Basketball from a fans perspective

He said…what?

If you thought LeBron James was the oldest active player ever that is not the case. He is the oldest active player at this point but not the eldest ever. That honor belongs to at least two other former players. Vince Carter was 43 years of age when he retired after an illustrious NBA career. Robert “Chief” Parrish is closely associated with those championship Celtic teams but ended his time in the NBA with the Bulls, he was 44 years old. I don’t believe either Carter or Parrish plus others were playing at the level of LeBron. You’ve heard the saying Father Time remains undefeated, well LeBron updated it. “Everyone is saying Father Time is undefeated, so I’m trying to give him one loss” so says LeBron James.

“Revenge is a dish best served cold”

If you are a fan of the original Star Trek you might recognize that headline. Captain Kirk’s adversary Khan reminded our captain of the ancient Klingon Proverb in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The only problem Gene Roddenberry creator of the series “borrowed” the quote. It was actually French author Choderlos de Laclos who included it in his 1782 novel “Les Liaisons dangereuses.” Where am I going with this account you are probably asking yourself about now? Wednesday night witnessed a basketball game between Marquette and Texas.

Marquette coach Shaka Smart served as head coach at both schools, Smart was not fired however its likely the regents wanted him gone since he didn’t produce the winning program they desired. Smart resigned his position at Texas and later Marquette hired him in 2021. Wednesday afternoon the coach told his players to treat this game like any other, in this instance they paid little attention going out and blasting Texas 86-65. I know what you are thinking “Texas must not have been any good.” That might not quite be the case, going into the game Marquette was the number 8th ranked school in the nation while Texas was 12.  As for Smart’s time at Texas it wasn’t terrible however he failed to duplicate his record at VCU.

There are others

I plead guilty, I’ve been so preoccupied with Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren up to this point the other rookies have been ignored. In all likelihood they will not win Rookie of the Year, despite that fact they should have outstanding NBA careers based on their start. Who are they, well there is Jaime Jacquez Jr., he played at UCLA but is now one of the guards for the Heat. The Hornets chose small forward/shooting guard Brandon Miller while the Mavs got Big Man Dereck Lively II formerly of Duke. A friend mentioned to me the number of times Wemby was on television so far this season, he said he’d rather see other teams. My suggestion for him is to check out games featuring one or more of the trio of players covered in this account.

His catch phrase

At the beginning of every broadcast analyst Bill Raftery is part of you will hear this phrase. “They begin the game “mantoman,” he runs the words together intentionally indicating the competitors are playing man to man defense. This along with a bunch of other phrases have become catch phrases we expect and receive whenever 80-year-old Raftery is the analyst for a college basketball game. He’s done it all, a college player at La Salle University he was drafted in the NBA in 1963 but never played.

From there Raftery had two stints as a college basketball coach, Fairleigh Dickinson and Seton Hall. In 1983 he moved into the broadcast booth first working for CBS Sports covering college basketball. Later it would be ESPN briefly then he went to work for Fox Sports where he remains as this is written. There are no plans to retire, its clear Raftery loves his job…college basketball. He’s got several catch phrases you will hear during the course of a broadcast, I’ve mentioned on occasion the lack of characters in sports of today, Dick Vitale is certainly one and so is Bill Raftery. Below are just a few of the catch phrases for Raftery.

“Onions” (when a shot is made late in a close game)

“Send it in Big Fella” (A post player with a dunk)

“With a little kiss” (when a shot banks in)             

“A little nickel-dimer” (when a light foul is called)

"A little lingerie on the deck!" (when a player makes a nifty move with the ball and fakes out the defender)

"Man-to-man!", which he announces very fast and excitedly at the start of most games.

No, the other court

This is a story few remember I came across while conducting NBA research. Imagine this starting lineup for the Bucks, Kareem Abdul Jabbar at center with Oscar Robertson at the point. The small forward is Julius “Dr. J.” Erving, hold on a moment he never played for the Bucks. Erving probably would have if not for a court decision. In an earlier account it was mentioned Erving left UMass before he was eligible for the draft in the NBA. That was no issue for the ABA operating at the time the Virginia Squires signed Erving and he began play for them. In the 1972 NBA Draft the Milwaukee Bucks chose Erving although he was playing in the ABA. I will speed ahead, the balance of the story has a soap opera tinge to it, Erving would later sign with the Hawks and even play in a few exhibition games.

The Squires went to court gaining a ruling which prevented Erving from playing for the Hawks. In addition he was also required to return to play for the Squires, which he did for a year. Erving’s contract was sold to the then New York Nets who would sell it to the Sixers, that’s the shortened version of the account how Erving became a Sixer without being drafted by them. To add further thought it Erving had been allowed to remain with the Hawks he would have joined Pete Maravich, Walt Bellamy and Lou Hudson. The Hawks received financial compensation from the ABA in the court case that ensued, losers in the story were the Bucks who received nothing. Robertson would retire a few years later and Abdul Jabbar would demand the team trade him which they did to the Lakers.