Salon.com > Sports http://www.salon.com Sun, 27 May 2012 13:20:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Trust me on this: “Star Wars” http://www.salon.com/2012/05/24/trust_me_on_this_star_wars/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/24/trust_me_on_this_star_wars/#comments Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12925211 I saw "Star Wars" on VHS originally when I was 6. I was just captivated. I would come home every day after school, and before I would do my homework, I would pop it in and watch it, because I was largely alone. Both my parents worked. I remember the play button being green, the pause button was red, and the way the top would pop up and you'd slide the tape in and clank it down. And I remember knowing every line.

As I grew, I began to see "Star Wars" as a metaphor for so much – whether it was the natural depravity of man, or the redemption of man, or the relationship between a father and a son in Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. That relationship can be broken and redeemed over the course of the trilogy. I really related and connected with it, and it encapsulated a lot of what I want to teach my children – people make mistakes, and they can ultimately be redeemed, even if those mistakes seem egregious, you know, in Darth Vader's case. That there is a choice to be made between what side you choose in life. Our faith is a big part of our family, so the Force has special meaning for me. There's just so many things that I think my son would get, that I hope my son would get.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/05/24/trust_me_on_this_star_wars/feed/ 2 Six degrees of sports sleaze http://www.salon.com/2012/05/22/six_degrees_of_sports_sleaze/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/22/six_degrees_of_sports_sleaze/#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 18:44:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12923645 When the New York Times dropped its bombshell last week disclosing a secret 54-page proposal outlining how a Republican Super PAC would spend $10 million attacking President Obama and painting him as some kind of “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln,” it wasn’t just interested Washington observers whose eyebrows were raised. The plan was apparently created and was to be funded by billionaire TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, whose family has owned a controlling interest in the Chicago Cubs since 2009. Within hours, Ricketts himself came out and rejected the plan that bore his name — in an obvious attempt to calm Chicago city leaders, who he’s hoping will shell out millions in public financing to renovate Wrigley Field.

It was far from the first time that scandal has reared its head in the highest echelons of sports ownership. Follow the connections closely enough and one will find dozens of franchise owners who have either direct of tangential relations to organized crime, government surveillance initiatives, deep-pocketed political entities and financial irregularities that bilked people out of billions. What horrible right-wing (or criminal) cause is your favorite team connected to?

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/05/22/six_degrees_of_sports_sleaze/feed/ 23 Manny Pacquiao loses his crown http://www.salon.com/2012/05/16/manny_pacquiao_loses_his_crown/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/16/manny_pacquiao_loses_his_crown/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 18:50:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12921509 We're all relieved around here that Manny Pacquiao is not really some Leviticus-quoting loon who says that gays "must be put to death" – even if that may have something to do with the fact that he admits "I haven't read the Book of Leviticus yet."

But it's nonetheless disappointing that a man we at Salon bestowed our highest honor to just six months ago has proven himself so terribly unenlightened. In an interview for Examiner.com last week, one of our 2011 Sexiest Men declared of marriage, "It should not be of the same sex so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah of Old." Oh dear. Winning lots of fights? Sexy. Getting elected to the Filipino Congress? Sexy. "Donating millions to improve living conditions in his poverty-stricken nation"? Super hot. Not being down with civil rights? Bzzzzzzt!

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/05/16/manny_pacquiao_loses_his_crown/feed/ 23 Sports activism’s welcome rebirth http://www.salon.com/2012/04/13/sports_activisms_welcome_rebirth/ http://www.salon.com/2012/04/13/sports_activisms_welcome_rebirth/#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12858501 As high-profile events periodically prove, politics and athletics have long had a love-hate relationship, the affinity ebbing and flowing with the cultural tides. In the tumultuous 1960s, for instance, stars like Muhammed Ali, Arthur Ashe and John Carlos used their notoriety to embolden the major social movements of the time. Then came the 1980s and 1990s, which saw the sports world depoliticized in an age of “Just Do It” and “greed is good.” For every Charles Barkley using Nike commercials to forward social messages about role models, there were far more Michael Jordans who avoided any political statements whatsoever.

