Fairborn commencement
Badin graduation
Division I regional track finals
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.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2010 > July
July 2010
No trades, second guessers — neither worries Dusty Baker
CINCINNATI — A couple of hours before they were to meet the Atlanta Braves in a 4:10 game Saturday afternoon, one thing dominated the thoughts of many Cincinnati Reds:
The approaching Major League trade deadline which would end some 10 minutes before the Reds first pitch against the Braves.
Would their roster be changing? Did club brass think the team — especially its corps of relief pitchers — was fortified enough for the stretch run? What about the rival St. Louis Cardinals in what has become a two team race in the NL Central?
Second baseman Brandon Phillips, catcher Ramon Hernandez and outfielders Jonny Gomes and Jay Bruce congregated around one of the clubhouse TVs not only watching the MLB Network’s coverage of the day’s dealings, but especially fixating on the crawl at the bottom of the screen that listed each coming and going:
“Yankees Complete Deal With Astros for Lance Berkman….Dodgers get Ted Lilly and Ryan Theroit from Cubs…Cards Land Jake Westbrook, Send Ryan Ludwick to Padres in Three-Way Swap….White Sox Tried To Nab Manny Ramirez From Dodgers.”
As conversation turned to Ramirez, Hernandez needled Joey Votto about how he’d react if the Reds picked up the slugger.
“Hey I’d love it,” Votto said from his dressing stall. “I’d just love it.”
But that won’t happen…It appears nothing will happen here and in his office manager Dusty Baker addressed that point and a few others:
“You always want better, but me, I never complain about what I have. I just think I can — whether it’s true or false — I think I can go with what I have. . That’s part of the challenge of a manager. The challenge is to get the most out of who I have.”
And then he made a perfect point:
“Plus if you talk about how unhappy you are about what you got…How you want to get some more…then if it doesn’t’; happen, I got to turn around and tell those guys out there, ‘C’mon boys, give it all you got.’
“What expletives are they gonna say behind my back?”
In the visitors’ clubhouse Atlanta manager Bobby Cox told writers how he sees similarities between this young Reds team and his Braves team of the early 1990s — which went to win their division 14 of 15 seasons between 1991 and 2005, five NL pennants and the 1995 World Series.
Just as an emergence of young talent catapulted the Braves, the same thing is happening with the Reds now.
Baker talked about that, too:
“That’s why I was excited going into this year. Why I was excited to see this through a few more years. You can see when your guys got it going. You can see when it’s about to happen.
“That’s why it’s a little tough to be calm and patient because you want to rush it.
“Most of our guys are still learning. We’re learning how to win, learning to be in first place, learning how to be in the race. This is new to them, new to everybody on the team except for a couple of guys.
“….One thing about the race here, you can’t kill these guys and wear ‘em down. If you do, they don’t get it back ‘til winter time. You start this race — it’s like a marathon — and you only have so much energy.”
He talked about running a marathon and if a guy goes out too fast in the first 13 miles, “the last mile is gonna jump on your back and you ain’t gonna have nothing left…It’s how you pace the team.”
Critics be damned, Baker thinks he knows how to finish this race:
“Second guessers don’t bother me. I know how to run the race. I been in this game 40 years. How many people can say that? People second guessing me might know what I know… but I doubt it.”
TweetMike Tyson on CSU visit: “I said some stupid, dumb, ignorant (%#&$) ! “
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….”
TweetBengals: Palmer, Lewis & Brown all talking about Terrell Owens
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.”
TweetOhio George: Small sign….Big legend
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.
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.
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.
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.
TweetBig night Friday in Oregon District
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.
TweetReds’ rookie Leake & Nats’ Strasburg were teammates as kids
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.
TweetTwo great ambassadors for Hamilton
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.
“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.
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.”
TweetFight Night draws crowd of 1,600… and rave reviews
“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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.”
TweetDayton couple featured on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel”
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.
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.
“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.
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.
TweetJoey Votto gets ripped for not congratulating teammate
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.
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.
TweetThe 10 Greatest Trios in NBA History
Are LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh the best NBA trio ever assembled?
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
TweetHey, LeBron — Get rid of the LOYALTY tattoo
I never thought any sports figure could end up as despised in Cleveland as Art Modell, but LeBron James — The King…of Crass — may have eclipsed the former Cleveland Browns owner.
At least Modell stayed in town 34 years….and won a championship.
While James certainly is an MVP on the NBA court, he was nothing but cold and clueless Thursday night when he announced in a self-serving ESPN special that he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.
I know James has the right to go where he wants, but to do it in this crass, hurtful way was uncalled for. He rubbed Cleveland’s face in the dirt.
He entitled his televised nose-thumbing “The Decision.”
