Sports Then and Now

Kevin Durant and LeBron James should be the leading stars in the 2014 NBA All-Star Game.

Since the first NBA All-Star Game in 1951, the annual gathering of the best players in professional basketball has provided an opportunity to revel in the amazing talents of these stars.

The 2014 game includes six first-time All-Stars, including two former number one overall picks (John Wall and Anthony Davis) that will be able to get off the dubious list of number one overall picks that didn’t make an All-Star Game.
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Derek Kellogg has the UMass Minutemen contending for an NCAA title.

1 – Chaz Williams

The best live sports betting sites on the internet, such as Sportsbetting.ag, will tell you that the biggest reason Massachusetts is likely to snag an NCAA tournament berth this season is Williams, a 5-9 sparkplug of a guard who has led the Minutemen in scoring at 15.9 points per game while handing out a dazzling 7.4 assists per game. The scoring and passing Williams has injected into this team’s offense has made UMass very hard to guard. The extent to which Williams has broken through this season – a season that might not have unfolded if Williams had left early for the NBA draft – is a product of the patience displayed by Massachusetts head coach Derek Kellogg, who elaborated on his relationship with Williams and the need for Williams to stay one more season in order to become a more NBA-ready player:

“The reality of it is, my job is just to get him the right information. Sometimes when you’re the coach talking, it can get construed that you’re asking me to come back for yourself or the team. The decision was, do you want to be a potential second-round pick or do you want to go back and do something special? The things that were important to Chaz and his family, I think he does want to be on line to graduate. He does want to do something special at a university and try to lead a program and a team back to national prominence and get to an NCAA Tournament. I explained to him, you’re on the verge of doing something not a lot of players have done here. You’re on the verge of taking a program and helping get a program back and resurrect a program. Let’s shoot for something special.”
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St. Louis Billikens

1 –Dwayne Evans

When checking out Lowvig.ag, you will be bombarded with information. Saint Louis bombards its opponents with intelligent and rugged play, epitomized by Evans. Here’s the most likely NBA prospect for Saint Louis. Evans is by far the best player on the Saint Louis roster, not just the team’s primary scoring threat. Evans powered the Billikens to the Atlantic 10 championship last season with his constant energy and his ability to get into the paint on offense. Strong and intelligent, Evans displays a level of poise as a ball-handler which makes up for a deficit in terms of quickness. Evans knows how to maneuver his body through a defense with the ball, and he knows how to get to the rim. When you look at him in game action, you are inclined to think that he’s not fast enough to get to the rim or within five feet of the basket for a floater, but he regularly does precisely that, and defenses just don’t wind up stopping him – it’s strange but undeniable. What might be his best attribute as a player is that Evans is an outstanding defender, averaging over one steal per game and almost one blocked shot per game – this at 6-6 on the wing. Being the leading scoring option on a team would make many players unwilling to make a big investment on defense, but that’s not how Evans rolls. Read the rest of this entry →

Will Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade be able to lead the Miami Heat to a third straight title?

The Miami Heat are in a position to prove the world that they are one of the all-time greatest teams in NBA history. By pulling off a three-peat, they will join the ranks of the Minneapolis Lakers of the 1950s, the Boston Celtics of 1960’s, the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, and the Los Angeles Lakers of the 2000’s.

While many NBA betting odds makers believe that the Heat are poised to win this year because of their accomplishments in the last two seasons, it should be remembered that winning three straight championships is not easy. Just ask Hakeem Olajuwon, Isaiah Thomas, and Magic Johnson, among others. They won back to back championships only to fail in their quest to win the third one. Read the rest of this entry →

Baseball legend Stan Musial passed away in 2013 at age 92.

Unfortunately, one of the inevitable aspects of every year is that we must say goodbye to some memorable greats from the sports world who passed away during that year.

2013 was no different as the sports world lost a number of all-time greats along with many others who may not have ended their careers in a sports Hall of Fame, but who left their own marks on the history of sports.

During the year we reflected on the passing of several athletes at the time of their death including Stan Musial, Pat Summerall, Earl Weaver, Deacon Jones, Art Donovan, Bum Phillips and Ed Herrmann. You can remember the legacies of these sports stars by clicking on their name to read the original articles.

In addition to these seven, there were many other well-known figures from the sports world that we lost in 2013. Below are brief remembrances of some of those greats.

Miller Barber – Professional Golfer – 82 years old
After winning 11 PGA Tour tournaments, but never finishing better than fourth in any Major, Barber was one of the early stars of the Senior Tour. He won 24 Senior Tour tournaments, including the Senior PGA Championship in 1981 and three Senior U.S. Open Championships in a four-year period.

Walt Bellamy – NBA Hall of Famer – 74 years old
The first pick of the 1961 NBA Draft, Bellamy averaged 31.6 points per game as a rookie, but still finished nearly 19 points per game behind NBA scoring champion Wilt Chamberlain (who averaged 50.4 ppg). He went on to average 20.1 points and 13.7 rebounds per game during a 14 year career in which he played for five different franchises.

Paul Blair – Major League Baseball Outfielder – 69 years old
An eight time Gold Glove winner, Blair was a key member of two World Series Champion teams with the Baltimore Orioles. He also won two World Series as a member of the New York Yankees during his 17 year career. Read the rest of this entry →

Paul George and the Indiana Pacers have emerged as the top threat to end the reign of LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

It was only one game just six weeks into the NBA season, but the Indiana Pacers made a clear statement during their 90-84 victory over the Miami Heat in the first meeting this season of the two squads that are clearly the best in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

NBA odds clearly favor the Pacers and Heat colliding at the end of the season in the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight season.

Last year the two squads waged an epic series in which home court advantage proved important with the home team winning five of the seven games.

The series ultimately came down to a decisive game seven in Miami and the Heat took advantage of their home atmosphere to claim the largest victory of the series 99-76.

The Pacers seem determined to make sure that if history repeats and the two teams are playing another decisive game this season that the game will be in Indiana.

After their victory over Miami, the Pacers boast the best record in the NBA with a 19-3 mark. The Heat are a firm second in the Eastern Conference at 16-6, but unless the Pacers slip over the remainder of the season, the Heat will clearly have to work hard to swipe home court advantage from Indiana. Read the rest of this entry →