It was Opening Night in Oklahoma City as the hometown Thunder took to the NBA hardwoods for the first time. The Commish was there along with a full house in the Ford Center. There was a huge celebration. And then they went out and got rolled by the lowly Milwaukee Bucks.
John Rhode of the Oklahoman observed, "This season could be longer than originally thought, Thunder fans. Given what transpired Wednesday night at the Ford Center, patience not only will be a virtue with the Thunder, it will be a minimum requirement.
The Thunder got rolled by the Milwaukee Bucks 98-87 on opening night inside the Ford Center.
The home team trailed by double-digits for the final 29 minutes and trailed by as many as 24 at one point.
Granted, it's only one game, but is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Keep in mind, people, the Bucks aren't very good.
Much like the Thunder, no one is picking Milwaukee to play more than 82 games this season.
The Bucks wore green, but they hardly resemble the world champion Celtics, who next Wednesday will make their only visit here.
“We didn’t play like we were capable of playing, and that's a shame,” Thunder coach P.J. Carlesimo said afterward.
The Thunder struggled from the very beginning. The effort in the first half was questionable.
All summer long, we've been selling this team as a group that might not win, but it will at least play hard.
The Thunder did neither, and that's unacceptable, even to a bunch of forgiving, impressionable newcomers like us.
As for the Bucks, it appears that new coach Scott Skiles' patience with Charlie Villanueva lasted all of two games. Already, Charlie V is in the doghouse for his intermittant style of defense.
The Phillies finally won that World Series that wouldn't end last night and I'm truly happy for Geoff Jenkins, one of the good guys in the game. The former Milwaukee Brewer was always decent and available to the press. Even though, he didn't play that much, he was a major part of the deciding game.
Many, including ESPN's Mike and Mike In The Morning (yes, THEM again), noted that Ryan Howard became part of an illustrious crew: among the few to win a championship while HR and RBI leader of the season. Babe Ruth was the first and Roger Maris was the most recent before Howard.
But then, some dummy listed Henry Aaron -- which is true, but they listed it as:
Hank Aaron - ATL - 1957
No. no, no, no, no, NO! The MILWAUKEE BRAVES won in 1957.
Yeah well, this same dummy will reply, they're in Atlanta now, so?
SO?!
You don't say the Baltimore Ravens won the 1964 NFL title. You don't say (or at least, you shouldn't say) that the Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA title in 1979?
Get it right, sheesh...
While we're talking on-air blunders , former Minnesota football coach Glen Mason claimed on the Big Ten Network that -- in his mind -- Michigan State is probably the 3rd best team in the league as "they've beaten Notre Dame and Michigan and Wisconsin..."
Uh, coach? Psst...the Spartans play the Badgers THIS SATURDAY!! Maybe, that attention to detail is why you're a former coach on the moribund Big Ten network, eh?
Finally, tomorrow is Halloween, which here in Madison means that we locals get to exclaim, "AARRRGGGH, what are you doing to my lawn???!!!"
October 31 in Madison means that thousands of drunken college kids ( I know what you're thinking now, there are other kinds?) decend on the city to get arrested as fast as possible. Think, a white trash, colder version of Mardi Gras, with none of the good food.
One year, Sponge Bob -- or some drunk kid -- got busted across from my porch. I saw this as I sat there -- after having 10 or 12 beer bottles thrown at my house. After the 12th, I took my lawn chair and a baseball bat, sat there and just kept saying, "just keep moving, kids."
Anyway, I don't live downtown anymore and October 31 is one of the major reasons why. Still, if you're in town for the festivities, DON'T think you WON'T get arrested.
The nexus of today's column centers on the city of Seattle. Jack Zduriencik, the man who rebuilt the Milwaukee Brewers' franchise, will be introduced this morning as the Seattle Mariners' new General Manager. The teeth-gnashing in Milwaukee is only just beginning.
In what may be a bumpy off-season for the Brew Crew, Zduriencik could be the team's biggest loss. The man who drafted the likes of Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy and Rickie Weeks is leaving the team. As the Associated Press reports, Milwaukee Brewers’ general manager Doug Melvin has two big vacancies to fill.
He says he’ll choose a field manager before deciding who will run the team’s scouting operation.
Yesterday, scouting director Jack Zduriencik was named the general manager in Seattle. Melvin says he’s not ready to talk about candidates for the scouting post. The Brewers’ Web site says assisting scouting director Tony Blengino may be considered, along with long-time assistant Tom Flanagan. Flanagan is the director of administration for player development and scouting. Four regional scouting cross-checkers could also be in line to replace Zduriencik. They include Jeff Cornell and Bruce Seid.
Today, Melvin is scheduled to interview his third candidate for the managing vacancy, former Arizona manager Bob Brenly. Melvin says he has already interviewed ex-Mets’ skipper Willie Randolph and former Oakland manager Ken Macha. He expects to make a decision on the managing post sometime next week.
Revamping the Mariners will be a challenge, but it's nothing compared to the mess that was the Brewers, where the financial resources are nowhere close to what Mariners ownership has committed.
The Brewers farm system was ranked 30th by Baseball America in 2000 and 2001 but, by 2004, had risen to No. 1. The Brewers ended a 12-year losing streak in 2005, then, this season, made their first postseason appearance since 1982.
A year ago, Zduriencik was bypassed for the GM job in his native Pittsburgh but became the first nongeneral manager to be voted Executive of the Year by Baseball America.
Now Zduriencik will get his chance in Seattle, where those who have worked with him are convinced he will be a success.
"I'm confident in Jack Zduriencik," then-Brewers manager Ned Yost said when asked about the 2007 first-round selection of Matt LaPorta. "If Jack drafted Pee-wee Herman, I'd be feeling pretty good about it."
Funny that you should mention Yost, as the Seattle Times suggests that the recently deposed Milwaukee manager is Zduriencik's first choice for the next Mariners' skipper.
It was six years ago that the Milwaukee Brewers hired Ned Yost to manage a team that had lost 106 games. The guy in charge of drafting and player development for Milwaukee was none other than Zduriencik, and the fruits of his picks were about to be reaped by Yost at the major-league level.
Within three seasons, the Brewers were playing .500 ball. Yost then had them contending for the playoffs last year and again this season before being fired in mid-September with his team in a dreadful slump. The dismissal, an act of apparent desperation by team owner Mark Attanasio, came against the wishes of GM Doug Melvin and his staff.
And now, on the lookout for his next job, Yost would like nothing more than to team up again with old pal Zduriencik in Seattle.
"Definitely, most definitely," Yost said in an interview on Thursday. "The opportunity to work with Jack again is really, really appealing."
This column has already expressed the belief that Brenly is a no-brainer for the field manager's job. Macha was Melvin's first choice when he hired Yost, but it would take too long for the former Oakland A's skipper to get up to speed.
Willie Randolph may be a sentimental pick as he did finish his playing days in Milwaukee, but -- even though I like the man -- I don't feel he's the right man for the job at this time.
The reason I (along with many Brewer followers) are pushing so hard for Brenly is that he's spent the last four years working for their closest rival, the Chicago Cubs. Yes, he was in the broadcast booth, but if there's anyone around who knows how to beat the Cubbies, it's Brenly. And oh by the way, Brenly has something that neither Macha nor Randolph has -- a World Series ring as manager.
The Chicago Tribune is already sensing what could become of the budding Milwaukee-Chicago rivalry under a Brenly administration.
