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."
Five women have been named to the U.S. short-track speedskating team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Among those five, there was only one returning Olympian of the group, Maame Biney, who competed in the 2018 Olympics as the first African-American woman to ever qualify for the U.S. short-track speedskating team. JD sat down with Biney to discuss how she's preparing for the games.
Eric Mitchell, Sports Analyst and President & CEO of LifeFlip Media, breaks down the updated rules around testing in the NFL and outlines how vaccinated players are impacted by new return-to-play guidelines.
Carlo and Baker kick off the weirdest week of the year with all the news you missed over the holiday weekend, including calls for the CDC to shorten its isolation window as Omicron sweeps through the country.
The 2022 Winter Olympics will be without some of hockey's biggest players. The NHL and the NHL Player's Association have agreed to not participate in the men's hockey tournament at the Games in Beijing next year. The league has been forced to postpone some games because of a rise in COVID-19 cases among players. Washington Post sports reporter Samantha Pell joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what this could mean for the Winter Olympics and the sport of hockey.
Former professional tennis player Patrick McEnroe joined Cheddar to discuss the troubling issues surrounding player Peng Shuai who appeared potentially to have been silenced following her social media post accusing former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. Shuai's subsequent disappearance, reappearance, and apparent retraction of the accusation in an interview only added to worries. "When this happened, all of us in the tennis community were very concerned. And, by the way, another thing Peng said in this interview was that she doesn't speak very good English," McEnroe noted. "Well I can assure you, she speaks darn good English, 'cause I spoke to her on many occasions over the last 15 years."
Carlo and Baker cover the heartening news on the Covid front ahead of the holiday, plus President Biden punting student loan repayments again, a new space telescope and Love, Hate, Ate: Christmas Eve Eve Edition!
The boys discuss President Biden's plans to send out free rapid tests as the testing supply chain starts to buckle ahead of the holidays. Also, why aren't Americans having more babies, and The Matrix returns.
Cam Rogers, host of 'Lock It In with Cam Rogers,' and betting analyst at the Bleav Podcast Network, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he breaks down how sportsbooks - and bettors - need to adapt to changes to sporting events due to the spread of the Omicron variant.
