The Dynasty Extended Beyond the Court to TV and Film in the 70’s

March 23, 2023

By: Denny Lennon, @SportsStoriesDL

Los Angeles (Hollywood) - With a run of 10 NCAA championships between 1964 and 1975, the UCLA mens basketball team and Coach John Wooden were not only center stage with whatever TV coverage that was provided locally and nationally, but they also took over basketball themed TV shows and movies that made their way to network and the big screen in the 1970’s and 80’s. To be clear, Coach Wooden stuck to coaching, but his players used the notoriety of being a champion to ascend to the little and big screen after they graduated.

As a young, hoops addicted kid growing up in Los Angeles, I was fortunate to come up in the 70’s when the UCLA basketball dynasty was in full swing. Being the last of seven siblings had its advantages. I not only had my own room, but I also inherited the “extra” TV. It was one of those Zenith models, black and white with the rabbit ears. The front room had gone big time, color TV with an oversized clicker that changed the channel. This arrangement worked out perfect for me. When UCLA had home weekday evening games, usually an 8:00pm tip time, they were not shown live, they were taped and replayed at 11:00pm on KTLA channel 5 in Los Angeles. Given these were school nights, after I “went to bed”, I would until 11:00pm, then trun on the TV and watch with the sound real low while my parents were asleep. Legendary broadcaster Dick Enberg would call the games, and in those days, he stood as tall as Dodger announcer Vin Scully in my eyes.

The rationale behind the 11:00pm delay was that if these games were broadcast live, that would somehow affect the ticket sales at Pauley Pavilion. While that may have been small minded thinking, what happened ended up making UCLA athletes, and Dick Enberg, bigger stars than they might have imagined. “Those 11 o’clock telecasts developed a cult following. They got higher ratings that Johnny Carson”, Enberg told the LA Times Larry Stewart in 1973,. Endberg’s distinct style was discovered by L.A. based sports network executives staying up late to catch the dominant Bruins. Enberg was quickly hired to work at NBC in 1975. “Oh My!”

Also staying up late to watch the Bruins roll up a 149-2 record at Pauley Pavilion (yes, 149-2, so many of the Wooden coached UCLA teams records are absurd) were television and movie executives in the entertainment business. "Hollywood” knows a winner when they see one, and given the rise in popularity of basketball in the American culture, UCLA players and graduates were locally based for production concerns and had “brand identity” both locally and nationally. Being part of a dynasty that won 10 NCAA titles in 12 years, including seven straight, and put together an 88-game winning streak will raise ones profile.

“Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up down the court for 48 minutes!”

Lew Alcindor, who in 1971 changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (KAJ), was the greatest collegiate baller ever. In three seasons (freshman were not allowed on varsity back in those days) he complied a 88-2 record, won three NCAA titles and three NCAA Most Outstanding Player of the Year awards. Pretty good run.

While still a rookie in the NBA, before changing his name, he appeared on an episode of the hit TV detective show “Mannix”, which starred Mike Connors. Connors, by the way, was a UCLA basketball player under Wooden before he was “discovered”. KAJ made an iconic appearance as “Hakim”, fighting opposite Bruce Lee in the 1974 feature film “Game of Death”. Kareem would go on to appear in multiple roles on film and TV, none funnier than his appearance as Co-Pilot “Roger Murdock” on the Jim Abrahams and Zucker Brothers hit movie “Airplane” in 1980.
(See video “Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up down the court for 48 minutes!”)

Ken Reeves 10, Bobby Magnum 8

One of KAJ’s (then Lew Alcindor) teammates at UCLA was two-time champion Mike Warren. The shifty guard made his shift to acting soon after graduation. After a couple TV appearances he was hired by director and film star Jack Nicholson to consult with the basketball scene in the 1971 film “Drive, He Said”, which lead to an on camera feature role in the film. Warren would make it big as Officer “Bobby Hill” on the huge hit of the 80’s, “Hill Street Blues”, but not before he appeared in 1979 as “Bobby Magnum” in an episode of the most underrated TV show of all time, “The White Shadow” (1979-1981).

“I told your friends not to bring that stuff fin here!”

Ken Howard played “Ken Reeves”, the lead character that had played pro ball for a few teams, including the Chicago Bulls, before a knee injury changed his career path. Kenny Reeves, good old #14 in your Bulls program, took a job coaching at Carver, a L.A. City section high school team in South Los Angeles. Reeves, who played his collegiate ball at Boston College, spots Bobby Magnum, played by Mike Warren, at a local park and beats him in a one-on-one game so he will attend school at Carver. Ok, look, no matter how many seasons he had in the NBA, no ex-B.C. guy is gonna beat a UCLA guy. The magic of TV, I guess.
(See video Ken Reeves 10, Bobby Magnum 8)

Keith Wilkes, who changed his name when he started his pro career to Jamaal Wilkes, never played with Kareem at UCLA, but he certainly must have seen his moves in “Game of Death” against Bruce Lee. Wilkes, a two-time champion and all-American in ’71 and ’72 at UCLA (everyone who played for coach Wooden then seems to have pocketed at least two national championships), starred in the title role of the 1975 influential film “Cornbread, Earl and Me”. In one scene, Nathaniel “Cornbread” Hamilton fights off two local hoods with some martial arts he must’ve lifted from “Hakim”.
(See video “I told your friends not to bring that stuff fin here!”)

Yes, that is a young Laurence Fishburne that plays Cornbread’s cousin. And yes, that is “Curtis Jackson” that played for Coach Reeves at Carver High School. Speaking of Carver High School and “The White Shadow” (the most underrated TV show of all time), it’s time to talk about the Farmer, Larry Farmer that is. Farmer played three season at UCLA, won three NCAA titles and went 89-1 as a player, the best winning percentage in NCAA history.

Bobby Selridge 15, Ken Reeves 12

So, when the record needed to be set straight with that Boston College boy Kenny Reeves, the Bruin faithful just need to leave it to Larry. Playing “Bobby Selridge” in a season two episode, Farmer goes one-on-one against Reeves to determine who would get a short term contract with the Portland Trailblazers.

(see video Bobby Selridge 15, Ken Reeves 12)

Down Goes Hollis!, Down Goes Hollis!, Down Goes Hollis!

Farmer destroyed him with those opening and closing dunks! Farmer had a quick turnaround from pro player to coaching with UCLA. He turned out to be the main connection for TV and Film casting agents looking for basketball talent. For the 1979 feature film “Fast Break”, Farmer hooked up former Bruin Mike Warren in a key role as “Preacher” and his best friend and UCLA JV coach Craig Impleman in the role of “Hollis”.

If Impleman’s name sounds familiar it may be from his two part interview on Sports Stories, or maybe because he would later marry John Wooden’s granddaughter and launch the Wooden’s Wisdom newsletter. Farmer played the opposing teams best player, Benton (#32 in red), in the climactic game, and he destroyed his “best friend” Hollis (#22 in blue) worse than he did Ken Reeves!

(see video Down Goes Hollis!, Down Goes Hollis!, Down Goes Hollis!)

I must give a shout out to the recently released book “Role of a Lifetime: Larry Farmer and the UCLA Bruins”, that was the catalyst of this walk down 70’s lane, if you’re a fan of the college game during those years, it is a must read. Also have to give credit to the newly launched “MeTV+” (because “MeTV” was just not enough), which has been running “The White Shadow” in its early morning programming. It may appear as this article is a call to the “good old days”, which it may be, but that doesn’t diminish the place that college basketball still holds in our collective sports memories. After all, one of Coach Wooden’s favorite quotes was “not all change is progress, but progress requires change.”

Go Bruins.

Denny Lennon is the President of Sports Stories, Inc.. and the Director of the AAU James E. Sullivan Award.

The 92nd AAU James E. Sullivan Award presentation, produced by Sports Stories, can be viewed on the AAU YouTube Channel.

“Sports Stories with Denny Lennon” airs weeknights at 7:00pm (PT) on LA36 cable TV in Los Angeles and on CAN TV in Chicago.

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“Tripping In and Out of L.A.”

January 1, 2022

“My Holiday Season with Sports in Los Angeles”

Los Angeles, California - My last blog, published November 17th, came the day after I was tripping out at a Clipper game. A notification had come on my phone that the arena I was sitting in, Staples Center, was going to be renamed after a crypt, effective Christmas Day.  One thing I have known since starting Sports Stories with Denny Lennon (SSDL), I wouldn’t have to go far to find unique stories.

I grew up in the City of Angels in the 70’s, when USC in football and UCLA in basketball ruled the national scene, and the likes of Vin Scully, Chick Hearn, Dick Enberg and Bob Miller painted the pictures for our pro sports teams.  L.A. was a trip then, and remains one now.  These days, UCLA and USC have the right people in power and most of our pro teams are in the hunt for championships.

Living in and around Los Angeles is unlike anything else.  I know my “friends” in television law enforcement would agree, from Joe Friday to Colombo to Jim Rockford, Los Angeles, and particularly Venice, provided the perfect backdrop for a diversified life and a slanted view of the world.  “You got that right, brother” my new TV detective buddy, Harry Bosch would affirm.  And so, instead of a wrapping up the entire year of 2021 as 2022 arrives, I present just the holiday season in the trippiest of cities.  

Thanksgiving, Lawrence Welk Resort, Escondido, CA

November 25:  Escondido?  Yep, sometimes you got to get away.  It was Thanksgiving and I was lucky to enough to take a short trip out of LA and be with my family at the Lawrence Welk Resort in Escondido, North of San Diego.  Nothing like a resort named after a band leader born in 1903 in North Dakota to Roman Catholic ethnic Germans.  Coming up in more than modest circumstances, Welk didn’t speak English until he was 21, but that didn’t stop him from rising to fame and fortune in Los Angeles with his unique style of “Champagne Music”.  Welk died 30 years ago but his resort property just sold to Marriott for half a billion.  Can’t make this stuff up.  I am looking forward to seeing how much Marriott has to pay to keep the “Next to Real Neil” Neil Diamond tribute show playing at the Welk Theater.  Let me tell you, that show is in for a huge pay day, but not nearly the pay day a guy moving west from Oklahoma was in for. 

USC Football, LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles

November 28:  Lincoln Riley was named the new football coach at USC, complete with a press conference starring the new coach, the skyline of L.A. and the Hollywood sign.  All the school had to do to land the coveted coach was back up a ship with a boat load of money to the new house they bought him in Manhattan Beach.  Lincoln Riley, eh?  Can we ever really trust a person with two last names?  I suppose so if you combine the “Great Emancipator” with some Irish guy who has a life filled with luck…and money.  

Now all Lincoln, um, er, Riley, has to do to is meet the expectations of a school and fan base who’d like for everyone to forget that USC has lead the nation in criminal activities these past few years.  A medical school dean on meth performing surgeries?  Yep. Basketball coach caught taking bribes and busted by the FBI.  Check.  A gynecologist sexually abusing hundreds of patients.  That happened.  “Varsity Blues” scandal, song girls in distress, federal charges against a councilman and a school dean, okay, okay, I think the point has been made.  One thing we all know is that the fastest way to fix institutional criminality by a university is to win football games.

So, as long as Riley can win national championships like Pete Carroll did almost 20 years ago and John McKay did some 50 years ago, everything will be just fine.  Legends like Carroll and McKay may cast their shadows over the USC football program, but no coach casts a shadow quite like the greatest collegiate basketball coach of all time. 

UCLA Basketball, Pauley Pavilion, Westwood 

Dec 1:  John Wooden was another guy from the middle of the country to find celebrity and success by making a trip to LA.  After the “Indiana Rubber Man” was the top basketball player in the country at Purdue in the 1930’s, he made his way to the City of Angels around the same time Welk arrived.  Coach Wooden made his music coaching the UCLA Bruins, famously winning 10 NCAA championships over a 12 year period.  

My friend Earl Goldberg, a UCLA grad and supporter of the athletic program, invited me to see my other friend, well, acquaintance is more accurate, Bruin coach Mick Cronin lead the Bruins against Colorado.  Cronin, the current man to fall under the Wooden shadow, is off to a great start as the coach, especially after last years run to the Final Four and this years high national ranking and 8-1 start.    

Wooden’s influence can be felt all over campus.  After parking and walking towards Pauley Pavilion, I pass by the Wooden Center where students enjoy their recreation time, pretty soon I walk by the statue of Coach to meet Earl for some pre game food and drink in the Pavilion Club, which of course was financed by the Wooden Athletic Fund.  

Sitting a couple rows behind the Bruins bench, on Nell and John Wooden Court, one thing is for sure:  Coach Cronin was a lot nicer to me at the Pump Foundation Celebrity dinner than he is to his players.  Miss a defensive assignment playing for Cronin and that man can be cold as ice.  Yes, there is ice in L.A., we keep it at the Staples Center, in the er, uh, the crypt?   

LA Kings Hockey, Staples Center, DTLA

Dec 2:  The only time you really get to see ice on the ground in L.A. is if you go to a hockey game.  The most compelling story line of the Kings playing host to the Calgary Flames that night was not the impending name change of the arena, but the trip back to Los Angeles for Flames coach Darryl Sutter.  Sutter, from Alberta, one of the prairie provinces in Canada (which sounds a lot like North Dakota, Oklahoma and Indiana), was back on the bench in the arena where he coached the Kings to two Stanley Cup triumphs in 2012 and 2014.  I miss Sutter’s post game press conferences, with his unique drawl, direct approach and homespun reasoning.  “I guess I don’t get to see the cows for a while”, he noted when the Kings hired him.  

