Funny Notes 35
Oldboy in London: New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee checks out O2, tweets with fans, disses Brooklyn Nets
Unfortunately criminally underrated in the greater popular consciousness as a film director (to wit: why are films like Clockers, The 25th Hour, Summer of Sam more well-remembered and -respected?), Spike Lee nevertheless enjoys tremendous notoriety as the world’s biggest, most visible New York Knicks fan – and as a fantastic Tweeter as well. Spike will […]
Los Angeles Lakers reported appeal: Please trade for Pau Gasol (with video)
Now here’s a scoop. Seemingly a new website, Ballerball.com may put itself on the map with some nice undercover work. Reportedly the website got access to an as-yet secret advert put together by Los Angeles Lakers Basketball Inc. on the subject of shopping that perpetual object of trade rumors, Pau Gasol. Sarah McLachlan unwittingly lends […]
Sonny Weems learns Russian, enjoys bathtub with cheerleader while hocking pizza
In a series of advertisements featuring CSKA Moscow players and dance team, Papa John’s hopes to be hocking a lot of pizzas in the big city. The advertising campaign is your fairly standard stuff; a representative sample runs starring Milos Teodosic, Andrey Vorontsevich, the team mascot and Anton Ponkrashov resembling the world’s largest pencil with […]
2012: The year in Euro-centric basketball highlight clips
What say we close out 2012 with a whole bunch of highlight clips? BiE knew you’d be willing. Tomorrow, a list of the most popular BallinEurope stories of the calendar year will be running, but today comes an attempt to encapsulate the past 365 days in European hoops, YouTube style. From Ibaka’s blocks to the […]
Merry Christmas wishes from BallinEurope – and from around the basketball world
BallinEurope would like to wish a very merry Christmas to the readers out there, with hopes that your holiday season is loaded with food, drink, love – and basketball! While the NBA is making this last item a reality with a swell slate of five games and a special Christmas-themed episode of the “Taking the […]
US Presidential Election 2012: America’s basketball diplomat hits hardwood for last-minute votes (plus Official Fearless Prediction™)
Love him or hate him after nearly four years in office, one thing is for certain: Barack Obama is the first basketball president – a fact that could curry lots of favor with Generation X and Y voters in a celebrity-charged election. Sure, Bill Clinton was lucky enough to enjoy his home-state University of Arkansas’ […]
On Barack Obama and basketball diplomacy
Note: This piece was first published in February 2012. Hosting dignitaries and politicos from Italy this week, U.S. president/basketball devotee Barack Obama recently gave an interview to the visiting media as well, naturally taking time to praise Italia’s representatives in the NBA. As self-proclaimed scholar of basketball diplomacy – perhaps the only one on the […]
Fighting words: Soccer coach describes basketball as not “a man’s sport”
The likes of Lebron James and Kevin Durant might be interested in hearing some fighting words dispatched by German soccer coach Dieter Hecking last weekend. Folks at the Deutscher Basketball Bund were aghast yesterday at the FC Nuremberg coach’s assessment that “This is a man’s sport; we’re not playing basketball.” Commented the German federation’s Facebookers, […]
Prokhorov watch: Media frenzy escalates (or, How do you say "Believe the hype" in Russian?)
Geez, maybe CBS should just go ahead and hire Mikhail Prokhorov to appear regularly; after all, the CSKA Moscow/prospective New Jersey Nets owner’s appearance on “60 Minutes” has made the American television program an international topic of conversation to an extent it hasn’t enjoyed in a decade, triggering hoopla, excitement and the inevitable blogging on […]
Aftermath cigarettes
The first Euroleague game day of the 2008/09 season is in the books – all the home teams won their games besides Avellino (Italy) who lost to Olympiacos, and SLUC Nancy (France) who got killed at home against FC Barcelona. Player that impressed me the most: Loren Woods. I know Will McDonald is the Euroleague […]