The idea of Brenly managing in the Central Division against good friends Lou Piniella and Dusty Baker, two men he has studied closely over the last four years in the Cubs' booth, is only part of the package of intrigue. The juicy stuff will come at Miller Park and Wrigley Field whenever Alfonso Soriano steps into the box.
Brenly vs. Soriano was just a footnote in a wild Cubs season, but it was one of the more interesting developments of the early going. In May, after Soriano dropped a fly ball to lose a game in Pittsburgh with two outs in the ninth inning, Brenly argued Soriano wasn't a true "superstar." He went on to add the memorable line that you could "throw a dart" in the dugout and hit someone who's a better fielder than the Cubs' $136 million outfielder.
There are two more sports stories of note in the Great Northwest. The NBA season opens up shop next week and for the first time since 1967, it does so without a team in Seattle. The former Super Sonics were allowed to move and become the Oklahoma City Thunder. Still, as was the case with the NFL's Cleveland Browns, the team agreed to release the SuperSonics' name, logo, and colors to a possible future NBA club in Seattle, but retained rights to its franchise history.
As Art Theil and Gary Washburn of seattlepi.com report in today's edition, a new plan to divert a portion of hotel-tax money from the state convention center to a remodel of KeyArena could help Seattle begin pursuing a replacement NBA team as soon as 2010.NBA Commissioner David Stern said Thursday "positive" talks have gone on between the league and a potential ownership group headed by Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, who led an ill-fated plan to save the Sonics earlier this year.
Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis confirmed the talks, and said he was optimistic that this time around the city's request for state authorization will meet little resistance when the Legislature convenes in January.
"It should be noncontroversial, because it's a city-only tax that already exists and will not be an increase," Ceis said of the latest attempt to find a long-sought public portion of a proposed $300 million renovation for a building currently deemed financially obsolete by the National Basketball Association.
"If we can get our funding package together this session, we can start to work with the Ballmer group on identifying a team for Seattle, but probably not until 2010."
TNT's Marv Albert made more than 30 years of trips to Seattle to call basketball games, and his disappointment was apparent.
"I would think the NBA is looking eventually to put a team back in Seattle," he said. "It's too good a city and the history of the NBA in Seattle is too strong for it not to be viable in the short time. I bet on it, that they will have a franchise."
Arguably a bigger story in town is the predicted demise of UW football coach Ty Willingham. He was came to Seattle after being dumped by Notre Dame and – wouldn’t you know it – the Fighting Irish come to town this weekend. Also from seattlepi.com, "before Willingham arrived in South Bend in 2002, the Irish had four .500 or worse seasons in the previous 20 years.
Willingham's three-year record was 21-16. After his 10-3 debut season, his teams put together records of 5-7 and 6-6 and never won a bowl game.
What was astounding, though, was how Notre Dame lost.
In 2004, the Irish lost to USC by 31 points, to Purdue by 25 points. The year before, they lost to Florida State, USC and Michigan by margins of 37, 31 and 38 points, respectively.
These losses really got people talking.
"All the stuff that people liked about him changed," Hansen said. "His being quiet and stuff? The first year it was, 'He's introspective.' Then it turned into, 'He's guarded.'
"Then they had these thunderous losses, and Tyrone didn't have an explanation."
Whatever went wrong for Willingham in South Bend seems to have manifested itself at Washington. The UW likely will give the coach a pink slip at season's end.
After three-plus seasons, Huskies fans have joined in the chatter, voicing their displeasure as much with the product the coach has put on the field as with his stoic demeanor and puzzling explanations.
With an 11-31 record and just two home wins against BCS opponents, Willingham may feel the world stacking against him yet again."
The other U-Dub, Wisconsin, celebrates -- if that's the right word -- Homecoming tomorrow with an 11am kickoff versus the Cheating (sorry) Fighting Ilini. Somehow, news of the Badgers' dismal losing streak must not have gotten to Las Vegas, as the oddsmakers have Illinois as a mere 2 1/2 point favorite.
Two and a half?! I'd put the over/under for people getting Tazered at 2 1/2.
In the Big Ten football game that matters, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Doug Lesmerises has the following assessment:
* If Ohio State wins: The Buckeyes would gain the inside track for the Big Ten title with only three games remaining against Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan. Ohio State might climb to No. 6 in the BCS standings on Sunday, but the Buckeyes would need a lot of help, including multiple Texas losses and a USC upset loss, to get back in the national title race. So the Big Ten champ would almost certainly wind up in its expected home, at the Rose Bowl. Even if Ohio State loses once after beating Penn State, the Buckeyes would still head to the Rose Bowl as the conference champ because of the head-to-head win over Penn State.
* If Penn State wins: The Nittany Lions would remain undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the country with games remaining at Iowa and at home with Indiana and Michigan State. Texas and Alabama would stay ahead of the Nittany Lions in the BCS standings - unless Alabama plays another close one and Penn State is particularly impressive. Then Penn State could leap to No. 2. But it's hard to imagine both Texas and Alabama finishing without a loss - there are too many hurdles remaining. When one of those team loses, I don't see another one-loss team jumping undefeated Penn State. So the path is pretty clear to Miami for the Nittany Lions with a win Saturday. And that would leave the Rose Bowl without the Big Ten champ and looking to pick a replacement. A 10-2 team that could very well be back in the top 10 by the end of the year with a rabid fanbase that hasn't made the trip to Pasadena in 12 years - that would be a pretty good replacement choice for the folks in Pasadena. If the Rose Bowl chose Illinois last year to replace Ohio State, when there were higher ranked teams out there, then Ohio State would definitely be chosen to replace Penn State. After Ohio State lost to USC, I made hotel reservations for the Capital One Bowl, but it doesn't look like that will be necessary. The easiest way for Ohio State to fall short of Pasadena is for Penn State to win on Saturday and then lose to Michigan State, falling out of the national title picture and then heading to the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten champ.
He also suggests that, one way or another, Buckeye fans start making reservations for Pasadena now.
Finally, this column has received letters that we include too much politics while others have saluted its pulse on the body politic. I'd argue that this election is rather important, doncha think?
In 11 days, it'll be the beginning or the end of the world, depending on how you view these things. Unfortunately, it will not be the end of us having to suffer through Sarah Palin's face on our television screens. As John Kerry might put it, oh that it were so.
Many have suggested that the erstwhile hockey mom has been auditioning for some future job and that scenario was confirmed as the Hollywood Reporter gives us this ghastly news.
As campaign managers for Sarah Palin plot last-minute tactics to get her elected, Hollywood bigwigs are convening strategy sessions of their own. Their goal: finding the ideal on-air vehicle for the vp candidate if and when she exits politics.
Love her or hate her -- there doesn't seem to be much middle ground with Palin -- the 44-year-old hockey mom has captured the public imagination in a way no politician has since, well, Barack Obama.
But as more and more polls cast doubt on the McCain-Palin ticket, producers and agents across the entertainment world are discussing possibilities for capitalizing on her fame, ranging from an Oprah-style syndicated talk show to a Sean Hannity-like perch in cable news or on radio.
"Any television person who sees the numbers when she appears on anything would say Sarah Palin would be great," said veteran morning-show producer Steve Friedman, citing the double-digit ratings gains her appearances on "Saturday Night Live" and "CBS Evening News" generated. "The passion she has on each side, love and hate, makes television people say, 'Wow, imagine the viewership.' "
Although none of the execs has -- at least as far as anyone is admitting -- made direct overtures to the Alaska governor, they are readying their battle plans if she decides to give up her day job.
