First podcast (may not be the best, but then again who is?)

http://soundcloud.com/ep31/audio-recording-for-english/s-vNfeF

This is my first podcast on NBA and College basketball news! Feel free to comment on it.

NBA 1950S

The 50s was a different time, but a revolutionary time which changed the NBA entirely

Color Barrier Broken

The 50s is when the color barrier was broken when Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, and Nat Cilfton were drafted into the NBA. Most people would not even know the names of these pioneers, who paved the way for players such as Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan. Lloyd is the only one of the threesome that is still alive. In his words, "If adversity doesn't kill you, it makes you a better person." At that time Jackie Robinson in 1947 was the only African American playing professional baseball. With Lloyd, Cilfton, and Cooper playing at the same time they didn't have to carry the burden alone unlike Robinson. In one of Lloyd’s games that he had won his game and as he would leave fans would spit on him. Lloyd would be turned away by diners and would eating alone by himself in his room at the hotel and his coach Horace McKinney would join Lloyd for dinner to support him. His coach didn't have to do that, but those are the things people don't forget.  Lloyd won his first championship with The Syracuse Nationals and retired at the age of 32 with a career average of 8ppg and 6rbg.  Cilfton averaged 10ppg and 8rpg and made it on the 1956 All-Star team in the NBA after a brief stint in the Army.

Pettit’s Revenge

In the early years of the NBA the Boston Celtics and the St. Louis Hawks had one of the best rivalry. The Hawks met the Celtics 4 time out of the five years beginning with the 1956-57 season. That season, the Celtics had won their first championship with a score of 125-123 in double-overtime of Game 7. The next season the Hawks came back with a vendetta to beat the Celtics. This time they stunned the Celtics by beating the Celtics 104-102 at the Boston Garden. The Celtics came back to win Game 2, but in Game 3 Bill Russell sprained his ankle which would hurt his team. They both spilt Games 3 and 4 bringing it back to St. Louis for the victory. In Game 6 Pettit had his best game with 50 points, which the Hawks win their first championship.     

Celtics Legacy beginning

The 50s were a different time compared to today’s NBA standards. In the 50s there were no shot clocks and not a lot of athleticism. However, what made the game even more different was with no shot clock when the opposing team got the lead, then they did not have to score anymore and just played keep away with the ball. The game became boring for the paying fans. Pretty soon teams would start fouling each other so they could get back into the game and try to get the lead. This made games into a free throw shot out. In the 1953 Playoffs, the Boston Celtics and the Syracuse Nationals squared off and went into quadruple overtime and ended with a score of 111-105. Boston won the series. The famous Bob Cousy set an NBA record of 32 attempted free throws and made 30 of them and he also had 50 points that game. Celtics coach Red Auerbach told his team to give the ball to Cousy so that he would get fouled, which helped them win their first of many championships to come.    

An Unlikely Hero WINS the Game?

This video will blow your mind away when you see that the most unlikely person would win this basketball game.

Now that you have fully watched this video your mind must be blown to see that a kid faced with the odds against him would rise to success and win his basketball game with 20 points, making 6 three point shots. Jason was born with autism, and he is now the manager of his school's basketball team. He is not afraid to show his emotions during the games and for the last game of the season his coach let him suit up for the game just to see what it would feel like, but it did not pan out that way. In the last four minutes the coach puts Jason in the game, in the beginning he missed a few shots but once he made the first three he caught fire. Making 6 three pointers the crowd was going crazy insane. These games are one of a kind because no knew that Jason was going to go off like that making this night the best of his life. Even though he has felt different from everyone his whole life and has been faced these odds he made it into one of the greatest moments in basketball history.

Who will go to the Final Four?

College Basketball season is about to start people and most of us want to know "who do you think will get to the Final Four?"

University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut men's basketball team just won the 2010-2011 NCAA championship, and they have another chance to win it again with Kemba Walker-less team. Kemba Walker pushed his team to win the NCAA and now without him you would think the team would be done right? Wrong! This year UConn got the number freshmen in the nation with Andre Drummond. This 6'10 and 265 center is a beast on the court with comparisons to Amare Stoudemire he will mostly likely dominate college basketball. UConn also has sharp shooter Jeremy Lamb returning, with his skills he will lead his team with the experience he gain from last year. 

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
My top pick to win it all this year is UNC because this roster has elite players at every position making them the most lethal team. With returning players Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller, and John Henson UNC will have a lot of go to players. With Reggie Bullock and Kendall Marshal they will also have more scoring and leadership on the team. Last year when Kendall Marshall did well Harrison Barnes did great. With incoming freshmen PJ Hairston and James McAdoo UNC will have great talent coming off the bench. 

Kentucky

John Callipari has yet again recruit another amazing freshmen class with four McDonalds All Americans. This team will be lead by the in shape Terrence Jones, who made it to the Final Four last year. Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will be long athletic power forwards who will be threats at both ends of the court. With point guard Marquis Teague he will follow a long history of talent point guards under Coach Callipari. This year will be a different year with returning player, Terrence Jones, with his experience and talent surely he will lead his team to va NCAA championship.

