A truly amazing Dick Cavett Show from 1972, I believe aired yesterday on Decades, the fine newer cable channel.
Mr. Cavett’s guests were William Holden, Sammy Davis Jr. and film critic Judith Crist.
Ms. Crist aired progressive views concerning the movie rating system at the time, calling for eased restrictions but certainly not in any way encouraging what might be inappropriate.
The conversation held so long ago especially in terms of attitudes illustrates how far the pendulum has swung the other way, perhaps and I believe too far the other way.
William Holden talked of the precious animals being senselessly hunted in Africa and told a great story illustrating Bob Hope’s great, quick wit.
Mr. Davis the consummate entertainer of course was a fabulous guest. His song “The Candy Man” was on the top hits music charts. Additionally he talked of how great the All In The Family cast and experience was for him and I add for us.
That was groundbreaking, great television and Sammy Davis’ legendary kiss to Carroll O’Connor’s “Archie Bunker” is a seminal moment in television history.
The great Sammy Davis Jr. pictured above.
Click below to view Sammy singing “The Candy Man” live in front of an audience in Germany. The song was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.
While only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who actually trailed three games to none, overcame as much as a (3-1) Stanley Cup finals deficit to win the title, no NBA team has ever done so in a finals series.
The Cavaliers win Monday night was the seventh by a road team trailing three games to one in the NBA Finals.
Four times the team up (3-1) that lost game 5 at home went on the road and won game 6, twice accomplished by Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls’ teams including one with current Warriors’ coach, Steve Kerr as a player in 1998.
Twice the team up (3-1) that lost game 5 at home, lost game 6 on the road but prevailed in game 7. Those teams were the 1951 Rochester Royals, who actually led the New York Knicks three games to none and the 1966 Boston Celtics vs the L.A. Lakers.
Better to deal with musical notes, such as those above.
As usual there is historical precedent in the unexpected (not all that much) failure of the record breaking Warriors to clinch the NBA title, at home in game 5 last night.
In fact, the Warriors were on the other side of the coin in 1967 and hope for the same result of that series, namely the record breaking team winning the title, on the road in game 6.
In 1967, a truly great Philadelphia 76ers team led by Wilton Norman Chamberlain won a then record 68 games and led the Warriors, known as the San Francisco Warriors at that time, 3 games to 1, and surely most felt, would clinch the series at home in game 5, on national television.
That was not the case and though the 76ers won in game 6 at S.F. , the first of two Wilt led record breaking titles, sadly his only 2 NBA titles, the game was not on national television and played late in the night at least in the eastern part of the country. For some reason, Wilt’s other record breaking season title clincher with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972 though TV’d nationally, was not preserved. The glorious last 8 minutes or so of that tilt was by all accounts, lost to us.
So maybe these record breaking Warriors will do what the record breaking 1966-1967 76ers did, namely win the title on the road in game 6.
I strongly suggest that the Warriors do so because though I have knocked LeBron James here and stand by it to the extent he is not the greatest player ever, nor even that close, he is a truly great player, clearly capable of leading a game 7 win, even on the road.
Get it done Thursday Warriors, be like the Pittsburgh Penguins and make both series Home, Home, Home, Road, Road, and Road.
Also if it happens, and though I believe the perception it will go 7 helps Golden State, this will not be easy, the Warriors will have clinched all 3 of their Bay Area titles on the road and have other than the Penguins the most such clinchers sans a home clincher.
The 1966-1967 Philadelphia 76ers pictured above.
A great player, but not a “Mount Rushmore” player as he thinks (he is), LeBron James and emerging star, Kyrie Irving each scored 41 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers stayed in the NBA title series with a double digit win against the home team, defending champion, record breaking Golden State Warriors in game 5.
Those characteristics such as record breaking, also the fact Golden State emerged from the far better conference mean nothing to mercenary Adam Silver. He suspended Draymond Green for the home tilt last night, making the Cavaliers’ chances for victory so much greater.
Cleveland deserves credit for winning, but it is a horrible circumstance (Green being suspended) and it keeps alive, the possibility of the Cavaliers winning one of the cheapest sports’ titles in a long time.
