Basketball from a fan’s perspective

This ain’t your father’s NBA (or NFL) 

Good luck with that, finding something else to spend your time pursuing. I read a letter the other day from an NBA fan, he was upset with the social and political stance taken by many of the players. My first thought, "This ain't your father's NBA (or NFL) for that matter." Athletes of today will continue to address political and social issues as they see a need. I have got two suggestions for my friend, ignore the stance taken and focus on the games or take up bird watching or stamp collecting.  Today’s athletes are informing Laura Ingraham she’s the one who needs to “Shut up.” 

Municipal Auditorium

Kansas City’s basketball arena opened in 1936, once Kemper (HyVee) and Sprint (T-Mobile) Arena opened the Muni witnessed fewer and fewer basketball games being played.  The venerable building has seen many giants of the game both college and NBA grace the court over those years.  At present the arena is home court for the University of MO-Kansas City.  Beginning in 1937 the arena served as host site for the NAIA since its inception, the only years missing were 1994 through 2001 when the tournament was held in Oklahoma. 

Tennessee State won 3 consecutive NAIA Championships 1957-59 in the Muni and was duplicated later by Kentucky State 1970 through 1972.  The American Basketball League Kansas City Steers called the Muni home the 1 ½ years the league was in existence.  At the time the Cincinnati Royals arrived in town and rebranded as the Kings their games were in the Muni until Sprint Center was later opened in 1974.  Prior to the NCAA moving championship games to football stadiums the Muni held the record for the most championships played in a one building. 

The triple overtime championship game in 1957 won by North Carolina over Kansas was played at the Muni.  The list of Hall of Fame players on the floor over the years read like a who’s who of college and NBA talent.  Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Tiny Archibald, Jerry Lucas, Elvin Hayes, and John Havlicek are just a few of the hundreds of names written in the annals of history of Municipal Auditorium or the Muni.  This brief look back in time omits the number of high school games played in the building over the years. 

Once upon a time

In the 1960's and '70's the Missouri Valley Conference was one of the toughest basketball conferences in the nation, it is still tough today however it is somewhat unrecognized by the national sports media. It is unrecognized until one of its schools’ "upsets" a national power team.  Valley schools of that long-ago period were the equivalent of the ACC or Big East today, the conference is now considered a mid-major conference.  Mid-major number 9 seed Northern Iowa took out the mighty Kansas Jayhawks a number 1 in the 2010 NCAA tourney? In addition to successful teams the conference has turned out several outstanding NBA players.

Yahoo Sports compiled a complete list, but I will profile just a few. Larry Bird of Indiana State, anybody ever heard of him? How about Walt "Clyde" Frazier New York Knicks legend, he would earn his defensive spurs at Southern Illinois University. Former Chicago Bulls forward Chet Walker was a 2X first team All-American at Bradley University and member of the 1963 NBA Rookie Team. Doug Collins, former NBA player and coach honed his basketball skill at Illinois State University.  These are just a few of the outstanding players produced by the Valley over its history.  Great NBA players do not all come from Power 5 conference schools.    

Help Wanted (no longer)  

Craig Robinson former Oregon State head coach and brother of Michelle Obama has a new job, he will lead the National Association of Basketball Coaches as executive director. What does the NABC do, from the website of the organization “The National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation, Inc., was organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes, and to support the charitable and education purposes of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), a Kansas non-profit corporation.  The NABC Foundation operates the NABC Foundation Benevolent Fund, the College Basketball Experience (CBE), the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, and the annual Court of Honor Gala.”*  With its headquarters in Kansas City we guess the Robinson family would be moving to the metro area, congratulations coach. 

*nabc.com