Greece 147
Invisible to insane: The six types of basketball team owner
They say that no one has ever bought a ticket to a sports event in order to see an executive but with two weeks of American and European basketball club owners hogging sports page headlines, BallinEurope got to thinking about these moneyed celebrity types who run the teams we watch … and the often disturbing […]
“We are here to work”: Opening up the post-Euroleague semifinal quotebook
Since last night’s games ended, it’s been a blur of press conferences and meetings for us here in the press section at the Euroleague Final Four … so here’s another round of wit ‘n’ wisdom from the men guiding and playing the games. On winning “Yesterday, we played beyond our limits. My players gave everything. […]
Euroleague Final Four head-to-head matchups: Partizan Belgrade vs. Olympiacos
Whoa, the Final Four starts in two days? Almost unbelievable. But enough digression! Yesterday, BallinEurope presented a brief position-by-position rundown of Friday’s FC Barcelona-CSKA Moscow game. Today, a consideration of the late game, Partizan Belgrade vs. Olympiacos. Similarly to the early game, Partizan-Olympiacos also features a matchup between classic plucky underdog versus season-starting prohibitive favorite. […]
Update: How to sing along with Olympiacos
In reference to yesterday’s post on Euroleague final four fight songs, reader Simos, whose Greek is certainly, like, way better than mine, was kind enough to provide an English translation of the lyrics to “ΘΡΥΛΕ ΤΟΝ ΓΗΠΕΔΩΝ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΕ” (a.k.a. “Thryle ton gipedon, Olympiake,” a.k.a. “Olympiacos, legend of the courts”). Words Greek nor English can express […]
Sofoklis philosophizes in brief Euroleague interview
“Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.” – Sophocles BallinEurope would be highly remiss if i didn’t turn you onto the Euroleague’s official interview with one of the main men ‘round this ‘site, Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Somewhat disappointingly, it’s fairly standard stuff, though Big Sofo does offer some insight into stopping the Partizan game, […]
Jordan Brand Classic scoop: Roster changes, player briefs, how to watch online
Just in case international youth basketball fans weren’t sated by the recent Albert Schweitzer and Nike Hoop Summit youth tournaments, perhaps the upcoming Jordan Brand Classic in New York today will go a bit further in sating the craving. Three games will be played between some of the world’s finest U18 players. Game two of […]
Kahn reiterates: Rights to Rubio are untouchable
Minnesota Timberwolves general manager David Kahn reiterated his bold stand on the team’s overall no. 5 NBA draft pick, Spanish wunderkind Ricky Rubio, to the Minnesota Star-Tribune last night. To wit: Rubio is untouchable in this off-season. The move by the man they sometimes call KAAAAAAAAAAAAHN prompted Star-Tribune writer Jerry Zgoda to collect quotes on […]
Red alert: Heating-up Sofoklis goes off in All-Star Game
Look out, upcoming Olympiacos opponents: Big Sofo is just starting to heat up. After a marginal season in Euroleague play up in the early going (BiE is blaming it on that H1N1 the big man contracted in the autumn), Sofoklis Schortsanitis turned in his peak Euroleague performance of 2009-10 a week and a half ago, […]
Ten spots filled for Jordan Brand Classic; two each to Turkey, France, Serbia
Another Jordan Brand Classic Camp is in the books, wrapping in Istanbul, Turkey, yesterday. The camp saw 40 European players dueling on the court (and, in a serious sign of our times, apparently also in media relations) over eight days – including an all-day “presser” – in order to gain an invite to the prestigious […]
State of the nations: European basketball organizations today
While not interested in passing definitive judgment, we think it would be useful and fair to take a look at the European basketball panorama. There will be no ratings or rankings here, just a snapshot of what the most important ballin’ countries offer us. Ten years into the third millennium, it’s common to hear repeated […]
It’s CB Murcia vs. Zalgiris Kaunas for Jeremiah Massey
Spanish-language website Cope.es is today reporting that CB Murcia officials will be pulling out all stops in order to sign US citizen/Team Macedonia big man Jeremiah Massey, who was released from his contracted with Real Madrid after spending much of the season off the Spanish team’s roster altogether. One of the factors for Murcia not […]
Best of the (basketball) net: Happy Holidays edition
In between celebrating the holidays with family and checking out the Lakers getting chumped for Christmas, Ball in Europe snuck in some time surfing for basketball goodies online. A few stories and videos for your own post-Christmas Sunday, then, as word from Greece’s players’ union is awaited this afternoon… I tried to introduce some of […]