Basketball

How Chris Bosh and Lady Gaga reinvented Earth

In his book “Hip: A History”, John Leland argues that hip is a result of the mixing of cultures and ideas, each of which builds off the other. It’s why yesterday’s crime is today’s cool and tomorrow’s passe. He also argues that the image of cool “has pushed steadily towards androgyny. Nothing is cornier than […]

Basketball

Can’t anybody here call this game?

Legend once has it that as manger of a hapless New York Mets team destined for over 100 losses, their manager Casey Stengal rhetorically asked “can’t anybody here play this game?” After watching some of the NBA’s pre-season I know how he felt. Not about the players, most of which have been playing pretty well, […]

Hockey

The new-found chutzpah of Brian Burke

Brian Burke is not afraid to take a risk. His latest move as general manger of the Toronto Maple Leafs was to trade the Leafs’ next two first-round picks and a this-year’s second rounder for Phil Kessel, who he then signed for five years. Any move involving the Leafs is bound to sound big, but […]

Hockey

Sympathy for the Coyotes

Jim Balsillie is not going away quietly. He wants to buy a NHL team. He is willing to pay dearly for one, much more than others are willing to pay. His latest bid for the Phoenix Coyotes is over $212 million, much more than the only other major offer, a $140 million deal put forth […]

Baseball

The Toronto Malaise strikes again

Throughout most of the summer, the hottest baseball trade rumors focused on Roy Halladay, then (and still) a starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. With the Jays having by that point sunk from leading the AL East to fourth in their division, their season all but lost, it appeared their ace pitcher was available […]

Football

Is Michael Vick’s signing a message to Donovan McNabb?

The signing of Michael Vick by the Philadelphia Eagles came as a bit of a surprise to most football fans. While it had been widely reported that Vick would be back in the NFL – with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots being floated as his two most likely destinations – few would have […]

Other Sports

The merit of Bill Simmons on PTI

Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon are the cantankerous and argumentative hosts of ESPN‘s Pardon the Interruption five days a week – or so. When they don’t, the show has a long list of people who fill in for either or both of them. It’s a list that includes media stalwarts like Bob Ryan and Jason […]

Basketball

The Real Shaq, raw and unfiltered

Both Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal have accounts on Twitter. Both are fan favorites, extremely talented basketball players and were teammates on the Phoenix Suns last season. But there’s a slight difference between their Twitter accounts. Nash has a little over 61,000 people following him, O’Neal has nearly 1.5 million. Shaq has used social networking […]