SBNation.com - All Posts

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• Demetrius Knox commits to the Ohio State Buckeyes
• North Carolina suspends P.J. Hairston indefinitely
• 2015 OG Patrick Vahe commits to the Texas Longhorns
• UNC's P.J. Hairston suspended indefinitely
• P.J. Hairston cited for speeding, reckless driving
• NBA free agency: Hawks claim Gustavo Ayon, according to report
• 2013 Brickyard 400: Tony Stewart defends quality of racing, others disagree
• Yasiel Puig hits first career walk-off home run

Demetrius Knox commits to the Ohio State Buckeyes Posted: 28 Jul 2013 08:29 PM PDT Once upon a time, Fort Worth (Texas) All Saints teammates and friends Demetrius Knox and Daniel Gresham planned on attending the same college. It didn't work out that way, but now both are headed home for college after Knox committed to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday. A Kentucky native, Gresham is headed back to Kentucky to play for Louisville, while the 6'4, 290-pound Knox will play offensive guard for his home-state Buckeyes. Throughout the recruiting process, when asked about Ohio State, Knox would respond, "I'll always be a Buckeye," which will now be the case in more than just his heart. A consensus four-star prospect who originally committed to Texas last fall to join Gresham, Knox was the first of the two to decommit from the Longhorns on April 22 after visiting Ohio State in violation of the Texas no-visit policy for recruits that head coach Mack Brown instituted after having five players decommit in the 2013 class. In June, he declared the UCLA Bruins his leader, but in the end, the opportunity to go home to play his college football trumped offers from the the Bruins and the other schools in his top five -- Miami, Florida State, and Oregon made up the other three schools -- among numerous other offers. Even if the All Saints product and Ohio native can't play outside in college, he projects well at guard because he's a lean 290 pounds, with little to no bad weight on his frame. By staying lean and quick, Knox can pass set well enough to stop pass rushers in high school and show some good reactive body movement to mirror defenders while playing tackle. In the area of staying back and balanced in his cylinder, Knox can allow himself to get out on his toes at times, something he will need to correct moving forward. In the run game, Knox has experience working out of two-point and three-point stances. Coming off the ball, he can show good leverage at the point of attack and at the second level, where he uses his flexibility to get under the pads of smaller defenders. Persistent enough to work to the whistle, Knox could stand to improve his overall punch and ability to plant smaller players on their backside, as he often ends up merely walling them off. An increase in core and upper body strength when he gets into a college strength and conditioning program should allow Knox to become more adept at relieving opponents of their footing. The All Saints product is now the 15th pledge for the Buckeyes in 2014, joining a class that now ranks No. 6 in the nation and tops in the Big 10. With four offensive linemen, Ohio State is building a strong corps for its future on the offensive line, while the class overall has enough highly-ranked prospects that Knox comes in at No. 8 overall in the class in terms of his overall grade. When the median commit in a class is ranked 94 by 247Sports? Yeah, it might be a good one. All Saints (Fort Worth, TX) Demetrius Knox - OL #78 (via Maxprepssports) More from SB Nation: Follow @SBNationCFB Follow @SBNRecruiting • SB Nation’s media days coverage, live from the scene: ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | SEC • Video of FSU starter surviving horrifying motorcycle wreck • Texas coach Mack Brown: "Players need to be paid" • Projecting every 2013 college football conference race • National recruiting coverage • Today’s college football news headlines

North Carolina suspends P.J. Hairston indefinitely Posted: 28 Jul 2013 08:20 PM PDT The University of North Carolina announced Sunday that men's basketball head coach Roy Williams has suspended junior guard P.J. Hairston indefinitely following a traffic citation for speeding and reckless driving. Hairston was pulled over Sunday on Interstate 85 outside Webb, N.C. for doing 93 miles per hour in a 65 mph zone. The 20-year-old has a court date scheduled in Rowan County for Aug. 30. More: Tar Heel blog on the Summer of P.J. Hairston's suspension is the culmination of a summer chock-full of legal problems. Hairston was arrested on June 5 and charged with possession of marijuana and driving without a license, although those charges were dismissed because he was cooperative with the courts. There have also been some questions surrounding Hairston and several rented cars. The car that he was driving during his June arrest was rented under the name Haydn Thomas, a convicted felon. Hairston was also cited for speeding on May 13 while driving a car rented by Catinia Farrington, a woman who shares the same home address as Thomas. Hairston averaged a team-high 14.6 points last season as a sophomore. More from SB Nation: • LBJ likely done with Team USA | Best (and worst) Olympic moments • The top 61 rookies at NBA Summer League •SB Nation’s media days coverage, live from the scene: ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | SEC • Phil credits technology for Open win • Kenny Anderson reveals being sexually abused This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

2015 OG Patrick Vahe commits to the Texas Longhorns Posted: 28 Jul 2013 08:06 PM PDT The second commitment for the Texas Longhorns on the weekend of their first "Texas Stampede" recruiting event took a little longer to break than the first -- while there were reports of that Euless (Texas) Trinity offensive guard Patrick Vahe had added his name to the 2015 recruiting class on Saturday, Vahe himself didn't confirm the news until Sunday. An early top-100 national player by 247Sports and ESPN, Vahe is also ranked as the No. 8 player in the early composite rankings (the two aforementioned services have put out their rankings), he's a four-star prospect at 6'3 and 280 pounds who pledged to the 'Horns without receiving any other offers. A cousin of Sione and Maea Teuhema, the brothers from Keller (Texas) who committed to Texas in late May, Vahe visited Austin last Monday after declaring the 'Horns his leader after receiving his offer in early May, facts that put him squarely on the commitment watch list entering the weekend. He's now the fourth offensive lineman in the 2015 recruiting class for Texas, which also includes Maea Teuhema, a five-star prospect by 247Sports. In fact, the class for offensive line coach Stacy Searels may nearly be done, depending on whether Texas can land an offensive tackle in 2014, a major remaining need for that group. Vahe won't help address long-term depth issues at tackle for Searels, but he does provide a highly mobile guard. Some interior linemen are at their best in a phone booth, dealing with nose tackles because of their ability to anchor and not give ground, while others are at their best on the move, taking out second-level defenders. There's no question that Vahe belongs among the latter group, showing both his motor and agility in space when pulling on lead plays or screens. Trinity is a run-heavy team, so Vahe will probably need some work in pass protection as he gets to college, but it's less of an issue since he clearly projects as a guard unless he grows. And while his cousin Maea can put defenders on their back simply with the extension of his arms, Vahe relies more on his flexibility to create leverage than he does on pure power with his hands, though he does have one highlight in pass protection in which a lightning-quick punch to a defender relieves his opponent of his feet, a remarkable play since the majority of pancakes come in the run game. Even some well-considered offensive linemen don't flash hard on film, instead providing evidence of talent and future value, but Vahe's highlights make it clear why the services are so high on him early, even if his offer list provides a counterpoint. More from SB Nation: Follow @SBNationCFB Follow @SBNRecruiting • SB Nation’s media days coverage, live from the scene: ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | SEC • Video of FSU starter surviving horrifying motorcycle wreck • Texas coach Mack Brown: "Players need to be paid" • Projecting every 2013 college football conference race • National recruiting coverage • Today’s college football news headlines

UNC's P.J. Hairston suspended indefinitely Posted: 28 Jul 2013 08:05 PM PDT The school suspended the star guard after he was cited for reckless driving on Sunday, the latest brush with the law for Hairston. UNC guard P.J. Hairston was arrested for possession of marijuana and driving without a license in Durham on Wednesday night, according to local reports. The university is aware of the arrest, a spokesman told ABC11: "We are aware of the situation involving one of our athletes," UNC Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communications Steve Kirschner said. "We are still gathering information and may comment further later." Hairston was stopped at a license check along with two other men near downtown Durham. It remains to be seen how the university and/or men's head basketball coach Roy Williams will respond. For more North Carolina coverage, visit Tar Heel Blog Hairston led the Tar Heels in scoring last season, averaging 14.6 points in 23.6 minutes per game. He was considered a flight risk to the NBA after UNC got knocked of the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament by No. 1 seed Kansas. Hairston announced in April that he would return for his junior year, however.

