GaryMrMets
12-25-2005, 07:13 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/story/377670p-320813c.html
The Knickmare before Christmas
By JIM RICH
DAILY NEWS SPORTS EDITOR
http://www.nydailynews.com/images/editors/header_thescore.jpg
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Manhattan,
Not an ex-Knick was stirring, not even Ro Blackman.
The Garden banners were hung by Isiah with care,
In hopes that the Knicks would soon win their share.
James Dolan was nestled all snug in his bed,
While visions of championships danced in his head.
And Larry Brown in turmoil with the Knicks salary cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap.
When out on the hardwood arose such a clatter,
Larry arose from the bench to see what was the matter.
Away to the foul line he flew like a flash,
Tore open his playbook and looked for Steve Nash.
The 24-second clock on the new-painted floor,
Gave the luster of win streaks and perhaps even more.
When, what to Brown's wondering eyes should appear,
But a disgruntled point guard and Nate's tiny Knick gear
With Antonio Davis, no longer lively and quick,
Larry knew in a moment it must be a trick.
More rapid than eagles the players they came,
And Larry whistled and shouted, and called them by name.
"Now, Quentin! Now, Crawford! Now, Qyntel and Taylor.
On Curry! On Penny! This team is a failure!
To the top of the key! Keep moving the ball!
Where is my point guard, the best of them all?"
As moments before the wild shots fly,
The players drive to the basket and rise to the sky.
So up toward the backboard the players they flew,
With a sleigh full of bricks and air balls, them too.
And then, in a twinkling, Larry heard on the roof,
A prancing and dancing and rhyming so smooth.
As Larry withdrew his hand and was starting to frown,
Down from the banners Clyde Frazier came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from head to mistletoe,
And his face had sideburns, tucked beneath a huge fro,
A bundle of balls he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a point guard as he opened his pack.
His eyes - how they twinkled! His passes, they varied!
His jumpshots like roses, his dribbling was merry!
His droll little mouth, it shouted out plays,
And the players, all dumbstruck, began changing their ways.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he shot like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubbier and plumper than his jolly old self,
And Larry laughed when he saw him, in spite of himself.
A wink of Clyde's eye and a twist of his head,
Soon let Larry know he had nothing to dread.
Clyde spoke not a word, but went straight to work,
And the Knicks started to win, they no longer were jerks.
But Stephon Marbury was sulking, standing under the rim,
Clyde playfully giggled, and pointed at him.
Then he sprang to the foul line, to the team gave a whistle,
Then fired one last pass that sailed like a missile.
But the coach heard him exclaim as he fled from the scene,
'Wake up, Larry Brown, it's only a dream.'
The Score Hears: Damon sign language rips Yanks
Regrets, we've had a few: As The Score well knows from personal experience, people often do things they later wish they hadn't done. That REO Speedwagon tattoo, for example, sounded like a good idea in 1977, but quite frankly has not aged well.
So we know how Johnny Damon will feel when he walks into the Yankee clubhouse in February and tells his new teammates, "I'm sorry I said the Yankees suck."
The accompanying photo was shipped to The Score by Patrick Frost, a Connecticut-raised Red Sox fan who now resides in San Francisco. Frost ran into the Yankees' newest center fielder a few years back at the annual Monte Carlo Special Olympics charity event sponsored by the Oakland A's, right after the Athletics had lost yet another American League Division Series to the Bronx Bombers.
Damon, with Oakland at the time, was one of the players who attended the fund-raiser to sign autographs and schmooze donors. "Since I'm a huge Red Sox fan, I convinced Johnny and Terrence Long to write 'Yankees suck' on their pictures," Frost says, "so I could send it to my buddy, a diehard Yankee fan. They both wrote it, without much hesitation."
Frost decided to go public with the photo after Damon announced he was bolting New England. But he says he holds no grudges against the latest Boston refugee to find a home at the House that Another Former Sox Star Built. "I'm not a player hater," he says. "The Yankees got a great lead-off hitter and a great player."
Haskins recalls tough road at Texas Western
Don Haskins says he didn't know he was making history until he started to receive hate mail.
The former Texas Western College basketball coach, the first to play an all-African-American starting lineup, says he didn't know how significant his team's victory over Kentucky in the 1966 NCAA championship game was until the ugly and threatening letters started arriving in "bunches and bunches.
"It wasn't fun for me any more after that," says Haskins, whose team is the focus of "Glory Road," a Disney film set for a Jan. 13 release.
