Ball in Europe – European Basketball Blog

The big news from Spain – with probable ramifications for much of Europe; so is basketball in 2010 – was the Valladolid-FC Barcelona result. Barça came to town, donned the wacky day-glo uniforms and decisively took down Valladolid by a score of 73-59 behind Terrence Morris’ 20 points and eight rebounds. It was all the hosts could do, notes ACB reportage, to hold their own until ultimately succumbing to superior talent:

El Regal FC Barcelona se llevó el triunfo de su visita a la cancha del Blancos de Rueda Valladolid que, aunque plantó cara durante muchos minutos, acabó cediendo ante la calidad de su rival.

Ho hum, you say? Perhaps it is just another déjà vu result from the ACB, but with the win, Barcelona clinches a spot in the Spanish league tournament bracket with some 10 games to go in the 2009-10 regular season. The officially-created highlight clip from the game runs below the break.

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Ball in Europe will be rounding up this weekend’s European cup action tomorrow, but for today here are a handful of stories from the interwebs this week about every other subject in a seven-day span spent mostly between deprogramming from NBA All-Star Weekend and preparing for the Copa del Rey.

• The best post of this week comes from the past: Specifically, a retelling of events surrounding a team called the Harlem Rens and the 1939 World Professional Basketball Tournament at Hoops Addict. What? You’ve never heard of either? Well, first you can whet your appetite here; then check out the trailer for the Kareem Abdul-Jabber written/produced documentary film, due for general international release in 2010. The book, on Harlem basketball and that area’s cultural Renaissance in the 30s, entitled On the Shoulders of Giants is out now.

• The NBA trade deadline went down this week and unsurprisingly the NBA’s second-most famous draft bust of all-time was dealt from the New York Knicks. All but admitting that the presence of Darko Milicic is as temporary as the 27 games left on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ schedule when he joined the team post-Nate Robinson trade, the team now seems mostly concerned about … making Milicic feel nice.

Says Timberwolves GM David Kahn, “I hope he will give it one more shot. Even if he ends up returning to Europe, I hope he wants to end his NBA career on a positive note. In our situation, he’ll play.”

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On the eve of his coaching (!) debut for the Elmira (N.Y.) Bulldogs of the Eastern Basketball Alliance, Dennis Rodman was ready with many a quotable quote for his new hometown press in New York State; BallinEurope’s attention was piqued when ol’ Tennis Ball Head called out NBA Commissioner David “El Hefe” Stern while hyping up his own boys:

“David Stern does a great job,” proclaimed Rodman as reported by Brian Fees of The Daily Review, “but where he goes wrong is I don’t think they give American athletes a real opportunity. They are always looking for European players. I think Americans should have a chance to get to the NBA.”

Um, okay, Worm.

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You want to give her a Valentine’s Day gift she’ll always remember? Here’s an idea: Spring for the entire grandstand and stadium offices of the Bundesliga Basketball League’s now-defunct Köln 99ers. Forget the dining-room set: These leftovers from Cologne’s hoops team include 3,100 seats and a bonus platform tower (“for technology and media,” we’re told). Bidding starts at just €150,000 on eBay.

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Last night across the Atlantic, most sports fans in the ‘States were tuned into that little game of American football known as the Super Bowl (presumably after watching the EuroRaptors and Orlando Magic take care of business in the afternoon, that is). For years, mucho hype has surrounded the mystique of the commercials shown during this, the most expensive air time of the year in US TV land: Companies spend tens of millions to launch new concepts, new slogans (anyone remember “Pepsi: Gotta Have It”?), new celebrity spokespeople, etc.

“Unfortunately,” the great majority of folks in Europe remain blissfully unaware of this bombardment of commercials … until now, that is.

During this year’s game, basketball fans were treated to a couple of ads starring some legends from their sport. First up is the LeBron James-Dwight Howard spot for McDonald’s, with a well recognizable script for anyone who was around during the Dream Team days … enjoy the ridiculous dunks and the punchline, which is truly laugh-out-loud funny.

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In case you haven’t heard, Partizan Belgrade pulled off a wicked 67-66 upset of FC Barcelona this week to end another notable winning streak while creating an instant classic. In other news, the NBA All-Star Game is bearing down full steam ahead and the hype machine appears to be set for full blast come Monday. So guess what this week’s “Best of the (Basketball) Net” is about? Read on!

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Dirk Nowitzki may have to return that 20,000-NBA point marker he earned a couple of weeks ago if current European/American exchange basket rates are factored in.

Apparently, calculations by German basket economist Dr. Benedikt Acton have shown that a US basket is only worth 1.126 points on The Continent, thereby making Nowitzki’s 20,000 NBA points worth approximately 8,880 European points. Speaking to American newspaper The Onion, Dr. Acton stated that “nobody could have predicted the soaring inflation that followed Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game in 2006.”

The good news for Nowitzki, though, is that his 1,200-plus points scored in international play has dropped no value on the international basket market.

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Like any blog, Ball in Europe would ultimately mean nothing without its readership; you are the ones for whom our website is for. In the general taking stock of the year that was, Ball in Europe today presents the top 10 most popular posts on the website in 2009. These are the stories that captured readers’ imagination greatest and sometimes even managed to amuse.

Please enjoy this varied (and slightly strange, overall) rerun of our calendar year with Ball in Europe’s 10 Most Popular Stories of 2009.

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Not enough time for reading up on everything basketball this week? Have no fear, for BallinEurope.com has collected a top-five for your perusal this Sunday.

• Not sure if this was the best basketball-themed piece of the week, but it certainly was the most unique(?): Sneaker specialists Kickz.com took a brief sojourn from dressing up the feet to looking at heads – specifically, the top 10 all-time NBA player haircuts. The site is German-language, but these pictures are truly worth a thousand words each. At least.

Naturally, no one is ever satisfied with any top 10, so BallinEurope would suggest the following additions:

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Good morning, basketball world! BallinEurope presents its morning briefing with five items for your perusal, including trouble in Cyprus, Noah sailing in for a jam, and the state of Britain’s wheelchair basketball team. Enjoy and, like they say in the ‘States, thank the gods, it’s Friday!

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