P.J. Hairston cited for speeding, reckless driving Posted: 28 Jul 2013 07:26 PM PDT North Carolina junior guard P.J. Hairston is in trouble with the law again after being charged with speeding and reckless driving on Sunday, according to Rachel Axon and Eric Prisbell of USA Today. Hairston was pulled over in a 2008 Acura TL on Interstate 85 outside Webb, N.C. for going 93 miles per hour in a 65 mph zone and has a court date set in Rowan County on Aug. 30. It has been quite the eventful summer for Hairston, who was arrested on June 5 and charged for possessing marijuana and driving without a license after getting stopped at a license checkpoint. The 20-year-old had those charges dropped on July 19 because he completed a drug assessment and provided the court his current driver's license. More: Tar Heel Blog's coverage of Hairston's summer There was also some controversy surrounding the car that Hairston was driving at the time of that arrest. Hairston was driving a 2013 GMC Yukon that was rented under the name Haydn Thomas, a convicted felon and party promoter who has ties to several college athletes in the area. Hairston was also cited for speeding on May 13 while driving a 2012 Camaro SS that was rented by Catinia Farrington, a woman who shares the same home address as Thomas. Hairston has not yet faced any discipline from North Carolina for any of his transgressions, although head coach Roy Williams said on July 15 that the guard could face "serious consequences." Williams also called Hairston's issues "embarrassing." More from SB Nation: • LBJ likely done with Team USA | Best (and worst) Olympic moments • The top 61 rookies at NBA Summer League •SB Nation’s media days coverage, live from the scene: ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | SEC • Phil credits technology for Open win • Kenny Anderson reveals being sexually abused This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

NBA free agency: Hawks claim Gustavo Ayon, according to report Posted: 28 Jul 2013 06:24 PM PDT The Atlanta Hawks have claimed Gustavo Ayon off waivers, according to Shams Charania of RealGM. The Milwaukee Bucks waived Ayon on Friday despite recently picking up his $1.5 million team option for the 2013-14 season. Ayon played 12 games for the Bucks last season, coming over from the Orlando Magic along with J.J. Redick and Ish Smith. Ayon averaged 4.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 13.6 minutes per game for Milwaukee. More: Peachtree Hoops on Ayon Ayon had his most productive year in the NBA in his rookie season with the New Orleans Hornets. The 28-year-old averaged 5.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per game that year, and he even got 24 starts. Claiming Ayon adds even more depth to a quite crowded Hawks frontcourt. Besides adding Ayon, Paul Millsap, Elton Brand and Pero Antic via free agency, Atlanta also drafted big men Lucas Nogueira and Mike Muscala. Bringing in Ayon could further signal that Nogueira may not be joining the team this upcoming season. More from SB Nation: • Kenny Anderson reveals being sexually abused • The Dwight Howard Effect • Luis Scola traded to Pacers | Ziller: Pacers may be East’s best • What cap space and exceptions do teams have left? • The top 61 rookies at NBA Summer League This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

2013 Brickyard 400: Tony Stewart defends quality of racing, others disagree Posted: 28 Jul 2013 05:47 PM PDT Even though the Brickyard 400 is NASCAR's second-biggest event in recent years, the excitement on the track hasn't always matched the prestige of winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There was hope heading into this year's race that NASCAR's new Generation-6 car would produce an increase in side-by-side racing and in turn, a more dramatic race. By most accounts that goal was not reached Sunday, as NASCAR's annual visit to Indianapolis again feature prolonged periods of single-file racing and left drivers frustrated with their inability to overtake. "This whole event, track position was key," said Carl Edwards, who finished 13th. "It was very difficult for me to pass people." Not wanting to incur a fine from NASCAR, Edwards stopped short of directly criticizing the Gen-6 car. (Denny Hamlin was fined $25,000 in March for inconspicuous comments made regarding the competitiveness of the redesigned car.) Edwards did admit that passing was more challenging than in years past. He attributed this in part to an overreliance on downforce and a tire that is not compatible with both the track and the Gen-6. "My opinion is that we saw it Wednesday night (during the Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway)," Edwards said. "If you are not racing aerodynamic devices and the tire and track can interact so that the car can slide around a little more, I think you will see more side-by-side racing. "I have been preaching that a long time. I am not an aerodynamicist, but that is just what I see." Edwards wasn't alone in lamenting how difficult it was to maneuver. Throughout the afternoon, multiple drivers voiced their frustration. "You can't pass. It's just awful. Our car is great, just aero s***," Jeff Gordon radioed to his crew at one point. Said Brad Keselowski post-race: "I think there is lots of things we can do to make the racing better. I am always open-minded." However, not everyone was in agreement that Indianapolis was devoid of excitement. Tony Stewart was one driver who was adamant that the quality of racing was high. "This is about cars being fast," said Stewart, who finished fourth. "It doesn't have to be two- and three-wide racing all day long to be good racing. Racing is about figuring out how to take the package you're allowed and make it better than what everybody else has and do a better job with it." Stewart's point of contention is that past races at The Speedway have featured even less passing and wider gaps between cars. The lead was exchanged a total of 20 times Sunday, which is three more than last year's race and two fewer than in 2011. And overall this year's edition of the Brickyard 400 featured the fourth-most lead changes in the 20-year history of the race. "We're racing here," Stewart said. "That's all I'm going to say. This is racing." More from SB Nation: • NASCAR's memorable night at Eldora Speedway • Despite risks, NASCAR's TV deal makes sense • NBC, NASCAR agree to 10-year rights deal • Drivers’ opinions mixed on whether IMS should add lights • Madness continues at Bowman Gray Stadium This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Yasiel Puig hits first career walk-off home run Posted: 28 Jul 2013 05:32 PM PDT The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their white-hot streak on Sunday as they took a four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds, although it took 11 innings to win their third in a row. This time, the theatrics were delivered by Yasiel Puig, the rookie lightning rod who has energized the team ever since being called up. In the bottom of the 11th inning in a scoreless game, Puig strode to the plate and delivered the coup de grace, in typical Yasiel Puig fashion. Yes, that's right. bat-flip, celebration hands AND sliding into home plate after a home run -- the trifecta of Puigsanity. Earlier in the game, Puig got picked off by pitcher Tony Cingrani after drawing a walk. It was the fifth caught stealing of the season for Puig and once again demonstrated his overaggressiveness on the basepaths. You can watch the video of that play by clicking here. For a time, it appeared as though the pickoff would be Puig's highlight of the game. With the walkoff, Puig went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts and a walk. He is now hitting .372 with 10 home runs. More from SB Nation: • Hideki Matsui to retire a Yankee • Phillies sign Cuban RHP Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez • Albert Pujols could land on DL with left foot injury • Minor League Ball: Early 2014 draft rankings • Yankees ownership overruled Cashman on Soriano trade This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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SBNation.com - All Posts

