Orlando arena workers seek help from local non-profits
Posted on | Tuesday, November 8, 2011 | No Comments
At least one player has realized what these workers have lost, but one nice dinner does little to assuage months of financial pain. They need more help, and some have reached out to charity. From Josh Robbins for the Orlando Sentinel (via EOB):
In addition to some concerts and a few other events, about 1,000 people worked inside the arena on Orlando Magic game days and game nights. Those folks were employed as security guards, ushers, ticket-takers, vendors, cashiers, parking-lot attendants and waitresses and waiters. Some jobs paid minimum wage, but that income often supplemented the money people earned at their day jobs.
But the ongoing NBA lockout is taking its toll.
"These are the people that greet us with a smile," said Pastor Scott George, who runs�the Community Food & Outreach Center, a nonprofit that is offering help to game-night workers.
"They hand us our ticket. They hand us our hot dog and Coke. They clean up after we leave. And, now, they are the forgotten people that no one is talking about."
George estimated that between 40 and 75 game-night workers have used the Community Food & Outreach Center's services over the last few weeks. He said he's unsure of the exact number because some game-night workers are afraid that if they say something, they might not be able to go back to their jobs�when the lockout ends.
The article has no information on similar programs in other cities, but it's a good idea that will hopefully spread soon. Arena workers don't have a say in collective bargaining talks and have no effective methods of voicing their displeasures. They're innocent bystanders and deserve some help.
On the other hand, there are many people in their situation in cities across the country. Lots of workers struggle to make ends meet, and they'll need help after the lockout ends. Hopefully the story of arena workers won't bring attention just to their plight, but to those of people who remain in need in perpetuity.
Bob Cousy Dave Cowens Billy Cunningham Dave DeBusschere Clyde Drexler
Days of NBA Lives: Wherein Kevin Durant is finally bad at something
At this point, seemingly half the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.
Josh Childress: I'm sitting next to someone eating jack in the box tacos. Quite possibly the nastiest, greasiest food I've ever seen
Steve Francis: Verdict in Conrad Murray. Hopefully it's the right one. He in my "hood" hope my security rate don't go up. Smgdh
Nazr Mohammed: In business ur never suppose to make it personal or make an emotional decision but I think it's going that way.
Evan Turner: Listening to some Adele..that lwts you know that I'm really out here in these streets #thuglife
Spencer Hawes: @KDTrey5 needs to refine his booray skills.
You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @freemaneric.
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'No deal' Saturday; Stern sets Wednesday deadline
Posted by Ben Golliver.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association resumed negotiations on a new collective bargaining on Saturday afternoon in New York City -- the first time the sides had met face-to-face in more than a week -- with federal mediator George Cohen once again presiding over the talks. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported that talks concluded after more than eight hours with "no deal" being reached. There are currently no further negotiating sessions scheduled between the two sides.Saturday's session began at roughly 2 p.m. and stretched past 1 a.m. and included all the major players: NBA commissioner David Stern, NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver, NBPA executive director Billy Hunter and NBPA president Derek Fisher.
Nate Thurmond Wes Unseld Bill Walton Jerry West Lenny Wilkens
Authorities say Globetrotters trainer found dead
Walt Frazier George Gervin Hal Greer John Havlicek Elvin Hayes
Raptors fan sues the team for making his front row seat a second row seat
A Toronto Raptors fan is suing the Raptors' ownership group for $1.6 million because�it constructed a new row of front-row seats directly in front of what used to be his front-row seats in 2007.
The Raptors? They claim that Mark Michalkoff isn't so much a "Raptors fan" as he is a "Raptors season-ticket holder." The team hasn't responded to Michalkoff's complaints personally, while contending that he essentially purchased the ducats to re-sell through his ticket brokering business.
The Toronto Star, via SB J.E. Skeets, has the story:
After a flurry of court filings, unsuccessful mediation and a lengthy discovery process over the past four years, Toronto businessman Mark Michalkoff's complaint against MLSE is heading to a courtroom.
A trial over the dispute is scheduled to start Nov. 15 in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto and is expected to last a week.
"All we were looking for was for MLSE to say they were sorry, but they didn't even answer us," said Michalkoff, who is suing MLSE for $1.6 million.
