There is a distinction between lack of talent and lack of effort!
-------Larry Laker

The NFL and film
Ed Sabol died recently at age 98; Sabol was creater and founder of NFL Films. His son Steve who preceded him in death were key to the growth of the league in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. The music behind the productions was as slick as the game film they provided. Mike Wilbon of Pardon the Interruption said; “If the Sabol’s had covered the NBA we’d have film of Wilt’s (Chamberlain) 100 point game.” In the early ‘60’s NBA games were often “farmed’ out.  The Philadelphia (Golden State) Warriors played the game in Hershey (PA) located about 100 miles from Philadelphia.  To give you an idea of how popular the NBA was in that day this game was played before an audience of 4,124 souls.

According to Wikipedia; “The game was not televised, and no video footage of the game has been located; there are only audio recordings of the game's fourth quarter.” Wilt’s Warrior team beat the Knicks 169-147. It also states no members of the New York press were in attendance. Today an event of this type would not occur; camera phones and other video devices guarantee it would be highly unlikely. In those days the NBA did not compile block shot figures so we have no idea of Wilt’s total. As for the other portion of the box score Wilt pulled down 25 rebounds and the notorious poor free-throw shooter hit 28 out of 32 from the line. Wilt was doing more than jacking up shots he managed a .571 percentage from the floor.

Rebel with a "cause"
Movie buffs will remember the 1955 classic Rebel without a Cause starring the late James Dean. Jerry Tarkanian was a “rebel with a cause.” The Hall of Fame coach died on Wednesday at the age of 84. Tark the Shark as he was nicknamed retired from coaching in 2002. His most successful coaching years were spent at UNLV with his Running Rebel team winning the 1990 NCAA championship. Tark first began his career coaching high school basketball in 1959, from there he moved to Riverside Community College. From there Tark went to Long Beach State and finally UNLV. He coached the NBA Spurs but was fired with less than a year on the job. His last coaching job was at Fresno State 1995-2002.

Of the 906 college games he coached Tark won 706 of them a sparkling .779 winning percentage. Today there is a chorus of folks registering complaints about the NCAA. 30 some years ago Tark’s was the only voice we heard, he did this at a point he was the lone voice brave enough to confront the NCAA. *“Tarkanian sued the NCAA, claiming it had harassed him for over two decades. The harassment, Tarkanian claimed, started when he wrote a newspaper column alleging that the NCAA was more willing to punish less-prominent schools than big-name schools. Although the NCAA did not admit harassing Tarkanian, it settled out of court in 1998, paying him $2.5 million.”

*Wikipedia

Following in his father’s footsteps
This freshman stands 6-10 but probably weighs no more than 180 pounds. Don’t allow his thin frame to fool you his skills are superior to his dad in several areas. Will he ever gain any additional weight? Well his 7-7 dad played 10 years in the NBA and may have never tipped the scales over 220 pounds. This freshmen youngster is Bol Bol the son of the late Manute Bol.

Bol Bol transferred from Olathe Northwest to Bishop Miege in Roeland Park (KS) a city in suburban Kansas City. His father was a specialist who would often station himself on the perimeter shooting from distance; in fact Manute Bol became fairly efficient from the 3-point line. On the other hand his son has a number of moves around the basket and yes he too can shoot from the 3-point line. This certainly is no prediction of an NBA future however several colleges have already made inquires on Bol.

“How old am I?”
Old enough to remember a prospect questioned about his college choice would say; “I have to go to a school that’s on television.” That statement is quite antiquated in this day and age. It’s almost impossible to locate a Division I team that’s not on television. If the game is telecast to a local or regional audience it’s often picked up by ESPN, Fox CBS Sports Network, YES or a number of unnamed networks for a national viewing audience.

In my part of the country a Kansas-UNLV game might be the game of choice, how about the others? At the same time on cable I’m viewing South Dakota State at North Dakota State or I could choose UCLA-Utah on the Pac-12 Network. On the other hand Providence and Marquette are also available on Fox Sports or the replay of yesterdays Baylor-Oklahoma game. Games are also available on the New England Sports & YES Networks.

The coach
Kings management has made it know for awhile they intended to hire George Karl as their head coach. This is one NBA fan that is less than impressed by the hire.  Stephen A. Smith on First Take was extolling the virtues of Karl and “how good a coach Karl was.” They guy certainly has coached for an extensive period of time but does he even make the Top 10 list of anyone?  This is Karl’s 6^th stop in his NBA coaching career and during that time he's won 1887 games.  With 24 years on his resume Karl continues to be hired because he’s had few losing seasons in his career.