By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk
CHESTNUT HILL – Todayâs column begins with a simple question. Why is the NBA and its players singled out for the practice of âLoad Managementâ while many other sports employ the same treatment but remain unscathed of criticism?
I think load management started with Track and Field and Boxing, to allow the athletes plenty of time to recover from prior races or bouts. I don;t think any of us have any issue with that practice, although I do remember former San Antonio Spurs and USA Basketball Dream Team center David Robinson quizzing USA champion hurdler Edwin Moses on his sparse schedule on a Dream Team bus ride returning to the Ambassador Hotel from the Barcelona â92 Opening Ceremonies.
The Admiral shook his head, hearing Moses didnât compete between the Olympics and Worlds while the Spurs might face the Lakers (Shaquille OâNeal), the Rockets (Hakeem Olajuwon), the Knicks (Patrick Ewing) and the Celtics (Robert Parish)Â within a week or two.
Taking that exchange aside, Load Management is utilized in a number of other sports besides track or boxing. In fact, itâs used in the toughest of sports – ice hockey – where your starters only play 1/3rd of a game, and share time with 3 or often 4 lines, Defense has 6 guys splitting the time. Goalkeepers need two guys to carry the load.
In baseball, starting pitchers only play every four or five days, and their catchers never play in a day game after a night game. All baseball players frequently get a day off. In the bullpen, relievers and closers rarely pitch two days in a row and the prized closers can only throw for three outs, lasting one half an inning.
In American football, the lineup of players (11) are divided into two groups, so 22 guys play instead of 11. There are offensive units and defensive units and also special teams are entirely different players to manage the load and help avoid potential injury. The teams play one game a week.
Of course, in the NBA, the great Michael Jordan swore he HAD to play, as he didnât want to disappoint a fan who saved a ton of money and bought a ticket months before the scheduled game. MJ set very worthy barometer and played all-out nearly every single night of his career with that fan/ticket buyer in the back of his mind for motivation.
Other examples?
Thoroughbred Race Horses are load-managed with the best of âem, so much that even the three weeks off between the Preakness and Belmont seems far too short for a Triple Crown contender.
Iâm just not sure why basketball gets singled out?
Do you know why?
BC vs. ND:Â Your roving reporter had the pleasure to attend the Boston College vs. Notre Dame college football game on Saturday. BCâs campus was glowing, and Alumni Stadium – the place Doug Flutie built – was sold out.
It was an absolutely gorgeous New England day with a pure, postcard blue sky. When the game began, Notre Dame was a 29.5 point favorite over the hometown Eagles, but at the half, BC trailed 12-7 and was very much in the game. Then, when Boston Collegeâs Luca Lombardo kicked a 25 yard field goal late in the third quarter, the 10-1 Notre Dame over BC fan ratio was silenced as the scoreboard read ND 12-10.
Boston College had every opportunity to take the lead in the fourth quarter but failed to convert on two 4th Down and 1 yard plays. ND countered with another touchdown to make it, 18-10.
ND broke it open when Jeremiyah Love ran 94 yards with 11:07 remaining in the game. BC could do no more. It was the strongest effort of the season by the Eagles but that effort did nothing for the âwin column,â as only an opening week of the season victory over Fordham has been the winning effort.
It was an incredibly exciting event.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Itâs getting late in the 2025 College Football season and both Indiana and Vanderbilt are legit Top 10 and College Football Playoff Bowl bound, for sure. The next thing you know, St. Johnâs will be ranked No. 5 or No. 6 in College Basketball. ⊠This season, the college football playoffs feature a 12-team format where the five highest ranked Conference Champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams will qualify. The four highest-ranked teams overall receive a first-round bye and are seeded 1-4, while the teams seeded 5-12 play in the first round, with higher seeds hosting the games on campus. The quarterfinals and semifinals are played in the big time bowl games. Hereâs the schedule so you can plan ahead.
- First Round: December 19â20, 2025
- Quarterfinals: December 31, 2025, and January 1, 2026
- Semifinals: January 8â9, 2026
- National Championship: January 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Florida
TIDBITS & NUGGETS:Does everyone have their complete set of NBA team #Hashtags for the 2025-26 season? If not, here they are:
If weâre going to rank a few, how about a Top 5:
- #TakeNote for the Utah Jazz
- #RepTheDistrict for the Wash DC Wizards
- #FearTheDeer for the Milwaukee Bucks (longtime fave)
- #WeTheNorth for the Toronto Raptors (Another longtime fave)
- #LakeShow for the LA Lakers (Third longtime fave)
NBA CUP: We are all about to be overtaken by the NBA Cup and its artistic dominance of basketball courts at every NBA arena. This season, many of the courts have the same overall design and differ only in colors and the names of the team cities emblazoned at center court. Here in Boston, we long for a simple design with some parquet flooring as the main play. Not this year. Elsewhere, the red tones are just too much and do not reflect well. In other locales, such as Los Angeles, the Lakersâ gold (call it yellow) glows in the dark. Many fans like the gray motif, and Brooklyn does it well, along with Chicago, Golden State, Memphis, OKC, Orlando, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio.