High School Basketball, Staples Center, DTLA

Dec 4: The Chosen 1’s Invitational, a prep basketball showcase event, took to the Staples Center court with selected, “chosen” I suppose, boys and girls teams from across the country.  I was there with SSDL cinematographer “Bad Boy” Bobby MacColl to cover the subject of an upcoming Sports Stories docuseries on the sensational Juju Watkins, the top rated girls high schooler in nation.  

It appears that Juju, now playing for the Sierra Canyon School Trailblazers, was “chosen” to administer a beat down of Christ…the King, the school from from New York City!, Jeez, take it easy! Christians really can jump to conclusions when you take your time to write something out.  Pretty sure my mother-in-law and 8th grade teacher Sister Martha would administer me with a beat down if they read my blogs. 

Watkins, as great of a kid as she is a hooper, put on a show on L.A.’s biggest basketball stage.  She tortured, wait, no, not the right word.  She dominated, yes, that’s better, the Royals, scoring 39 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and swatting away six shots.  

It would be another Trailblazer’s turn, some four nights later, on the same floor, to go Medieval on some Celtics. 

LA Clippers Basketball, Staples Center, DTLA

Dec 8:  Yes, I went to the soon to be “crypt” three times in a week.  I must have some kind of death wish.  It’s not that bad of a trip from my place in the Centinela Adobe Corridor.  Just your basic 405 to 105 to 110, exit Figueroa and you’re there.  Also there? The dreaded Celtics…from Boston!  

Brandon Boston (no relation to the city) is a 19 year old playing for the Clippers that got his shot, literally, that night because Paul George (I find people with two first names suspicious too) was out.  Brandon, who two years previous was winning a high school state title at Sierra Canyon School, Trailblazed (word?) his way into scoring scoring 27 points in 25 minutes to bury the green clad clan.

Brandon, as exciting as any young player in the NBA, might want to consider changing that last name, to something like…Hollywood?   

Movie Premiere, Culver City Film Festival

Dec 9:  Movie?  That’s right!  Why would I bring up a movie premiere in a sports blog?  Because I am in it, that’s why!  This is LA, baby!  If it’s good enough for Dan Patrick, it’s good enough for me.  The movie, “Emily or Oscar?”, directed by Chris M. Allport, has been winning award after award at film festivals and soon my loyal readers will get to see me on the big screen pretending to play the piano in a cabaret scene.  

I also had a line in another scene, one where I scoffed at my friend Stephen Kalinich, who played a mystic in the movie but in real life is a poet that collaborated with the Beach Boys on some classic songs. Can’t make this stuff up.

L.A. Chargers Football, Sofi Stadium, Inglewood

Dec 12:  Remember when Sofia Loren came to Hollywood in the late 1950’s?  Me neither, I wasn’t born yet.  But I know that naming the most beautiful stadium in the world after her was a good idea.  And I know I have seen very few more beautiful passes than the 60 yard strike Charger QB Justin Herbert threw to end the first half against the Giants. 

NCAA Volleyball Final Four, Columbus, Ohio 

Dec 15-18:  Sometimes, the L.A. weather can wear you down, so getting a chance to “winter” in places like Columbus, Ohio is a bonus to being able to watch the Final Four of the most popular NCAA women’s sport.  I had a chance to see the future of the sport, when Wisconsin, behind 6’9” Anna Smrek and 6’8” Dana Rettke, led the Badgers to the title.  

These two athletic middles were the key factor in a thrilling final at a sold out Nationwide Arena.  There was, of course, L.A. connections.  Smrek is the daughter of former Laker Mike Smrek and Rettke was a finalist for the 90th AAU Sullivan Award in 2020, which was virtually hosted by yours truly from Los Angeles.      

Christmas Day in the Centinela Adobe Corridor

Dec 25:  Besides SSDL releasing the highly anticipated “Christmas in the Corridor, featuring The Boxcobbler” to rave reviews, it was time for a new beginning.  We will always remember this Christmas for the introduction of “Dodger”, our new puppy and aptly named for the home baseball team.  Dodger will do well to be as loved as our last dog, “Buck”, who we lost last holiday season.  Buck, named for Laker legend Magic Johnson, gained infamy as the tag line at the end of SSDL productions, as in “Kick it out, Buck!”.  Let’s Go Dodger!  

Pylon 7on7, Sofi Stadium, Inglewood

Dec 29:  Up to no good in the Ingle-what?  Ingle-WOOD!  Actually, these kids were up to a lot of good.  Some of the best high school senior football players in the nation had a chance to play in the most beautiful stadium in the world in the “Pylon 7on7 Experience”.  Wonder how many of those players know who they named the place after?    

Happy New Year!

It has been quite a trip these last six weeks in my city, and today the rest of the country stops in via ESPN to watch “The Grandaddy of the All”, the Rose Bowl parade and game.  The sky was recently scrubbed clean from rain, the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains will be popping and I’m sure people from across the country will be inspired to take a trip.  

• Denny Lennon is the President of Sports Stories, Inc., and the host of the “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon” docuseries features and the “Preps To Olympians” live TV show, syndicated on cable TV and playing every weeknight at 7pm (PT) on LA36.

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way from the Forum”

November 17, 2021

“Naming Rights from the Days of Quarters to Crypto Currency”

Los Angeles, California - One of the great characters among sport teams owners was Jack Kent Cooke, who owned the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Kings in the mid-sixties through the 70’s.  After one of his many disputes, this time with the Coliseum Commission that also operated the Sports Arena where Cooke’s teams played, he set out on his own.  He went six miles south, to Inglewood, and privately financed “The Forum”, or as legendary Laker announcer Chick Hearn called it, “The Fabulous Forum”.  

When the majestically built arena opened in 1967, with 80 white columns, true-circle design and color scheme, the “naming” of the place was obvious, “The Forum”. Julius Caesar, Inc., did not pay an absurd amount of money for the “naming rights”, that was just not how it was in those days. 

As a sports obsessed kid, I had no idea how much money players made or what franchise were worth.  I certainly didn’t understand corporations “naming” the great theaters of sport.  I just hoped that when I went to a game some adult would buy me a couple dogs and a coke.  

My early experience with money, or currency, was all about my Granny.  My Dad was was too “frugal” to give me an allowance, I mean, after he rubbed two nickels together he put them back under his mattress. 

Ethel Peters, Granny to me, was a true “G”.  She would give me two quarters ever Sunday after church.  50 cents was all the currency an eight year old in Venice needed to be holding.  I would make my way over to the liquor store, get a soda and then play a game or two of pinball next door at the laundromat.

About the same time, I saw my first pro games.  The Lakers at the Forum, the Rams at the Coliseum and the Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium.  The names were either based on great Roman architecture or on the team nickname because no one with the Dodgers could think of any other Roman architecture besides “Bath House”, and that didn’t work.  

I grew up as a sports fan at the Forum.  The Forum was the first place I saw a pro basketball game, the Lakers played the Milwaukee Bucks on St. Patrick’s Day in 1972.  Kareem, then with the Bucks, dropped 50 on Wilt, but the Lakers still won. 

Ten years later, with Kareem now on our team, I rolled with my cousin Barney to see the Lakers win the 1982 NBA title in six games over the Sixers.  I saw a whole lot more that night in the Forum Club, if you know what I mean.  

But all good things do come to end, and so it was by the time the 21st century rolled around, the Lakers had a new home.  It was back in Downtown LA, only a couple miles from where they started in 1960 at the Sports Arena.  It would serve as the centerpiece of a revival of the downtown area, where commercial and residential business would rise up.  And it had a “name”…Staples Center.  Wait!  What?

Staples?  As in, the little piece of steel wire?  Nope, I was told, it was named after the American office retail company that paid $100 million for ten years.  I really had no idea staples were that valuable, but, okay, I guess we go with “Staples Center” instead of “Lakers Arena”.  

I was at Staples the night it opened to see a guy from New Jersey and his E Street Band open the place with a concert and complain that there were too many suites.  Bruce is the Boss, he should know.   

Staples, however, would win us Angelenos over.  Win being the operative word.  The Lakers won the NBA title in the first year they played in Staples.  Something like that makes up for a stupid name.  I sat in the 300 section of Staples the year it opened with my own eight year old boy, Vaun, who wore Kobe’s #8 jersey and was christened a lifelong fan when Kobe busted out a 360 dunk.  

I was at Staples in 2018 for the NBA All-Star Game with my friends Roger and Tim, who were from the same state as the best player on the floor, LeBron something or other.  He would soon be wearing a Laker jersey and playing in the office retail company named Center.  20 years after Kobe went 360 for us, Vaun and I watched as LeBron went down the lane with authority and dunked on what seemed to be the whole Sacramento Kings lineup.

Flash forward to last night,  as I walked from an “LA Live” sports bar to meet my friend Gino for a Clippers game.  The Clippers of course share Staples with other tenants but will be heading to their own place where the Lakers used to hang, as in, Ingle-What? That’s right, they will soon be in Inglewood with the Rams.

As I walked past the statues outside of the Center that is named for the place you get paper clips, I stopped and acknowledged the Jerry West statue.  One does not just walk past their boyhood hero without saying thanks for the interview that won him two Telly Awards.  Respect Logo, respect.

The Clippers, who, as we learned from the SSDL award winning blog series on the NBA teams that made the conference finals last season, started their life as the Buffalo Braves before moving to San Diego and rebranding as the Clippers before moving into the LA scene.  In town for some Tuesday night action were the San Antonio Spurs, one of the four teams from the ABA that were chosen to join the NBA in 1976, breaking the heart of those franchises not selected, especially Jackie Moon and his Tropic Thunder family.

Right around halftime, a notification popped up on my phone, the kind of news that would’ve made the next mornings LA Times in years past but today comes by way of Bleacher Report:  

“Staples to Be Renamed Crypto.com Arena in $700M, 20 year Contract”. 

Wait! What?  No more Staples?  What about other office supplies?  This is crazy, we are sitting here as the name of the arena has changed to, er, um, what exactly is “crypto”?  

Crypto currency, right?  Can I cash that out for some quarters?

• Denny Lennon is the President of Sports Stories, Inc., and the host of the “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon” docuseries and “Preps To Olympians” live TV show.

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“Beautiful Baseball, Buccaneers, Bashes and Bragging”

September 29, 2021

“Three Months Later, LA Sports and SSDL Making Moves”

Los Angeles, California - A whole lot can happen in three months.  For instance, here on the Westside Los Angeles, the weather has dropped from 75 degrees to 72 degrees.  It’s also been nearly that long since my last blog, which I regret, but I am trying to forgive myself for the lapse, with consideration to what has been happening in Los Angeles sports and with Sports Stories.

First and foremost, I have been mesmerized by the greatest rivalry in baseball play out these last three months.  No, not the one on the East Coast between the Yankees and the Sox, but the one that moved from neighboring boroughs in New York City to the South and North of the Golden State.  The two teams whose disdain for each other runs as hot as fire is the one between the Dodgers and the Giants.

On July 8, the date of my last blog, the Giants held a one game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West.  Today, as I write, “the hated ones” from up North lead the West by two games, with only five games remaining.  It is astounding to think that the team finishing in second place, more than likely the “beloved” Dodgers, will have won over 100 games and will have to play a wild card “play-in” game, where they will face the red hot St. Louis Cardinals and their ace pitcher Adam Wainwright.  That aint right to have to face Wainwright!  

However, if things break right this week for the team that broke the color barrier, there will be a tie-breaker.  

If so, the Dodgers will have to keep a close eye on the OG’s of cheating.  Back in NYC in ‘51, the Giants concocted an elaborate scheme to steal pitches in the Polo Grounds, winning the pennant with the Bobby Thomson “shot heard round the world” home run.  

“THE GIANTS STOLE THE PENNANT!, “THE GIANTS STOLE THE PENNANT!”  

In 1962 out West in the “Official State of Governor Recall Elections”, both teams won 101 games in the regular season.  In the deciding game of the tie-breaker, the Giants starting pitcher was Juan Marichal, who, three years later, would crack the Dodgers Johnny Roseboro over the head with a bat in a brawl.  The Giants won again.  Cheating, assault with a deadly weapon, wow, those Giants really do have boundary issues!

Speaking of cheaters, the Houston Astro’s came to town and I was fortunate enough to bask in the beauty of an early August sunset at Dodger Stadium and watch the “Boys in Blue” new ace, Max Scherzer, make his Dodger debut.  Max shut down those cheating Astro’s with gem.  Dodger Stadium echoed with loud cheers as “Mad Max” took a curtain call.

Throughout the summer I stayed true to a daily, early morning workout plan.  Swimming in the ocean or at the YMCA and then hitting a sculpt or fusion class at Hot 8 Yoga (sponsor plug) started each day.  Good thing, because I will need a strong back to pick up all the names I’m about to drop.  I attended two nights of fundraising parties August 19 and 20 that were hosted by the subject of Sports Stories most recent docuseries, college basketball influencers and entrepreneurs Dana and David Pump.

