The catch

For my last blog, I have no idea what to talk about. So why not make up a story. There were once these two friends. Or shall we call them roommates. They did not know one another in the previous life. One was very quiet while the other wouldn’t shut up. They had different outlooks on life, but someone how never had a fight. One of them, we will say his name is little guy, had a strange addiction. He would wear a cape and go around stealing water bottles. Biggs, was his accomplice, he had a turbo razor scooter that had a wheelie bar on it, and no one could catch them. They were the most iconic duo since Shaq and Kobe in ’02.

Then, as the school caught on to Biggs N Little man. They hired Speed and Juicy to stop them. Speed was a shopping cart racer, while Juicy was a professional talker. They caught the little guy in action one day as he had a cape full of bottles. As the little guy ran to Biggs, Speed saw them and put Juicy in the shopping cart and was off. Biggs never hit the weight room so he wasn’t strong enough to get away from Speed.

Juicy talked to them until the finally confessed. The day was saved as Speed brought them all in the shopping and received an honorary championship belt.

My first game

Recently I went to my first college game. Being a huge sports fan this is a huge step in my life. Coming from a family that has no interest what so ever in sports, in which they’re more geared to hunting and fishing, this was big. A friend of mine asked if I wanted to go and without even asking who else was going, or the prices of the ticket, or even how we are going to get there. It was a Tuesday night game, with a two and a half hour drive ahead of us. Oh, and did I mention it was to watch my favorite team the Michigan Wolverines?

We got to the game and as we were walking up my heart started pumping like crazy, as I realized I was going to go to my first game. The game itself was amazing as Michigan played great the whole game. They lost lead late, be hit big shots and free throws late to win the game. From start to finish it was an amazing experience that I will always remember.

Dream Team: Getting the Gold

After the Dream Team demolished team without asking for names.

The started to get into playing better teams as the tournament narrowed down teams. It started becoming more about the relationships they had built with one another. Everyone became best friends and that made their on court chemistry even better. The biggest win of all came in the last game. There was no doubt the should be here as they were outscoring opponents by more than seventy points. In the gold medal game against Croatia, the Dream Team won 117-85. It was one of the closest games during the run in 1992. The received their medals knowing this was it. As they left they impacted far more than any could truly believe. All eleven professionals made the hall of fame, as well as Chuck Daley, their head coach. The Dream team is widely regarded as one of the best teams in all of sports history.

Dream Team: Final task

The next step for the team, was to make the Olympics. First up, was the Cuban National team. At the start of the game it seemed that the Cuban players wanted pictures and autographic more then they wanted to beat the dream team. Chuck had picked Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan as captains. Jordan said no. He said that it meant more to the other guys, Bird and Magic as it was the end of their careers, and this was the first they would play together.

Team USA dominated the Cubans by more than seventy points. Jordan and Magic would have a little rivalry because Magic was the man of the eighty’s and Jordan was the new face. It was all in fun and love they were great teammates on the court. Next game was another blowout, as the U.S. team qualified and was headed to Spain.

Dream Team: The Young Guns

To be one team, you must work with each other to get better. The problem was not ball hogging or even taking all of the shots. It was the opposite, they were making too many passes. A bunch of college kids had come into their gym and demolished them.

Players like Chris Weber from Michigan and Bobby Hurley from Duke played great against these hall of famers. As the media was let in, the score board was erased because the select team had won by double digits, and Chuck didn’t want that to be leaked. Chuck threw the scrimmage to let the guys know, that they can be beat. From a coaches aspect it was amazing because to not let the players, let alone the other coaches know is amazing in itself. “Anybody can be beat, so you have to be ready to play,” Chuck told the team. The next day was a complete turnaround. Some players said they believed they scored over a hundred during the scrimmage.

Dream Team: Tying it all together

“Everyone in the world has an ego, the only difference between them and us is that we have a reason to have one,” Charles Barkley. With all of the talent, the awards the hate, the me first mentality. How are you suppose to strip all of that away from the athletes and get them to play as one? You play them against a bunch of college kids and let them get embarrassed, that is exactly what Chuck Noll did. Before they even had the scrimmage, they had an intra squad scrimmage in which it was everyone trying to show what they have to offer. Why they should always have they ball. The team struggled in the open scrimmage and didn’t play together. Next up, the college kids, they wanted to see how they could stack up against the best.

The Final Piece

With all of this talent on one team, who was going to coach them? The legendary Chuck Noll. He would coach eleven Hall of famers and one college kid. He had success in the National Basketball League as his Detroit Pistons had just won back to back titles to close out the eighty’s.