"I thought it was very good," Haskins says of the film. He says Hollywood took a few liberties but otherwise "'Glory Road' is 95% actual."
The story behind Haskins' team is so compelling it's a wonder it has taken Hollywood this long to tackle it. Texas Western — now the University of Texas-El Paso — was one of the few schools in the South to aggressively recruit black players in the 1960s.
Texas Western went 27-1 that season and squared off in the NCAA championship game against perennial power Kentucky, coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp. Some critics say Rupp — played in "Glory Road" by Jon Voight — was a virulent segregationist. Others say he was simply reluctant to recruit black players. Either way, his starting lineup in the 1966 title game was as racially diverse as Lawrence Welk's band.
Texas Western's title victory helped speed the desegregation of college sports. But Haskins says he didn't comprehend how his team truly threatened Jim Crow; it literally took years before he fully realized the powerful impact that season had on American sports.
"I was only 35 at the time," Haskins says, "and it really didn't hit me until three or four years after that game."
New Year's Eve rock & jock bash
Back in the day when The Score played drums in a garage band (best song: killer punk-rock version of Abba's "Waterloo"), jocks and freaks got along about as well as Roger Toussaint and Mayor Bloomberg. But things have changed since those long-ago years when REO Speedwagon walked the Earth: Athletes and musicians are not only friends, they're breaking bread together on New Year's Eve.
ESPN's Stuart Scott and Little Steven Van Zandt, the Springsteen sideman and Soprano consigliere who hosts satellite radio's Underground Garage, will be the masters of ceremony for the many-tentacled network's first-ever New Year's Eve show, airing live from the Hard Rock Café in Times Square.
The Score hasn't been this torn by an event since Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees: It's hard to get excited about yet another attempt by ESPN to stamp its brand on every facet of American life, especially when tickets are going for $300 a pop. It's even harder to get excited about yet another opportunity for Scott to sniff jocks and narrate plays-of-the-year sports clips.
On the other hand, the roster includes some really cool bands, including the New York Dolls, the Troggs, the Mooney Suzuki and the Woggles.
"Garage rock is just stripped down rock 'n' roll, so it runs the gamut from rockabilly to punk," says Woggles lead singer Mighty Manfred the Professor. "It's timeless. To be on the same bill as the Troggs and the Dolls, man, that's great to me."
Say What?
"He is very much a fool. He doesn't know who the Cuban baseball players are, or that they are Olympic and world champions. If he knew, he would know something about this country's government."
Fidel Castro on President Bush and Cuba being banned from the World Baseball Classic by the U.S. Treasury Department
What's Up
MONDAY The locals have off for Christmas, but tomorrow all but the Giants will be in action, including the Jets, who play the Pats on Monday Night Football at Giants Stadium, and the Knicks and Nets, who go head-to-head at Garden. Jets: 9 p.m., Ch. 7; Knicks/Nets: 7:30 p.m., MSG & YES
TUESDAY COLLEGE BASKETBALL: St. John's plays Columbia in the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden, with the championship game set for Wednesday. 8:30 p.m., MSG
WEDNESDAY HOCKEY: The Islanders and Rangers meet for the fourth time this season (the Isles lead 2-1), this time at Nassau Coliseum, while the Devils skate in Washington. Islanders/Rangers: 7 p.m., FSNY & MSG2; Devils: 7:30 FSNY2
SATURDAY FOOTBALL: The Giants close out the year against the Raiders in Oakland. 8 p.m., ESPN
Hot List
Kobe Bryant joined an exclusive club when he scored 62 points — in just three quarters! — vs. the Mavs on Tuesday. Here are the players who have scored 60 or more points in a regular-season NBA game:
1. Wilt Chamberlain (32 times)
2. Michael Jordan (4 times)
3. Elgin Baylor (3 times)
4. Rick Barry
5. Larry Bird
6. Kobe Bryant
7. Tom Chambers
8. Joe Fulks
9. George Gervin
10. Allen Iverson
11. Bernard King
12. Karl Malone
13. Pete Maravich
14. Tracy McGrady
15. George Mikan
16. Shaquille O'Neal
17. David Robinson
18. David Thompson
19. Jerry West
The top 5 athletes born on Christmas
1. Rickey Henderson 1958
2. Larry Csonka 1946
3. Ken Stabler 1945
4. Nellie Fox 1927
5. Manny Trillo 1950
Originally published on December 25, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/467-brown_larry.JPG
Larry Brown
The Knickmare before Christmas
By JIM RICH
DAILY NEWS SPORTS EDITOR
http://www.nydailynews.com/images/editors/header_thescore.jpg
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Manhattan,
Not an ex-Knick was stirring, not even Ro Blackman.