Hanging at the Beverly Hilton with the likes of Smokey Robinson, Mike Tyson and Cedric the Entertainer was a trip, so was talking hoops with Lakers coach Frank Vogel and UCLA head man Mick Cronin.  Clippers coach Tyronn Lue and I got to chat about our mutual acquaintance, team consultant and SSDL guest Jerry West, as well as the new state-of-the-art Clipper arena being built in Inglewood.  

Laker legend and champion Byron Scott and I had a chance to catch up, reminiscing about the good old days in the 80’s playing high school summer league basketball in Inglewood.  We remembered Byron skying high to dunk for the Morningside High School Monarchs, and me playing for St. Bernard High trying to take a charge.

As September rolled around, so did football.  There is no place more picturesque to watch a game than the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, especially when UCLA wears their blue jerseys, symbolizing the ocean, trimmed with yellow to reflect the Golden State sunsets.  SEC power LSU came to town September 4th  and got spanked in the Arroyo Secco, 38-27.  Didn’t see that one coming.  

The beauty of that win was only matched by another football team in blue and yellow, in a stadium so gorgeous they named it after Sofia Loren, or, at least that’s what I heard.  Sofi Stadium is a marvel, one of the “wonders of the world” status is granted.  

Another wonder is the Tampa Bay QB Tom Brady, who brought his defending Super Bowl Champion Buccaneers to town last weekend and got Rammed.  Rams quarterback Matt Stafford, exiled from Detroit, must have watched plenty of film, as in the 1986 classic “Ram It”.  Stafford rammed 343 yards and 4 TD’s down the Buccaneers skulls.  I was part of a crowd, fired up by the booming voice of Rams Sofi Stadium announcer (and SSDL guest) Sam Lagana, that made enough noise to rattle the allegedly human, seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback.

The Sunday after next I will get a chance to watch my second and third favorite NFL teams square off at Sofi as the Browns come to town to take on the Chargers.  I will note that in July I was a guest on the popular “Into to the Lab Podcast” and predicted an “All-L.A. Super Bowl”, hosted at Sofi Stadium.  You can go ahead and plan on it, and on 72 degree weather in the world’s only open air stadium. 

Finally, SSDL shows have tracked well enough on LA36 Cable TV to get a promotion to the weeknight 7:00pm time slot and to expand to similar TV channels across the country.  Soon, you can catch our episodes on Cable TV in New York City, Chicago, Miami, Houston and Tempe, with more to follow.  Sports Stories will also soon be making a move to a new platform, MyCutTV, which is available for download on your smart phone.

Onto the World Series, the Rose Bowl and the Super Bowl.  Did I mention Russel Westbrook is back in town?

• Denny Lennon is a the host of the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon” and the “Preps To Olympians” Live TV Show.

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“NBA Playoffs: The Phoenix Suns”

July 8, 2021

“The Fourth of Four Profiles of the 2021 NBA Final Four”

Los Angeles, California - With the Phoenix Suns dispatching of the Los Angeles Clippers in six to advance to the NBA Finals, they hope to do better against the Milwaukee Bucks this time than they did in 1969.  No, those teams did not play one another in the ’69 finals, the Lakers played that team with the green jersey’s that year, you know, the team from the Northeast that had a disproportionate advantage by virtue of a regional draft and absence of free agency…yep, the Leprechauns.  

In March of 1969, the Suns and the Bucks “faced” one another on a phone call, where a flip of a coin would determine who would get the first pick in the draft.  The winner would get to draft the collegiate player that had led UCLA to an 88-2 record and three NCAA championships.  Lew Alcindor, who would change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and go on to be the top scorer in the history of the NBA, would immediately change the fortunes of the team he played for.  

Heads or Tails?  What do you answer when that question comes your way?  Come to think of it, who even carries coins anymore?   The Suns called heads.  NBA commissioner J. Walter Kennedy flipped the coin in the air.  It was tails.  The Bucks won the NBA championship in 1971.  The Suns have yet to win one.

The Phoenix Suns (est. 1968, Zero NBA Champions):

When the city of Phoenix was awarded an NBA franchise in 1968, they became the first major professional sports team in the state of Arizona.  The Arizona Republic newspaper ran a contest to determine the team name.  Predatory creatures of the area like Scorpions, Rattlers and Thunderbirds were among the finalists.  But, considering what can do the most damage to an opposing team, it was the ultraviolet rays of the Salt River Valley sun that won out, and so the “Phoenix Suns” were born.

The sun has always played a big part in the history of Phoenix.  It would be a war veteran from South Carolina and an athlete from Southern California that would, 100 years apart, put the place on the map. 

The warm weather and agricultural possibilities attracted a Civil War Confederate veteran named Jack Swilling, who is credited with founding the area in 1867.  He wanted to name the city “Stonewall” after the Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, but a local paper had already begun to refer to the city as the immortal bird from Greek mythology that “rises from the ashes”, so “Phoenix” it was.  Drugs, alcohol and sun exposure eventually caught up with Swilling, who died in jail awaiting trial for a highway robbery.  

“The Valley of the Sun” began to catch on as nickname for the area in the 1930’s when the term was used to promote population and economic growth, and over the subsequent decades, Phoenix was booming.

A century after Swilling founded the city, a sun-tanned Californian named Paul Westphal led the Suns to their first ever NBA Finals.  A five-time NBA All-Star, Westphal had previously won an NBA championship with that aforementioned team in green in ’74.  Westphal and his Sun exposed teammates lost in six to the Leprechauns, but basketball was now entrenched in the city. 

Jerry Colangelo, the general manager of the Suns from 1968 to 1995, was considered the “Godfather” of sports in the desert, bringing not only basketball but baseball and hockey to the Valley.  Colangelo bridged the gap from inception to the ’68 NBA Finals to the rebuild of the franchise and another trip to the finals in 1993.  He also led the team from playing in the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the early years to opening what is now called the Phoenix Suns Arena in 1992.  He even got his associate, Frank Sinatra , aka “The Chairman of the Board”.  That’s right, "Ol’ Blue Eyes” performed there in 1993.

1993 was a very good year for the Suns.  They jumped on the ample but strong back of league MVP Charles Barkley and rode into the NBA Finals for the second time in team history.  This time they would be denied not by a Leprechaun, but by “The Man”, as in Michael Jordan.  The Bulls won the series in six, but that didn’t stop 300,000 Phoenicians from celebrating the season at a post-series rally in 105 degrees.   

There must be something in the sun that has benefitted Al McCoy, the teams play by play announcer since 1972.  McCoy has now entered his 49th year as the teams announcer, surpassing the mark that the great Chick Hearn set with the Los Angeles Lakers.  “Shazam!” 

If any person on the street, across America, where asked to name the most iconic Phoenician ever, one that embodied the city and all its charm, who would that be?  Sure, Barry Goldwater (1909-1998) is a lock for first place, but a solid second goes to “Go”, the Suns the Mascot Hall of Fame inductee “Gorilla”.  

For the first 11 years, the Suns did not have a mascot, but then a Gorilla working for a singing telegram service stepped on the court in 1980 and the NBA has never been the same.  Sure, you’d think a Gorilla would be uncomfortable in the desert sun, but this is no ordinary Gorilla.  Wether performing a spectacular dunk or running the stairs in a “Rocky” parody, the Gorilla proudly upholds the standard set by Goldwater.

As the Suns embark on this years NBA Finals, will the third time be the charm?  Or will it be like one of those State Farm commercials where something wacky happens to Chris Paul?  Can the Sun fans even trust a guy with two first names?  

Perhaps it is finally time they overcome the coin flip of ’69 and push the Suns to the top of the NBA sky.

• Denny Lennon is the host of the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon” and the “Preps To Olympians” Live Show, available on YouTube and LA36 CableTV in Los Angeles County.

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“NBA Playoffs: The Atlanta Hawks”

July 5, 2021

“The Third of Four Profiles of the 2021 NBA Final Four”

Los Angeles, California - Good news, bad news.  Good news is that the Atlanta Hawks will always own the fact that they are one of only four franchises that made the NBA playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons, between 2008 and 2017.  The bad news?  After they were eliminated in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Finals Saturday, they remain the franchise with the second longest drought, failing to win an NBA championship for the last 63 seasons.  

The Atlanta Hawks (est. 1946, 1958 NBA Champions):

Established in 1946, the team that is now the Atlanta Hawks have had their share of good and bad news.  In 1946, the franchise got its start in the National Basketball League (NBL, the pre-cursor to the NBA) as the Buffalo Bisons.  

Okay, first of all, what is it with the city of Buffalo and their fascination with Buffalos?  Second, the Buffalo Bisons?  Really?  That’s the best they could come up with?  Redundancy is an under appreciated skill, I suppose.  That is like naming your team the “Los Angeles Angels”.  The only thing more stupid than that would be if your team didn’t even play in the city you were being redundant about.

The Bisons lasted in Buffalo about as long as Pope Paul I wore The Ring of the Fisherman.  The Bisons, however, were not sent to their death by the Free Masons like PP1.  They just decided that after 38 days it would be a good idea to rebrand and move on from Buffalo and their obsessive Bison ways.  

So, it was off to the Tri-Cities area and time come up with a new name, the Blackhawks.  The Tri-Cities, as we all know, are made up of the “big three” of Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and Davenport in Iowa.  Sounds more like witness protection land than up and coming metropolis, but a Bison is going to do what a Bison is going to do.

With a charismatic and inventive owner in Leo Ferris, the “Blackhawks” signed William Penn “Pops” Gates and William “Dolly” King to play for the team a full seven months before Jackie Robinson would break the color barrier in pro baseball in 1947.  Besides breaking racial boundaries together, all three have their places in history.  Ferris would go on to bring the 24-second shot clock to the NBA, “Pops” would go on to coach and play for the Harlem Globetrotters and “Dolly” would excel at both pro basketball and baseball.  

The same way the town of Bomont was not ready for Kevin Bacon’s type of dancing in “Footloose”, Moline and the Tri-Cities area wasn’t quite ready to support what was now an NBA team.  In 1951 the franchise moved on again, and this time they landed in Milwaukee.  We have already learned from “shock rocker” Alice Cooper in the first of this blog series about “mill-e-wah-que”, so let’s just say that the beer loving city of Milwaukee would do much better supporting the Bucks as a new franchise in 1968 than they would the newly dubbed “Hawks” in 1951.

The Hawks decided to move again in 1955 to the only other city ready that could stand up to Milwaukee when it came to beer production, St. Louis.  In the city of the renown Anheuser-Busch Brewery, the Hawks games were broadcast on KMOX radio with the legendary Robert “Buddy” Blattner on the call.  “Buddy”, a former pro baseball player who also won a world championship in table tennis in 1936, was instrumental in the appeal of the Hawks in St Louis.  Buddy provided nicknames for the players and colorful descriptions of the games and the STL took the team into their hearts. 

The St. Louis Hawks would make it to four NBA Finals, winning the big prize in 1958 behind MVP and all-time NBA great Bob Pettit.  Pettit dropped 50 points in the game six clincher of the ’58 series, sending the Celtics back to Boston without a title despite their disproportionate advantages over the league through the lack of free agency and the regional draft. 

That’s pretty much the high point of the Hawks.  After a conflict over building a new home arena, the team was sold and moved to Atlanta in 1968.  Atlanta was not exactly a big-time beer town, but the Milwaukee Braves baseball team was cast off from Milwaukee to the ATL with some success in 1962, so perhaps the Hawks would at least have a relation in town that could show them around.

I would be remiss not to recognize the hall of fame sensation Dominique Wilkins and his high flying theatrics in the 80’s.  There certainly was some excitement generated over those Hawk teams with “The Human Highlight Film”, “Tree” Rollins, “Doc” Rivers and “Spud” Webb, but the Hawks were better in the nickname department than they were in putting together a championship run.

Mascots are always a hit and miss adventure when researching NBA teams.  I must say, Harry the Hawk is more the former than the latter.  Harry, who has been around since the mid 80’s, has endured multiple groin injuries and early playoffs exits, but the Hawk has hung on.  In 2015, Harry the Hawk nailed an “Uptown Funk” performance that is worthy of commendation.

Maybe the bad news is that the Hawks are suffering from a 63 year drought, but let’s consider the fact that in recent history both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs were able to overcome their respective droughts to win a championship.  

Perhaps good news for the Hawks is coming soon.  

• Denny Lennon is the host of the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon” and the “Preps To Olympians” Live Show, available on YouTube and LA36 CableTV in Los Angeles County.

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“NBA Playoffs: The Los Angeles Clippers”

June 27, 2021

“The Second of Four Profiles of the 2021 NBA Final Four”

Los Angeles, California - Okay, here goes, profile number two of the final four teams in the NBA playoffs.  That makes sense, since the team coming in a distant second to the favorite professional basketball franchises in Los Angeles is the Clippers.  What other team in the league would lose a key playoff game by way of an inbound lob dunk with less than a second?  Many of us learned a new rule on that play at the expense of the Clippers.   

The thing is, I am an L.A. guy and want all the teams in my city to do well, so it is hard for me to pile on the Clippers when they have finally made a conference final.  Considering their history, however, it is even harder not to pile on. 

The Los Angeles Clippers (est. 1970, Zero NBA Championships):

Founded in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves…ok, wait, that should have been the first clue to a life of bad luck for the franchise.  I mean, Buffalo is an animal that Native Americans respected and needed for their way of life, but sadly, buffalos were hunted to near extinction by white traders.  (Is it called genocide when it refers to an animal?)  Eventually, the city was named Buffalo by the settlers, and I am guessing the surviving natives were none too pleased when they heard the team mascot’s name.  

