Our own Laing Kennedy was ranked #22. MAC Commish, Rick Chryst, was 16. No Akron folks were noted. Too bad Coach C wasn't listed, but that's due to Kent's lack of promotion and draw for the b-ball team.
Here's the link:
http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindea...thispage=8
The Flash Wrote:Our own Laing Kennedy was ranked #22. MAC Commish, Rick Chryst, was 16. No Akron folks were noted. Too bad Coach C wasn't listed, but that's due to Kent's lack of promotion and draw for the b-ball team.
Here's the link:
http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindea...thispage=8
#26 OLDFAN1...
;-)
I am surprised that the Plain Dealer did not make Jim Brown the most powerful person in Northeast Ohio sports because so many Clevelanders still think of him as a god. After reading the article, I was amused to see that the PD continues to demonstrate its incredibly low football IQ by stating that Brown is
NGF, I think Cleveland sports sucks, and I hate the PD and all the media and the mindset of most northeastern Ohians. I think Jim Brown is a clown. BUT, I saw Jim Brown play and I believe that he is still the best running back I've seen. And Wilt Chamberlain, who I also saw play, is ONE of the best basketball players ever. Just thought I'd throw that in since you brought it up, but I don't want to get into a discussion about it, as it is way too far removed from Kent State sports.
Why wasn't oldfan on that list?
He should have been. Ellen Alexander probably used his clout to keep him off. Oldfan1 is a mandarin of sports discussion. He's a mad prophet, and a man both spaceless and timeless. And the PD shouldn't have kept him off that list now, or in anyother spaceless time!
Kent 76 Wrote:He should have been. Ellen Alexander probably used his clout to keep him off. Oldfan1 is a mandarin of sports discussion. He's a mad prophet, and a man both spaceless and timeless. And the PD shouldn't have kept him off that list now, or in anyother spaceless time!
kent76 and alphaflash..i thank you for your nomination but i would not want to belong to any group that would have me as a member....... lmfao lmfao
A Groucho Marx fan from Oldfan1!! Gotta love it!
Nashville golden flash,
You can't compare different eras of athletes very easily. Is Jesse Owens less of an athlete today then he was thought to be in 1936 just because his 100 meter dash record has been broken umpteen times? Is the Oklahoma national championship football teams of the late 50's any worse because they played with a center who weighed 150#'s. You can't compensate for the different training methods and for the different emphasis on sports today. Having said that Jim Brown was the best running back of his era period (I admit he was and still is a bit strange, the 1950's and 60's had their versions of TO's and Braylons too). If he would have been born 50 years later and took advantage of current training techniques he would be right up there today. Same with Wilt Chamberlain. I always ask the Michael Jordon groupies how many rules did the NBA change because of Jordan. Wilt is responsible for offensive goaltending, defense goaltending, the 3 second rule and the wider lane. I might have missed a few. Is Shaq better? We will never know. Is a guard more important than a center? Today yes. In the 1960's no. That's what makes it so hard to compare.
They outlawed dunking because of Wilt only to bring it back later on. They also used to inbound the ball by tossing it over the top of the backboard and Wilt would catch it and put it in the hoop, this was also outlawed.
maybe they didnt change any rules in the rulebook for Jordan, but he did change the game and leave his mark. the travel and carry are still there but he stretched the limits of these rules and others.
NGF the Browns suck, I get it, but how does that take anything away from Jim Brown? and making the point that the Browns haven't been to the superbowl bcz of low football IQ in Cleveland is rather dumb. Who exactly are you referring to? The fans? they dont play or make any of the personnel decisions. Romeo? maybe he wont end up being a great HC but I doubt a guy with 30 years of experience in the league would have a low football IQ. Phil Savage? how does anyone become a GM or obtain any position in a front office with a low football IQ? Anyways like another poster stated, its very difficult to compare players in different eras. Also its not just Cleveland fans that think he was the best back ever.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/question/week8.html
flashgrad03 Wrote:maybe they didnt change any rules in the rulebook for Jordan, but he did change the game and leave his mark. the travel and carry are still there but he stretched the limits of these rules and others.
