Sports Poets Society

Credit... The New York Times Archives https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/11/sports/thomas-keeps-promise-to-mom.html By  Ira Berkow May 11, 1987 IN April 1981, Isiah Thomas, with some trepidation, told his mother that he planned to leave college. Mary Thomas, who raised nine children alone in a Chicago ghetto, protested. Isiah knew it was her dream that he, her youngest child, should earn a college degree, and become the first of her boys to do so. ''Mom, I'm only leaving college basketball for pro basketball,'' said Isiah, then 19 years old. As a 6-foot-1-inch sophomore point guard, he had recently led Indiana to a national championship, and was entering the National Basketball Association draft. ''I'll go back to school, I'll get a degree.'' ''You promise?'' she said. ''I promise,'' said Isiah. ''O.K.,'' she said, ''put it in writing.'' And a legal document was drawn up with a lawy

https://www.espn.com/chicago/nba/columns/story?columnist=isaacson_melissa&id=4826990 Melissa Isaacson, ESPN.com Jan 14, 2010, 07:09 PM ET They called her " Dear," which was short for "Mother Dear ," not to be confused with "Mommie Dearest," but not to be taken too lightly, either. When Mary Thomas died Wednesday (January 13) morning at age 87 , leaving seven children and 50-plus grandchildren and great-grandchildren -- "We really have to count again," said her daughter Ruby Carlsen -- her youngest son Isiah was overwhelmed by the void she leaves . Her sweetness and toughness and love had no limits. One thing is for sure: What Mary Thomas wanted out of life never had a price tag dangling from it. Still, that never stopped Isiah from trying. He bought her a new house in a nice suburb, and she resisted going. He bought her furs, and she would carry them over her arm.  Isiah Thomas once treated his mom to a shopping trip along Michigan Avenue, 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/49HleQ4PAA2QRLrIq245Rk di CHRISTIAN GIORDANO © La classe geometrica di Pirlo e Xavi. La precocità, la fedeltà e la longevità di Maldini, Totti e Del Piero. La personalità controcorrente di Cruijff. Il carisma da capopopolo di Maradona, l’intelligenza politica – sferzante e insieme diplomatica - di Platini. E persino, in terza età, l’indole istrionica di un Vieri ballerino da sabato sera in tv.  Gianni Rivera non si è mai rivisto in qualche altro campione. Perché non ci potrà mai essere “un altro Rivera”. Titolare in Serie A a 15 anni nell’Alessandria, con quel fisico da «abatino» (cit. Brera, e caro a Padre Eligio), con quella classe infinita che vedeva e apriva spazi che gli altri neanche osavano immaginare. I suoi assist per la tripletta di Pierino Prati a Madrid ’69, in finale di Coppa Campioni contro il giovane Ajax, sono il suo manifesto. Estetica e poetica.  Ma sono fuori del campo i veri motivi per cui non c’è più stato né ci potrà