Sports Poets Society

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N6_8HOAhB4 Oct. 19, 1977 The New York Times  MILWAUKEE, Oct. 18 (AP)— Kareem Abdul‐Jabbar , the Los Angeles Lakers’ star center, was ejected from the Lakers’ season opening National Basketball Association game tonight after he hit the Milwaukee Bucks’ rookie, Kent Benson , with a right cross to the face and sent him to the floor. The Bucks, with a fourth‐quarter surge, went on to win, 117-112. Benson, top pick of the N.B.A. college draft last June. and Abdul‐Jabbar were jockeying for position under the Laker basket less than three minutes into the game. . Abdul‐Jabbar, a 7‐foot‐2‐inch, 235‐pounder, doubled over after apparently being caught in the abdomen by an elbow, turned almost immediately and hit the 6‐11, 245‐pound Benson flush in the face. Benson collapsed to the floor as the crowd rose to its feet in anger and astonishment. Two Bucks physicians helped Benson to his feet, but he sagged back to the court and sat for several minutes while being...

https://www.nba.com/pistons/features/truebluepistons_111013.html (Editor’s note: Jack McCloskey made every move in building the Bad Boys from his hiring in December 1979 to their winning consecutive NBA titles in 1989 and ’90. Pistons.com looks at the 10 biggest moves he engineered, continuing with a major trade made in the summer of 1986. Up next: A jolt of athleticism.) Pistons.com August 7, 20122:47 PM EDT For practically every championship celebration, there is a near-miss story of a player who did much of the heavy lifting but wasn’t around to feel the sweet sting of champagne in the eye. Kelly Tripucka was twice removed from Detroit by the time the Pistons he helped make respectable through the mid-’80s had been dubbed Bad Boys and won their two NBA titles in 1989 and ’90. It was almost cruel that Tripucka, the 12th pick in the same 1981 draft that saw Jack McCloskey pluck Isiah Thomas with the No. 2 pick, spent those two Detroit championship seasons toiling for the expansion Cha...