Home Again

10 Lessons Learned from the Greatest Christmas Movie of All-Time on Its 25th Anniversary

By: Jeff McDonough

My love for the Christmas season and loathing of Christmas things before Thanksgiving are equally potent. It’s for that reason that I’ve been pleased to see some stores have announced they are taking a stand against the recent trend of Black Friday sales creeping into Thanksgiving Day, and will remained closed that Thursday. The sales can wait ‘til Friday. Let retail employees have Thanksgiving off! Nordstrom has gone further saying they won’t even put up Christmas decorations until after Turkey Day. All of this is to say that it goes against a hardline stance I have to write this column, but the 25th anniversary of one my all-time favorite movies is a worthy exception.

Home Alone hit theaters on November 16, 1990. How old do you feel? It’s my assertion that this is the best Christmas movie there is. Yes, the story of a boy, who was left behind when his family goes on vacation for the holidays, fending off two zany burglars by using household items as deadly weapons. Talk about holiday cheer! I don’t think my family has ever gone a year without watching this move. It’s tradition. But it’s not just us. Home Alone remains the highest-grossing live-action comedy of all-time, earning about a half a billion dollars worldwide during its theatrical run. When you consider the drastic raise in tickets prices, the upcharges tacked on for 3-D and just general inflation — I mean, we’re talking about before I was born here! — that is a remarkable feat. If you look at the Top-50 films in box office history, after James Cameron’s Top-2 of Avatar and Titanic, every film remaining is either a cartoon or a blockbuster that’s part of an action-adventure franchise. So for a family Christmas comedy to have the run it had is telling. The film has of course lived on with home video and several TV channels playing it many times every Christmas season.

So I know I am not alone in my love for Home Alone. But what made this film so great? Why did it stay with so many of us all these years? For those answers, let’s get to the list!

From Xfinity to Beyond

There’s Finally Reason to Fear the Turtle Once Again

By: Gavin McGuire, @GavinMcGuire31 on Twitter

The last time the Maryland Terrapins basketball program began a season with such high expectations and national recognition, the year was 2001. Pluto was a planet, Destiny’s Child was atop the charts and I was right on the cusp of puberty. Fast forward to now and Pluto is a “dwarf planet,” a solo Beyoncé runs the world and adulthood still eludes me. As for the Terps, they enter this season as the #3 ranked team in the country.

It has been a long — and often frustrating — journey since 2002. Maryland basketball won its first and only National Championship that year, but has since failed to maintain the lofty standards it had set and has been mired in relative mediocrity until last season. While it may seem the Terps’ basketball program has come full circle, its biggest tests still lie ahead as this year’s Terps prepare to build on last year’s surprisingly successful campaign. If Head Coach Mark Turgeon, star point guard Melo Trimble and company are able to do that, Maryland basketball will find itself in the same position it was heading into the 2003 season. The college basketball world will be their oyster.

But for shucks sake, let’s crack this preview open, add some lemon and hot sauce and slurp down some hot takes! (Note: There will be more bad puns later, you’ve been warned.)

The Mortality of Localities

The Death of Sports Joy in the DMV

By: Jeff McDonough

It is said that the majority of people die within 50 miles of where they were born. I don’t think I can verify the statistical validity of that claim, but the takeaway is resounding. Where we’re born and where we grow up has a huge determination on the rest of our lives. Even for those of us who actually do leave their birthplace, we carry our hometown with us wherever we end up. A big tie-in with our hometown attachments is often a devotion to the local sports teams — and you’ve come to the Sports Addict, what other angle did you expect?

When the local teams lose, a cloud of despair is cast citywide. Also, sometimes they riot. When the local teams win, the whole area is abuzz. Just look at Kansas City. The Royals won their first World Series in 30 years on Sunday and on Tuesday they held their championship parade. The turnout was an estimated 800,000 people, which is even more astounding when you consider the city’s population is only 470,000. The pride of fans is never more on display than after a championship victory. Also, sometimes they riot. Here in the DMV — for those of you that don’t know, that is an acronym representing the Mid-Atlantic region of DC, Maryland and Virginia — times have been rough lately. Like really, really rough. We are currently mired in a six-month stretch of misery that no sporting fanbase should have to endure. It all started back on the dark night of May 13, but I’ll get to that later. I am going to postulate that every single major local team is some combination of bad, embarrassing, disappointing and/or heartbreaking chokers.

