NBA Quiz: For you older fans. On the 1978-79 champion Seattle Supersonics, who defeated Washington 4-1 in the finals, who were the six to average in double figures, not including Tom LaGarde, who played in only 23 games. Answer below.
D-Day…June 6
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
“The small boats started in toward the beaches in darkness and many of the men had the ‘invasion shakes.’ One staff sergeant kept ‘looking around and wondering for the hundredth time how the hell I got here and what the hell I’m doing here – me, Henry Giles, an old farm boy from Caldwell Ridge, Knifley, Kentucky.’
“Men talked about dying, about this being a suicide mission. ‘That was the blessing of seasickness,’ said John Steber of Reading, Pennsylvania. ‘We had a big breakfast that morning and everybody got sick and started throwing up and that kept us from thinking about dying.’
“Vomit filled the bottom of the boats, and as water kept rushing in over the gunwales, taxing the power of the bilge pumps, the green-faced men had to bail this smelly stew of salt water and puke with their helmets. And though it was cold, they were sweating.
“ ‘One thing was funny, though,’ Steber recalls. ‘All the guys had condoms over the muzzles of their rifles to protect them when we jumped in the water. You didn’t think that was funny when you put it on your gun, but when you saw a whole shitload of guys with these rubbers on their guns it cut you up, sick as you were.’
“Some of the men talked about their assignments, what they had to do when they hit the beaches. ‘It was the only way we could maintain our sanity,’ recalls Sergeant Alan Anderson, who was in charge of an artillery battery.
“ ‘If you thought of the possibilities of what lay ahead, it was more than your mind could take.
“ ‘I remembered at the time trying to think what this really meant to me, and all I could think about was the fact that I was twenty-five years old, and still single and a college graduate, and whether this was to be all of my life and really what for. I was thinking about the meanings of democracy, and that sort of thing, but it doesn’t have any meaning to a man in a situation such as that. I remember that the only thing that meant anything to me was that as long as I was there and some of my relatives, especially my two brothers, were not, that maybe we could get this mess over with before any more of the family had to be dragged into this situation.
“ ‘Very few men are very patriotic when they’re faced with these suicide missions.’
“On Robert Adams’ landing boat, most of the men were dead quiet, but a few talked in low tones about what ‘the first kraut will think when he looks out and sees all of us, all of these ships coming his way.’
“Crouching in a concrete bunker above Omaha Beach, peering through his binoculars, Major Werner Pluskat was one of the first Germans to see the invasion fleet appear on the horizon. ‘It was dark and foggy. Finally the fog lifted and I saw in front of me part of the armada – it was gigantic. It was the sight of my life.
“ ‘There was an armada of at least 10,000 warships moving without the slightest telltale of sound or light. We began searching for signal lights and listening for radio communication – nothing!
“ ‘It was a model of discipline among the American and British military – rare among armies. I’ve never tired of praising the discipline of those troops.
“ ‘I called High Command West…They claimed the Allies didn’t have such ships. They told me I was imagining things.’ Pluskat then shouted into the phone: ‘Those imaginary ships that the Allies don’t have are all headed right at me.’
“When German headquarters finally gave credence to Pluskat’s claims he began to get calls. ‘I got two calls from Hitler’s high command in Berchtesgaden. The first was Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel. He shouted, ‘What’s happening, Pluskat?’ I overheard him say to someone, ‘We’ll have to wake the Fuhrer.’ Then I got another phone call from Berchtesgaden from General [Alfred] Jodl [Keitel’s deputy]…I began my report but was cut off when my bunker took a hit from the Allied ships.
“ ‘Then I saw a purple flare shot about 300 meters into the air, and then a second one arched into the morning sky. That was the signal for the entire armada to maneuver around and face the coast. They then slowly raised their cannons, and then it began. They unleashed an inferno that made hell seem like child’s play.’”
On the afternoon of June 5, 1944, General Eisenhower, having ordered the invasion to go forward, scribbled a press release on a piece of paper. “Our landings…have failed and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”
As James Jones wrote of the possibility Eisenhower was prepared to take complete responsibility for the failure, “When one thinks of that…it makes the hairs on the back of the neck move.”
