SPORTS NOTES EXTRA Part 2 - ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE? English Premiere League Football Is On - AUGUST, 2008

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

The English Premiere League Begins - SPORTS JOURNALIST JIM MURRAY REMEMBERED - Sports Trivia Answers - 1992 USA Olympic Dream Team

Friday August 15, 2008

The English Premiere League Begins

It's time for the action to begin this weekend as the English Premiere League begins its season. As usual the top four clubs Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are expected to fill the top four spots with some sports pundits believing that this will be Chelsea's season to redeem themselves under new boss Felipe Scolari and that Tottenham will right its ship and be strong challenge for the top four. Scolari is the biggest change in the Chelsea camp and that seems to be the reason why they are expected to pick up the pace and unseat Man U as Premiere League champions.

The addition of Deco from Barcelona is their major player transaction. Chelsea signed Deco on a three year contract for £8 million and was Scolari's first signing. Deco is one of the few players to win the UEFA Champions League with two different clubs, with FC Porto in 2004 and FC Barcelona in 2006.

Deco's father is Brazilian, his mother Brazilian with Japanese heritage. He was named Man of the Match in the 2003-04 Champions League final. He also is the first player to win the UEFA Best Midfielder Award with two different clubs, once each. He was awarded the FIFA World Club Cup Golden Ball and The Man of the Match award in the final despite losing to Internazionale. With Frank Lampard now in the fold after signing a five year deal the strength of the squad pretty much remains the same but talk continues that the club would like to have Robinho 24 or KaKa 26 added to its list of stars.

Being Brazilian and having been under Scolari's instructions as members of the Brazil national team either of those two could only add to the already interesting mix of super star players. Though owner Roman Abramovich has deep pockets if they could consummate either deal from a financial standpoint Robinho might be a better transaction.

According to ESPN Asia KaKa is the most expensive player in the world earning $228 thousand a week. By comparison Man U's Ronaldo earns $119 thousand and Wayne Rooney pockets $110 thousand a week for their talents.

SPORTS JOURNALIST JIM MURRAY REMEMBERED

August 16, 1998 was the day the world lost the journalistic talents of Pulitzer Prize-wining sports journalist Jim Murray who was 76 at the time of his passing. For me Murray was a paradigm. I've read his columns over the years and there was one that made a tremendous impact on my thinking.

The technical aspect of what people did was never interesting to me. To me everything was about people and how they think, behave and what motivates them. Murray wrote an article on a racing car driver and in the article pointed out that he wasn't interested in the magnetos but it was people that were his interest. At that point I felt that Murray was a kindred spirit and influence. It was also a time prior to my getting involved in sports journalism. At that time I was primarily involved in the coverage of the music, entertainment and cable television business.

I met Murray after I got involved in sports journalism and was always impressed by the way he handled himself. He was quite and seemed always deep in thought. After the 1992 Super Bowl game in Minneapolis, Minnesota on a bus for the press taking us to the hotel for media I sat next to his wife Linda. After Murray's passing I wrote a story about him that included the incident with his wife who during the bus ride gave me some personal insights to her husband.

About 10 years later Linda Murray contacted me after the story was called to her attention via the Internet. She recalled the Super Bowl occasion and since she contacted me she has been sending me press releases regarding her Jim Murray Foundation and their journalism scholarship program in honor of his memory.

This past week Linda Murray wrote: Do you remember where you were when you heard the news of Jim Murray's passing a decade ago, August 16, 1998?

We still feel the void not being able to read Jim Murray on the front page of the Los Angeles Times sports section, or in his syndicated column in newspapers around the country. For 37 years, Jim would string words together like a strand of fine pearls, entertaining and educating us in astounding ways.

Murray did just that and more importantly though somewhat mysterious and always observing he took the time to talk to me at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena while covering a UCLA football game. After seeing me around covering sporting events for some time he came to where I was sitting in the press box and spent about a half hour of his time before the game sharing his thoughts.

Though I will never possess the writing skills of Murray I will always remember the time he took with me and giving me an insight to his mind. We agreed on many things. We were never buddy buddy but he always gave me a positive nod when we were covering the same event. I felt honored that he took the time to talk to me.

So in answer to Linda Murray's question I was at Dodger Stadium to cover a game with the Dodgers playing the Atlanta Braves. Before the game Murray's passing was announced and those in attendance took a moment of silence to honor a great man and a superior journalist whose presence and work remains greatly missed.

TRIVIA ANSWERS

USA OLYMPIC BASKETBALL TEAMS LAST AMATEUR STANDING

The 1988 USA Olympics Basketball team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea was the last to have a squad of amateur players. A roster that included a host of future NBA all-stars including David Robinson and Mitch Richmond came up short, finishing third and winning the bronze medal. Team USA lost its only game to the Soviets 82-76. The Americans went on to beat Australia 78-49 in the bronze medal game. "Thunder" Dan Majerle led Team USA in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game.

That Bronze medal experience resulted in the assemblage of the 1992 The Dream Team. In 1989, FIBA, international basketball's governing body, allowed professional NBA players to participate in the Olympics for the first time. Prior to the 1992 Olympics, only European and South American professionals were allowed to play in the Olympics. The team assembled by USA Basketball for the tournament in Barcelona in 1992, was one of the most illustrious collections of talent assembled in the history of international sport. Of the 12 players on the team, 10 would be named in 1996 among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, the NBA's official list of the 50 greatest players of the league's first 50 years. Only one player was from the college ranks.

