Dancing Backwards

Louis “Red” Klotz, 2011
(photo credit: Chris Polk/Associated Press)

When her husband called in from the road, Gloria Klotz never had to ask, “Did you win?”  That’s because Louis “Red” Klotz played (and later coached) for the Washington Generals, the perpetual opponent of the Harlem Globetrotters.

At the invitation of Globetrotters’ owner Abe Saperstein, Klotz founded the Generals in 1952; he was the point guard until 1984 when, at age 62, he gave up his playing career.  He coached for a couple of more decades, and still makes an occasional appearance on the bench.  Over all those years, the one constant is that the Globetrotters always win.  Well, not always — in almost 20,000 games, the Generals have won twice.

The last time was on January 5, 1971, in Martin, Tennessee, on a night when the Globetrotters’ entertaining antics went on longer than usual, and their opponents played efficient, workmanlike basketball.  The Globetrotters put on a burst at the end, but with seconds to play, Red Klotz hit a long shot to give his team a 100-99 win.  The spectators booed.

Technically it wasn’t a victory for the Washington Generals, by the way.  Over the years, Klotz experimented with name changes, so on that historic night, the Generals were performing as the New Jersey Reds.

The Globetrotters’ epic win streak, and Generals’ matching losing streak, is not necessarily due to a huge difference in skill.  There have been individuals from both teams who have spent time in the NBA, including the 5’7″ Red Klotz, who played briefly for the Baltimore Bullets.  There were also several Generals players who later jumped to the Globetrotters.

I don’t think it’s revealing a secret to say that the Globetrotters/Generals performances are really exhibitions, not games.  Not every last detail is scripted — the final score varies — but let’s say that the general outline remains the same from one night to the next.

The Generals aren’t as dim as they are made to look, or Red Klotz would have been justified in yelling during timeouts, “Dadgummit, that’s the 200th night in a row that they’ve pulled Henderson’s shorts down to his ankles.  Would somebody please watch his backside?  And Boyd — how many times are you going to let them dribble the ball off your forehead!?”

The current roster of the Generals has guys who were solid (if not spectacular) players at schools like Kutztown U., Voorhees College, and Robert Morris University.  And if you personally feel you have some unfinished basketball business and don’t mind being away from home for months at a time, the Generals are currently looking for recruits.

“An ideal prospect,” says the team’s website, “can strike a balance between sports and entertainment.”  It also notes that “The Generals serve an important role in the Globetrotters tours and realize the final score does not always define winners.”

Another way to express that notion is how Red Klotz once described his career.  “Like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the Harlem Globetrotters have always had a dance partner,” Red said, “but I’ve always been dancing backwards.”

Chick and Donna

Not your typical Lakers fan –
“Donna”, c. 1968

“Suh-LAMM dunk!”

That’s how Chick Hearn shouted it into the microphone, making “slam” a two-syllable word, and punctuating it with at least three exclamation points.  As the announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers, Chick coined the term “slam dunk”, along with “air ball”, “garbage time”, “no harm, no foul” and lots of others that are now commonplace in basketball’s lexicon.

Hearn called Laker games from 1961 until 2002, at one point reeling off a stretch of 3,338 games without an absence.  He had a rapid-fire style; it was once estimated that he occasionally reached a breathless 200 words-per-minute pace.  Now enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame, Chick Hearn was one of the most popular Lakers ever.

Among his admirers was an elderly woman we called Donna.  No one in the family knows exactly when she became a Laker enthusiast.  To the best of anyone’s recollection, she had never shown any interest in sports.  Donna became captivated by Chick’s accounts of the games, though, so on February 26, 1979, I sent Hearn this letter to tell him about her…

Dear Chick:

The whole family called Alice Stephens “Donna”.  It was more a title than a nickname, like those given to Italian noblewomen.  She was that sort of lady — courteous, proper, and unfailingly pleasant.  But she also had unabashed enthusiasm for the Los Angeles Lakers.

I didn’t get to know Donna until she was in her eighties (she was my wife’s grandmother), but every time I saw her, we always talked basketball… no, not just basketball.  Laker basketball.  They were her team, and through your descriptions, she stayed current on Jerry and Elg and Kareem and, for that mattter, John Q. (Trapp, a Laker reserve).

