I awoke this morning and sent a text message to a friend, and my government did not keep a record of it. This is a small taste of what freedom feels like, and it is good to have it back nearly 14 years after this country’s ideals got turned upside down in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack. Kudos to Rand Paul. And Edward Snowden. Yes, things change. Things get better, and nothing bad lasts forever. That is the feeling
The Chicago Bulls let Tom Thibodeau go last week and didn’t wait long to bring in his replacement: former NBA player and coach of Iowa State Fred Hoiberg. Hoiberg has seen plenty of success as a head coach in college – he has an overall record of 115-56 in five seasons with Iowa State – and now will have a chance to prove that he belongs in the biggest stage of them all. Scottie Pippen, who can frequently be seen sitting somewhere in
In baseball, the cutter (or cut fastball) is passed along from pitcher to pitcher in a very old school way. This is exactly how Pittsburgh Pirates closer Mark Melancon discovered his go-to pitch. He first learned it from Billy Connors, a pitching coach for a Yankees team that had Mariano Rivera— the ultimate cutter pitcher. Melancon was traded to Houston, where he continued to hone his cutter with Astros reliever Brandon Lyon. Now a key member of the Pirates, Melancon
Stephen Curry has a legitimate chance to go down as the greatest shooter in NBA playoff history. With just two days before the Golden State-Cleveland NBA Finals finally begins, an appreciation of Curry’s shooting stroke — and the changing landscape of how offenses emphasize the three — point to Curry having a chance to at least be part of an elite playoff performance list. The 27-year-old MVP ideally will be playing in many more postseasons over the course of his career and should be
Rain, rain, go away. Two MLB games were postponed on Monday, leaving quite a few unlucky daily fantasy players with holes in their lineups. [Read more…]
Everyone is focused on the NBA Finals, and with good reason. But there are 28 other teams in the NBA, each with a plan to get where the Cavs and Warriors are right now. And if I told you the Sixers had the best plan of them all, would you believe me? Vinny DelNegro and Joel Meyers of Sirius XM NBA Radio were skeptical when the subject came up in the radio interview you can listen to below, especially when I
The 2014-2015 season turned out to be a roller coaster ride for Jeremy Lin, who couldn’t find much consistency under an uncertain role with new coach Byron Scott. Despite being the most proven ball-handler on the team outside of Kobe Bryant, who was mostly awful for much of the year before a shoulder injury shut him down for good, and despite being one of the only useful guards on the roster, Lin managed to average just under 26 minutes per game. That’s
As we count down to the start of NBA Finals, there are plenty of things to focus on: LeBron James building his legacy (he is no Jerry West), the battle of rookie head coaches Steve Kerr and David Blatt, the experience issue when it comes to having played in monster games before, be they NBA playoff games or FIBA tournaments (don’t forget that Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were members of Team USA last summer). But remember something that coaches always