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• Hideki Matsui to retire as Yankee
• David Ortiz bashes phone to bits
• NBA Free Agency: Mo Williams getting interest from Grizzlies, Heat and Spurs
• Dennis Pitta out for the year with fractured hip
• MLB trade rumors: Jake Peavy draws Orioles' interest
• Dennis Pitta injury: Ravens TE has a fractured hip
• Miguel Cabrera injury: Tigers 3B returns to lineup
• NBA Free Agency: Knicks, Grizzlies interested in Delonte West

Hideki Matsui to retire as Yankee Posted: 27 Jul 2013 09:01 PM PDT Hideki Matsui will sign a one-day contract with the New York Yankees so he can retire with the organization, reports Chad Jennings of The Journal News. The former outfielder will sign a minor-league contract with the team before Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, then will sign his retirement papers during a pre-game ceremony. The ceremony will begin at approximately 12:30 p.m. ET. More from Pinstriped Bible: Steinbrenner overuled Cashman on Soriano trade Scheduled events for the ceremony include a video tribute to Matsui on the center field video board, a ride in a golf cart down the third base line, and a matted and framed 2009 Yankees jersey presented to Matsui by Brian Cashman. His mother and father will join the 2009 World Series MVP on the field. Matsui will cap off the ceremony by throwing out the first pitch. Derek Jeter talked with Jennings about his former teammate, telling the reporter: "I love Matsu, man. I've always told you guys he's been one of my favorite teammates. I'm looking forward to seeing him. ... He was a professional. He played every day. The biggest thing is he never made excuses. He never talked about injuries; he never used injuries as an excuse. He went out there and played. As players, you appreciate that." Matsui played 11 seasons in MLB, seven with New York. The left-handed slugger hit .282/.360/.462 with 175 home runs. More from SB Nation: • Derek Jeter back from DL Sunday • Phillies sign Cuban RHP Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez • Albert Pujols could land on DL with left foot injury • Minor League Ball: Early 2014 draft rankings • Yankees ownership overruled Cashman on Soriano trade This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

David Ortiz bashes phone to bits Posted: 27 Jul 2013 08:27 PM PDT ht and GIF via TheScore

NBA Free Agency: Mo Williams getting interest from Grizzlies, Heat and Spurs Posted: 27 Jul 2013 08:07 PM PDT He's likely the best unrestricted free agent left on the market, but until recently Mo Williams was having trouble getting much attention from teams. However, Saturday, reports came out that Williams is receiving interest from several contenders including both NBA Finals teams from last season. First, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald wrote that the Miami Heat are after Williams. Later in the day, ESPN's Marc Stein reported the Memphis Grizzlies also has their eye on the 10-year veteran. Still hard to pinpoint a frontrunner for Mo Williams but hearing Grizzlies are firmly in mix for vet PG who's unexpectedly still available - Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 27, 2013 Meanwhile, Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld confirmed Jackson's report of Miami's interest in Williams, adding that the San Antonio Spurs are in the mix for the sharpshooter. Miami would make a ton of sense and they have as much money to offer as the other three teams. The Heat can offer Williams their taxpayer Mid Level Exception, which is just over $3 million while San Antonio can offer just the minimum barring a sign-and-trade. Memphis has the Mid Level Exception left, but there's a question of how much of that they would use as they try to steer clear of the luxury tax. Williams would be reunited with LeBron James. The two played together for two seasons in Cleveland, where Williams had two of the best years of his career. In both of those years, Williams shot right around 43 percent from three-point range. More from SB Nation: • Kenny Anderson reveals being sexually abused • The Dwight Howard Effect • Luis Scola traded to Pacers | Ziller: Pacers may be East’s best • What cap space and exceptions do teams have left? • The top 61 rookies at NBA Summer League This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Dennis Pitta out for the year with fractured hip Posted: 27 Jul 2013 08:00 PM PDT Baltimore Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta will miss the 2013 season with a fractured hip. Baltimore Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta will miss time in the regular season after suffering a dislocated hip in Saturday's training camp practice, the team announced on Twitter. The team has apparently already ruled Pitta out for the Week 1 opener against the Denver Broncos which is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 5. Pitta is currently undergoing surgery on his hip to repair the damage, according to multiple reports. Jason Butt of Baltimore Beatdown broke down the impact of Pitta's potential extended absence: If it's anything major, this would be a serious blow to the Ravens' offense. Pitta is one of quarterback Joe Flacco's favorite targets on offense and accounted for 669 yards and seven touchdowns in 2012. Pitta is expected to see an extended role in 2013 with Anquan Boldin now in San Francisco. The 28-year-old Pitta was injured when he collided with safety James Ihedigbo on Saturday during a training camp session. Pitta covered his head with a towel as he was carted off the field. Ed Dickson, a third-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, will likely replace Pitta in the Ravens' starting lineup. Dickson finished with 21 receptions for 225 yards in 2012, compared to 61 receptions for 669 yards for Pitta. More from SB Nation: Follow @SBNFootball • Jeremy Maclin suffers leg injury in Eagles camp • Report: No failed drug test behind Von Miller suspension • Ravens’ Pitta carted off field • Roth: What we have in common with Tim Tebow • Complete NFL training camp coverage This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

