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COVER: JUAN OCAMPO/NBAE/GETTY I MAGES; THI S PAGE: JEFF GROS; LOGO BY STUDI O BLACK 04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 3
04. 14. 14
28 TECHNIQUE
How Ricky Rubio
breaks ankles with
his crafty crossover.
26 TRENDING
Kevin Costner talks
his latest sports ick.
30 JUST CHEER, BABY
A Raiderettes
eye-opening lawsuit
could upend the NFL
cheerleading culture.
By Amanda Hess
PLAYBOOK
24 SOCCER
Julian Greens
chance at history.
20 GOLF
Re-examining the
drop thats typied
Tigers major slump.
22 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Early enrollees who
will pop this spring.
18 MLB
Home plate collisions
arent baseballs
only hazards.
13 NHL
Five hurdles standing
between the Pens
and another Cup.
I NSI DE
DON' T MI SS
8 ZOOM
The making of
Miguel Cabreras
toy gurine.
10 ZOOM
Inside Goodyears
shiny new blimp.
84 THE FIX
A Hawks nal ap.
By Chris Jones
6 THE TRUTH
How Bud Selig
abandoned the Rays.
By Howard Bryant
37 ONE DAY, ONE GAME
Okay, we cheated a little this
time. Presenting Two Days,
Two GamesCalifornia-style.
56 THE STAPLES OF STAPLES
CENTER
We captured the dunks,
kisses and cheers that
brought Los Angeles alive.
38 WELCOME TO THE WILD WEST
In the hours before tip-o,
everyone from the players to
the dancers put in some reps.
62 THE MOST PERFECT
0.4 SECONDS IN SPORTS
The simple beauty of
Stephen Currys jumper.
By David Fleming
46 "THEY'LL NEVER KNOW ME"
Kings center DeMarcus
Cousins says hes misunder-
stood. So whats he going to
do about it? By Tim Keown
73 THE BLAKE GRIFFIN POP QUIZ
Think you know the Clippers
high-yin, commercial-killin
superstar? Take our handy
quiz. By Sam Alipour
54 TO LIVE AND TANK IN LA
Dont fault the Lakers and
Kings for chasing pingpong
balls. Tanking really works.
By Bradford Doolittle
76 STRAIGHT TO THE POINT
Doc Rivers straight-shooting
style is rubbing o on his
stars. By Kate Fagan
82 CHILL, THEY GOT THIS
CP3 will tell you: Just
because the game is over
doesnt mean everyones
work is done.
4 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 photograph by DANI EL BEDELL
RAI NER HOSCH (COUSI NS)
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CONNECT WI TH US
SPOTLIGHT ROMEO SANTOS (AND BABY CAMDEN)
Before Santos became buds with 1970 AL MVP Boog Powell and became known around Baltimore as the guy with the OHawk
helmet, he sold lemonade as a 15-year-old in the Camden Yards stands. They fired me because I kept stopping to watch,
says the Army career counselor, who named his son after the park. Now 33, he channels his passion for the Orioles into raising
money in memory of his wife, who died of breast cancer in 2011; hes run 15 marathons for charity, three while carrying an
Os flag. His most prized possession? Its not Cal Ripken Jr.s signature or any of his 500 bobbleheads. My wife was an
honorary bat girl in 2010 and threw out the first pitch, he says. She signed the ball for methat will always be my favorite.
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When our ODOG team
descended on Denver
in November, we
were pretty darn sure
Knowshon and the
Broncs were Super
Bowlbound. Now, about
that beatdown
espnmag.com/covers
IF I STARTED
SMILING ALL
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PEOPLE WOULD
SAY, DEMARCUS
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DEMARCUS
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04. 14. 14
NEW
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by HOWARD BRYANT THE TRUTH
6 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 i l l ustrati on by MARK SMI TH
[R]
[ PLAYING HARDBALL] The Rays are one of sports
most unlikely success stories. Just imagine what they could
do if Bud Selig actually lent them a helping hand.
is why they cant aford their starsPrice, a free agent after next season, is
as good as gone. The successful Selig formula of demanding public money
for a new stadium hasnt worked, so the Rays are stuck with Tropicana
Field. A salary cap isnt coming. There is nowhere for the team to relocate.
And yet, for all of owner Stuart Sternbergs work in keeping this moribund
franchise aoat, baseball refuses to assist him.
Sternberg is not short on ideas about how Selig could help. Along with
Oaklands Billy Beane, whose team is in a similar doomed position
neglected while annually winning division titlesSternberg is a vocal
advocate of reorganizing the draft order. He wants it to be based on total
revenues instead of the current system of win-loss record, which rewards
rich, poorly run teams like the Astros, Mets and White Sox with high draft
picks and penalizes the Rays with a lower slot in the draft. Baseball has
ignored that conversation.
Tampa Bays owner may enjoy beating out big-money teams for a
playof spot, as the Rays did last season, but hed much rather leave the
AL East, where his team will forever be at a massive payroll disadvantage
to the Red Sox ($163 million) and Yankees ($203 million). The solution is
staring Selig in the face. With a $162 million payroll (fth in MLB),
Detroit is a big-spending club. Baseball could realign and move the Tigers
back to the AL East, where they resided from 1969 to 1997, with the Rays
shifting to the AL Central and ghting only one megamarket team,
Chicago. Baseball has ignored this conversation too.
No one is listening at the top of the game, because nobody cares. Selig,
entering his last season, is planning a farewell victory lap having never
resolved the situation of the two teamsOakland and Tampa Baythat
actually require his attention. But its a problem that cant be ignored.
Baseball and Tampa Bay are stuck with each other, and if leadership is
more than just a slogan, Selig, his ofce and his successor should be
considering creative ways to sustain the Rays instead of the current plan:
waiting for an unfair system to run a good team into the ground.
emember the Tampa Bay Devil Rays? Remember the team
that began its existence with Wade Boggs and Quinton McCracken,
Kevin Stocker and Wilson Alvarez? Remember the team that lost 90
games in each of its rst 10 years of existence, the major league team with
the minor league name in that miserable ballpark everyone laughed at?
In the past six years, the Devil has vanished, and the Rays have
claimed two AL East titles, just one fewer than the Red Sox have won in
the past 20. Theyve won 90 games four straight years and in ve of the
past six. Theyve been to the World Series. They have smart, respected
ownership. They have a manager, Joe Maddon, who is embraced by both
the analytics maa and the writers who still care about the esh and blood
of the people who play the game. They have the 2012 Cy Young winner in
David Price and a franchise third baseman in Evan Longoria. They are the
games ultimate success story, the sum of shrewd trades and acute talent
evaluation, respected for building through the farm system and the draft
instead of with massive payrolls. (And please dont fall for the Red Sox
narrative of mind over nancial muscle; Bostons ve highest-paid players
combine for more than the Rays entire $77 million payroll.)
By almost all standards, the Rays are doing it the Right Way; the only one
theyve failed to meet is extracting a new stadium from taxpayers, which
happens to be the only one that matters on Park Avenue. Their reward for
all this is being buried by a commissioners ofce that doesnt want them to
succeed. When Tampa Bay was granted a franchise, the other owners split
up $130 million in expansion fees. The problems the Rays have nowdif-
cult geography, terrible stadium, transplanted fan base with allegiances to
other teamsexisted fromthe beginning, but baseballs leadership paid no
mind. The short money was available, and Bud Selig and the owners took it.
Now, the Rays are winning, but their economic health is as perilous as
ever. In 16 seasons, the Rays have nished last in attendance nine times,
including in 2013, when they averaged 18,645 fans. Last year, according to
Forbes, they also ranked just 28th in revenues ($181 million). All of which
ZzzQuil
TM
SLEEP-AID.
BECAUSE SLEEP IS A BEAUTIFUL THING.
TM
s directed for occasional sleeplessness. Read each label. e a Us
ep out of reach of children. Ke K
Procter & Gamble, Inc., 2014 P P

The non-habit forming

sleep-aid from the
makers of NyQuil.

Its not for colds.

Its not for pain.
Its just for sleep
so you can wake refreshed.
Katherine Heigl, Real-Life User and Snoozer.
8 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
Z
O
M
Miguel Cabrera has never looked so
small. At McFarlane Toys design HQ
in Bloomingdale, N.J., the 7-inch
version of the two-time MVP is going
through the decoration phase,
during which details and decals are
applied by hand. The mini Miggy,
created by comic-book icon Todd
McFarlane and six in-house digital
sculptors, will be one of about 60
athlete egies the company will
produce this year. Todd is so
hands-on, design president Ed Frank
says. He inuences everything, even
the body language thats unique to
each athlete. In the case of Cabrera,
that means capturing the intensity
of his focusa frightening sight for a
pitcher, whether writ large or small.
MATT CHRISTENSEN
Photograph by
FLOTO + WARNER
9
Versions of Wayne Gretzky gures
made by McFarlane Toysthe most of
any athlete. Derek Jeter and Peyton
Manning are in second with six each.
2,203
Number of dierent athlete gures
created by McFarlane Toys since the
sports series debuted in 2001.
196
Days between when a sculpt is nalized
and when it lands on a retail shelf.
FOR MORE IMAGES, GO TO
http://es.pn/mcfarlanetoys
04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 11
Z
O
M
Like many Americans, when the
Spirit of Goodyear blimp retired
earlier this year, it headed to Florida.
After logging more than 41,000
hours of ying time during a 14-year
career, the Spirit was stashed in a
hangar in Pompano Beach, where it
now awaits possible donation to
a museum. But its spirit lives on in
its yet-to-be-named replacement,
pictured here. The 246-foot-long
rookie boasts several major tech
improvements over the predecessor,
including faster speeds (73 mph
versus 50 mph), an additional engine
(three versus two), more passenger
room (capacity grew from six to 12)
and, most amazing of all, an actual
bathroom. Which makes you wonder:
Where did the Spirit pilots go?
ANNA KATHERINE CLEMMONS
59
Number of years Goodyear has
covered sporting events via blimps.
Goodyears rst sporting event
was the 1955 Rose Bowl.
150
Gallons of gas burned by the blimp on
a typical ight from one city to the
next, which is about 250 to 300 miles.
Photographs by
TY COLE
WI NSLOW TOWNSON/USA TODAY SPORTS 04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 13
SIDNEY CROSBY IS HEALTHY, BACK IN MVP FORM AND CARRYING HIS WOUNDED TEAM INTO THE PLAYOFFS.
BUT IS THE CLOCK RUNNING OUT FOR THE KID AND THE PENS STANLEY CUP HOPES? By Craig Custance
NHL
CRUNCH TIME FOR CROSBY
14 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 FROM TOP: GENE J. PUSKAR/AP I MAGES; CHARLES LECLAI RE/USA TODAY SPORTS
PLAYBOOK NHL
After the early rounds at the Sochi Olympics, Dan Bylsma
looked like the smartest coach alive. His U.S. team had out-
scored opponents 15-4, and his gamble to send out T.J. Oshie
again and again in the shootout against Russia was genius.
Then came the medal roundand arguably the most humbling
24 hours in American hockey history. Im sure people say its
my fault we lost the Olympics, Bylsma says. Im okay with
that. Hes been masterful in guiding the Pens to a playo berth,
but Bylsma has won only one Cup in ve years despite having
the worlds best player. So as with the Olympics, he nds him-
self in the cross hairs. If we lose in the rst round, he says, I
expect it to be His voice trails o. Better not to think about it.
PENGUINS POSTSEASON FINISHES UNDER BYLSMA
WIN
7
3
2
8
SEASON
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
LOSS
6
4
4
7
RESULT
Lost to Canadiens in second round
Lost to Lightning in rst round
Lost to Flyers in rst round
Lost to Bruins in conference nals
The NHLs best player is focusing more on defense than a
typical star scorer has to. The metric Relative Corsi Quality
of Competition (right) measures the quality of a players
opponents when hes on the ice. For the rst time, Crosbys
QofC (1.19) has been tops on his team. (His QofC was 14th last
season.) The fact that hes on the ice against a high quality of
competition is on purpose, says Penguins coach Dan Bylsma.
Its because his line is my best defensive line. Not only is
Crosby facing o against tougher competition, hes also
starting at a disadvantage. While ve-on-ve, Crosby began
49% of his shifts in the defensive zone. (By comparison,
Capitals star Alex Ovechkin starts 39.5% of his shifts in the
defensive zone.) The combination saddles Crosby with more
responsibility on both ends and means he often goes
best-on-best. You denitely have to get up for it and
understand who youre playing against, he says.
QUALITY TIME
TEAM
RANK
0.5
1.0
2
0
1
3
-
1
4
2
0
1
2
-
1
3
2
0
1
1
-
1
2
2
0
1
0
-
1
1
2
0
0
9
-
1
0
2
0
0
8
-
0
9
Q
u
a
l
i
t
y
o
f
c
o
m
p
e
t
i
t
i
o
n
14
1
CROSBY HAS FACED THE
TOUGHEST COMPETITION
OF ANY PENGUIN
THIS SEASON, PER THE
RELATIVE CORSI QOFC METRIC.
1
CROSBY IS GETTING DEFENSIVE
AND THATS A GOOD THING
2
SO IS HIS COACH,
BUT THATS NOT SO GOOD
13
14
8 8
ONTHE FIRST day of training camp, Pittsburgh GMRay Shero makes his
expectations clear: Anything short of a Stanley Cup will be a disappointment.
Thats just what the standard is now, says defenseman Brooks Orpik. Sid
and Geno [Evgeni Malkin] are in their prime. The windowfor winning is only so
big. The window appeared to be closing this season when Pascal Dupuis,
Sidney Crosbys longtime wingman, went down with a torn ACL, defenseman
Kris Letang suered a stroke and Malkin was sidelined for several weeks with
a foot injury. Through March 26, Pittsburgh had lost an NHL-high 447 man-
games. And yet the shorthanded Penguins have marched on, battling Boston
for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Once again, the quest for the
Cup all comes down to Crosby, whos mounting another Hart Trophyworthy
season while taking on more responsibility on defense. But hes not getting
any younger, so another early exit would be a disaster. Here are ve factors
that gure into the Penguins playo push.
Relative Corsi QofC stats frombehindthenet.ca, minimumthree games played.
16 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 I LLUSTRATI ON BY TODD DETWI LER; JARED WI CKERHAM/GETTY I MAGES
PLAYBOOK NHL
When Pittsburgh won the Cup in 2009, Jordan Staal led the
third line, while Crosby and Malkin took care of the top two.
Since the Penguins traded Staal to the Hurricanes in 2012,
Bylsma has cycled through third-line combinations to comple-
ment Brandon Sutter but hasnt found the right mix. The key
to a good third line is players staying on the attack and
keeping possession of the puck. But Pittsburghs bottom six
consistently get beaten at even strength. The addition of former
rst-round pick Marcel Goc at the trade deadline should shore
up the line and ease the pressure on Crosby. Thats the plan,
Bylsma says. If we need a defensive-zone draw, we go with Goc
and still leave Crosby for the other end of the rink.
A new study by hockey analyst Eric Tulsky found that average
scoring rates for wingers and centers start dropping o at age
25 and plummet once they hit 30. So teams that stack their
top-six forward corps with millennialse.g., recent Stanley Cup
winners like the Blackhawks and Bruinshave a decided
advantage. Even all-time greats apparently have a condensed
top-shelf life. Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky amassed
the majority of their regular-season goals and all but one of their
combined six Stanley Cups by age 26. So the clock is ticking for
Crosby, who turns 27 in August.