Skip forward to 2012 -- a superheated moment primed by seething protest campaigns and a divisive presidential election. Not surprisingly, the sports world has again shifted, becoming just as politically fraught as the society it entertains -- and whether or not you agree with a particular sports icon’s opinion, the larger change is a welcome development for participatory democracy.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/04/13/sports_activisms_welcome_rebirth/feed/ 16 Tiger joins the Lost Boys http://www.salon.com/2012/04/09/tiger_joins_the_lost_boys/ http://www.salon.com/2012/04/09/tiger_joins_the_lost_boys/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:43:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12831681 Of the three Lost Boys of SportsWorld – Tiger Woods, O.J. Simpson and Mike Tyson – I’ve always found Tiger the least appealing or interesting, yet the most poignant. He grew up before our eyes. At 2, he swung his cut-down club for Bob Hope on TV as his Zeus-ish Dad, Earl, beamed over him. By 5, Tiger was giving tips in Golf Digest. The real question he needed to answer, I came to think, was whether he truly loved golf or just wanted Earl to love him.

After all, how could you repay a dad who said, “There is no limit because he has the guidance. I don’t know yet exactly what form this will take. But he is the Chosen One.”

The Guiding One died in 2006, three years before the Chosen One cracked up and stopped winning major tournaments, four short of Jack Niklaus’ record of 18. Tiger’s mind was blown. I didn’t much care. This wasn’t Magic Johnson getting sick or Dale Earnhardt hitting the wall. This was a surly, entitled control freak who had intimidated the golfing media and gotten a pass in general because he made the 1-percenters even richer.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/04/09/tiger_joins_the_lost_boys/feed/ 98 Can Tebow find salvation? http://www.salon.com/2012/03/21/can_tebow_find_salvation/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/21/can_tebow_find_salvation/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:45:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12709151 [UPDATED BELOW]

You don't need to be an evangelical Christian to care about the future of Tim Tebow. I’m a lapsed atheist myself. But with the resurrection of quarterback Peyton Manning in Denver, I wonder most about the future of the spiritual scrambler, who led the Broncos to the playoffs last year.

The Broncos signing Manning to replace Tebow is a no-brainer. He may be diminished by age and injury, but he is also the best quarterback of our time, not because he is a brilliant coach’s puppet (Tom Brady) or an on-field, off-field brute (Ben Roethlisberger) but by virtue of a fierce work ethic and a concentrated intelligence that is contagious and inspirational. Whatever is left at age 35 of him will make the Broncos better.

Through 14 years and two Super Bowls with the Indianapolis Colts, there was something reassuringly manly about Manning, his cool leadership, his laconic but friendly demeanor, his thoughtful professionalism, that evoked my role models on the Encore Westerns channel like Marshal Dillon and Wagonmaster Flint. (Something went out of American life when the legend of the western hero was replaced by the myth of the sports idol.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/21/can_tebow_find_salvation/feed/ 43 David Brooks: “I have heard of Jeremy Lin” http://www.salon.com/2012/02/17/david_brooks_i_have_heard_of_jeremy_lin/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/17/david_brooks_i_have_heard_of_jeremy_lin/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:55:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12378461 David Brooks had to write a column about something, and his deadline was fast approaching, so he glanced at the sports page and saw something about New York Knicks phenom Jeremy Lin, and he was like, yeah, that works. Next stop, most-emailed list!

Lin is a point guard who rocketed to near-instant celebrity when he came off the bench and had a series of monster games, dragging the Knicks to a .500 record while their two biggest superstars were sitting out games. His celebrity then became a "mania" in part because he's Asian-American and a Harvard graduate, two rarities in the NBA. It also obviously doesn't hurt that he plays for the dominant team in the nation's biggest media market (also it's the fallow period between football and baseball). That's basically the whole deal, and if you'd like to learn more read Andrew Leonard's account of the early social media explosion and Alexander Chee's take on Lin and Asian-American identity. Whatever you do, don't read David Brooks' take on the Lin phenomenon, because David Brooks doesn't understand basketball or social media or race or religion or American society in general.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/17/david_brooks_i_have_heard_of_jeremy_lin/feed/ 35 The Jeremy Lin show http://www.salon.com/2012/02/15/the_jeremy_lin_show/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/15/the_jeremy_lin_show/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:33:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12365951 I have never cared about basketball, ever. Not once. Yet inside of the last two weeks I have learned what a point guard is, what he does and why it matters. I had a roller-coaster night Saturday, when I wanted to watch a New York Knicks game for the first time, then learned that a squabble between Madison Square Garden and Time Warner has left about 1 million fans without MSG Channel (including me). I didn't even know how to start finding a bar with the game on -- something I've previously resented, in fact -- so I contented myself by watching the video diaries on Lin's YouTube channel. 

