Lakers Streak Lives On....As It Should!!!

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

The long standing record of the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers remains intact with the Miami Heat losing after 27 straight victories, thank goodness.

I say this as the Heat are definitely an impressive team and possibly on their way to even more greatness. But the Lakers of 71-72 should not be eclipsed by this modern bunch and should be recognized for even more than just winning 33 games consecutively.

The Lakers were led by coach Bill Sharman with Jerry West, leading scorer Gail Goodrich, Wilt Chamberlain and Heat President Pat Riley doing the work on the court. While LeBron and the Heat approached the literal record by notching 27 wins in a row, they weren't matching the total dominance and even demolition that the Lakers put on the NBA. From November of 1971 through January of 1972, through 33 wins, the Lakers averaged outscoring opponents by 16 points per game! Of the 33 games, 23 were won by double digits, 8 were won by over 20 points and two were won by over 40 points! They basically rolled through the league and other teams not even creating much drama during their streak.

The Heat has averaged 8.9 points over their opponents during the 27 wins and had many games in doubt until asserting full authority late in the victories. While being able to display such a showing of confidence and authority is impressive, the Lakers ability to lead early and dominate throughout was equally, if not more, impressive.

Overall, comparing the streaks and eras is difficult. The size of the league has changed since 1972, the three point shot was implemented, and the schedule has changed dramatically. With modern travel conveniences and private team jets, the NBA schedule is grueling, but nothing like it was in 1972 on commercial flights. In addition, the player's union has negotiated scheduling guidelines that makes it easier today. During 1972, the Lakers had six instances of playing 3 games in 3 nights and began the streak by playing eight games in ten days! With travel differences, scheduling nightmares and far less expertise available in training and physical maintenance procedures, it is simply amazing a team could run off 33 straight victories.

The Lakers need to be known as more than a team who had a winning streak. Only one team has ever posted a better single season winning percentage. The Lakers are known for Showtime, Kareem and Magic, Kobe and Shaq, yet none of those players or teams accomplished what the 1971-72 squad did during one season. Other than one season, that Laker team won more games than any of Michael Jordan's Bulls. It definitely solidifies this Laker team as more than a winning streak and more than just a season champion.

Finishing just one game back of the Bulls 72-10 record at 69-13 with a 33 game winning streak is remarkable. In fact, if the Heat could have won and kept their streak alive even to the point of winning every remaining game this season (a 39 game winning streak) they still would have fallen one win short of what the Lakers accomplished. Of course, the Lakers won the NBA Championship that year so the Heat still have more steps to complete the comparison, but for now, the record should remain with the Lakers so that they may also be recognized for their overall greatness.

All this because I know more about nothing...

March Madness Indeed - - Who Ya Got?

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

After careful study, severe analysis of rosters and scouting reports, and my six year old daughter picking her favorite colors on uniforms, I am going with Kent State to win it all in college basketball this post season! At this point, I see the Golden Flashes with the best chance to cut down the nets in "TBD" on Wednesday, April 3.

But, I am also leaning towards Purdue to emerge as champion by winning a best-of-three finals match up against Wyoming.

On the other hand, it is easy to see how my brackets will show Virginia conquering all foes and being crowned champion in April as well.

But my heart still lies with Ohio State continuing their current run and making all Buckeye opponents completely frustrated by Aaron Craft and his incredible defense. Therefore, they will be college basketball title holders come April in Atlanta, right?

As it turns out, I may be right with each prediction and I could end up as King of the Brackets. All I have to do is correctly predict and fill out the brackets for ALL FOUR men's college basketball tournaments this spring. Indeed, March is truly Mad as we have a quartet of tournaments to follow!

So who have you picked to dominate the field and win the CBI, the College Basketball Invitational? Sixteen teams have been invited to participate including programs such as Purdue, Texas, and George Mason - all past NCAA tournament teams. They advance through single elimination brackets until reaching a best-of-three match up for the title in early April with the Finals site not yet even determined!

Well, maybe you aren't as familiar with those teams so you have to lean towards perfecting your brackets for the 32 teams in the College Insider Tournament. This one is single elimination all the way and is the 5th annual playing of this tournament. You are completely familiar with it by now right?

Maybe your alma mater qualified for the National Invitation Tournament. Of course, this is usually a disappointing invitation to receive but at least you know where the Finals will be held if you advance that far! Thirty two more teams will square off in this ex-prestigious tournament and could use a championship here to springboard themselves to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2014.

Finally, we have 68 more teams starting play this week in the biggest event, the NCAA Tournament, hoping to win six straight games and party in Atlanta. Apparently, this is the most popular tournament since declines in work productivity at job sites can actually be determined based on the attention and time put into completing brackets. No one has yet to skip a conference call or miss a meeting so they can fill out their CBI bracket.

March Madness is absolutely here and nothing excites a college campus like sporting your brand new College Insider Tournament Champion T-shirt and hat! So get behind those 148 teams qualifying for post season basketball and pick yourself a winner, or four!

All this because I know more about nothing...

The "Baseball Annie" That Shot Roy Hobbs

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

It was revealed this past week that Ruth Steinhagen passed away in December. Have you ever heard of her, are you wondering how this fits into the world of sports?

Ruth was a young lady, growing up in Chicago and carrying a mad crush on Eddie Waitkus, first baseman for the Cubs. Like any teenager with a crush, Steinhagen performed all the rituals. She slept with a picture of Waitkus under her pillow, decorated her room with additional pictures, and even set a place for him at the dinner table in hopes he may come by.

The crush proceeded and was harmless as Waitkus enjoyed a fine season in 1948, hitting .295 and smacking a career high 7 home runs. Despite this, the Cubs traded Waitkus to the Phillies after the season.

