I received the following Onion-style news article by email – three separate times – this morning.  Once from a Laker-loving acquaintance in Las Vegas and twice from friends and family here in Utah:
Justice in Salt Lake City…
Salt Lake City, UT (AP) – A seven-year old boy was at the center of a Salt Lake County [...]

My grandmother used to make a dish that combined lime Jello with whipped cream and grated carrots.   It was a culinary sacrilege that was passed around the table, untouched, until some poor soul felt guilty enough to stab it with a spoon and take a small courtesy helping.
As disgusting as that Jello dish was – [...]

A year ago, Paul Millsap was making minimum wage (by NBA standards) and playing second fiddle to Carlos Boozer.  Following Boozer’s injury, ‘Sap got his chance and the rest is history.  The long streak of double-doubles, the blocked shots, the last-second circus shots, the hustle. . .the list goes on.
This year, we need someone else [...]

We often hear about the importance of a positive attitude and its effect on player performance, but we often overlook the importance of a coach’s attitude on team performance.
This past weekend, there were a couple of great case studies in coaching attitude that I’d like to share:
Bad Example – UNLV Rebels Coach Mike Sanford
The term [...]

A number of news articles last week mentioned how excited some of the Jazz players were about visiting Europe for a couple of pre-season games.  AK and Memo played soccer in their younger years and were eagerly anticipating their field trip to a Chelsea soccer match in London.
In all honesty, I’m not a huge soccer [...]

Old habits die hard, and after living in Vegas for nearly a dozen years, I still keep my eye on the betting lines.   With the pre-season rapidly approaching, I decided to take a look at the “NBA Futures” line.  Here’s how the oddsmakers see the 2009-10 NBA pecking order:

Western Conference Team
Open
Current
Playoff Seed
Probability of [...]

In the image-conscious NBA, players have to be very careful about what they say to the press.  This makes for extremely boring, patronizing, ultra-predictable post-game interviews that leave you begging for more.  Most players seem to go on press conference autopilot after the game, and we hear the same tired responses:
“We came out, played hard, [...]

I was channel surfing last week, and was delighted to discover that ESPN2 was airing the 1996 home game against the Celtics.  The contest was by no means competitive, but it happened to be the game that Stockton surpassed Mo Cheeks as the all-time leader in steals.  Hungry for basketball, I watched the entire game.
It [...]

One of the hardest things about being a high-profile sports figure has got to be the sheer amount of verbal abuse that they take from fans.  Most of the time, players seem to let it roll off their backs and do an admirable job ignoring it.  Occasionally, something snaps and a player will let the [...]