Monthly Archives: March 2015

Joakim Noah’s Dedication to the Bulls

Leave a reply

By Ellen Chlumecky

March 10, 2015

Chicago sports’ teams seem to have a curse upon them. Whether they can’t catch a break with untalented players, a team that can’t get their acts together, or they’re plagued by injuries. The last time the Chicago Cubs won a World Series was in 1908. The Chicago White Sox haven’t won a World Series in 2005. While the Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup in 2013, they have the second longest Stanley Cup championship drought which lasted 47 seasons. While the Chicago Bulls had the Michael Jordan era, they are not without their slumps or faults.

The Chicago Bulls are remaining at a stand still. Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Pau Gasol are still under medical watch as they try to heal to make sure they’re at 100%. Just when it seemed like events couldn’t get any worse, the thought that Joakim Noah might be leaving soon to go play for France at the European Championship in September.

Thankfully for the Chicago Bulls, they will be able to hang on to Joakim Noah for a little bit longer. The Chicago Bulls center and fill in leader is unlikely to play for France in September for the European Championship. In addition to the teams’ serious of downfalls, Noah is also still recovering after his surgery on his left knee in the off-season. You could say that his season has been a little bit more than rough.

Noah told the L’Equipe newspaper that he was planning on focusing on his NBA career. He has made it clear the Noah’s first priority is building up his career with the Chicago Bulls. While he has stated before, “the French team is a great experience, but it has been my priority.” The France technical director Patrick Beesley also made it clear that if he decides not to play Euro Basket, he would be selected for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics either.

I think it’s quite noble of Noah to skip out on this opportunity to finish out his season with the Chicago Bulls. He clearly wants to show them what he can give and part of what he is clearly indicating that he can give, is his time. Noah is averaging 7.9 points and 10.1 rebounds this season. He comes in every day knowing that his team is down a couple of great players but the glimmer from his eye isn’t gone yet. He has stepped up this season and I look forward to seeing all he’s got to give.

Go back

Your message has been sent

 

Wake Up!…It’s Westbrook Time

Leave a reply

By Kaleb Page

March 10, 2015

In the greatest basketball league on the planet (the NBA) nightly you can be amazed by the talent on the floor. Whether you tune in to the Houston Rockets and watch James Harden, Cleveland with the three-headed monster of Love, Irving and James or in a small market like Milwaukee  where “The Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo  puts on a show.

While the league has many great players, the premium players are starting to make the push for the most valuable player trophy. Now I bet there are those out there acting like the funny vine saying that the only person for the MVP is LeBron James, LeBron James, LeBron James, LeBron James and LeBron James.

Yes I know James is the best player in the world and should be placed in the discussion for the MVP, but there is one player who has cemented his place in not only the discussion for the MVP but for the upper echelon of stars in the league.

This player is none other than Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook. For years there has been constant debate on whether or not Westbrook can play with Kevin Durant, also whether or not he can be a point guard in the league.

If you watched the video or even remember back a few years, the sentiment shown towards Westbrook was one of doubt towards his ability at the point and with Durant. Even recently there has been the same sentiment to doubt Westbrook on what he brings to the team.

Then came the All-Star Game.

Where Westbrook out-shined the stars on the court (Yes I know it’s a glorified scrimmage) putting up 41 points in 26 minutes; just one point shy of Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time record of 42 points (in 37 mins.).  That performance just rolled over into what has been an amazing start to the second half of the season.

On Wednesday night Westbrook scored 49 points, career-high 16 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth consecutive triple-double. Four straight triple doubles in the best professional basketball league in the world? Are you kidding me?!

Even though it was against the 76ers, you still better be giving out the love to what Westbrook is doing. Four straight triple doubles hasn’t been done since the great one Michael Jordan did it in 1989.

While Durant has been injured Westbrook has had to hold this team afloat in what is a deadly Western Conference. It still surprises me that Westbrook still is cast aside as the side dish to Durant, and still gets left out of MVP talks.

While there are few people rumbling for Westbrook to get the love; there still isn’t enough talk.

The guy,who plays with controlled chaos and as Stephen A. Smith says is the ‘ultimate assassin,’ needs to be out of the possible talks of the MVP and instead in the for sure talks of MVP.

