Before our recent lunch, the last time I had seen Mike D'Antoni was on the afternoon of March 11, right after an embarrassing 106-94 home defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers. Linsanity had gone quiet, the New York Knicks had lost eight of their last 11 games and their hold on the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot was growing ever more precarious.
This column was adapted from an essay that runs in the May 14th, 2012 issue of Sports Illustrated. Purchase the digital edition of the magazine here.
Suspense is making a comeback at the NFL Draft. Executives at both ESPN and the NFL Network know how much you dislike when they foreshadow or tip picks before the official announcement, so both networks pledged during interviews with SI.com last week that broadcast cameras will no longer show first-round draftees on the phone with their teams before being selected.
Dominick Cruz is in constant motion. That's his secret. But it's no secret. You see it every time he steps into the octagon. That doesn't make it any easier to figure out.
OAKLAND, Calif. -- His game can't do the talking just yet, what with the walking boot holding him back and all.
A few months ago, alarming predictions sounded from many corners about the possibility of the NHL entering another lockout when its current seven-year collective bargaining agreement ends on Sept. 15. Can it really happen after the disaster of 2004-05 and with seemingly good financial growth in the game since that lost season?
When Mike Keenan arrived to coach the Blackhawks in 1988, he noticed something disturbing in his team's dressing room at Chicago Stadium: ashtrays. Not just the squiggly-squared, amber-colored glass trays that populated most public places, but tall, regal-looking stands. Finished butts, dozens of them, had been given proper state funerals, or so it looked.
As NBA lockout headlines go, this was nothing for David Falk.
When Gilbert Arenas pulled the plug on his "AgentZeroShow" Twitter account last September, he went dark in ways we hadn't seen since his fascinating rise and infamous fall.
When Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, purchased the rival Strikeforce promotion for a reported $40 million in March 2011, it also inherited a Showtime broadcast deal set to expire in early 2012.
On Jan. 29, CNN will debut Big Hits, Broken Dreams, a documentary exploring concussions in high school football. SI.com's Ben Glicksman talked with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon, about his findings and what parents, coaches and athletes need to know to try to protect themselves.
For three years at the University of Cincinnati, I taught a class in Advanced Reporting to juniors and seniors interested in writing about sports for a living. We met late in the morning, plenty of time for 20-year-olds to shake the cobwebs from their brains and show up ready to learn. So it was disconcerting to see a few of them every semester arrive in my classroom and nod off.
LOS ANGELES -- When Chuck Person joined the Lakers as a special assistant in 2009, the widely held assumption around the NBA was that his real title was something else entirely: Ron Artest's life coach.
Brent Musburger continues to get high-profile gigs at an age when most of his contemporaries have long since ridden off into the sports broadcasting sunset. At 72, in the middle of his sixth American act (take that, F. Scott Fitzgerald), Musburger will call top-ranked LSU against No. 2 Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET). As he enters his fifth decade on the air, Musburger remains a polarizing figure, revered by supporters and jeered by others. But he has never shunned questions about his work or style. SI.com caught up with him this week:
This article appears in the Dec. 26 issue of Sports Illustrated to purchase a digital copy of the magazine go here.
Evander Holyfield's resume includes a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics and victories over all-time greats like Mike Tyson (twice), Riddick Bowe, George Foreman and Larry Holmes. He is the only four-time heavyweight champion in history. A little more than a decade ago, he was one of the 10 most famous athletes on the planet.
When Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak fielded the inevitable question about trading for Dwight Howard last week, his intentionally vague response said everything about why the topic was being discussed in the first place.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 5. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer. Derrick Rose bounded into 2011 with a blinding crossover, a fly-by first step, a fearless rush into a crowded key. He didn't jump as much as he corkscrewed, through a canopy of outstretched arms, ball protected against his biceps until it was safe to unveil. How he released all those runners and floaters and reverse layups, over taller men with longer wingspans, was improbable even before you consider how many trickled in.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 5. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 5. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 5. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer.
LOS ANGELES -- MLS commissioner Don Garber is a busy man, especially in the days before Sunday's MLS Cup final between Los Angeles and Houston (9 p.m. ET, ESPN, Galavisión). But Garber always finds a way to make time for a one-on-one conversation with SI.com about the league during MLS Cup weekend.