Of course, even if the McCain-Palin ticket loses, the Tina Fey look-alike still has a job in politics for at least another two years as governor of Alaska. A spokesman for Palin did not return calls for comment.
But the candidate has undeniable onscreen charisma as her "SNL" performance proved last weekend. And though the Palin Express sometimes veers off the tracks -- as it did in her notorious interview with Katie Couric -- Americans enjoy celebrities as much for their contretemps as their talent.
Most industry insiders believe a talk show is the probable route for Palin. Although daytime syndication can be tough sledding, it would take a personality of her stature to break through the clutter, and her folksy red-state persona could be just the thing to connect with this female-skewing audience.
One producer/packager said he has held internal staff meetings about how to best parlay Palin's appeal and skills, with a daytime talk show the likely vehicle. "I see her less as a variety-show host like Ellen (DeGeneres) and more of a single-topic host like Tyra (Banks), or maybe what Jenny Jones used to be," said Chris Coelen, CEO of RDF USA.
However, one syndie veteran who wished to remain anonymous believes Palin would not make an ideal candidate for talk show host or even court show judge.
"I would not put her on the air," the exec said. "I find her a little stiff, and her ability to read the room is not quite fully developed."
Cable news is another possibility, particularly Fox News Channel, if Palin wants to keep her conservative bona fides intact. There's a well-worn path between the Beltway and TV, from Pat Buchanan to as recent an example as former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, who just began his own weekly series on Fox News.
So, we can either look forward (NOT!) to the vapid Palin hosting on Fox Noise or becoming the next Tyra.
The thing is, the best political commentary on the joke that is her VP selection has come from Saturday Night Live. While the rest of the press has treated her with kid gloves, the Baltimore Sun gives the show its much deserved credit for going where the conventional media has feared to go.
Watching the Thursday night installment of Saturday Night Live, I was reminded yet again what a profound service political satire serves in this democracy. Again, if the Peabody Awards folks want to retain any sense of relevancy as a reward for socially-conscious programming, SNL has got to be honored first and foremost.
Given the general sense of insecurity and even confusion as to the role of the press in this era of vast economic and technological change, I don't think there are any journalistic voices that could comfortably say what SNL said Thursday night about the performance of outgoing President George W. Bush and the increasingly obvious ambition and recklessness on Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. And yet, I am sure SNL's actions and words spoke to what millions of Americans are feeling (as the record ratings for SNL's overall skewering of the candidates and current administration has shown this year).
The concept of the opening sketch Thursday with Bush endorsing the McCain-Palin ticket was inspired. It cut straight to the embarrassment the president's own party has for his performance and the troubled state in which he leaves this country. Will Ferrell returned to play Bush, with Tina Fey (I had to stop myself from using the words "the brilliant" in front of her name) as Palin.
Here's a bit of it...
WILL FERRELL AS BUSH: "Hello, my fellow Americans. I have chosen to schedule this impromptu address at night because quite frankly every time I speak during the day, the Stock Market goes in the ####. So, sorry, Asian markets. You take the hit on this one. I come to you tonight in the midst of a very important election between two very qualified candidates: the hot lady and the Tiger Woods guy. Both candidates are heavily patriotized and display much characterization. And yes, I did have three Xanax and a Silver Bullet about a half-hour ago. I'm out of here in a few months, so screw it. But before I leave I wanted to help Sarah Palin and John McCain by giving them what every candidate wants most: a prime-time heavily publicized network endorsement from George W. Bush. Hey, don't pinch yourself John, you are awake!"
FERRELL AS BUSH (continues) -- "Now I tried to do this several months ago but somehow it kept getting pushed to a written press release or a shouted sentence as I walked to the helicopter. I began to suspect that they didn't want my endorsement to be too public. But now with the country on a big upswing and my numbers on the rise, I thought it was time to give a proper, large scale 'much love' to McCain and Palin..."
(WILL FORTE, playing an AIDE to the president, enters and whispers in BUSH's ear)
FERRELL AS BUSH (continues) – "What? Really? Why didn't you tell me Jeff? I've just been told by my trusted aide Jeff, that the country is actually in a horrible downward spiral and that my approval numbers are lower than ever. That one's on me. Four months ago, I declared the Oval Office a bummer-free zone. So... You know what, let's bring on Senator McCain and Governor Palin."
(TINA FEY as SARAH PALIN enters smiling and waving and sits next to BUSH on the front the desk)
TINA FEY AS PALIN – "So nice to meet you, Mr. President. I've seen you on TV."
FERRELL AS BUSH – "Where's McRage?"
FEY AS PALIN – "You know, John McCain and I have been so busy travelin' around this great country of ours talkin' about change and energy independence and William Ayers, and doin' a little shoppin', but unfortunately Senator McCain, upon hearing you wanted to give him a super public endorsement, cannot be found. He was last seen travelin' on foot through the Adirondacks. But my husband and two of his drinkin' buddies are in pursuit on snowmachines.
FERRELL AS BUSH – "Well, We'll smoke him out. George Bush always finds his man save for one huge exception."
FEY AS PALIN – "We are gonna get 'er done."
FERRELL AS BUSH – "My God you are folksy."
FEY AS PALIN – "Why thank you Mr. President. I like to think I'm one part practiced folksy , one part sassy and a little dash of high school ####y."
FERRELL AS BUSH – "For a little while I was trying to be folksy but after a bit, it just came off douchey. All right, let me get into my endorsement for you as Vice President. As you know America, the office of Vice President is the most important office in the land. The Vice President decides when we go to war, how we tax the citizens and how we interpret the Constitution. The President can do nothing without checking with the Vice President. That is why Sarah Palin..."
FEY AS PALIN – "Actually, Mr. President, I don't want to go all Katie Couric on you, but I think it's actually the other way around. I think the Vice President reports to the President."
FERRELL AS BUSH – "Really? That's not what #### Cheney told me when he sat me down on the first day."
The press could do better. NBC anchorman Brian Williams had a chance to ask Palin about her "little shoppin'" spree, but chose not to. But here is a group of comedy writers and performers not only riffing on it, but putting it in the context of her look-at-me/look-at-me personality. (She did all but elbow her running mate, John McCain out of the camera shot during the interview with Williams to the point where I was watching a political remake of A Star is Born.)
And SNL nailed it all like no one -- not even the savviest, smartest and snarkiest political columnists -- has this week.
SNL's live primetime Weekend Update Thursday ended its run last night. I will miss it. But what a service to democracy it provided.
And you know what, John McCain? If you hadn't gotten smitten with Palin in the first place, you just might have won this thing. You put her on the ballot to excite the red-meat "kill him, he's an arab terrorist" crowd, but you instead sent any and all independent voters (and what's left of the moderate Republicans) in droves over to the Obama-Biden ticket.
And for what? The angry white males would have voted for you anyway -- I mean, where were they going to go?
So, you -- a 72 year old man who had already dumped your first wife for a young blonde rodeo queen -- lose your last chance at the White House because you looked across the room and exclaimed, "I want THAT girl!"
And you know what else, Senator McCain?
In retrospect, Marlo Thomas would have made a much better choice.
As you probably know by now, this election isn't about you or me, It's allllllll about Joe The Plumber and maybe all the other Joes out there.
Look, my friends, I'm having this Joe problem this morning. After John McCain said "Joe The Plumber" enough times during last night's debate, Barack Obama felt obligated to speak personally through the TV screen to Joe as well.
