FanHouse AlonzoMourning

Sometimes it's not only about football.

Well, football is important -- the sport helps some go to college, and if you're lucky enough, you go to the NFL. Giants defensive end Justin Tuck is about helping people, and is using football to do it.

Tuesday night at Chelsea Piers in New York, Tuck, along with several people associated with athletics on and off the field, will talk to about 150 kids in high school and college about the importance of using sports as a means to better their lives. The program is put on as part of the New Yorkers For Children organization.

Tuck will be joined by former NBA star Alonzo Mourning and CJ Brown, a former football player at Columbia, who now works for JP Morgan.

Go ahead, call me a sap -- I've been called much worse. For some reason, jersey retirement ceremonies get me every time, and Alonzo Mourning's was no exception. Sure, Pat Riley's comments were cliche, and the Creed song was a poor choice. But Mourning becoming the first actual member of the team to have his jersey raised to the rafters (Michael Jordan and Dan Marino had their numbers retired for some reason as well) was awesome, and of course, well-deserved.

It seems impossible, but every time LeBron James has a monster game, Dwyane Wade comes right back with his own version of the same. After LeBron's streak of three consecutive triple-doubles came to an end in Sacramento on Friday, he still managed to score 51 points and lead his team to an overtime victory over the Kings. Not to be topped, Wade scored 50 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and had nine assists in a triple-overtime win over the Utah Jazz.

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One of the important things about FanHouse is that we try and speak with passion. And as much as I usually like to write about Stephon Marbury's useless existence as a basketball player, or who got popped for a DUI this week, I've got a soft spot for Alonzo Mourning. Please forgive the momentary positivity. Rest assured, Brett will be on later to poke the Celtics fans with a stick and Ziller will have some sort of post validating an algebraic formula that proves Ricky Davis is actually good or something.

Alonzo Mourning is why I got into basketball.

And it wasn't just because he could swat a ball into the ninth row, spin a young center in circles, and didn't back down from anyone. Though that didn't hurt.

That a(nother) Alonzo Mourning comeback had even been considered as late as yesterday is a real miracle, a testament to how hard 'Zo has worked to keep his often uncooperative body in playing shape. But Mourning announced today he is officially retiring at the age of 38.

Eight years ago, Mourning stepped away when diagnosed with a deathly serious kidney disease. He got treatment and played through it (at an All-Star level) until things got worse in 2003; he had a kidney transplant and came back to the league. And he didn't just occupy space in the NBA -- he was perhaps the fourth most important player in Miami's 2006 title run.

Miami has myriad concerns but only three real problems heading into 2008-09: the point guard position, fitting the team's three starter quality forwards together, and perimeter depth. The Heat remains damned on the PG tip until Mario Chalmers has an epiphany or the trade market ratchets up, and I count myself again the horde which finds the Shawn Marion-Michael Beasley-Udonis Haslem triumvirate more interesting than problematic. But depth ... with only James Jones, Dorell Wright, Daequan Cook and Yakhouba Diawara available behind Dwyane Wade and Marion at the swing positions. That's a little good but a whole lotta bad, at least on offense.

Now Jones is out at least three months after ripping a tendon in his wrist. That ensures Wright or Diawara will get some minutes; in the event of an injury or a Marion trade that doesn't send a quality wing back, this ensures substantial burn for both those guys as well as Cook, who appears to sit on the fringes of the NBA (which is where Diawara rightfully exists). Mention was made during the summer that Shaun Livingston could play some two-guard or small forward, but no one will say when he'll be ready for real NBA action.

Another blow to the bench brigade: Jamaal Magloire will be out until December at the earliest with a broken hand. As Erik Spoelstra resists Forwardpalooza, Mark Blount will be the starting center. Magloire's a zombie, but he's better than Joel Anthony and potentially better than Blount. Alonzo Mourning is working out in some secluded bunker or something, but he doesn't figure to get live until at least January.

This is all to say that Miami could be the shocker we all dream of, but it could also be a really bad team with nothing past Wade and a good forward rotation.

