NBRPA TO LAUNCH TV-STYLE LEGENDS TALK SHOW ON HUFF POST

NBRPA TO LAUNCH TV-STYLE LEGENDS TALK SHOW ON HUFF POST

March 27, 2012

For Immediate Release

CHICAGO, ILL. – The National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA), the only Association comprised of NBA, ABA and Harlem Globetrotters alumni, has announced the launch of a new TV-style talk show that will air regularly on one of the most-visited news web sites in the world – the Huffington Post. Holding Court – presented by the NBRPA’s Legends of Basketball will debut in April, 2012 at HuffingtonPost.com – a web site and community that boast more than 50 million users each month.

“The NBRPA and Legends of Basketball brand is all about our members – former NBA, ABA and Harlem Globetrotters players that literally built the game of basketball into the worldwide industry it is today,” said Arnie D. Fielkow, CEO for the National Basketball Retired Players Association. “Holding Court will help us deliver our Legends of Basketball to the Huffington Post’s captive worldwide audience.”

Holding Court will be hosted and co-produced by Huffington Post sports writer Dave Hollander, who will work in tandem with Paul Corliss of the NBRPA to put each program together. Hollander is the author of 52 WEEKS: Interviews with Champions! (The Lyons Press) – his collection of personal stories and stunningly candid interviews with fifty-two famous sports figures including Lawrence Taylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rickey Henderson, George Plimpton, Mariano Rivera, Steve Nash and John Wooden. Hollander was the Executive Producer, Creator and writer for Gate D, a hip, fast-paced variety show for young fans of the New Jersey Nets, which aired on Fox Sports New York in the late 1990s. Hollander was also Co-Creator of Album Covers on MTV2, featuring Dashboard Confessional, Michael Stipe, Guster and The Violent Femmes, 2004.

“I’m like a kid in a candy store,” Hollander said. “Colorful stories you just don’t hear anymore, super-honest and relevant commentary – there’s a huge audience of smart sports fans who want to hear from these guys.”

Holding Court will feature NBRPA Legends of Basketball in candid and lively sit-down interviews on camera with Hollander. The show will debut with Hollander’s interview of Otis Birdsong, a four-time NBA All-Star and the first guard in NBA history to be paid $1 million per season.

Holding Court will air regularly on the Huffington Post and archived episodes will be available at the NBRPA’s official web site – LegendsofBasketball.com. According to eBizMBA.com, the Huffington Post is the sixth-most visited news web site in the world, with 54 million monthly users. Great Britain’s Observer – the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world – recently ranked the Huffington Post as the most powerful blog in the world.

About the National Basketball Retired Players Association
The National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA) is comprised of former professional basketball players from the NBA, ABA and Harlem Globetrotters. It is a 501(c) 3 organization with a mission to develop, implement and advocate a wide array of programs to benefit its members, supporters and the community. The NBRPA was founded in 1992 by basketball legends Dave DeBusschere, Dave Bing, Archie Clark, Dave Cowens and Oscar Robertson. The NBRPA works in direct partnerships with the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. Arnie D. Fielkow is the CEO, and the NBRPA Board of Directors includes President & Chairman of the Board Robert A. (Bob) Elliott, Vice President Otis Birdsong, Treasurer Marvin Roberts, Secretary Steve Hayes, Past President Dr. George W. Tinsley Sr., Thurl Bailey, Harvey Catchings, James Donaldson, Johnny Newman, LaRue Martin and Danny Schayes. For more information, please visit www.LegendsofBasketball.com.

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My Sister, the Cover Girl

Check out my sister making waves first in Denver and now going national on the August cover of Spry Magazine.

Read the article here.

And watch the truly super video: http://www.spryliving.com/videos/view/1089778677001/.

Learn more about her here: WWW.GALSCHOOLS.ORG

and say hello to her here: www.facebook.com/GALSCHOOLS.

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The Best 9/11 Book…Ever

I am really proud of this book.

I don’t say it’s “the best ever” because I wrote it, or because hyperbolic subject lines make people open emails. I say it because I believe it. This book is important. It says things that need to be said; things, I think, that will help a lot of people.  Michael is brave to tell it.  I am fortunate to simply be included.  But I can do more. I can ask you to read it, ask your friends to read it, ask your mayors, your congressman, and your clergy to read it.  Because on September 11, 2011 it’ll be 10 years since the attack, and you can be sure there will be articles and interviews and video tape and, well, then there’s this book. Please read it.  Then you tell me – please tell me – where do we go from here?

For more information about the book, click here.

Purchase your copy today!

Click here for the Reluctant Hero Appearance Schedule.


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Not Where “Amazing” Happened, But Better

So, I went to the Prudential Center in Newark to see the Nets play the Golden State Warriors last night. I think it was as nice of a live professional sports experience as I’ve been to in years. Please don’t stop reading.

I know. I was watching two teams with losing records; one with no shot and one with almost no shot of a postseason, as we head into the 66th game of a long 82 game season. The Nets new ballyhooed acquisition, Deron Williams, couldn’t play. It was cold and damp out and, well, it was night in the Port of Newark, NJ. One was bound to ask to ask oneself is this really “where amazing happens?”

Well, let me tell you what happened: On the court, a close competitive game was played, decided by four points in last ten seconds. I watched the preternaturally talented Brook Lopez hustle, dive (in the second quarter), defend and score the last 9 points of the game — like a star does — to lead all scorers. I watched David Lee, like he does, quietly, appropriately and selflessly accumulate another double-double. I watched Stephan Curry and Monta Ellis dart, slash and score with a repertoire of offensive moves where not one move looked at all like the others. I watched Sasha Vujacic for four quarters personify the charming basketball adage shoot-to-get-hot-shoot-to-stay-hot. I observed Anthony Morrow take and make big shots all night because, you may not have known, he played for Golden State before he went to the Nets and this was his first time “hosting” his old mates. No wonder he scored a season-high 22. Nice little storyline for anyone who knew the story. End to end, for 48 minutes I saw quality professional performances and serious competition. And, “amazingly” there might’ve been only about three dunks the whole night.

Click here to read the rest of this post.

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Dave Hollander on George Plimpton and the Art of Interviewing

The following is an excerpt from a March 2011 interview with Dave Hollander by Jerry Barca for the Plimpton! Book Club:

Author and sports columnist Dave Hollander is the last person to record an interview with George Plimpton.

Plimpton established the Art of Fiction interview series in The Paris Review, the Plimpton! Book Club spoke to Hollander about the art of interviewing. Hollander, an attorney by trade, gave away the secret as to why he can get away with the sometimes smart-aleck style of his interviews. He offered up the most surprising information he ever heard from an interviewee, and he wondered what Plimpton would think of today’s sports blogger.

Jerry Barca: What did you think of George Plimpton’s work?

Dave Hollander: His work is affectionate and intellectual. He really likes the subject matter he engages. When you read, I guess, what we can call his sports writing, he’s throwing all his powers of observation into it. I don’t find his writing to be clinical as much as it is exploratory. He is like a man who has been dropped on a foreign planet and who is trying to describe everything for all of us who have never been to that planet. And he does it with such affection. Some people try to take a slant or try to make a point. The only point he tries to make is description of what it is he’s writing about. It is often lilting toward humor, but mostly it is affectionate. He is just enjoying himself with tremendous fondness for the subject.

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