AVERAGE AGE OF TOP SIX
FORWARDS ON RECENT CUP
WINNERS (BY PLAYOFF ICE TIME)
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
THE CUP
RUNNETH
YOUNGER
Blackhawks
Kings
Bruins
Blackhawks
28.0
27.2
24.3
24.5
*AN EXTRASKATER. COM METRIC THAT CALCULATES PERCENTAGE OF SHOT ATTEMPTS ON OPPOSING GOAL AT EVEN STRENGTH.
Dierent line combinations
Sutter has played with
this season
42.4%
Sutters
ve-on-ve
Corsi-For
percentage.
652
Faceo wins by
Goc this season,
14th best in the NHL.
Hes won 53.2%.
Conversion percentage
rate and rank
among NHL teams:
PENGUINS BRUINS
CORSI-FOR*
PERCENTAGE
49.2%
RANK
NO. 21
20.3%
83.7%
53.1%
RANK
NO. 7
RANK
NO. 9
RANK
NO. 4
POWER
PLAY
PENALTY
KILL
24.4%
RANK
NO. 1
85.8%
RANK
NO. 2
1.08
RANK
NO. 9
PITTSBURGH
1.64
RANK
NO. 1
BOSTON
EVEN-STRENGTH GOALS
FOR/AGAINST RATIO
FOR MORE ON THE PENS,
INCLUDING HOW TO STOP
THEIR POWER PLAY,
SEARCH: MAG PENGUINS
+
3
SIDS NOT A
KID ANYMORE
4
THE THIRD LINE
HAS STAAL-ED
If the Penguins make a deep playo run, theyll at some point likely
face the Bruins, who swept them in the conference nals last season.
Boston is again a formidable obstacle because of its depth at forward
and also because of the towering Zdeno Chara, a Norris-caliber
defenseman capable of shutting down Crosby (he had zero points in
105:28 of ice time during the 2013 conference nals). But special
teams could be the equalizer this time. The Pens have been among
the NHLs best on the power play and penalty kill this season.
5
HIM AGAIN! A BRAWNY
BARRICADE LOOMS
AVERAGE AGE OF TOP SIX
FORWARDS ON 2014
CUP CONTENDERS
Penguins
Bruins
Blues
Sharks
Kings
Blackhawks
Ducks
29.5
26.2
26.7
28.2
29.2
29.0
29.0
PLAYBOOK
18 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 i l l ustrati ons by CHRI S PHI LPOT
MLB
The best thing about the new rule restricting home plate collisions is the concern behind it: Lets make the game safer. Technically, its
Rule 7.13, but its being called the Posey Rule because the May 2011 crash that nearly ended Buster Poseys career provided the impetus to
eliminate such brutal encounters. But crashes at home might not be the biggest threat to players livelihoods; those around the league
will agree that the four hazards below are just as dangerous, if not more. Heres what to watch out for around the diamond. STEVE WULF
SAFE AT HOME?
THE
HAZARD
CASE IN POINT
WHATS TO
BE DONE?
WHY?
WHY NOT?
THE BASES
RUNNERS
STUMBLE OVER
Running out a ground ball last
Sept. 23, Orioles 3B Manny Machado
tore a knee ligament after hitting
the rst base bag awkwardly.
Soreness in the surgically repaired
knee has slowed him this spring.
Redesign the rubber blocks
currently anchored to
the eld by metal poles,
making bases more forgiving
and less fall-inducing.
Theyre hard and slippery
as hell, Orioles manager
Buck Showalter says of the
weather- and spike-proof bases.
Lets nd a new base, or go
back to the old burlap bags.
Ive never known any other base,
Orioles SS J.J. Hardy
says. But they could certainly
make them less slippery.
THE WALLS
OUTFIELDERS
CRASH INTO
Nationals RF Bryce Harper ran
head-on into the scoreboard fence at
Dodger Stadium last May, sustaining
a knee injury that hampered him
all season. He also needed 11 stitches
to close a cut on his chin.
Standardize the width and
texture of the warning
tracks from park to park, and
pad all outeld walls to
absorb some of the impact.
Says ESPN analyst and
former OF Doug Glanville:
We shouldnt wait until
a catastrophic injury, like towns
that put up a trac light
only after someone is killed.
Says Rays IF/OF Ben Zobrist:
I like having the dierent outeld
characteristics in each ballpark,
like the ivy at Wrigley Field.
THE LINE DRIVES
THAT BEAN
PITCHERS
Since September 2012,
four pitchers have been
seriously injured by line drives
to the head: Brandon McCarthy,
J.A. Happ, Alex Cobb and,
this spring, Aroldis Chapman.
MLB has approved a padded
pitchers cap, but nobody is using
it. So there needs to be a
better hatand then a pioneer
pitcher to make it okay to wear it.
With harder throwers and harder
bats, there are missiles coming
back at the pitchers, says Michael
Collins, director of the Sports
Medicine Concussion Program at
the University of Pittsburgh.
Ill be honest: You dont look very
cool [in the hat], Dodgers ace
Clayton Kershaw says. I think
itd take a lot of getting used to.
THE FOUL TIPS
THAT CONCUSS
CATCHERS
Two of the ALs All-Star catchers
last season, the Twins Joe Mauer
and the Royals Salvador Perez,
went on the DL for seven
days in August after getting hit
in the mask by foul tips.
Hurry up, science, and marry the
lighter, more comfortable
masks that some catchers prefer
with the heavier masks others have
turned to for better protection.
It was obvious to me that there were
things I couldnt do anymore, as far
as daily operation and thinking,
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny
says of the impact of the 25-plus
concussions he suered as a catcher.
It hasnt been a problem for me,
Orioles catcher Matt Wieters
says. Im pretty happy
with the two-piece I have.
EVERY RACE, 43 DRIVERS PUT GOODYEAR

TIRES TO THE TEST IN THE GRUELING CONDITIONS OF

NASCAR

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PLAYBOOK
i l l ustrati on by CHRI S O RI LEY
CURTI S COMPTON/ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTI TUTI ON/MCT/LANDOV
GOLF
20 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
2
THE VIEWFROM
THE COUCH
The controversy began the moment
Woods dropped his ball back into
play. David Eger, a former rules
expert with the USGA and PGA Tour,
says he replayed the drop three
times on his living room TV and
noticed a dierence in the gradient
of the terrain under Woods feet.
Egers theory, which he relayed
to Masters ocials: Woods broke
Rule 26-1-(a) by failing to drop the
ball as nearly as possible to the
original shot. It was dicult to
determine how far back he was
unless you looked closely, Eger tells
The Mag. Which is what I did.
3
A NOT-SO-INSTANT
REPLAY
What Eger didnt do? Pay attention
to the TV cameraman, who was
positioned directly behind Tiger on
his initial shot but moved several
feet to his right for Woods postdrop
approach. The altered perspective
would, of course, make it impossible
to determine the precise distance
between Woods two divotsor
even which divots Eger was seeing.
Masters ocials agreed: After
reviewing the tape, they concluded
Woods did not break Rule 26-1-(a).
4
POPS ALWAYS
KNEWBEST
The story wouldve ended there had
Woods just followed his father Earls
advice for handling the media: Only
answer the question youre asked.
During a postround interview with
ESPN, though, Woods veered o
script, saying he dropped his ball
two yards further back. But what
if Woods was accurately describing
his intention but not what actually
occurred? By the time such nuance
entered the conversation, Masters
ocials had overruled their original
ruling and assessed Woods a
two-shot penalty. But wait
5
THE PROOF IS
IN THE PHOTOS
The next day, The Augusta Chronicle
ran side-by-side photos of Woods
two approach shots. Unlike the TV
cameraman, Chronicle photog
Michael Holahan didnt move
between shots. His photos show that
Woods second lie was only slightly
behind his rsta far cry from
Woods two yards admission and
Egers theory. But no matter: Play
had resumed, and Woods would-be
kick-in birdie was still an eight. The
four-shot swing? Woods eventual
margin of defeat to AdamScott.
1
WHAT ARE THE ODDS
OF THAT?
It started with a stroke of bad luck.
According to ESPN Sport Sciences
John Brenkus, the surface area
of standard agsticks is a mere
63 square inches. Accounting for
that and other factors, Brenkus,
along with a few Davidson College
mathematicians, estimated the
probability of Woods 87-yard shot
hitting the agstick at 1 in 700.
But when it did, the ball caromed
into the water thanks to its
7,700-rpm spin rate. Thats one
and a half times faster than a
Rafael Nadal forehand.
1
5
4
2
3
1
= SPOT OF
ORIGINAL SHOT
Standingover his thirdshot onAugusta Nationals 15thhole,
Tiger Woods had it allthe No. 1 ranking, three wins in his
previous ve tournaments and a share of the 2013 Masters
Friday lead. A birdie on the par 5 would have given Woods a
one-shot edge. But his approach clanked othe agstick
and into the drink. And his ensuing drop? Lets just say it
caused the golf world to lose its collective mind. Now, as the
planets best golfers descend on Augusta for the Masters
(April 10-13), we look back at the shotand the dropthat
has typied Woods major slump. SCOTT EDEN
DROPPED SHOT
MASTERS PREVI EW
ASK YOURSELF, WHATS IN YOUR WALLET?

2013 Capital One

PLAYBOOK COLLEGE FOOTBALL
TACKLES FOR LOSS
AS A SENIOR
F
R
O
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L
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F
T
M
A
R
K
L
O
M
O
G
L
I
O
/
I
C
O
N
S
M
I
;
J
O
E
J
A
C
K
S
O
N
/
N
O
R
T
H
W
E
S
T
E
R
N
H
S
Kids growup so fast these days. Redshirt freshmen
are Heisman winners, and 19-year-olds are entering
their nal season of college football. So its no
surprise that coaches are penciling in early enrollees
as starters before they even play a spring game. With
some insight fromRecruitingNation, we sized up two
blue chips who have the talent to shore up a massive
hole atop their teams depth chart. TRAVIS HANEY
WHY SCOUTS SAY HES THE REAL DEAL
Some coaches handle freshman QBs with kid gloves. Mike Gundy, surprisingly, treats them
like men. Two springs ago, he rocked Stillwater by naming early enrollee Wes Lunt QB1, and
Rudolph, 2014s No. 8 pocket passer, arrived with much more hype. OK State coaches say
he has the it factor; RecruitingNation analysts see a strong arm and upside if Rudolph
improves a loose delivery. Some SEC coaches were shocked that Rudolph escaped the
region. I liked him, but we didnt need a QB, one says. Hope he doesnt make us look bad.
FRESHMAN DISORIENTATION A POSITION OF SENIORITY
History isnt on Rudolphs side. The last five teams to finish in the AP Top 25 and then start
a true-frosh QB for the majority of the next season suffered an average of four more losses.
If McMillan, the nations top ILB, does get the nod, hell join rare company. Since 2009, only
18 true-freshman LBs have cracked Big Ten starting lineupsjust five in the middle.
ADVANCED
PLACEMENT
ILB OHIO STATE LIBERTY COUNTY HS (HINESVILLE, GA.) ESPN 300 RANK: 13 QB OKLAHOMA STATE NORTHWESTERN HS (ROCK HILL, S.C.) ESPN 300 RANK: 161
WHY SCOUTS SAY HES THE REAL DEAL
Urban Meyers third ESPN 300 prep for the Buckeyes out of GeorgiaS Vonn Bell and LB
Trey Johnson were 2013s pullshas the look of a starter. At 6'2", 240, he has 10 pounds on
All-Big Ten standout Ryan Shazier, who went pro, leaving a hole at mike linebacker. This kid
is a physical presence, says Tom Luginbill, ESPNs national recruiting director. Hell play
right away. McMillan, 18, is a natural run stuer, but Luginbill says he moves well in space
and is deceptively quick. His big challenge may be keeping weight o to avoid a move to DE.
OTHER DEFENSIVE EARLY ENROLLEES TO WATCH
DT Andrew Brown, Virginia (ESPN 300: 5); CB Jalen Tabor, Florida (ESPN 300: 11)
OTHER OFFENSIVE EARLY ENROLLEES TO WATCH
WR Speedy Noil, Texas A&M (ESPN 300: 7); QB Deshaun Watson, Clemson (ESPN 300: 16)
RAEKWON McMILLAN MASON RUDOLPH
DARELL
GARRETSON
BRAXTON
MILLER
MATT
BARKLEY
ROB
BOLDEN
JAKE
HEAPS
WHY THE BUCKEYES NEED HIM TO BE THE REAL DEAL
Last season OSU ranked fth in the Big Ten in yards per play (5.3) and scoring D (22.6 ppg).
Not exactly titleworthy. Arkansas D-coordinator Chris Ash has come in as co-defensive
coordinator and vows to blitz more. But Shazier (Big Tenbest 23tackles for loss) is not
the only talent OSU has lostMike Mitchell, an ESPN 300 linebacker last year, transferred.
No doubt McMillan has the versatility to rush or drop and cover, but can he ll Shaziers leader-
ship role? With his repeated shout-outs to McMillan after practices, Meyer seems to think so.
WHY THE COWBOYS NEED HIM TO BE THE REAL DEAL
Lunt transferred home to Illinois, 2013 starter Clint Chelf graduated, and 2011s No. 10 prep
QB J.W. Walsh, a gifted athlete, has stalled as a passer. He cant be their guy, a Big 12 coach
said last season. Weve seen him. Theres no way. Rudolph ran the Air Raid in high school
(4,377 passing yards as a senior, 12th in the nation), which could cut down on a learning curve
and give the Pokes their rst legit gunslinger since Brandon Weeden. WRs RaShaad Samples,
a redshirt frosh, and Tyreek Hill, an early juco enrollee, also could help Rudolph transition.
2012 13
UTAH STATE
2010 11
OHIO STATE
2009 10
PENN STATE
2009 10
BYU
2008 09
USC
OLB MLB
AVERAGE STARTS
PER SEASON
3.3 7.6
TOTAL GAMES
STARTED
43 38 2013 2012 2011 2010
4
2
1
3
0
2009
35
1
/
2
80
TOTAL TOUCHDOWNS
AS A SENIOR
REAL DEAL
PLAYBOOK SOCCER
JOHN TODD/I SI PHOTOS 24 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
GERMAN-AMERICAN
JULIAN GREEN IS
IN LINE TO BE THE
YANKS YOUNGEST
WORLD CUP PLAYER
IN 80 YEARS.
By Doug McIntyre
GREEN
BEHIND
THE EARS
Days younger Green will beif he
makes the U.S. World Cup team
than the only other rostered teen
since 1934. Chris Henderson was
19 years, 181 days in 1990.
+
FOR MORE ON THE U.S. MEN,
VISIT ESPNFC.COM
Ask Julian Green why he led
a change of association with
FIFAto play for the U.S.
instead of Germany and youll
get lots of answers: the locker
roomatmosphere, trust in
coach Jurgen Klinsmann, a
chance to play for the country
of his father. Oh, and one last
thing: It is a wonderful
opportunity for an 18-year-old
player like me to get the chance
to play in a World Cup.
Yep, Klinsmann dangled the
World Cup carrot in front of a
player who wouldve had to
wait until at least 2018 for the
Germans. And nowGreen, one
of the top young strikers in the
Bundesliga pipeline, is forever
a Yank. The April 2 game
against Mexico marked his rst
available match, but dont bet
against his marking another
rst in June, when Klinsmann
will announce the Cup roster.
The match against Mexico is
the rst step, Green says, but
to play in the World Cup for
the U.S. teamis my big goal.
In the meantime, he has
more pressing matters at this
months camp. I amlooking
forward to spending more
time with my newteammates
and getting to knowthem
better, says Green, whose
Bayern Munich club had to
approve the leave he requires
to play for the U.S.
