Team USSR 19
Notes on Panathinaikos-Olympiacos, most important game of 2010-11
If tonight’s Panathinaikos-Olympiacos match isn’t the most important game thus far in the 2010-11 basketball season in Europe, BiE can’t think of what would be. Of no little significance in this clash of the titans, too, is its status as the first meeting between the teams since the 2009-10 EΣAKE championship final game, a.k.a. “The […]
Tuesday cigarettes: FIBA World Championship smokin’
For longtime readers of BallinEurope, here’s a brief trip down Memory Lane … we’ll call these “Tuesday cigarettes,” a collection of quotes, links and YouTubes (especially YouTubes) focused on the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Inhale and enjoy! • Team Russia head coach David Blatt, who “was one of those kids crying when the American team […]
Remembering the other two Dream Teams of 1992
On this day of 1992 Team USA’s well-deserved induction into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame, BallinEurope again takes the opportunity to remember those other two squads competing in the Barcelona Games whose impact on an international level was almost as great and whose impact at home was inestimable. What the Dream Team gave to […]
The Greatest Basketball YouTube Ever (or, YouTube as a force for online democracy)
(Please excuse BallinEurope’s more personal tone today; trust me, i have as healthy a loathing for usage of the first-person in sports blogging as you no doubt do. On the other hand, it is called *You*Tube.) When i was coming of age in the Cold War 1980s, there wasn’t one basketball universe but rather two […]
Eight random odds ‘n’ ends on Euroleague playoff games three
This one’s exactly what it says: A grab bag of clippings and clips regarding the eight teams squaring off in tonight’s Euroleague semifinals games. Enjoy the factoids, enjoy the games! • If it’s March, tradition tends to demand that CSKA Moscow basketball augment its collection of trophies; 2010 is proving no exception. This month saw […]
The case for Arvydas (or, Come on, Sports Guy, keep him in the pyramid!)
Here I was, all set to expend some writing energies on analyzing the 2010 FIBA Worlds groups until distracted by an actual print column from Bill Simmons, he of ESPN.com, a main man of yours truly – though I could’ve sworn he’d opted out of the magazine gig a few months back. No matter, this […]
Dream Team Europe: The coaches
With an extended roster of 19 all-time players waiting in the wings, Ball in Europe today releases the names of the Dream Team Europe coaching staff. To manage this elite squad, we’ll limit Dream Team Europe to four coaches in spite of reader Simas’ excellent (if unwieldy) solution reckoning that “if you have a coaching […]