Sports scores, events, trivia, nostalgia, banter, etc.

Seeing as how both the nature and birthday threads were usurped by sports yesterday, why not a thread of its own? Particularly with the sporting season upon us like a plague or a delight, depending upon your point of view.

Masters Leader Board as of 6:57 pm EDT

Sunday should be an incredible day at the Masters!

Westwood -12 68 for the day

Mickelson -11 67 for the day 3 eagles for the day

Tiger -8 70 for the day 3 - 3 putts for the day

Choi -8 70 for the day

Couples -7 68 for the day His 2nd highest career score for the Masters. But Freddy is always positive! Love him!

Poulter -6 @ 18 74 for the day

Hmmm. Henrietta? Nah. Um. Mussolini Freequioso? That sounds 'bout right.

Trail Blazers It was 1977, Pietro.

I met Walton at the airport on career day when I was a junior in high school. He was on crutches at the time and his damn crutches were taller than me! Come to think of it... that was the same season! I swear Greg Odem will be another Walton for us. I used to be a HUGE Blazer fan (in fact I'm wearing a blazer t-shirt right now) But in recent years with all of the punks we've had, I got way too disgusted. I have to say, The kids we have now are much better than the ones in the 1st decade of the new millennium. After Doc Ramsey's and Rick Adelman's teams, we deserve a more mature bunch of youngsters. Bingo, Bango, Bongo Baby!

How I met hammering Hank (a shaggy dog story):

Finding myself once again jobless in a new place--Westport, Connecticut, this time, living in the gardener's cottage with my ex-wife on her father's estate--I encountered a guy in town whose dream was to write a Lawrence Block mystery. He was big then, had just written The First Deadly Sin, or maybe the Second or Third. But meanwhile this guy--his name was Len--worked out of a dumpy Philip Marlowe type office on a back street in the upscale town, producing quick books on whatever phenomenon he could sell to a publisher. He needed an assistant, researcher, writer, editorial type, but between you and me, I think he needed company too ... so he hired me.

He'd done a book on radar guns and then one on CB radios, when they were all the rage, and each sold enough copies to pay his mortgage. (A very pricey town it was too, where Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman were the king and queen--and have I got a Paul Newman story for you! Ask me later, when we have a celebrity thread.) And now Len had gotten the go-ahead, and an advance, from his small potatoes publisher to write a book about video games, when they too were all the rage: the ones you played on television, not computers, which of course weren't around then.

So I went to department stores, played these video games, took notes, blah blah blah, and sometime that winter Len said he'd take me with him--pay my way--to the video game show convention, which was in Chicago that year. In January. You ever been to Chicago in January, Henri? My god. I like winter, but c'mon!

So it was that I found myself in the Roosevelt Hotel, facing the great lake (with the brutal wind coming off it, in the Windy City), checking out the video games in this large hall, taking notes. And who do I see there but Hammerin' Hank, who was a celebrity spokesman for Zenith at the time, when they put out (a rather crappy) video game or two.

So I approached him (we're both wearing suits and ties), and since I don't like to intrude on the privacy of celebrities (remind me to tell you my Paul Newman story sometime, in which the tables were reversed, so to speak). And jocularly I said to Hank, "You look familiar. Are you someone of particular note or notoriety?"

I think he appreciated how I went about introducing myself while giving him room to breathe because he displayed a slight grin and replied, "No, no one of note or notoriety," this guy who was maybe the most famous person in America at the time (aside from Paul Newman, of course).

I can see that he doesn't want to be there, that he's uncomfortable, and in fact so am I--among all these salesmen and other game players--so he moves out of this large room where people are playing and spieling about these mind-numbing games and into a little nook where there's a couch, and I go there too, and we sit down next to each other; there's just enough room on it in fact for the two of us. And since he's a polite southern type, Hank asks me my name, and I tell him, and say something like, "I know you're incognito so why don't I just call you Hank?" and he says okay, that would be fine. (I find myself drifting toward Ring Lardner in the telling here; have you noticed?)

Anyway, then I start to tell him about the Brooklyn Dodgers, how I saw them beat the Braves (at Ebbets Field) in the tenth inning of a night game when Duke Snider singled in the winning run. How I saw Karl Spooner strike out thirteen or fourteen guys, that Magic Year of 1955 (and then disappeared forever). And about watching Don Newcombe hit two home runs off the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second game of a double header on a Sunday afternoon that same year when the Bums finally won the World Series.

And because he was a good listener, and I knew that he and every other black person in America was a Brooklyn Dodger fan in 1947, I told Hank something more personal. I was too young to know anything about baseball yet for some reason called myself a Yankee fan (though we lived in Brooklyn), and one day that spring, while sitting on the front steps with my little glove, my father came out and said to me, "You know, the Dodgers have a Negro ballplayer now. Maybe you should root for them."

And since I didn't know anything about it anyway, I said, "Okay," and from that moment on became a Dodger fan.

Hank didn't noticeably react to any of this. And I got self-conscious, berated myself for imposing on him, and while I was ruminating on this, people in the main room began to notice him there (on the lam) in the nook and started to filter over for autographs. The first was this absolutely gorgeous woman, and she came over with her pad and pencil out and started to gush over him, and Hank nodded and smiled and then abruptly stopped her and said, "I want you to meet my friend Peter."

She was about two feet from me, standing in front of Hank, and hadn't noticed me at all. And now of course she did, and knowing what Hank expected of her, leaned forward and shook my hand, and said, "How do you do."

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Then more people came over, the nook got crowded, and I said goodbye to him and left.

Those self-centered assholes who run the game should have made him the commissioner of baseball back then, when he retired and it was clear that's what he wanted more than anything. It's always bothered me that they didn't.

What a great memory. Well, except for the stupid baseball commission.

2 aces on the 16th hole today at Augusta! Nathan Greene and Ryan Moore, Incredible!

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 3:57pm EDT

Westwood -12
Mickelson -11
Choi -10 He's on fire right now
Couples -9
Kim -7
Poulter -7
Tiger -7 is trying too hard but caught a break on the 7th hole
Barnes -6

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 4:05 pm EDT

Westwood -12 @ 6
Mickelson -11 @ 6
Choi -10 @ 7
Couples -9 @ 8 327 yd drive! Gotta love Freddie!
Tiger -7 @ 7 a beautiful eagle

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 4:27 pm EDT

Westwood -12 @ 7

Mickelson -11 @ 7

Choi -11 @ 8

Couples -10 @ 9 Freddie's having a rough day but birdied

Tiger -8 @ 8

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 4:38 pm EDT

Westwood -12 @ 8

Mickelson -12 @ 8 nice birdie! but just pounded his drive on the 9th tee off to the woods

Choi -11 @ 9

Couples -10 @ 9

Tiger -9 @ 9 with another birdie

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 5:05 pm EDT

Mickelson -12 @ 10 had a nice 35 yd chip to save his par after that 2nd trip to the trees

Choi -12 @ 11 steady as she goes

Westwood -11 @ 10 hanging on with another par

Couples -9 @ 11 just landed into the water at 12

Tiger -9 @ 11 way into the trees

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 5:16 pm EDT

Mickelson -12 @ 10

Choi -12 @ 11

Westwood -11 @ 10

Kim -9 @ 14 birdie

Tiger -8 @ 11 eventually bogeys

Watney -8 @ 17

Couples -7 @ 12 double bogey Steady Freddy is struggling today

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 5:27 pm EDT

Mickelson -12 @ 11 Beautiful drive on 12

Choi -12 @ 12

Westwood -11 @ 11

Kim -11 @ 14 nice eagle!!!

Tiger -8 @ 12 swearing again on the 13th

Watney -8 @ 65 for the day

Couples -8 @ 13 birdies, yeah!

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 5:32 pm EDT

Mickelson -13 @ 12 birdie for the lead!!! Go Phil!!!! Love that lefty!
Choi -12 @ 12 2nd shot to the bunker on 13
Westwood -11 @ 12 pars
Kim -11 @ 15
Tiger -8 @ 12
Couples -8 @ 13
Watney -8 @ 65 for the day

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 5:57 pm EDT

Mickelson -14 @ 13 missed eagle but made birdie
Kim -12 @ 16

Westwood -12 @ 13
Choi -10 @ 14 choked - bogeys 2nd hole in a row

Tiger -8 @ 14 bogeys pretty much done for the day if he doesn't get several eagles (not gonna happen)

Couples -8 @ 14 hmmm where's Freddy?


Watney -8 65 for the day

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 6:07 pm EDT

Mickelson -14 @ 14 3' putt for par
Kim -12 @ 18 pars and finishes 65 for the day Great Job!!!

Westwood -12 @ 14 wonderful putt for par and to remain tied for 2nd
Choi -11 @ 15 birdie

Tiger -10 @ 15 eagle to give him a boost

Couples -8 @ 16

Watney -8 65 for the day

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 6:19 pm EDT

Mickelson -15 @ 15 2nd shot lines up perfect for birdie

Kim -12 @ 18 pars and finishes 65 for the day, Great Job!!!

Westwood -12 @ 15 nice chip but no cigar, missed birdie, par
Choi -11 @ 16 lines up 1st putt for easy birdie

Tiger -10 @ 16 misses an ace on 16 is pissed; pars
Couples -9 @ 17 nice birdie

Watney -8 65 for the day

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 6:29 pm EDT

Mickelson -15 @ 16 Phil getting his props @ 16... setting up birdie, misses but saves par

Kim -12 @ 18 pars and finishes 65 for the day, Great Job!!!

Westwood -12 @ 16 misses birdie, pars
Choi -11 @ 17 misses birdie pars
Tiger -10 @ 17

Couples -9 @ 18 2 putts for par and finishes at 70

Watney -8 65 for the day

A moment for Alistair Mackenzie and Bobby Jones designers of Augusta National.

Sunday Masters Leader Board as of 6: pm EDT

Mickelson -15 @ 17 2nd shot long set up for birdie; misses to 6' for par

Kim -12 @ 17 pars and finishes 65 for the day, Great Job!!!

Westwood -13 @ 17 2nd shot to 3' for birdie set up; makes birdie

Choi -11 @ 18 2nd just short of the green; finishes 69
Tiger -11 @ 18 2nd shot to the green; birdie finishes 69

Couples -9 @ 18 2 putts for par and finishes at 70

Watney -8 65 for the day

Sunday Masters Leader Board

Mickelson -16 @ 18 Birdies; finishes 67 for the day and his 3rd Masters Title!!!

Westwood -13 @ 18 pars finishes 71

Kim -12 @ 17 finishes 65 Great Job!!!

Choi -11 @ 18 finishes 69
Tiger -11 @ 18 finishes 69

Couples -9 @ 18 2 putts for par and finishes at 70

Watney -8 65 for the day

What could be sadder for you Trail Blazer fans than this:

Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy has a torn meniscus in his right knee and his status for the playoffs is uncertain. The three-time All-Star will miss Monday night's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Wednesday's regular season finale against Golden State on Wednesday night. He will require surgery and will be out from four to six weeks.

22: Yeah I saw that on the Oregonian website today - bummer...We do seem to have more than our share of injuries...

Breaks of the game, I guess.

That's great news! Hope we get Portland in the first round so we can eliminate them as we've done for the past decade. I wish you guys still had Rasheed Wallace. He was awesome at melting down and blowing it for those early 2000s team we regularly dispatched to early summers.

I'm an obnoxious Laker fan.

Arrgghh!!! Hater!

No TrailBlazer titles since '77.

Lakers eight (9) titles since '77.

Scoreboard!

I repeat.... Hater!

What a cruel guy you can be, Enrique, willing to win because of injury. I'm a New Jersey Net fan, gang (worst record in the NBA this year), but since my daughter is teaching in the Seattle High School where Roy was an all-state player, I've adopted him and his team (and only a masochist can spend a whole season rooting for his team not to have the worst record in NBA history). Also, Roy is a wonderful, silky smooth player to watch. Like Kobe Bryant, in his way, but without attitude.

Trailblazers? Lakers? New Jersey Nets? Oh, yeah that stuff that passes for sport in that calendrical wasteland between the Super Bowl and the Baseball All-Star Game. What do they call it? Dribble, dribble, travel, travel, shoot, two points. What kind of sport ignores one of the only rules that actually would make it an interesting game if it were enforced. Until I see an NBA game in which traveling is routinely called (an event that will never happen since I can't stand basketball), basketball will just occupy another world than me.

Okay, I've made my snarky comment, let everyone else know where I stand with regard to basketball, so please, continue your discussion.

Yeah, what he (Pietro) said!! ;-)

I so miss my Clyde, Terry, Duck-man (may he rest in peace), Buck and Jerome! And even miss Cliffy and his headbands.

Woe is me...

Ah, you flushed me out, Gene. The truth of it is, I've almost exclusively been watching soccer this year, the English Premier League, mainly, which has the best players in the world, doing things with their feet that boggle the mind. If you get a chance, catch the next Champions League game (the best teams from all the professional leagues in Europe) between Lyon and Bayern Munich, in a few weeks. The other semifinal is between Barcelona and Inter Milan, but I have a hunch that won't be as competitive: Barca should control play.

NBA's unwatchable. I watch Laker games with one eye because a kid we coached in HS is a role player on Kobe's dozen. I was a captive audience for any games featuring William & Mary and Norhtern Colorado and No. Iowa and, and, and
The Duke/Butler game I watched with two eyes. Actually after coaching HS basketball from Nov. thru March I am ready for something, quite else. Not to mention the level of real skill in the NBA - just aweful. They are reaping the dubious benefits of the Pumps & Sunny Vaccaro era. Oh, for the days of Jerry Lucas, et al.
http://www.statefansnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vacarro1.jpg
http://www.doublepump.com/
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/The-Pump-brothers-f...

Yeah, I can't do the NBA. Hayword missed that shot, and Duke won, my heart sank a little, and I turned over to baseball....where my 0-7 Astros have been shut out three times already and scored a total of 13 runs...when's the World Cup again?