Balloween (Part 2)

Parsing Through All 30 NBA Teams for Tricks and Treats

By: Jeff McDonough

Let's jump back into the Sports Addict NBA preview. If you missed Part 1, check it out here.

Memphis Grizzlies

Starting Lineup: Mike Conley (PG), Courtney Lee (SG), Jeff Green (SF), Zach Randolph (PF), Marc Gasol (C)

Bench: Tony Allen (SG/SF), Matt Barnes (SF), Brandan Wright (PF/C), Vince Carter (SG/SF), Benoh Udrih (PG), Jordan Adams (SG), Jarell Martin (PF)

Key Additions: Barnes, Wright, Martin, Jeff Green (trade deadline), Luke Ridnour (traded from Orlando)

Key Losses: Kosta Koufos, Nick Calathes, Luke Ridnour (traded to Charlotte)

Injury Concerns: Martin (Foot, Slow cautious return)

Memphis has made the postseason five straight years, but they have never been higher than the 4-Seed. This is a feisty bunch though and they have made some serious noise in those playoffs, winning 27 games and upsetting the Spurs, Clippers and Thunder. Marc Gasol has become the unquestioned best center in the NBA and the Grizz re-upped the Spanish big man to a five-year, $110 million max extension in the offseason. With Gasol, Allen, Randolph, Conley, Lee and now Barnes on board, this team has been renown for its defense, toughness and grit. The problems have been with whether they can generate enough offense. They brought in Green via trade midway through last season, but the fit has not been great and he has been rather inconsistent on offense, while harming their defense when he’s on the court. I also don’t love coach Dave Joerger.

Balloween (Part 1)

Parsing Through All 30 NBA Teams for Tricks and Treats

By: Jeff McDonough

The NBA season tipped off last night with three games and it’s time to go through the entire league and look at exactly what we have with each club. The remaining 24 teams tipoff tonight. I'll spotlight the rosters, the changes, the outlook and give my official predictions on their win/loss totals. Basketball has become my favorite sport, so I come armed with knowledge, ready to dive in. Let’s do this!

Washington Wizards

Starting Lineup: John Wall (PG), Bradley Beal (SG), Otto Porter (SF), Nenê (PF), Marcin Gortat (C)

Bench: Jared Dudley (F), Gary Neal (G), Kris Humphries (PF/C), Drew Gooden (PF/C), Kelly Oubre (SF), Alan Anderson (SG/SF), Ramon Sessions (PG)

Key Additions: Dudley, Neal, Anderson, Oubre

Key Losses: Paul Pierce, Kevin Séraphin

Injury Concerns: Anderson (Ankle, Out until November), Dudley (Back, banged up but playing)

What a beautiful place to start! Why here? Because I said so. We’re going in reverse alphabetical order. Suck it, Aaron! I was a partial season ticket holder for the Wiz last year, so I got very familiar with this club. I was even there in the playoffs for the “I Called Game” game, which was quite a treat. Last year was the best year for pro hoops in DC — in just about every way — since they last made the Finals in 1979. Losing Pierce to the Clippers hurts. He’s not a superstar any longer, but his leadership and clutch shooting is irreplaceable. Everyone on offense at the end of games often looked lost, except Pierce who was as cold-bloodedly stellar as ever. Once he was gone though, I loved that they brought in Dudley, Neal and Anderson on the cheap as veteran replacements on the wing. Otto Porter, Jr. is slated to take over as starting small forward, however, and after the flashes of brilliance he showed during the playoffs last year, I’m buying into the hometown kid. He, along with Wall and Beal, form a potent, youthful triumvirate that could lead Washington for years to come. Having two hulking big men isn’t what it once was and the Wizards are much better suited to play small ball and allow Wall to freely run and gun. We’ll see how far they’ll wade into that pool this season after years of fighting the NBA’s changing times.