There was one occasion at a dinner party when she brought a portable radio to the table with her.  It seems the meal conflicted with an important game, and in spite of her otherwise impeccable manners, she wasn’t about to miss that broadcast.

My wife Sally and I want to thank you and the team for all the enjoyment you gave to an old woman.  And somehow, we also thought you should know about the loss of such a loyal fan.  Donna died in her sleep yesterday at the age of ninety-seven.

Sincerely,

Tom Reeder

♦     ♦     ♦

A couple of weeks later, I got this handwritten note from Chick.  One thing I treasure about it is the strip of adhesive that still clings to the paper where he ripped it from the note pad, suggesting that he wrote it in his usual high-velocity style…

Dear Tom + Sally

What a meaningful message!!!  I am so grateful to you for sharing “Donna’s” love of the Laker team.

God bless you both + God have mercy on Donna’s soul.

Gratefully,

Chick Hearn

♦     ♦     ♦

If you ever heard Chick Hearn call a game — that is, if you ever heard Chick give his “word’s-eye view from high above the western sideline” – his voice echoes in this note, doesn’t it?

Scientific Bowl Picks

We may look like we’re just sitting in front of the TV eating snacks by the fistful, but we are actually studying science, right football fans?

To the discerning eye, good teams have chemistry.  Many team names are derived from biological organisms, like bears and lions and various breeds of dogs.  Physics is an especially important aspect of football; when a linebacker comes through unblocked and sacks the quarterback, we may shout “yeaahhh!”  What we’re actually thinking, though, is F=ma.  Force equals mass times acceleration.

In that scientific spirit, I spent hours (OK, a few minutes) examining statistical tables compiled from this past college football season to enlighten my opinions on upcoming bowl games.

One thing that got my attention is that almost all of the top teams have this trait in common:  strong defense.  For example, the 2012 statistical leaders in total team defense included Alabama (#1), Florida State (#2), Florida (#5), Notre Dame (#6) and LSU (#8).

While passing is a crowd-pleasing aspect of the game, it was not a crucial component for the most successful teams.  In the statistical category Team Passing Offense, well down the list were Oregon (#66), Notre Dame (#75), Alabama (#84), Kansas State (#85), LSU (#90), Stanford (#92), and Florida (#114).  Ohio State, a team that went undefeated, was 101st.  (They are not eligible to play in a bowl game until the players give back the free tattoos they received in violation of NCAA rules.)

What we conclude, then, is that the teams with the highest success rates typically a) keep their opponents from scoring very often; and b) run the ball more than they throw it.  Considering those factors, and with other statistics and guesswork mixed in, here are my predictions for some of this year’s bowl games…

Holiday Bowl     Baylor (7-5) vs. UCLA (9-4)

Baylor was first nationally in total offense, and next-to-last in total defense.  The Bears’ scrimmages must have been chaotic.  UCLA (#20 in total offense) can score enough to win.

Alamo Bowl     Texas (8-4) vs. Oregon State (9-3)

Statistically, Oregon State has a slight edge in total offense, and a significant advantage on defense.  Because it will be sort of a home game for Texas,  though, I’m going with an unscientific hunch that the Longhorns will prevail.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl     Clemson (10-2) vs. LSU (10-2)

Last year Clemson gave up 70 points to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl, and they were presumed to be good back then, too.  One team named the Tigers will win, but it won’t be Clemson.

Sun Bowl     Georgia Tech (6-7!) vs. USC (7-5)

A guy on a pogo stick could gain 100+ yards rushing against USC’s defense.  On the other hand, Georgia Tech’s pass defense surrendered 22 TDs.  Matt Barkley might add 3 or 4 more to that total in a Trojan victory.

Rose Bowl     Stanford (11-2) vs. Wisconsin (8-5)

Wisconsin likes to run the ball, but stopping the run is what Stanford does best — the Cardinal was #3 nationally in rushing defense.  I’m picking Stanford.

Orange Bowl     Northern Illinois (12-1) vs. Florida State (11-2)

Sometimes statistics can be deceptive.  Northern Illinois put up impressive numbers, but they did so against schools like Tennessee-Martin, Army, Buffalo and UMass.  In this bowl, the Huskies will discover that Florida State is no pushover.

