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By Tom Archdeacon
| Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 07:28 PM
Mike Tyson, a better man today
Mike Tyson’s eyes filled with tears as he remembered that now infamous visit to Central State University 21 years ago.
“I said some stupid, dumb, ignorant s—-. That was a real bad one , a bad one. No excuse.”
Those are the former heavyweight champ’s thoughts today as related by Pablo. S. Torre for his “Where Are They Now” story in the current issue of Sports Illustrated.
Once the baddest man on the planet, Tyson now comes off as a subdued, 44-year-old vegan, recovering addict and still-learning family man big into reflection.
I covered many of Tyson’s fights over the years and I was there that day at CSU when the school brought him in and awarded him an honorary doctorate in human letters.
As promoter Don King, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp and much of the CSU student body and faculty looked on, Tyson took the stage and offered his memorable line:
“I wasn’t sure what kind of doctor I was, but looking at all the lovely sisters here, I think I’ll be a doctor of gynecology.”
The crack brought hoots of delight from many of the students, but elicited disgust from some faculty members, a few who walked out.
While that moment made national headlines, Tyson’s antics the night before in Dayton were even more troubling. I was there for some of that, too.
He and King had most of one whole floor in the Stouffer’s Hotel in downtown Dayton sealed off for them. A local guy involved in the fight scene here brought over a few girls so Tyson would have someone to “party with.”
I remember sitting in the hotel lobby with the last girl who was going to join him and I felt sorry for her. She was wearing what looked to be a bridesmaid dress. She didn’t have a clue what she was getting into, and the the next day a limo driver whispered to me she had been treated rough.
And during a press conference at CSU — as he at alongside King, Kemp and then CSU president Art Thomas — Tyson derailed a serious moment when the HUD Secretary tried to address hunger in America and how the heavyweight champ was going to set up a program to address the national issue
Instead of paying attention, Tyson sat next to him, suggestively rolling his tongue around his lips and mouthing the words to a nearby girl: “I love you.”
As his limo was leaving CSU for the Dayton airport afterward, it stopped at the edge of campus, right next to a woman student. The window rolled down, there was a brief conversation and she got in the vehicle with her school books in tow. Instantly, the car was roaring back down Route 42 toward Xenia.
I don’t know what happened there, but in Torre’s article, Tyson — his eyes brimming over as he sat with his wife and young daughter — looked back on that entire visit to CSU with embarrassment and disgust:
“Two years ago I talked to some people about my mother. And I learned that she went to school right down the street from (CSU). And I was down there and said some stupid, dumb, ignorant s—- like that.
“My family waited to get a (%#&#$) like me and I embarrassed 500 years of our family. They waited for me to get there. To say something for them. And I embarrassed them…
“My mother and her family thought that education made them somebody. I could have said something awesome. I could have explained how my mother went to school. But the first thing I thought about was my d….”
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By Tom Archdeacon
| Monday, July 26, 2010, 05:10 PM
CINCINNATI — Everybody was talking about Terrell Owens at the annual Cincinnati Bengals pre-training camp media luncheon Monday at Paul Brown Stadium.
Owner Mike Brown said the team has offered the sometimes mercurial, currently teamless, six-time Pro Bowl receiver (and current Reality TV personality) a contract and hopes he accepts it.
“It’s his call. It’s up to him. But I think he could help us. I judge him by what I see and I like what I saw when I talked to him,” Brown said of his March conversation with Owens.
“I trust my own eyes on these sorts of things…and I’m not going to defend that. I have the right to do it … and I chose to do it.
“He’s a good player. He changes field position and makes a lot of plays that win games. I would rather have him line up on our side of the ball than the other side of the ball. I can remember playing Dallas a few years ago when he caught a pass across the middle that won the game for them. So I’ve seen him do it.”
And right now Carson Palmer claims he’s still seeing him “do it,” too.
The Bengals quarterback has been working out with Owens on the West Coast and has been so impressed, he’s been calling coach Marvin Lewis, lobbying him to pick up the 36-year-old receiver.
“Carson’s comments to me — they resonate well,” Lewis said with a chuckle. “I know when Carson has something important to say, he calls me.”
