Just weeks away from tipoff, it isn't just fans who are ecstatic about the return of NBA action; league personnel, Hall of Famers, and current players are all anticipating the rebooted season, according to veteran NBA photographer, Andrew D. Bernstein.
"I'm itching to get back to work," he told Cheddar on Monday. "I haven't taken a picture since March 11th."
In partnership with the Los Angeles Times, Bernstein, a photographer covering the NBA for nearly 40 years, plans to document the return of the season amid the coronavirus pandemic with a spinoff of the Legends of Sport podcast titled, Legends of Sport: Restarting the Clock.
"It'll be a great kind of melding of today and yesterday," Bernstein noted. "We're going to have a mix of participants: coaches, NBA types, legends talking about their memories from years past."
With the coronavirus being the focal point of the return to gameplay, Bernstein is also tasked with detailing the reactions to sweeping calls for change as the NBA greenlights current players to make social justice statements.
"It's a huge story and it's vital that we cover that and the fact that the NBA provides this tremendous platform for players," he said.
As the league plans its return amid the surging number of coronavirus cases in Florida, Bernstein said his only major concern is actually making it to the "Bubble" in Orlando, the nickname for the resorts and Disney facilities that house players and staff and will host the actual games.
"The safety of the players and the participants, all of us staff, is of the utmost importance to the NBA, so I have complete and total trust in that," the photographer stated. "My biggest worry, quite honestly, is just getting there. Going on a commercial flight, which I haven't done since the pandemic started."
This year on Black Friday, the National Basketball Players Association launched a traveling NBPA-branded holiday pop-up called 'NBPA 450 Gives.' This was a 14-day long experiential and digital activation showcasing the best gifts for this holiday season, featuring items from black-owned businesses to celebrate Google's black-owned Friday initiative. JD sat down with Brooklyn Nets player, Blake Griffin, who helped launch this initiative.
We're entering a brave new world of broadly legal sports betting. Over 30 states and Washington, DC, have legalized sports betting in the year and a half since the supreme court struck down the federal ban on the activity.
But legalization isn't a simple proposition. The federal law might be struck down but its still up to each state to decide whether to legalize sports betting, and answer a litany of questions that come with it. Should you include online gambling? How much should people be allowed to bet? Should there be limits on advertising for sports betting?
Darren Heitner, founder of Heitner Legal, and Daniel Wallach, founder of Wallach Legal, join None of the Above's "Business of Sports: The Year Gambling Took Over" special to discuss.
Carlo and Baker cover the latest data showing the Omicron wave has likely started, Pfizer's Covid pill, Jan. 6 and a box office rescue attempt courtesy of Spider-Man.
Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas is slated to be the home of Super Bowl LVIII in 2024. The stadium was completed in July 2020 for a price tag of $1.8 billion.
Rachel Bachman, senior sports reporter at the Wall Street Journal, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she explains how U.S. athletes have been inserted into the middle of a political debate after the country declared a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing.
The future of gambling in Florida recently suffered a major setback after a federal appeals court rejected a request from the state and the Seminole Tribe to allow online sports betting in the state. Now, the tribe has been forced to stop taking bets on its Hard Rock sportsbook app. ESPN gaming writer David Purdum joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what this could mean for the future of sports betting in Florida.
The potential growth for the sports betting industry is almost unfathomable. what will the future of sports betting look like, and how did we get here? John Atkinson, director of business development at 888 Holdings, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
