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  • Is the NBA Losing Its Street Cred?

    This weekend, when the NBA All Stars play in New Orleans, expect lots of slam dunks and other flamboyant plays that have become typical of black basketball. It’s not an ugly stereotype; it’s history. Pre-NBA, most black basketball teams played in ballrooms and were part of an evening of entertainment that often included a big…

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  • Maybe They Cheated. So What?

    Here’s what I’m rooting for after the Congressional hearings into whether Roger Clemens or Brian McNamee lied to the Mitchell Committee. I hope Congress figures out a better way to spend its time and my tax dollars. I don’t need Sen. Arlen Specter convening a committee into why New England Patriots coach illegally taped opponent’s…

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  • New Balls: The NBA Ups Its Game

    Well, no one can call the NBA the No Balls Association anymore. For years, NBA teams have been among the most risk averse in all of sports. Few players of any significance changed teams during the offseason, and the trade deadline usually meant a big swirl of rumors followed by a few peripheral players moving…

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  • A Happy Ending for Barry Bonds?

    Iʼm really not a happy-endings kinda guy. It could just be my crabby nature, but I figure it owes to growing up in the early ʽ70s loving American new wave cinema; movies like Dog Day Afternoon and Network gave me my passion for real-life conclusions. And I really, really donʼt like happy endings in sports.…

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  • I Don't Do Brackets, and Here's Why.

    One of the few joys of approaching the ripe age of 48 is that curmudgeonliness comes much more naturally than it used to, and I get a good strong dose of it every time the NCAA basketball tournament nears. You see, I’m a big basketball fan but I don’t do brackets. I feel my hackles…

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  • Give These Jersey Girls a Break

    Bit by bit, I’m becoming a fan of the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights women’s basketball team and Don Imus has nothing to do with it. Blame the NCAA. Every year when they pick their field of 64 for the women’s basketball championship, the selection committee figures out a way to slight Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights…

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  • The King James Version of Basketball

    LeBron James is the best player in the NBA this year and his performance towers over almost every other player by such a margin that there shouldn’t be a debate about Most Valuable Player; there should just be a coronation for the player sometimes referred to as King James. Yet there isn’t. Players like Kobe…

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  • King: The Soundtrack

    If you liked music, then the Johnson home was the place to be in the late ’60s. My brother Phillip always had the latest Motown or Stax singles. My sister Phyllis (yes, they’re twins) played the Beatles, and the Stones, and of course Sly and the Family Stone. When he was home from college, my…

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  • Baseball: 'The System' Says Watchout For Texas

    My friend John is one of the smartest people I know. He has degrees from two elite schools and has held high-ranking positions in both the public and private sector. Yet, when we get together to talk about baseball, he counts on his fingers. His team is good this year because on the index finger,…

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  • NBA Playoffs: Stop the Madness

    As we head down the final stretch of the NBA season, a time honored ritual will begin, calls to fix the playoff system. Not fix as in Tim Donaghy the crooked referee, but correct so that what is likely to happen this year won’t happen again. Everyone who follows the sport closely—and at this point…

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