"Then they insult us by calling us scalpers in a counterclaim," he told the Star. "I'm ready to go to court and have it out. I don't think there's anything they can do to stop it now."
Rajani Kamath, an MLSE spokesperson, declined to comment."
Both sides, apparently, are going to have their work cut out for them.
Michalkoff may run a sort of ticket brokering program, but it seems pretty legal under his claims (which are more than likely bogus) that the�5 percent charge he takes from the companies that buy his Raptor tickets is just in place to cover the cost of shipping the tickets to the new buyers within the company gift cards his business creates. To the dollar, he claims, which makes this exercise (on paper, at least) a non-profit venture.
If this can be documented, and you've got to be pretty sure it can be (there�is a reason these ticket brokers, illegal on some levels, stay in business for decades), then this can be explained away in court and the Raptors won't have much to support their claim that Michalkoff's reselling of Raptor tickets "was deliberate, intentional and done in blatant disregard for MLSE's rights."
Then again, there is no way that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment put any sort of language into its contract with Michalkoff that guaranteed that these seats would stay in the front row and/or unobstructed for the length of their deal.
The hack-y sports writer take would be to ask an Ontario judge to review the 41 home games a year the Raptors played during Michalkoff's time as a season-ticket holder. If he's present for, say, 21 of those? Then he makes the cut as a fan. Anything less and he's a broker. Also, this is a terrible idea.
Michalkoff is probably going to be on the outside (or second row) looking-in with this case, especially after he predated his demand for $1.6 million with a vague demand for "justice and a public apology" from MLSE.
You can't blame the Raptors or any other team from attempting to shoehorn more profits into their massive arenas. After all, even with the fans so close to the action and high-definition cameras at every turn, how many regulars do you see time and time again in front row seats at NBA games? Every night, there are new faces, even if the owners of those seats stay the same.
Which is why it isn't difficult to understand why the Raptors put the new front row in. They weren't really screwing over Raptor fans. They were screwing over the people that bought Raptor tickets as an investment.
(Note, the above picture does not include an image of Michalkoff. In fact, we're pretty sure that's Steve Schirripa, flanked by a person Steve probably thinks is Tom Arnold, Charlie Sheen in his "Iron Chef" costume, a young Justin Bieber, an old Mark-Paul Gosslear wondering how mobile phones got so small, and obviously Mike D'Antoni. Also seated in the front row is author J.D. Salinger, in a photo taken before his death in January of 2010, wearing some sort of felt dinosaur costume in order to preserve his anonymity.)
Paul Arizin Charles Barkley Rick Barry Elgin Baylor Dave Bing
Video: Nike says ?Basketball Never Stops,? makes ad to prove it
Posted on | Monday, November 7, 2011 | No Comments
There's no NBA right now, but the lockout hasn't exactly lacked for basketball. If anything, the various summer league and exhibition contests around the country have provided fans more glimpses at the best players in the world than they'd get during the summer prior to the Olympics. Basketball has not stopped.
Shoe companies, however, tend to base their ad campaigns around basketball played at the highest level. They usually need players in NBA uniforms, or at least in a setting where hard work and determination matters. Without the NBA infrastructure, their usual commercials don't make a lot of sense.
Nike still wants to sell shoes, of course, and thereby acknowledged that a change was needed. What it ended up with, a new 90-second spot called "Basketball Never Stops," debuted over the weekend via the company's YouTube page. It has quickly amassed more than 500,000 views. If you missed it, you can check it out above. If you want an opinion on it, read after the jump.
What's notable about the commercial, in addition to the stellar lighting and general craft, is its lack of reliance on the NBA. There are clips of people playing pop-a-shot, Dirk Nowitzki working out in an otherwise empty gym, Kevin Durant playing in a rec-league game, and all manner of other basketball that's not played in front of 20,000 people who paid high prices for their tickets. Like a recent Jordan Brand ad, it's about love of basketball.
It's also probably more effective than a spot about Durant beating NBA defenses in an important moment. Everyone can aspire to be a great basketball player, but they can't necessarily identify with their situations on the court. Yet everyone who buys Nike basketball shoes knows what it's like to play on a city blacktop or in a small gym. It's a setting everyone understands.
