by tyler | Jan 29, 2024 | CNN, sport
Here’s a look at the life of basketball player LeBron James.
Birth date: December 30, 1984
Birth place: Akron, Ohio
Birth name: LeBron Raymone James
Father: Anthony McClelland
Mother: Gloria James
Marriage: Savannah (Brinson) James (September 2013-present)
Children: Zhuri Nova, Bryce Maximus and LeBron Jr.
James also played football in high school.
Runs a non-profit organization called The LeBron James Family Foundation, which helps children in his hometown area.
Co-founder of production company SpringHill Entertainment.
Has been named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player four times (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013).
Has been to the NBA All-Star Game every year since 2005.
Named the NBA Finals MVP four times (2012, 2013, 2016, 2020).
Is nicknamed “King James.”
Is the youngest player in NBA history to reach 30,000 career points.
Has played for the US national team in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Olympics. They won gold in 2008 and 2012.
Owned a very small stake in Beats Electronics, which was sold to Apple, Inc. for $3 billion in June 2014, reportedly netting him around $30 million in cash and stocks.
James and a host of other Black athletes and artists founded the political organization More Than A Vote in the run-up to the 2020 election, providing James and others with a vehicle to help register Black voters and turn them out in the November election.
2000 – Helps lead high school team to the state championship. They won the championship three of the four seasons he played.
February 18, 2002 – James is featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the words, “The Chosen One.”
June 26, 2003 – Is chosen No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA draft.
2004 – Earns the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as NBA Rookie of the Year.
August 2004 – Makes his first Olympics appearance for the US national team.
November 27, 2004 – Becomes the youngest NBA player to score 2,000 points in their career.
February 8, 2005 – Is named a starter for the NBA’s Eastern Conference All-Star Team.
February 19, 2006 – Is named to the All-Star Team again and becomes the youngest MVP of the game.
July 10, 2010 – Announces he is leaving the Cavaliers to become part of the Miami Heat.
June 21, 2012 – The Miami Heat win the NBA Finals, marking James’ first championship.
January 16, 2013 – Becomes the youngest NBA player to score 20,000 points.
June 24, 2014 – Chooses to become a free agent.
July 11, 2014 – James tells Sports Illustrated that he’ll leave the Miami Heat for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
December 7, 2015 – Nike confirms that it has signed a lifetime deal with James.
June 19, 2016 – The Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in a deciding Game 7 to win the NBA Championship. James is unanimously named the Finals MVP; his performance helps the Cavaliers capture the first major sports championship that a Cleveland team has won since 1964.
May 25, 2017 – James passes Michael Jordan as the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring leader with 5,995 points. Jordan’s record of 5,987 held for 20 years.
May 31, 2017 – Police tell CNN that a racist slur was spray-painted on the front gate of James’ Los Angeles home. At a press conference in Oakland, California, James comments on the state of race relations in the United States. “No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough.”
January 23, 2018 – Becomes the seventh, and youngest, player in NBA history to score 30,000 points.
June 29, 2018 – James decides not to pick up his option for next season with the Cleveland Cavaliers and will become an unrestricted free agent, according to multiple reports.
July 1, 2018 – James, now a free agent, agrees to a four-year, $154M contract to join the Los Angeles Lakers, according to a press release from his agency.
July 30, 2018 – James’ foundation teams with the Akron Public Schools system to open a school that supports at-risk children. Third and fourth graders will make up the inaugural class at the I Promise School, with plans to expand to first through eighth grade by 2022.
November 4, 2019 – James announces that a historic apartment building in Akron, Ohio, is being renovated and turned into transitional housing for families in need at his I Promise School, so students have a stable place to live while they get their education.
August 11, 2020 – “I Promise,” a children’s book written by James, is published.
October 11, 2020 – After the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Miami Heat, James becomes the first player in NBA history to be named NBA Finals MVP with three different teams.
March 16, 2021 – It is announced that Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, has added James as a partner. It becomes official on March 31.
July 16, 2021 – “Space Jam: A New Legacy” premieres, in which James plays intergalactic basketball with the Looney Tunes.
November 21, 2021 – James is ejected during a game against the Detroit Pistons after making contact with Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart in the face. The ejection is only the second in James’ career – the first coming in 2017 for comments made to a referee. Both players are suspended the next day – James for one game and Stewart for two.
