Mahogany’s resemblance to Turner is more physical than vocal. While matching Big Joe’s large, expansive frame, Mahogany is more dulcet crooner than blues shouter, closer in spirit to another vocalist he feted four years ago on his Mahogany Music label, Johnny Hartman. But Mahogany did play a Turner-Jimmy Rushing composite in Robert Altman’s film, Kansas … Read more
Calvin Booth (center) – StewMac/flickr.com In a deal that is almost certain to become official when the NBA trade moratorium is lifted tomorrow, the Wolves will take on center Calvin Booth and swingman Rodney Carney from the Philadelphia 76ers, plus receive a first-round pick that is likely the one the Sixers got from Utah in … Read more
Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images Let’s start this with the big fat cavaet that I rarely watch, and am certainly not very well versed about, college basketball. And since two of the key principals in the eight-player swap that the Timberwolves and Grizzlies pulled off in the middle of the night Thursday/Friday are high-caliber college players, I … Read more
(AFP/File/Gabriel Bouys) NBA Finals Game #6: Los Angeles 92, Boston 131 Series: Boston wins 4-2 A 39-point margin in a championship-clinching game means that one team was relentlessly magnificent and the other quit early and never bothered to revive. Quite frankly, I’m shocked at how thoroughly the Celtics cut the heart out of this Lakers … Read more
(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty Images) NBA Finals, Game #5: Boston 98, Los Angeles 103 Series to date: Boston up 3-2 Other assignments prevented me to compiling a good three pointer for last night’s game, and it is already late in the day to slap together some of my impressions and questions about the contest. But … Read more
(AFP/File/Gabriel Bouys) NBA Finals, Game #4: Boston 97, Los Angeles 91 Series to date: Boston 3-1 1. Changing Reputations It is just a matter of when now. Because surely you don’t think Lamar Odom finds his composure, Pau Gasol unearths some grit, and Kobe Bryant recaptures his magical mojo in sufficient quantities to take these … Read more
NBA Finals, Game #3: Boston 81, Los Angeles 87 Series to date: Boston 2-1 1. Superb Coverage In all my years of watching NBA basketball, I can’t remember more incisive and illuminating commentary about the game than we got last night from Jeff Van Gundy and his cohorts on ABC and ESPN. The general purpose … Read more
(AFP/Nicholas Kamm) Game #2, NBA Finals: Los Angeles 102, Boston 108 Series to Date: Boston up 2-0 1. No D in Los Angeles Lakers After watching the last 2 and a half quarters live and then the entire game on tape, I’ve got to say that for all my babble about the superiority of the … Read more
(AP Photo/Winslow Townson) Los Angeles 88, Boston 98 Series thus far: Boston 1-0 1. The Buck Stops With Pierce I firmly believe that Boston’s postseason prospects took a dramatic leap forward when Paul Pierce went off for a monster performance in Game 7 of the Eastern semis versus Cleveland. Up to that point, the Celtics … Read more
(AP Photo/Jim Mone) If you haven’t been paying attention, you’ve been missing a strange, maddening, encouraging, teetering-on-the-brink-of-disaster one day, triumphing-over-adversity the next, almost wholly improbable stretch of baseball from the Minnesota Twins. The Twins season to date doesn’t really add up, and they’re certainly not going about their business the way past teams have. Yet, … Read more