Basketball from a fan perspective

The game from a fan’s perspective

One more note

Fouls cannot be a determining factor in a team’s wins or losses, on the other hand perhaps they can.  An in balance in whistles certainly can provide an advantage for one team over another.  A few game officials “from time to time” appear whistle happy.  It’s as if they say, “I’m here so the conference might as well get their monies worth.”  Now I am being outrageous but consider the difference in Mizzou’s prior two games. 

Auburn was whistled for 21 fouls while Mizzou received 31 foul calls.  Contrast those numbers with the Mizzou-Tennessee game played previously, Tennessee was whistled for 20 fouls and Mizzou 19. In the South Carolina game Mizzou had 22 fouls called and South Carolina 23.  Game time style make for a different type of play however the difference in the three games is quite interesting.  Officials are human too however they should not be the determining factor in how a game turns out.  Am I making an excuse for a loss, that's possible however the box score speaks for itself?   

This is highly unusual

Several Yankee teammates are enshrined in the baseball hall of fame, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra both come to mind with little difficulty.  There are other Yankee teammates and other teammates such as Willie Mays and Willie McCovey who played for the Giants.  In the NFL we can discover teammates there as well.  My hometown Chiefs have quarterback Len Dawson, linebackers Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier. 

The Pittsburg Steelers have quarterback Terry Bradshaw and his receiver Lynn Swann along with running back Franco Harris enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio.  As for the Naismith Hall of Fame we could say Bill Russell and Bob Cousy and other Celtics.  There are two teammates in the hall of fame accomplishing this feat we seriously doubt if there are any others.  See these two teammates are high school teammates, they never played together in college. 

Without research it’s believed there were never partners in the NBA except perhaps at All Star time.  The two attended an Ohio high school, does that narrow it down a bit?  Are you still unsure, don’t cheat?  Okay one more hint both grew up in the city LeBron James was born.  They attended Akron’s Central High School, Nate Thurmond, and Gus Johnson two all-time great basketball players.  This could be duplicated at some point in the future but for now the two remain the only high school teammates in the Naismith Hall of Fame. 

The Clippers are good

In 2020-21 the Clippers are out to prove last season was a fluke not the season failing to advance and play for a championship.  Allow us to peer into the future, what occurs (especially in Los Angeles) should the Clippers win the NBA championship.  Will Southern Cal embrace the Clippers in the same manner they have the Lakers?  Both franchises are not home grown, they moved to Los Angeles from other areas of the nation, the Lakers from Minneapolis in 1960 and the Clippers from San Diego in 1984. 

The franchises went in opposite directions for a period, the Lakers assumed the losing role of the Clippers and the Clippers became winners.  Last season the playoffs witnessed the Clipper implosion and the Lakers winning championship number 17.  This is my contention; the nation will acknowledge a Clipper championship; fans of the team will celebrate wildly having been long deprived of a championship, but will the Clippers gain any additional local fans?  Rapper Snoop Dogg an affirmed Laker fan has claimed on more than one occasion “LA is a Laker town.”  As a member of Laker Nation, I certainly don’t want a Clipper championship this season, it would be interesting to see how Southern Cal might react when it occurs.  As this is written the teams are tied for 1^st place in the Pacific Division of the NBA. 

Kansas City & the NBA

Every time I settle back and decide NBA basketball will never return and BANG, another story occurs.  I am only as good as the information provided me; this story claims no authenticity although key people are contacted.  On January 14 Jabari Young CNBC.com wrote a story titled: Kansas City needs a billionaire to get an NBA team or it’ll go to Las Vegas.  You might remember sometime back we discussed this very subject, this writer concluded Kansas City had lined up behind Las Vegas for a variety of reasons.  In Young’s account he claims I might be incorrect should a series of events take place. 

In addition to the possibility the president of the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission is quoted in his story.  I’m unsure now without searching if this was mentioned in my previous account, there was a question at the time the Glass family decided to sell the Kansas City Royals.  The late Ewing Kaufmann the original owner of the Royals had deep ties to the metro, he wanted major league baseball at the time the A’s left for Oakland.  Fast forward, after Kaufmann’s death David Glass purchased the team. 

Although the Glass family had no direct connections to Kansas City, they maintained the team here. Once the family announced a sale everyone genuinely believed an owner outside the metro would likely purchase the team.  At a point came the announcement local guy John Sherman was announced as a potential buyer.  As for an NBA owner(s) the one individual we could name might be interested in owning an NBA plays another sport…Patrick Mahomes.  Could Mahomes assemble a group willing to underwrite an NBA team, that question remains an unknown for now?  Perhaps there is another “John Sherman” here unsure if he or she is willing to underwrite a couple of billion dollars for an NBA franchise.