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Video: Watch Michael Jordan soar and bang his head on the backboard in 1983
We love hoops, in any form, at any level. Boy or girl, man or woman. And we are, sincerely, looking forward to this year's 2011-12 NCAA hoops season, even if the NBA's lockout decides to resolve itself by the end of the working day on Thursday.
And then we see this clip, via TBJ, of Michael Jordan soaring to swoop in and block a shot during a 28-year-old North Carolina/Duke game in 1983, and immediately ... well, watch:
Hurry back, NBA. Jerks.
Moses Malone Pete Maravich Kevin McHale George Mikan Earl Monroe
Memphis? boss knows ?little? about the lockout; lockout knows a lot about Memphis
In many ways, the Memphis Grizzlies are at the heart of this NBA lockout; much in the same way the city of Memphis lies in the heart of the continental 48 states.
Small-market team? Yep.
Did the owner pay too much for them in 2001? No doubt.
Locally financed arena? Of course.
Expensive helpers like Dick Versace, Hubie Brown, Chuck Daly, Jerry West and Mike Fratello hired to help the fledgling team through the lean years. You remember.
Too high of a payroll, for too long, as the team attempted to make the first round of the playoffs from 2004 to 2006? Definitely.
A billionaire owner who has gone great guns elsewhere, but wants revenue sharing to offset the wild ways he's spent on a team whose market doesn't really pay for its payroll? That would be Michael Heisley. And Heisley, whether he's being coy and duplicitous or really just doesn't care, is pleading the fifth on lockout back and forth. From the Memphis Commercial Appeal (via SI.com's Zach Lowe):
"I know very little. I'm not on the negotiating committee so I can only tell you that I think on both sides -- all of us -- hope we have a season," Heisley, the event's keynote speaker, told a crowd in the Holiday Inn at the University of Memphis. "The players want to play. The owners want to play. It's a difficult negotiation. But they are all working very hard."
Ladies and gentleman, please introduce yourselves to the Rasheed Wallace of NBA owners!
The "I know very little" line can and probably will be taken out of context. You may not be much of a fan of Heisley, but he's also asked to act innocuous on-record by the NBA and that's exactly what he's done.
With that in place, as much as any owner out there, Michael Heisley needs to be on the negotiating committee. As we talked about earlier in this post, his team's plight (even if it could be one of the Western Conference's up and comers, and have made the playoffs four times since Heisley bought the squad 11 years ago) is symptomatic of an NBA spending culture gone wrong.
We've been huge fans of Brian Cardinal for decades, and appreciated his on/off court splits following his 2003-04 season, but it was the Grizzlies that signed him to a giant mid-level exception deal soon after. They hired expensive non-GMs to give the franchise credibility. They went after Eddie Jones and Damon Stoudamire in 2005 so as to sustain a run at the West's eighth seed. They dumped Pau Gasol on a big-market team (in what then looked like a lopsided move, though it allowed for Memphis to eventually secure perhaps the best center/power forward tandem outside of Los Angeles) in 2008. They have ideas above their station, while still crying poverty every few years.
Heisley's team has no doubt been brought up by both sides in this NBA labor negotiation, and though we've no qualms with him saying what he said in front of Memphis Commercial Appeal reporters, he should probably stick his nose inside the negotiations more often -- even mindful of the fact that too many cooks often spoil the broth.
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Michael Jordan's Bobcats partners want out
Posted by Ben Golliver.
At the same time that NBA legend Michael Jordan is reportedly leading the way for his fellow hard-line owners around the league when it comes to the ongoing labor negotiations, he's apparently dealing with some disorder in his own house. The Charlotte Bobcats majority owner is reportedly dealing with defections among his minority owner partners.The New York Daily News reports that a "big piece" of the Bobcats is for sale.A minority stake in the Bobcats has recently been put up for sale, the Daily News has learned. 
Isiah Thomas Nate Thurmond Wes Unseld Bill Walton Jerry West
Hardline owners, led by Michael Jordan, could send lockout negotiations into a tailspin
A near-majority group of 14 NBA owners is set to dig in its collective heels as the league prepares to negotiate with its players on Saturday in an attempt to end the 4-month-lockout. According to the New York Times, a cadre of angry owners wants nothing to do with even the limited concessions the NBA has made so far in its lame attempts at good-faith negotiations over the last two months. And with the group led by Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan, things could get worse before they get any better.
