Sports Scrapbook

 Santa Barbara, CA May 15, 2013... The sky is blue with just a hint of a wispy cloud here and there.  I have arrived early along with my three amigos: Dr. Michael Guber, Danny Millis and the irrepressible Frank Ures.

We situated ourselves at the Finish Line of Stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California. It's hard to believe that this Finish Line located in one of America's beauty spots running parallel to the Pacific Ocean with its thundering waves, its balmy temperature of 72 degrees was less than 200 miles away from Palm Springs where just two short days ago Stage 2 was finished in 110 degree heat.

But that's California! Its landscape goes from sea level to snow-capped mountains. It goes from glutted urban development to wide-open fields growing Blueberries, Garlic, Strawberries and lettuce. It passes hospitals, institutions of higher learning, as well as prisons.

The tour goes through wine country encompassing the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. The foregoing, then, is the route that the 2013 Tour same as the previous 7 Tours traversed.  The only difference this time it started south and is going north instead of the other way around.

It started on may 12^th in the Southern California city of Escondido at 11:15 in the morning. Sixteen of the finest Pro teams in the world with 128 riders in total lined up. If there was blight on the race because of the scandals including the demise of Lance Armstrong, it was not evident.

A party atmosphere prevailed at every Stage.  Many have called the Amgen Tour, "A festival of both happiness and health". Amazingly, Kristen Bachochin, President of AEG Sports and six months pregnant, once again had organized her minions, which numbered in the thousands including both employed help and volunteers.

As she has been since the start of the Tour, Kelly Staley was alongside Kristen, making sure that everything worked like a well oiled clock... and it has.

New names have come to the forefront.  Among them, many outstanding young American Riders are showing of their skills. Tyler Farrar from Wenatchee, Washington won Stage Four. He did it in a breathtaking and exciting finish to win right at the wire. The cacophony was ear- shattering.  You could not hear the person standing right next to you... even if you tried.

At present, American Tejay van Garderen is the overall leader. His lead is precarious since there are three more stages and the talent is evenly distributed. It remains anyone's race.

Amidst all the Festivities, the increased presence of security was evident. No one could enter any of the key tented locations without first being screened and their handbags, knapsacks etc; being thoroughly searched.  Upon being cleared, whatever they were carrying    was adequately tagged.  It was similar to what happens at many Airports without the benefit of Electronics.

This truly is" America's Greatest Race" as it has been labeled. However, it is more!  It is a spectacle worth participating in. In fact, it is the embodiment of the words that make up my personal favorite American song written by Katherine Lee Bates... "America the Beautiful".

We all have sung it from time-to-time.  They are words to remember and be thankful for, especially in these turbulent times throughout the word.

"O beautiful for spacious skies, / For amber waves of grain, / For purple mountain majesties, / Above the fruited plain! God shed his grace on thee ...

If you have ever visited Boston and walked up Beacon Hill you would feel a state's support for its professional sports teams. Through victories and losses, from the balcony underneath the shiny Golden Dome of the State House proudly displayed are the banners of the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics.

Those banners have been there through snow, sleet, sunshine and rain. Massachusetts has displayed its proud heritage no matter whether the weather was good, or bad, no mind whether the teams won, or lost.

Now, they have new banners that must be displayed. This time it isn't for victories in an arena, on a field, or in a stadium. These banners deserve to be there not because of scoring more goals, or driving in the most runs.

This victory is for courage, determination and dedication that saved lives on the streets of Greater Boston... Boston, Watertown and Cambridge to be specific. It is the banner of the Law Enforcement Team,

In a sport, the goal has always been to get the most runs, touchdowns, or points. A sporting event for a time, sometimes as long as two hours, allows the fans, for a brief time, a period of enjoyment and sometimes even an escape from their daily chores.

This time, it was a team victory of a different kind. It was for the fight over terrorism and to keep the people of Massachusetts as well as the nation safe from maniacal and nonsensical attacks on human life and dignity. To fail would have been disastorous.

The combined team effort of every law enforcement agency available:  The FBI, The Massachusetts State Police, The Boston Police and many others brought to a conclusion a hard earned victory over terror and save countless lives.

It all started this past Monday when unidentified assassins placed two bombs designed to mutilate and maim among innocent bystanders enjoying the party atmosphere of a beautiful day while watching the iconic American Sports event, The Boston Marathon. The bombs succeeded in killing three including an eight year old boy and critically injuring some 150 more.  On that day, lives and the heart of a great city was shattered, but its spirit remained unbowed.

The city was terrified with no clue where to begin...where to look for the perpatraters. Never in history has a combined law enforcement team proved so adept. For over 100 hours straight, foregoing sleep and leaving no stone unturned, the team started with nothing and through methodically painstaking detection they found the two suspects, tracked them down, killing one and capturing the other.

