By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Briana “Hoops” Green has loved basketball since childhood, and began playing the sport as a four-year-old growing up in Kentucky. But she acknowledges that never in her wildest dreams did she envision one day becoming part of a legendary team. Green is the 15th woman in history to be one of the Harlem Globetrotters, an organization whose history dates back 91 years. She’s on of their three units, and since 2017 has enjoyed traveling the world, entertaining fans, and performing some of their famous tricks and maneuvers. “No, I never ever even really thought…
Author: Ron Wynn
Ordinarily when a heralded executive steps down following a great career, it’s a time to celebrate. But the end last week of Ozzie Newsome’s brilliant tenure as the first and only general manager of the Baltimore Ravens instead put the NFL back into a spotlight that is anything but positive: showcasing the lack of opportunity for Black players anywhere except on the playing field. Newsome has been the Raven’s general manager since 2002. He signed a five year extension in 2014, and Ravens’ owner Steve Bisciotti insists he’ll still have a role with the organization next year, even though he’s…
The exploits and accomplishments of Lebron James and Serena Williams are unquestioned. Each is at the top of their sport, and arguably the greatest ever, though there’s much more debate about that in basketball than tennis circles. And on the face of it, last week’s selection of James and Williams as AP Male and Female Athlete of the Year makes sense. It is the third time James has won this award and fifth for Williams, and neither seems to have lost much despite many years of dominating their respective sports. James averaged 28.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 8.4 assists in…
The practice of using former players as analysts and/or studio commentators is now an old one, and it remains a hit or miss proposition. There are some ex-athletes who not only have the gift of gab, but are also able to operate in the concise time frames dictated by television. They are articulate, able to speak quickly, and offer descriptions and opinions that truly reveal more insight and knowledge of whatever sport they’re discussing than something that would come from the usual fan. There are others who do little except speak in cliches, sometimes badly fracturing the language, and bringing…
Over the next few weeks and months the cities of Phoenix and Seattle will shape sports history, as well as signal that the end has come for sports owners who essentially extort money from metropolitan areas by using the threat of relocation. Phoenix Suns’ owner Robert Sarver initially told the world a couple of weeks ago that if the city didn’t build a new arena for the Suns he would move them to either Las Vegas or Seattle when the current arena lease expired. But once it became clear there was very little public support or enthusiasm for a new…
It’s been over two decades since Bo Jackson made history by becoming the first and still the only athlete in American professional sports to be an All-Star in both Major League Baseball and professional football. The famous “Bo Knows” ad campaign fascinated the country, and Jackson’s exploits for the Kansas City Royals and (then) LA Raiders became the stuff of legend for a while. Perhaps his most famous baseball play was a throw he made from the warning track to home plate on the fly, throwing out the speedy Harold Reynolds. Reynolds had taken off from first on the pitch,…
Bob Cousy was the forerunner for today’s generation of explosive and flamboyant point guards. He joined the Boston Celtics from Holy Cross College in 1950, and quickly established himself as a star. Cousy played 13 seasons and was an All-Star every year. But for the first six years of his career the Celtics were never able to win a championship. Things changed dramatically when Bill Russell arrived in 1956. To the outside world Cousy and Russell were the perfect duo. One was an offensive wizard, the other a defensive genius. They would team for six championships over Cousy’s final seven…
By Ron Wynn The Tennessee Titans fast start disappeared under an offensive surge by the Houston Texans Monday night as they dropped their second straight AFC South road game 34-17. The Titans’ record dipped to 2-2 in the division, and 5-6 on the season. Though four of the five remaining games are at Nissan Stadium, the team faces the task of winning out to have even a decent shot at the playoffs, as taking four of five and a 9-7 record probably won’t be good enough. The Texans continued their record streak, improving to 8-3, and becoming the first NFL…
Former (soon) Pittsburgh star running back Le’Von Bell is taking the ultimate gamble on his skill and marketability, and what happens may or may not mark a significant turn in terms of how the NFL values running backs, and what it’s willing to pay them. Bell announced last week that he would not be reporting to the Steelers this season. He is going to take the complete year off in order to become an unrestricted free agent, able to pursue what has been both his goal and that of his agent since this quest began last summer: becoming the NFL’s…
No one knows better than a former player the dangers playing football presents. So when Slade Norris, who spent four years in the NFL and played for the Raiders, Seahawks, Jaguars and Lions during an overall 17-year tenure in the sport, talks about concussions he has a perspective that can’t be readily duplicated and shouldn’t be ignored. “I never had a diagnosed concussion during my playing days and due to that I never considered it a problem,” Norris told me during a recent e-mail interview. There were plays when I would hit someone and be stunned for an instant, but…