NCAA to investigate Mayo after getting ‘new information
HOUSTON — Saying the NCAA has “new information,” president Myles Brand promised to investigate former Southern California basketball star O.J. Mayo, who allegedly received thousands of dollars in gifts from money given to an event promoter by a sports agency.
On Sunday, ESPN reported that Bill Duffy Associates provided Rodney Guillory with about $200,000 before Mayo arrived at USC. Louis Johnson, a former associate of Mayo’s, told “Outside the Lines” that Mayo received about $30,000 and other benefits from Guillory while in high school and during his one season at USC.
A Life Well Lived: Pistons mourn, celebrate the memory of legendary Will Robinson
God’s basketball team got a new coach Monday. A good hire, too. He’ll make them laugh and he’ll make them better players. But what he’ll really make them is better people. You couldn’t help but be around Will Robinson and not feel better, even if you couldn’t figure out exactly why.
Will touched the Pistons for 30 years. Officially, he was a scout – the right-hand man and most trusted adviser of Jack McCloskey as he built the Bad Boys into NBA champions. Unofficially, he was the franchise’s Yoda – a mesmerizing storyteller and a man of boundless charisma and dignity and humanity.
Wiz’s Haywood says LeBron should stop complaining about rough play
CLEVELAND — Overrated hasn’t worked. Now one of the Washington Wizards is calling LeBron James another name: Crybaby.
Following Cleveland’s 100-97 win in Game 4 on Sunday, James, who has absorbed two flagrant fouls in this rough-and-tumble playoff series and has been banged around by the Wizards, was asked about Washington’s tough-guy tactics.
“I guess that’s what they want to do,” he said, “hurt LeBron James in this series. It’s not working.”
Kobe pleased with Lakers’ progress, says he wants to stay put
LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant made clear Monday what’s been, at the very least, a bit ambiguous for nearly a year: He wants to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers and is open to finishing his career with them.
“Absolutely,” Bryant said the day after the Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 128-114 in their playoff series opener. “I’ve always wanted to be here. I just felt like I was in a position where I didn’t really have a choice. They wanted to go in an opposite direction. My legs aren’t as young as they used to be. Just let me know.
Grassroots Effort Under Way to Put Chamberlain on Commemorative Stamp
PHILADELPHIA — Wilt Chamberlain’s next enduring stamp on basketball is likely to come on the upper right-hand corner of an envelope.
Wilt the Stilt could become Wilt the Stamp if a grassroots effort to get the Hall of Famer and the only NBA player to score 100 points in a game on a commemorative U.S postage stamp is approved by postal officials.
Chamberlain’s image on a stamp might be the only way the 7-foot-1 basketball icon could ever be cut down to size.
“I’d be very proud if that happens and I’m sure he would be, too, if he was alive,” said Selina Gross, Chamberlain’s sister. “I think he’d be very honored. He probably wouldn’t believe this could happen to him.”
See Classic Video Footage of Wilt Chamberlain When he was 17 years old! Click HERE!
Young, Butler not enough pop for Wizards as Lakers win No. 50
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant abandoned his one-man show, got his teammates involved and the Los Angeles Lakers prevailed in a shooting contest.
Bryant scored six of his 26 points in overtime and the Lakers beat the Washington Wizards 126-120 Sunday night to snap a two-game losing skid and move within a game of the Western Conference lead. “We’re doing this without two starters,” Bryant said. “It’s been an adjustment period. I think guys have adjusted well. With all the injuries, we’re still one game behind the top seed in the Western Conference. You got to like our spot.”
BDA helps Anthony Continue Prosperous Relationship with Nike
Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony has signed a long-term extension with Nike’s Jordan Brand, his agent announced Wednesday, continuing a relationship that was set to end next year and signaling that Anthony has rehabilitated his image after a series of damaging incidents shortly after he entered the league.Cal Andrews, vice president of BDA Sports Management, declined to give the terms of the extension but one source put it at just over $60 million for seven years. With royalties, the deal would make him the second highest-paid player behind LeBron James among Nike’s NBA clients, just ahead of Sonics rookie Kevin Durant.
“Ward 9″ cranks out hoops superstars
March 25, 2008 by admin
Filed under Sports, Urban News
“On ESPN,” says basketball dad Vernon Ryan, “as much time as they give Kevin Durant, as much time as they give Michael Beasley, they never put two and two together: It’s P.G. County. There’s something happening here, right here in P.G. County.”
Ryan, of Upper Marlboro, tells me this while sitting among a couple of hundred basketball parents and hardcore fans in the bleachers of Capital Sports Complex, a massive hoops emporium in District Heights. He’s there to watch his 14-year-old son play with the Lake Arbor Hawks, a Largo team, in a regional AAU tournament.