Sugar Bowl     Florida (11-1) vs. Louisville (10-2)

As noted earlier, the Florida Gators are defensive beasts.  Louisville represents the Big East Conference.  It might be closer than that comparison would suggest, but I do think Florida will win.

Fiesta Bowl     Kansas State (11-1) vs. Oregon (11-0)

Kansas State averaged 40 points per game; Oregon averaged 50!  This could be the most entertaining game of the bowl season; both will score often but the Ducks will win.

Cotton Bowl     Texas A&M (10-2) vs. Oklahoma (10-2)

Aggie Freshman QB Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy.  Among other things, he averaged almost 100 yards per game rushing.  Oklahoma QB Landry Jones was no slouch, though; he threw for almost 4,000 yards and 29 TDs.  I’m taking the Sooners in an upset.

BCS Championship     Notre Dame (12-0) vs. Alabama (12-1)

These teams led the country in scoring defense, averaging just a tick over 10 points per game.  Alabama has the nation’s most statistically efficient QB in A.J. McCarron (26 TD, only 3 Int).  Even though I’d like to see Notre Dame break the SEC championship monopoly, the Crimson Tide will rise, and scientists will ponder its effects on marine biology.

That’s Not a Sport

The batter is Eddie Mathews of the Milwaukee Braves.

To the best of my recollection, I have never attended a game wearing face paint in my team’s colors.  I am certain that I have never sat in a stadium in December with a group of my pals, all of us shirtless in freezing weather.  Right, I know what you’re thinking:  “And you call yourself a sports fan?”

Well, yeah, I am a sports fan.  As my wife once said about me, “he’d pay to watch two guys fish.”  That’s probably not true, in part because I’m not sure fishing qualifies as a sport.  Which raises a question occasionally debated by people who have had plenty to drink:  What is a sport, and what isn’t?

It occurred to me that when Sports Illustrated published its first issue in August, 1954, they might have printed a sort of mission statement, saying (in effect), “We’ll be covering X, Y and Z.  If you want stories and pictures about bean-bag tossing, look elsewhere.”

There was no definition of sports to be found in that first issue, but there was a lengthy article called “The Golden Age Is Now”, taking the view that interest in sports was at an all-time high in 1954.  The magazine cited statistics like this:  “Tens of thousands of pin boys are kept leaping by 20 million bowlers.”  A chart of the leading U.S. spectator sports had softball first with 125 million admissions; football was fifth with 35 million.

So I put that inaugural Sports Illustrated back on the shelf and looked for help elsewhere, including several dictionaries.  Their definitions of sports (or sport) varied slightly, but the general idea was that sports are a) physical activities that are b) competitive and are c) governed by rules and d) require skill.

By those standards, we can see that 110-meter hurdle racing is a sport, but jogging to Starbucks isn’t, since it lacks elements b, c and d.

My hesitation about classifying fishing as a sport is that it’s often solitary, not competitive, and when it does get competitive, it isn’t governed by rules.

Some people don’t consider golf a sport, usually on the grounds that it isn’t a physical activity.  On the contrary:  Golf often requires a lot of exertion, especially when playing shots from weeds or water.  However, I’ll grant you that miniature golf is not a sport — not enough a or d.  Also, amateur wrestling is a sport, but professional wrestling isn’t — it’s acting.

Here are a couple of other thoughts about what separates sports from other leisure activities…

1.  Just because you can get hurt doing it doesn’t make it a sport.  You and your neighbor are extremely competitive about stringing Christmas lights, but when you fall off the roof, that’s not a sports injury.

2.  It’s not a sport if you can smoke while participating in it.  That eliminates poker, billiards, chess, bridge, and maybe fishing.

There’s some irony in the no-smoking standard, since the back cover of that very first Sports Illustrated is an advertisement that shows a guy holding a tennis racket in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  The caption reads, “You’re So Smart to Smoke Parliament.”

