Adam

Kobe Bryant and the secret history of the black mamba In late 2002, Nike began creating a global campaign featuring the black mamba -- and presented it to an NBA superstar. That star was not Kobe Bryant.

NEW: Nearly 10 years ago, Kobe Bryant declared “Mamba out” in his final words as a Los Angeles Laker. But years before he assumed the black mamba persona, Nike created a campaign built around the snake for someone else – Michael Jordan. www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

24 years in a row I’ve been rejected by the Augusta National ticket lottery. The one year we plan to be in Paris at the same time as Roland Garros and the lottery gods smile upon me. LFG.

Did NBC just try to run a promo for a Celtics-Sixers game that featured the tag line “two teams that don’t rebuild, they just reload” like The Process never happened?

EXCLUSIVE: Days before the 2024-25 season, Dejounte Murray's mother suffered a stroke; he broke his hand in the opener, had a cousin killed, saw his uncle overdose, and by January 2025, tore his Achilles, ending his season.

“A lot of stuff in life went downhill.”

Update from Ryan Poles: They are still talking to the league about getting compensation. Waiting to hear back. So it sounds like it’s still possible.

The national telecasts for the NBA had a tough run from Christmas until the Super Bowl but in the last two weeks we’ve gotten some of the best basketball of the season in those slots. Pistons-Spurs has been prison ball but in a good way. Physicality turned to 11.

the "WNBA doesn't make a profit" crowd is going to move the goalposts pretty fast here, mostly because their investment isn't in the facts as much as it is in making women feel small

Disney owning 3 of the 4 grand slams I should say. TC should start having him moonlight on ATP/WTA 1000 tournaments too. Get him to Indian Wells.

Andy Roddick signs 'multi-year' deal with ESPN

This is going to be excellent for tennis coverage, especially with Disney owning 3 of the 4. I think TNT getting Roland Garros accomplished what it was supposed to: competition that breeds innovation over the stagnant environment of the last decade plus. www.nytimes.com/athletic/706...

From Gustafson to Czinano to Stuelke to Heiden. Jan Jensen is one of the best post coaches in the history of the women’s game.

YouTube video by The New Yorker “Retirement Plan” (2026 Oscar Nominee) | The New Yorker

Extremely worth the visit if you want to see below the line nominees. Retirement Plan (youtu.be/2Mqa4zfJdx4?...) and The Three Sisters were hysterical. Forevergreen and Butterfly are uniquely touching stories. New Yorker put Retirement Plan on YouTube, it’s very worth the 7 minutes.

v excited to check these out tonight and appreciate Music Box for making them accessible during awards season.

Jesse Jackson Knew Better Than to Forget The civil rights icon always held America to account—and never stopped fighting to preserve what he knew could be taken away

Jesse Jackson died Tuesday at the age of 84. The civil rights icon always held America to account—and never stopped fighting to preserve what he knew could be taken away. I wrote about how he saw our future so well.

They both hired the right people from Turner and brought in new voices with a fresh perspective.

League Pass. But the Knicks and Pistons have been good on Prime too.

Kevin Durant v this young Hornets team has been tremendous, especially in the 4th quarter.

This piece is now a little over 12 years old. If you are interested in an idea that is pretty bulletproof in terms of removing the incentives to lose in order to make your team better, this is it: grantland.com/the-triangle...

This is probably the way they will go, and I will understand it when they do. I don’t think you’ll have 30 owners with an appetite for the massive change you’d need to implement to largely eradicate tanking in the NBA. They will hope to contain and curtail it, not stop it.

The proposed fixes from the competition committee out of the GM meetings look like band-aids for bullet holes. They will certainly alter the way and time in which teams exhibit tanking behavior, but they won’t stop teams from deliberately trying to lose games.

Current status:

He’s 16 today. We have a driver now. Yes we got him a toy car. When a dog reaches this age you make sure to enjoy every day you have with him. Happy birthday Ernie.

Exclusive: Craig Tiley USTA announcement to be made official next week Tennis Australia CEO and Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley will officially be announced as the new United States Tennis Association (USTA) CEO next week. Tiley, who has served as the Gra...

There it is.

www.thefirstserve.com.au/post/exclusi...

IYKYK Chicago metro area Fat Tuesday edition.

Fake spring providing grilling weather in Chicago this weekend.

My two favorite WTA players won Doha in back to back years. Especially excited for Mookie because she hadn’t won a title in like 6 years at this point. I think Seoul in 2019 or 2020? Injuries suck, happy to see her healthy and winning a tournament.

[Adam has marked himself SAFE after a Saturday morning holiday weekend trip to Costco]

We sure are. I’ve adopted the Nuggets and my doughy king Jokic while I wait out the slumlord’s remaining days.

The Bulls just need to hire someone that will push Jerry down an elevator shaft. It should be the only question in an interview. Yes or no.

Undoubtedly. And yet, we persist dammit.

Curtis is here to keep us sane. bsky.app/profile/brya...