Vernon Earl Monroe is a former NBA basketball player whose nicknames have included; Earl the Pearl, Black Magic and Black Jesus. Drafted in the first round of the NBA draft in 1967 to the Baltimore Bullets (now the Washington Wizards), Earl Monroe was well known for his playing passing and play-making style and for his flamboyant flowing dribbling.

Earl Monroe received the Rookie of The Year due to his scoring average of 24 points in a game and to later score 56 points in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers. He also set a record for scoring 13 points in one overtime victory against the Detroit Pistons. In 2007 his number 10 jersey was retired by the Washington Wizards.

In 1971, Monroe was traded to the New York Knicks, taking them to the 1973 NBA Championships. Monroe retired in the 1980 season due to serious injuries to his knees. A four time NBA all-star had played in 926 NBA career games and had an outstanding 17, 454 total points scored. The New York Knicks retired Monroe’s number 15 jersey. He transformed the game of basketball to an art form. His style and unique playing on-court plays paved the way to how current players play today. Todays players must give a salute to Earl the Pearl bringing excitement and skills to the game of basketball. Players like Kobe Bryant and Lebron James all show skills that were learned thanks to Earl.

Earl the Pearl’s career championships include; named of the 50 players on the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996, enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame, and was chosen commissioner of the United States Basketball League in 1985.

Beijing China 2008 could be the year of the greatest Olympian athlete in Olympic history. Michael Phelps born June 30, 1985 in Baltimore Maryland was born to break world records and win gold medals. Phelps co-starred in “Unfiltered”, the first behind the scenes documentary in the sport of swimming. On a mission to grow the sport Phelps has helped grow the popularity and has played an integral role in the creation of www.swimroom.com, the sports first social networking site where swimmers across the globe have a place to regularly communicate.

He holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics; a total of eight, surpassing Mark Spitz. Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals: six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In winning these medals, he has twice equaled Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin’s record of eight medals (of any type) at a single Olympics (Dityatin: Moscow 1980; Phelps: Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008). Out of his eight gold medals from Beijing, five were won in individual events, tying the record for individual gold medals at a single Games originally set by Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Olympics and equaled by Vitaly Scherbo at the 1992 Summer Games. Phelps ranks second in total career Olympic medals, after Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won a total of 18 medals (nine gold) spanning three Olympic Games.

Although Phelps has proven to be the greatest Olympian ever and still has more trips to future Olympics one could just imagine how many more World Records and gold medals Michael Phelps could break and win.

The Olympics is primarily a team event, however every once in a while there comes along an amazing individual story. Michael Phelps has perhaps the best individual story of this year’s event. He has the opportunity to win 8 gold medals at the games in China, and so far it doesn’t look like anyone can stop him.

He is seeking to go one better than Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in the Munich games way back in 1972. Michael Phelps has already joined Spitz in a different record, having earned 9 gold medals in his Olympic career overall and likely to surpass this with 5 events still to go. In fact by the time you read this he may already have 10 gold medals in his possession over all his Olympic appearances.

More people seem to be interested in the other record though, can Michael Phelps win 8 gold medals in just one Olympic games? It would be a truly remarkable effort if he does, one that will surely go down in history. Phelps celebrated his latest win in the 200m freestyle with another world record time, in fact all 3 gold medals so far have been in world record time. Mark Spitz set his record of 7 gold medals with 7 world record times as well, and Phelps may indeed be able to do the same.

Many people including Mark Spitz himself have been amazed at the courage of Phelps to go into this games with such a burden on his shoulders, even racing in events where he did not have the best times and did not dominate at the last Olympic games. The 200m freestyle was such an event, with Phelps only coming third at the last Olympic games, and now setting a new world record in that event.

I think everyone, whether they are an American or not, really wants him to crack this 8 Olympic gold record and set the sporting world on fire. The Olympics may be a team event but it is a truly special experience to see one person at the peak of their career who is so dominant and performing so well.

Finally after a lot of deliberation, the list of candidates for the USA basketball team for the 2008 Olympics was announced. Hopefully, this basketball team is all set to redeem itself after the poor show at the 2004 Olympics when USA won the bronze medal.