The St. Louis Rams had been interested in Owens as well, but Monday they said they no longer were. At the moment, it appears the only suitor for Owens — who had a mediocre season with the Buffalo Bills last year, catching 55 passes for 829 yards and five touchdowns — is Cincinnati.
While Lewis was a little more tempered on his embrace of Owens just before the luncheon began — “We’ve got to be in consensus on this.”… “I’ve got to look at the ramifications to our football team down the way, the effects it would have on everyone else,”… “He has to understand our expectations of him,” — the coach voiced less hesitation after spending the meal sitting next to Brown.
“Terrell gives you a proven threat,” Lewis said. “He’s done it. We’ve witnessed it. We’ve tried to prevent it.
“I saw him do it to us when we played Dallas and when he was with San Francisco against us in 2003. And I saw him do it to us when I was in Washington on ‘02.”
“You think he’s on Reality TV now? You ought to be on that sideline watching him do it…. That’s real Reality TV.”
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By Tom Archdeacon
| Sunday, July 25, 2010, 10:24 AM
If you are driving north on Brandt Pike out of Dayton, chances are you’d miss the black sign if you weren’t specifically looking for it.
It’s at Brantly Avenue and it’s both very small and scaled down in pronoucement. All it says is “George’s Speed Shop” and has an arrow pointing to the right.
And yet, the entire drag racing world has found its way to the fabled enclave of “Ohio” George Montgomery, who is one of the grandest sports legends the Miami Valley ever has known.
Ohio George Montgomery with ISCA International Class Champion Jessica Robertson
It is from this building — right next door to where he grew up — that Montgomery launched a career that made him one of the most famous drag racers in the history of the sport.
This is the same place where the famed daredevil Evel Knievel trekked to enlist Montgomery as one of his most trusted mechanics and confidantes as they traipsed the world together.
A younger George
It is from this shop — “the oldest speed shop in the nation,” Montgomery proudly says — that George and his son Gregg later built and maintained engines for race teams from NASCAR, ARCA and the Indy Lights series.
And it is from here that the pair still prepares specialized motors for customers around the world. The other day, for instance, Gregg was putting the finishing touches on an engine bound for the Netherlands.
“The Worlds Wildest Willys,” Montgomery’s trademarked name for his 1933 Willys dragster
Walking through the speed shop’s front door the other day — and finding 77-year-old George in an orange work apron, pens and papers stuck in his shirt pocket — you found yourself in both a mechanics paradise and a museum.
The baubles of his career — hundreds of golden trophies, including those from his seven major NHRA titles and his drag racing Hall of Fame plaque — were there, but nothing outshined a couple of hours sitting and talking to the man who once was known for anything but sitting still.
That’s the subject of my column in today’s newspaper, a piece that can also be found on this web page.
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By Tom Archdeacon
| Thursday, July 22, 2010, 07:33 AM
The final big event of the six-week “Celebration of Punchers & Painters” exhibit at the Color of Energy Gallery in the Oregon District — “An Evening with Chris Pearson — Our Olympic Hopeful” — is this Friday night, July 23.
The 19-year-old Pearson — a 2009 graduate of Trotwood Madison High — is a bona fide candidate for a berth on the U.S. Olympic team that will compete in the 2012 Games in London.
One of the top rated 152-pound amateur boxers in the nation, Pearson will represent the U.S. in boxing competitions in China in September and then begin competing in various qualifiying tournaments here in the States to earn a spot in next summer’s U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials, the tournament where the London-bound team will be chosen.
USA Boxing already has singled out Pearson. He’s part of the Olympic Education program at Northern Michigan University where select athletes from four sports — speed skating, weight lifting, wrestling and boxing — train while also taking college courses.
“The house has been real empty since he left,” said Chris’ dad Milt Pearson, who raised his son alone. “It feels good that he’s back home. We’re hoping Friday night will be kind of a reunion for him.”
There will be food and drink at the 7 - 9 p.m. gathering that also will include a brief question and answer period with Pearson, an autograph session and a highlight film.
“It’s pretty amazing to have something like this done for you in your hometown,” Pearson said. “It’s humbling really. And I think it will motivate me to work harder when I go back. People are really starting to believe in me and I want to live up to their expectations.”
