Mike Tyson, when asked who he views as a real-life version of the Glass Joe character from the 1987 NES game Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! — number three on ESPN’s best sports video games of all time.
I used to play it with the Power Glove.
Bill Simmons looks back at the Miami Heat’s 27-game winning streak, how it slipped away, and LeBron, in particular:
Once it became clear that Chicago wasn’t fading and a sense of desperation started setting in for Miami, that led to my second-favorite moment of the night: LeBron saying Screw this, I’m guarding Hinrich and hounding the aging Chicago point guard everywhere, unwilling to allow that streak to slip away without doing everything possible to save it. In turn, that led to my favorite moment — LeBron allowing Hinrich to keep driving past him so he could block the ensuing layup. And he did it twice!!! I’ve been watching basketball forever … I have NEVER seen that before, not even from Jordan. To be fair, I never saw Russell (maybe he tried that trick, too), but please, tell me the next time I’m going to watch a basketball player so supernaturally confident in his own inhuman athletic ability that he intentionally allows an opponent to attempt layups that he can block.
Fascinating look at the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez deal by David Waldstein for NYT:
Mallory and Cardinale made about 10 calls to Levine over the next few days, transmitting the proposals and counterproposals back and forth. Rodriguez also enlisted the help of the investor Warren E. Buffett, a friend and adviser who helped Rodriguez devise ways to resolve a stalemate over a $50 million gap.
Ultimately, the terms of the deal would include $265 million in guaranteed salary, a $10 million signing bonus and an additional $30 million in marketing bonuses tied to landmark home runs.
For each of the five milestones — tying Mays, Ruth, Aaron, Bonds and breaking the record — Rodriguez would receive $6 million. The Yankees looked at the bonuses as a kind of licensing fee they would pay to Rodriguez to secure all the rights to market the home run chase, which would presumably become a commercial boon.
The result is A-Rod earning more than the entire Houston Astros team combined this year.
Almost as interesting: that the article features an Instagram image of A-Rod.
Zach Lowe of Grantland looks at how SportVU — an advanced camera-tracking system that records every move on the floor in an NBA game — is changing basketball. This is some next-level “moneyball” type stuff, but one particularly interesting note:
It’s not a coincidence that the only team that consistently mirrors the help defense of its ghosts is Miami, Rucker says. The Heat have three of the best wing defenders in the league in Shane Battier, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade, and the latter two are among the NBA’s most gifted pure athletes. James can mimic DeRozan’s hyperactive ghost in a way no other player can, Rucker says. “LeBron basically messes up the system and the ghosts,” Rucker says. “He does things that are just unsustainable for most players.”
Such as lead a team back from down 27 in the third quarter to win their 24th game in a row.
Good read for those who don’t quite understand the WAR (Wins Above Replacement) movement in baseball statistics.
theonion:
Baltimore Looking For Safer City To Host Super Bowl Parade: Full Story
Great game. Disappointing finish. But this almost makes up for it.
(And yes, I owe you a beer @irace.)