Instead, by midnight, June 6, 175,000 fighting men and 50,000 vehicles had landed in Normandy by sea and air. It had been the most successful amphibious assault in history.
But in the words of General Omar Bradley, Omaha Beach was a “nightmare.” “Even now it brings pain to recall what happened there on June 6, 1944,” he would recall years later. “I have returned many times to honor the valiant men who died on that beach. They should never be forgotten. Nor should those who lived to carry the day by the slimmest of margins. Every man who set foot on Omaha Beach that day was a hero.”
Back in late September 1995, I made my pilgrimage to Normandy and hit some terrific Indian summer weather. When I arrived at Omaha Beach in the morning, it was hazy and I could see little of the horizon. Then the haze slowly dissipated, and I was able to try to imagine what the Germans saw that fateful day. One of my prized possessions to this day is the sand I collected from both Omaha and Utah Beach.
As Ronald Reagan noted from nearby Pointe du Hoc, June 6, 1984:
Baseball Flashes…Holy cow. The Twins’ phenomenal catcher, Joe Mauer, is now batting .431, 44-for-122, with 12 homers and 35 ribbies in just 29 games. And under the radar, Ichiro has a 26-game hitting streak (a Seattle record) thru Tuesday’s play. Boy, I hope I haven’t just jinxed one of my favorite players, but if anyone could ever make a run at Joe D’s 56, it’s him.
SHARK! This one does not have a happy ending.
Nico Hines / London Times
“A shark mauled a tourist to death today during a diving trip off Egypt’s Red Sea coast. The French woman, who was in her fifties, jumped into the water for a closer look when she mistook the shark for a big fish approaching her boat, according to a French consular official.
“ ‘I can confirm that there is one French citizen killed by a shark in the Red Sea south of Marsa Alam,’ said Jean-Marie Safa, a French embassy spokesman.
“The woman’s leg showed visible bite marks, and she is thought to have bled to death before being pulled out of the water….
“Sharks are common in the area and tourists often take pictures, but attacks are rare. The last person killed by a shark in Egypt was attacked while snorkeling near the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2004.” [The 2004 attack was duly noted by the International Shark Attack File. Couldn’t help but doublecheck it.]
This is a great story, as reported by Carissa DiMargo and Chris Gordon of NBC’s Washington affiliate.
“High school seniors Terrence Stephens and Jason Ankrah, star football players at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Md., were sitting on a plane returning from a recruitment session at the University of Nebraska when they struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to them.
“Their seat-mate just happened to be a major Cornhuskers fan.
“When they started chatting, Stephens and Ankrah didn’t have a clue they were holding court with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
“ ‘I was amazed this guy knew so much about us as football players and as people,’ said Stephens. ‘That was shocking. I felt honored to be known by someone of his caliber. He was just a regular old guy, sitting in coach, which really shocked me.’
“By the time the plane landed, the students had figured out who Thomas was, and they promptly told their principal they wanted to invite Thomas to give the keynote speech at their high school graduation. Of course, Principal Carole Working didn’t exactly think Thomas would take them up on it. But he showed up at the high school on Monday.
“ ‘These young men had no idea who I was as I formed my first impression. I was just another stranger to them. They were wonderful ambassadors for your school and for their fellow students,’ said Thomas at the Quince Orchard graduation ceremony.
“When Stephens and Ankrah arrived on-stage to receive their diplomas, they were both embraced by Justice Thomas.
“Ankrah will be playing football for Nebraska next year, but Stephens will be attending Stanford. The justice said he doesn’t have any hard feelings over that.”
Michael Wilbon / Washington Post
“LeBron James, over the past five years, has made hundreds of decisions and utterances that play out in public. It happens a half-dozen times every day of his life…he has to say something appropriate or greet someone in an awkward situation or act as the team leader and primary decision maker. And 99.9 percent of the time he does exactly the right thing. If we’re keeping count on the behavior scoreboard, it’s LeBron James Gets It Right 299, LeBron Goofs 1. That’s the ledger.
