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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Global 2013: 2013 All-Star warm-up jackets have patches showcasing players’ career accomplishments

Profile of Kobe Bryant, basketball player of the LA Lakers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and the rest of the participants in Sunday night's 2013 NBA All-Star Game come out of the locker room to take the court at the Toyota Center, you'll be able to see exactly how much they've been able to achieve in the league, not just based on the level of their play, but also by patches displaying and recounting their career highlights on their black-and-white warm-up jackets.

The NBA and Adidas described the idea of celebrating each individual All-Star's C.V. when they unveiled this year's All-Star jerseys last month, but they didn't reveal what the customization would look like. And given the look of the jerseys themselves — which The Basketball Jones' Trey Kerby described as a "wacky" uniform combining "every design feature you can imagine" into a finished product that "came out looking like a default create-a-team uniform from 'NBA Live 2001'" — that mystery presented some cause for concern. But if the patches on the warm-up jackets of the Miami Heat's James, the Los Angeles Lakers' Bryant and the San Antonio Spurs' Duncan (which you can see after the jump) are any indication, the resulting graphical representation of each players' accomplishments actually came out pretty cool.

As the NBA and Adidas detailed in their initial release, the jackets "represent individual career accomplishments such as NBA All-Star Game appearances and All-Star MVP awards, NBA titles, in addition to season awards including MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Scoring Championships." While the jerseys were reportedly inspired by Houston's aeronautical history, the jackets seem to have been inspired by the awards and decorations on military dress uniforms.

This, of course, lends itself more to veteran player with a lengthy career full of achievements, like Bryant's five NBA titles, James' three league MVPs and Duncan's 14 All-Star selections than to younger players and first-time All-Stars whose bodies of work might not be quite so impressive yet. In a way, though, that's good — it reminds you of why we spend more time talking about and celebrating those guys. Maybe it'll even offer some of those first-timers a reminder of the legendary levels to which they're aspiring, and the kind of consistent excellence that will be required to get there.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/2013-star-warm-jackets-patches-showcasing-players-career-001345584--nba.html

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Global 2012: Dwyane Wade kicks Ramon Sessions in the groin

Dwyane Wade (Photo credit: Keith Allison)

After the Miami Heat scored a 105-92 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night, pro wrestling legend and Charlotte resident Ric Flair visited the Heat locker room, where he was greeted with a chorus of "Whooo!"s and dubbed "the creator of swag" by Heat star LeBron James. But perhaps Miami's truest tribute to Flair came during the fourth quarter, when All-Star guard Dwyane Wade broke out one of Flair's longtime favorite moves on Bobcats point guard Ramon Sessions.

No, not the Figure Four. A different longtime favorite:
Yikes. Way to split the uprights, Dwyane. You've done "The Nature Boy" proud.

The beauty part: It was Sessions, not Wade, who got whistled for a reach-in foul on the play. Most gentleman observers would submit that Wade's reach-in was far more damaging, but hey: We're not NBA referees.

Ascribing intent in these situations can be difficult at times, but it sure as shooting looks like Wade meant to swing his left leg up toward Sessions' bathing-suit area; I mean, it's not as if his follow-through was the inevitable physics-demanded result of the bump that preceded it or anything.

And when you consider Wade's past penchant for straddling the line between hard-nosed and rule-breaking play — recall, if you will, Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo's declaration earlier this season that Wade makes "dirty plays," or this collection of questionable moments compiled by Larry Brown Sports — it becomes easier to think that maybe Wade was deliberately acting out. Then again, Wade choosing to do so in full sight of the officials in the fourth quarter of a two-possession game in which he personally was playing great would seem completely counterintuitive, wouldn't it? (See? This is why ascribing intent in these situations can be difficult at times, just like I said a few sentences ago.)

After the game, as you might expect, Sessions said he believed Wade's kick was intentional, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

The move caught Sessions off guard.

"I thought he did it on purpose, and it wasn't called," Sessions said afterward. [...]

Wade was not questioned postgame about the play in question.

