duncan228
09-11-2009, 12:00 AM
It's Admiral's day too (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Its_Admirals_day_too.html)
Mike Monroe
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The lobby of the Springfield Marriott was a Who's Who of hoops greatness early Thursday evening. Bona fide Basketball Hall of Famers renewed acquaintances before boarding a bus that would transport them to a Hall of Fame Family Reunion dinner.
Outside, autograph seekers pressed against a metal barricade, hoping for a glimpse of greatness. Most carried photos of Michael Jordan, the former Chicago Bulls star who headlines a list of four greats to be enshrined Friday in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Inside, Anilee Pollard looked for a chair in the corner of the lobby, away from the crowd. The widow of Jim Pollard, the Minneapolis Lakers great and 1978 Hall of Fame inductee whose skills were reputed to include the ability to touch the top of the backboard and dunk from the foul line, leafed through a biography of her late husband and frowned at those outside the revolving doors who were clamoring for a glimpse of Jordan.
“I'm not happy with the Hall,” she said as she glanced at photos of Pollard in the book. “This is too much about just one man. You'd think the other inductees were also-rans.”
“You know who I really came to see this year?” said her daughter, Jeanne. “David Robinson. Maybe I'll get a chance to meet him. That would be great.”
Robinson, the Spurs center who will become just the second Spurs player inducted in the Hall, never has been an also-ran.
Neither have the other non-Jordan inductees: Jazz point guard John Stockton, the NBA's all-time leader in assists; Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who has coached NBA teams to 1,137 victories; and C. Vivian Stringer, who has 825 victories in a storied college coaching career at Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers.
To many, however, this is the Michael Jordan Enshrinement. Period.
It is true that Jordan's presence in the Class of 2009 instantly makes it one of the greatest in Hall history. That it includes Stockton and Robinson, two of his teammates on the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream Team,” gives it the heft of singularity.
“That 1992 team was probably the greatest team of all time,” said Larry Brown, the Hall of Fame coach who will present Robinson at tonight's ceremonies. “I've been involved in basketball forever, but I start to think about the change in our sport internationally that occurred in 1992 and it's overwhelming. The game became a world sport, and all three of those guys are a part of that: the Dream Team.
“Those guys are the reason our game has become so popular internationally, and, as a result, so much better.”
Robinson, Stockton and Jordan all were double Olympic gold medalists. Robinson and Stockton won gold at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. Jordan also won in 1984.
Robinson won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics, the last that featured a U.S. team devoid of NBA players.
Jerry Colangelo, the former Phoenix Suns owner who now is chairman of the men's senior national team for USA Basketball, is incoming chairman of the Hall of Fame. He cited the intangible qualities that distinguish the incoming class.
“Class, character and competitiveness is what this group represents, all four of them,” Colangelo said.
No one should be criticized, Colangelo said, for thinking first of Jordan when the Class of 2009 is considered.
“This is not diminishing anyone's contribution,” he said, “but when you start off with Michael Jordan, who some have said is the best of all time, who is going to bicker when you talk about the elite of the elite?
“Having said that, David Robinson, in my mind, represents all that is good about basketball. The class, the dignity, the career he had, and how he represented his country, his team, his community and his coaches, was nothing but amazing.
“Numbers are numbers, in terms of longevity and scoring and rebounds, but he is one of the classiest guys to ever play the game.”
Jordan is responsible for one number that bothers some about the 2009 enshrinement proceedings: The $1,000 price tag for each ticket to attend Friday's ceremony at Springfield Symphony Hall is more than double the cost to attend last year's ceremonies, when Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Adrian Dantley and Pat Riley were inducted.
Colangelo regrets that some fans were priced out of Friday's enshrinement ceremony, but defended the decision to leverage Jordan's remarkable popularity.
“The Hall has had a difficult time making ends meet,” he said. “The location is a difficult issue. Springfield is where the game was born, it's true, but it's a difficult place to get in and out of. So there are a lot of handicaps.
“Is ($1,000 per ticket) unusual? Yeah. But I think you take advantage of opportunity when it's there.
“We knew we were going to have a big crowd, for sure, and this is to support the Hall of Fame. If some people are turned off by it, I feel badly about that, but as part of the decision-making process, I don't.”
Count Anilee Pollard among those a tad miffed.
