Sports Business

I put my faith and trust in people who have proven themselves over the long haul. Which is why I choose to be one-one of the few, I’m guessing-who believes Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird will pull the Indiana Pacers out of their tailspin. As of this moment, the Pacers executives have no coach, no draft choices and, in the minds of many, no hope, particularly for the immediate future, with an emphasis on “immediate,” for we have little patience…

I considered the notion for a moment and conceded, “You may be right.” After all, shock-jock Imus had made a career of offering insensitive, crude and sometimes race-based insults (he once referred to New York Knicks’ star Patrick Ewing as a “knuckle-dragging moron”). But when he offered his unconscionable take on the women of the Rutgers University basketball team, his primary mistake was timing. His comments came at the wrong time in the media cycle. There was a vacuum, and…

ATLANTA – At the Final Four last week, I was reminded that even without a team, Indiana was well represented. It began at the United States Basketball Writers Association breakfast on the Friday morning before the national semifinals. The occasion was the presentation of the USBWA’s Oscar Robertson Trophy to the player of the year, which happened to be Kevin Durant from Texas. Robertson, the Crispus Attucks great who went on to star at the University of Cincinnati-and who was…