I have what I believe will be the first part of two or three press release posts. It’s all good stuff.
Starting with the CBC, the network has made take Game 7 of Anaheim-Detroit on Thursday, giving one of its Conference Final games to TSN. Had CBC not stepped up, TSN would have had a conflict between Anaheim-Detroit and Carolina-Boston, just as Versus has here in the States. Here’s the release:
2009 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS PROGRAMMING ADVISORY: CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA ADDS GAME SEVEN
CBC to broadcast Anaheim Ducks at Detroit Red Wings, Game Seven;
TSN to broadcast Carolina at Boston, Game Seven on May 14
CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA announced updates to their broadcast schedule for Round Two of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. CBC will air Game Seven of the Anaheim/Detroit series, live from Joe Louis Arena on Thursday, May 14 at 7 p.m. ET, while TSN will broadcast a yet to be determined Conference Finals game originally scheduled to air on CBC TV. This ensures Canadians will see all games from Round Two of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs nationally and in their entirety.
Bob Cole will handle play-by-play duties for Game Seven of the Anaheim at Detroit series on Thursday, alongside analyst Greg Millen and rinkside reporter Elliotte Friedman. Ron MacLean hosts the entire evening, and will be joined by Kelly Hrudey and P.J. Stock, while Jeff Marek and Scott Morrison will be front and centre at the Stanley Cup I-Desk. Hockey fans can visit CBCSports.ca 24 hours a day, seven days a week for wall-to-wall coverage of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, including live and on-demand video streaming of all games broadcast on CBC.
NBC Sports previews the Preakness Stakes.
“SUPER FILLY” RACHEL ALEXANDRA BATTLES KENTUCKY DERBY WINNER MINE THAT BIRD IN PREAKNESS STAKES, SATURDAY 4:30 PM ET ON NBC“It’s like the San Francisco 49ers when they went from Joe Montana to Steve Young – it wasn’t a bad changeup.” – NBC’s Stevens on Mine That Bird’s jockey switch
“The most fascinating Preakness in decades.” – NBC’s Bob Neumeier
NEW YORK – May 13, 2009 – Super filly Rachel Alexandra, winner of the Kentucky Oaks by more than 20 lengths and with Kentucky Derby winning jockey Calvin Borel on board for the Preakness, looks to become the first filly in 94 years to win the Preakness Stakes. She will take on Derby winner Mine That Bird, Derby runner-up Pioneerof The Nile and up to 11 other horses as NBC Sports presents exclusive coverage of the 134th running of the Preakness Stakes from Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., beginning Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET, live in high definition.
Mine That Bird, the Kentucky Derby winner as an improbable 50-1 longshot, seeks to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 but he will have to do it without his Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel. Instead, Borel will be on Rachel Alexandra who he rode to a 20-length win in the Kentucky Oaks. Hall-of-Fame jockey Mike Smith will ride Mine That Bird.
The story of Rachel Alexandra being entered into the Preakness and the firestorm of media coverage that ensued, including the connections of Pioneerof the Nile and Mine That Bird talking about colluding to keep the filly out of the race, makes this, according to NBC's Bob Neumeier, "the most fascinating Preakness in decades."
Rachel Alexandra, who was sold shortly after her dominating performance in the Kentucky Oaks with her new owners entering her in the race, will be only the fourth filly since 1980 and the 53rd filly ever to enter the Preakness. No filly has won the Preakness Stakes since Rhine Maiden in 1915 and Rachel Alexandra is also the only winner in the 135-year history of the Kentucky Oaks to enter the Preakness Stakes.
FILLIES IN PREAKNESS STAKES SINCE 1980
· Genuine Risk 1980 (Won Kentucky Derby, 2nd in Preakness)
· Winning Colors 1988 (Won Kentucky Derby, 3rd in Preakness)
· Excellent Meeting 1999 (5th in Kentucky Derby, pulled up in Preakness)
NBC Sports horse racing analyst Gary Stevens rode the filly Winning Colors to a Kentucky Derby victory in 1988 and took third at the Preakness. He said "Rachel Alexandra makes goose bumps stand up on the back of my neck, like a good race horse used to when I was on her back."