MLB trade rumors: Jake Peavy draws Orioles' interest Posted: 27 Jul 2013 07:57 PM PDT The Baltimore Orioles are in the mix for some of the top pitchers currently available on the trade market, including Chicago White Sox starter Jake Peavy, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Baltimore has been reluctant to trade their top prospects, and have already acquired Francisco Rodriguez and Scott Feldman. The team was apparently "tapped out" financially, according to Heyman, but a tight AL East and Wild Card race may have made owner Peter Angelos approve more spending. More Orioles: Is there a future Hall of Famer in Baltimore? Ervin Santana and Bud Norris are also available, and the Philadelphia Phillies indicated that they would listen to offers for Cliff Lee. The Red Sox, Cardinals, Athletics and Braves are all looking to add a starter before the trade deadline. The Orioles entered Saturday with a 58-46 record, four games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the East. Baltimore currently holds one of the two Wild Card spots, leading the Texas Rangers by two games. More from SB Nation: • Derek Jeter back from DL Sunday • Phillies sign Cuban RHP Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez • Albert Pujols could land on DL with left foot injury • Minor League Ball: Earlyt 2014 draft rankings • A Day’s Work: Wade Boggs visits Boog’s Barbecue This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Dennis Pitta injury: Ravens TE has a fractured hip Posted: 27 Jul 2013 07:53 PM PDT Baltimore Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta has a fractured hip and will miss the entirety of the 2013-14 NFL season, according to Albert Breer of the NFL Network. It was previously reported that Pitta had suffered a dislocated hip during Saturday's training camp practice. Pitta was carted off the field after colliding with safety James Ihedigbo early in practice. Hip injuries are particularly debilitating for athletes and taking all the necessary time to rehabilitate and recover is the most important thing for Pitta going forward. As noted by Breer, Ed Dickson becomes a very important player for the Ravens. Dickson was Pitta's backup last season, playing in 13 games and catching 21 passes for 225 yards and no touchdowns. Pitta, on the other hand, really emerged last season with 61 receptions for 669 yards and seven touchdowns. It's a tough break for Baltimore and Pitta, given that the tight end has made several "potential breakout player"-type lists heading into this coming season, probably due to his 163 yards and three touchdowns during last year's Super Bowl run. More from SB Nation: Follow @SBNFootball • Jeremy Maclin tears right ACL during Eagles’ camp • Report: No failed drug test behind Von Miller suspension • Roth: What we have in common with Tim Tebow • Complete NFL training camp coverage This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Miguel Cabrera injury: Tigers 3B returns to lineup Posted: 27 Jul 2013 07:15 PM PDT Miguel Cabrera returned to the Detroit Tigers' lineup on Saturday after missing the past four games with an abdominal strain. Cabrera revealed to James Schmehl of MLive that he sat out with the left abdominal strain, not the sore hip flexor that the team originally announced. Cabrera told Schmehl that "right now, I'm like 70 percent, maybe 80 percent." More Tigers: Detroit interested in Gregerson The third baseman looked impressive in his first at-bat, crushing a solo homer off Raul Valdes in the first inning. Cabrera finished 2-for-3, driving in three runs before being removed for Ramon Santiago in the fifth inning. The Tigers did not announce a reason for removing Cabrera, but Schmehl speculated that the team replaced him as a precaution. Detroit led the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-0, when manager Jim Leyland pulled Cabrera. Cabrera is now hitting .361/.455/.674 with 32 homers and 99 RBI. He is chasing his second-straight AL Triple Crown, leading the AL in average and RBI, but trailing Chris Davis by five home runs. More from SB Nation: • Derek Jeter back from DL Sunday • Phillies sign Cuban RHP Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez • Albert Pujols could land on DL with left foot injury • Minor League Ball: Early 2014 draft rankings • Yankees ownership overruled Cashman on Soriano trade This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

NBA Free Agency: Knicks, Grizzlies interested in Delonte West Posted: 27 Jul 2013 06:51 PM PDT One of the NBA's most eccentric players may be on his way back to the league. Delonte West is looking for a NBA job after failing to secure one during the 2012-2013 season. According to Chris Haynes of Comcast Sports Net Northwest, both the New York Knicks and Memphis Grizzlies have taken a look at the eight-year veteran. More: Posting and Toasting Grizzly Bear Blues Haynes writes that both teams are in the market for a back up point guard and have shown "preliminary interest" in West. After spending much of the 2011-2012 season with the Dallas Mavericks, West played eight games in the D-League for the Texas Legends last season. According to Haynes, West is determined to show teams he belongs on a NBA roster. West, 30, is driven to prove that he will be a model citizen and believes himself to be the missing piece to a team on the cusp of winning an NBA title. New York and Memphis fits the ideal situation he's looking for in an organization, another source told CSNNW.com. West has career averages of 9.7 points, 3.6 assists and 2.9 rebounds. His best season came in 2008-2009, when he started all 64 of the games he played in for the Cleveland Cavaliers, averaging 11.7 points per game and 40 percent shooting from 3-point range. More from SB Nation: • Kenny Anderson reveals being sexually abused • The Dwight Howard Effect • Luis Scola traded to Pacers • What cap space and exceptions do teams have left? • The top 61 rookies at NBA Summer League This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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Immigration Kills Posted: 27 Jul 2013 03:31 PM PDT “Nazi propagandists claimed that gipsies and Jews — peoples with wandering in their genes — could find no place in a stable Reich,” writes Bruce Chatwin in The Songlines. A nation fears nomads. All authoritarians, beware of the migrant: Vietnam is one of the few countries in the world whose citizens must live where they're registered or ask the government's permission to relocate. This ho khau system borrows heavily from China's hukou, which was developed in the years after the Communists took power in 1949. Similarly, starting in the 1950s the Communist rulers in Vietnam required people to list members of their households in their ho khau booklets, including age, occupation and ethnic group, in order to track people's movements. As old as all history, a tension exists between the mobile and the stuck. Those who move should die. Place über alles. Why do dictators fear cities? Too many people still hold the vestigial belief that the "real" citizens of poor countries are peasants. Turkish-American sociologist Zeynep Tuekci complained this week that she keeps "coming across pundits referring to 'rural' Turkey as real Turkey – as in 'what about rural Turkey?'" But 70 per cent of Turkey is urban, she noted. "There are many cleavages in Turkey but if you are going to divide Turkey into significant groups, 'rural' is not top of your list." For democracies such as Brazil and Turkey, that means foment. But it threatens the existence of dictatorships. American political scientist Jeremy Wallace has just published an important analysis of the role of cities and urban-financing policy in "authoritarian regime survival" – that is, he asks whether crowded mega-cities are useful props or threatening menaces to dictatorships. After analyzing the fates of scores of non-democratic regimes around the world between the Second World War and the present, he finds that these cities are the main threat to the regimes' survival. Regimes often feel threatened by their urban residents, Mr. Wallace concludes, and they respond by trying to buy off the disgruntled urban elites. In the Middle East, this was done explicitly, by creating a coddled, regime-backing nationalist middle class. In South America and Asia, it was often done through tax and welfare policies that favoured city over countryside. I’ll see your “vestigial” geographic stereotype and raise you a Wandering Jew. Real citizens of any country are Volks who spring from the soil and require Lebensraum. Wallace should read a bit of Chatwin. Migrants, not urbanites, are a thorn in any government’s side. Even today, tracking the flows of people is difficult. Do you belong here? In poorer countries, the rural stream into the urban. In wealthy countries, the rural stream into the urban, albeit on an international scale. The churn of humanity causes unease, disease. Immigration kills. Without migration, propaganda rules. There is no Arab Spring. Movers smuggle knowledge, from rural to urban and back. The nomad goes where Twitter cannot.