The month of July perhaps? The 32 qualifying teams have already been divided into eight groups, and in the first stage, each team plays the others in its group. Then the top one in each group moves on, and perhaps the next eight with the best records, into the so-called knockout round, which is more like what we're used to, like in the NCAA tournament.

The World Cup start on June 11th in Johannesburg and the final is July 7th in the same city.

Ah, someone from Brazil would of course know.

A little football
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvPiv7F1lfE&feature=related

Here are the groups in the first phase of the World Cup, to begin on June 11th, as noted by jpyvr, above. The toughest groups appear to me to be E and G (where Brazil will have to be "in form" against the likes of Portugal and Ivory Coast). Italy, Spain, England, and France seem to have it easier, though the French team, despite its ample talent, has recently been a mess:

Group A

South Africa
Mexico
Uruguay
France

Group B

Argentina
Nigeria
South Korea
Greece

Group C

England
United States
Algeria
Slovenia

Group D

Germany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana

Group E

Netherlands
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

Group F

Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia

Group G

Brazil
North Korea
Ivory Coast
Portugal

Group H

Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile

>38 copyedit52: - How right you are! In Brazil, it's impossible NOT to know these dates. This country is currently literally awash in green and yellow (the national colours). You can even buy a patriotic mix green and yellow Tic-Tacs in the pharmacy or supermarket.

It was 1837. Horne Took, the sly wit, being asked by George III whether he played at cards, replied, "I cannot, your Majesty, tell a king from a knave."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Horne_Tooke

James, much further to the north -

If Kevin Garnett can keep his mouth shut and in the game, Boston, MA, USA will also continue to be awash in green.

In the Champions League semifinals:

Olympique Lyon v. Bayern Munich
Inter Milan v. Barcelona

The first of the above match-ups seems the more competitive one. I'd like to see a Lyon-Barcelona final. It would be a fast-paced, creative affair.

Watched one game of the NBA playoffs last night - needed to do it soon as there is a scant 3 1/2 months left till the finals. To celebrate here is Shaq lip syncing 'Jesse's Girl' with puppets.

Champions League results (1st round of semifinals):

Inter Milan 3, Barcelona 1
Bayern Munich 1, Olympique Lyon 0

What's wrong with the Lakers? Even if they beat this upstart team, as I expect they will, they look anemic. The TV announcers glibly explain it by saying they're "getting old," as if they were the Celtics. Bullshit. They're not an old team. They just seem to lack heart.

Ron Artest is killing them. Trevor Ariza knew the triangle offense, was more athletic, and had more energy. Odom is back to being the Odom that the Celtics plundered in '08.

Very, very disturbing.

Fill Jackson is an idiot with all the mind games. Kobe is basically a physical wreck. Artest is not much, really. But Kobe could yet pull the rabbit out of the hat. He's pretty banged up, though.

I don't understand why they can't get the ball inside to Bynum and Gasol, and why Lawuss Odom doesn't dribble penetrate or post up whoever guards him - he's a constant mismatch for any defense.

The LA Times noted this morning that Gasol was working extra at practice yesterday trying to explain to Artest how to get better pass angles into the post - it's a bit late in the damn season for learning fundamentals, triangle offense or not, ain'it?

Durante is scary! What is he 20? Combined with that tiger Westbrook out of UCLA? That dunk he punked on Odom in game 3 has turned the series around. They're fiery and loose.

I think LA still wins, but it'll prob'ly take the mow-rons 7 games to finish it. Fate forbid they become only the fourth one-seed in 52 years to lose to an eighth seed. That would be embarrassing. And with Kobe's contract up, he just might bail. And I'm not like most Laker fans who take his once-in-a-lifetime, genius skills for granted. Do you know how many times he's bailed them out? Even just this season alone. He hit four or five buzzer beaters in the regular season for victories. I don't know if he's any better than Jordan, but he's certainly as clutch in tight games. The Lakers'd be fools to let him get away.

I agree with you on Kobe, Henri. My pitiful team, the Nets, had Vince for a while, admittedly past his prime but a special player: smart, clutch, learned when to pass and when to shoot in the last few years and thus made those around him better. You cannot replace those players.

Gasol must explain how to feed the post, the proper angle and timing. What else is there to say? I think the Laker boonnnneeeeesssss are tired. The youngpunks might do it. Though we musn't count the refs out. The TV needs the Lakers, I think.

As for Phil Jackson: I had a run-in with him once, when he lived in Woodstock and commuted to Albany to coach the Patroons. What can I say? I was a great Knick fan as a teenager and during the glory years, but I just don't like the guy.

What I hear about Fill from reliable sources confirms your opinion, P. All that Zen blather makes me want to peeyook.

Lance Alworth: good one, Peter. A most graceful Charger. (I refer to a Porius entry on the nature thread.)

But back to basketball, and the Lakers: I love Kareem. Truly, I love the guy, for his basketball skills and his intelligence as a human being. But as I understand, from what I read, he was hired by the Lakers to tutor the likes of Andrew Bynum. Now, I look at Bynum, at his physical gifts and the grace with which he plays in spurts, and wonder: Why is he not by now a dominant presence?

So that's my question to you, Peter. What's your take on Bynum and his development as a player?

He plays in spurts because he sees the ball in spurts. It's not yet his time. Too many guys on the Lakers are scoring threats and not enough balls to go around. The Knicks of the early 70's always, ALWAYS hit the man who was open. There is more to this than meets the eye. You were not going to fuck around when Lucas or DeBusshere were there. You played the game the right way. Not to mention Red Holtzman, one of the truly great coaches, who would never tolerate idiots like Artest and those of his kidney. Walt Frazier, Dick Barnett, Willis Reed, Earl Monroe (even Earl the Pearl was just one on the string with those glorious Knickerbockers). These guys even had their own gibberish language. Artest being tutored by the big Spaniard on post feeding. Oy Gevolt! as one of your relatives might say.
But back to Bynum. He sort of gets lost in the shuffle when it comes steamrollin time. No matter what they say kobe has an ego this size of Tarzana, he is not thinking much about Bynum when all the marbles are on the line.

And keep in mind too that Bynum has no college experience, as Fillup likes to remind us (rationalize) and with injuries he's missed the equivalent of a season-and-a-half. The Lakers had no problem getting the ball into Shaq because Shaq demanded it and asserted his presence. Bynum should do the same. Kareem, btw, is no longer mentoring Bynum as of this season, since being diagnosed with cancer. But Bynum nonetheless, has made significant strides this years primarily with his footwork in the low post and in becoming more aggressive, as has Gasol, aggressive wise. The chronic problem w/Bynum has been he'll get rolling, five or six double-doubles in a row and then BOOM, he gets dinged or injured, and loses whatever momentum and confidence he'd built. Gasol's great, whether one believes he's "soft" or not, that Spaniard has got himself some skeeels.

But Por's right, they are banged up. But that's no excuse. You won't hear Kobe complain, whether you dislike him personally or not.

and I agree, Por, about the spurts angle. But isn't the genius triangle offense designed to go inside-out? He should be getting more touches. I hated seeing Kobe become old-Kobe in that game three. If Phil had some nads, he'd bench Kobe when he reverts to one-on-five play. Put in Shannon Brown and watch them play as a team...and watch Odom suddenly decide to show up too.

"Zen and the Art of Fogging Poor Ron Artes' Mind with an Outrageously Complex Offense."

I've read it many times.

Who was the Knick who played with a broken foot or sprained ankle was it, early 70s Finals, against the Lakers? Any way to bottle that kind of commitment and heart and inject it into so many of today's players?

I wasn't around in those early 70s watching those Knick teams, but my grandfather was and I'm quite familiar with that era. My grandfather (95) still talks about George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers.

I should upload a classic photo from the '30s I've got of Grampy from his HS basketball team. He once played in a game where the final score was 9 to 6. No shot clock, their opponents strategy was to stall and stall. And back in those days there was a jump ball after every made basket, which slowed tempo down somewhat. Crazy history, basketball.

My gosh, Henri: Who was the Knick ... ? I thought everyone in the world knew it was Willis Reed in the sixth game of that series, in MSG. I mean, I was going to make an entry today beginning: "Brandon Roy pulled a Willis Reed yesterday when he stepped onto the court for the Trailblazers ... "

9 to 6. I love it. Most of the face-painted nitwits who attend these days would demur I'm afraid.
The old Knick with the bad wheel was Willis Reed. Don't make em like that anymore.
Bynum will be just fine in a couple of years, or less. Especially if he can stay out of the trainers' room.
If the games is close and Kobe's healthy, the outlook is good. If not: Katey bar the door.

I knew it was Willis Reed now that you remind me! Yeah I saw that Brandon Roy coming back. Portland is scary if he's healthy enough. I'd rather the Lakers (assuming they survive) had Denver in the 2nd round. Denver's a mess w/out George Karl. How sad is that? - what Georg and his son (an ex-Laker btw) have been through both with cancer. That's Willis Reed kind of heart and character right there, playing and coaching through pain while precious baseball players go on the 15-day disabled list with hangnails. Don't tell me a pitcher can't pitch with a hangnail. It's called 4 ibuprofen and a band aid.

Here's a bit of trivia for you, Porius. In the late sixties, when the Celtics and maybe the 76ers still ruled, Detroit had a team with Archie Clark and one of my personal favorites, Joe Caldwell. A nice team to watch, even though I wasn't a Piston fan. Who else was on that team?

54> what did you mean by "had a run in" w/the Hen Master? Sounds like a good story there my friend!

Just a few. Dave Bing currently mayor of Detroit after the woeful tenure of Kwame Kilpatrick), Terry Dischinger ( fresh out of military service), Bob Lanier (1970), in 1968 or thereabouts Dave DeBusschere (from Univ. of Detroit, my alma mater) was traded to, as you know, the Knicks for Walt Bellamy and Howie Komives.

Yes, I do. I was waiting for you to ask. You do specialize in noticing these loose ends, Henri, and coming back to them, even if, in your frenzied life, it takes you a while.

My daughter was young enough to need a babysitter then, and in the local grapevine, my wife and I found a young girl, Chelsea, who was one of Phil Jackson's daughters. So, being the nice guy that I am, I used to drive over to Chelsea's house, a rented affair but a nice size, on maybe two or three acres not far from the center of town, pick her up, drive her to the house we rented then, and when the evening was over, drive her home.

I never saw Phil. He was a busy guy, what with the Albany Patroons and other things. But one evening when I went to pick his daughter up, he answered the door, the house illuminated inside, and him hulking in the doorway, so you could see his features, but not clearly.

I say, not unreasonably, "I'm here to pick up Chelsea. She babysits for my daughter."

That doesn't matter to him. He just stands there, hulking in the doorway, glaring down at me--and I mean glaring--as if I were there to molest her and he means to intimidate me to prevent me from doing it. The exact same glare I'd see years later when he fixed that supposed Zenlike stare on referees.

What an asshole. I was saving him a trip to my house, to pick up his daughter and drop her off, and he's playing mind games with me.

>66 Porius:. Oh, yes, Bob Lanier. That's the other prominent name on that team I was looking for. But Dave Bing wasn't half bad either. And I do believe DeBuschere was still on that team. Good team.

Ah those Knicks. One Reed teamate became a very famous Senator, another a fashion leader and later spokesman for Just for Men.

It was because of Willis, Clyde, Dave, Dick, Earl, Bill and the rest, that I hated the Celtics back then.

But wasn't it sad that Dave Debuschere ended up selling used cars on TV. If you were in the New York area and up late enough at night to catch those ads.

67: an asshole indeed.

Compare that with the following encounter with another well-known coach (these kinds of things happen to me all the time):

I'm coming back from Seattle a few days ago, get to the airport something like three hours early, and after I take off my shoes and my belt and all the other things you have to do nowadays in an American airport, I walk down the nearly deserted terminal to the departure gate and there's a b'ball game on an overhead screen, Boston-Miami, and I pause to check it out, and there's a big guy standing there, watching. I forgot there was a game on, and I ask him if it's yesterday's game or what, and he turns and holds up two fingers, to indicate it's the second game, and I recognize him as Jim Calhoun; maybe in Seattle on a recruiting trip.

He's also an impressively large guy, appears to be a no-nonsense type, but realizing that I recognize him, he tenses up and frowns, like some well-known people do in those situations. So to put him at ease I say, "How're you doin'? I heard you missed part of last season." Because as you probably know he had some kind of problem; his heart, I think.

In response his whole body posture changes. He relaxes, steps toward me, says, "I'm fine now, thanks," and slaps me on the shoulder, appreciating the fact that I asked.

A heart he has but very little mind when it comes to offense. His teams are usually quite sloppy with the ball. If they can't defend and run you into submission, as Bobby Knight would delicately put it - he's pfucked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1ihZ5xJSNw&feature=related
And then there's Bambi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgejB0xh798
I worshipped Alworth as a teen. One time he caught a pass over the middle and was knocked silly by a tough safety, whose name escapes me momentarily, at any rate, when they tried to take the ball out of his hands, (he was still seeing stars),they had to pry it out.

Found my grandpappy's old championship HS basketball photo. This was taken in 1934. The HS team from Eldon, Missouri. That trophy, btw, the big one, sits proudly in his room at the rest home. He's the last surviving member of his team.

Which one is he?

Back row, third from right. He jumped center...at 6"0'!

How fun! Thanks, for sharing this, Rique!

Real cagers!

Learning to put a back-spin on the ball when playng in low-ceiling venues.

Smelly wool uniforms.

They must have not had a recent game because I don't see a lot of cuts and bruises!

Lovin' all the basketball talk. Great photo 'rique!

Check out the story on the Nets new Russian owner in the Times today. Teresa. I'm assuming you're now a Nets fan. And if not, why not? Winning isn't everything.

He jumped center at 6ʻ0"!

Yes, a 6ʻ player in the 30s and 40s was considered on the tall side. Our "low goal" daily newspaper called "tall" players elongated, and short players (5ʻ2" or 5ʻ3") dimunitive or midgety. a score on any given possession was the exception rather than the rule.