On Tuesday, USA Today offered an aggressive takedown of the Big Ten Network's coverage of the Penn State child abuse scandal, writing that the network (which is owned by The Big Ten Conference along with Fox Networks) "seems to be tiptoeing around the scandal." It further stated the Big Ten Network had provided "no coverage of the young boys allegedly victimized, no debates about what should happen next, no analysis of the impact on PSU and the surrounding community." SI.com spoke with Big Ten Network president Mark Silverman on his network's coverage:
SI.com's Richard Deitsch interviewed Erik Rydholm, the executive producer for Pardon the Interruption, as part of the latest Media Circus power list. To return to Media Circus, click here:
Maya Moore does one thing: win.
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 6. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer.
There was a point this summer when I was chatting with a veteran NBA player who played for Rick Adelman and knows the longtime coach as well as anyone.
After having his finest season yet as an NBA player in 2010-11, Kris Humphries went on to enjoy a whirlwhind summer replete with a multi-million dollar wedding with reality starlet Kim Kardashian. Now, as his career in television takes off, the eighth-year forward faces an uncertain future as a free agent in a league that's been locked out for nearly three months now.
Just a guess here, but I'm pretty sure Billy Hunter's voicemail was full Thursday night. And chances are, the messages being left weren't all from NBA players calling to praise him for a job well done at the latest National Basketball Players' Association meeting in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS -- The room was finally his.
When Paul Westphal was campaigning for the Kings head coaching position in the summer of 2009, his former point guard-turned Sacramento mayor, Kevin Johnson, was among his most vocal supporters. "I'm rooting for him," Johnson told me back then.
Gary Patterson understands perfection, at least during the regular season. The TCU coach has led his team to consecutive Mountain West titles with back-to-back undefeated regular seasons. In 2010, TCU had a season for the ages. The Horned Frogs finished 13-0, including a Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin and a final No. 2 ranking. This year offers some major challenges as the Horned Frogs only return five starters on offense and must replace Andy Dalton, who won 43 career games. On defense, the Horned Frogs will be stout as always. TCU has led the nation in total defense for three consecutive years and ranked first five of the last 11 years. Shortly before the preseason USA Today/Coaches poll were announced -- TCU is ranked No. 15 -- SI.com caught up with Patterson to get his take on the upcoming season.
NBA players won't be waving the white flag anytime soon, but they are looking to meet with league officials next week for just the second time since the lockout began on July 1.
Fantasy football hasn't changed that much since it first exploded onto the scene in the 1990s. Fueled by the Internet and sites that did all the totals for you in real-time, fantasy football became something anyone could play. It's simple, requires little maintenance, and doesn't get in too deep or require knowledge of the players that don't show up in the highlights. It's the perfect game for the highlight era. The only real change is the shift to PPR (point per reception), which has shifted the balance slightly. It reflects the change in football as the Bill Walsh principles of the West Coast offense have become offensive orthodoxy. A short pass is as good as a run, but in fantasy, it might be better. The deep ball isn't what it used to be, but short slants and screens to smaller "water bug" receivers carry a risk. It's not that big, tall guys like Larry Johnson and Dez Bryant are immune to injury, it's that they tend to be healthier overall. Mass counts as well as force when it
I spent Saturday at a fantasy auction, getting a feel for where people were valuing players this season. My friend Dustin Fink, the brains behind The Concussion Blog, and his friends in the "League of Champions," offered great insight since they were a long term league doing their first auction. We went through a full 12-team, 14-deep auction in just over three hours, and while they were putting together their teams, I learned just how highly running backs were valued.
Kim Clijsters, 28, who won the Australian Open earlier this year and is ranked No. 2 in the world, returns this week after missing two months with an ankle injury. Before playing her opener at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, the two-time defending U.S. Open champion spoke with SI.com about the successful second act of her career, one particular blind spot in her pop culture knowledge, tennis' grunting issue and more.