That's kind of weird — it seems like a punt to the plums that caused a player to hit the deck grabbing his nether regions, was captured by TV cameras, elicited rounds of boos from the arena audience and led to a protracted discussion between the kicker and the kickee about what the heck just happened would be the kind of thing someone might ask about after the game. But no worries, reporters — I'm guessing that NBA discipline czar Stu Jackson will have a couple of questions of his own to ask once he catches this video at some point on Thursday. Remember, Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins was suspended for one game for a surreptitious groin-punch delivered to Dallas Mavericks guard O.J. Mayo less than one month ago. (Then again, it wouldn't exactly be surprising to see Cousins punished more harshly than Wade, or seemingly similar incidents resulting in disparate punishments, because that kind of seems like where the NBA's at right now.)

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/dwyane-wade-kicks-ramon-sessions-groin-heat-win-153459915--nba.html

Monday, September 17, 2012

Global 2012: LeBron James switches agents

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 29: LeBron James #6 and Chris Paul #13 of the United States look on while taking on France in the Men's Basketball Game on Day 2 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Basketball Arena on July 29, 2012 in London, England. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
LeBron James has parted ways with agent Leon Rose of Creative Artists Agency and will now be represented by his longtime friend, Rich Paul, who also has left CAA to start his own company: Klutch Sports Management, sources told Yahoo! Sports. James made the move official when he filed paperwork with the NBA Players' Association Wednesday afternoon.

Paul will be James' third representative since James entered the league in 2003 as a client of Aaron Goodwin.

Paul began working for CAA in 2008. Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson and San Antonio Spurs guard Cory Joseph are among his clients, along with Charlotte Bobcats rookie forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who is jointly managed by Paul and Rose. Paul is working to soon become officially certified as an agent. His new agency will be based in his hometown of Cleveland, where James played for the Cavaliers from 2003-2010.

James left CAA and Rose amicably and wants to give Paul an opportunity to represent him after he gained needed experience, sources said.

Clippers guard Chris Paul is still represented by CAA, but is close with James and Rich Paul. Chris Paul will likely be a free agent next summer. Other NBA standouts represented by CAA include Heat guard Dwyane Wade, New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, Heat forward Chris Bosh and San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker.

James, Paul, Maverick Carter and Randy Mims are childhood friends who have long called themselves "The Four Horsemen." After James fired Goodwin and joined CAA, they started a management group called LRMR, which heads James' sports portfolio and is led by Carter.

Rose primarily managed James' playing contract which still has $73.9 million over four years remaining but also has player opt-outs in 2014 and 2015. Seven years after LRMR's formation, James now ranks fourth on Forbes' list of richest athletes after making $53 million from June 2011 to June 2012.

"Being young and black and going into a business where you are trying to establish position and where you are able to make business decisions with the lack of what people would call an education, not having a degree … no one wanted to give us a chance," Rich Paul told Yahoo! Sports in June. "We were able to come through that and learn from a lot of people that we had around us and position ourselves to be, not necessarily just successful economically, but successful from a positioning standpoint to have a bright future.

"It was a rough situation. But given the opportunity [James] gave all of us, it's a blessing. It was up to us to cultivate that blessing and move forward."

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--lebron-james-switches-agents--childhood-friend-will-represent-him.html

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Global 2012: How Usain Bolt Earns $20 Million A Year

Usain Bolt in celebration after his 100m victory at Beijing Olympics 2008. Literally seconds after Bolt crossed the line at the Beijing Olympic Games men's 100 meters to break the world record...like maybe 1 or 2 seconds. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Usain Bolt entered the 2008 Summer Olympics as somewhat of a curiosity. Yes, he had recently set the world record in the 100-meter dash, but few people outside the track and field world knew much about the 6-foot-5 Jamaican. He had excelled at the 200-meter distance, but was relatively new to the 100-meter event. His only sponsors before Beijing were Puma, which signed Bolt to a small deal in 2003, and Digicel, a Jamaican mobile phone company.