I heard of a game (ca. 1935 -- it was before I became a fan)
in which MA__ __ __ High played ME __ __ __ __ __ High,
with a score at the half was ME 1 MA 0. Scoring burst out all over in the 2nd half, and the final score was something like MA 24 ME 22.

Our basketaball coach in high school (I didnʻt play) was s aid to have been a great college player -- but of football, not basketball. Our baseball coach was said to have been a great hockey player.

Sport snippets

Basketball: The Lakers look like the Lakers again ... for the moment. The Mavericks avoid their usual playoff folderoo, but the smart money is still on San Antone. Cleveland, Orlando, the Celtics ... I can't stifle a yawn.

Soccer: Bayern Munich routs Lyon, moves on to the Champions League final, probably against Inter Milan, unless Barcelona wins by two goals and shuts out the Italian team; a tall order. Then again, they are playing at home.

Horse racing: With the early favorite Eskendereya out of the Derby, some other colt has to assume that role, but none of the others can do so convincingly. I'm finding myself a longshot to bet on this year.

>82 copyedit52: - Barca only need to win 2-0, which seems quite reasonable given their home form. Bayern Munich routs Lyon should read Lyon embarrass themselves in CL SF.

NBA basketball is boring.

I agree, Peter. But then, I usually find college basketball dull too. It could be me, of course, jaded, always looking for that remarkable game that's so rare. It's been a long time since I saw Villanova beat Georgetown for the nat'l champeenship.

The game before that, I watched Ewing (the unidimensional ball hog who eventually forced me to leave the Knicks behind) and Company beat St. John's, the most talented team in the tournament, with Mark Jackson, Walter Berry, and maybe even Chris Mullin.

Afterward, I told one of the guys I was watching with, "They can be had," referring to Georgetown, little realizing how prophetic that glib statement would turn out to be.

Most college games are boring. I have an aversion to Bug East games. I can't watch your buddy Calhoun's games for a second or a minute. A magnum of chloroform as Gore Vidal might say. I enjoy teams like Wm. & Mary, No. Iowa and Colorado. And yes the Bulldogs who ply their trade at Hinkle Field House. I really only enjoy my job. Teaching 5th and 6th graders the basics is heaven to me. I had a 6th grade team 5 or 6 years ago who were a marvel to watch. I taught them parts of Pete Carrils offence. We actually beat the 8th grade team in an exhibition. It was great to see the midgets PLAY with each other. The 8th graders were in a state of shock giving up more backdoor cuts than they had ever seen before.

You guys know way too much about basketball teams and players to be true basketballophobes. I on the other hand, know nothing about any of this which you discuss.

Not a criticism, just a comment.

Keep up the good work, Gene.

What'd you mean my pal, Calhoun? I just met the guy in an airport, is all.

Irony.

And what does it mean when Gene calls us basketballphobes? Unnwieldy word, that. Are we not "philes," despite our abundant knowledge? Should we instead wax poetic about lacrosse, his favorite game? Really, the noive of him, to question ... What exactly is he questioning, anyway?

He said you were not ...phobes on the grounds that you know too much about the subject. I know very little about basketball, but in my childhood in the birthplace of basketball I was taught about the real game; it is not played anymore.

Robert

Oh old Gene has a surfeit of blackbile sometimes. Having the same myself sometimes I just get out my umbrella and look out for the flying neologisms. He was careful to say that he was just commenting not criticizing. I don't know about you, PW, but that made all the difference to me. Without knowledge of course his criticisms would be along the lines of, say, the soap & razor guys on the TV. Or a review by reecharddearus. Noive he has voive not so much. My dear departed grocergrandfather would say he was good when was sleebin. Actually I relish all comments. What else is this LT for? To parade how many books you have on your shelves?

You got me wrong on our friend Gene. I can't imagine ever being mad at him; Henri either. They are the salt of the earth, though in Gene's case, maybe the pepper.

You were a boy in Springfield, Durick (aka Robert)? Is that truly where basketball was born? Or have we all bought a bill of goods? I mean, Naismith, peach baskets, all that.

I was not there at the invention, but it was over at Springfield College (we lived in Sixteen Acres), then the YMCA college if I remember correctly, that Naismith hung his peach baskets, then common enough in households, at the ends of a gymnasium, according to local lore. I found the story elaborated in magazines and newspapers as I grew older.

I think when he first hung the baskets he left the bottoms in them. By the time the gymnasium was built at our elementary school nets were used in place of baskets. A school gym teacher looking to make a few extra dollars started an after school class in basketball when I was in sixth grade. Mostly we stood in line to shoot baskets.

Back then even professional players wore gym shorts.

Robert

The Cadence of Silk

By Garrett Hongo (1988)

When I lived in Seattle, I loved watching
the Sonics play basketball; something
about that array of trained and energetic
bodies set in motion to attack a more
sluggish, less physically intelligent opponent
appealed to me, taught me about cadence
and play, the offguard breaking free
before the rebound, “releasing,” as is said
in the parlance of the game, getting to
the center’s downcourt pass and streaking
to the basket for a scoopshot layup
off the glass, all in rhythm, all in
perfect declensions of action, smooth
and strenuous as Gorgiasian rhetoric.
I was hooked on the undulant ballet
of the pattern offense, on the set play
back-door under the basket, and, at times,
even on the auctioneer’s pace and elocution
of the play-by-play man. Now I watch
the Lakers, having returned to Los Angeles
some years ago, love them even more than
the Seattle team, long since broken up and aging.
The Lakers are incomparable, numerous
options for any situation, their players
the league’s quickest, most intelligent,
and, it is my opinion, frankly, the most cool.
Few bruisers, they are sleek as arctic seals,
especially the small forward
as he dodges through the key, away from
the ball, rubbing off his man on the screen,
setting for his shot. Then, slick as spit,
comes the ball from the point guard,
and my man goes up, cradling the ball
in his right hand like a waiter balancing
a tray piled with champagne in stemmed glasses,
cocking his arm and bringing the ball
back behind his ear, pumping, letting fly then
as he jumps, popcorn-like, in the corner,
while the ball, launched, slung dexterously
with a slight backspin, slashes through
the basket’s silk net with a small,
sonorous splash of completion.

Not mad at Gene at all. Just attempting to be clever. Not always succeeding. Just trying to stir the pot a little. I should know better.

I knew he wasn't talking about the Lakers of today. Like obama they're filled with bromides and bromides and an incurable desire for the signing celebration and the photo op - the present day Lakers, ie. Though I do get excited when obama rolls up his sleeves.
Great poem EF. You know youdabes.

Very nice poem, Henri; apt too. And now for the prose-aic questions: 1988, it says. So, who was the "small forward," and who the "point guard," and who the Waiter--or is that also the small forward?--great nickname for someone, a patient sort who lets the game come to him: the Waiter. Though here he is bringing it. I know or can guess at some of these answers, but you like to kvell about your Lakers so go ahead.

Thought you might like that. And any poem that identifies James Worthy and Magic Johnson w/out calling them out by name....yeah, Baby, that's a poooe-um.

A different kind of Waiter: Ray Allen, standing on his spot on the periphery, waiting for someone to pass him the ball so he can hit his usual three-pointer.

Oh, hey, you guys (and Teresa, and maybe even Anna, unless she merely specializes in Trail Blazers), I've been sitting on a scoop, a bloomin' bouk (as Ringo Starr once put it), and forgot all about it.

You recall I once said I got a gig with Penguin Books (they never got back to me after that first, perhaps didn't like my editing moves)? A book written by a guy named Rafe Bartholomew, a gym rat who grew up maybe a half mile from where I was a teenager, in Queens, New York, who wrote about being an observer with a Philippine basketball team in Manila.

They are craaaazy about b'ball in the Philippines. Go figure. A pro league with many brilliant American players who were too crazy or undisciplined to make it in the NBA. Like Billy Ray Bates, who played for the Blazers and is a major character in Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game. Enormously enjoyable book--for us philes, of course--will probably come out in a few months: Pacific Rims. Look for it.

Pacific Rims does sounds good. BTW, you (or someone) inquired about my team preference. I've been a longtime Laker fan (from way, way back) up until the Phil Jackson era. I was a tepid fan of the Nets, but then Jason left and now the Nets are leaving me so I guess, for now, I'll just say I'm a fan of the game.

I hope they give out lumpia (not sure of spelling)with book. We have had some great phillipino kids on our teams in last 5 years. Mostly guards. All of them cat quick and tuff as nails. One of them was a dead-eye shooter who is on a DIII team at Clarkson, way up there in NY State. Just first-rate kids. Don't mind the discipline of the game. A students. Come from wonderful families. Often military families. Streetsmart. Excellent dancers; most important for a bball player. When I play Curtis Mayfield and James Brown their heads swing from side to side in knowing appreciation. I always think musical appreciation is a good indication of what a players going to be like. Some rush the beat, some lag too far behind (it's ok to be a little late), and some couldn't find the beat if it stepped on their hammer toes. I admire players who have a sense of musick like the yesteryear Celtic guard Dennis Johnson. He never was in a hurry. He never used a howitzer when a darringer would do. That is, he never used his best moves if he didn't need them. Today's players make NBA ball boring. I could watch Mark Price play all day, I might even pay to see him, but I wouldn't attend an NBA game if you gave me a ticket. Unless it would be to watch an old player of ours who is on the Lakers. He's been hurt this year, only playing when I left for Detroit. I said that I might take EF to a game but busy with coaching and our player was laid up with a bad back. We went all the way to the state semi-finals so there was precious little time. I was busier than a foreign banker hiding $$$ for their Goldman-Sachs clients.

Clarkson. They play hockey up there, as I'm sure you know. In that book, clearly the Filpinos like a lot of flare in their players. But like true fans everywhere, they also recognize and value consistency.

Now that we've waxed poetic about Brandon Roy, let's admit it: he shouldn't be out there. I fear this spunky guy is gonna do himself some damage.

He's only a piece of meat to even the RoseGardeners. Kobe unless he gets replacements will be getting around like the old forechecker Derek Sanderson before he knows it. BREAKS OF THE GAME says it all, too bad most of these yahoos spend little time reading.

That's true. And we often forget how young these guys are. Not you, I'd guess. You're probably more in tune with that than any of us. I mean, if it was our children, we'd see them making these mistakes and suffer with them.

In 25 years of coaching I have learned much I think. Basketball is about education. I feel bad that we only reach a limited number of students. Our players often tell us that the rest of the day is easy next to the basketball practice, etc. And we've sent players to Yale, Penn, Harvard and places like that. Hahvid, H-a-r with a V, v-a-r with a D - Hahvid.

102 - Hey...I'm around. My team didn't make the playoffs so I'm a little down on the NBA right now, but I've seen a bit of the Lakers/OKC, Utah/Denver, and Spurs/Dallas games.

Sorry about that, Jane. And what is your NBA team? Not the Jazz, I see.

Wow! How bad does a team have to be to be one of the five or so that doesn't make the playoffs. Basketball is all backwards, it seems to me. Sort of like hockey. I thought the point of the "season" was to determine which teams deserved to be in the playoffs, not which ones didn't.

Speaking of hockey, the Montreal Canadiens, eighth seed in the east, just beat the first seed, the Washington Capitals, four games to three, by winning 2-1 tonight.

Good for the Habs.

It's all about money Gene.

Hornets - pretty bad this year, Chris Paul out most of the season which is pretty much the team.

ETA - 110 - I am going to go for the Jazz for the playoffs - my brother-in-law lives there and is a big fan. He keeps calling us with updates.

My guess is, from their serious style of play, that Porius likes the Jazz. As do I. There are some teams I just don't like watching, having nothing to do with win or lose, but style of play and sometimes particular players. It's why I stopped rooting for the Knicks years ago, in their Ewing/thuggish era.

Agreed. I love Jerry Sloan. The Jazz are winning without 2 of their better players: Kirilenko and Okur. Jerry Sloan was a tough as nails defensive guard for the Bulls. None of that kissing and hugging before the game for Sloan.

Though we've been into basketball, it should be said, for our friends overseas (and around the world) to whom b'ball is a foreign language, that the European Champions League now has two teams set to play home-and-home games in the final: Bayern Munich and Internazionale Milan.

Bayern beat Olympique Lyons twice, 1-0 and 3-0, to get to the final. Inter beat the putative favorite, Barcelona, 3-1 in Milan and then lost 1-0 away, to advance on aggregate goals, 3-2.

San Antonio 97, Dallas 87

San Antonio wins the series four game to two. You gotta love the Spurs. They play the right way.

And not love the Dallas coach who when here in Detroit would often neglect to say good morning to the owner as they passed in the hallway. Great to see the last of that one - for a season at least.

>117 copyedit52: - The CL is a one-off match on a ground chosen in advance - it's in Madrid this year - played to the death, extra time and then penalties, if needed.

Lumpia!!!! mmmm...

Sorry, just catching up and saw one of my favorite foods!

Carry on.

Lumpia, spring rolls, egg rolls, crispy, soft, sweet dip, sour dip, sweet-sour dip, thick dip, thin dip.

Almost as good as butter.

Robert

Better!!! mmmm. May have to find an Asian market in Bend to get some wrappers! Man, I have not made any in years... Sorry.

Carry on.

>120 Jargoneer:. Yes, of course. I should have recalled the great disappointment when Real got knocked out. One game, winner take all: Bayern Munich v. Inter Milan

>121 highdesertlady:, 122. Robert, Tani: We eat on the nature thread and sport on this one. Where'd you learn your manners?

