1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers Quiz: Name the four who scored in double figures for this team that won the NBA Finals, 4-0, over the Lakers. Answer below.
NBA Finals
I posted immediately after Game 2 on Sunday night and so didn’t really have a chance to comment much but with what LeBron James is doing for the Cavaliers, willing them to victory, you throw away the shooting percentages. 39 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists is quite a stat line.
And there was Matthew Dellavedova, diving all over the place, getting in Steph Curry’s face, helping hold the league’s MVP to 5-of-23 shooting, 2-of-15 from downtown.
“If you’re looking for us to play sexy, cute basketball, that’s not us right now,” LeBron James said. “Everything is tough. We’re going to come in with an aggressive mindset defensively and offensively.
“It has to be that for the rest of the series, no matter how many games it takes.”
LeBron added in his postgame press conference: “We’re undermanned. I mean, we’re without two All-Stars, and I don’t know any other team in this league that would be able to do that, to be able to be without two All-Stars on their team and compete the way we compete and be a force. So the guys are taking that very personal.”
This stat was telling. The Warriors’ average more than 300 passes per game, but had just a little more than 200 in Game 2, even with an extra five minutes.
Speaking of Dellavedova, though, analyst Charles Barkley said, “I think people need to slow down giving him so much credit. Steph Curry will kill that kid in the overall scheme of things. He just didn’t make his shots last night, and I think everybody needs to slow their roll talking about him.”
Well, Sir Charles, we move to Game 3, Tuesday, and Dellavedova stifled Steph Curry again in the first half, holding the reigning MVP to just 1-for-6 shooting, 3 points, while LeBron had 13 points and nine rebounds in leading the Cavs to a 44-37 halftime lead.
Cleveland then widened the lead to 72-55 in the third (68-48 with 2:50 to go in the period) and while Curry began to hit a few, the game wasn’t in doubt.
But Golden State roared back in the fourth, cutting the lead to 81-80, before Dellavedova hit a driving bank shot and got the foul, making it 84-80. LeBron then hit a 3 with 1:40 to play, 87-80, and the Cavs held on for a 96-91 win, Cleveland up 2-1….stunningly, I might add.
LeBron scored 40 points, hauled in 12 rebounds, dished out 8 assists, and added 4 steals and 2 blocks for good measure. Plus he played 46 of 48 minutes.
King James is averaging 41 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists the first three games.
As for Dellavedova, all he did was score 20 points, with 5 rebounds and 4 assists, while throwing himself all over the court and playing tough ‘D’ on Curry. In fact, the Aussie, via St. Mary’s, played so hard he was hospitalized after with “severe cramping.” [Iman Shumpert also has a shoulder issue we’ll learn more about later Wednesday.]
For the Warriors, they can take solace in the fact Curry did come back to score 24 in the second half, as he found his three-point shot, going 7-of-13 from downtown, but he committed some particularly atrocious turnovers down the stretch.
“Well, there’s the MVP…and the People’s MVP.
“Once again, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, the NBA’s freshly-minted MVP, was no match for LeBron James and his court….
“Curry finished with a flurry, scoring 17 of his 27 points in a furious fourth quarter.
“James, by the way, had another huge night with 40 points. He’s merely playing like the MVP, scoring more points through three games (123) than anyone in an NBA Finals series…
“Yes, we expect this from King James, MVP or not, he’s the best player on the planet.
“What is so unexpected is the manner in which Curry has been affected by the pesky defense administered by fill-in guard Matthew Dellavedova….
“The image of Curry leaving the court at Quicken Loans Arena after the game was worth the proverbial 1,000 words that answered that question.
“ ‘I’ve gotta be more aggressive,’ Curry said afterward.
“What’s happened to the MVP? He’s gone MIA.
“With a chance to silence doubters wondering whether his subpar Finals series is related to the head contusion he suffered at Houston in the Eastern Conference Finals, or the great defensive work of Dellavedova, Curry could not rise to the occasion.
“Perhaps Curry’s hot fourth quarter will carry over to provide the Warriors a spark in Game 4 on Thursday night. If not, the Warriors are in a world of trouble.”
Can’t wait for the next one. The first three contests have been better than anyone could have possibly expected.
Stanley Cup Final
Injured Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop was the story Monday night in Chicago against the Blackhawks.
“Ben Bishop lay face down, arms spread above his head, and he did not move. He might not have wanted to, either. He had spent much of the game Monday night staggering from side to side in the crease and lumbering from front to back. He seemed to favor his left side.