James gets far too much criticism for losses and infinitely too much praise for wins.
He has chosen his team TWICE in a 5 man sport, in which one player, especially one as great as James, can make so much difference.
Additionally, he chose to play or continue to play, calculating his team’s prospects, in a truly weak entity, that virtually assured finals entry.
Mark my words with this Silver, the appropriate name smacking of MONEY, Nate Silver and odds, (and) though William Jennings Bryan was for the silver standard, fighting the likes of Silver, who will or already has campaigned for legal gambling on NBA tilts, leaves those of us with true standards, hanging on symbolic crosses, be them Silver, gold or simply made of all our tears.
Concerning gold, I think of the greedy “Pieman,” making a great living, taking advantage of other’s misfortune.
Regarding Silver, Adam recounts not “original sin,” but the far worse sin of greed, with it the manipulation that becomes inherent in such treachery.
Then again the man on this country’s 20 dollar bill, Andrew Jackson, a former United States President, “slaughtered” multitudes of people, Natives on this continent.
My “tears” from that and other such disappointing horrors makes for a long, sad, “trail.”
Think about it!!!
There is some much needed fresh air in looking at the WNBA, in our first update on the 2016 season, which is the 20th in WNBA annals.
Two cities in which the storied NBA Lakers’ franchise have won many NBA titles, Minneapolis and Los Angeles, have also won titles in the WNBA and their 2016 WNBA versions are off to great, undefeated starts.
Start with the defending WNBA champion, Minnesota Lynx. They have won 3 WNBA crowns all under current coach, Cheryl Reeve and are off to a (10-0) start.
The Minneapolis Lakers, coached by John Kundla, won five NBA crowns in six seasons from (1949-1954), missing only in 1951.
Los Angeles (Sparks) won 2 WNBA crowns under coach Michael Cooper. They are off to a (9-0) start. The NBA Lakers have 11 “L.A. titles,” five won with Michael Cooper as a player.
Here is a positive note in sports, few and far between these days.
It concerns Jim Rutherford, the general manager of the new Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
The classy Mr. Rutherford has now helped build Stanley Cup winners 10 years apart, first with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and now with the Penguins in 2016.
I met Jim Rutherford once, in Los Angeles when he was with the Kings in 1981.
He said hello to me as a friendly gesture and somehow we introduced ourselves.
When he said Jim Rutherford, I said you mean the goaltender who was in goal in the last game of the last Red Wings’ full season playing at the famed Olympia in Detroit, in a (1-0) win against the great Montreal Canadiens, who did go on to win a 4th straight Stanley Cup in 1979.
That game enabled the New York Islanders, who were eventually “semi’d” by the New York Rangers, but who would go on to win 4 straight titles, starting the next season, to beat out the Canadiens for the best regular season record that season.
That game was a personal highlight for Jim Rutherford, the player, and he enjoyed hearing about it from a seemingly surprise source.
Now he has two Stanley Cup titles and in the past days thoughts turned to the great Gordie Howe and others at the famed Olympia and in the last full season game there, Jim Rutherford stood out.
He stands out as a gentleman and now after an especially great year with trades and decisions, most notably moving in Mike Sullivan as coach, as a two time and current Stanley Cup winning general manager.
Congratulations on a great job to Pittsburgh Penguins’ general manager, Jim Rutherford, pictured above.
For the record, I wrote this weeks ago, waiting for a time to post it. Yesterday’s ruling suspending Draymond Green which I consider terribly wrong on so many levels, only adds “fuel to the fire.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers started their season knowing a finals berth was theirs.
Star player, LeBron James, as stated here before, a magnificent player, one hyped far too much both good and bad in his ballyhooed career, knew the East was weak and the Cavaliers, a team he left years back, were a good choice for him.
Unlike so many who begrudge James and other prima donna athletes, while I think it horrible they get and teachers, nurses and other far more meaningful workers do not, I understand, or at least accept free enterprise.
