Writing a post about something absurd or off-the-wall or inappropriate that Charles Barkley says is almost the blog equivalent of breathing air: It takes almost no effort or thought and happens almost every second of every day.
Case in point: Sir Charles decided to goof on Sammy Sosa's recent skin rejuvenation project that has him looking like something out of the "Thriller" video. So, during the TNT NBA show Thursday night, Barkley, who proclaimed, "I know you want to get in the Hall of Fame, but going white ain't the way to do it!," eventually took to transforming himself into a white man - a process slowed significantly by the continued flapping of his jaw while the makeup person efforted away.
No, on the grand scale, this isn't up there with any Northwestern blackface screwup. But has the Round Mound of Rebound stepped over the line? Nevermind the discussion of whether he'll be able to eat fried chicken and chitluns after he's white. Or is this just another case of Charles being Charles?
NBA Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar revealed Tuesday morning the he battling a rare form of leukemia.
Abdul-Jabbar, who was diagnosed last December with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, is going public now to spread the message of treatment and show that it's a disease that doesn't need to be fatal:
"I have chronic myeloid leukemia," Abdul-Jabbar told CNN. "I think it's possible for someone in my position to help save lives.
Abdul-Jabbar, long an involved member in the community, has bee active in raising cancer awareness in the African-American community after dealing with a family history of colorectal cancer, for which he has the gene, he says.
He told CNN his specialist said the cancer diagnosis did not have to be a death sentence, as long as he followed a proper treatment regimen. Abdul-Jabbar wouldn't reveal his prognosis, but he did say he is managing his disease and that having CML "doesn't impact my life too significantly."
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), the average person's chance of getting CML is less than 1 in 500. The cancer society says CML is slightly more common in men than women, and it accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of all leukemias or blood cancers.
The ACS estimates just over 5,000 people will be diagnosed with CML this year, and that 470 will die from it. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society estimates the five-year survival rate for CML of 44.4 percent.
Aside from basketball greatness, Abdul-Jabbar also played the pivotal role of pilot Roger Murdoch in "Airplane."
The Cult of the Air Jordan is a passionate one. Since the first release of Michal Jordan's iconic shoe line in 1985, Nike has managed to develop a dedication of follower that borders on frenzy - do a Google search for "Air Jordan" and gaze at the 33,000,000+ links for proof if you have a few spare minutes.
Each year a new high top is rolled out to the delight of the fashion-aware ballers, hipsters, trendsters and collectors - mostly long gone are the days when you could get jacked up for you Mikes, even thought they still command a mighty price.
Nike's Jumpman23 site is, yes, above all a marketing/advertising push for you to fork over your hard-earned dollars for a tennis shoe. But at least they do it in a cool way. Not least of the interesting features is this new timeline feature that takes you through the years of Air Jordan with interesting videos, photos and facts about the man who could fly.
In yet another case of knowing when to hold 'em, a Las Vegas court has pushed back a status check to Oct. 29 for former NBA all-star Antoine Walker, amid talk of possible repayment in an $822,500 casino gambling debt case.
Prosecutor Bernie Zadrowski said Wednesday he's been talking with Walker's lawyer, Jonathan Powell, about settling the criminal case.
Chicago native Walker, a brush with crime enthusiast, faces three felony bad check charges for gambling debts at three Las Vegas casinos. He did not have to appear at a Wednesday hearing.
Walker was arrested in July at a Lake Tahoe hotel.
Walker was a three-time all-star for the Boston Celtics and won a championship with the Miami Heat in 2006. He last played for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2008.
Rick Reilly, making his Sportscenter anchor debut on ESPN this morning, gave a brief editorial toward the end of the show, saying the Hall of Fame isn't enough to honor Michael Jordan's legacy. He suggested that Jordan's No. 23 should be retired throughout the NBA -- as hockey did with Wayne Gretzky's 99 and baseball did with Jackie Robinson's 42.
Miami Heat president Pat Riley retired Jordan's number throughout his organization -- and Jordan never even played there.
"In honor of your greatness and for all you've done for the game of basketball -- and not just the NBA, but for all the fans around the world -- we want to honor you tonight and hang your jersey, No. 23, from the rafters," Riley told Jordan during a 2003 ceremony.
The arguments for retiring his number throughout the NBA are many. Jordan transformed the game of basketball, inspired generations and is largely responsible for making the NBA the enterprise it is today.
"23 needs to hang in the air," Reilly argued, "kind of like Jordan did in all those epic flights to the rim."
What do you think? How would you feel about your team retiring No. 23? Is there another player in NBA history deserving of this honor?
Miami Heat guard and Robbins native Dwyane Wade is mindful of where he came from and the people who helped him get where he is now.
Plus, to hear him tell it, he really loves Chicago.
So, he's strapping on his altruistic sneakers and driving hard to make his city a better place.
The four-time NBA All-Star, 2006 NBA Finals MVP and Olympic gold medal-winner is in town this weekend for a four day fundraiser that will raise money for his Wade's World Foundation and other Chicago charitable organizations.
"There's been a lot of people in my life that have helped me," he said.
"All of my coaches, from my high school coach to my college coach, they
all helped me get to a point where I was very confident in my abilities
and very confident in myself.