“Rather than drop into his butterfly stance, he just stood there. He flailed at some shots. He let others hit him. He could barely lift himself off the ice, protecting the net as if propped up by a tripod.
“The strategy worked as long as he remained upright, which he did until a stray elbow late in the second period sent him crumbling to the ice.
“He stayed down for about half a minute. Then he got up. Bishop forged on, and so did the Tampa Bay Lightning, who scored twice in the third period to topple the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2, and seize a two-games-to-one lead in the Stanley Cup finals.”
Bishop won’t reveal the nature of his injury until after the series. And we still don’t know what the deal was in Game 2 when he was taken out.
–In just his 13th major league start, the Giants’ Chris Heston no-hit the Mets, 5-0, Tuesday, striking out 11, walking none, but hitting three batters, the first time in history that has been done in a no-no.
This is a guy that didn’t throw a single pitch over 91 mph, but after hitting Anthony Recker to lead off the ninth, caught the next three Mets batters looking, which is beyond pathetic for us Mets fans..
Oh, and Heston had a two-run single for the first RBIs in his career.
It’s the fourth consecutive year a Giants pitcher has thrown a no-hitter.
–The Houston Astros called up top prospect, Carlos Correa, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft. Playing between Triple-A Fresno and Double-A Corpus Christi, Correa was hitting a combined .335 with 10 home runs, 44 RBI, 21 doubles and 18 stolen bases. At 20, he becomes the youngest player in the majors.
So in his first two games, Monday and Tuesday, Correa is 3-for-8 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
But in the Monday contest, Houston lost to the White Sox, 3-1, with Chicago hurler Chris Sale striking out 14 in eight innings. Sale now has three straight games with 12 or more strikeouts, while allowing no more than one earned run in the three, making him the first pitcher since Sandy Koufax (1965) to have such a three-game stretch.
–There are so many outstanding young players just beginning to make their impact, including 22-year-old hurler Eduardo Rodriguez of the Red Sox, who lost to Baltimore 1-0 on Tuesday but he tossed six scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 0.44 in his first three major league starts. 20 2/3, 1 earned run.
–As for young stars who’ve been making their mark for a few years, 22-year-old Bryce Harper homered in his first appearance at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, with many believing Harper will be donning pinstripes one day. What is a certainty is he would absolutely eat up that little bandbox…50+ homers a year would be a lock.
But the slumping Nats, 30-28, lost the game 6-1 as Masahiro Tanaka (4-1, 2.48) outdueled Max Scherzer (6-5, 2.13). Tanaka keeps teasing his fan base. When he’s healthy, he’s as good as any in baseball. But most of us are just waiting for his arm to fall off.
Meanwhile, the surging Yanks, who’ve won seven in a row to go to 33-25, were led Tuesday by Stephen Drew’s two home runs. Drew, who hit .162 last season in 271 at-bats, is now batting just .175 despite slamming nine homers.
Ergo, he has a legitimate shot at the most home runs for a sub-.180 hitter; a record held by Rob Deer, who hit 25 for Detroit in 1991 while batting .179.
–Hey, Mets fans. The team is certainly playing up their second-round draft pick, Desmond Lindsay, a high-schooler out of Florida who had signed to attend North Carolina, but it’s believed the Mets will have no issue signing him.
The Mets didn’t have a first-rounder after losing it in inking Michael Cuddyer, but they believe Lindsay is an “offensive machine,” as the scouting director put it.
So why did this guy last until the 53rd overall pick if he’s so good? He had a recurring hamstring injury this spring that severely limited his playing time.
[Hey, maybe he can still pick up a phantom degree at North Carolina? The best of both worlds.]
–The other day I told you about the Oakland A’s switch-pitcher, Pat Venditte, who made his debut and pitched two scoreless.
But a certain headline from the East Oregonian is getting a lot of press.
“Amphibious pitcher makes debut”
As Marissa Payne of the Washington Post notes: “The paper either hired former North Carolina State basketball player Charles Shackleford to copy-edit (he once famously claimed he was ‘amphibious’ when he meant ‘ambidextrous’) or it simply experienced a brain fart when trying to save space. Hey, it happens.”
—Mariano Rivera Jr. was drafted in the fourth round by the Washington Nationals. The Red Sox selected outfielder Tate Matheny, the son of Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, in the same round. One round later, the Tigers selected Cam Gibson, son of Kirk Gibson.