Days later, sometime yesterday, in fact, when I caught myself reading a post about the couch Jeremy Lin slept on before his first night as the Knicks' new star point guard, I had two reactions. First, it didn’t look big enough for him. The next one: Wait, who am I -- and more important, what is happening to me? It was like I was in a "Portlandia" sketch about Linsanity.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/15/the_jeremy_lin_show/feed/ 48 LIVEBLOG: Super Bowl XLVI http://www.salon.com/2012/02/05/liveblog_super_bowl_xlvi/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/05/liveblog_super_bowl_xlvi/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:55:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12295531

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/05/liveblog_super_bowl_xlvi/feed/ 6 Why my coach got away with sexual abuse http://www.salon.com/2011/11/18/when_sex_abuse_happens_and_no_one_stops_it/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/18/when_sex_abuse_happens_and_no_one_stops_it/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10233663 Disgust flows freely after reading each new story about Penn State. Why, we wonder, would someone willingly ignore reports of heinous sexual abuse of a child? Why would someone as “good” as Joe Paterno brush aside the alleged despicable and predatory actions of a coach on his staff, a coach representing his Nittany Lions? By all accounts, Paterno was the hero coach, a model of highly invested and supportive team building, a molder of men, a teacher and a mentor. As a thinking, feeling adult, it seems so obvious what the right choice would be. Report Jerry Sandusky to the police. No matter what.

So why are good people likely to do not so good things? Well, in the microcosmic world of hyper-competitive athletics, a high-performance culture where winning trumps all, obvious moral choices become blurred. The sport, the team, a berth on the squad, a medal on the stand – that becomes the priority. The parents, coaches and teams put everything else aside in honor of the win.  I know this firsthand.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/18/when_sex_abuse_happens_and_no_one_stops_it/feed/ 115 Why college football is better than the pros http://www.salon.com/2011/11/04/game_of_century/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/04/game_of_century/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:10:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10161697 It wasn’t easy explaining to my father’s family in New Jersey what it was like to be in Alabama on the weekend of a big game, like when Alabama played Louisiana State -- as they will this Saturday night -- or when the Crimson Tide battled Tennessee or Auburn. During an Auburn game, as Geoffrey Norman wrote in his book "Alabama Showdown," “One or two people every year die of a heart attack right there in Legion Field. The better the game, the more people who die.”

People from Texas understood what he meant; it was like when the University of Texas played Texas A&M or Oklahoma. To Oklahomans, it was like when their Sooners play Texas or Nebraska. People from Michigan and Ohio understood -- it was like when Michigan played Ohio State, and they had to pass out fliers to fans of the visiting team advising “Wear jackets over your team colors and don’t take them off until seated.” (The same flier suggested driving across the state line in a rental car with neutral-state license plates.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/04/game_of_century/feed/ 63 “Moneyball”: Brad Pitt’s wonk-friendly Oscar contender http://www.salon.com/2011/09/23/moneyball/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/23/moneyball/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/andrew_ohehir/2011/09/22/moneyball I'm damned if I understand how a nonfiction book that's largely a wonky study of systems and information, and a story about the clash between empirical data and subjective wisdom, became an Oscar-friendly star vehicle for Brad Pitt. But that's exactly what happened with the long-delayed and troubled film production of "Moneyball," which has to be described as an example of what Hollywood does best. Baseball fans and statistics buffs will no doubt have numerous nits to pick with this lovingly crafted underdog fable from director Bennett Miller (his first film since the terrific "Capote"), which exists at several removes from journalist Michael Lewis' acclaimed bestseller. (The screenplay has been through numerous iterations, and a pair of heavyweights, Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, share the official credit.) But what we get in the end is a richly detailed and enjoyable American yarn, built around a warm and expansive performance by Pitt as Billy Beane, revolutionary general manager of the Oakland Athletics.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/23/moneyball/feed/ 24 “Senna”: Meet the Elvis of racing drivers http://www.salon.com/2011/08/12/senna_review/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/12/senna_review/#comments Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/andrew_ohehir/2011/08/11/senna_review It's not that hard to understand why sporting events often produce such terrific documentaries, even if you're not all that interested in the sport in question. Human competition is inherently dramatic, and sports most often involve graceful, charismatic and good-looking specimens of humanity. Moreover, what athletes may lack in verbal facility or introspection can be supplied in the movies by context and commentary. And while you really have to be interested to sit through an entire World Series game or motor race or cricket match, a filmmaker can show you the most exciting moments in a tiny fraction of the time. Is there anyone alive who doesn't prefer those NFL Films presentations, with the rumbling, martial soundtracks and the ultra-slo-mo close-ups, to the herky-jerky, beery tedium of an actual professional football game?

