New Sixers president Daryl Morey set to begin search for a much-needed ‘Lego’

by gordie | Nov 1, 2020 | Philadelphia 76ers

In February 2009, Michael Lewis, known for authoring “Moneyball,” the landmark book about advanced statistics’ impact on baseball, wrote a piece for the New York Times entitled “The No-Stats All-Star.” It was ostensibly a profile of Shane Battier, then playing for the...

A Fond Farewell to Jack Scheuer, Who Made His Corner of the World a Better Place

by gordie | Oct 19, 2020 | Writing

Jack Scheuer spoke his own language, had his own shorthand. Amid a well-played college basketball game — whether in his beloved Palestra or elsewhere in Philadelphia — the long-time Associated Press correspondent might scribble “GH” on the notepad of a...

LeBron James’ Pleas For Respect Seem Unseemly, Until You Look Deeper

by gordie | Oct 13, 2020 | NBA

So this seemed a little odd: LeBron James, standing alongside his Lakers teammates and various other team personnel (including general manager Rob Pelinka, a Rob Lowe lookalike and former Fab Five adjunct) after the team closed out Miami to win the NBA title Sunday...

How Ken Shank’s 15 Minutes of Fame Have Lasted a Lifetime (with Help from Bill Bradley, and John McPhee)

by gordie | Sep 26, 2020 | College Basketball

Distinguished author John McPhee wrote “A Sense of Where You Are,” the definitive book about Bill Bradley’s Princeton basketball career, in 1965. It only seems like McPhee’s seminal work had been sitting on my shelf that long. A pandemic makes for strange...

Cal Ripken Jr., Remembered For One Big Moment, Was Really All About the Little Ones

by gordie | Sep 14, 2020 | MLB

When the Baltimore Orioles last won the World Series, all the way back in 1983, the decisive blows in their decisive Game Five victory over the Phillies were struck by their glowering first baseman, Eddie Murray. Murray homered twice that day off Charles Hudson...