ESPN.com has a rather interesting excerpt from the book “The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” which chronicles the story of the highest-anticipated NBA draft pick of all time.
The above link points to a chapter on the bidding war between shoe companies for the right to claim LeBron James as their spokesman. The eventual result - a $100 million contract negotiated the night before the NBA draft - catapulted the 18-year-old James from a star to a superstar and raised an avalanche of questions about the sanity of promising a nine-figure endorsement sum to a kid just out of high school.
If you’ve got the time, it’s definitely a good read. It’s mind-boggling to think about guaranteeing that much money to an unproven talent, but apparently Phil Knight has testicles the size of mine, which are in turn the size of baby hippos. About the same shape and texture, too.
For what it’s worth, I’m also half-Centaur. Which half? I’ll never tell.
Dennis Rodman has his eyes on a coaching position in the newly-expanded WNBA, but his biggest asset - his notoriety - may also be his downfall. Ron Terwilliger, the owner of the new WNBA franchise in Atlanta, wants his first head coach to be a woman; other teams may be turned off by Rodman’s past antics, despite his highly-decorated basketball career which includes five NBA Championships.
Much ink has been consumed in cataloging the details of Dennis Rodman’s various sordid escapades. He is unquestionably a writer’s wet dream, because he can always be counted on to provide new material. Slow news day? Let’s see what Rodman is up to. Filming his TV show? Marrying Carmen Electra? Wearing a dress? Caught banging a dead mule? Building a spaceship to colonize Mars? His life is definitely like a box of chocolates.
My life, on the other hand, is like a cup of Folgers coffee: causing hours of happiness and ecstasy briefly punctuated by bouts of shockingly powerful diarrhea.
^ Carmen, I would still sleep with you, although at this point it would probably be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway, or dropping a carrot into a well.