The owners' faction includes between 10 and 14 owners and is being led by Charlotte's Michael Jordan, according to a person who has spoken with the owners. That group wanted the players' share set no higher than 47 percent, and it was upset when league negotiators proposed a 50-50 split last month.
According to the person who spoke with the owners, Jordan's faction intends to vote against the 50-50 deal, if negotiations get that far. Saturday's owners meeting was arranged in part to address that concern.
A majority of the 29 owners are believed to support a 50-50 deal, but they are reluctant to move further.
"There's no one who's interested in going above 50 percent," said the person who has spoken with the owners.
(If you're wondering about the "29 owners" reference, remember there are 30 NBA teams, but the New Orleans Hornets are owned by the NBA until the NBA can find a suitable buyer that will make the NBA look good by keeping the team in New Orleans.)
[Related: Large contingent of players mull decertifying union]
Of course, this reminds of Michael Jordan's infamous catcall at late Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin from the 1998 lockout negotiations, when Jordan yelled, "If you can't make a profit, you should sell your team," at the longtime owner (Jordan has owned the Bobcats for 17 months, Pollin had owned his Wizards for three decades by that point). But that's neither here nor there for a pair of sides that have been duplicitous (though the owners are better at it) and unreliable (the players, 'natch) since "negotiations" began.
Beck went on to report the Jordan-led group of owners initially wanted to give the players just 37 percent of all income the league earns from people who pay money for things that are associated with basketball players playing basketball. It's ridiculous to ask any 48-year-old like Jordan to act like he did 13 years ago, even when discussing the same subject -- and especially now that he's on the exact opposite side of the bargaining table. But a 37 percent share? On what planet does that seem like an accurate representation of why the money goes where it does?
[Related: Amnesty rule could cloud Baron Davis' future]
Of course, the players aren't much better off. They've given up far, far more�over the course of these negotiations (in real dollars, and not just backing off hopeless bargaining lines as the owners have). And while the difference between 52 and 50 percent in terms of basketball-related income is quite a bit of money, at this point the players are haggling over a symbolic gesture -- that a league that derives popularity from its players should earn the majority of the related income, even if it's just a few ticks away from an even split. On top of that, the influence of player agents and scared superstars has turned the Players Association into a distrustful, colluding mess.
There's a good chance Saturday ends it all. A sound chance that both sides will come to their senses under proper leadership, ignoring fringe (if familiar) groups and making headway on what really isn't an even split. Apologies for continuing to sound like a shill for the pathetic players union, but it is true the players are getting destroyed here, even if the owners take a few steps toward the middle this weekend.
Or, more likely, there's a good chance Saturday ends it all in a much nastier way. Including the moves that could lead to the cancellation of the 2011-12 season, if we're to get specific, with the players moving to attempt to decertify their union and a group of barely minority (one vote away) owners digging in. Winter is just around the corner, and the two sides in this battle are more stubborn and acting more ridiculous than ever.
Have a great weekend, NBA fans.
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Shaq sues former IT employee over selling of personal emails
Shaquille O’Neal is suing a former information technology employee the former NBA great claims invaded his privacy by selling personal emails that damaged his reputation.
The lawsuit was filed against Shawn Darling in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. It seeks an injunction barring Darling from providing O’Neal’s emails to anyone, unspecified damages and the return of all O’Neal’s [...]
Dave Cowens Billy Cunningham Dave DeBusschere Clyde Drexler Julius Erving
Deron Williams is ready to decertify
Posted by Royce Young
David Stern gave the players an ultimatum Saturday: Take this deal or get ready for a worse offer. And the players don't have much left to hit back with though. Stern's got the PR battle won. The proposal he laid out in great detail sounds fair enough to fans so if -- or when -- the players reject it, all the blame is on them. So with the frustration built from what the players perceive as another weak offer, the decertification train jumped back on the tracks and appears to be running full steam ahead. Jared Dudley retweeted a reporter that tweeted "Hello decertification." Jeff Green tweeted "I CAN'T F'ING BELIEVE THIS!!!" Nazr Mohammed went on another one of his asture, well-thought out Twitter rants. 
