Sports Poets Society

https://www.si.com/more-sports/2009/10/22/isiah-magic IAN THOMSEN OCT 22, 2009 "I'm really hurt, and I really feel taken advantage of for all these years,'' said Thomas, the Hall of Fame point guard and former NBA coach and executive, most recently with the Knicks. "I'm totally blindsided by this. Every time that I've seen Magic, he has been friendly with me. Whenever he came to a Knick game, he was standing in the tunnel [to the locker room] with me. He and [Knicks assistant coach] Herb [Williams] and I, we would go out to dinner in New York. I didn't know he felt this way.'' The criticisms are made by Johnson in When the Game Was Ours , which he c o-wrote with Larry Bird and author Jackie MacMullan. The book, to be released on Nov. 4, tells the inside story of the most important rivalry in basketball history. Much of their story involves Thomas, who as captain of the Detroit Pistons served as a primary threat to the championship ambitions ...

https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4585983 Associated Press - Oct 22, 2009, 03:01 PM ET MIAMI -- Hall of Fame players Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson  famously kissed each other's cheek moments before tip-off of Game 1 of the 1988 NBA Finals. Today, the relationship clearly isn't anywhere near as close. In Thomas' mind, a 17-year-old wound has been reopened in a new book that Johnson and Larry Bird wrote with author Jackie MacMullan. In the book, Johnson says, among other things, that he played a role in keeping Thomas off the 1992 U.S. Olympic team. "I'm just disappointed and hurt," Thomas told The Associated Press on Thursday night before a promotional event for his men's basketball team at FIU. "I never thought it was him who kept me off the Olympic team. That hurt." Thomas' disappointment with aspects of the book were first reported by SI.com. In the book, which chronicles the careers of Bird and Johnson, the former Los Angeles Lakers...

Gary Shaw has passed away  (Image: Photo by Rusty Cheyne/Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive) https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gary-shaw-dead-aston-villa-29941519 by Taboola Aston Villa icon Gary Shaw made 213 appearances for his boyhood club across a decade Aston Villa legend Gary Shaw has died at the age of 63. Shaw had been in a serious condition in hospital after suffering a head injury as the result of a fall. Widely regarded as one of the best Villa forwards in the club’s 150-year history, Shaw made 213 appearances and scored 79 goals in claret and blue. Kingshurst-born Shaw spent a decade at his boyhood club after starting his apprenticeship with Villa in 1977. In 1981, having contributed 18 goals to Villa's League Championship triumph, he was voted PFA Young Player of the Year. He also played a key role in the club's European conquest a year later. Shaw played in seven of the club's eight matches before the final with Bayern, where he...

17 Sep 2024 - The Guardian Ben Fisher Unai Emery has said Aston Villa plan to dedicate victory to Gary Shaw if they beat Young Boys in the Champions League after the 1982 European Cup winner died yesterday aged 63. Shaw fell seriously ill this month after being hospitalised with a head injury. Shaw was part of the Villa side that won the First Division in 1981 and then the European Cup and European Super Cup . He is regarded as one of Villa’s greatest forwards and was the only local player in the team that beat Bayern Munich in Rotterdam in 1982 in the European Cup final. Villa return tonight to European football’s most prestigious club competition 41 years after they last played on the stage in the 1982-83 European Cup quarter-finals against Juventus, when Shaw featured . Emery, asked if Villa would like to dedicate victory to Shaw if they win in Berne, replied: “Yes, yes, I think it’s sad and we can use it as another motivation. “My condolences to the family and all the supporters a...

As Aston Villa return to Europe’s elite competition, we catch up with some of the squad who won the 1982 final 17 Sep 2024 - The Guardian Ben Fisher ‘I speak now to some fans who were there and they say:  we didn’t know who the hell you were’ From page 38 Nigel Spink, goalkeeper: The first thing I must say is we are all devastated to learn of Gary Shaw’s death. Gary was such a big part of Villa and the club’s European Cup success. My role in the win over Bayern Munich in the 1982 final was a much more unexpected one. The whole scenario for me was surreal because back then there was only one substitute in the league, so a goalkeeper was never on the bench. I played for the reserves in the old Central League and my only other first-team game had come in 1979. Having five substitutes in the European Cup was a novelty. As subs, we thought we were highly unlikely to get on. Then I came on nine minutes in because Jimmy Rimmer was injured. I didn’t have a chance to get nervous. There were...

