Archive for July, 2011

Cast your mind back before all the controversy, all the slander and all the hate, to October 29th, 2003. The building was the Arco Arena, the city was Sacramento and the team was the Kings. The story was the 18 year old prodigy who was the no.1 pick in the draft and coincidentally ended up with his home town team. He wore the most famous number in sports in reference to the most famous athlete in sports and promised many of the things that man achieved. It was a great time. I was watching the game the other day, reminiscing [...]

In Shaq’s first interview as an analyst on TNT, the big man discussed the Heat and LeBron James. “LeBron James is taking a lot of criticism, but I know LeBron very well. He hears everything that everyone is saying, so I think he’s going to come back and have an MVP year this year” O’Neal said. It’s widely accepted the NBA season will not begin on time and many doubt there will be any season at all, which will make James’ MVP season have to wait another year. It would be a catastrophe for the NBA to miss a season [...]

We may not have a season at all, but nonetheless the NBA has released the schedule for the upcoming season. The Mavericks will open the season at home to the Chicago Bulls and their MVP Derrick Rose. That game will be followed by the Thunder vs the Lakers, as the league cannot go an opening day without including it’s favourite team. The Heat will begin their season the day after, travelling to New York and Madison Square Garden to play the Knicks. The Heat will return home the next day to open their home season against the Orlando Magic for [...]

The man with a million nicknames, former NBA superstar, future Hall of Famer and the newest TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal was questioned on the Miami Heat during the official release of the 2011/2012 league schedule. “The Miami Heat, they’ve got a lot of great players, the `Big 2.’ They will be back. LeBron James is taking a lot of criticism, but I know LeBron very well. He hears everything that everyone is saying, so I think he’s going to come back and have an MVP year this year.” Shaq made no mistake of his statement mentioning the ‘Big 2′ and [...]

LeBron James and his record setting former high school teammates surprised the Chris Chambers City League Classic over the weekend, which takes place in Warrensville Heights some 20 miles away from Cleveland. James wowed the crowd with some of his trademark moves and seemed to be enjoying his basketball again. He was warmly welcomed into the building and the competition as it seems Ohioans may be starting to get over the controversies of last summer. No doubt he will be met with a most hostile of crowds on his return to the Q whenever the season begins but this was one [...]

The Miami Heat are looking to build on last year’s Finals performance by bringing in a much better supporting cast for their Big 3. Names that have been thrown around the past few months have included Greg Oden, Nene and Chris Kaman. The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reported Saturday that Pat Riley has interest in signing Samuel Dalembert, James Jones, Shane Battier, Tayshaun Prince, Grant Hill and Eddy Curry. James Jones played with the team last year and had a decent impact off the bench with his three point shooting. The other names clearly suggest defensive experience with names like Battier [...]

Kansas University basketball power forward Thomas Robinson reportedly matched LeBron James blow for blow in his Akron NBA Phenom Skills Academy last week. “LeBron wasn’t playing full speed, I’m pretty sure he could turn it up another notch”, said Robinson when asked about the game in an interview in Allen Fieldhouse. LeBron received some flak two summers ago during a Nike camp where he was supposedly dunked on by Jordan Crawford, which turned out to be a huge anti climax. It’s likely this is the same. Robinson seemingly received credit where due however. “He said himself I was strong, so [...]

LeBron’s dramatic fall from grace has continued as the latest Harris Poll has LeBron James out of the Top 10 Favourite Sports Stars. Joining James in the outcasts list is Dale Earnhardt Jnr and Brett Favre. Derek Jeter, the newest member in the 3000 hits club, tops the list with Peyton Manning second and Kobe Bryant third. Michael Jordan comes in at fourth, even though he has been retired from the game for almost 10 years. Truly a mark on the respect of the performance he offered in “Space Jam”. Not sure why else he would warrant being on the [...]

The newest addition to the TNT crew and future Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal recently spoke out on the unparalleled media saturation and public hate of LeBron James. “I would not characterize it as unfair because like I said, it happened to everyone,” he said. “It happened to [Michael] Jordan when he went to Atlantic City to get away from the game. It happened to Barkley. It happened to [Dennis] Rodman. It happened to Magic [Johnson]. It happens to everybody. If it just started this year I would call it unfair, but I’ve been in the game for 20 years [...]

Seth Meyers hosted the ESPYS a few nights ago and apart from the incredibly cringe worthy 5 minute performance of the ‘Canadian Kissers’, he did a very good job. Before he hosted Meyers did an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. He was asked about the public’s hate of LeBron James and everything Miami Heat. “Um, you know it certainly makes sense based on what I know about human behavior that people would turn against LeBron James. Uh, but I would urge people to remember that pretty much all Americans would like to make the choice to work where they want [...]