FILLIES TO WIN PREAKNESS STAKES
· Rhine Maiden 1915
· Whimsical 1906
· Flocarline 1903
RACE COVERAGE: NBC Sports coverage of the 134th Preakness Stakes is co-hosted by Tom Hammond and Bob Costas alongside two-time Preakness winner Gary Stevens. NBC Sports' broadcast team also includes race-caller Tom Durkin; contributing analysts/handicappers Mike Battaglia and Bob Neumeier; reporter Kenny Rice and on-track reporter Donna Brothers, who retired in 1998 after an impressive 11-year career as a jockey. The Preakness Stakes on NBC is produced by Sam Flood and directed by David Michaels.
NBC SPORTS BROADCAST TEAM BREAKS DOWN THE PREAKNESS:
GARY STEVENS ON THE PREAKNESS FIELD: "This is a great setup for the Preakness with Rachel Alexandra going in there. She provides an honest pace and will be able to stick around and she doesn't have to be on the lead, she's very versatile. That should help Pioneerof the Nile because I think what he needs is a horse with class and speed that can carry him within the shadows of the wire. When Pioneerof the Nile gets in front he seems to go aloof a little bit and think the game is over. Rachel Alexandra will carry him and get a much better effort out of him. I also think there is going to be much more early pace than there was even in the Kentucky Derby. So what does that do to Mine That Bird? It helps his chances of repeating the Derby performance. If he can repeat the Derby performance, this race setup may be even better for him."
GARY STEVENS ON RACHEL ALEXANDRA'S CHANCES OF WINNING: "She's the best I've seen in a very long time. I'm just worried about the new connections and if she can come back this quick in two weeks rest and repeat the same performance. She's going to have to run equally as well in the Preakness as she did in the Kentucky Oaks to beat this field."
GARY STEVENS ON WHERE RACHEL ALEXANDRA RANKS AMONG FILLIES: "I rode three fillies that are in the Hall of Fame: Winning Colors, Serena's Song, and Silverbulletday. I don't want to take away anything from any of the great fillies that I rode but Rachel Alexandra makes goose bumps stand up on the back of my neck, like a good racehorse used to when I was on her back."
GARY STEVENS ON MINE THAT BIRD WITHOUT BOREL: "I don't think that it'll make any difference. It may have made a difference going into the Kentucky Derby because I don't think anybody else would have been brave enough to ride him like Calvin did, he had taken the horse back so far. But Mike Smith is a Hall of Famer. We saw the ride that he put on Giacomo when he won the Kentucky Derby; he wove his way in and out of traffic. He's in a class of his own. He has studied films. For me it's like the San Francisco 49ers when they went from Joe Montana to Steve Young – it wasn't a bad changeup."
TOM HAMMOND ON SO MANY DERBY HORSES IN PREAKNESS FIELD: "Seven horses from the Derby, including the top four finishers, are coming back for the Preakness so Mine That Bird hasn't scared anybody away. The other trainers want to find out if he is for real."
TOM HAMMOND ON RACHEL ALEXANDRA ENTERING PREAKNESS: "Certainly Rachel Alexandra is capable and you can see this from the reactions of owners and trainers. A couple of owners even thought about maybe trying to keep her out of the race by entering another horse, that tells you how much they think of her and how much respect they have for her."
TOM HAMMOND ON RACHEL ALEXANDRA'S SIZE: "She's as big and strong as many of the horses in the race, in fact bigger and strongly than the Derby winner, Mine That Bird, who is just a little bit of a horse himself."
TOM HAMMOND ON BOREL'S AMAZING RIDE ON MINE THAT BIRD: "Chip Woolley, the trainer, said that he thought that Mine That Bird had been ridden incorrectly his last two starts. He thought he had moved prematurely, moved too soon. He thought that it was a horse that wanted to lay back and make one big run. Calvin Borel went on You Tube to watch some of the prior races from Mine That Bird before he rode him in the Kentucky Derby and he agreed with that assessment. He looked like a horse that wanted to conserve early and then make one big move. It takes a lot of confidence. It takes a certain kind of jockey to be able to drop as far back as he did and wait as long as he did. The patience he showed was just unbelievable. Then to have the courage and confidence to gun him through that little spot on the rail and give the horse credit to go through a spot like that, a lot of horses won't do that. It may have been a fluke, and we'll find out on Saturday, but that's not taking anything away from the ride that Calvin Borel gave him and the performance that Mine That Bird Put up."
MIKE BATTAGLIA ON THE PREAKNESS: "The Preakness definitely is a different race with the presence of Rachel Alexandra. She will definitely be the favorite and with good reason. It wasn't just the fact that she won the Oaks by 20 lengths; it was also the way she did it. She appeared to be just galloping and Calvin Borel didn't ask her to run at any point in the stretch. Running against the boys with just two weeks rest is a formidable task but from what I saw in the Kentucky Oaks it will take a lot to beat this filly."