It got so bad -- 21 times for McCain and 4 more for Obama -- that I started hearing that dreadful Falco tune, Rock Me Amadeus in the back of my harried brain.
Joe the plumber, Joe the plumber
Joe the plumber
Joe the plumber, Joe the plumber
Joe the plumber
Joe the plumber, Joe the plumber
Joe, Joe, Joe the plumber
C'mon, everybody, you all know the words.
Look, in a way, I feel for poor Joe -- although, McCain did congratulate you for being rich last night. One day, you're asking a candidate, whatcha gonna do for me, and the next day, you're telling the Huffington Post how surreal it all is.
Still, all this Joe-centric coverage is making my head hurt. All of the morning talk shows including -- what else -- MSNBC's Morning Joe, had Joe on their minds. I was half expecting the Weather Channel is predict Joe flurries on the Eastern seaboard.
Joe the plumber, Joe the plumber
Joe the plumber
Joe the plumber, Joe the plumber
Joe the plumber
Joe the plumber, Joe the plumber
Joe, Joe, Joe the plumber
Now, I know all about Fat Joe, Trader Joe, GI Joe, Shoeless Joe, Joltin' Joe, Smokin' Joe, Joe Willie and Joe Louis...I'm even wondering if I saw Joe Hill last night.
The only Joe that matters in sports these days is Joe Pa, the venerable Penn State coach. Still, if you think Penn State is looking past hapless Michigan -- especially after the way the Nittany Lions spanked Wisconsin last Saturday -- my friends, you'd be wrong.
"Some people are waiting for the other shoe to fall, and it usually happens against Michigan," said Penn State fan and Pancakes lineman Ben Lerman, a junior biology student from Rochester, Minn. "We just can't beat them for some reason."
Penn State football historian Lou Prato, who has chronicled every Nittany Lions victory (three) and loss (10) against Michigan since their series began in 1993, offered this: "Curse of the Wolverines."
Michigan has won nine straight against the Nittany Lions, including the past four games at Beaver Stadium. Of the six games played at Penn State, the Nittany Lions have come out on top once -- on Nov. 18, 1995, when Penn State defeated U-M, 27-17.
The game was played three days after a snowstorm dumped 18 inches of snow in Happy Valley, nearly paralyzing the area.
"Cold, windy, freezing," Prato recalled. "They got volunteers and prisoners and paid people five bucks to clear the snow from the field."
Better conditions await Saturday: The forecast at kickoff calls for partly cloudy skies, with the temperature in the mid-to-upper 50s.
Despite Michigan's dominance, the games between the schools have been astonishingly close: Eight of 13 have been decided in the fourth quarter or overtime, and defined by one series or play.
Prato recalled the 1993 game, the year Penn State joined the Big Ten:
"The first time we played Michigan ever: It was down here, and people here remember how our fans started getting real loud in the first 5 minutes of the game, and the officials were going to penalize us. Back then, you couldn't holler; it was ridiculous. We needed to be quiet? We called that the Michigan Rule."
In that game, Penn State saw its 10-0 lead disintegrate as the Wolverines took a 14-10 advantage after Derrick Alexander returned a punt 48 yards for a touchdown. Late in the third quarter, and into the fourth, the Nittany Lions had first-and-goal at the Michigan 1 but failed to score on four rushing attempts. The Wolverines won, 21-13.
The past four games between the schools have been decided by 4.25 points on average. A particularly heartbreaking loss for Penn State occurred in 2005 in Ann Arbor.
The Nittany Lions led, 25-21, with less than a minute left when Steve Breaston returned a kickoff to the U-M 47. The Wolverines quickly moved the ball downfield, advancing to the Penn State 10. On fourth down, and with no time left on the clock, Mario Manningham scored on a 10-yard pass from Chad Henne for the 27-25 victory.
It was the Nittany Lions' first -- and only -- loss of the season. They went on to win their last four regular-season games, grab a share of the Big Ten title and defeated Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Their record: 11-1.
"Magic seasons can go up in a wisp of smoke," said Prato, 71, who was news director at Channel 4 in Detroit in the mid-1970s. "And our last two magic seasons went up in a wisp of smoke based on Michigan games. One or two plays can change the game.
I'm a fan of Rays, as a rule. I like Ray Romano and Ray Lewis and Ray Bradbury and Ray Nitschke and Rachael Ray. I once drove a Sting Ray and went to a fight to see Sugar Ray. I dug that "Ray" movie with Jamie Foxx.
As ballclubs go, though, the Rays represent everything a Cubs fan can't stand:
• A team that is 10 years old. Ron Santo owns hairpieces that are more than 10 years old. Wrigley Field has rats that are more than 10 years old.
• A team that in 2007 had an average attendance of 17,148 a night. Wrigley could draw 18,000 for a pie-eating contest.
• A team with a payroll below $48 million. My friends, the Cubs spent that much on a Japanese pinch-hitter.
• A team that has won 742 games. While the Cubs have won 10,082.
How many MVPs have the Rays had? None. Batting champs? None. Cy Young Award winners? None. No-hitters? None.
How many uniform numbers have the Rays retired? Two.
One belonged to Wade Boggs, who played there when he was 40 and 41 after playing for other teams from age 24.
The other is Jackie Robinson. A great man, but the most colorful memory of his time in Florida was not being permitted to use a restroom.
Not everybody loves the Cubs the way everybody loved Raymond, but almost nobody loves the Rays.
The improbable Dodgers were impossibly wobbly, impossibly clumsy, impossibly booed.
Exactly 20 years later, something else sailed out over the right-field fence to a chorus of shrieks and stares.
It was the Dodgers' season, knocked into next year by the Philadelphia Phillies, who did everything the Dodgers couldn't.
Like, you know, pitch and catch.
As the Phillies hugged and danced and partied long into the night, Ethier was one of the few Dodgers to return to the field and wave to the fans, but you can't blame the ones who didn't.
They were probably worried for their safety in front of a crowd that spent the long evening lashing out like jilted lovers.
Dodgers fans booed in a way they've rarely booed before, from the leadoff homer by the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins to the final stranded runner by Nomar Garciaparra.
They booed sadly horrible Chad Billingsley, who couldn't survive three innings for the second time in a week, couldn't consistently throw inside again, his two worst performances in his two biggest games, and who knows when he'll recover?
"I tried to do everything I could," he said softly.
They booed the painfully awful Rafael Furcal, who tried to play with a sore neck and paid for it with three errors in one inning that led to two runs that finished them.
"To have this happen on the last game of the year, that is tough," he said, also softly.
They booed the just plain lousy Blake DeWitt, who hit into two double plays and ended the series hitting .077 before he was replaced by Jeff Kent.
Who stranded three runners by striking out twice.
It was like that.
In fact, the only Dodger who didn't get booed last night was a Joe, as in Torre.
Chanting for Sage Rose-and-the-ball-fell, who single-handedly gave away a sure Texans victory the last time he was on the field, is akin to saying, “Thank You, sir. May I have another?”
Is there something about the torture that y’all alike?
Have you married the wrong spouse more than once? Do you regularly take a second helping of spoiled milk? How many times did your mama have to tell you not to touch that hot stove before you stopped touching that hot stove?
For a city regarded as soft on sports figures, Houston has been rough on quar-terbacks. Dan Pastorini came in with flair and was quickly cooled down. Warren Moon arrived with fanfare and was almost driven out of town.
