Category: sports

Allez les nerds!

Zidane, Del Piero, Daleks, Cybermen, Rabbids, it’s all the same.

A good day for sports.

Or at least for the Twins and Heat.

Winter Olympic notes.

Hip new sports, Americans hoisting themselves by their own petard, and more gnashing of teeth over my continuing lack of cable.

All the interesting basketball news happens off the court.

Basketball is a beautiful game, but what’s really great (or awful, or awfully great) about it is that it’s a space where issues of race, class, and gender collide and swirl around, conflicts and questions played out and mashed up on a stage for all to see.

Keeping it real?

Riding the bus this morning, I saw a kid wearing a Carmelo Anthony jersey. This wasn’t sky blue-and-white Nuggets gear, though; this was the yellow and red of Oak Hill Academy.

NBA Finals, 2005: Game 7.

Duncan grabbed the offensive rebound, pump-faked, and put the ball in the hole, drawing a foul. Then — and you could see the monkeys flying off his back as he shot it — he hit the free throw.

NBA Finals, 2005: Game 6.

The Spurs and the Pistons are both defensive-oriented teams, but beyond that, they have very different styles.

NBA Finals, 2005: Game 5.

Game 5 of the NBA Finals was far and away the biggest, best game of Robert Horry’s long playoff career.

NBA Finals, 2005: Game 2.

When your team is down by 21 points and Darko Milicic is on the floor with four minutes left in the game, you know it’s over.

NBA Finals, 2005: Game 1.

For fair-weather fans riding the Heat and Suns bandwagons, this matchup is going to be a slow, ugly grind, but even if you’re not a fan of great defense, both teams are capable of executing a lovely half-court offense.

Lynx 66, Sun 91: Relax, it’s just the preseason.

Late in the game, Nicole Ohlde finally realized that there was no way that Margo “Shawn Bradley” Dydek could keep up with her, and started spinning around her at will.

The Bleacher Bums.

I had totally forgotten that today was to be the “official” launch date for the site until I heard a plug for it on the radio.

A slow crash, like an iceberg.

It’s terrible, being relieved that your favorite team’s season is over.

Spring has sprung! Or at least is currently springing!

It’s spring, people, and I am giddy. Giddy!

All-stars and Blazers and Wolves, oh phooey.

Both of my teams are stuck in mediocrity, and I’ve been reduced to the most abject, pathetic state a basketball fan can find himself in.

Trades and Fisticuffs: it must be the NBA season.

Apparently, the best way to shed the JailBlazer image is to find someone even crazier than you.

Get a haircut, ya hippies!

A quick note to the Boston Red Sox and to sportswriters everywhere.

Storm 74, Sun 60: I’m trying very hard to avoid the obvious puns.

For the first time since I’ve started following the WNBA, I didn’t really have an emotional investment in either of the teams playing in the Finals. That didn’t stop me from enjoying them, though.

Twins def. Yankees 2-0; Storm def. Monarchs 82-62; Democrats tie Republicans 0-0.

It was a busy night in sporting, as baseball and women’s basketball both had important playoff games played. The future of our political landscape also hung in the balance, but that’s nothing compared to five double plays.

Lynx 54, Storm 64: Time to look ahead.

The Lynx were knocked out of the playoffs by Seattle, doomed by their propensity towards turnovers. Now there’s nothing left but to look ahead to another offseason of rebuilding.

Argentina 89, USA 81: I come here not to bury hoops, but to praise it.

The USA didn’t lose this game; Argentina won it. That’s not what you’ll hear from all the fans and pundits, though.

Lithuania 94, USA 90: Upsetting, but not an upset.

As strange as it sounds, the U.S. almost upset an undefeated Lithuanian team today, but melted down in the last few minutes to give up another Olympic game.

Puerto Rico 92, USA 73: C’mon, you gotta be kiddin’ me.

The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team is not playing in an exhibition tournament. Someone forgot to tell them this, and they lost in a big way to an overachieving Puerto Rican team.

