In the U.S., sports fans must be talking about the top-seeded University of Virginia losing tonight to a 16 seed in the NCAA basketball tournament. A No. 1 seed losing to a 16 had never happened, not in 135 previous encounters, until Virginia succumbed to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMDC) by 20 points […]

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That’s what it is — a “scandal”, yes? By definition: “An action or event that is regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage.” It is not a “problem”. It is not an “issue”. It is one big, fat, ugly scandal that is the shame of the National Basketball Association: Teams choosing […]

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I knew this was coming. I read the stories in which the spineless commissioner Adam Silver said it was on the way … and shook my head. And now it is here, and most of Season 1 of The New Thing is done … and I hate the advertisements that appear on the left shoulder […]

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Two things I believe about sports autographs. 1) No one past the age of 12 should ever ask for one. Adults don’t ask for the signatures of other adults — unless they plan to sell them on for more money, which is vile, and another good reason why adults should not ask for autographs. And, […]

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Elfrid Payton is a point guard drafted out of Louisiana Lafeyette by the Orlando Magic with the 10th pick of the 2014 draft. Last week, the Magic traded him to the Phoenix Suns in a move from one bad team to another. Payton is best known for one thing: His comically long hair. Which is […]

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No one rides high forever. We may think we will, but it never quite ends that way. Life and/or death humbles us. That notion hit me again tonight, as the Cleveland Cavaliers offloaded guard Isaiah Thomas to the Los Angeles Lakers. Eight months ago, Thomas finished fifth in the NBA’s Most Valuable Player voting, just […]

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That was reality that slapped the Los Angeles Lakers in the face. Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka, the duo responsible for the club’s roster, apparently have been disabused of the notion that a free-agent superstar or two is keen to join their team this summer. According to espn.com, the Lakers no longer are banking that […]

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Goodness, the NBA is awful right now. Lots of bad teams. Scads of nearly unwatchable games. Good teams unable to produce a genuine effort. Apparently, it is so difficult to win consecutive games on the road, or back-to-backs anywhere, that we should go back and worship the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors — who somehow went […]

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If you live in France and get a batch of English-language programming on your TV deal … you can watch a ton of NBA games. There are the ESPN nights, and the TNT nights and whoever has the weekends … and it feels like I can count on an NBA doubleheader at least four nights […]

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Here are the kickoffs for the NFL’s conference championship games tomorrow. That is, if you live under the umbrella of Pacific Standard Time. New England at Jacksonville, 12:05 p.m. Philadelphia at Minnesota, 3:40 p.m. Convenient, as a viewer, no? Well, yes, and you should know it is not like that everywhere. If you have lived […]

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