And that now joins “The Fumble,” “The Drive,” “Red Right 88” and “The Shot” as part of the infamous litany of Cleveland sports.
James pulled the heart out of some of America’s greatest sports fans. People there support their teams and their players through lake-effect snow and losing streaks and one bad break after another.
The people of northeast Ohio gave James unconditional love. He became a $100 million man by the time he was 18 and the Cavs were set to pay him more than any other team in the NBA.
He could truly have earned his self-hung nickname “The King” by staying on the throne in the town that gave so much to him and then pressed on to win a title for them the way Jordan did in Chicago, Kobe and Magic did in L.A. and Bird did with the Celtics.
Sure he has a right to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as they have a chance to become one one the most formidable trios in NBA history. And Miami is a great town. I know I lived there nearly 20 years and still go back every year.
But the way James made the move makes him as vilified right now as Modell was when he moved the Browns to Baltimore in 1995.
If you’re going to go, just go.
Don’t take a town through the wringer for weeks and then, in one last move, spit in its eye on national TV.
In one instant James went from the city’s — the region’s — most beloved figure to one who signifies a stab in the back.
“You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal,” Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert wrote in an in an over-the-top open letter to the city.
People around town burned James jerseys Thursday night and in his hometown of Akron it was reported some 2,500 minor league baseball fans at Canal Park booed mightily when the image of James and the news -— “LeBron James is no longer a Cavalier” — flashed on the scoreboard.
As for James, let me give him one piece of advice from a guy who knows Miami real well to a guy who’s about to move there.
Head over to 14th Street South Beach.
Right across from one of my favorite bars — Mac’s Club Duece — there’s a great tattoo place called Tattoos by Lou.
Pull up your shirt and get him to remove that big “LOYALTY” tattoo you have inked on your body.
TweetJoey Votto and MVPs who weren’t All Star picks
Hopefully justice will be restored and Joey Votto — whose name was missing when the All Star Game rosters were announced three days ago — will be a last-minute addition to the National League team for next week’s game.
The Cincinnati Reds first baseman was leading the fans’ online voting for the final roster spot Tuesday afternoon.
It’s inconceivable he’s in this position. He leads the league in slugging percentage and on-base percentage. And he’s one of the frontrunners for the National League’s MVP award.
He was left off this year’s list for Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard, who in the past has had the grander portfolio, but this year trails Votto significantly in every category, both at the plate and in the field. And thanks in a big way to him, Votto’s team has been better than Howard’s Philadelphia Phillies.
While the Votto snub is glaring, it’s not the first time MVP players got ignored at the All Star break.
The Wall Street Journal’s Dave Cameron did a little research and found out that over the past 22 years, six players who won MVP honors at season’s end were left off the All Star team that year.
The most glaring of those six omissions involved another Cincinnati player and Atlanta’s Terry Pendleton.
That time the Reds benefitted. Third baseman Chris Sabo beat out Pendleton even though his numbers paled in comparison to his Braves counterpart.
Sabo had a .268 batting average at the time, a .345 on-base percentage and a .463 slugging percentage. Pendleton was hitting .324, had a .377 OBP and a .512 SLG.
Just as Pendleton ended up MVP in 1991, so did Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins (2007), Atlanta’s Chipper Jones (1999), Texas’ Juan Gonzalez (1996), Milwaukee’s Robin Yount (1989) and the Los Angeles Dodgers Kirk Gibson (1988).
Instead of Rollins, the National League shortstops three years ago were Jose Reyes and J.J. Hardy.
Arizona’s Matt Williams got the spot 11 years ago instead of Chipper Jones. In 1996 Baltimore’s Brady Anderson made the game instead of Gonzalez.
In 1989 Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett, whose numbers were better at the break, got the bid over Yount and the year prior St. Louis’ Vince Coleman played while Gibson stayed home.
TweetAn Independence Day Retrospective: Killing to Camaraderie
One of the best things I’ve noticed in the first three weekends of the “Celebration of Punchers and Painters,” — the boxing memorabilia and art show at the Color of Energy Gallery in the Oregon District‚ has been the mix of crowds we’ve drawn:
Folks black and white, from suburbs and inner city, all having a good time together.
That was never more evident than Friday night, July 2, when a large crowd gathered to warmly embrace Aaron Pryor, the former junior welterweight champ….and a black man.
That was not the case around this city, this state, this nation exactly 100 years ago.
That boxing event drew far more people downtown than we had Friday night — some 15,000 alone showed at the Dayton Daily News building — and afterward there were fights here, riots and killings elsewhere.
That’s the subject of my column in today’s newspaper. The story also is on this web page.
Revisiting it now — and comparing it to Friday night — shows how much we have changed as a nation this Independence Day.
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