Archive
Reuters blog archive
from Tales from the Trail:
Air Obama: President’s re-election campaign goes Dream Team
President Barack Obama’s campaign fundraising “Win a date with a celebrity” lottery has gone Dream Team.
The campaign is offering donors who give at least $3 the chance to enter a lottery to attend the “Obama Classic,” a night of basketball with some of the sport’s greats -- Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, Sheryl Swoopes, Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irvin -- and the player many consider its greatest, Michael Jordan.
“Imagine shooting hoops with Carmelo Anthony, Patrick Ewing, Sheryl Swoopes, Kyrie Irving, and Alonzo Mourning. Oh, and you'll get to meet President Obama and Michael Jordan over dinner, too,” Obama campaign staffer Marlon Marshall said in an email to supporters.
“Hit the court with Patrick Ewing and Melo? Trade stories with the President? This is the kind of stuff your kids will tell their kids, and no one will believe it until you show them a photo,” the email said.
from Photographers Blog:
Photographer in focus with courtside crash
By Mike Segar
For any photojournalist, when you cover events of any kind, be it sports or news or daily life, you really never want to be part of the story. Your assignment; to be present to make the best possible images of the events unfolding in front of you is a privilege, and ideally your only mark on the event itself is to come away with as compelling a visual record of what happened as you can under the byline REUTERS/Mike Segar…
However, sometimes… you just can’t get out of the way.
Photo courtesy of Richard Mackson for USA TODAY Sports
My assignment at the London 2012 Olympics along with my colleague Sergio Perez from Madrid, is basketball; 15 days of basketball games, 6 games a day, as nations compete for the Olympic Gold medal. Even for basketball lovers, that’s a lot of basketball.
from Photographers Blog:
Shooting the perfect dunk
Kids playing streetball or millionaires performing in a highly choreographed show? Sport or showbiz? Welcome to the NBA All-Star weekend slam dunk contest.
One of the most satisfying moves to watch in basketball, and one of the easiest to photograph is the dunk, as the player soars above the rim and jams the ball through the net.
from Left field:
Heat may need a big man to take pressure off Big Three
Now that all of the hype surrounding the Miami Heat’s season opener against the Boston Celtics is over, the question remains: how good is this team?
Clearly the Big Three, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, underperformed, especially the latter two, who combined for just seven of 27 shooting from the floor.
from Photographers Blog:
Behind the glass: The secret of the remote camera
Often people I know are impressed by amazing pictures of basketball players fighting for a rebound or trying to score a basket, taken from behind the glass. They always ask me from where are these pictures shot because they didn’t see a photographer in the area. The answer is always the same: a remote camera!
Probably everybody in the business knows how to set up this type of camera, but for people outside the industry, it can be a mystery. The first thing to know is the equipment required: aside from a camera and a wide lens, other items needed are two magic arms, a piece of black paper to avoid reflections, a pair of radio transmitters and steel cable to secure the elements.
from Tales from the Trail:
Obama plays hoops with NBA stars
President Barack Obama wrapped up his 49th birthday bash with perhaps the ultimate gift for a basketball fan.
Someone arranged for Obama to play hoops with a "dream team" of NBA stars -- past and present -- (and UConn Huskies superstar Maya Moore) at Fort McNair, a short distance from the White House.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
What’s behind Spain’s run of sporting success?
Spanish sports fans have never had it so good.
The Iberian nation is celebrating its latest triumphs after a month of success that local media have called a golden age.
On Sunday, Alberto Contador sealed his third Tour de France title, Fernando Alonso won the German Formula One Grand Prix, and Jorge Lorenzo roared to MotoGP victory in the U.S.
from Felix Salmon:
Are basketball economics broken?
Amy Shipley has an odd piece today on the economics of signing basketball stars. I know absolutely nothing about basketball, but I do know that Shipley's story doesn't convince me that the NBA is suffering the "economic woes" of her headline because "a broken economic system" has resulted in teams spending too much money on players.
For one thing, Shipley never explains the mechanism by which player salaries are being overinflated, beyond waving vaguely in the direction that such salaries constitute "gambling, perhaps foolishly, that the expensive addition of a star player from a historically talented free agent class will generate interest in their franchises and ignite a significant payoff in the box office." But your foolish gambling is my smart investing, and of course box office revenues are only a fraction of the value that teams extract from players.
from Left field:
When politics enters sports
![RTR2DISA[1]suns small](http://blogs.reuters.com/sport/files/2010/05/RTR2DISA1suns-small.jpg "RTR2DISA[1]suns small")
For many people, watching a ball game represents a chance to escape the problems of everyday life.
Money problems melt away, at least for a few seconds, when watching LeBron James take off from the foul line and rip down a rim-rattling, backboard-swaying slam dunk. Watching Albert Pujols slug a three-run homer into the upper deck with two runners on in the bottom of the ninth can make one forget, albeit briefly, painful family issues.
from Left field:
Pain is an afterthought during playoffs
![RTXS5T1[1]LEBRON](http://blogs.reuters.com/sport/files/2010/04/RTXS5T11LEBRON.jpg "RTXS5T1[1]LEBRON")
Often casual fans define the toughness of a sport by the extent of injury that players are willing to play through.
While basketball is often overlooked, this year’s NBA playoff run is giving us several examples of players placing the goal of a team championship above their own individual bodies.