The Yanks need his youth.
The average age of the U.S.
roster for Cup qualiers
against Costa Rica and Mexico
was 28more than a year
older than in 2010. The U.S.
also needs Greens nose for the
net. In 22 games for Bayerns
second squad, Green has an
impressive 15 goals.
Green, along with striker
Aron Johannsson and
midelder Mix Diskerud (both
23-year-old dual nationals),
probably wont crack the
starting 11. But they could
provide a spark against a
stiing Portugal defense or a
counter to Germanys potent
ofense. Green demurs on the
topic of playing against the
country where hes lived for the
past 16 years, but he admits
itd be a special situation.
If history is any indication,
Green is wise to temper expectations. In 1990,
many thought midelder Chris Henderson
the rst U.S. teenager on a World Cup roster
since 1934would be a supersub. But after
an impressive run-up to the tournament,
including an NCAAtitle with UCLA, the
19-year-old never took the eld in Italy. The
experience served me well, he says. I was one
of the top 22 players in the country. That gave
me condence. But it was hard to not play. You
never knowif another opportunity to play in a
World Cup will comeit didnt for me. When
youre in that moment, you have to seize it.
Green is ready to do just that. But no matter
howfar he has already come for the opportu-
nity, he is trying to keep his journey in focus.
The World Cup, he says, is still far away.
Since 1990, when Chris Henderson became the rst
teenager to rep the U.S. at a World Cup in the modern
era, the teams youngest players have almost always
made it onto the pitch. But dont expect reworks
from Julian Greennone has ever scored a goal.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
*DI D NOT PLAY DUE TO I NJURY.
CLAUDIO REYNA MIDFIELDER, 1994
YEARS OLD
20
MINUTES PLAYED
0
*
0
GAMES
DAMARCUS BEASLEY MIDFIELDER, 2002
YEARS OLD
20
MINUTES PLAYED
219 3
GAMES
EDDIE JOHNSON STRIKER, 2006
YEARS OLD
22
MINUTES PLAYED
73 2
GAMES
JOZY ALTIDORE STRIKER, 2010
YEARS OLD
20
MINUTES PLAYED
357 4
GAMES
FRANKIE HEJDUK DEFENDER, 1998
YEARS OLD
23
MINUTES PLAYED
198 3
GAMES
*No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. The Degree Soccer Sweepstakes is sponsored by Conopco, Inc., d/b/a Unilever.
Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & D.C., 18 or older. Begins 2/6/14 at 2:31:00 p.m. ET & ends 4/30/14 at 11:59:59 p.m. ET.
?hk h_\bZe kne^l bg\en]bg` ahp mh ^gm^k _hk _k^^% oblbm ppp'=^`k^^lh\\^k'\hf'
DEGREESOCCER.COM
ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TOWIN* AT
THIS SUMMER TO CHEER ON U.S. SOCCER.
DEGREE IS SENDING ONE LUCKY FAN TO BRAZIL
PLAYBOOK TRENDI NG
+
FOR AN EXTENDED Q&A, GO TO ESPN.COM
AND SEARCH: COSTNER MAG INTERVIEW
Congrats, Kevin, youre the rst
inductee of The Mags Sports
Movie Hall of Famewhich I just
made up. How does it feel?
[Laughs] I get my own category?
Listen, I love sports. They dene
my life. I lived ctitiously through
sports, so I guess its tting. I
dont know, maybe Ive got one
more sports movie in me.
What is it about the genre that
keeps you coming back for more?
I want to be attached to good
writing. I make up my mind if I t
a script based on my love of the
sport. If I sawa great hockey
KEVIN
COSTNER
As the star of such classics as
Bull Durham, Field of Dreams
and Tin Cup, Kevin Costner
is the undisputed champ of
sports lms. His latest,
Draft Day, hits theaters on
April 11 and follows Costners
Sonny Weaver Jr., a ctional
down-but-not-out Browns
GM, through the dizzying
rst day of the NFL draft.
The Mag went long with the
Oscar winner about why sports
movies still resonate and
whether Crash Davis will make
a comeback. SAMALIPOUR
STRAI GHT UP WI TH
script, I wouldnt do it simply
because Id destroy it for anyone
who loves hockey. I couldnt fake it.
Even a nonathlete could tell.
Laurence Olivier might have been
our greatest actor, but if he
couldnt catch or throw, he
shouldnt try to play an athlete.
What took you so long to do
a football lm?
Ive seen a couple of football
scripts come and go, but I dont
like wearing fake uniforms in
fake leagues. Ima purist. So
I was really happy that the NFL
endorsed Draft Day.
The NFL is awfully nicky about
its brand and movie rights.
It should be. Sometimes we use
and abuse themand its not a fair
representation of the league. But
the NFL opened the doors for us.
Our cameras were everywhere at
last years draft. I wasnt there
that day, though. Imnot really
enthralled with all that. Imnot a
fantasy football guy either.
Good god, man. And you call
yourself an American?
I know, but I make cowboy movies,
so get over it! I do love watching
good football. Im from LA, and
we dont have a team, so I watch
the 49ers a lot. When they
werent playing well, I watched
the Dolphins or Steelers.
What type of research goes into
playing such a desperate GM?
I talked with the Rams and
Cleveland GMs. I understand the
game, and desperation. I know
what its like to go against the
grain on a hunch when everything
is riding on it.
The Browns in this lmare true
to lifei.e., garbage. Did the
teamhave any qualms about
being portrayed as such?
I think Cleveland loves this movie
because were honest with it. The
Browns can turn it around. No
one saw the Seahawks coming
four years ago. The right coach
and players come in and then
history doesnt matter anymore.
Texans tailback Arian Foster
plays a potential No. 1 pick. What
do you think of his performance?
He did great. He had to play
somebody younger, a guy right
out of college. He had good
rhythm. I think it was fun for him.
Youve played John Dunbar, Eliot
Ness, Robin Hood. Where do Ray
Kinsella and Crash Davis rank?
CLOCKWI SE FROM TOP: DALE ROBI NETTE/SUMMI T ENTERTAI NMENT; THE MOUNT COMPANY/GETTY I MAGES;
UNI VERSAL/EVERETT COLLECTI ON; WARNER BROS. /EVERETT COLLECTI ON
Those were really huge movies for
me. Field of Dreams was our
generations Its a Wonderful Life.
The People will come speech
that writer-director Phil Robinson
wrote did something an athlete
alone couldnt doit encapsu-
lated why we love baseball.
Bull Durhamturned 25 last year.
In 2008, Ron Shelton said the
sequel is a go. Whats the latest?
Ron is working on a Bull Durham
play, but weve never talked about
a sequel. I dont see it happening.
It would have to be great.
Youd be hard-pressed to nd a
golfer who cant quote Tin Cup.
Going for it on that last hole,
pulling a Tin Cup, is actually
part of their language now. I can
make any shot in golf; I just cant
make 72 of them. I play two or
three times a year. But because
of that movie, people at Pebble
Beach think I must be really good.
ROY MCAVOY,
RAY KINSELLA AND
CRASH DAVIS RANK
ON COSTNERS
MOVIE RUSHMORE.
PLAYBOOK VI SUALS
28 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 photograph by DYLAN COULTER
TECHNI QUE
TIMBERWOLVES GUARD
RICKY RUBIO DISHES
ON HIS CROSSOVER
SUCCESS AT BLOWING
BY DEFENDERS.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Ricky Rubio is the NBAs ultimate
wing man: According to NBA.com,
Minnesota averages 13.1 more
points per 100 possessions* when
hes on the oorand delivering
pinpoint passesthan when hes
not. No move in Rubios bag of tricks
is more eective than his behind-
the-back crossover, which leaves
him with lethal options in its wake.
I either have a clear route to the
basket or it opens up a passing
lane when another defender comes
to help, says Rubio. Here, the
Timberwolves top playmaker breaks
down the art of breaking ankles.
CHRIS GIGLEY
5. After I get the ball to my left
hand, I put my body between the
ball and the defender. I keep the
ball on my hip as I go by him. That
way, he cant go for the steal
hed be called for a reach-in foul.
4. This is a fast move, and Im
reacting to the defender. I decide
right o the dribble whether to
drive to the basket or pass. I can
usually do either. I like defenders
not knowing what to expect.
3. I dont worry about where my
hand is on the ball. How do I know
I wont get called for traveling?
I move quickly enough that the
referee doesnt have time to see
and blow the whistle.
6. My head is always up, looking
for a teammate or a route to the
basket. Even when I nd who I
want to get the ball to, I keep
looking around. I dont want to
telegraph the pass.
1. A good crossover starts with
footwork. If Imgoing to dribble
frommy right hand to my left, I
take a small jab step to the right
to make it look like Imdriving.
That gets the defender to bite.
2. Once the defender commits,
the ball should be at my hip,
ready for the transition. I pause
for a split second to freeze the
defender. He doesnt know if Ill
keep going right or go to the left.
*THROUGH MARCH 20
Did you know?
Your subscription includes FREE Insider, the
all-access pass to ESPNs premium digital content.
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ESPN The Magazine subscribers:
FED UP WITH WORKING LONG HOURS FOR MEAGER
WAGES, A RAIDERETTE NAMED LACY T. RECENTLY
FILED A LAWSUIT IN SEARCH OF FAIR PAY. SHE MIGHT
JUST END UP CHANGING THE SYSTEM.
P H O T O G R A P H S B Y C H R I S MC P H E R S O N
JUST
CHEER,
BABY
LACY T. WAS born to cheer. When she dances,
she moves at the speed of a shook-up pompom.
When she talks, its in a peppy Southern drawl
that makes everything sound as sweet as sugar.
And when she poses, she is the image of a
classic pinup: big hair, tiny waist and full lips
that part to reveal a megawatt smile.
Naturally, when Lacy auditioned for the
Oakland Raiderettes a year ago, she made
the squad. And the Raiderettes quickly set to
work remaking her in their image. She would
be known exclusively by her rst name and
last initiala tradition across the NFL, ostensi-
bly designed to protect its sideline stars from
prying fans. The squad director handed Lacy,
now 28, a sparkling pirate-inspired crop top,
a copy of the teams top-secret biblewhich
guides Raiderettes in everything from folding
a dinner napkin correctly to spurning the
advances of a married Raiders playerand
specic instructions for maintaining a head-to-
toe Raiderettes look. The team presented Lacy
with a photograph of herself next to a shot of
actress Rachel McAdams, who would serve as
Lacys celebrity hairstyle look-alike. Lacy was
mandated to expertly mimic McAdams light
reddish-brown shade and 112-inch-diameter
curls, starting with a $150 dye job at a squad-
approved salon. Her ngers and toes were to
be french-manicured at all times. Her skin was
to maintain an articial sun-kissed hue into
the winter months. Her thighs would always
be covered in dancing tights, and false lashes
would be perpetually glued to her eyelids.
Periodically, shed have to step on a scale to
prove that her weight had not inched more
than 4 pounds above her 103-pound baseline.
Long before Lacys boots ever hit the gridiron
grass, I was just hustling, she says. Very early
B Y A MA N D A H E S S
32 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 THEARON W. HENDERSON/GETTY I MAGES
on, I was spending money like crazy. The salon
visits, the makeup, the eyelashes, the tights
were almost exclusively paid out of her own
pocket. The nishing touch of the Raiderettes
onboarding process was a contract requiring
Lacy to attend thrice-weekly practices, dozens
of public appearances, photo shoots, ttings
and nine-hour shifts at Raiders home games,
all in return for a lump sum of $1,250 at the
conclusion of the season. (A few days before she
led suit, the team increased her pay to $2,780.)
All rights to Lacys image were surrendered to
the Raiders. With nes for everything from
forgetting pompoms to gaining weight, the
handbook warned that it was entirely possible
to nd yourself with no salary at all at the
end of the season.
Like hundreds of women who have cheered
for the Raiders since 1961, Lacy signed the
contract. Unlike the rest of them, she also
showed it to a lawyer.
ON JAN. 22, Lacy T.s attorneys led a lawsuit
in Alameda County Superior Court alleging
that the Raiders fail to pay their cheerleaders
minimum wage for all hours worked, withhold
pay until the end of the season, require cheer-
leaders to cover their own business expenses,
dont provide lunch breaks and impose
nes for minor infractionsall of which,
according to the suit, constitute violations of
the California Labor Code.
The provocation was unprecedented. When
pro footballs rst cheerleaders took the eld in
the 1920s, rah-rahing on the sidelines was a
volunteer position, usually occupied by local
high school and college cheerleaders interested
in performing on a bigger stage. But as TV
began to outpace radio, more and more teams
stocked their sidelines with ashieralthough
still unpaidperformers. In 1972, Cowboys
GM Tex Schramm upped the game. Hed seen
Bubbles Cash, an articially augmented local
stripper, make the news after cameras caught
her shimmying in the stands with a stick of
cotton candy, and he wanted similar assets at
his games. So he replaced his cheer director
a local high school teacherwith a Broadway
choreographer, dismissed his squad of coed
teenagers to make way for a team of (barely)
tion to join an elite sisterhood, populated by the
ranks of 700 women whod been deemed t to
don the silver and black. Live up to the legacy
and Lacy would have new best friends for life.
Some of the girls get really close, Lacy says.
Years after they retire their pompoms, these
girls will be bridesmaids at each others wed-
dings and organizers of their baby showers.
Still, not all Raiderettes are created equal.
Soon after they make the team, the 40 cheer-
leaders are divided into four cheer lines
organized by height and anchored by a line
captain, ensuring that whenever they bound
onto the eld they appear to be just the same
size. The lines also serve as an automatic social
clique. At 5'4", Lacy was assigned a spot in
line two, and shed spend the season practicing,
performing and promoting the team with the
nine other women in her height range. Mem-
bers from separate lines rarely interact.
When Lacy was drafted onto line two in 2013,
the line captain staged a bonding night at an
Oakland bar, where the women gathered to play
bocce, exchange presents and take get-to-know-
you quizzes. For many of the women, the
Raiders are their main social outlet, says Lacy.
But she was diferent. Married with a now-
2-year-old child at home, Lacy was forced to
give up precious family time to be at such
events. It was a non-negotiable and unpaid part
of the drill: Before the 2013 season kicked of,
the women were also required to drive up to
Napa to participate in a Raiderettes minicamp,
and during the season, the squad went away
for its annual swimsuit calendar shoot. Lacy
drove up to Napa, posed all day in a royal-blue
bikini at a cold winery and was forced to stick
around for a sleepover.
At auditions, trips like these were framed as
fabulous perks. But in order to cash in on the
biggest moneymaking opportunitycorporate-
funded public appearances that can net a
cheerleader $400 for a four-hour shift (money
shelled out by the company, not the team)
Raiderettes were required to make 10 charity
appearances over the season where they donned
the uniform gratis. Sometimes these appear-
ances constituted legitimate volunteer work,
like playing with kids at the Ronald McDonald
House. Sometimes it just meant helping the
legal women in stomach-baring tops and began
paying them a meager salary. By 1976, theyd
become a trademark part of a franchise. That
year, Super Bowl X marked not only the end
of the Cowboys season but the beginning of
modern professional cheerleading: 73 million
viewers watched as one cheerleader turned to
the camera and winked, launching the Dallas
Cowboys Cheerleaders as bankable stars of
team-approved posters, calendars, public
appearances and reality TV. These werent just
cheerleaders; they were what Schramm called
atmosphere producers.
But even as collective bargaining has caused
players salaries to skyrocket, cheerleaders are
still treated with the expendability of borrowed
college students. Of the 26 teams that employ
cheerleaders, only Seattle publicly advertises
that it pays its squad an hourly minimum wage.