Also, Daz Cameron, son of former major leaguer Mike Cameron, was selected 37th overall by the Astros.
Tyler Nevin, son of Phil Nevin, was selected 38th overall by the Rockies.
[I know there are other sons of major leaguers that were drafted…too tired to list them all.]
–The College World Series is set for Omaha. Double-elimination format until the field is down to two teams, at which point it’s a best-of-three to determine the national champ.
June 13
Arkansas vs. Virginia
Florida vs. Miami (FL)
June 14
LSU vs. TCU
Cal State Fullerton vs. Vanderbilt
TCU was the last to qualify, Monday night/Tuesday morning, as the Horned Frogs previlaed over Texas A&M in 16 innings!
American Pharoah
So we still don’t know when Pharoah will next run, but I already scooped up two tickets to the Haskell Invitational at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park on Aug. 2. The place will be a zoo if the Triple Crown winner is part of the field. It will have also been a full two months since the Belmont and I’m just guessing that’s enough of a rest. Zayat and Baffert could then still run The Traverse on Aug. 29 and finally the Breeders’ Cup Classic end of October.
But it’s all up to Baffert.
“In the days and weeks ahead, there will be a great deal of talk about whether a new Triple Crown champion will give horse racing a badly needed shot in the arm.
“It already has, and it will continue to do so in the short term. The news of American Pharoah’s triumph resonated on websites and in newspapers globally, was celebrated on sports channels and network television, and was dissected and relived on radio talk shows.
“It was not solely the fact that a Triple Crown sweep had been a long time coming that attracted the attention of casual sports fans – it was also how American Pharoah did it. He showed grit in a determined stretch duel to win the Derby, brilliance in running away with the Preakness and dominance in his five-and-a-half-length Belmont victory….
“Even the most casual sports fan recognizes and is moved by sublime athletic achievement. During the past few weeks, American Pharoah has reminded them what an ethereal creature a thoroughbred is and how beautiful it is in full flight.
“The reason that nearly four decades had passed, in which 12 other horses failed to pass the mile-and-a-half Test of the Champion, as the Belmont is known, is because it is hard….
“Like it or not, horse racing is part of the American character. It predates baseball and is the only sport that was ever conducted out of the White House. In the early 1800s, President Andrew Jackson ran a stable from there.
“It is on the decline mostly because of its own doing. Horse racing lacks uniform drug regulation and meaningful penalties for cheaters. The racetracks themselves treat their customers badly.
“But when a John Henry or a Cigar, a Zenyatta or a Rachel Alexandra comes along, America gets excited and wants to watch the horse run. American Pharoah is not going to save horse racing, but if he can attract new fans to the racetrack to watch him, some might fall for the sport.”
The dollar amount for those who didn’t cash in their tickets on Pharoah at Belmont Park was $315,829, according to a track spokesman and ESPN.com.
There were 94,128 $2 tickets on Pharoah purchased at Belmont and Aqueduct Racetrack. 90,237 of the $2 tickets went uncashed.
Technically, you have until March 31, 2016, to cash the ticket; not that anyone else will at this point.
*I was remiss in not noting last time that the lawsuit against Ahmed Zayat for ‘breach of contract’ was thrown out by a U.S. District court judge last Thursday. A convicted felon, Howard Rubinsky, claims Zayat owed him $1.65 million as part of a $2 million credit line at an offshore casino. Judge William Martini noted Rubinsky’s claim dates back to at least 2005 and therefore falls outside New Jersey’s six-year statute of limitations for such claims.
Here’s something to remember, boys and girls. Judge Martini wrote, “The clock beings to tick on the date that the cause of action accrues.”
Finally, I was running at the high school track the other day (to break up my routine) and next time you’re doing that, think about a quarter-mile…and the difference between the Derby (1 ¼ miles) and the Belmont (1 ½). It kind of puts into perspective that extra distance a horse has to go. It’s a big difference.
College Basketball
–The NCAA made it official…the shot clock in men’s college basketball is being reduced from 35 to 30 seconds. Also, there will be a slightly larger restricted area below the basket, in which defenders may not take charges, and more restrictions on contact in the post.
Referees will also be encouraged to enforce existing rules against physical defense.
And each team will receive four timeouts, one fewer than previously, and some of those will be combined with media timeouts to help shorten games.
The women’s game, meanwhile, is being divided into 10-minute quarters instead of 20-minute halves.
–I ordinarily wouldn’t care about a coaching change, especially one that didn’t involve Wake Forest, but I am really happy for Steve Prohm, the new head coach at Iowa State, replacing Fred Hoiberg who was hired by the Chicago Bulls.