Capital Punishment

The Washington Capitals Fan’s Guide to Dealing with Expectations

By: Jeff McDonough

The picture above comes from the Washington Post, the morning after the Washington Capitals were eliminated from the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden. The Capitals had gone up three games to one on the Rangers in their Eastern Semifinal series, only to lose the final three games — all decided by one goal, as was every game in their spectacular series. After a phenomenal postseason run, the Rangers’ Derek Stepan buried a rebound shot past Braden Holtby to win Game 7 in overtime, and all the young goaltender could do was lie there motionless. This is what being a Capitals fan looks like. Never forget.

Now for the good news. This year’s Capitals team looks really good. When the puck drops tomorrow night, they’ll be returning most of the core that had everyone in the DMV so excited last spring. That includes superstar Alex Ovechkin, back to playing at as high a level as ever. Ovie was the runner-up for the MVP Hart Trophy and led the NHL in goals for the third consecutive year. It also includes the aforementioned Braden Holtby, who — behind a solid season and dominant playoffs — has finally stabilized the rotating door the Caps have had at goalie ever since Olie Kölzig retired. Finally, it includes Sweden’s Nicklas Bäckström as well, who led the NHL in assists for the first time last year. That is the triumvirate that will lead the Capitals to the Promised Land, if they ever do get there. This is not to shortchange head coach Barry Trotz, who in one year was able to undo most of the ill will that had been built in the disastrous — but thankfully brief — tenure of Adam Oates. Oh, Adam. What happened to us, man?

The Stupor Bowl

The Impending One-Game Showdown Between the Second and Third Best Teams in Baseball

By: Jeff McDonough

Am I dreaming, or is this really about to happen? Last night the St. Louis Cardinals downed the Pittsburgh Pirates and won their 100^th game to clinch the National League Central division title. This was not a particularly surprising fate for the redbirds, seeing as they have been leading the division for months and hold the best record in the majors. The takeaway from them locking up the Central lies not with the Cardinals themselves, but with the two teams that trail St. Louis in the standings. With two more victories, the Pirates will reach 98 wins — a W-L record that would’ve been good enough for best in the MLB the last three seasons. In 2015, it’s not even good enough to win their division. We’ve seen two really good teams in the same division before though — the Red Sox and Yankees were doing it for years. In 2001, the 102-win Athletics had to settle for the wild card after Seattle won an MLB-record 116 games. The real story here is the emergence of a third NL Central team, the Chicago Cubs.

Everyone knew the Cubs were going to be better, but I don’t think many saw this coming. Entering year four of the Theo Epstein era in Chicago, the Cubs finally had some buzz after three consecutive last place finishes in the division. Manager Joe Maddon was brought in after a freak sequence of events allowed him to opt out of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays. The young core Epstein had assembled also looked poised for progress, but the progress came instantly. The Cubs, who have 93 wins with four games remaining, currently sit at not only third place in their division but third place in all of baseball. That’s right, the third place Cubs have a better record than the leader of every other division in baseball. In the race for the second wild card, no team is within 10 games of them. Yet they still trail the Pirates by 2.5 games, and will likely lose out on any home field advantage. If the Cubs can keep their hold on the #3 spot over the Blue Jays and Royals for the next four days, the 2015 NL Central will become the first division in history to have the majors’ three best teams. And need I remind you that there used to be only two divisions, not three, and that the NL Central used to have six teams, not five. So it’s only gotten more difficult, which makes it all the more impressive.

