Pau Gasol 180
Lebron James yadda yadda yadda (or, Ahem – anyone remember the Los Angeles Lakers?)
This is a bit beyond the realm of European basketball, but since apparently the entire balance of the basketball universe lurched based on a single media event last night and because, let’s face it, i have a blog, this Lakers fan would like to weigh in momentarily on the whole Overrated Big Three-to-Miami Heat thing. […]
Where will NBA's European free agents go?
While everyone else in the basketball universe is watching the minute-by-minute maneuvers of Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the like, BallinEurope has an eye on those powers from The Continent who may be moving around within the NBA to help reshape rosters for the 2010-11 season. Our man in the U.K., Sam Chadwick, […]
2010 FIBA World Championship odds: Looking for a dark horse {advertorial}
So call BallinEurope kooky: While everyone else with an eye on basketball – even European basketball, for Arvydas Sabonis’ sake – is concentrating on the NBA free-agent market, BiE is all attention on the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men tipping off in Turkey in August. Naturally, bookmakers too are into it and the early […]
From A.I. to Zalgiris: The top stories in 2009-10 European basketball
As BallinEurope closes the book on the 2009-10 basketball season, it’s time to take stock of the year that was with the clarity of history. Without further ado, let’s retrospect on the top 10 Eurocentric basketball stories of the season.
Fearless prediction: NBA game seven (also BBL, Serie A finals)
From the Because I Have A Blog Department, the BallinEurope official fearless prediction (TM) for game seven of the NBA Championship Series. (Drumroll, please.) Because BiE is a huge adherent to the completely irrational belief that only in sports can there be poetry, this fearless prediction says…
What FC Barcelona must do (with special reference to Lakers-Celtics)
Two teams teetering on the edge, two series remarkably similar in a few outstanding features. With FC Barcelona one game from elimination at the hands of Caja Laboral Baskonia in the ACB championship series, BallinEurope – like so many others – is looking for answers to the Blaugrana’s mysterious woes. Perhaps some might be found […]
Giant slayers: Caja Laboral Baskonia wins 70-69, pushes FC Barcelona to brink
In a season already spiced with big playoff upsets, Caja Laboral Baskonia may be adding the biggest to the list yet, as the Basque Country boys held on through an insane final minute of play to eke out a 70-69 win over FC Barcelona. And now things in Spain have become suddenly unthinkable as the […]
Kobe likely addition to no-shows for 2010 FIBA World Championship
The folks at FIBA are referring to the upcoming 2010 World Championship tournament in Turkey as a “Giant Get-Together,” but with every passing day it seems the meeting gets just a bit smaller. In seemingly the first mention of such an exclusion, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo lumped Kobe Bryant in with confirmed or near-confirmed […]
The BallinEurope Sunday playoff quadruple-header (plus Fearless Predictions)
All right, on this last World Cup-free weekend for the foreseeable future, who’s up for a little basketball? No, make that a lot of basketball. A barrage of basketball, if you will. Get ready to clear the schedule, stock up the liquid refreshment and blow off the familial obligations for the hoops marathon we like […]
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 […]
What’s missing from FIBA’s World Championship ad campaign?
So the Euroleague season is over and, though domestic league action is still with us for a couple months longer (BallinEurope’s “European Champions” feature is coming soon), something of that international competition spirit is missing for the nonce – at least until the FIBA World Championships in August and September! And so the high-profile FIBA […]
Down 9.2% in first quarter, Banco Popular Español sticks with “Gasol deposit plan”
So lots of NBA stars have their own sneaker line; how many have their own bank-created interest rate plan? Even before public dissatisfaction in banks peaked (?) to its all-time high, Spain-based Banco Popular Español came up with a clever idea to boost its overall liability: Creation of a deposit plan which would provide customers […]