“Overwhelmingly, the kid just gets it, that his responsibility to the NBA and professional basketball in general is too great to snub his opponent and not explain himself just because he suffered a painful defeat. Actually, you find out the true measure of an athlete’s character after just the kind of loss Orlando hung on the Cavaliers last week. So this, relatively speaking, is a pretty big goof. The cameras are rolling when you’re celebrated night after night as being the king of an entire region, so it’s only fair that the cameras are rolling, too, when you walk off the court without congratulating Dwight Howard and his teammates for a job well done.
“E-mailing the Magic later, as LeBron did, isn’t good enough. And you don’t just get to use the media to get across your message, then bail when it’s tough. Explaining yourself to what is pretty much an adoring public isn’t good enough when it’s a day late. Finally, on Sunday, LeBron said: ‘It’s hard for me to congratulate someone after you lose to them. I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that. But somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them on beating you up. That doesn’t make sense.’
“Oh, but it does make sense. And you’re not actually a winner, no matter how many points you score or commercial endorsements you pile up, until you understand that….
“Still, I’m reluctant, like most people, to be too tough on LeBron simply for the reason that he’s been so consistently appropriate and well-reasoned….
“And because he has, I’m hoping that Magic Johnson or Charles Barkley or Michael Jordan or Larry Bird, any one of the iconic players LeBron looks up to, will call him over the next week and very privately say: ‘You can’t do that again. There’s no excuse. You lose, you shake hands, you own up, you do it graciously. And if you don’t want to handle it that way, there’s one way to avoid it: Don’t lose….
“If boxers, after getting pummeled by an opponent, can get off the canvas and shake a man’s hand, then so can a basketball player, no matter how famous….Wilt lost, Kareem lost, Magic and Bird lost, Jordan lost. But as far as I know, they maintained a level of sportsmanship that isn’t optional.”
“James, the NBA’s most valuable player, did not shake hands with his Olympic teammate Dwight Howard. He didn’t speak to reporters after the game, either. (The NBA announced Monday it would not fine James for not making himself available to the news media.)
“ ‘I just thought he would have said something to me or said something to the team,’ said Howard… ‘He’s probably upset, probably hurt and understand that, respect it. One day we’ll see each other, and I’ll have to wait until then.’
“On Sunday, James said, and Howard confirmed, that James had sent a congratulatory e-mail message – something akin to the presidential phone call to the winning team. But James offered an explanation, not an apology….
“So, this is new-era sportsmanship as defined by King James: Winners don’t shake hands with their opponents after they lose; competitors storm off when the result doesn’t go their way.
“So-called street credibility works both ways. You gain it by exhibiting a toughness critics may have thought you lacked, and you lose it by acting like a prima donna who has started to believe the corporate hype. You don’t knock the pieces off the chess table just before you’re checkmated.
The New York Daily News’ Mike Lupica questions what has taken NBA Commissioner David Stern so long to fine LeBron.
“We get that it’s not the crime of the century skipping a press conference. We get that the money Stern will get off him, if he does, won’t even qualify as tipping money in James’ universe. But big guys don’t go to the bus when they lose and big commissioners don’t just let them.
“Of course James isn’t the first guy to act this way. Jordan had his bad days, Tiger Woods has had his bad days. Everybody does. But with the money and the fame come responsibilities.”
Meanwhile, LeBron said he feels great about the situation in Cleveland, and that they are making progress, but he will not sign a contract extension this summer. Plus it turns out he had a benign growth in his mouth that was removed during a five-hour procedure on Tuesday involving his parotid gland, which produces saliva. “Surgery for such conditions often takes time because of the numerous nerves and blood vessels in that area of the jaw.” [Chris Broussard / ESPN]
“By holding a 10-Cent Beer Night, the Cleveland Indians give new meaning to bad hops. Some 25,000 fans come and – to be fair – they don’t all streak across the diamond or spring into centerfield to moon the bleacherites. But many do. With the game tied 5-5 and the Indians at bat in the ninth, the bases weren’t loaded but the crowd was. Umpire Nestor Chylak and Cleveland reliever Tom Hilgendorf are both hit over the head with chairs by fans. When order proves impossible to restore, the Indians, having forfeited their dignity, also forfeit the game.”
