As Ew Like It

It's been a decade since he last played pro hoops and earlier this month he turned 50, but that isn't stopping Patrick Ewing from restarting his signature sneaker line, which has been inactive longer than the former Knicks star. Ewing Athletics will return to the retail market tomorrow, rolling out initially in New York City, with the 33 Hi Retro. We have no recollection of this brand, active for about 5-6 years in the early-to-mid-'90s - and we remember such short-lived sensations as British Knights and L.A. Gear - so the $100 price for the Hi strikes us as high; to put business in basketball terms, we view it as throwing up a brick. His footwear, unlike his footwork, was forgettable and featureless (where was the inflatable device?). We suggest selling a shoe more suited to his advancing age: the Ewingtip.

A Tough Blake

In terms of injuries, the 2012 men's Olympic team is snake-bitten, figuratively, but we wouldn't be surprised if it literally became true; if a cobra chomped on Carmelo and caused him to miss the competition. That's because Blake Griffin became the seventh star to suffer a setback that will prevent him from playing in London. Griffin tore the medial meniscus in his left knee (we're not a physician, we just pretend to be one on this blog) and will miss eight weeks. Griffin didn't even have the chance to face international competition, as the happened before last night's first exhibition game. This means the closest Griffin got to gold was the Gold Bond powder in the trainer's room.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the inaugural and incomparable Dream Team, so players of this incarnation were asked the "who would win" question. Kobe benignly backed this bunch, as if there was any other way to answer. That exasperated their elders. Scottie Pippen posited that the '92 crew would've mauled the modern one by a margin of 25 points, while Michael Jordan's reaction was reproachful: "For him to compare those two teams is not one of the smarter things he ever could have done." And MJ knows about doing dumb things, like taking time off at the peak of his career to pursue baseball or not hiring Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan this summer or even fellow Dream Teamer Patrick Ewing (he instead went with a college assistant coach, Mike Dunlap; honestly, a Dunlap tire would've been a better choice).