The tenuous position of NFL cheerleaders is
exacerbated by the fact that six teams dont
fork out any cash for squads. The Packers
occasionally employ the services of a local
collegiate squad. Other teams, such as the
Lions, Browns and Giants, rely on unofcial
squads willing to nance themselves through
public appearances and calendar shoots for
the opportunity to dance in a high-prole
setting. Beyond that, it boils down to a num-
bers game. There are more aspiring pros than
there are slots on the sideline, so if one cheer-
leader slips up, there are hundreds of hopefuls
waiting to take her place.
Many former cheerleaders say the true perks
of the job go beyond pay. Alumnae have lev-
eraged the perch to nd work as tness instruc-
tors, dance studio owners, reality TV stars, even
Playboy models. Jeanette Thompson, who
cheered in the 1990s, ascended fromthe sideline
to become the Raiderettes coacha salaried
teamposition (although earnings are undis-
closed)and a behind-the-scenes reporter for
the Raiders website. Others nd stability in the
sports world through other means, like Paige
Green, a Raiderette-turned-model who went on
to marry John Elway. But for many Raiderettes,
just making the cut was its own reward.
LACY QUICKLY LEARNED that a spot on the
Raiderettes wasnt just a jobit was an invita-
04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 33
Former Raiderettes co-captain
Sarah G. says cheerleaders
low pay and poor treatment
were forms of brainwashing.
Raiders sell preseason tickets. If a woman
failed to get in her 10 charity events, she could
make up the diference by doing paperwork or,
in one case, reporting in jeans and full makeup
to rearrange furniture in the Raiders ofce. As
for the swimsuit calendars, the women were
encouraged to buy copies from the team at
cost$5 a calendarthen hustle to turn them
around for a $10 prot.
Meanwhile, opportunities for losing money
abounded. When one woman accidentally
made contact with a Sharpie at a calendar
signing and wasnt able to bleach out the
stain, Lacy says the woman was forced to
reimburse the team for an expensive new top.
If a Raiderette failed to bring her pompoms to
practice or showed up late, among dozens of
other infractions, she would be required to pay
a ne of $10 to $125. But the biggest threat to
the cheerleaders incomes came at weigh-ins.
After practices, women were called in for
one-on-one meetings with Thompson, who
would point out problem areas on candid
photographs, circling any suggestion of cellulite
and identifying women who appeared to be
photographing heavy. At one game, a woman
on Lacys line was informed right before kickof
that she would be benched for the day without
pay for her weight issues. Lacys line scram-
bled to recongure its routine to make up for
the missing member.
The strong camaraderie among professional
cheerleaders was a selling point for recruiting
dancers, but it was also a strategy for keeping
the women in line. Cheerleaders were periodi-
cally reminded that hundreds of bright young
women would kill to take their slot in the
sisterhood. And a cheerleader who failed to
pull her weight risked more than her spot on
the teamthe Raiderettes were told that any
personal failure could endanger the future of
the entire squad, bringing down the sisterhood
for good. Fans would come to see the games
whether or not we had cheerleaders, the
handbook reminded them. Fail to follow
the squads instructions to a T and the team
might decide that the whole cheerleading
enterprise is too much trouble to deal with.
Keeping the sisterhood intact required
maintaining a low prole, even within the
that Lacys working conditions were illegal,
the cheerleader agreed to become the face of a
lawsuit while keeping quiet around the rest of
the squad during the season. But shortly after
the Raiders last game, the topic of money
began coming up. The mother of a 14-year-old
California cheerleader had started a change.org
petition asking NFL teams to step up and
start paying cheerleaders a living wage so that
her daughter could growup to have a shot at
a livelihood. Several current and former
Raiderettes signed. Some publicized their
support on Facebook and Instagram. The
petition sparked an internal Raiderettes email
chain discussing the issue. The next day, Lacy
replied to the thread with a link to her freshly
led legal complaint: Lacy T. v. Oakland
Raiders, a class-action lawsuit on behalf of
Raiderettes who cheered from2010 to 2013.
Almost immediately, a fellow Raiderette
called up Chandra Roberts to alert her to the
suit. Roberts had cheered for the Raiderettes
for just a year in 1985, but her ties to the
game are stronger than most. Her father, C.R.
Roberts, played for the 49ers in the late 1950s
and early 60s, and she eventually became the
rst female honorary member of the NFL
Players Association. Now shes one of the most
active and inuential Raiderettes alumnae,
coordinating reunions and keeping other former
cheerleaders up to date via social media.
Roberts fears that one cheerleaders bad
experience could threaten the entire fabric
of the sisterhood. I see the inner workings of
organization that employed the cheerleaders.
You need to learn to deal with attention you
receive from the public [and especially the
players] without it getting out of hand and
going to your head, the rules read. Cheerlead-
ers were instructed to stay away from other
employees in the Oakland organization. If they
lingered too long in the Raiders ofce, they
were bound to upset some wives; get caught
socializing too much with the Raiders and a
cheerleader risked dismissal. Do not become
the topic of conversation in the locker room
and/or by the Raider staf, the handbook
warned. We eventually hear everything.
WHENSHE FIRST clinched a spot on the team,
Lacy brought her Raiderettes contract home.
Her husband, Josh, balked. Lacy had been
working toward professional cheerleading since
she was a kid, cheering her way through high
school and college, then dancing for the Golden
State Warriors, who paid her $12 an hour for
practice and games. When Josh suggested they
send her Raiderettes contract to an attorney to
investigate its terms, Lacy wasnt convinced that
asking women to voluntarily cheer for a low
wage was against the law. But she took a
meeting at the Oakland ofces of Levy, Vinick,
Burrell Hyams LLP, a women-owned rmthat
advocates for employees in cases of discrimina-
tion, harassment and missed wages. The rms
website features a picture of Rosie the Riveter
over the phrase: Who Would Rosie Hire?
When attorney Sharon Vinick concluded
34 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
the NFL through the male point of view, she
says. To them, cheerleaders are expendable.
And while she says she would be happy for
Raiderettes to see a pay increaseshe did sign
the change.org petitionshe believes cheerlead-
ers position in the NFL is too tenuous to survive
a suit. This could be the demise of cheerlead-
ing, she says. Mark my words. The proverbial
you-know-what is going to hit the fan.
Since news of the lawsuit went public on
Jan. 22, neither the Raiders nor the NFL has
made a peep to the media. (They wouldnt
comment for this story either.) But a group of
former Raiderettes took to social media and
local and national news to publicize their own
perspectives on the team. We are horried that
this Bitter Betty is suing the organization where
we created lasting friendships and a Sisterhood,
a *family bond*, that only another Raiderette
can fully understand, alumna Teri McCollum
wrote. Anjelah Johnson, another former
Raiderette and a comedian, put it more point-
edly to a local radio station: In the barrio, when
you turn your back on the gang, you get stitches.
AFTERFILING THE suit, Lacy enlisted Josh to
monitor her email and social media accounts to
help shield her from the nastiest messages. A
week later, she received an email from Sarah G.,
a four-year veteran on the team who served as
co-captain of line four, the tallest group of
Raiderettes. I was freaking out when I got that
email, Lacy says. Shes a co-captain. Shes from
another line. I was totally afraid that she was
going to be dishing me out on behalf of the
Raiders. But when Lacy called, Sarah told her
that she agreed with her cause. A week later,
Sarah publicly joined the suit.
When Sarah G., 29, rst inked a contract with
the Raiderettes, she says, I looked at it and was
like, Wow, this sucks. But I did it for the love
of dance, not for money. I just had absolutely
no idea it was illegal. After reading Lacys
claims, she realized that the Raiders decided
they didnt want to pay us, so they created this
bogus contract to fool us and trick us and take
advantage of our dreams and our passion.
Looking back on her four seasons, she realized
that a lot of what happened on the squad didnt
sit right after all: the constant reminders that
they could be replaced, the sudden benching for
weight violations, the Raiders Christmas party
that they were allowed to attend but only if they
didnt bring a date and didnt pick up a drink.
Its a formof manipulation, Sarah says. If we
dont do what were told, when were told, how
were told, we could easily be replaced. Its a
scare tactic to keep us in line.
Shortly after Lacy led suit, the U.S.
Department of Labor opened its own investiga-
tion into the Raiders treatment of cheerlead-
ers. It closed the inquiry in March, determining
that as a seasonal operation, cheerleading is
exempt from federal minimum wage laws. But
many state labor laws, including Californias,
are stricter than federal ones, and the pot had
been stirred. Within a month, a Bengals
cheerleader led a similar class-action suit on
behalf of the members of her squad, who she
says are paid $90 a game, or $2.85 an hour.
In March, the Raiders led a motion asking
the court to compel Lacy T. and Sarah G.
to resolve their disputes separately in private
arbitration within the league, with NFL
commissioner Roger Goodell serving as
arbitera condition to which all Raiderettes
agree when they sign their contracts. The NFLs
dispute resolution procedural guidelines allow
the commissioner to conduct the arbitration in
such manner as he deems appropriate. His
Former teammates
stopped responding
to Lacys calls and texts
after she led suit.
decision will be nal, conclusive and unappeal-
able, and he reserves the right to keep the
proceedings condential.
But Vinick says her team remains condent
the case will go to court: The right of employers
to force employees into arbitration is a highly
contested legal matter in California, and courts
around the country have struck down arbitra-
tion clauses that stack the deck too strongly in
one partys favor.
Sarah is currently the only Raiderette to join
Lacy in the suit, although anyone who cheered
for the Raiders between 2010 and 2013 who
doesnt opt out would share part of a settlement
if Lacy winsand all teams would likely
increase cheerleader pay before they are served
with lawsuits. Perhaps thats why no current
cheerleaders have spoken out in support of the
Raiders either. In private messages, there are
a ton of women who have contacted me who
wish to remain anonymous who are in support,
Sarah says. Theyre just afraid to come out
because of the backlash. They want to try out
again or stay a part of this sisterhood.
Lacy says even that quiet support has helped
keep her going, as has positive feedback from
Raiders fans. They were like, we see you out
there before we start tailgating, and when we
leave the game youre still out there, and you
deserve fair pay for working really hard.
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04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 37 photograph by KOHJI RO KI NNO; l ogo by STUDI O BLACK
KINGS AT LAKERS
F E B R U A R Y 2 8
WARRIORS AT CLIPPERS
M A R C H 1 2
ONE DAY, ONE GAME
WELCOME TOCALIFORNIA, WHERE THE BANNERSINTHE RAFTERSNOLONGERMATCHTHE RESULTSDOWNBELOW. Not with the listless
Lakers shaming their 16 titles by limping to the nish line. Not with the straight-shooting Doc Rivers navigating the once-hapless
Clips through the West. Not with Stephen Currys perfect-as-can-be J launching the Warriors to newheights. Not with the Kings
perpetually misunderstood DeMarcus Cousins promising an end to the franchises 62-year title drought. (Okay, theres still a little
work left on that last one.) So forgive us as we tweak our One Day, One Game franchise ever so slightly. This ones One State,
One Arena. Its Two Days, Two Games. Its Two Contenders, Two Pretenders. Its Four Rivals fromthe One Conference worth a
damn this season. This is California basketball, in all its dysfunctional glory. (Black Mamba sold separately.)
38 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 CLOCKWI SE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: KOHJI RO KI NNO; JEFF GROS; ANDREW D. BERNSTEI N/NBAE/GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE (2)
WELCOME TO THE WILD WE
KINGS
AT LAKERS
FEBRUARY 28
PHOTO PORTFOLIO
WARRIORS
AT CLIPPERS
MARCH 1 2
GAME
GAME
PREGAME
1
2
You could say that a cloud is hovering over
Staples Center before the battle for pingpong
balls between the Kings and Lakers. You could
also say Zeus himself is hurling cold rain upon
LA [1]. Fittingly, the sun shines bright before the
tilt between the Warriors and Clippers [2].
04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 39
ST
1 2
Jordan Farmar ne-tunes his jumper at the Lakers
facility in El Segundo under the watchful eyes of
three staers and nine Larry OBrien trophies [1]. The
Clippers practice facility in Playa Vista may soon have
hardware of its own if the teams many gunners, like
Jared Dudley [2], can continue to knock down shots.
40 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 CLOCKWI SE FROM TOP LEFT: GREGG SEGAL (4); ANDREW D. BERNSTEI N/NBAE/GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE (2)
So coaches do relax at Staples Center.
Doc Rivers [2] has the Clips atop the Pacic, while
the Lakers Mike DAntoni [1] is just trying to
keep the boat aoat, he says over the music of
James Taylor. Theyre a good groupfor the most
part. I want that in there: for the most part.
Lakers Wesley Johnson, assistant video coordinator
J.J. Outlaw and Robert Sacre (from left) get grub in
the players lounge at Staples [1]. The Clippers order
breakfast at the lounge in their facilitywhere (from
left) assistant coach Armond Hill, Hedo Turkoglu and
Blake Grin [2] can also play a game of billiards.
1 1
2
2
PREGAME
KINGS
AT LAKERS
WARRIORS
AT CLIPPERS
04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 41
0 3 . 0 6 . 0 0
LAKERS CENTER
SHAQUILLE ONEAL nabs
61 points and 23 boards
in a road game vs. the
Clippers. Motivated by
what he deems a pregame
insultbeing forced,
by the Clips, to foot the
bill for his ticket
allotmenthe warns after
the game: Dont ever
make me pay for tickets.
0 5 . 0 4 . 0 0
PHIL JACKSON DECLARES
SACRAMENTOwhose
fans, it should be noted,
do in fact enjoy ringing
cowbells in their arenaa
cow town. He also calls
Kings fans semicivilized
and maybe redneck in
some form or fashion.
0 5 . 2 6 . 0 2
WAS LAKERS FORWARD
ROBERT HORRYS
game-winning three in
Game 4 of the 2002
Western Conference finals
THE NEW
CALIFORNIA
ANIMOSITY
The Clippers-Kings-
Lakers-Warriors
quadrangle has offered
no lack of intrastate
drama: class warfare,
inferiority complexes,
Shaqs rap-slandering
of Vlade Divac to the
Cheers theme song.
California boasts
163,696 square miles,
but is it big enough for
these four? Apparently
not. PABLO S. TORRE
clutch? Not according
to Kings forward Chris
Webber (a lucky play)
and Kings center Vlade
Divac (You dont need to
have skill in that kind of
situation) in separate
interviews on this day.
1 0 . 2 5 . 0 2
BEFORE A PRESEASON
GAME, ONeal calls the
Kings the Queens. In
response, the teams
brawlin a preseason
game. Kings guard
Doug Christie and Lakers
forward Rick Fox are
tossed for ghting, and
later they tangle in the
tunnel. I dont feel secure,
man, Divac says. Theyre
supposed to keep these
games secure.
1 0 . 2 8 . 0 2
IN A FIRST-PERSON
MAGAZINE FEATURE,
Divac explains the origins
of their blood feud. Shaq,
Divac writes, told him to
stop flopping, bitch,
among other things.
I tell him, Just keep
playing, Shaq.
2 0 0 2
ON THE LAKERS BUS, SHAQ
CUES UP A FLIP-PHONE
that bleats out the Cheers
theme song and raps over
it: Vlade said that if we
dont have home-court
advantage we wont win /
Vlade are you stupid? Ill
tell you time again / You
need to go where they
know your naaaame.
0 7 . 1 5 . 0 4
KOBE BRYANT, A FREE
AGENT, chooses to re-sign
with the Lakers after a
brief flirtation with the
Clips. Clippers fans,
sobbing internally, try to
act all like, whatever, man.