THE PREAKNESS ACCORDING TO BOB NEUMEIER: "It may not be exactly akin to the Battle of the Sexes tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King but the late emergence of champion filly Rachel Alexandra into the Preakness field does set up a fascinating new dynamic into the race.
"Typically, fillies have difficulty competing with colts at the highest levels of racing, which helps explain why a filly has not won this race in 94 years, but Rachel Alexandra is clearly in her own racing stratosphere, as her eye-popping 20-length win in the Kentucky Oaks would attest.
"To underscore the point, her jockey Calvin Borel has given up the mount on Kentucky Derby upset winner Mine That Bird to ride "Rachel," a startling, almost unprecedented move. Add to it the fact that the co-owner of the Derby winner and the owner of runner-up Pioneerof the Nile were conspiring to find ways to keep the filly out of the race makes the story even juicier. Add it all up and you have the ingredients to the most fascinating Preakness in decades."
GARY STEVENS ON "DARK HORSES" TO WATCH: "You've always got to be concerned about the fresh faces that are coming in. Big Drama is coming in and getting a lot of respect right now. I think all of the additions are going to have a tough time beating my top three, Rachel Alexandra, Pioneerof the Nile and Mine That Bird."
NBC SPORTS FEATURE ON MINE THAT BIRD: Mine That Bird with jockey Calvin Borel shocked the millions of viewers watching the Kentucky Derby as he passed 18 horses on his was to winning the Derby as a 50-1 longshot. In a feature during the Preakness broadcast NBC Sports will look back at how the undersized gelding first purchased for $9,500 defeated a field of highly touted million-dollar thoroughbreds. The feature will tell the story of the horse's unlikely connections -- three horsemen from New Mexico -- to the jockey who guided the colt to victory, only to leave to ride Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness. NBC Sports will look at how the biggest thoroughbred racing upset in years came to be, and how the team behind Mine That Bird has continued to overcome obstacles on the way to the second leg of the Triple Crown.
PREAKNESS STAKES LUCKY U GAME: NBC Sports and The Maryland Jockey Club of Baltimore City present The Preakness Stakes Lucky U Game, a contest where a lucky fan can win a cash prize and a trip to the 2010 Preakness Stakes. After the field for the 2009 Preakness Stakes is set on Wednesday, May 13, horse racing fans will be able to vote for the horse that they think will win. The winner will receive $10,000 in cash and a 2010 Preakness Stakes VIP Experience provided by The Maryland Jockey Club, including tickets to the Preakness and other Preakness Stakes events, round-trip transportation, and accommodations. Viewers of NBC's Preakness Stakes broadcast and other fans will be invited to enter by sending a text message for their choice from their cell phone. Standard text messaging charges apply. Fans can also enter by going online to NBCSports.com/lucky.
WATCH MINE THAT BIRD ON NBCSPORTS.COM: Go to NBCSports.com and follow Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird on an isolation camera.
SEE THE PREAKNESS ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE: Users on the go can watch the Preakness Stakes live on their mobile phones through NBC2Go and NBC Sports Mobile.
PREAKNESS A RATINGS SUCCESS ON NBC: Since 2001 when the Preakness Stakes moved from ABC to NBC, average viewership has increased by more than 2 ½ million viewers an increase of 50% over the previous eight years on ABC.
KENTUCKY DERBY HAS MOST VIEWERS IN 20 YEARS: NBC Sports' coverage of Saturday's Kentucky Derby was the most viewed Kentucky Derby in 20 years. The race averaged 16.3 million viewers, two million more than last year's 14.2 million (up 15 percent) and the most since 1989 when Sunday Silence won the Derby (18.5 million).
NBC Sports coverage of th e Kentucky Derby now reaches seven million more viewers than the last Kentucky Derby broadcast by ABC in 2000 (16.3 million vs.9.1 million, up 51 percent).
Here’s TNT quotage from last night’s NBA doubleheader.
Notes from TNT’s Coverage of the NBA Playoffs – Tuesday, May 12, 2009
TNT’s “40 Games in 40 Nights” NBA Playoffs coverage continues on Wednesday, May 13th with exclusive coverage of the Dallas Mavericks @ Denver Nuggets (Game #5) at 9 p.m. ET.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Is it talent? Is it how hard you play? How hard you want it? Because I really think that the Orlando Magic are the better team.”— Webber on the Magic needing to play better.