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• The 'Vicious Competition for Credit' Over Launching Madonna's Career
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The 'Vicious Competition for Credit' Over Launching Madonna's Career Posted: 27 Jul 2013 10:03 AM PDT Sire Records On July 27, 1983, the world would be introduced to a budding superstar from the streets of New York City (by way of Bay City, Michigan) named Madonna. On that date 30 years ago, Sire Records released her debut, Madonna. The record would go on to sell more than 10 million copies worldwide and spawn five singles, including the hits "Holiday," "Lucky Star," and "Borderline." Behind the boards during recording was producer Reggie Lucas, who had seen success working with Lou Rawls, Stephanie Mills, Phyllis Hyman, and Roberta Flack, among other artists. Later in the process, Madonna brought in DJ John "Jellybean" Benitez to assist. In the years since the album's release, Madonna's become a household name, one of music's most influential artists ever, and a source of controversy--including among her collaborators. I spoke with Lucas about recording Madonna, about what made its singer so novel, and about who he think really deserves credit for the album that served as a launchpad for one of the greatest pop acts in history. Your background was primarily as an R&B and jazz artist. How did that influence you creating the songs for Madonna? Because she was a different kind of artist. Well, she was a white artist wasn't she? [laughs] It was the main thing that made her different. When I came to the Madonna record, I came with two things. The first thing was I brought a lot of success and a solid background as a hit producer and songwriter within the R&B world, but it was also with the skill as a composer and rock and roll guitarist. Madonna was simply the first opportunity that I had to play around with other musical interests that I had. You couldn't make the first Madonna record for Phyllis Hyman. I couldn't make Miles Davis music for Roberta Flack. Miles was the one place where I got it all out of my system, and that was the beauty of Miles. As a producer, you understood that your first job was to support people to achieve that end. You challenged the artist just enough to bring out the best in them and introduce them to audiences that they normally wouldn't be introduced to. When I did "Physical Attraction," that was just it. She was a little different. Madonna was wilder in terms of her look and image; I don't know if her music was that much wilder than anyone else back then. I think her music was sexually freer and it predicted what was going to happen in the future. She was definitely an innovator when it became to being more suggestive, which was pretty cool. I thought it was great. So--mixing that with my musical background, Madonna's first album was really a hybrid of her interests and mine. "Physical Attraction" was our starting point with that style. It did pretty well and she began to move forward with her career and sound. How did that dynamic work in the studio? She had a lot of material that she had written and collaborated with other people on in the course of being signed to a record label. When she met me, "Everybody" was about to come out and she had written "Lucky Star." My role had been as a creative songwriting record producer. [Musician James] Mtume and I typically wrote a good percentage of the material we produced for Stephanie Mills, Phyllis Hyman, and those artists. So that's what I ended up doing for Madonna. I would write songs and ask her, "What do you think of this?" "Physical Attraction" and "Borderline" were done specifically during the production process and for her. They weren't demo songs that I was shopping around. Madonna and I had an enormous amount of freedom. They would tell us to make the record and we went and made the record. I think, in retrospect, we were happy to come up in an era where the record company played a very small role in creative supervision. Our creative process was very independent. Did you guys have a set routine that you followed every day coming into the studio? She was diligent, it was a pretty good experience. She wasn't the type of artist that you had to go and look for. She wanted to be successful. She was always there when she needed to be. I was used to being in charge of things so I was always there at the studio ready. I made sure everything moved smoothly for her so that the process surrounding being in the studio was fairly transparent to her. She had to come in focused on her music and performing as an artist and it helped my focus as well. The musicians I worked with were guys I had worked with for years. We worked out of Sigma Sound Studios, a studio I worked out of for years as well. She brought some very good people into the situation. It was very comfortable making the record. We made usage of synthesizers and drum machines. That was the first record that I ever recorded where I used a drum machine. It was one of the big transitions for me. We used Moog and Arp synthesizers, and that was relatively new technology back then. It gave the music a new sound. Madonna was an artist that knew what she wanted, but she wasn't a record producer. So it was my responsibility to create a sound for her. She would be there interactively. If she didn't like something she heard, she would say so and I would change it. The funny thing that happened on this record is when we got into the studio together we established this mini-Moog bass sound for her as her key sound. And she stuck with it for a long time. Were there any challenges in working with a low budget and trying to break a new artist on a new label, Sire Records? It wasn't really difficult at all. Sire wasn't a new label. It was an independent record label that was acquired by Warner Brothers. It had an enormous amount of success with the English punk sound and dance music. Sometimes things just have a flow to them. Madonna's record had a flow to it. Michael Rosenblatt was always there and I worked with him from the label. He was great, he was a real pro. He knew how to be an A&R person for a record. He didn't interfere, but he wasn't so distanced from it that he didn't have an idea of what was going on. Michael is probably an unsung hero of launching Madonna's career. If you can believe it, Warner Brothers had very limited interest in Madonna when she was first signed. You know what they thought? They said that Madonna is this new white artist that wants to sing black--so what they did was send her to the black radio stations when her first record came out, and that's how they promoted her at first. They just treated her as a black artist. I guess they kind of envisioned her as Teena Marie. Madonna had an intense interest in black music, but she wasn't Teena Marie. She was something different. But she did it and she went to the black radio stations and held her own. Frankie Crocker was playing her records in New York. When you bring up the fact that Madonna was pushed toward a black audience, it would explain why "Physical Attraction" and songs like that were at top of the Billboard Black Singles Charts. You can't make this stuff up. Warner Brothers really didn't know what to do with her. See, there was a subtext to Madonna that had to do with her personality. She looked like a punk rocker to a lot of people. When people at record companies, law offices, and managerial places first saw Madonna before she became an established artist, a lot of people were put off by her. They thought she was too crazy and too weird. Being a music person and a human being, I don't operate that way. I thought she was cool and different. I didn't really know if she was going to become a big star, but I thought she had something valid to say and I could help her with it. Warner Brothers didn't get it right away, but Michael Rosenblatt did. When she took off, there was an immediate, massive shift to move in and establish business relationships with her. In the beginning, she was just this little dance artist that Frankie Crocker gave a few spins to, and some DJs out in San Francisco, and she starts creating this buzz. Then, people at the record label started putting two and two together and got five. They immediately did a 360 and welcomed her with open arms. Many people think other famous producers launched Madonna's career. What are your feelings about that? I've refrained over the years in addressing aspects of Madonna's career because I'm not a person who likes negative discussions. But what I will say is that in Madonna ascent to fame and fortune, there's been a pretty vicious competition for credit in being involved. In other words, someone will say, "I launched Madonna." If I talk to a lot of people today, I will say I was Madonna's first producer. I produced six of the eight tracks on her first record. I would say nine times out of 10, their response will be, "Oh yeah, I thought Jellybean did that." But Jellybean didn't do that. Jellybean was a remixer, and we didn't have time to remix records. It wasn't something that I was interested in doing. Somewhere in this process of publicists and personal relationships, somehow he came out as the guy. I was a traditionalist and probably a little naive at the time, but I started out working for Billy Paul. Billy and his wife Blanche were like parents to me. They took me under their wing. I was a little kid. They took me on the road. They looked after me. They supported me. I joined Miles Davis's band. Miles introduced me to the world of big-time jazz success. I played at the greatest halls in the world and stayed at the finest hotels. Miles was like a surrogate father to the guys in the band. You got credit for the work you did. You were a member of Miles's band. When I worked for Roberta Flack, Stephanie Mills, and Phyllis Hyman, we made the records and people would say, "Oh, you produced that record." You produced one good record for Stephanie Mills and take her from selling no records to selling gold records; they would call you back and treat you better. Sothis Madonna record was my first and worst introduction to the notion that you wouldn't have a linear continuation with someone who you've had success with. It totally blindsided me. I understand it a little bit better now, but not really. Just for the record, one tires in a lifetime of hearing someone taking credit for something that you've done. Jellybean produced "Holiday" and he remixed a couple of tracks, but remixing tracks for radio isn't the same thing as producing one of the major breakout pop stars of the 1980s. Now there's Wikipedia and you'll always find these distortions in Wikipedia. My kids find this stuff and they fix it for me. [laughs] I don't think there's really ever been someone to clear this up. Madonna certainly hasn't helped at all. I think if it were left up to Madonna, she wouldn't talk about anybody. It was my first and worst introduction to the notion that you wouldn't continue with someone you've had success with. I understand it a little bit better now, but not really. Just for the record, one tires in a lifetime of hearing someone taking credit for something that you've done. The bottom line is that, I think, the kind way that Madonna has always tried to refer to me is that I was just an R&B producer. There are two things that I dislike about that. First thing is, that it treats being an R&B producer as pejorative, as if it were something less than being a pop or rock producer. Second thing is, that I didn't make an R&B record for her. I made a crossover pop record of the highest order. So the notion that she similarly dismissed me because I was just an R&B producer is offensive on multiple levels to me. It's hurtful because I didn't understand it. I did the same thing I always did. I came in and worked my ass off to support the artist and cast them in a good light. Everybody but her reciprocated by saying they liked the record, and let's make another one. Between her and Jellybean, they try to pretend the records I did weren't any good. It's almost like I was fired or something. I wasn't fired. I finished the record I put it out and they took it and put it out and sold a bunch of records. And everybody else ran around trying to take credit for it because it was so big that they couldn't help themselves. Talk me through the process of making some of the songs you were involved with on the album. I'd write songs and put them on a little cassette player with me singing, and I can't sing. I'd ask Madonna if she liked them, and she said, "Yeah, it sounds cool. Let's do it." I did the demos for "Physical Attraction" and "Borderline" and she brought in her demos for her songs to the studio. And we did what we did to them. Probably the most interesting one was "Lucky Star." If you heard the original demo for "Lucky Star" and you heard what it came out like, they're the same song, but barely. We really put a lot of creative energy into that one and it came out beautifully. I must say, Madonna was great to work with in the studio. She really put in the work. She was a creative person. And it was one of the many reasons why it was disappointing not to be involved in subsequent projects. It's just one of those things. Look, she picked one of my good buddies, Nile Rodgers, to do the next record. She couldn't have picked a better person. I always had a pretty casual process of making songs, but with some formality. I kind of inherited how Miles Davis used to operate. So we would come in and the songs were simple they didn't require a lot in the way of charts. I would write out a little chord sheet, but the musicians were so good they would learn these things. They were really used as templates to try to find in the studio what we wanted to do with the songs. I'd make a lot of creative decisions and creative additions and subtractions to whatever was going on in the studio. We didn't spend a lot of time messing around either. I think that's the trick. When you make a pop record, you don't want it to sound sterile. You want to bring some of the improvisational excitement of jazz, but without the actual 15-minute saxophone solo. You can't have a 15-minute saxophone solo on a Madonna record. You have to find a way to build in this excitement in a way that just works. Being a member of rhythm sections as a guitarist was always helpful to me in terms of understanding how music works from a production-quality standpoint. When you're a member of a rhythm section, you know when the music is a dud because you're right there as it happens. I always felt that I was always in tune to the level of energy, precision, and crispness of rhythm section performances. And I think that's the key to so many records. As you look back 30 years later, how do you feel about the impact the album made on popular culture after it was released? It's regarded as one of the most important pop albums from the 1980s. Well, I don't know. I think everybody involved in the arts has a tendency to take themselves a little bit too seriously. I made a great record, and I a lot of people liked it. It sold a lot of copies and launched careers and created opportunities for people. And that's what you want to do. That is supposed to be the outcome of your good work. I don't think it changed the nature of life in America or anything like that. [laughs] It was just a good record.