PHILADELPHIA -- The first thing you notice is the shirt. Jurgen Klinsmann is wearing a blue-and-red Nike shirt with the badge of the U.S. national team as we sit down on Sunday for our first private interview since he took over as the U.S. coach. For some reason, seeing Klinsmann in the team gear for the first time rams home the point more than anything else so far. He's here. The World Cup-winning German really did take the job.
Two-time IZOD IndyCar champion Scott Dixon fell behind in the points race after a bump in Edmonton forced him to pit for long radiator repairs. SI.com discusses the incident, instigated by a double-file restart, and how it will affect his performance this Sunday at the Honda Indy 200 (2 p.m. ET, Versus).
It used to be that a QB was almost an afterthought in fantasy leagues. There were enough elite guys to go around that you could pass on the top couple and still give your team a chance.
Last week, SI.com reported that several coaches and athletic administrators were scammed out of millions by the late Houston-area money manager and AAU operator David Salinas. After reviewing documents, and in conjunction with a forthcoming story in this week's Sports Illustrated, SI.com can add more names to the list.
SI.com asked several current and retired SI writers to offer reflections on the best team they ever covered as sports journalists. Here's Larry Keith on the 1978 New York Yankees:
SI.com asked several current and retired SI writers to offer reflections on the best team they ever covered as sports journalists. Here's Grant Wahl on the French national soccer team that won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European championship: The man behind the hotel desk in Rotterdam got right to the point. "Did you come for a sex-and-drugs tour?"
More than a dozen current and former college coaches -- including Texas Tech's Billy Gillispie, Arizona's Lute Olson, Baylor's Scott Drew and Gonzaga's Mark Few -- are believed to have lost investments most recently valued at over $7.8 million combined with the late Houston-area businessman and AAU basketball operator J. David Salinas, sources close to the matter tell SI.com.
WASHINGTON -- The executive committee for the NFL Players Association broke Tuesday night without making a decision on whether to accept the proposed antitrust settlement negotiated by attorneys for the plaintiffs and owners.
One week into a lockout that so many expect to last much, much longer, Wizards guard and National Basketball Players Association vice president, Maurice Evans, candidly spoke about the labor situation with SI.com.
This Sunday, Dario Franchitti will defend his IndyCar points lead at the Streets of Toronto (2 p.m. ET, Versus). SI.com caught up with him beforehand to talk Toronto, his future in racing and whole milk:
With the NBA lockout expected to last months and even eat into next season, Nets point guard Deron Williams has decided to explore his options in Europe. The All-Star is in talks with Turkish club Besiktas (the same team for which Allen Iverson briefly played last season), and according to coach Ergin Ataman, an agreement has been reached.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is off to his strongest start in years as the Sprint Cup heads to one of his best tracks, Daytona International Speedway, for Saturday night's Coke Zero 400. The series is nearing the halfway point of the season and Earnhardt is solidly seventh in the standings after running as high as third until he suffered a punctured radiator last Sunday at Infineon Raceway dropping him four positions in points. But there is no denying that Earnhardt is rejuvenated and revitalized in 2011.
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice was Brett Favre's go-to receiver in 2009 before undergoing hip surgery last year that cut his season short. He is currently unsigned and waiting for the lockout to end.
(Each month SI.com highlights those in the sports media who have proved newsworthy, both for positive and negative achievements.)
Bleacher Report is one of the largest sports content providers on the web but its content has at times caused consternation for traditional sports media members. SI.com sat down with CEO Brian Grey a couple of months ago for a wide-ranging interview. Grey was previously the SVP/GM of Fox Sports Interactive and GM of Yahoo! Sports.
It's never too soon to start thinking about next season (assuming there is one, of course), and the online gambling site Bodog has the early lines on the favorites. Miami (5-to-2) leads the field, while Toronto (150-1) is the longest of the long shots. Here's a look at the top six contenders on the board and our view of their chances of winning the championship in 2012, with the caveat that the effect of the new collective bargaining agreement on roster decisions is obviously a huge unknown.
Alexander Wolff, one of Sports Illustrated's longest-tenured and most distinguished writers, was named the recipient of the 2011 Curt Gowdy Media Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Ramsey Nijem and Tony Ferguson will be in Las Vegas on Saturday night, competing for the fighter contract the UFC awards to the winner of its reality TV show, The Ultimate Fighter. They're the last two survivors in the season-long game of musical chairs.
Diminutive midfielder Andres Iniesta will always be remembered for scoring two of the biggest goals in the history of FC Barcelona and Spain's national team: in the 2009 Champions league and 2010 World Cup. SI.com's Richard Deitsch and María Poveda Lloret recently caught up with him:
It may seem rather obvious to point this out, but in January 2011 it's good to be Gerard Piqué. Still just 23 years old, the stylish Spanish center back has won the World Cup, two Champions League titles (with Barcelona and Manchester United) and three league crowns in Spain and England. He was recently named one of the world's top four defenders in the 2010 FIFA/FIFPro World XI, and his Barcelona team is on course for a historic season in European soccer.
This story appears in the June 6 edition of Sports Illustrated. To purchase a digital version of the magazine, go here.
INDIANAPOLIS -- With race day for the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 just around the corner, some of the sport's most notable figures discussed with SI.com the significance of the World's Greatest Race.
As the second round of the playoffs continues for eight teams, the Nets have their eyes on the future -- a new, state-of-the-art arena in 2012, a hoard of cap space to pursue talent and an elite point guard manning the ship. Two-time All-Star Deron Williams, who's still adjusting to life in New Jersey after the Jazz abruptly traded him in late February, has used his time off to rehab a surgically repaired wrist and think about spending additional years with the Nets (he can become a free agent in 2012). He also took some time to speak with SI.com about everything from the lockout to the league's top point guards while promoting his favorite video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops.
On Feb. 17, Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl announced his candidacy for FIFA president, releasing his platform for change and his campaign video as the People's Choice to replace Sepp Blatter. Wahl had 43 days to be formally nominated by one of the world's 208 national federations before the final deadline: Friday at 6 p.m. ET. With the deadline about to hit, Wahl is ending his campaign. This is his inside story of what happened over the past six weeks.
We all owe Ryan Mallett a debt of gratitude. Had the Arkansas quarterback not slid down the draft board to the third round, we might not have gotten the moment where the NFL Network won the television draft.
The NHL has announced the finalists for eight major 2010-11 regular season awards, which will be handed out on June 22 in Las Vegas. Listed below are the finalists -- vote for who you think should win. And check out the ballot submitted by SI.com's Michael Farber, a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, whose members nominate the candidates and pick the winners of the Hart, Norris, Calder, Selke, Byng and Masterton trophies. The Vezina Trophy and Jack Adams Award are chosen by NHL GMs and the NHL Broadcasters; Association, respectively.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- There is exactly one month to go until the 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, which means Danica Patrick is counting down the moments until she gets yet another chance to try to become the first woman to win the historic race.
When Randy Couture tells you he's probably hanging up his gloves after his next fight, you want to say, "Sure, Captain America. Let me know how that turns out."
A case could be made that Marvin Miller did more to rev up the Sports Industrial Complex than anyone in history. When he decided to represent Major League Baseball players as their union boss in 1966, salaries were scandalously low -- they had "grown" to $6,000 on average that year. And, worse, the "reserve clause" tethered a player to his team until the club saw fit to trade or release him.
Frankie Edgar's face appeared on the huge video screens set up all around the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., for UFC 128, and there was a roar of approval from the crowd. The Jersey fighter. The Jersey crowd. Mutual love.
Here's a secret about Brock Lesnar: He's actually a reasonable enough guy. Talk to people who know him and you'll hear words like ornery, but nothing like the tales of high living and operatic self-regard you'll hear about most famous athletes. For someone in the most individual of sports, he uses the word "we" an awful lot when talking about what he does in the cage, the mark not of an egoist but of someone used to paying his coaches real deference. And past that, you might notice that as much trash as he can talk, he's really only talked it on those who have dismissed him as a pretender, a fake. When opponents like Randy Couture, Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez have treated him with respect, he's treated them the same way.
LARGO, Fla. -- Two hours after Twins designated hitter Jim Thome missed homering off Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels by a foot on Thursday afternoon, Thome was back in uniform, only this time he wasn't at the ballpark. Instead, Thome was in anonymous Largo, reclining on a sofa in windowless industrial warehouse in which he and Rays third baseman Evan Longoria were among the past and present major leaguers who had gathered to shoot the latest Pepsi Max commercial.
NEW YORK -- MLS commissioner Don Garber can breathe a little easier than he did a year ago at this time. He doesn't have to deal with the labor strife that preceded the 2010 MLS season; that headache is left for his old pal Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner whom Garber used to work with back when his game was football, not fútbol.
Pigeons have been a part of Mike Tyson's life from before he threw his first punch. The former heavyweight champion says he owns "about 2,500" of the birds in various locations all over the country. Now, in the six-part documentary series Taking On Tyson, which premieres Sunday (10 p.m. ET/PT, Animal Planet), the 44-year-old Tyson will go beyond just raising the birds into the highly competitve world of pigeon racing, where specially bred "racing homers" are trained to cover a specified distance at the highest velocity.
Greg Jackson and Anthony Robbins. That's some potent brainpower doing the thinking for Diego Sanchez.
Last week ESPN and The Poynter Institute announced plans to participate in The Poynter Review Project, a process in which a group of Poynter faculty will review ESPN content across all platforms and publicly comment on ESPN's efforts. Like previous ESPN ombudsmen, Poynter will hold an 18-month tenure in the position. SI.com spoke with Poynter President Dr. Karen B. Dunlap and Ethics Group Leader Kelly McBride on the new partnership:
Two different stories, two different quotes, the same cringe-inducing effect.
Few football programs had a more difficult season in 2010 than the University of Pittsburgh. Led by running back Dion Lewis, a Doak Walker candidate, the Panthers were the preseason pick to win the Big East and go to a BCS bowl. But things quickly began unraveling -- on and off the field.
Nationwide and IndyCar driver Danica Patrick spoke to SI.com about her upcoming season, what she thinks about NASCAR's latest rules changes and who she thinks will take the checkers at Daytona.
Now I know what Vitor Belfort feels like. In the days after Anderson Silva stopped him with a devastating attack that was as spectacular as it was sudden, I took a few kicks to the face myself from readers for my February fighter rankings. The biggest point of contention was my flip-flopping the consensus opinion among media rankings and putting UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at No. 1 ahead of Silva, the middleweight champ. But that was not my only ranking that rankled readers. I took some heat for putting a division champion below a guy who's fought at that weight only once. And slotting Alistair Overeem at No. 2 among heavyweights made me the heavy for several readers who apparently don't put much weight in his Strikeforce title belt.
Christiano Ronaldo's girlfriend was "discovered" on train in Russia seven years ago
Amber and Angela Cope certainly know how to make an impression around the garage.
Simona De Silvestro, a 22-year-old from Thune, Switzerland, could follow in the footsteps of Danica Patrick and become the second woman to win a race in the Izod IndyCar Series.
Brad Womack takes three women on a date to a very exciting photo shoot
He races for his grandfather's ultra successful team. After eschewing racing for a budding amateur baseball career, he was presented with quality equipment after changing his mind.
NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock says the Senior Bowl is his favorite time of the year. It is there, on the turf of Ladd-Pebbles Stadium in Mobile, Ala., that the NFL prospects he has studied on film suddenly spring to life. The players either confirm Mayock's initial assessment or prompt him to intensify his film study.
"We can’t wait to get it started," Peas lead singer Fergie says of the Dallas party
Ask Greg Jackson about his partner and friend Mike Winkeljohn, and the man gets effusive.
It has been exactly one year since I traveled 44 hours to Angola to interview Didier Drogba, the Chelsea and Ivory Coast superstar, for a story in Sports Illustrated magazine leading up to last year's World Cup. He couldn't have been more accommodating, spending 90 minutes talking to me in his private bungalow on the heavily fortified Ivory Coast team base in Cabinda during the African Cup of Nations.
The world's best tennis players are in Australia this week. The sport's best analyst is not. Mary Carillo quietly left ESPN last year during the middle of the U.S. Open, leaving the network with one year remaining on her contract.