–I’m tellin’ ya, we have the potential for a truly magical moment in the sports world at the upcoming U.S. Open at Bethpage. Phil Mickelson has committed to play, after using next week’s Memphis event to tune up following his layoff due to wife Amy’s breast cancer diagnosis.
Understand that at the last Open conducted at Bethpage, 2002, Mickelson, despite losing to Tiger, was a huge fan favorite in an atmosphere unlike any other golf tournament up to that point, and since.
But now you have the Amy factor, and 95% of the gallery is going to be pulling for Lefty. Any decent sports fan should hope he’s in the hunt come Saturday and Sunday. If he is, this is going to be an event remembered for decades. It’s the Bar Chat Guarantee!
—Randy Johnson is going for win No. 300 on Wednesday in Washington, causing the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Turbow to muse about the crowd that might witness the feat; as in how small it could be. Turbow notes that some historic milestones were played in front of sparse crowds. Like in the case of Babe Ruth, who played before 2,000 in his final home game, Boston at New York, 9/24/34. Or the 10,454 who viewed Ted Williams’ final game, Baltimore at Boston, 9/28/60.
But nothing compares to Wally Schang, who in 1916 became the first big-leaguer to hit home runs in consecutive at-bats from different sides of the plate – in front of a reported 23 fans.
[Well, I had to look up Schang on baseballreference.com, never having heard of him, and he had a fair 19-year career (1913-1931), .284 lifetime with 1506 hits.]
–I agree with ESPN’s Bill Simmons that the problem with David Ortiz, batting .186 in 183 at-bats, with just one home run, has to do with the fact that he is much older than his stated age of 33. But, as opposed to Simmons’ belief Ortiz hasn’t been a juicer, I say he has.
—The Yankees set a major league record for consecutive games without an error, 18, besting the mark held by the 2006 Red Sox. The Yankees were 14-4 during the stretch.
—1969 Mets, continued. Mets are at 19-23.
May 30…Mets start 3-game series with San Francisco at Shea, winning 4-3 before 52,200 on a Friday night. Tom Seaver (7-3) gets the win, going 8 innings and allowing 3 runs while fanning 8. Ron Taylor earned the save as the Mets came from down 3-0 to score one in the 7th and 3 in the 8th. Ron Swoboda (#3) and Rod Gaspar (#1) homered for New York, Willie McCovey hit #14 for the Giants.
May 31…Mets win 4-2 behind Gary Gentry (4-4) who goes 7 innings, giving up the 2 runs. Tug McGraw pitched the last two frames for the save, striking out 4. Gaylord Perry (7-5) took the loss. Ed Charles, “The Glider,” drove in all 4 runs for the Metsies, including his 1st homer. Willie McCovey hit #15.
June 1…Mets complete 1st-ever 3-game sweep of the Giants, 5-4, as they enter the bottom of the ninth tied at 4 and proceed to get 4 walks off reliever Joe Gibbon. Ron Swoboda drew the decisive bases on balls for the victory. Jim McAndrew didn’t make it through the 2nd, but Don Cardwell pitched 6 2/3 in relief, allowing 2 runs, while Ron Taylor (1-1) got the win. Swoboda and Jerry Grote drove in 2 apiece. McCovey homered yet again, #16.
June 2…Mets defeat the Dodgers, 2-1, at Shea, as Jerry Koosman (2-3) goes all the way, allowing 5 hits and fanning 8. Claude Osteen (7-4) took the loss for L.A. Jerry Grote and Al Weis drove in the 2 runs, Grote’s on a wind-whipped pop to third that Bill Sudakis didn’t come close to. Mets are now back to .500, 23-23, on the heels of their 5-game winning streak.
June 3…Mets defeat the Dodgers, 5-2, behind Tom Seaver (8-3), who again goes 8 innings, giving up the 2 runs and striking out 9. Tug McGraw pitches the ninth for his second save. Ed Kranepool, “the other No. 7,” clouts two homers and now has 5 on the season. Andy Kosco hits #9 for L.A. The Mets, at 24-23, are over .500 for the first time in franchise history, if you don’t include the first week of the 1966 season when they started out 2-1.