So last night, the Cardinals made official what we’ve known was coming for months. This Wednesday, October 7 at 8 p.m. on TBS — preempting a rerun of Seinfeld, I presume — the Pirates and Cubs will duke it out in a winner-take-all Wild Card Game, with the winner going onto the Division Series to face the Cardinals and the loser going home. The march towards this inevitability has felt like a daze. Is this actually happening? How is the NL Central so good? Is this new format awesome or awful? Are we seriously about to watch a 95-win team go home after one game? And how crazy of an environment will that game have with stakes this high? Well, most of those answers are apparent now. It was a pretty listless race to get to this point though. There was a clear hierarchy in the standings. The Cardinals were better than the Pirates, the Pirates were better than the Cubs and the Cubs were better than everybody else. But now that we’ve reached this point, and we know it’s actually going down, it’s abundantly clear that this game is about as huge a deal as games get.

Fresh Eyes

A Running Diary While Watching the Pilot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 25 Years Later

By: Jeff McDonough

Last week on September 10, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air celebrated its 25^th anniversary. It was back at the end of the summer of 1990 — a little less than a year before I was born — that the inaugural episode aired on NBC. To commemorate this milestone for one of my all-time favorite television shows, I decided to watch the pilot and keep a running diary of my to-the-second reactions. Fresh Prince is a special series for many reasons. It took a big chance by casting a popular rapper with no acting experience as its lead, and in turn launched the career of one of the biggest movie stars in history. Will Smith set a box office record last decade when eight straight films where he was the lead grossed over $100 million in the US alone. He had four previous $100 million domestic efforts before the streak as well, but took a short break from printing money to do some more serious films such as Ali — all that did was earn him his first Oscar nomination, no biggie. While Smith — whose character’s name, in true Seinfeld-ian fashion, is Will Smith — is the center of this universe around which everything else orbits, it ended up being much more of an ensemble show than I imagine the creators expected.

Each of the seven main characters gives a worthwhile performance — which consisted of eight actors because the role of the matriarchal Vivian was shared by Janet Hubert-Whitten and Daphne Maxwell Reid. Unlike most shows where a character has to be recast, this wasn’t a jumping-the-shark-type moment. I don't really consider one actress more the “true” Aunt Viv than the other — probably because they split their time so evenly and were both fine actresses. Hubert-Whitten was the original for the first three seasons before she was forcibly removed due to a reported attitude problem that caused friction amongst the cast and crew. Maxwell Reid took over for the final three seasons and is the only Aunt Viv seen in any reunion sort of setting. None of this is to slight memorable recurring guest stars like DJ Jazzy Jeff as Jazz, Nia Long as Will’s fiancé Lisa, Tyra Banks as Jackie, Ross Bagley as little Nicky and Vernee Watson-Johnson as Will’s mom. It is the relationships amongst the main characters, however, that make the series shine. So let's dive in and run back the pilot — alternatively titled “The Fresh Prince Project” — after two and a half decades. It is 22 minutes in length without commercials — you can stream it yourself here — and all times reflect how far into the episode we are.

Charm City Takes

My Preview of the 2015 Baltimore Ravens

By: Jeff McDonough

The NFL season kicked off last night in Foxboro with Brady and Gronk running roughshod all over the Steelers’ porous defense. For many fanbases around the country, and locally, the true kickoff to the season comes Sunday when 26 more teams begin their season, including your Baltimore Ravens.

The 2014 campaign was a rollercoaster ride for the Ravens. Injuries piled up in their defensive backfield and eventually forced them to play their 12^th option at cornerback. Yes. Seriously. Twelve. Ahem… Jimmy Smith, Lardarius Webb, Asa Jackson, Aaron Ross, Chykie Brown, Dominique Franks, Anthony Levine, Danny Gorrer, Matt Elam, Tramain Jacobs and Rashaan Melvin all had to struggle, get injured, cut or benched before street free agent Antoine Cason saw the field. That makes 12. The low point was when Ben Roethlisberger threw for six touchdowns vs. Baltimore on Sunday Night Football in Week 9. They astoundingly rebounded from this and returned to the playoffs after missing out on the postseason the season prior — the only such season in the seven year Harbaugh-Flacco Era. They promptly went back into Pittsburgh in the Wild Card Round and this time emerged with an impressive 30-17 victory, which marked the first time they had ever defeated the Steelers in the playoffs after failing in their first three tries. The Ravens even gave the eventual Super Bowl champs a hell of a run for their money in Foxboro before coming up just short. A seemingly sour season had ended on some really high notes.

