Summer reissue: Madeleine Chapman wrote a book and was asked to speak about it at a writers festival. The problem was, nobody wanted to listen. First published 17 May, 2019 No one came. Seriously, no one came. The first sign, a red flag drifting through my subconscious, was the modest attendance at the three person … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Sir John Key fronts up over bank boss departure, social workers defend Oranga Tamariki actions, and major proposed Wellington festival falls over. Anyone who watched politics over the last decade will have got used to press conferences fronted by Sir John Key. The blithe reassurances, repeated use … Read more
Every year the NBA holds an All-Star game, showcasing the best players in the league, as voted in by players, league officials, and fans. It’s time for New Zealand to make Steven Adams an All-Star. Here’s how. When was the last time you felt pure, unadulterated patriotism? Now when was the last time you put … Read more
Spinoff writer Madeleine Chapman co-wrote basketball star Steven Adams’ autobiography. She tells how she wrote the book alongside an athlete she’s known since they were both teenagers. Warning: contains a lot of food. This post was originally published 24 July 2018. I knew of Steven Adams before I met him. A common situation now but … Read more
New Zealand currently invests in Olympic medals when it should be investing in viable careers for our athletes, argues Madeleine Chapman. “Inspiring the nation through winning on the world stage” That’s the core value expressed by High Performance Sport New Zealand, the agency responsible for allocating government funding to national sporting bodies each year. Last … Read more
If you’re a fan of the Bulletin, help us bring our daily curated guide of the most important NZ news to a wider audience. And, we’ll give you some sweet prizes too. Since The Bulletin was launched around the start of the year, we’ve had thousands of people sign up. Hundreds of people have got … Read more
Today, the National Business Review, New Zealand’s most prestigious and weirdly-run business publication, published its annual Rich List. If you’re interested but not interested enough to subscribe, here are our biggest takeaways. 1. Graham Hart is way richer than Peter Thiel Like, wayyyy richer. Two-and-a-half times richer. Putting aside how weird it feels to see … Read more
Veteran sports hack Joseph Romanos reviews My Life, My Fight by Steven Adams with Madeleine Chapman. Disclaimer: Madeleine Chapman is a staff writer at The Spinoff. This review was commissioned independently by our books editor, Steve Braunias. To judge by his autobiography, Steven Adams must be about the most down-to-earth, unprepossessing 25-year-old multi-millionaire on Earth. … Read more
In this edited extract from the new book by Steven Adams, he tells how as a rookie he got NBA veterans ejected, and it wasn’t that hard. The moment I was drafted someone tweeted WELP STEVEN ADAMS TO OKC and Kevin Durant apparently replied “smh”. He deleted the tweet and replaced it with “Welcome Steven Adams”. … Read more
Spinoff writer Madeleine Chapman co-wrote basketball star Steven Adams’ autobiography, in shops next week. She tells how she wrote the book alongside an athlete she’s known since they were both teenagers. Warning: contains a lot of food. I knew of Steven Adams before I met him. A common situation now but not so much in … Read more
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous, both 16, won bronze medals at the Winter Olympics this week. Their efforts add to an ever-growing list of impressive achievements by New Zealand teenagers. When the world ends and New Zealand must present its best self for God’s judgment, it will be as a teenager. I spent a couple of … Read more
The national secondary school basketball champs have been newly crowned, but more importantly, a star was brought to the fore. Madeleine Chapman introduces New Zealand basketball’s newest superstar. Charlisse Leger-Walker, a year 11 student at St Peters College in Cambridge, is the best school-aged basketball player New Zealand has ever seen. The Grand Final of … Read more
American college super-coach John Calipari talks to Ben Stanley about the progress and NBA prospects of Kentucky’s new Kiwi basketball recruit Tai Wynyard. He has coached four No. 1 overall NBA Draft picks, led two different schools to three NCAA Division I Championship Finals in the last eight years, and last year he was inducted into … Read more
It’s been fun going crazy for any Steven Adams news over the last couple of weeks but the time has come to bid farewell to our national NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who will definitely lose Game 7 of the NBA’s Western Conference finals today. This Oklahoma City Thunder season has been a hell … Read more
After Sunday’s devastating defeat to the Golden State Warriors, can the Oklahoma City Thunder come back to claim Game 7 in the NBA Western Conference finals? The outcome, writes Madeleine Chapman, may already have been spelled out in the final of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. While anyone who has ever gotten angry during a … Read more
Steven Adams was considered a risky choice when the Oklahoma City Thunder selected him with the 12th pick of the 2013 NBA draft. Now he’s a pivotal player in their ongoing Western Conference finals series against the Golden State Warriors. Ben Stanley drove seven hours for five minutes with New Zealand’s rising basketball superstar. “Raindrop!” … Read more
With the NBA playoffs well underway, our very own Steven Adams is taking the world by storm with a potent mixture of talent and loveliness and, writes Katie Parker, he’s not the only one. Things are going so very well for Steven Adams. In just this past week he was deemed the third best player … Read more