“I think it's awful,” she said. “When Jim was inducted, I think tickets were $50.”
Mike Monroe
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The lobby of the Springfield Marriott was a Who's Who of hoops greatness early Thursday evening. Bona fide Basketball Hall of Famers renewed acquaintances before boarding a bus that would transport them to a Hall of Fame Family Reunion dinner.
Outside, autograph seekers pressed against a metal barricade, hoping for a glimpse of greatness. Most carried photos of Michael Jordan, the former Chicago Bulls star who headlines a list of four greats to be enshrined Friday in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Inside, Anilee Pollard looked for a chair in the corner of the lobby, away from the crowd. The widow of Jim Pollard, the Minneapolis Lakers great and 1978 Hall of Fame inductee whose skills were reputed to include the ability to touch the top of the backboard and dunk from the foul line, leafed through a biography of her late husband and frowned at those outside the revolving doors who were clamoring for a glimpse of Jordan.
“I'm not happy with the Hall,” she said as she glanced at photos of Pollard in the book. “This is too much about just one man. You'd think the other inductees were also-rans.”
“You know who I really came to see this year?” said her daughter, Jeanne. “David Robinson. Maybe I'll get a chance to meet him. That would be great.”
Robinson, the Spurs center who will become just the second Spurs player inducted in the Hall, never has been an also-ran.
Neither have the other non-Jordan inductees: Jazz point guard John Stockton, the NBA's all-time leader in assists; Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who has coached NBA teams to 1,137 victories; and C. Vivian Stringer, who has 825 victories in a storied college coaching career at Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers.
To many, however, this is the Michael Jordan Enshrinement. Period.
It is true that Jordan's presence in the Class of 2009 instantly makes it one of the greatest in Hall history. That it includes Stockton and Robinson, two of his teammates on the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream Team,” gives it the heft of singularity.
“That 1992 team was probably the greatest team of all time,” said Larry Brown, the Hall of Fame coach who will present Robinson at tonight's ceremonies. “I've been involved in basketball forever, but I start to think about the change in our sport internationally that occurred in 1992 and it's overwhelming. The game became a world sport, and all three of those guys are a part of that: the Dream Team.
“Those guys are the reason our game has become so popular internationally, and, as a result, so much better.”
Robinson, Stockton and Jordan all were double Olympic gold medalists. Robinson and Stockton won gold at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. Jordan also won in 1984.
Robinson won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics, the last that featured a U.S. team devoid of NBA players.
Jerry Colangelo, the former Phoenix Suns owner who now is chairman of the men's senior national team for USA Basketball, is incoming chairman of the Hall of Fame. He cited the intangible qualities that distinguish the incoming class.
“Class, character and competitiveness is what this group represents, all four of them,” Colangelo said.
No one should be criticized, Colangelo said, for thinking first of Jordan when the Class of 2009 is considered.
“This is not diminishing anyone's contribution,” he said, “but when you start off with Michael Jordan, who some have said is the best of all time, who is going to bicker when you talk about the elite of the elite?
“Having said that, David Robinson, in my mind, represents all that is good about basketball. The class, the dignity, the career he had, and how he represented his country, his team, his community and his coaches, was nothing but amazing.
“Numbers are numbers, in terms of longevity and scoring and rebounds, but he is one of the classiest guys to ever play the game.”
Jordan is responsible for one number that bothers some about the 2009 enshrinement proceedings: The $1,000 price tag for each ticket to attend Friday's ceremony at Springfield Symphony Hall is more than double the cost to attend last year's ceremonies, when Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Adrian Dantley and Pat Riley were inducted.
Colangelo regrets that some fans were priced out of Friday's enshrinement ceremony, but defended the decision to leverage Jordan's remarkable popularity.
“The Hall has had a difficult time making ends meet,” he said. “The location is a difficult issue. Springfield is where the game was born, it's true, but it's a difficult place to get in and out of. So there are a lot of handicaps.
“Is ($1,000 per ticket) unusual? Yeah. But I think you take advantage of opportunity when it's there.
“We knew we were going to have a big crowd, for sure, and this is to support the Hall of Fame. If some people are turned off by it, I feel badly about that, but as part of the decision-making process, I don't.”
Count Anilee Pollard among those a tad miffed.
“I think it's awful,” she said. “When Jim was inducted, I think tickets were $50.”