Mike Kasdan recaps the rise of The Beard, the year it took for sexual assaults by a Duke basketball player to finally come to roost, and a storybook ending of Daddy getting traded home.
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After the Houston Rockets – led by James Harden’s 37 points – pulled out an overtime victory over Lebron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers, folks in Houston are making some bold pronouncements.
A new King James in town?
ICYMI: Rockets troll LeBron James and crown James Harden the “new king” after win over Cavs. (via @HoustonRockets) pic.twitter.com/6m5z0Ai2w4
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 2, 2015
Oh no he ditn’t! (Oh yes. He did.)
We’re not sure about stealing the King James moniker out from under LeBron, but the way that Harden often sports that Cowboy hat, there may be – at the very least – a new sheriff in town. A burly, lightning-quick first step-having, three-point-shooting sheriff.
Call him what you will, The Beard is rising.
James Harden is leading the NBA in scoring, and is the most oft-heard name in the talk about Most Valuable Player. With a 41-18 record, the Rockets are one of the best teams in the NBA. And the burly bearded lefty is their most dynamic offensive player.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkW9xWFbFQU
Sure, he sometimes falls asleep defensively . . .
. . . But Dwight Howard can erase a lot of those lapses.
And he does an absolutely fabulous – and I do mean fabulous – beard: Just give in already.
Love him.
2. Duke’s Dismissal of Rasheed Sulaimon Was Due To Multiple Sexual Assaults
In January of this year, Duke swingman Rasheed Sulaimon was somewhat mysteriously dismissed from the Duke mens basketball team after, according to Coach Mike Krzyzewski, he “repeatedly struggled to meet the necessary obligations.”
The smart money was on sexual assault all the way.
And that’s exactly what has just surfaced. According to a breaking story in the Duke Chronicle, “Multiple sources close to the situation have confirmed that members of the athletic department were made aware of the allegations as early as March 2014,” almost a full year prior to his dismissal.
The word today from the Duke Athletic Department and Coach K?
“No comment.”
Sigh.
3. I Love It When A Plan Comes Together: Daddy Is Traded Home
This is the letter than NHL hockey defenseman and Dad, Jordan Leopold’s 11 year-old daughter wrote before her Dad was traded back to their hometown Minnesota Wild.
Jordan Leopold’s 11-year-old daughter Jordyn wrote this letter before the trade, according to @KFAN1003. pic.twitter.com/8RpWT9LpgL
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) March 2, 2015
Now, THAT is a beautiful thing.
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Photo Credit: Beard Pics (Punch Drunk Wolves)
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I agree being publicly declared a rapist if untrue is awful. All I’m saying is that a year seems an awfully long time. Does it not?
This is the problem with the Duke situation. “Sulaimon’s two female accusers did not file charges or submit a complaint to Duke’s Office of Student Conduct, but they spoke publicly of the allegations at a student retreat called Common Ground, according to The Chronicle report.” http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/03/02/duke-mike-krzyzewski-refuses-comment-rasheed-sulaimon-dismissal-allegations You’re supposed to punish someone for comments another person or even multiple people said they made without any investigation. Though people may argue that he wasn’t kicked out of school and maybe didn’t even lose his scholarship (unknown, but I’d think likely which may end up being equivalent to being kicked out of school),… Read more »