Right now it’s Westbrook’s world and we just live in it.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Krzyzewski Toes the Hot Water

Leave a reply

By Kaleb Page

March 5, 2015

Scandals or being in ‘hot water’ so to speak, is nothing new in the world of sports. However, it can come as a surprise when it happens to a player, coach or institution you would believe to be of a higher standard.

A scandal on the horizon, could send major shock waves across not only basketball but the sports world.

Mike Krzyzewski is arguably the most recognized college basketball or even basketball coach in the world. It is much deserved with the great job he has done coaching the U.S. National team and eclipsing the 1,000 win mark in Division I men’s basketball. Another thing that has Krzyzewski in such high regard is they way he molds young men.

Known for getting players to buy in to the system, grow as individuals and ultimately leave as better individuals; Krzyzewski’s image is one that has grown into something nearly untouchable.

This leaves an important question to be asked. Is really anybody immune to having their image or legacy tarnished? We have seen it with coaches before like Joe Paterno, Bobby Petrino, etc., that there is nobody in the sports world (or even real world) that can be immune from a let down or even a moment that tarnishes an image.

Recently Duke dismissed senior guard Rasheed Sulaimon because he was “unable to consistently live up to the standards required to be a member of our program.” A surprising statement made since Krzyzewski has never before dismissed a player or said such a comment.

That happened on Jan. 29, 2015, but just this week there has been rumblings of a bigger story with the dismissal of Sulaimon. The Chronicle, which is Duke’s student newspaper, reported on Monday that two women alleged during separate student retreats in the 2013-14 school year; Sulaimon sexually assaulted them. The story goes on to say that the claims were brought to Duke’s coaching staff and athletic administration attention on March of 2014. Even though those claims were brought there, there was no official police documents filed by the alleged victims.

This story is still gaining its legs but if this grows and the claims are true, what implications could there be for Krzyzewski, the staff and administration? To know these claims were out there and to essentially pass them over would be a huge dark cloud over the Duke basketball program.

Hopefully either way the truth of the matter is found.

However for me this would be sad if another coach that I respect like Krzyzewski hid something important.

Only time will tell, but as they say this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Another One Bites the Dust in Chicago

Leave a reply

By Ellen Chlumecky

March 3, 2015

Earlier this week, All-Star Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls had meniscectomy to repair a torn medial meniscus in his right knee. On Saturday morning, February 28th, Rose was back at the Chicago Bulls’ training facility beginning his rehab process. However, we all know that once things seem good, they usually take a turn for the worst.  While Derrick Rose is going through rehab, Jimmy Butler is now scheduled to have surgery on his left elbow and Taj Gibson is now wearing a walking boot.

Jimmy Butler left Sunday’s 96-86 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers after hyper extending his left elbow. He left and did not return to the game. He’s now scheduled to have an MRI on Monday, March 2nd. Taj Gibson missed Sunday’s game after spraining his left ankle in Friday night’s win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Gibson is now wearing a walking boot. It’s not unusual because he’s missed a substantial amount of time this season because of the same ankle injury.

In addition to the injuries, Pau Gasol is currently under the weather. While he did play through the illness on Sunday, he’s still not 100%. He was a trooper by playing through an illness otherwise. It just seems as if the Chicago Bulls cannot seem to catch a break this past week. Three injuries and an illness, someone on the Bulls must have ticked off the basketball gods to receive this kind of karma.

Many Bulls fans and basketball fans alike have made their doubt known about Derrick Rose. Many fans are quick to say that the season’s done and Rose should just retire at this point. It doesn’t help that in addition to Rose, some of their best players are out as well. It doesn’t make the future look all that bright for the Bulls. To think they had a great chance with Rose, Butler, Noah, Mirotic, Gasol, and Gibson, now slowly being taken away from them by these injuries.

Joakim Noah seems to remain disheartened but certainly hopeful though. After their loss, he stated, Nobody feels sorry for us, we just go to hope he’s all right and come ready to work.” When your top players are out, I would be equally as discouraged as Noah. The Bulls need to know who their main line of offense is with Gibson and Butler’s uncertainty.

I believe that Joakim Noah needs to assert his leadership even more than before. The other players really look up to him and he has the skills to back it up. He’s there best hope for a true leader right now to lead the team to a successful victory.