It was taken to a new level when David Carr hit town with high expectations and a huge salary, then departed as the most disrespected figure in Houston sports history.
Pastorini and Moon eventually earned fan love before leaving, though much of Pastorini’s came after he left. Carr was released, and fans almost threw a parade. Schaub doesn’t throw balls as pretty as those Moon released. He doesn’t have the wild style of Pastorini. He’s probably not the angel most of you thought Carr was.
Outwardly, he is not a cool customer like The Snake, and he doesn’t bring the sweet milkshake breath to the huddle that Giff Nielsen did. With Gary Kubiak holding tightly to the reins, he certainly isn’t the gunslinger Jim Kelly was, and he is unlikely to be the quality soccer executive Oliver Luck has become.
Schaub is just the latest Houston pro quarterback on the hot seat. We’ve roasted almost all the others.
In the end, Schaub might be one of the few we should have liked from the start.
But like all the others save for George Blanda — the first on the block, and a champion to boot — he’ll have to work his way up from below the bottom.
Quarterbacks and Houston just don’t mix well.
There are a million Joe stories in the heart of New York City. But Newsday's Shaun Powell would rather discuss a Stephon.
Remember Johnnie Taylor's Cheaper To Keep Her? Powell has much the same sentiments about the New York Knicks and Stephon Marbury.
Marbury has a year left, a year that will not exactly break the Knicks. They're not going anywhere special. They're not bracing for a championship journey. There's no precious and delicate "chemistry" at risk here. If anything, this is a year to throw away, a year that'll serve as a free pass for Walsh and coach Mike D'Antoni, no matter how many games they lose.
Knicks fans know better than to invest emotionally in this season. They're saving their deposit for 2010 and beyond, and if a trade of Marbury were to either postpone or ruin plans for the future, there would be hell to pay. So keep him.
They won't buy him out. Would you write someone a check for $21 million to do nothing? In this economy? No, they should keep him primarily because this is the year to keep someone like Marbury. He's in his walk year. It's in his best interest to play hard when his number is called and shut up when it isn't.
Marbury wants another contract and another chance with another team next season, and while he's been accused of being a weirdo over the last 18 months, he ain't crazy. He knows this season, basically, will be spent auditioning for his next paycheck.
Keep him, and if he does feel compelled to go nuts, the Knicks can suspend him without pay, citing insubordination. That's a win-win for the club, the best scenario possible.
Look, my friends, is this the kind of change we need?TV Guide's Matt Matovich asks the question after Obama's plan to broadcast a 30 minute program on prime time in the week before the election.
A Fox spokesperson confirms for TVGuide.com that the network will push back the start of its World Series Game 6 coverage (if needed) by some 15 minutes, to make room for the half-hour of airtime recently purchased by White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama.
Last week, Obama purchased 30 minutes of prime time from Fox, CBS and NBC, to deliver a final message to voters on Wednesday, Oct. 29 (starting at 8 pm/ET). Major League Baseball and Fox were to start Game 6 at 8:20, but agreed to hold the ball for a few and accommodate the program (for which Fox is fetching some $1 million in ad revenue).
"We are pleased that Major League Baseball has agreed to delay the first pitch of World Series Game 6 for a few minutes in order for Fox to carry [Obama's] program," Fox Sports says in a statement. "If requested, the network would be willing to make similar time available to Senator McCain's campaign."
Of the Big 3's 8 o'clock programs, only ABC's Pushing Daisies remains unaffected by the half-hour delay. CBS is shuttling Old Christine to 8:30 (bumping Gary Unmarried), while NBC's plans for that gap (where the back end of Knight Rider usually airs) have yet to be announced.
So, hello Joe, whadya know? I'm learning about Joes I didn't even know existed after this All Joe All The Time cable coverage. Apparently, there's a Joe who sings and is a seven-time Grammy nominee -- not that I've ever heard of him.
Okay, Okay, it's all MY fault...for being so clever as to call the Bucks' rookie Joltin' Joe Alexander yesterday.
Look, my friends, it won't happen again. Now, sing along with me.
This is something of an accomplishment as the Milwaukee NBA franchise makes it on national cable television about as often as...oh, I dunno, the city of Cleveland gets to celebrate a championship.
Indeed, ESPN networks are televising 72 regular-season games, which include 29 games on Wednesdays and 35 on Fridays. The slate consists of 27 doubleheaders.
TNT is televising 53 regular-season games, including 47 as part of Thursday night doubleheaders and a tripleheader on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. TNT also exclusively televises NBA All-Star 2009 festivities in Phoenix from Feb. 13-15, culminating with the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 15.
However, unless you have Fox Sports Wisconsin or pay good money for NBA-TV or Direct TV's NBA League Pass, you have a better chance of seeing Sarah Palin hug an illegal alien than watching the Milwaukee Bucks. Talk about your endangered species!
And yet, here were my Milwaukee Bucks on, of all places, ESPN Classic this morning as part of something called the NBA China Games 2008. This impressive monicker has been given to a couple of preseason games in China between two moribund NBA franchises -- the Bucks and the equally sad-sack Golden State Warriors -- who collectively could share space on a milk carton. Have You See This Team?
Still, here I was, watching my Bucks and feeling a lot like the guy in the beginning of Major League -- saying to myself, "you know, maybe they aren't so sh#$%#y." Of course, here is where the director would cut to the two Japanese groundskeepers replying, "no, they're still sh#$%#y."
The expectations are so low for the Bucks that even approaching the .500 mark will be considered a fantastic season. And a quick look at the sum of their parts reveals the makings of a decent basketball team.
This is where we cut for a moment to get you all up to speed on hoops-speak. Coaches are busy men -- along with some actual women in the women's game -- so they use numbers to define the five basic positions of a basketball team. To break it down simply.
1 = Point Guard
2 = Shooting Guard
3 = Small Forward
4 = Power Forward
5 = Center
So, for the next umpty months of the hoops season, you can now prepare for each and every coach telling the reporters after each and every game, "well, we thought we could play him at either the 3 or the 4 and if we had to, maybe at the 5, but then we were stuck by not having anybody who could cover their 1 or 2."
Still with me? Good, there'll be a test at the end of this column.
So, new coach Scott Skiles has Richard Jefferson who play as the starting 3, but -- along with hold-over NBA All-Star and recent Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Redd -- can step back to be a 2, if the Bucks want to play a bigger lineup. Former No. 1 draft pick Andrew Bogut is firmly entrenched as the 5 with Charlie Villaneuva slated as the 4.
Yi Jianlian is gone and though we hardly know Yi, this is a good thing for the Bucks. I never quite understood why they drafted Yi anyway -- he was basically a unpolished rookie with the same skill set as a player already on your roster, Charlie Villanueva. It seemed to me that only reason in drafting Yi was to sell more Milwaukee jerseys in the burgeoning Chinese market. I mean, doesn't the Senator (Herb Kohl) have enough money?
So, I was elated that when the front office was cleaned out, Yi was sent out east and getting Jefferson was the proverbial frosting on the cake. I would have been happy if the Bucks had gotten Gary Sheffield and Pac-Man Jones in the swap -- receiving a very good small forward -- sorry, a 3 -- in the bargain made it a steal.
Another new acquisition, Luke Ridnour, joins Redd in the Milwaukee backcourt while two rookies will provide some extra firepower off the bench. Lottery pick Joe Alexander could be the next Larry Bird -- he does have much the same skill-set as the former Celtic -- while former UCLA Bruin Luc Richard Mbah a Moute gives some toughness with someone capable and willing to play defense and grab rebounds.
