NBA's Paul Davis on Millionaire Matchmaker

Former NBA player Paul Davis, a college basketball standout center and previous member of the LA Clippers roster, is currently looking for the perfect female partner. To get the assist he needed to score in the game of love, Paul Davis appeared on Bravo's reality documentary show "The Millionaire Matchmaker". The show features professional matchmaker Patti Stanger who attempted to help Davis find the right female for him. Her team of helpers includes personal shoppers, date coaches and therapists who give two wealthy clients bigtime makeovers and then send them on handpicked dates especially tailored to the individuals' personalities and expectations.

On the new episode 8 which aired April 2, 2009 on Bravo TV, Patti tried to help a successful Harvard graduate named Alex by giving him a physical makeover to propel his dating success. She also helped NBA player Paul Davis with a major personality makeover. According to reports on the episode Paul had some pretty high expectations when it comes to love but his date on the show with Kimi was successful. The two went to an upscale bowling alley and wagered over who could bowl better. Davis won the bet which gave him the prizes of Kimi cleaning his condo dressed as a french maid, making him sushi and then making him French toast the next morning. Shoot...Score!

According a Chicago Sun Times blog, Davis said the following about the date:

"I would definitely go out with her again. I think, you know, she's a great girl, great personality. And she definitely is somebody, regardless of what happens down the line, just to have a friend in your life -- I really think she would be one of those people."

See photos from the show here

In case you're wondering about Paul Davis' NBA career, he played just 2 years professionally after playing his NCAA college basketball for Michigan State Spartans and finished the 2005 season as leading rebounder. Lindy's College Basketball ranked him as the number 3 center at the time. By his senior year he was averaging a near double-double with 17.5 points and 9.1 rebonds. He was awarded Mr. Basketball of Michigan. In 2006, he went at the #34 draft pick in the NBA draft's second round to the Los Angeles Clippers, wearing the #40. Once the 2007-08 NBA season had ended, Paul Davis became a restricted free agent. The Clippers renounced his rights but resigned him in August 2008. Paul Davis was released from the LA Clippers in January 2009. In 2008-09 he averaged 4.0 points and 2.50 rebounds per game with the Clips. View Paul Davis' NBA.com bio info page.

Reggie Miller Talks Obama Bball

TNT NBA analyst and NBA legend, Reggie Miller is hoping that soon-to-be President Barack Obama puts a regulation basketball court in the white house. If he does, Miller wants in on the pickup game. Reggie, who has yet to meet Obama, recently discussed Barack Obama's basketball style with CNN. According to Miller, Obama's left-handed game reminds him of other lefties he's played against such as Greg Anthony , or Hall of Famer, Nate "Tiny" Archibald.

Miller had the following to say regarding Obama's game and his campaign demeanor:

CNN: From what you've seen, how good a player is Obama?

Miller: I would not mind picking him up on my squad; if there were 10 guys and we had to pick, he could definitely be in my squad. Because he knows what his strength is -- making sure that everyone gets involved, and that's the kind of point guard I want. Those are guys like Magic Johnson, Mark Jackson, John Stockton, it's not all about them; it's about let's make sure our team is good. He's going to get the ball to everyone.

CNN: Speaking of being commander in chief, what are the lessons that you take away from Obama's basketball that you think would be useful?

Miller: If you look at his demeanor, he's very cool; you have to be cool under pressure. You can't make hasty decisions. You've got to look at the full picture as a whole and then you assess it. And I think from a strategic and a political standpoint, I think that very much sums up Mr. Obama.

You look at him during the debate and during the campaign, he pretty much never got too high and never got too low; he just kind of stayed right in the middle. When you're making the decisions that he's going to be making, for our economy, for Iraq, Afghanistan, you want someone who's levelheaded who's going to look at the big picture, who's going to rely on his Cabinet, which would be the other players.

You want them to all be on same page, which you want your starting five to be, and then you go out there and execute it.

(Source: CNN.com)

Read the entire Reggie Miller CNN interview piece here.

Obama's been seen in pickup games around the country, including this game with some Indiana High School students. You can also see his skills on display as Obama hits a 3 pointer, a la Reggie Miller.