0 6 . 1 0 . 0 8
DISGRACED REFEREE TIM
DONAGHY ALLEGES that
refs rigged the 2002
Kings-Lakers series for
LA. In a blog post, Christie
writes, I am devastated
to the point of feeling
physically sick! Whats
real and whats fake?
0 1 . 1 5 . 1 0
WHEN ASKED ABOUT A
SO-CALLED Clippers
Their on-court counterparts might be
adversaries, but theres no beef between the
Laker Girls [1] and the Clippers Spirit [2].
Everybody thinks were rivals, but were friends.
Even on Facebook, says Kellie, the Spirits
All-Star Game rep (second from right).
1
2
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We spend years designing cars to be timeless.
And give them 24 hours to prove it.
The Porsche 919 Hybrid at the 24h of Le Mans.
Mission 2014. Our Return.
As the most prestigious and grueling endurance race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans
has often pushed us to our very limits. And in a few races, even beyond. Which is precisely
why were thrilled to be returning to the pinnacle of racing in 2014, where once again we
will face our toughest competitorus. Our legacy of winning at Le Mans is the standard
we always hold for ourselves. But all we learn in the process about durability, efficiency
and performance will find its way into the one thing more important than another win in a
famous race. The sports cars we put on the road. Porsche. There is no substitute.
porscheusa.com/mission2014 Porsche recommends and
44 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 FROM TOP: DONALD MI RALLE; NOAH GRAHAM/NBAE/GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE
CurseNo. 1 pick
Blake Griffin had just
undergone season-ending
knee surgeryJackson
says: Im of that
generation that believes
in karma. And legally
embattled Clippers owner
Donald Sterling, Jackson
declares, has not done
enough mitzvahs.
0 1 . 2 5 . 1 2
DURING A CLIPPERS GAME,
PAU GASOL pats new Clips
guard Chris Paul on the
top of the head after Paul
accuses the Lakers big of
being soft. Paul slaps
Gasols hand away, later
explaining: He tried to
touch my head. I dont like
that. I dont know if Pau
got kids, but dont touch
the top of my head like Im
one of your kids.
0 4 . 0 5 . 1 2
AFTER FOULING OUT IN A
LOSS to the Clips, Kings
center DeMarcus Cousins
takes issue with Griffins
no-commenting about the
apparent elbow Cousins
shot his way. Of course
thats what Blake is going
to say, because hes in LA,
where actors belong, he
says, adding, I guess the
wind from my hand hit him
in the eye, and I guess he
got fouled by the wind.
0 1 . 0 2 . 1 3
PRO ATHLETES ARE
TYPICALLY above openly
celebrating the misfortune
of their peers. Not Warriors
guard Kent Bazemore,
when it comes to Griffin.
Bazemore and teammates
burst with glee when
Griffin bricks a three off
the side of the backboard
and airballs another.
1 0 . 3 1 . 1 3
HOW MUCH DO THE CLIPS
AND WARRIORS hate each
other? LA reportedly
requests its own chapel
time before a game with
Golden Statebreaking a
tradition of Christians on
both teams worshipping
together. Man, they dont
want to have chapel with
us? one team source tells
the Contra Costa Times. I
never heard that before.
1 0 . 3 1 . 1 3
PERSONAL SPACE IS AT A
PREMIUM when Griffin,
inbounding the ball,
accidentally steps on
Warriors coach Mark
Jacksons foot. Which
results in Jacksons lightly
pushing Griffin. Which
results in a face-to-face
chat that fails to endear
either man to the other.
1 2 . 2 5 . 1 3
ON CHRISTMAS DAY, SEVEN
WEEKS after Golden State
center Andrew Bogut
and Clips center DeAndre
Jordan receive Ts for
shoving each other, Grin
is ejected for tangling with
Bogut; Warriors forward
Draymond Green is ejected
for elbowing Grin; and
Bogut and Paul ght for the
ball after the nal buzzer.
Merry freakin Christmas!
0 1 . 2 3 . 1 4
COUSINS IS NOT DONE
PSYCHOANALYZING the
Clips roster. Not only is
Griffin an actor, but Paul,
he tells Grantland, is a
cheater: Some players
I dont respect. Just their
style of basketball; I feel
like its basically cheating,
and I dont respect a
cheater. If thats your
tactic to winning, I dont
respect you.
0 3 . 1 2 . 1 4
AFTER LOSING TO THE
CLIPS, new Warriors big
Jermaine ONeal joins the
hate game, confronting
Grin outside his locker
room; the heated conver-
sation is broken up by an LA
teamocial, after Grin is
overheard telling ONeal to
leave that son the
court. Good luck with that.
Beloved local broadcaster Jim Hill walks
the players tunnel, which is adorned
on all sides by the vaunted Lakers logo [1].
For the Clippers, the tunnel gets a
makeover: images of players from
a star-studded roster [2]. SAM ALIPOUR
1
2
THEYLL NEVER KNOW ME
DEMARCUS COUSINS REFUSES TO PUT ON AN ACTFOR THE MEDIA, THE
REFS OR THE NBATO GET THE RESPECT HE DESERVES. BY TIMKEOWN
GAME
SACRAMENTO
KINGS
AT
LOS ANGELES
LAKERS
FEBRUARY 28
photographs by RAI NER HOSCH 04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 47
JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI /USA TODAY SPORTS 48 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
mention that hes never run afoul of the law.
Nobody approaches a story on Cousins
expecting introspection or examples of his
charitable work. Thats like visiting Las Vegas
to check out the library.
In January, one of his friends took a screen
shot of an NBA TV graphic listing scoring and
rebounding stats of Western Conference
All-Star candidates. On rst glance, everything
seems normal, but a closer look shows that
Cousins is incorrectly listed fth, behind
Anthony Davis, who had lower numbers in
both categories (and still does).
Sitting atop the kitchen counter of his
13,000-square-foot home east of Sacramento,
Cousins eats his second Uncrustableshe peels
of the outer edge of the uncrust as he goesand
drinks a glass of grapefruit juice. He stares at the
graphic for what must be the thousandth time
and shakes his head slowly.
Howcould they do that? Howcould they think
nobody would notice?
One mans coincidence is another mans
conspiracy. Davis was named an All-Star;
Cousins wasnt.
It is harder to change opinions than to create
them, and Cousins is too proud to wage the kind
of eager public relations campaign needed to
begin the process. He has a uniformdisdain for
what he deems as phoniness or politicking. He
physically prevented teammate Isaiah Thomas
fromshaking hands with Chris Paul after a
game this season because he considers Paul a
creation of the establishment, a player whose
persona doesnt mesh with reality. (Google Paul
Cousins op.) After a game last season, Cousins
confronted Spurs broadcaster Sean Elliott when
informed that Elliott had criticized him. The
lowrumble. I hate that Imin this position, he
says. I cant believe it, to be honest.
Its jarring to hear a 23-year-old man speak of
himself with anthropological distance, and even
more jarring to hear the words arrive with such
resignation. There is a person who lives inside
Cousins and an image that does not. The image
is out there, loose in the public arena, like a
balloon after it leaves a childs hand.
He believes he is powerless to stop it, and so
he does not try. He does not knowwhat to do,
and so he does nothing. It is, he admits, an
approach that values personal deance over
mans better instincts. No matter. Hes been
ghting perception and assumption for as long
as he can remember, and he knows some ironies
are crueler than others: Cousins was constantly
mistaken for an adult as a child, only to nd
himself infantilized as an adult.
If you judge me only by my profession, you
dont knowme at all, he says. Those people
who do that? Theyll never knowme.
THEY. ITSAMORPHOUS and malleable, and in
Cousins world, comprehensive. The NBA. The
media. The refs. Anyone who calls himchildish
or immature or troubled. Anyone who mistakes
passion for petulance. Anyone who suggests he
needs to be saved fromhimself.
The NBA, in his view, kept himout of this
seasons All-Star Game despite his double-double
credentials. The media propagate the bad-boy
narrative as if spreading seed, never bothering to
across South Figueroa from Staples Center,
where the Kings are about to play the Lakers
in a heroic efort to sift through the grim
remains of another bad season. Sacramentos
star center is alone, suspended from the game
for giving Rockets guard Patrick Beverley a
gutshot three nights earlier.
This has happened many timesthree
suspensions last seasonbut this year, his fourth
in the NBA, was supposed to be diferent. This
was the year he nally got a coach who didnt
judge on reputation. This was the year his talent
would quiet his temper. This was the year there
would be no nights spent wishing he hadnt put
his worst impulses on public display.
The rain is hitting Figueroa at a 45-degree
slant, bringing LA to a standstill. Cousins clicks
through TV channels, trying to nd the game.
Every local station shows another giddy reporter
standing at a Glendora intersection, where the
rain created a mudslide. He ips through once
more before conceding: The hotel doesnt carry
the network that is broadcasting the game.
Hes not there, and theyre not here. The
isolation is complete.
Inside Staples, Cousins absence is a huge
presence. Standing with a fewreporters 90
minutes before tip-of, rst-year coach Michael
Malone says, DeMarcus feels terrible that hes
not here. Hes worked so hard to get beyond this,
but he has to hold himself to a higher standard.
Three days later, Cousins sits at his home
locker, his wide shoulders hunched, his voice a
ISSITTINGINAHOTEL
ROOMINLOSANGELES,
DEMARCUSCOUSINS
04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 51
NBA suspended him for two games. When the
Spurs were in Sacramento this March, Cousins
extended a hand to Elliott and apologized.
What happened with me and Sean was just
me being man enough to admit I was wrong,
he said. But in classic Cousins fashion, he
complained after the exchange got out: I was
hoping that it was going to be something that
was between me and him.
Business associates and team sources say he
does signicant work in the community but
refuses publicity. They look over a shoulder rst,
as if conding state secrets, before telling of
large donations to charities and free camps
for disadvantaged kids in Sacramento and his
hometown of Mobile, Ala. Says a Kings ofcial,
He could turn his entire image around in
eight weeks if he would let it happen. But says
Cousins, I dont do things to be rewarded. I
help people because its the right thing to do.
His talent is so complete and so unusual for a
6'11", 270-pound man that the Kings gave him
a maximum contract extension (four years,
$62 million) in September and the unofcial
title of face of the franchise. Weve made a
huge commitment, Malone says, not only to
DeMarcus the player, but DeMarcus the person.
But the job description didnt call for Cousins
to become a one-man quarantine. Not only did
his jab of Beverley cost him the Lakers game, he
was hit with two unrelated technical fouls (his
league-leading 14th and 15th) and ned $20,000
for verbally abusing ref Courtney Kirkland.
Technical No. 16 will trigger another one-game
suspension, as will every two Ts afterward.
Following the suspension, Kings fans, among the
most possessive in pro sports, lost their collective
minds while talk radio callers raged about
responsibility and repercussions.
Imnot the rst franchise guy to be suspended
for a game, Cousins says. I shouldnt have done
it, but why does it automatically mean Im a
horrible person? Look at Kevin Garnett. Im
pretty sure hes been suspended as a franchise
guy. But when he does something, its: Hes
passionate. Joakim NoahHes passionate. You
want him on your team. So how does mine come
up? Hes immature. He needs to grow up.
You can call it what you want: bad attitude,
immature. You can say, Hes a thug. But Im a
competitor. Cousins draws out each of those last
three words, like a challenge. Then he raises his
enormous hands and drops them on his knees.
THREE WEEKS, ZERO Ts and zero suspensions
removed from the Lakers game, Cousins stands
in the master bedroom of his Tuscan villastyle
home, complete with a huge pool, small
vineyard and lighted tennis court. Hes sur-
rounded by his most cherished possessions:
sneakers. Hundreds and hundreds of size 16
kickseach pair out-of-the-box cleanfan
out from every corner, meticulously arranged
in colorful arrays, like army men or stufed
animals. He goes over them pair by pair, quietly
and intensely, like a jeweler choosing stones.
These are all exclusive, he says, cracking the
merest hint of a smile. Im a pretty exclusive
guy. Its how I roll.
Smiling does not come naturally, unless he is
playing with his pit bulls, Gotti and Capone. His
perpetual on-court scowl is often mistaken for
unhappiness, but he says, If I started smiling all
the time, people would say, DeMarcus must not
care anymore.
In another seeming paradox, Cousins is slow
to trust and yet loyal to a fault. He grew up in
Mobile with ve siblings and a single mother,
but he has been constantly surrounded by men
with something to gain since he quit football for
basketballat his mothers insistenceas a tall,
gangly middle schooler. Hes been that size from
an early age, says Kentucky assistant Orlando
Antigua, who coached Cousins during his
one-and-done 2009-10 season. Even though he
was 15 or 16, adults treated him like a grown
man. His family situation wasnt always the best,
but his mom was always a rock.
Cousins says he took to the game quicklyhe
snaps his ngerslike that. By the time he got
to high school, he was holding his own against
older men on the street courts of Mobile. They
understood where I was coming from, Cousins
says. Of course they said Channel the emotion,
because sometimes Id go too far. But it was
never, Hes immature or He has to grow up.
Soon, the kid had an unending succession of
hopeful mentors. AAU coaches wanted to make
him their star; college coaches wanted a title and
to make him a pro; pro coaches wanted to make
him the savior of their franchise. The issue
with DeMarcus is the trust factor, Antigua says.
Theres a wall there. He keeps only certain
people inside, people he can trust who are not
going to hurt him.
His pit bulls (meet
Gotti) and vast
collection of kicks
bring out Cousins
sunnier side.
52 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
Former Kings coaches Paul Westphal and
Keith Smart were unable to inltrate the wall.
In Westphals case, a public feud over Cousins
commitment to the teamcost himhis job seven
games into the lockout-shortened 2011-12
season. Smart was promoted to head coach but
went 4893, and his relationship with Cousins
soured as the losses mounted. He was red last
May with one year left on his contract. As soon
as Malone and GMPete DAlessandro were
hired, they took a trip to Mobile to meet with
Cousins and his mom, Monique.
This is a partnership, Malone told Cousins.
I wont hold your past against you, and I would
ask that you do the same for me.
Cousins me-against-the-world mentality can
seemlimiting, but consider this: Three days
after the Lakers game, The Sacramento Bee
polled readers asking howmany technicals
Cousins would amass by the end of the season.
It included this line: What we dont knowis
howmuch more of Cousins behavior new
Kings principal owner Vivek Ranadive and
[DAlessandro] will tolerate before they
decide 22.3 points and 11.6 rebounds per
game arent worth the headache that comes
with the package.
Some facts: The Kings have lost all 10 games
without Cousins this season. Through March 26,
he ranked 10th in scoring (22.5 ppg), fth in
rebounding (11.8 rpg), tied for third in double-
doubles (45) and fth in Player Efciency
Rating, behind only Kevin Durant, LeBron
James, Kevin Love and Anthony Davis. Cousins
had 15 Ts, just two more than Blake Grifn, one
of the NBAs most beloved player-salesmen.
The image is out there, though, drifting with
the wind, asking: Is he worth it?
Leaning back in his ofce chair, Malone slowly
exhales. He talks the way a fullback runs, head
down, straight up the middle, searching for
something to hit. When things go wrong for the
Kings, he clenches his eyes and pinches his nose
with his right thumb and forenger. He seems
like the kind of guy wholl either succeed wildly
or get worn smooth by the grind of living and
dying with every game played.
I dont get a lot of this stuf, he says. Hes
having the best year of his career. He should
be an All-Star. Hes already shown that
arguablyhes the best center in the league.
