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Archive for May, 2008
Please tell me you know who you are looking at in this picture? Lowly me and former Georgia basketball star Lavon Mercer. an imposing figure for SEC opponents in the late 70’s and for the European league competition he played against while playing for Maccabi tel Aviv in Israel back in 1987. Now, he’s the head basketball coach at Spellman college in Atlanta and doing so much more in bringing kids together from around the world through his tutelage in the game of basketball.
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Classic picture with what I consider the worlds’ greatest athlete and here’s why: This picture was taken in Ceour de lane, Idaho with Scott Rigsby. He’s the only double amputee below the knee to finish an ironman. Think about that! he has no legs below his knee and swam 2.1 miles, biked 112 miles and then ran 26 miles! Are you kidding, I would struggle to swim 200 yards, bike 112 feet and run 2 miles. let alone accomplish what Scott has at age 39. it gets even better than that.
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What can I say, we all watch Ernie Johnson Jr alongside Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley on TNT during the NBA season and postseason. His ability to weave in and out of highlights and toss to commercial breaks is uncanny. As a fellow broadcaster I can tell you that is no easy task. You have to marvel at his ability to keep the flow throughout the entire show—INSIDE THE NBA.
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I took myself out to the ballpark! and after my experience at Wrigley field to see the Cubbies play I have a renewed sense of America’s pastime. I took the L to the game and scalped a ticket outside, they know how to sell tickets in Chicago; hooked myself up with a lower level seat and had this shot taken between innings…The game was classic–Cubs lead going into the bottom of the 8th and..
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It was a pretty cool gig to host a show like Countdown to Signing Day for 3 years. We always brought in the top 10 or 15 kids each season and talked about where they were headed to college and what special talent made them stand out–Viewers would call in and write to us on-line about prospects we covered and always had a strong opinion. The show was almost an obsession in the Southeast and I sometimes sit back and scratch my head as to why it is no longer–oh well! …Michael Conley Jr. was one of our guests on the show the last year in production, and he was fantastic! humble and graceful. And as I did my pre-show research along with recruiting analyst Dave Telep (pictured next to me on my right) we found out that not only was he
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The Countdown to Signing Day Hoops crew:Greg Oden, Bobby Cremins, Dave Telep and yours truly right after our interview with the big fella. Oden is A soft spoken wonder kid who truly didn’t believe he was ready for the NBA. if you would have asked him duting his Junior year in high school if he was considering turning pro after high school he would have looked you in the eyes and said, ” I’m niot sure I am ready to evenb consider that level–a lot of players out there are better than me and i must conticue to work on my basketball skills..almost to the point that you thought he was embarrassed by the question. That is until you saw him throw down one of those thunderous dunks.
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So you’re 5 feet 7 inches tall and you are named an All American basketball player in high school. not to shabby. Yes, that’s 5 foot 7 inch Drew Lavender with me who is now looking to make it onto the next level. he’s already achieved a high mark for his 15.5 points per game at Xavier and being named to the Atlantic 10’s second team. You think you cluld stop him, just try and get on the ocurt with him. i was recently at a pre NBA draft workout watching him and 10 or so other NBA hopefuls Read the rest of this entry »
Ahh yes, The First Lady of Peachtree” Gayle Barron and the city of Atlanta are synonymous. Gayle won the first Peachtree road race back in 1970 (looks like yesterday from this picture) even though this pic was taken at the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame ceremony in 2007.) She also won the Boston marathon in 1980 and was so excited she called back to her hometown and told a local broadcaster and it was announced on the air that night.
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An amazing athlete, Gayle Barron has run 25 marathons in her day and was very gracious in accepting her induction into the ASHOF last summer. The Atlanta Sports Hall of fame would not be the same without you Gayle.
Forgive me but I couldn’t resist—I had to take this picture–it was the first NBA playoff game featuring a New Orleans team ever and I had to be there and I had to capture it with a snapshot. Yes, they won and Chris Paul could be and should be the Mayor of the city and the King of Bacchus…If only the “Pistol” Pete Maravich could see the NBA team in Nawlins now… Read the rest of this entry »
The post-season is over, yes, the Hawks made it to the post season for the first time in 9 years and actually pushed the Celtics to the brink to a game 7 in the opening round.
All I know is this, They better re-sign Josh Smith. This picture you see was taken before a regular season game when I was catching up with Josh reminiscing about the time we had him on Countdown to Signing day–The college basketball recruiting show a few years ago…at that time in 2004 Josh wasn’t sure if he would even enter the NBA draft or head to college –as there was no NBA rule preventing graduationg seniors from taking the leap directly into the NBA..Good for Josh and good for the Hawks that Josh did go pro. Read the rest of this entry »