The Garden banners were hung by Isiah with care,
In hopes that the Knicks would soon win their share.
James Dolan was nestled all snug in his bed,
While visions of championships danced in his head.
And Larry Brown in turmoil with the Knicks salary cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap.
When out on the hardwood arose such a clatter,
Larry arose from the bench to see what was the matter.
Away to the foul line he flew like a flash,
Tore open his playbook and looked for Steve Nash.
The 24-second clock on the new-painted floor,
Gave the luster of win streaks and perhaps even more.
When, what to Brown's wondering eyes should appear,
But a disgruntled point guard and Nate's tiny Knick gear
With Antonio Davis, no longer lively and quick,
Larry knew in a moment it must be a trick.
More rapid than eagles the players they came,
And Larry whistled and shouted, and called them by name.
"Now, Quentin! Now, Crawford! Now, Qyntel and Taylor.
On Curry! On Penny! This team is a failure!
To the top of the key! Keep moving the ball!
Where is my point guard, the best of them all?"
As moments before the wild shots fly,
The players drive to the basket and rise to the sky.
So up toward the backboard the players they flew,
With a sleigh full of bricks and air balls, them too.
And then, in a twinkling, Larry heard on the roof,
A prancing and dancing and rhyming so smooth.
As Larry withdrew his hand and was starting to frown,
Down from the banners Clyde Frazier came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from head to mistletoe,
And his face had sideburns, tucked beneath a huge fro,
A bundle of balls he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a point guard as he opened his pack.
His eyes - how they twinkled! His passes, they varied!
His jumpshots like roses, his dribbling was merry!
His droll little mouth, it shouted out plays,
And the players, all dumbstruck, began changing their ways.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he shot like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubbier and plumper than his jolly old self,
And Larry laughed when he saw him, in spite of himself.
A wink of Clyde's eye and a twist of his head,
Soon let Larry know he had nothing to dread.
Clyde spoke not a word, but went straight to work,
And the Knicks started to win, they no longer were jerks.
But Stephon Marbury was sulking, standing under the rim,
Clyde playfully giggled, and pointed at him.
Then he sprang to the foul line, to the team gave a whistle,
Then fired one last pass that sailed like a missile.
But the coach heard him exclaim as he fled from the scene,
'Wake up, Larry Brown, it's only a dream.'
The Score Hears: Damon sign language rips Yanks
Regrets, we've had a few: As The Score well knows from personal experience, people often do things they later wish they hadn't done. That REO Speedwagon tattoo, for example, sounded like a good idea in 1977, but quite frankly has not aged well.
So we know how Johnny Damon will feel when he walks into the Yankee clubhouse in February and tells his new teammates, "I'm sorry I said the Yankees suck."
The accompanying photo was shipped to The Score by Patrick Frost, a Connecticut-raised Red Sox fan who now resides in San Francisco. Frost ran into the Yankees' newest center fielder a few years back at the annual Monte Carlo Special Olympics charity event sponsored by the Oakland A's, right after the Athletics had lost yet another American League Division Series to the Bronx Bombers.
Damon, with Oakland at the time, was one of the players who attended the fund-raiser to sign autographs and schmooze donors. "Since I'm a huge Red Sox fan, I convinced Johnny and Terrence Long to write 'Yankees suck' on their pictures," Frost says, "so I could send it to my buddy, a diehard Yankee fan. They both wrote it, without much hesitation."
Frost decided to go public with the photo after Damon announced he was bolting New England. But he says he holds no grudges against the latest Boston refugee to find a home at the House that Another Former Sox Star Built. "I'm not a player hater," he says. "The Yankees got a great lead-off hitter and a great player."
Haskins recalls tough road at Texas Western
Don Haskins says he didn't know he was making history until he started to receive hate mail.
The former Texas Western College basketball coach, the first to play an all-African-American starting lineup, says he didn't know how significant his team's victory over Kentucky in the 1966 NCAA championship game was until the ugly and threatening letters started arriving in "bunches and bunches.
"It wasn't fun for me any more after that," says Haskins, whose team is the focus of "Glory Road," a Disney film set for a Jan. 13 release.
