by gordie | Jan 18, 2021 | Uncategorized, Writing
Over three decades after Harry Chapman’s death, Stan Gelbaugh still has a copy of a poem given to him by his late football coach at Cumberland Valley High School, someone Gelbaugh calls “probably the most important man in my life, other than my dad.” The poem is...
by gordie | Dec 23, 2020 | NBA, Philadelphia 76ers
New Sixers coach Doc Rivers was talking during a Zoom news conference Monday afternoon about who nudged him toward the profession, given that he played for some pretty notable guys during his 13-year run as an NBA point guard: Mike Fratello for eight years in Atlanta...
by gordie | Dec 22, 2020 | Writing
The spine of Jeff Rice’s debut novel, “Going Low,” consists of a sparkling round of golf played by the book’s central character, a fictional PGA professional named Jason Dickerson, during the U.S. Open. Again and again Dickerson finds himself behind trees or in...
by gordie | Nov 26, 2020 | NBA, Philadelphia 76ers
In May 2019 an NBA assistant coach named Darren Erman — then with New Orleans and just hired to a similar post with the Knicks — hit upon an essential truth about the Curry brothers. About Stephen, a three-time champion and two-time MVP with Golden State,...
by gordie | Nov 10, 2020 | Writing
Great writing is all about rhythm. Glenn Stout, editor of the “Best American Sports Writing” series, has always known that, but the point was driven home to him in a long-ago conversation with the late W.C. Heinz, the writer who in his lifetime gave us the seminal...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
