Eric DePriester

In Los Angeles, we have a special way of solving just about any problem: throw money at it. Be it luxury homes, street whips, blockbuster movies, or sports franchises, the solution to Angelino woes is often a swift financial influx trying to buy the problem away. As often as it works, we are also given […]

  Eric DePriester

In the fourth quarter against the Warriors, Kobe Bryant moved against Harrison Barnes and began a cut to the rim, falling well short with minor defensive contact and a sudden twist, an improbable foot placement and tension tweak that lead to a tear in his Achilles. Staggering, he made two free throws, tried to walk […]

  Eric DePriester

Jay-Z loves the Game, any Game with a capital ‘G.’ He’s a born hustler, thriving off struggle and success, figuring out situational specifics on the fly. Having conquered the crack Game, the rap Game, and the entertainment mogul Game, he’s hungry for another contest and it’s led him straight to sports. Last week, Yankees second […]

  Eric DePriester

There’s a lot to nitpick in college basketball, the often sloppy recklessness unappealing to seasoned NBA viewers accustomed to a more polished level of play. And the playoff system itself- the randomness of letting a small conference nobody knock a top contender out in the first round- seems sacrilegious to a viewer raised on grind-out […]

  Eric DePriester

Over All-Star Weekend and weeks prior, we celebrated a legend’s 50th birthday, the maturation of the greatest basketball player to ever grace the court. Viewers were force-fed career highlights and barraged by personal profiles; Michael Jordan was everywhere and everyone had nothing but the best things to say. Though deserved, the celebration came at the […]

  Eric DePriester

The NBA season is winding to a close but the playoff picture is incomplete. With many significant teams still jockeying for position, the squads best poised to play through June are already clear. You may say it’s early, that I’m too quick to be dismissive, or that my analysis is erroneous. All these are fair. […]

  Eric DePriester

Lance Armstrong has gotten a lot of heat for his doping confession, and rightfully so. We believed in him, raised him as our champion, and he betrayed our trust through the use of performance enhancing drugs. We could leave it at that, but it’d be unfair to someone who worked so hard, trained so long, […]

  Eric DePriester

The 2013 campaign is over. Best case scenario, the Lakers squeeze into the playoffs and lose in the first two rounds, the Western Conference Finals if there’s a miracle. For a team with two more years of Kobe Bryant and an all-star squad full of potential, this is a failure. With so much talent on […]