It's Por's fault!!! He's the one that brought up the lumpia! ***giggles and runs away***

I don't have a clue about today's Kentucky Derby, only a hunch that the favorite won't win. So my alter ego, Mischa Goss (who used to handicap for a minor racing tabloid back in the day) will step aside for LTer Joe Drape, who writes a racing column in the New York Times and predicts the following finish (with post position, jockey, and morning line odds) :

1. Lookin at Lucky, Garrett Gomez 3-1
4. Super Saver, Calvin Borel 15-1
7. American Lion, David Flores 30-1
16. Awesome Act, Julien Leparoux 10-1
11. Devil May Care, John Velazquez 10-1
20. Sidney’s Candy, Joe Talamo 5-1
17. Dublin, Terry Thompson 12-1
2. Ice Box, Jose Lezcano 10-1
13. Jackson Bend, Mike Smith 15-1
5. Line of David, Rafael Bejarano 30-1
12. Conveyance, Martin Garcia 12-1
10. Paddy O’Prado, Kent Desormeaux 20-1
9. Make Music for Me, Joel Rosario 50-1
14. Mission Impazible, Rajiv Maragh 20-1
15. Discreetly Mine, Javier Castellano 30-1
3. Noble’s Promise, Willie Martinez 12-1
6. Stately Victor, Alan Garcia 30-1
19. Homeboykris, Ramon Dominguez 50-1
18. Backtalk, Miguel Mena 50-1
8. Dean’s Kitten, Robby Albarado 50-1

ah, the Derby...break out the mint juleps and fancy hats.

Okay I'm throwing a grand down on Mission Impazible. Anybody want in on my action? Am I too late?

In other news, I'm looking forward to heading off this evening to my first L.A. Dodger game at Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine since 1995, back when Hideo Nomo was around and Mike Piazza was still a Dodger. Looking forward to rooting on those last place Dodgers. Go Dodger Blue! Ra ra.

After my mint julep this morning (thanks Jane!) it'll be warm beer in half-filled plastic cups and foot longs and those frozen "malts" (i.e. ice cream concrete) that if you buy in the 2nd inning have softened up and melted enough to scoop up with that mini-wooden spoon by the 8th inning. A bag of salted peanuts in the shell, of course. Crackerjacks for the kid.

Oh and on the dog, you don't put ketchup on the damn dog, just mustard, relish, and onions, that's it, maybe some jalapenos if they've got 'em.

And it's important to keep score at a game too. 'Cos obviously I go so often (once every two decades when I get free tickets) so I obviously know this stuff; doesn't matter if you keep score in your program the official way or not, just as long as you keep some kind of score.

And dads, I believe, should not take gloves to ball games, that's for kids. Real men catch foul balls with their bare hands - one handed - with a hot dog or beer in the other hand. I'm excited. I do love baseball, even though I hardly go anymore. Baseball stats in particular, I love.

Reminds me, here's an old review of one of my favorite reference volumes of all time, The Baseball Encyclopedia (please pardon the self-pimpage):

http://www.librarything.com/work/9109906/reviews/11504158

Also tonight we have a big boxing match - Mayweather vs. Mosley - which none of us will probably watch as it is on the pay-per-view.

128 - I must disagree with you on the hot dogs. I only put ketchup on mine, mostly because all you Yankees are apparently unaware of the chili and its deliciousness.

If Henry from Chino, California, is a Yankee--and this on the verge of going to a Dodger game--I guess we're all suspect, even us guys from Brooklyn who've hated Yankees just about our entire lives.

I must be Switzerland, because I put both ketchup and mustard on mine... no relish though...yuck!

The next time I go to a Dodgers game it will be in Brooklyn, and I will eat lumpia while I cheer.

Robert

Mustard, ketchup, relish, onions, jalapenos ... doesn't anybody (but me) like sauerkraut anymore?

Costco, the only place to get hot dogs, stopped putting out sauerkraut quite awhile ago. Now I get a chicken bake.

Robert

I didn't know that, Robert: that Costco was the only place to get hot dogs. I guess I've been on the computer too long. I must get out more.

buck fifty includes a soda... **scurries away giggling** and wishes she could get lumpia at costco!

Seems I cannot avoid responding to this lumpia thing anymore:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/89569#1943481

128--OKAY 'RIQUE NOW YOU'VE DONE IT! I was having a perfectly lovely spring day and now it seems pale, white, bleached and blanched by comparison! Dodger Stadium! Dodger Dogs! Chavez Ravine! OHHHHHHH! Please tell me you will still find a way to listen to Vin Scully while you sit in the stands, like any really true blue DODGER FAN would. Nomo and Piazza, yes, of course, but friend, what about Valenzuela, Monday, Yeager, Cey, Lopes and even that rat, Garvey? I could go on and on and on and already have. Wow. Please come back and say you had a really great time.

ETA... and Gibson, how could I forget Gibson? I was there in '88 and what a great game it was!

I must sniff around and seek this lumpia!

One pre-Derby note: 4 of the 20 jockeys are from Louisiana.

And the winner is....Super Saver, jockey Calvin Borel being one of the LA contingent.

It is amazing how he keeps winning these races. And nice to see Todd Pletcher break his schneid.

The Crowd at the Ball Game

The crowd at the ball game
is moved uniformly
by a spirit of uselessness
which delights them—

all the exciting detail
of the chase

and the escape, the error
the flash of genius—

all to no end save beauty
the eternal—

So in detail they, the crowd,
are beautiful

for this
to be warned against

saluted and defied—
It is alive, venomous

it smiles grimly
its words cut—

The flashy female with her
mother, gets it—

The Jew gets it straight— it
is deadly, terrifying—

It is the Inquisition, the
Revolution

It is beauty itself
that lives

day by day in them
idly—

This is
the power of their faces

It is summer, it is the solstice
the crowd is

cheering, the crowd is laughing
in detail

permanently, seriously
without thought

William Carlos Williams

WCW right there with Frost. Check out the talk Robert Pinsky gave on CNN's Book Channel on Williams and Frost.

138> so sorry, Thea, but do know it really wasn't all that great...it was terrible actually... being up high in the reserve level above 3rd base, watching the sunset glow and fade over the snowcapped San Gabriels on a windless, crisp twilight, three foot longs in hand. It was awful!

Are you saying you were there game 1 World Series against the As in '88? I remember where I was, but I wasn't there. Orel Hershiser and 59 consecutive innings w/out giving up an earned run, what a magical season that was, '88. Btw, I saw Kenny Landreaux, (center fielder from the '81 WS team) at a Black Angus, of all places, when I was just a laddy. Aren't I special!

Do you remember Jerry Reuss and Jay Johnstone, the club house pranksters, dragging the infield like they were low paid staffers rather than professional ballers?

Fun times. And that infield that stayed together from '73 - '81, longer than any other infield in MLB history. Yes, Fernandomania, 8-0 start as a rookie in '81, on his way to the Cy Young award.

And lastly, eating at Little Joe's on College before a game, big plate a pasta. Memories.

Great poem, Pierre!

Back in the seventies and eighties when I lived in Atlanta the Braves were in the Western Division and were rivals to the Dodgers. I used to go to a game from time to time at the old Atlanta Stadium (saw a few rock legends there as well) when you could pay a buck and sit in the outfield right behind Jeff Burroughs and watch, most times, at least half of a decent ballgame. I remember watching one evening when the Dodgers were in town, Ron Cey hitting the highest pop-up I've ever seen. It went straight up above the bank of arc lights that were just beginning to come on. I was sitting in the nose bleed section behind third base at the time and the ball went higher still. If it had been hit straight there's no doubt it would have been a home run, but it just went straight up, and up, and up. I've never seen anything like it, before or since. Ah yes, good times at the old ball park.

The same Ron Cey (the "Penguin") who went through one those stretches wherein he could not throw the ball accurately to any base. Golfers equivalent of the prolonged shanks. Not to be mistaken with Mayor Tommy Shanks.

Or Michael Shanks, either.

I recall Chuck Knobloch having throwing problems with the Yankees a bunch of years ago. He couldn't toss it from second to first. Some kind of whaddayacallit. Seriously. With all this heat, I can't think straight. What do you call what Knobloch had? Some kind of mental thing.

#145 "being up high in the reserve level above 3rd base, watching the sunset glow and fade over the snowcapped San Gabriels on a windless, crisp twilight, three foot longs in hand." **sigh** I remember.

Yes, I was there. When Tommy put Gibson in, I turned to my husband and said, "Oh my gawd! He can't run! The only thing he can do that will help is hit a home run!" And then he did. It was a magnificent moment and I shall never forget it.

ETA--Great poem, Peter. Thanks. I've always loved WCW.

In golf it's called the yips when you cant make easy putts. A very mysterious thing indeed. I dont believe baseball has a name for the malady. We'd need to consult Oliver Sachs maybe.

Wasn't this Gibson fellow a Tiger for a while, Peter?

From Waterford Township, a northern suburb. Was a great 3 sport HS hero in's little town, went on to Michigan State to star as a wide receiver. He had top flite speed, could have gone on to play NFL. Began with Tigers and was for some few years a solid player. Was known to take recalcitrants out back and explain the facts of life to them. My kind of player. When "Gibby" broke up a double play he went in there for keeps. No kissing and hugging like the cats in the NBA. Was traded to Dodgers. Had that home run moment that will be remembered in perpetuity.

I had a certain fondness for Kurt Gibson because he reminded me of Patrick Malone--both physically, and when he had that mustache. And I guess I sensed his no-nonsense belligerence as well; another Patrick trait.

The Cleveland LeBrons are one of the teams I hate to watch, even more than the Dallas Nowitskis and the Denver Carmelos. I might end up watching the NHL playoffs instead.

Boring.

Right. Right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvW3JRBeDR0

Lowermiddle?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T70-HTlKRXo

128:
Baseball stats? How about the stat that Wade Boggs routinely drank 50-60 (/maybe 70) beers over the course of a trip from Boston to Seattle back when he played? Take it from those who were there!
http://tastybooze.com/2007/04/the-origin-of-boggs/

But seriously, the only sports I follow really are tennis (and I'm pretty casual about it, except when it comes to the Grand Slams) and baseball. And, growing up right near Philadelphia as I did, I'm pretty pleased with Kyle Kendrick's performance tonight against the Cardinals. We'll see if he gets a chance to prove he can control teams other than the Cardinals, depending on how the Phillies DL develops over the next series or two, but he redeemed himself somewhat. Of course, here in New York, cable decided to broadcast the game tonight and not tomorrow's game, when Halladay will be pitching, but oh well. It was a good one.

Speaking of the Phillies:

Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts, who led the Philadelphia Phillies to the 1950 National League pennant as part of the famed "Whiz Kids," died Thursday. He was 83.

The right-hander was the most productive pitcher in the National League in the first half of the 1950s, topping the league in wins from 1952 to 1955. He won 286 games and put together six consecutive 20-win seasons. Roberts had 45 career shutouts, 2,357 strikeouts and a lifetime ERA of 3.41.

I nearly cried this morning when I heard this news. When I was a very small child we lived in Philadelphia (late forties - 1952) and he was one of my hometown heroes. He and Richie Ashburn, along with another of the "Whizz Kids" who lived in my apartments and who always had a moment or two for the kids named Bubba Church. He died back in 2001.

I was just telling my wife yesterday that our contemporaries are going to start dying off in numbers before too long. My mother said that was a sign of growing old.

Concerning "my buddy," as Porius called him (#86):

Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun, coming off a year marred by health problems, an NCAA investigation, and a disappointing performance on the court, signed a five-year, $13 million contract, the school announced Friday.

The highest paid Conn. public serv. What a joke. He's nothing but an over-sized buffoon. A big baby, and looks it. As far as coaching is concerned the coach of the Husky women puts him to shame.

Okay, my grumpy friend, maybe this will cheer you up:

Maxim Lapierre and Brian Gionta scored 1:33 apart early in the third period to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 on Thursday night, tying the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Go Habs.

Explanatory note: Habs is short for Les Habitants; en anglais, the Montreal Inhabitants. Not catchy, but more down home than Red Wings and Black Hawks, Rangers and Bruins and Flyers.

In soccer news:

LONDON--Chelsea reclaimed the English Premier League title in style on Sunday, a 8-0 win over Wigan ensuring they pipped Manchester United by a single point after racking up a record haul of 103 goals.

The Oakland A's Dallas Braden throws the 19th perfect game in MLB history against the Tampa Bay Rays.

It's certainly a feat (and a good deal of luck). But I have to admit, Jane, that whenever it occurs, the first thing that pops into my head is Don Larsen, out of the memory vault of Brooklyn Dodger history, 1956 World Series. It is not a happy recollection.

Banter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMONf6TPEyw&feature=related

For me the most dramatic story of all these different playoffs is the Montreal Canadiens, who tonight beat last year's Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2, to win that series four games to to three; this, after beating the number one seed, the Washington Capitals, four games to three. Montreal, the eighth seed in the east, a team that just barely made it into the playoffs, are now in the eastern finals, to face either Philadelphia or Boston.

Back to the days of Legrawngebille. Juak Pla. The 'Pocket' and the 'Rocket'. Juak Lapediare. Dick Duff. Pierre Mohndoo. Yevohn Cornwhyay. Just to name a few.

With the great Danny Gallivan with the call
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syMw1PujxVw
http://www.nhldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dick-irvin.gif
I grew up listening to Danny Gallivan and Foster Hewitt on Saturday Night, Hockey Night in Canada.
http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=20180

What more can we say about the young man LeBron James that wasn't said about the somewhat older young man Zinedine Zidane, who head-butted the Italian in the last game of World Cup, or Sparky Donovan, the great New York City point guard, who won the high school championship for Erasmus Hall and then went down to a flood of junk and disappeared from sight?

173:
Eh. Materazzi had it coming.

And France, as dysfunctional as they were--and are--under Domenech, was the better team that day. Certainly in the second half.

Those hockey clips make me want to start checking out season tickets for next year! I haven't followed it in so long I don't even know all of the teams, and sure don't know who the players are. It was so much easier when the NHL had six teams, wasn't it? Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Boston and New York. My birthday present each year was to go to a game with my dad. I still have a puck sitting on my desk as a paperweight!

