Down the long road from the end of the Super Bowl until the NCAA Basketball Tournament, I can bring into focus my feelings on the NBA.
Right now I would like to cite one of that league’s few positives, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
Mr. Curry, shamefully denied The Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated in favor of Serena Williams, continues to excel, 51 points in a win, albeit a less than meaningful one in the endless NBA regular season last night.
Just last week, Serena Williams was denied in the finals of the Australian Open by huge underdog, Angelique Kerber.
My point grows, but so what? A great episode of the Dick Cavett Show from Tuesday September 16, 1969, aired on the new channel “Decades” yesterday.
Cavett and his three guests, in order of appearance Joan Rivers, Joe Namath and Adam Clayton Powell Jr, none of whom left their seats to go elsewhere, were all entertaining and humorous.
Mr. Powell came out and also said he would be serious and was decrying the mediocrity in the nation at that time.
With insane buildup for the athletes and yet again less than rousing political candidates on both sides, it is my opinion we live in times far less than mediocre.
The Dick Cavett Show: Sports Icons: September 16, 1969 Joe …
Click above to view the entertaining and meaningful show cited in my post above.
Steph Curry and father Dell, two great shooters, the former now an NBA great, the latter a fine player, pictured above. It takes practice, dedication to craft and of course talent to become a great shooter in basketball.
Sadly the practice and dedication to craft are so often lacking in today’s society.
The vaunted Boston Celtics won an incredible eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons, all with the great Bill Russell, as their center from (1957-1969.)
One coach with two different teams, the 1958 St. Louis Hawks and 1967 Philadelphia 76ers stopped them.
The coach was Alex Hannum.
In 1958, Hannum coached the Hawks to a six game finals triumph vs the Celtics.
Bob Pettit, a great Hawks’ forward, scored 50 points in the clinching game at St. Louis.
Only one current St. Louis team, the Cardinals have ever won a title or even a finals game.
The only other team left, the Blues went (0-12) in three finals losses in their first three seasons. Then the NHL final pitted the winner of the established teams, Eastern Division vs the winner of the West, an all expansion team division.
The Hawks title in St. Louis is the only one in their franchise history.
The football Rams won titles in Cleveland and Los Angeles before winning one in St. Louis in 1999. Now they are back in Los Angeles.
The great Alex Hannum pictured above coached the two other teams to win NBA titles, during the Boston Celtics’ incredible run of 11 titles in 13 seasons.
The Super Bowl this week will be the 18th telecast exclusively by the CBS television network.
One Super Bowl, the first was telecast by both CBS and NBC.
Twelve times, CBS telecast the game exclusively as the NFC network. Sunday will be the sixth time CBS telecasts the game as the AFC network.
As stated before the NFL/NFC network (CBS) and the AFL/AFC network (NBC) shared the telecast of the first such game.
That telecast and its inherent pressure yielded a good line from the fine AFL/AFC network announcer Charlie Jones.
Playing off the often heard players are nervous until the first contact of a football game, Jones said “we will be all right after the first VERB.”
Charlie Jones, pictured above, a fine AFL/AFC network football announcer.
After Alabama University had claimed yet another national title despite a stellar performance by Clemson quarterback, Deshaun Watson, “Tide” (Alabama) coach Nick Saban called Watson the best quarterback any of his teams faced since Cam Newton of Auburn.
That is high praise for Watson and especially Newton, first off coming from a great football coach but in Newton’s case because often “latest is the greatest” so Saban remembering Newton and his exploits told me a great deal.
Since that comment, Newton and his Carolina Panthers essentially eased to two home playoff wins and will face the Denver Broncos and another former Southeastern Conference quarterback of some renown, Peyton Manning in the 50th Super Bowl, now just 4 plus days away.
Newton and his eventual 2010 Auburn national title team “FIG”ured a way to erase a (24-0) road deficit in a Friday after Thanksgiving, tilt vs Alabama, in a game that still resonates in SEC lore.
He is quite impressive though it remains to be seen how consistent his passing will be as time goes forward.
First off, I hesitate to predict the upcoming Supe tilt but know Newton’s “stock” will go up or down disproportionally based on the game.
Likely win or lose, great or bad Sunday he will be a viable force as an NFL quarterback. I do not see Carolina or any NFL team as a dynasty, Seattle was/is not and even New England while amazing, has but one title in 11 seasons.
Cam Newton, pictured above while the Auburn University quarterback, led the “Tigers” to an undefeated season national title in 2010.
An inside secret: Vivid Cabaret New York is the favorite gentlemen’s club for many pro athletes who enjoy all that the three story club has to offer. I won’t be surprised if some sports stars will attend this Sunday’s Big Game party. There is a lot to watch at the upscale club: the beautiful girls, the multiple hi-def TVs, and the celebrity clientele invariably seated nearby your table.
For the Super Bowl, they will reveal their gigantic theater size screen that is normally hidden behind a wall of curtains. And the Vivid Cabaret NY girls will be providing their own half-time show: gorgeous girls performing on the city’s tallest stripper pole!
