Ricky Rubio 202
FC Barcelona: Anticipating Maccabi Tel Aviv clash with brief video review
Since BallinEurope has been shamefully derelict in his duties as high priest of the Church of Rubio this season, let’s run some FC Barcelona clips in preparation of the defending Euroleague champs’ incipient matchup against thus far the top 2010-11 EL team Maccabi Tel Aviv! In Euroleague terms, Barça was last seen taking out BiE’s […]
BiE's Top 10 most popular stories of 2010
Yeah, we’re gonna do the “Top 10” retrospective thing, but trust BiE: It’ll be mostly painless. (After all, a little reviewing of crazy highlights never hurt anyone – even with a hangover.) These are the stories running on BallinEurope in calendar year 2010 that got the most “reads,” but how many do you remember? Relive […]
Allen Iverson’s first game with ‘Cola: Half-empty or half-full?
Allen Iverson’s first game in Europe is in the books – a disappointing 94-91 loss for his Beşiktaş Cola Turka, which blew a 17-point lead against KK Hemofarm Stada – and while not even the worst offenders of crimes against hyperbole in sportswriting are ready to ascribe any superlatives to Mr. Answer and his new […]
Euroleague week three talking points, part II
Five Euroleague games are to be played tonight, each bearing a number of scintillating storylines – well, okay, maybe not the nearly history-bereft Cholet-Lietuvos Rytas matchup, but you get the point. For your perusal, then, a few factoids, bites of information and videos in the leadup to tonight’s action. Enjoy the games, and best of […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup, week two
Francesco Cappelletti’s regular column with BallinEurope is back as our man in Italy takes a look at the after-effects of Euroleague week two action. This time out, Francesco sees European basketball history returning to the old days on the Continent while Balkan squads fight economic problems but dispatch Western European teams anyway. And early on, […]
Frank answers to four burning Euroleague questions
He’s back! Emerging out of hiding (or perhaps digging himself out of work with youth squads plus Italian-language sports media) is BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Francesco Cappelletti. As the season progresses, Cappelletti will be opining as to what really went down in a week’s worth of Euroleague matches. Today, four key themes that will be […]
Sixty-eight Fearless Predictions™ for 2010-11 Euroleague season
With the EL tipoff game tonight, BallinEurope is feeling devotion … not to mention a rush of Fearless Predictions™ coming on. How crazy can BiE get? You be the judge; here are 68 prognostications on all things Euroleague which you may [laugh uproariously about] ponder. Enjoy the season, everyone! (And sign up for the BallinEurope […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Final preseason edition
The 2010-11 Euroleague season tips off tomorrow? Right, then. Presenting the last preseason – and thus last totally subjective, because we’ll be able to base these things on, you know, wins and losses beginning next week – BallinEurope Official Euroleague Power Rankings™. (Plus lots of video clips.) Enjoy! 1. (↔) FC Barcelona – Yeah, as […]
FC Barcelona vs. Los Angeles Lakers: The Rubio Photo Collection
“So what if Ricky went 0-for-5 plus four turnovers and zero steals against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night?” Señor Rubio’s official website seems to be saying. “He looked good doing it.” (Well, except for in that last shot of his virtual photo album, when he’s on the wrong end of a Pau Gasol-Steve […]
After respite, Rudy Fernandez “going back to work” (in New York? Chicago? Barcelona?)
In the midst of surely his most frustrating off-season ever, Rudy Fernandez has proclaimed … he’s taking a break. On Fernandez’ official site Rudy 5, the disgruntled Portland Trail Blazer yesterday bilingually wrote the following blog entry: “After an irregular World Championship in which we couldn’t reach our goal, winning a medal, and were we […]
Perovic: No Gasol is the difference for Spain
When Serbia and Spain meet tonight to determine which of the European powers will advance to the 2010 FIBA World Championship final four, it will mark the third time the squads meet in one year – in fact, it’s been 366 days since the relatively unheralded young Serbs surprised the sluggish Spaniards in their Eurobasket […]
Kanter can’t play at U.K.? Fenerbahce Ulker exec blows whistle on eligibility
All those rumors that dogged Turkish phenom Enes Kanter through his senior year of high school in the U.S. – to the extent that he twice transferred schools when his eligibility was questioned – have blown up into allegations that may threaten his much-anticipated freshman year at University of Kentucky. Fenerbahçe Ülker GM Nedim Karakas […]