Last week, FanHouse brought you a couple of great interviews with Dwyane Wade and Alonzo Mourning, who were doing the media circuit in order to promote their charity All-Star game that was going down in Miami over the weekend. Besides watching a bunch of sick dunks and alley-oops with zero defense, fans were treated to a dance off between D-Wade, LeBron James, Damon Jones, and Zo. Here's a little sample.



Looks like LeBron is the big dancer of the group, and if you ask me, D-Wade looked a little tentative out there. I guess a 15-win season will do that to you.

If you want to see more, including Damon Jones getting on the mic and encouraging the best looking ladies to come down and dance with him, there's a 10 minute version after the jump. (Hey, it's the off season. What else are you going to watch?)

Alonzo Mourning will be remembered for a lot of things. Like this. And these. But maybe most of all for his passion. After fifteen years in the league, two Defensive Player of the Year awards, a kidney transplant and subsequent comeback, and one, satisfying championship, Mourning has built his legacy in the NBA on that passion. Since overcoming the illness that nearly ended his career, however, Zo has also begun building his legacy off the court, through extensive charity work. The crown of that legacy is his annual Zo's Summer Groove event in South Beach. It's going on this weekend, and Zo took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk to me about Zo's Summer Groove, his defensive legacy, and where he sees his life after basketball.


MM: Alonzo, thanks so much for your time, I know you're busy this weekend.

Zo: No problem, man, no problem at all. Nice to talk to you.

MM: So, what are you up to down in Miami?

This morning, World Champion NBA guard and All-World charity machine Dwyane Wade took some time out of his busy day -- chillin' in the G2 lounge is hard work, people -- to answer some questions from FanHouse about blogging diarying, the Olympics, Mike Beasley, Supernintendo Chalmers, Zo's Summer Groove and his iPod.

Will Brinson: Dwyane, what's up, man? Good morning and thanks for taking time to chat with FanHouse.

Dwyane Wade: Good morning, Will. Thanks for having me on, man.

WB: For there not being any games on, the NBA is pretty hectic right now, and suddenly the East looks pretty tough, especially with yesterday's craziness. What are your thoughts on where the Heat stand for 2008-09 in terms of addressing needs at the draft and free agency to get back to where you guys were a few years ago?

DW: Well, we were very excited about the guys we picked up in the draft this year. You know Beasley has a chance to be special -- a great player -- and Chalmers is a guy that could shock a lot of people. I can't believe he even fell to the second round, to the 34th pick, so we're very, very excited about getting those two guys.

I think we approach free agency very cautiously as well. We have a couple names, a couple guys we're targeting. But it's all about putting the right pieces together, not about the big names every summer, it's about adding the right pieces to the team and Coach Riley has done a great job with that.

When something works (and by "works" I mean "gets a $400,000 debt paid off") you usually become pretty willing to use that method again. Which would explain why the Wynn Casino, who publicly shamed Charles Barkley into paying off a six figure debt, is getting busy in court again.

Wynn Las Vegas claims NBA Entertainment, NBA Properties and co-defendant Alonzo Mourning Charities have failed to pay a $50,000 bill for convention and meeting space and related services used during the 2007 NBA All-Star weekend.

[...]The casino claims to have entered into an agreement with NBA Entertainment for use of the resort's hotel and convention space during the February 2007 event.

NBA Entertainment then authorized the charity to use some of the convention and meeting space for a fund-raiser, according to the lawsuit.

But, in a vicious strike by karma, the casino quickly backtracked, stating that an "administrative error" led to the filing of the complaint against the NBA; they were only trying to sue Mourning's Charity organization. Which, while terribly stupid looking for the attorneys that represent the Wynn, is still just as embarrassing for Mourning.

Now, odds say that his charity organization either a) forgot to pay the bill or b) got crossed up with the NBA on who was going to pay the casino off. But that doesn't make it any less awkward for them, and you can bet the Wynn gets the 50k paid to them pretty fast. Or else they're coming to collect. And they don't take "no" for an answer. Just kidneys.

Via Ballhype