Still crazy after all these years

Kobe and Gigi practicing many years ago Photo property of Washington Post … and she may have helped keep their marriage intact He was taking the time to be a teacher, not a superstar, and he was finding joy in the version of the game played by girls and women. Bryant might not have wanted to be an NBA coach, but he was happy to patiently bring the hardwood lessons he had learned to Gigi’s side. Cindy Boren, "Kobe Bryant had left basketball behind. His daughter  Gigi brought him back,” Washington Post, Jan. 27, 2020 Children can help bring out things in parents that some wish had remained buried. That was the case with Kobe Bryant, the famous Los Angeles Lakers player who had retired from the NBA game after 20 years and had hoped to leave the game behind him. Enter daughter Gigi, the child who perished in the helicopter crash on Sunday that killed her, her father, and seven others as they were flying to an AAU basketball tournament. In 2018, Kobe spoke about his seco...

Kobe and kids, above and Wilt Chamberlain  Photos courtesy of Pinterest and Philadelphia Inquirer … very different players from very different eras A few years ago, a former high school basketball coach in the Philadelphia area was asked who the greatest player in history was. Cecil Mosenson, then 87-years-old, never hesitated: Wilt Chamberlain. Mosenson, however, was biased, but he was able to make a great argument in favor of the former Overbrook High School athlete. As a 22-year-old, he became the high school coach of Chamberlain in the 7-foot, 1-inch center’s senior year. The ex-coach made that argument in a book entitled “It All Began With Wilt,” and he made it in a documentary film “The Greatest Player Ever,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. However, younger basketball fans may disagree, especially those from Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, a Philadelphia suburb. Kobe Bryant’s father, Joe, had been playing professionally in Italy, but the family moved ...

Ravens Coach John Harbaugh Photo courtesy of AP Coaches always look back at certain losses on the football field and ask, “How could that have happened?” John Harbaugh, the presumptive NFL/AFC Coach of the Year for the 2019 season, will be going over his loss to the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Division playoff game for decades after he retires. His team was the number 1 seed for the AFC and odds-on favorite to win the Super Bowl. Instead, they fell to the Titans in a monumental collapse, despite having the best record in the league, the best QB in the league this year, the best offense in the league … which really makes losses painful for the coaches and players. In fact, Harbaugh will think about this loss 20 years from now when he considers the worst losses of his coaching career. Such is the life for even very successful coaches. Bill Cowher, who was just elected to the NFL Hall of Fame, can commiserate with Harbaugh. He has one loss, this one in an AFC title game that cost ...

The best part of this is that the Alabama Crimson Tide is not in it. Clemson opening on fire. The LSU blitz takes Clemson out of FG range. LSU starting deep in its own territory.

… “can’t get no respect” Back when the first College Football Playoff seedings were announced, the undefeated Clemson Tigers, the defending NCAA Div. I champions who have not lost a game in years, were not even included in the top four. And even tonight, when they worked their way up to the number two spot and defeated the top pick at that time — Ohio State, they are not being picked to defeat LSU in the national title game. The Clemson Tigers have been in three of the past four national title games, winning two thus far. They decimated the SEC power Alabama Crimson Tide last year, and yet everyone continues to point to their “weak schedule.” The Clemson Tigers have the best pass defense in the country to throw against Heisman Trophy Joe Burrow of LSU. They also have the best balanced offense in the country with sophomore QB Trevor Lawrence and running back Ettienne. In addition, think of this from SI: The No. 1 seed has not won the national title in the first five years of the...

Chuck Noll with four Lombardi trophies he won Photo courtesy of Pinterest … Tomlin inherited Super Bowl talent, but has built nothing From the time that I started rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1955, until Chuck Noll arrived in Pittsburgh as the Steelers head coach in 1969, the team compiled a 75-102 record, winning just 42 percent of their games. They had never captured any kind of championship from 1933 until that time. I remember as a boy about nine or ten years old, saying to my father, “Daddy, can’t I root for any other team than the Steelers?” He immediately replied, “No, they’re our team.” “But Daddy, they’re so bad.” When the Steelers captured their first Super Bowl in the 1974 season, I was 27 years old. Worse, my dad was 68, and he had been a loyal fan for 41 years. Who made that happen? Chuck Noll My father loved Chuck Noll, not just because he started a winning tradition with the Steelers. As a referee at the college and high school levels, he liked coach...

… jury still out on Jackson, but 2019 has been special As I wrote last week, the Steelers made a monumental error when they passed on drafting Dan Marino with their first-round pick in the 1983 NFL Draft [“You took the wrong guy”: Art Rooney, Sr., “The Chief” and founder of the Steelers, on his team passing on Dan Marino in 1983: Could have given them more Super Bowls] Marino went on to be selected by Don Shula and the Miami Dolphins, where he set the then record for passing yardage with 61,361 yards and 420 TDs. Marino played in only one Super Bowl in 1984 with the Dolphins, which turned out to be his best season, but he never earned a ring. Had he played for the Steelers, he could have led them to Super Bowls in 1989 [Bubby Brister et. al.], 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998. That may be optimistic, but they were that close on occasion. Imagine Marino instead of Neil O’Donnell against the Cowboys in 1996. However, the failure to draft current 2019 MVP candidate Lamar Jackson in 2018 m...