Sure to be a great party. Request to sit in the VIP Ultra Lounge. It’s where I recently chatted up Baseball great Lenny Dykstra, and “Ronnie the Limo Driver” from the Howard Stern Show (he’s a great guy).
Take some friends and enjoy the game, (and so much more!)
Vivid Cabaret, 61 West 37th Street.
Vivid Cabaret Girls are loyal to their home teams
On a new channel called “Decades,” I was informed that it was 47 years ago today, that a fine under rated actor, Boris Karloff died.
Mr. Karloff was best known for his roles in “Frankenstein” movies but did other fine work.
This was truly evident in two fine “Studio One” performances that aired originally on CBS television and were shown today on “Decades.”
In fact the productions will be shown again later tonight, beginning at 8 Eastern time.
In the first one, “The Shadow of a Genius,” Karloff’s performance as a doctor involved in scientific research, is truly masterful and shows an acting range for which he really never received proper acclaim.
He also gives a fine performance in “The Mutiny on the Nicolette.”
It was also nice to see the commercials for Westinghouse done by Betty Furness.
A Denver area sports team will play in a major North American sports league final for the eleventh time when the Denver Broncos face the Carolina Panthers in the 50th Super Bowl this Sunday.
The Denver area teams are (4-6) in previous finals.
They started (0-4) as the Broncos currently (2-5) in finals, lost in their first four such appearances.
Next came a finals winning streak of four involving Denver area teams.
The NHL Colorado Avalanche began the streak winning the title in their first season in Denver having been the Quebec Nordiques before that 1995-1996 season.
The Broncos won Super Bowls in back to back seasons 1997 and 1998.
The Avalanche (2-0) in finals won the Stanley Cup/NHL final in the 2000-2001 season.
The current 2 finals Denver area loss skein began when the baseball Colorado Rockies were swept by the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 World Series.
Then 2 years ago, the Broncos were routed in the 2014 season Super Bowl/NFL final by the Seattle Seahawks.
The NBA Denver Nuggets have never advanced to that league’s final but did lose to the New York Nets in the American Basketball Association’s last final and final game in the 1975-1976 playoffs.
Patrick Roy, pictured above, the current Colorado Avalanche coach, was the goaltender in both Avalanche Stanley Cup victories and the last two Montreal Canadiens’ titles. The Canadiens had won 15 titles in 24 seasons (1956-1979) but have won but two since that time. Roy was their goaltender both times.
While the state of North Carolina has claimed 12 NCAA basketball titles (5 each by Duke University and North Carolina U. plus two more by North Carolina State University), a limited pro history has produced but one title.
The team that won it, the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL won it all in the 2005- 2006 season, the first one after no season the year before.
That title made famed North Carolina resident, the late great actor Andy Griffith happy. What would not have is the fact that his image or career was not remembered at the Academy Award ceremonies’ tribute to those who passed on, in the first such ceremony after Mr. Griffith’s death.
I digress, of course.
The Hurricanes are (1-1) in finals, winning vs the Edmonton Oilers in the maximum 7 games in 2006 while losing in 5 games to the Detroit Red Wings in the 2002 final.
The Carolina Panthers, who get another title shot this Sunday lost in their lone previous Super Bowl/final by three points to the New England Patriots after the 2003 season.
There are a few team names that appear in more than one of the major North American sports leagues, the NFL, MLB, NBA and the NHL.
One is “the Panthers” and both teams with that name are excelling at this point.
The Carolina Panthers are 6 point favorites to complete an unbelievable season. At this point, they are one of just four teams to enter the Super Bowl with as many as 15 regular season wins.
Meanwhile the Florida Panthers lead in the NHL Atlantic Division as the league gets ready to resume play after its All Star break.
Both Panthers’ franchises are (0-1) in its previous sojourns to the league final.
The NHL Panthers were swept by a Denver team, the Colorado Avalanche in the 1996 NHL finals.
The NFL Panthers, who of course will face another Denver team the Broncos) in its league’s final on Sunday, lost in its lone previous final, a 2003 season loss to the New England Patriots.
The 50th Super Bowl, now less than a week away, will be the 20th telecast by the AFL or AFC network.
AFL or AFC teams have a (12-7) record in the previous 19 such games.
With the AFC team in this year’s Supe, the Denver Broncos a six point underdog, perhaps it is significant and I suppose noteworthy that the AFL or AFC team is (14-5) vs the point spread in Super Bowls telecast on its network.
Clearly two AFC teams that lost the game, covered the spread in games on the AFC network.
Those teams were the 1988 Cincinnati Bengals vs the S.F. 49ers and the 1995 Pittsburgh Steelers vs the Dallas Cowboys.
Though the AFC network, then NBC, telecast two straight Supes both manifesting in the NFC Dallas Cowboys’ decisive wins vs the Buffalo Bills and other changes involving which network telecast the big game, somehow after Sunday, both the NFL/NFC and AFL/AFC networks will have telecast 20 Super Bowls each.
One of the AFC network Super Bowl telecasts was the 11th Supe (1976 season) won by the AFC Oakland Raiders with their great quarterback, Ken Stabler pictured above. The under appreciated Curt Gowdy was the NBC/AFC network lead announcer that day.
Andy B Sports 