Julius Erving Patrick Ewing Walt Frazier George Gervin Hal Greer
Knicks owner is happy that NBA salary cap will stay high
Knicks owner James Dolan is frustrated the lockout rages on and the club?s season opener tomorrow against the Heat at the Garden has been wiped out. But Dolan, part of the owners? negotiating committee, is content about one of the agreed-upon aspects of a new collective bargaining agreement: the size of the salary cap will [...]
Nate Thurmond Wes Unseld Bill Walton Jerry West Lenny Wilkens
Game on? Durant, LeBron mull flag football tilt
Posted on | Sunday, November 6, 2011 | No Comments
Sam Jones Michael Jordan Jerry Lucas Karl Malone Moses Malone
Game on? Durant, LeBron mull flag football tilt
Robert Parish Bob Pettit Scottie Pippen Willis Reed Oscar Robertson
Atlanta Hawks will not be sold to Alex Meruelo or anyone
The Atlanta Hawks will not be sold to California developer and pizza chain owner Alex Meruelo.
In fact, the NBA team is no longer on the market.
The Hawks? ownership group, headed by Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon Jr., said Friday that the agreement for Meruelo to buy the team had been mutually terminated by both sides. [...]
Willis Reed Oscar Robertson David Robinson Bill Russell Dolph Schayes
In new book, Shaq explains how his relationship with Kobe went sour
If you've followed basketball for any amount of time over the past decade, you are probably well aware that Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant don't get along with each other particularly well. Even before Shaq was traded to the Heat in 2004, it was common knowledge that their relationship had become untenable. Since then, there have been profane freestyle raps, barely veiled insults, and plenty of other incidents. It's the feud that won't die. The NBA even promoted it as its top rivalry for years after Shaq had lost his status as one of the best big men in the game.
Now that O'Neal is retired and a full-time media personality, he's written a new book about his life and career with the help Hall of Fame writer Jackie MacMullan called "Shaq Uncut: My Story." Not surprisingly, there are several stories about Kobe. Deadspin has several excerpts, which we have excerpted even further after the jump.
So I'm on edge because I don't have a new deal, and Kobe is on edge because he might be going to jail, so we're taking it out on each other. Just before the start of the '03-'04 season the coaching staff called us in and said, "No more public sparring or you'll get fined." ... Phil was tired of it. Karl Malone and Gary Payton were sick of it. ... So what happens? Immediately after that Kobe runs right out to Jim Gray and does this interview where he lets me have it. He said I was fat and out of shape. He said I was milking my toe injury for more time off, and the injury wasn't even that serious. (Yeah, right. It only ended my damn career.) He said I was "lobbying for a contract extension when we have two Hall of Famers playing pretty much for free." I'm sitting there watching this interview and I'm gonna explode. Hours earlier we had just promised our coach we'd stop. It was a truce broken. I let the guys know, "I'm going to kill him."
Kobe stands up and goes face-to-face with me and says, "You always said you're my big brother, you'd do anything for me, and then this Colorado thing happens and you never even called me." I did call him. ... So here we are now, and we find out he really was hurt that we didn't stand behind him. That was something new. I didn't think he gave a rat's ass about us either way. "Well, I thought you'd publicly support me, at least," Kobe said. "You're supposed to be my friend."
Brian Shaw chimed in with "Kobe, why would you think that? Shaq had all these parties and you never showed up for any of them. We invited you to dinner on the road and you didn't come. Shaq invited you to his wedding and you weren't there. Then you got married and didn't invite any of us. And now you are in the middle of this problem, this sensitive situation, and now you want all of us to step up for you. We don't even know you." ...
Everyone was starting to calm down when I told Kobe, "If you ever say anything like what you said to Jim Gray ever again, I will kill you."
Kobe shrugged and said, "Whatever."
[...]
From that day on, I was done dealing with Kobe. I was done dealing with Jim Gray, too. What goes around, comes around. When he got fired, he actually had the nerve to call me and ask me to help him out. What, did you lose Kobe's number?
Shaq adds:
He was so young and so immature in some ways, but I can tell you this: everything Kobe is doing now, he told me all the way back then he was going to do it. We were sitting on the bus once and he told me, "I'm going to be the number one scorer for the Lakers, I'm going to win five or six championships, and I'm going to be the best player in the game." I was like, "Okay, whatever." Then he looked me right in the eye and said, "I'm going to be the Will Smith of the NBA."