"Having people believe in you at a young age goes a long, long way."
Wade recently purchased a downtown condo and says that all of the memories forged here make it his unquestioned home.
"Chicago, as I get older, I appreciate it more and more," Wade said.
"For what it did for me, even though a lot of things looked dark. If it
wasn't for my upbringing in Chicago, I don't know if I'd be the person
that I am today. I've been through what the kids here go through and
we're trying to shed some light on it."
Why does any discussion of NBA basketball - specifically, the Bulls - still start and end with the words: Michael Jordan? Because the greatest player ever - no disrespect, Wilt - still has game.
Just check out the video above with a 46-year-old, puffy Jordan sporting some truly baggy jeans facing up Chris "The Ghetto Bird" Young, dropping fadeaway after fadeaway over the 6-foot-4, 180-pound 34-year-old.
And if that weren't enough, he starts off with a flat-footed reverse slam from under the basket, a feat Slamball star Young can't do facing forward.
Of course, Jordan talks trash the entire time, asking Young to tell him which side he wants to defend, then knocking down shots from right there. "How many times you gotta see it," you can here a teammate ask from the side.
You can just smell the edge - Jordan's laughing and joshing, but he wants to beat this guy and wants him to know he got beat.
So, does this set us up for another comeback? Can the Bulls line up his Airness, maybe just leave him on the bench til the fourth quarter or the final 5 minutes of a game? OK, maybe we're not there. But it's pretty clear Jordan still has skills you can only dream about and clearly still has the competitive fire that made him the greatest.
Trying to pick Michael Jordan's greatest basketball moment is a practice akin to choosing God's most perfect creation. Sure, the obvious answer is Natalie Portman, but then you start to really think about it and eventually realize that Mt. Everest is pretty sweet, too.
Still, choosing Jordan's greatest moment is exactly what Gatorade is asking hoops fans to do in honor of MJ's September induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Leading the pack at the moment is Jordan's final shot as a Bull (right) -- a championship-clincher against the Utah Jazz in 1998. In a distant second is "The Shot" that sank Cleveland in the 1989 playoffs. Next (and the humble choice of this writer) is Jordan's first title celebration where he weeps while clutching the championship trophy. It's my favorite because I knew at that moment, as an 11-year-old undersized dork in the suburbs with joyous tears streaming down his face, that Michael Jordan and I were doing the same thing at the same time.
Other contenders include:
"The shrug" game against Portland in the 1992 finals where he hit six threes in the first half.
Winning the 1996 title on Father's Day.
Dunking on the Knicks at the Garden.
The cradle drunk during his 1984 rookie year.
Dropping 63 points in the 1986 playoffs against the Celtics.
Scoring 55 points against the Knicks in 1995 shortly after his comeback.
This list reads like a where-were-you biography of the childhood/adolescent experience I shared with so many of the guys I grew up with. But did Gatorade leave any of his top moments out? How about announcing his return to the NBA with the words, "I'm back." Or perhaps the up-and-under scoop in the '91 finals that prompted Marv Albert to yell, "Oh, a spec-tac-u-lar move!"
Tell us your favorite MJ moment in the comment section below. And don't forget to visit the Gatorade Facebook page to register your vote for MJ's greatest moment. If you're at least 18, you can enter to win a trip to the Hall of Fame ceremony to see His Airness get inducted next month.
For those of you out there who have expanded cable and miss the days when the Bulls were dominating their way through the NBA playoffs, the oft-ignored NBA-TV has you covered.
The station plans to air all 10 of the championship-clinching games that Phil Jackson has coached in his career.
Fire up your DVR because this may be the only chance you have to see a Bulls championship celebration for a very long time.
Plus, it's always fun to watch Michael and Scottie being, well, Michael and Scottie.
Here's the schedule. Sure, it's already under way, but there's a full day of Phil-eriffic programming tomorrow:
Hedo Turkoglu, who helped lead the Orlando Magic to its first appearance in the NBA Finals since 1995, shocked anyone who's paying attention to the NBA over the holiday weekend when he agreed to a deal with the Toronto Raptors instead of the Portland Trailblazers.
By all accounts, it wasn't the length of the contract being offered, it wasn't the money and it wasn't the team itself that made Turkoglu balk at Portland's offer. So, what was it?
During these times when we seek NBA wisdom, we begrudgingly turn to ESPN reporter Ric Bucher's Twitter feed, where he writes, "Toronto's shot at
getting Hedo: apparently his wife loves the city. Any (happily) married
man can tell you how much weight that carries."
And it's not just the spouse he's thinking about. Turkoglu and his wife, Banu, had a baby girl in February. Living in Portland puts the family an extra five hours away from Turkey. So, let this be a lesson to any team hoping to sign Hedo Turkoglu in the future: If you really want Hedo, you'll move your team as close to Turkey as humanly possible.
But fear not, Trail Blazer fan. As Oregonian reporter Jason Quick informs us, "Thirty minutes after Turkoglu rejected the offer, the Blazers were back on the phone lines."
Any thoughts as to what they were up to druing those 30 minutes of in-between time?
A voracious consumer of all things sports and all things blog, Koster keeps his eyes on the biggest stories in sports while sacrificing any chance at a social life. Waste your entire day with him On Our Twitter .
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