Prohm has been the coach at Murray State the past four seasons, guiding them to a 104-29 record and an NCAA tournament bid in his first year, 2011-12. It was that season that I had the Racers as my ‘Pick to click’ and traveled to Murray, Ky., to catch a game. They lost in the second round of the NCAAs, led by current NBA player Isaiah Canaan.
But since then it has been one hard luck loss after another at season’s end, such as in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, though it certainly wasn’t because Prohm didn’t know how to coach. His players just made some real bonehead decisions in crunch time.
What’s cool is that whereas I thought Prohm would get a big promotion after 2011-12, he ends up in the best situation possible, inheriting a loaded Hawkeyes team that is a preseason consensus top five. Yes, a lot of pressure, but he can handle it.
I’ve already announced I’m going with San Diego State again next season, but I’ll be rooting big time for Prohm.
–So I’m going to check out the HBO series “Ballers,” June 21, which stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a former professional football player turned financial advisor to other athletes.
But the show features extensive use of NFL team names and logos without the express written consent of the NFL, according to a report from ProFootballTalk.
“HBO is always mindful of other intellectual property owners, but in this context there is no legal requirement to obtain their consent,” an HBO spokesperson said in a statement.
In the opening episode, the focus is in part on an NFL player who has sex in the bathroom of a nightclub with a woman he had just met, then he beats up a fan who confronts the player about keeping the bathroom occupied for so long, according to PFT.
From a Rolling Stone review of the show, it sounds like “Entourage,” which, for those of us who were fans of that one, works.
—Henry Carr, a sprinter who captured two gold medals at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and later played three seasons with the New York Giants, died the other day. He was 73.
Carr won the 200 meters with an Olympic-record time of 20.3 seconds, and he also ran the final leg in the winning 4X400-meter relay team.
Carr was selected by the Giants in the fourth round of the 1965 NFL draft out of Arizona State, where he played football just one season, before concentrating on track and field.
With the Giants he played cornerback and safety. His best season was 1966, when he had four of his seven career interceptions, including one he ran back 101 yards for a touchdown after picking off a pass by Los Angeles Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel.
But Carr’s career was cut short due to a knee injury in his final year.
Bob Hayes was another who won two golds in the sprints at the Tokyo Games, before embarking on his Hall of Fame career in 1965 as a receiver for the Dallas Cowboys.
Golf Balls
Ryan Herrington of Golf World had a piece on the college game and how good it has become.
“Should that be a surprise? Anyone watching the professional game the last few years has likely noticed the growing number of recent collegiate players quickly assimilating into the pro ranks. Look no further than the Memorial, with nine players in the field less than three years removed from carrying a bag for their alma maters.
“The most obvious example of a recent college player seamlessly transitioning to the pros is Jordan Spieth, who left Texas at the end of 2012 after helping the Longhorns win the NCAA title as a freshman, and within seven months had claimed a PGA Tour title. Spieth would have been wrapping up his senior year this spring but, instead, won the Masters. How much did his brief time in Austin impact his game. Most UT fans will say a great deal, even if others claim he was destined for big things regardless.
“But what of Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka, Patrick Rodgers and Patrick Reed, Harris English, Russell Henley, Zach Guthrie, Scott Langley, Max Homa, Zac Blair, Daniel Berger and John Peterson? How do you explain all these 20-somethings – a wave seemingly kick-started by Rickie Fowler when he jumped from Oklahoma State to PGA Tour stardom in 2010 – thriving as pros so soon after leaving campus?
“The answer brings us back to modern college golf. More than ever, the college game seems to be working as a full-service training ground for aspiring tour pros to develop their games. Whereas most collegiate careers required some hard-knock seasoning on mini-tours before PGA Tour success, that path is becoming less common.”
What are the reasons? Better coaching, for one. As Herrington writes: “The days of Division I coaches merely being van drivers have long disappeared, replaced by energetic former college or tour players conversant in modern instruction and possessing an intangible understanding of what it takes to play at the next level.”
And today’s college kids are playing on better courses, plus there is better competition.
–I forgot to note Mark Calcavecchia’s win in the Champions Tour event last weekend in Des Moines. What made it special was he has been all out of sorts, having missed the cut in the Senior PGA Championship two weeks earlier.