A Long, Long Way to Run

Replenishing fluids at Mile 25, Central Park

It’s almost marathon season again, so if you’re planning to enter any races, you might want to start training now.  While you’re plodding along, mile after dreary mile, you can take your mind off your discomfort by thinking about fascinating marathon facts like these…

The name is derived from a battle in 490 B.C. between the Athenians and Persians at a Greek village called Marathon.  In one version of the story, the Athenians sent a messenger to Sparta to request help in the upcoming battle.

The more well-known myth, bolstered by a Robert Browning poem, is that the messenger Pheidippides (Fy-DIP-eh-deez) ran from Marathon back to Athens with the news that the army of Athens had been victorious.  Supposedly Pheidippides burst into a council meeting, gasped, “Hey, we won!” or words to that effect, and then dropped dead.  Try not to think of that dying part while you’re training.

Depending on which route a runner takes, the distance from Marathon to Athens is between 24 and 26 miles.  So how did the official distance for today’s marathon races get fixed at 26 miles 385 yards?  Obviously the answer is not “Because it’s a nice round number.”

Marathons were run at various distances — 40 Km (24.85 miles) in the 1896 Olympics, for instance — until 1921, when the International Association of Athletic Federations adopted the 26-mile 385-yard standard.  That was based on the distance used for the marathon in the 1908 Olympic Games in London.

For that event, the race started at Windsor Castle; according to some sources, that was done so that the Princess of Wales and her offspring could watch from their window in the Royal Nursery.  Officials intended the race to cover approximately 25 miles, but several detours had to be made due to trolley tracks and cobblestones and other obstacles on the proposed course.

The plan all along was that the race would end in the stadium at Shepherd’s Bush, with the competitors crossing the finish line right in front of the Royal Box. Shortly before the Olympics began, though, someone noticed a flaw in the plan:  The runners wouldn’t be able to use the Royal Entrance into Great White City Stadium because the opening wasn’t at ground level.  It was raised so that their Royal Majesties could step out of their carriages more easily.

It was agreed that the runners probably wouldn’t be able to leap up to the Royal Entrance, so the path was amended again, with the track winding around to another stadium entrance.  The length of the course eventually became — right, you’re way ahead of me.

The race itself was quite dramatic:  An Italian runner, Dorando Pietri, staggered into the stadium well ahead of the other racers.  He was exhausted, though, and  turned the wrong way on the revised course, then stumbled and fell several times.  He was helped across the finish line by officials, which didn’t seem fair to the second-place finisher, American Johnny Hayes.  Pietri was eventually disqualified and Hayes was awarded the gold medal.

They both became celebrities, ran a couple of subsequent match races, and generally popularized long-distance running.  Their famous race in the 1908 Olympics helped lock in the arbitrary distance of 26 miles 385 yards.

So that’s something to think about while you’re training, and maybe you can also muse about how your blisters wouldn’t be as bad if Marathon had been, oh, 20 miles closer to Athens.  Or if they’d had cell phones in 490 B.C.

Tom’s Top 25, 2012 Edition

Get ready:  It’s almost time for the resumption of college football’s historic rivalries.  Well, some of them, anyway; because of conference realignments, we also now get unfamiliar matchups like Texas vs. West Virginia (not Texas A&M).  If you’re yearning to see the old traditional battles — classics like Nebraska against Oklahoma — you can hope that both teams have mediocre seasons and fill their respective leagues’ slots in the Insight Bowl.

In the past it was customary at this time of year to pick a team from the Southeastern Conference and make it the preseason favorite to win the national championship.  Since demolishing tradition is now the vogue in college football, I’m picking a team from a different conference this season – pretty wild, huh?

However, I am sticking to the tradition of posting my preseason predictions publicly, despite of a lot of encouragement to knock it off.  So here they are, along with a few random observations.  I’m confident that by the time the championship game is played a few months from now, these picks won’t all be wrong…

1.  USC          Stars like Matt Barkley, Robert Woods and T.J. McDonald feel they have unfinished business.

2.  LSU          Key games against So. Carolina and Alabama are in Tiger Stadium.

3.  Oklahoma         Averaged almost 40 points/game last year; 19 starters return

4.  Alabama          Two national championships in past 3 seasons

5.  Oregon          These Ducks don’t walk, they sprint.

6.  South Carolina          Eleven wins last year, could be even better in 2012

7.  Michigan          Season opener vs. Alabama could set tone for entire season

8.  Florida State          One of these years, high expectations for Seminoles will come true.

9.  Texas          After two sub-par seasons, Texas climbs back toward elite status.

10. Boise State          Coach Chris Peterson’s six-season record:  73-6

11. Arkansas          The big question mark is how Razorbacks respond to the coaching change following Bobby Petrino’s dismissal.

