Although our beloved NBA is on the fritz with the lockout, at least the NFLPA and the owners were able to save the NFL. Football season is in full swing and boy does it feel better than ever. The season just started last week and there are already enough storylines to write a book on. The most intriguing of them all, however, is Michael Vick’s return to the Georgia Dome tonight. Read More »

What if Charles Barkley could be quiet? The world would end. The Chuckster may not be in NBA 2K12, but he’s still letting his voice be heard one way or another, mentioning on the “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000 that he doesn’t think Derrick Rose should go overseas and play. Actually, Barkley doesn’t think any great player should do it. It’s too much of a risk, and the incentive to actually make a move like that isn’t large enough. Read More »

Like we’ve told you before, Kevin Durant would most likely top the list of NBA players whom other NBA players would pay to see in action. So either Michael Jordan isn’t that bothered with seeing KD do work up-close, or else MJ doesn’t want a first-person view of what the League’s leading scorer might do to his struggling Bobcats. Jordan was conspicuously absent from his regular courtside seat during last night’s OKC/Charlotte game, and he missed Durant dropping 32 points on his squad while the Thunder owned the fourth quarter like The G.O.A.T. used to do in his day … Read More »

For an NCAA national Player of the Year and No. pick in the NBA Draft, Evan Turner has a curiously low profile and an even lower set of expectations. While most athletes in his position arrive in their city as “The Savior” or “The Franchise,” Turner — averaging 7.2 points and 4.8 rebounds while shuttling in and out of the starting lineup — is just another piece to the Philadelphia 76ers’ puzzle. Meaning he has the basketball world right where he wants it. Read More »

The NBA isn’t as much of a copycat league as the NFL, but teams that want to contend for championships still have to adapt to whatever the current ring-bearers are doing. Case in point: Every good team is looking to add size, toughness, and six to 12 extra fouls in the frontcourt to deal with the Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom problem presented by the Lakers. (Same goes for the East. Check the Celtics and Heat scrambling to sign any guy who is near 7-feet tall with four limbs.) You saw it yesterday, when as soon as Erick Dampier hit the open market, the Rockets put in their bid. Read More »

In this day and age, athletes have out of this world physical ability. Some run faster and jump higher than us normal people could ever imagine.

There are some players in the NBA today that could start on an NFL team right now, or have at least played football during high school or college days. Watching the Monday Night Football doubleheader last night between the Ravens/Jets and Chargers/Chiefs, if got me thinking about which NBA players could make a transition into the NFL. Here are the top five, plus one coach: Read More »

Timing can be a blessing or a killer in the media/advertising business. On the eve of the ’08-09 NBA season, we put Gilbert Arenas on our cover, only to learn right around the time the issue dropped that Agent Zero would miss a big chunk of the season with more knee problems.

Apparently PETA is having a timing issue of its own involving Arenas. The day after Gilbert made all kinds of negative headlines when the NBA suspended him indefinitely in a still-unfolding story involving guns and personal threats, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals unveiled its latest “Ink, Not Mink” ad, starring the man of the hour. Read More »

Allow me to shed a silver lining of optimism on the Allen Iverson doomsday parade. If it’s true that the Iverson/Memphis relationship is deteriorating fast with no reunion in sight, there is one sensible solution that can take place as soon as A.I. is eligible for a trade in mid-December.

There is one trade that can work, one fan base that would accept Iverson with (somewhat) open arms, one team that could slide him right into the starting lineup AND win some games in the process, one place where Iverson can work to rebuild his reputation and maybe even have a future beyond this season. Read More »

Now that NBA training camps are underway, some guys will have to get used to having all eyes on them — or more specifically, all eyes on their knees, shoulders, ankles, etc. — waiting to see if they’ll hold up or crumble like a toothpick sculpture … Chris Bosh wasn’t supposed to be on that list, especially given the results we’d seen from his offseason workout, but then he tweaked his hamstring right before Raptors camp opened. Bosh apparently hurt himself while playing golf, which just sounds like the first chapter of another bad-luck season in Toronto … Read More »

Eighteen years too late, I watched Pistol: The Birth of a Legend for the first time this summer. Mostly the story of Pete Maravich‘s teenage years, partly a ball-handling instructional tape, the movie came to mind when I found out Allen Iverson was signing with the Memphis Grizzlies.

In Pistol, Maravich is a middle-school prodigy playing on a high school varsity team where the coach doesn’t like his style (too “Black”) and the older players don’t like him for being so good so young. Glued to the bench despite his talent, Pete just wants a chance to play, and when he finally gets it, predictably becomes a superstar and leads the team to glory. Ultimately, all that time he spent not playing was a colossal waste of time rooted in old-school values and silly stubbornness. Read More »