Hi gang. Did everyone remember to set their clocks one hour ahead last night? This action, called Daylight Savings Time, was first suggested by, of course, Benjamin Franklin. It seems that Benjamin Franklin suggested just about everything doesnt it? Anyway, I dont trust DST. What happened during the hour that we gained or, when we turn the clocks back, what happens in the hour that we lose? I am sure most of you are familiar with the theory of time travel that you can not change anything while you are on your time travel trip because you would tear a hole in time warp continuem which would change history. You know, your Mother would never be born, etc. I believe the same is true during the Spring Forward, Fall Back of Daylight Saving Time. Call me Crazy, and many have, but something happened in the hour that we artificially lost when we turned the clock forward. Tread lightly today, my friends. When I tread lightly my friends, I rarely drink beer, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis. Sorry, I thought I was in a Beer Commercial. On March 9, 1958, George Yardley scored 26 points against the Syracuse Nationals to finish the 1957-58 NBA season with 2001 points. Yardley, a 65 forward for the Detroit Pistons is the first man to score 2000 points in an NBA season. George Yardley graduated from Stanford University in 1950 with a degree in Engineering. He was the #1 draft pick of the, then, Fort Wayne Pistons. Yardley was hesitant to sign a contract to play NBA basketball. First, he knew that he could make more money than the Pistons were offering with his engineering degree and second, he did not want to move east. George Yardley signed with an engineering firm in southern California. Just before the start of the 1953-54 season, Yardley relented and signed on to play for the Fort Wayne Pistons. Fred Zollner, owner of the Pistons, agreed to give Yardley $11,000 (a salary of $9,500, which was 3 times the average NBA salary at the time, and a $1,500 signing bonus.) The signing of George Yardley, who was now a 25 year old rookie, would pay off handsomely. Over the next four years in Fort Wayne, Yardley would be named to the NBA All Star team 3 times and lead his team in scoring and rebounding. In the 1956-57 season, the last season the Pistons would play in Fort Wayne before they moved to Detroit, George Yardley averaged a double-double with 21.5 ppg and 10.5 rpg. The 1957-58 season saw the team become the Detroit Pistons, which they remain today, and records began to either fall or set a standard in the NBA. First, on December 26, 1957, George Yardley made 20 of 24 foul shots against the St. Louis Hawks to set two Piston records; free throws made and free throws attempted in one game. Later that season, March 9, 1958, Yardley became the first NBA player to score 2000 points. Bob Petit of the St. Louis Hawks would break the record the next year, 1958-59, with 2105 and then in the 1959-60 season Wilt Chamberlain came into the NBA and all records started to be wiped from the books. Yardley, because of his late start in the NBA would end his career after the 1959-60 season. He started a business in Los Angeles representing people and companies who manufactured energy related products. When the ABA was formed, the L.A. team wanted Yardley to play. He agreed to play for one year under a special contract where is only played Home Games and certain Road Games that corresponded with his business travels. George Yardley wore #12 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall Of Fame in 1996. Did you catch the Duke-UNC game last night. It was a great game. Two teams with a rivalry on the level of Yankees-Red Sox, Auburn-Alabama, Michigan-Ohio-State, UConn-Tennessee womens basketball, Newburgh-Mt. Vernon, etc. Duke won 93-81. Duke Freshman, 68 Jabari Parker, who will likely be a one and done player, looks like a top five NBA draft choice. He is the first Duke freshman to ever lead the Blue Devils in both scoring and rebounding. More importantly, he is mature beyond his years. It was Parker who grabbed his team-mates by the shirt and pull them away from UNC players or referees when it looked like they may let their emotions get the best of them to the detriment of the team. Rodney Hood, 68 lefty transfer from Mississippi, looked exceptionally good hitting shots from all distances and angles. The ACC Tournament looks like a barn burner. #1 ranked UVa won the regular season title at 16-1 but is no lock. Breathing down their neck are three dragons; #2. Syracuse, #3. Duke and #4. UNC. I am warning UVa now, if you can not stand the heat, do not tickle the dragon. The NCAA Tourney selections were given a shake up yesterday as #3 Arizona lost and #4 Kansas lost, as well as some near misses. By the way, the Harvard Crimson won their third consecutive Ivy Title. Can they throw some Linsanity into March Madness this year? On the womens side, the UConn Huskies keep cruising. Sophomore Breanna Stewart from Syracuse was named Player of the Year in the fledgling American Athletic Conference. Gene Auriemma was named Coach of the Year. The league named 11 players as first team All Stars, four of UConn Huskies were honored; Stefanie Dolson, Bria Hartley, Moriah Jefferson and Stewart. Stefanie Dolson was named Defensive Player of the Year and the Co-Winner of the Sportsmanship Award. Dolson, who became only the fourth UConn womens player to score 1500 points (1684) and gather 100 rebounds (1012), is averaging this season more than 9 rpg, has 71 blocks, leads a defense that allows fewer than 47 points a game and holds opponents to under 30% shooting. The John Wooden Award is given annually to the nations top college basketball player. There are fifteen finalists. The winner will be announced on April 4th on ESPN. Creighton senior Doug McDermott highlights the list. He passed 3000 career points in his last game. There are three freshman on the list; Kentucky forward Julius Randle, Kansas guard Andrew Wiggins and Duke swingman Jabari Parker. The Big Ten have two candidates in Michigan State guard Gary Harris and intra-state rival Michigan guard Nik Stauskas. Syracuse, the new