Jan 13, 2019
UK 1989
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UK 1989
The Great Disappearing Act // Nikola Jokic's No-Look Exit
"When I finish my career, I wish nobody knows me. I wish my kids remember me as a Dad, not as a basketball player".
There's a common sentiment within professional basketball. It goes that the taller the player, the less they love the game. For those lucky enough to scale heights of 6'6" and above, it seems that basketball chooses them, and not vice versa. I believe basketball, and the NBA, chose Nikola Jokic.
It won't be this year, next year, or a couple of years from now but the Denver Nuggets forward will leave the NBA, prematurely. In a league obsessed with numbers, historical rankings, and let's face it, individualism, the man nicknamed the Joker will shuffle up the pack and leave basketball's premier league for the confines of the Euro League. If you've paid any attention, he's said it to anyone who will listen. It's almost as if while shooting for the stars, he landed on the moon.
Overqualified for Europe's elite basketball tournament, Jokic's rise has taken him to America where his unique brand of chess-like basketball has seen him ascend to the very top of the game as the world's best player. But accolades don't seem to motivate the Serbian.
Already a two-time Most Valuable Player and an NBA Champion, Jokic has fame and fortune beyond his very dreams, but ironically, he was never after either to begin with. All these "benefits" have come with an overdose of scrutiny by way of questions about his physique, lack of physicality, style of leadership, or his love for the game. Jokic has a Matt Le Tissier or even a Jan Molby quality about him. It's effortless, languid genius, and everyone's wowed except them. So enjoy Jokic while you can, because like every great magician, no one will see his exit coming.
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article: Sam Lloyd video: Raw Film Basketball
(298 words)
Spreading the Global Game // If it Makes Dollars
UEFA President on Aleksander Čeferin if the Champions League final could be played in the United States on day.Watch the full interviewhttps
"… then it makes sense". When UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said earlier this year that he was open to a discussion about playing significant Champions League games in the United States, the football world cried foul. Disgrace. Travesty. Unforgivable. Just a few choice words that did the rounds. Inevitable was my choice as that's the way the world is trending. Everyone and their mother knows it's about the financial rewards, and not some noble crusade to spread the good word of football.
After all, we already have meaningful NBA, NFL, and MLB games hosted in Paris, London, Mexico City, etc. Lest we forget the Dakar Rally that seems to happen everywhere but in its spiritual home. And how about the mythical Tour de France whose recent Grand Depart locations have included Copenhagen, Bilbao, and Leeds?
Having intercontinental UCL games will happen sooner or later and I'm not that mad about it. Next year, another Copa America, a primarily South American football tournament, will take place in North America. Given the South American, Latin, and Portuguese-speaking diaspora that make up the USA population, I think it's an awesome idea every quarter century and on special occasions. Why not put the "tour" in "tournament"?
If there's a line to be drawn then it should stop at participation. Having the US team be part of a Copa America hosted on US soil is, just-about-okay-ish but that should be it. What I don't want to see is an AFCON hosted by, featuring, and won by England, by invitation. That would be truly weird. "ALL HAIL ENGLAND - CHAMPIONS OF ... AFRICA!?!?"
Other than that, what's the final frontier, a World Cup on the moon? Why the hell not?
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article: Ade Bankole video: Men In Blazers
(295 words)
Going Dutch // Mastering a New Tradition
Dutch art is synonymous with its masters. From Rembrandt, to Johannes Vermeer, and from Jan Steen to Rachel Ruysch. In football terms, Dutch history is littered with some of the game's best technicians. Cruyff, Van Basten, Van Persie, Robben, Seedorf, Sneijder, van der Vaart, Bergkamp etc.
Flashback to the 2022 World Cup and Argentina is playing The Netherlands in the quarter-final. Something stood out to me, and I still haven't shaken it off since. No, not the war during the game, and the melee afterwards. Not the brilliant Dutch free kick that sent the game to overtime. No, not that free kick but another one that the Dutch had earlier in the game, in decent wide position in the Argentina half.
As Cody Gakpo stood over the ball at 6 foot 4, I wondered why he was taking it instead of Frenkie de Jong or Memphis Depay. In the Argentina box was a 5 foot 9 Lisandro Martinez, a tenacious defender but an instant mismatch for Gakpo. Surely having someone else act the creator would be a better option. Fast forward to October 2023, and the Dutch have a last-gasp penalty in European Championship qualifying versus Greece in Athens with the score at 0-0. With the already substituted Wout Weghorst having missed an earlier penalty, up stepped Virgil van Dijk to settle the contest.
Perhaps today's Dutch Masters now patrol the initial third of the pitch rather than the final third? The answer is no one knows. But with the emergence of the likes of Xavi Simons, help and hope may be on the way. If the Dutch are to win their first trophy since 1988, they might have to do so with a different type of mastery than generations past.
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words: Maya Olatunji video: Edmunds HD
(296 words)
A Raised Cup for the NBA // Adam Silver's Vegas Bet Pays Off
If it ain't broke, then maybe an upgrade? The NBA's In-Season Tournament (or from here now onwards, the NBA Cup) is a hit and one that deserves its cheers and plaudits. It's a great idea for the players, fans, TV companies, and teams. As a fan, one of my annoyances with the NBA is the 82-game regular season, i.e. way too many games to separate the wheat from the chaff. The second is round one of the Playoffs which notably needs the best of 7 games to separate the really good wheat from the really bad.
