Way back in 1979, I got my first taste of Jesuit Education in 9th grade Ancient Greek class. On the first day of high school at Fordham Prep, professor Douglas Tobin gave us our first homework assignment: Learn the Greek alphabet, capital letters and small letters. “There will be a hit or miss quiz tomorrow,” he said. Hit or miss quiz? “You get either a 100 or a zero,” Tobin explained. “If you get one single thing wrong, you get a zero.” Every
You won’t find Neil Olshey, Sam Hinkie or David Griffin on a beach at some island resort this week. We are deep into summer, but those three general managers have plenty of unfinished business as we head into the latter third of July. If you want to take pity on one of the three, pick Olshey. His Portland Trail Blazers lost four-fifths of their starting lineup from a team that ran away with the Pacific Division, and his only center heading
Let’s be real here for a second. As nice of a job as the San Antonio Spurs did in free agency, along with the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks, does that really make any of them the outright winners? No, it says here. Despite a ton of unfinished business (LeBron James, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova remain unsigned free agents, and a Brendan Haywood trade is coming), the Cavs are emerging as the biggest winners of the summer for one
BROOKLYN – As usual, the NBA Draft was filled with boos and oohs from the crowd. D’Angelo Russell drew the biggest ovation when he was selected second overall by the Los Angeles Lakers. Subsequently, Kristaps Porzingis eventually drew the ire of the crowd when he was selected fourth overall by the New York Knicks. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak had high praise for Russell. “We think his upside is unlimited, and we didn’t feel that for all the players we were considering,”
Pardon the San Andreas reference, but the seismic ramifications of the 2015 NBA Draft will emanate from El Segundo, Calif. That is where the Lakers are headquartered, and that is where Jim and Jeannie Buss together with Mitch Kupchak will decide who the purple and gold will take with the No. 2 pick Thursday night. Our latest Mock Draft has them taking D’Angelo Russell of Ohio State, although the consensus on other Mock Draft sites is that they will go for
CLEVELAND — The smell always gets you. It is usually champagne, and it is usually quite strong. In this case, it went beyond pungent. Cinder block walls could not contain the smell of Mumm Napa Brut Reserve emanating from the locker room of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors. You could smell it outside the locker room 15 minutes after the trophy presentation had concluded, and a half-hour later you could smell it down the hallway outside the Cleveland Cavaliers’ locker room,
So who is the Finals MVP now? After three games, it appeared to be LeBron James, who singlehandedly has kept the Cleveland Cavaliers in this series with historic performances. After four games, it appeared to be Andre Iguodala, who has been the primary defender on James and finally slowed him in Game 4, tacking on 22 points and eight boards as the Golden State Warriors evened the series. And after five games, it appears to be Stephen Curry, who in Game 5 finally
CLEVELAND – This baby was all but in the books as LeBron James, scoreless in the fourth quarter, dribbled upcourt halfheartedly with 4:10 remaining and his team trailing by 14 points. There was only the slightest of chances that the Cavaliers could pull off a comeback to match the one the Warriors had engineered in Game 2, but James’ heart and head were not in it – and Iggy pounced. With a somewhat casual swipe, Andre Iguodala knocked the ball away