This is when the story turned to obsession and insanity as young Ruth Steinhagen decided she could not be without Eddie on the local nine and made up her mind to kill him.

In June of 1949, the Phillies traveled to Wrigley to face the Cubs and Steinhagen checked into a room at the Edgewater Beach Hotel where the Phillies were staying. One night after a game, she lured Eddie to her room with a note promising a surprise and an important matter to discuss. After Waitkus sat down, she retrieved a rifle hidden in a closet and shot him in the chest, narrowly missing his heart.

Newspapers across the nation wrote stories and portrayed Steinhagen as a crazed "Baseball Annie" which was the term for groupie and the influence behind Annie Savoy in the movie Bull Durham. Ruth was declared insane by a judge and spent three years in a mental hospital. At that point, doctors determined she had regained her sanity and released her. Waitkus declined to press charges at this time and Steinhagen was free to live the rest of her life.

She spent that time in Chicago, remaining very private, living with her sister and working in an office for 35 years. She died of natural causes this past December.

Waitkus survived and recovered but was never really the same again unlike the legend he inspired who reached even more greatness after being shot, Roy Hobbs.

This incident inspired Bernard Malamud to pen a novel in 1952 entitled "The Natural" and create the legendary character who was shot before his major league career started but recovered to become a star. Robert Redford then portrayed the great Roy Hobbs in 1984 as the film version of "The Natural" became a hit.

So if not for a young, star crossed teenage girl luring a major league ballplayer to her hotel room for an insane crime of passion, we may never have experienced the enduring legend of Roy Hobbs, the Natural.

All this because I know more about nothing...

NFL Free Agency is... Here!

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

Taking a quick break from Spring Training, the NFL has ramped up the spotlight again this week for the annual free agency illusion it perpetrates on the fan base. With such a devoted group of football followers willing to guzzle the Kool-Aid and pretend this free agency process matters, the NFL really has no choice but to take advantage of yet another opportunity.

Each year I try to get excited about the NFL free agency system, but it just ends in disappointment once the results are played out over a season or two. The sport and the systems that teams use are just not designed to maximize the productivity clubs receive back from signing free agents. The players cash in and get their just due, but that pay generally reflects compensation for past performance.

Free agency in football is just a publicity grab and general managers that do their homework and crunch the numbers know this. However, some are still just blinded by the "easy" way to improve and continue to chase players and, oftentimes, problems. To a degree, it seems as if it should be a smart move. Throwing someone else's money at a player with a past history of good performance in another team's system without losing draft picks appears to be a great solution to an opening or deficient area of a team.

But reality usually reveals itself, and rather quickly in the NFL.

Recent reflections make you cringe. Albert Haynesworth signed with the Redskins in February of 2009 eclipsing all salaries to date for defensive players. Based on that, shouldn't the guy at least still be in the NFL right now? In fact, three times in the last ten years, Washington "won" the off season free agency period. However, in that decade, the Skins only finished over .500 twice. Now having secured some talent through the draft, they were on the winning side again and in the playoffs this past season, hmmmmm.

The Eagles jumped in to purchase their version of a Dream Team with Nnamdi Asomugha in July 2011. Two seasons later, the coach and GM are gone and the organization is trying to unload the remainder of his deal and the player. The Texans let Mario Williams bolt for Buffalo for huge dollars ($50 million guaranteed) and promptly went 12-4 and into the playoffs. The Bills and Williams? They limped home at 6-10 with Williams having 37 tackles on the year!

The Buccaneers jumped in with their first big signings in years. Carl Nicks, Vincent Jackson and Eric Wright all signed on to take the Pewter Pirates to the Promised Land. By spending over $132 million on these three players, the Bucs might feel cheated with missing the playoffs, 9 losses and a last place finish in their division.

So will teams learn and avoid these same pitfalls this year? Highly doubtful. The NFL even went as far as to throw in a teaser for these teams with salary cap money to spend by offering them a legal tampering window this year. now they have three days to drool and trip over themselves to think of ways to waste money and roster spots while waiting for the Tuesday 4 pm hour when they can have their mistakes come to fruition!

The NFL is designed to have coaches develop and implement systems where the talent of the players is maximized. Organizations are very adept at introducing schemes that allow the physical gifts of their players to excel. Football just does not allow that transition to other teams and different systems to work out positively. Signing Peyton Manning and having him run the Tebow offense would have been ludicrous. Having him bring his own system he was always in allowed that signing to be a winner. After that however, most teams try to plug a square hole with a round free agent.

Wide receivers generally command big bucks on the market but sometimes they seem to forget that leaving the quarterback that helped them succeed may be a boo boo. Will Wes Welker do better without Brady, Mike Wallace improve without Roethlisberger, and Greg Jennings match his performance without Rodgers? The contracts will be good but remember, the teams with money to sign these guys don't come equipped with quite the same personnel at the QB spot.

So looking around at Cleveland, Miami, Kansas City and Tampa Bay with huge cap space to spend, it makes one wonder what direction they will take. Second tier bargains that fill a specific need and even retaining your own free agents that already know the coaches and system is a wiser and more productive move.

This next week of signings will have very little to do with determining the outcome of results for 2013 or pushing any team from pretender to contender. The draft is where things happen, the QB is essential and developing solid people up front is what wins titles. So get excited if you want when your team shells out for Mr. Big Free Agent but don't go betting the house on results. NFL history has definitely displayed a tendency for these signings to fail more often than not.

So who will the Browns pick up with their $43 million to spend? I can't wait to see, Super Bowl Baby!!!

All this because I know more about nothing...