March 19, 2022 – Passes Karl Malone (36,928 career points) on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, to become second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387).
August 17, 2022 – James signs a new two-year contract with the Lakers, worth $97.1 million, making him the highest-earning NBA player ever.
February 7, 2023 – James breaks the NBA’s all-time scoring record, surpassing Abdul-Jabbar.
January 25, 2024 – James is named to his 20th NBA All-Star Game, passing Abdul-Jabbar for most of all time.
by tyler | Nov 8, 2023 | CNN, sport
Here is a look at the life of tennis champion and LGBTQ activist Billie Jean King.
Birth date: November 22, 1943
Birth place: Long Beach, California
Birth name: Billie Jean Moffitt
Father: Willard J. Moffitt, engineer for a fire department
Mother: Betty Moffitt, Avon sales representative
Marriage: Ilana Kloss (October 18, 2018-present); Larry King (September 17, 1965-1987, divorced)
Education: Attended Los Angeles State College (now California State University, Los Angeles), 1961-1964
Has won 39 Grand Slam championships overall in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, including 12 Grand Slam singles titles.
Is the founder and first president of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
Threatened to boycott the 1973 US Open if equal prize money was not awarded. The fight she started for equal pay in the Grand Slams took 34 years to reach fruition when Wimbledon became the last of the four to fall into line in 2007.
She remained friends with “Battle of the Sexes” opponent Bobby Riggs off the court until his death from prostate cancer in 1995.
READ MORE: What you should know about tennis champ Billie Jean King
1959 – Makes her tennis debut.
1961 – Wins her first Wimbledon title, in doubles with Karen Hautze.
1966 – Wins her first Wimbledon singles title.
1966-1968, 1972, 1973, 1975 – Wimbledon singles champion.
1967, 1971-1972, 1974 – US Open singles champion.
1968 – Australian Open singles champion.
1971 – Becomes the first female athlete to win $100,000 in a single year.
1972 – French Open singles champion.
1972 – Wins the US Open and threatens to bow out the following year if the prize money for the men and women is not equal.
1973 – The US Open becomes the first major tournament to award equal prize money to men and women.
June 30, 1973 – Establishes the WTA.
September 20, 1973 – At 29, wins the “Battle of the Sexes” match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, at the Houston Astrodome against 55-year-old Riggs. King earns the $100,000 winner-take-all prize.
1973-1975, 1980-1981 – President of WTA.
1974 – Is a founding partner, along with her husband Larry, of World Team Tennis, a competitive co-ed circuit league. She also helps establish the Women’s Sports Foundation.
May 2, 1981 – Acknowledges that she is a lesbian after Marilyn Barnett files a palimony lawsuit against her. She becomes one of the first professional athletes to publicly disclose her homosexuality.
1984 – Retires from professional tennis.
2006 – The United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York, is rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The Center is the home of the US Open.
August 12, 2009 – Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
December 17, 2013 – Is named to the US delegation for the opening ceremony at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia by President Barack Obama. She later withdraws due to her mother’s illness.
2014 – Establishes the non-profit, Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative.
February 15, 2014 – King is named as part of the presidential delegation to the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Russia, after having to withdraw from the opening ceremonies.
September 22, 2017 – The film “Battle of the Sexes,” opens. The film is about King’s 1973 tennis match victory over Riggs.
January 12, 2018 – Calls for the Australian Open’s Margaret Court Arena to be renamed because of the Melbourne Park champion’s views on homosexuality. During a media conference King states, “I was fine until she said lately so many derogatory things about my community. I’m a gay woman … that really went deep in my heart and soul.”
September 21, 2019 – The city of Long Beach, California, opens the Billie Jean King Main Library. The building is located in the new $533 million Civic Center. The City Council voted unanimously to name the building after the famous native.
September 17, 2020 – The International Tennis Federation (ITF) announces that the Fed Cup, an international women’s tennis team competition, has been renamed the Billie Jean King Cup.
August 17, 2021 – King’s memoir, “All In: An Autobiography,” is published.
February 13, 2022 – King serves as the Honorary Coin Toss Captain for Super Bowl LVI and flips the ceremonial coin ahead of kickoff, helping the NFL mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
June 3, 2022 – French President Emmanuel Macron presents King with the Legion of Honor, France’s highest civilian award.