Go back

Your message has been sent

 

Serena Williams: The Return to Indian Wells (Part I)

Leave a reply

This post comes from, Bowling Green State University Sport Management Professor and Maxwell Media Watch faculty advisor, Dr. Nancy Spencer.

By Dr. Nancy Spencer

March 2, 2015

On March 13, 2001, I sat in front of my TV, eagerly awaiting the sixth match that Venus and Serena Williams were to play against one another in a professional tennis tournament. The tournament was at Indian Wells, a small affluent desert community in California that was home to many retirees from the entertainment world.

About five minutes before the match was to begin, an ESPN announcer reported that there would be no live match since Venus Williams had ‘just’ defaulted. The announcement was made in front of a packed stadium of angry fans that proceeded to boo loudly. They felt like they had been robbed.

Unlike in team sports, when a superstar fails to play on a given date, the game goes on. LeBron and Kyrie may not have played against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, but the Cleveland Cavaliers still played. There may have been different match-ups, and fans may have been disappointed that they did not get to see Kyrie and LeBron, but they still got to see a meaningful game. When someone defaults in tennis – especially in the semifinals or finals, a substitute can step in to play an exhibition match, but it is not a meaningful match.

Unfortunately, for the Williams sisters, Venus’ default coincided with published reports (albeit in the National Enquirer) that their father, Richard, may have fixed their most recent match-up in the semifinals of the 2000 Wimbledon. Venus won that match and advanced to win her first Wimbledon title. The report (in the National Enquirer) was enough to fuel speculation that perhaps Richard Williams had fixed this match. There has never been proof to substantiate that or any other allegation, even though Venus and Serena Williams have made it clear repeatedly that it was difficult for them to play one another (since they are sisters as well as best friends).

Two days later, Serena met Kim Clijsters in the finals at Indian Wells. She could not have anticipated the boisterous environment she would encounter. Even as she was introduced and again, when her father and Venus entered the stadium, fans booed vociferously.

In response, Richard raised his fist, evoking the symbolism displayed by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics. Fans continued to boo Serena throughout the match, even when she hit winners and even at the end when she remarkably managed to come from behind to win in three sets. Later, Richard reported that he heard racist comments, including one fan who claimed that he was lucky it wasn’t 1975, or he would ‘skin him alive’ (Smith, 2001, p. 3C). The response from tournament director Charlie Pasarell was that those weren’t Indian Wells fans (Smith, 2001). That seemed a curious statement to make and certainly did not justify the unruly behavior in my book.

My immediate response to watching ‘tennis fans behaving badly’ was that racism in tennis was now visible for the whole world to see – except that this was Indian Wells, not the U.S. Open or Wimbledon, where the whole world would have been watching.

And this was before Twitter and social media would have quickly spread the news. In 2009, Serena’s autobiography was published, containing a chapter on ‘The fiery darts at Indian Wells.’ That was the first I learned Serena’s version of what happened in 2001 (in her own words) (Williams & Paisner, 2009). That was when I discovered that Venus had injured her knee during her quarterfinal match against Elena Dementieva.

On the morning of the semifinal, Venus checked in with the trainer, informing him that she didn’t think she would be able to play. What should have happened at that point was that an announcement of Venus’ withdrawal should have been made and another match should have been scheduled for the Stadium. But it wasn’t – for whatever reason. As a result, when Venus defaulted, it appeared that she made the call at the last minute and fans made the Williams’ sisters the scapegoats.

In her autobiography, Serena details the devastating impact of the fans’ behavior that she and Venus faced at Indian Wells in 2001. Because of that behavior, Venus and Serena determined not to return to Indian Wells since 2001… until this year… Serena is returning to Indian Wells.

Next week: Part II – Serena’s Return: How it Happened/What it Means

Go back

Your message has been sent

Kevin Stallings Has Some Nerve Talking About Sportsmanship

Leave a reply

By Ellen Chlumecky

March 2, 2015

There have been some great coaches in the history of sports. Coaches like Mike Ditka, Herb Brooks, Pat Riley, Pat Summit, and Vince Lombardi, made history by being dedicated, courageous, and obviously very tough. I’m sure that one of them has given their share of screaming matches with their players; however they probably weren’t broadcasted on television. I don’t think Kevin Stallings will be making the top 10 coaches of all-time list in the near future. This incident might be the reason why:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12390679&ex_cid=sportscenterTW

As you can very clearly hear in the video, Stallings says to Wade Baldwin, “I’ll kill you.” The reasoning behind his screaming was because he heard that Baldwin was clapping in Tennessee players’ faces after the final buzzer sounded. After Stallings heard of this poor sportsmanship, Stallings confronted Baldwin during postgame handshakes and demanded that he apologize. Baldwin appeared to ignore the Vanderbilt coach. This resulted in Stallings’ outburst.

