7 posts tagged “basketball”
I have to give Nike mad props for this new advertisement that combines Marvin Gaye singing the national anthem at the NBA All-Star game in 1983 with images of the USA current men's Olympic basketball team. Brilliant!
I've become less and less of a sports fan as I've grown older. I was a huge Dallas Cowboys fan back in the days of Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, and Tom Landry. I remember crying like a baby when Dallas lost to the San Francisco 49'ers on Dwight Clark's "THE catch" in 1982. My mother laughed at me and told me "Son ... it's only a game". I pretty much gave up on watching the NFL and caring about it on that day.
I will always love basketball and especially the NBA. However the recent scandal involving NBA referee, Tim Donaghy and the way NBA Commissioner, David Stern handles NBA affairs has made me cynical.
I was a HUGE Hank Aaron and Atlanta Braves fan as a kid and have maintained a love for the two all of my life. I will not allow Barry Bonds chase of Aaron and the steriods controversy to effect my love for baseball.
However the recent events surrounding Michael Vick are appalling and have turned me sour to sports in general.
I'll still follow tennis and look forward to the upcoming U.S. Open. Nonetheless I've got a life to live and to be concerned with sports is no longer a valid means of escape, it's a distraction from what really matters in life.
One of my greatest literary and intellectual heroes is David Halberstam. I was shocked to be listening to the news on NPR on Monday morning to hear that Halberstam recently died in a car crash. I just had been reading a small piece that Halberstam wrote about French and Vietnamese cuisine for Gourmet magazine based on his experience as a correspondent during the Vietnam war. I saw Halberstam as a hero because he seemed to be a polymath and was equally adept at writing about sports, history, politics, and subjects like cuisine. Halberstam to me was a writer's writer. If you follow this blog then you know I LOVE basketball and Halberstam did too. Click here for a piece of writing Halberstam did to commemorate the NBA in its 50th year. Rest in peace Brother Halberstam, you were and are a true inspiration to me.
Don Imus should resign or be fired period. Kudos to Mike Derer for this intense photo that graced the cover of the New York Times this morning.
I truly enjoyed watching the Rutgers women's basketball team this year. Those women can hoop.
I love music and I love basketball. I just watched the YouTube clip of The Police performing "Roxanne" at this year's Grammy awards. AMAZING! Sting looked so hot in his black vest. Stewart Copeland still has his drum chops and then some. Andy Summers steadied the band with his rhythm guitar. I love this band and I am so glad they are touring again. I will have to try and see them.
When I lived in Boston. I tried rooting for the Red Sox for the first two years I lived there. Then I became disenchanted with the team's politics and the obnoxiousness of their ever obsessive fans. However being a basketball fan I did root for the Celtics and had the opportunity to go to several games at the then named Fleet Center. I haven't really kept up with the Celtics since leaving Boston but I know they are mired in last place in the Eastern Conference. Nonetheless there was a highlight of potential in the person of Gerald Green who won this year's NBA Dunk Contest. Green was drafted out of high school from Houston, Texas by the Celtics two years ago and shows great promise. If anything the kid has mad hops as they say (i.e. he can jump really high). I wish him much success in the future. Go to NBA.com and check out the video clips from the dunk contest. It was classic with Dr. Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, and Dominique Wilkins among the judges.
In case you haven't noticed I have taken the plunge into the blogosphere by using the Vox platform created by the organization at Six Apart. It's a pretty good system so far.
I have spent the past 8 months reading a great many blogs from all sorts of sources. Most blogs contain a blogroll. A blogroll is a collection of links to other blogs. You can often find blogrolls on the front page sidebar of most blogs. In the absence of a blogroll function as of yet in the Vox platform, I will periodically delineate from time to time, blogs that I read, blogs that I find interesting, and blogs that I deem important. It is my hope that Vox will offer a blogroll feature at some point. Also those of you who read this blog, please feel more than free to use the comment feature found at the top of each post. I'd love to hear what you think.
Blogs that I read, find interesting, and deem important:
White African - When I first began exploring the blogosphere I wanted to flesh out as many blogs as I could related to Africa and African-American subject matter. Lo and behold I came aross White African through a rather circuitous Internet search and have been very impressed by this young man's attempt to seriously broach the issue of African identity as well as an in-depth exploration of technology and its implications for the African continent. The author is indeed a "White African" and the subtitle of his blog is "where Africa and technology collide".
Womenfolk - I am a complete sucker for female singer songwriters. I admire and adore Joni Mitchell. I give utmost respect and propers to Odetta. I possess a wonder and fascination with the ethereal and breath taking vocal orchestration of Sarah Mclachlan. While living in Boston I made a point of seeking out any place and every place that Rose Polenzani
was busking and performing. I think she must have lived in Somerville at the same time I did because I caught her busking at the Davis Square "T" stop several mornings in a row during a particularly cold winter and her voice gave me comfort amidst the snow and frosty weather. In any case, Womenfolk is a blog devoted to women and their music. Most of it seems to be based on folk music. Although that description would be too limiting. It is also what is known as an audio blog. There are numerous links to audio files of the featured performers. I've been introduced to some great new music through this blog in the past few months. In particular I am interested in exploring more from Martha Berner and Kristin Diable.
Veerle's Blog - The past few months have found me reading a great many articles in the magazines "Business 2.0", "Fast Company" and "Businessweek". Buzz words in recent articles of those magazines include creativity, innovation, and design. I began reading more about design thinking and started paying attention to the blogs of graphic and web designers. I'll be writing much more about the whole area of graphic and web design at a later date. Suffice it to say that Veerle's Blog is perhaps one of the most visually stunning and most provocative sites on the Internet. I'm still a bit of a dilettante when it comes to graphic and web design however I plan to take a deep plunge in the next few months by learning Dreamweaver, learning more Photoshop, and getting my feet wet with Illustrator and InDesign. Veerle's Blog has been more than an inspiration.
CultureSpace - What can I say? M.S. Smith has almost identical tastes and interests to my own. His exploration of film and literature are always spot on. He even includes an occassional post on basketball, another big area of interest for me. I would prompt anyone who considers themselves a serious student of film or literature to read CultureSpace religiously. I know I do.