But his biggest jump will come from handling
adversity and being comfortable when hes
uncomfortable. When he can do that, its scary
to think how good he can be.
IT FEELSINCUMBENT to explain Cousins ability,
to isolate his talent without the static.
There is a rawfury to his game, a pitiless
aggression that proves he is not furthering a
brand or smiling for the camerasor even
aware of them. He is not, in a metaphysical
sense, watching himself to sway the undecided.
He is simply balling.
At his size, he has such a unique all-around
gamequick feet, sure hands and a feathery
shooting touch with rangethat ceding any
aspect of it to his teammates can seemlike
needless subservience. On Dec. 27, in the second
quarter of a home win over the Heat, a game in
which Cousins had 27 points, 17 boards and ve
assists, he snared a Miami miss and dribbled
downcourt to the three-point arc, lofting an
alley-oop to Rudy Gay for an easy two.
I dont think Ima player whos in a box or
limited in what I can do, Cousins says. Its a gift
and a curse. The curse is picking spots.
There are fewpersonal touches on the walls of
his mansion, but there are two framed action
shots of himdunking over cowering opponents.
Mitch Richmond and Chris Webber jerseys sit
on the vast kitchen counter next to a stack of
Cousins trademark headbands. He picks up the
Richmond jersey, an All-Star uni, and folds it
neatly before placing it back on the counter.
Asked whether he is hurt about not being
named to the team, he answers, Absolutely. I
hear its because Imon a losing team, but Kyrie
Irving was a reserve with [16] wins. Anthony
Davis? Same story. So you cant sell me on that.
Agitated, he stops and sighs. He runs his hand
across his forehead and down his face.
[The fans] pick who they want to pick, he
says. That goes with the reputation. I can
accept that. But I was at done wrong [by the
coaches]. And its clear as day.
THE VAGARIESOF hotel channels spared Cousins
the sight of the Kings 126-122 loss to the Lakers.
But the next night hes on the court for a home
loss to the Timberwolves, and when the Pelicans
come to town two nights later, Cousins is intent
on ending the Kings three-game skid.
He returns to his locker after a pregame
workout to nd a poster board of Bill Kennedy,
Bennie Adams and Scott Twardoski staring at
him. They are the games ofciating crew, and
their smiling mugs were hung there by the Kings
assistants. The inference is obvious. Look at
these guys: human beings, men with families
and dreams and mothers who love them.
Theyre messing with me, Cousins says of
his coaches. That a joke could carry a message
doesnt seemto strike himas a possibility.
That night he outscores (23-13) and out-
rebounds (12-4) Anthony Davis as the Kings
win. During this game and over the next 10,
he will not pick up a T or the suspension
that comes with it.
Which isnt to say the nal 11 games will be
easy. Far fromit. Late in the second quarter
against the Pelicans, Cousins is called for a
bizarre ofensive foul after he tries to run
through an Alexis Ajinca headlock. In the third
quarter, Cousins is whistled for a charge on a
play that could have gone either way.
As soon as the call is made, he bounces of
the oor and jogs to the other end of the court,
where he stops under the basket. Then he stares
heavenwardhead thrown back, arms out-
stretched to the sky, all aloneas if seeking help
fromthe only place left to turn.
THE FANS PICKWHO
THEY WANT. I CANACCEPT THAT.
BUT I WAS FLAT DONE WRONG
BY THE COACHES. ANDITS
CLEARAS DAY.
yO For ITS.
photograph by ANDREW D. BERNSTEI N
NBAE/GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE
54 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
YOUCANSEE the tank even
on the plays that work.
Its Feb. 28, and the
Lakers hold a late four-
point lead against the
Kings in a game both
teams would be better of
losing. LA guard MarShon
Brooks dribbles outside,
ostensibly waiting for
Pau Gasol to set a screen.
Before Gasol can get there,
though, Brooks takes of.
Gasols defender, Jason
Thompson, shows no
interest in pick-and-roll D,
so Kings guard Isaiah
Thomas must decide
whether to stop Brooks or
guard against a Jordan
Farmar corner three. He
does neither. Brooks hits an
of-balance runner, sealing
a rare win for LA. The
home crowd slowly rises
fromits slumber. Its been
that kind of game. Its
been that kind of season.
In truth, the neon lights
had zzled on the NBAs
alpha franchise 322 days
earlier, the night Kobe
Bryant tore his Achilles on
a post-up bait-and-switch
move hed done millions of
times before. It was the
moment the Lakers entered
tank mode. But really,
whats so bad about that?
Throughout the season,
THE UPSIDE TO TANKING
In The Mags study of the standings since 1990-91, we found that, on average,
the 29th-best team from a season surpassed the No. 17 team (i.e., the last team eliminated
from the playos) from that same season in just three years. So yeah, tanking works.
the specter of tanking has
been a hot-button issue,
raised by everyone from
Coach Kto commissioner
AdamSilver as ruinous to
the game. But what if
theyre missing the point?
What if tanking were
merely a viable, time-
tested method to build a
contender? (See chart.)
Consider: Of the 10
contenders this season
through March 26those
with a 2% or better chance
of winning a title, per
John Hollingers playof
oddsnine have been in
the lottery within the past
six years. And of the
past 10 champs, nine had
superstars (players with a
PER in the 97th percen-
tile) drafted in the lottery.
Simply put, losing is a
prelude to success.
But what of the fans! the
protesters cry. Theres an
argument to be made that
fans buy into hope, says
Mavs owner Mark Cuban.
And while tanking doesnt
work when ve or more
teams are doing it, it may
be the best way to continue
to connect to fans.
So what should those
Lakers fans think as they
shufe out of Staples
Center? Their team might
have wonwhich is
unfortunatebut it is in
the midst of its worst
season in 54 years. And
theres that $20 million in
cap space to look forward
toand, better yet, that
lottery pick come June.
Bradford Doolittle
TO LIVE AND TANK IN LA
Other than Gasol and
Bryant, howmany
Lakers can you name?
FOR MORE ON NBA
TANKING, VISIT
ESPN.COMAND SEARCH:
DOOLITTLE MAG
0.2
0.3
0.6
0.5
0.4
YEAR 1 STARTING POINT YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR 5
No. 30
No. 29
No. 28
Winning %
Average No. 17 team
TH R.
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56 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 CLOCKWI SE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: GREGG SEGAL; ANDREW D. BERNSTEI N/NBAE/
GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE; JEFF GROS; KOHJI RO KI NNO
Stephen Curry loosens his lower extremities (top) prior to
tip-o against the Clippers. Lakers reserve Robert Sacre
hits the weight room for a pregame stretch with
strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco.
PHOTO PORTFOLIO
IN GAME
THE STAPLES OF STAPLES
04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 57
During the Lakers player introductions, the 58-foot-high
curtain screen drops from the scoreboard. Minutes later,
Jason Thompson, 27, the Kings oldest starter, battles with
Pau Gasol, the Lakers lone healthy star, at tip-o (above).
CENTER
58 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 CLOCKWI SE FROM TOP: GREGG SEGAL (2); CHRI S MCPHERSON
IN GAME
KINGS
AT LAKERS
WARRIORS
AT CLIPPERS
The Clippers crowd gets loose to
the sounds of DJ Dense (top),
who spins a diverse playlist that on
this night includes Guns N Roses,
Drake and OG Bobby Johnson. High
atop Staples is the control room
(above), where a 14-member crew
corrals the arenas seven camera
feeds in search of candidates for
the Lakers Kiss Cam.
60 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 FROM TOP: DONALD MI RALLE; GREGG SEGAL
In the fourth, Blake Grin throws
down an amazing putback dunk.
ESPN Sport Science says he was
airborne for 0.9 of a second,
just 0.02 less than Michael Jordans
hang time for his iconic
free-throw-line jam. Just o court,
Willie Greens son, Ross, feeds a
no-look dime inside the Kids Club
Room day care. The nanny says
the groups unocial leader and
game organizer is CP3s son,
Chris Emmanuel Paul II (far right).
SAM ALIPOUR
FIRST & SECOND ROUNDS
APRIL 10TH & 11TH
62 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
GAME
WARRIORS
AT
CLIPPERS
MARCH 1 2
HES SHORT, HES SKINNY, HES DEADLY. HOW
STEPHEN CURRY
IS REINVENTING SHOOTING BEFORE OUR EYES.
BY DAVID FLEMING
THE MOST
PERFECT 0.4
SECONDS
IN SPORTS
photographs by NOAH GRAHAM
IT BEGINS WITH A MISS.
64 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 photograph by KOHJI RO KI NNO
PREVI OUS SPREAD: NOAH GRAHAM/NBAE/GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE (6)
The yellow digits of the Staples Center game
clock blink down to 6:35 as Clippers guard
Willie Greens three-pointer from the right
corner sails exactly where his feet are pointed.
The shot ricochets, hard, of the front of the
rim to the backboard and into the waiting
hands of Golden States Draymond Green,
who lands, turns and pushes the ball to guard
Steph Curry. In the next seven seconds of the
second quarter, Curry will reveal the art and
science behind the best shot in NBA history.
Gliding toward halfcourt, Curry turns his left
shoulder back to Green and catches the pass
softly with his right hand, letting gravity bring
the ball down to the rst key: his dribble.
Curry, 26, is the eldest son of Dell Curry, who
himself shot 40.2% from three-point range
during a 16-year NBA career, mostly in
Charlotte, that ended in 2002. Froma very
young age, Steph learned howto shoot at the
knee of a master, throwing tiny tantrums when
he couldnt accompany his father to Hornets
practicenot because he wanted to see his dads
famous friends but because he wanted to work
on his shot. Much like that of Tiger Woods, Barry
Bonds and Peyton Manning before him, Stephs
drive to perfect the complex mechanics of his
sport was born from a powerful, subconscious
urge to mimic, and then metamorphose, his
fathers smooth and vertical three-pointer.
At 9, Curry was the smallest kid on his rec
league team, brought of the bench only when
his coach needed to shoot defenses out of
the zone. The zone buster, Curry says with
pride. It all developed from there.
Whats on display at this moment, however,
as he oats across the midcourt stripe, is
something no one ever talks about: Currys
ballhandling skills. Those he got from his 5'3"
mother, Sonya, a lovely, strong-willed woman
who played point guard in high school and
volleyball at Virginia Tech, where she met Dell.
If I dribbled four times, that was about my
limitI had to shoot it or pass it, says Dell.
We knew early on Steph could shoot with good
form. But he was a better ballhandler before he
was a shooter, and people miss that. What he
can do shooting of the dribble? Those are my
wow moments. Thats his mother.
Currys rst dribble up court is in front of his
right foot. In between his rst and second
Once Curry (with ball) saw his
defenders feet, he knew that only
execution could keep him from
his 200th three of the season.
GROWA SET
OF GILLS.
The vented design of the Airgill Chill Zero fishing shirt provides
maximum airflow around your back and torso. The Omni-Freeze
ZERO ri ngs react wi th your sweat to l ower the temperature
of the fabric for ultimate cooling. Col umbi a.com/PFG
66 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 photograph by JEFF GROS
dribbles, he surveys the court. A perfect
diamond has formed. Teammate Steve Blake is
ying up the left wing, while Clippers guard
Darren Collison trails Curry by two steps down
the middle. Curry doesnt care about either right
now. Hes reading the huge bright-blue sneakers
of the lone man back on defense, 6'9" Danny
Granger; hes waiting, hoping, that the forward
will instinctively sag down from the top of the
key to protect the rim of his home court from an
easy layup or, worse, a thunderous dunk.
This is where Currys preternatural poise,
instincts and intelligence manifest themselves:
in his shot selection. As Larry Bird once did,
Curry seems to understand what a defender
will do before the player himself knows. Its
an increasingly crucial skill, given that
desperate defenses, like that of the Clippers
at this moment, often will try to disrupt the
slight Curry (6'3", 185 pounds) before he nds
his shooting rhythm. Everyone else reacts,
Curry anticipates and reads, brilliantly, says
David Thorpe, ESPN NBA analyst and
executive director of the Pro Training Center
in Clearwater, Fla. Thats where Steph is best,
maybe the best in the NBA: nding that
opening where there doesnt appear to be one.
Thats the art in all this. Because it doesnt
matter how great your shot is or how pure your
mechanics are if you cant ever get open.
Curry still isnt sure about Granger. He
needs to be. This is an important shot for the
Warriors. Theyve missed 12 of their last 13 from
the eld and already trail the far more physical
Clippers 37-33. Nursing a right quad strain,
Curry is 1-for-4. Its also a potentially historic
shot for Curry. In 2012-13, he set an NBA
record with 272 three-pointers in a season.
At this moment, the fth-year player leads the
league again with 199 threes while also having
the third-highest three-point percentage in NBA
history (43.8). A make frombeyond the arc will
give Curry the franchise record for consecutive
games with a three-pointer (54). It will also
make himjust the sixth player in history to hit
200 threes in back-to-back seasons.
I love everything about shooting, says
Curry, but mostly that perfect form, when your
body is in rhythm from the time you plant your
feet to the time you release the ball. When it
happens, everything is very smooth and calm
from your feet through your release. Everything
moves through you like a wave, almost. Its a
beautiful thing.
Curry looks a millisecond longer. Granger
glances to his right at Blake on the wing. Thats
all Curry needs. His second dribble is across his
body to the outside of his left foot. Still moving
at full speed, Curry absorbs and banks all his
lateral motion and forward momentum,
planting his feet softly, at the very edge of the
red three-point line, as if stepping into a pair of
slipperstoes and feet perfectly aligned to the
target. Then, borrowing a move from Hall of
Famer Jerry West, Curry compresses his right
knee, hip, torso, elbow and wrist into a perfectly
stacked vertical coil before adding an almost
imperceptible amount of extra force to his nal
dribble. Most shooters set their feet, focus on
the rim, compress their lower body and then lift
and launch. Curry eliminates any wasted time
and energy by riding that nal, slightly higher
bounce up of the oor, instantaneously
triggering his shooting motion.
Hes not just the purest, greatest shooter to
ever play the game, says Adam Filippi, the
Bobcats director of international scouting,
whose book on shooting techniques has been
translated into four languages. His elevation-
type shot is redening and revolutionizing the
art of shooting.
The game clock reads 6:31. The ball rises up
Currys body into the ideal shooting pocket just
below his chest, while his middle nger and
forengerhis shooting forksearch instinc-
tively for a seam at the center of the ball. As the
ball continues its ascent, his right palm bends
back at until the skin of his wrist begins to
wrinkle. The last thing Granger or any defender
wants to see in this situation are the 16 Hebrew
characters that Curry, in June, had tattooed on
the inside of his shooting wrist. By the time
that message from Corinthians (love never
fails) ashes, its too late.
The ball rests on Currys ngers, of his palm.
His thumbs form a T on the left side of the ball.
His entire right arm, tucked tight to his ribs,
continues to rise with near-perfect 90-degree
uniformity: shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist,
wrist to ngertips, like a waiter using a palm to
carry a heavy tray of dishes back to the kitchen.
Curry doesnt see ittheres no way he
couldbut the Clippers Glen Davis, a
289-pound power forward, is closing fast from
Curry looks unassuming,
but hes made more
threes at a higher rate
than anyone through
ve seasons.
17,673 votes through March 26
WHAT IS THE NBAS MOST LETHAL WEAPON?
LeBron James
dribble drive
Kevin Durants
step-back
jumper
Steph Currys
pull-up
three-pointer
Chris Pauls
crossover
dribble drive
Dirk Nowitzkis
one-foot
fallaway jumper
24
%
20
%
15
%
37
%
4
%
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and all your little monsters. Plus a few chickens, an ogre and a king prawn. toyota.com/highlander
Prototype shown with options. Production model may vary. 2014 Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. Muppets 2014 Disney
ROOMFOR THE WHOLE CREW.
