Basketball
has been part of my life for a long time. Sometimes my attention has
waned, especially when I didn't have a dog in the fight, but we
certainly have a dog in the fight now with the Golden State Warriors,
né
Philadelphia Warriors. The Warriors are a revelation, led by a
basketball genius, Steph Curry, perhaps the best shooter there has
ever been. No, not perhaps, the best ever, plus the rest of what he
does. He is also the the best ball-handler I've ever seen. He is a
genius.
The
team, too, is a work of genius. Their passing is A+, they play a
switching defense I love, and as we know, they shoot. Curry's three
point shooting is so good that the paradigm of how to win games has
changed. The Warriors can rely on the three-pointer. It's not all
they do, so much of what they do is superb, but relying on the three pointer and not just including it, is different.
I've
always loved to think, who are the best five of all time, who are the
best ten? And now, the emergence of Dell Curry's son has prompted
once again the debate, who was the best point guard of all time? As
soon as Bruce Jenkins wrote his column on that subject on Saturday,
January 16, my friend Bob emailed me. Bob has never forgotten the
1960 paper I wrote as a Harvard freshman for General Education AhF
(whatever that stood for), or Freshman Writing. Title: “Mr.
Basketball.” Subtitle: “Or Why I Hate Bob Cousy.”
So,
today, we have email. It took me a while to find Bruce Jenkins'
email address – the Chron's website is one of the worst in the
world – but I finally found it,
incongruously at the end of each article in the paper edition,
although as I say you can't find it on the blasted website. So I
took the occasion, encouraged by Bob, to email Bruce Jenkins, and to
attach the original paper.
Here's
the letter I wrote:
Hi,
Bruce:
I
caught your point guard article of last Saturday. I'm a long time
basketball fan, and since I grew up in Philadelphia -- I remember
being at my back alley hoop in the late 1940's (!) shooting and
yelling "Joe Fulks!" -- I had to notice the inclusion of
Bob Cousy in the list. As a Philadelphian, I grew hating Bob
Cousy and the Boston acolytes, our Warriors' rivals. As a
matter of fact, when I was a freshman at Harvard and was assigned a
free topic paper for English composition, I wrote the now immortal
paper, "Mr. Basketball, or, Why I Hate Bob Cousy."
For your possible interest and amusement, I'm attaching it.
Time flies.
When
I was in high school I would finish my homework in time to go down to
our pine-paneled den and watch Channel 12 from Wilmington, Delaware,
which televised the Big 5. There I watched Guy Rogers as
a freshman on the terrific Temple team and fell in love with him.
If only he could have elevated his flat jump shot, he would have been
more than honorable mention on your list! His passing and speed
were so, so good; the plays he ran look like the current Warriors.
I made a case then that he was better than Cousy, but the Celtics
team was better than the Warriors, and that was the difference.
And
just for the record, I think Oscar was the best guard ever, maybe the
best player ever. It's harder to rate position players in
basketball than in baseball, say, because a first baseman is a first
baseman, but positions in basketball are more fluid and team-based,
so it's harder to compare. The point-forward, for instance.
Basketball is to sports as jazz is to music.
Finally,
quiz question -- when the NBA started, they had to get their teams
from somewhere. Do you know where the first Warriors team came
from, what their name was? If you reply to this email, you get
to know the fascinating answer.
Very
appreciative of your wonderful sports writing through the years, and
I would definitely vote for a lifetime achievement award.
Best
regards,
Budd
Shenkin
Bruce
Jenkins responded:
Budd:
In studying the Warriors historically, I did know that they were
originally the Philadelphia Warriors, beginning in 1946-47 as a
member of the Basketball Association of America (BAA). But don't let
that stop you from writing! I greatly enjoy recollections from past
years. I vividly remember scoring an excellent seat for a
Lakers-Royals game at the L.A. Sports Arena in the 1960s. Between
them, Oscar, Jerry Lucas, West and Baylor must have score 150 points.
I must confess, though, that I wasn't a Laker fan, rather devoted to
the Russell-Cousy Celtics. Just because I was so moved by their sense
of teamwork. Best -- Bruce J.
I'm
now preparing to post the 1960 Mr. Basketball paper. Watch for it,
and with any encouragement whatsoever, further basketball commentary.
Budd
Shenkin
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