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/12/senna_review/feed/ 26 I wish politics was baseball http://www.salon.com/2011/08/11/politics_baseball/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/11/politics_baseball/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/08/10/news/politics/_baseball The more I see of politics, the more I love baseball. Not that this is anything new. It's pretty much the story of my life. One anecdote my wife, Diane, sometimes wishes I wouldn't tell concerns the time I overheard a friend of hers ask why she lets me watch so much baseball on television.

Needless to say, I was in the next room watching the Red Sox. I'd muted the sound. By midseason, I know the beer commercials by heart. I also know the imaginary kingdom I call "Beer World" doesn't exist. You know, that sports bar in the sky filled with impossibly cute, energetic, flirty young humans?

It's an ad director's fantasy. But that's another column.

A coach's daughter, Diane grew up riding all over Arkansas and Oklahoma on school buses filled with wisecracking teenage ballplayers. If she hadn't been too young for her father's best player, Baltimore's great third baseman Brooks Robinson, I might never have stood a chance.

Anyway, I overheard her explaining to her friend that I don't tell her which flowers to plant or novels to read, and that she liked baseball. She added that even if she'd sometimes prefer a nice Emma Thompson movie, when watching baseball I'm also A) home, B) sober and C) not in some sports bar.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/11/politics_baseball/feed/ 32 Pyeongchang awarded 2018 Winter Olympics http://www.salon.com/2011/07/06/oly_2018_winter_vote_2/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/06/oly_2018_winter_vote_2/#comments Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:04:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/07/06/oly_2018_winter_vote_2 The South Korean city of Pyeongchang was awarded the 2018 Winter Olympics on Wednesday after failing in two previous attempts.

Pyeongchang defeated rivals Munich and Annecy, France, in the first round of a secret ballot of the International Olympic Committee.

Needing 48 votes for victory, Pyeongchang received 63 of the 95 votes cast. Munich received 25 and Annecy seven.

The Koreans had lost narrowly in previous bids for the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.

Pyeongchang will be the first city in Asia outside Japan to host the Winter Games. Japan held the games in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.

Korean delegates erupted in cheers in the conference hall after IOC President Jacques Rogge opened a sealed envelope and read the words: "The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the 23rd Olympic Winter Games in 2018 are awarded to the city of Pyeongchang."

The vote totals weren't immediately released.

A majority was required for victory, meaning Pyeongchang received at least 48 votes among the eligible 95 voters.

It was the first time an Olympic bid race with more than two finalists was decided in the first round since 1995, when Salt Lake City defeated three others to win the 2002 Winter Games.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/06/oly_2018_winter_vote_2/feed/ 13 How the cult of individualism is ruining baseball http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/baseball_individualism_cult/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/baseball_individualism_cult/#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/david_sirota/2011/06/16/baseball_individualism_cult In my recent book "Back to Our Future," I spend a chapter looking at how our culture began changing from one that saw salvation in solidarity to one that worshiped the individual messiah. Through the deification of singular icons like Oprah Winfrey, Pat Robertson, Lee Iacocca, Rush Limbaugh and Ronald Reagan (among others), we started outsourcing our cognition to and projecting our aspirations on whichever Jon Galt we saw as our particular savior.

This fetishization of the individual has intensified since the 1980s. We see it in political activists' focus on presidential elections to the exclusion of almost all other political arenas. We see it in young people who have traded in idealistic "save the world" goals for dreams of celebrity. We see it in the revival of Ayn Rand's Objectivism as a powerful political ideology in Congress. We see it in both the left and the right mindlessly and unquestioningly parroting whichever cable-news deity they revere. Now, we see it even in America's ultimate team sport.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/baseball_individualism_cult/feed/ 35 Nearly 150 hurt in Vancouver riot following hockey loss http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/hkn_stanley_cup_vancouver_scene_1/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/hkn_stanley_cup_vancouver_scene_1/#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:51:07 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/06/16/hkn_stanley_cup_vancouver_scene_1 Almost 150 people required hospital treatment overnight as rioters swept through downtown Vancouver following a Canucks loss to the Boston Bruins in the decisive Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.

