SPORTSREDEF PICKS
Kobe Bryant's Greatest Game, Triumph of Shamelessness, Players Don't Become Terrible at 30, Rooting for the Bad Guys...
Mike Vorkunov, curator January 23, 2018
QUOTABLES!
quote of the day
Baseball people are generally allergic to new ideas… It took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms. I know a manager who still believes that iodine is the panacea for sliding burns. It is the hardest thing in the world to get big league baseball to change anything — even spikes on a new pair of shoes. But they will … eventually. They are bound to.
sports
rant n' rave
rantnrave://

The BUCKS fired JASON KIDD. Simple enough as a transaction. They're 23-22 despite GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO and playing in the middling Eastern Conference. Makes sense. But it's another blip on Kidd's weird and interesting career. He benefited from a HALL OF FAME playing career to become the NETS' head coach immediately after he retired. Getting that job right after the end of a playing career is rare enough, and BROOKLYN gave him what it thought was a title-contending team. Kidd then tried a coup to gain power in the organization, lost, and pivoted to the Bucks. It remains one of the most audacious power plays in recent sports history. Trying to undercut the GM one year into your new job is as overconfident as it gets. That's been the underlying theme of Kidd's career. He operates as if he's his own man, hardly fearing consequence. He was a great teammate, one of the best passers of all time as a point guard, and somehow maintained a positive public profile despite multiple arrests. TONI BRAXTON helped push him out of DALLAS early in his career. He was arrested for domestic abuse and a DUI. There was tension in MILWAUKEE too. In a way, it would be remarkable if Kidd gets another coaching job. A power-hungry coach with a marginal record and a history of not playing well with others doesn't make for an attractive candidate. But who knows with Kidd. He keeps getting work despite a tarred resume... The NFL NETWORK's sexual harassment investigation continues and grows. Two more execs put on administrative leave. Is the NFL Network the first of many more investigations to come? Sports media execs told SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL this might be a "ticking-time bomb" in the sports world, and there's still more to come... HULK HOGAN vs. ANDRE THE GIANT. The Monday Night Wars. The Attitude Era. THE ROCK and STONE COLD. The WRESTLEMANIA moments, heel turns and feuds that took wrestling from regional shows to global tours. SportsSET: "Off the Top Rope: Wrestling Oral Histories"... Universe not sure how far it wants to go to avoid another PATRIOTS SUPER BOWL win... When you say the in-your-head thing out loud... Quack. Quack. Quack... Springtime in SAN DIEGO, by BILL WALTON.

Mike Vorkunov, curator

January 23, 2018