While Stallings apologized for his comments in a release by the university, does it really make it acceptable? While he did mention that it was his haste to resolve the situation the spurred the inappropriate reaction, it doesn’t exactly make it acceptable. While everyone has their flaws, a statement of that nature should never be uttered by a coach to one of their athletes or one of their students.

Stallings said that Baldwin has “got some things to learn, some growing up to do if he’s going to play in this program.” Isn’t that a little ironic? It seems as if Stallings might want to join Baldwin in that little “growing up” process he’s supposed to be participating in. While he’s apologized to the student, you never know what Baldwin is thinking either. While he tweeted that he wasn’t offended or took not offense, do we know for sure if he’s nervous or scared about what Stallings said to him?

At the end of the day, the coach is someone who is supposed to be a role model and someone the athletes are not supposed to be scared of to come to with problems or concerns. Most of the time, they’re their first line of contact whenever something is happening in their life. Would you feel safe reporting to a coach that has once threatened to harm you? It’s hard to understand why someone would feel so comfortable screaming such obscenities on the court in front of fans, families, other fellow athletes, and students. There is a fine line between being tough and being cruel. While I understand what Baldwin did was immature and selfish, hold in your anger till you can calm down and rationally talk to your players.

Go back

Your message has been sent

 

 

King James isn’t happy…but why?

Leave a reply

By Kaleb Page

March 2, 2015

Arguably the best basketball player in the world, LeBron James, is not happy.

You might ask yourself how is such a man unhappy? Especially when you are the proclaimed savior of Northeast Ohio, making millions of dollars just to play a game and happen to be on a team that is rising force in the league; winning 17 of the last 19 games.

The reason James is mad involved something a bit more personal. His 10-year-old son, LeBron James Jr. (aka ‘Bronny’), has recently become a target for college basketball recruiters.

Yes you read that correctly, Lebron James Jr. a 10-year-old is already getting offers by colleges to play basketball. Something that made his dad take a step back.

“Yeah, he’s already got some offers from colleges. It’s pretty crazy. It should be a violation. You shouldn’t be recruiting 10-year-old kids.” -LeBron James (from Mike Sullivan of CBS Detroit)

Even though none of the schools were mentioned, it does drive home a point that I think we should be more critical of in the media. This being the over-hyping of child athletes before they have fully matured or even went through all the levels they still have to go through in their amateur play.

Sometimes the hype is for real but it has to beg the question what type of pressure are you already putting on kids at such a young age? Especially those who are children of well established professional athletes.

Now I guess it is easier said than done in today’s sports society. Where results are based on getting to the creme of the crop first, getting them to commit to you and then produce at your school. It probably makes it even harder on recruiters to not go after James Jr. when his dad makes comparisons between himself and his son.

“He plays just like I did. He has great awareness, and he’d rather pass first and set guys up. Most kids nowadays just want to score.” -LeBron James (from Mike Sullivan of CBS Detroit)

Since James never went to college because there was no rule about going to college for one year, you better believe that the race for the next wave of talent donning the last name James will be a race to sit back and watch.

I agree with LeBron in how ridiculous it is to even recruit kids that young. There is still an 8 year window where a lot can happen. That kid could have a change of heart and not even like the sport, lose that ‘it’ quality that had you as a recruiter drooling, an unforeseen injury could happen or even worse that young prodigy doesn’t pick your school at all since you pressured him since he was 10.

It will be interesting to see if there is any action by the NCAA to maybe produce a ban on recruiting at such a young age. It will also be interesting to see how Lebron James Jr. handles his success and ultimately what he does in the future.

For now enjoy a video of the young man ballin’ it up below.

Que the scouts drooling.

Go back

Your message has been sent