I had lunch a couple weeks ago at a popular spot near my house, and a couple seats down two early 20s, attractive women from a local health spa sat down for lunch. The Nets game replay was on television and the two started talking about Kris Humphries — “He’s so cute but he was such an a****** to Kim.” I guess if you watch all her reality shows you call her Kim. Anyway they spent five minutes trashing him, talking about how that big, mean basketball player treated their poor, innocent heroine. It was a glimpse into another world for me.
Apparently, there are a lot of people out there who feel the same way.
Forbes released poll results of the top 10 most disliked athletes in America and Humphries was the highest ranked basketball player. The poll, done by the Nielsen Group, also had LeBron James and Kobe Bryant on the list, as you would expect.
Humphries’ 72-day marriage to Kim Kardashian vaulted him into pop culture, but everything went poorly. Well, except they made a lot of money. Of the people surveyed, 50 percent had a negative view of Humphries, almost none of that based on his shaky midrange game. A lot of them, like those girls at the restaurant I overheard, in a year will have trouble remembering who Humphries was because Kim will have trapped someone else in her Web.
The good news (okay, relatively good news) is that Humphries finished fifth on the list, with LeBron sixth (48 percent dislike) and Kobe seventh (45 percent) — the top spots go to Michael Vick and Tiger Woods, with Plaxico Burress rounding out the top three. The NBA guys seem to be sliding down the list. What will be interesting to see is if LeBron can win a ring and if so does that impact where he stands on these lists?
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When the game was on the line, Oklahoma City just did not have an answer for the herky-jerky style of Manu Ginobili. He had 11 of the Spurs 37 points in the fourth quarter as the Spurs found a system that worked — going small — and came from behind to win Game 1. Ginobili…
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British officials ticked Bulls tried to dissuade Deng from Olympics
May 28, 2012, 9:58 AM EDT
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From the start, Luol Deng has been clear about what he wants to do — his wrist may need surgery but he was going to play through it and be part of Great Britain’s Olympic basketball team, the way he played through it for the Bulls at the end of the season. Even if that…
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AP
SEASON RECORDS Miami 46-20 (No. 2 seed) Boston: 39-27 (No. 5 seed) SEASON SERIES Boston won the season series 3-1. In their second to final game before the playoffs the Heat did not play any of their big three against the Celtics, so toss that one out. KEY INJURIES Celtics: Starting two guard Avery Bradley…
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Reuters
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Popovich reaches into toolbox, makes adjustments, Spurs win Game 1
May 28, 2012, 12:18 AM EDT
Reuters
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AP
Rajon Rondo was asked Saturday night about how the Celtics feel about their chances. From Fox Sports Florida’s Chris Tommasson: Rajon Rondo believes Celtics can beat Heat: “We feel we can beat Miami. Obviously, we got to this point. There’s no doubt in our mind we can. We got to go down there and take…
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Josh Childress, the former Hawk sixth man who bolted for Greece and was coaxed back to the NBA by Phoenix, wasn’t impressive this season and fell out of the rotation with the Suns (at least until Grant Hill got injured). But that didn’t stop him from setting a dubious record this season, something pointed out…
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The Boston Celtics don’t mind the short two-day turnaround until the start of the Eastern Conference finals. At least that’s what they are saying now. We’ll see what they are saying Monday night after the game. So you can set your DVR and not miss a moment, following is the schedule for the Eastern Conference…
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AP
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The Celtics wrapped up their series with the Sixers on Saturday night, and now have to fly to Miami Sunday morning for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against a Heat team that has been healing and waiting for five days. Considering the age and injury status of most of the Celtics, this might…
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Reuters
There is an argument to be made that Rajon Rondo is the single most compelling player in the NBA, at least the one still playing in these now Conference Finals after the Celtics’ 85-75 win in Game 7 over the Sixers to advance to face Miami. And if anything, Game 7 reinforced that idea as…
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Warriors working to leverage future assets to get back future asset they already leveraged
May 26, 2012, 8:18 PM EDT
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Saturday night will be the sixth time the Philadelphia and Boston have met in a Game 7. These are two of the NBA’s legendary franchises and located less than a six-hour train ride apart. They are natural rivals and this Game 7 Saturday in the Eastern Conference semifinals is just the next chapter in that…
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Video: Larry Bird and Magic Johnson remind you what everyone’s playing for
May 26, 2012, 5:00 PM EDT
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The Hawks are not talking extension with Josh Smith, for some reason
May 26, 2012, 3:00 PM EDT
Reuters
Trying to figure out the Hawks’ approach to Josh Smith is a trick. They don’t regularly campaign for Smith for the All-Star teams and have never made a fuss when he’s not selected despite it routinely being pretty terrible. They wouldn’t give him a big deal when he was a restricted free agent in 2008,…
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Video: San Antonio Mayor welcomes Charles Barkley to San Antonio… with rings
May 26, 2012, 1:00 PM EDT
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Charles Barkley is well known for not liking San Antonio. It’s just not his kind of town. Like a lot of towns in Texas, the people that like San Antonio love it, those that don’t are very “meh” on it. Very few hate it. It’s hard to hate it. It’s a livable city. (Note: For…
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Reuters
Game 7. It’s usually when even veterans get tight, playing like they are afraid to make a mistake. It means in Game 7 the offensive numbers plummet — but I don’t know that they can much more in Boston vs. Philadelphia. This has been a series about which team could find enough offense against a…
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Unless there are major changes, Kyle Lowry wants out of Houston
May 26, 2012, 9:00 AM EDT
That sound you hear is the sound of 29 teams’ GMs heads whipping up like German Shepherds when there’s a loud noise. Houston Rockets “should-be-All-Star” Kyle Lowry sent a message loud and clear through the Houston Chronicle. He has a problem with Kevin McHale, he has a problem with how minutes were split with he…
