Baseball is wearing me out through its apparent indifference to fans, but I likely won’t feel a lot better about it when they finally start playing. The MLB Players Association made a counter offer yesterday to the owners counter offer, and so it will go until finally commissioner Rob Manfred orders players back for a 48 […]
The NBA will return to the court on July 31st in Orlando for 22 of the league’s 30 teams. They will play eight regular season games each and then the playoffs will begin for the traditional 16 teams. Unlike Major League Baseball, whose greedy owners and players seem at loggerheads as to when or whether their game […]
Is it worth going into the emptiness of emotional darkness and denying yourself the affection of peers in the pursuit of championships? That’s the question that lingers from watching ESPN’s The Last Dance. Michael Jordan was at home in that lonely darkness. He understood it was necessary to work with singular focus and demand the same level of work […]
There is a rule in drama that for every hero, there must be a villain. That’s just the way it is, and no one messes with that construct if they want to sell tickets or get great ratings. The Last Dance has followed that rule through all eight episodes we have seen so far. Michael Jordan is […]
On the last day of February, the Indiana Pacers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-104 in front on 19,432 fans at Quicken Loan Arena. T.J. Warren scored 30, and both Domas Sabonis and Myles Turned posted double-doubles. The following day, Indiana lost by a single point 67-66 to Illinois at the State Farm Center in front […]
Postgame handshake lines are moronic and theatrical exercises for fans who want to believe the results of games aren’t important enough to make or ruin anyone’s day. Fans just can’t embrace the idea that basketball opponents dislike one another as they compete – or after. So when the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons failed to congratulate […]
This is a story depicting an event that never happened in 1995 but should have: Thursday, December 28, 1995 Both general manager Jerry Krause and Michael Jordan confirmed rumors of a one-sided and bizarre physical confrontation between the portly executive and the three-time MVP. “I had enough from Michael, so I swung,” the physically unimposing Krause […]
The Last Dance takes a fascinating look at the final season of one of the most compelling teams in the history of the professional – the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan is reaffirmed as a relentless and demanding leader. General manager Jerry Krause is portrayed as a socially inept oaf whose arrogance almost derailed that final […]
Sitting at the Big 10 Tournament as Indiana played Nebraska, The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz leaned over and showed me a tweet that Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the Coronavirus. In that moment, we both knew the world changed. A few minutes later, the NBA suspended its schedule. There was an audible […]
If the NBA returns with a pod system of several cities where all 30 teams will play the remainder of their schedule without fans in attendance, Indianapolis would be a perfect host city for a variety of reasons. Click here for your copy of “Oops – the Art of Learning from Mistakes and Adventures” by Kent […]