The list includes 21 NBA stars and has the names of some of the finest NBA players. They are Carmelo Anthony, Gilbert Arenas, Shane Battier, Chauncey Billups, Chris Bosh, Bruce Bowen, Elton Brand, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Antawn Jamison, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, Brad Miller, Lamar Odom, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Michael Redd, Luke Ridnour, Amare Stoudemire, and Dwyane Wade.

J J Redick and Adam Morrison have also been invited; taking the roster to a total of 23 players.

The exclusion of Allen Iverson has raised a lot of media attention. However, it is felt that it could be because of Iverson’s age and his style of playing that made the selectors exclude him from the roster. This is despite the important role he played in the 2004 Olympics.

According to national team manager Jerry Colangelo, the USA basketball is looking to form a team not of individual stars but of athletes, shooters, role players and distributors. Colangelo also hopes that Greg Oden, the high school basketball star, would be able to join the team for training this summer.

The selected players attended a training camp at Las Vegas followed by exhibition games in China and South Korea. Thereafter, a 12 man roster was selected for the World Championships in Japan.

2007 will see the team undergoing another training. This could be the regional Olympics qualifying. It will be followed by another training camp and exhibition games in 2008 just before the start of Beijing Olympics.

Some people have suggested that the Olympics are unfair and would be made more fair if we would add age, height, and weight classes to each sport. This would include more people who would otherwise not be able to play and would produce more winners.

They have suggested that some of the games favor taller athletes, for instance, so we should include a class for the shorter athletes, and so on and so forth.

I’ve never thought about this before, but maybe they’re on to something. Let’s explore this a bit, shall we?

I’m built like a football lineman, but I’ve always thought I’d make a good jockey - you know, the guys that ride the horses. It’s not fair, though, that the other jockeys are so light. I think I should be given a Clydesdale because of my extra weight and they should be given mini-horses. That would be fair.

Let’s not stop there, though.

Let’s lower the basketball hoop for short people. Short guys on the volleyball court should be given stilts. Heavy guys like me could play half-court basketball. Tall people have to wear weight belts so they can’t jump as high.

Heck, let’s not pick our Olympic athletes based on their ability at all. We could create a lottery system so everyone would have a chance to make the team.

We wouldn’t keep score and everyone would get a participation medal.

Instead of holding up score cards with “9″, “9.5″, or “10″, we could hold up cards that say, “Nice Try”, “You Did Great!”, or “We’re Really Proud Of You!”

Give me a break!!

The Olympics represent world-class competition. It’s not about giving everyone an equal chance to participate. These are world-class athletes who have trained for years and years.

The Olympic spots belong to those who are most qualified - those who have dedicated their life to being the best at what they do and there should be no special provisions for height, weight, or age differences, except in sports like boxing and wrestling.

The Olympics aren’t fair? Well, I have news for you. Life is not fair. Adding divisions for height, weight, and age classes for Olympics sports is completely ridiculous.

I have no delusions that I could compete in the Olympics, but if I did, I would sure pick a sport that favored my physical characteristics, my interests, and my natural abilities.

As a big guy, maybe I’d try out Sumo wrestling, weight lifting, or wrestling. I sure wouldn’t go for figure skating, gymnastics, or sprinting. Nor should there ever be a heavy weight figure skating division just because I want to compete.

If I’m good enough to compete with the others who are already competing, then that’s one thing. Inventing a new weight class just so I can be included and not get my feelings hurt is quite another.

The Olympics are all about world-class sports and not about including more people, regardless of their talent and abilities - and that’s the way it should stay. If you want to be included in the Olympics, then I’m sorry, you’ll have to get up off the couch and dedicate long hours to perfecting your sport just like the other Olympians.

What happened to common sense?

Just one guy’s opinion - worth what you paid for it!

Beijing took the pride in hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics. The matter has been goodly and badly criticized by different media and people. From the logo they have used to the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) they have built in order to house the different game facilities. But these did not stop a must see event. When the Olympics opened people from the four corners of the earth was struck on how spectacular it came out.