November 7, 2022 – In an interview with CNN, King reveals her “pet peeve” is Wimbledon’s “horrible” all white uniform policy. The next day in a statement to CNN, the All-England Tennis Club (AELTC) says: “Prioritising women’s health and supporting players based on their individual needs is very important to us, and we are in discussions with the WTA, with manufacturers and with the medical teams about the ways in which we can do that.”
October 18, 2023 – King is revealed to be a contestant on season 10 of the show “The Masked Singer.”
by tyler | Sep 27, 2023 | CNN, sport
Baltimore Orioles legend Brooks Robinson, a third baseman who won 16 consecutive Gold Glove awards and is considered by many to be the greatest fielder at that position ever, has died, according to a statement from the Robinson family and the Orioles organization.
He was 86. No cause of death was given.
“We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Brooks Robinson,” the statement read. “An integral part of our Orioles Family since 1955, he will continue to leave a lasting impact on our club, our community, and the sport of baseball.”
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Robinson made his debut for the Orioles in 1955 and manned the hot corner in Baltimore for the next 23 seasons.
Robinson was named American League MVP in 1964 and helped the Orioles bring World Series championships to Baltimore in 1966 and in 1970, when he was also named World Series MVP.
He set the standard for third basemen during his career, with 18 All-Star Game selections and a record number of Gold Glove awards for a position player.
Robinson was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983 in his first year on the ballot.
by tyler | Aug 26, 2023 | CNN, sport
Bronny James, the older son of NBA superstar LeBron James, has been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and should fully recover from his cardiac arrest last month, his family said Friday.
In July, the 18-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest during a basketball practice at the University of Southern California and was hospitalized. He was discharged a few days later to recover at home.
His family says doctors determined the “probable cause” of the cardiac arrest.
“It is an anatomically and functionally significant Congenital Heart Defect which can and will be treated,” the family statement said. The family is “very confident” in a full recovery and a “return to basketball in the very near future.”
“We will continue to provide updates to media and respectfully reiterate the family’s request for privacy,” the statement said.
LeBron James, a four-time NBA champion, passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in February as the league’s all-time points leader.
by tyler | Aug 26, 2023 | CNN, sport
Spain’s football federation has threatened to take legal action against one of the country’s star players, Jennifer Hermoso, accusing her of lying about being kissed by federation president Luis Rubiales.
Hermoso said Friday that at no point did she consent to a kiss by the country’s soccer chief – at the medal ceremony last Sunday after Spain had won the Women’s World Cup – writing on social media, “I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part.”
In a statement Friday, responding to Hermoso and Spain’s Association of Professional Soccer Players (FUTPRO), the federation defended Rubiales, who described the kiss as “mutual” and spoke of “unjust” campaigns and “fake feminism.”
“The evidence is conclusive. The President has not lied,” the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said, alongside descriptions of photos attempting to support Rubiales’ claim.
“The RFEF and the President will demonstrate each of the lies that are spread either by someone on behalf of the player or, if applicable, by the player herself.
“The RFEF and the President, given the seriousness of the content of the press release from the Futpro Union, will initiate the corresponding legal actions,” the statement said.
The federation went on to say that players had “an obligation” to participate in matches “if they are called for it,” after all 23 members of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad, including Hermoso, and nearly 50 other professional women soccer players, said they would not play again for the country until Rubiales is removed from his position.
On Saturday, soccer’s world governing body FIFA provisionally suspended Rubiales from “all football-related activities” after it said on Thursday that it had opened disciplinary proceedings against Rubiales as he may have violated the game’s “basic rules of decent conduct.”
Following Spain’s victory over England in the Women’s World Cup final, Rubiales was filmed kissing Hermoso on the lips after she had collected her winners’ medal, an act which the 33-year-old said later that day she “didn’t like” and “didn’t expect.”
Rubiales, who said on Monday he had “made a mistake,” has come under fierce criticism throughout the week, from the soccer world and some Spanish politicians, including Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, who said the apology for what he called an “unacceptable gesture” was “not enough.”