Apropos the old six teams: I like the fact that this year the eastern NHL final will be between Montreal and either Boston or Philadelphia. The latter wasn't one of the original six teams (though they've been around longer than some more recent upstarts), but the other two are.

Some games, I find, are better to watch on TV than others. Baseball, for instance, loses enormously when confined to a screen. In basketball (usually depicted shot from the mezzanine or higher), you don't fully get the sense of the players' size in relation to each other, which creates mismatches. Hockey is just about perfect.

LC, you must have watched "The Golden Jet;' Stan Makita (one of my favorites, great stickhandler and tricky shot, he said he had an esoteric way of taping the blade of his stick), Glenn Hall (who tossed cookies before EVERY GAME), Dougie Mohns, Kenny Wharram, and co.
Sorry, I meant the Golden Jet to be taken for Bobby Hull, and shame on me for forgetting Dennis. We had Brett here in Detroit for a while. I guess the Golden Jet was less than ideal as a father.

And the Hull brothers! But I did not know that about Glenn Hall.

Sorry, I meant the "Golden Jet" to be taken for Bobby Hull and shame on me for forgetting Dennis. We had Brett in Detroit for a while. The Wings had a goon by the name of Bryan "Bugsy" Watson who shadowed Hull all over the ice.
I hear that Bobby was somewhat less patient than Fred MacMurry as a father. I don't know myself.

Yes, well now that I look at your message I see the semi-colon. I missed it when I was writing back. I just saw Golden Jet next to Stan Mikita and thought you were calling Mikita the Golden Jet. Never mind that I thought "I don't remember Mikita being the Golden Jet". I did not remember that that was Bobby Hull's nickname, either.

Poor Dennis--great player who always got second billing. He looked better than his brother, too. Not so many pucks in the face, I guess.

Ah, the original six teams--they played hockey in cities that had winter. I have never gotten used to the idea of hockey teams in Florida, Arizona and (the Hawks next opponent) San Jose, California.

Hockey in Fla. just doesn't seem right does it? I went to a game at the old Chicago Stadium as a kid. What a loud place it was.

When I was a kid, Portland's team was the Buckaroos. We would spend Christmas day at the Memorial Coliseum watching Connie Madigan, et al fighting it out on the ice, literally. As for loud, Porius... at 5 years old I actually fell asleep during a match and only woke up when the siren went off for a goal.

A rabid fan, doubtless.

I tried to get to Belmont yesterday, never made it, no doubt saved myself some money.

My NBA predictions:

In the West: Lakers in six, even without Bynum. They're just too big for the Suns.

In the East:

I have no idea. The Celtics are also pretty big, but Orlando is the hot team. I'm rooting for the Magic because Stan Van Gundy is so delightfully disheveled and because I like Vince.

I'm picking the Celtics in seven (though I'm hoping the Magic win). I'm picking the toughness of Doc Rivers over the hotness and athleticism of the Magic. The Celtics, when they are on, are a vice grip defensively, and scare the hell out of me. What they did to LeBron in game 5 & 6 last series, they did to Kobe, Lamar, and Gasol, in the '08 Finals. Assuming it's the Celtics and Lakers in the Finals this year, if Bynum's not healthy (or disappears and gets intimidated as he's still prone to do) I think the Lakers are in trouble. Nobody has an answer to that Rondo on the Celtics.

I agree with your Lakers/Sun prediction. Though Steve Nash scares the hell out of me too. But Derek Fisher (don't laugh) is a tough mutha, and he showed me some mucho grande cajones in his last matchup against the much younger, athletic (and quicker) Deron Williams. Yeah, Deron got off at times, but I thought overall, Fish handled him pretty effectively, so it gives me some hope he can occasionally shut down Nash, but shutting down Nash, I think, is really more on our bigs than Fish; them being able not to fall for that damn pick and roll that Nash so brilliantly and elusively works with Stoudamire against duped defenses. Tell the Laker bigs to stay home and not double Nash up when he goes to penetrate; otherwise, he'll kill them a la the way Stockton and Malone did the Lakers in the post-Earvin Johnson era.

But as you allude to, Peter, can the Suns do anything to stop the Lakers? I doubt it, but the Jazz in that last series (which was really a lot closer than a sweep makes it seem) did confound the Lakers offense for long stretches, as my wife can attest when I was shouting at the bozos from my chair: Inside-out Idiots! INSIDE OUT. STOP SHOOTING THREES! DUMP IT IN TO GASOL MOW-RONS!

Peter, you need to get a laptop, so you can still touch base w/us when you're out of town. Maybe we can pass the plate around and chip in some for you. What do you say, everybody? Let's pass the plate for Pierro and his laptop acquisition!

You know, the truth of it is, I don't dislike the Lakers. I have always appreciated Derek Fisher's professionalism. Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players ever. The argument that Pau is soft is absurd. And the guy from Queens, New York ... any team that has him coming off the bench is in great shape; he'll rebound, defend, shoot, throw the right pass; he's the best sixth man in basketball year after year. (The other guy from Queens, as someone pointed out, has been having his problems as a Laker.) I can't see anyone beating them, though only the Celtics have a chance.

Anybody bit that putz Fill Jaxson.

I didn't know what to say about him amidst my peon to the Lakers and decided just to finesse him.

You Zen'd him with your finesse. You know how Fill likes to hand out books to his players? why don't one of us send him a copy of I Think, Therefore Who Am I? and maybe it will help him calling a &^%$ing timeout once in awhile when the Lakers opponent has just gone on a 13-0 run! Maybe then he'll realize he's just a tall man with a bum knee and back and not the some Almighty NBA Buddha-sage sending out vibes and "messages" through the press to influence referees rather than reinforcing the fundamentals of the game to his players who so often go brain dead three-point happy or just let Kobe do it all for us he'll save us-happy and then maybe I wouldn't have to be so stressed out during games and the Lakers would blow out every opponent by 30 points...they certainly have the freaking freakyish talent to do so don't they. But I'm really not that passionate about the issue, I mean to say.

But I'm really not that passionate about the issue, I mean to say.

Can it be that my own je ne sais quoi is having an influence on you, Enrique? That is most definitely a Piero Weissman undercutting end to your impassioned outburst.

On Fill handing out instructional tomes: I hear from a reliable source that when Fill handed Kobe his little volume of enlitenment, Kobe, Mr. Gratitude that he is, smirked his smartass smirk, and tossed it out the bus window. Defenestration. Kobe is of course a marvel of nature, I just can't warm up to him. As for that dick Fill Jaxson, he is not worthy to iron Jerry Sloans skibbies. Fill is like the fly on the charging hippopotumus' rearend who prates and prates of his dust-raising .

Yes, I heard that, when Jackson first became coach. I read that he got each of the players a different book, in accordance with what he thought they profoundly were, and that when they asked Kobe about it, he said about his new coach and the personalized book-gift, "I thought it was presumptuous of him." How can you fault that?

Blockheads both.

And how could I have failed to mention this bit of Laker trivia: the only Jewish ballplayer that I know of who is in the NBA comes off your bench: Jordan Farmar. Was a time, in the forties, during the NBA's nascent years, when organized basketball (without black players then) was the Jewish game, from the players to the coaches to the owners to the fixers.

One of the toughest was Bobby Weiss.

The attitude of Jewish boys toward their sports stars is, I'll admit, bizarre ... perfectly captured, I think, by John Goodman (the convert) in The Big Lebowski toward Sandy Koufax, who to his mind was up there with Moses.

Even with the annoying Phil Jackson on their payroll, I don't see how anyone can beat the Lakers. They just have too much talent.

If the Celtics can defend, it will be a good match.

Sports Bacchanalia

Red Sox, Patriots,
UNH Hockey.
Soccer, football, NASCAR
and others
too great to number

Budweiser, Cape Cod chips
Nachos, Pepto
Oh I can't wait
for rest and
for slumber

Cardinals, cold fall air
bring on the Series
Where's the clicker,
the remote,
My eyes are bleary

Raymond A. Foss

An education in the footballing culture of the UK:

"F*ck Off Chelsea FC,
You ain't got no history,
Five European Cup's and 18 leagues,
That's what we call history.."

Sung by the fans (of my own dear club), Liverpool FC.

Saturday, Champions League final in Madrid:

Bayern Munich v Inter Milan

Inter 2, Bayern 0

Though Bayern was in possession two-thirds of the time, Inter's defense swallowed the German attack close to the goal and counterstriked quickly, with two goals by Milito. Bayern missed the suspended Ribery, were overreliant on Robben on the other wing. A closer but less elegant game than last year's final, when Barcelona dissected and took Manchester United apart with exquisite passing.

Very exciting times in Chicago! Hawks sweep the Sharks (really, Sharks playing hockey). The last goal was after the Sharks pulled their goalie to try to tie the game.

First time in the Stanley Cup finals since before the United Center was built!

All this on a day in which the temperature reached 88 degrees F.

Flyers or Canadiens?

The Canadiens would make it two of the old six NHL teams, which an old-timer like me (and prob'ly Porius) would like, so it'll most likely be the Flyers.

I'm all for the 'Habs' but it doesn't look to good for Monreal. The Broad Street Bullies are just about original six. Remember Bobby Clarke and Co. I'm happy to see the Second City in the Finals. I hate places like San Jose or places such as that. No grit. All white wine and avocadoes. Not that I don't like avocadoes. I just prefer places like Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, Pittsburg. And on a smaller scale Bloomington, Indiana (my favorite place), Champangne/Urbana, Ill., Columbus, Ohio. Louisville and Cincinnati aint half bad, either. And in the Attic, Toronto, London, and Montreal are world class cities. Well maybe not London. Stratford, Ontario is a pretty little place, home of the Shakespeare Festival, etc. I must mention Niagra-on-the-Lake, home of the Shaw Festival.

This summer I plan to travel the Ohio River from Pittsburg to the Mississippi. I want to see the mounds in Ohio and the pyramids in So. Illinois. They used to call the area in and around Cairo (pronounced Kayro) Illinois, "Little Egypt." The nickname for the teams at So. Ill. Univ. is the Solukis, the Royal Dog of Egypt - resembling a grayhound or a whippit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Illinois

And think how exciting those times in Chicago will become if not only the Blackhawks win the Cup, but if Lebron comes to town and puts on a Bulls uniform...

Peter--you missed the part above where Por and I were discussing the "original six"? Going to hockey games for my birthday?

Had to look up the 1961 finals. I did not really realize that hockey, like all other sports it seems, has really extended the season. Probably because there are so many teams now. In 1961--the last time the Hawks won--the Stanley Cup was won mid-April and a snow storm beat the news on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. BTW, the Chicago Tribune was a real newspaper then.

No, no, Lisa, I did read all that. Sometimes I actually do stand aside and listen rather than talk.

In profile messages Porius and I have discussed hockey a bit: college (I went to Boston University for a year; one of the years they were nat'l champs) and professional (I saw Bobby Orr play at the Boston Garden). He and I are contemporaries, so I know about the Hull brothers and tough Stan Mikita. For a while I was a Ranger fan, in the era of Jean Ratelle and the other Quebecois, but I wasn't one of those people who paint their bodies and shave their heads and make idiots of themselves.

When I lived in Berkeley, a friend bought me tickets for my birthday to see the team that played in Oakland then (the Golden Bears?). The chaza (you'll have to look that up in your Yiddish dictionary) had to borrow the money from me to do it.

And I did catch your Blackhawks the other night, when they came back to win in overtime.

but I wasn't one of those people who paint their bodies and shave their heads and make idiots of themselves.

Doggone, hockey fans did not used to do those things!

chaza--the closest thing I can find with a really quick search is chazzer: pig. Is that it or do I need a better dictionary?

Yes, that's it, and now that you've looked it up, I have to admit he wasn't a chazzer for borrowing money to buy my birthday tickets, but merely a guy with chutzpah.

P #208, stop off in Sistersville, W.Va. on your trip down the Ohio, and say hello. That's the town of my birth. Just up river, in Paden City is where my mother lived with her parents when I was born and my father was with the navy in the Pacific. My grandfather was a blacksmith at the Paden City Glassworks, a job he also performed with Allenby in Jerusalem during the War to End All Wars (until the next one. I believe WWII was just a continuation of WWI, they just needed the time to re-arm and grow more cannon fodder.) Sistersville was where the county hospital was located. Anyway, I haven't been back to Sistersville since I was born.

There are some good Indian Mounds in Moundsville, W. Va. (gosh, I wonder where it got it's name?) as well as the W. Va. State Prison. That was the prison Peter Graves and Robert Mitchum spent time together in in "Night of the Hunter". That movie was all about the central Ohio Valley in W. Va.

Anyway, have a good trip.

Thanks. I plan to have a good trip. And I will give a nod to Sistersville, as an old Catholick school boy it would hardly be right if I didn't tip my cap to the Sisters, would it?

214: I was born in West Virginia too! In a town called Bluefield. We left when I was four and the only other time I visited WV was on a bike trip through Harper's Ferry during college, but I still am technically Appalachian by birth, right?

Royt.

All these stories, these recollections, sparked by geography. I love geography! I was waiting for this over on the nature thread, and here you are!

I know some consider Ron Artest a knucklehead, or deride him for being slow to learn to learn the Lakers triangle offense or not recognizing his limitations as a shooter (no one questions his defensive chops), but I admit to a soft spot for the guy. The housing project he wanted Craig (of the pink sport coat) to blurt last night after he hit the winning shot--Queensbridge--like the big, truly ingenuous (albeit often on the verge of belligerent) kid he is--was about as raw a place to be a boy as you can imagine. I used to see it from the elevated train as I went to high school, a sprawling red brick city spread out below the bridge. I've read how Artest has freely given money away to youth groups there, and to down-and-out old friends in need (the great Michael Jordan never parted with a dollar), and I was glad for him last night when he redeemed himself.

He still bugs me, though good for him that he gives his increasingly valueless greenbacks to those who can't fight their way out of the ghetto.

PJ, on why he left Artest in the game: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/comments_blog/2010/05/ron-artest-buzzer-beater-l...

