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.
Steve Kerr’s Life Story was Worth Writing, and it’s Worth Reading
Scott Howard-Cooper had it all set up.
The veteran Sacramento journalist was prepared to write a book about the Golden State Warriors’ fourth NBA championship in five years in 2019.
“We were screwed,” Howard-Cooper says. “Nobody wanted to read a Warriors book coming off a loss.”
Howard-Cooper’s literary agent, Tim Hays, had another idea.
“He encouraged me to write a book on (Warriors coach) Steve Kerr,” Howard-Cooper says. “He stayed on me. He said, ‘Write out a proposal. Take a little time and put something on paper.’
Covering some baseball topics: Pat Casey, Friends of Baseball and Mavericks Independent League
Let’s talk baseball as we head toward summer …
• Sources say Pat Casey pulled his name from the running for the vacant LSU head coaching job because of family considerations.
Buck doesn’t stop at Olshey —At least, he says it doesn’t
Neil Olshey conducts a press conference not so much to inform the media as to educate them.
When the Trail Blazers’ president of basketball operations (general manager) believes the narrative about his team and the job he is doing is off-kilter, he’ll gather the scribes and set them straight.
Olshey has long been president of the Neil Olshey Fan Club, and when membership gets low, he does what he can to drum up the numbers.
That’s what he did during a Monday Zoom conference with local reporters, whose collective wisdom, he is quite sure, fits neatly on the head of a pin. Not only does Olshey not suffer fools gladly, he enjoys delivering a proverbial kick in the tush when he deems it necessary.
Barlow’s Tom Johnson: He inspires, he mentors, he teaches life lessons, and he wins …
I walked into Barlow High on a recent Friday night to the sweet sound of basketballs bouncing in the gym, and the reassuring sight of fans filing in the doors and milling around in the lobby, awaiting a game.
There were no concessions being sold, no cheerleaders dancing, no pep band playing, and everyone was masked up.
Even so, it was a return — somewhat — to the normalcy that COVID-19 had stolen from us more than a year ago.
Gresham beat Barlow 61-47 before a crowd I’d estimate at about 300 spectators, seated in every other row in a facility with a capacity probably about 1,000.
With Rich Dorman, talking OSU pitching on eve of Fort Worth Regional
If Oregon State is to rise up and claim the Fort Worth Regional, its pitching will have to be a major part of the story.
Statistically, at least, the No. 2 seed Beavers (34-22 overall, 16-14 in Pac-12 action) take the league’s best pitching staff into Friday’s 11 a.m. Regional opener against No. 3 Dallas Baptist (37-15).
“As a whole, we competed pretty well and gave ourselves a chance to win a lot of games,” pitching coach Rich Dorman said Thursday night on the eve of the Beavers’ opener in Fort Worth. “At times we did a really good job, and at times we didn’t.”
OSU led the Pac-12 in most pitching categories through the regular season, including ERA (3.42, eighth nationally), opponents’ batting average (.217), walks and hits per innings pitched (1.2, eighth nationally), hits allowed per nine innings (7.1, fifth nationally) and strikeouts per nine innings (10).
A discourse on Dame Time with the feral Scott Ferrall …
I was on with one of my favorite national sports talk show hosts, the incomparable Scott Ferrall, on Wednesday’s edition of “Ferrall Coast to Coast" after Damian Lillard’s record-breaking scoring/shooting performance in Game 5 of the Trail Blazers’ playoff series with Denver. We covered a lot of ground concerning Lillard’s heroics, his legacy and the current situation with the Blazers. He doesn’t drink alcohol anymore but invited me to go on a bender with him in some tropical paradise if he scores 55 points and makes a dozen 3’s in one of his pickup games. I told him I’d hold him to it.
The Schonz at 92: ‘I’m one of the old guys now’
Bill Schonely and I had lunch the other day in our annual celebration of his birthday.
His 92nd, which comes Tuesday, June 1.
“I remember as a young kid, I would see some of the older people walking around,” the legendary voice of the Trail Blazers said. “I thought, ‘Boy oh boy, are they old. I don’t ever want to be old like that.’
“Well, guess what? I’m 92. I’m one of those old guys now.”
Phil at the PGAs: ’The Best Theater Ever in a Major’
(Special contributor Steve Brandon, an afficionado of watching golf’s majors on television, filed this report about Phil Mickelson’s victory at last week’s PGA Championship. Mickelson, who turns 51 on June 16, is the oldest man ever to claim a major title.
