If you let your wife read any of these “unimportant” writings she might discover what you are doing sometimes when she asks the question…” What are you thinking?”

As she wonders silently why that guy never called her when he said he would in the 9th grade….
you are thinking about how in the world Buckner let that ball go between his legs and under his glove in 1986.

Or maybe you are trying to figure out why Greg Gant lined up only 8 yards behind the line of scrimmage after already having one punt blocked.

I should not have to explain that one.

Paul Westphal was a great and very intelligent NBA player in the mid70s and early 80s. Boston should not have but did trade him to Phoenix in 1975. In 1976, Westphal led the Suns into the Finals against Boston.
In a very tight Game Six, John Havlichek hit a running bank shot to put Boston up by one as the clock was about to expire and give the Celtics the win.

Westphal called time out to stop the clock.

The Suns were out of timeouts.

After raising his hand to signal timeout, thus stopping the clock, Referee Richie Powers was assaulted by a couple of Boston fans.

As a lifelong Lakers fan I would say that was par for the course.

Powers got to his feet, went to the table and signaled the timeout and assessed Phoenix with a technical foul for calling timeout without having any left.

Jo Jo White went to the foul line and hit the free throw giving Boston a 2 point lead with 1 second remaining.

But…

and this is why Westphal called the timeout.
Phoenix got to in bound the ball at mid court.

Their only hope was to get that opportunity.

Garfield Heard received the inbounds pass and made a jumper from the top of the key as time expired.

What seemed like a blunder by Westphal allowed Phoenix to tie the game.

I have had no meat or sweets since January 4th, today is the 19th…. maybe that’s why all this stuff is rising out of the recesses.

I watched Texas and Alabama play in January, 1965 on a black and white television at my Grandfathers house in Woodlawn.
Joe Namath, who my Father would say was my first step toward rebellion, had his shoes taped white and led Alabama toward a winning touchdown.

From the one yard line he kept the ball and Tommy Nobis
tackled him as he lay across the goal line.
But the Officials ruled him short.

With my perfect view from 50th Street in Woodlawn I could see that Namath scored, which I still believe, but no hands were raised.

Did you know that the signature play from the 1993 Sugar Bowl, where George Teague ran Lamar Thomas down, stripped him of the ball and in essence deflated the Miami swagger… was called back and did not count.
Alabama was offside.

How great were the Buffalo Bills ?
They went to 4 straight Super Bowls.
No wins, but no other team has ever been to 4 straight.

I believe Yogi Berra tagged Jackie Robinson before he scored when he stole home in the 1955 Series.

Yogi won 10 World Series.

I believe Mike Renfro caught the ball and was inbounds in 1978 against the Steelers and the call would have given the Houston Oilers a spot in the Super Bowl.

It is still hard to believe that James Street threw the one ball he did against Arkansas in 1969 to lead Texas to a first down and an eventual touchdown in their win in Fayetteville.

Magic Johnson in 1980 and then James Worthy in 1988 had high number triple doubles in the deciding games of the NBA finals.

Not been done like that otherwise.

If Curt Flood had not broke in on Jim Northrups hard liner in the7th game of the 1968 Series …he would have caught it and Bob Gibson would have had his second straight 3 win Series.

Kobe/Shaq
Magic/Kareem
Jordan/Pippen
Oscar/Alcindor
Cousy/Russell
West /Baylor
Frazier/Monroe
Stockton/Malone

No other league lends itself to twosomes like the NBA.

Did you know that even after the bad outcome in Game 6 of the 1986 Series , the Red Sox had the lead in Game 7 before losing to the Mets.

The kind of “guts” it took to call the on-sides kick last week in the Championship Game was greater than,  but similar to the courage it took
by a previous coach at the same school to completely revamp his offense late in the of Summer of 1971 after two years of 6-5 records with the fan base calling for his resignation.

After being grilled for a long couple of years by a Birmingham sportswriter who has since become a television and radio star… Bears successor invited the Sportswriter to Dinner …
with his family.

It lasted about 20 minutes before Ray Perkins asked the Sportswriter to leave the table and the house.

So much for making nice.

If you are an Alabama fan you must pull for Drew Brees.

Brees was hurt and was not resigned by San Diego after severe arm or shoulder surgery.

The coach of the Dolphins really wanted Brees.
But, the owner did not.

Brees went to New Orleans, excelled
and won a Super Bowl.

The Dolphins failed to get Brees…
and therefore failed to keep their Coach ….
who has since won 4 NCAA Championships in 7 seasons at Alabama.

Even though he selected a great name and became the Worlds Most Recognizable and Famous Athlete ….
Cassius Marcellus Clay also gave up a beautiful name in doing so.

Life is Good….

Terry
January 2016