TRIVIA QUESTIONS:

1. Who was the last college player to play on a USA Olympic basketball team in 1992?

Answer: Christian Laettner of Duke University

2. What year did the USA fail to win their first ever Olympic Gold medal in Basketball?

Answer: The 1972 Olympic men's basketball gold medal game, marking the first ever loss for Team USA in Olympic play, is inarguably the most controversial in Olympic history. In 1972, the Olympic Trials were still controlled by the Olympic Basketball Games Committee, however, the Trials format was changed and 66 athletes were invited to tryout, 28 from the NCAA, eight from the AAU, junior college, NAIA and U.S. Armed Forces ranks, and six at-large.

One player who was conspicuous by his absence from the 1972 U.S. team was the college player of the year, Bill Walton. The UCLA center declined an invitation to play in Munich. Henry Iba of Oklahoma State was the head coach for the U.S. Olympic team and John Bach, from Penn State was one of the assistants, and Don Haskins, Univ. of Texas-El Paso was another assistant. It was the youngest squad to ever represent the United States in Olympic competition

The United States rode their seven consecutive gold medals and 63-0 Olympic record to Munich for the 1972 Summer Olympics. The team won its first eight games in convincing fashion, setting up a final against the Soviet Union.

In the game the US squad was trailing by five points at halftime. Their deficit grew to 10 with less than 10 minutes to play. The US rallied and with only 38 seconds to play the US were one point behind. Trying to protect their lead, Alexander Belov's cross-court pass with less than 10 seconds to play was intercepted by Doug Collins. Collins was fouled hard driving to the basket with three seconds to play.

Coach Haskins and Coach Bach said to Coach Iba, 'We gotta get somebody to shoot these free throws, Collins is injured.'" Coach Iba said, "If Doug can walk he's shooting.'" Under enormous pressure, Doug Collins, the Illinois State guard sank both free throws giving the Americans a 50-49 lead, their first of the game. The Soviets in-bounded the ball right away , but the referee, Renato Righetto of Brazil, blew the whistle with one second on the clock.

Following a conference with the officials, it was determined that the Soviet head coach Vladimir Kondrashkin had called a time out. The decision was made to put three seconds back on the clock. At issue was the Soviets' contention that they had signaled for a time-out between Collins' two free throws. The game officials never acknowledged the time out. The validity of whether a time-out was legally signaled for is still open to question.

After the Soviets in-bounded the ball a second time, the horn sounded signaling an apparent American victory. Moments later, the teams were ordered back on the floor because the clock had not been properly reset to show three seconds remaining. Because of this mistake by the scorer's table, the celebrating Americans stood in disbelief when they were told they had not won anything yet.

"We couldn't believe that they were giving them all these chances," said U.S. forward Mike Bantom. "It was like they were going to let them do it until they got it right." The clock was reset and Russia had a third chance to win. The Russians ran a play which used a pass the length of the court. Alexander Belov, caught the full-court pass from Sergi Belov and scored the winning lay-up as time ran out. The result a Russian basket and a 51-50 win.

Convinced they had been wronged, the U.S. team filed a formal protest with the International Basketball Federation. Later, a five-member panel voted on the protest. There were three Communist bloc judges who all voted for the Soviet Union. The final vote 3-2 for Russia.

The Soviet Union won the gold medal, and the Americans won the silver. However, over thirty years later, the silver medals sit unclaimed in a vault in Lusanne, Switzerland. As one U. S. player said, "If we had gotten beat, I would be proud to display my silver medal today. But, we didn't get beat, we got cheated!" So they left the silver medals behind!

3. Name the 11 NBA players on the 1992 Dream team.

Answer: Dream Team roster

* Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns via trade from the Philadelphia 76ers

* Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics

* Clyde Drexler of the Portland Trail Blazers

* Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks

* Earvin "Magic" Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers (who was not in the league at the time of the Olympics but returned briefly for the next season)

* Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls

* Christian Laettner of Duke University

* Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz

* Chris Mullin of the Golden State Warriors

* Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls

* David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs

* John Stockton of the Utah Jazz

* Coach: Chuck Daly of the Detroit Pistons

If you can name 8 of 11 you have a passing grade. If you can name all 11and the college player you are as Queen sang you are... THE CHAMPION.

MORE NBA TRIVIA:

1. Kobe Bryant's jersey number ranks number one is sales in China for the second consecutive year.

Q - 1. Of the top 10 players listed of this year's list there are two new players on the list.

Answer: Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics and Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic

Q - 2. Conversely there are two players who dropped this year from last season's list. Who are those players?

Answer: Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs and Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets

2. There are four players on the China national team who were drafted or are a part of an NBA team roster in the past or now. Who are those players?

Yao Ming - Houston Rockets

YI Jianlian - Milwaukee Bucks drafted and then traded to New Jersey Nets

WANG Zhizhi - Was the first Chinese player to be drafted by an NBA team. After being drafted in the second round 36th overall pick in the 1999 draft by the Dallas Mavericks he spent five seasons in the league with three teams. Though 7' tall (2.13) he was used sparingly. He also played for the Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat.

SUN Yue - Was drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2007 NBA draft then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. He wasn't on the Lakers roster.