You mean that 3 step shuffle they considered his pivot move? What the NBA has developed into has become garbage. When I was young coaches would always say not to watch the pros as they are horrible in regards to basic fundamentals, now I know why.
For the life of me, I can not figure out why anyone would pay to watch a NBA game. It is the biggest fraud in all of sports (including WWF). As proof, I heard an color analyst after a Phoenix Suns game say, "I am not sure that they(the Suns) can perform like this when the playoffs start and defenses tighten up". Nice way of saying that what you pay to see during the season is not basketball at all. The NBA spin machine is alive and well. If the NBA is so good, you would think that they would blow out all international teams. Will not happen. Save your money, go to a good MAC game.
Polish Hammer, one correction: They did not outlaw the dunk because of Wilt Chamberlain. To the best of my knowledge, dunking has always been allowed in the NBA. Of course, dunking then was not the so-called "slam dunk" later popularized, and many, if not most, of those who COULD dunk the ball opted not to, perhaps because of the possibility of injury, what with the collapsable rims being of much later vintage. The dunk WAS prohibited in the NCAA, and in high school (at least in Ohio) from the 1967-68 season through the 1975-76 season primarily, but not exclusively, due to Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabar) of UCLA. I might be the only one, but I wish the "dunk" was never brought back, a feeling renewed when Omni Smith blew that dunk late in the Ball State game. Earlier I said that I was not going to engage in further discussion about comparing players from different eras, partly because it doesn't really apply to Kent State sports. But, since it's a slow Kent news day, and others already have, I just want to say, IN MY OPINION, Bill Russell was the best ever. He won the NCAA championship his last two years at the University of San Francisco, and with the Boston Celtics, he won 11 NBA titles in his 13 years. That's 13 titles in 15 years (others would throw in the 1956 Olympic gold medal, but the USA winning that in those days was a given). The Celtics won no titles before him, and only 5 after he retired in 1969. He was a superb athlete with an unbeliveable wingspan and vertical leap, and he revolutionized the center position in many ways, too lengthy to describe in this forum.
I stand corrected, thanks! I guess banning dunking for Kareem helped his career as he developed that wicked sky hook.
Polish Hammer, good point! I never really thought about it, but banning the "dunk" probably did help Abdul-Jabbar's career, as well as Bill Walton's. A good hook shot is almost a lost art.
For the record I also believe Bill Russell was a better center than Chamberlain. He had all the skills. Wilt was only great on the offensive end (especially early in his career). His defense was good but not great.
I didn't see Wilt or Russell in their primes so I can't really comment on who "had all the skills", but Russell had a far better cast around him then Wilt had. Wilt led the league in all of the major categories at least once in his career, so I'd consider him to have better all around skills. Ironically I found this interesting stat as a testement to Russell's better skills:
"Chamberlain set a record for rebounds in a regular season game with 55, against the Boston Celtics on November 24, 1960. The opposing center in that game was Bill Russell".
Other amazing feats:
-Chamberlain's 1961-62 scoring average of 50.4 ppg, accomplished with the Philadelphia Warriors, is by far the NBA record. Chamberlain also holds the next two spots on the NBA's season scoring average list with 44.8 and 38.4 points per game.
-Chamberlain scored 60 or more points in a game an astonishing 32 times, more than all other NBA players combined (26 times). The closest player on that list is Michael Jordan, who accomplished the feat 5 times.
-Chamberlain scored 50 or more points in a regular season game 118 times (45 times in the 1961-62 season alone). The next closest player on that list is Michael Jordan, who accomplished the feat 31 times.
-Chamberlain holds the record for consecutive games scoring 40 or more points with 14 in 1961. This set of games includes a stretch of 7 straight games in which he scored over 50.
-Chamberlain still holds the record for points in an NBA All-Star game with 42.
