Basketball from a fans perspective
Decision made
After considering several schools the Missouri Valley Conference has made a decision. Wichita State made the decision to leave after the season concluded the conference required a replacement to continue as a 10-team conference. The Valparaiso Crusaders will leave the Horizon League for the Missouri Valley effective July 1. Valpo has a basketball history beginning play in 1917, the basketball program didn’t register much on the competitive radar until the 1990’s.
In 1990 Homer Drew took over the program, he would lead the Crusaders to their first NCAA appearance in 1996. Although there have been some down years winning basketball is what Valpo has become over the years. Naturally I’m disappointed UMKC was not chosen to be added but I fully understand why. The second oldest conference (Mo Valley) in the nation will be enhanced adding Valpo as a member.
Triple-play
We ain’t talking baseball it’s the NBA Championship under consideration. The Cavs and Warriors are likely headed for a battle of epic proportions; both teams are undefeated in the playoffs as this is written. This would be the third year in a row the Cavs and Warriors could possibly battle for an NBA Championship. In 2015 the Warriors won the championship 4 games to 2, last year it was Cavs 4 games to 3 in winning.
He could afford it……maybe
I believe you might have seen boxer Floyd Mayweather seated court side during a number of NBA games. He is reported to be a fan of the game and is a friend of the Celtics Isaiah Thomas. Mayweather indicates “It might be time for me to buy an NBA team.” We have no idea if the boxer is serious or not however he’s certainly appears to have a starting point. His 2017 net worth is reported to be in the neighborhood of $650 million dollars; NBA teams selling for close to a billion dollars he’d certainly require more funds or several partners in this pursuit of ownership. Is Mayweather really serious might be your next question, in addition he’s going to wait awhile since there are no NBA teams on the market.
Trouble with a capital T
Often we as fans are not privy to the struggles of a team unless it becomes public record. That is the case for the ‘08 Championship Celtic team most of us (me included) were never aware there was drama there. In any event a reunion of players was held, not invited was Ray Allen. Until I read a couple of stories I never knew several Celtics had issues with "Jesus Shuttlesworth." I’m reading fan mail saying; “Rondo wouldn’t pass him the ball when he was wide open” among several accounts.
Allen turned down an opportunity to re-sign with the Celtics and chose to join the Heat and that seems to be the problem. The cadre of former Celtics claim Allen never informed them he was leaving. In any event Allen appears to be okay with how all this played out. The reunion was held on KG’s TNT segment Area 21. In attendance were Paul Pierce, Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo, and Big Baby Glen Davis. It should be noted Allen was right behind Pierce in team scoring 21.8 ppg versus 20.3 and ahead of KG at 18.2 ppg.