But on Friday the scandal escalated further when Rubiales made a defiant speech at the federation’s Extraordinary General Assembly, where he emphatically said he would not resign.
In responding to Rubiales’ speech, Hermoso said the RFEF president’s explanation of the incident was “categorically” false, adding: “I want to reiterate as I did before that I did not like this incident.”
She also described refusing requests to issue a statement to “alleviate the pressure” on Rubiales, saying she had been “under continuous pressure to make a statement that could justify Mr. Luis Rubiales’ actions.”
“Not only that, but in different ways and through different people, the REF has pressured my surroundings (family, friends, teammates, etc.) to give a testimony that had little or nothing to do with my feelings,” she added.
On a statement posted on the players union site FUTPRO and shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, the national team players said that those who had signed the statement would not “put themselves forward for National team selection as long as the actual leadership remains in place.”
“No woman should see herself needing to answer questions based on the blunt images that the entire world has seen and, of course, no one should be involved in attitudes without consent,” the statement read.
“It fills us with sadness that an act, so unacceptable as this, is managing to tarnish the biggest sporting achievement in Spanish women’s football history.”
Following Rubiales’ comments on Friday, the president of Spain’s High Council of Sport (CSD), Víctor Francos, said the council would look to suspend Rubiales as quickly as it could while following due process.
The CSD is an autonomous decision-making body of the Spanish government’s Ministry of Culture and Sport and has the potential power to demand the removal of Rubiales. However, to do so the body needs to follow a series of required steps, including having a complaint filed against him and the case having to be heard in front of a tribunal.
Some members of the Spanish soccer community have been especially critical of Rubiales’ speech, with Hermoso’s international teammate and two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas calling it “unacceptable.”
Spain men’s international striker Borja Iglesias said on social media he would not play for the national team “until things change,” while Spain’s acting second deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, called for Rubiales to resign.
by tyler | Aug 4, 2023 | CNN, sport
Transgender women will not be allowed to compete in the women’s category of British Rowing events, the sport’s UK governing body has announced ahead of a change in policy due to come in later this year.
Only athletes “assigned female at birth” will be allowed to compete in the women’s category in competitions under its jurisdiction, or be selected to represent Great Britain or England at international events, British Rowing said in a media release published Thursday.
Meanwhile, any athletes are eligible to compete in an “Open” category, while competitions can stage “Mixed” events at any level of competition, providing 50% of crew are eligible to compete as women, British Rowing added.
The policy includes athletes who compete in rowing and para-rowing, and applies at all levels including the Olympics and Paralympics, British Rowing added.
“All rowers are fully welcome in our sport, and we will not tolerate any form of discrimination so we urge the community to come forward should they experience any issues,” the governing body said
British Rowing’s new policy differs from that of World Rowing, which issued guidance in March that transgender women can compete in the women’s category if their “serum testosterone concentration has been less than 2.5 nmol/L continuously for a period of at least the previous 24 months.” This was a reduction in the allowable testosterone level from the previous competition standards.
British Rowing’s updated policy, which comes into effect September 11, follows similar decisions from other governing bodies.
In April 2022, British Cycling banned trans and non-binary riders from competition, while the International Swimming Federation (FINA) voted in 2022 to approve a new policy that will restrict most transgender athletes from competing in elite women’s aquatics competitions.
In March, World Athletics introduced rules that prohibit athletes who have gone through what it called “male puberty” from participating in female world rankings competitions. WA said the exclusion would apply to “male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty.”
Mermaids, a UK-based charity that supports transgender children and their families, said in a statement: “Our recent report into the experiences of trans young people in sport highlighted the importance of inclusion, and yet more and more barriers are being put in their way.
“We want to see sporting bodies like British Rowing listening to trans people and taking proactive steps to make everyone feel welcome and accepted rather than creating unfair policies based on limited science and moral panic,” they added.
Liz Ward, director of programs at LGBTQ+ organization Stonewall, added: “Blanket exclusions on trans people participating are fundamentally unfair, which often causes trans people to stop playing the sports they love.
“While elite sport often dominates these discussions, it only makes up a tiny proportion of all sport played in the UK. We know that trans people are also under-represented in community sport and often feel excluded.”
She added: “Sport has the unique power to bring us together and it’s important that trans people have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of sport without facing exclusion or abuse.”
