Posted on October 31st, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Someone in the NBA office has a cruel sense of humor. Either that or the schedule-maker discovered a problem very late in the process and devised a quick-fix solution that sticks out like a polka-dot basketball.
The season tipped-off Tuesday with just three games on the schedule. You’ll never have an easier answer for a “What’s-wrong-with-this-picture?” question.
Two games formed a TNT doubleheader, with the defending champion Miami Heat facing the Boston Celtics in the early contest. The nightcap featured the Los Angeles Lakers — favorites to win the Western Conference — against the Dallas Mavericks. Those four teams combined have captured six of the past seven NBA titles.
The only other game on the calendar pitted the Washington Wizards against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Those teams combined have won one NBA title in the past 60 years.
Way to rub it in, NBA, though I’m sure the country thanks you for restricting Wiz-Cavs to local TV only.
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Posted on October 29th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
No matter what else happens in the upcoming season, the Washington Wizards will be in good shape if their top draft choice follows the recent trend in D.C., where rookies have made the leap easy as 1-2-3.
That’s one, as in the Nationals’ Bryce Harper (a No. 1 overall pick), and two, as in the Redskins’ Robert Griffin III (the second selection in this year’s draft). Three would be the Wizards‘ Bradley Beal, his draft spot and uniform number.
Hope abounds as new seasons dawn, whether it’s longing to stay on top or aspiring to escape the basement. Teams open each campaign with the absence of former members and the addition of unfamiliar faces. The Wizards have received much attention for the players swept out and the replacements welcomed in.
But, in a sense, Beal is the only “new” Wizard. He’s the bright package with the big bow that we’re dying to unwrap and see what it can do.
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Posted on October 28th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Oklahoma City has been quite the NBA story the past few seasons.
The Thunder play in a quaint, small market that’s absolutely crazy about the team. A frenzied college atmosphere drapes Chesapeake Energy Arena during games. The stands are packed with fans in uniform T-shirts.
It’s the type of story that, sadly, tends to be romanticized in pro sports.
They’re the feisty little guys holding their own against the big, bad Lakers and Mavericks. They’re the thousands of fans who gather outside to watch playoff games on a huge video screen attached to the arena. They’re the homegrown stars who were hand-picked and developed by the team, including three-time scoring champ Kevin Durant, who signed a five-year extension as LeBron James was taking his talents to South Beach.
Aww, isn’t this market so adorable? Isn’t this franchise so cute? Isn’t this saga so sweet?
OKC was a fairy tale to Thunder fans, especially innocent youngsters who don’t know better. Everyone else knows that fairy tales aren’t true, especially in pro sports. The Thunder proved as much Saturday night by trading James Harden to the Houston Rockets.
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Posted on October 25th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Entering this season, the Redskins’ offensive line wasn’t known for performing in beautiful harmony with precise choreography like “The Five Heartbeats.”
Washington’s group up front was more like “Trent Williams and the Flatliners,” with the lead facing questions about his dedication, concentration and maturity.
The O-line was considered one of the team’s biggest problems, an area with plenty of mediocrity but little depth. Aside from drafting third-rounder Josh LeRibeus, fifth-rounder Adam Gettis and sixth-rounder Tom Compton, coach Mike Shanahan had done nothing to bolster the unit in the offseason. When star left tackle Williams went down in Week 3, he was replaced by Jordan Black, a man who spent last year out of the NFL — and it showed.
“There are a number of people that were worried about our offensive line,” Shanahan said last week. ” The offensive line is a group of people working together as a unit that give you a chance to be successful. Everybody’s got a piece of the puzzle — your offensive line, your tight end, your quarterback, your wide receivers. That’s why we’re very successful right now, because we have a group of people all going in the same direction. They know the system, they know each other, they’ve been fairly healthy there. They’re working together.”
A funny thing happened as we were holding our noses and complaining about the O-line’s smell. The offense has continued to blossom, from the 40-point, 459-yard outbreak against the defense-averse New Orleans Saints in Week 1, through the turnover-impaired 23 points and 480 yards Sunday against the New York Giants.
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Posted on October 23rd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Having rediscovered the love of basketball, my 13-year-old recently tried out for her middle school team and made the final cut. This will be her first organized play in several years, dating to the phase when she was a veritable tomboy who lived and breathed hoops.
Naturally, my interest in basketball featuring females has risen again and is likely to remain elevated until I no longer have a family member involved. At that point, basketball featuring males will reclaim its prior market share of my hardwood affection, approximately 99 percent.
Sequoia dreams of playing in college and proceeding to the WNBA. I’m grateful that such opportunities for scholarships and paychecks even exist for little girls. I’ll do everything in my power to help her pursue her goals, while rooting like crazy for every team she makes.
But the growth of women’s basketball doesn’t rest on folks like me, who are into it primarily because a relative or friend is involved. The sport’s popularity will increase only by cultivating more genuine fans, whose attraction runs deeper than personal connections. One of the best ways to do that is through a simple act, a move that would make the game more exciting and increase the players’ efficiency:
Bring the basket closer to the ground.