Richardson missed a blockout assignment a 6th grader would have done properly at that point in the game. No time left: Richardson HAD TO BLOCK OUT, simple as it gets. Tom Izzo will not be pleased. He is the rebounding emperor in college basketball.

I'd like to see Vince be a hero tonight.

I can't remember the last time Vince got on the floor for a loose ball. Remember that game that Dave Cowans dove 23 ft. or so for a loose ball. I could actually watch the whole game with the voice turned up. Now I watch out of the corner of my eye as I type my pedestrian thoughts into the computer box. Or plump for my betters.

A World Cup correction: I assumed, because they were so close (as seen from a map, at least), that both Australia and New Zealand could not have qualified for the World Cup. In fact, both have.

Australia (the Socceroos) is in Group D in the first, group phase, with Germany, Serbia, and Ghana.

New Zealand (the All Whites) is in Group F with Italy, Paraguay, and Slovakia.

>225 copyedit52: - that's because Australia asked to be moved into the Asian qualifying group. Previously the winner of the Australiasian group then had to face a play-off with a runner-up from either Europe or South America, which they never won. FIFA agreed to Australia's suggestion but then promptly changed the play-off rules, meaning that the Australiasian group winner played one of the Asian runner-ups; hence both countries are at the tournament.

Australia actually have some good players, although the team looks weaker than 4 years ago and Group D is a killer - they will struggle to any decent results. NZ, on the other hand, look like whipping boys - the other 3 will probably try to crush them just in case goal difference becomes important.

Stanley Cup playoff: 5-5 at the end of the second period. Heck, getting close to a football (American) score!

And the Blackhawks win it, 6-5, in an exciting Stanley Cup opener.

Lisa, you live in Chicago, right? So you've probably heard of Michael Jordan, true? Did you know that even though Michael Jordan is still alive, he has nonetheless been reincarnated, and that he goes by the name, "Kobe Bryant"?

The Wirtz family owns a very old (but very well kept) Chris Craft that they keep in Belmont Harbor across the dock from me. The captain told me yesterday that if the Hawks win they are going to put the team on the boat with the Cup and take a cruise down the river during the middle of a work day. Not sure if he is serious, but that would be fun!

Yes, 'Rique, I live in Chicago and I have heard of Michael Jordan. Had no idea about that miracle, though. Of course, I have never really followed basketball. Although I recognize the name "Kobe Bryant" I would not recognize him if he walked in the front door. My sports enthusiasm only extends to hockey and football. :-(

Some wag wrote in the local paper today that if the basketball season doesn't end soon they'll be playing this seasons games in the morning and next seasons games at night. Sounds about right to me.

Lisa, when you say football are you talking about "Da Bears" or that pansy-ass European thing with the ball and the feet? Yeah, yeah, I know it's the most popular sport in the world, and pansy-ass may be a bit harsh, but it ain't football, it's soccer. Now Australian Rules Football on the other hand ...

The Nature thread begat the Sports thread, and now the latter has begotten ... the Sports: the World Cup thread:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/92000

Keep on keepin' on with the NHL, the NBA, and beisbol, but if you're into the truly world sport, salonistas and others, you now have an outlet.

So my LSU Tigers baseball won the SEC Championship in an all day 11 inning, 2 rain delay marathon. It's been a fairly disappointing regular season so it's nice to see these guys start off the postseason with a bang.

Gene, Football as in "da Bears". Don't really understand soccer although they tried to teach us to play it in high school a while back. The oldest granddaughter likes to play, though, so I might have to figure it out. Just not now.

Gene is kinda like a bear, isn't he? Growling about pansy-assed soccer. And how many grandchildren do you have anyway, Lisa?

I hope when the NFL gets cranked up there will be some interest in this group. I hope more than just Lisa and I have an appreciation of the poetry of big-time football. If only the league would butt out and let the boys play. Speaking of which, I do believe there are one or two female kickers in the college ranks, and some other female position players coming up in high school. In several years it could get interesting.

I know many people prefer the college game, and I like to watch the school kids who play football as a sport while earning a degree, in other words, I like to watch William and Mary, anyone from the Ivy League, Navy, with their old fashioned running game and other small college teams, but don't care much for the football factories. I like the pro game because it's speed and athleticism creates more openings for excellence, but it's no fun watching the next great sack-meister playing against a tackle who's working on his pre-law degree and knows that the last game of his senior year will be his last game ever if he doesn't get hurt first.

I think if we want a minor league football league, analogous to the baseball minor leagues we should have one, let's just not continue the fiction that most of those guys are "getting an education". It cheapens college and brings in the ugliness of money.

Okay, back to that other "football".

I created another thread, Gene, so the other football won't stick in your craw. There's no longer any need to get back to it here.

There're probably fewer places in the country where college football is less popular than the Northeast. This is basketball country, and in upstate New York and New England, hockey country. But New York City is an avid professional sports town, whatever the sport. It's no doubt a cliche, but it's true: you need space to play football, but you can fit a basketball court in a pocket park or playground. And roller hockey, on pavement, is a big deal on playgrounds too.

I'm a big football fan as well, both college and NFL, looking forward to the fall.

Jane--first I plan to enjoy the summer. Hoping to actually have one this year.

Hawks in Philadelphia tonight so here is my song for the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_Dn9CejwRc

Pietro, I have six grandchildren! Full disclosure, however, they are step- grandchildren. Never had my own kids--my husband's son and daughter lived with us from the time they were 13 and 10 and that was enough for me. Grandchildren are much better!

Lisa, being in politics in Chicago, have you watched any of the TV series, "The Good Wife"? I believe it's set in Chicago amidst at least one type of legal corruption. Chris Noth, one of my favorite small screen actors (I hope his appearances in the SITC movies doesn't destroy his career) plays the Cook County (I think) DA who may or may not be corrupt.

On 240:

Can you expand on the phrase " in 'merican" ?

(I haven't seen the word " 'merican" since Duranty's old
pro-Soviet short story of the 1920s: "The 'Merican.) I almost mistook this for another thread ("Silly Book Game 53) and used that title to "play on" your pjrase.

Gene,

I have only seen the advertisements for the series in, of all things, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin which is the daily paper for the legal community primarily intended to give information about the daily court calls and to publish legal notices. No one ever believes me, but I simply do not watch television. So, I have no thought or comment :-).

>237 janemarieprice:. Nice send-up, Jane. Before reading it I thought I knew who I would be rooting for, but now I changed my mind.

>239 geneg:. I watch The Good Wife, Gene; or rather, I watch it when my wife turns it on, since we share the one TV. It usually trumps the last quarter of an eastern basketball game or the first quarter of a game in the West. It bothers me to see Julianna Margulies in the predictable lawyer/wife role when she was so electrifying as Christopher's junkie extramarital partner in the last season of the Sopranos ... just as it bothers me to see anyone who was in Deadwood in anything else on TV.

For John Wooden who has gone from us to join his beloved Nell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fXXkybycsU

Nice one, Por.

Here's a clip of Wooden coaching his final game in 1975: the championship game between UCLA and Kentucky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRtYFDp0EdU

I could probably go on and on all day with Wooden clips and tributes to him, etc...

I always thought John Wooden was sort of stiff.

I accept Wooden's indubitable accomplishments. Who can't? But I agree with Gene.

You are finally right about that now gene.

Seems no one wants to talk about Lakers-Celtics, game one. (Where are you Henri, great Laker fan?) All I have to say about it is, with two home games in L.A., a Celtic victory in game two changes everything, so hold your horses on crowning them just yet.

Oh I'm holdin' my horses all right! And I don't see the Lakers, from what I'm reading in the paper, sounding all puffed up about it either. It's just one game. Good that they got it, but a game two loss, as you say, turns this into a 13-round prize fight that would probably go seven games.

I think the Celtics weren't taking LA seriously at all, prior to game one. Their collective hubris cost them an important game. They erroneously thought, oh, same 'ol Lakers from '08, but that's not the case. Ron Artest is as tough physically as any of those Celtic frontliners. Even a slowed-down-by-injury Bynum is effective in spurts and plugging up those daring to post down low.

Phil, criticize him all you want, did you see his decision to put Kobe on Rondo instead of Ray Allen and how that got Rondo a big discombobulated? And let Rasheed go Rasheed and get technicals and get unnecessarily physical, fine, Gasol and Odom gave the brunt force mentality right back at him, and did so as welll to Pierce.

Look for lots of fights and the refs having to separate players in game two. Boston will attempt to reassert what they are convinced is their physical indimidating style of play, and not the Lakers. But Pau and Odom are not afraid of these guys anymore. Alll the hype how tough and rough Boston would be coming in has been an illusion so far. The Lakers, I just can't see it, won't be backing down to anybody at this point. Even Shannon Brown can fly and get up their in those power forwards grills and go highlight reel on them. Boston is in some trouble right now. But, yes, that changes should they grab game two, but I don't see it happening.

I don't disagree, Brent. It helps, of course, not to have a horse in the race, and I don't. Clearly, the Celtics need more points from Ray Allen. And what happened to Garnett in game one? You read so much dribble about this guy being too soft and that one too old, but I did wonder whether the combo of Pau and Bynum (both of whom impressed me) might well have worn him down. Perkins and Big Baby might have to step up; throw in Rasheed and we could see fireworks in game two, as you said. I hope Phil, or even more, Kobe, can restrain Artest if it does come to that. He has been known to go off.

On Sunday, an outpouring of sport. The Lakers and Celts, of course, shifting position: three games in Beantown to come. One would guess that the Celts will take at least two and remain on top, though Garnett is still a puzzle, and Artest, for all his follies, seems to have neutralized Pierce.

In the NHL Finals, Lisa is one game away from kvelling, with the Blackhawks up three games to two on the Flyers, after winning 7-4.

And what a game it was! Gene, I watched it on television. :-)
Don't have cable, though, so I am going to have to go somewhere to watch tomorrow's game or I will listen to it on the radio. The announcers are better on the radio anyway.

You can't miss, with D. Fish. Vote Derek Fisher in '12.

Koby's will power will prevail. The Celtics don't have Dave Cowans' drive. They seem on the arrogant side.

You can miss, with Ray Allen.

I've been trying to get a handle on this day, and now I got it: It's slogan day! So here's an aphorism, dedicated to the Celtics Big Three, who are taking turns flashing signs of youth then succumbing to age:

"Whatever else you do, my son (or daughter), don't grow old."

From the Showtime Era

For God so loved the Lakers
That He sent His only Begotten Johnson
So that whosoever cheers for Him
Shall not suffer Celtic Pride again
But have Everlasting Magic

~Anonymous

So then who was John the Baptist, metaphor man?

Jerry West

Lisa has to be sweating it out, 3-3 after the final period, a short Zamboni break before the Blackhawks and Flyers go to overtime. Chicago dominated the game the first two periods, took twice as many shots on goal, but only led 3-2 into the third and for most of that period. Then the Flyers, for a change, were quicker to the puck and managed to tie it up. If the Blackhawks win, they're the champs. If the Flyers win, the series is tied three to three and they go back to Chicago for a final game.

WooHoo!! Stanley Cup comes back to Chicago for the first time in 49 years. The horns are blowing in Chicago harbors. Will be interesting to see what the city does for the hockey team.

Way past my bedtime now. Goodnight.

Here ya go, Lisa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sogKUx_q7ig

Do not despair, Henri. The old men seem to have bursts of energy, which poured forth after the longer than usual (because of TV money-to-be-made) scheduling between games four and five. The former Minneapolis Lakers should win the next game, if this series holds to form. But Kobe needs help, of course.

Logically, the Lakers should win tonight. But there's some bad news on the karma front:

That Phil Jackson, Zen fakir, lost his cool while wired and attempted to rally his team by badmouthing the other team.

That Kobe Bryant, who's done all and more anyone could have expected, wanted to guard Pierce in the final quarter of game five, which smacks of both hubris and desperation.

What the Lakers have going for them:

The crowd, their relative youthfulness, the Celtics did not sleep in their own beds last night, and that the Lakers have something to prove and (for the moment) the Celtics have nothing to prove.

What the Celtics have going for them:

The Lakers are flipping out (see bad karma, above), their coach (non-Zen-like though he may be) is a cool cucumber, and they have nothing to prove.

The Celtics have two games to win one, they like the odds.

Let's talk about earthquakes.

The Celtics beating the Lakers in L.A. is no joking matter.

You mean "beating the Lakers in L.A. AGAIN", don't you?

During the season, Boston beat LA in LA by one and LA beat Boston in Boston by one. Odds on Celtics for the Championship right now, right, but odds on Lakers for any given game. Boston has the team, LA has the Standout Star.

Every pundit's dream.

Isn't that what this is all about?

Prediction: Nate Robinson, in some way, shape, or form, will lose tonight's game for the Celtics.

I just hope the shitheel refs don't get too involved. Refs are at an all time competence and honesty low. When I see nitwits like joey crawford and bennit salvatore out there I get apoplectic. And that silly little ref skip up and down the court drives me crazy. They can't even toss the ball fairly on the jump balls, thank God for the alternate possession rule.
I see the Celtics squeaking it out, maybe even tonight. Nate Robinson might be instrumental. I like watching that guy. I do watch with the sound off and out of the corner of my eye always using the time for something more important to me. I hate the announcers, well maybe not vanmrsgRundy.

Then I guess it's between you and me, Peter: Nate Robinson vs. Nate Robinson.

That's not amusing, A_musing (I love Manny Ramirez), and no, that is not what I meant. Boston hasn't beaten L.A. in L.A. in a decisive game for the championship since 1969, the year I was born, at the Forum, within earshot of Chick Hearn (my Mama's placenta was PURPLE & GOLD) and the year also, from which Mary Jo Kopechne haunts Bustonians FOREVER.

