Sports Poets Society

Ancora dieci giorni e ci siamo: ricorrenze tonde tonde, come il pallone che tornerà a rotolare nei primi tre grandi campionati europei pronti a ripartire. Trent'anni di Premier League, venti di Ligue1 e sessantesima stagione di Bundesliga. Ancora prima che comincino, annate comunque storiche. Come in questa lunga estate calda, c'era un afoso pomeriggio il 15 agosto di trent'anni fa quando il19enne Brian Deane dello Sheffield United segnò, dopo cinque minuti su rimessa di Carl Bradshaw, il primo dei 30.987 gol realizzati nella storia della Premier League. Oggi come allora, il Manchester United - che avrebbe poi vinto quel campionato - insegue i fasti del passato, con la differenza che, con ten Hag, ora deve ripartire per l'ennesima volta da zero. Non più con Pogba, Matic, Mata e Cavani. E addirittura senza Champions League, dunque senza Cr7. Lo farà con due ex Ajax - in campo il danese Eriksen (arrivato gratis dal Brentford) e in panchina l'olandese che, andato a scu...

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/sports/30robinson.html By Bruce Weber   The New York Times - April 30, 2008 Will Robinson, who broke racial barriers as a college basketball coach, discovered talented players as a scout for both professional basketball and football teams, and was an influential figure in both interscholastic and professional sports in Detroit, his hometown, died there Monday. He was 96. The cause was complications of pneumonia, his granddaughter Leah Robinson said. It was in 1970, four years after the landmark championship game that ushered in the era of integration in college basketball - Texas Western, with five black starting players, defeating the University of Kentucky and its entirely white roster - that Mr. Robinson was hired as head coach at Illinois State University . He became the first black man to hold a head-coaching post in Division I, the top competitive tier of the N.C.A.A. Mr. Robinson spent five years at Illinois State and never presided over...