Wannabe Geek Heroes, Bad Apologies: The Week's Best Pop-Culture Writing Posted: 27 Jul 2013 09:15 AM PDT Click the links in the article titles to read the full pieces, and let us know what we've missed: Last week's best pop-culture writing

1book140's August Reads: Vote for 2 Unmissable Graphic Novels Posted: 27 Jul 2013 08:01 AM PDT Various A box labeled "stories," an apple by any other visual style, a black reporter passing with an assumed identity, and an illustrated guide to (almost) all literature are among the beautiful and evocative graphic novels up for vote at #1book140, our Twitter book club. Readers have suggested several dozen amazing graphic novels to read in August. I should have expected it, since you tried to read four graphic novels in one month last time. This month we're reading two books, so you get two votes. The first vote is on recent, notable graphic novels. The second vote is for more topical comics. Vote twice, below. Voting closes Tuesday at noon. Once we select the books for August, I'll announce the results post a schedule here at The Atlantic and on our Twitter hashtag, #1book140. Vote One: Notable Graphic Novels Within The Last Five Years Building Stories by Chris Ware just won four Eisner awards at Comic-Con last week. The graphic novel comes in a box that includes 14 components that can be read in any order. If you vote for this, our reading schedule will almost certainly have to be an infographic. This story set in New York City is worth the effort. Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzucchelli, is "a satirical comedy of remarriage" and "a treatise on aesthetics and design and ontology" according to Douglas Wolk in the New York Times. It's also gorgeous and showy; one page shows a single apple drawn in sixteen different visual styles. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, TIME Magazine's book of the year in 2008, is a memoir set in rural Pennsylvania about the discovery that she was a lesbian and her father was gay. The TIME review calls it "a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other." Vote Two: Topical Comics Incognegro by Mat Johnson is the story of a black New York reporter who takes on one last story, passing as white to investigate lynchings in 1930's South. Why is it topical? Trayvon Martin. The Influencing Machine, by Brooke Gladstone, is one of the best, most readable introductions to the role of media in society. Gladstone is host of the weekly WNYC show On The Media, a show that explains and comments on everything from the state of health science reporting to the alleged bias of NPR. Why is it topical? Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning. The Graphic Canon, Vol. 1: From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Shakespeare to Dangerous Liaisons edited by Russ Kick, illustrates around 60 famous works of world literature with art by a deeply talented team of artists including Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, and Molly Crabapple. If you vote for this book, we'll read the first volume in August. I'm buying the box set in either case.