June 4…Mets win 7th in a row, 1-0, in 15, against L.A. Jack DiLauro makes his first start for New York and allows just 2 hits in 9 innings. Bill Singer of the Dodgers matches him, also allowing only 2 hits in 9, while striking out 10. Tug McGraw goes 4 scoreless in relief of DiLauro, but Ron Taylor (2-1) gets the win, going final two. The Mets win the game with an unearned run in the 15th on a Willie Davis error. Mets only had 4 hits for the game. The 7-game winning streak matches the franchise high set back in July 1966. Mets now 25-23, but still 8 ½ games back of the Cubbies.
—Memphis denies Derrick Rose fraudulently took his SAT, saying there is no proof of this according to an internal probe. Rose, though, refuses to cooperate with the NCAA, saying he answered all the questions in 2007. Of course the NCAA disputes this.
–You know my fondness for the sport of track and field, so I have to note an article by John Branch of the New York Times concerning the Beijing Olympics decathlon champion, Bryan Clay. No riches have come his way, that’s for sure. When asked, he pulls out a favorite photo from the Games, and upon opening a desk drawer, the medal isn’t where it’s supposed to be.
“How many world-class athletes dream like this – for memories in a box, for a medal they cannot find, for few of the tangible prizes that increasingly reward athletic prowess? How is it that backup quarterbacks, utility infielders and winless golf professionals live more extravagantly than someone deemed the world’s greatest athlete?
“ ‘I try not to think about it,’ Clay said. ‘You do kind of feel slighted sometimes, just because of all the hard work you put in.’”
–Update on the spectacular shot-putter from my area, Nick Vena of Morristown High School here in N.J. We just had our state championships for six groups, including parochial divisions, and Vena captured his Group 3 title with a meet record toss of 71-3 ½. Just to give you a sense of how far apart from the competition he is, the other five Group titleholders came in at 57-3, 56-6, 51-3, 58-1, and 46-10.
And as New Jersey’s best square off in the Meet of Champions this week, some of the state records are interesting.
For instance, Olympic medalist Dennis Mitchell still holds the records for the 200- and 400-meter runs, set back in 1983 and 1984; Marty Liquori continues to hold the 1,600-meter mark at 3:59.8 (mile) from 1967! Carl Lewis is the long jump recordholder, 26-6, 1979; the great Renaldo Nehemiah, 110-meter hurdles, 1977; and Carol Lewis, long jump, 1980. Some day soon we’ll mention Nick Vena in the same breath.
–A European PGA Tour event, the Moscow Open, is a victim of the financial crisis. Officials just canceled it because sponsors couldn’t raise enough money.
–Former Jets coach Eric Mangini had a reputation of being quite the jerk while in New York, so it was a shock to some of us that he landed on his feet in Cleveland so quickly after being dismissed, but it is thus not a surprise he’s already hated by some of the players at his new home.
Mangini asked the Browns rookies to help him out at a football camp in Hartford, Conn. OK, no big deal, you’re probably thinking.
“The only problem was they took a bus and it was a 10-hour trip. And although their attendance was not mandatory, what choice do you have when you are battling to make a football team.
“ ‘It’s voluntary, but it’s not really voluntary,’ one source told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. ‘These players are fighting for starting jobs and playing time. What are they supposed to do, say, ‘No, I’m not going?’’
“ ‘It’s a sophisticated form of hazing,’ said one league source. ‘I’ve never heard of anything like it.’” [AP]
That’s Mangini…a k a “Mangenius.” He’s just been placed in the December file as a “Jerk of the Year” candidate.
–So remind me…why is it that Eddie Jordan just got the job as 76ers head coach? I mean he seems like a decent guy and all, but he’s 230-288 lifetime with Washington and the Sacramento Kings. Whoopty-damn-do, in other words.
–The June issue of Golf Magazine has a piece on the impact of Bernie Madoff on the sport. Not just with household names like Raymond Floyd, a victim, but at venues like the North Shore Country Club, Long Island, where membership supposedly dropped from 175 to 110 in the wake of the scandal. At Palm Beach Country Club, Fla., ground zero, a reported one-third of 300 members held accounts with Madoff with a combined value of an estimated $1 billion.
