Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport, Part 1

So early last week, Big Little Brother Scribbler sent me a text saying that he was on his way to Houston for the announcement of Allen Iverson's possible induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame along with four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal.  When he mentioned those names, it reminded me of two things: 1) being happy when the Sixers took Game 1, but being disappointed when the Lakers swept the rest of the series; and 2) when basketball was still competing with football as my favorite sport.  Although Michael Jordan had retired for the second time in 1998, Dominique Wilkins (my favorite player of all time) retired a year later and Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing were on the downside of their careers, the new breed that included Iverson, O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett were keeping the party going.  However, somewhere along the way, I stopped watching as many regular season games because 82 games just became too much to follow and I simply focused my energy on the playoffs--treating what was once my favorite sport with the same attentiveness that I give the MLB.  So what made me trade in what seemed to be an undying love for basketball for just a casual and sometimes strong like?  Well, in the first of what has become a two-part series, "Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport," I will discuss the more personal reasons why I am no longer as smitten with hoops as I was in the 80s, 90s and early 00s...

Scribbler's Black History Milestones: The Wide World of Sports

So I have a confession to make: in the past five years or so, I have not celebrated Black History Month in the way that I grew accustomed to doing when I was a child, teenager and young adult.  Maybe I've had a few self-righteous moments of feeling like Black history should be celebrated all year long.  Then again, maybe I was just too lazy to uncover more pivotal moments in our historical landscape.  Thus, one of the two ways that I have decided to commemorate Black History Month this year is to celebrate several people and/or events in different areas of our society that not only display the heritage of our people, but also provide a little more depth to the American narrative. After watching quite a few documentaries in the past week or so, I was inspired to begin this series in one of my favorite areas of discussion: sports.

"Boo This Man" Moment of the Week: Mike Rice & Tim Pernetti

(Yeah yeah yeah, I know this all unfolded last week, but you have yet to hear my take and I know that you've been waiting for it because my opinion means soooooo much to you.  Besides, I needed a week to really get my thoughts in order about this mess.  So buckle your seat belts, ladies and gents...)

Imagine sending your 18-year-old son to Rutgers University to play college basketball.  You're excited to see him take his talent to the next level and get a good education while he's at it, whether he decides to go pro or simply wants the experience of playing at a Division I school.  You leave him in the hands of an adult that you assume will not only teach him how to improve upon his game, but will also have your child's best interest at heart overall.  Never would you think that this same adult would utter words like this to your child: "You're a f*ck*ng fairy...you're a f*ck*ng f*gg*t."  Okay...so maybe you didn't make such an assumption because you've heard about coaches cursing out their players.  I'll give you that one concession.  However, I'm sure that you never thought that a supposed leader of young men would shove, kick or punch them; hurl basketballs at their heads, feet or groin areas; or beat them with pads because they didn't perfectly execute a play as it was drawn.  What would you do if you knew that former Rutgers Scarlet Knights Head Coach Mike Rice was verbally and physically abusing your son and other kids over a span of 2-3 years?  Not days...not weeks...not months...years.  I'd put money on your reaction mirroring LeBron James' tweet: "If my son played for Rutgers or a coach like that he would have some real explaining to do and I'm still gone whoop on him afterwards!"

Are You Not Entertained?!?! The Glorification of Gruesome Sports Injuries



By now, most of you have heard about or seen the lower leg injury that Louisville Cardinals' guard Kevin Ware suffered playing against the Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA Midwest regional final on Sunday.  With a little over six minutes remaining in the first half contesting a three-point shot, Ware came down awkwardly on his right leg, which bent at a 90-degree angle and led to an open fracture where nearly six inches of bone protruded through his skin.  In a scene filled with coaches crying, teammates regurgitating and an arena full of people praying for the sophomore guard, it is arguably the most horrific injury ever seen on a basketball court.  CBS, who aired the game, may have shown the replay a total of three times and that's it.  Other media outlets like ESPN showed it afterwards and gave warning to their viewers of its graphic nature.  I didn't actually see it as it happened, but once I heard about the specifics the next morning, I had no desire to see any replays.  Only by research for this particular post did I come across a few of the bone protrusion pictures.  To date, I still haven't seen the video and don't want to see it.