When you come to a fork in the road, take it. | | | | Enes Kanter is in the public eye after he was detained at a Romanian airport.
(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images) | | | | | | “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
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| | rantnrave:// The NBA ALL-STAR GAME is coming to CHARLOTTE after all. It will be held there in 2019, putting a coda on a tumultuous year for the league's relationship with the city. The NBA had rightfully seized the game after the state passed the discriminatory HB2 law in 2016. It was one of the league's best moments. The NBA has gained a status as a socially conscious and progressive organization, and it has been a boon to commissioner ADAM SILVER's reputation. Decisions like that trumpeted that ethos. Returning the game to Charlotte opens the NBA to questioning and is reflective of a larger political conversation. NORTH CAROLINA repealed HB2 but it was a repeal in name only and most of the anti-LGBT law remains in place. Silver is aware, noting that "we understand the concerns of those who say the repeal of HB2 did not go far enough." By returning to Charlotte, the NBA is now caught in a debate progressives have been caught in for years. Silver, it seems, appreciates the difficulty of total victory and is trying to make the inroads he can, with a larger goal in sight. On certain issues --see DONALD STERLING -- Silver can act with finality. Here, he has to work within a system. The NBA will ensure open access in every venue it operates in during its All-Star weekend; a clear juxtaposition with what will not be available elsewhere. That leaves the NBA and Silver open to criticism, which it received in droves. But the NBA's choice is reminiscent of a political warfront, where factions in the same party argue over political absolutism vs. incremental progress. Where an absolute boycott of North Carolina is the endgame, a temporary sanction and public embarrassment can be unsatisfying. The anger driving that emotion is understandable. Still, it does not make one course of action definitively less effective than the other -- only less aggressive. It's fair to ask if the NBA missed an opportunity for greater change by not staying committed to its original decision. Just as it is to wonder what obstinance would do to change the behavior of a North Carolina legislature that has proved intransigent. The NCAA has brought games back to the state, too. Perhaps small steps will work out better in the long run. That's the approach Silver has taken -- a belief that trying to change attitudes from the inside is better than not engaging at all... BLEACHER REPORT has come a long way in a few years. It now produces some of the best journalism and features in sports media. That's a long leap for a company that began and thrived as an SEO-driven aggregation machine. Its success and current content model is a rebuke to the idea that readers don't pine for good work. The B/R MAG team has loaded itself with must-reads. Loved this story on rethinking what NBA coaches wear... Looking to spruce up your sports memorabilia collection? How much would you pay for a press release?... The NBA FINALS could come down to which team can avoid death by pick-and-roll... The opportunity cost of watching sportsball. | | | - Mike Vorkunov, curator |
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| A new B/R Mag 'investigation' reveals the REAL reason basketball bosses still rock suits on the sideline-plus an EXCLUSIVE look at the Bill Belichick of the NBA. | | |
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| The secret behind Channing Frye, Allie Clifton, and Richard Jefferson’s addictive ‘Road Trippin’’. | | |
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| What makes a truly great basketball player? | | |
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| It’s inner peace (with a side of abs). | | |
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| One of the world's most accomplished downhill mountain bikers, Atherton racked up 13 consecutive World Cup wins last season, something no one has ever done before. Yet people still relegate her to the shadow of her pro biker brothers--and she's tired of it. | | |
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| When the Las Vegas Raiders kick off in 2020, they’ll be playing in the most expensive stadium in the world. In three years the United States’ 40th largest media market--it sits behind such metropolises as Hartford and West Palm Beach--will be building a $1.9B stadium in the middle of the desert for a team that will take the field eight to 10 times a year. | | |
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| Snap has some good friends. | | |
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| How Monumental Sports is redefining the bundle for millennials. | | |
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| It has always baffled me how superficially we discuss coaches. Follow the public debate and you mostly hear arguments about whether a coach is good or not, with no room for much in between. Perhaps you’ll hear general criticism of their offense or defense, or that they’ve lost the players in the locker room. But even that level of evaluation of coaches feels cartoonish. | | |
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| Episode 120 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features Kevin Merida, an ESPN senior vice president and the editor-in-chief of "The Undefeated." The site, which explores the intersections of race, sports and culture, just celebrated its one year anniversary. | | |
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| Memorabilia include Cassius Clay’s Olympic jacket, Chris Evert’s Wimbledon racket, and the Ray Chapman “death ball.” | | |
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| The gap between Trout and the rest of the Angels lineup has nearly reached Bondsian proportions. | | |
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| How Cristiano Ronaldo has transformed his game in his 30s to be as much about Cristiano Ronaldo as possible. All without a hair out of place. | | |
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| Concussion reporting is a hot topic after the comments from Tom Brady's wife, Gisele Bundchen, indicating that Brady has suffered concussions in his career, including one last year. The issue is unfortunately complicated. | | |
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| Bears personnel took it as evidence of all they had been told about Mitch Trubisky never taking himself too seriously yet always focusing on the details. | | |
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| Zach Lowe goes deep inside the most dangerous version of the NBA's most dangerous play: Kyrie Irving and LeBron James in a 1-3 pick-and-roll. Well, at least until Steph Curry and Kevin Durant decide to finally unleash it in Golden State. | | |
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| Continued success with Cowboys turns NFL outlier into sports business influencer. | | |
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| Digital and Social Media Sports |
| Listen to episode 94 of the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, with Dave Krikst, Head of TSN Social Media Content, Managing Editor of BarDown.com, Producer. | | |
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| The motives for suicide are complicated, personal and perhaps never fully understood. One simple answer though is at 27, with nearly four years inside and a lifetime to go, Aaron Hernandez's reality had become unbearable. | | |
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| The Giants' Barry Bonds is the best player in the game today--just ask him. | | |
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| | | | | Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross |
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