12. West Virginia           Move to Big 12 conference will provide stiffer competition

13. Wisconsin          Heisman Trophy finalist Montee Ball is back for his senior year.

14. Louisville          Cardinals are the best team in mediocre Big East.

15. Georgia          Easy schedule should help:  Bulldogs avoid Alabama, Arkansas and LSU.

16. Ohio State          Sanctions keep Buckeyes out of bowl game, but at least 9 wins seem possible.

17. Florida          The defense is strong; can the offense score enough points to win games?

18. Michigan State          Same as Florida (above)

19. Stanford          If you’re good enough, you don’t need Luck.

20. Oklahoma State          Finished 3rd in final polls last season, but are missing some important players from that outstanding team.

21. Nebraska          Huskers have a tough mid-season stretch with Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan in four weeks.

22. Virginia Tech          Hokies have 8 consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins.

23. Southern Methodist          Mustangs have a chance to be this year’s dark horse.

24. Georgia Tech          Opponents find it difficult to defend against Yellow Jackets’ bizarre offense.

25. TCU          Four consecutive top-15 finishes, but stepping up to Big 12 in 2012

When the Olympics Came to Town

1984 Olympic Games, Los Angeles

The predictions were dire.  Experts warned that the 1984 Olympic Games were going to cause gridlock in Los Angeles; traffic would be brought to a standstill.  Traffic is at a standstill every day in L.A. of course, but somehow this would be even worse.

For those of us who didn’t flee the city, things worked out very well.  If anything, the traffic was lighter than usual, and for a couple of weeks we had a wonderful celebration with visitors from 140 countries.

The Soviet Union, East Germany and several other eastern bloc nations didn’t come to the party — they boycotted the Games in revenge for a U.S.-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1980.  Romania showed up, though, and we all cheered them every chance we got.

There were several historical highlights at the XXIII Olympiad, including Carl Lewis winning four gold medals in Track & Field, and Joan Benoit’s victory in the first-ever women’s Olympic marathon.  Mary Lou Retton won the women’s Gymnastics all-around gold medal.

My family wasn’t at any of those events, but we attended a lot of others, and here are a few fond memories of the ’84 Olympics:

•  During preliminary competition in Men’s Springboard Diving, the dive being attempted was announced — “Forward 2½ somersault from pike position” or whatever.  No matter what the dive was supposed to be, the divers from Kuwait usually just did a swan dive.  They were elegant swan dives, but they didn’t score very well with the judges. 

•  Baseball was a demonstration sport.  We saw a double-header:  The first game matched Canada against Japan, followed by South Korea against Nicaragua.  A lot of the action that day was in the stands, where fans were busy trading pins with each other.  The enamel pins featured official mascot Sam the Eagle in a variety of poses representing different sports and countries.  Pin trading was brisk at every Olympic venue in 1984, and there still seems to be some market for those souvenirs on the internet.

•  Joaquim Cruz of Brazil defeated world record holder Sebastian Coe in the exciting final of the men’s 800-meter race.  Cruz’s winning time was 1:43:00.  After he received his gold medal on the victory stand, the Brazilian national anthem was played — it lasted almost twice that long.  Seriously, have you ever heard the Brazilian national anthem?  It’s quite beautiful, but you can feel yourself getting older by the time it reaches its conclusion.

•  One of our son’s favorite Olympic memories involved a misbegotten promotional scheme by McDonald’s.  The slogan was “When the U.S. wins, you win!”  The hamburger chain distributed scratch-offs with the names of various Olympic events printed on them.  If a U.S. participant won a gold medal in the event on your card, you got a free Big Mac.  A silver medal was worth free french fries; bronze meant a free Coke.