Hmm, that all seems like a recipe for a curse to me.  But, who believes in curses?  I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

The Braves played in the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, and that has to make you wonder, should you use the name “Memorial” for an animal you nearly committed genocide against?  The Braves, despite making the NBA playoffs three times in eight years behind the scoring machine that is the Hall of Fame great Bob McAdoo, barely got to use their own home court.  It seems like the more popular team in town was the Canisius College Golden Griffins.  Yes, that’s right, a Division 2 college team named after a mythical creature got priority over the NBA franchise cursed by their own mascot.  In Buffalo, the truth is stranger than fiction for sure.

The original Buffalo Braves owner Paul Snyder had seen enough and sold the team in 1976 to John Y. Brown Jr., a Kentuckian who built the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain into prominence.  He would later marry Miss America winner Phyllis George and become Governor of Kentucky.  KFC, Miss America and Governor are impressive, but a curse is a curse, so he decided to trade the franchise, curse and all, to Irv Levin, the owner of the Celtics.  Yes, that’s how things went down in the 70’s NBA.  

Irv Levin, an aspiring film producer, decided in 1978 to shake off the Buffalo snow and the curse of the Braves and move the franchise across the country to beautiful San Diego, California.  Rebranding yourself as the Clippers after the beautiful sailing ships in San Diego Bay seemed like a grand idea, what could possibly go wrong?  

In the less than appealing San Diego Sports Arena, the Clippers earned their spot as the fourth best basketball team in the 1970’s to call that so-called arena a home.  The Clippers ranked behind the NBA’s San Diego Rockets, who left in 1971 for Houston, the San Diego Conquistadors of the ABA, who folded in 1976, and John Wooden’s UCLA team that won the NCAA championship in the arena in 1975.

By 1981, Clipper owner Irv Levin was busy producing the aptly named motion picture “To Live and Die in L.A.” and that seemed to be the course he set the franchise on when he sold it to real estate maven and slum-lord extraordinaire Donald Sterling.  Sterling, not to be confused with the adjective that means something great, to the franchise form bad to worse.  It was as if the Native Americans hand-picked the worst prick of a person they could possibly find to embarrass the franchise into oblivion.

It nearly worked.  

“The Don”, not to be confused with Don Corleone, who actually knew how to run a business, made a plan to take Clippers to Los Angeles and raise the stakes on that curse.  

It was 1984 and the worst owner in all of sports was bringing his cursed franchise to Los Angeles to play in an even more run down arena than they had in San Diego.  The Clippers would fight for fans in a city where the Lakers and the top owner in all of sports, Jerry Buss, had just launched the “Showtime” era at the “Fabulous Forum”.  What could go wrong?

For the next 27 years, the Clippers qualified for the playoffs a mere four times, winning only a single playoff round.  By 2010, the team finally got something going with their “Lob City” team - But despite strong regular season records, they never could overcome the curse or the “The Don”. 

Sure there were highlights, like Brent Barry becoming the only white guy to ever win an NBA All-Star Game dunk championship in 1996 or Blake Griffin jumping over a car to win another dunk title in 2011.  Then there is the ever-classy 40-year career of play-by-play man Ralph Lawler.  “First team to 100 wins.  It’s the Law.”  

But the highlights were severely dimmed by the man now wearing the crown as the worst owner in the history of professional sports.  It would take an undercover “sting operation” coordinated by the FBI to crack the code of the curse and knock Sterling out.  Or perhaps it would be a surgically altered, visor-wearing mistress named Viv Stiviano and TMZ.  Sterling’s ugly, racially offensive audio tapes were made public in 2014, and the NBA would finally exorcise him from the league.

It would take a Doctor, a Logo and Tech Billionaire to put the franchise on a course without a curse.  Doc Rivers was a steady force as a coach, Jerry West used his executive level magic as a consultant and Steve Ballmer rolled in trucks of money as the new owner.  

Despite a couple more hiccups in the playoffs and a launch of a mascot named “ Chuck the Condor”, who appears to have survived some combination of in-breeding and an ecological disaster, the Clippers stayed the course.  They replaced key parts, including their coach, and this year they find themselves in the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.  

They are no longer the NBA’s oldest franchise to have never made it this far.  It just might be safe to say the curse has been lifted. 

• Denny Lennon is the host of the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon” and the “Preps To Olympians” Live Show, available on YouTube and LA36 CableTV in Los Angeles County.

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“NBA Playoffs: The Milwaukee Bucks”

June 21, 2021

“The First of Four Profiles of the 2021 NBA Final Four”

Los Angeles, California - I will not complain.  The greatest franchise in all of sports, the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, was eliminated from the 2021 NBA playoffs in the first round, but I will offer no excuses nor express any dismay.  One can have this kind of disposition when one’s favorite team has basically dominated the league since one was eight.  It was that magical year of 1972 that the Lakers captured their first championship in the city of Los Angeles.

Over the almost 50 years of which I speak, the team wearing purple and yellow, or forum blue and gold if you prefer, has been to the NBA finals 19 times and have hung 12 championship banners.  Bam!  Step to that Celtics!  Your numbers are half those in the last half century, with a mere nine appearances in the finals and only six championships.  What rivalry?  

That said, let us not forget, I am an almost respected writer who sometimes adheres to the idea of journalistic integrity.  Therefore, I will now turn my attention to the four teams still standing in the next four blogs I publish.  Given my affection for history and pop culture, I will be evaluating the remaining four teams in the 2021 NBA playoffs through that lens. 

It is the Milwaukee Bucks and the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference finals, the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference finals.  In the past 50 years for those franchises have combined for two NBA Finals appearances and only the ’71 Bucks have won an NBA championship.  I am not needlessly bragging on the Lakers 19 and 12, just giving perspective.  That’s what nearly award winning journalists do in this business.

Up first, the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Milwaukee Bucks (est. 1968, 1971 NBA Champions):

It took a “Shock Rocker” from Detroit, Alice Cooper, to teach us in the 1992 film “Wayne’s World”, that Milwaukee is pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which of course is Algonquin for "the good land.”  The franchise, founded in 1968, was an expansion team and for a long stretch of time was owned by former U.S. Senator Herb Khol.  That was, until he heard his “kohl-ing” and sold the team so he could run the family owned Khol’s department stores.  

A fan contest was held to name the new team.  The most votes went to the name “Robins” after Wisconsin’s state bird, not Batman’s side-kick who always seems to get his ass kicked by villains.  Good thing they went with the second most popular choice, “Bucks”.  One fan came up with some flimsy justification that the team would be “spirited, good jumpers and agile” like the white-tailed deer they were name for.  That reasoning won him a new car.

For some reason, the new franchise based their uniforms on the Boston Celtics uniforms, featuring similar colors with block lettering and numbers.  They did add a nice red trim to make it look like they weren’t ripping off the leprechaun lovers.  We all know how those Southies can be irrational and vengeful about getting ripped off.

The Bucks originally played at the Milwaukee Arena, which went by the name of “MECCA Arena” from 1974-1988.  There is a great ESPN “30 for 30” about how the hard scrabble, rust-belt city used public funds to commission an openly gay artist to paint the iconic basketball floor at MECCA Arena.  When the team moved to the Bradley Center in 1988, that floor went into storage, then was listed as “scrap for sale”.  A couple of Bucks fans saved it and then refurbished it, which led to the redesigned MECCA floor in 2013.  Those guys should have won cars for that save.

The Bucks reached the promised land just three years later in 1971 when the then Lew Alcindor teamed with the “Big O”, Oscar Robertson, to win the team’s only NBA championship over the then Washington Bullets, becoming the fastest North American franchise to win a championship.   

Alcindor by 1972 was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and by 1974 he led the team back to the NBA finals, where they lost in seven to some team with green uniforms.  Consider that Alcindor/Jabbar won three NCAA championships with UCLA in ’67, ’68 and ’69 and then an NBA title in ’71 and made a trip to the NBA finals in ’74.  Legendary run.  Then add in his run with the “Showtime” Lakers and those five titles in the 80’s and the fact that he is the leading scorer in the history of the NBA.  It is criminal that he is not in every conversation as the greatest basketball player of all time.  

No discussion of the Bucks is complete without talking about their mascot “Bango”.  “Bango” was named after the teams legendary play-by-play announcer Eddie Douchette’s call of long range made baskets.  “Jon McGlocklin with a jumper from way outside, BANGO!”  Wonder if Douchette got a car for that?

Bango has been the Bucks official mascot since the opening game of the 1977-78 season.  That game happened to be the night Kareem Abdul-Jabbar returned with his new team, the one that was wearing “forum blue and gold”.  

It would be 21 years later that Bango would really make a name for himself.  Bango was among a few chosen mascots to participate in the 2009 NBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix.  Performing during a skit, Bango was standing one of the basket’s rim when tragedy struck.  First, a basketball hit him in his own private basket of balls. Then, his right leg slipped through the hoop and he fell on the rim, further traumatizing the basket area.  

This was not part of the show!  Poor Bango then slipped further and fell through the basket entirely.  If you don’t think that is physically possible, then you don’t know Bango.  

If you have the stomach for watching a grown man dressed as a white-tailed deer nearly destroyed, here is the YouTube link:

https://awfulannouncing.com/2009-articles/mascot-fail.html

Bango would miss the rest of the season on the MIL (Mascot Injured List).  He would, however, make appearances at Milwaukee Bucks’ games in a wheelchair.  Unlike the Celtic faker Paul Pierce in the 2008 NBA Finals, Bango was not using the wheelchair to hide the fact that he had pooped his pants.  Bango had torn his ACL and was out for the season.  

Bango did return and inspired the Bucks franchise to persevere and move forward.  12 years later, the franchise is one series win away from a third NBA Finals appearance.

• Denny Lennon is the host of the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon” and the “Preps To Olympians” Live Show, available on YouTube and LA36 CableTV in Los Angeles County.

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

SSDL Two Time Winner at 42nd Telly Awards

May 31, 2021

“Sports Stories with Denny Lennon Takes Silver in Online Documentary and Bronze in Online Sports for Jerry West Interview”

New York, New York - The Telly Awards, the world’s largest honor for video and television content across all screens, announced this year’s winners on May 25th. Sports Stories with Denny Lennon (SSDL) walked away with two awards for “The Definitive Jerry West”, capturing a Silver for Online Documentary and a Bronze for Online Sports. 

The 2021 Telly Award winners included a number of well known channels, media organizations and companies, including Adobe, Al Jazeera, Apple, BBC Global, CBS, Disney, HBO, Netflix, Microsoft, and PlayStation.

SSDL partnered with Allport Productions and the Alpha Command Unit for the edited 40-minute documentary/interview “The Definitive Jerry West”, which takes a historical look at the impact of one of the all-time greats of basketball.

The interview took place in November of 2020 at Buck Studio ( formerly 7428 Studio) in the Centinela Adobe Corridor. 

Established in 1979, this year The Telly Awards received more than 20,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents, a 15% increase in entries from the previous year.  The increase was driven by a significant rise in remote and virtual productions. 

Entries are judged by the Telly Award Judging Council, a group of leading video and television experts from some of the most prestigious companies in entertainment, publishing, advertising, and emerging technology.

This is the first time SSDL has submitted and won a Telly Award.  Edging out SSDL for the Gold in Online Documentary was “Fly on the Wall - The Virus”, an entry from the powerhouse Al Jazeera Media Network, the group that also won this year’s prestigious “Company of the Year” Telly Award to go with their 60 total wins across all categories.  

Despite the fact that Al Jazeera and SSDL won a combined 62 awards, SSDL was somehow left off of the “Company of the Year” list of winners this year.

The SSDL Award Winning Team includes:

• Denny Lennon, Executive Producer and Host

• Jerry West, Interviewee

• Chris Allport, Creative Director

• Marlee Rice, Line Producer

• Bob MacColl, Cinematographer

• Christine Jinbo, Producer

• Ciena Lennon, Photographer

Special thanks to Wayne Boehle for arranging the interview with the 83-year-old West, a  Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame inductee whose image serves at the logo of the NBA.

Link available on SSDL Website:  

https://www.sportsstoriesdl.com/

Link to Telly Awards Website:  

https://www.tellyawards.com/

Silver Award Online Documentary

https://www.tellyawards.com/winners/2021/online/general-documentary-individual/the-definitive-jerry-west-on-sports-stories-with-denny-lennon/249514

Bronze Award Online Sports

https://www.tellyawards.com/winners/2021/online/general-sports/the-definitive-jerry-west-on-sports-stories-with-denny-lennon/249935

Denny Lennon is the host of the Video Podcast “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon” and the “Preps To Olympians” Live Show, which are available on YouTube, LA36 and KTLA Orange County.

“Kentucky Derby Runs from Affirmed to Hot Rod Charlie” 

May 1, 2021

Boat Racing LLC and 2x Derby Winner Doug O’Neill Bring Back Memories 

Churchill Downs, Louisville - Growing up as a a kid in the 70’s, I played  and watched plenty of football and basketball and baseball, and as a Southern Californian, volleyball was always part of my world.  Fortunately, the Rams, Dodgers and Lakers, along with UCLA and USC, were taking turns at championship seasons and compelling story lines.  But there were three other sports, ones I didn’t play or know a whole lot about, that grabbed my attention every year when their marquee events came around.

