Sports Poets Society

The Colonels finally won it all in 1975 with Hubie Brown as a coach, Stan Albeck as his assistant and five new players--Ted McClain, Gene Littles, Bird Averitt, Wil Jones and Marv Roberts.  Under Brown, the Colonels led the league in defense, allowing 101.6 points per game. They finished 58-26, winning 22 of their last 25 and a one-game playoff against New York for the regular-season Eastern Division title.  In the playoffs, the Colonels were a machine, beating Memphis, St. Louis and Indiana, all 4-1. They lost only three home games all year, going 49-3 at home counting the playoffs. They gave notice early that this would be a special season when they beat New York after trailing by seven points with only 30 seconds left on November 13. HUBIE BROWN: When I got the job, I knew the pressure was tremendous to win it all. The town, management and the players were accustomed to winning and expected to win. What we needed to do was find that right chemistry, that spark which takes a...

HUBIE BROWN: I go around the country giving coaching clinics and people ask me about the best team I ever coached. I say, "It's not even close--the 1975 Kentucky Colonels." Then half the people in the audience look at me as if I were talking about something from outer space. We had a front line of Dan Issel, Artis Gilmore and Wil Jones. You'd have to admit that Issel and Gilmore mwent on to have monster careers in the NBA. Those guys played forever. In the backcourt we had Louie Dampier and Teddy "Hound Dog" McClain. Poeople say, "Who?" I say that Louie Dampier was as good a clutch player as I have ever seen. He was phenomenal when it came to taking and making the shot when the game was on the line. In the last couple years of the ABA, think about some of the other forwards--Julius Erving, George McGinnis, David Thompson, Bobby Jones, George Gervin, Larry Kenon, Caldwell Jones, Maurice Lucas, Marvin Barnes, Danny Roundfield, Billy Knight, Moses Mal...

Paul Murray ci porta in giro per la sua Irlanda condividendo tutte le passioni. Quindi, quando un suo personaggio dice che la narrativa «incenerisce il reale», il primo a non crederci è proprio l’autore 9 Feb 2025 - La Lettura Di SANDRO VERONESI © RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA Il romanzo è vivo e punge come l’ape «Al giorno d’oggi, nel mondo sviluppato, il pi ù grande pericolo per l’assetto politico è l’attenzione che le persone prestano all’ambiente in cui vivono. Ecco perché anche gli schiavi hanno accesso all’intrattenimento. Si potrebbe anzi dire che siamo pagati con l’intrattenimento . Il romanzo è stato il primo esempio di quel che sarebbe poi diventata la vasta e tentacolare industria dell’intrattenimento nel Ventunesimo secolo, una macchina pressoché infinita progettata per distrarci e indebolirci. Ci viene presentato un mondo virtuale, alimentato in tutto e per tutto dall’incenerimento del reale». Siamo a pagina 564 de  Il giorno dell’ape , di Paul Murray, cioè a quasi nove deci...

(Frank Gunn/the Canadian Press via AP, File) 8 Feb 2025 - Texarkana Gazette BRIAN MAHONEY AP BASKETBALL WRITER Hubie Brown had just taken his first college coaching job in 1968 and didn’t expect that he’d also be asked to teach. Hubie Brown makes his debut as ESPN commentator on Oct. 19, 2018, before NBA basketball game action as the Toronto Raptors face the Boston Celtics in Toronto. So, for his one year as an assistant at William & Mary, he taught two elective basketball courses. Brown, now 91 and set to work his final game as a broadcaster, never stopped teaching the sport in more than 55 years since. Only his audience grew from college students to players, coaches and TV viewers all over the world. “It’s the most remarkable thing and it’s not hyperbole: He has probably taught more people about the game of basketball than anybody that’s ever lived,” broadcasting partner Mike Breen said. Brown and Breen will work ABC’S telecast of Sunday’s game between Philadelphia and Milwaukee,...

ALLAN Y. SCOTT/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL FILE  The players were the same, but they had switched uniforms when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, right, of the Los Angeles Lakers and Elmore Smith of the Milwaukee Bucks did battle early in the 1975-76 season. 9 Feb 2025 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel JR Radcliffe More than one media outlet invoked a famous 1975 trade involving the Milwaukee Bucks over the weekend as a point of comparison to a shocking blockbuster that sent Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis (with other players involved on both sides). It’s been almost 50 years since the Bucks reluctantly parted with superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a trade that made headlines across the sports landscape. Though a couple of the players Milwaukee received in return now find themselves represented in the rafters of Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee wouldn’t see another NBA Finals for 47 years. Abdul-Jabbar, meanwhile, went on to win consecutive MVP...