McDonald’s hadn’t counted on the boycott by the Communist countries, and the record medal haul for the U.S. that resulted.  Americans won 174 total medals, including 88 gold, which was at least double what McDonald’s had expected.  Brian had free hamburgers for what seemed like months after the Olympics ended.

Part-time Employment

Rizzuto and Berra, Suit Salesmen

The minimum salary for a Major League Baseball player is $480,000.

If you’re a corporate CEO or an investment banker that’s chump change, but the rest of us could probably manage to scrape by on a half-million bucks for 7 or 8 months’ work.  That’s the minimum, remember; the average MLB salary this year is $3,095,183.

It hasn’t always been this lucrative to be a ballplayer, of course.  Just to give you an idea of how things have changed, the Major League minimum in 1973 was $15,000, and the average salary was a little over twice that amount.  Only a relative handful of superstars made what was considered big money — over $100,000.

That meant that until fairly recently, most professional athletes have had other jobs during the off-season to supplement their incomes.  Even Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, who is generally considered to be the first player to make a million dollars a season (1979), had a series of other jobs during his baseball career:  One year he worked as an air-conditioning installer (1968).

New York Yankee legends Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra, back-to-back American League Most Valuable Players in 1950 and 1951, were employed during the winter by a Newark department store, where they sold men’s suits.

Richie Hebner, a third baseman who spent most of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, was a gravedigger at a cemetery operated by his father and brother.  Another third baseman of the same vintage (1970s) was a trumpet player.  Because Carmen Fanzone was with the Cubs before Wrigley Field had lights, he would occasionally take gigs at Chicago jazz clubs, performing at night after playing baseball during the day.

It wasn’t just baseball players who had other occupations.  Basketball’s Dave Bing was a seven-time NBA All-Star during a career that spanned the mid-’60s to the late-’70s.  He went to work as a teller in a Detroit bank, moving up the ladder there; following his retirement from basketball he established his own business.  Bing is currently the mayor of Detroit.

Professional football player Bill McColl studied medicine at the University of Chicago when he wasn’t playing defensive end and tight end for the Bears in the 1950s.  He eventually became an orthopedic surgeon.

Another football player who hit the books during the off-season was NFL Hall of Famer Alan Page.  While with the Vikings, he attended law school at the University of Minnesota.  Zoom forward a few decades:  Alan Page is now an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Then there was the unusual off-season job of baseball pitcher Gene Conley:  he played basketball.  Or maybe he was an NBA center and forward who played baseball in the off-season.  Either way, he’s still the only athlete to be a World Series champ (Milwaukee Braves, 1957) and an NBA champ (Boston Celtics, 1959-61).

For those who are now saying, “Hey, what about Bo Jackson?”, I didn’t forget him.  Bo was the first All-Star in two sports (football and baseball).  Of course, since he was a full-time athlete with no off-season, he never got the chance to rotate tires or stock shelves or wait tables.  So — secretly Bo probably envies us, don’t you think?

A Close Second

Alydar (left) and Affirmed

Winning a hand of solitaire doesn’t set off a wild celebration.  (Seriously — if you’re whooping and high-fiving yourself after landing the King of Clubs, you need to find a new hobby.)

It seems fairly obvious that the reason  most games and sports afford a thrill when you win is because they involve competition.  Having to prove yourself against an opponent is essential, and the more formidable the opponent, the sweeter the victory.

That’s how humans are wired, anyway; whether horses also think like that may be debatable, but one can’t deny that some of the greatest rivalries in sports have been in thoroughbred racing.  Secretariat was the Triple Crown winner in 1973, but the horse that pushed him to record-setting times was, as you may recall, named Sham.

Another of the greatest race horses of the 20th century was Alydar, who has the distinction of being the only horse to finish second in each of the Triple Crown races.  In the 1978 Kentucky Derby, teen-aged jockey Steve Cauthen coaxed Affirmed to the wire 1½ lengths ahead of Alydar, who had been a slight favorite.

A couple of weeks later, Affirmed was the favorite in the Preakness, partly because it is contested at a shorter distance.  He went to the front as usual, but  Jockey Jorge Velasquez got Alydar moving up at the half-mile pole and closed ground on his rival.  Ultimately, though, Alydar lost by a neck.

