By Hunter Walker 12/28/12 6:29pm

Blast From The Past

Patrick Ewing circa 1985. (Photo: Getty)

Could Patrick Ewing Be Coming Back to New York?

After over a decade playing and coaching in other cities, Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing might have a shot to return to New York, the home where he spent fifteen seasons building his Hall of Fame career with the Knicks. However, the speculation surrounding Mr. Ewing doesn’t involve his old team, it is centered on the Knicks’ new outerborough rivals, the Brooklyn Nets, who are in the midst of a sudden makeover of their coaching staff and could have newfound room for Mr. Ewing on their bench. Read More

By Hunter Walker 11/27/12 10:38pm

Basketball Diaries

Deron Williams getting a shot past Carmelo Anthony during the Nets' win over the Knicks Monday night. (Photo: Getty)

Why I Nixed the Knicks

Back in high school, one of my favorite clothing staples was a Knicks jersey adorned with Latrell Sprewell’s number eight. I wistfully remembered this as I pulled a black jersey bearing the same digit from the rack in a Midtown Modell’s last month. This time, the number on my back would represent a player on a different team, Deron Williams, the star point guard of the nascent Brooklyn Nets. Read More

By Foster Kamer 7/13/12 5:18pm

THINGS YOU CAN FIND ON TWITTER

joe-paterno-statue-thumb-500xauto-86

Objections to Penn State’s Removal of Their Joe Paterno Statue on Twitter

Penn State has a statue of Joe Paterno, the longtime coach of their football program whose legacy was recently marred when assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted on several counts of sexually abusing children. A recent internal investigation revealed knowledge of Sandusky’s crimes and efforts to cover them up, including the extent of the knowledge Read More

By Drew Grant 5/04/12 4:28pm

Racism

Phil Mushnick, big racist (Getty Images)

Phil Mushnick Uses N-Word in New York Post Sports Column, Blames Jay-Z

Phil Mushnick is a man that once garnered the nickname “Mr. Grumpy” from his boss at Fox Sports. That was in 1998, when it was known even then that Mr. Mushnick was a relic. “He’s a throwback,” David Hill, president of Fox Sports told The New York Observer at the time. “He sees himself as a knight in shining armor protecting sports fans from the slings and arrows hurled at them by cretinous, unfeeling network sports chiefs.”

But cretinous is a term that applies more to Mr. Mushnick more than sports chiefs, especially after today’s rant about Brooklyn Nets, during which he refers to the players as N——, which is certainly a novel way to say the N-word without saying the N-word, but otherwise is a pretty indefensible position all around. Even better is that Mr. Mushnick then tried to defend his statements by blaming the Nets’ part-owner, Jay-Z. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/28/12 5:56pm

Sports Page

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman watching spring training last year in Tampa. (Photo: Getty)

Yankees Down South: Dispatch From Spring Training

On Sunday afternoon, Brian Cashman, general manager of the New York Yankees, stood by the dugout at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa watching the team take batting practice prior to a spring training matchup against the Detroit Tigers. A pair of dark glasses shielded Mr. Cashman’s eyes from the bright Florida rays, but his mostly bald crown was exposed. A man walked up to Mr. Cashman and gave him a warm greeting.

“What’s cooking?” the man asked.

“My head,” Mr. Cashman replied tersely.

The 44-year-old GM has plenty of reasons to feel the heat aside from the temperatures in Tampa, which topped 80 degrees nearly every day this month. Mr. Cashman spent much of the offseason dealing with a sex scandal that saw photos of his alleged pajama pants make the blog headlines and found him in court facing an alleged mistress he claims stalked and harassed him. Read More

By Thomas Golianopoulos 3/20/12 6:42pm

Talking Heads

2009 - Skip Bayless

Skip Bayless FTW? One-on-One With ESPN’s Top Trash Talker

On a recent Wednesday evening, ESPN commentator Skip Bayless sat in a booth in the bar at the Midtown Hilton nursing a Diet Coke and quietly watching two basketball games.

Yes, quietly.

“By nature, I am quiet off the air,” he said. “My mom was real loud and that made me speak only when spoken to. But even as a child, if you challenged me, you would get both barrels.”

Mr. Bayless, 60, wore a navy-blue sweatshirt, matching cargo sweatpants and white-and-navy Fila sneakers. “You haven’t challenged me,” he pointed out. “I’ve agreed with your opinions.”

Mr. Bayless and The Observer found a surprising amount of common ground during our interview: The Atlanta Hawks are perennially overrated; the 2002-03 San Antonio Spurs were the best team in the history of that franchise; and LeBron James doesn’t deserve the MVP award because his team is too good.

Agreeing with Mr. Bayless is a disorienting experience. Read More