He is also still feeling the effects of a gruesome injury last November, when he tripped on a two-inch step while carrying groceries and went head first through a glass door. He didn’t cut his head, but he sliced his hand on the glass, requiring 14 stitches to close a 1 ½-inch cut on a major artery. But then a doctor had to reattach a tendon later.
“It still bothers me,” Calc said over the weekend. “I wake up and these fingers hurt.”
—NBC, still upset it lost the rights to the U.S. Open to Fox, signed a 12-year deal to begin broadcasting the British Open, beginning 2017, for a reported $50 million annually, or double ESPN’s fees during its eight-year contract.
ESPN now has the cable rights to the Masters, but nothing when it comes to the U.S. Open.
–The U.S. women won their opener in the World Cup, Monday, 3-1 over Australia, with Megan Rapinoe scoring in each half, and Hope Solo making some nice saves. Next up, Sweden, Friday.
–Hey, Wake Forest fans…we have someone new to root for. Tennis player Noah Rubin announced he’s turning pro after his freshman season with the Deacs. He was the ACC Player of the Year, while posting a 26-4 record in singles play, and made it to the national championship match, which he lost to Virginia’s Ryan Shane.
–My brother passed on the latest Brand Finance Football 50, from consultancy Brand Finance, that puts a value on the world’s biggest soccer teams.
No. 1 is Manchester United, valued at $1.206bn, followed by last year’s No. 1, FC Bayern Munchen at $933m.
No. 3 Real Madrid. No. 4 Manchester City. No. 5 Chelsea. No. 6 FC Barcelona.
Southampton jumped from No. 30 to No. 18, after a 7th place finish in the Premier League. I didn’t realize they were in the third tier league of English football as recently as 2010.
—Ask The Slouch (aka Norman Chad):
Q. Does winning the National Spelling Bee make a future collegiate student-athlete ineligible by NCAA guidelines? (Kevin D; Silver Spring, Md.)
A. No, but if that student-athlete enrolls at North Carolina, he or she probably would receive a degree without even attending phantom classes.
[Enter the $1.25 Ask The Slouch Cash Giveaway. Just e-mail asktheslouch@aol.com, and if your question is used, you win $1.25 in cash!]
–“Entourage” the movie got off to a respectable start, taking in $17.8 million domestically its first weekend. I didn’t think the flick would do well, because its loyal fan base is nonetheless small, but it cost less than $30 million to make. And while critics have bashed it, audiences gave it an A-minus from CinemaScore.
As for “Love and Mercy,” it opened only in 483 theaters (vs. 3,108 for “Entourage”), yet it took in $2.2m, which worked out to a nice take per screen.
—Rhinos are going to be reintroduced into Zimbabwe’s second-biggest national park, but poaching of elephants in the Gonarhezhou reserve is surging.
The Frankfurt zoological Society has been working with local authorities to ensure the security of the first 40 black rhinos, but the park has seen 25-30 elephants killed so far this year compared with 10 in all of last year, according to a ranger at the park, which borders Mozambique.
In South Africa’s Kruger National Park, which is south of Gonarhezhou, 800 rhinos were lost last year, mostly to poachers.
As I saw in a story for the BBC, in addition to shooting animals, poachers are “lacing waterholes with poison.” And you wonder why ‘Man’ will remain mired in the 200s and 300s on the All-Species List?
–Regarding the Cocoa Beach, Fla., shark attack the other day, the 11-year-old Winter Springs boy is recovering after being severely bitten at least twice on the leg by a shark in waist-deep waters. It’s now possible he was bitten by more than one bull shark as witnesses saw several in the water at that time.
Bull sharks are prevalent in Brevard County because of the warm water, and it was believed to be the third shark bite to have occurred here since Memorial Day. A few days earlier, a 13-year-old suffered a non-life threatening bite on his ankle at Cocoa Beach.
–Uh oh. Liz Overton / WBIR-TV / USA TODAY: “Officials in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park closed several trails and backcountry campsites Sunday after a bear encounter sent a teenager to the hospital.
“A 16-year-old boy from Ohio was hurt Saturday night when a bear pulled him from his hammock around 10:30 p.m., park officials said.
“Park officials said the father and son were on a backpacking trip in the Smokies. Both were sleeping in hammocks about 10 feet apart and they properly stored their packs, equipment, and food with aerial storage cables.”
The teenager received several injuries, including cuts to the head and was in stable condition.
According to a park spokesman, this is the ninth bear incident this year.
–You may have seen a man died of bee stings while mowing a lawn in Texas yesterday. This isn’t the kind of story I comment on.