Wimbledon, the Masters and the Kentucky Derby.  I mean, if I was not playing hoops on my backyard cement or in a school parking lot, I was playing football on someones front lawn.  The way Wimbledon took care of their “lawns”, and promoted the “All England Lawn Tennis Championships” grabbed my attention.  The Masters?  Oh, well now, that was beyond legit.  I mean, besides a trophy, when you win this golf tournament you get a green jacket, a coin and you get to pick the menu of the following years “champions dinner”, where only previous winners attend in their green jackets.  

These traditions played out later in life. I used to run a tournament called “The McDonald’s Cup”, which was billed as the “largest blacktop middle school volleyball tournament in the country”.  If you have to play on a black top parking lot, you might as well treat it like it’s Wimbledon’s lawn.  The winners of this 8th grade Catholic school classic won t-shirts with “McD Cup Champions” on the back (green jackets) and the following year, their school team got free Egg McMuffins prior to the start of the event at the McDonald’s that was next door to the school.  Look, if you are a 13 year-old kid in a one of a kind T-shirt eating an Egg McMuffin in a dirty booth alongside some of the early rising homeless people in Venice, the obvious next stop on your athletic career is probably the Masters.

Then there’s the Kentucky Derby.  The premier horse race held each year on the first weekend of May at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.  “America’s Greatest Race” run on “the World’s Most Legendary Racetrack” is the best when it comes to tradition.

First, I was fascinated that horses were considered “athletes”.  I thought about that for a second, figured that’s how they roll in Kentucky, so, I was all in.  Next, the tag line of “the Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” was brilliant!  How do you think I came up with a tag line like “the World’s Largest Backyard Volleyball Tournament” for the Venice Backyard Championships?  

“The Derby”, which is a cool nickname, was also known as the “Run for the Roses”, and it was the horse who got the roses draped over them.  Gotta like that.  The only thing I knew about roses then was that the Rose Bowl was the football game USC needed to win and that as a kid, my next door neighbor Mrs. Delaugarie wouldn’t give my ball back if it went over the fence and landed in her prized bed of roses.

The Kentucky Derby was first run in 1875.  Wait…what?  That was before Rutherford B. Hayes stole the presidential election!  Or perhaps it because Samuel J. Tilden stepped aside so reconstruction troops would be removed and Jim Crow could be set loose?  I digress, but the point is, that was a long time ago!  It was Meriwether Lewis Clark, grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, who go the whole Derby thing rolling.  Do you think he might have had something to prove considering his grandfathers success or perhaps because he had to deal with the first name of Meriwether growing up?  Nonetheless, he created something that stands tall through the ages.  

The traditions and the rules fascinated me.  One and one quarter mile long race, got it.  Only three year olds?  You mean, these horse-athletes only only get one shot at this?  It’s the first leg of the triple crown, the mint juleps, the hats, the singing of “My Old Kentucky Home” (back when the group singing of minstrel songs was overlooked), it was all so overwhelming and so exciting for one two minute race!

Sitting in front of my parents front room color-TV ( I had the old black and white in my room), I recall the first Derby I watched in 1973.  Jack Whitaker hosted the show on CBS.  Whitaker was a decorated WWII vet who also called football games, so I liked his style.  Secretariat won and would go on to win the Triple Crown.  That feat, which includes winning the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont, was rare.  Well, not so rare that Seattle Slew and Affirmed didn’t do it in 1977 and 1978.  

After those days, I rarely missed watching a Derby on TV, scrambling after playing or coaching some sport to get to a set to watch.  I handed off my enthusiasm for this unique event to whoever would listen, which includes my kids, who had to listen to me, theoretically.  But what stands above it all was my wife Christine’s 30th birthday and our quest to see the race in person.  

Thanks to our friends Bob and Wanda Blanford, we made a pilgrimage in 2005.  They made arrangements for us to stay at their home near Churchill Downs, we attended pre-race festivities on Friday and then, on Saturday, we were going to the 131st “Run for the Roses”.   

Wanda dropped us off early at the front gate, we grabbed a spot along the fence and enjoyed one of the best days of our life.  11 races precede the 12th race, which is the Derby Race.  We wore hats, enjoyed mint juleps and meat sandwiches and we especially enjoyed the craziness of the infield.  The infield was not too far removed from the Venice Boardwalk scene we knew so well, just with less people of color and different insanity taking place.  Then, as the 12th race, “the Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” came near, the crowd swelled and the tension in the air was suffocating, I felt like I was about to play the biggest game of my life.  

I am not a gambler but, when in Rome…I threw down my last $50 on a horse called Giacomo to win.  My advanced reasoning was as follows:  $50 x 50 to 1 odds is $2500.  That would pay for our trip and then some.  Also, I coached a kid named Giacomo.  That was about all I could muster up as “intel” after a long day of juleps and meat.

The horses walk from the Paddock to the track was followed by the “Riders Up” call, then the crowd of 156,000 sings “My Old Kentucky Home” (old school lyrics), by this time we are smothered by more fans.  Pushed up against the fence, we can see only a portion of the track, but we can watch the race start on the jumbo screen above us, then as the horses turn in front of us #10 bursts through the crowd and goes from 18th place to first place as the fans roar.  Giacomo wins!

Unreal.  I grab the cash and somehow, Christine goes next level thinking and takes us through an exit out to the street and we avoid the other 156,000 people and their stampede.  Wanda finds us and takes us back to the Blanford home.  Perfection.  

To this day, the Derby stands atop all of the sporting events I have ever attended, which include all the biggies, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, World Series and NBA Finals.  My love affair with the Derby, and of course my wife, had reached new heights.  We make it a point to call Bob and Wanda each “Derby Day” since that one and check in.

Around this time, I hadn’t quite realized that my long time friend Mark Verge had become a part owner of horses and Doug O’Neill, Mark’s fellow St. Monica High School buddy, was a trainer extraordinaire.  My interest grew more as their horses ascended the ranks.  My affection for the sport was still mostly focused on the Derby and then the quest for the triple crown, but it was fun to follow Doug’s horses in the LA Times Sports section.  

In 2012, I was pumped when Doug was the trainer and “I’ll Have Another” won the Derby and the Preakness.  In 2016, O’Neill was in the winners circle again as Nyquist captured the 142nd “Run for the Roses”.  O’Neill, both a friend and guest on my show, told me about his nephew Patrick and his football teammates from Brown University buying in on a colt.  That colt, trained by Doug, is now going off at 6-1 to win this years Kentucky Derby.

Hot Rod Charlie and the ownership team of Boat Racing, LLC is an incredible story, one that has been featured all over sports media after the horse qualified for this years Kentucky Derby.  I especially enjoyed the John Cherwa written article in the LA Times Sports section.  Describing the day poll positions were selected, Cherwa wrote, “The usually staid but murmuring crowd was punctuated by loud hollering brought on by youthful exuberance when Hot Rod Charlie drew the nine.  The horse is partly owned by five former Brown University Football players, all in their late 20's, who go by the name of Boat Racing, after a college beer drinking game".

Doug O’Neill is in the hunt for another win at Churchill Downs.  The Boat Racing LLC boys remind us what smart, young and  enthusiastic people can do.  Kind of like Meriwhether Lewis Clark.  

Today is “Derby Day”.  It is also Christine’s birthday.  That qualifies today as of the best days of the year. 

Riders up!

• Denny Lennon is the host of YouTube Live Shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“A Return to the Ravine” 

April 23, 2021

Dodger Stadium is Full of Memories, and Tonight , We Return

1000 Vin Scully Drive - The best part of writing this blog entry is using the address of Dodger Stadium as the identifying location.  It is a true measure of the greatness of the long time Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully that his name will forever be linked with the iconic stadium.  Tonight, for the first time since September of 2019, I will be attending a game at the third oldest in Major League Baseball.  I must say, I am pretty pumped about that.

Thank God that Moses, as in Robert Moses, was in charge of things in 1950’s New York or who knows if Los Angeles would be the beneficiary of one of the top franchises in all of sports. The controversial and autocratic Moses, a powerful “public official”, denied Brooklyn Dodger owner Walter O’Malley an opportunity to build a much needed new stadium on the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, so the Dodgers headed west in 1958 for Los Angeles.  

Brooklynites were required to have “the patience of Job” to rid themselves of Moses, so another franchise could move in.  After six decades and some good old fashioned gentrification, a team in a different sport took up in the same spot that O’Malley identified in 1956.  The Brooklyn Nets now call the Barclay Center home and are serious contenders for the NBA title.

Not that everything about the Dodgers move to Los Angeles was without controversy.  As L.A.Dodger fans, we need to recognize that families living in, and then evacuated from, Chavez Ravine suffered real hardships when Dodger Stadium was constructed.  While many of us angelenos have been fortunate to create lifelong memories since the stadium opened in 1962, others had their memories crushed to the ground.  I suppose acknowledging that is a small step towards coming to terms with it.  

Since the move to the Golden State, the Dodgers have woven themselves into the fabric of Los Angeles.  They have won six world series championships since arriving, five after taking up residence at Dodger Stadium.  They have also become part of our family.  

I was 10 years old when I attended my first game at Dodger Stadium.  It happened to be game 1 of the 1974 World Series against the Oakland A’s, I was a lucky last minute replacement for one of my brothers. Sitting in the right field bleachers and admiring the crowd of 55,000 people and the special decorations that come out for the World Series, I turned my focus to the A’s slugger now at the plate, Reggie Jackson.  He had already hit a home run and I was concerned he might hit another.  Jackson hit a fly ball to right-center, the Dodger right fielder Joe Ferguson stepped in front of centerfielder Jimmy Wynn to take make the catch and threw a 300-foot laser to catcher Steve Yeager to get the A’s Sal Bando at the plate for the 9-1 double play.  That play, which still stands as one of the greatest defensive plays in World Series history, prompted my move in Little League to the outfield.  Two years later I was named to the Venice-Marina Little League All-Star as an outfielder.  Not bragging, just stating fact.  Don’t ask how the All-Star game finished.

Speaking of facts, it is a fact that the Houston Astro’s are cheaters.  Yep, that is true.  How does a quaint franchise that started out as the “Colt .45’s” in 1962, changed their name three years later when they moved into the Astrodome, become the scourge of baseball?  They were so nice when they hosted the Bad News Bears in 1977’s “Breaking Training”, what with Bob Watson leading the crowd in the “LET THEM PLAY” chant.  What happened?  It’s that 2017 team of cheaters that should not have been allowed to play anymore.  

But we didn’t know that they were cheating when they broke our Dodger blue hearts in the 2017 World Series.  My wife Christine and I were sure that once the rock solid Dodger closer, relief pitcher Kenley Jansen, came out of the bullpen to Tupac’s “California Love” with a one run lead that would be that for the Astro’s in game 2.  As we headed to the top deck to grab our son Vaun and watch the final out, the Astro’s tied it.  Then in the tenth they scored two more.  

When the Dodgers returned the favor with two runs in the bottom of the tenth, the explosion of sound and excitement was something for the ages, never had I heard Dodger Stadium that loud.  I thought the top deck was coming down!  Who knew we needed to hide the trash cans so they couldn’t do more of their “bang the lids” cheating to win that game in the 11th inning?  That was they first ever game won by the Astro’s in a World Series.  They would topple our then newly acquired pitching ace Yu Darvish in game 7 to, allegedly, win the Series.    

But Dodger Stadium has provided so much more than World Series excitement.  It has provided lifetime memories with friends and family.  Opening, Memorial and Labor Day games, 4th of July, Fireworks and Birthday celebrations.  I learned to appreciate the art of pitching in 1984 watching Dodger phenom Fernando Valenzuela strike out 15 Phillies and beat Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton in 1-0 in a duel for the ages.  I learned to appreciate family my family even more singing “Take me out to the Ballgame” together, heck, I even learned to appreciate a New Yorker like Billy Joel when he played here in a few years ago.

Tonight, I will proclaim, is a soon to be appreciated milestone.  There is some sense of “normalcy” in attending a ballgame in the wake of a world pandemic.  Since the last time we’ve been to the stadium, Christine and I now have a daughter-in-law, Devin, and we will celebrate her birthday along with our anniversary.  

Yu Darvish returns to pitch for our new rival, the San Diego Padres.  And Clayton Kershaw, the greatest left hander to throw for the Dodgers since Sandy Koufax did it when the team first arrived in town, goes for the Boys in Blue.  At the beginning of the game, we will hear Vin Scully’s recorded voice tell us “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball” and then we will wait together for the last out, when, upon another Dodger victory, Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” rings throughout the stadium.  

It doesn’t get much better than that.   

• Denny Lennon is the host of YouTube Live Shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“UCLA Dancing Across the Decades” 

April 3, 2021

Coaching and Talented Swing Players Bridge the 50 years between the 1971 NCAA Title Team and the 2021 Bruins

Indianapolis - With the 2021 edition of the UCLA Bruins mens basketball team capturing the attention of college basketball teams, it might be worth a look back.  Okay, I almost always look back, it is kind of my thing, and I just needed an opening line to get going.

