Players

Currently I’m reading The Big O and I recently I read West by West. Not long ago, I reported about reading The Rivalry and The Inside Game. So, to those who recognize the subjects of those books, it should come as no surprise that I enjoyed stumbling across this photo in Mr. Adbul-Jabars’ Twitter pix. These are four of the guys whom I’d want in my all-time seven- or eight-man rotation.

Sir Charles on gays in the locker room

On 17 May, Washington Post columnist Mike Wise published a report about an interview he conducted with Charles Barkley in which Mr. Wise described Mr. Barkley’s views about the unnecessary focus on sexual orientation in professional team sports. According to Mr. Wise, “Charles Barkley is sick and tired of hearing how the sanctuary of the locker room is not ready for a male athlete in a major team sport to come out to his teammates, how awkward everyone would feel after they heard a teammate say, ‘I’m gay.’”

Bill Russell Honored

President Obama and Bill Russell at Medal of Freedom Award Ceremony

Let’s get this straight: I’m a Lakers fan, which has certain implications about my regard for the Celtics. O.K.? Now, here’s something that I’m really happy to note.

William Fenton Russell received recognition that was very much deserved yesterday when US President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. Mr. Obama noted that Mr. Russell, the leader of the Celtic teams that beat the Lakers frequently during my formative years, describes himself not as a basketball player, but as a man who plays basketball. “Bill Russell, the man, is someone who stood up for the rights and dignity of all men,” Obama said. “He marched with King; he stood by Ali. When a restaurant refused to serve the black Celtics, he refused to play in the scheduled game. He endured insults and vandalism, but he kept on focusing on making the teammates who he loved better players, and made possible the success of so many who would follow.”

Mr. Russell’s extraordinary personal strength and resilience was tried repeatedly. He persevered, as too many people had to persevere. John Taylor documents some of this in The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball (see here). He is far, far more than a basketball player. Even if he was 5’9″ tall, people should look up to Bill Russell.

I linked the image here to a snippet of video published on YouTube by CBS News. The White House has published video of the full ceremony.

By the way, here’s a belated doff of the cap to Mr. Russell, who shares 12 February as a birthday with Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Hat tip to Ron Artest

Over on EBD Blog I have an appreciation for the mental-health awareness works of LA Laker Ron Artest. It’s nice when my hoops and my professional interests intersect!

High-spring shoes

Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated has a column entitled “Can special basketball shoes really make you jump higher?” about sneaks for basketball that are supposed to add several inches to one’s hops. His lukewarm first-person review leaves one wondering about the benefits of the shoes (and, personally, I’d bet on his recommendation that it’s likely to be more beneficial to bite the proverbial bullet and invest in working out rather than seeking an artificial, quick fix for jumping woes).

But here’s what caught my interest about this story: There was no mention of Sax Elliott, the 1950s-60s basketball coach whom I remember hearing had created or at least talked about creating shoes with springs in them for his players. I didn’t find additional reference to Mr. Elliott’s innovation in a quick search of the Internet, but I wonder if any readers might have heard this story, too.

NBA apps

As a National Basketball Association (NBA) junkie (my brother’s diagnosis), I have two NBA-sponsored apps: NBA Game Time Lite (free) and NBA League Pass. The latter permits me to watch lots of games on the tiny iPhone screen, provided that the game is not blocked because I’m in a geographic region that is within the broadcast area of the home team. In addition to the live feeds, it also provides standings, simple and more detailed results, and other features.

The free app does not provide video. I can get current scores from around the league, standings, and more. What’s interesting to me is that the for-fee League Pass updates less frequently than the free Game Time Lite! I can, however, alter the settings on the Game Time Lite to lenghten its refresh interval, but why should I as a close game comes to an end?

What is more, the data from League Pass seem to report the time remaining in the games more accuratelyl. At least twice I’ve switched back and forth between the apps while the time remaining in a game dwindled. The more expensive League Pass gave a gross estimate of the time remaining (e.g., “under 4 minutes”) while the free Game Time Lite reported the number of seconds remaining and updated every 15 seconds.