It was the third of that year’s Triple Crown races — the Belmont Stakes — that is considered by a lot of track old-timers to be one of the greatest duels in the annals of horse racing.

Affirmed took the early lead; Alydar was third.  The fractions were slow, but by the mile pole Alydar had gotten alongside the frontrunner and the pace quickened.  The two rivals left the other horses behind as they charged, stride for stride, into the far turn.   As they thundered down the stretch, Alydar briefly managed to take the lead, but Affirmed fought back.  Cauthen and Affirmed crossed the finish line a head in front of Velasquez and Alydar, clocking one of the fastest times in Belmont history.

In those 1978 Triple Crown races, Affirmed won all three over Alydar, but by a combined total of less than two lengths.

Their final meeting came in August of 1978, in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.  Most trainers recognized that they had no chance against the titans; only two other horses were entered.  Meanwhile, Steve Cauthen had been injured, so Laffit Pincay, Jr. was up on Affirmed.

Once again, Affirmed took the lead, but as they headed into the far turn, Alydar came charging along on the inside.  Pincay steered Affirmed toward the rail, cutting off his rival.  Alydar stumbled, almost launching Velasquez out of the saddle, but horse and rider managed to recover and started sprinting after Affirmed again.  The Triple Crown champion held on and finished ahead of Alydar, but a steward’s inquiry resulted in the disqualification of Affirmed — Alydar was placed first.

Over their careers the two horses faced each other ten times, with Affirmed winning 7 of the races.  Affirmed was the better horse, but Alydar was a close second.  You might say that Affirmed’s greatness was affirmed by the excellence of his rival Alydar.

Game Changer

Earl Lloyd, Syracuse Nationals

Almost 80% of the players in the National Basketball Association this year are African-American.  That is in sharp contrast to 1949, when the percentage was zero.

Back then, NBA franchises included the Fort Wayne Pistons, the Rochester Royals, the Syracuse Nationals, the Minneapolis Lakers.  The players wore shorts that were basically satin briefs, exposing a lot of (white) leg.

In 1950, professional basketball’s color barrier was broken as it had been in baseball three years before.  Even people who aren’t baseball fans know Jackie Robinson’s name and his historic role in changing the game, but ask almost anyone who the NBA’s first black player was and you’ll probably get a shrug.

That may be partly due to the fact that there are three different players who have a claim.  Chuck Cooper was the first African-American drafted (by Boston) and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton was the first to sign an NBA contract (with the New York Knickerbockers).  The first to actually play in a game, however, was Earl Lloyd, with a team called the Washington Capitols.

A 6’6″ forward, Lloyd played in the 1950 season opener on October 31st against the Rochester Royals.  Washington lost 78-70, but Lloyd had a respectable 10 rebounds to offset his meager offensive output of six points.  Cooper debuted with the Celtics the following day, and Clifton played his first NBA game three days after that.

Another reason Jackie Robinson is so widely known while the NBA pioneers aren’t is the degree of sucess he had.  In that first tension-filled season, Robinson was Major League Baseball’s Rookie of the Year — he was among the leaders in several statistical categories, including runs scored and stolen bases.  He went on the be the National League MVP in 1949, was a six-time All-Star, member of a World Series championship team (1955), and was ultimately inducted into the Hall of Fame.

In contrast, Clifton and Lloyd had solid but unspectacular careers, although it is worth noting that Sweetwater Clifton made the NBA All-Star team in 1957.  After being traded to Syracuse, Earl Lloyd contributed to the Nationals’ 1955 championship.  Meanwhile, Cooper played for three teams in six seasons.

Years later, Earl Lloyd also acknowledged the different circumstances the pioneers faced.  “I  don’t think my situation was anything like Jackie Robinson’s,” he said, “a guy who played in a very hostile environment, when even some of his own teammates didn’t want him around.”

Still, somebody had to open the NBA’s door to African-Americans, and as Lloyd told the Associated Press recently, “I’m glad I was part of something that helped pave the way for others.”

Considering that the average salary for NBA players is now in excess of $5 million, those three players paved a superhighway.  It seems unlikely that anyone who plays in the NBA will ever have to follow the path Nat Clifton took when his basketball career ended:  “Sweetwater” spent the rest of his life driving a taxi.