Shaq’s weekend in Boston: He crashed a wedding. He sat on a bench. He almost took some kid to the arm bar. He picked on Big Baby. He wore the same American flag fist tee the whole time. He went Big Aristotle all over the Harvard University bookstore.
I was too frightened by how small that paper soft drink cup looked in his hand to understand that last part. I’m sure it was enlightening.
(via SLAM)
Posted today on the Cavs’ NBA.com site:
I checked a few other news sections of NBA.com team sites, and it’s a Times News Roman and Helvetica festival, so it’s not like we’re having fun at the expense of Dan due to some outbrain league look-and-feel policy. Although I’m starting to think that some we might be making fun of him due to some web dev practical joke.
H/T @ Darren Rovell for finding this.
Lebron probably believes that whole mixtapes dedicated to his kingship settling in the Southeast are in the works, but for now he’ll have to settle for Clipse’s Pusha T making mention of his free agency process in a freestyle.
Miss Info has the full detail on Pusha T and ‘Bidding War.’ It has more to do with an upcoming collaboration with Kanye West, and less to do with Lebron’s calamitous bilking in the media.
By gawd, the possibilities for capitalizing in wake of ‘The Decision’ seem endless today. That is, if you’re willing to simply castigate the man. Example: the Lebron TP.
Abruptly listed as: This is for all true Cleveland fans that believe in our city!! help us remind Lebron on how much hes worth after leaving us!
Start the bids at $25/ roll.
All you Knickerbocker fans sweating it out today waiting for The Decision, should it not go your way, relax. Former Knick and current member of the team’s front office, Allan “The Allan Houston Rule” Houston is not worried.
According to the Greenwich Time, when asked about Lebron coming to the Knicks, Houston told a GT photographer this morning, “If we don’t get him, it’s not the end of the world.”
I’d say that ranks somewhere between lacking and devoid of on the confidence scale, New York.
However, take stock in the fact, Knicks fans, that the only reason we have to believe that Allan Houston was ever in the know was that for a fleeting couple of hours we thought that the press conference might happen at his house. Don’t let yourself get too wrapped up in what he says (or Chad Ochocinco…or Jared Dudley).
Check out New York’s last-ditch effort to get Lebron on DIME.
Before you get too excited, let me just preface by saying that the Pre-Showdown brunch is $5,000 per, and the After-Match drinking with Nash and Claudio Reyna requires a minimum $250 donation. If you’re only a high roller in training like me and you’re in Lower Manhattan tomorrow, you should probably consider just going down to the free event. I’ll be the guy snapping pics with the HTC Incredible and scowling at Tony Parker. Here’s the full detail:
Chris Bosh is allegedly decent, but I bet I can capture a photo of him looking goofy. Check out this recap video from last year’s tournament featuring Bosh:
Go to stevenash.org/showdown to learn more about the Steve Nash Foundation and Claudio Reyna Foundation.
Currently, there are NBA memorabilia items up for auction on ebay that are both priced higher and more ridiculous – for example, a framed, vinyl-copy of the Thriller album signed by Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan. However, this has to be the most curious case of trying to cash in on a superstar’s early accolades that I’ve seen since last year when I found someone selling eight scrapbooks of Lebron James complete press clippings for $250 K. For just under five grand you can purchase a set of four yearbooks from Lower Merion High School, in Ardmore Pennsylvania, from 1993-96.
It’s no coincidence, that during that four year span, the Lower Merion “Aces” varsity basketball team was led by Kobe Bryant. He was also voted to Homecoming King and Most Likely to Succeed his senior year. (A+ to the seller for including every single shot of Kobe from each book in the listing.)
Redacted: Bears mentioning that First Cuts posted this find yesterday – someone selling an 8th grade yearbook that Kobe signed for $9,995.00! His message: “Blosom, you are a good dancer and very sympathetic. Love, Kobe Bryant.” (H/T @chrislittmann)
That Malcolm X by Edward Jackson is part of Grant Hill’s extensive collection of fine African American art. But first off, wasn’t he fantastic last night? I can’t remember a game where I saw someone disrespect Kobe with so many mid-range jumpers. His team is still going to lose the series, but I’d love to see Hill keep up.