Three gold medals and three world records later, Bolt left Beijing as one of the most famous athletes on the planet. He set records in the 100 and 200, becoming the first man to capture Olympic gold in both events since Carl Lewis in 1984. He was part of the 4×100 meter Jamaican relay team that shattered the world record on the way to another gold. Life has never been the same for the world’s fastest man.

As Bolt’s fame soared, his paycheck took off as well. Bolt earned an estimated $20.3 million over the last 12-months from prize money, bonuses, appearance fees and sponsors. He ranks No. 63 among the world’s highest-paid athletes. Bolt has a ways to go to challenge LeBron James and Kobe Bryant in terms of earnings, but his income is more than 20 times what other elite sprinters typically make in a year and more than any other athlete in the history of track and field.

Bolt inked endorsement deals with Gatorade, Swiss watchmaker Hublot and Virgin Media after Beijing. Visa signed him to an agreement and splashed Bolt’s image on billboards across Europe, where track and field remains a popular sport. Visa is in position to use Bolt in ads during London as an official sponsor of the Olympic Games.

Soul Electronics signed a deal with Bolt this year and he will develop his own line of headphones for the company. He added a multimillion dollar pact in June with Nissan Motor, which plans to use Bolt in a global ad campaign. He released his autobiography, “9:58: Being the World’s Fastest Man,” in 2010, and another book is in the works for after London.

Bolt’s biggest paycheck comes courtesy of Puma, where he is the global face of the German sportswear company. Puma re-signed Bolt in 2010 to a deal worth $9 million annually. It is an astronomical sum for a track athlete and on par with what only a handful of the most marketable basketball, soccer and tennis stars receive from shoe and apparel contracts. In contrast, a massive Nike deal for a football or baseball player is $1 million.

Prize money in track and field is relatively paltry. Athletes compete each year in the Samsung Diamond League, which is made up of 14 events around the world. Winners of individual races receive $10,000 with the year-end winner earning an additional $40,000. First place in the biennial World Championships is worth $60,000 and world records carry bonuses of $100,000 in that event. Bolt typically competes in 7 to 9 Diamond League events and earns additional sponsor bonuses based on his performances.

While prize money is small, Bolt’s ultimate running payday is often huge thanks to appearance fees. His fee starts at $200,000 and can reach $350,000 for a big meet. Bolt commands the huge sums because he guarantees a sellout when competing.

“Bolt is the highest-paid athlete in the history of track and field, but he’s also probably the most underpaid athlete in the history of track and field,” says Paul Doyle, a veteran track and field agent, in a Bolt story published last week in Sports Illustrated.

His appearance at the Penn Relays in 2010 resulted in the highest single day attendance (54,310) in the event’s 118-year history. Regarding the crowd’s reaction when Bolt started warming up, U.S. sprinter Mike Barber said, “It was so loud, I thought, ‘Is the President here?’”

Bolt can command these massive sums of money because he has transcended the world of track and field the way Tiger Woods did in golf during his peak and Michael Jordan did in basketball.

The 100-meter final was the hottest ticket going into the Olympics. London 2012 organizers received more than one million requests for tickets for the event with prices set at $1,130, which is more than any other event. Bolt faced stiff competition from countryman Yohan Blake, who is the current 100-meter world champion after Bolt was disqualified from the race last year for a false start. Blake also beat Bolt at the Jamaican Olympic trials.

Bolt held off Blake and the field Sunday night to capture the gold in an Olympic record 9.63 seconds. He joins Carl Lewis as the only men to win consecutive gold medals in the 100-meter event. Maintaining his role as the world’s fastest man will allow Bolt to continue to command huge premiums in regards to his race appearance fees and endorsement contracts.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-usain-bolt-earns--20-million-a-year-20120806.html

Monday, August 6, 2012

Global 2012: Lauren Perdue turned down LeBron James’ dinner invite

LeBron James at the 2008 Olympics (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When you're an Olympian, you never know who you're going to meet just hangin' around the ol' village ... or who's going to invite you to dinner.