–Brad K. passed along this terrific tale, that then went viral, further proof of ‘Dog’ being No. 1 on the ASL.
“A guide dog is recovering after he leapt in front of a school bus to protect his blind owner.
“Audrey Stone and her dog Figo were crossing the street in Brewster, New York, on Monday when a school bus approached them, Brewster Police Chief John Del Gardo told Buzzfeed News.
“The pup spotted the bus, and jumped in front of it in an attempt to stop it from hitting them, witnesses told Del Gardo.
“ ‘The dog got hit first. The dog wouldn’t leave the side of the master,’ Del Gardo said.
“Witness Paul Schwartz told WBIR that the pup didn’t even seem concerned about his own injuries.
“ ‘The dog was being a good sport, really calm,’ Schwartz said. ‘He sat with me the whole time.’….
“Both Figo and Stone are recovering from their injuries.”
Of course this story then immediately got national attention and made the network newscasts on Tuesday….
1. Dog…as Johnny Mac says, “There are no rescue cats.”
2. Elephant…the more we learn how smart they are, the more we’ll be using them for military purposes. They are terrific at bomb-detection, for example.
3. Tiger…ultimate man-killer deserving of tremendous respect.
4. Gibbon…these guys ‘get it.’ Also keep same partner for life. Mets fans.
5. Great White Shark…need them to proliferate and cause mass chaos.
6. Grizzly Bear (I lump Kodiak bears in this category, both awesome).
7. Swordfish…might be temporary listing, but loved how he took out a diver the other day with amazing skill…needs more press.
8. African Grey Parrot…incredibly intelligent, but requires a lot of attention. Could be volatile ranking.
9. Beaver! Yes, a controversial decision to take it off the suspended list, but Beaver avoided the subprime crisis and for that reason alone, this homebuilder should be on the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee.
10. Robin…this simple bird sings at least 12 different tunes, from Nat King Cole to the Beatles. Granted, sometimes it starts singing a little too early in the morning to suit our tastes, but life would suck without the robin.
Others knocking on the door…Leopard Seal, Lion, Crow, Orca, Hawk, Wolf (but not coyote, who blows), Wolverine (would be our most effective weapon against ISIS, truth be told), Ocelot, Mountain Lion, Rhino (though he consistently scores at the bottom on the SAT…which is what prevents him from true Top Ten consideration).
‘Man’ is No. 318, just ahead of Sand Crab.
As for American Pharoah, he’s in a special class of his own. Call him 1A.
“Vincent Musetto, a retired editor at The New York Post who wrote the most anatomically evocative headline in the history of American journalism – HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR – died on Tuesday in the Bronx. He was 74.”
The headline was on the Post’s front page, April 15, 1983. It was indeed about a rather gruesome crime in Queens.
–In the current issue of Rolling Stone, various folks remember B.B. King. I didn’t know this one…from Billy Gibbons.
“Our name is a nod to B.B. King. Originally, we were thinking of naming ourselves ZZ King. Then we figured that was too close to his name – but B.B. is at the top, so that’s what it was: ZZ Top.
“B.B. drove a very tight ship with his band – it was all pro, man. They ran the straight and narrow – they had a dress code, they had a conduct code, they had a shared understanding: ‘Don’t show up drunk. What you do after hours is your business, but we’re going to be on the bus by 8:00 in the morning, and be there.’”
Top 3 songs for the week 6/10/78: 1) “You’re The One That I Want” (John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John) #2 “Shadow Dancing” (Andy Gibb) #3 “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” (Johnny Mathis/Deniece Williams)…and…#4 “Feels So Good” (Chuck Mangione…song has aged poorly…) #5 “Baker Street” (Gerry Rafferty…this one starts off great, then blows…) #6 “It’s A Heartache” (Bonnie Tyler…ughh…) #7 “On Broadway” (George Benson… dreadful compared to “This Masquerade”…) #8 “Take A Chance On Me” (Abba) #9 “With A Little Luck” (Wings… Sir Paul mails it in…) #10 “This Time I’m In It For Love” (Player…whatever…)
1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers Quiz Answer: Four in double figures – Moses Malone (24.5), Dr. J (21.4), Andrew Toney (19.7) and Maurice Cheeks (12.5). Marc Iavaroni was the fifth starter, though he only played 20 minutes per game. Bobby Jones was the super sub, averaging 9 points per game off the bench while supplying his stifling defense.
Next Bar Chat, Monday. Babe Ruth. Why? Tune in.