“I think that too, but not from the neck up.” — Barkley.
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Game #1: Orlando Magic (88) @ Boston Celtics (92) – Boston leads the series 3-2
Announcers: Marv Albert, Reggie Miller with David Aldridge reporting
Miller on Celtics forward Glen Davis hitting the game winning shot in Game #4: “If you took a poll of the 30 NBA coaches and you tell me that if they’re playing the Boston Celtics and they can take the ball out of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Eddie House’s hands and you don’t care who else is going to take the game-winner, they would take it. Glen Davis made a great shot and a great effort. It was a big play on his part.”
Magic guard Rafer Alston on it being a ‘bounce back’ series: “This series has been a bounce back series, we actually hope that’s the case tonight. I think each team always has answered the call in the next game and I think it’s our turn now. It’s going to tough in their home building, but we are a team that’s ready and we believe in each other.”
Miller on the Magic going with a bigger front line: “(Magic head coach) Stan Van Gundy has gone to the ‘twin tower’ look of (Dwight) Howard and (Tony) Battie and a 6’10” small forward in (Hedo) Turkoglu (against the Celtics). They create a very big line for the Magic.”
Miller on the importance of guard Ray Allen to the Celtics: “(The Celtics) need (Ray Allen’s) offensive production if they are going to be successful against the Magic.”
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Halftime Report
Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Chris Webber
Barkley on why the Magic are going to win their series against the Celtics: “The reason why I think Orlando is going to win the series is because they have better players overall. Dwight Howard is the best player in this series, (to go along with Hedo) Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and they’ve got better scorers.”
Smith on Celtics guard Rajon Rondo playing bigger than a typical point guard: “(Rajon Rondo) plays bigger than he is. (He’s) not only controlling the tempo, he’s getting (the Celtics) extra shots. This is going to be a long series because he is rebounding just like Dwight Howard rebounds.”
Barkley on Dallas Mavericks owner
Mark Cuban apologizing to Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin and his mother on his blog: “Mark Cuban is my guy but he was wrong. I wish he would’ve done this yesterday. I wish he would’ve walked up to the mom and (Kenyon Martin) at the game yesterday. But he apologized (on his blog) and that’s all you can do.”**** **** **** **** *****
Miller on what Celtics guard Rajon Rondo needs to do in the off-season if he wants to become an elite point guard: “If (Rajon) Rondo wants to take the next step to become a great point guard, this summer I would take a month off after the season to let your body heal. Then I would get into the gym and shoot 500-700 fifteen to twenty-two foot jump shots to get that down consistently, and I would shoot over 1000 tear drop (shots) ala (Spurs point guard) Tony Parker.”
Miller on the resilience of the Magic: “The Magic have an answer. Every single time the Celtics are getting ready to make a run someone on the Magic makes a move or hits a three pointer.”
Celtics forward Kendrick Perkins on young players being forced to grow up quickly in the playoffs: “(Playing in the playoffs) makes you grow up real fast. If you haven’t grown up, you will, especially going through this process. If you’re a competitor in the game of basketball, you want to win. It’s basically bringing out my personality and my character out and being the person that I am in the game of basketball. You have to love it. You embrace opportunities like this.”
TNT’s David Aldridge interviewed Celtics guard Paul Pierce following the game
Pierce on the Celtics wanting to win the series more that the Magic: “I said before the game that this is a game of wills. That’s all it really was. When we came out here and we were down ten points with four minutes left…it’s about will and who wants it more. There’s no denying that this team has that (will) from start to finish.”
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Gamebreak:
Johnson, Smith, Barkley and Webber
Barkley on Orlando’s struggles on offense in Game #5: “It’s so frustrating to watch Orlando play. They never go to Dwight Howard…the only time Dwight Howard touched the ball was when they threw it to him in-bounds (at the end of the game).”
Webber on the Magic needing to play better: “Is it talent? Is it how hard you play? How hard you want it? Because I really think that the Orlando Magic are the better team.”
Barkley: “I think that too, but not from the neck up.”
Webber on Dwight Howard not getting enough shots: “(Dwight Howard) only got ten shots and he is the best player on the (Magic). Their whole strategy was a tactical error.”
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Game #2: Houston Rockets (78) @ Los Angeles Lakers (118) – Los Angeles leads the series 3-2
Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Doug Collins with Craig Sager reporting
Collins on the Rockets lacking depth on their front line: “A problem for the Rockets is that they don’t have any depth on their front line. They don’t have (injured centers) Yao Ming or Dikembe Mutombo and they are very thin and small on that front line.”
