Terry Rains and I went back to Kean University for the Primetime Shootout on Sunday, joined by John Calipari and a few other notables. World Wide Wes was there acting secretive and saying hello to literally everyone that walked by.
Here are our thoughts on Findlay Prep’s bounceback game, and the No. 1 team in the nation against the No. 1 player in the nation:
From the first time I went to the Primetime Shootout — a young up-and-comer named LeBron James scored 52 points in Trenton — I was hooked. The tournament has always lured some of the best teams in the country, and it’s a great opportunity to get a handle on players you end up seeing at major college programs or in the pros.
(The tournament has hosted A-listers like Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony in the past. I’ve personally seen Luol Deng, Nolan Smith, Ty Lawson, Trevor Ariza and Sebastian Telfair.)
The Mega Group did a great job as usual organizing the Shootout, attracting not only a cadre of top teams, but a host of notables at courtside: The infamous World Wide Wes, Kentucky czar John Calipari, Murder Inc producer Irv Gotti, and former NBA players Ron Harper and NJ prep legend Dajuan Wagner.
I was joined on Saturday and Sunday by Terry Rains, a contributor to SportsAngle and Blue Devil Nation. We’ll have some video interviews in the next day or so, but for now, here are some of our thoughts, starting with Saturday:
Kobe Bryant sat on stage at Foot Locker on 34th Street in New York City on Friday night, his congenial nature thinly veiling his inherent razor-sharp focus, which had been on full display at Madison Square Garden just an hour beforehand.
Make no mistake: Though Kobe was relaxed and enjoying himself while entertaining and inspiring his young fans, his drive to succeed in all aspects of his career was on full display at Foot Locker Unlocked’s event to promote the release of the Nike Kobe VI Supreme/Rice.
I had to pick up a friend in Jersey City before the Super Bowl, so I was a little late getting to the restaurant at which my friends were watching the game. I actually missed the first quarter, which is fine with me as I wasn’t a fan of either participant in the game, and three quarters was plenty of buildup for last night’s Glee episode.
As I drove past numerous food and liquor establishments, I looked in windows and saw the game in every single one. I also saw it through the curtains of houses while listening to it on the radio. There are certain times you know pretty much everyone in America is doing the same thing, and the Super Bowl is probably the foremost among those times.
If I understood the ratings correctly, over 70 percent of American televisions were tuned to the game. It’s the whole package — the advertisements, the food, the halftime nonsense, an excuse to throw a party, the need to fit in. If you like football, obviously the game itself is a draw, but if you don’t, you still need to know who wins for the sake of history and pop culture. It’s sort of like a Presidential election.
And I got to thinking…
What happens if it all disappears?
Note — With the videos below, you might want to use headphones. The audio came in a bit low.
In response to Ed Randall’s question on Tuesday night about potentially adding another Wild Card team to the playoff scenario, Sandy Alderson furrowed his brow and said, “Well, I haven’t actually given it much thought…â€Â
He paused, and a wry smile crept in at the corners of the Mets’ new general manager’s mouth.
“Given our situation, I think I’d be in favor of it.†Fifty or so baseball fans nodded and chuckled.
As I sat in the MCI Center and watched LeBron James in the 2003 Jordan Capital Classic, his final game as a high schooler, I fantasized that the next time I’d watch him play live would be at Madison Square Garden.
And he’d be wearing Knicks blue and orange.
The Knicks, of course, did not win the 2003 Draft lottery — they only had a 1.5 percent shot at the No. 1 pick. I held out some hope for the magical Summer of 2010, but LeBron infamously decided that he’s not about saving franchises.
So though it wasn’t quite the way I imagined it, after eight years, I decided it was finally time to go see LeBron at the Garden.
The two Micky Ward-Arturo Gatti fights I attended rank up there with the Mike Piazza post-9/11 game as the best sporting events I’ve been to live.
As such, I’ve eagerly awaited The Fighter since first seeing the trailer. I’m just not good at actually carving out time to go to the movies, so it took me a while to see it after it released.
Bear in mind I’ve never actually done a movie review. I’m far from qualified to be a film critic, as evidenced by my affinity for Ichi the Killer. But for what it’s worth, I did very much enjoy The Fighter, as a fight fan and in general.
Of course, it was by no means a perfect film.
One thing I’ve learned after about a year of using Twitter is that it’s a refuge for people with way too much knowledge about stuff that nobody else cares very much about. As such, I’ve felt right at home sharing my views on St. Patrick high school basketball and Yelawolf mixtapes with a perfectly non-captive audience.
But every once in a while, the nonsense I know pays off — like a little while back, when I ended up somewhat randomly with an autographed jersey of Andre Iguodala.
I’d say that rooting for Mike Vick became a heck of a lot easier when I figured out he had the ability to help me fund a vacation to Cozumel in March.
In the tradition of last year’s post for Trumbull Island’s Decade-Ending List bonanza, where I threw together a list of the coolest/un-coolest athletes of the 2000’s, here’s my take on 2010. Some of the same names made it to this year’s list, since they’re still cool/uncool a year later. I have to admit that the research for this was non-exhaustive, and I’m not sure I’m actually qualified to be an arbiter of cool anyway, so feel free to point out anyone I’ve missed.