Ben Golliver’s Travels From Inside the ‘Bubble’
Sports Kerry Eggers Sports Kerry Eggers

Ben Golliver’s Travels From Inside the ‘Bubble’

Bubbleball: Inside the NBA’s Fight to Save a Season

By Ben Golliver

Abrams Press     

Ben Golliver didn’t just write the first book of his career. He lived it.

The Washington Post’s NBA writer was one of the select few who spent the entirety of the league’s post-shutdown portion of the 2019-20 season in the isolation zone — called the “Bubble” — at Disney World.

In “Bubbleball,” Golliver chronicles the three-months-plus experience of being inside the Orlando Bubble that allowed the NBA to complete its season and saved the league more than $1 billion in revenue.

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On Aldridge’s retirement, the Trail Blazers’ lot in life, Tinkle’s contract, OSU women’s hoops, Transfer portal, Duck and Beaver baseball and other things on my mind …
Kerry Eggers Kerry Eggers

On Aldridge’s retirement, the Trail Blazers’ lot in life, Tinkle’s contract, OSU women’s hoops, Transfer portal, Duck and Beaver baseball and other things on my mind …

Some (relatively) quick hitters about subjects on my mind in the sporting world …

• Item: LaMarcus Aldridge retires after 15 NBA seasons after experiencing a heart irregularity.

• Comment: Aldridge had played five games with Brooklyn after a buyout by San Antonio and signing as a free agent with the Nets. He had played well, starting and scoring 22 points in 23 minutes in a blowout win over New Orleans.

But after experiencing an irregular heartbeat during the Nets’ game against the Lakers last Saturday and some complications the following day, Aldridge chose to call it a career.

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The new guys look good as Beavers open 2020-21 slate with win over Bears
Sports Kerry Eggers Sports Kerry Eggers

The new guys look good as Beavers open 2020-21 slate with win over Bears

I liked a lot of what I saw Wednesday night in our first look at Oregon State in the post-Tres Tinkle era, a 71-63 non-conference win over California in a mostly empty Gill Coliseum.

A few observations …

• Coach Wayne Tinkle unveiled most of the recruiting class he has been so excited about, and the newcomers not only didn’t disappoint, they shined.

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On Pac-12 football, Pat Casey and Bud Ossey, MLB to PDX, Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat and Chad Doing and the Denver Broncos … 
Sports Kerry Eggers Sports Kerry Eggers

On Pac-12 football, Pat Casey and Bud Ossey, MLB to PDX, Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat and Chad Doing and the Denver Broncos … 

The Pac-12 football schedule was (finally) announced Saturday, with Oregon fans happy with the Ducks’ lone crossover game, Oregon State fans not so much.

The Ducks, ranked 14th in the latest AP poll, play host to Chip Kelly’s UCLA Bruins on Nov. 20. The Bruins were 4-8 a year ago. The Beavers’ only game against a South Division opponent, meanwhile, is at defending South champion Utah on Dec. 5.

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Blazers-Lakers should be an intriguing matchup. And my pick for the series winner is … 
Sports Kerry Eggers Sports Kerry Eggers

Blazers-Lakers should be an intriguing matchup. And my pick for the series winner is … 

A few observations as the eighth-seeded Trail Blazers take on the challenge of facing the top-seeded L.A. Lakers in a seven-game first-round playoff series to which everyone across NBA circles will be paying attention …

• In a word, watching the Blazers’ nine-game run-up to the NBA playoffs has been fun.

Not because they made it — after 45 years in the sportswriting business, I’ll probably never think like a fan — but because Portland’s seeding games have been so watchable.

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