So as we look forward to 2015, let’s break down what we have with this Ravens team, and take a look at all the position groups.

Grand Slam, Over Easy

Will Serena Williams Cruise to the First True Grand Slam in Tennis Since 1988?

By: Jeff McDonough

The 2015 US Open gets under way on this fine Monday morning, with matches starting at 11 a.m. There are a number of interesting storylines involving legendary players heading into the tournament. Novak Djokovic has established himself as clearly the best men’s player on the planet after years of jockeying for position with his fellow members of the “Big Four” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. He enters as a heavy favorite and with a win can become just the fifth man ever to win 10+ Grand Slam titles in the Open Era — the “Open Era” began in 1968 when both professionals and amateurs were allowed to play on tour. He would have a chance for a 2015 Grand Slam himself, if Stan Wawrinka hadn’t played the match of his life in the French Open Final to upset Djoker. This “Grand Slam” that I’m referring to consists of winning the four major tournaments of a single season — the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in succession.

The Bryan Brothers, 37 year-old American twins, are the most dominant duo in the history of men’s tennis, with 16 doubles championships together. They are still the #1 ranked team in the world, but have begun to show their age, having only won one major in the last eight Grand Slam tournaments. If the Bryans don’t win the US Open, they’ll fail to win a single major title in 2015, after having won at least one for 10 consecutive years. In the reamaining doubles draws, Martina Hingis has seen a surprising resurgence this year. Hingis, the 34 year-old Swiss, was a former World No. 1 as a singles player, who won five Grand Slam titles in the late ‘90s, including three of four in a dominant 1997 as a 16 year-old. She, much like Djokovic this year, fell short of the Grand Slam after being upset in the French Open Final. At Wimbledon last month, Hingis impressively won both the women’s and mixed doubles championships. She had earlier in the year won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open, but that was her first Grand Slam title of any kind since 2006. Hingis, fittingly, is the last person to achieve a Grand Slam, when she won all four women's doubles titles in 1998, but with two different partners. That is to bring attention to the fact here that these storylines are fine and good, but everyone’s eyes will be on Serena Williams.

The real tournament, in the minds of a lot of fans, doesn’t begin until Serena’s match tonight at 7 p.m. at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where she will likely massacre the 86^th ranked woman in the world, Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia. That bloodbath, along with the rest of the tournament, can be seen on ESPN2, or online at ESPN3.com. Williams is looking to become the first singles player to win the tennis Grand Slam since Germany’s Steffi Graf in 1988. A win here would also see Williams equal Graf for the most career Grand Slam titles in the Open Era at 22. The world is really her oyster right now. Hell, she’s even dating Drake! ...apparently. But on the tennis court, history is hanging in the balance this year at Flushing Meadows in Queens, NY.

With Friends Like These...

How the Hell is This Show Still So Relevant 20 Years Later?

By: Jeff McDonough

Monday was the 236^th day of the year, as August 24 always is on non-leap years. The significance of this date — beyond being Cal Ripken’s 55^th birthday — is that if you started watching Friends on a strict episode-a-day regimen when Netflix released all 236 episodes after the ball dropped this New Year’s, you’d be all finished! In reality, nobody binge-watches TV this way, with that level of self-control. You either end up getting distracted by something else and flaking on your show, or you power through it in embarrassingly quick fashion with only Doritos crumbs in your bed and a laptop burn on your tummy to show for it.

Regardless, there has been adequate time for anyone interested in doing so to run through the entire series, whether for the first time or the 51^st time. Why does this deal even matter? The episodes have been in reruns nonstop, since even before the show ended, on TBS and Nick at Nite and many local broadcast affiliates. Well, the answer to this question is really a sign of how things are in 2015 in general: we want our content when we want it however we want it.