In 1971, when I was two (pretend this crass segue is like a local news transition from the latest stray-bullet baby murder drive-by in Boyle Heights, to the latest barometric pressure reading, "thar she blows, I think we got'er Cap'n Ahab!" at 11:12pm) the Sylmar earthquake shook things up terribly, and tragically. Collapsed freeways. Hospital destroyed. Lives ruined. And yet in a time (or a time) like this (or like that) you dare talk about the Celtics? (pronounced "Kell-ticks") - when there's a freaking hole in the Gulf of Mexico, and when the man hunting Osama is in Pakistani captivity?!

obama is getting a thorough education in that old saying: be careful what you wish for. That fella is way over his head. He's much more comfortable sinking uncontested jumpshots on a military base or some such place.
obama, biden, mccain, palin? We were screwed from the very start. Rookies for the most part. Senators (the john carry gasbag club), and a governor? Palin makes me wince when she delivers her 1rst grade perorations. She makes 'dutch' reagan look like one of the Adam's brothers, et al. We are governed by a goofy gaggle of TV weathermen. Trent Lott & Breux from La. are representing the oil lovelies. Ex senators from the area. Both dead ringers for TV weathermen. All these cardboard cowpokes have been on the serious take. But this is the sports channel, isn't it.

Since 1969 there have been four championships fought out between the two, and the score is 2-2. Yes, both boston wins were landed in Boston, and one of the LA wins was in Boston, but that just means we're due.

On the pronouncementiation of Celtic, it seems the Scots go for the same soft c for their footballers. It must be a dynastic thing.

Kobe or No Kobe, that is the question. Whether your man can outplay a team, or whether he'll suffer the dunks and passes and Paul Pierce's torment...

As to the man hunting Osama, what's he doing over there when he has a spill to clean up? Misallocation of resources. The tea partiers with their drilling babies need to get their tea down to the Gulf.

OK, it's all set. The Lakers will blow it tonight in the last quarter and show us all they know how to lose in the 4th.

Not tonight. These guys are exhausted. And TV has its requisites, of course.

Oh I am too eager.

Great series, A_musing.

Your Celtics showed amazing heart, man. And listen, if Kendrick had been able to play, based on how horribly L.A. shot the ball, he'd a been there to clean up a lot of those offensive boards that kept L.A. in the game. I've no interest in talking smack after the fact. The Celtics have a lot to be proud of, and those Boston fans are easily the best fans in the NBA.

I enjoyed the game, but my favorite part was when, at the height of delirium, with the interviewer's mike thrust in his face, the leading scorer thanks his psychiatrist.

I didn't see that! Was that Artest?

The Lakers got the benefit of the calls. Fucking Joey Crawford, Danny Crawford and that other dimwit had no clue for most of the game. The Lakers were fouling the shit out of the Celtics in their 1/2 court defense. Bumping, reaching, holding, all of that sort of thing, and they deem it good defense. It was a substandard Finals. Artest did a fine job on Pierce, but he fouled every possession.
It makes me ill that Jackson has another ring. Such an arrogant slob. Never had less than a stacked deck. He couldn't carry Jerry Sloans' brief case.

Yes, Henri, it was Artest, who thanked his wife, his kids, and his psychiatrist, for helping to calm him down. Ya gotta love that.

It was a great game. The lakers could have blown it wide by hitting a couple free throws now and then, but the D was great all around and the Lakers sustained the D better in the 4th.

And, the Lakers are more a team today than a week ago.

But, oh, blowing it in the 4th is a basketball Casey at the bat. Someone write some doggeral about this.

NEXT YEAR. Next Year.

Thank God, somebody won. Does this mean basketball is finally, finally, finally frakkin' over?!

Not quite. There's the NBA draft next week. But let me ask you this, Gene: Do you feel the same way about football and it's draft, its summer camps, its exhibition season, the college hoopla, the bowl games, the NFL playoffs, the Super Bowl and its hype?

I'm a big fan of pro-football and small college football. I don't care for the football played in the minor league (Big-12, Pac-10, etc.), but give me William and Mary, Navy, Harvard, Yale, and the colleges where football is primarily a sport, not a staging ground for the Pro's and I'll watch with interest.

At present the sport I follow closest is NFL Football. I'm a big fan of the speed, size and heart required to play the pro game. I've always been a Falcons fan, and after twenty-one years in Texas, I'm a Cowboys fan. I follow the draft in the papers, I can't wait for summer camp to start. Sportswise we have just entered the absolute dead zone, between the end of OTAs and Summer camp. At this time there is no draft to anticipate, no talk of free agents, little or no hype regarding the hometown team, nothing, just waiting, like a farmer sitting on a fence swatting flies with his straw hat. The biggest news at this time of year regards rules changes. The league is discussing going from four to two pre-season games (a mistake, IMNSHO) and extending the regular season from sixteen games to eighteen. This is too many games for the starters and regulars to play each year. Bowl games I watch, the NFL playoffs, too. Mostly I find a nice comfy small college game or two to watch on Saturday afternoon, leaving all the big boys to play without me. The ones of them worth watching will come into the NFL soon enough. I watch some of the bowl games and usually watch the championship game, but mostly in an attempt to satiate myself with football before we enter February and the Dead Zone of Athletics. From the end of the playoffs to the Super Bowl is another dead zone for me. I watch the game. Kickoff is usually about 20 min. after the hour (what 6:20pm est?) and as soon as it is over I turn it off. Hype is not my thing. In fact one of Greathouse's Laws of inverse proportions states the quality of an entertainment is inversely proportional to the amount of hype preceding it. This is 100% accurate with movies and television entertainments and about 95% accurate with sporting events. So, yes I watch the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl, but don't expect much from the Super Bowl, and am sometimes pleasantly surprised by the quality of the game, itself.

I am an Atlanta Braves fan and have followed the Rangers in th standings this year. The Rangers have led or been within easy sgtriking distance of the top of their division at the All Star break for three or four years now, but fall off dramatically between the break and the end of the season. This years Braves team reminds me of that 1991 team, they just find ways to win. However, they can't seem to shake the Mets who are having a great year, themselves.

One problem I have with the sports I follow is that there are thirty-two teams in the NFL, each with what, 56? players on their roster. There are 30 ML baseball teams each with 26 players. I can't keep up with it all, so I follow my team, the Falcons and the Braves, and just skim what all the others are doing. When Football gets cranked up I'll participate in these discussions, but hockey, basketball, and soccer are the dead zones of sport, as far as I'm concerned. I think basketball is the worst. As I said somewhere, it's the only sport in which the purpose of the season is not to determine which two teams should advance to the playoffs, but which two should not advance.

Thank God Basketball is over for another two weeks. Then it'll be time to start work on next season.

Basketball is NOT over Gene. The Lakers Parade is on Monday.

Piero, did you see this post game Artest clip ?

The more he talks, the more I love him. He's one of the most lovable nuts out there. Lakers lose w/out him.

There's another clip I saw on ESPN that was hysterical, with him telling the beat reporters working away on their laptops, on deadlines, to "stop playing with your laptops and acknowledge me," but I can't find the clip on youtube. There's some pics of him floating around too showing him at a club late last night still in his Lakers jersey. He never took it off! Straight to the club from Staples Center with his family entourage wearing his uniform. Apparently the club went absolutely wild when they saw him in his uniform and it didn't take him long to find the mic. I'm glad he's gotten some help and can be "calmer" now. He's a character.

He is something. A big kid. Was it his shrink who told him that God said you can only do a certain amount of screaming, do you think, or the boys in the hood?

287 - Good write-up on Artest

In other news, Manute Bol passed away today at 47, very sad.

Thanks for that article Jane. I love his advice to youth: "stay focused, and stay away from unknown females." LOL.

I'm not a hip hop fan, but people in the know re. hip hop seem to be diggin his "Champions" single: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q5T6k0xVI8 that he recorded last year - he's a prophet - before he was even a Laker.

I'm shocked by Manute's death.

Longest Wimbledon match (so far, and it's still not over) in history, tied right now in the fifth set, 59-59 (no joke): http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/wimbledon10/columns/story?columnist=garb...

After the most dismal season imaginable, my team now becomes the center of attention with the third pick in tonight's NBA draft. All manner of considerations and trades seem to hang on what the Nets will do. Will they take the guy from Georgia Tech who the hypebolic commentators liken to a future Amare Stoudamire? Or will it be the guy from Syracuse, who will be a future Antonio McDyess? Or will they trade the pick away for, say, Chris Paul, or someone akin, knowing they have the inside track on one or more free agents in July, given their salary cap money--not to mention the Russian's billions--waiting to be spent?

Absurd, I know, this make-believe stuff. But I've been a good sport about your teams, which actually played meaningful games, so cut me some slack for indulging in one night of pretend fantasy.

291 - This went final - John Isner defeats Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in 138 games. Isner had something like 119 aces. Insanity.

292 - I absolutely forbid the Hornets to trade Chris Paul, so start hitching your wagon to Lebron, baby....or D Wade. ETA: Who'd they get?

I've been quitely watching the College World Series which is the last in Rosenblatt Stadium even though my poor Tigers didn't make it. Good to still see a bunch of LSU fans there anyway and the locals mourning our absence.

The Nets picked Derrick Favors, from George Tech, ACC player of the year as a freshman, 6-10, with a wingspan (that's all these commentators are talking about this year) of something like seven and a half feet. Maybe he can fly. Also, at eighteen, he's the youngest guy in the draft this year. In the interview after he was drafted, he said he was pals with Chris Bosh, who also went to G. Tech, so I'm hoping that's the free agent the Nets get, not Lebron; I don't want him. Then they'd have a front line of Bosh, Lopez, and this 18-year-old guy who can fly.

The Chris Paul situation: I understand your feelings. But apparently the team owner, Shinn, is a jerk. I heard Paul when he was a guest on the NPR radio show Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me and he was a scream. Sharp, self-aware. And of course he can play. You just don't let those guys go. It's suicidal.

A brutal take on last night's TV hyper-showcase event (sorry, Gene, more NBA):

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-lebrondecision070910

295: Wow. What a shame for Cleveland, I bet my relatives there are all pretty upset.

I confess that I've been uneasy about the NBA for years, because my love of basketball has gotten harder to square with my politics and personal values. I mean, it's nice for people in L.A. that they have a championship team, but they did it by being given Pau Gasol. (For whom? Does anyone still remember?) Just as that incompetent, Danny Ainge, was given Kevin Garnet by his equally incompetent pal, Kevin McHale, several years ago. And now the rapacious Pat Riley (what a piece of nasty work he is, which everyone saw when he dumped Van Gundy) has his own superstar triumverate.

And other sports too, of course. The Yankees were the first, back in the Reggie Jackson days, and are still the worst. I friggin hate them, and not just because my old Brooklyn Dodgers were the antithesis of all this, until Robert Moses zoned the team out of its (mass transit) urban neighborhood, to fit his master automotive blueprint, and Walter O'Malley moved to greener (also prime automotive) pastures. Probably soccer also: Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid. Money rules (and ruins) everything.

I should find another way to waste time--crossword puzzles, tetris, making lanyards--something less supportive of all this crap.

And here's something pretty close to what I just wrote above:

http://www.salon.com/news/lebron_james/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/07/09...

Money is a solvent. It dissolves all the good out of something leaving only the bad behind. Nothing reminds me more of how little faith we should place in money than to see a free agent who has just copped a guaranteed fifty mil or so, go belly up. I hate to see it in my teams, but all-in-all it makes the heart race a little faster, beat a little truer, and revel in the fact that the future is still unknowable no matter how much we pay to assure it for ourselves. When bazillionaires fail through indulging their avarice, I am once again reminded that indeed, God is in His Heaven, and occasionally justice, against all odds, happens.

Red Holzman, Dolph Schayes, Red Auerbach ... the NBA is down to one Jewish player, so far as I know: Jordan Farmar, who just signed a free agent deal with my poor team, the New Jersey Nets.

Man tied to Shakespeare's stolen First Folio convicted

The flashy, champagne-loving, Ferrari-driving British book-fancier who walked into the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill two years ago with what turned out to be a stolen volume of William Shakespeare's rare and valuable First Folio collection of plays was cleared of theft but convicted of other charges Friday in a British courtroom.

Raymond Scott, 53, who had been given to arriving at Newcastle Crown Court this past month in a limousine or a horse-drawn carriage, was taken into custody. He will receive a psychiatric evaluation, and then, "There will, in due time, be an inevitable substantial custodial sentence," said Judge Richard Lowden, according to The Associated Press reported.

It goes on. Worth reading.

"Red Holzman, Dolph Schayes Red Auerbach -- the NBA is down to one Jewish player." (300)

I saw some of the NBAʻs first year (1946-47) games. They were a six- or seven-team league; the regular season best record of that year, was by Auerbachʻs Washington Capitols. The Boston Celtics finished 5th or 6th and so were eliminated from the playoffs. (Like the hockey pros of that era, they played a whole season to eliminate 2 (or was it 3?) teams. But Bostonʻs hockey Bruins always got sellouts, regardless of their place in the standings, at the Boston Garden, and the Celtics never did. The Celtics didnʻt even play all their games at the Garden, playing some of them at the smaller Boston Arena).

I remember a late season game, heard on radio, where the Celtics upset the Capitols by about 20 points, a huge margin in those days, but the game was meaningless in the standings.

Red Holzman is just a name to me. I remember Dolph Schayes as one of the outstanding players of the 1950s, and
Red Auerbach though not, of course. as a player.

You've been around even longer than I, Roland. My first awareness of professional basketball was in the era of Paul Arizin, Neil Johnston, George Mikan, Slater Martin, Bob Petit ... The teams in the league then:

Boston Celtics
Fort Wayne Pistons (now in Detroit)
Minneapolis Lakers (now in L.A.)
New York Knickerbockers
Philadelphia Warriors (now in the Bay area)
Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings)
St. Louis Hawks (now in Atlanta)
Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers)

Yes, the Fort wayne Pistonsʻ original name was the
Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons. Oddly, the nickname Pistons became MORE appropriate when they moved the franchise, instead of being like the very inappropriate "Jazz" of Utah, inherited from the New Orleans Jazz and the inappropiate "Lakers" (Minneapolis > Los Angeles).

