‘You know why I’m a millionaire?’ He said, ‘Cause I can throw my fastball where I want to.’ He said, ‘You know why I got beachfront property in LA? Because I can change speeds.' | | | | The important basketball sneaker ever.
(Focus on Sport/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “‘You know why I’m a millionaire?’ He said, ‘Cause I can throw my fastball where I want to.’ He said, ‘You know why I got beachfront property in LA? Because I can change speeds.'”
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| | rantnrave:// I'd like to start out by apologizing for this newsletter. I was up late watching the DIAMONDBACKS last night... The JORDAN I is my favorite basketball sneaker of all time. It's classic. A simple design and color combination. An elegant shoe. I was talking to someone Thursday about the Jordan brand and I wonder if his shoes will be his legacy, outliving his playing career. Can someone commission a study on the 25-and-under set to see what they associate Jordan with more?... Couldn't afford the AIR JORDANS as a kid so I had a pair of NIKE AIR MAX DUNCANs... I wonder how much bigger FILA could have grown if GRANT HILL hadn't gotten hurt... The NBA FINALS and STANLEY CUP FINALS are both still going but only one has a pulse. The WARRIORS are probably the best team of my lifetime -- the only thing stopping me short of certainty is sentimentality. SIDNEY CROSBY is definitely the best hockey player -- I was too young for Gretzky in his prime. Which tickets would you prefert: to see the Warriors clinch the greatest playoff run in NBA history or to watch Game 6 in NASHVILLE in a series that's still thriving? Is historic greatness more entertaining than competitiveness? The ratings bumps say viewers are responsive to both. Maybe we just want to see stars on the biggest stage... The oral history of the ALLEN IVERSON and REEBOK partnership... Dance more... JEFF JORDAN runs the most important basketball game in SILICON VALLEY. | | | - Mike Vorkunov, curator |
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 | ESPN FC |
| Seven months ago, Brazilian underdogs Chapecoense boarded a plane to play in the game of their lives. Instead, their biggest moment turned into a tragedy no one can forget. | | |
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 | B/R Mag |
| When 15-year-old Jordan Edwards was killed by a police officer (and maybe even took a bullet for his brother), his high school football team did the only thing that felt right: play on. | | |
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 | Nice Kicks |
| Over the past two decades, he’s enjoyed a rise to icon status during a time in which the perfect storm of sports, music, hip hop and entertainment all came together. To get the definitive account of Allen Iverson’s journey through the NBA and his landmark deal with Reebok, I spoke with key stakeholders through a series of more than twenty interviews. | | |
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 | The Ringer |
| How Andreessen Horowitz’s Jeff Jordan turned a pickup game and a team sports mentality into a successful VC strategy. | | |
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 | Golf |
| Two decades ago Steve Trattner discovered the breathtaking property for what would eventually become Erin Hills, host site of the 117th U.S. Open. But on June 15, when the national championship gets underway, Trattner will watch on TV in the prison where he has resided for the past 11 years, having served less than one third of his sentence. | | |
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 | The Drum |
| Like many sporting bodies, the English Football League (EFL) has been seduced by the promise of the commercial gains to had by becoming a broadcaster in its own right. But first, it has to nail the fledgling offering to advertisers. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| While some league guard their rights carefully, the NBA embraces social media as they gain American millennial and international fans. | | |
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 | ESPN |
| Draymond Green believes his infamous swipe at LeBron James' groin cost Golden State the title in 2016. Zach Lowe shares the inside story of how the Warriors forgave him -- and how it helped the franchise put together a team for the ages. | | |
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 | CNN |
| Dancing is often considered a recreational activity and all too often overlooked for the positive physical, mental and social health qualities. | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| Despite his incredible gifts, and attendant laurels of appreciation, there has always been something of the Man of Sorrows about LeBron James. | | |
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 | Sports Illustrated |
| The media landscape is just a tad different for Bruce Arena on his second time around as U.S. men's national team manager–but don't expect him to start tweeting anytime soon. | | |
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 | MMQB |
| He may be the youngest coach in NFL history, but the Rams’ new head man is in unquestioned command of his team. Word for the wise--no daydreaming in meetings! | | |
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 | The Boston Globe |
| That spin-jab-step back move he pulled on the Celtics? Just try to do that in "NBA 2K." | | |
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 | Yahoo Sports |
| When will Shohei Otani, the too-good-to-be-true pitcher/hitter, leave Japan? No one knows, but sooner the better for MLB. | | |
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 | The Buffalo News |
| For UB, it was strictly about numbers -- $2 million in savings, 120 athletes affected, leaving the minimum required 16 sport. To others, however, it was about lives turned upside down. | | |
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 | The Hardball Times |
| Pity the sideline reporter -- especially if she's wearing a white dress. | | |
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 | Vice Sports |
| Or: How a 30-year-old college dropout became the voice, brains and de facto PR man of a global gaming empire. | | |
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 | The Globe and Mail |
| Boys, girls, men and women of Chinese descent from all over North America were invited to the MasterCard Centre to take part in a two-day identification camp as the country casts a net beyond it’s borders for athletes eligible to play in the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. | | |
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 | Bloomberg |
| Qatar is spending $500 million a week to bring the world’s biggest sporting event to the Arab world for the first time. Its neighbors, the intended spectators, are blocking supplies from cement to door handles that the country needs to pull off the feat. | | |
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 | ESPN UK |
| A baseball only weighs 6 ounces, but it does a lot of damage when you're on the wrong end of a 90-plus mph fastball. Up close and personal accounts of being hit by a pitch. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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