Remember the NBA on NBC? Remember that awesome theme song? Well it’s called “Roundball Rock” and was composed by John Tesh (yes, that John Tesh) in a rather unusual way. I won’t spoil it; hit the video.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.
Tag Archives: basketball
The Glide
This picture of Clyde Drexler at the 1987 Slam Dunk Contest nearly takes my breath away — the lighting, those 80s Blazers unis, the form, the sideline gaze, those kicks. Holy whoa.
From the beginning, Clyde Drexler had a distinctive aura and a regal presence about him. He was so natural that he made everything on the court look easy. He showed up with plenty of game, but it was of a different kind: smooth, sublime, and seductive — like jazz set into motion, with faint echoes of Connie Hawkins, Elgin Baylor, and Julius Erving.
— Jim Nantz, who coined the nickname Clyde “The Glide” Drexler
/via @si_vault, of course
This man is fucking flying.
Science be damned, that is flight.
Compton hoop star’s act of generosity
Compton hoop star’s act of generosity
Feel-good story as reported by the Los Angeles Wave:
The event — a foul-shooting contest for top academic students at Compton High School — was created with a simple premise: Organizers wanted to show the kids at Compton how to create community spirit with college scholarship money as the incentive.
Allan Geui won in front of a packed house.
…
Three months after winning the $40,000 top prize, Allan Guei donated all of his winnings to the seven other finalists.
Guei, a star player on the basketball team who is headed to Cal State Northridge on a full scholarship, said he felt the others could use the college cash more than he could. He wanted to give his classmates a chance to make their academic dreams come true, too.
“I’ve already been blessed so much and I know we’re living with a bad economy, so I know this money can really help my classmates,” he said in a release from the school. “It was the right decision.”
Education is the most important and most noble thing we can do as a society. This warms my heart.
A Gay Former N.B.A. Player Responds to Kobe Bryant
A Gay Former N.B.A. Player Responds to Kobe Bryant
Last month Kobe Bryant called a ref a “fucking fag” on the court. (No censors out here in Internetland.) The NBA did the right thing and gave him a technical foul and a $100K fine. Kobe responded with a non-apology apology and stated he would fight the fine. John Amaechi, the first openly gay former NBA player, responded with an op-ed in the New York Times:
A young man from a Los Angeles public school e-mailed me. You are his idol. He is playing up, on the varsity team, he has your posters all over his room, and he hopes one day to play in college and then in the N.B.A. with you. He used to fall asleep with images of passing you the ball to sink a game-winning shot. He watched every game you played this season on television, but this week he feels less safe and less positive about himself because he stared adoringly into your face as you said the word that haunts him in school every single day.
Well said. The term “fag” is incredibly offensive and should not be bandied about so casually. (There’s little difference between what Kobe did and a white player (hypothetically) calling a black referee a nigger.)