This Week in Beer News Posted: 27 Jul 2013 07:07 AM PDT Catching up from some time on the road. 1) Beer labels in motion. Thanks to all who sent links to this delightful Tumblr site, which includes animations of a number of favorite beer labels, like the one above for the also-delightful Little Sumpin' from Lagunitas. Inexplicably, I once saw a lone bottle of Little Sumpin' on sale in Beijing. I could not imagine that it had had a wholesome journey there, so I passed it by. 2) India 'Session' Ales. This is a brewing style I hadn't known about, and that sounds promising. Today's hop-conscious craft brewing world is overall a big step forward in realizing the full potential of human excellence. But often extra hops, which up to a point I am looking for, come in combination with extra-high alcohol levels, which I can do without. CraftBeer.com reports on ISAs that supposedly convey the taste of our beloved hop-blessed IPA family without all the extra ABV percentage. I look forward to checking them out. 3) Think before you drink. A sad story from Spain, where a speed-drinking contest among beer enthusiasts crowns a winner only to see him keel over and die. Who could have imagined that drinking the equivalent of 18 bottles of beer within 20 minutes might be risky in any way? Still, condolences. 4) Baltika Brew. Now I know that Baltika is a big European brewing combine, founded in St. Petersburg and since 2008 mainly owned by Carlsberg of Denmark. But I didn't know that yesterday, when I was trudging along Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg and, just in time, caught a glimpse down a side street of this welcome sign. For the next hour, my wife and I imagined that we had stumbled across the local equivalent of Great Leap brewery in Beijing, or the Boxing Cat brewpub in Shanghai, or Hangar 24 in Redlands: that is, a great new independent craft brewery that burnishes an already appealing town. The dusky ambience, the prominently displayed brewing kegs, and above all the (good) beers tapped straight from the kegs nursed us along in this quaint brew-pub fantasy. And even now that I know that Baltika is part of a giant operation, I don't care. Check it out when you're in the vicinity. 5) Why we love financiers, chapter 4,275. An interesting though heart-rending report from MSN Money explains why big banks' stockpiling of aluminum supplies, in hopes of creating artificial shortages and ramping up the price, has caused major problems for brewers around the world. Read and weep -- including the detail that packaging accounts for nearly a quarter of the cost of a normal six-pack.  6) Why we love America, chapter four million. Certifying the current era's role as the Golden Age of Beer, a reader shows the beers he tried on a recent visit to Montana. Perhaps with dangers like those in item #3 in mind, he clarifies, "not all at the same time." 7) Sharknado-themed. Because I can't resist: From afar, and in specific from inside the half-lit beerhall beneath that Baltika sign off Nevsky Prospekt, cheers! Amid our other woes give thanks for a still-improving, increasingly worldwide, golden age of beer.