Check out YouTube footage of Barack playing ball back in High School!

Watch George Bush play b-ball in Belfast!

Roane State's Old School Baller, Ken Mink

You may not be familiar with Roane State Junior College or Ken Mink, but Love & Basketball NBA blog wants to show some love for an old school baller. You see Mink recently was put onto Roane State's roster. You might ask why that's special. Mink played basketball at Lees Junior College in Jackson, Kentucky, about 53 years ago. He missed out on his second year of playing basketball at the Junior college due to his signing with the Air Force. That's right, 53 years ago, but Ken's no Encino man. Back to present day, Ken was shooting hoops at a neighbor's home and decided to write several area colleges about possibly suiting up again. Coach Randy Nesbit of Roane State (in Tennessee) took him in for some try outs, and Ken has practiced with the team since August. Just recently he was added as an official member of the Roane State Raiders (team roster), and has already begun contributing. In a win by Roane against King's College, Mink chipped in 2 points to the team's point total, and to his season stats. Yahoo News has the following about Mink's performance:

Mink entered the game with about 16 minutes left in the second half and attempted one shot in about three minutes. Seven minutes later, he went back in the game, was fouled and made two free throws.

"I found myself on the free-throw line 52 years after my last college game," Mink said. "I said, 'Just relax and shoot it like you know how to all day long.' I just floated the shots in there. I'm in the books now. I can relax a little bit."

Major kudos to this 73-year old baller who's out on the court shooting hoops, defending and more while there's many current NBA stars who seem to "take it easy" on the court. Mink may soon be appearing on the AND1 Senior Citizens tour near you... :)

Watch YouTube video about Ken Mink & Roane State Raiders!

Roane State Basketball page

The NBA Messes with Zohan

You may have seen the continuous split screen commercials running to promote the 2008 NBA Playoffs. They feature 1 NBA star from each team in a playoff series, but on a split screen, saying the same lines together about fear and how it means they're ready for the playoffs. Recent versions include Paul Pierce vs. Mike Bibby and Chris Paul vs. Tim Duncan. Some of the faces sorta matchup too.

A funny spoof ad ran on Sunday during the ABC games to promote the new Adam Sandler movie, "You Don't Mess with the Zohan". It showed Zohan (Sandler) with his wild hairstyle on one side of the screen with Baron Davis of the Warriors on the other side. They tried to say the lines together, but it just didn't work out and Zohan must instruct Baron.

See the See the Zohan NBA ad here at YouTube.

The movie Zohan comes out June 6th, 2008 in theaters across the US and tells the story of a Mossad agent who fakes his death so he can re-emerge in New York City as a hair stylist. Use the links below for more info on the upcoming comedy..

Official movie trailer here

IMDB entry for Zohan

Official movie website

Soulja Boy Marv Cranks Dat

A Marv Albert-Soulja Boy Mashup?

In case you missed it, the whole fiasco started when the Wizards decided to start trash talking before they even set foot in Cleveland for Game 1. First, Gilbert Arenas, aka "Agent 0" decided to say there's no way Cleveland could beat them 3 straight playoffs and that this year's team wasn't as good as before. Then, DeShawn Stevenson who has no real credentials other than being associated with Arenas as a teammate, decided to open his mouth and call out Lebron as "overrated". Big Mistake. When you call out one of the top players in the league before a series starts, it's more than enough to propel the Cavs to things like Monday night's 30 point win.

King James also used a rap analogy as his retort, saying that Stevenson calling him out was like Soulja Boy calling out Jay-Z. It just wouldn't make sense or be realistic to even consider the 1 hit wonder Soulja Boy calling out one of the Greatest of All Time in Jay-Z.

TNT got into the fray of things as well. Analyst Marv Albert discussed the whole war of words during Monday night's game, and Marv's iPod full of rap songs was also joked about. Then the creative folks in TNT's editing lab got into things, and what resulted was a mashup of Marv meets Soulja Boy.

Watch the YouTube video of Marv Albert as Soulja Boy here!

The NBA Player Wives List

Who's your favorite NBA star married to, or are they even married? The most famous of NBA wives today may be the Desperate Housewives star herself, Eva Longoria-Parker. Eva and Tony married just last year with a fancy ceremony in Paris. Another well known wife is Vanessa Bryant, who's married to LA Laker Kobe. Vanessa was in headlines quite a bit after Kobe admitted to having an extra-marital affair. Kobe's wife stood by him throughout the ordeal and they are happily married still. Grant Hill is married to R&B singer, Tamia.

For many ballers, marriage is short-lived, while others stay happily married. Recent divorcees included Shaq, Vince Carter and Jason Kidd. There's also many baller bachelors in the league.

Here's a look at some of your other favorite NBA stars' wives, with notes next to each.

NBA Players Wives

Chauncey Billups - Piper Billups

Elton Brand - Shahara Simmons (longtime girlfriend from Duke)

Caron Butler - Andrea Butler


Kobe Bryant - Vanessa Laine Bryant (model)

Tim Duncan - Amy (ex-cheerleader from Wake Forest)


Kevin Garnett - Brandi Padilla (sister of Jimmy Jam Harris, music producer)

Manu Ginobili - Marianela Orono


Grant Hill - Tamia (R&B singer)

Allen Iverson - Tawanna Iverson

Tracy McGrady - CleRenda Harris (dated 10 years)

Yao Ming - Ye Li (Chinese women's basketball player)

Dikembe Mutombo - Rose Mutombo

Steve Nash - Alejandra Amarilla (personal trainer from Paraguay)


Tony Parker - Eva Longoria-Parker (model, Desperate Housewives star)


Peja Stoyakovic - Aléka Kamilá (Greek fashion model)

Dwyane Wade - Siohvaughn Funches* (highschool sweethearts)

*Note: Siohvaughn Funches-Dwyane Wade began divorce proceedings in 2007 and are trying to work things out in terms of their two children, Zaire and Zion.

Back to latest Love & Basketball NBA blog entry

NBA-NCAA Family Ties

If you follow this year's NCAA Tournament like millions of fans, you'll not only see players about to burst into the NBA in the next few seasons, but also players with NBA Family.

Georgetown is probably the most prominent example, as it features the talents of Doc Rivers' son as well as Patrick Ewing's son, Patrick Ewing Junior. Both former NBA players (now coaching staff) have been on hand at the games. Drake was eliminated from the tournament yesterday but featured the look-a-like brother of Kyle Korver, Clayton. One player who had an amazing game was Del Curry's son for Davidson, who scored 40 points with his proud parents watching and rooting him on. The young Curry will go on to the second round on Sunday. While none of his family was involved, Bobcats player Adam Morrison was seen watching his Gonzaga team lose yesterday.

There's also the top NBA prospects such as Georgetown's Roy Hibbert, UCLA's Kevin Love, Stanford's Brook Lopez and UCONN's Hasheem Thabeet (who made an early exit in round 1).

Keep an eye on the action, not only for the future prospects but for a look at some NBA family. The NCAA tournament resumes round 2 with games on Saturday and Sunday to determine the Sweet 16. Catch the action on CBS, beginning about 12:30 PM EST.

Lebron's Pose for Vogue

King James continues to add to his resume of basketball and celebrity achievements. This time Lebron's feat comes on the cover of a magazine, that only a few men have ever appeared on, Vogue. Lebron will be featured on the upcoming Vogue issue with supermodel Gisele, the famous girlfriend of Patriot's QB, Tom Brady.

From Yahoo Sports:

Vogue is featuring athletes and models in an annual issue devoted to size and shape. The 6-foot-9 James and 5-foot-11 Bundchen, who dates Patriots star quarterback Brady, were a natural pairing.

“Nobody says more about fashion size and shape than Gisele and LeBron,” Vogue spokesman Patrick O’Connell said. “LeBron is an amazing star and athlete that has crossed over into a cultural phenomena.”

Bundchen wasn’t intimated by James’ frame.

“He doesn’t really make you feel small, even though he is big,” she says in the magazine. “I think my leg is like the size of his shoe.”

The James-Bundchen duo is one of several athlete-model pairings featured in the issue. Others include swimmer Michael Phelps with Caroline Trentini, snowboarder Shaun White with Daria Werbowy; and speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno with Doutzen Kroes.

Lebron has now endorsed products such as Nike and Sprite, hosted the ESPY award show, and been a host on Saturday Night Live. His career's still young and growing, and his star continues to shine brighter and brighter.

Where's the NBA Love?

The recent ESPN magazine pictures "Mr. NBA" himself on the cover, Michael Jordan. It offers a surprising revelation to some: that sports fans as a whole just aren't in love with the NBA like they were in Jordan's time. Let's face it, MJ really brought the league up and got mainstream America interested, as he transcended pop culture. He brought NBA into unison with everything from McDonald's to Coca Cola to Nike sneakers. American truly embraced Jordan, along with other stars such as Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, and Magic Johnson. They displayed great basketball feats and personality, so America showed them the love. According to ESPN's latest magazine, America doesn't share that love with the current roster of NBA talent. Jordan is featured in one article discussing his role in cultivating the NBA. Commissioner David Stern gives his usual spin on the league and its issues in another article. Stern is optimistic, despite recent trends and demographic polls.

I wouldn't sell the league short as the ESPN articles have hinted at. They've suggested that there's less love because there's no stars like MJ, which is true, as there will never be another Jordan. They've also suggested every next great star entering the league is immediately called the "next MJ" or "Magic" or "Bird" and so forth. Remember Penny Hardaway, Jerry Stackhouse, Grant Hill and Vince Carter were all tagged with the "Next MJ" stigma. None of these guys are Jordan, but they still delighted fans with some extremely skilled basketball. The other facet of the article is that there is not a good spokesperson/hype man for the league like Jordan, but if you check with Lebron James he may have a bone to pick there.

Also of interest is how the NBA is considered the "hip hop league" and problematic. I feel that's a matter of perspective and what we see in the news. In all of sports stories over the last few seasons, I'd easily take some of the worst NBA stories over what NFL, MLB and NHL have offered. There's been steroid scandals, congressional hearings, murders, and on ice incidents which lead to assault charges. And I hate to mention it, but there's also Michael Vick's dog fighting crimes. None of the aforementioned news involved the NBA. I'd say for the NBA to have a scandalous betting referee, a player-fan brawl in Detroit and strip club mayhem, that the NBA isn't looking as bad. A point made is that without helmets we get to see more personality from a basketball player than other pro athletes. If anything it shows the league with more personality.

It's interesting to see this sort of article, after Melo, Lebron and Wade were pictured on SI for a season preview issue a year or so ago. The point of that magazine's article seemed to be that these guys were renewing the love for basketball, which I still believe is there and can grow. The love is always there if you're an NBA fan. I feel for a sports fan, their love goes with the league where their heart is. I'm not the biggest NHL fan, but I enjoy NFL and MLB from time to time...When's it all said and done, my favorite sport remains basketball for its passion, intelligence and skill involved to play its fast paced game. So my sports love will be continue to be spent on basketball and the NBA.

Best of the NBA Commercials

Over the years the NBA, its players, and their advertisers have run some great TV commercials. Here's a look at some of the funnier and more memorable NBA player commercials from recent times and years past.

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It's Gotta Be the Shoes (Nike)

Mars Blackman (Spike Lee) discusses what makes basketball player Air Jordan so great. View Video here

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Nothin' But Net (McDonald's)

Jordan vs. Bird in a classic shootout over a Big Mac. The two try to come up with the craziest trick shots imaginable. Bird gives just one rule to Jordan.

View Video here

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Anfernee Hardaway & Lil' Penny (Nike)

There were quite a few of these and they mostly showcased Anfernee Hardaway's buddy Lil' Penny's love for basketball, partying and Tyra Banks. Lil' Penny is voiced by the hilarious Chris Rock.

Lil Penny dreams of Tyra

Outdoor bball game, Tyra

Lil Penny & Spike Lee

Also see the Intro Skit: 1996 Playoffs Bulls vs. Magic

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D-Wade & Barkley Fave 5 (T-Mobile)

Dwyane Wade and Charles Barkley eat poolside, with Wade explaining why he should be included in Barkley's fave 5 for his T-Mobile phone.

View the Wade Barkley Youtube video

Barkley & D-Wade Golfing

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The Lebrons - Swimming Pool - Nike

Lebron pulls off an Eddie Murphy Nutty Professor type performance as he plays the roles of each of the Lebrons. This ad shows the suave Lebron taking a dive into the pool with the other Lebron's chillin'.

Watch the Lebrons ad on YouTube.


Also see:

Shaq Plays H-O-R-S-E

The Jordan XX3 Ad

See Shaq Play H-O-R-S-E

Today will be the biggest game of the season...For the NFL, with Superbowl 42 coming atcha, featuring the dominant 18-0 Patriots against a not so bad Giants squad which looked close to beating New England weeks ago. Should make for an interesting story today. It will either be the happy ending to a storybook season, or the Giants will play spoilers with one of the bigger upsets in sports.

The NBA will be a part of the Superbowl commercials today, more specifically Miami Heat star, Shaq. Shaq decided he wanted to have his own advertisement for Vitaminwater "Power-C". Basically he said if 50 Cent has a commercial why doesn't Shaq? Shaq is a regular imbiber of the drink so he will star in a commercial featuring his prowess for different sports. The ad will feature Shaq as a jockey but also ballin'. According to AOL sports, the concept was born when Shaq learned the president of Glaceau was one of the top 50 jockey owners in the country. So naturally an idea was born for Shaq to play jockey and also show off his bball skills. Shaq noted:

"I grew up in Texas, so i'm no stranger to riding horses,” said Shaquille O’Neal. "But I've always wanted to try being a jockey in an actual horse race - so vitaminwater and I decided to give it a try."

Check out funny outtakes from the 60 second ad here. The ad itself will air at the start of the third quarter of Sunday's game.

View the Shaq VitaminWater ad on YouTube.

Gatorade's New G2 Drink

The G2 drink is a new "low calorie hydrator" from Gatorade (Pepsi), The lifestyle beverage has just 25 calories per 8 ounce serving and is intended to keep athletes hydrated off the field. The G2 site currently offers video footage of Major League Baseball Star Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, who is a spokesperson for the drink. Jeter was a part of a G2 commercial filmed at Herald Square in NYC. The commercial will be airing during this Sunday's Superbowl.

Pepsi/Gatorade also announced on January 17th that for every visit to its site www.drinkG2.com, they will donate $1 to United Way charity. Pepsico has agreed to donate up to $100,000 based on site visits. Head over to www.drinkG2.com to help Pepsico donate to charity! Also, be sure to look for the commercial during this Sunday's Superbowl.

See Gatorade G2 at www.drinkG2.com.

See the official press release here

The Nike Jordan XX3 Ad

There's a brand new Nike commercial out for the Air Jordan XX3 sneakers. It features a narrative by MJ himself with a montage of various sports stars doing what they do best. Included in the ad are NBA ballers like Rip Hamilton, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Joe Johnson and Ray Allen.

Here's the powerful words from the legendary Air Jordan:

It's not about the shoes,
its about knowing where you're going,
not forgetting where you started.

It's about having the courage to fail,
not breaking when you are broken,
taking everything you have been given,
and making something better.

It's about work before glory,
and what's inside of you.

It's doing what they say you can't.
It's not about the shoes, it's what you do in them.
It's about being who you were born to be.

Check out the YouTube video for Nike commercial.

Lebron & Kobe Push Weight

Lebron and Kobe are pushin serious weight. In recent ads you may have seen them campaigning for the "50 Million Pounds" challenge. The challenge was created by Dr. Ian K. Smith, a science and nutrition major who's graduated from Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia Universities. He's authored the books: The Fat Smash Diet, The Blackbird Papers, Dr. Smith's Guide to Medical Websites, The Take-Control Diet, and the new Extreme Fat Smash Diet. He recently teamed up with State Farm to help teach about the dangers of being overweight.

The website offers information about obesity and warns about the effects it can take on someone such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and other dangers. At the site you can download a challenge brochure and get overall information about this challenge. The challenge is to African Americans in particular according to the website:

Being overweight is one of our nation’s top health problems, increasing the risk of life-threatening but preventable illness for more than 135 million Americans.

This is a concern for everyone, but the African-American community has been hit particularly hard. Far too many African Americans are dying from diseases that are completely preventable. Every person in the community knows someone -- a father, mother, aunt or child -- who suffers from physical diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke or heart disease.

The aim is to save lives by changing the lifestyle choices we make. We want people to give up the pounds, not give up the fight.

At this point it doesn't seem like either Lebron or Kobe really need to lose any weight. Both are playing at a high level in the NBA, and both are chiseled in terms of physique. Guys like Big Baby Glend Davis or Shaq however might want to download the challenge brochure.

Pilots Picket affects NBA Teams

There's a small piece of news involving the pilots who fly NBA teams from city to city. On the New York news this morning they showed pilots in a picket line outside MSG, protesting their current contracts. According to People's Weekly World:

NEW YORK (PAI)--After 3 years of fruitless talks, Champion Air pilots will take to the informational picket lines on Jan. 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York, Airline Pilot reported. The National Mediation Board, which oversees airline labor-management relations, has yet to respond to Champion management’s demand that their talks recess--or order the airline to bargain. Champion, a charter carrier, flies 13 NBA teams to games, including the Washington Wizards, who play the New York Knicks at the Garden that night.

It's interesting that they chose to picket at the Knicks game. Things could get real messy if NY fans also start to picket the Knicks for keeping Isiah as their head coach.

Amare from Downtown

Amare doesn't just dazzle and dunk out on the hardwood, he also is quite the businessman as well. Stoudemire's Downtown is the name of a casual sports fan's restaurant co-owned by the Suns' superstar. According to an NBA TV video, Stoudamire partnered up with a business mind, Bill Smith and opened the place up, complete with flat screen TV's, pool tables, fully stocked bar, chef specialtys and even a few DJ's who come in a few times a week.

"The Statini" is aptly named after Stoudamire, aka "STAT". Statini features Amare's signature cocktail and toast with the superstars. Celebrity guests who've stopped by the restaraunt have included Rick Reilly (Sports Ilustrated) and Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Former Suns shooting star, Dan Majerle had his own restaurant in Phoenix as well, Majerle's Sports Grill. This may be the sign that a Phoenix Suns player bas become a superstar in Arizona, with Amare becoming the latest restaurant mogul. See more info about Stoudemire's Downtown at the official website.

The Top College for NBA Talent

An interesting trivia question came up during the Nets-Sixers game the other night. Which college or university has the most NBA players currently? Any guesses? The school with the most current NBA stars is the University of Connecticut with 13.

Here are the 13 current UCONN ballers in the NBA:

Ray Allen, Boston Celtics
Hilton Armstrong, New Orleans Hornets
Joshn Boone, New Jersey Nets
Caron Butler, Washington Wizards
Rudy Gay, Memphis Grizzlies
Ben Gordon, Chicago Bulls
Richard Hamilton, Detroit Pistons
Emeka Okafor, Charlotte Bobcats
Kevin Ollie, Philadelphia Sixers
Donyell Marshall, Cleveland Cavaliers
Marcus Williams, New Jersey Nets
Charlie Villanueva, Milwaukee Bucks
Jake Voskuhl, Milwaukee Bucks

Tied for second were good ol' rivals, University of North Carolina and Duke at 12 each. The 2 schools have produced the likes of Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Grant Hill, Jerry Stackhouse and Elton Brand. Coming in third is Arizona which has current starts like Richard Jefferson, and Gilbert Arenas. So if you're a prospective player you just might want to add these 4 schools to the top of your list.

Free Throw Shooting Experiments

A recent episode of Fox Sports Net's "Sports Science" had an interesting discussion of the "X Factors" in sports. In terms of basketball, they conducted experiments to see what affects a player shooting free throws. First they took at look at what hinders shooting more during a game; sound or sight distractions.

