khandor’s sports blog

Gilbert Arenas needs a new nickname. Let’s help!

Changing numbers is the new big thing in the NBA, especially if you choose to wear 6. Gilbert Arenas(notes) is the latest to file a petition to switch numbers, and he’ll be joining LeBron James(notes) in his tribute to Eddie Jones(notes).

While LeBron is just going to need a new logo, Gilbert is going to need a whole new identity.

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If you know the history of the NBA, then, you know who ”owns” the original number No. 6.

If you’ve seen the film “Unforgiven,” then, you know exactly who the character of “Little Bill” is.

Now, if you also know the details of the specific charge which Gilbert Arenas has agreed to plea bargnain to, and is due to be sentenced on Mar 25, then, you should already know how the name “Little Bill” just might fit, as his new moniker.

“I don’t deserve this. I was building a house.”
- Little Bill

Despite the best efforts of this corner to assert otherwise over the course of the last 2+ years, there are still a fair share of individuals who would try to suggest that the image which exists of Toronto, Canada in the hearts and minds of most American-born professional athletes is that of a backwater wasteland.

Well … for the  benefit of those people:

Why Pro Athletes Love Toronto

Today, however, Toronto is a road trip just about every pro athlete looks forward to. Some say the city has a cool, international vibe that increasingly stands out. Some like the plentitude of cheap concert tickets—a boon for athletes with big posses—or the convenience of the must-be-19 drinking law. (Rookie guard DeMar DeRozan of the Raptors, who is 20, was ordering chocolate milk at dinner before his teammates told him the good news).

Athletes get a warm welcome at the city’s relatively libertine gentlemen’s clubs which, according to a spokeswoman for the Toronto Convention and Visitors Bureau, tend to “clear out the champagne room” for visiting athletes. And it helps that the tentacles of the tabloids and gossip Web sites rarely extend this far into the frozen north. “People like to come here to party,” says Raptors power forward Chris Bosh.

Basketball stars like LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Jamaal Magloire of the Miami Heat (a Toronto native) have come to Toronto for fun—even during the NBA offseason. Since the Buffalo Bills began playing annual games at Toronto’s Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) in 2008, an increasing number of NFL players have started passing through “the 416,” which is the city’s area code. Baseball players, who’ve been coming here since 1977 to play the Blue Jays, have good memories.

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From a reputable source like the Wall Street Journal, no less.

Nuff said.

The Sunday afternoon a nation stood still …

… and, then, cheered as ONE.

The next instalment of the all-time great Canada-Russia hockey series will take place at 7:30 PM this evening during the men’s quarter-final match-up at the 2010 Vancouver Olmypics. 

Heroes come in a variety of different shapes and sizes.

Will there be a new one born tonight in the history of Canadian hockey?

Sometimes …

someone, although fairly non-descript by most other measures, simply seizes the moment, and somehow … 

Summit Series, September 1972

does something which is completely extraordinary.

Other times …

someone simply executes a relatively unsung role to perfection, and in the process, allows others to succeed in spectacular fashion …

Canada Cup,1987

To wit:

Keep your eyes on the far left of the screen, at the 1:31 mark of the 3rd period, when Wayne Gretzky, Larry Murphy and Mario Lemiuex begin their 3-on-1 break which eventually led to the winning goal. Pay particular attention to the ensuing slow-motion replays.

Do you see the hook play made by Dale Hawerchuk [future Hall Of Famer], on Russia’s #27, preventing him from completing his back-check?  

If Hawerchuk had not made this specific play …

Might #27 have been able to catch up to Lemiuex and disrupt the entire sequence of events?

If this infraction had been whistled by the official on the play …

Would Team Canada have still been able to score the winning goal, in the 2-on-1 situation with just Gretzky and Murphy?

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In team sports, there are always an infinite number of small, individual plays made in a game which contribute to one team, either, winning or losing.

Sources: Rick Pitino makes himself a candidate for Nets’ coaching job

As snow swirled outside the Meadowlands on Wednesday night when the Nets played the Bucks, talk about Rick Pitino making overtures to the Nets about their coaching job circulated inside the arena.

Sources close to Pitino said that the Louisville coach has reached out to Nets brass in recent days, making himself a candidate for the job now held by GM and interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe, and due to open after their woeful season is completed in April.

According to sources, Pitino had intermediaries recently contact Nets president Rod Thorn on his behalf. Thorn himself is in the final year of a contract, and is looking to get a new deal from incoming owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

A source close to Thorn said the Nets’ president has denied that he spoke to Pitino, while Pitino’s camp insists that “no direct contact” was made between the coach and team. Earlier this week, Pitino and Thorn attended the funeral of Knicks Hall of Famer Dick McGuire.

“Pitino is interested in the job,” said a high-ranking team official, who added that the interest is all one way, coming from Pitino’s side.

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Yikes.

After reading this story earlier today, and then considering that there were all of 1016 actual people in attendance at last night’s Nets/Bucks contest, in the swamp … due, mostly, to the blizzard that hit New Jersey yesterday … these are the thoughts which came to mind:

University of Massachusetts, 1970
University of Hawaii, 1974
Syracuse University, 1976
Boston University, 1978
New York Knicks, 1983
Providence College, 1985 
New York Knicks, 1987
University of Kentucky, 1989
Boston Celtics, 1997
University of Louisville, 2001
“The Real Life Story of Frank & Carl“,  2002

?, 2010

At some point … after all the shenanigans are finished … there really does become, “No one else left to call.” 

Merci beaucoup, KD …

and, the Least Most Ridiculous Man in the World.

An ode to the memory of the SuperSonics and their loyal fans everwhere …

[courtesy of TrueHoop]

Internet Gold!

Mickey Dees and The Legend strike, once more …

Who Dat?

For this corner, Digger Phelps is ‘Da Man’ today …

[courtesy of Bob's Blitz]

and would have made his good friend, the legendary Al McGuire, immensely proud …

You only live once and the actual goal should be to extract everything positive from your own life experience which you can, in an effort to help others, while performing to the very best of your abilities.

Do this, each and every day … and, you are an authentically successful person.

Related:

Seashells and balloons, 24-7-365

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day, in the USA.

Remembering the Teachings of Dr. King

Martin Luther King’s Vision of the Beloved Community

The Beloved Community of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.

Dr. King’s Beloved Community was not devoid of interpersonal, group or international conflict. Instead he recognized that conflict was an inevitable part of human experience. But he believed that conflicts could be resolved peacefully and adversaries could be reconciled through a mutual, determined commitment to nonviolence. No conflict, he believed, need erupt in violence. And all conflicts in The Beloved Community should end with reconciliation of adversaries cooperating together in a spirit of friendship and goodwill.

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Education truly is the key to progress.