Collins on Rockets forward Ron Artest needing to play inside more: “I’d like to see (Ron) Artest get into the paint more often. He’s settling for the three (point shot) a little too often.
Lakers guard Kobe Bryant on the significance of losing in the playoffs: “I’m not a big proponent of losing by 30 points or losing by one point. What’s the difference? A loss is a loss. It’s not going to carry over into the next game. It’s not going to linger. In the playoffs, a loss is a loss.”
Collins on the Rockets needing to adjust their game since Yao Ming is out with an injury: “With no Yao Ming, (the Rockets) can’t come down and throw the ball into the post. They are going to have to trust each other, make the extra pass and they are going to have to be disciplined enough to keep your spacing so you can have room to work and (Aaron) Brooks can find people.”
Collins on the toughness of the Boston Celtics: “You cannot put a price on mental and physical toughness. Boston has (both).”
Bryant on Rockets guard Aaron Brooks: “We had to pay more attention to him. He’s a great shooter and we can’t give him too many open looks.”
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Halftime Report
Announcers: Johnson, Barkley, Smith and Webber
Smith on how Lakers forward Pau Gasol doesn’t let guard Kobe Bryant get double-teamed: “I told Kobe before that when Shaq (O’Neal) was there, the only reason he was going to really miss Shaq was he’s the best one-on-one basketball player in the world that gets to play one-on-one. He doesn’t get double-teamed. That’s what Pau Gasol is doing right now, not letting (Bryant) get double-teamed.”
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Collins on how Lakers forward Pau Gasol has to perform consistently: “You have to perform once you get to this stage (in the playoffs) and the stakes are higher with the pressure. The guy that has to perform consistently is Pau Gasol. He has to be (the Lakers) second option every night. That’s the guy that has to be there for Kobe (Bryant).”
Collins on Lakers guard Trevor Ariza: “Last year (Trevor Ariza) came off the bench and he was getting acclimated (after his trade from Orlando). (The Lakers) love his speed, his athleticism and his size. They hope at some point in time, he’s going to be a lock-down defensive player.”
Collins on injured Rockets center Yao Ming: “All you hear from the Rockets is that he’s the best teammate they’ve ever had. He’s the hardest worker and my heart breaks for him not being able to play.”
Collins on how the Lakers success on offense leads to aggressive defensive play: “I think that when they play good offense, they get excited and they play better defense. Whereas, I think the Rockets play good defense and when they play good defense, it helps their offense. Anytime the Lakers get things going offensively, they become more aggressive (defensively), they get into passing lanes and they get deflections.”
Collins on NBA legendary coach Chuck Daly who passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer: “Our thoughts and prayers go out to (Daly’s family) and all the people who are walking around this arena thinking about chuck and he’s meant to the NBA and all the championships. He was a mentor, he was a teacher, he reached out and he was always there to help someone at anytime. He will be missed and his void will never be filled. Whether I played for him or coached against him, (I will remember) how well we he was dressed, the coifed hair, and that dignity and class that he carried his life on a daily basis, and he was someone I cared deeply about.”
Collins on being rumored to be a candidate for the Philadelphia 76ers head coaching job: “I have not spoken to (the 76ers) and I want them to understand that. I feel very badly if there was a miscommunication. I talked to Phil Jasner, the great beat writer for the (Philadelphia) Daily News, and I have not talked to the Sixers. So if there is any misinformation, I feel very badly for (76ers GM) Eddie Stefanski for the situation this might have put him or the Sixers in…it’s good that we can get that clarified and if there was any misinformation with the way it was reported or the way I said it, to make it look like I had spoken to them, I have not spoken to them.”
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Inside the NBA
Announcers: Johnson, Barkley, Smith and Webber
Webber on how a center can contribute when he’s not scoring: “As a scorer and as a big fella, if you’re not scoring or you’re not in the game, one of the best things to do is play hard and rebound and get back and try to get some easy points that way.”
Webber on the Lakers/Rockets series being over: “I think (the Lakers/Rockets series) is over. You have to take advantage of teams when they don’t have that player or that momentum. I believe in momentum and I believe in the right time, I think the right time for that team (the Rockets) to try to win was tonight. I don’t think they have a chance, I think it’s over.”
