Entries from March 2007
By Gustavo Cardoso
January and February were busy months for São Paulo basketball programs as the clubs tried to fill their U12 through U17 rosters before the Paulista Junior Leagues start. Kids did what they could to attend as many “peneiras” as possible, but at the end there were not that many opportunities, and as usual, some talented kids might not be playing this season.
It’s a Tuesday afternoon in late January when I arrive at Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras’ clubhouse to talk to Coach Vinicius Cappucci. The traditional São Paulo club, founded by the local Italian community back in the days, breathes football, while other sports keep a symbiotic relationship with it. As Fernando Galuppo, historian, and Palmeiras public relation says “if football goes well, the club goes well, if football is in crisis…”
Basketball had its glorious days at Palmeiras back in the 70’s, but in the 90’s its Junior squads still brought up athletes such as Phoenix Suns’ guard, Leandrinho Barbosa. Leandrinho started at Continental (a junior league power house in the Osasco region currently shut down), but Palmeiras was his first club as a “federado” (an athlete registered by the local federation).
(more…)
Categories: International · Writer: Gustavo Cardoso
By Eric G. Satterwhite
Play resumes this weekend for the 2007 Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship in Atlanta, Georgia featuring a repeat of last years National Championship game with defending titlist the University of Florida versus 2006 runner-up the Bruins of UCLA. The titanic clash between the Hoyas of Georgetown and the Buckeyes of Ohio State books an exceptional twin bill that will be longed discussed in various circles after March Madness shuts down in the ATL after crowning the Champ on April 2, 2007.
Interesting enough each team features players that have parents that were not only formidable athletes in basketball but also displayed excellence in tennis, track & field and coaching. With that in mind I decided to put together a “Final Four Athletic Progeny” team based on the sporting endeavors of father and sons participating in the collegiate showdown for hoop supremacy this calendar year.
(more…)
Categories: Writer: Eric G. Satterwhite
By Ryan McNeill
While searching around on the ‘net I found an interesting article in the Toronto Star called “Athletes Make Babies For Sport” where writer Randy Starkman talks about professional soccer players in Europe who have started to harvest stem cells from their newborn’s umbilical cord for doctors to use to treat career-threatening injuries.
Starkman begins the article by writing:
It looms as the ultimate “repair kit” for elite athletes — stem cells harvested from their newborn’s umbilical cord used to treat career-threatening injuries. The Sunday Times reported recently that at least five professional soccer players in England have had stem cells from the blood of their children’s umbilical cords frozen. It’s being done to protect their progeny in the event of future illness, but is also seen by some of the athletes as a potential aid to fix their own damaged cartilage and ligaments in the future.
(more…)
Categories: Ryan McNeill
By Dan Love
I am going to preface what I am about to say by stating that I am in no means a Kobe Bryant fan.
From the day he announced he would be skipping college and “taking his talents” straight to the NBA, I did not like the guy. I detested Bryant’s meteoric rise to the top of the NBA as he, along with Shaquille O’Neal, catapulted the L.A. Lakers’ mini-dynasty to three consecutive NBA Championships from 2000-2002. I abhorred everything about The Mamba; from the goofy way he grew his hair his first couple of years in the league to his borderline-creepy Adidas commercials.
I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was the arrogant manner in which he carried himself; the way he openly compared himself to His Airness. Maybe it was the ’98 All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden, Michael Jordan’s final All-Star Game (’02 and ’03 with the Wizards never happened), where Kobe bent over backwards to steal the show on a night Jordan’s greatness was supposed to be celebrated, not challenged by a punk kid who couldn’t crack the starting lineup of his own team. On the other hand, maybe it is merely as simple as me having to wear #8 during that basketball season, because they did not have the numbers I wanted in my size. Either way, Kobe was front and center in Dan Love’s Burn Book.
(more…)
Categories: Writer: Dan Love
By Ryan McNeill
While reading through Darcy Frey’s book “The Last Shot” one of the themes that really stuck out was the way that high school athletes are tricked and exploited as journalists, coaches and countless other adults tell kids in inner cities that if they want a better life they can obtain that through an athletic scholarship to a Division 1 school.
Poor kids, they never realize that the proverbial carrot that is being dangled in front of their faces is nothing more than a mirage.
(more…)
Categories: NCAA Hoops · Ryan McNeill
By Eric G Satterwhite
HoopsAddict.com’s most recent Mock Draft mentioned how NBA talent evaluators “lock-in” on end of game tournament performance as articulated by NBA Assistant Scouting Director Ryan Blake in our recent conversation. The NCAA tournament rolls on and we want to itemize some players who appear in our Mock Draft first round that overwhelmed the scrutiny test. Since HoopsAddict.com is popular on College campuses we are not neglecting so many excellent performances of the remaining sweet 16 teams just highlighting some clutch performances that players took to heart after surveying our last Mock Draft update.
(more…)
Categories: NCAA Hoops · Writer: Eric G. Satterwhite
