African Basketball: Development, Gender and Migration
Earlier this month, I had the honor to speak on some of the early findings from the recent Basketball Diplomacy Africa project at the Sports Africa Live panel, “African Basketball: Development, Gender and Migration.”
His Airness Spins the World: Michael Jordan and Basketball’s Global Growth
Michael Jordan is an unlikely revolutionary, but one whose drive and ability to market his image and brand changed the game, the NBA, and basketball culture around the globe. Now, in a new era of protest to push for the end of systemic racism and social injustice, one of the game’s GOATS finally takes the microphone to push for an end to racism as some of his predecessors did (and continue to do)…
"This Storm Is What We Call Progress"
In more normal times, we’d be in the midst of the 2020 European Championship, but instead this week the Football Scholars’ Forum continued our Summer Series dissecting David Goldblatt’s new tome, The Age of Football: Soccer and the 21st Century, with yours truly as moderator for the chapter on European football.
A Teachable Moment From #TalkingSport
I appreciated this insightful panel and the speakers’ thoughtful points. You can read my Tweet thread of highlights, which notes several key aspects I noted, and watch the highlights on YouTube. But for me, one of the discussion’s biggest value added was the speakers’ diversity of global views.
When Basketball Meets Diplomacy in Africa
Today the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy launched “Basketball Diplomacy in Africa: An Oral History, From SEED Project to the Basketball Africa League (BAL),” a SOAS University of London-funded Information and Knowledge Exchange project. Here are a few points that struck me.
"The Last Dance" and Michael Jordan's Global Impact
What “The Last Dance” has managed to achieve to a certain degree is a shared sense of experiencing a sports-related event together. But what about Michael Jordan’s impact on the global game?
🏀The IRIS Interview🏀
Recently, I spoke with with Estelle Brun of the Sport and International Relations Programme, IRIS Geostrategic Observatory on Sport, on basketball. At hand was the question of how the sport’s globalization—and especially the NBA’s worldwide growth since 1984—has impacted international relations, the ripple effects in the WNBA, and how #hoopsdiplomacy gains attention, whether its via Dennis Rodman, the NBA-China “events” and beyond.
A Week of Basketball / Paris ❤️ the NBA
I’ve just finished a fantastic week of basketball in France and can report that not only do the French play basketball (bien sur, they have since 1893!) but that Paris ❤️ the NBA.
Here are a few cliff notes from my week in the City of Light
A Conversation with David Stern on the NBA's Globalization
I spoke with former NBA Commissioner David Stern about the NBA’s early global outreach for my in-process book, Basketball Empire, on the hidden story of how and why France has become a major pipeline for international players. His first question was, “why are you doing fringe basketball?”
The Top Stories for 2020
There’s a lot to be excited for as we kickoff the new decade. I’m looking to 2020 as I continue to build out two key basketball stories of my own, but I also see 2020 as a break out year where many of the trends and movements in the global sports sphere finally bear fruit. Primarily, these are stories where cross-sport and cross-cultural influences—often influenced by different types of sports diplomacy—make all the difference.