nba

There's something about LeBron James that makes many people want to dream of taking their pugilistic talents to his manicured eyebrows.

I wonder, though, what some employees of Intel might be feeling after they read a memo reportedly posted on an internal company site and written by one of the company's executives.

This memo was purloined in clandestine fashion by those sporting opportunists at Deadspin and it will surely have many a literary agent leaping furiously to the executive's side to offer him a non-fiction contract and possibly a speaking tour.

The memo is all about what Intel can learn from the Miami Heat's loss in the NBA finals to the Dallas Mavericks. It doesn't start well. The executive declares himself to be a Los Angeles Lakers fan, which is the equivalent of saying you love that oft-bland meat, chicken.

It doesn't drift into acceptability when he claims a passion for sporting metaphors transported to business.

Here is a sample of his sage advice: "In Miami's case, their great talent just couldn't come together and collaborate with clarity of roles, responsibilities, and the ability to adjust to critical game situations to achieve success under pressure."

Well, yes. Either that or Dallas played better or were coached better, had a more interesting, dynamic owner, or merely had deity on its side.

Such theories do not hold water with this searing analysis that sees John Madden lock lips with Lee Iacocca.

"Sometimes greatness is just flat out who can step up when the pressure is the greatest," he wrote. I am sure I once heard Donald Trump say that on "The Celebrity Apprentice." I am sure he said it while referring to himself.

The Intel exec's analysis can't quite resist any level of sporting intellectualism. There is the searing revelation that sometimes someone with a 3.0 GPA can deliver better under pressure than someone with a 3.8.

Then there's this: "Teams having too much of a specific attribute at the expense of another doesn't provide you with the best of the full spectrum anymore than an orchestra could get with having only great flutists."… Read more

If Shaq had been LeBron, he might have organized an hour-long ESPN special to announce that he was taking his talents out to pasture.

If Shaq had been Jordan, he would, at very least, have called a vast press conference and, on being inducted to the Hall of Fame, he would have scowled at all those by whom he felt slighted.

But Shaq is just whimsical, old absurdist Shaq. So today he posted a little movie, using the real-time social media service Tout, to his Twitter feed. Sitting in what looked like his office at home, he casually announced that … Read more

With the NBA season heading into playoff mode, EA Sports is due to release its over-the-top basketball game, NBA Jam for the iPad, any day. The game has actually been out for the iPhone for a few months for $4.99, but the iPad version has lagged behind it.

What's interesting is that if you do a search for NBA Jam in Google, you'll find several reviews and screenshots already up and even plenty of videos of the game running on iPads. However, it's not for sale in the App Store. What's the deal?

Well, if … Read more

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

YouTube may start offering original content on new channels

Toyota will use Microsoft's Azure technology in its electric vehicles to establish a cloud platform by 2015

LinkedIn lets you access and sign into other sites with your LinkedIn account, much like Facebook Connect

A new version of Final Cut Pro may launch next week

GameStop may create a gaming tablet

Netflix acquires the rights to stream the "Mad Men" TV series

The next NBA Jam game will be called NBA Jam: On Fire Edition

The newly formed Green Sports Alliance will promote eco-friendly practices for professional sports teams and their stadiums.

The alliance, announced this week, was created by team owner Paul Allen and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Allen, who co-founded Microsoft, owns the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers and co-owns the Seattle Sounders.

The Environmental Protection Agency and six pro sports leagues are endorsing the effort: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and Major League Soccer (MLS).

Six teams, including … Read more

NBA Jam is an updated and faithful recreation of probably the most popular standup arcade basketball game of all time. For those who never went through several dollars in quarters at the local arcade playing this fun classic many years ago, NBA Jam is not your standard five-on-five simulation you see on consoles. This game is all about two-vs.-two high-flying dunk basketball, where just about every play is worthy of a highlight reel.

The control system for NBA Jam on offense includes a directional pad on the lower left part of the screen, and pass, shoot, and speed boost … Read more

I grew up playing video games and was part of the era of going to arcades and dropping quarter after quarter into my favorite games. Back then, if you would have told me that one day I could play the same games on a mobile phone I would probably have said, "I doubt it, and who would want to lug one of those giant things around anyway?" In the '80s, mobile phones were huge. In other words, I would never have believed it.

Now, there are hundreds of games in the iTunes App Store that bring old classics to your touch screen. Not all of them are perfect, certainly. Sometimes the controls don't translate well to the touch screen, for example. But even with mediocre controls, it's still fun to be able to play a game you loved as a kid while you're commuting to work or in between classes.

This week, two games were released that were favorites of mine in the arcades, and both work relatively well on the touch screen. My question to you is, What games from the old days should be made for iOS? What games should not? Let's talk about it in the comments.

This week's apps are a classic gory fighting game and an arcade basketball remake that might already be one of my favorite games of 2011.… Read more

LAS VEGAS. I never thought anything would give me more pleasure than taking an orange-handled hammer and smashing an Acer laptop.

I was still glowing from managing this yesterday that I almost didn't hear a rather short lady asking if I wanted to shoot a free throw with my iPhone.

Because I was wearing my shiny black Costume National boots, she must have naturally assumed that I owned an iPhone, which I don't. However, I confess that I have seen Golden State Warriors fans wanting to toss several types of smartphones in the direction of Andris Biedrins, every … Read more

Playing in the NBA is a high-pressure, neurotic experience.

You are so tall that the public glares at you even when you're not on the court. This apparently means you must get the appropriate amount of sleep--not too much, not too little--in order to perform your best.

It seems that three members of the Los Angeles Lakers relied on their iPhone alarms on Sunday to wake them at the perfect moment. And their iPhones let them down so badly that the Lakers then let their fans down by performing like sleepwalking oddities against the Memphis Grizzlies.

According to ESPN.com, … Read more