Here’s a summary of the previous host of the past Olympics and what made them stand-out or unique as time went by.

1896 - Athens - Panathenaic Stadium
1900 - Paris - women first joined as participants
1904 - St. Louis - boxing became an Olympic sport
1906 - Athens - unofficial Olympics game
1908 - London - diving became an Olympic sport
1912 - Stockholm - known as the “Swedish Masterpiece”
1916 - Not held because of World War I
1920 - Antwerp - official Olympic flag was raised
1924 - Paris - fictionalized in the movie Chariots of Fire in 1981
1928 - Amsterdam - first Olympic flame, gymnastics for women, track-and-field
1932 - Los Angeles - debuted the victory platform
1936 - Berlin - games were first televised
1940 - Not held - World War II
1944 - Not held - World War II
1948 - London - Wembley Stadium
1952 - Helsinki - East versus West dominated the Olympics
1956 - Melbourne - closing ceremonies were introduced
1960 - Rome - Cassius Clay a.k.a. Muhammad Ali, won a gold medal in light heavyweight boxing
1964 - Tokyo - first use of computers that tabulated results
1968 - Mexico City - drug testing debuted
1972 - Munich - murder of eleven Israeli Olympians
1976 - Montreal - gymnast Nadia Comaneci won three gold medals
1980 - Moscow - largest boycott
1984 - Los Angeles - first time corporate sponsors were used
1988 - Seoul - Ben Johnson, was disqualified for the use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs
1992 - Barcelona - the “Dream Team” of USA from professional NBA players
1996 - Atlanta - pipe bomb exploded in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park
2000 - Sydney - Juan Antonio Samaranch’s wife died
2004 - Athens - terrorism concerns after the 9/11 attack
2008 - Beijing - the famous Bird’s Nest (Beijing National Stadium)

This is by far another mark in the history of the Olympics game. China has made it not only for the year 2008 but for all time.

Every athlete, from Tiger Woods to a high school quarterback, uses a form of self-hypnosis to move their game to the next level. Use the Olympics to learn how to use the amazing power of your subconscious to do the same with your sport. Here are some examples of how the best of the best use the power of the mind:

During the 2004 Olympics, one of the swimmers told of how she would fall asleep each night with the picture of a clock in her mind. It was the timer’s clock she would see at the end of her Olympic swim and it always had her world record breaking time on it.

In his pre-shot routine, Tiger never varies the number of practice swings or intensity of his concentration. The pre-shot routine is always the same so that the stroke will always be the same.

Michael Phelps, American Swimming Gold Medalist, always stretches out his back and arms by swinging both arms three times before his event. Not 2, not 4: always 3. He is anchoring in his winning state of mind and state of body as well as stretching.

In athletics, an anchor is a gesture or series of gestures that put you into the frame of mind (and body) you want to be in to win. It “pairs up” the gesture with the state of being. Repetition is what makes it work. That means practice, practice, practice–with your body as well as your mind.

Begin right now creating a ritual before you exercise. Visualize yourself doing whatever you do faster, longer, higher–whatever adverb works best for your particular activity. Then begin to mentally rehearse it. See or imagine yourself–with your ideal body–doing your activity better, faster, longer, etc. Using both the power of your brain and the activity of your body, soon you will be better and fitter as you use the Olympics to help you create a happier and healthier you

When debating the greatest runningback of all time Jime Brown is always the first to come to mind and is always included with Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, and Bo Jackson, just to name a few.Brown began his career with the Cleveland Browns rushing for 942 yards, and 9 TD’s, which earned him the Rookie of The Year honors. Brown continued to dominate the NFL for 8 more seasons, accumulating career totals of 12,312 rushing yards, 15,459 combined total yards for a combined 126 TD’s, statistics which easily eclipsed the current records of the time.