Where the NBA Cup is concerned, I love the wacky jerseys, like the funky courts, but not the prize on offer. That's because I'm not sure what it does for the average NBA player star. Yes, I know there a guys on rosters who earn around a few million dollars per year, but for winning a tournament, half a million should be just part of the spoils. That's because (deep breath) I think the winners of the NBA Cup should get the number one overall pick in the NBA draft (exhales).
Okay, hear me out. Traditionally, the "best" picks go to the league's "worst" teams. I think that system is fine but it can incentivise teams and organisations to bottom out. But on any given NBA night, any NBA chaff can beat any NBA wheat. What a way to cure load management and tanking. And if the NBA really wants to go European, then how about a penalty for being the worst team? While relegation isn't an option, maybe you lose a pick if you're the worst chaff on record. For now, it's over to the Lakers and Pacers to get that money on Saturday's showpiece in Sin City.
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words: Ade Bankole video: NBA
(298 words)
This One's A Keeper // The Artist Currently Known as Mikel
I'm not a fan of Mikel Arteta. There, I said it. I think he was a brilliant player with a brilliant football mind which has translated into his managerial career. Regardless of choking the title accusations, I think he overachieved last year in a season where most Arsenal fans would have taken 4th place and run to the bank. Simply put, Arsenal are ahead of schedule.
I'm just not a fan of Arteta the showman and actor. The same Arteta who performs as the public micro-manager/theatre director comically acting out his protagonists' every word and action behind the lens.
So with the ongoing saga of the rotating goalkeepers Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya, surely this is my chance to take a cheap shot. It is, but I won't. I think it's time to let Arteta the manager manage. How about we see this experiment through before we create the headlines, stand-firsts, and paragraphs? Guardiola had his inverted full-back (which others have tried to imitate), this is simply Arteta's rendition.
This is the same manager who had the foresight to snag the talented Martin Ødegaard when most of Europe either fell asleep at the wheel or forgot he existed. Again, he had the gumption to phase Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the club for the benefit of the locker room and team harmony. A decision no one in hindsight calls the wrong move. Yes, some decisions haven't turned out the right way but just because this one is different, doesn't make it wrong.
In a game of fine margins, what if the comical Arteta mucks around and wins something big with his rotating cast of shot-stoppers? How long will it then be before we demand the same from our team's managers?
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article: Ade Bankole video: CBS Sports Golazo
(297 words)
The Tick-Tock Era // Something Old, Borrowed, and New
Rival sports leagues often borrow from each other. Famously, the upright and proper NFL borrowed features from the gimmicky XFL. Similarly, the NBA adopted the rulebook of the wild and lawless American Basketball Association (the ABA). I bring those two sports up because soccer (or proper football in the UK) would do well to borrow from basketball and American football.
If you're imagining a three-point line outside the 12-yard box or punt returns by the goalkeepers, imagine on. I'm talking about an open-clock policy. Not the clock that all stadiums have sponsored by one of the Swiss watch manufacturers but the one the referees use when "reffing" the game. I'm talking about total transparency for the new brand of Total Football. That way, every time the ball is dead or out of play, the referee stops the clock, and we the crowd and those at home, can see that it has. The same goes for substitutions, injuries, and excessively long goal celebrations to trigger time "standing still".
Contrary to the Secret Base video above, an open clock would help provide more clarity to those who need it. Football managers and referees have a lot of factors to deal with during a regular game. Calculating how much time will be left nearer the end of the 45 shouldn't have to be one of them. With stoppage time of sometimes up to 15 minutes (that's a third of a football half on my calculator) something has to give. I say give everyone real-time access to the clock and take the guesswork and confusion out of the officiating.
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article: Ade Bankole video: Secret Base
(286 words)
Neal Brennan // Brand New Setup
As comedy goes, jokes follow a similar pattern. One or more setups, then a punchline. Simple, right? Wrong.
As entertainment goes, stand-up comedy is one of the easiest forms to set up. A stage, amplification, chairs, and a mic, most of which you can expect to find in-house. That’s easy work. Except if you’re Neal Brennan, who seems intent on shuffling the genre's natural order. His most recent works, the 3 Mics comedy special, the How Neal Feel podcast, and Blocks (both a comedy special and podcast series) are all variations on popular themes, which dare to redefine stand-up comedy's traditional form and present it as brand new.
Notably, Brennan is the co-creator of Chappelle's Show, appearing fleetingly on-screen but more so behind the scenes, including being the unseen interviewer to Charlie Murphy’s interviewee on those Prince and Rick James E True Hollywood “stories”.
Tonight’s variation sees Brennan venture to lands unknown, i.e. London, England, and specifically the Leicester Square Theatre to showcase his new comedy vehicle Brand New Neal. While the setup doesn't involve multiple microphones or other onstage objects, Brennan comes equipped with excellent observations on subjects ranging from clap-happy influencers to porn film titles that really flex his status as a technical comedian. A comedian who really gets under the bonnet (or hood if you're Neal) of life, if life itself was a beaten up pick-up truck, and emerges with his unique diagnosis, one set up at a time.
Adhering to the unwritten spirit of stand-up specials, they'll be no reveals here. If you can't catch Brennan on tour, Brand New Neal is sure to be snapped up by a streaming service at your convenience. All I will say is that if you're of a fairer complexion, you'll never look at the sun the same way again.
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article: Omar Jacobs video: Comedy Central Stand-Up
(294 words)