Features 668
On Barack Obama and basketball diplomacy
Note: This piece was first published in February 2012. Hosting dignitaries and politicos from Italy this week, U.S. president/basketball devotee Barack Obama recently gave an interview to the visiting media as well, naturally taking time to praise Italia’s representatives in the NBA. As self-proclaimed scholar of basketball diplomacy – perhaps the only one on the […]
Podcast: From Euroleague to China to the cinema; plus interview with Garret Siler
It’s Wednesday once again and thus time for another episode in the “Taking the Charge” podcast series presented by heinnews and BallinEurope.com. Yes, it’s another gabfest loaded with topical news and views plus interviews, music and Os Davis’ movie recommendation of the week. The episode program goes something like this. • Hein and BiE weigh […]
Interview: Sonny Weems of CSKA Moscow
For this week’s episode of the heinnews/BallinEurope “Taking the Charge” podcast series, Sonny Weems joined us for a chat – serendipitously timed after his 30-point barrage in a career day for CSKA Moscow at Partizan Belgrade last week – not to mention a 13-point, five-assist, three-steal effort against VEF Riga on the weekend. The entire […]
American Education: An Associated Press veteran’s takes on five Europeans in NCAA basketball
European, NCAA and youth basketball fans will definitely want to check out episode five of heinnews/ BallinEurope’s “Taking the Charge” podcast series posted today; in short, it’s a ton of information on prospects and the NCAA game courtesy (in the first half) of Jim O’Connell. O’Connell has written for NCAA basketball for the Associated Press […]
Stern Words: Analyzing the NBA and Euroleague bigwigs’ Berlin press gig
So apparently this is what BallinEurope does when dithering about Official Fearless Predictions™ for Euroleague waiting around to record podcasts: Watches video of league management types. On the other hand, this isn’t just any commissioner we’re talking about today – This is El Jefe himself, arguably the most influential figure in international basketball for a […]
Podcast: Interview with Dana Beszczynski; spinning the spin on Kobe; what Bayern isn’t saying about Bauermann; more
Now running over at Germany-based heinnews is episode three in the “Taking the Charge” podcast series. In this gabfest, David Hein and yours truly feature an interview with Dana Beszczynski, a key behind-the-scenes player in two sports: The expatriate is involved in the youth program of Austrian Bundesliga team Allianz Swans Gmuden and heads up […]
Romanov hit with key Žalgiris question: “Will Plaza be sacked as quickly as Zouros?”
Over at Russia-based Sport Express is a lengthy interview with Žalgiris Kaunas basketball/Heart of Midlothian football club owner Vladimir Romanov. Popularly Sometimes known as “Mad Vlad,” the Ūkio Bankas man weighed in on quite a few topics related to his basketball team, including the Sonny Weems departure, the state of Russian basketball and just what […]
Podcast: Peeking at the Euroleague, riffing on Hecking, interviewing The Iran Jobbers
Now up and running is episode two in the Taking the Charge podcast series, a gabfest brought to you by heinnews and BallinEurope. On the menu over there is a nice spread of basketball-related matters, including: • a look at recently-run tournaments in Germany: the 2012 Domreiter Cup in Nürnberg with defending Euroleague/Greek League champs […]
Podcast: Will Euroleague’s “Financial Fair Play” really work?
BallinEurope’s weekly podcast with hard-working sports journalist David Hein on all matters European and international basketball is now up and running at heinnews.com. Episode 1 of “Taking the Charge” – we’re calling last week’s inaugural effort “Episode 0” – focuses on (and includes) a one-on-one interview Hein undertook with Beko BBL CEO Jan Pommer. While […]
Movie Review: The Iran Job (or The Fish-Out-of-Water that Saved Shiraz)
Okay, so not even FIBA considers Iran part of The Continent, but BallinEurope today would nevertheless like to pass on a recommendation of a great basketball movie to watch out for. Entitled The Iran Job, the documentary follows U.S. Virgin Islands player Kevin Sheppard, a self-described journeyman with tours in China, Brazil, Venezuela, Puerto Rico […]
What’s wrong with team Serbia? Coach Duda’s confession
Those who tuned into David and Davis’ podcast over at heinnews this week and/or have been reading the rants posted on BallinEurope on Milos Teodosic’s play in the recent FIBA EuroBasket 2013 qualifiers know that BiE fears something is amiss in Serbia. BallinEurope’s contributing writer from over there, Marko Savkovic, today tells us that head […]
The end is not in sight, Larry Brown tells Israel Sports Radio
Off the wire are a few details from an interview former Team USA/Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown gave to Israel Sports Radio earlier this week. Hired by Southern Methodist University for the 2012-13 season, Brown revealed that he had considered an offer to coach the Maccabi USA basketball team before the SMU deal came […]