17 Sep 2024 - The Guardian Ben Fisher ‘He never mentioned what he achieved – he was so humble’    - Gabby Agbonlahor, Former Aston Villa forward Gary Shaw, one of Aston Villa’s 1982 European Cup heroes, has been described as “a hero on and off the pitch” after his death at the age of 63. The former striker fell seriously ill this month after being admitted to hospital with a head injury. He was part of a revered Villa side that enjoyed unparalleled success in the early 80s, winning the First Division in 1981 under Ron Saunders and in 1982 the European Cup and the European Super Cup. His performances earned him the accolade of Professional Footballers’ Association Young Player of the Year in 1981 and European Young Player of the Year in 1982. He was included in England’s 40-man preliminary squad for the 1982 World Cup in Spain but missed out on a final spot in the 22-man squad. He is regarded as one of Villa’s greatest forwards having scored 79 goals in 213 appearances for the ...

‘A wonderful left foot and a deadly partnership with Peter Withe’ ‘Young striker’s prodigious talent blossomed under Ron Saunders’ NEIL MOXLEY PAYS A PERSONAL TRIBUTE 17 Sep 2024 - Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland) TO say that Gary Shaw had it all would not be an understatement. In fact, as a footballer, he almost had it all by the age of just 23. By that time, he’d won the European Cup, the First Division title, and been crowned European Young Footballer of the Year. With blond locks, cut into a fashionable 1980s ‘wedge’ (left) and a face to match, he was the darling of the Holte End where he once stood as a teenager looking up to his own idols at Villa Park. Darling of the pubs and clubs in and around Birmingham, too. Talk about living the dream. Shaw did. For a time, anyway. A wonderful left foot and a deadly partnership with Peter Withe formed the spearhead of Villa’s all-too-brief flirtation with success. Under the watchful eye of Ron Saunders, a tough-as-teak Scouser who liked pla...

Mit den ersten Spielen startet am Dienstag die neue Champions League. Konrad Laimer ist der erste Österreicher, der um Punkte kämpft. Alexander Bischof Kevin Wimmer Laimer eröffnet Königsklasse gegen Bullen-Gegner Selten begann die Königsklasse des Fußballs mit derart großer österreichischer Beteiligung wie in dieser Saison. Zwar fehlt Titelverteidiger Real Madrid zum Start am Dienstag gegen Stuttgart der verletzte ÖFB-Teamkapitän David Alaba, aber mit dem Aberseer Konrad Laimer steht ein Österreicher im ersten Spiel der Ligaphase mit 36 Clubs gleich im Blickpunkt. Gegen einen der Gegner von Red Bull Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb, stehen die Bayern vor einem Pflichtsieg. Und Laimer, der zuletzt beim Kantersieg in Kiel eingewechselt wurde, darf hoffen, endlich in dieser Saison in der Startformation der Münchner zu stehen. Erstmals in der Geschichte spielen mit Meister Sturm Graz und Red Bull Salzburg nicht nur zwei Teams aus der Bundesliga in der Champions League. Sondern mit Sturm-Trainer Ch...

Der frühere ÖFB-Teamkapitän Marc Janko analysiert als TV-Experte die Spiele von Red Bull Salzburg und Sturm in der Champions League. 17 Sep 2024 - Salzburger Nachrichten MICHAEL UNVERDORBEN 125 Pflichtspiele hat Marc Janko für Red Bull Salzburg bestritten und dabei nicht weniger als 83 Treffer erzielt. Gegen Ende seiner Stürmerkarriere führte es ihn für ein halbes Jahr zu Sparta Prag, dem Auftaktgegner der Bullen am Mittwoch (18.45 Uhr) in der neuen Champions-League-Ligaphase. Welche Erinnerungen Janko an den tschechischen Meister hat, was er vom neuen Format der Fußball-Königsklasse hält und warum er von Pepijn Lijnders und seinen „crazy boys from Salzburg“ziemlich beeindruckt ist, erzählte der 41-jährige Ex-ÖFB-Kapitän, der heute als SkyExperte immer noch äußerst treffsicher unterwegs ist, den „Salzburger Nachrichten“im Interview. SN: Die Champions League startet in eine neue Ära. Wie gefällt Ihnen das neue Format? Marc Janko: In Österreich dominiert ja die Grundidee, dass alles, wa...