(ThyBlackMan.com) Last week, N.B.A. great Shaquille O’Neal announced his retirement after 19 years of playing professional basketball.  He stood 7’1” and weighed over 325 pounds (depending on the day of the week).  He was one of the biggest people to ever play the game. He left Louisiana State University (LSU) ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) Each year I watch the McDonald’s High School All-American basketball game and try to determine who’s going to be the next NBA great. Watching LeBron James, Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett, it was easy to see they were going to be stars, but many times the potential for stardom ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) A couple days ago, I was reading an article on ESPN talking about Donovan McNabb. For those of you who don’t know, he’s the ex QB of the Philadelphia Eagles and, as it appears, also the ex-QB for the Washington Redskins after being traded there last year. The article ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) Tuesday, the NBA players’ association filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in order to stop owners from locking out the players.  They claim that NBA team owners have not bargained in good faith and that their financial demands have been excessive.  Also, they argue ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany began an interesting conversation last week, one that could open a Pandora’s Box of political issues among NCAA athletes. Delany admitted that NCAA athletes deserve more than the scholarships they are receiving right now, and this led to other power brokers in the NCAA to ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) I like to think that I have grown up over the years, but as a child, I fantasized about being an athlete.  One of my most vivid childhood memories is a vision of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sinking a long skyhook from the baseline to give the Milwaukee Bucks a victory ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) We’ve officially seen the end of an era.  The great Tiger Woods, the golfer who was once considered unstoppable, has dropped out of the top 10 in the World Golf Rankings for the first time in 14 years.   The last win for Woods was 18 months ago in ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) I was trying to ignore this because, quite frankly, it’s stupid. But my colleague Deron Snyder at the online publication The Root convinced me otherwise. By “this,” I am talking about the comments by Philadelphia boxer Bernard Hopkins about pro football quarterback Donovan McNabb, who played in Philadelphia for ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) Too many Blacks leaving school with no degree, substandard education, study shows… In the race to have the best team, win the most games and make the most money, college sports programs have exploited student-athletes for university gains, according to some of the nation’s leading experts on race and ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) “One for the brothers who aren’t here.” Saying these words is always bittersweet, especially when applied to young men who have not reached their 35th birthday, but sometimes life is that way. We cannot control when a life will be taken from us, but we can control how we ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) JUST DAYS before a title bout that could eclipse the miracles of George Foreman, ageless phenomenon Bernard Hopkins addressed what really matters: Questioning former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb’s blackness and mettle. According to Hopkins, McNabb had a privileged childhood in suburban Chicago and, as a result, is not black ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) There is no question that Blacks have made tremendous progress on the field and on the sidelines. But Blacks and other people of color are still not major participants in the money side of college sports. Players, of course, do not get paid, but those in the higher echelons of ...