All of those parts were on display in this morning's victory over the Warriors.
Bogut messed around and got a double-double -- kudos for all who caught my pop culture reference to Ice Cube -- finishing with 18 points and 12 rebounds as the Bucks won for the first time in five exhibition games and recorded their opening victory under new coach Skiles. Ridnour added 16 points and 12 assists while playing 37 minutes, and Alexander finished with 11 points.
Jefferson added 13 points and five rebounds, and Mbah a Moute had 12 points and eight rebounds. And the Bucks were able to win a game -- albeit an preseason tilt over Golden State -- with Redd on the bench with left knee soreness.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Bucks' blog reports that the two teams will meet again at the Olympic venue in Beijing on Saturday morning (10:30 p.m. Friday Milwaukee time). The Bucks headed for the airport directly after the game and were scheduled to arrive in Beijing around 3:30 a.m. Thursday (2:30 p.m. today Milwaukee time).
Skiles said he expected Redd would be able to play in Beijing in the second game of the trip. Forward Charlie Villanueva suffered a neck injury in the second half today and had to leave the game, but it was not thought to be anything serious.
Alexander, who had struggled in his first two exhibition games, contributed some key baskets in the Bucks' fourth-quarter run.
"He was able to get a couple good looks and knock them down," Skiles said. "He still doesn't know what we're trying to do yet.
Before the Bucks’ practice Tuesday at the Guangzhou Gymnasium, the 6-foot-8 Alexander was swarmed by a huge group of reporters. His fluency in Mandarin was one reason for his popularity, and the fact he spent much of his youth living in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
“They enjoyed me a little bit,” Alexander said in a phone interview. “There was a pretty fair amount (of media), more than I’m used to.”
The new Joltin` Joe didn't play in the Bucks' first two preseason game and is still acclimating himself to his new team and the NBA. Still, in the much weaker Eastern Conference, at season's end, Milwaukee -- with a new coach and many new players -- could be in the hunt for one of the last remaining playoff berth.
At least, they give the impression -- as those Cleveland Indians in Major League -- that maybe they won't be so sh#$%#y.
The World Series is approaching a Tampa Bay-Philly matchup, while FOX Sports might not appreciate this very distinct possibility, ESPN's Tim Keown would be eternally grateful.
If either the Phillies or the Rays -- or both -- advance to the World Series, this great country of ours will owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. The first two weeks of the postseason have provided us with indisputable evidence: Dodgers-Red Sox is a World Series matchup America simply cannot afford.
This isn't about teams or individuals. This is about coverage. This is about nonstop Manny Ramirez versus the Red Sox, with every angle exposed and every past transgression unearthed.
Your rooting interest is beside the point. You know this as well as I do.
There's only so much Manny anyone can take. There's only so much Red Sox anyone can take.
The combination? Sorry.
The Chicago Tribune -- surprise, surprise -- thinks that Da Bears have the best chance of the collective 3-3 teams in the NFC North to win the division. Call him provincial, but the Trib's beat reporter David Haugh makes the point that...the numbers clearly show neither the Packers nor the Vikings have a schedule loaded with more opportunity than the Bears.
The Bears' remaining 10 opponents have a combined 25-31 record, and the only team left on the schedule currently above .500 is Tennessee. And the Titans have to come to Soldier Field on Nov. 9. That's one of six home games left for the Bears—the most of the three first-place teams.
The Packers' remaining 10 opponents have a combined 28-28 record and Green Bay has to play three teams that currently have winning records: Indianapolis (on Sunday), Tennessee and Carolina. They have to play the Titans on the road, as well as the Saints in New Orleans and the Jaguars in Jacksonville.
The Vikings might face the toughest schedule of the three. Minnesota's remaining 10 opponents have a combined 29-28 record and the Vikings still have to play four teams with winning records: at Tampa Bay and Arizona and home games against Atlanta and the New York Giants.
Meanwhile, leave to to a Madison poltical wonk to crunch the numbers on our Liquid Assets feature the other day, MB did so and insists that this columnist indulged in a bit of fuzzy math.
Hey, I was merely sharing another reader's letter, MB. I didn't get paid for it and you didn't have to pay for it, so I think we're about even.
Still, MB makes the case that...DAL (Delta Airlines) was trading at around $20/share a year ago and now trades at $6/share. That’s, huge – but that $1000 investment would still be worth around $300 today. Whereas, $1000 in six-pack cans (assuming $5/six-pack, for 200 six-packs or 1200 empty cans) wouldn’t yield anywhere close to $214 unless you could find a recycler that’d pay $.18 per can – in which case I would only drink beer in cans and not curb them.
Okay, picky, picky, picky. Still, MB did offer to cop me a Obama yard sign, so it's all good
Finally, loyal readers might have noticed that your new favorite sports blog -- the column formerly known as Talking Sports -- has a lot of @$%#(&^%()* where there are clearly some words. This is not self-censorship, but many of my former editors would make the case for SOMEBODY, ANYBODY censoring my syntax, verbiage etc etc etc...
The proclivity for this ^%@*&^$(^*#@ is due to FOX Sports bleeping out what it deems as objectionable speech. For those who will claim that I've sold out to the Dark Side, I'll remind you again that I don't get paid for this, so the worst you can call me is a collaborator.
I can't even quote Dave Barry -- an award-winning columnist, if FOX Sports ever saw one -- saying the words Adolf #### without finding it bleeping bleeped.
Still, if I may once again channel my inner Ice Cube, I wrote this whole column and didn't even have to use my AK.
"To the younger generation, (Elgin) Baylor and (Jerry) West are little more than a couple of old dudes that you see every year at the draft lottery.
In fact, Elgin was MJ before MJ was a gleam in his late daddy's eyes. Jerry West might have been the best pure shooter the game has ever seen. Both men had 50 point nights -- long before the advent of the 3 point hoop, I might add. But Baylor never won a title and West never won an MVP. The Celtics won all the championships and Wilt won everything else.
Indeed, ESPN's The Sports Guy Bill Simmons reminds us today that Elgin was perhaps the game's first sky-walker, the godfather of hang time.
Elgin changed everything. He did things that nobody had ever seen before. He defied gravity. Elgin would drive from the left side, take off with the basketball, elevate, hang in the air, hang in the air, then release the ball after everyone else was already back on the ground. You could call him the godfather of hang time. You could call him the godfather of the "WOW!" play. You could point to his entrance into the league as the precise moment when basketball changed for the better. Along with (Bill) Russell, Elgin turned a horizontal game into a vertical one.
Simmons also reminds the younger post-MJ crowd that Baylor did his thing in a decidedly meaner time and place.
Elgin lived through some things during his career that we like to forget happened now. Lord knows how many racial slurs bounced off him, how many N-bombs were lobbed from the stands, how much prejudice he endured on a day-to-day basis as the league's signature black star. Russell bottled everything up and used it as fuel for the next game: He wouldn't suffer; his opponents would suffer. Oscar morphed into the angriest dude in the league, someone who screamed at his own teammates as much as the referees, a great player who played with an even greater chip on his shoulder. Elgin didn't have the same mean streak. He loved to joke with teammates. He never stopped talking. He loved life and loved playing basketball. He couldn't hide it. And so his body soaked up every ugly slight like a sponge.
