Basketball

Thanks to an anonymous reader for this little tidbit from D.C. Of course, the headline refers to All-Star guard Alana Beard. Heh. Beard. heh. Thanks to an anonymous reader for this little tidbit from D.C. Of course, the headline refers to All-Star guard Alana Beard. Heh. Beard. heh.

Blake Griffin was the first player selected in the NBA draft (by the L.A. Clippers), and already people are grading each team’s draft. The one grade many gay men can agree on: Minnesota’s selection of Ricky Rubio (right) makes many of us Timberwolves fans. If he plays. Blake Griffin was the first player selected in […]

Good morning fellow Outsportsters. During the overnight hours, Cleveland and Phoenix worked out a mega-deal. Shaquille O’Neal has been traded by Phoenix to the Cavaliers in exchange for Sasha Pavlovic and Ben Wallace. This is a straight-up salary dump for the Suns, Pavlovic is probably getting cut within the month and Ben Wallace has made […]

There is not much to say about the Los Angeles Lakers’ 99-86 efficient dispatching of the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to give the Lakers their 15th NBA title. Game 5 was a yawner with zero suspense and it was clear the better team won. After three straight thrillers, the Lakers […]

Dwight Howard The NBA Finals are all but over after the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to beat the bumbling Orlando Magic, 99-91, in overtime in Game 4. The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series 3-1, and to win the series the Magic would need to win three in a row, including Games 6 and 7 on […]

The NBA Finals start Thursday in Los Angeles with the Lakers hosting the Orlando Magic in a best-of-seven. I predict it will go seven, with the Lakers winning it all. I am more curious, though, as to how much interest there is in this series. The high-water mark for NBA Finals ratings came in 1998, […]

The NBA conference finals have been incredible so far — four games decided by a total of seven points. Lakers-Nuggets and Cavaliers-Magic each tied at 1-1. The best, though, was the astonishing end to Game 2 between the Cavs and Magic on Friday. Orlando led, 95-93, with one second left and was thisclose to taking […]

We were thrilled to have as our guest on our latest podcast, actor Eric Millegan from Fox’s “Bones.” Eric is a huge and very knowledgable NBA fan (he loves the Portland Trail Blazers, while his partner is a Cleveland Cavaliers fan) and he broke down the first round of the NBA Playoffs for us. Listen […]

The North Carolina Tar Heels started the men’s college basketball season as No. 1 and ended it that way with an easy 89-72 win over Michigan State in the final at Detroit. The Tar Heels were so dominant they scored a record 55 first-half points and had the biggest halftime lead ever in 21 points. […]

San Antonionio Spurs player Manu Ginobili is out for the rest of the NBA regular season and the playoffs. The Spurs guard had scans done on Monday that showed his troubled right ankle has gotten worse. I had been keeping an eye on Ginobili this past season and I picked up his ankle issues. It […]

The Final Four is down to the Final Two, after North Carolina thumped Villanova and Michigan State surprised No. 1 seed Connecticut in the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament. I can only hope the final is more exciting and interesting than the one snoozer and one so-so game Saturday. There were some decent moments in Michigan […]

I forgot to mention this when I wrote about my day at the first round of the NCAA Tournament held at the Wachovia Center but was reminded of it during the telecast of Villanova's Elite Eight victory over Pittsburgh last night at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. The announcers mentioned that all of the […]

Is it just me or has the men’s NCAA basketball tournament been a big snoozer this year? There are no truly memorable games or moments (Gonzaga’s buzzer-beater was cool, but nowhere near a Tivo moment), the seeds have held up (which means no Cinderella) and there have been too many blowouts. If it was a […]

“Weak” Pac-10? As there is every year, lots of talk centered on how “weak” the Pac-10 was this year, and how they didn’t deserve six spots. Even President Obama got in on the mix, saying how weak the conference was, specifically calling out Arizona and UCLA (they both won), and axing all of them before […]

On Monday evening I was watching Comcast Sportsnet when the studio host announced that some tickets to the NCAA Men’s Basketball 1st and 2nd round games at the Wachovia Center had just been made available. Now, I’m not a major basketball fan and am by no means an expert, but seeing the tournament unfold year […]

Organizations, businesses and websites will need to think twice before using a trademarked NCAA phrase or bracket system this year in their ads. Due to the dwindling economy, the use of NCAA phrases is being used to bring in more revenue than usual from places like bars and websites. However, the lawyers of the NCAA […]

As the NCAA tourney unfolds this week, consider this: The most popular personal activity among fans of the men's tournament is gardening. Seriously. Some 48 percent of the college basketball fans surveyed by Scarborough Sports Marketing said they'd indulged in gardening in the last 12 months, which is slightly higher than the national average. While […]

Just a few more hours to sign up. Click here to sign up for the 2009 Outsports NCAA men's college basketball tournament pool. Signup is free. Also, our NCAA expert says North Carolina will win it all. Just a few more hours to sign up. Click here to sign up for the 2009 Outsports NCAA […]

Tournament Selection Sunday always includes two elements: The selection of 65 teams for the tournament, and a bunch of whining by Dick Vitale about teams that got ‘snubbed' (video below). This year it's St. Mary's, who Dick and a bunch of others say was wrongly left out. The complaint is that the "little guy" got […]

So, how good was Syracuse's 127-117 Big East men's quarterfinal basketball win over Connecticut that lasted six overtimes and 3 hours, 46 minutes and ended at 1:22 a.m? I am asking since I missed every second of it, but in reading about it, it sounded like a classic. Believe it or not, it was only […]