Could a Private University Have Made a Difference in Detroit? Posted: 27 Jul 2013 06:09 AM PDT Rebecca Cook/Reuters Detroit's bankruptcy filing last week and the decades of decline that preceded it have been a predictable political and historical Rorschach test. The right blames the city's demise on moral failures and weak character -- the banana-republic-caliber corruption and fiscal fecklessness of its politicians, the greed of its unions, the spinelessness of automobile executives who gave into them. To the left -- more inclined to see history as the product of "great forces" than "great men" (or terrible ones) -- the Motor City was swamped by powerful tides: racism, sprawl, and unbridled capitalism. But what was distinctive about Detroit? Other cities struggled mightily to adapt to the decline of manufacturing. But only Detroit struggled mortally - at least in terms of municipal cash flow. Why do Detroit's troubles so vastly exceed not only those of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, but Baltimore, Providence, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Rochester? Here's a possible part of the answer, in the form of question. What exists in each of those cities, but can't be found in Detroit? One answer: a large, and usually quite wealthy, private research university. Where is Detroit's Johns Hopkins? Or, to limit the comparison to neighboring Rust Belt states, where is its Carnegie-Mellon, or Case Western Reserve? Why is there no, say, Henry Ford University in Detroit? And if there had been one, would it have made a difference? First, why focus the question on private universities? Of course, public universities matter to cities, and had the University of Michigan not decamped from Detroit to Ann Arbor in 1837, the region's entire history might well be different (better or worse is hard to say). But that move was part of a bigger pattern. As University of Kentucky historian of higher education John Thelin notes, most leading public universities were established in what were, at least at the time, rural areas. Cheaper land, the domination of state legislatures by rural interests, the initial agricultural focus of many such institutions, and anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant nativism all pushed public campuses out into the country. That left private (including Catholic) institutions positioned for a greater impact in urban areas. In the United States, private universities occupy a disproportionate share of the very top tier in wealth and prestige -- places that operate in education, research and health care on a scale that could substantially affect the economy of a city as large as Detroit. Yes, Detroit has public Wayne State and a smattering of mostly small and often Catholic private colleges. But while Wayne State does important work, and even a fair amount of research, its operating budget is $576 million. In Pittsburgh, Carnegie-Mellon and the quasi-private University of Pittsburgh are about $3 billion combined, in a city less than half Detroit's size. Wayne State University doesn't do for Detroit what Duke University does for Durham. (Wayne State University) Private non-profit institutions enroll fewer than 15 percent of U.S. undergraduates, but they account for 27 of the 60 U.S. members of the Association of American Universities, the leading group of elite research institutions, whose members employ on average 11,400 people each. In 1950, about the time Detroit's population began falling, private institutions were 18 of the 32 AAU members. Today, the top 20 universities in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings are all private institutions, as are 15 of the 20 largest university endowments. That dominance is regretted by many, but it's no coincidence. Top private institutions are more varied in their missions, and more malleable and flexible to respond to new opportunities and change direction. The best of them are more entrepreneurial and less bureaucratic. Those and other reasons have simply made them, historically, more appealing places for very rich people to give enormous amounts of money (and unlike any public university I know of, at a certain price they'll even name the place after you). Of course, Detroit isn't the only major American city without a prominent private research university (Portland, Minneapolis-St. Paul and San Diego are all vibrant -- though the last two have large public research institutions). But it is arguably the most surprising. Detroit was once America's fourth-largest city, and not lacking in rich philanthropists. More to the point, a century ago, it was the Silicon Valley of its day, bustling with engineering talent, entrepreneurs, and venture capital. Imagine visiting Detroit in 1920 then journeying to the farmland of Palo Alto, CA, and finally the tobacco warehouses of Durham, NC. Which place would you have bet on to become a global research and education powerhouse? Yet among those three, only Detroit failed to do so. Frederick Rudolph's still-landmark history of American higher education, The American College & University was published in 1962, when Detroit still had over 1.5 million people. The city's name does not appear in this book, nor in Thelin's 2004 successor volume A History of American Higher Education. I can't articulate a single, overarching theory for why this is so, but I can offer two ideas. The first involves a series of contingencies dating to the early 19th century, whose effect was to lessen the chance of such an institution being in place to later grow and thrive in Detroit. The second dates to Detroit's golden days in the early 20th century, and the economic culture from which its wealth emerged. The first theory addresses why there has been a relatively weak private college and university tradition across Michigan. The contrast with its neighbor to the south is revealing. The early 19th-century was a golden age of college-founding, and nowhere more so than in Ohio. In Rudolph's description, Ohio at this time was engaged in a kind of Weberian Olympics, with a melting pot of mostly Protestant sects competing to demonstrate their generosity and prosperity and, by extension, state of grace. The busiest included the Episcopalians (Kenyon), Baptists (Denison), Congregationalists (Oberlin and Western Reserve) and Methodists (Ohio Wesleyan, Mount Union and others). But the Catholics, Lutherans, United Bretheren and even Swedenborgians (Urbana) also got in on the action. While Ohio's private colleges and universities were in algae-like bloom, Michigan was still practically the frontier. The state was home to just a few thousand residents, mostly in Detroit. A comically Gallophobic 1891 book History of Higher Education in Michigan blames the state's halting progress toward education in the years before statehood on troglodyte and annoyingly procreative French farmers. In author Andrew McLaughlin's telling, at least, these left-behind settlers were incapable of appreciating democracy, commerce or basic - let alone higher - learning. Alas, little could be done except wait for a critical mass of industrious New England Puritan descendants to arrive from the east and impose their will. By then, public higher education in its modern sense was emerging. Two elements of the University of Michigan's move to Ann Arbor and opening in 1837 proved critical for Detroit. The first was not just that the university left Detroit but that it didn't go far -- just 35 miles. Second, the university became one of the best public universities in the world. In a recent ranking it was the only public institution in the top eight, and second in total research spending only to Hopkins. The combined effect of these two factors was a university in Ann Arbor casting its shadow over Detroit, lessening the chance a rival would flourish there. The current University of Michigan is in some ways the private powerhouse Detroit never had. The university does take its public mission seriously, and helps Detroit in many ways: It maintains a center in the city, has a semester-long program for students there, and helps quietly behind the scenes where it can (for instance, deploying grant writers to help the beleaguered city government of Detroit apply for funds from federal grant programs that might otherwise go uncollected). It also tries hard to recruit students who somehow make it through the city's embattled schools. But in practice, Michigan is a private university in all but name, the state's share of its general fund budget down below 17 percent. In its global ambitions, cost and dearth of low-income students, Michigan has more in common with Harvard or Hopkins than with Wayne State -- and the benefits of its presence are focused in Ann Arbor, not Detroit. Still, it wasn't inevitable that 200 years later Michigan would today still have relatively few private colleges. Many states, like California, that missed the fertile college-founding period of the early 19th century eventually saw more private institutions spring up. Michigan saw some, but not many, and few around Detroit. The city's burgeoning automobile economy seemed to offer endless decently paying jobs that didn't require a degree. Those now-departed career tracks help explain why Michigan ranks 21st nationally in the proportion of adults 25 to 64 with a high school degree but 32nd in the proportion with a bachelor's. So between the economy and the good option the public university provided, Michigan -- and especially Detroit -- never developed a strong culture of private colleges and universities. In Ohio, by contrast, private colleges flourished and public higher education emerged relatively late (Ohio State wasn't founded until 1870). Today Michigan, with just under 10 million people, has 33 4-year private colleges (not counting affiliated campuses). Ohio, just slightly larger at 11.5 million people, has 60. Yet this narrative feels incomplete. First, private research universities can co-exist in proximity to prominent public ones (Duke and the University of North Carolina, Stanford and Berkeley). Yes, Michigan was settled later than other eastern states, and to be a top-tier private school, it helps to be old (if possible, to predate the republic). But a super-wealthy benefactor can rocket a new or unremarkable institution to the top. Think of William Marsh Rice and the family of Leland Stanford Jr., founding their now-top 20 namesake institutions in the late 19th century. Or take tobacco baron James Duke, who gave $20 million to transform struggling Trinity College in North Carolina into Duke University.* So the question is, where was Detroit's Leland Stanford or James Duke? This brings us to my second theory. In the "great men" version, perhaps it was just Detroit's bad luck that Ford, its most famous industrialist, hated cities (he once said the only solution to the city "problem" was for people to leave them). He also hated elites. And Jews. Together those traits didn't add up to someone likely to spend his money on a large urban university (though Ford did take over and support Detroit's city hospital). A farm boy and largely an autodidact, Ford did believe in and support education. But his educational causes were vocational and extended beyond Michigan. (The contemporary Ford Foundation does have programs supporting higher education, but is generally associated with international issues. The $3.2 billion Kresge Foundation, based in the Detroit suburb of Troy, is active in both Detroit and higher education causes, but its higher education support is national in scope. There are handsome Kresge auditoriums and libraries on a number of campuses, including the University of Michigan, but there is no Kresge University.) But if not Ford, why not others? I asked Robert Fishman, a University of Michigan professor of architecture and urban planning and a historian of the city, for his theory on why no great private university ever emerged in Detroit. He said it was something he'd often wondered. But he didn't think it was just coincidence. Detroit's business culture, Fishman told me, contained a deep suspicion of academia. He noted each of the Big Three ran their own tech schools and enormous in-house research operations, and all were distrustful of outsiders, preferring to promote from within. "Even GM, the most intelligent of the Big Three, went very far through their Tech Center to isolate their research from university research open to public examination and scrutiny," Fishman told me in an e-mail. "The Detroit auto people were just not interested in -- [they were] positively threatened by -- the openness and skepticism of academia." The culture could not have been more different from the revolving door between Stanford and Hewlett Packard, then Apple, and then Google. "This separation between the auto companies and the wider urban culture of Detroit was very damaging, and very different from, say, Silicon Valley later on," Fishman said. If that culture cost Detroit a great private university, the loss is considerable. That's not because Ford was necessarily wrong in his anti-elite approach. Today, close to half of the roughly $417 billion controlled by American universities in their endowments belongs to just the 20 richest institutions. Arguably, that concentration of wealth isn't healthy. But what if Detroit had enjoyed a piece of it? Just 12 percent of adults living in the city have a bachelor's degree. Such institutions do more for a city than graduate and employ educated workers. They also generate a kind of trade surplus -- tuition checks (from the mostly wealthy students who regrettably predominate at such places), federal research grants, and health care dollars from surrounding regions (and, even more lucratively, wealthy foreigners). The city of Detroit's crushing health care costs might be more bearable if so many of those dollars didn't flow out of the city. Some do stay, through the large Henry Ford Health System's operations there. But many also head out to the suburbs to the systems suburban hospitals, and to the University of Michigan's massive medical system. Relatively few people, on balance, travel into Detroit for health care. Big private research universities have also become bold, if controversial, urban developers. In roughly the late 1980s, the private University of Pennsylvania, Yale, and Columbia all reached the same conclusion: without making their neighborhoods safer and more appealing, they could no longer attract the students and faculty they needed to be among the world's best. Their efforts often provoked opposition. But those neighborhoods did change. I was one of those scared-off prospective students who visited Penn in the early 1990s. Today, Penn's neighborhood is transformed, and the university's reputation has indeed grown. A big research university probably couldn't have turned the ship of many of Detroit's fundamental problems. It offers no obvious antidote to political corruption, nor to the apparent blessing that proved a cancer to Detroit: jobs that gave not just middle-class whites, but working-class whites and eventually their black counterparts, the means to move to the suburbs, eventually leaving only the black underclass in the city. But it might have offered some inoculation against economic monoculture, which both left and right can agree was central to Detroit's catastrophe. And it could have anchored neighborhoods, like Cleveland's University Circle, that provide urban islands of relative stability during rough times and then a base to build out from - exactly what Mayor Dave Bing is desperately trying to seed in Detroit. Had someone a century ago donated the equivalent of $1 billion today to start a "Stanford on the Great Lakes" in Detroit, the effect might have been profound.  Perhaps it's not too late. Such an effort today would likely be criticized as far from the best use of $1 billion for Detroit, and it would face considerable obstacles. But it would have one thing going for it. One of the challenges these days for universities like Penn and Columbia is expanding in the newly pricey neighborhoods they've gentrified. Affordable real estate would not be a problem for somebody starting a university in Detroit. *This section has been corrected to reflect the nature of the relationship between James Duke and Duke University.

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