Yet as I said so many years back when Reggie Jackson complete with (otter I believe) fur coat broke the then less money filled bank to sign with the New York Yankees and not the Montreal Expos— it is the fact that decision and especially ones in 5 man basketball, that truly affect the competitive nature of the game, that I find quite objectionable.
I doubt the cavemen grunted either literally or figuratively that so and so had an easier walk to get food. I hope I am gaining perspective on these matters.
The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in franchise history, all clinched with road victories, winning (3-1) in game 6 at San Jose, vs the Sharks.
Sidney Crosby, who had 2 assists in the clinching game was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as MVP of the playoffs while Kris Letang had the Stanley Cup winning goal, scoring just 47 seconds after the Sharks’ Logan Couture (he led all playoffs scorers with 30 points) had tied the game in the second period.
Pens’ defenseman, Brian Dumoulin opened the scoring with a first period goal, while Matt Murray won his 15th game in goal for the Penguins. The other goaltender, Martin Jones of the Sharks, played great, albeit in defeat.
Pittsburgh did not trail at any point of regulation time in 5 of the 6 games, one an overtime Sharks’ win in game 3.
They are the first team in any major North American sports league to win their first four titles on the road. The city of Pittsburgh is now (15-5) in finals, (13-3) since the New York Yankees swept the (Pittsburgh) Pirates in the 1927 World Series.
The Penguins are (4-1) in Stanley Cup finals, clinching (Friday-Monday), once each and last night’s clincher vs the Sharks, who were in their first final in this their 24th completed season, (no NHL season in 2005), was the first Sunday Cup clincher since 1987 in what was I believe the first Sunday finals’ tilt since 1991.
Gordie Howe, one of the greatest, if not the greatest of hockey players died two days ago at the age of 88.
This will be a short tribute to “Mr. Hockey” who set records for holding records and was part of 4 Stanley Cup winners with the Detroit Red Wings, all in a 6 year span from (1950-1955).
He played in a 6 team league remembered by a hockey fan named Jesse, as a great one.
In a work capacity Jesse has treasured memories of Mr. Howe as a truly nice and dignified man.
Gordie could get rough on the ice, it is after all, a rough game but I also of memories of Mr. Howe as a soft spoken, modest interview subject in 1992.
If there is one good thing about the NHL getting a game 6 tonight in San Jose, it is the fact there will be some tribute to Gordie Howe on the stage that is the NHL finals.
If any hockey player deserves it, it is arguably the greatest of them all, Gordie Howe.
Gordie Howe pictured above. It is noteworthy that Denis Brodeur, the father of the great goaltender, Martin Brodeur and a legendary hockey photographer, took the above photo.
Tonight in San Jose, opposite the Tony Awards for Broadway, the Pittsburgh Penguins will again try to win their 4th Stanley Cup title in a game vs the Sharks.
If they are successful tonight and I hope they are not because I dislike the Sharks or even particularly root for the Pens, but because I do not want the so often greedy NHL and NBC to get the financial bonanza of a 7th game.
Also the Penguins had their chance to win a title at home for the first time in last Thursday’s game 5 and I hope they do not get the chance to do so in a game 7.
One team in NHL history, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs (vs the Detroit Red Wings), actually overcame a (3-0) Finals series deficit to win the title.
No other team down (3-1) in the NHL finals has ever won the crown. Since expansion and somewhat beyond at least since 1963, seven times a team up 3 games to 1 and playing at home in the finals has failed to win game 5. Additionally the L.A. Kings up (3-0) vs current Sharks’ coach Peter DeBoer’ New Jersey Devils failed to clinch at home up 3 games to none.
On 6 of those occasions including the Kings/Devils in 2012, when L.A. lost another potential title clincher in game 5 at New Jersey, the team leading (3-1) won the title in 6 games. Twice, the New York Rangers vs the Vancouver Canucks in 1994 and the Carolina Hurricanes vs the Edmonton Oilers in 2006, the series went 7 games.
San Jose Sharks’ goaltender Martin Jones, pictured above was brilliant in game 5, making 44 saves.
Andy B Sports 