Family Feud
Anybody remember the television quiz show Family Feud? We have a real life family feud in North Carolina on the campus of Duke University. A woman filed a lawsuit against her sister, her sister's husband and Duke University regarding season basketball tickets. As a life-time contributor and fund raiser for the university their Dad was given two season tickets, when he died earlier this year the tickets were transferred to the sister and her husband by the university. The athletic department awarded the tickets without any forethought according to the legal brief. The Duke graduate wants to continue support of the basketball program. If you thought this was just an argument over tickets it's about money too. According to news reports there are financial obligations required for the owner of the tickets. The holder of the tickets must pay a $50,000 transfer fee and be willing to contribute $6,000 annually to the Duke athletic program. Surely there must be more to the story than basketball tickets?

The Wide World of Basketball
Basketball is a world wide game, of course soccer (or football) remains the world's number one sport. I would wager a youngster in Germany or France could name far more NBA players than NFL! Basketball was probably first exported in 1936 when it was added to the Olympic venue. Much later beginning in the mid to late '70's American college coaches began tutoring the game in workshops around the world. The game today, Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki and German native was MVP of the recently concluded championship series. Last year many thought the series MVP should have been Spain's Pau Gasol rather than Kobe Bryant. Steve Nash born in South Africa raised in Canada won back to back regular season MVP awards in 2005 and 2006. Manu Ginobili of Argentina and Tony Parker of France have been key in securing championships for the Spurs.

He's smooth and I think he's NBA ready!
Sometimes with 200+ channels you miss a broadcast you intend to view. While channel surfing I accidently tuned into the Adidas 64 championship game from Las Vegas. I had checked the ESPN schedule earlier, I figured if anybody would telecast the game it would be ESPNU, this time it was the CBS Sports Network. A Texas team (Texas Assault) and a team comprised of California and Nevada kids (Dream Vision) faced off in the 17-age bracket. Dream Vision was favored by the crowd due to it's many Las Vegas players. Dream Vision's roster also included the number one player in the nation Shabazz Muhammad.

Muhammad did not disappoint although he played the game on a gimpy ankle the kid can play. This 6-6 small forward is a smooth operator and he makes free throws too. Unfortunately his teammates failed to play at the same level of Muhammad, Texas Assault won the 17-age bracket championship 93-78. Marcus Smart a 6-4 shooting guard from Flower Mound (TX) was selected the games MVP, Smart is being recruited by Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and North Carolina. Just in case you are wondering where the town of Flower Mound in located it's one the numerous suburbs surrounding the Dallas-Forth Worth metro. The 16-age bracket champion was Kansas City Pump N Run with 6-0 point guard Conner Frankamp selected as MVP. Frankamp is from Wichita North High School and recently committed to Kansas University.

TMZ??
Did ESPN pick up this TMZ story because LeBron James was involved? Sometimes legitimate news, sports and celebrity merge into one story at times but TMZ! In any event I'm reporting this because it was picked up by ESPN.com. LeBron James walking to his automobile was asked about Shaq's comment on Chris Bosh. "Shaq had an unbelievable career and I'm happy for him" was the response. How should TMZ or any other news organization expect James to respond? Bosh is a teammate, if James has issues with Bosh he goes to management not TMZ. Did you know Celtic players Kevin McHale and Larry Bird had issues, reports indicate they didn't actually like each other. Despite these differences they managed successful play as teammates for years and contributed to several Celtic championships.

"Keep your fears to yourself; share your courage with others."