Lauren Perdue is one of the United States' top swimmers, and on Wednesday she swam the first leg of the 4x200 women's freestyle relay. That's nice and all, and she'll likely take home some hardware, but her primary notoriety is coming from a couple of tweets she sent out last week.

Just before the Games began, she tweeted, "Lebron James just invited me to dinner...Um wuuuutttt?!?" Around that time, the photo at right showed up on Perdue's Instagram account. That is most definitely LeBron, trendy dork glasses and all.

On Wednesday, just after her relay, she gave the full scoop to the Charlotte Observer. Before the Games began, the "Dream Team" hung with the swimmers in a kind of Avengers-meets-Justice-League American hero summit. In the course of that, LeBron did indeed invite Perdue to dinner.

"He was kind of joking," Perdue said. "But he was basically like, 'Would you like to come eat with me at the dining hall?' And I said, 'Um, I'm sorry, I have a curfew.'"

Hey, to be fair, LeBron never went to college, so perhaps to him the "dining hall" is this mystical, exotic locale not a vast, noisy world of free cereal where your head rings from last night's overindulgence.

Look, you can attribute all kinds of motives to this if you want. Still, LeBron is after all engaged, and the Olympic Village is a rather public place. But at least LeBron kept his shirt on, unlike other Dream Teamers we could name.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/lauren-perdue-turned-down-lebron-james-dinner-invite-125447618--oly.html

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Global 2012: Tiger Woods passes Jack Nicklaus for second in all-time wins

Tiger Woods, champion golfer, drives the ball down range during the inaugural Earl Woods Memorial Pro-Am Tournament, part of the AT&T National PGA Tour event, July 4, 2007, at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Woods donated 30,000 tournament tickets to military personnel to attend the event honoring soldiers and military families. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today's topic: Tiger Woods.

Believers and cynics, start your engines.

Tiger Woods, in fact, keeps turning his own ignition key, waiting for that major motor to rev.

He won Arnold Palmer's shindig at Bay Hill in March, his last tournament before the Masters … and then finished tie-40th at Augusta National.

He won Jack Nicklaus' event at Muirfield Village in early June, the last tournament before the U.S. Open … and then finished tie-21st at the Olympic Club.

And Sunday he won his own event at Congressional, a PGA Tour-leading third win of the year, his 74th career tour win, passing Nicklaus for second on the all-time list (he needs eight more to equal Sam Snead) and all any cynics can ask is: How's he going to do two weeks from Thursday at Royal Lytham & St. Annes at the British Open?

After all, to whom much is given – talent, hype, records, fame, riches, scrutiny – much is expected, as I was just saying to my good friend, LeBron James.

Tiger divides the room like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes divide common property.

On the one hand, believers say, there is no arguing with the man's game. Still piecing together his reputation and his body after significant damage to both the past few years, Tiger has won three times in 11 starts. Or, four wins in 12 starts, if you count December's Chevron Challenge. Forget the craziness of that win percentage in golf – if he was a baseball player, his .333 would have earned him an all-star berth. Move over, Melky Cabrera.

On the other hand, doubters say only a major counts as a Tiger win of significance, and he hasn't won one since 2008. In fact, after his uninspiring Masters, he placed himself squarely in the hunt at the U.S. Open in San Francisco last month. Then, he faltered under pressure on the weekend, shooting 73-73. Hmmm.

On the one hand, believers say, he produced big moment after big moment in Sunday's win. Facing a potential disaster on the 16th hole, he made a good bogey. He made a knee-knocking six-footer on the 17th hole to take the lead. He smoked a 345-yard drive center-cut on 18 when his driver is often his least reliable club. His 9-iron approach to seal the win was so purely struck, his club twirl and immediate strut told you all you need to know about how Tiger Woods handles pressure golf.

On the other hand, doubters say, his only task was to hold off the hugely undecorated Bo Van Pelt. And Van Pelt obliged, essentially handing Tiger the victory by finishing bogey-bogey-bogey when tied for the lead. Or, as the sports humor web site, The Sports Pickle, tweeted shortly after the AT&T National wrapped up: "All the critics who said Tiger Woods couldn't stare down Bo Van Pelt in the final round of a non-major look foolish now." Oh!

