June 5, 2013
We Went There: The New York Cosmos Reboot
Two attractive women stand as still as statues at the front of a conference room in the midtown Manhattan Four Seasons. Each one wears the beige dress–maroon hat combination of an Emirates Airlines flight attendant and stands next to a soccer jersey that bears the name of the carrier front and center and the crest […]
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The Silly Person’s Guide to Top MLB Draft Prospects
I’ve long been of the opinion that only boring people like athletes and teams just because they’re good. If you’re going to spend precious words praising Mike Trout, come up with something better than “He’s the best player in the game.” Praise him for the joie de vivre with which he plays. Praise him for […]
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CourtVision: How the Spurs and Heat Use the Most Important Shot in Basketball
At first glance, the Spurs and Heat do not seem to have much in common, but one thing they share is a love affair with the corner 3. Across the league, about 6.7 percent of field goal attempts are corner 3s, but Miami shoots 11.3 percent of its shots from the corners, the NBA’s highest […]
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The Jalen Rose Report with David Jacoby
Jalen Rose previews the Heat and Spurs series, predicts Dwight Howard will be a Houston Rocket, and rides for Justin Bieber. Listen to the full podcast here and check Jalen talking Howard and Houston in the video below.
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Miami and Texas, Bad Decisions, and Legends: Welcome to the NBA Finals
It’s been six weeks, but after three rounds and 78 playoff games, we’re here. The NBA Finals. We did it. This is our reward for sitting through the Bulls-Nets series. And if you’re a little bit exhausted after the past few rounds of hoops, that’s totally understandable. But in a few weeks basketball will be […]
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92-Day NFL Warning: The Chicago Bears Finally Get Offensive
What’s that? You were wondering exactly how many days until the start of the NFL season? Well, you’re in luck! We here at the Triangle are set to spend the next three and a half months providing a daily reason to get excited about pro football’s return. As is the case with many head-coach firings, […]
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Derek Jeter’s Diary: We’re Not Even Talking About That A-Rod Thing
The baseball season is a long and lonely road. To preserve his sanity, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter keeps a diary. These are excerpts from The Captain’s private journal. Wednesday, May 29: vs. New York Mets Before the game, I talked to the media about how things are going with my rehab. I know I’ve said […]
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The 5 Elements of the Effective Spurs Offense
If you’ve tuned in to watch the San Antonio Spurs play at any point this season, you’ve no doubt heard an announcer gush over the team’s elegant offensive system. After years of his teams employing an extraordinarily successful, but unsightly, post-centric system designed around Tim Duncan, over the past few seasons head coach Gregg Popovich […]
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The Murky Waters of MLB’s Latest Steroid Case
Major League Baseball has reportedly compelled former Biogenesis proprietor Tony Bosch to testify in the league’s case against roughly 20 players accused of performance-enhancing drug use. The list of accused players includes Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Melky Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Bartolo Colon, and Jhonny Peralta. The report from ESPN’s Outside the Lines marks the latest […]
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About Last Night: Kings Defend Their Throne
In case you were out living your own sports dreams by eating pretzels like Jason Alexander circa ’94, here’s what you missed in sports on Tuesday: The Los Angeles Kings once again showed that Staples Center is a fortress, extending their unbeaten home playoff record with a 3-1 win over the Blackhawks to narrow Chicago’s […]
Read moreJune 4, 2013
93-Day NFL Warning: J.J. Watt Played Hurt All Last Year; Think on That
What’s that? You were wondering exactly how many days until the start of the NFL season? Well, you’re in luck! We here at the Triangle are set to spend the next three and a half months providing a daily reason to get excited about pro football’s return. I don’t want to get all self-congratulatory here, […]
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How Australian Sports Science Is Changing America
For a country of just more than 20 million people, Australia boasts an impressive sporting legacy. Individuals frequently top international podiums in cycling, swimming, and track and field, while its national teams challenge for titles as well. The nation’s basketball squads are perennial overachievers and the men’s soccer team looks set to reach a third […]
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What the Pacers Must Do to Have a Shot at Beating the Heat Next Year
The Pacers are surely crushed by the way their season ended Monday night — in a flood of unwatchable first-half turnovers, and with an unsettling feeling that Game 7 represented the way the league’s hierarchy is supposed to look when the world’s best player gets help from his supporting stars. But at least the blowout […]
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What’s Wrong With the L.A. Kings? (And Can They Fix It?)
The old sports cliché says that you’re never really in trouble in a playoff series until you lose at home. But, with all due respect to the wisdom of old sports clichés, right now the Los Angeles Kings look like a team that’s in a lot of trouble. They’ve dropped the first two games of […]
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Yasiel Puig Is Going to Be Really Good, But Not Mike Trout Good
Here is a link to a Los Angeles Times column by Bill Shaikin, who argues that Yasiel Puig, the Dodgers’ 22-year-old Cuban wunderkind, will not duplicate in 2013 the success that Mike Trout had across town in 2012 because Trout had more experience than Puig does now. Shaikin’s right, of course, but the real argument […]
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Ranking the Best Ballpark Experiences
It started with Charlie Pierce’s excellent piece on PNC Park in Pittsburgh, a post that only deepened my sense of shame and sadness for having not yet seen a game there. This started a wide-ranging Twitter discussion. Which ballparks are the best? Worst? And for the analytical crowd … what makes a ballpark great (or […]
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In Memoriam: Deacon Jones, 1939-2013
It is rare that an athlete is so good at his job that he inspires an entirely new quantitative measure, but this was the case with David “Deacon” Jones, who died of natural causes yesterday at the age of 74. Jones was a 6-foot-5, 270-pound behemoth, a flamboyant man who spoke plainly about his own […]
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NBA Playoffs Shootaround: Three Times Dope
So much amazing is happening, and the Shootaround crew is here to help you keep track of it all. You’ll find takes on moments you might’ve missed from the previous night, along with ones you will remember forever. Letting All the Air Out Jay Caspian Kang: Let’s call them the Great Deflaters. That’s what the […]
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The Definition of Insanity: Why It’s Time to Move Away From Retread NBA Head Coaches
Popular consensus holds that when looking to fill a head coaching vacancy, hiring a coach with prior NBA head coaching experience is the smart, safe move. Congratulations, NBA team! You’ve chosen an “experienced, veteran coach” who “knows the league” and “has seen everything!” You’re ready to take on the world. Funny story: That’s basically a […]
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About Last Night: Miami’s Vice Squeezes Out Pacers
In case you were out protesting your local movie theater for continuing to show After Earth, here’s what you missed in sports on Monday: The Miami Heat played their best game of the Eastern Conference finals when the stakes were the highest, closing out Game 7 with a 99-76 win over the Indiana Pacers behind […]
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