Manute Bol, the 7-ft, 7-inch shot-blocking giant who played 624 games for four different NBA teams died today from complications of a rare skin disease. He contacted the illness during his time spent in his native country of Sudan Africa where Bol’s passion was helping his fellow natives in the war-torn country.

The 47-year-old Bol died at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville from internal bleeding and other complications from the disease known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.

Bol’s journey to the NBA started in southern Sudan where a basketball coach noticed him herding cattle with the Dinka tribe. Shortly after, Bol entered the U.S. not knowing a word of English and played for Bridgeport college before going on to become a crowd-pleaser in the NBA.

Whether on home court or on the road, crowds erupted when the Bol, one of the tallest players in NBA history, took the court, watching the player battle stouter competition like Shaq and Gheorghe Muresan.

Besides being known for his freakish, skeletal-like physique, Bol is known for his passion to help save his country and got involved in publicity stunts like Celebrity Boxing where he fought Refrigerator Perry, playing in an IHL hockey game and riding as a horse jockey in another event.

Though criticized by some, Bol did all of this for his country and was constantly trying to raise awareness and money for Sudan’s cause.

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Never has a 10-64 record been as celebrated as it was last night at the Izod Center in New Jersey as the dreadful Nets beat the hobbling San Antonio Spurs 90-84 to avoid owning the worst record in an NBA season in the history of the league.

That record for least wins will continue to be owned by the Philadelphia 76ers who did it in 1972 after finishing that season 9-73.

Much of the season, the Nets appeared as sure as a slam-dunk to take the record after starting the season with an NBA-record 18-game losing streak and actually played one game at the Izod Center in front of only 1,016 fans.

Monday’s game seemed like an unlikely time for the Nets to get the win they needed. The Spurs entered the game after consecutive wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics but that’s why we play the games.

In Monday’s contest, despite shooting a dismal .376 from the floor, the Nets ‘took over the game’ . . . did someone actually just say that? The Nets ‘took over the game’ in the 4th quarter; going on a 15-4 run. The win was the Nets’ first over the Spurs since the teams met in the 2003 playoffs.

After the final buzzer, the crowd celebrated as the Nets’ public address announcer yelled into the mic, “We got ten! The Nets win!” but the Nets treated the team’s 10th victory more like a relief than a celebration.

“We don’t want to be a part of the worst team in history, so it’s exciting to get 10 wins, but it is 10 wins, you know what I mean?” point guard Devin Harris said. “We’re not going to jump through the roof because we won 10 games.”

“It’s a relief, you don’t want to go down in history as the worst team ever,” Keyon Dooley said.

“It’s a big relief. It’s a big relief,” chimed in guard Courtney Lee. “Now we can go out and ball and have fun and play.”

Bitch-Slap-Of-the-Week N.J. Nets – Sports Climax

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