Even though the Suns appear to be on their way out of this year’s NBA playoffs, Grant Hill, painting and sculpture aficionado, is just starting to pique as a renaissance man. For instance, we recently learned that Hill signed on to executive produce a documentary about Duke basketball. He discussed his philosophy on having passions outside the game with USA Today this week:
Hill doesn’t believe he’s the exception among NBA players in his unique interests, which include exhibits for 20th century African-American art.
“A lot of times they’re scared to comment on it or to share their interests with the public,” Hill says of other athletes. “We should. It’s encouraging to see that. When I shared my art collection there were a lot of positives that came from that. Hopefully it showed a lot of other athletes it’s OK if you have a hobby or interest you’re involved in. Use your platform as an athlete to expose, to share, to bring knowledge to people.”
That was deep
Immediately following last night’s NBA Draft lottery, columnist David Steele, posted on Twitter asking that armed guards keep Michael Jordan from coming anywhere near D.C. until the draft is over. Wizards fans who remember when Jordan drafted Kwame Brown with the #1 pick in 2001 do not find this statement one bit outlandish.
I thought it worthwhile to revisit that hot debacle, and my research led me to discover that not only did Kwame expect, presumably, that he would average more than 10 points per game more than once (10.9 ppg, his career high in 8 years in the league), but he also thought he might get a chance to shine alongside M.J.
Here’s an exert from a June ’01 article in USA Today:
One of those dreams is possibly playing with Jordan, who is contemplating a comeback this season. Broken ribs 2 weeks ago slowed Jordan, but he is getting in condition to play again.
“I had to make my (selection) as if Michael Jordan will not be playing,” Jordan said. “If I decide to play, it’ll only add to what we’ve done.”
Brown is eager to play with Jordan.
“Who else has a chance to say that their boss is the best player ever,” Brown said. “If he plays, I can learn a lot, and I can still learn from him even if he doesn’t.”
Jordan did in fact return during Brown’s rookie season to lead the team in scoring with 22 ppg in 60 games, Brown contributed 4.5 ppg in 57.
Without getting too carried away with the hindsight here, what’s appropriate to describe these statements? Lousy with delusions of grandeur?
Apropos of nothing other than that Wizards fans have been having entirely too much fun today.
In photo: Raymond Towler, the other guy, enjoys the National Anthem before last night’s Celtics-Cavs game while standing on the court alongside a afflicted looking Shaq. (Did Shaq know what was coming?)
He’s wearing the number 52, because that’s his age. Prior to last week, the last time Towler was not an inmate was when he was in his early 20s.
Yesterday, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported that Towler, a lifelong Cavs fan who used to watch games on a 13-inch television while locked up, would be the Cavs guest of honor at the game last night after being released after serving 29 years for a false conviction that he raped an 11-year old girl.
(Sidebar: Falsely convicted of Murder. That’s the only false charge that comes to mind that’s on-par with being falsely convicted on raping an 11-year old girl)
The Cavaliers set him up nice: treated him and his family to a dinner in the VIP lounge, he stood on the floor during pre-game warm-ups, they let him take two three-pointers (he made one), and the team even showed up for two quarters of their playoff game.
Considering the Cavs lost Towler’s homecoming game 120 – 88, I can’t decide whether his reaction would be positive – because hey, no more heinous crimes on my record, woot – or if he’d rail on the team like any other diehard fan. I’d say any margin less than 20 is guaranteed good tidings from the guy who just got out of prison after falsely being convicted of raping an 11-year old (Man, I still can’t get over how awful that is). But torched then cauterized by 32 points in game five of a playoff series? I’m not sure even a newly freed man is going to be able to take the bad with the good.
I couldn’t care less what Mike Brown and Lebron James have to say about last night’s game, I want to hear this guy’s post-game quote.
Photo via ESPN.com
