Basketball from a fans perspective

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Bits n Pieces 

Did you read the statement; Bucs quarterback Tom Brady claims he could play to age 50? We have at least one athlete who doesn’t agree with the 44-year-old quarterback. That would be Laker power forward Carmelo Anthony, he’s now 37-years old and entering his 18^th season in the NBA. Anthony further said his body would let him know when it’s time to retire. This is all speculation at this point, but this is likely Anthony’s last season whether he wins a championship or not. As for Brady it is admirable whether you like him or not to be productive at this age in the competitive sports world.

There was no attempt to mislead anyone reading the account on the Sunday match between the Nets and Lakers. Anthony Davis did start and played through half of the first quarter I believe. Newcomer DeAndre Jordan also started but gave way near the same time to Dwight Howard who played the bulk of minutes until he was ejected in a rather strange set of circumstances. I was unsure if LeBron or Carmelo would play however, I thought Russell Westbrook might appear. Oh well it’s on to Wednesday and Phoenix where they will face the Suns.

The annual Maui Invitational will be held again this upcoming season. Rather than being played in Hawaii the site of this year’s tournament will be Las Vegas…the culprit? You know the answer, covid and the travel restrictions the pandemic has caused. Last year the tournament was held despite the pandemic, North Carolina was the site as the Texas Longhorns won. Participating teams are Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Butler, Houston, Oregon, Chaminade, St. Mary’s and Notre Dame. The dates, November 22 through November 25, the field is complete with competitive teams, if you live in Las Vegas this might be a worthwhile enterprise for those who enjoy college basketball.

In looking ahead toward the NBA season, a part of our focus has been on Kawhi Leonard. That’s natural because the Clipper forward is the biggest name among the injured who will miss the season opening. There are others who will be missing in action along with Kawhi. Jamal Murray Nuggets guard, Klay Thompson Warriors guard and Victor Oladipo of the Heat are just the more well-known names who will be missing in action in two weeks when the NBA season begins. There is no timetable for any of those named to be ready, in one instance we read “He will be ready when’s he’s ready.”

He’s an actor & basketball player

The two occupations actor and basketball player have merged in the past and present. We could mention 1979’s The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh that featured Dr. J. or Shaquille O’Neal in Blue Chips a 1994 movie. Probably Space Jam featuring Michael Jordan and others might have been the most financially rewarding. There were others not mentioned but the point is this, they were athletes filling a role as an actor. How about a basketball player who likely is known more for his movie and television roles? That would be the late Chuck Connors who played The Rifleman on television in the late 1950’s. Connors played briefly for the Celtics but his career before the cameras exceeded his time on the basketball court. Connors had movie and television roles prior to and after The Rifleman series was over.

This next actor was a point guard on one of the first UCLA Championship teams. He skillfully passed the basketball to Lew Alcindor, his name Mike Warren. The police drama was titled Hill Street Blues and Warren played Officer Bobby Hill. The series ran 7 seasons, since then Warren has appeared in other productions although fewer lately. Wilt Chamberlain had a single role in the 1984 action-adventure Conan the Destroyer as Boombata guardian of the princess. Rick Fox was a valued member of the Lakers during their 3-peat and beyond. Nowadays he is likely to pop up on your television or in a move role as he “found” Hollywood too after basketball. Former sharpshooter Ray Allen had but one role that of Jesus Shuttleworth in the 1998 movie He Got Game. There are others seen in a variety of movie roles, who can forget Kareem Abdul Jabbar as co-pilot Roger Murdock in the 1980 comedy Airplane? There are other former basketball players turned actor with continuing roles on television and in the movies.

A good move

I admit it, I was overly critical of the Big XII at the time Texas and Oklahoma decided to leave the conference. Countless believed as me the conference appeared to be dragging its feet to recover from the loss of these two key schools. We could foresee the demise of the conference like the old Southwest Conference. You might remember from 1914 through 1996 the SWC was one of the most prolific athletic conferences in the nation.

The SWC was formed of Texas schools apart from the University of Arkansas, they would later leave for the SEC in 1990. Back to the Big XII a moment, the schools invited to join field competitive teams in football and basketball. In closing I am forced to admit I was wrong, behind the scenes with not much fanfare the commissioner’s office was working to keep the Big XII as a workable conference. Whether we agree or not is another matter, as for this writer it would have been a slam dunk if Memphis was invited. We conclude a decent job was done and the Big XII continues, as for Memphis we might hear from them at a future date possibly being invited to the conference.