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This isn't specifically basketball-related, though he did encounter his share of hoops memorabilia: Bill Russell's signed Converse All-Stars, a replica of Larry Bird's Wooden Award, this awesome collection of throwbacks, a copy of Dr. J. vs. Larry Bird in: One on One, old-school card sets like this and this, a 1969 Minnesota Pipers Schedule featuring Connie "The Hawk" Hawkins, a Robert Parish RC Cola can, and... a game-worn Keith Closs Clippers jersey. (Which one of these doesn't belong?) It was all part of ESPN's Bill Simmons' trip to the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland, where he encountered what would be (for me) a bankruptcy-inducing amount of awesome items from years gone by. He wrote about the experience here, but the best part is this monstrous photo gallery chronicling all the cool stuff he saw during his visit. Is it just me, or is there something about old sports memorabilia that can turn even the most level-headed consumer into a crazed spendaholic?
I don't typically link directly to YouTube vids, but here's a brand new mix from KBlaze, one the net's best mixmakers, celebrating the highlights of The Admiral, David Robinson. D-Rob is one of our favorites here at the blog because his numbers were simply off the charts at his peak in 1993-94 & 1994-95. Yes, Hakeem did him dirty in the playoffs, but because he was on the wrong end of a few Dream Shake highlights (which I would challenge anyone to stop, btw) we don't think he's been treated fairly by the general public over the past 15 years. So here's to you, Mr. Robinson:
(Bonus points for old-school Craig Sager footage at the beginning, too. Didn't know that guy owned a suit that wasn't ridiculous...)
Sometimes I mark the passage of time in my life by the sporting events that happened in a given year. Is that weird? Maybe so. But still, I'm prone to associating particular years with certain happenings from the world of sports -- for instance, I hear 1997, I think of Tiger Woods' historic victory at Augusta. 1998? Michael Jordan's "last shot". 1985? The start of the Celtics' dominating run to championship #16. Oh, and I was also born that year, can't forget that. But mostly I think of the Celtics.
Back in high school, Leroy made the varsity team instead of Mike. Mike was motivated by this, and became the greatest of all time. Now Leroy wants to motivate you, too.
(For those wanting the real story behind the site -- and, yes, Nike is obviously behind it -- go here. As an added bonus, it also has all of Leroy's "infomercials" embedded on one page. Love that Charlie Murphy!)
I love the breakdowns Gian Casimiro provides at Seven Seconds or Mess, and in the latest webisode, he takes a look at how the Celtics D has handled Dwight Howard so far this series. A lot of buzz has been about how few shots Dwight's been seeing, to the point that Howard himself even complained about his touches after Game 5. But 7SoM explains why Howard isn't an easy guy to get quality looks for:
This past week, ESPN.com's John Hollinger rolled out a new stat that compares a player's PER (Player Efficiency Rating) to that of a "replacement-level" player, in an effort to incorporate minutes played into an evaluation of the player's worth. Said JH:
