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NORFOLK, Va. (Harry Minium, ODUSports.com) - Sonny Allen, who won Old Dominion University's first national championship, built the foundation for ODU's successful Division I basketball debut and integrated Virginia college basketball, passed away peacefully this morning in Reno, Nev. Allen, 84, had suffered for years from Parkinson's Disease and his son, Billy Allen, said the disease had worsened in recent months. Allen's wife, Donna, and four children, including daughters Jackie Eldrenkamp, Kelly Marcantel and Jennifer Allen, were in Reno when he passed, as were step children Jimmy Warner and Tedi Holdmann. Allen is also survived by eight grandchildren and five...

Are we really surprised that these professional lecturers do not follow their own lessons? Instead of a welcome release from a quarantine monotony, the return of professional sports has become a tiring lesson in patience. The NBA has been on a perpetual performance of activism and posturing for social causes, Major League Baseball has followed suit, with Black Lives Matter insignia on the fields and players kneeling for the anthem. And grudgingly the normally politics-free NHL has seen instances creeping into their league.Not coincidentally, fan interest in the sports has waned since their return to play, and it was exacerbated...

Hall of Fame basketball coach Lute Olson, who built Arizona into a national power and guided the Wildcats to the school's only NCAA championship, has died at age 85. Olson was hospitalized last year after suffering a stroke, and was recently moved into hospice care. His death Thursday was confirmed by family to Arizona media outlets. Olson went 589-187 in 24 seasons at Arizona and guided the Wildcats to four Final Four appearances, 23 consecutive NCAA tournaments and 11 Pac-10 titles, as well as the national title in 1997.

John Thompson, who led the Georgetown Hoyas basketball team for 27 seasons, has died, according to a Washington, D.C., radio station.

NBA teams are boycotting their playoff games to protest the police shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake, who is black. Black Lives Matter protests have surged across the US once more this week in response to Kenosha, Wisconsin, police paralyzing Blake by shooting him in the back seven times on Sunday. The boycotts began with the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday in their game with Orlando Magic. "Some things are bigger than basketball. The stand taken today by the players and org shows that we're fed up," Bucks Senior Vice President Alex Lasry, who is the son of Bucks owner Marc Lasry,...

Ask yourself if the reverse was true, how fast would Luka Doncic be kicked out of the NBA.... I have not watched one second of the NBA live since they have resumed play, I hope they suffer massively for going 100% SJW WOKE... For those of you who don't know Luka Doncic is a budding superstar from Europe who regularly dominates the NBA... Last night he got into it with a black player named Montrez Harrell, former Louisville Player. Montrez Harrell after scoring a put back over Doncic running down court shouted at him, "BITCH ASS WHITE BOY".... So far...

The NBA may have come back to TV to play the second half of its COVID-delayed 2020 season, but judging by the dismal ratings, it appears the fans have not. Ethan Strauss of The Athletic notes that the league’s ratings are coming in well under the pre-COVID break numbers. ABC’s NBA broadcasts in 2019-20 averaged 2.95 million viewers, down from its 5.42 million during 2011-12, Strauss wrote. That is a 45 percent drop off.

NBA All-Star Stephen Curry and his family endorsed Joe Biden in a unique 2020 Democratic National Convention segment Thursday. The Golden State Warriors guard and his wife Ayesha appeared in a pre-recorded video with daughters Riley, 8, and Ryan, 5, on the final night of the convention. “We want to ensure that our kids live in a nation that is safe, happy, healthy and fair,” Ayesha said. “And so this election…” “We’re voting for Joe Biden,” Steph continued.

The NBA and MLB, two of the nation’s biggest pro sports, have returned to TV after the COVID-19 hiatus. However, their ratings show that fans just aren’t all that interested in the new, woke version of the leagues. Both basketball and baseball hit screens this summer filled with paeans to Black Lives Matter: Protests during the national anthem, and an avalanche of sloganeering on signs, stadium floors and fields, and on player jersey backs. Along with the intrusion of this political activism on TV during the games, the two leagues have literally blasted social media with one woke proclamation after...

While it is likely that NBA superstar LeBron James meant to say “we couldn’t care less” about President Trump saying he refuses to watch the NBA due to the league becoming a relentless social justice spectacle. Nonetheless, James made it clear that the president’s attention to the games is not a concern for him. In a Wednesday appearance on Fox & Friends, Trump voiced his displeasure with the league over their embrace of anthem protests and Black Lives Matter, and made it clear that their behavior was “unacceptable” to him. “I think it’s disgraceful,” Trump said. “We worked with the...

Mark Cuban says critics of the NBA’s Black Lives Matter activism should focus on Fox News’ ratings before the league. The Dallas Mavericks owner says a 4% dip in ratings for the league has far more to do with Joseph R. Biden’s presidential campaign than politicized programming alienating fans. “Lol. You do realize that was the day @JoeBiden picked @KamalaHarris?” the billionaire tweeted at Fox Sports Radio’s Clay Travis on Thursday. “Nothing makes a Fox News viewer want to get lied to more.” Cuban’s comments failed to take into account strong ratings for baseball and hockey despite the coronavirus pandemic....

NBA ratings continue to be inexplicably low this month, with all of the Twitter chatter surrounding the league’s return not translating into an actual increase in viewers. When the NBA resumed its season at the end of July, many observers assumed it would be a ratings boon for all involved. Networks were starved for sports programming as a result of COVID-19, and basketball’s glut of big name stars should have converted into a ton of viewership. Only it didn’t. In the first week of action, the NBA’s ratings immediately sputtered. Rather than spiking due to an increase in hype and...

'Kneeling or wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt didn't go hand in hand with supporting black lives,' Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac said. 'Everyone is made in the image of God.'⁣ “Kneeling or wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt didn’t go hand in hand with supporting black lives,” Isaac said. “I believe that my life has been supported through the Gospel, everyone is made in the image of God.”⁣Isaac is a faithful Christian who has preached publicly on several occasions. After the game, the first question reporters asked was whether he believes black lives do matter? “Absolutely,” he responded, going...

Jonathan Isaac exited Sunday's game between Orlando and Sacramento after suffering an apparent left leg injury. The third-year forward fell to the ground in the fourth quarter after planting his feet on a drive to the basket. He remained there clutching his knee, and a wheelchair was eventually brought out to help him off the floor. Isaac, whom the Magic drafted sixth overall in 2017, was enjoying a career year with averages of 12.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.5 steals per game. It has also been an injury-tested season for Isaac, who only just returned from a hyperextended...

The NBA resumed its season Friday night with two televised games. How were the ratings? Ethan Strauss of the The Athletic reports: After a four-and-a-half month absence, tons of lead-up media coverage regarding the bubble, with little competition on the airwaves and a schedule specially constructed to deliver us the draw of Zion Williamson, Pelicans-Jazz garnered 2.1 million viewers. For context, that’s roughly 400,000 fewer viewers than the average audience of a TNT game in the 2011-12 lockout season. Notably, the NBA’s official Friday viewership news release did not mention the season’s opening game at all. The more feted Lakers-Clippers...

“That was beautifully done. Done in unity. Nice to see,” former Orlando Magic star Shaquille O’Neal said on TNT. It is time to not only boycott basketball, but to turn off and stop watching every professional sporting event that is broadcast across America. Look at the hatred in the faces of these privileged, rich Liberals who have nothing but hatred and contempt for the country that made them wealthy bouncing a ball. They want real change? I say America turns them off starting immediately, and let’s see them have to get real jobs and actually have to work for a...

Lebron James does interview to CNN wrapped in plastic wrap.

Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac became the first NBA player to stand for the National Anthem as the league resumed play after a 20-week hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. The television broadcast showed Isaac, who is Black, standing as players and coaches from both teams, as well as referees, took a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. The 22-year-old forward was also the only player seen not wearing a "Black Lives Matter" shirt.

American basketball legend Charles Barkley continues to anger leftists by holding very moderate political opinions. Last month, Barkley took issue with black celebrities promulgating anti-Semitic and anti-white racism. And on Thursday, Barkley again ticked off leftists by defending professional sports players who choose to stand during the national anthem. The first game of the NBA returned on Thursday in a matchup between the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans. Every player, coach, and even the referee took a knee as the national anthem began to play. The players wore shirts with the words "Black Lives Matter" emblazoned on the...

Black players were next to white players. Coaches from one team were next to their compatriots from the opposing side. Many locked arms with the man next to them, some shut their eyes tightly, a few including LeBron James briefly raising a fist into the air or pointing skyward. The NBA had a strong, powerful re-opening night message. When it comes to demanding change, the league stands united — and Thursday, the four teams that played on the first night of the league's restart showed that by not standing.