My first Lakers season we had a couple of rookies, and we hazed them pretty badly. We were dogging them out constantly. It was "Go get my bags, go get me something to eat." It was kind of a rite of passage in the NBA that a lot of teams do, but we probably went a little too far with it. One of the rookies?Derek Fisher?just took it. The other rookie?Kobe Bryant?ratted us out to Jerry West.
There's more in the Deadspin post, including some tough-guy talk aimed at Jim Gray and a very silly, unnecessary story about snail-mail correspondence with Halle Berry during Shaq's time at LSU. The Kobe passages are the clear headline grabbers here.
The specifics of their falling out are interesting, even if their feud is old news for NBA fans.� Lakers fans will be especially interested, I'm sure. But who outside of Los Angeles still harps on these he-said, he-said tiffs? Now that Shaq's retired, does Kobe even care anymore?
We'll find out if Shaq's book doesn't sell many copies. With stories like this one, it's the market that ultimately determines relevance.
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Decertification: The Nuclear Option
By Matt Moore
With reports surfacing Thursday night of a possible coup being attempted on the part of outraged players with regards to concessions granted by NBPA leadership in negotiations with the NBA on a new CBA, the talk is now shifting to the courts. Players are threatening an "involuntary decertification," in which 30 percent of union membership signs a petition to bring a vote to the union with regards to decertification. From there a simple majority would be needed to decertify the union. That opens the way for the players to bring individual antitrust suits, which could potentially damage the owners and even end the lockout. But what does any of this mean?To find out, we spoke with David Scupp of Constantine Cannon LLP, an antitrust firm based on the East Coast. Let's try and get to the bottom of what any of this means. 
Dave Bing Larry Bird Wilt Chamberlain Bob Cousy Dave Cowens
Video: Red Auerbach treats his polite Celtics to some watery beer
�
Me, earlier Friday:
Don't tap your foot excitedly in anticipation of both sides coming out of a New York hotel on Friday evening with a handshake agreement in place, ready to go hoist a few and take in Game 7 of the World Series at some wings hut.
Me, right now:
1). Red Auerbach, Bob Cousy, Don Nelson, Sam Jones, Tom Heinsohn and K.C. Jones. If that plane ever crashed, the NBA would forget how winners were made. Kind of like the thing with the secret about what goes into Coca-Cola. Or Borax.
2). I want to be in bars where men in giant mustaches and bow ties bring me pitchers of beer. I don't care if�some of these places still exist and they�repeatedly play Cher songs on the jukebox, this needs to be a more common thing.
3). "Miller's Lite Beer: Everything you've always wanted in a beer. And less" shouldn't be an insult to Miller Lite, but it is.
4). They were smokers and drinkers, but�I'll be damned if those Celtics didn't have the best manners in the league.
5). I want to go to there.
Bob Pettit Scottie Pippen Willis Reed Oscar Robertson David Robinson
Spurs GM Buford charged with DWI, report says
Bob Cousy Dave Cowens Billy Cunningham Dave DeBusschere Clyde Drexler
Shaq sues former IT employee over selling of personal emails
Shaquille O’Neal is suing a former information technology employee the former NBA great claims invaded his privacy by selling personal emails that damaged his reputation.
The lawsuit was filed against Shawn Darling in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. It seeks an injunction barring Darling from providing O’Neal’s emails to anyone, unspecified damages and the return of all O’Neal’s [...]
Nate Archibald Paul Arizin Charles Barkley Rick Barry Elgin Baylor
Introducing Steve Nash?s new clothing line, and side-parted hair
Posted on | Saturday, November 5, 2011 | No Comments
Steve Nash has developed his own clothing line, which should probably work well for the all-world point guard. After all, the two-time Phoenix Suns MVP has long been one of the more stylish players in the NBA, at least since he hit his 30s. Still, the idea of Nash running an upscale clothing line based on cufflinks and three-piece suits seems a bit off, at absolute best. Or, to hear Eric Freeman tell it, "The Steve Nash Collection should be a thin T-shirt, cargo shorts, and Toms shoes."