One that changed its name, upon moving, was the Syracuse Nationals > Philadelphia 76-ers.

Charter teams in the 1946-47 season were Celtics, Knicks,
Capitols, Hawks, Chicago Stags (not the same franchis, i believe, as the Bulls) and the Toronto team (not the present, Raptors,franchise) whose name I donʻt remember.
Maybe the Phila. Warriors, too; Iʻm not sure if it was a 6- or 7- team league. I saw the Warriors years before they moved to Golden State, but also before they had Wilt Chamberlain.

One that I would have thought was of the era of the teams that you mention in 303: Baltimore Bullets
(> Washington Bullets, who continued to play some home games in Baltimore, > Washington Wizards.

I think the Baltimore team went out of business, then it was the eight-team league I cited, and years later the (new) Bullets were an expansion team. Those Warriors you recall had the league scoring leader in Paul Arizin (one of the first great jump shooters) and another all-star in Neil Johnston.

Yes, the Syracuse Nats, with Dolph Schayes, Larry Costello, and Johhny Kerr, among others--became the 76ers when the Warriors (with Wilt on the team then, I believe) moved to San Francisco. And no, the Bulls came into existence much later.

The other upstate New York team was the most traveled of all: the Rochester Royals became the Cincinnati Royals (with Oscar Robertson) became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings and then (finally, for the moment) the Sacramento Kings.

To copyedit (305)

Thanks, I didnʻt know that there was a gap between the 2
Baltimore Bullets teams. I donʻt remember the Kansas City--Omaha Kings at all.

I think I once saw the Syracuse Nationals in the 1st game of a Boston Garden "doubleheader" -- in which the 2 opponents were both visiting teams. I wondered if it was worth it for them to pass up a home game for one or the other of them and be a preliminary to Celtics game. The Celticsʻ game with the scheduled visiting team followed that game.

I did see Paul Arizin with the (then Philadelphia) warriors.

I think it was for the Rocheester Royals that Hawaiʻiʻs most famous pro basketball player played: Red Rocha who died recently.
Strange that Cincinnati couldnʻt sustain an NBA team.

Big day in the Pyrenees today, mes amis. Andy Schleck (of Luxembourg), the maillot jaune (yellow jersey) leader of the Tour de France, pedaling up a twenty-mile, eight-degree incline with the other major contenders, made a move when his bike chain disengaged from its wheel (the derailleur) and had to stop to fix it. His opponents continued to climb, and sped away. At the end of the race Schleck had lost his 11 second lead to Alberto Contador, who is now 8 seconds ahead. Two more days in the Pyrenees await, including the dread Tourmalet on Thursday. Schleck has vowed to avenge himself.

So this weekend we finally get our first sniff of football with Sunday's pre-preseason exhibition meeting of the Cowboys and the Bengals and tonight's Hall of Fame Induction of one of the best classes in the Hall's history:

Emmitt Smith, running back
Jerry Rice, wide receiver
John Randle, defensive tackle
Floyd Little, running back
Dick LeBeau, current defensive coordinator
Rickey Jackson, linebacker
Russ Grimm, guard

The 2010 Saints magic continues to rub off as Jackson will be first Hall memeber to be inducted primarily for his contributions as a Saint. To celebrate, here is a 2 year old Saints fan who knows every NFL team.

Dick LeBeau was a def. back for the Lions when I was a kid. LeBeau, Lary, Lane, and I forget the 4th one.

Jane, your link is sending me back here instead of the 2 year old Saints fan.

311 - fixed

omg, Jane... he is too tweet! ;-)

World Baskteball Championship
in Turkey

Group A

Argentina 2-0
Serbia 1-1
Australia 1-1
Germany 1-1
Angola 1-1
Jordan 0-2

Group B

U.S. 2-0
Brazil 2-0
Slovenia 1-1
Croatia 1-1
Iran 0-2
Tunisia 0-2

Group C

Turkey 2-0
Greece 2-0
China 1-1
Russia 1-1
Puerto Rico 0-2
Cote d'Ivoire 0-2

Group D

France 2-0
Lithuania 2-0
Spain 1-1
Lebanon 1-1
Canada 0-2
New Zealand 0-2

Do you remember, Piero, back in '92, when the first Dream Team played Angola in the first round, and an absurdly over-matched player on the Angolan team, defending Charles Barkley, was quoted post game saying: "I was shocked that he tried to make violence with me!"

No. I wasn't following it then, though a month or two later I did what they call an "instant book" for some publisher, which means I had to do the whole job in three days, and make (what for me is) big bucks. I like it, though. Next redneck I come across, I'll tell him: "Don't try to make violence with me!"

Finally, finally getting down to football season. NFL is scooting through the preseason. It's game week in college football. What a wonderful feeling.

I was listening to the two sports talk AM stations this morning and all I heard was Jets, Giants, Jets, Giants. You'd think there were only two teams in the NFL. And they say New York is not a provincial place.

College ball kicked off last night with a bunch of worthless thrashings and one good game that ESPN chose not to air. Full slate of games tomorrow including the primetime kickoff matchup of my lovely LSU Tigers and the cheaters (maybe) of UNC. Then Thursday is the big gumbo party for the Saints kickoff...presumably not as big as the Superbowl party which featured 20+ people in my 400sf apartment. Bring on the fall!

Tigers vs. Cheetahs: an intriguing match-up.

GAMEDAY! Get Crunk!

I know that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel but after 40 years this still makes the Nabokovian hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TVcKYpZrj0

>322 Porius:. Roll over, Beethoven.

>323 absurdeist:. You get more bizarre all the time, Brent.

So I wanted to one-up you with pregame, but LSU's band faces different directions and the fans are too loud so the audio doesn't come through very well. Here's the best I could find. So instead I will one up you with Indiana Jones and Golden Girls.

Golden Girls Schmolden Girls I'd rather be at a pre-game warm-up with Pistol Pete and his Bayou Tigers than either .
sui-generis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8qUZILi8IM&feature=related

Does anybody here --Jane?-- play Fantasy Football? I used to, till I got kicked out of a league for assuming the identity (logo and everything) of another member and then posting outrageous messages as if I were that member. Good times! I had Peyton Manning that year.

And Piero, you may think I'm kidding, but I receive your observation of post 324 with great pride and relish! Gracias, mi amigo!.

As I knew you would, Henri. I always did say you were a good sport, dint I? And now you casually reveal that you've been a sock puppet fantasy footballer? Words escape me.

327 - No, I don't play. I have intended to for a while, but never got it together before the season started.

LSU had not the best outing last week, but still a win. This Saturday at Vanderbilt.

Tonight, however, is the big NFL season opener between the Saints and the Vikings. Cooking a big gumbo tonight to start things off right.

Saints on tonight. Everybody go root for 'em.

Who dat?! My heart belongs to your Saints, Jane!

Nothing like Autzen's decibels to shake up our opponents!

My Duckies are stompin' the crap outta your teddy bears, Mr Freeque! ;p

46 to 6 1:41 left in the 3rd Quarter! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Even our 2nd string Duckies are beatin' on them thar bears! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I root for USC in football, and UCLA in basketball.

Nice try, Tani!

Damn... ;p ♥

ETA: k, then we'll meet on Oct 30th 5pm pdt.

Tani, I watched about half of that blowout. Oregon's looking good. We are planning on going down to Dallas for the Oregon-LSU matchup next year! Big, BIG game for LSU today. I'm so nervous I keep finding things to distract myself with - cooking, cleaning, curling my hair. I don't know if I'm going to make it, but hopefully I'll be dancing in the street (a la my new profile pic) around 7pm tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdvITn5cAVc
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1dhrFDva6E&feature=related

Go RANGERS!!!!!!!!!!

OOOOOO! Would I love to be at that game next year, with you, Jane! Though I would be in yellow or green.

Take a deep breath, dear... in through the nose, out through the mouth. There... Doesn't that feel better?

Yes, go Texas. Beat those damn Yankees! Or, have they already? Who are they playing momentarily or presently?

I learned at about 9 PM (HST) (3 AM EDT) that the Rangers had won
by 8 - 1, and were in the WS for the first time in their almost 4 decades
Dallas--Fort Worth tenure. (Nor were their predecessors in the franchise
ever in the WS; they were the Washington Senators II --not the original
Washington Senators.
I guess the first Ranger manager must have been
the great Ted Williams who accompanied them from Washington when they moved. He retired from managing after 1 year as a Ranger. He never was close to winning a pennant, but he was named A L Manager of the Year with the Senators, on the strength of finishing 4th in the 10-team (?) A L of that time!
I don't remember any subsequent Ranger managers, except perhaps Billy Martin who had his days of glory as a Yankee -- before being made into
a managerial rubber ball by the late George Steinbrenner

Eh, well...my Tigers lost. Hopefull the Saints will beat the Browns today and make me feel better.

World Series will be the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants.

What a pleasure to watch my once woeful team actually in a game in the fourth quarter and pull it out after being down by seven points with a minute and a half left. From 0-18 at the start of last season to 1-0 now.

Which team?

The New Joizey Nets, who will be the Brooklyn Something-or-others in two or so years, when they move from Newark.

Ah, yes... I remember now.

Aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh!

The man still don't like basketball, apparently.

NBA is pretty slimy.

Bah, humbug all around. Still, I did enjoy the game last night.

The Lakers will win their third consecutive title this season; and Phil Jackson, the NBAs greatest coach of all time, his 12th title. BOHICA, rest of the NBA.

Bah, humbug. BH to you, Henri.

BTW... Two days, Trojan boy... My #1 PAC-10/#2 BSC Duckies @ your house. Be there!

Fight on! You rubber duckies.

;p OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

LSU on the bye week this week which is good for both my heart and my chores. Tomorrow night we get the Saints and Steelers and lots of Halloween costumes in the stands.

I'm sort of secretly rooting for the Celtics because I love seeing two of the great LSU players together. Also not so secretly rooting for the Giants because of their former Tigers as well (one of which is the beard dude).

And where do salon football fans stand on Oregon vs. USC? Tani vs. Henri?

Oregon all the way (sorry dear leader). USC is playing the #2 team in the country, biggest game of the year, and they can't sell out their stadium. That's shameful.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Huh. I don't see a Cali team on the BCS... jes sayin'

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Just started to watch The Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear. I've just seen Cat Stevens duel with Ozzie Osborne over train songs, which dissolved into the O'Jays' Love Train. Looks like a huge crowd.

I'm gonna put my laptop down for now.

Oh yeah, Jane! You listen here and you listen good! That stadium can hold almost 125,000 Southern Californians who got better things to do with their day than watch young men grab at each other (you know what goes on inside those pile ups? -- they're grabbin' more than just footballs, I tell yeah, anything in their desperation to extract that laced piece of pigskin from the hands of their opponent); like enjoy a day of surfing in 80 degree weather. BOO-YA to ya, you anti-SCers ON THE VERGE OF PULLING A PHENOMENAL UPSET, YES, and if they don't, then, we'll just root for the World Champion, Two-Time Defending Los Angeles Lakers.

Ya'll really want to start a SMACK WAR! I'm SOOOOOO In.

Hmmmm, seems like a lot of blustering goin' on down there in SoCal, Mr. Freeque. I'll see your Trojans Beg, Beg I tell you, for my Duckies to slow down. And if they aren't beggin' they'll be faking injuries to slow us down. Meh, to you sir!

Ahem, and I still don't see a bear or a trojan on that ol' BCS list... and exactly where are they on the PAC-10 list? Why they are both below my Duckies and Beav's. ;p

I gotta say, since I don't have a dog in this fight, that I'd rather see a duckie win than a trojan. I mean, how can you root against a duckie?

Especially this duck.

366 - I kid with you Enrique. It would actually be better for my Tigers if USC won, but I like Oregon for some reason.

And he's going to be so Buff with all the push-ups he will be doing for every point we get!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The ducky and the beaver were on a tear
Someone said the Trojan broke went up in smoke
Something about grappling piles trying to stroke
The balls from the grasp of the golden bear
Hear! Hear! Oh dear! Oh Dear!
The waves to steep for me I fear
Glub, Glub, Glub, Glub!

Nothing like a little rivalry to stoke the fires of creativity... Bravo, Gene, bravo!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Then again, I do love those duckies as confit.

Thank you, tani. I try.

Quoi? Pas canard à l'Orange pour nos pseudo français/auteur italien?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Non. Je prefere canard confit, mio caro.

Oh I know you kid, Jane. I just act like I'm all vehement.

I kid
as you did
As do I
on the fly (see story thread)
until the day I die

I'm not that passionate about college football, especially now since SC is NCAA sanctioned and these games, no matter what the players and coaches state, can possibly carry the same weight and passion for them as during their pre-suspension era. I love the hate they take. The hate makes me happy.

Sons bon pour moi! Pas vraiment à manger duckies.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Forgive my ignorance, Trojan boy, does that have to do with bribing would be athletes?

Shit! I was kidding... I did not realize. My apologies, Trojan boy.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

T-minus 19 minutes and counting til will start kicking your Trojan butts!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Got Sloppy Joes on the stove, jes a simmerin' away and I am READY!!!!!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

GAME ON, Trojan Boy!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Smack down on the first Trojan drive! oops okay, you got 3. ;p

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 8-3 ;p

10-8 Trojans 1st qtr.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

will be back at 1/2 time... my dad keeps fricken pausing the damn tv.

28 second drive takes us to OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 29-17 Oregon at the half.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Oregon 53-32 SMACKDOWN USC Trojans!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

My Duckies are UNDEFEATED!

Take that BCS!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Bring on the dogs!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Now that we've got that out of the way, anyone mind if I begin another sports thread? This one's getting kinda sluggish to load.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO for it, Wilson! ;-)

(And she wonders why her throat hurts.)

New thread. More of the same, only different:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/101530