Sports Poets Society

30 May 2024 - L'Équipe ROBERTO NOTARIANNI Le 10 juin 1934, la Nazionale remporte au forceps la Coupe du monde de football face à la Tchécoslovaquie (2-1 a.p.). Retour sur cette compétition qui a servi de propagande au régime fasciste de Benito Mussolini, en association avec l’émission « Affaires sensibles » sur France Inter (15 heures) "En 1934, l’Italie est centrale dans la politique européenne (…)  le prestige de Mussolini est alors très élevé et des hommes d’État  comme Winston Churchill vantent même ses mérites.  À partir de 1935 et de la guerre en Éthiopie,  ce sera une autre histoire…''    - PAUL DIETSCHY, HISTORIEN DU SPORT ET SPÉCIALISTE DE L’ITALIE Et si c’était un signe du destin? La frappe de Frantisek Svoboda vient de s’écraser sur le poteau. Il reste dix minutes à jouer et la Tchécoslovaquie a laissé passer sa chance de «tuer» le match. C’est le troisième montant touché par les adversaires de l’Italie, qui mènent 1-0 depuis la 70e minute. Mais ...

CENTO ANNI DOPO Con l’omicidio del deputato socialista nasce il fascismo come regime integralmente totalitario 30 May 2024 - Corriere della Sera di Elena Cattaneo e Liliana Segre © RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA «Ha chiesto di parlare l’onorevole Matteotti. Ne ha facoltà». Era il pomeriggio del 30 maggio di cento anni fa quando Giacomo Matteotti prese la parola per l’ultima volta dagli scranni della Camera per pronunciare quello che è ricordato come «il discorso della morte ».  Con un coraggio che rasentò, anzi superò, la temerarietà, infatti, Matteotti denunciò gli abusi e le violenze con cui il fascismo aveva vinto le elezioni politiche del 6 aprile 1924, tenutesi con la famigerata Legge Acerbo . Lo stenografico di quella seduta va letto e conosciuto da tutti, a partire dai giovani nelle scuole. Non ha nulla di polveroso, di lontano da noi. Le parole, gli argomenti basati su fatti precisi che il deputato socialista offrì all’aula raccontano come si consumò l’aggressione brutale e sistem...

STAGE 3 - Plaisance > Turin MONDAY 1 JULY - 231.1 KM THIS IS THE TOUR'S LONGEST stage, an interminable day in the saddle leading into the capital of Piedmont. The sprinters' teams will be called into action, tasked with controlling the race on a route that is relatively light in terms of difficulties. In fact, there are only three small climbs on the agenda. The first is in Tortone, the town where Fausto Coppi died, and the last in Sommariva Perno, 45km from the finish. There is every chance of a bunch sprint in Turin. STAGE IN NUMBERS 3 - Turin has hosted three Tour de France finishes , in 1956, 1961 (Guy Ignolin won the stage) and 1966. Nino Defilippis won in 1956. 1966 - Italy's Franco Bitossi won at the Turin finish. He also won Il Lombardia twice, in 1967 and 1970.

Stage two on Sunday 30 June offers a sumptuous finale,  featuring two ascents of the famous San Luca climb.  It should be quite a spectacle  Cesenatico > Bologna  SUNDAY 30 JUNE - 200.8KM Writer Jean-Paul Vespini  Images ©PresseSports / l'Equipe THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT TESTS ARRIVE halfway through the stage, just before the riders reach the Galisterna climb on the Imola circuit where Julian Alaphilippe was crowned world champion in 2020 . Approaching Bologna, the route becomes much more undulating. The Montecalvo climb , which the riders tackle right before entering the 18km finishing circuit, is ideal for attacks. Ridden twice, the magnificent Côte de San Luca, the superb finale to the Tour of Emilia one-day race, is a fearsome 2km climb averaging 10%. There'll be a bonus point at the top on the second ascent. This wonderful battleground should reveal the strongest riders in the peloton. *** THE SECOND STAGE of the 2024 Tour de France will take place entirely...

STAGE 1 - Florence > Rimini SATURDAY 29 JUNE - 206 KM THE TOUR DE FRANCE'S FIRST Grand Départ in Italy begins with a medium mountain stage that features 3,700m of vertical gain and seven major climbing tests. This is one of the Tour de France's toughest starts, a 200km-plus rollercoaster ride across the Apennine chain. At 930m, the Valico Tre Faggi pass, which comes after 50km of today's proceedings, is the highest point on the stage, but it's not the most difficult test. The other climbs are shorter, but steeper. Aprofile of this type could well suit a breakaway group and could end with the first yellow jersey going to the rider who proves to be the most daring. STAGE IN NUMBERS 2013  - Florence hosted the World Road  Championships this  year, won by Rui Costa. Costa could race the Tour again this year withFEEducation- EasyPost. 176  - The number of riders from 2 2 teams lining up in Florence.