At 116 decibels the Sacramento Kings' Arco Arena is considered the loudest measured arena in all of basketball. A college player named Brandon shot free throws in a somewhat empty gym. At first strobe lights and crazy fans were introduced near the baseline as distractions to test sight hinderances. Then a band named Throttle played guitar and drum music at 120 decibels. Brandon shot 70% with the visual distractions. With the band playing at such a loud rate, Brandon's heart rate spiked up and his FT% fell to 6 for 10, a 30% drop from before the sound. Brandon was 70% with visual distractions, and 60% with noise distractions, a slight difference. The experiment proved that sounds may have a greater effect on an athlete's free throw shooting than visual distractions do. So those inflatable sticks you bang together have a double purpose in distracting opposing team's shooters.

The other basketball experiment shown involved coaching styles and how they may affect a player's performance. They had a collegiate player shooting free throws over and over. They had 2 coaches with very different styles standing nearby the player at the line. For one part of the experiment, they had a coach constantly praising the shooter. For the second part, they had a coach continuously riding the guy and telling him he wasn't good enough. The second style really seemed to throw the shooter off. So it's quite possible that the coaching styles of guys like Bobby Knight might hurt players, although his schools have supplied the NBA with quite a bit of talent.

Of course every individual is different. Some may be more prone to noise distraction and some more prone to sound. Chad Johnson, wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, said he'd prefer having a coach like Bobby Knight. So it all may be in the perception of the player.

Learn more about the Sports Science show on Fox Sports Net.

NBA - "Where Amazing Happens"

The new advertisements run by the NBA for the 2007-08 Season are a thing of beauty. They are backed by the moving piano music of "Everyday" by Carly Comando, the ads display still pictures of various NBA players and situations with inspirational quotes. There also appears to be a commercial done for each NBA team, which airs in its respective region. The Celtics version aired here a few times during their game Wednesday night, and most likely the Nets and Knicks versions will be showing as well.

You can check out several of the new ads over at YouTube. The first 4 are legitimate, they come from the NBA's YouTube channel. After that is anyone's guess, but the last two are definitely fan created. You'll see in the final link below, a fan was a bit crude in terms of NBA basketball love, but it may give you some laughs.

NBA - Where Amazing Happens

Where Amazing Happens: Heart

Where Amazing Happens: Anticipation

Where Amazing Happens: Immovable

Where Amazing Happens: Milwaukee Bucks

Fan Created: Where Amazing Happens

Fan Created: Crude but comical version

The Bad News Bulls?

Something is amuck in the Windy City. The Bulls are definitely the biggest surprise of the early NBA season as many fans are seeing. This team, predicted by many to be one of the top 3 out of the East has come out of the gates with a winless start, 0-4. Unexpected and almost inexplainable. According to a recent Chicago Sun-Times article, one bright spot was rookie Joakim Noah's recent debut. Despite that, one would have to wonder why is this team not winning games?

Looking at the Bulls' stats, you have 4 guys scoring in double digits, with Ben Gordon leading the way at 20.5 points. Kirk Hinrich's production and Ben Wallace's production seem off and sub-par compared to what either player is capable of. Hinrich was a point guard for a Team USA squad a few summers ago and now seems like he's a rookie with just 11.5 ppg and 4 assists per game. Wallace is also playing like a bench role player picking up just 4.3 rebounds a game and 1.5 blocks. This isn't the guy Chicago wanted to land from the former champion Pistons. They wanted the Big Bad Ben, capable of snatching tons of rebounds and intimidating offensive minded players.

Bright spots for the Bulls are Tyrus Thomas who's pulling almost 7 boards a game and 8.3 points, and veteran Joe Smith who's also giving about 10 points a night and almost 7 rebounds. But overall this team of tremendously talented players needs to start finding ways to produce and win, or they will be competing for a lottery pick, not a spot in the Finals.

On the other hand you have a reverse surprise, the Los Angeles Clippers who are undefeated without Elton Brand. They recently defeated the aforementioned Bulls. It's amazing and suspicious all at once in a very tough Western Conference.