Everyone across the league knew that Michael Jordan did not like the Pistons, and that the Pistons did not like Jordan. So would it really work to have not only the hottest coach at the time, but the best player in the world on one team. That was the million dollar question. Speaking of big questions, to this day everyone will still wonder why Isiah Thomas was left off the roster. At the time he was a top point guard. It is said that the reason he was left off was higher up than the players opinions.

1992 Team Formation

The Olympics finally agreed to let the stars from the National Basketball Association join in the Olympics in 1989. After it was agreed that players could play, people began to wonder who would play? Would they fill the team with young guys? Or a bunch of old washed up guys. The answer to that is both. Their biggest catch was getting the best player of that era to join the team, Michael Jordan. Jordan wanted to think about it first. Then Ervin “Magic” Johnson got the call and was a yes. Larry Bird, rival and friend of Magic wanted to be teammates with him for once. Now they needed big men. Who better to call than “The Admiral” David Robinson and Patrick Ewing. Two of the top big men in the league at this point. Now they wanted some chemistry, that’s where Karl Malone and John Stockton join the fun. Now to start rounding out the team they added Chris Mullins and Scottie Pippin. Charles Barkley was a trouble maker that said he wouldn’t make trouble. Clyde Drexler and Christian Laettner were the final two.

A-Rod is a Traitor

Alex Rodriguez would not be going play for the Boston Red Socks. An to add insult to injury, or as some may say to rub salt on the wound. He would be the newest member of the New York Yankee’s franchise. The deal with the Red Socks didn’t happen because the Major League Baseball Players’ Association believed Alex was giving up too much to join the Red Socks. When Alex decided to sign with New York, His pay was cut from $179 million over ten years to $112 over that time period. With the Yankees always finding a way to snake away key players, this hurt the most. As Boston had formed so many pieces to make this puzzle fit, all for nothing. Boston would avenge not signing by becoming the first professional sports team to come back from a three to one lead.

A-Rod Part 2

At that time, Alex had decided. He was going to be a part of the Boston Red Sox's organization. He would not only leave Texas and the amazing weather. He would also have to drop some money from the astonishing 252 million dollar deal. Then as all the pieces came together, and Theo Epstein and the Red Socks started to ream of all of the championships they were going to win. It was gone. The dead line for the approval of the deal had passed and no word. Then the player’s union had declined it, Alex Rodriguez would not be a Red Sox. Then as preseason had started, Aaron Boone, star third baseman goes down. It was a fairy tale. The Red Socks were confused as to how this could happen. It seemed as if The Curse of The Great Bambino all over again.

A-Rod: The Deal Pt 1

Alex Rodriguez was one of the biggest up and coming players. He was a young prospect playing for the Texas Rangers. The Rangers were not that good so they were looking to either build a team around Alex or trade him. In the offseason prior to the 2001 season, Rodriguez signed a contract with the Rangers for a whopping 252 million dollars. It was said to be paid out over ten years. He wanted to be traded as the Rangers were not going anywhere fast. The two teams that were gunning for Alex were possibly the biggest rivals in all of baseball. The Red Sox and Yankees. The two had so much history to add on to this drama. Bud Selig, Commissioner at the time gave them 72 hours to make a deal.

The Schedule Makers

ESPN produced a short called the schedule makers. It is about Henry and Holly Stevenson, a husband team that made the schedule for the MLB. They worked right out of their own home. This was back in the land of landline phones, in which the had a normal phone as well as business phone. Baseball had Harry Simons draw up the schedule for them. He did it for years and was very successful. It got to the point to where he could no longer do it at a successful rate. They developed a computer-generated schedule, that they could add or remove games. They started this in 1982 and did it until 2005. When the league wanted to go high tech, so they replaced them with a computer. Henry was the baseball genius, the architecture behind it. Holly was a great number cruncher. They made baseball amazing because they made the games and knew stuff no computer can know.

KD This is it

This is the last installment of the Kevin Durant series. After following Kevin for the majority of his career I may be biased, but I believe he is the best player in the league. He has everything you would want your star to have. He can score at will, shown by his three scoring titles. His assist numbers have went up each and every year. He is a monster rebounder. Calling him a good teammate would be a disrespect to him. With a seven foot wingspan, he can do just about anything you ask of a man to do. He had been rebuilding schools and basketball courts. He was the heart and soul of not only a team, but a city. They named a town after him, packed seats for him every day. He just left. It was almost too good to be true. The worst part, he went to the team that had sent the Thunder packing in the playoffs.

KD- Why he moved

The move had been made to join two time MVP Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in California. As much as the fans were hurt, it was really analyst that had the biggest problem. Numerous analyst said that Kevin had ruined the game, and that it would no longer be fun to watch. Durant on the other hand, said "The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player, as that has always steered me in the right direction," Durant wrote in a post on The Players' Tribune. "But I am also at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man: moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community which offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth."