Kobe Bryant is headed to London on the US Olympic basketball team but his only goal isn’t to win another gold medal. Bryant is a huge Harry Potter fan and has expressed interest in meeting the book’s writer, JK Rowling.

This is not the first time Kobe has expressed he is a fan of the Harry Potter series. In 2010, he did an interview for GQ and said that his experience in 2008 at the Olympics was ’like Harry Potter going to Hogwarts’.

Let’s hope someone can make Kobe’s wish come true.

It’s been awhile since we had our last Friday Flashback, and this time around, I decided to focus on the New Jersey Brooklyn Nets. The Nets played their last home game in New Jersey this week, and they’ll be moving back to New York next season.

Discussions over their impending move have sometimes neglected to mention that they’ve done this all before, many many times (albeit without Jay-Z): the Barclays Center will be their eighth home arena. Considering that they are a comfortably middle-aged franchise at 45 years, that’s a new place to play every 6.5 years. Only the Hawks and Kings have moved as many times, but both teams have twenty years on those nomad Nets (including significantly farther relocations).

Bonus NBA Trivia #1: The Phoenix Suns made their debut just one year later and have only moved once. Amateurs.

Generally, I’m not a big fan of basketball or the Nets, but as you’ll see, some of their arenas have a special place in my heart. So without further ado, the complete retrospective of places that the Nets called “home”:

The Teaneck Armory, 1967-1968

Remember the ABA? Yeah, me neither (sorry, Mr. Coworker, I know you hate when I point out that I wasn’t alive for things). Back in 1967, the New Jersey Americans made their debut in the league with a solid record, but the Teaneck Armory was booked during the playoffs. This forced the Nets to move to their next arena before they even ended their first season…but that one had “unacceptable playing conditions” and they had to forfeit their win-and-you’re-in game to the Kentucky Colonels. That’s kind of a sad story, and one that you certainly can’t imagine happening in this millennium, but I promise it’s 100% true.

» Continue reading “Friday Flashback: A Complete History Of Nets Arenas”

Unless you live under a rock, you’re probably aware that the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament began yesterday.  And with the first full day of action, came a series of FAILS.  Let’s begin…

1.  The fact Thursday and Friday isn’t actually “Round 1″, but “Round 2″.

I’m fully aware “Round 1″ started Tuesday, but when all but 4 teams gets a bye, it doesn’t count as a Round.  Try again.

» Continue reading “Friday FAIL: NCAA Tourney Edition”