When you hear his whole story — which is the subject of my column in today’s newspaper and can also be found on this web page — you’ll know he already has.
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By Tom Archdeacon
| Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 11:08 AM
San Diego Sting: Stephen Strasburg (top row far left) and Mike Leake (top row fourth from left)
They are now the most trumpeted rookie pitchers in Major League Baseball, but once the Cincinnati Reds Mike Leake and the Washington Nationals Stephen Strasburg — whose teams meet tonight at Great American Ball Park — were the Mutt and Jeff battery of a little kids team in San Diego.
The team was the San Diego Sting and they traveled the country playing other All Star squads.
Strasburg, more than a foot taller than many of his teammates, was a hard-throwing pitcher and Leake was little, gutsy catcher, known to everybody as Mikey. He had a strong arm himself and lots of moxie, a trait that served him well this season with the Reds when he became the first college pitcher in 21 years to go straight to the major leagues. Tonight, he brings his 6-1 record to the mound against the Nationals.
Strasburg — who pitches Wednesday night against the Reds — has been the much-watched sensation of the big leagues this season, but Leake, in a bit of puckish, semi-tongue-in-cheek remembrance from their 11 year old days, recently told USA Today that the Nationals fire-baller was “overweight, pouty and used to cry” when he was pulled from games.
He’s all grown up now, but for old times sake, the Reds would love to bring a tear to his eye.
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By Tom Archdeacon
| Monday, July 19, 2010, 11:22 AM
CINCINNATI — After Colorado had just shut out the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 Sunday, Rockies manager Jim Tracy was in his office in the visitors clubhouse at Great American Ball Park talking about his winning pitcher — Aaron Cook — who is from nearby Hamilton as is he.
Jim Tracy
“Aaron’s been just a great ambassador for the area where we grew up,” Tracy said proudly.
In this case it’s the old adage of “it takes one to know one.”
Over the years few people in the limelight have paid homage to Hamilton as has Tracy, who also managed the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.
That’s part of the reason his hometown renamed a street after him and held the gala dedication ceremony last Thursday.
As for Cook, the best he has done back home is get his jersey retired at Hamilton High.
Aaron Cook
There is an “Aaron Cook Field,” but that’s in the northern Colorado town of Windsor, where a mile-wide tornado destroyed so much — including the Little League baseball complex — two years ago.
Cook said it reminded him of the devastating tornados that have struck Ohio and decided to help out.
He was able to do so, in part, thanks to the Rockies’ Field of Dreams Program, which has helped build new or refurbish 57 baseball fields throughout Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona.
“Aaron realizes baseball is a game he gets paid very well to play,” Cook’s dad, Garry, said as he waited outside the Rockies’ clubhouse following his son’s seven shutout innings against the Reds Sunday. “But he knows there’s more to life than just playing a game.”
That’s why he helped build that Little League park.
That’s why — as Tracy put it — he is such “a great ambassador.”
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By Tom Archdeacon
| Sunday, July 18, 2010, 01:12 PM
Fight Night (photo by Lisa Powell)
“Fight Night” in downtown Dayton was a huge success.
Police estimated a crowd of 1,600-plus — as diverse as it was party-minded — surrounded the boxing ring set up in the middle of Fourth Street outside Drake’s Downtown Gym Saturday night to see eight amateur bouts, hear a rousing rendition of the national anthem by Yolunda Byrd, and watch as three area artists painted and sketched at ringside and several notable boxers from Dayton’s past were called from the crowd into the ring for recognition.
“This was just a tremendous event,” Dr. Mike Ervin, who heads the revitalization of downtown Dayton efforts, said afterward. “There really was a great mix of people all having a good time together. It’s what we need downtown.”
(photo by Lisa Powell)
Although the event was free to the public, 16 ringside tables had been sold to various groups, including the University of Dayton coaches and the SideBar restaurant and lounge on Fifth Street.
Many other people sat in folding chairs set up around the ring and several hundred more stood behind them. Some other folks could be seen watching from the roofs of nearby buildings and many people pulled back the curtains and watched from their places in the St. Clair Lofts, which overlooked the ring.