Sadly, Baylor is in the news for something quite different today as the Los Angeles Clippers are in the process of parting company with their long-time General Manager. That he will be most remembered for his mediocre-at-best time with the Clippers is a crime.
"We greatly appreciate Elgin's efforts during his time with the Clippers and we wish him the very best."
That's it?
That was 18 words -- not even one word for each of the 22 seasons Elgin worked for you.
Did you ever notice these things never happen to the Lakers?
The words Laker Family mean something with an organization studded with former players and Jerry Buss giving Magic Johnson and Pat Riley multi-million dollar severance packages after they left and were of no more use to him.
You don't hear people talk about Clipper Family. If someone did, I'd think of a family like that of the Emperor Commodus in "Gladiator."
Vikings went out like Vikings, pushed into fjords in ships to be set ablaze in a hail of burning arrows.
"It's extraordinary - the dichotomy between what he was in Boston and what he is in Los Angeles," McCarver told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I mean, talk about wearing out your welcome in a town, and it was a long welcome with the Red Sox. But some of the things he did were simply de####able, de####able - like not playing, refusing to play. Forgetting what knee to limp on. And now it's washed, it's gone."
McCarver also believes Ramirez presents fans here a scenario they are most familiar with.
"Every sport, there have been people who have held organizations hostage, whether it be Terrell Owens or Randy Moss or Manny Ramirez," he said.
Up the Pacific Coast in Portland, they're madly cheering what The Oregonian's Ryan White proclaimed "had to be the loudest ovation for a loose-ball foul in the history of exhibition basketball in the NBA. Greg Oden played his first pre-season ball for the hometown Trail Blazers, albeit a year late due to injury and surgery.
Yet, many observers including ESPN's J.A. Adande were more impressed with this year's Rookie of the Year candidate, Spain's Rudy Fernandez.
Fernandez had the best highlights. He rose to throw down a lob from fellow Spaniard Sergio Rodriguez on an alley-oop, then threw a bounce pass between Jason Thompson's legs to LaMarcus Aldridge for a dunk. He topped that by catching another Rodriguez lob and spinning in a ridiculous, dipsy-do reverse layup off the glass. Then he dropped a couple of dimes to Martell Webster for two more dunks.
He stole the show and had the crowd chanting, "Ru-dy, Ru-dy." He picked up right where he left off in the Olympic gold-medal game.
All of the pregame attention was on Oden. The postgame buzz was about Fernandez.
Meanwhile, it's all tears in St. Louis today and it has nothing to do with the sorry state of the football Rams. Cardinals instructor George Kissell, widely regarded as one of the authors of what manager Tony La Russa refers to as the “Cardinal Way,” died Tuesday (Oct. 7, 2008) in Tampa, Fla., after being injured in a car accident Monday night.
Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, a protégé of Kissell's, once described Kissell as "the greatest baseball fundamentalist I have ever known."
He also described him as the "smartest man in baseball."
"I learned more baseball from George Kissell than from anyone else in my life," Torre told the St. Petersburg Times in 1997. Torre won four World Series titles as manager of the New York Yankees, and in his autobiography he called Kissell his greatest teacher. He told the paper: "A lot of people can play the game, but not as many people can teach the game. And George, to me, was the ultimate."
One February morning in 2005, Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. revealed a plaque that had been affixed to the clubhouse at the team's Jupiter, Fla., campus. It renamed the clubhouse for Kissell.
The plaque read, in part: "Every player in the Cardinals' Organization since 1940 has had contact with George Kissell and they have all been better for it. ... Well known for his emphasis on fundamentals, George taught several generations of Redbirds how to play baseball."
If you are under the age of 30, you will not like this column. If you are from Chicago, you'll be much happier clicking somewhere else. And if you're under 30, from Chicago AND black, too...well, don't say I didn't warn you.
Being nearly 50 years of age, whenever I'm asked who is the best basketball player of all time, I answer thusly.
1. Wilt Chamberlain set all the records; 2. Kareem Abdul Jabbar broke many of those records; 3. Bill Russell won 11 NBA titles, but; 4. All of those men claimed that Oscar Robertson was the baddest MF to ever step on the court.
Do the math, Bulls' fans -- all of the above would tend to place MJ as no better than a distant fifth place.
In all of the MJ-mania, I've been aghast and irritated by how so many people can get it so right in football and so wrong in basketball. Why do people believe that Jim Brown is the greatest football player of all-time, but then -- in the same breath -- also believe that his contemporary, the Big O, somehow played in the olden days?
I bring up this rant in context after reading Ellioitt Kalb's book, "Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball." Kalb lists his own rankings for the top 50 hoopsters of all-time with a collection of face-offs to make his point. He gives often compelling and frequently amazing arguments, rating each player against their contemporaries and the all-time best at their respective position.
For his part, Kalb places MJ in 3rd place behind Wilt. His all-time best? Shaquille O'Neal!
My problem with rating MJ or the Shaq Diesel as the all-time best is that I can remember seeing Wilt play. I remember Oscar and Bill Russell. I also saw Elgin Baylor and Jerry West play too and I'd argue that they both deserve a place in this argument.
That last statement inexorably leads to a total disconnect with the under-30 crowd. To the younger generation, Baylor and West are little more than a couple of old dudes that you see every year at the draft lottery.
In fact, Elgin was MJ before MJ was a gleam in his late daddy's eyes. Jerry West might have been the best pure shooter the game has ever seen. Both men had 50 point nights -- long before the advent of the 3 point hoop, I might add. But Baylor never won a title and West never won an MVP. The Celtics won all the championships and Wilt won everything else.
To my mind, calling MJ the all-time greatest is akin to naming Emmitt Smith the greatest football player of all-time and nobody thinks that.
I'd also argue that MJ and Magic Johnson are penalized in the ultimate all-time rankings -- we can't say for sure that their respective missing seasons would have resulted in more championships.
Still, nobody has ever gotten close to Bill Russell's eleven rings, so he gets the first place at the table.
If the Big Aristotle can win another title with the Heat, then Kalb's case becomes more sound. And yet, I can't help but think that much of Shaq Daddy's dominance is the result of the dearth of physically demanding contemporaries. Wilt had Russell, Thurmond and Walt Bellamy. Kareem faced the tail end of those giants' careers and then fought off the likes of Jack Sikma, Bob Lanier, Bill Walton, Kevin McHale/Robert Parrish, Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Who does Shaq have? Tim Duncan? He's not a center, but you can make a strong case that Duncan is already better than Larry Bird, Moses Malone or Charles Barkley. (That's another column for another day.)
Back to the countdown. Wilt Chamberlain was a statistical cyclone -- blowing down all the records and preconceptions of the game in his wake, slicing what came before him like so many strands of wheat on the Kansas prarie.
From Kalb's book on Wilt vs. MJ.
Games needed to reach 30,000 points: Wilt 941 MJ 960
Scoring average after 1,045 games: Wilt 30.1 MJ 30.3
Wilt also averaged almost four times as many rebounds as Jordan. Try these next couple stats on for size.
Most 50 point games: Wilt 122 MJ 37
Most 60 point games: Wilt 32 MJ 4
Most 70 point games: Wilt 6 David Thompson, Elgin Baylor, David Robinson 1 MJ 0
In 1962, Wilt "AVERAGED" 50.4 points a game including that 100 point night in Hershey, PA. In fact, Wilt scored 50+ points in 45 different games in 1962- more than any other player did in their entire career.