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68 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
behind. The guard needs to hurry. A huge key
to Currys accuracy is his ability to maintain
biomechanical form under duress, and that all
hinges on the integrity of his right elbow. The
farther it ails to the outside (shooting coaches
call it chicken-winging), the less likely he is to
score. As a kid, Curry mastered tight-elbow
discipline by lying in bed and throwing a
balled-up sock as close to the ceiling as he could,
without touching it, hundreds of times a night.
Keeping that elbow in as his body rises,
Curry seamlessly transfers the kinetic energy
from his coiled lower body, rst to the vertical
portion of his shot and then to the levers (arm,
wrist and ngers) that control the force and
trajectory of the ball. The more economical his
movement, the more efcient and accurate
his shot. But perfect mechanics arent enough.
They must be so ingrained in his muscle
memory that his motion can be awlessly
repeated in nearly all circumstances.
That alone, says Warriors coach Mark
Jackson, is what sets Curry apart from both
peers and predecessors. We havent seen
anybody else with his ability to be a great
shooter across the board, he says. Meaning,
stop and pop. Meaning, of motion. Meaning,
pick-and-roll. Meaning, split the pick-and-roll
and shoot of one leg. Meaning, step back and
shoot over two guys trapping. Meaning, any
way you can name how to shoot a basketball,
Steph Curry is a great shooter. We have never
seen anybody on that level. Steve Nash played at
a high level, a two-time MVP and an incredible
shooterthis is a diferent level. Reggie Miller,
incredible shooter. Chris Mullin, incredible
shooter. Guys I played with, Dale Ellis, Dell
Curry, incredible shooters. But they didnt have
the total package. They arent coming of a trap
and lifting from 30. This guy just has no limits.
Shooting touch is a bit of a misnomer. It isnt
bestowed, its built, through ungodly, torturous
repetitionshot by shot, day by day, year by
year, until the complex kinetic chain of
movements is burned into the muscles. Curry
has never lacked the motivation for that kind
of solitary lab work. Barely six feet and
150 pounds as a senior at Charlotte Christian
School, he received no scholarship ofers from
major schools and instead chose tiny Davidson
College, north of his hometown of Charlotte.
Two years later, still unable to grow a mustache,
Curry single-handedly led the Wildcats to the
Elite Eight. I have heard what people say about
me ever since high school, he says. Im too
small to play in college, then same thing in the
NBA. Im not gonna be able to play point guard,
then Im not a true point guard, and even this
past October, I still nd it funny that GMs voted
me the third-best shooting guard. I havent
reached my potential yet. So I hold myself to a
higher standard; its a conscious mission to gure
out ways to constantly make myself better.
That includes ring up to 1,000 shots before
every practice. It also includes a game-day
shootaround ritual in which Curry res long
twos and threes from seven perimeter stations,
never moving from one to the next until he
sinks 10 of 13 shots. On a good day, the whole
exercise takes less than nine minutes. An hour
or so before the game comes a vigorous routine
that lasts anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes and
focuses on ballhandling, lefthanded shooting,
visualization and, on the Warriors home court
inside Oracle Arena, a nal series of four shots
from 60 feet down the baseline, launched all
the way from the tunnel that leads to the locker
room. He usually makes half.
But the real trick before tip-of, says Curry, is
to step on the court and forget it all. Theres
so much ying at you during the game, theres
no time to think, Oh, am I elbow in? Did I
bend my knees enough? says Curry. You have
to rely on the fact that you put the work in to
create the muscle memory and then trust that
it will kick in. The reason you practice and
work on it so much is so that during the game
your instincts take over to a point where it feels
weird if you dont do it the right way.
One of Currys shot barometers is his left
hand. He keeps it paralyzed throughout his
motion, allowing it to guide and balance the
ball but never pushing, directing or spinning it.
The left hand is the gatekeeper, protecting the
ball and, when its time, swinging open, with
the ngers pointing to the ight path, to allow
the shot to pass through.
The game clock now reads 6:30. Davis is
close enough that Curry feels the rumble of his
giant footsteps. As Curry extends his legs and
begins to lift of the court, one of the more
remarkable traits of the games best jump shot
comes into view: Its not a jump shot at all.
Not even close. Classic jump-shooters, like
Ray Allen, use a more athletic, two-part process,
elevating high above defenders and then
launching the ball at their apex with a atter
shot arcaround 45 degrees. Currys toes,
however, barely leave the earth. Instead, he
releases the ball as he is still rising, accomplish-
ing in one movement what most shooters must
do in multiple, deliberate steps. By doing this,
Curry adds 10 degrees of arc to the ight of his
ball, making it nearly impossible to block. (Only
33 of Currys 1,189 shots this season, through
March 27, were blocked.) It also translates into
19%more space inside the rimfor Currys ball to
travel through, according to ESPNs Sport Science.
This is the moment where the art and science of
STILL A LONG SHOT
To predict Golden States postseason fate, Insider
Kevin Pelton looked at the oensive and defensive
ratings of every playo team since 1983-84 and
found the 10 clubs most similar to these Warriors.
Then Pelton calculated a playo success score for
each of those 10 teams based on the following
formula: four points for making the playos (three
prior to 2003, when the rst round added two
games), a point for a playo win, minus-one for
a playo loss and four points for a series win.
Finally, he averaged those 10 scores to arrive at
the Warriors projected playo rating of 11.1,
which indicates that Steph & Co. will barely reach
the conference nals and be ousted quickly.
With an elite D (No. 3 rating through 71 games) and a
slightly above average O (No. 13) led by a lights-out
gunner, the Warriors closely resemble two recent NBA
nalists: the 2001 76ers (lost to the Lakers) and the
2010 Lakers (beat the Celtics). But Curry has yet to
prove he can carry his team the way A.I. and Kobe did.
WARRIORS PROJECTED PLAYOFF SUCCESS
FIRST-ROUND LOSERS
(0-3 POINTS)
SECOND-ROUND LOSERS
(5-9)
NBA FINALISTS
(15-24)
CHAMPS
(24+)
0
10
20
30
36
P L A Y O F F P R E V I E W
WARRIORS AT
CLIPPERS
11.1
Did you know?
Your subscription includes FREE Insider, the
all-access pass to ESPNs premium digital content.
For full access, go to:
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70 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 photograph by JEFF GROS
Currys shot intersect with his mechanics
to create something wholly originaleven
revolutionary. All the best parts of his motion
evolved from his alleged shortcomings. Currys
slight stature requires his shot to be fast. Fast
requires that the mechanics must be awless
and give him a lower release point for more arc.
More arc translates to well, the Clippers are
about to nd out.
Without ever taking his eyes of the rim,
Curry moves to nish his shot. From his toes
through his torso to the top of his head, his
body is so vertical, he looks as if hes coming
down from the ceiling, not jumping toward it.
His shooting elbow passes shoulder height, still
at a perfect 90-degree angle. And when his
arms are straight and extended overhead
elbow over eye, shooters call itthe left hand
opens. The path of the ball, like the elbow, stays
clean and true, riding the beginning of a
Vitruvian arc; it doesnt hitch backward over
the crown of his head or veer to the side.
Now the wrist begins its ection. The ball
lifts of the tip of his index nger, then of the
tip of his middle nger. His palm falls, his
ngers nowextended to the oor. The left arm
stays perfectly still. The head never moves.
They are the ballast maintaining Currys
horizontal balance in midair.
To Currys right, referee Gary Zielinski shoots
his left hand into the air to signal three. Granger
ails toward Curry. Only 0.4 of a second elapses
from the time he starts his shot to the time he
releases it. (It takes a human eye about 0.3 to
blink.) The shot comes so fast, in fact, that
Collison, now at the top of the key, seems to
stumble sideways out of sheer surprise. An
average NBA player needs almost 0.6 of a
second to shoot. The 0.2 Curry saves with his
mechanics and release buys him more than
three feet of extra space. He needs it. Just after
the ball leaves Currys ngertips, Davis lunges
at him from behind, swiping his right hand
across Currys midsection.
One of the few thoughts that Curry allows
when he shoots is a reminder to hold a high,
straight-armed swan neck follow-through
elbow straight, palm down, ngers dangling
as if the rim were his own giant cookie jar.
Its a tribute, of sorts, to his pops. But at
Staples Center, from behind, it looks more like
Michael Jordans iconic pose after his series
winner in Utah. The clock reads 6:29 as Currys
shot, still rising toward its peak of 14 feet, passes
directly over Granger halfway down the key.
Before the game, boyish smile on his face,
Curry had laughed, shrugging his shoulders
and saying, yeah, he knows the second the ball
leaves his hands. As his shot now begins its
descent toward the rim, he drops both arms
behind his back, palms up, chest out, like a
bullghter. Yeah, he knows. Theres a diference
between shooters and shot makers, says West.
This kid is a shot maker.
A little boy seated two rows behind the
Warriors bench, with a wavy shock of black
hair and a T-shirt that reads if i ruled the
world, raises both arms in unison with the
ref. He knows too.
The yellow digits of the game clock blink
to 6:28.
It ends with a swish.
WHEN YOUR BODY IS
MOVES THROUGH YOU
ITS A BEAUTIFUL THING.
IN RHYTHM, EVERYTHING
LIKE A WAVE.
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THE BLAKE GRIFFIN
POP QUIZ
YOUVOTEDHIM to four All-Star Games. You
tweet his GIFs, you stalk him on YouTube
and, if youre a Warriors fan, you see his
March 12 dunk in your nightmares. But how
well do you really know Blake Grifn? Test
your knowledge by taking our quizwatch
out for the pump fakes!and then read the
real answers from Grifn himself. Or dont.
Frankly, he doesnt care what you do. He has
other things on his mind like winning
titles. And squashing Justin Bieber rumors.
photograph by ANDREW D. BERNSTEI N 04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 73
Q: Howmany points and rebounds did No. 32 have
against the Warriors? If you answered 30 and
15including one epic fourth-quarter rimrattler,
youre already in the bonus. Turn the page to
give-and-go on more Grin trivia.
WE PUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE
OF LAS CHARISMATIC CLIPPER
TO THE TEST. BY SAMALIPOUR
GAME
MARCH 1 2
AT
GOLDEN STATE
WARRIORS
LOS ANGELES
CLIPPERS
Chris Paul says the No. 1
reason for Blakes career
year is his improved
confidence. Blake says
Paul is .
A Absolutely right. Confidence is
everything.
B Half right. Its also the product of
many reps last summer.
C Half right. Docs coaching is the
other half.
D An idiot and almost always wrong.
Blakes biggest pet peeve is .
A Food pics. I get it: You eat. I eat too.
Lets move on.
B Bad drivers. I get mini road rage
every time I get behind the wheel in LA.
C International despots. Stay in your
lane, Putin. Stay in your lane.
D Reporters who ask me what my
biggest pet peeve is.
Blake has a pregame routine.
For example, before the
Warriors game, he .
A Packed a meal; drove solo; listened to
the Weeknd.
B Drove with his boy, Petey; listened to
Drake; ate at Umami Burger.
C Rode with DeAndre Jordan; listened
to DeAndre sing; ate at In-N-Out.
D Hitchhiked; listened to Huey Lewis on
his Walkman; ate cotton candy.
By the time he fell asleep on
March 12, Blake had watched
video of his tomahawk
putback slam times.
A Zero. How many times did Al Pacino
watch The Godfather?
B Four or five. Doc kept replaying it for
the guys.
C Once, while lying in bed.
D I lost count. And I love myself.
The former Slam Dunk Contest
champ says theres a
chance that hell compete in
another dunk competition.
A 100%. Thats the deal I made with Kia.
B 50%. The timing has to be right.
C 10%. Its just too tiring.
D 0%. Im busy enough posterizing
the Warriors.
Once known as a player whom
opponents begged to shoot,
Blake now has a reliable
15-footer and, as seen during
the Warriors game, a stellar
bank shot that was inspired by
.
A Larry Bird, the renowned marksman
and Hall of Famer.
B Tim Duncan, modern-day master of
the bank.
C His dad, Tommy, who balled at
Northwestern Oklahoma State.
D The Warriors temporary lack of
anything resembling an NBA defense.
If Blake had actually witnessed
Justin Bieber verbally abusing
a Starbucks barista, he says he
would have .
A Stepped in and helped out.
B Slapped him, but soft and gentle.
C Gotten Biebers number and gotten
him in a YouTube video.
D Shook his hand. Baristas are evil.
Blake is often the recipient of
overly physical play. He thinks
its because .
A Guys think they can rattle me,
I guess.
B They dont like getting dunked on.
C Im a physical player.
D NBA players are just so darn mean.
Blakes favorite newhobby is .
A Paddleboarding. Its a chance to get
away from people.
B Surfing. Its a chance to get away
from people.
C Paintball. Its a chance to play with
pretty colors.
D Playing with Big Babys belly rolls.
8
4
7
3
6
2
Blake is scared to death of .
A Skydiving. My worst nightmare.
B Sharks. They just freak me out.
C Power forwards. Im more of a 3.
D Serge Ibaka. Dude just wont stop
hitting me in the nuts.
The rst time Blake met Michael
Jordan, MJ made him .
A Cough.
B An ice cream sundae.
C Kiss his ring.
D Kiss his rear end.
On Blakes Mount Rushmore of
the NBA are .
A Michael Jordan, Bill Russell,
Magic Johnson and LeBron James.
B Jordan, Russell, Magic and Larry Bird.
C Jordan, Russell, Magic and Wilt
Chamberlain.
D Four really big selfies of Jordan.
Blake says hed need to earn
rings in order to walk
away from the game happy.
A Four. A guy as great as Tim Duncan
only has that many.
B Five, like Kobe.
C Six or seven. MJ is the pinnacle.
D One, so long as its a wedding ring.
Im a hopeless romantic.
Blake puts the Clippers
chances of winning the NBA
title in June at .
A Very likely.
B 50-50.
C Unlikely, if were being real.
D Zero. Shoulda traded me for Melo.
12
11
13
14
10
5
1
9
A Its confidence, for sure, but
last summer was the first time I was
completely healthy. The summer
before, I went straight to Team USA,
got hurt and had surgery.
B Bad drivers. The other day
I saw a lady reading a book while
driving. I was like, What are you
doing?! But I have tinted windows,
so she couldnt see me.
A I always drive by myself and
listen to preset stations on Sirius,
and no rap. Before a game, I prefer
R&B and stuff that calms me down,
like the Weeknd. I used to eat in the
car, but that got dangerous.
C Honestly, just once. When
I turned on the TV, they were
recapping our game. For that dunk,
everything had to be perfectthe
spot, the timing and the bounce.
B The timing has to be right.
I have to be healthy going into it,
and they have to do away with the
new format. Not a fan.
C My dad, all the way. Hes been
telling me to shoot the bank since
I was a kid.
A It was funny to hear that Id
slapped Bieber. I thought it was a
joke. Then it blew up. I probably got
50 texts about it.
C I dont go into a situation
trying to knock somebody over. Its
just the way I play: physical.
A I paddleboarded a few times
last summer and plan to do it a lot
more. Its a chance to get away and
not think about anything.
B If I saw a shark, Id paddle to
shore and find another hobby.
A The most starstruck Ive ever
been was at the Jordan Brand
Classic. He shook my hand and said,
Youre getting bigger, big fella.
Then he smacked my chest so hard,
it made me cough. So he literally
took my breath away.
B Itd be an unbelievable honor
to bump one of them someday.