John Drake, who owns Drake’s Downtown Gym and put on Saturday’s show — which was an off-shoot of the on-going, 6-week long “Celebration of Punchers and Painters” exhibit at the Color of Energy Gallery in the Oregon District — was the white tuxedo-clad ring announcer for the night.
Tuxedo Man John Drake at Fight Night (photo by Lisa Powell)
He handled the job like a seasoned lounge performer.
Of the eight fights on the card, a few especially stood out:
— In a display of contrasts, stalking, brawling Ray Benevunto and the long lanky Ray Smith — using a jab that became more and more effective — put on a rousing three-round effort.
— Hard punching Pablo Sanchez gave the evasive Anas Ford all he could handle in their three rounder.
— Heavyweight Hank Orange, a former Shaker Heights football player, landed several punishing blows on seasoned — and much taller — Will Ashcraft.
(photo by Lisa Powell)
The two girls bouts featuring young boxers from the Westwood Recreation Center were some of the most spirited of the night.
Unfortunately, the match that would have been a real show stopper — 17-year olds Pepsi Hunter against Katia Reynolds — was scratched at the last minute. Reynolds had to pull out of a show to attend to a family matter.
“They WOULD have been the main event of the night,” said Al Carson, the coach of the Westwood team.
Drake collected donations at the fight to help keep the Westwood program alive.
The rec center is scheduled to be closed July 31. That would mean the boxing program — which has the largest stable of amateur girl boxers in the state — would fold.
With some financial help, Carson could get a van to pick up the girls and take them to the new Roosevelt Rec Plex to continue boxing and practicing the life lessons — discipline , sacrifice., teamwork, etc. — they learn with it.
Fight Night view from St. Clair lofts (Lisa Powell photo)
Before the bouts began, Dayton boxers from the past were called into the ring or asked to stand at their seats. They included heavyweight Tom “Roughhouse” Fischer, who fought former world champs Leon Spinks, Jimmy Young and Michael Dokes, as well as top contenders like Quick Tillis, Ron Stander and Marvis Frazier.
Dayton policeman and former pro Chris Fischer was honored, too, as was former Ohio champ Lamark Davis, Rocky Phillips, former Marine champ Terry Dixon, Paul Patton, storied amateur boxer and soon-to-be pro Michael Evans and current Olympic hopeful Chris Pearson, who will be celebrated with a 7-9 p.m. party and presentation next Friday night at the Color of Energy Gallery at 16 Brown Street.
Sunday afternoon Drake summed it up for almost everyone who had been at Fight Night:
“I thought it was just outstanding. The night was…perfect.”
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By Tom Archdeacon
| Saturday, July 17, 2010, 01:26 PM
The Klostermans — Jeff, Ethan, Sylvia, and Lillian — and Erik and Barbara Compton
The Dayton family of Lillian and Jeff Klosterman is featured prominently in the current episode of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
The Klostermans segment — reported by Frank Deford — is part of the story of PGA golfer Erik Compton, who is the first person in the world playing professional sports having had not just one heart transplant, but two.
The second heart came came from Isaac Klosterman — Lillian and Jeff’s 26-year-old son and a former Chaminade Julienne and University of Dayton athlete — who was killed by a hit and run driver while he was riding a motorcycle near Palm Beach, Fla.
Isaac Klosterman
A year ago at the Memorial Tournament, I wrote a long story on the unique bond between the Klosterman’s and Compton — who had received Isaac’s heart in May of 2008 — and then I recounted their emotional first meeting after the tournament had ended.
Compton first was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy at age 9. Told he would need a new heart and would not play sports again, he waited three years for a transplant. Once he got it, he went on to become a national junior golf champion, an All American at the University of Georgia and then won six times on satellite pro tours.
But a transplanted heart lasts like 12 years and his went for 16. Then in October of 2007, he suffered a massive heart attack and nearly died.
Although doctors were able to stabilize him, his entire body — one organ after another —began shutting down over the next seven months.
He was near death again until Isaac died and the Klostermans decided to donate his organs. Compton got the heart in what ended up a 14-hour operation.
Deford came to Dayton to report the Klosterman’s side of the story.
