That’s good
The Spurs announced several hires recently however one stands out for me. Monty Williams is the new vice-president of basketball operations. He would serve in a reserve role with five teams in a 9 year playing career. 2005 Williams moved into the coaching ranks first as a Blazer assistant and 2010 was hired as head coach of the Pelicans. For the last two years William’s been serving in the role of assistant head coach of the Thunder. Congratulations Mr. Vice-president.
Basketball, basketball, basketball
I just read the Wyoming Cowboys will have 13 games on television. The bulk of games will be telecast by the CBS Sports Network the remainder on Fox Sports 1 and ROOT Sports. This isn’t just about Wyoming basketball it’s about telecasting college basketball, beginning in November college ball rules the airwaves. I might not be correct however I believe with exception of Friday night there are multiple college basketball telecast(s) every evening.
Saturday beginning about 11:00 a.m. Central Time up to a 10:00 p.m. start time you can locate a college game somewhere on cable or satellite. It’s not always been this way up through the late ‘70’s you had to conduct a search for college games. The CBS broadcast network had a single game of the week on Saturday which in this area often competed with a Big 8 game. Even the NCAA Tournament coverage was limited with very little coverage of the early rounds of the contest. Naturally as teams were eliminated more games became available.
Who was he?
I wrote of his passing over the winter in case you missed it this is a recap of an earlier account. The story above reminded me of Eddie Einhorn who died last February at the age of 80. At the time of his death he was a minority owner of the White Sox however it was college basketball where he rose to prominence. Einhorn produced the radio broadcast of the NCAA in 1958. In 1960 he would become the creator of the TVS Television Network; the network would telecast college basketball games to regional markets throughout the nation.
Keep in mind this was years prior to ESPN and all the other networks that have since come into prominence. A TVS game could be telecast over a CBS, NBC or independent station anywhere the network could gain viewers. Einhorn must be given credit (or blame) for the growth of college basketball on television with one game. In 1968 the UCLA Bruins led by Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) would face off against Elvin Hayes and the Houston Cougars.
The game was to be played in the Astrodome the first dome stadium in the nation; the football/baseball dome was retro-fitted for basketball. Over 52,000 fans were in attendance plus a national television audience for the first telecast of a regular season game. Alcindor had sustained a scratched cornea and there was a question if would even attempt to play. The Houston Cougars behind Hayes 39 points beat UCLA 71-69. Movement didn’t occur overnight however thanks to Einhorn’s vision the college basketball landscape would be changed forever. Einhorn later sold his interest in the network and went to work for CBS Sports.
Not so strange as it might seem
Kevin Durant all 6-9 of him threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior at a Giants game. The announcer said; “He wanted to play baseball so it shouldn’t be so strange.” You think he’s too tall, the Royals have a pitcher (Chris Young) who played basketball in college who stands 6-10. The Yankees have three pitchers on their current roster who stand 6-6 and taller Dellin Betances is the tallest at 6-8.
Batters might be a whole different story, there are few everyday players 6-6 or taller. In the late ‘50’s the Dodgers had outfielder Frank Howard 6-7 235 pounds. They signed Howard after he first came to prominence on the basketball court at Ohio State. Much earlier there was pitcher Gene Conley all 6-8 225 pounds pitched for the Boston Red Sox and played forward for the Boston Celtics. Conley spent four seasons with the Celtics and two with the Knicks. Who knows Durant might have been a major league prospect if he’d continued playing baseball.