The modern game of football is filled with plays and formations with names like the Counter Trey, the Wildcat, the Zone Blitz and the Cover Two. They have become part of the sport's vernacular, and yet for many fans they remain just names, often confusing ones. To rectify that, Tim Layden has drilled deep into the core of the game to reveal not only how these chalkboard X's and O's really work on the field, but also where they came from and who dreamed them up.
That backward-leaning, chest-pressed-forward mad dash around the cage, arms in full wingspan, eyes wildly open and facial muscles still twitching from an explosion of ecstatic zeal, will never be forgotten. Not many UFC fighters could celebrate a win like Chuck Liddell. Not many could fight like him, either.
Everything having anything to do with mixed martial arts gives rise to immense contention, so it's a mark of the enormous respect in which the trainers at Albuquerque's Jackson's MMA are held that nearly no one would argue that they rate with anyone in the world. Their fighters, men such as Georges St-Pierre, Rashad Evans, Jon Jones, Nate Marquardt and Shane Carwin, tend to be not just successful but brilliant, working in a cerebral style that leaves opponents looking not just outmatched, but unrefined.
Anthony Pettis stood at the center of the cage in Glendale, Ariz., late last Thursday night, his newly won WEC lightweight championship belt shimmering around his waist. He was being interviewed for the Versus telecast about how, at age 23, he'd just dethroned Benson Henderson in the main event of WEC 53, the MMA organization's final event before being absorbed into the UFC.
Laura Hillenbrand loves sports. Her debut book, 'Seabiscuit,' chronicled the career of the storied racehorse, and her second book, '"Unbroken," focuses on the harrowing journey of Olympic sprinter and P.O.W. Louis Zamperini. Despite her love, Hillenbrand suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome, which limits her physical activity. Hillenbrand sits down with SI.com to discuss the impact of sports on her life, horse racing and her illness.
There may not have been a more unlikely candidate to post this season's top single-game plus-minus than Darko Milicic. But as he helped the Timberwolves demolish Cleveland by 34 points last Saturday, the man drafted one spot behind LeBron James in 2003 recorded a plus-41, along with 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. (For those unaccustomed to hoops metrics, that means the Wolves outscored the Cavaliers by 41 when he was on the floor.)
IndyCar and Nationwide driver Danica Patrick visited the SI.com offices recently to talk about her foray into NASCAR and her participation in the DRIVE4COPD campaign.
Boston Celtics Hall of Fame center Bill Russell, Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year in 1968, spoke with SI.com's Richard Deitsch about the honor and reflected on his career and legacy.
SI.com interviewed a number of former Sportsman on what the honor meant to them. Here SI.com's Ben Glicksman speaks with Curt Schilling, who shared the honor with Randy Johnson in 2001.
SI.com interviewed a number of former Sportsman on what the honor meant to them. Here. SI.com's Richard Deitsch speaks with Joe Montana, SI's Sportsman of the Year in 1990:
SI.com interviewed a number of former Sportsman on what the honor meant to them. Here's SI.com's Richard Deitsch speaks with Mike Eruzione, one of the 20 U.S. Olympic hockey players who were named SI's Sportsmen of the Year in 1980:
Getting the Sportsperson of the Year in 1972 was so personal for me because of Title IX. That's what it meant for me, that times-were-a-changing, as Dylan sang in those times. Sports are a microcosm of society, so it was huge. I'm not sure SI even thought about it, but, boy, I sure did.
On Monday night, Ryan Lochte won his second-consecutive Golden Goggles award as male swimmer of the year in the United States. The six-time Olympic medalist captured six golds this past summer at the Pan Pacific Championships, the season's major competition for U.S. swimmers. Earlier in the day, Lochte stopped by the SI offices to chat with our staff about his background, his accomplishments, his laid-back attitude and his sense of fashion.
Josh Smith may be only 24, but after six years in the league, he has become arguably one of the key figures in the Eastern Conference. The athletic Smith has developed into a reliable rebounder and the league's leading shot-blocker, and those skills combined with his still-developing offensive game offer the Hawks a dynamic few teams possess. Yet, despite his varied talents, Smith has been dogged by criticism that he hasn't put it all together to be among the league's elite -- a criticism also leveled at his team, which has been swept in the second round of the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
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