In the show, he’s first seen walking with Lillian and Jeff at Riverscape and then talking to them in their home.
A tearful Lillian explained to him they donated their son’s organs “because his body wasn’t hurt, just his brain. It would have been a total waste of a good person’s body… and we wanted to share it.”
Since he’s gotten Isaac’s heart, Erik has married, he and wife Barbara have had a baby girl, Petra — even though doctors said he likely would never be able to father a child — and he’s back playing golf. He played in his first U.S. Open last month at Pebble Beach.
Deford talked to the Klosterman’s about that first meeting with Erik last year after the Memorial.
“We both were a little on the nervous side,” “Jeff said. “We were both nervous to meet each other.”
Real Sports showed a photo of the Klostermans — Lillian, Jeff, daughter Sylvia, who is now a senior at CJ, and son Ethan, a sophomore at UD — with Compton.
Jeff & Lillian with Isaac’s portrait
“I gave (Erik) a hug and he was so compassionate,” Lillian told Deford. “It was almost like…I could feel the guilt he felt because of how sad we were…. Then we took pictures outside of our extended family.”
Lillian said seeing Erik prosper “helps take some of the tragedy out of Isaac’s death. It eases some of the pain.”
Gumbel called it a miraculous story and Deford agreed.
Erik Compton
Although the show has aired a couple of time since its debut last Wednesday — and can be viewed between multiple times on various HBO channels this coming Monday through July 31 — Lillian admitted she has not seen it.
“We don’t get HBO and neither do any of our friends,” she said Saturday afternoon. “We’re waiting on a DVD that is being sent to us.”
She said she and her husband did the HBO interview because they hope it will encourage other people to become organ donors: “There are 100,000 people on waiting lists for organs.”
She said she keeps in touch with Erik via Facebook, congratulating him on his various golf outings and sending him little messages like the recent “Happy Father’s Day.”
Gumbel and Deford were right.
Thanks to a Dayton family, this truly is a miraculous story.
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By Tom Archdeacon
| Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 07:42 PM
Joey Votto is getting ripped on some fronts today.
Supposedly, Votto refused to congratulate Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd on his game-changing performances because he plays for a hated rival in the NL Central.
Joey Votto
After Tuesday night’s All Star game in Anaheim, Bruce Levin of ESPN.com got this quote from Votto:
“I don’t like the Cubs. And I’m not going to pat anybody with a Cubs uniform on the back. But because he made that really cool play, it turned out to be a really cool experience. I’m really glad we got the win today.”
That doesn’t sound anything like the Votto I know. From his days here as a Dayton Dragon to now a growing star in the big leagues, I’ve always found him to be a class act.
But today he’s not getting painted that way by some folks.
Here’s the take by David Brown of Yahoo.com sports:
“Apparently, Cincinnati Reds slugger Joey Votto never caught the All-Star spirit.
“Votto refused to congratulate Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd on his performance — one that helped the National League claim home-field advantage in the World Series — because Votto’s temporary teammate comes from a despised division rival.
“Byrd made a head’s up play in right field that forced Boston’s David Ortiz at second base, and also worked a key walk in a seventh-inning rally that led to the NL’s first victory at the All-Star game since 1996.
“Such an effort certainly is worth a high five … a handshake … a wave … a wink … a nod … a glance … a happy thought.
“Not from Pal Joey…
“What a leech — and a sorry excuse for an All-Star.
“Even if the harmless Cubs weren’t 10 1/2 games behind the first-place Reds in the NL Central, you’re supposed to check the intraleague rivalries at the door for the All-Star Game.
“Ask … oh, anybody who’s ever made a team for either side.
“Votto obviously is new here.
“And, how did he help the NL win? Oh, yeah, he didn’t. Votto went 0 for 2.
“….He should have made the NL roster the first time around but needed to win a final Internet vote to be recognized. The “Vote Votto” process should have made Votto especially happy to be in Anaheim. Yet, he seems to be harboring lingering bitterness about … something.
“Or maybe that’s just how he is.”
Like I said, that is not the Votto I know.
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By Tom Archdeacon
| Monday, July 12, 2010, 09:34 PM
Are LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh the best NBA trio ever assembled?
