The SportsThink Weekly Read #18
April 22, 2022
Welcome new readers! The SportsThink Weekly Read highlights my favorite sport-related article of the week. On the last Friday of each month, I send out the Monthly Review, a longer digest of readings and other content of interest. Most articles are recently published, but some are not; the only rule is that I’ve read them within the past week (or the past month, in the case of the Monthly Review). Some are relevant to my day job as a professor teaching courses on the business, history, and philosophy of sports. Others are just plain interesting, relevant to my life-long obsession with the games we play. I also occasionally share articles and assorted musings on Twitter. The newsletter is free, but comes with two requests. 1. I’m always open to suggestions, so send me the good stuff that you read! 2. If you enjoy the newsletter, please share it with other folks who might enjoy it as well. Finally, I try to focus on non-paywalled writing, but if you find yourself unable to access anything, just hit reply to the email and I’ll do my best to get you a copy. Thanks for reading!
The Weekly Read(s)
How Spencer Haywood Almost Became Basketball’s First Billionaire, by Ian Stonebrook, via Boardroom.tv.
Keeping things light after last week’s heaviness, a small bit of forgotten history. Spencer Haywood was a badass, on and off the basketball court. He revolutionized the NBA by taking the league to court, succesfully earning the right for athletes to turn pro without staying in school for 4 years. In his 14 year professional career, he was an ABA and NBA all-star, an ABA champion, and ABA MVP. But, as the article here details, he could have had even more if his agent hadn’t screwed him on his Nike contract. (of course, that big-B billion would have required him to sit on his equity…but still, there’s no doubt that a lot of money was left on the table.). The writing here isn’t winning any awards, but definitely a cool story and a quick, easy read.
As always, thanks for reading and please share share share!
See you next week for the Monthly Review,
Tolga