records. Has their been a more surprising player through the first four weeks of the NFL season? Read More »

Maybe it was because the tease of Kevin Garnett’s return from injury turned out to be just a tease. Maybe it was because Kevin Martin (wrist) sat out as a late scratch. Maybe it was because Marquis Daniels (19 pts) led Boston in scoring and Jordan Hill played starter’s minutes for Houston. Or maybe it was because the BCS National Championship Game made it so nobody was really thinking about the NBA last night. Whatever the reason, Rockets/Celtics felt like a preseason game, and the C’s appeared appropriately disinterested … Read More »

Ready or not for the NFL, Cam Newton might as well go pro after tonight’s BCS National Championship Game. Not only will his draft stock never be higher, but sticking around the University of Auburn next season means Newton won’t be able to buy a McChicken sandwich without somebody investigating where he got the 99 cents.

When Newton was spotted at Phoenix’s U.S. Airways Center during the Suns/Lakers game on Jan. 5 — looking like an unsigned power forward at 6-6, 250 pounds — it turned into more than just a celebrity sighting at an NBA game. Read More »