by gordie | May 23, 2020 | Uncategorized
Michael Jordan’s actual last dance — the encore following the elegant waltz depicted in the just-completed “Last Dance” documentary — came not with championship glory as a Chicago Bull but with irrelevance as a Washington Wizard. And the final discordant...
by gordie | May 17, 2020 | Uncategorized
The email from Glenda, a deputy editor at Forbes.com, flitted into my inbox at precisely 8:31 a.m. on April 21. That’s right — Glenda the Deputy Editor (as opposed to Glenda the Good Witch, of Wizard of Oz fame) was writing to say we needed to talk over the...
by gordie | May 5, 2020 | Uncategorized
Unlikely as it may seem, the circle of life took a few backward revolutions when Tom Gilburg was out walking with his wife Joanne on Monday afternoon. If during his 81 years he has alternately been a football player and coach — as well as a husband, father and...
by gordie | Sep 14, 2019 | Uncategorized
Basketball, Dick Barnett said, was always his “mistress” growing up — his word. Wooed him to the playground the night of his senior prom. Served as his steady during a college career that featured more gym time than classroom time. The first time around, anyway....
by gordie | May 27, 2019 | Uncategorized
The classroom was at the end of a short, wide hallway, on the right-hand side. That much I remember. But was I in sixth grade or seventh? Was the teacher named Kline? Adams? Something else? A half-century has clouded my memory of that long-ago English class, and my...
by gordie | Mar 26, 2019 | "After the Buzzer" Podcast
Here’s a link to the second episode of “After the Buzzer,” a podcast that LNP Sports Columnist Mike Gross and I just began. And, you may be asking, how come Episode One never appeared here? And that would be because I failed miserably. So here it is....
by gordie | Jan 15, 2019 | Uncategorized
I can’t claim to understand the psychology of having a favorite player when you’re of a certain age. I do know that Jerry Seinfeld, speaking more generally about sports fandom, famously said fans root for laundry, and there’s a great deal of truth in that. The guy...
by gordie | Jun 10, 2018 | Uncategorized
The pregame ritual remained the same, all 26 years Steve Powell coached the McCaskey boys’ basketball team. The Red Tornado players would huddle up in the locker room before taking the court, do the 1-2-3 thing, then head out the door. Powell and his three assistant...
by gordie | Jun 9, 2018 | Uncategorized
The Summer of LeBron began in earnest when with 4:03 left in Game Four of the NBA Finals on Friday night — a 108-85 Cleveland loss to Golden State — he checked out for the last time. He congratulated the Warriors on the court as he departed, knowing he was...
by gordie | Jun 7, 2018 | Uncategorized
Unfair: That’s what Kevin Durant is. A guy listed at 6-9 who probably stands closer to 7 feet, but blessed with the perimeter gifts of a guy half a foot shorter. Again and again in Game Three of the NBA Finals his jumpshot — a lovely, fluid thing — was...
