Basketball from a fans perspective
Pay me
I only have my thoughts no grand proposal to place before you. Within 2-3 years Division I players will receive some sort of compensation ok'd by the NCAA. We already
witnessed change in other sports. Once upon a time track and field athletes and others literally starved between Olympic years unable to earn income. They had to retain their amateur status thus they were not allowed an income. The Justice Department revelations to date have been about money. The problem for the most part the money appeared to stop with assistant coaches. No solution for track & field, tennis and swimmers I must call it as I see it, football and basketball generate the dollars allowing the other sports to operate at a school.
The forgotten Jayhawk
Number 32 jersey is retired however a small number of alumni and fans have little familiarity with the name Bill Bridges. Bridges arrived on campus after Wilt Chamberlain and that might be part of the problem. Chamberlain blocked out the sun with his notoriety which even at KU was larger than life for that time period. Bridges was a polar opposite he was a "lunch pail" guy, came to every game prepared to rebound the ball and score when called on. His workman like effort was noteworthy but somehow was lost among succeeding more "visible" Jayhawk players.
16.1 ppg his senior year was his peak scoring but Bridges managed to average 14 rebounds a game during three years at Kansas. The rebound totals might not appear to be outstanding except Bridges stood but 6-6 and 225 pounds. Often in college and later as a pro his opposition was 2-3 inches taller. After college Bridges decided in favor of the American Basketball League over the established NBA. In 1961 Bridges would become a member of the Kansas City Steers in rather than the NBA Chicago Packers. The Chicago franchise would relocate to Baltimore and later Washington D.C. with the Wizards replacing the Bullets name.
The ABL would only last one season closing shop in the middle of year two. Bridges would signed with the Hawks then located in St Louis and move with the franchise to Atlanta. Bridges would play for three other NBA teams before retiring in 1975. During his NBA career his double-double numbers were 11.9 ppg and 11.9 rebounds. Bridges once grabbed 35 rebounds in a playoff game a feat only accomplished by Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Willis Reed who were much taller. Just think "Dennis Rodman" with better scoring ability and little flamboyance, Bridges died in 2015 of cancer at the age of 76.
Could I get a small loan?
Sometimes I wonder how it must be to live the life of those in the one percent bracket. Those are the folks with plenty of disposable income and have no problem and never forced to ask "How much does it cost." Darren Rovell ESPN's finance guy reports the Knicks have a suite in Madison Square Garden along with Tao group a restaurant chain named Suite Sixteen. Once you pay this is the package, two tickets to every Knicks and Ranger game plus concert tickets to Billy Joel and Shakra. A bottle of champagne for every game plus wristbands allowing up to four guests entry. All this can be had for the very small fee of $400,000 wonder if I get a loan?
November 10 is the date
R.J. Barrett the number one prospect on practically every prospect list Class of 2018 is prepared to answer the question. The question of course which school the 6-7 guard will chose. Barrett has removed Arizona from his list so we are down to Duke, Oregon and Kentucky. We have no idea but a guess in order might be Kentucky then Duke with Oregon on the outside. Barrett plays for Montverde Academy in Florida but home is metro Toronto Ontario Canada. He stated he's "going to head home and announce his decision on November 10."
NBA history
In the Bill Bridges story above it was noted Bridges was drafted by the Chicago Packers,
what do we know about the Packers? This is different for several reasons, this expansion team came into being in 1961-62 they would finish that first season 18-62. The team name was a node to the meat packing industry playing in an arena next door to the stockyards. If you've every been around a packing plant the smell can be foul at times. The joke was the Packers "stunk" on the court as much as outside air around the building.
A name change was made the following year when the team moved to another location in Chicago they were re-named Zephyrs. That would be the team's last year in Chicago 1963 witnessed the move to Baltimore where they would become the Bullets after an earlier Baltimore team. The Bullets would remain in Baltimore for 10 years and then move to a Washington D.C. suburb becoming the Capital Bullets and with the move inside the district they changed the name to Washington. In 1997 the former owner thought "Bullets" might promote violence and the team was re-named the Wizards.