C Look at Bill Russells 11
rings; that was a different day.
A If we get everybody healthy?
I like our chances.
74 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
ANSWER KEY
BLAKE GRIFFIN: IN THE ZONE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
PREVI OUS PAGE: ANDREW D. BERNSTEI N/NBAE/GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE
FOR MORE FROM GRIFFIN,
GO TO ESPN.COM AND SEARCH:
BLAKE GRIFFIN MAG
Entering 2013-14, the only zone where Griffin was an above-NBA-average
shooter was at the rim. But thanks to two new midrange sweet spots this season,
he projects (as of March 24) to a career high in win shares of 12.7.
2013-14
2011-12
2012-13
Griffins
sweet spots
photograph by NOAH GRAHAM 76 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
04/14/2014 ESPN The Magazi ne 77
STRAIGHT TO THE POINT
GOLDEN STATE
WARRIORS
AT
LOS ANGELES
CLIPPERS
MARCH 1 2
CHRIS PAUL IS THE SUPERSTAR, BUT THE
BIGGEST DIFFERENCE MAKER FOR THE
CLIPPERS? DOC RIVERS. BY KATE FAGAN
GAME
THI S PAGE: ANDREW D. BERNSTEI N/NBAE/GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE;
PREVI OUS SPREAD: NOAH GRAHAM/NBAE/GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE
78 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
maker may be the guy standing on the sideline.
Most fans assume that if the Clips are going
to avoid bowing out in the rst round of the
playofs again and make a deep run, theyll need
Paul and power forward Blake Grifn to be
superhero versions of themselves: more dimes,
more dunks, more dominance. But what theyll
really need, Rivers believes, is more trust. And
the coach is steadily building it, hoping his
players will see his constant tiny adjustments
not as an irritation but as a path to an NBA title.
NBA PLAYERS OFTEN complain about wasted
time: sitting in the lm room or standing on
the practice court for no urgent reason.
According to several Clippers, Del Negro
routinely held long lm sessions, showing
various views on the same error, hammering
home one point from a dozen angles. For some
coaches, just one moreone more clip, one
extra drill, one last time throughcan feel like
the diference between winning and losing.
But the best teams make a habit of doing
things once, correctly. So Rivers will show a clip
or make an adjustment, ask if everyone is on
the same page, then move on. During one
stretch in March, the Clippers didnt practice
for two weeks; they simply made tweaks during
shootarounds. After the win over the Warriors,
Rivers cancels the next days practice, telling
his team to meet at 3 p.m. to catch the bus to
the airport. In exchange for less court time, he
expects to see a higher level of focus and energy
during games. A lot of coaches arent so secure
in themselves, says Clippers reserve forward
Jared Dudley. They would worry someone
from the front ofce might look in and say,
Hey, why havent they been practicing? Most
coaches would overpractice you.
Still, running Rivers ofense is a demanding
job. Its no secret that he butted heads with
Rajon Rondo in Boston; now, though, the two
trade text messages on a regular basis. Overall,
I have amazing relationships with the point
guards who have played for me, Rivers says.
But obviously there are ups and downs.
Sometimes I go over the line.
Rivers came to the Clippers with a reputation
as a players coach. But just as reading a
Paul is a seven-time
All-Star, but Rivers is
still pushing himto play
to his full potential.
Rivers knew there would be nights like this.
In fact, he predicted it at the start of the season,
his rst with the Clippers after nine seasons,
and one NBA championship, with the Celtics.
Early in training camp, Rivers laid it out for his
new team: This is going to be a love-hate
relationship. Sometimes youre going to hate me,
because some of you havent heard the truth
about your games in a very long time, and thats
exactly what Im going to give you.
Only a few coaches have the cachet, the job
security, to criticize their star players day in
and day out, asking for tweaks that may seem
insignicant in the moment but are intended
to produce big changes at the end of a play and
even bigger ones at the end of a game. Rivers,
52, is one of those coaches. Vinny Del Negro,
who was red by the Clippers at the end of last
season, was not.
The Clippers have one of the most talented
rosters in the NBA. They are rst in the league
in points per game (through March 25), second
in ofensive efciency, third in assists. They will
eventually pull away from the Warriors for
their ninth consecutive win, a streak that will
end at 11. The team is even deeper and more
versatile than last seasons, especially since the
recent additions of forwards Danny Granger
and Glen Davis. But the biggest diference
CHRIS PAUL IS hunched over, hands on knees,
staring of into the Staples Center crowd.
The Clippers are clinging to a one-point lead
over the Warriors late in the third quarter,
and Paul has been called to the sideline by
Doc Riversagain.
This is the seventh time in the quarter (but
not the last) that Rivers will beckon his point
guard during a break in the action, imploring
Paul to push the tempo, pass the ball ahead,
make quicker decisions. The coachs hands are
a urry of activity, as if working an imaginary
pick-and-roll. Rivers, a former point guard,
seemingly cant help himself from using every
dead ball as an opportunity to reinforce his
message. Paul, though, is strugglinghe has
missed eight of his rst nine shotsand he
looks tense, as though hes unable to absorb
any more instruction.
THE RAFTING
TRIP WILL LAST
4 HOURS
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80 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014
scouting report isnt a substitute for guarding
someone, hearing stories about a coach isnt
the same as playing for him. Context is key.
Players want to nd out if you know what
youre talking about when it pertains to them,
to the way they do things, Rivers says. Every
one of them will tell you they want to win, but
I dont think everybody in the league means
that. I think they mean it as long as they can
keep doing whatever it is they want to do.
Winning requires sacrice.
Under Del Negro, the Clippers leaned heavily
on Paul and Grifn, especially at the end of
games and in the playofs, when the long grind
of a back-and-forth series demands superior
giving up an advantage for the ofense. When
he steps out to screen for a pick-and-roll on
the wing, Grifn tends to drift, looking for a
midrange jumper instead of cutting to the
hoop. Blake likes to pop a lot, Rivers says.
But he needs to roll more. When he rolls,
everyone on defense has to react.
DURING SHOOTAROUND THE morning of the
Warriors game, backup guard Willie Green
was running through a set when Rivers
stopped him. Green was acting as a decoy,
setting a fake ball screen to lure a defender
into a bad position. Every play has a tipping
point, when the defense commits somewhere
and new options spring open for the ofense.
But precise movements are necessary to force
good defenses of-balance, and Green was
about a foot short of precision.
Doc stopped the practice and explained
that for this play to work, I have to step up
higher, really act like Im coming to set a
screen, even though I know Im not, Green
says. Hes not scared to rufe feathers. And
in this business, you have to. Guys are going
to respect you more if you just tell them
what you think. They might not agree with
you, but there it is.
When Rivers took over the Celtics in
2004, he needed a whole season to convince
Paul Pierce that the ofense stalled when
Pierce dominated possession of the ball.
But Chris Paul is in his ninth season now,
without much playof success to show for it.
Something has to give. Or, as Rivers puts it,
Were trying to get Chris to see, and I dont
think its anything we had to talk him into,
that having the ball in his hands is never a bad
thing, but when the ball touches everyones
hands, its a great thing.
Paul nishes with 16 points, 12 assists and
eight rebounds against the Warriors, but he
isnt happy with his 5-for-15 shooting perfor-
mance. After the win, he heads to his locker
and peels of his game jersey, leaving on the
compression shirt underneath. Then he
quickly returns to the court for an impromptu
shooting workout.
Its time to make some tweaks.
half-court execution. In these key moments,
Del Negro would inevitably run an isolation play
for one of his stars. Just as frequently, the
defense would send a double-team, and because
iso plays arent usually designed with strong
second and third options, the Clippers would
nd themselves exposed like a king on a
chessboarddesperate and surrounded, looking
for an escape route that often didnt exist.
I think Chris realized last year in the
playofs, holding the ball, getting double-
teamed, getting down to late shot clocks every
time, youre not going to win that way, Rivers
says. Movement, quick decisions, pulling it
and swinging it and trusting the passthat
makes Chris impossible to guard. And I think
he realizes it now.
At the start of the season, Paul pushed back.
He was used to having the ball in his hands for
the majority of every possession, controlling
the rhythm of the ofense with his dribble.
Rivers was asking him to give up the ball early
and only sometimes get it back later, requiring
a new level of trust in his teammates.
And then Rivers asked for even more. When
Paul was sidelined with a shoulder injury for
18 games in January and February, Rivers
urged him to consider giving up the ball even
earlier, while still in the backcourt. Paul smiles
thinking about the term Rivers used: the
hockey assist. Sometimes its about the pass
that leads to the pass, says Paul, a seven-time
All-Star who was averaging 18.8 points and
10.9 assists through March 25. Its been
fun, passing the ball ahead to Blake, letting
him push it and make plays. Its not always
about the assist.
In other words, the six-foot Paul doesnt
need to do more for the Clippers to winat
least not more of the things people tend to
notice. Its tough sometimes to tell an
All-Star or a superstar, Hey, change this in
your game, and for them to receive that and
make the change, says backup center Ryan
Hollins. But Doc has a way of getting players
to accept their role within his schemes.
Hollins isnt just talking about Paul. Although
Grifn is having an MVP-caliber season, he still
falls in love with the perimeter game at times,
NOT A SLAM DUNK
To predict LAs postseason fate, Insider Kevin
Pelton looked at the oensive and defensive
ratings of every playo team since 1983-84 and
found the 10 clubs most similar to these Clippers.
Then Pelton calculated a playo success score
for each of those 10 teams based on the following
formula: four points for making the playos
(three prior to 2003, when the rst round added
two games), a point for a playo win, minus-one
for a playo loss and four points for a series win.
Finally, he averaged those 10 scores to arrive
at the Clips projected playo rating of 13.0, which
indicates that Docs squad will likely be derailed
in the conference nals.
While the Clips arent comparable to any NBA title
winners, they most resemble two nalists: the 2008
Lakers (lost to the Celtics) and the 12 Thunder (lost
to the Heat). What brought down Kobe and KD might
topple Lob City. Its D (tied for the No. 7 rating through
71 games) doesnt live up to its lofty oense (No. 2).
P L A Y O F F P R E V I E W
CLIPPERS PROJECTED PLAYOFF SUCCESS
FIRST-ROUND LOSERS
(0-3 POINTS)
SECOND-ROUND LOSERS
(5-9)
NBA FINALISTS
(15-24)
CHAMPS
(24+)
10
20
30
36
13.0
CONFERENCE FINALISTS
(10-16)
Rookie to All-Star.
JHLFRFRP $872 ORFDO RIFH
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82 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 CLOCKWI SE FROM LEFT: KOHJI RO KI NNO; GREGG SEGAL; ANDREW D. BERNSTEI N/NBAE/GETTY I MAGES FOR ESPN THE MAGAZI NE
PHOTO PORTFOLIO
POSTGAME
CHILL
,
THEY GOT THIS
Andrew Bogut soaks his
feet in a mop bucket while
Jermaine ONeal wraps
his knees in ice after the
Warriors fall to the Clippers
111-98. Back on the court,
the vibe is even chiller:
Chris Paul ends his 16-point,
12-assist night with a
postgame shootaround,
aided by his 4-year-old son.
Shortly after they leave, the
real transition game begins
as the arena crew removes
the hardwood for the ice
underneath for the next
nights Maple LeafsKings
matchup. SAM ALIPOUR
FOR MORE IMAGES OF
THE PHOTO PORTFOLIO,
GO TO ES.PN/ODOGLA
ESPN (ISSN # 1097 1998) (USPS # 016 356). Volume 17, No. 7, April 14, 2014. ESPN is published biweekly, except monthly
in January and July, by ESPN, 77 West 66th St., New York, NY, 10023 6201. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and
additional mailing oces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ESPN, P.O. Box 37325, Boone, IA 50037 0325. For subscription
queries, call customer service at 1 888 267 3684. To change your address, log on to www.accountinfo.espnmag.com.
by CHRI S JONES THE FI X
84 ESPN The Magazi ne 04/14/2014 i l l ustrati on by MARK MATCHO
[I]
[ LAST FLAP ] Saint Josephs lost an OT heartbreaker
in the rst weekend of the NCAA tournament, but
true to the Featherhood, the Hawk went down apping.
costume have taken place away from the courta midsummer outdoor
pingpong tournament left him wrung out, and hes appeared at more than
30 weddings, apping all the whilehe was nervous about the bright
lights of March Madness. My pride will keep me going through the pain,
he said. I just cant stop.
His arms, his wings, were already apping when he appeared before the
nearly 20,000 fans in Bufalo for the anthem. He even kept his left wing
apping while the tip of his right wing found a place over his heart. (The
UConn Husky played air guitar with its tail, a tradition of somewhat less
excellence.) The teams retreated to their locker rooms and then came back
out, and Klinger began his now uninterrupted game-time apping, a feat
the former track-team member likened to a long-distance race.
On he apped, through the Hawks fast start and early optimism,
through halftime and the Huskies late comeback and every TV timeout,
through the Hawks recapturing of the lead and the Huskies battle back,
and through that torturous overtime, ve minutes on the clock but
26 minutes of additional, fruitless apping. Klinger was struggling inside
that suit at the end, emotionally and physically, his eyes and shoulders
burning. When he nally disappeared down the tunnel, he had been
apping his wings for two hours and 42 minutes.
And then it was overall of it was over. He sat in the pin-drop quiet of
defeat with his devastated teammates, and he tried to shower of the
considerable funk of old feathers, and then he talked about how he felt
in those moments after his last ap.
This has been such an amazing experience, such a blessing, he said,
still ghting tears. But its tough right now. I guess thats the meanness
of college sports. Most of us dont go out as champions. Most of us leave
with this feelinga feeling that will last until next fall, when Ian Klinger
will stand second to last in a long line, and in the distance he will hear
the familiar echo of cheers, and once again the head will go on, and the
arms will go up.
an Klinger sat in the Saint Josephs locker room, his eyes
gone red with sweat and heartbreak. His shorts and shirt were soaked
through, and he stared into space and turned over the last few minutes of
the game, the last few minutes of his college basketball career. The Hawks
had come so close, pushing UConn into overtime before joining Marchs
vast collection of the eliminated. When the clock had nally counted
down to zero, Klinger had been on his knees in a corner of the court, his
head bowed, his left wing dropped to the oor, his right wing, almost
impossibly, still apping.
For the past two seasons, the 22-year-old nance and accounting major
has been the famous Hawk, one of the best, most metaphoric mascots in
college sports. Klinger began his service to the team as a student manager
before he added the imitation of ight to his responsibilities, the 35th
Hawk following the mascots debut in 1956. For every minute of every
Saint Josephs game since, the Hawk has apped its wings, a silent,
vaguely sadistic testament to faith and endurance. The Hawk will never
die, but thats only because Klinger and 34 other young men and women
have made it their mission to keep it, like hope, alive.
They refer to themselves as the Featherhood, and they gather at least
once a year like Masons, to eat and tell secret stories of the great mascot
wars of history, thefts of the Villanova Wildcats paws (look closely at
photos of the 1985 championship celebration) and brawls with the VCU
Ram. And they form a long line before every new Hawks rst game, the
most senior to the most recent, and they pass along the Hawks terrifying
unblinking head until at last it reaches its latest bearer.
The head goes on, and the arms go up, Klinger said before the game
against the Huskies, his NCAA tournament debut and culmination of so
much, including his senior year. For Saint Josephs, the Hawk is more than
an ordinary mascot. The student draped in those 360,000 feathers is
considered a member of the basketball team, given a perch near the bench
and a full scholarship. Although Klingers most punishing moments in the
Findthemnext tothe Pringles cans
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