member of the ACC has two finalists in guard Tyler Ennis and forward C.J. Fair. The addition of Louisville guard Russ Smith, Connecticut guard Shabazz Napier, Cincinnati guard Sean Kilpatrick, Florida Guard Casey Prather, Arizona guard Nick Johnson and Delaware guard Kyle Anderson brings the field to fourteen. The fifteenth finalist is a special player. He is a senior, 68 swingman for the only D-I undefeated mens team in the nation, the Wichita State Wheat Shockers. He is from Pine Bush, New York (Orange County) and played his first two years at Sullivan County Community College in tiny Loch Sheldrake, N.Y. The State University of N.Y. (SUNY) JUCO (Junior College) is located in Sullivan County, a county in New York State with a population of about 60,000. The county and the school (SCCC) are small but they play a national schedule. The player was the leading scorer and rebounder for his team, which won the National Championship as a D-III JUCO school. He was a two time All American and was the JUCO National Player Of The Year as a senior. He was spotted by a Wichita assistant coach who recommended him to head coach Gregg Marshall. He had other four year D-I offers but ilked the Wichita situation. He led the Shockers last season and this season, his senior year, he leads the Shockers in both scoring and rebounding and has been projected as a first round NBA draft choice. All of the above is just stats. The reality is that he is a great kid. He is the type of student-athlete that any coach would like to build a program around, he is the type of kid a parent hopes their children grow up to be like, he works hard, he plays the game hard. His name is Cleanthony Early. Watch him play. You will love his game. Root for him to win the John Wooden Award. If the Wizard of Westwood were still alive today, he would want Cleanthony Early to play for the UCLA Bruins. On March 9, 1994, in spring training, Phillies first-baseman John Kruk is struck in the groin by an errant pick off throw by the Wild Thing lefty Mitch Williams. Kruk, who would have been given the nickname Dr. Strangeglove if it werent already taken by Dick Stuart, was in pain when the pick off throw shattered his protective cup. Kruk, as luck would have it, required surgery. The surgeons discovered testicular cancer in an early form. They removed one testicle and expect a full and rapid recovery. John Kruk played the 1995 season and then retired to the broadcast booth. Kruk finished his 10 year career as a lifetime 300 hitter with 100 homers and just short of 600 RBI. He is currently one of the lead baseball analysts for ESPN. This injury and discovery of cancer came as a surprise to many of his friends in baseball. Ill tell you why. Nobody likes to make fun of cancer but sometimes its discovery come in an odd way. Do you remember John Kruks confrontation with pitcher Randy Johnson in the 1993 All Star game. The setting the All Star Game played in Camden Yards at Oriole Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland on July 13, 1993. John Kruk, a lefty fielding and lefty hitting first sacker for the Phillies is up to bat against the lefty throwing Randy Johnson. Johnson was 610 with a 99 plus fastball and a curve ball that started at the head of a left-handed batter and ended up in the right hand batters box. In addition, Johnson was know to pitch inside and his disposition could be described as nasty at times. John Kruk, who had struck out in his prior at bat, looked like he wanted nothing to do with Randy Johnson. Kruk explained later, all he wanted to do was get up to ball take three down the middle for a strike-out or four outside for a walk. No swinging, nothing near him, no fuss, no muss. The at bat didnt work out that way. Johnsons first pitch, at close to 100 mph, sailed over Kruks head, missing him by about ten feet. kruk jumped out of the batters box like the ball missed him by inches. he took off his batting helmet. He wiped his brow. He wiped his hands. He stood out of the batters box wiping any part of his uniform or body or equipment for so long that the umpire had to tell him to get back in the box and hit. Timidly Kruk got back into the box. The next pitch from Johnson was also in the 100 mph range and was so far outside Kruk could not have hit is if he had a 30 foot bat. Instead, Kruk jumped out of the batters box again as if he was going to get hit by the pitch. The count on Kruk was two balls, no strikes but the at bat was over. Kruk got back in the box. Johnson threw him three curve balls, each started at Kruks head and each ended up as balls in the right handed batters box, except Kruk swung atb each one. He missed them all from here to Florida. Not close. But his pivot upon missing was something a ballet teacher would love. John Kruk put his head down and walked silently back to the dugout, thanking the Good Lord that his life had been spared. That is why most of Kruks team-mates knew eight months later, on March 9, 1994 when Mitch Williams pick-off throw shattered Kruks protective cup, that no harm would befall John Kruk. Based upon Kruks at bat against Randy Johnson everyone knew Kruk had no balls. Today, March 9th, is the birthday of Amerigo Vespucci. He was born in 1454. He was the actual explorer who discovered America not Chris Columbus. Columbus discovered Ohio thats why the city in that state is called Columbus. But, America was discovered by Amerigo Vespucci. Do you need more proof than to look at the name of the country. I rest my case. Except, maybe the Vikings, or the Chinese, or aliens in UFOs. I am still puzzled how Egyptians had pyramids, and the Mayans had pyramids, and the Inca had pyramids, and pyramids have been discovered in the ocean off the coast of Japan, and what about Ankor Wat? All of these questions and no answers. Lets get together an celebrate Amerigo Vespuccis birthday, March 9th. It needs to be a national holiday. Who cares about Chris Columbus. Screw him. Who cares about sales of towels and sheets anyway? Stay safe. See ya tomorrow.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 17:07:40 +0000
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