Steroid scandals in sports, most particularly baseball, have been dominating sports media for a couple of years now. I thought that there really wasn’t anything I could possibly care less about, but the New York Times proved me wrong with an article on steroid use among hip-hop artists. Actually, the Times story is a report… Continue reading Steroid Madness
Category: Basketball
College Basketball Gets a Little Quieter
Having ranted at great length about the awfulness of Dick Vitale’s caterwauling during games broadcast on ESPN, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that he’s having vocal cord surgery. In his own words: The past six weeks have been very emotional for me and for my family as we’ve visited some of the… Continue reading College Basketball Gets a Little Quieter
Maryland vs. Illinois
The first half of Maryland’s 69-61 win over Illinois was as ugly a half of basketball as you’d ever want to see. It actually resembled our lunchtime pick-up games in some ways– lots of really clever passes being throw to guys who weren’t ready, weren’t able to catch the ball, or just weren’t on the… Continue reading Maryland vs. Illinois
Maryland-UCLA
A college basketball game takes a bit over two hours– 2:10 is pretty typical, what with all the timeouts and miscellaneous stoppages of play. A blowout takes a bit less, a close game a bit more (what with all the intentional fouling at the end), but it’s a rare game that finishes in under two… Continue reading Maryland-UCLA
Multimedia Trash Talk
In one of those “Living in the Future” sorts of moments, our regular lunchtime pick-up basketball game has an email listserver. Pretty much every day there’s a game, there’s some email chatter and trash talk. My signature comment is to describe one of the other players as being “Weak like a really weak thing.” One… Continue reading Multimedia Trash Talk
The Teammate Desirability Factor
Over at the World’s Fair, Dave is asking people for their scientific eponyms, that is, the formula they would like to have named after themselves. These are, of course, entirely made up. Here’s my contribution, from the scientific study of pick-up basketball: the Orzel Teammate Desirability Factor (TDF): The Factor ranges between positive and negative… Continue reading The Teammate Desirability Factor
One Game Too Many
The phenomenon is familiar to anybody who plays pick-up basketball. (It might be unique to pick-up hoops– none of the other sports I play regularly involve multiple discrete games.) You get a bunch of players together, and you play a game to 15. Then a second game to 15. And, hey, that’s a pretty good… Continue reading One Game Too Many
The Crucial Lunchtime Hoops Demographic
Setshot lurches back to life to point out the only Democratic primary coverage I need to read: a New York Times piece on Barack Obama’s love of pick-up basketball: From John F. Kennedy’s sailing to Bill Clinton’s golf mulligans to John Kerry’s windsurfing, sports has been used, correctly or incorrectly, as a personality decoder for… Continue reading The Crucial Lunchtime Hoops Demographic
Changing the Rules
Saturday’s Georgetown- Ohio State game was hyped as featuring a clash of two seven-foot centers, but failed to live up to that billing, as Greg Oden picked up two quick fouls, and sat for most of the first half. Roy Hibbert of Georgetown didn’t fare much better. This has prompted a bunch of pinhead commentators,… Continue reading Changing the Rules
Basic Concepts: Pick and Roll
Having watched UCLA set offensive basketball back about fifty years in the first half of last night’s game (I didn’t watch the second half, as the outcome wasn’t in doubt, and really, I’d rather stab myself in the eye with a fork), it’s worth taking a few minutes today to discuss one of the most… Continue reading Basic Concepts: Pick and Roll