Whereever Wilt is now -- working on his next 10,000 sexual conquests, he deserves the next seat at the table.
Kareem stayed in the game long enough to break many of Wilt's records, so he must be included in the discussion. At the expense of being a shameless homer and lifelong Milwaukee Bucks fan, I bump up the Big Fella's rankings because he sublimated his game with the Lakers late in his career so that Magic could help him win a few more championships.
That's one thing MJ never did -- take team accomplishments over personal vanity. Here's another thing MJ didn't do: lead a team to an NBA title in his second season for an expansion team in its third season.
Here's one last nail in that coffin : They actually changed the rules of college basketball because of Kareem. Lewis Alcindor (aka Kareem) was so dominant as a sophomore -- they didn't allow freshmen to play varsity back then -- that the NCAA outlawed the dunk. In retrospect, Jabbar insists that it ironically made his game better by forcing him to create more shots.
Oscar only won his sole NBA title -- one of the highlights of my youth, I might add -- after sublimating his game to match the Big Fella in Milwaukee. There's only one number I can give you to demonstrate how the Big O dominated the game at guard long before MJ.
Triple Double Games: Oscar Robertson 181 Magic Johnson 138 Wilt Chamberlain 78 Larry Bird 59 Jason Kidd 46
MJ is nowhere to be found. The Big O practically invented the triple double by "AVERAGING" a triple-double season. Think MJ with the bulk of a linebacker, truly the Jim Brown of the hardwoods. Mr. Robertson can now sit down.
So that's my prosecutorial case for my top four -- Wilt, Kareem, Russell and Oscar.
Over the years, I've run into a good many fans who make the case for someone other that MJ in fifth place with a bullet. Magic gets a lot of write-in votes and I can see the argument. He did win an NBA title and Finals MVP in his rookie season. (Kalb rightly notes the award should have gone to Kareem but the press freaked out after Magic's 42 in Game 7.)
Magic brought back the memory of Oscar by establishing his talents for the triple double. He embodied that shopworn cliche -- Magic actually made the players around him better. I'd argue that he made it his mission and therefore, I much enjoyed Magic's game over MJ's.
My Magic moment came, ironically enough, in Kareem's final NBA game in Milwaukee. Kareem was doing a sort of farewell tour and each city was presenting Jabbar with a gift.
(So, of course, Milwaukee shocks Kareem with a custom built, creme-coloured Harley Roadster. How sweet is that? A big bike for the Big Fella!)
(Kareem looked, for all the world, like a kid on Xmas. He had this beautific grin on his face that seemed to say, "can I keep it?" Jabbar also confided that he'd owned a cycle in his days with the Bucks, using it for tooling around the 'burbs in Ozaukee County, adding, "I got rid of that thing when I moved to LA.')
Anyway, back to Magic. Seated in the court-side press table, I could hear what the players -- some of the all-time best -- were saying.
In the 2nd quarter, Kareem takes a seat and Mark McNamara enters the game, fresh off signing one of those 10-day free agent contracts. In less forgiving and less politically correct times, Mac would have been uncharitably called a big white stiff -- less than 2.0 in points and rebounds.
First time down the court. Magic spots that no one is taking the big lug seriously as an offensive threat, and so he snaps a marvelous pass through two defenders...that clanks off MacNamara's hands out of bounds.
The big kid purposely turns his head away from the court, feeling coach Pat Riley's eyes glaring at him when Magic grabs Mac's head, shushes him and merely points to his own eyes with both hands. Just look at me, kid, and you'll be fine.
Can you even imagine how to cool it was to play with Magic Johnson? If you run the court and keep your eyes open, the man will somehow get you the ball. Doesn't matter, if you just walked off the street. The total antithesis of a Scottie Pippen, who once refused to enter a last second playoff game because the play wasn't drawn up for him.
By the way, let's stifle the Pippen in the Greatest all-time fifty players list garbage right now. If it wasn't for MJ, Pippen would be a high school coach in rural Arkansas. Okay, maybe, he might have gotten a shot at coaching the Razorbacks by now.
All of the people mentioned so far are lightyears ahead of Pippen, and if it's rings that make the champion, then all of those Celtics rate above Pippen too.
Magic Johnson's actions that night in Milwaukee told everyone - from his team to his coach to the fans in the stands to the entire league -- you WILL guard everyone on my team or I'll take this lug and make him a star. For me, I'll take that over MJ's game anyday.
Moreover, I'd rather place Magic at No. 5 because I'd love to have seen him play point guard with Wilt, Kareem, Russell and Oscar. Let MJ have next game and he can take the next four in line to play against my all-time five.
Now that MJ's slipped to 6th place, there's another inconvenient truth for Bulls' fans. Jordan's ranking could soon be in jeopardy from the current generation of players.
I mentioned earlier that Tim Duncan may be the game's finest all-time forward already. He's got three rings and enough time to get three more to match MJ's six titles.
Don't look now, but we've come to Mr. Kalb's argument. Shaq has four rings now and a couple more would move him up the list. As of now, Timmy and Diesel get the next seats at the table.
A couple years ago, I thought Kobe Bryant could someday become the all-time greatest, but I don't think that way anymore. Maybe, he'll get his act together and more emulate Mike Jordan and not Mike Tyson, but I also wonder more lately if Kobe's not another Darryl Strawberry waiting to happen.
The last invitee to the party is Lebron James. After an MVP-worthy regular season, he showed he could be just as good in the playoffs by recording two triple-doubles and averaging 30.8 points -- Jordan averaged 43.7 in his first playoff season. James also became the first player to average at least 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the playoffs since Oscar Robertson (1963).
Add that to Lebron's 2003-04 NBA Rookie of the Year award -- becoming the first Cavalier and youngest player to ever receive the award as one of three rookies in NBA history to average at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in one season (O. Robertson, M. Jordan) -- and the case is made for the youngster to eventually become the all-time greatest.
In this, James' third season, he ranked
#3 in the NBA in Points Per Game,
#12 in the NBA in Assists Per Game,
#2 in the NBA in Minutes Per Game,
#2 in the NBA in Minutes Played,
#2 in the NBA in Field Goals Made,
#2 in the NBA in Field Goal Attempts,
#6 in the NBA in Free Throws,
#3 in the NBA in Free Throw Attempts and
# 2 in the NBA in Points.
Having seen all of the above players, I'd argue that Lebron's season -- and especially his first playoffs -- bears some consideration. He's the Joker in this deck -- we simply cannot say how good this guy could become.
As for those still on the Good Ship MJ, I see him being squeezed between the old schoolers and the newer kids on the block.
Michael Jordan, the all-time best? I don't think so.
John Shivers is in his 25th season as a journalist -- for the least two years producing and hosting a funk music show -- Back In The Day w/ Johnny Rasta -- on WSUM 91.7FM Madison, WI. Started in radio as a Morning Sports Reporter and Late Night DJ with WMAD 92FM. Served a quarter-centu ry as a sportswriter most recently, for the Milwaukee Shepherd Express, including stints as a beat reporter covering Major League Baseball (Milwaukee Brewers) and college football and basketball (Wisconsin, Marquette & UW-Milwaukee) . Born on January 5, 1957, John is the great-grandso n of slaves who first homesteaded in Wisconsin in the 1840's. He holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism (2001) from UW-Milwaukee with a Minor in Africology. John, now single, resides in Madison, WI with his beloved kittie: Black Jack (McDowell)