The argument can go on: The believers brag that Tiger shot 67-69 in weekend heat so insanely stifling, the Tour shut down Congressional to fans Saturday. Yes, say the doubters, he's fit – but he only made one putt longer than 10 feet on Sunday, raising questions about the flat stick under pressure.

Believers can crow that Sunday was a glorious day for champions who wear red – their beloved Tiger, and the incomparable world champion Spanish national soccer team, which won Euro2012. Ah, yes, doubters say – but Spain hoists the important trophies (two Euros and a World Cup) while Tiger hasn't won a major since George W. Bush was president.

Nothing spices up a Sunday afternoon like the re-emergence of Tiger Woods. Like similar lightning-rod topics – LeBron, Justin Bieber and ObamaCare come to mind – you just can't stay neutral on the guy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/golf--tiger-woods-passes-jack-nicklaus-for-second-in-all-time-wins-and-all-eyes-turn-to-the-british-open.html

Friday, June 22, 2012

Global 2012: Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen... Dream Team?

Biography of a model. Gisele Bündchen (Photo credit: BarbieFantasies)In case you don't already know, LeBron James is basketball right now. He's the man up, as they say, and in his case, he goes up and up and up. King James (or the Chosen One), as they call him, became Rookie of the Year in 2004, then led his Cleveland Cavaliers to back-to-back playoff runs in 2006 and 2007, and the team's first-ever finals appearance in 2007. Last season, he averaged 27 points per game. Do you remember Michael Jordan? Well, LeBron is Michael Jordan, on a bigger scale (as in, bigger guy). What he lacks in pure Jordanian grace—rather than soar, LeBron seems to descend on the basket—he makes up for with strength and a dazzling sense of symmetry. Proportion is everything when it comes to King James. If you've ever sat in the stands as he brings a crowd to a points-induced frenzy, you know that for LeBron the crossover—that dexterous shift in direction, from one side of the court to the other—happens almost imperceptibly. His overall balance is apparent to his trainers, to his coaches, to sports fans, and, especially, to Rachel Johnson, who pays attention to his body for a living. "In my mind," says Johnson, his stylist, "he's not big at all, because even though he's tall and muscular and gorgeous and all of that, he's very well proportioned—the top half of his body and the bottom half match. To me, I'm dressing a man who's five feet eleven."

At 250 pounds, he is a towering six feet eight, but when not in the heat of competition, he somehow manages not to tower—so says Gisele Bündchen, the LeBron James of fashion modeling. "He doesn't really make you feel small, even though he is big," says Gisele, who, although she'd seen him play, and although her boyfriend, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, is a friend of his, had never met LeBron. "I think my leg is like the size of his shoe," she adds. Aside from a few shared attitudes—"She's all about business, and she's all about fun," LeBron says about Gisele. "That's why she's the best; she has fun while she's doing it"—they both admit that high school sports made them who they are. "What sports teaches you is not only respect for your body but that you have to be aware of your body, that you have to work with other people," says Gisele, who as a girl was an ardent volleyball player. "If you feel good, you play better, and if you feel better your self-worth will increase every day."

During a recent practice, LeBron looks and feels good, and in one of dozens of shooting drills, all goes well as he sinks ball after ball. And then—a bad shot, a little off. As the next ball reaches his hand, he pauses, just for a millisecond, as if hitting the reboot button. Next shot, and all the ones following—dead on. "It's all about refocusing yourself," he explains. "For me, it's such a habit, and I know what I'm doing out on the basketball court, so if I do something wrong, then I know how to switch the switch and turn it right back on, to readjust myself. Right there and then. It doesn't take me a day. It takes me just"—he snaps his fingers—"one play."

http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/lebron-james-and-gisele-b252ndchen-dream-team/?mbid=ob_ppc_mag_14#1

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