So, if a game is blacked out, am I better off when I use the free app? Is there no NBA coordination of the app-development efforts? Is there a problem with this business model?

Anyway, I’m glad to have these apps. They’re even valuable when one can watch a game live on TV, as they permit one to monitor team and player stats in real time. I’m removing neither Game Time nor League Pass from my phone.

NBA HoF candidates

Karl Malone should be an obvious choice for induction into the (US) Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this coming summer. He’s the 2nd most prolific scorer in NBA history for staters. After Michael Jordan’s induction in 2009, it’s fitting that one of his greatest rivals during their careers is now eligible and should be among those inducted.

But, another candidate captures my imagination: Mr. Jordan’s teammate Scottie Pippen. Taking nothing away from Mr. Malone, I’m pleased to see Mr. Pippen among the nominees. I understand that Mr. Pippen is also an obvious choice for first-ballot induction. I simply want to note that, in my book, he’s one of the few guys who could have a chance at winning a 1-on-3 half-court game against NBA players when he’s the one. He had great defensive abilities both up and down the size scale. And he could score, too.

To be sure, there are other deserving nominees: Dennis Johnson, Oscar Schmidt, Jim Valvano, and (especially) Tex Winter. Visit the Naimsmith Hall of Fame. See Scott Howard-Cooper’s article about nominees (with a great photo of Mr. Malone and Mr. Pippen) on the NBA site.

71 jewel

On this day in 1960 Elgin Baylor of the Los Angeles Lakers scored 71 points in a National Basketball Association game against the New York Knicks, hitting 28 2-pointers and 15 free throws. The Lakers won 123-108 on the Knicks’ home floor, basketball mecca, Madison Square Garden.

As a pre-adolescent wanna-be basketball player who had recently moved to Los Angeles, these high-scoring events were markers. The previous year, Mr. Baylor had scored 64 points in a single game, but this 71 was something special. At the time it was, of course, the most points ever scored in an NBA game. Since then, only three players (Wilt Chamberlain, 5 times; Kobe Bryant and David Thompson once each) have ever scored more points in a game.

Later that season, I attended a game the Lakers played against the Syracuse Nationals and the great Dolph Schayes at Los Angeles State College, away from their usual home location of the LA Sports Arena. I remember the announcer introducing the starting line ups: “And, at forward, number 22, Elgin, 71-Jewel, Baylor.” I referred to the use of “jewel” in an Feb 2008 post about an article on Mr. Baylor’s career; this note serves as further explanation for that reference.

Links for the NBA’s player profile and the Hoopedia page about Mr. Baylor’s career. Link to my earlier post.

KAJ deserves a statue

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—who played basketball, writes books, coaches basketball, and advocates for worthy public causes—has leukemia. Although Mr. Abdul-Jabbar has known he has chronic myeloid leukemia since December of 2008, he only revealed it publicly 9 November 2009. The diagnosis has apparently been confirmed by checking for the Philadelphia chromosome abnormality.

As a long-time admirer of Mr. Abdul-Jabbar (I remember going to see him play on the UCLA freshman team when they played a game at Pasadena City College), I am saddened by the news. To be sure, it’s oddly good news for those who have or who study chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia, as the disease suddenly has a much larger public profile. As my brother Frank noted, it will probably do for this form of leukemia what Magic Johnson’s and Lou Gerhig’s inflictions did for AIDS and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, respectively.

Apparently, I’m not alone in my admiration for Mr. Abdul-Jabbar. Broderick Turner, the reporter for the Los Angeles Times who reported about Mr. Abdul-Jabbar’s revelation that he has the disease, followed up that earlier story with a note about others’ expression of concerns.

Hire an expert

If one makes, say, the average salary of a player in major league sports (say, between $1 and $5 million in the NBA, MLB, NHL, or NFL), couldn’t you pay some one a few $10K a year to review every prescribed and over-the-counter drug, supplement, or alternative medicine you considered taking so that you would know whether it would violate your league’s drug rules? I’m sorry to see that Rashard Lewis is yet another of the fallen.