That said, Steve and his stylized schmatta looks good. Real good. The slicked-back Gordon Gekko haircut on Nash may be a bit of a miss, but the get-ups tend to work, and you can tell hip and in touch with haute couture I am because of the way I still use phrases like "get-ups."
Here's a bit of the old Nash rambling along, though, via SB Steve McAllister:
(He sort of looks like Pete Campbell. I'm not sure how we should feel about this.)
There are also ties, and cufflinks, and a stern visage from Steve in a few of these photos, if you visit the website offering these wares.
There's also this -- something called "The ultimate Steve Nash experience," which we're assuming has to be tied into some sort of charity on some level, right?
Whatever the impetus, if you enter the contest via Facebook you can win a trip for two to see a Suns game (which will take place sometime in 2013, we're guessing), along with hotel accommodations, spending money, a pair of suits, and "a postgame handshake with Steve Nash." Not "from" Steve Nash, but with him. Sounds like a trip, man.
Also, the Phoenix Suns were set to tip off their 2011-12 season against the Oklahoma City Thunder a week from Wednesday before the first two weeks of the NBA season were canceled. Try not to jab a Steve Nash-styled cufflink into your forehead after being reminded of that fact.
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Phil Jackson says Chicago Bulls overachieved last season
The Chicago Bulls finished 62-20 to secure the No. 1 seed in the NBA last season, advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals and Derrick Rose became the Bulls’ first league MVP since Michael Jordan played for Phil Jackson in the 1990’s.
What does all of this mean to Jackson?
“I think they overachieved last year as far [...]
Hal Greer John Havlicek Elvin Hayes Magic Johnson Sam Jones
Introducing Steve Nash?s new clothing line, and side-parted hair
Steve Nash has developed his own clothing line, which should probably work well for the all-world point guard. After all, the two-time Phoenix Suns MVP has long been one of the more stylish players in the NBA, at least since he hit his 30s. Still, the idea of Nash running an upscale clothing line based on cufflinks and three-piece suits seems a bit off, at absolute best. Or, to hear Eric Freeman tell it, "The Steve Nash Collection should be a thin T-shirt, cargo shorts, and Toms shoes."
That said, Steve and his stylized schmatta looks good. Real good. The slicked-back Gordon Gekko haircut on Nash may be a bit of a miss, but the get-ups tend to work, and you can tell hip and in touch with haute couture I am because of the way I still use phrases like "get-ups."
Here's a bit of the old Nash rambling along, though, via SB Steve McAllister:
(He sort of looks like Pete Campbell. I'm not sure how we should feel about this.)
There are also ties, and cufflinks, and a stern visage from Steve in a few of these photos, if you visit the website offering these wares.
There's also this -- something called "The ultimate Steve Nash experience," which we're assuming has to be tied into some sort of charity on some level, right?
Whatever the impetus, if you enter the contest via Facebook you can win a trip for two to see a Suns game (which will take place sometime in 2013, we're guessing), along with hotel accommodations, spending money, a pair of suits, and "a postgame handshake with Steve Nash." Not "from" Steve Nash, but with him. Sounds like a trip, man.
Also, the Phoenix Suns were set to tip off their 2011-12 season against the Oklahoma City Thunder a week from Wednesday before the first two weeks of the NBA season were canceled. Try not to jab a Steve Nash-styled cufflink into your forehead after being reminded of that fact.
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LeBron, Durant explain 'Basketball Never Stops'
Posted by Ben Golliver.
You wouldn't think a self-evident catch-phrase like Nike's "Basketball Never Stops" would require further explanation, but that didn't stop the shoe giant from releasing a companion piece to its recent ad starring LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki and Amar'e Stoudemire.In the companion video, James, Durant, Nowitzki and others explain what the phrase "Basketball Never Stops" -- an obvious nod to the ongoing NBA lockout -- means to them."No matter where you're at, no matter what time of the day, you can always have a love for the game, and you can always play the game," James explains. "You could be playing inside your house with your loved ones or at a rec league with kids, or playing at a rec league with 40-and-over guys, it doesn't matter. The game of basketball never stops no matter what's going on in the world because people love the game that much." 
Wes Unseld Bill Walton Jerry West Lenny Wilkens James Worthy