Like the guy said while trying to get his ball out of the pit of a bunker in the Workday commercial:
“Phil? Phil? Phil!”
Your chance to Wish ‘The Schonz’ a Happy 92nd Birthday
On Tuesday, June 1, Bill Schonely will observe his 92nd birthday.
I use the verb “observe” rather than “celebrate,” because by the time you get to 92, enjoying life becomes more of a challenge.
Loy’s toy is a ’79 Malibu, and he drives it very fast
As a basketball player, Loy Petersen was more smooth than fast.
At age 76, though, long after his career gracing the hardcourts had ended, speed is at the essence of Petersen’s latest pursuit.
The former Oregon State standout and NBA player is one of the top drivers on the National Hot Rod Association’s Northwest circuit.
What’s in a name? A lot of fun stuff …
To our readers:
I’ve always gotten a kick out of some of the unusual names of sports figures. For fun, I’m re-posting a column I wrote for the Portland Tribune in 2013 on the same subject from a national perspective (Can’t believe I left out race car driver Dick Trickle.)
Despite COVID-19, it has been a ‘Fantastic Year’ for new Beaver wrestling coach Chris Pendleton
It wasn’t what Chris Pendleton had in mind when he dreamed about his first year as Oregon State’s wrestling coach.
To begin with, the season was abbreviated due to COVID-19. From January 14 to February 14, five meets were canceled. At one time, the Beavers had seven wrestlers — including a pair of starters — in 14-day quarantine due to contact tracing.
“We had kids stuck at home,” Pendleton says. “We had assistant coaches delivering wrestling mats to their apartments to try get their workouts. That made it tough.
Thoughts on the Portland Diamond Project, Kevin Love and Payton Pritchard, Bill Schonely, Jermar Jefferson, Hamilcar Rashed and a new book by Ben Golliver …
Questions on your mind, for which I have answers …
• What’s going on with the Portland Diamond Project? It’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything about the bid for major league baseball in the city.
A: A lot, says PDP managing partner Mike Barrett.
“We’ve been crazy busy,” Barrett tells me. “I can’t give you any specifics. Hopefully, we’ll be in position to be able to speak publicly on it soon, but we’re in a sensitive time right now.
Brian Grant’s autobiographical confessional is worth the read
One of Portland’s favorite sons has come out with his autobiography, and it’s a good one.
Brian Grant’s life story, written with author/sports journalist Ric Bucher, was released April 6 and is in bookstores and available on-line wherever books are sold.
Grant, 49, decided to write the book after a discussion with long-time friend and business associate Brian Berger.
“I was telling stories,” Grant says. “And Brian said, ‘Maybe now is the time to write the book.’ I thought back about my life and decided I’m ready to talk about not just my basketball career but other things — my personal life, getting Parkinson’s Disease, growing up in Ohio, becoming a man in the Northwest.”
Book Your Flight To Some Summer Reading Adventures …
I have a bit of a love/hate thing about John Thompson.
Like/dislike, to be more accurate.
Dislike because I often felt that about the way Thompson, the Hall of Fame basketball coach at Georgetown, went about his business.
Like because I very much enjoyed reading his autobiography, published posthumously and given to me as a Christmas present by my son Troy.
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.
2 computer screens, 2 TVs, a cell phone, and I have the Masters covered …
By Steve Brandon
For me, it’s a tradition unlike any other.
Not just the Masters. Watching the Masters on television.
One week every April, I set aside at least one room in the house to smell the azaleas, hear the roars, feel the highs and lows at Amen Corner and immerse myself in America’s historic and illustrious cradle of golf.
‘The Whale’ spouts off on the great running backs in Oregon State history
By Jim Wilson
(Editor’s note: Oregon State’s spring practice began on April 6. To get Beaver Nation in football mode, radio analyst extraordinaire Jim “The Whale” Wilson offers his appraisal of the top five running backs in Beaver history.)
Jermar Jefferson officially ended his Oregon State career when he declared for the NFL draft in December 2020. That didn’t come as a surprise to most Beaver fans, but it does leave a huge vacancy in the Beaver backfield as Jefferson was one of the best to ever tote the football for the Orange and Black.
In three years — make that one full year and two partial seasons — Jefferson leapfrogged into the conversation as one of the top five running backs in Beaver history. He is fifth in career rushing yards behind a decorated group that includes Ken Simonton, Steven Jackson, Jacquizz Rodgers and Yvenson Bernard.