"I thought it was very good," Haskins says of the film. He says Hollywood took a few liberties but otherwise "'Glory Road' is 95% actual."
The story behind Haskins' team is so compelling it's a wonder it has taken Hollywood this long to tackle it. Texas Western — now the University of Texas-El Paso — was one of the few schools in the South to aggressively recruit black players in the 1960s.
Texas Western went 27-1 that season and squared off in the NCAA championship game against perennial power Kentucky, coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp. Some critics say Rupp — played in "Glory Road" by Jon Voight — was a virulent segregationist. Others say he was simply reluctant to recruit black players. Either way, his starting lineup in the 1966 title game was as racially diverse as Lawrence Welk's band.
Texas Western's title victory helped speed the desegregation of college sports. But Haskins says he didn't comprehend how his team truly threatened Jim Crow; it literally took years before he fully realized the powerful impact that season had on American sports.
"I was only 35 at the time," Haskins says, "and it really didn't hit me until three or four years after that game."
New Year's Eve rock & jock bash
Back in the day when The Score played drums in a garage band (best song: killer punk-rock version of Abba's "Waterloo"), jocks and freaks got along about as well as Roger Toussaint and Mayor Bloomberg. But things have changed since those long-ago years when REO Speedwagon walked the Earth: Athletes and musicians are not only friends, they're breaking bread together on New Year's Eve.
ESPN's Stuart Scott and Little Steven Van Zandt, the Springsteen sideman and Soprano consigliere who hosts satellite radio's Underground Garage, will be the masters of ceremony for the many-tentacled network's first-ever New Year's Eve show, airing live from the Hard Rock Café in Times Square.
The Score hasn't been this torn by an event since Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees: It's hard to get excited about yet another attempt by ESPN to stamp its brand on every facet of American life, especially when tickets are going for $300 a pop. It's even harder to get excited about yet another opportunity for Scott to sniff jocks and narrate plays-of-the-year sports clips.
On the other hand, the roster includes some really cool bands, including the New York Dolls, the Troggs, the Mooney Suzuki and the Woggles.
"Garage rock is just stripped down rock 'n' roll, so it runs the gamut from rockabilly to punk," says Woggles lead singer Mighty Manfred the Professor. "It's timeless. To be on the same bill as the Troggs and the Dolls, man, that's great to me."
Say What?
"He is very much a fool. He doesn't know who the Cuban baseball players are, or that they are Olympic and world champions. If he knew, he would know something about this country's government."
Fidel Castro on President Bush and Cuba being banned from the World Baseball Classic by the U.S. Treasury Department
What's Up
MONDAY The locals have off for Christmas, but tomorrow all but the Giants will be in action, including the Jets, who play the Pats on Monday Night Football at Giants Stadium, and the Knicks and Nets, who go head-to-head at Garden. Jets: 9 p.m., Ch. 7; Knicks/Nets: 7:30 p.m., MSG & YES
TUESDAY COLLEGE BASKETBALL: St. John's plays Columbia in the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden, with the championship game set for Wednesday. 8:30 p.m., MSG
WEDNESDAY HOCKEY: The Islanders and Rangers meet for the fourth time this season (the Isles lead 2-1), this time at Nassau Coliseum, while the Devils skate in Washington. Islanders/Rangers: 7 p.m., FSNY & MSG2; Devils: 7:30 FSNY2
SATURDAY FOOTBALL: The Giants close out the year against the Raiders in Oakland. 8 p.m., ESPN
Hot List
Kobe Bryant joined an exclusive club when he scored 62 points — in just three quarters! — vs. the Mavs on Tuesday. Here are the players who have scored 60 or more points in a regular-season NBA game:
1. Wilt Chamberlain (32 times)
2. Michael Jordan (4 times)
3. Elgin Baylor (3 times)
4. Rick Barry
5. Larry Bird
6. Kobe Bryant
7. Tom Chambers
8. Joe Fulks
9. George Gervin
10. Allen Iverson
11. Bernard King
12. Karl Malone
13. Pete Maravich
14. Tracy McGrady
15. George Mikan
16. Shaquille O'Neal
17. David Robinson
18. David Thompson
19. Jerry West
The top 5 athletes born on Christmas
1. Rickey Henderson 1958
2. Larry Csonka 1946
3. Ken Stabler 1945
4. Nellie Fox 1927
5. Manny Trillo 1950
Originally published on December 25, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/467-brown_larry.JPG
Larry Brown