Thread: Tying a Shoe
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Old Sun Dec 18, 2005, 03:41am
johnny1784 johnny1784 is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by mick
Quote:
Originally posted by johnny1784
Quote:
Originally posted by mick
Quote:
Originally posted by johnny1784
Quote:
Originally posted by MikeMel
Thanks, gang.

Yeah, an actual high school JV coach. I tried not to respond too much. Only asked if he wanted a time out and then said "no, I don't". The varsity guys had a good laugh about it, too.

Sometimes when I do a younger kids rec game, at the jump ball I'll say "Everybody's shoes tied?" There's usually one or two that will take that opportunity to tighten them up.

Shoe-tying 101? At UCLA? Did Walton take it more than once?
They all took "it" more than once. Why do you think they were driving around in Bentley's, wearing alligator shoes?

Not only did they attend "Shoe-tying 101", they made good money working at "McDonalds".

Back then, the underground income and perks were much better in college compared to being an NBA rookie.
johnny1784,
Bill Walton was an Academic All-American.
What were some of the income and perks for UCLA players?
mick
WORK PAID FOR THAT WAS NOT PERFORMED, CLOTHING, AUTOS, CASH, HOOKERS, ETC.


Debate has become a pain in the asterisk
By Bruce Jenkins

There once was scandal in a magical kingdom. It was the realm of a legendary sports figure, not so saintly as he appeared, and it seems relevant to the Barry Bonds-with-an-asterisk issue that has dominated spring-training conversation.

The scene was West Los Angeles in the late 1960s and early '70s, a time when UCLA basketball ran roughshod over the competition. Coach John Wooden's club almost literally was unbeatable, with a stable of future NBA standouts that spoke brilliantly to his recruiting powers.

As it turned out, the Bruins didn't play by the rules. Over the years, it came to light that a wealthy alumnus named Sam Gilbert bestowed lavish favors upon players and potential recruits, from cars to free apartments to cold cash -- anything to maintain the party-hearty atmosphere that surrounded the team at that time.

As opposed to Wooden, who was interested only in the players' on-court behavior and deeply resented the student rebellion of the time, Gilbert was a friend and father figure who could talk to players about personal matters. And Wooden, it was always said, simply looked the other way.

In subsequent years, investigative pieces in the Los Angeles Times exposed Gilbert's activities as clearly illegal by NCAA standards, even quoting sources claiming he was involved with the Miami mafia. "For years, the NCAA ignored everything," said Mike Littwin, one of the Times' chief reporters on the story (the only sanction was to ban Gilbert from any association with the program). "They didn't want to mess with the Wooden legend."

-------------------------------------------------------------

Excerpts from the article,

“Cheerleaders or Reporters?”
By Ken Krayeske

…Go back 30 years, though, and the UCLA run of 10 national basketball championships that laid the groundwork for puff-pastry sports writing "We all know that Sam Gilbert [a rich Los Angeles businessman] was the sugar daddy for UCLA basketball players [in the early 1970s]," Secia says. Gilbert lavished players and coaches with illegal gifts.

In 1990, Gilbert died three days before the federal government was to indict him for laundering drug money at his Bicycle Club Casino in Los Angeles. "But [any connection between Gilbert and the team] was untouchable because it was [UCLA coach] John Wooden territory. Everybody knew what was going on at UCLA, just as they did at the Kennedy White House, but nobody did anything about it. People are reporting it now," he says, but then, it was good for college basketball to sweep it under the rug…

Those reporters [Jenkins, Krayeske] very carefully said nothing.
mick

Those reporters said quite a bit that John Wooden coached many basketball athletes who benefited from illegal gifts while attending UCLA and John being similar to Sergeant Schultz, "I see nothing", just ignored the obvious with his players wearing expensive suites, alligator shoes while driving luxury automobiles.

You may want to read this book;
Raw Recruits by Alexander Wolff & Armen Keteyian (1991)
An insight on the corruption, influences and other problems associated with recruiting and the inner workings of college basketball in the mid 1980's.



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