On Monday, November 6th, The Fordham Rams held their 2012-2013 Men’s Basketball Tip-Off dinner at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan. It was an opportunity to introduce this year’s basketball roster to the Fordham Athletic family and Alumni, and a chance for the program to give out the inaugural Johnny Bach Award.
Tonight at 7:30 ET the Nets open up their 2012-2013 campaign at home against the Toronto Raptors. This however is no ordinary start to the season for a franchise that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2007. As the Nets take the floor tonight it will not be in New Jersey at the Izod Center, but Brooklyn on Atlantic Avenue, home of the new 4.9 billion dollar Barclays Center.
Last year, future Hall-of-Famers Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Paul Pierce, and Dirk Nowitzki, who had accounted for all but two of the previous thirteen Larry O’Brien trophies, failed to add another Championship to their collection. It was the first time since the 1997-98 season that none of their respective teams reached the finals, and ABC couldn’t have scripted a more appealing showdown.
Many professional athletes make millions of dollars, but many lose it in a heartbeat. How is this possible? Why does this happen? Along with producer Alfred Spellman, Billy Corben directs his latest film Broke- which I had the opportunity to cover at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier in April- that attempts to answer these questions. Talking heads of current and former athletes narrate this story, providing anecdotal commentary and cautionary tales on their liquid state of compensation.
The phrase “Dream Team” is something of an untouchable when it comes to sports. It belongs to one team, and any comparison pales in its shadow or provides heated debate. Take for instance this year’s USA basketball team at the London Olympics, where mild back and forth ensued over 2012 versus 1992; who would have been better? But in Lithuania, during the Barcelona Olympics there was another Dream Team, one filled with talent, yes, but which also carried the pride of a nation that was silenced under Soviet rule for over fifty years.
Upon examining the Knicks’ 2012 Roster, a Knicks fan has to be happy. That said, the absence of one “Jeremy Lin” immediately changes the attitude of many. If you can get past the reality of Lin leaving, you‘ll soon warm up to the squad Mike Woodson will lead to the court come October.
Sixty young men heard their names called Thursday Night as they started their NBA Careers, but only about a third of those men had the privilege of embracing the commissioner on-stage afterwards. The rest sat at home and enjoyed the moment with friends and family. Regardless of how the players were notified, they were all thrilled to be chosen by an NBA team as a player they thought could help their team, or in some players' cases, save it.
Here are the top 10 available players in this year's draft. You can hear why I picked them, and what they have to say about the draft by listening to the audio report below.
As LeBron James danced on the floor of the American Airlines Arena in Miami this past Thursday, there was a sense of disbelief that the Heat had actually won the 2012 NBA Finals. The hatred of LeBron James allowed for a misperception of the Oklahoma City Thunder as the heroes that would stop the reigning MVP cold in his tracks.
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