Sports Poets Society

Thursday, June 23, 2005 Updated: June 24, 3:02 PM ET By Jason Whitlock Special to Page 2 SAN ANTONIO – Here, at the NBA Finals, Larry Brown garners about as much respect from members of the media as Darko Milicic, the youngster driving the wedge between Brown and the Pistons organization. Yes, it's true. Darko, the 7-foot teenager Joe Dumars fell in love with before the 2003 draft, will go down in history as the boy who cost Detroit three potential Hall of Famers – Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Larry Brown. The Pistons should give Brown some time off to fix his health issues and then bring him back. Here, at the NBA Finals, my peers in the media are reluctant to draw the obvious connection. Brown has the Pistons on the brink of a second straight championship, and no one thinks it's odd that Dumars and Pistons owner Bill Davidson aren't willing to do everything within their power to retain the game's greatest mind and keep this budding dynasty together. No one thinks...

https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/050510&num=0 Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Updated: May 11, 12:42 PM ET By Scoop Jackson Yes, it was supposed to be closer in Detroit. But it wasn't and it might not be. It wasn't long ago that Rick was all about the Pistons. Yes, it was the fifth playoff blowout in a row. Two Game 7s, two Game 1s, then this. (Maybe Phoenix/Dallas later on Monday would be different. But it wasn't, and that series might not ever be.) Yes, from the looks of things -- from Reggie Miller chasing Rip , to JO going 2-for-14 after he opened the game 6-for-8 -- you shoulda shut off the plasma after the first quarter. But you didn't, because, well, there might be some extracurriculars. Yes, this is the only rivalry left in basketball, the only series with some history. But there's something missing, and that absence destroys any possibility of what might have been. Two games. That's all we're talking about. Millions of dollars spent, ...

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/apr05/lbl05/?id=results#res  Belgium, April 24, 2005 by Hedwig Kröner in Ans Vino the Vainqueur Today in Ans, Alexandre Vinokourov finally took a much-needed spring victory for the T-Mobile Team, winning the 91st edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in typically aggressive fashion. The 31 year-old rider from Kazakhstan broke away with the 'Jacky Durand' of this year's Classics, Team CSC's Jens Voigt, on the Côte de La Vecquée with more than 50 kilometres to go, and the pair managed to hold off a chase group containing most of the race favourites all the way to the finish. The break's advantage hovered around the one minute mark and was largely aided by a lack of cohesion in the rather oversized select group behind. In third place was Amstel's eternal second, Michael Boogerd (Rabobank), 14 seconds behind, who could at least say he finished on a different step of the podium. Olympic champ Paolo Bettini d...

https://www.amazon.it/Football-Portraits-Ritratti-calcio-vita-ebook/dp/B01KI1XRO6 Lo ha “scoperto” Pelé, che lo ha subito trattato come un figlio adottivo e ha scommesso sul fatto che possa diventare persino più bravo di lui. È nato il nuovo re del calcio? Beh, a Madrid pensano di sì… di CHRISTIAN GIORDANO Eurocalcio , n. 54 – aprile 2005 Un anno fa era solo un ragazzino che sognava l’Europa. Ora è l’Europa a sognare lui. Il 21enne Róbson de Souza “Robinho” in patria è da almeno sei anni Pelezinho, il mini-Pelé.  Stavolta l’etichetta, meritata per lo sconfinato talento, si deve al Più Grande in persona. Nel marzo 1999 l’immenso O’rei era il responsabile delle giovanili del Santos, la squadra della sua vita. Nel vivaio santista giocava un 15enne frugoletto pelle (color ebano) e ossa, con la faccia da bambino e un sorriso incantatore; molto, troppo simile al suo di quarant’anni prima, per trattenere le lacrime. «La prima volta che ha toccato la palla sotto i m...

https://www.amazon.it/Football-Portraits-Ritratti-calcio-Agbonlahor-ebook/dp/B01KI1XRO6 di CHRISTIAN GIORDANO Eurocalcio , n. 53 – marzo 2005 Nessuno: così lo chiamavano da ragazzino, orfano e povero, nel natio Mozambico. Crescendo, grazie al calcio è diventato qualcuno: la Pantera Nera, la risposta afroeuropea alla Perla Nera Pelé «Nacque destinato a lustrare scarpe, vendere noccioline o borseggiare la gente distratta. Da bambino lo chiamavano Ninguém – niente, nessuno – (…) Fece il suo ingresso sui campi correndo come può correre solo chi fugge dalla polizia o dalla miseria che gli morde i talloni. E così, tirando e zigzagando, divenne Campione d’Europa a vent’anni. Allora lo chiamarono la Pantera». Nera. Ecco come l’uruguayano Eduardo Galeano descrive il leggendario Eusébio in Splendori e miserie del gioco del calcio, autentico testo sacro di ogni devoto a calcio e letteratura. Tra grandi, si sa, ci s’intende.  Eusébio da Silva Ferreira nasce nel gennai...