Basketball from a fans perspective

The ceremony

Thank you Mike Wilbon of ESPN for pointing out a detail I’d quickly forgotten, the number of basketball attendees at Kobe’s jersey ceremony.  I know your haters always want to remind us how many people dislike Kobe, it’s clear that mentality doesn’t apply to many of his former teammates, adversaries or Hall of Fame athletes.  The gathering was a who’s who of the NBA, former Coach Phil Jackson was absent as for the others:

Jerry West

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Allen Iverson

Bill Russell

Shaquille O’Neal

Elgin Baylor

Derek Fisher

I don’t count Magic Johnson or Luke Walton, as employees of the Lakers they were required to be in attendance.  There might have been other former players I might have omitted but those were among the number I saw on my television screen.  Any of them could have been anyplace but Staples but chose to be there for this ceremony.  So, there you have it former Lakers and advisories and Russell and Baylor who long ago retired from the game. 

Dick Einberg

Died on Thursday at the age of 82, for those who might be unfamiliar was a Hall of Fame broadcaster.  No one person or group is responsible for the growth of college basketball on television however this legendary broadcaster played a key role.  Einberg was the broadcaster for the UCLA-Houston Game of the Century basketball held in 1968.  The game held in Houston’s Astrodome featured UCLA’s Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) and Elvin Hayes of Houston.  This game played before 100,000 fans would become the first nationally telecast college game.  

At that time college basketball was a regional event however a defunct network TVS set up a national television audience.  Einberg was also behind the mic as Notre Dame upset UCLA’s 88-game winning streak back in 1974.  In 1979 Einberg was the broadcaster for the NCAA Championship match between Magic Johnson of Michigan State and Larry Joe Bird Indiana State.  Although closely identified with basketball Einberg broadcast other sports too including a considerable number of Super Bowl games.  He was among the number of pioneers responsible for expanding the boundaries of sports broadcasting Eingberg was in that number, R.I.P.

Tabloid sports reporting

I have no idea who Phil Mushnick is other than he writes for the New York Post.  On December 2 he decided to trash my Mizzou Tigers, his piece was titled; “Complacent media give broken sports world a pass” Among the shortcomings of sport, he was critical of Mizzou’s ethics in hiring Michael Porter Sr. who in turn might have been responsible for his son coming to the school.  The point he attempts to make Porter Sr is payed to guarantee Michael Porter Jr. plays at Mizzou.  

Mushnick doesn’t just stop there he goes back to Larry Brown hiring Ed Manning as an assistant in 1984 and son Danny Manning arriving on campus to play for Kansas. There are many questions involving college basketball we see that from the Justice Department/FBI action prior to the start of the season.  If Mizzou or Kansas for that matter did something illegal I would be at the head of the line asking for punishment.  Despite the attempt by Mushnick to besmirch Mizzou basketball this one falls flat on its face.  If he bothered to fully explore the sport college he’d discover the Porter/Manning account is not as new or unusual as he’d like to claim.  There have been examples in college football as well in the past.  “Move along there’s nothing to see here."