Survivor Turns 15

A Look at the Finale of the Show's Groundbreaking First Season on Its Anniversary

By: Jeff McDonough

This Sunday marks the 15-year anniversary of the finale of the influential first season of Survivor. On August 23, 2000, corporate consultant Richard Hatch defeated whitewater rafting guide Kelly Wiglesworth on a 4-3 vote from his peers to win Survivor: Borneo and the million-dollar prize. Sixteen Americans had been chosen to live on a remote island for 39 days without any modern comforts and vote each other off one by one until there was one “Sole Survivor” remaining — while millions watched on national and worldwide television. This was truly a revolutionary concept by series creator Mark Burnett and could’ve ended in disaster. This wasn’t a documentary. This wasn’t a game show. This was “reality television.” We had seen isolated incidents of this type of thing permeating into the TV landscape before. COPS had already been on for a decade, but the premise was familiar and it was stashed away on Saturday nights. The Real World thrived in the ‘90s with MTV on basic cable. Survivor was a different animal. It aired in primetime on network TV, serving as the 8 p.m. anchor for a CBS weeknight block, and took the monetary investment of shooting on location with a large production crew on a near-desert island in northeast Malaysia. The success of the show ultimately resulted in the dawning of a new era in television — for better or worse.

The finale that night in 2000, was the conclusion of 13 weeks of unique storytelling and an astonishing 51.7 million viewers in the U.S. tuned in to watch. That is the second most watched episode of television this century so far — that “episode” designation obviously omits special events like the Super Bowl. The only other television show that has had an episode reach 50 million viewers in the post-Y2K era was the series finale of Friends in 2004 at 52.5 million. Even further than that, an estimate was reported by Neilsen that 125 million people tuned in for at least some portion of the Survivor: Borneo finale. That is simply staggering. So what captivated the country so much about Survivor that they tuned in in droves to see how it would end?

Requiem for a Dork

An Ode to Andy MacPhail, the GM Who Brought the Orioles Back to Prominence

By: Jeff McDonough

This moment in the 2015 Baltimore Orioles season could be remembered as the low point from which they rebounded, or as the beginning of the end from which they never recovered. Time will only tell — though I’m leaning toward the latter at the moment. On Wednesday, the O’s fell victim to a no-hitter for the first time in seven years at the hands of the Mariners’ Hisashi Iwakuma — the second Asian-born pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter after Japan’s Hideo Nomo, who also no-hit the Orioles back in 2001. This closed a turbulent West Coast road trip, where the team lost two games in extra innings — both due to a shallow bullpen that forced ineffectual relievers to remain in the game after they had walked the bases loaded.

With seven players set to hit free agency this offseason — including red-hot slugger Chris Davis, three-time All-Star Matt Wieters and dominant reliever Darren O’Day — this current era of success in Baltimore could possibly be coming to a close. Meanwhile, 90 miles up I-95, the Philadelphia Phillies — currently the worst team in baseball — are beginning a new era with recently-hired Team President Andy MacPhail in charge. He, of course, served in the same role in Baltimore for four years before Dan Duquette took over after the 2011 season. MacPhail was also the man behind the Kirby Puckett-Era Twins teams that won two World Series, serving as general manager from 1985 to 1994. He left Minnesota that year to become President and CEO of the Cubs and presided over the Sammy Sosa-Era in Chicago. While his dozen years there did not result in a championship like his previous post, he did usher in arguably the most successful era of Cubs baseball of the last 70 years — including the 2003 team that found itself five outs from the World Series before exploding into a million pieces.