Vancouver Coastal Health spokeswoman Anna Marie D'Angelo said Thursday three stabbing victims have been admitted and an unidentified man is in critical condition with head injuries after a fall.

She said most of the rioting victims were treated at St. Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver, while about 40, including the stabbing cases and the head injury patient, were being treated at Vancouver General Hospital.

Rioting and looting left cars burned, stores in shambles and windows shattered over a roughly ten block radius of the city's main shopping district.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said "organized hoodlums bent on creating chaos incited the riot" and noted the city proved with the 2010 Winter Olympics that it could hold peaceful gatherings. A local business leader estimated more than 50 businesses have been damaged.

"They were here to make trouble and they succeeded," Robertson said.

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu has called a news conference for later Thursday.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/hkn_stanley_cup_vancouver_scene_1/feed/ 11 Cars set on fire in Vancouver after hockey defeat http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/hkn_stanley_cup_vancouver_scene/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/hkn_stanley_cup_vancouver_scene/#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2011 10:42:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/06/16/hkn_stanley_cup_vancouver_scene Angry, drunken fans ran wild Wednesday night after the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, setting cars and garbage cans ablaze, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles.

Later, looters smashed windows and ran inside department stores.

"We have a small number of hooligans on the streets of Vancouver causing problems," Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said. "It's absolutely disgraceful and shameful and by no means represents the city of Vancouver. ... We have had an extraordinary run in the playoff, great celebration. What's happened tonight is despicable."

Police said they had reports of four stabbings, though spokeswoman Const. Jana McGuinness said she couldn't confirm them.

Officers from around the region flooded into downtown, and Robertson said things were getting under control, but the images and atmosphere that persisted late into the night suggested otherwise.

It took about four hours before downtown quieted again.

While Robertson said there had been no fatalities, ambulances appeared to be having trouble getting inside the zone to help the injured. TV images showed at least one woman mopping blood from her forehead.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/hkn_stanley_cup_vancouver_scene/feed/ 22 Mavericks best Heat’s “Big 3″ to win NBA title http://www.salon.com/2011/06/13/mavericks_nba_champions/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/13/mavericks_nba_champions/#comments Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:14:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/06/13/mavericks_nba_champions The Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat 105 - 95 in game six of the NBA Finals Sunday night. For the Mavs this meant a first ever NBA championship and revenge for a 2006 Finals when they were defeated by the Heat. This year, the Mavs won four of the five final games of the series to lift the championship trophy they had long worked for.

Despite his unmiraculous performance Sunday, much of the post-game attention has focused on Mavs star forward Dirk Nowitzki -- named Finals MVP.

"Nowitzki has forever been the sun the Mavericks’ planets surrounded, an orbiting galaxy of coaches and teammates that have come and gone. He was the constant, the conscience of a franchise that invoked his ethic, his character, his relentless pursuit of victory. No one worked harder. No one worked longer," the New York Daily News wrote.

"I really can't believe it," an emotional Nowitzki said after the game.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/13/mavericks_nba_champions/feed/ 7 Shaq says on Twitter: “I’m about to retire” http://www.salon.com/2011/06/01/bkn_shaq_retires/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/01/bkn_shaq_retires/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:51:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/06/01/bkn_shaq_retires Shaquille O'Neal, who struggled to get on the court for the Boston Celtics because of leg injuries, said on Twitter on Wednesday that he is going to retire after a 19-year career in which he won four NBA titles and the 2000 league Most Valuable Player award.

O'Neal sent a tweet shortly before 2:45 p.m. saying, "im retiring." It included a link to a 16-second video in which he says, "We did it; 19 years, baby. Thank you very much. That's why I'm telling you first: I'm about to retire. Love you. Talk to you soon."

An inveterate pranskter who gave himself a new nickname -- or several -- in each of his six NBA cities, the Big Shamroq did not notify his latest team of his plans. He played just 37 games this year, the first of a two-year deal at the veteran's minimum salary, making just three brief appearances after Feb. 1.

"To my knowledge, he has not informed any of us that he's retiring," Celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss said.

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