Deadspin: true hoop

Will Cuban Ban The Almighty ESPN?

Leitch — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:50:56 EDT

The Dallas Mavericks have a huge game tonight with the Los Angeles Lakers, and, whether Mark Cuban lets any bloggers in or not, we'll certainly be reading all about it on about 1,000 blogs. (OK, maybe 100.) Throwing down his gauntlet, Henry Abbott from ESPN's True Hoop is making the trip. He seems to know that he's not going to have locker room access, which means we should be in for a fascinating post tomorrow, presuming Henry's willing to push it. Will he? Is it worth it?

That is to say: We love Henry's site, but we're not sure what ultimate point will be made. Abbott is just as justified to be in that locker room tonight as he was before he went to ESPN — he's just as respected and diligent as he has always been — but that's the undercurrent of Abbott's trip. Sure, you'll ban bloggers, Cuban ... but will you ban an ESPN blogger?

We hope there's some sort of scuffle with security. But we have our doubts. Good luck, Henry.

Off To Dallas [True Hoop]

Stephen A. And The Gang Welcome True Hoop

Leitch — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:30:56 EST

We'd like to congratulate the great Henry Abbott and True Hoop for their absorption into the ESPN empire. True Hoop is one of our absolute favorite sites, and we have much faith that nothing over there will change, save for occasional references to CHEESY DOODLES.

Stephen A. and the gang welcome you, Henry. Careful, though: Just to be safe, we'd recommend disabling the photo function on your cell phone.

True Hoop Is Becoming Part Of ESPN [True Hoop]

Tracking The NBA's Secret Man

Leitch — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 12:30:51 EST

If you're unsure of just how cool this whole Web stuff can be, get over to Henry Abbott's True Hoop and check out how investigative reporting will be done in the future. (And we don't mean "with rocket packs," though that's possible.)

About a week ago, Abbott decided to start an "open-source investigation" into William Wesley, the mysterious figure who's close to countless NBA players and is, in the words of one reporter, "either one of the most powerful and well-liked men in the NBA or everything that is wrong with the underbelly of pro sports." Abbott — that's not him in the picture, by the way; that's William Wesley, though he's not the William Wesley we're talking about either. He's just some old guy named William Wesley — had dug up more information on Wesley in one week that any newspaper person has come up with in a decade. (Abbott even put his personal own telephone number on the site for information, and it paid off tenfold.)

And you know any minute Abbott's going to get a call from Wesley himself. It's really an amazing look into a part of the NBA that doesn't get much attention, and it's, well, it's must-read stuff. Check it out.

Who Is William Wesley? [True Hoop]