Joel Embiid Rides to the Sixers’ Rescue, But Is it in Fact in the Nick of Time?

by gordie | Apr 3, 2024 | NBA

Again and again Sixers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. found the mark in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s victory over Oklahoma City. Then he did it once more after the game, when asked what it was like to have Joel Embiid back after the reigning NBA MVP had missed two months...

Sixers’ Problems Go Deeper than Joel Embiid’s Injury — Deeper, Even, Than Tobias Harris’ Struggles

by gordie | Feb 27, 2024 | NBA

Doc Rivers, back in Philadelphia as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks? Oooh, let’s trot out the Bill Hader gifs as we watch those Philly fans sink their fangs into the ex-Sixers coach! Let’s watch Rivers squirm! And, well, meh. The paying customers did in fact boo Rivers...

Joel Embiid Offers 70 More Reasons As To Why He Belongs Among the Game’s All-Time Greats

by gordie | Jan 23, 2024 | NBA, Philadelphia 76ers

Once again Joel Embiid walked with giants Monday. Those known by their first names (Wilt, Kobe). Those known by their initials (MJ, AI). Those who are members of a very exclusive club. This is no longer a surprise. This is the company Embiid has been keeping for a...

An Ode to the Valley Forge exit, and Caldwell Jones’ Miller Lites

by gordie | Jan 14, 2024 | NBA, Philadelphia 76ers

Before the Sixers hosted Portland earlier this season, I asked Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups about the maturation process of young guards, two of whom – Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 overall pick by the Blazers last June, and Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers’ budding star...

Nick Nurse and Chris Finch: Forever ‘Circling Each Other,’ While Living Parallel Lives

by gordie | Dec 23, 2023 | NBA

Wednesday night’s game was over. The 76ers had beaten the Minnesota Timberwolves, and now the music was swelling in the Wells Fargo Center: Clap your hands, everybody … Etc., etc.  T-Wolves coach Chris Finch rose from his seat on the team’s bench and headed toward...

Charissa Thompson Cripples Her Own Credibility, and (Possibly) Her Career

by gordie | Nov 18, 2023 | Journalism

Many years ago I received a phone call from a high school basketball coach who claimed that while he was quoted in a game story that appeared in a publication competing with mine, the sportswriter covering the game never interviewed him. “I mean, it sounded like...

Sixers Might Do Well to Sit on Their Assets, Since Robert Covington and Nicolas Batum Have Short-Term Value as Well

by gordie | Nov 10, 2023 | NBA

In an interesting bit of full-circle-ness, Robert Covington departed the 76ers in the trade that brought Jimmy Butler from Minnesota five years ago, and returned to Philadelphia in the trade that sent James Harden to the Clippers nine days ago. “I’m glad I’m...

Dan Kreider Struck a Deal with the Game of Football, and He’s Fine with That — Despite the Pain

by gordie | Oct 28, 2023 | NFL

For a decade he made his living crashing into NFL linebackers, which has left him at age 46 with aching joints, a surgically repaired neck and a firm understanding of the Faustian bargain players strike with the game. That bargain being this: Yeah, it can be fun to...

A Tribute to Journalism Misteaks — er, Mistakes: Why They Suck, Why They’re Inevitable and Why You’ve Just Gotta Weather the Storm

by gordie | Oct 21, 2023 | Journalism

Some 40 years after the fact, I can still remember the substance of the note, if not the exact wording. It was written out on paper – no email or online reader comments then – and came from Ron Lauretti, whose son Scott was a Carlisle High School football player....

Take it from a Packers’ Owner: There’s No Reason to Rejoice at Rodgers’ Plight

by gordie | Sep 16, 2023 | NFL

At the Green Bay Packers’ annual owners meeting in late July, team president Mark Murphy stood at a lectern on the 50-yard line in Lambeau Field and informed myself and about 8,000 of my fellow shareholders (many of whom are pictured above) that the team would retire...