Bill Walton smiles as he acknowledges fans before broadcasting a Pac-12 basketball game.  Walton has died after a battle with cancer, the NBA announced Monday. (Associated Press) https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2024-05-27/bill-walton-ucla-legend-nba-star-pac-12-cheerleader-has-died By Ben Bolch  - Los Angeles Times Staff Writer  Follow   May 27, 2024 Updated 5:02 PM PT Bill Walton once said his dream Final Four field would include five Pac-12 Conference teams. He repeated the motto “ Conference of Champions ” on basketball broadcasts as if he was being paid by the number of references he could fit into one game. It wasn’t an act — it was Walton being Walton, as colorful as one of the tie-dye shirts the avowed Grateful Dead fan loved to wear. Walton, the giant redhead whose basketball prowess at UCLA and in the NBA was surpassed only by his zest for life and all its absurdities, died Monday while surrounded by family after a prolonged battle with cancer. He wa...

AP -- The Trail Blazers’ Bill Walton (32) battles Julius Erving (6)  of the Sixers for a loose ball during the NBA Finals on May 29, 1977. 28 May 2024 - Philadelphia Daily News By Tim Reynolds Associated Press "BILL WALTON ENJOYED LIFE IN EVERY WAY.  TO COMPETE AGAINST HIM & TO WORK  WITH HIM WAS A BLESSING IN MY LIFE."    - Julius Erving on X formerly Twitter Bill Walton, who starred for John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins before becoming a Hall of Fame center for his NBA career and one of the biggest stars in basketball broadcasting, died Monday, the league announced. Mr. Walton, who had a prolonged fight with cancer, was 71. He was the NBA’s MVP in the 1977-78 season, a two-time champion, and a member of the league’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams. That followed a college career in which he was a two-time champion at UCLA and a three-time national player of the year. “Bill Walton,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said, “was truly one of a kind.” Mr. Walto...

28 May 2024 - USA TODAY US Edition Jeff Zillgitt Columnist USA TODAY Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton, an all-time great champion in high school, college and the NBA, died Monday following a prolonged battle with cancer, the NBA announced. He was 71 years old. “Bill Walton was truly one of a kind,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “As a cherished member of the NBA family for 50 years, Bill will be deeply missed by all those who came to know and love him.” An American original, Walton led a remarkable life on and off the court, excelling in basketball and dabbling in the counterculture scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He remained connected to both throughout his life as a basketball player and TV analyst and lifelong fan of the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and Neil Young. At 6-foot-11, he was one of the most skilled big men to play the game. He defended, rebounded, blocked shots, passed and scored. He averaged 13.3 points, 10.5 rebounds 3.4 assists and 2.2 block...

Bill Greene/Globe Staff / 1987  - Mr. Walton (left, with Larry Bird and Robert Parish)  called his time with the Celtics the highlight of his career. For Walton, his splendid time with Celtics was short, his charisma lifelong 28 mag 2024 - The Boston Globe DAN SHAUGHNESSY The memories and stories started pouring in as soon as the news broke. Everyone remotely connected to the 1985-86 Celtics has a Bill Walton memory. Invariably, those stories are personal. And all of us were shocked monday when it was learned that Walton had died in California at the age of 71. No player ever loved playing for the Celtics more than Walton. And it’s cruel and ironic that Bill would pass with the team on to another appearance in the NBA Finals, which means a chance to win an NBA-record 18th banner. My friend rich Johnson, longtime curator of the New England sports museum and — like Walton — someone with a lifelong stutter, weighed in online, sending out a recording of the Grateful Dead’s “He’s G...

https://sport.sky.it/nba/2024/05/28/bill-walton-ricordo di CHRISTIAN GIORDANO © Bill Walton è stato unico, per molti versi. Nonostante la (troppo) breve carriera, falcidiata e poi spezzata dagli infortuni, ha avuto sulla NBA un impatto tale da potersi ritenere uno dei giocatori più forti di sempre. Durante l’esplosivo (eufemismo) sviluppo puberale, arti inferiori e in particolare le ossa dei piedi non erano cresciuti in maniera armonica con il resto del corpo, e questo gli aveva causato danni strutturali che lo avrebbero condizionato per tutti gli anni da professionista. Tuttavia, per un anno e mezzo – la stagione del titolo 1976-77 e la prima metà di quella successiva – il suo innovativo, altruistico modo di interpretare il ruolo di centro trasformò una buona squadra in una da titolo; e forse in una delle più grandi di sempre. Senza considerare il meraviglioso canto del cigno, da sesto uomo nei Boston Celtics, coronato dall’anello del 1986. E quella sì, sicuro, fra le squadre più gran...

Il titolo NBA del ’77 premiò il gioco di squadra di Walton e compagni anziché le tante stelle dei Sixers. E a Portland, cittadina di provincia sin lì senza grandi tradizioni nello sport di vertice, scoppiò la Blazermania di Christian Giordano ©  BLAZERMANIA: Portland campione NBA 1977 Rainbow Sports Books © Gli opposti si attraggono. Lo dicono anche i sacri testi della settima arte: «Il buddy-movie tratta di due figure diverse, ma che si muovono alla pari, nella storia o nella serie. Esiste anche un’altra macro-distinzione, “di trama” e “di personaggi”: nel primo caso il peso maggiore inclina sulla dimensione narrativa, nel secondo sulle loro sfumature, sul loro carattere e la loro personalità». È una distinzione ampia e quindi vaga, ma forse funzionale per comprendere la Finale NBA 1976-77, una delle più sorprendenti di sempre: semplificando, quindi banalizzando, La Squadra, i Portland Trail Blazers, contro Le Stelle, i Philadelphia 76ers. Un epilogo non facile da prono...