Bosh, James, Wade
If you listened to James the other night — as he told the awestruck crowd at AmericanAirlines Arena that he foresaw he and his two superstar Miami Heat teammates winning “Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven…” but even more NBA titles — you’d think so.
On star power James, Wade and Bosh probably are the most spotlighted trio ever assembled, though the L.A. Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, and Magic Johnson were marque heavyweights of similar candlepower.
Give the Heat threesome a few years and they may well eclipse every other triumvirate that has taken the NBA court.
As of right now, only Wade truly has shown his mettle in the postseason.
And until the three bring some real hardware back to their Biscayne Boulevard arena — and by the way, LeBron, the team is in Miami, not on South Beach — I think they have to take a back seat to a few proven NBA trios.
Name alone doesn’t do it. The Philadelphia 76ers put together Dr. J., Moses Malone and Charles Barkley, but they never won a crown.
Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert doesn’t think the new Miami troika will dominate the game as some expect. And while it’s understandable he feels jilted that James left his team, some of the stuff he’s saying is simply disingenuous and some of it is flat, over-the-top ludicrous.
Dan Gilbert
“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE,” Gilbert wrote in an open letter to the fans.
“I don’t think their experiment is going to work,” Gilbert also said. “But that’s just me. I just don’t see Dwyane Wade and LeBron James jelling together on the court.”
That chemistry will be the key.
In the past, other trios found a way to make it work:
Excluding the Miami Thrice guys — since they’ve never played a regular season NBA game together — here’s my list of the 10 Greatest Trios in NBA History:
No. 10 — Moses Malone, Julius Erving, and Mo Cheeks (Philadelphia 76ers): They played four seasons together in the 1980s and — with Cheeks distributing the ball, Erving scoring on the wings and Moses the force inside — they won the 1983 NBA title, losing only one game throughout the entire playoffs.
No. 9 — Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili (San Antonio Spurs) : They won three championships together. Duncan, the big man inside, was a two-time league MVP and won three Finals MVPs. Parker, the high-scoring play maker, was a Finals MVP and Ginobili, a stellar perimeter player, was an All-Star.
No. 8 — Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Gail Goodrich (Los Angeles Lakers): West, Chamberlain, and Goodrich played with each other for only three seasons in the early 1970s and advanced to the Finals each year. They took the crown in 1972, when they won 69 games and a still-record 33 straight games.
Champion Knicks: Dick Barnett, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, Willis Reed
No. 7 —Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, and Dave DeBusschere (New York Knicks): Won two championships in the early 1970s and all three made it to the NBA Hall of Fame. Each was one of the best to ever play that position — Frazier (point guard,) DeBusschere (forward) and Reed (center.)
No. 6 — Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, and Bill Laimbeer (Detroit Pistons): The Bad Boys were oh-so-good together. They complemented each other for eight seasons and won back-to-back championships in the late ’80s.
No. 5 — Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher (Los Angeles Lakers): Played eight seasons together, won three straight titles and advanced to the Finals once more. During that time Kobe and Shaq, quite arguably, were the NBA’s two best players.
No. 4 — Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Larry Bird (Boston Celtics): They won three titles and made the finals two more times. All three of made it to the Hall of Fame.
Kareem, Worthy, Magic
No. 3 — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers): THEY were “Showtime” and won three titles. Kareem and Magic won two others crowns before Worthy got there, too.
No. 2 — Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and Tommy Heinsohn (Boston Celtics): Together they won six championships during the 1950s and ’60s. Russell controlled the inside, Cousy was the ultimate drive to the basket, set-up guy and Heinsohn could both shoot and clean up the garbage inside.
Rodman, Jordan, Pippen
No. 1 — Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman (Chicago Bulls): In the three seasons they played together, they won three titles, had a record of 248-56 (.816) and in one of those seasons they won an NBA-record of 72 games.
Jordan won three scoring titles in that time and two MVP awards. Pippen was All-NBA first-teamer one season and All-Defensive first team in the three seasons and Rodman won three rebound titles and was on the All-Defensive team in 1996.
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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.
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Tom is accurate about Mike’s comments at the convocation and the press conference. I was equally