These days, the NCAA is most often resembling one of those cartoons where the explorer is in hot water, but they do manage to throw the best tournament in sports each year with the trademarked multi-billion dollar event known as “March Madness”.  It was built over decades, and over many of those decades the Bruins have been the marquee attraction.  This year is another opportunity for UCLA to shine, and it comes 50 years after UCLA won the schools seventh title in 1971.

It is fitting that the tournament is hosted in the state of Indiana, where the undisputed greatest coach in collegiate basketball history hails, the one who won 10 NCAA’s in a 12 year span, the legendary John Wooden.  As a player, Wooden led Martinsville High School to the state championship in 1927 and then was a three time all-American at Purdue.  He was, true to his nature, most proud of winning the Big 10 Medal of Honor, which included recognition of his academic achievements.  Wooden had a strong relationship with his father, Joshua, who instilled education and strong moralistic traits in his son.

Wooden would need those traits and his smarts to adjust his UCLA teams in the years between two of the best to ever play college basketball, Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton.   

Lew Alcindor checked into UCLA in time for the 1966-67 school year, but, due to one of those ridiculous, hard to explain NCAA rules that forbid freshman from playing varsity, the best player in the country spent the year doing his thing on the UCLA frosh team.  Then, in the 1967, ’68 and ’69 seasons, Alcindor led the Bruins to an 88-2 record and three NCAA championships, picking up three Most Outstanding Players awards along the way.  When Alcindor graduated, UCLA opponents figure it was their time to win, before Wooden brought in another big man. 

Wooden showed he was well equipped to coach any sized team, as a 5’10” guard balling in Indiana, the “Indiana Rubber Man” had reached the high school state title game three times and his Purdue team was named the NCAA champion.  As a coach, he had plenty of success at various schools before he reached UCLA.  

Lead by a balanced scoring team in the 1969-70 without the future Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,  UCLA went 28-2 and won the schools sixth national championship.  6’8” sophomore Sydney Wicks, with help from teammates like Curtis Rowe, shut down Jacksonville and the 7’2” Artis Gilmore in the tournament finals.  

Hmmm…now what you do you do, opposing schools?  Well, opponents pondered, now now that Bruin floor leader John Vallely has graduated (yes, the best collegiate players stayed in school and graduated way back in the day), we’d better get a banner before that big red head playing for the frosh team gets up on varsity.

Not so fast, rest of the country.  50 years ago, the 1970-71 UCLA squad was even better than the year before.  During the season, the combo of Wickes and Rowe would combine for something like 40 points and 25 rebounds per game. They went 29-1, beating Villanova for UCLA’s seventh championship and fifth in a row.  Their only loss came at Notre Dame, where Austin Carr, one the all time greats of college basketball, (and it’s a shame he is not often argued as such), dropped 46 on the Bruins.

Today, the Bruins are once again headed up by a Midwest born and raised coach who also shares with Wooden a strong relationship with his father.  The story of Mick Cronin and his dad, Hep, has been front and center for the 2021 Bruins run to the Final Four.  

It’s a sample study in sociology, in particular the history of Los Angeles  high school basketball, to look at the 1971 and 2021 UCLA teams and their two stars roaming the court 50 years apart. 

Both Wicks and Rowe of the ’71 title team were products of the LA City Section.  They played at a time where the off-season for high school players was truly an “off season”.  Not that they didn’t play pick-up ball, but they certainly did not play organized elite club basketball during the summer, because that didn’t exist.  Both were African-American and grew up at time in Los Angeles when the racial dynamic played an instrumental role, like it does today.

Sydney Wicks, the pride of the  Alexander Hamilton High School Yankees, and Curtis Rowe from the John C. Fremont Pathfinders, proved themselves in city section play.  Both played for schools with cool and relevant mascots, a strong city section trait, and both were prodigious scorers.  Wicks was a first team “All-City”  selection and Rowe, who led the Pathfinders to the city championship, was the MVP.  

The two stars for this years UCLA Bruins share a few things in common with Wicks and Rowe.  Jaime Jaquez, Jr. and Johnny Juzang are gifted, versatile players that each go 6’6” and that can be counted on this season for close to 30 points and 10 rebounds per game.  They too represent the ever changing racial make-up of Los Angeles, Jaquez of Mexican descent and Juzang born of a Creole father and a Vietnamese mother.     

They of course played off-season or “summer basketball”, in fact, for a club that is named for a part of the city, the Compton Magic.  But things are much different now for standout players.  That off-season team is an elite AAU travel team, one that provides young basketball players a chance to see far more their neighborhood playgrounds.  

Jaquez and Juzang  were both terrific high school players, each “All-CIF” selections that led their teams to winning seasons.  But they were not stuck to settle for an over-burdened school district. 

The schools they attend provided opportunities far beyond what the resources of LAUSD are capable of.  Jaquez attended Camarillo High School, part of the Oxford Union High School District, which was named a California Department of Education Distinguished School.  Juzang was a class of 2019 graduate of Harvard-Westlake, one of the most prestigious private schools in the country.  While still so many young people in Los Angeles are trapped in a no win situation, it is at least something that some can find another way. 

Those differences aside, these two sets of swing players and their teams, 50 years apart, are connected through the decades by the city of Los Angeles, a coach with a strong foundation and the undeniable tradition of UCLA basketball.

Denny Lennon is the host of YouTube Live Shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“Bang the Drummond Quickly, L.A. Basketball is Hunting Championships” 

March 30, 2021

The Lakers, UCLA and USC on the Prowl with Big Game

Los Angeles - Today, the second to last day of March, is quite a day to be a Los Angeles basketball fan.  Just open the LA Times Sports page (yes, I still read the “paper” paper) and you will see what I mean.  Side note:  Isn’t it time for a full time return of the LA Times Sports Section?  Isn’t the recent relaxing of covid protocols and the success of LA sports teams enough to break free of the California section?  

On the first page of the Sports “section” (or “B6” of the California section…see what I mean?) is a breakdown from sportswriter Dylan Hernandez on how USC can beat the unbeaten Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Elite Eight of the NCAA mens basketball tournament tonight. On page two (“B7”, so embarrassing, what would Jim Murray say?) is a heartfelt story from Bruin beat writer Ben Bloch on UCLA coach Mick Cronin and his dad, and finally, the great NBA columnist Dan Woike is relegated to “B9” (shameful) for an article on recent Laker acquisition, the dominant post playing force that is Andre Drummond.  The fourth basketball club in town, our Los Angeles Clippers, were recognized by Andrew Greif on page “B8” (that’s a move up for the Clippers) for their victory over the Bucks and the hold they have on the third spot in the Western Conference.

By the end of the day, USC and UCLA just might be facing one another in the Final Four and it will sink in to the faithful that the Lakers will have secured a path to repeating as NBA Champions, and passing the Boston Celtics in all time championships.  And maybe the Clippers can make a run at the Western Conference Finals?

Today is a good day, right Cube? 

As for that other sports journalist juggernaut in Los Angeles, Sports Stories with Denny Lennon (“SSDL: The Pride of the Centinela Adobe Corridor”), we’d like to make note that a few of our friends that are playing a role in this basketball nirvana that has fallen upon on our city.  

Laker studio host Chris “Geeter” McGee, not only a guest on SSDL shows but the defending Eastbay Shootout Champion, made an impassioned call for Andre Drummond to choose the Lakers on the Spectrum Sportsnet show last Friday, and now the greatest franchise in all of sports has secured the piece they needed for another title.

SSDL recently interviewed, for a soon to be released mini documentary, Dana and David Pump, the dynamic basketball entrepreneurs who reshaped the club basketball scene in Southern California with their AAU elite camps and teams.

Talking about elite, how about Compton Magic founder and chief executive Etop Udo-Ema, who’s interview with SSDL anchored the LA36 Cable TV slot for over a month?  The “Magic Boyz” super club team of 2018 has four players making magic for Pac 12 teams in this years NCAA tourney.  

UCLA basketball greatness is a constant on SSDL shows.  John Wooden grandson-in-law Craig Impelman has shared the genius of the most successful coach ever, 1975 team captain Andre McCarter spoke about Wooden’s final season and Tony Bailey relived the excitement of winning the 1995 NCAA championship. 

In 1972, the Los Angeles Clippers were still the Buffalo Braves and the USC basketball team went 16-10 under Bob Boyd.  But UCLA won the NCAA’s, going undefeated for the third time, and  all-time basketball legend Jerry West, who’s SSDL mini-series was nominated for a couple awards, led the Lakers to their first title in Los Angeles.  

It’s been almost 50 years since I have been so happy to be an L.A. basketball fan.

• Denny Lennon is the Host of YouTube Live shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“NIT vs. NCAA Showdowns Set the Stage for Madness” 

March 25, 2021

The West Won and the PAC 12 is Flexing in 2021

Los Angeles - The NCAA doesn’t always get things right, in fact, most of the time they are wrong.  Okay, okay, they are almost always wrong.  But one thing they do well, quite well in fact, is March Madness.  There is nothing like the NCAA Mens Basketball tournament, but it wasn’t always that way.  In the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, the National Invitation Tournament, or NIT, was held in higher regard.

The NCAA championship tournament, which began in 1939, chose only one team from each region, while the NIT, which preceded the NCAA’s by a year, was able to choose teams from anywhere, and often cashed in on natural rivals and teams that were playing their best at the end of the season.  The NIT was also played in the Mecca of basketball at the time, Madison Square Garden.  The glamour and the power of the media in NYC made the NIT a more attractive option for teams.  

Then, in a need to raise money for WW II war efforts, the champions of both the NCAA and NIT tournaments played each other in 1943, 1944 and 1945.  The American Red Cross spearheaded the coordination of the games between each year's tournament champion.  These became considered as the real games for the national championship.  

It was the NCAA representative teams that prevailed in all three games.  Wyoming, Utah and Oklahoma A&M, all teams from the West, switched the balance of power to the NCAA.  Please note, I looked at a map and verified that Wyoming and Utah are indeed west of the Rockies, and, when you think of Curly McLain from the musical “Oklahoma”, I mean, who is more of a westerner than that guy?

In 1951, the NIT took another hit when authorities uncovered a point-shaving scandal that went back years and which involved mostly, but not exclusively, New York area schools.  I suppose even Captain Louis Renault was shocked to find that gambling was going on at Madison Square Garden.

Moving into the mid 50’s, the West would rule again. Bill Russel and the University of San Francisco won titles in ’55 and ’56, and with dynamic players like Elgin Baylor carrying Seattle University to the championship game in 1958 and Jerry West doing the same for West Virginia in 1959, the NCAA’s were a basketball nirvana.  Both Baylor and West were named Most Outstanding Players of the tournament despite being on the 2nd place team.  West and the Mountaineers came up a point short to the University of California for the ’59 banner.

From 1964 to 1975, Coach John Wooden would rule over the tournament leading the UCLA Bruins to 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, a period of dominance that will never be repeated.  Then a drought hit the West.  

No school west of the Rockies would win the tournament for 15 years.  The formation of the Big East Conference in 1980 and subsequent post season tournament coinciding with the launch of ESPN on cable TV and their focus on teams in the East, top talent started a reverse migration from the West to East.  

However, in the late 80’s and into the 90’s, programming in the extended Los Angeles area began to build up.  Summer basketball, or “AAU Basketball”, corralled the talent to an extent. Most notable was the success of entrepreneurs Dana and David Pump and the Double Pump elite camps and teams.  

Some of the Double Pump players found themselves wandering through the desert, to programs like UNLV and Arizona.  It would take the NCAA’s favorite target for wrongdoings, the affable and enigmatic hall of fame coach Jerry Tarkanian and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to restore order.  “Tark”, like Wooden in ’64, used a suffocating full court press to launch the Running Rebels to the title in 1990.  

The 1990 tournament also brought us one of the most inspirational stories in the history of the tournament as the little school that could, Loyola Marymount of Westchester, California, set NCAA scoring records with their up tempo style, then tragically lost their top player Hank Gathers, who died on the court at the West Coast Conference tournament.  The Lions rallied behind his spirit to make a run to the elite eight, blowing out the defending champion Michigan Wolverines along the way.  

It was a 12 year run in the 60’s and 70’s that nabbed UCLA 10 banners, but it took an excruciating 20 years for spoiled Bruins fans to get another.  In 1995, led by the frosh phenom Toby Bailey, UCLA captured number 11.  Bailey scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the championship game victory.  Just two years later, it was back to desert as the Arizona Wildcats, led by their classy coach, Lute Olson, won the school’s first championship and the Pac 8/ Pac 10/Pac 12’s 16th NCAA Tournament Championship.   

These last two decades, some kind of curse has fallen upon the West, especially the Pac 10 and/or 12.  Wether that was mismanagement in the way of TV and endorsement deals, an East Coast bias, or an NCAA tournament committee lack of respect, it has been 23 years since a team from out West has won it all.

But today, the West is flexing its mountainous muscles, especially the AAU Club team known as the Compton Magic.  Led by another entrepreneurial operator, Etop Udo-Ema, their program and in particular their 2018 squad can make a strong argument as greatest AAU club team ever.  Four players from the “Magic Boyz” are playing key roles for Pac 12 teams in this years NCAA Tournament.  

The Pac 12 has won 9 of 10 games, and, heading into the March Madness "Sweet 16” this weekend, four Pac 12 teams will join the #1 seeded and undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs.  That is some serious Western flavor.  