“You could call it the tale of the bear and three Goldilocks. Three tourists received an amusing surprise when they discovered a koala bear wandering around their beachside holiday home on a tropical island off far northeastern Australia, trying out different beds to sleep in.
“The curious marsupial had become confused after climbing down from a nearby tree and clambering onto the wooden veranda, looking for a place to rest his head.”
–Brad K. reports more birds are dropping out of the sky in Western Australia, including ravens and pelicans, less than a year after the deaths of 200 gulls, a story reported in this space. The cause is the pesticide Fenthion, used for both domestic and industrial purposes. Brad expects retaliation on the part of the Animal Kingdom shortly. The only question is where and by whom. I can’t disagree with Brad that avenging pelicans would be a nightmare.
–So I’m looking at the hurricane names for this season…Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Erika, Fred, Grace….Odette, Peter, Rose…..Hey, Pete Rose! We’re in deep trouble if these two combine in the Gulf, know what I’m sayin’? He wasn’t called “Charlie Hustle” for nothin’.
[I’m a sucker for Erika, incidentally. I expect her to be a soft Category 1 that just skirts the Leeward Islands and quietly goes pfffft.]
–Ooh baby. Bar Rafaeli is looking rather sexy on the cover of the July Esquire.
–I see Cher sued Universal Music Group, claiming she and the heirs of Sonny Bono were shortchanged on royalties to the tune of $5 million. This crap has been going on since the invention of the phonograph. Here’s hoping Cher kicks butt in court.
—Paul McCartney is going to be the first to play the Mets’ new Citi Field at concerts July 17-18, tickets for which go on sale Monday. It will be interesting to see if he fills it. McCartney will play a smattering of tunes from ’65, no doubt, and he promises it will feel new, even to returnees: “Nobody heard us then, including us!” [Referring to the crowd noise.]
–Will Friedwald had a funny piece in the Wall Street Journal on the 40th anniversary of the tune “My Way.” Frank Sinatra hated it.
“I hate this song – you sing it for eight years, you would hate it too!” [Caesars Palace, 1978]
“And of course, the time comes now for the tortuous moment – not for you, but for me.” [L.A. Amphitheater, 1979]
“I hate this song. I HATE THIS SONG! I got it up to here [with] this God damned song!” [Atlantic City, 1979]
But Sinatra also admitted to the same crowds that the song had been “very good to me – and singers like me.” Audiences wouldn’t let him off the stage without him singing it.
“My Way” was written by Paul Anka and Claude Francois. “In Sinatra’s most extreme one-liner regarding the song, he informed the patrons of Carnegie Hall that the melody was written ‘by an 18-year-old French songwriter whose name is Jacques Strappe.’”
“Mr. Anka said that when he first heard the Francois version, titled ‘Comme D’habitude,’ he too thought it was a ‘pretty shitty record, but there was something in it,’ as he told London’s Telegraph in 2007. ‘I used words I would never use: ‘I ate it up and spit it out.’ But that’s the way [Sinatra] talked.’”
By the way, “Ten years after Sinatra recorded ‘My Way,’ Claude Francois was electrocuted when he tried to take a bath and change a light bulb at the same time.” [True story.]
Top 3 songs for the week 6/3/67: #1 “Respect” (Aretha Franklin) #2 “Groovin’” (The Young Rascals) #3 “I Got Rhythm” (The Happenings)…and…#4 “Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)” (Engelbert Humperdinck) #5 “Creeque Alley” (The Mamas & The Papas) #6 “Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?” (Paul Revere and The Raiders… underrated group) #7 “The Happening” (The Supremes) #8 “Sweet Soul Music” (Arthur Conley) #9 “Somebody To Love” (Jefferson Airplane) #10 “All I Need” (The Temptations)
NBA Quiz Answer: 1978-79 Seattle Supersonics – Gus Williams, 19.2 avg., Dennis Johnson, 15.9, Jack Sikma, 15.6, Freddie Brown (6th man), 14.0, Lonnie Shelton, 13.5, John Johnson, 11.0. Wally Walker, 6.5, and Paul Silas, 5.6 and 7.0 reb., were key reserves.