-Chamberlain grabbed 23,924 rebounds in his career, the most of any player in NBA history. His career average of 22.9 rebounds per game is also the highest of any NBA player.
-Chamberlain is the only player to grab more than 2,000 rebounds in a single season: 2,149 rebounds in the 1960-61 season (27.2 rpg) and 2,052 in 1961-62. Chamberlain's amazing 1961-62 season stat line: 4,029 points (50.4 ppg) and 2,052 rebounds (25.6 rpg).
-Chamberlain led the NBA in rebounding 11 times, in field goal percentage 9 times, and in scoring 7 times. Less eye-catching stats also serve to demonstrate Chamberlain's dominance: after critics called him a one-dimensional (or even selfish) player, Chamberlain defiantly promised to lead the league in total assists the next season, which he did in 1968 at a rate of 8.6 per game.
-Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to record a double-triple-double (meaning 20 points, 20 rebounds, 20 assists in one game). In 1968 against the Detroit Pistons, he logged 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists, testimony to Chamberlain's versatility.
-Chamberlain is also the only player in NBA history to record a quadruple double-double (meaning 40 points, and 40 rebounds or 40 assists in a single game). On January 21, 1960, Chamberlain scored 58 points and grabbed 42 rebounds against the Detroit Pistons. On December 8, 1961 he surpassed this feat, when he scored a then-record 78 points and collected 43 rebounds against the Los Angeles Lakers.
-Chamberlain as well holds the record for the longest continuous streak of triple-doubles with nine straight in 1968.
-Chamberlain was also known for incredible stamina and durability. In 1962, he averaged 48.5 minutes per game, meaning that he played practically every minute of regulation as well as overtimes. His 3,882 minutes played out of the team's possible 3890 left an average of six seconds rest per game. Chamberlain played over 46 minutes per game for seven seasons, and his career 45.8 average is unmatched.
-Chamberlain also holds the top five marks in minutes played in a season and the top seven marks in minutes-per-game in a season, including 3882 out of a possible 3890 minutes in his superlative 1961-62 season, an average of more than 48 minutes per game.
-Despite the fact that Chamberlain was regularly double- and triple-teamed on offense and was relied upon so heavily on defense, he never once fouled out of a game in his 14 years in the NBA. In at least one game, he accumulated five fouls during the fourth quarter, and the game went into overtime, but still he did not foul out. (Six fouls was the personal limit.)
IMO, Russell has the more rings due to the better supporting cast but Wilt was the superior player.
Good points, Polish Hammer. Statistically, Chamberlain was better than "Russ". Russell probably had better talent around him, too. At USF he had KC Jones. Not sure how good Wilt's teammates were at Kansas when they lost in OT to North Carolina in 1957, I think it was. At times, Chamberlain DID have a great supporting cast, such as at LA and especially in 1967 with the 76'ers. That Sixers team is one of the greatest ever and won the NBA title. Would Chamberlain have won as many titles were he with the Celtics instead of Russell? Who knows? It all depends on whether Wilt would have been able to play consumate team basketball, as Russell did. He certainly had the physical skills. He was certainly bright enough, as both were very intelligent. Qustions always surrounded Wilt has to being coachable. Maybe Red Auerbach would have brought out the best in him. We'll never know. Keep in mind, too, that while I conceded Russell played with better talent, much of the time key players on the Celtics were NBA cast-offs, such as Don Nelson, who succeeded because they were willing to play particular roles within the Celtic's system. No doubt both Russ and Wilt were awesome, and the mere fact that in 2007 we still duscuss them, and compare them, is testament to that fact!
Good point Kent 76. The fact we even bring up that old discussion says something (I hope it's not just that we are older than most). I do believe winning all the championships makes Russell better. I can accept Chamberlain would have won a skills competition but then again that is what a lot of us say is wrong with the NBA. More interested in skills competition and less interested in team play. I also don't think the Celtics were necessarily more talented then Wilt's teams. They probably were a lot better coached however.