COSM: The late David Stern, NBA Commissioner from 1984 to 2014, had a dream of broadcasting NBA games to make every viewer in the world experience the game as though they were sitting in a courtside seat. That dream is a step closer to reality and the league announced its latest tech deal to take that small step, or giant leap – depending on how you see it.
The NBA and Cosm, an immersive technology, media, and entertainment company, announced a new long-term partnership to produce and distribute live NBA games in shared reality at Cosmâs immersive entertainment venues through 2030 and beyond. During the 2025-26 NBA season, Cosm will produce and present key national games across the leagueâs broadcast platforms via ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Prime Video as well as select games and events during NBA All-Star Weekend, NBA Playoffs and NBA Finals.
In February 2023, the NBA became the first-ever professional sports league to partner with Cosm ahead of the opening of the first immersive entertainment venue in Los Angelesâ Hollywood Park in July 2024. Cosm has since opened its second venue in Dallas at The Colonyâs Grandscape and is slated to open three additional venues in Atlanta, Detroit, and Cleveland in 2026 and 2027. Other future locations are yet to be announced..
Last year, Cosm reimagined the way NBA fans can experience games, leveraging its innovative camera and production technology to capture and distribute live games back to its 87-foot-diameter, 12K+ LED domes. Cosm venues blend state-of-the-art visuals with the energy of the crowd to create an arena-like atmosphere that provides fans with a view of the game from a range of unique angles, including behind the bench and under the rim. In particular, the Los Angeles venue in Inglewood will be a marquee destination for fans during NBA All-Star activities in February 2026.
âThe response from fans at Cosm domes last year demonstrated what an incredible way it is to experience an NBA game,â said Teddy Kaplan, Vice President, Head of New Media Partnerships at the NBA. âWe couldnât be more excited to extend our partnership and look forward to working in lockstep with Cosm to engage our fans as they expand their footprint to different markets across the country in the coming years.â
âThe NBA took the leap to be our first league partner, and we are honored to extend the foundational partnership that started it all,â said Jeb Terry, President and CEO at Cosm. âWith our shared spirit of innovation, passion for the fan experience, and belief in the power of Shared Reality, we will continue to super-serve NBA fans for many years to come, and in many more locations.â
WNBA LABOR AGREEMENT – TIMEOUT:Â With the expiration date of the WNBAâs current collective bargaining agreement upon them, the WNBA players association agreed to the extension with the league as previous talks had stalled in an attempt to strike a new deal. According to a news reports from ESPN and The Athletic, the WNBA and WNBPA reached a resolution on a 30-day extension after considering it for two days. The prior agreement expired on October 31.
Keep in mind, the W signed a new 11-year media deal with Versant in late September. The agreement potentially tips-off for the 2026 season and includes at least 50 WNBA games annually and portions of the WNBA Playoff and WNBA Finals games during select years. Versant, the parent company of cable networks and brands soon to be spun off from Comcast has been rapidly acquiring sports rights and diving deeper into womenâs sports in particular. The latest agreement expands upon a previous broadcast package between the WNBA and Versantâs USA Network signed in 2024.
REDFORD TRIBUTE:Â Anyone sick of NFL football, yet? Probably not, but thatâs why God invented the DVR (a.k.a. Tivo, Thank-you). Tune in or record, youâll have a great time watching all the hits!
The Sting is a personal favorite, but The Way We Were is an amazing motion picture, often overlooked.
NOVEMBER 2 – TCMâS TRIBUTE TO ROBERT REDFORD
6:00 AM A Bridge Too Far (1977)
9:00 AM Barefoot in the Park (1967)
11:00 AM Downhill Racer (1969)
1:00 PM The Candidate (1972)
3:00 PM All the Presidentâs Men (1976)
5:30 PM The Sting (1973)
8:00 PM Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
10:00 PM The Way We Were (1973)
12:15 AM A River Runs Through It (1992)
2:30 AM The Hot Rock (1972)
4:30 AM War Hunt (1962)
PARTING WORDS & MUSIC: This will mark two weeks in a row with movie clips, as last week was a clip of The Sting. If youâve seen the motion picture featured today and you can make it through this clip without tearing up, you are NOT human. Hereâs to Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand – two of the all-time greatest.
While Weâre Young (Ideas) is a weekly (every weekend) collection of Sports Notes and News written by Terry Lyons. The posting of each notebook harkens back to the days when youâd walk over to the city news stand on Saturday night around 10:00pm to pick-up a copy of the Sunday papers. Inside, just waiting, was a compilation of interesting sports notes, quotes and quips in a column that always sold a few newspapers. Wire Service reports are utilized within the column.