Tag Archives: Basketball

On Kobe and Aging

By Robin Bates | Published: May 19, 2012

Sherman Alexie wonders what will go through Kobe Bryant’s mind when he finds himself dominated by a younger player. This past week, we saw it happen.

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March Madness, Frisbees, and Spring

By Robin Bates | Published: March 22, 2012

In this Scott Bates poem, the poetry of basketball is surpassed by the poetry of frisbee throwing.

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Jeremy Lin Speaks Out Loud and Bold

By Robin Bates | Published: February 21, 2012

See explosive Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin appear from nowhere brings to mind the Keats poem “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer.”

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James as Telemachus to Wade’s Odysseus

By Robin Bates | Published: June 18, 2011

Lebron James is not the king but the sidekick, not Michael Jordan but Scottie Pippen. In literary terms, he is not King Odysseus but Prince Telemachus. His teammate Dwyane Wade is the king of the franchise.

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Bulls vs. Heat, a Homeric Battle

By Robin Bates | Published: May 21, 2011

I designate the Miami Heat as the Greeks in Homer’s Iliad. After all, they represent a kind of dream team, kings from different city states coming together to seek glory. The Bulls are like the Trojans in that they have only one top-tier fighter. Derrick Bell is their Hector.

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Chicago’s Roman de la Rose

By Robin Bates | Published: May 14, 2011

What’s in a name? Would Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose by any other name smell as sweet?

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Before Michael There Was No GAME

By Robin Bates | Published: April 23, 2011

By capturing a player as unpredictable as Michael Jordan within a verse form as rigidly formatted as a sestina, poet Jay Spoon makes it appear that “his airness” operated to the dictates of a higher law. Within the rigid confines of the boundaries of the court and working to deposit a round rubber ball within a small metal rim 12 feet above the floor, Jordan made magic happen.

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March Madness Ends with a Whimper

By Robin Bates | Published: April 9, 2011

“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.” Eliot’s well-known conclusion to “The Hollow Men” (read the poem here) came to mind after watching the Butler Bulldogs lose to the Connecticut Huskies 53-41.The game was so bad that it takes a masterpiece of modernist despair to do it justice.

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March Madness and Then Some

By Robin Bates | Published: March 26, 2011

Sports Saturday Even though it happened a week ago, I am still shaking my head at one of the most bizarre endings I have ever witnessed to a sports event. The University of Pittsburgh, ranked one in its region, and Butler University, last year’s tournament darling and eventual runner-up, were in the final seconds of […]

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