Hi gang. Did anyone catch the Creighton V DePaul hoops game last night. It wasnt much of a game, basketball wise. But, if you are a fan of watching watching a shooting exhibition you were in luck. Doug McDermott, son of the Creighton Coach and leading scorer in the nation, lived up to his nickname of Dougie McBuckets. He shot six of his first seven three pointers on his way to 27 first half points. Many people, I am sure, thought they were witnessing the secone coming of Vinny The Microwave Johnson. McBuckets was scoring from every distance and every angle a person could score. He hit three pointers with his toe on the arc, he hit them from NBA range, he hit them from the locker room (Down Town Freddie Brown where have you been), he made lay-ups with either hand, running hooks, conventional jumpers in the lane, a couple of free throws and, just to show that he is not the Tommy Heisnsohn, he threw some beautiful passes for assists. Quite a show McBuckets. He only ended up with 35 because Pops sat him for most of a meaningless second half. Good sport Coach for not running up the score to pad your sons resume. Many interesting stories happened in sports on March 14th but the best occurred on March 14, 1996. On that day, In Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of Indianapolis Pacers Reggie Miller, a bang the drum UCLA Alum, the backdoor cuts to the hoop, a trademark of a Pete Carrill Princeton Tigers basketball team, would shoot down the UCLA Bruins in the opening round of March Madness. Even after UCLA opened the game with three quick baskets, Princeton settled down and began to play defense. This game would not be a slugfest where the two teams would stand together in the middle of the boxing ring and pummel each other like UCLA was Joe Louis banging on Princeton like they were a Bum of the Month Club fighter. Instead, Princeton would follow the Mohammed Ali rope-a-dope tactic and take every punch UCLA could throw without allowing them to land a big one. Sure enough, Pete Carrills Tigers were tied with the big bad Bruins with seconds to go and the Tigers with the ball. Cinderella deliberately brought the ball up the court; glass slippers clicking on the court like Gregory and Maurice Hines were delighting the crowd with a tap dancing routine. The Tigers passed the ball around, setting picks, bobbing and weaving, looking for an opening, sitting in the weeds like a lion stalking an antelope. Center forward double door. Suddenly, sophomore Gabe Lewullis, destined to become a Doctor, goes back-door from the far right of the foul line extended, not once but twice, catches the ball with both hands and lays it off the glass in the same motion. Good, two points. Princeton leads. The refs are now in a NATO meeting to decide how much time should be on the clock. It seems like an hour before it is finally determined that there are 2.2 seconds to play. The Bruins in-bound. Pass to front court, shot, thunk, off the rim, no good. Princeton Wins. The Tigers Win. Pete Carrill wins in the NCAAs Final score, David 43, Goliath 41. Cinderella kisses Prince and becomes a Princess. On March 14, 1954, one day after Bobby Thomson breaks his leg in a spring training game for the Milwaukee Braves, 20 year old minor leaguer Hank Aaron gets his first start in a Braves uniform in a spring training game against the Boston Red Sox. Aaron gets three hits, including a home run, making such an impression on the Braves brass that he is immediately given a Major League contract and will begin his 23 year MLB career one month later. On March 14, 1986, forward Rod Higgins became the first player in NBA history to play for four teams in one season when he takes the court for Chicago. He has also played this season for Seattle, San Antonio and New Jersey. On March 14, 1963, San Francisco Warrior Point Guard Guy Rodgers tied an NBA record by handing out 28 assists in a 114-109 loss to the St. Louis Hawks. Rodgers tied the record held by Bob Cousey who had 28 assists on February 27, 1959 when his Boston Celtics beat the Lakers. The current NBA assists record is 30 set by Orlando Magic guard Scott Skiles on December 30, 1990 in a victory against the Denver Nuggets. On March 14, 1954, in the last game of that season, the Baltimore Bullets dropped a 91-86 road decision to the Pistons in Fort Wayne. That loss had two significant points. First, It was the 20th consecutive loss for the Baltimore Bullets in the current 1953-54 season which made them the only team in NBA history to play an entire season without winning a game on the road and second, it was the 32nd consecutive road loss over two seasons (carrying over the last 12 loses from the 1952-53 season). On March 14, 1972, the Cincinnati Royals (NBA team which moved from Rochester, N.Y. in 1957) announced plans to move to Kansas City. However, since Major League Baseball already fields a team in Kansas City named the Royals, and not to cause any confusion, the NBA team will change its name to the Kings. The Kansas City Kings will nor achieve the financial success they had hoped for and would move, in 1985, to the Capital of California and become todays Sacramento Kings. On March 14, 2003, The Milwaukee Brewers TV/radio play by play announcer, Bob Uecker is chosen for induction into the broadcasters wing of the Baseball Hall Of Fame as the recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award. The 68 year old former MLB catcher, who was born and raised in Milwaukee, joined the Brewers crew in 1971. He is well known for his humor having made over 100 appearances on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show, starred in the Major League baseball movies, starred in the Miller Light beer commercials and his famous cry of I must be in the front row can be heard throughout the country. There has been much talk recently of Major League IV coming very soon. Tragedy struck on March 14, 1980 when a plane crashed near Warsaw, Poland killing 73 people included a 14-man American boxing team. If you are not aware (I dont know how you couldnt be aware by now) college basketball conference tournaments are in full swing and are televised on every conceivable channel; All ESPN channels, Fox Sports 1 and 2, CBSSports, NBCSports, TBS, TNT, MSG, MSG+, YES, NESN, MASN, all regional sports channels if you have the Sports Package, on the week-end will be CBS, NBC, all other channels that the broadcast channels own like USA, FX, etc. Sunday night, the 68 or 72 or 96 or 128 or whatever number of teams are now in the NCAA Tourney will be announced. If you have forgotten it is called Selection Sunday. Query: Which is more addictive: a. Heroin, b. Cocaine, c. Nicotine, d. Coffee, e. airplane glue f. Chocolate g. College Basketball. h. office pools i. gambling. Fill out your bracket. Let your Grandmother fill out a bracket, she will pick the teams by what color uniforms they wear. It is as good a system as any. Stay safe. See you tomorrow. I am down with the UConn women and the Wheat Shockers men.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 16:08:07 +0000
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