Key man for two franchises

This former Boston Celtic has played a key role in several Laker Championships! I know that statement might sound strange but it's true, Bill Sharman at 85-years of age is still serving as a consultant for the Lakers. For those unfamiliar with his name we must step back in time to the '50's and provide you a brief history of Mr. Sharman. In those days professional sports did not over lap as these do now so Sharman briefly had two careers. He played baseball in the Dodgers farm system from 1950 through 1955.  Sharman played in the NBA for the defunct Washington Capitals from 1950-51 and the Boston Celtics from 1951-61. This 6-1 shooting guard was the backcourt mate of point guard Bob Cousy. Sharman was a member of several Celtic Championship teams. After his playing career concluded he went on to coach the Warriors of the NBA, then the ABA Stars. Sharman's coaching stop eventually meant heading the Lakers, he was the coach for the team which recorded the 33 game winning streak and a 69-13 win-loss record. That team went on to win an NBA Championship, as a scout and consultant his input has aided the Laker cause extensively over the years.

News out of Sacramento
The proposed new arena passed it's first hurdle. "The city council of Sacramento voted 7-2 to approve spending $555,000 on consultants for the new arena. The money will be spent on lawyers, investment bankers, municipal financing consultants, parking experts, and other consultants." This is going to be interesting to see if an arena or sports stadium is built in these dire economic times. (fromthecapitol.com)

Retired jersey numbers
While researching the story above I came across an interesting fact. If a player toiled for the Kansas City Kings or any of their predecessors should their jersey be hanging in a Sacramento arena? While you ponder the question allow me provide you the information I uncovered. The Kings have retired Sam Lacey's number 44 and Nate Archibald's number 1 both never set foot in the city as members of the Kings. Same for the Big O, Oscar Robertson, Maurice Stokes and Jack Twyman all played for the Cincinnati Royals. Even Bob Davies number 11 is retired, Davies played for the very first incarnation the Rochester (N.Y.) Royals. The Kings are not the only team, the Hawks have retired Bob Pettit's number although he spent his career in Milwaukee and St. Louis. The Lakers honor several players from the Minneapolis era but no numbers are retired, they have only hung the jerseys of Los Angeles era players. The Wizards and Jazz with Earl Monroe (Baltimore Bullets) and Pete Maravich (New Orleans Jazz) complete the number. The Kings still win having the most retired jerseys of players who never called Sacramento home.

Blind Side Three
2005 was the last year high school players were eligible for the draft. Kyle Luckett a 7-0 footer from Racine Wisconsin submitted his name but was never drafted. Undrafted he was ineligible to play NCAA basketball but junior college rules are different. In any event he was homeless for four years (never explained why in the story). He enrolled at Chabot (Jr.) College in Hayward California at age 24. Luckett was a double-double machine with four block shots a game during his sophomore year. Luckett signed a pro contract and will be playing pro ball in Hungary, although this is not the NBA he will soon be playing pro ball. (Diamon Leung, ESPN.com, Sept 27, 2011)

I'm curious
By the time this is printed a resolution will have occurred (which it hasn't). I read a number of newspapers on line of course, in addition I peruse all the major sports websites on a daily basis in an attempt to be as topical as possible. I've noticed the Frank Haith/Mizzou news is no longer news with one exception. This was really a football scandal which only implicated one basketball player and the coaching staff, Yahoo Sports which "broke" the Miami story no longer contains a feature on it, I checked their NCAA football and basketball page this morning! Question, does Fox Sports have a vendetta against Coach Haith or is the story simply filler? For your information Fox Sports is the only website still running this story on the front page of it's website.

"A tough day at the office is even tougher when your OFFICE contains spectator seating."
-- Nik Posa