Barack Obama 21
Podcast: Interviews with Draft Express guru Jon Givony, “Best Unsigned Basketball Player” Dre Baldwin; paean to Obama; The Great White Hype reviewed
Another week, another podcast. The latest episode of the “Taking the Charge” podcast series is now live over at heinnews; this time, Germany-based sportswriter David Hein and BallinEurope run the following gamut. • A quasi-obligatory nod to the recent W notched by Barack Obama, significantly the US’ first unabashed basketball fanatic in the Oval Office; […]
US Presidential Election 2012: America’s basketball diplomat hits hardwood for last-minute votes (plus Official Fearless Prediction™)
Love him or hate him after nearly four years in office, one thing is for certain: Barack Obama is the first basketball president – a fact that could curry lots of favor with Generation X and Y voters in a celebrity-charged election. Sure, Bill Clinton was lucky enough to enjoy his home-state University of Arkansas’ […]
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 […]
Monday hangover: Power struggles in Italy, Spain; Zalgiris’ continued rise; Obama vs. the Lakers Rule
It’s never too late for the ‘Hangover (or so BiE’s telling himself). Excuses aside, following are a few Eurocentric impressions, notes, highlight clips – and the no. 1 reason why Barack Obama is thrilled the Los Angeles Lakers went down in the playoffs last season… • Power vacuum in Italy? Coming into 2012-13, most pundits […]
Monday hangover: Real Madrid awesome; CSKA Moscow vulnerable; Arvydas Sabonis rules
Right, with the weekend over and many an hour spent viewing the roundball, BallinEurope rounds up some news items – and video clips! – from the week that was. • Could this be Real Madrid’s year? Los Blancos are exactly one Rudy Fernandez miss from a perfect 8-0 overall mark early in 2012-13 after topping […]
Incredibile! Back-to-back buzzer-beaters bring Banco Sardegna Sassari into semifinals
What’s that? You haven’t been watching the quarterfinal round of the Italian League’s playoffs? No problem: BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Enrico Cellini has – and he posts today about just what you’ve been missing, namely two cliffhanging, nail-biting finishes that finished off Virtus Bologna. (Ironically and mournfully, BiE notes Bologna’s elimination as dated the same […]
Clips: More basketball diplomacy by Obama; the Rise of British Basketball
Speaking of Britain and basketball, BallinEurope this morning passes on a couple of Brit-centric clips… Chicago Bulls fan/U.S. president Barack Obama yesterday displayed more of his trademark basketball diplomacy in taking his British counterpart, prime minister David Cameron, to the Mississippi Valley State-Western Kentucky NCAA tournament play-in game in Dayton, Ohio. Obama was proud to […]
Basketball diplomacy: Obama plagiarizes self in praise of Danilo Gallinari, Marco Belinelli
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 planet – Enrico Cellini has noticed that Obama’s effusive […]
“Sinister”: Zalgiris Kaunas owner to form political party, fight for “sport, culture, art”
What’s up with the bizarre mix of politics and basketball going on in Europe? While Barack Obama butters up Italia with references to Danilo Gallinari and Marco Bellinelli, New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is stumping in Russia on an apparently futile bid for the presidency there. And now … well, let’s just say Lithuania […]
Stood-up Claudio Sabatini writes Barack Obama re: Kobe, NBA lockout
Italy-based Gazzetto dello Sport reports on a couple of developments – or perhaps more appropriately “non-developments” – in the Kobe-to-Bologna soap opera. The first bit is easy to define: Kobe Bryant, it appears, won’t be playing for Virtus Bologna anytime soon. As the basketball world awaited the well-publicized ultimate conference call between Virtus president Claudio […]
Nowitzki: “Not exceptional” in the NBA Finals
No matter how you feel about Dirk Nowitzki’s place in NBA history vis-à-vis “Top 10” lists and whatnot, yesterday’s interview in Der Spiegel will certainly put him among the all-time greats in terms of humility. In the interview, which touches on subjects including Barack Obama, race relations in the NBA, and the upcoming 2011 Eurobasket […]
Armenian Youth Federation reviled by Kobe Bryant’s Turkish Airlines deal
One group won’t be joining the Staples Center crowd in chanting “M-V-P! M-V-P!” for Kobe Bryant the next time he’s at the charity stripe: namely, Los Angeles’ Armenian population. On Tuesday, Turkish Airlines (also current sponsor of Euroleague basketball) announced a two-year deal which would make Bryant the “global brand ambassador” for the airline beginning […]