Ohio State University
When Freshmen of the Year, Jared Sullinger, returned to college hoops rather than going pro he made it priority to win a National Championship. With William Buford, Aaron Craft, and Deshuan Thomas  this team will have a core group to become contenders. With Sullinger's workouts this summer he has become leaner and more powerful, but now he will have more of a perimeter game this year rather than relying on just the post. 

LBL Really?

Wow, I have heard of Lingerie Football League, but now a Lingerie Basketball League sounds a little ridiculous. I feel like LBL is good for a little summer league, but that's it. The way this league is based on is sexual appeal and some elite basketball. Between the WNBA and the LBL the LBL wins out in the sexual appeal, but the WNBA has the better basketball. However I feel the LBL kinda over does it with the sexual appeal factor in that these women are playing half naked in underwear with some lace going down their leg. Now these women are gorgeous; however, I feel like these women are not playing for the love of the game, but to be an object to attract dozens of men to them. However, I could be wrong because from some of the video footage it showed that these girls play hard, but some get a little overly aggressive. At on point you will see a player get pushed down even when she was doing nothing. That aggressiveness is just to get men riled up and get them more anxious to see if they players will break out in a hot fight. Overall I think that it is a great marketing strategy to appeal more to the male fan base in trying to get more men to watch women's basketball, but it is mostly likely the the LBL is just for men to watch sexy women play around for their pleasure. The LBL will never out do the WNBA. Here's a little snipped of the LBL...      

NBA LOCKOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The NBA is on day 114 of this lockout and it doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon. Out of the 30 teams about 22 of them are losing money, which is a cause for concern. Due to this Recession people have been losing a lot of money making it harder for most NBA teams to sell there expensive tickets to the general public. Who would want to go to an NBA game with a $50 ticket and sit all the at the top of the arena and barely see the game? No one! So these small market teams like the Charlotte Bobcats and the Minnesota Timberwolves have lost a lot of revenue due to the fact that their general fan base do not feel the need to buy a ticket and the fact that some of these teams do not have a star player like the Los Angles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. What we should do is take all the revenues that the teams make and split it even across the league so that everyone will be stable. The main reason why the Owners and Players are at a disagreement is because while the owners are loosing money they are having to spend more and more money bringing these players to their team for a $100 million contract, which is ridiculous.   I also agree with the rumor going around that owners are trying to implement the 'Carmelo Anthony Rule' where it makes it harder for a star players to leave their team. I feel that star players need to stick with their team and not demand to be traded to another team like Carmelo Anthony did. Players like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird are one of the few players who have stuck with their teams and made a legacy out of it which helped keep the fans interested in the NBA. With a player like Carmelo Anthony, who brought clutch game winning shots, leaving his team for the New York Knicks brought disaster to the Denver Nuggets. Now without their star player fans are less likely to come to the games, which causes the Denver Nuggets to lose revenue. One perfect example of a great player leaving his team is Lebron James. He was the most electrifying player to ever play in Cleveland let alone in the NBA. Some compared him to Michael Jordan, but now that he has left Cleveland Cavaliers he has caused  a huge rift in the NBA. The Cavs not only experienced one of the worst losing streaks in sports history, but with Lebron gone they lost a lot of fans, which caused a lot of local businesses to suffer with no fans to cater to. People hated Lebron now, every where he goes he is always yelled at by angry fans.
Overall due to this Lockout the first two weeks of the NBA are canceled. Even when the lockout is over it will take a month to get the league going. It will take two weeks to gets teams going, one week to deal with trading players, and another week for training camp. If the league stays the way it has been then teams like the Wizards and the Timberwolves will not make it and owners will continue to loose more and more money. Currently the owners and players are meeting with a mediator so hopefully things will get situated soon. This will be a long process!    

Minnesota Lynx 2011 WNBA Champions!

This is a great day for Minnesota because not only did the Lynx win Rookie of the Year with Maya Moore and coach of the year with Sheryl Reeve, but the have now won the franchise's first WNBA championship

   The Lynx swept the Atlanta Dream 3-0, and the final score of Game 3 Lynx 73-67. This was the dessert that the Lynx were looking for to top off this great season. Seimone Augustus was named WNBA Finals MVP after having three great games. Game 2 of the series was her breaakout game where she score 36 points, only 2 behind Angel McCoughtry, Game 3 she scored a team high 16 points along with Maya Moore's 15 points. I knew from the start that this team would be one to reckon with. Rookie Maya Moore has won 2 NCAA championships, 90 consecutive game winning streak (longest in basketball history since John Wooden's UCLA's 88 game winning streak), and is the most decorative basketball player ever, with her experience she made a huge impact with her work ethic. However, Maya was the only who made a huge impact. Seimone, Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson and Taj McWilliams-Franklin all made huge impacts with all of their experience. Seimone's constant attacking the rim made the Lynx a threat on the offense. Lindsay's leadership with the ball made it easier for everyone to score. Taj's and Rebekkah's experience with winning championship also was key for the veteran experience factor. Overall the energy of the bench is what also helped when the starters needed a break. The bench players averaged roughly 17ppg during the playoffs, which outmatched any other team in the playoffs. CONGRATS MINNESOTA LYNX ON BEING THE 2011 WNBA CHAMPS!

Game 1

Game 2

(Game 3 video will be coming soon)