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Basketball from a fans perspective

“Keep practicing. Never let someone tell you you’re too small or too slow.”

Chris Paul 

Winning Time…apparently no more

HBO confirmed Winning Time’s second season concluded on Sunday evening. For those unfamiliar this is the fantasy series detailing the Showtime Lakers of the 1980’s, I’m using the term “fantasy” based on several events. Not a single Laker had anything good to say about the series, in addition Laker owner Jeanie Buss was the only person associated with the team changing her mind. Buss was displeased at first too, she eventually changed her mind. She had pleasant things to say about the production especially John C. Reilly, who portrayed Jerry Buss.

Much later Buss went on record indicating how pleased she was with Hadley Robinson’s depiction of her. Jeff Pearlman, who wrote the book indicated the on-going writers’ strike was responsible for the fact there would be no season three. Despite the view expressed by Pearlman I believe there was more to the story than a writers strike. I expressed this view last season and will repeat it again, editorial liberties were taken by Pearlman in writing the book which became the HBO production. Again to my knowledge other than Jeanie Buss I don’t remember any Laker of the past pleased with Showtime. I could be incorrect on this, I believe the negative opinions expressed by many associated with the team might have been its downfall. This next portion I’m unsure if I covered it, Pearlman pleading for viewers indicating there would be no season three without an increase in viewership.

While researching this story I came across information to share and include. The following numbers cannot be verified although Lynette Rice Deadline.com writing Sept. 17 indicates they are correct. 1. “The August 2023 premier attracted 629,000 viewers, compare that to the 901,000 who tuned in for the first episode in March of 2022.” Although I have no doubt Winning Time had an audience these numbers prove it might not have been substantial enough to maintain production for a third season, that fact alone might have sealed the fate of Winning Time. I repeat my earlier statement, viewing Oppenheimer, Malcom X or Lincoln…. I realize the actors were working from a script, the events detailed was not a word for word detail of the occurrence. In my historical view I’m more concerned about the event itself, why manufacture or embellish portions of the episode to make it more appealing to a television audience?

1.deadline.com Sept. 17, 2023

Teams you love to hate

Friends the title might be a little misleading, let’s just say there are college basketball teams you strongly dislike. Can you name them, maybe in some instances there might be more than one. I once read a true rivalry occurs when one guy beats the other on occasion. It cannot be one-sided despite the length of time teams might have competed against one another. Once upon a time I could state St. John’s and UConn were fierce rivals. I could also make the statement regarding St. John’s and Georgetown. Sharing a border one might believe North Carolina and South Carolina would be rivals despite playing in different conferences. That rival lies in close proximity, it’s the Duke Blue Devils. Looking south we have two teams in the same state but once again different conferences, the University of Florida and Florida State.

In the Midwest portion of the nation we have Michigan-Ohio State along with the Purdue-Indiana rivalry. In Kansas I’m a little unsure, it should be Kansas State although recently Kansas basketball has dominated this rivalry. Kansas generally avoids playing Wichita State for various reasons. It would seem with a common border Iowa State and Arkansas would be rivals for the University of Missouri, it’s not there as far as I can see. Once again different conferences but the rivalry is more Illinois-Missouri than anything. Out west we have UCLA-USC and Oregon-Oregon State. Is there rivalry between New Mexico and New Mexico State, someone needs to answer that question for me. Auburn-Alabama matches have been historical in football, basketball between the schools might reach that pinnacle one day as well. Because this is done from what I think rather than research there might be schools I missed. In addition a number of these mentioned might not be rivals at all with the schools mentioned.

He’s the man

I bet you didn’t realize the NBA is so youthful compared to other major sports. Since 1946 only 5 men have led the BAA which through a merger with the NBL became today’s NBA. What you are about to read is certainly not intended to be complete, it will provide a thumbnail sketch of the occurrences during the period of leadership. Maurice Podoloff was there at the beginning however despite leading the league his title was “president.” In any event while serving as president he was responsible for negotiating the merger between the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League in 1949 were the NBA was born. Podoloff served in the leadership role from 1946-1963, in addition the collegiate draft and 24-second clock originated during his tenure. In 1963 J. Walter Kennedy took over the leadership of the NBA from Podoloff, in 1967 his title was changed from president to commissioner and successors hereafter would be hired under that title.

There were only 8 teams and no national television contract at the time Kennedy became president. By the time he retired in 1975 the NBA had increased to 18 teams and a lucrative television deal was in place. In 1975 Larry O’Brian was hired to succeed Kennedy, the league increased its visibility under O’Brian. The NBA began an arrangement outside broadcast television with cable deal (ESPN & USA). The ABA-NBA expansion (merger) occurred while O’Brian was commissioner and several other noteworthy events occurred. In 1984 David Stern succeeded O’Brian as leader and the NBA began expanding rapidly adding additional teams. Stern was the driving force to ensure the NBA would become an around the world league. It was during his time when international players began arriving in the NBA in numbers. February 1, 2014, Adam Silver was approved to succeed Stern as commissioner of the NBA. I have skimmed over a number of very important events in the leagues history, time and space prevent detailing the story in its entirety.