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Posted on October 21st, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
When Lance Armstrong’s moment of truth finally arrived, after years of avoidance, deception and misdirection, he ignored the advice of the sneaker company that recently disowned him.
Nike says “Just do it.”
Armstrong just blew it.
In the cyclist’s first public comments since the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released an exhaustive report detailing his use of performance-enhancing drugs, the seven-time Tour de France winner didn’t come clean. He didn’t admit what many observers considered painfully obvious for more than a decade. He didn’t use the moment to confess his deeds while continuing to profess his cause.
Instead, the same man who vehemently denied doping since his first Tour de France victory in 1999, the same man who disparaged former teammates who simply told the truth about him, and the same man who vowed to fight accusations until his dying breath, skirted the issue like a pile-up in the peloton.
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Posted on October 18th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Few things bring complete strangers together more than sports and tragedies. Whether we’re residents celebrating a world title or residents navigating natural (or man-made) disasters, we’re in it together. The common bond unites in moments like those, making it easier to see ourselves in one another.
Unfortunately, the connection is fleeting. We retreat to our personal silos and circles before long, and everything returns to “normal.” The spirit of community hibernates until the next event — or until we’re reminded of past incidents.
That’s what we have in the new documentary, “Benji,” which airs Tuesday on ESPN. It’s the story of 17-year-old Ben Wilson, the sweet-natured boy who was the nation’s top basketball prospect when he was gunned down in November 1984. He was Chicago’s 669th murder victim that year, but his senseless killing shook the city like none other.
“He had an infectious-type personality, first of all, because he was 6-foot-8, handsome, and always laughing and smiling,” said Kurt Jones, a close friend and teammate of Wilson’s at Chicago’s famed Simeon High. “Not only was he a nice person who people were attracted to because they loved his personality, but he was always looking out for others. He always said positive things to people.”
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Posted on October 17th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Ray Lewis was a year older and a step slower last month as he began his 17th NFL season. He covered less ground on pass plays and offered less resistance on running plays. The laws of nature suggest that trend will continue if Lewis mounts a comeback next year.
Sadly, the effort probably isn’t worth it. Not to the player and not to his employer, the Baltimore Ravens.
Lewis suffered a season-ending torn triceps in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 31-29 victory against the Dallas Cowboys. The future Hall of Fame linebacker who rarely misses a snap was a spectator as the Ravens staved off a pair of last-gasp drives that could have resulted in a loss.
But if you were watching TV with the sound down, and didn’t know Lewis was injured as the cameras kept showing him, you would have thought he was sidelined for strategic reasons and the commentators were discussing the reality of a new era in Baltimore. The fact that such a transition is inevitable made the sight no less shocking.
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Posted on October 15th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The Washington Redskins and their star quarterback face a dilemma that’s unlikely to fade as the season progresses. It’s not a choice between equally undesirable alternatives because clearly there’s an advantage in using Robert Griffin III to his fullest.
But utilizing him to that significant and magnificent extent leads to a perplexing problem for RG3 and his coaches alike: How much is excessive and how much is enough?
Unfortunately, that’s a question best answered in hindsight. When RG3 didn’t get out of bounds before suffering a concussion-inducing hit against Atlanta a week ago, that was a bad decision. When he took off for 13 carries — several by design — in Sunday’s 38-26 victory against Minnesota, that was brilliant strategy.
Coach Mike Shanahan actually heeded the masses and scaled back Griffin’s runs against Atlanta. The fact that he got hurt anyway merely proves that the game’s inherent perils are unavoidable — in or out of the pocket. But there’s a heightened sense of danger whenever RG3 tucks the ball and essentially becomes a halfback, a position that doesn’t enjoy the protection designed for quarterbacks.
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Posted on October 13th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The Washington Nationals and their newly-minted fans grew up this week. Over the course of three days in southeast D.C., they hung out with the defending World Series champions. The Cardinals showed them the ropes of autumn baseball, gave them glimpse of life in the postseason’s pressure cooker.
St. Louis even let the Nats & Co. take a quick sip from the victors’ cup, like older cousins overseeing a youngster’s first drink. But the Cardinals didn’t allow the Washingtonians to gulp it down. The champs snatched it away in mid-swallow, before anyone could became acclimated to the taste.
Now Washington knows how Texas felt last season, when the Rangers twice were one strike away from vanquishing the Cardinals. Now everyone knows what it’s like to be so close to a raucous playoff celebration that you see it in your mind as if it were unfolding in front of your face. Which should occur any second.
But then everything goes terribly wrong. The opponents score the go-ahead runs before the third out and there’s no miraculous comeback and the season is over in stunning fashion. That’s what St. Louis did to the Nats with a 9-7 victory Friday night in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.
It’s as if the Cardinals put the Nats and this suddenly-feverish-about-baseball city through a cruel initiation process, a painful rite of passage for newbies looking to cross over. With a four-run rally in the ninth — completing the comeback from 6-0 hole — St. Louis both confrimed its standing and acknowledged the Nats’ arrival:
“Welcome to adulthood, kiddies. You made it. Go get ‘em next year.”
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