History of Basketball

Dr. James Naismith, Inventor of Basketball

KU Basketball Program Founder

Dr. James Naismith is known world-wide as the inventor of basketball. He was born in 1861 in Ramsay township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada. The concept of basketball was born from Naismith’s school days in the area where he played a simple child’s game known as duck-on-a-rock outside his one-room schoolhouse. The game involved attempting to knock a “duck” off the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. Naismith went on to attend McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

After serving as McGill’s Athletic Director, James Naismith moved on to the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA in 1891, where the sport of basketball was born. In Springfield, Naismith was faced with the problem of finding a sport that was suitable for play inside during the Massachusetts winter for the students at the School for Christian Workers. Naismith wanted to create a game of skill for the students instead of one that relied solely on strength. He needed a game that could be played indoors in a relatively small space. The first game was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets used as goals.

James Naismith devised a set of thirteen rules of basketball:

1. The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.
2. The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but never with the fist.
3. A player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, allowance to be made for a man running at good speed.
4. The ball must be held in or between the hands. The arms or body must not be used for holding it.
5. No shouldering, holding, pushing, striking or tripping in any way of an opponent. The first infringement of this rule by any person shall count as a foul; the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game. No substitution shall be allowed.
6. A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violations of Rules 3 and 4 and such as described in Rule 5.
7. If either side make three consecutive fouls it shall count as a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without the opponents in the meantime making a foul).
8. Goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the ground into the basket and stays there, providing those defending the goal do not touch or disturb the goal. If the ball rests on the edge and the opponents move the basket, it shall count as a goal.
9. When the ball goes out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field and played by the first person touching it. In case of dispute the umpire shall throw it straight into the field. The thrower-in is allowed five seconds. If he holds it longer, it shall go to the opponent. If any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul on them.
10. The umpire shall be judge of the men and shall note the fouls and notify the referee when three consecutive fouls have been made. He shall have the power to disqualify men according to Rule 5.
11. The referee shall be the judge of the ball and decide when it is in play in bounds, to which side it belongs, and shall keep the time. He shall decide when a goal has been made and keep account of the goals with any other duties that are usually performed by a referee.
12. The time shall be two 15-minute halves with five minutes’ rest between.
13. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winners.

In addition to the creation of the basketball, James Naismith graduated as a medical doctor, primarily interested in sports physiology and what we would today call sports science and as Presbyterian minister, with a keen interest in philosophy and clean living. Naismith watched his sport, basketball, introduced in many nations by the YMCA movement as early as 1893. Basketball was introduced at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Today basketball has grown to become one of the world’s most popular sports.

When it comes to impressing the crowd, having an absolutely amazing looking uniform for your team can be helpful. However, there are many thing to consider when ordering your uniforms for your team. There are many different styles, budgets, and other things that must be considered. Here are some suggestions to help you when deciding what uniform to order.

First, decide exactly what you need. Is it just the top or a complete uniform with top, shorts, shoes, etc. Many teams opt to just order the tops and have the player provide a pair of black shorts to go along with the uniform. This is a good idea if you are on a tight budget, but if it is possible, it is much better to go with at least the top and shorts.

Second, it is important to consider if you will be using two sets of uniforms, one for the home games and a different one for away games. In most city leagues, you will only be required to supply one color jersey. However in more formal game play, for example, high school leagues, you will be required to supply a colored jersey for away games and a white jersey for home games. Be sure to check your league rules before placing your order. Also, if you must have a colored and a white jersey, consider using a reversible jersey.

Third decide what material you would like for your jersey. The two main materials used for basketball jerseys are mesh and dazzle. There are advantages and disadvantage to each style. Mesh is good because it is light weight and keeps the body cooler. The disadvantages to mesh is that the artwork on the jersey typically does not look as good, especially of the mesh holes in the jersey are big. Dazzle uniforms weigh slightly more than mesh uniforms and a a little more expensive. However, they look much better. The usually come in more styles with different trim. Overall, I think that dazzle uniforms are much better.

The last thing to consider is the artwork that will be placed on the uniform. Typically a basketball uniform has the team name on the front chest with the number below. The number is also placed on the back in a larger size. Many people also choose to place the player’s last name on the back of the uniform. If you decide to complete the uniform with the shorts, often times people will have the team logo placed on the shorts right above one of the knees.