Do androids dream of having a nice changeup?

Because everyone knows: pod people don’t get any run support.

Van Gorp comes out.

Michelle Van Gorp talks about being a lesbian in the WNBA, same-sex marriage, and various other issues.

Pistons win NBA Championship.

Detroit finally put the Lakers out of their ever-increasing misery tonight, winning Game 5 and the championship, 100-87.

If the Lakers are in the finals, it must be Tuesday.

I get to enjoy another season of watching the most smug (smuggest?) team on earth play for yet another set of rings to add to its collection.

One league’s postseason is another’s preseason.

I spent most of my time marvelling at the cushy first-row seats I was sitting in, but I managed to pay a little attention to the game and jotted a few notes about the players while I watched.

But hope springs eternal.

A hotshot draft prospect named Lindsay Whalen, however, has thrown a wrench in my armchair GM plotting.

Nothing lasts forever.

For the first time in 22 years, the Portland Trail Blazers will not be participating in the NBA playoffs.

Jumping on the bandwagon is fun and easy!

I’ve happily jumped on the M’sota Gophers bandwagon, following Janel McCarville and Lindsay Whalen on their impressive run through the NCAA tournament.

The end of an era in Portland, but hopefully not the playoff era.

Portland has somehow managed to trade Rasheed to Atlanta for Shareef Abdur-Raheem and Theo Ratliff.

Timberwolves 112, Kings 109.

You might lose a game now and then, and the Timberwolves have definitely lost their share over the years, but you will never lose because of KG.

A ray of hoops hope.

It looks like management is starting to make some moves to repair the team’s image, trading Bonzi Wells for Wesley Person, a draft pick, and cash.

Sega ESPN Basketball: not quite chocolate and peanut butter.

What’s nearly impossible to simulate is the pleasure of watching bodies in motion, sweat and muscle moving through space to put a ball through a small hole.

Marlins win World Series; more importantly, Yankees lose.

The Florida Marlins beat New York tonight, 2-0, to win the 2003 World Series.

Who said baseball was boring?

The Marlins make it really hard to root against them, continually small-balling and gut-checking their way to wins.

Twins 3, Yankees 1

The Twins won with their fielding, the Yankees lost with their lack of the same, and closer Eddie Guardado treated us to the usual heart attack.

Twins clinch playoffs.

Now to see who the opposing team is (probably the Damn Yankees).

Shocks beat Sparks; sportswriters start looking for new puns to make.

The Detroit Shock beat the Los Angeles Sparks, 83-78, to win the WNBA Championship.

Lynx vs. Sparks: 74-72. Yes, the scores are listed in the right order.

After a huge second-half comeback, Minnesota is now unbeaten against L.A. in playoff games, thanks to Tamika Williams’s last-minute steal and layup.

Playoff time!

The Lynx have clinched a playoff berth for the first time in team history.

Hrbek forgive me, for I have sinned.

Is it ever OK to root for the Yankees?

The end of the NBA season.

The San Antonio Spurs beat the New Jersey Nets tonight 88-77, to win the 2003 NBA Championship.

NBA shocker: One team actually scored more than 90 points!

Some quotes from the game.

Garbage time.

84-79 is the kind of score you see in a high school playoff game, not in an NBA championship series.

Basketball in the summer… what a crazy idea!

Svetlana Abrosimova is a stud. I don’t know if it’s ok to refer to WNBA players as “studs”, but when you’re battling for rebounds and leading the fast break like that, “stud” is the word that comes to my mind.

Later than expected, but still the end of the road.

A good solid game, and we can go into the offseason with our dignity intact, which is more than anyone expected after a season that could be politely described as “tumultuous.”

The Blazers’ team motto? “Beat L.A.”

Today’s game against L.A. was the only Blazer game this season to be broadcast on ABC, so I made a point of watching it. And my boys made it worth it, with a huge 101-99 win over the dread Lakers.

When good teams go bad

Going into the last week of the NBA season, the Blazers have managed to distract themselves yet again with another round of citations and infighting.