As much as we can take a shots at the NCAA committee getting it wrong with the selection and seeds this and every other year, who can be mad at the NCAA when March rolls around with the greatest tournament in all of sports?

 Watch the SSDL “March Madness Special” now featured on YouTube.com/SSDL, featuring interviews with 1995 UCLA champion Toby Bailey as well as Craig Impelman, John Wooden’s grandson-in-law, who presents a profile of Arizona’s ’97 championship coach Lute Olson.

You can find an interview with the founder and chief executive of the Compton Magic, Etop Udo-Ema, under the “Preps to Olympians” playlist.  

• Denny Lennon is the Host of YouTube Live shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“The Cold War Set the Stage for Great Olympic Basketball” 

February 28, 2021

USA vs. CCCP at the LA84 Games was a Missed Opportunity

Los Angeles - Like many of my fellow citizens, I was always fired up when, particularly in the Olympics, Team USA would open a can of whoop ass on the USSR.  The “Miracle on Ice” Hockey victory at Lake Placid in the 1980 Winter Olympics made me feel something for sports that I had not felt before, while the truly big Cold War win in the global political arena theatre was surprisingly anti-climatic.  I must say as well, the FX award winning TV spy series “The Americans” was so compelling it made me think twice about what side I was on.  I also must admit that the “CCCP” on the hockey sweaters was, for some simple reason, really cool.

Being that basketball was the Olympic team sport that was my favorite, it was the one I followed most closely.  There was something so compelling about our best amateur and/or collegiate players taking on the best other countries, especially the Russians, had to offer.

The basketball debacle in 1972 at the Munich Olympic Games left a bitterly sour taste in my mouth, if that is even a thing.  The USA men’s team had won all seven previous gold medals in hoops, dating back to the ’36 Games in Berlin, in the days when the Americans and the Russians were on the same side, which happens when you are soon to have a common enemy.  

In ’72 in Munich, at a time when the Cold War was boiling, confusion and buffoonery with the officials led to the Soviets getting what seemed like a 100 chances to win the game and that’s what they did, allegedly.  21 year-old Doug Collins had made the two most pressure filled free throws in basketball history to give USA the lead, then the biggest steal in Olympic history happened.  The 63-game American Olympic winning streak was snapped, and I could not believe what I had seen on the black and white TV I had inherited in my room after the family finally got a color set for the living room.

I have a few takeaways from that craziness:  First, I think it is awesome that the USA men’s players from that ’72 team have never accepted their silver medals, some going so far as to have it put in their will that no member of their family could do so either.  Second, might the host country Germans have been trying to divide the victors of WWII?  Unlikely, but then again, one only has to remember how they manipulated the ’36 Games.  Third, why was the game so close in the first place?  Maybe because Coach Hank Iba was asleep on the bench? Put someone with their hands up in front of the inbound pass and we win.  I know this, If UCLA’s Bill Walton had played, the game would never have been in doubt.  The “big redhead” would’ve dominated the Reds.

The Montreal Olympic Games in 1976 at the was going to be time for some redemption for Team USA, this year coached by Dean Smith, who put four of his North Carolina players on the squad.  The only problem, the defending Olympics champion Russian team lost to Yugoslavia in the knockout round.  Sure, Yugoslavia was a country randomly thrown together after WWI, but those boys in the Balkans can ball!  They were not good enough to beat the Americans, who reclaimed the gold with a 21 point victory.

The 1980 showdown was kicked like a political football when president Jimmy Carter played the “better than thou” card and led a Western nations boycott of the Moscow Games.  The 1984 Games in Los Angeles would have to serve as the time and place for the great American Cold War basketball revenge.

The dystopian George Orwell novel “1984” was understandably dark, but that story was a walk in Gorky park compared to Indiana head coach Bob Knight, the USA coach that year. Just wait until those Russians see what is waiting for them in my hometown of Los Angeles, where the gangs and the LAPD were killing people and Coach Knight and the best amateur team since the 1960 USA Olympic team led by Oscar Robertson and Jerry West were waiting.  

Ever heard of Bob Knight, Comrades?  The “1984” book may have been modeled after Stalinist Russia, but this guy Knight was the true despotic ruler.  He was such an ass of a control freak that he kicked the best player at the trials off the team for dunking too much.  The powerful Charles Barkley of Auburn didn’t care much for the totalitarian head coach, and made his position known.  The “Round Mound of Rebound” was making the best NCAA players at the trials the victims of his ferocious dunks and Knight laid down a no dunking role.  Barkley dunked on the very next play and then found himself on the very next flight home to Alabama.

The USA team had nothing to worry about, however, because the rising superstar that was the one and only Michael Jordan was on the team.  So were Patrick Ewing, Waymon Tisdale, Sam Perkins and Chris Mullin.  Of course Knight’s own Hoosier star Steve Alford was gifted a spot on the roster so someone could demonstrate the dictator’s drills properly.  

The player I was most interested in was Leon Wood from Cal State Fullerton.  I knew Leon when he set the California state scoring record at St. Monica High School in Santa Monica.  Leon was incredible, and I watched with keen interest as he took his unique skills and changed his role in college  to lead the NCAA in assists. Somehow, Leon played enough defense to satisfy General Knight and earned a starting spot on the Olympic team. 

Sadly, the “tit for tat” I had hoped wouldn’t happen came to be.  The Soviet Union led a retaliatory 14 country Eastern Bloc boycott of the LA Games.  Maybe they didn’t want any part of the Knightmare that waited for them.

All was not lost, because the 1980 Olympic gold medal winning Yugoslavian team was still coming, and so were the ’80 silver medal winning Italians.  Spain was a player in the FIBA world competitions and they would make their mark at the LA84 Games.  Your no-show was your loss. CCCP.  LA was a big, fun Hollywood party and you should’ve taken the high ground, showed up and taken your beating like patriots. 

My buddy Leon set an Olympic record with 8 assists per game, Jordan soared through the air and USA took the gold.  It would be the last time an amateur basketball team representing the United States in the Olympics would win the gold.  

The 1988 team, coached by the great John Thompson from Georgetown, was knocked out by, yep, you know who, the same team that won the ’72 fiasco.  Damn those Russians, they got us again.  The ’88 USSR team, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, had a wide geographic range of players to draw from, like Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulionis of Lithuania.  Those two were as tough to stop as Charles Bronson was in Death Wish.   

By 1992 the Soviet Union had lost the Cold War and was broken apart.  The Americans were intent on reclaiming the gold medal in basketball.  USA would field the first “Dream Team” of NBA professionals and never look back.  The American pro’s playing in the Games might’ve helped grow the game across the world, but it was sad to see a pro like Barkley finally get his shot at Olympic play and then elbow some poor Angolan as the USA routed a team with only three gyms in their entire country, 116-48.  

I miss that period of Olympic basketball history before ’92 when the USA amateurs and Russia were the top two dogs, with Yugoslavia nipping at their heels.  In that time from 1936 to 1988, USA went 5-2 against Russia and won nine gold medals, a silver and a bronze.  The Russians won two gold, four silver and three bronze.  Yugoslavia won a gold, three silver and a bronze.  Brazil and Spain had game, and China was a rising giant.  

I’m not so sure I miss the Cold War, but I sure do miss those days when the best amateurs represented America in basketball and took on the rest of the world in the greatest of all competitions, the Olympic Games.   

• Denny Lennon is the Host of YouTube Live shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“Love it When a Plan Comes Together”

February 1, 2021

Governor Newsom Making Moves 

Not a Single California HS FB Player Named to All-American Team, Why?

Los Angeles - Being a fan of conspiracy theories takes a lot effort and a big imagination.  You think some 40 years ago in Catalina that Natalie Wood was really just moving the dinghy because it was making noise banging against the yacht Splendour?  With her husband soon to star in a TV series where he solves murders with a new wife and another actor who would soon star in “The Dead Zone”?  Think again.

So, perhaps the state of affairs in my home state is an elaborate plan to return us to the top of college football.  Hear me out:  What if there is method to the madness of the haphazard “Stay at Home” policies that California Governor Gavin Newsom has turned off and on, and in turn effectively cancelled a high school football season in California? 

The apparent “lack of a real plan” resulted in not a single from player the Golden State selected for the “2020 MaxPreps High School All-American Team”, the first time in history that the most competitive state in the union did not have a representative on the team.  Maybe this was a way to keep our football players in state.  If the SEC coaches who have been stealing our boys away don’t know who they are, how will they recruit them?

I mean, this past January 24th, Californians were able to point with pride to the fact that in the AFC and NFC championship games, three of the four starting quarterbacks were from California.  But as of today, we don’t even have a single All-American in the whole state.  Very clever Gavin, very clever. 

Combine that with the fact that Larry Scott, who has basically destroyed Pac-12 football and basketball as commissioner the past 11 years, will be moving on from his position.  Maybe now the Pac-12 can get a decent TV deal.

Could the crafty G-man have “cooked up” the Scott departure over dinner?  The Pac-12 offices in San Francisco are a mere 50 miles away from “The French Laundry” in Yountville.  Did Newsom risk it all at a maskless dinner for the sake of California retuning to glory in collegiate football?

Maybe we need to rethink the recall after all.  

• Denny Lennon is the Host of YouTube Live shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

 “Hank, Hippies and a Homer”

January 23, 2021

Hank Aaron was the GOAT as Ballplayer and as a Man

BTW: Where was Security on April 8th of ’74 at Atlanta Stadium?

Los Angeles - Most years, for a sports fan, January is the month we watch some regular season hoops and dive deep into the NFL playoffs.  This particular January of 2021, I have found myself preoccupied with the grand old game of baseball.

Sadly, death is all around us these days, and like many Americans I am looking for the uplifting stories that sports bring to us.  Sometimes we look back, as I did with my last blog about Tommy Lasorda, who died during the first week of this month.  Now, we face the loss of the one and only Henry “Hammerin’ Hank” Aaron, the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves star, a ballplayer who I argue as the greatest of them all.  When you should still hold the home run record and you rightfully own the top spot in RBI’s and total bases, being the GOAT is your rightful place.

As a nine year-old watching my Dodgers play in Atlanta on April 8th of 1974, I was well aware of #44’s pursuit of 715.  What I was not aware of was the social component.  The despicable letters and threats that were a part of everyday life for Aaron, and the significance of this hallowed record being broken in the South. 

What I do remember clearly is that pitch from lefty Dodger starter Al Downing was up and over the middle of the plate and “The Hammer” did what he always did, driving the ball on a line just over the fence.  I also remember seeing Dodger left fielder trying to climb the fence to get the ball, which is when the camera shot returned to Hank rounding second on his way to third base.  

What were those two white guys doing on the field patting him on the back?  They certainly were not working media nor were they athletes.  My 70’s upbringing kicked in, wondering if those Georgia style hippies were going to strip and streak or burn a flag or maybe even kidnap him? Where was security? SECURITY!  

Fortunately, they were a couple of 17 year-old’s, Cliff and Britt, probably just stoned on some Sticky Southern Weed, enjoying the moment with their new buddy.  I suppose the security team at Atlanta Stadium was on break or perhaps dealing with their own “sticky” situation.  Hank handled the moment with his trademark “cool under pressure" persona, turning what could have been a tragedy into a moment of peaceful celebration.

Then, Vin Scully, the poet laureate of baseball, the GOAT of all announcers, did what he always did, which was provide spot on perspective:  “A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the deep South”.  Consider my young mind blown and challenged to figure out what that meant.  

It took extra effort to gain perspective, but it was well worth it.  I dove in and found out about Aaron’s upbringing in Mobile, Alabama, the prejudice he faced coming up in the game, the dignity with which he carried himself and performed.  I learned more about the South, about the after-math of the Civil War and about Jim Crow.  Wow, that was a lot to get my head around.  I learned that “Oh Henry!” was an even more impressive person than he was a ballplayer.    

• Denny Lennon is the Host of YouTube Live shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“Tommy and Me ”

January 9, 2020

My Hilarious Interactions with an L.A. Legend

Opening Pitch Ceremony in 1991 Ranks as a Classic Tommy Lasorda Moment

Los Angeles -  Like so many of my fellow Angelino’s, I mourn the passing of a true legend, Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda (1927-2021).  I did not know him well, but I did have three interactions with him that always make me happy.  Not really being close to him ever stopped me from calling him “Tommy”, because he had the kind of personality that made you feel like you were his close friend. 

The last time I chatted with Tommy was in an elevator at Dodger Stadium in 2015.  Tommy actually looked at me like he knew who I was, although I’m sure he did that all the time with people, he was such a tremendous ambassador of the Dodgers.  I told him we had met before, that I was a Lennon, he quickly replied “Oh ya!  Jimmy Lennon is your uncle”!   Tommy, a big fight fan, was referring to the iconic Hall of Fame ring announcer Jimmy Lennon, Sr.  Jimmy Lennon was indeed my uncle, a point of pride for me growing up as a huge boxing fan.   

The second time I interacted with Tommy was in 1997, at a motivational speakers event hosted at the Forum in Inglewood.  Zig Ziglar had lined up the likes of former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz and First Lady Barbara Bush, but it was Tommy who stole the show.  “Your job is to win”! bellowed  Tommy.  A proud catholic, Tommy told a story about a time he took a vacation to Rome in the 70’s.  He was in St. Peter’s Basilica when he spotted a rival manager, John McNamara from the Cincinnati Reds, that was in the Basilica as well.