MacPhail’s four and a half seasons in Baltimore were viewed as pretty unremarkable — both when they ended and while they were going on. Why wouldn’t they be? They were a “rebuilding” team that failed to win even 70 games for five consecutive years. It was the previous regime that had shown at least some promise — after the big signings of Miguel Tejada and Javy López — in the 2005 season, where the O’s were in first place as late as June 23 with four All-Stars before falling off a cliff after the break. And it is this new regime headed by Duquette that has seen the birds end their 14-year playoff drought with three straight winning seasons — and on pace for a fourth. The high water mark came last year after sweeping the Tigers in the ALDS, when the Orioles found themselves in the final four as Vegas favorites to win the World Series. Duquette was named MLB Executive of the Year, so you'd think this column would be all about his accomplishments, right? Well, there’s reason to dwell on MacPhail’s time in B-more, as I’d argue he, not Dan Duquette, is the person most responsible for this current era of Oriole prominence.

Moocherama

John Oliver's Takedown of Public Funding for Stadiums

By: Jeff McDonough

All over the country there are sports franchises that are rumored to be at least considering leaving their current city. The biggest reason given always seems to be because their stadium or arena is too old. This complaint always seems overblown to me. Stadiums cost so much money to build, that to tear down a perfectly functional one seems gratuitously wasteful. When you visit ballparks like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, it is like watching a baseball game in a museum. It doesn’t matter if the game is a blowout because you can get your money’s worth just soaking in the sights. As long as older stadiums have sporadic updates over the years, I am an advocate of keeping them. Even places with much less prestige but that are still viewed as outdated, like Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, are perfectly adequate in my mind. I’ve seen basketball and wrestling there in recent years and had a lovely time. I see no reason why the city would spend the money to tear this place down and construct a new one.

That’s the real issue though. The money so often comes from the pockets of the government, and therefore, the taxpayers. The billionaires who run these teams — often as their secondary or tertiary businesses once they’ve made their fortunes — have the unmitigated gall to ask us to fund their fancy, new, luxury projects. The thinking is that new stadiums and all the events there will boost the local economy. John Oliver, the host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, asserts that this is a fallacy, in a scathing condemnation of this practice that he delivered two weeks ago. The money from those gaudy naming rights deals that landed Baltimore clunky-sounding stadiums like the aforementioned Royal Farms Arena — or how about when the Ravens called PSINet Stadium home? — often goes to the franchises and not the city. The money from additional events like concerts, well, Oliver points out that they may be only lining team owners’ pockets as well. But you better give them what they want because the threat to move your favorite team to another city always looms.

Always Sunny

How Bright Really is the 76ers' Future?

By: Jeff McDonough

Tank.

One may associate this word with warfare, or fish, or oil, or perhaps someone referred to as a “tank,” who can both withstand and mete out punishment.  In basketball, however, the word connotes something entirely different. In the context of the NBA, the word “tank” doesn’t evoke the typical thoughts of something big, bulky and robust — unless we’re talking about the albatross the league now has on its hands. The phrase “tanking” as we know it, comes from the boxing parlance for throwing a fight, or to spell it out even further, losing on purpose. And tanking in the NBA has become a hot-button issue, both for fans who see it as something pernicious to the health of the game, and to those who don’t enjoy the NBA and cite this as one of their reasons.

There are those who see the merits of tanking, however, both in the stands and in NBA front offices. It’s a common narrative that pops up among fanbases in any draft-based sport: we’re already having a losing season, so I’d like us to be as bad as possible to ensure the best draft pick. We see that type of talk amongst fans going through a long, tough year and who want to look toward the future. But when a team starts out the season saying that their Plan A is to compete for the league’s worst record from the jump — whether they’re saying it explicitly or with their personnel decisions — that’s a much more radical way of looking toward the future.

Even if you only have the most opaque awareness of the NBA, you are likely familiar with the fact that the Philadelphia 76ers stink. They lose A LOT. They have gone 19-63 and 18-64 the last two seasons respectively, losing 11 more games than any other team in that span. In early 2014, they tied an NBA record for losing 26 consecutive games. So maybe you’re thinking, “Wow, it’s time to clean house in that organization.” Well, these on-court struggles actually coincide with when the new regime took over, and local fans and ownership alike aren’t even discouraged because they say that this is all part of “the process.” And that process seems to involve not trying to win basketball games.