Smith on why it is not going to be easy for the Lakers to beat the Rockets: “(Houston) plays with too much effort to just say they are going to lose that easily, and also, the Lakers turn it on and off. We know that (the Lakers) are the most talented team, they have the most skills, they have one of the deepest, if not the deepest, benches. They have more skilled players, but what they don’t always do is they don’t always play with effort because they are so skilled. The Rockets, the only way they can play well is with effort. In Houston, what I saw last game, with the effort, it’s not going to be a cake walk.”
Webber on the elite coaching experience of Lakers head coach Phil Jackson: “I’m not disrespecting the Rockets, I love watching them play because of how hard they play. The Lakers are lackadaisical, but they went to the championship last year, let’s remember that. Phil Jackson has how many rings, nine? And one thing he does is he coaches demeanor. There are no Josh Smith dunks at the end, there’s nobody getting happy after Game #2, and even yesterday, we were all saying they were disappointed and Phil Jackson was like, ‘disappointed?’ What he was saying was, ‘I don’t owe us in here anything, I don’t owe the fans anything, we lost a bad game, you all don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He was saying, ‘we have championships, we’re going right back,’ so yeah, I think they are going to close them out at Houston.”
Smith on Magic center Dwight Howard telling the press he needs the ball more: “In the immortal words of Michael Ray Richardson, it sounds like, ‘the ship be sinking.’ That’s what it sounds like to me. That sounds like a team that’s unraveling because now it comes to a point where I have to demand the ball in the paper. Your point guard sits right next to you, your coach is right over there, you don’t have to demand the ball in the paper. Hakeem Olajuwan demanded the ball a lot from me, every single play, but he never demanded the ball from me in the paper. So he came to my locker and he said, ‘listen, David Robinson cannot guard me, get me the ball the first five plays, forget what we just said, let’s run this play for me.’ I said, ‘Ok, I can’t do the first five times or I’ll get taken out of the game, but I’ll do it three.’ We came up with a compromise, but we didn’t have to do it in the paper and we won two rings.”
Barkley on the Celtics working harder to win than the Magic: “Dwight Howard can’t say that (he needs the ball), we can say that. The ship be sinking. I loved Orlando to win this series, but it just goes to show you, Doc Rivers has done a fantastic job, they are grinding their behind off. It just goes to show you grinding will beat talent. Clearly, Orlando has more talent top to bottom than the Celtics. If you just play hard, it’s an easy game.”
Smith on his conversation with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban regarding Cuban’s subsequent apology for the comment he made to Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin’s mother, which Cuban posted on his blog: “I talked with Mark (Cuban) today at length. He was a little upset with comments I had made on Twitter. I said a personal attack deserves a personal response, period, end of story. If you say something to someone directly, you need to be there, if you say it in the paper, ok, you can apologize in the paper, you said it in a blog, you can apologize in a blog. I felt he knew where (Kenyon Martin’s) mom was that time, he could have figured out where she was again, that’s what I had a problem with. He said he made several attempts throughout the day and the day before to contact her. I accepted that, but I said, ‘Mark, I wish you had done it a different way and you would have done it directly to his mom where (it was) visible because it became visible to the world. But he said he called the agent, he called Kenyon, he waited for Kenyon to come out to shoot around before the game, he never came out and said he wouldn’t talk to him.”
Webber on Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s apology on his blog to Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin’s mother: “It’s not enough for me because he needs to go to the family. Sitting on it when I first came in today I thought it was cool, but the longer it went I started thinking it was kind of cowardly, putting in phrases like, ‘you can come sit next me.’ I’m one of the best talkers when it comes to us hanging out and I could throw you a backhanded compliment. When I started thinking about it, we’re just a bunch of mama’s boys. I think it takes a handshake, a look in the eye and after that it’s just over. You have to look a man in the eye.”
And here’s what ESPN has to say about Spike Lee’s overindulgent movie on Kobe Bryant.
Commercial-Free Kobe Doin’ Work Premieres Saturday
ESPN Films’ presentation of director Spike Lee’s Kobe Doin’ Work will be televised Saturday, May 16, at 8 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN HD without commercial interruption. The 90-minute documentary chronicles a single game in the life of the NBA’s 2008 MVP, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angels Lakers. Through the vantage points of 30 cameras, the film chronicles the April 13, 2008, game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs at STAPLES Center. Set to the first musical score and original song “Levitate” by Grammy Award-winning artist Bruce Hornsby, Kobe Doin’ Work will give viewers an inside look at how Bryant prepares, plays and winds down on game day.
That’s it for now.