“I put my mind to it and made sure I prayed harder than he ever could…then, after I saw him light a candle, I waited until he left, I went up and blew out that f*ing candle”!  Everyone in the Forum howled with laughter, but Tommy wasn’t done.  “The next season, when we were beating the Reds, I yelled across the field; ‘Hey Mac, I blew out your f*ing candle!’”.  Tommy was straight up hilarious.

Having attended plenty of Laker games and concerts at the Forum, I was able to hustle down and get to a place where Tommy would walk by.  I said hello and told him he blew everyone else off the stage.  He said he remembered me from our first encounter, which I doubt, but you have to love that about him.

That first encounter?, That was in 1991.  I was the vice-chair of the Catholic Youth Organization board of directors for sports.  It was “Catholic Night” at Dodger Stadium and representatives of the CYO and Catholic Charities would get to go on the field before the game to be recognized.  The chairperson, Fr. Tony, would throw out the first pitch and I would get to catch it.  Pretty cool moment for me, 26 years-old at the time and as big of a Dodger fan as there could be.

Being one of the few “lay people” taking part, I did have some serious “catholic cred”, given the Lennon Sisters, singing stars that rose to fame on the Lawrence Welk Show, were my cousins.  They were also about as celebrated as the Kennedy’s when it came to being catholic.     

Before the pitch, the catholic representatives stood along the first base line and were introduced and then a bench player and low level coach worked the line shaking hands.  Usually, Tommy, as the manger getting ready for the game, would not take part.  But this was “Catholic Night”, and Tommy, born in the Italian American section of Norristown, PA, would not miss a chance to welcome the catholic priests, nuns and lay volunteers.

I was as excited as you could possibly imagine.  There he was, the two-time world series champion, a link to the Brooklyn Dodgers, and he was coming down the line and I would get to shake his hand!  Wanting to make the most of it, I thought about what I would say.  Tommy, ever the consummate performer, was making everyone feel special.  “Hello sister, welcome father, you know God is a Dodger, right sister?”.  

Then he shakes Fr. Tony’s hand, who is right next to me, and Fr. Tony was noticeably nervous about throwing out the first pitch.  Tommy got him fired him up, “Father, you gotta throw a strike tonight!”.  I will note here that Fr. Tony threw the pitch in the dirt.  However, I dug out it out, a pretty big play of which I still remind Fr. Tony whenever I see him. 

Now, the one and only Tommy Lasorda is in front of me!  “Tommy”, I say, “I think you know my cousins, The Lennon Sisters”, Tommy looks at me and says, “You’re a Lennon”?  “Yep” I proudly reply, happy that he is engaging in conversation with me.  “Well f* that!  That means your f*ing uncle must be Jimmy Lennon!  You should’ve started with that!”  I still laugh to this day, Tommy moving from the nuns and priests to me and dropping two “F” bombs.  

We were all lucky to have him, and he certainly has earned that spot in the dugout with the Big Dodger in the sky.

• Denny Lennon is the Host of YouTube Live shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

Sports Stories with Denny Lennon shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

“He’s The Logo for a Reason ”

January 6, 2020

Jerry West’s Playing Career puts “The Logo” in the Top Ten

The Final Episode in Four-Part Series on “The Logo” Drops January 7th

Los Angeles - I fully understand that many might think I have been compromised when it comes to judging Jerry West’s legacy as a basketball player.  Growing up in Los Angeles a die hard Laker fan, then having the opportunity to watch my boyhood hero and the ’72 championship Laker team practice as an eight year old was pure magic.  

Interviewing “The Logo” in my garage/studio was another touchpoint in my life.  I assure you, however, none of this has clouded my judgement when it comes to considering his legacy.    

I have always been set back by detractors of West, who often note that he lost nine times in the finals (once in college, eight times in the NBA), as if that proves he should not stand among the top ten 10 players of all time.  I beg to differ, and I stand by the facts.  

First, I want to make clear note that Jerry West was an incredible all-around player.  While his points per game (ppg) will be often foremost noted, it is important to keep in mind he was routinely among team leaders in rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots.  Next, I feel the need to note the championships in West’s playing career.  

In 1956, Jerry and his Pioneers won the first and only State championship for East Bank High School in West’s home state of West Virginia.  West averaged 32 points per game (ppg) along the way to be named the state MVP. In 1960, he was the co-captain of the USA Olympic Team as the squad rolled to an 8-0 record and won the Gold Medal in Rome.  In 1972, he adjusted his game, averaged 10 assists per game to go with his 25 ppg and lead the Lakers to a record 69 regular season wins on their way to the NBA title. 

Let’s review:  High School state championship, Gold Medal, and NBA title.   Bam! Bam! Bam!

Now let’s deal with the losses in the finals. I do not, like some, look at second place as “the first place loser”.  In order to win the championship, you need to get to the finals, never an easy task.

At West Virginia University, he was a two-time All-American that led the Mountaineers to the NCAA championship game his junior year in 1959.  There they matched up against the Cal Bears and one of the most under-appreciated coaches ever, Pete Newell.  The Bears did everything they could to slow down West, and barley won 71-70.  Newell, nor anyone else, objected to the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player award going to Jerry West.  This remains the only time in NCAA history the award was given to a member of the second place team.  West, who averaged 25 ppg during his collegiate career, went for 32 ppg at the ’59 tournament.

In the NBA in the 1960’s, the Lakers lost six championship final series to the Boston Celtics.  Three of those excruciating losses were in seven game series.  Keep in mind, the Celtics were able to keep the best group of players in the league intact given the fact that free agency did not exist.  West carried Laker teams on his back, always averaging more points in the playoffs than he did in the regular season.  In the 1969 series, guess who averaged 38 points, 5 assists and 7 rebounds per game?  

Hint:  It is the same guy that won the ’69 series MVP, the only one ever awarded to a player from the losing team.   Answer:  West, Jerry West.

Like a lot of things in the 70’s, the two Laker NBA finals losses to the New York Knicks are hard to explain.  Just going to chalk those up to age of bell-bottom jeans, smog and burnt orange colors.  

In the course of his stellar 14 years with the Lakers, West averaged 27 ppg in the regular season and 29 in the playoffs.  He led his team to nine NBA finals and the first Laker championship in Los Angeles.

When you take into account West’s senior year of high school*, three years of college**, Olympics*** and professional career****, the great Jerry West won 64% of the games he played in (803-456), averaging 25 point along the way.  

A collegiate and professional hall of fame inductee, his statue sits outside Staples Center and his #44 jersey hangs in the rafters and his image is The Logo of the NBA.  

He most certainly is among the greatest of all players, a sure-fire top ten selection.  

Footnotes -

• 1956: East Bank HS: Only senior year stats available, could not trust the yearbook staff from EBHS for stats from previous years.

• * 1958-60: West Virginia University: The NCAA, despite all evidence to the contrary, would not allow freshman to play varsity basketball.

• * * 1960: USA Olympic Team: Eight games played, the multi-talented team won by wide margins and still West averaged 14 ppg.

• * * * 1960-74: Los Angeles Lakers: Nothing to note here, just did not want my beloved Lakers to be left out of the asterisk game.

Our SSDL four part interview with Jerry West concludes this week with part four of our four-part series.  Watch, subscribe and please comment at:   YouTube.com/SSDL

Notes on a Backyard Scorecard

Los Angeles -  RIP VBC and Alan Malamud…SSDL Polls the “Jerry West” series:  #3 was the favored jersey (West wore that number in the ’60 Olympic Games), ’72 Lakers championship head man Bill Sharman was voted Jerry’s best coach and Elgin Baylor was named JW’s best teammate…The final poll is out now, asking which was Jerry’s best team…Polls are found on Twitter @SportsStoriesDL…With a few video podcasts now in post production, SSDL is trying to “hook” another “big” guest for an interview…Hints:  He’s a jazz fan…He was a Panther before he was a Bruin…SSDL has sent over a new slate of shows for broadcast on LA36 Cable TV, on which SSDL is broadcasting five a week at 9:00am…You can also catch shows on your mobile device app’s Roku, Fire and AppleTV by downloading the THSN.app (The High School Narrative).

All shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

• Denny Lennon is the Host of YouTube Live shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”

“HOW THE WEST WAS WOodeN”

December 29, 2020
Sid’s Story of West and Wooden’s California Dreaming

Part Three of Four-Part Video Podcast with Jerry West Drops December 31st
Los Angeles - History matters.  Evidence?  Without knowing that UCLA has won 11 NCAA basketball championships, the most in NCAA history, and that the Lakers have won 17 NBA titles, tied for the most in NBA history, you wouldn’t be able to make the argument that Los Angeles is the greatest basketball city not just in the country, but in the world.  

And if it were not for an assist out of the Midwest, specifically, Minnesota, things would be much different.

Sid Hartman, long time columnist of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, had an up-close look at how both UCLA and the Lakers succeeded in Los Angeles.  Hartman, who began in the newspaper business selling copies of the Star-Tribune at the age of eight in 1928, died this past October at the age of 100 as beloved icon of the sports media in Minnesota.

It was in 1946 that Sid Hartman, then a sports writer, found himself working on a side hustle where he put together a deal for a couple investors to purchase the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League, the pre-cursor to the NBA, and move the team to Minneapolis where they would become the Lakers.  Sid would serve as their general manager.  Their first draft choice was the transformative talent and first great big man of the Lakers, George Mikan.  That set the Lakers on a path of excellence, as they went on to win five championships in the next eight seasons.  

Hartman the sports writer told a story from 1948 in a column ten years ago about a successful Indiana State Teachers College coach, John Wooden, looking forward  to accepting the head position at University of Minnesota.  Wooden was awaiting word from Gophers Athletic Director Frank McCormick when a snow storm knocked out the phone lines and McCormick could not make the call that would’ve changed collegiate basketball.  

When Wooden did not hear from Minnesota, he accepted the UCLA offer instead.  The new Bruins coach would deal with sub-standard facilities while building a first-class program over the next decade.

The Minneapolis Lakers franchise was sold in 1957, which cued Sid’s exit, and new ownership made plans to move west in 1960.That’s where West, as in Jerry West, comes in to play.  

After a stellar All-American stint at West Virginia University, West was a co-captain of the USA team in 1960 at the Olympic Games in Rome.  He learned there, from an issue of Stars and Stripes, that not only was he the second pick in the NBA draft by the Minneapolis Lakers, but the franchise was moving to Los Angeles.  

West and Wooden would meet in the early ’60’s when a mutual friend introduced them.  They often shared a lunch in the back of Westwood Drugs, a couple of small-town guys chatting, both striving for championships in Los Angeles.

Coach Wooden would finally break through to win a NCAA title in 1964, sparking a run of 10 championships over 12 years, the greatest run in collegiate sports history for a man considered by many the finest coach of all time. Hartman was there for Coach Wooden’s first title in Kansas City, as he was each of his subsequent titles, and would remain friends with the Bruins coach until Wooden died in 2010. 

Jerry West, along with NBA star Elgin Baylor and the highly popular announcer Chick Hearn, would eventually push the Lakers into the Hollywood spotlight.  It took time and heartbreak.  Jerry, Elgin and the Lakers would lose seven times in the NBA finals before West would prove to be the most important Laker of all time.  

Not only did West lead the team to an NBA championship as a player in 1972, but after he retired in 1974, he worked his way into the front office, rising to the position of general manager, a spot originally held some 30 years earlier by Sid.  West would shrewdly draft and sign free agents, laying the foundation for the “Showtime” and “Shaq and Kobe” teams.  “The Logo”, as Jerry West had become, had his hand in 10 championships, just like Coach Wooden.  

West and Wooden were both tested, and both persevered.  They proved to be two of the pillars that built Los Angeles into the basketball capital of the world.  

Our SSDL four part interview with Jerry West continues this week with part three of a four-part series that we are calling a “Very Jerry Christmas”.  Please Watch, subscribe and comment at:   YouTube.com/SSDL

Notes on a Backyard Scorecard

7428 -  See the past two blogs for explanation of this column name…RIP VBC and Alan Malamud…SSDL fans have spoken!  So far, in the “Jerry West Polls”: #3 was the favored jersey (West wore that number in the ’60 Olympic Games), ’72 Lakers championship head man Bill Sharman was voted Jerry’s best coach and Elgin Baylor was named JW’s best Laker teammate…Polls are found on Twitter @SportsStoriesDL…Part one of the four-part Jerry West series focused on his growing up in West Virginia, part two on his time as a Mountaineer at West Virginia University and his Olympic Games experience in Rome…Part three, which drops December 31st, will follow the soon to be NBA “Logo” to Los Angeles to play for the Lakers…SSDL has sent over a new slate of shows for broadcast on LA36 Cable TV, on which SSDL is broadcasting seven times a week…You can also catch shows on your mobile device app’s Roku, Fire and AppleTV by downloading the THSN.app (The High School Narrative).

All shows, including video podcasts, archived live shows and special features are available at:  YouTube.com/SSDL

Social media links, archives and more are available on our website:  SportsStoriesDL.com

• Denny Lennon is the Host of YouTube Live shows and the Video Podcast, “Sports Stories with Denny Lennon”