They didn't do it alone.  They shut down an entire city and enlisted the aid of every citizen. They used modern surveillance equipment which  included night goggles and heat-seeking thermal eyes that could look everywhere. They used the social media including TV and Internet. Everyone cooperated!

Ironically, the end took place by using all this modern equipment in the town, Watertown, Massachusetts where at Perkins Institute for the Blind, Alexander Graham Bell was first credited with inventing the telephone and a deaf and blind Helen Keller learned to communicate through sign language. The team used the modern offshoots of these American creations of yesteryear.

In a ball game, you either win by making baskets, getting hits or making a goal. This, however, was a game of life, or death and the forces of good met the challenge head-on. Bringing serenity. Peace, relief and belief in the American way not only to one community, but to an entire nation.

It was a team effort...Hang the Banner high!

          I am a Bostonian and I am an American! In times of tragedy, America has always risen to the challenge. Earlier this week, cowards perpetrated a horrific and almost unbelievable dastardly attack on unsuspecting and innocent individuals at one of America's iconic Sports events...The Boston Marathon.

By doing this evil and unimaginable deed, they had no idea what they unleashed. The American Spirit is such that in times of tragedy, we rise to the occasion and become stronger than ever before.

Monday April 15, 2013 is a day, just as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, "A day that will live in infamy". From there we shouted "Remember Pearl harbor" and proceeded to give credence to that slogan by inflicting untold harm on our oppressors.

Boston is the "Cradle of Liberty". It is here that the oppressed colonists in 1776 rose up to throw off the yoke of the British tyrants. It has a long and gratifying history of defending our country's and the rights of it citizens without taking a backward step.

This is a sports column make no mistake.  But it is also a forum and an opportunity to express one's feelings. The Boston Marathon to me is not just a great race and sporting event it is part of American History and personal family participation.

As I have written before, until I was 16, I went with my father to every marathon and then to the Red Sox Home Opener. In those days, the number of runners was small, but the crowds still numbered in the hundreds of thousands.  It always has represented what is good about America. It was also a Boston without Area Codes. Today the primary Boston Area Code is "617". An Area Code that stands for the city that personifies America's pioneering spirit... "617 Strong" is a rallying cry.

In 1948, Earle Wolfe, Joel Wolfson and myself took part in this great American Pastime. That was the year that a South Korean runner named Yon Bok Suh whose entry into the race was financed by donations of U.S. soldiers serving in Korea, set the world record at the time (2:25:39). There were slightly over 150 entrants: all amateurs.  Monday, there were over 27,000.

For years, it was America's only Marathon. In 1947, the winner received as his reward an Olive Wreath to wear, symbolic of where it all began in Greece, and in New England tradition, his choice of either Dinty Moore Stew, or Clam Chowder.

Today, there are both Professional and Amateur Runners with the Professionals, men and women, reaping rewards of1000's of dollars and gifts such as cars.

It was in 1967 that Kathy Switzer entered as K.V. Switzer became the first numbered entry in the race. Ironically, Kathy was born the year of Yon Bok Suh's record run. When Jock Semple, the race director, saw a girl running, he ran up to Kathy (thinking that K.V. was a man) yelling "Get the hell out of my race". Kathy finished and five short years later, the sexist barriers were down.

Ironically, I did my Boston University Master's study at the School of Public Relations and Communication Arts, which was located at the time in the old B.A.A. Clubhouse on Exeter Street... it was also the finish line., one block from where today's is located.

Monday saw 100's injured and many maimed for life. Three young people... a 30 year old woman from Medford, MA, a bright 8 year old boy  from Dorchester, MA  and a brilliant B.U. Graduate Student from China will never realize their potential.

This column is far from political, but as President Obama so correctly stated, "As Americans we must go forward and we shall punish those who heaped this sorrow on us. God Bless America".

I have been to a great number of events over my lifetime. I was personally involved in many of them.  Along the way, I collected some personal memorabilia from my involvement in the Ali Fights, the NFL, the NBA, the WFL and Knievel's attempted jump of the Snake River Canyon to mention a few.

Like many American kids growing up, I collected Baseball Cards. In fact, after chewing my Bubble Gum, I would immediately unwrap the balance in order to see which player's visage I had.

If I had doubles of even triples, I would be negotiating trades with Arnie, Earle and sometimes Buddy.  In such a way, I thought I had built up quite a collection.  I thought it was pretty good.  Years later, my grandson Sam followed in my footsteps. Then last Saturday; I met Gary Cypres at the museum.

At the very least, I was blown away by the exhibit and that is a vast understatement.

You see, Gary has placed some of his 10,000 plus collectibles under the roof of a single 30,000 square foot building.  Located in downtown Los Angeles, It is aptly called the Los Angeles Sports Museum. He designed the building specifically for the purpose of housing and showcasing the collection in a dramatic fashion.

If you haven't heard of the museum to date, it is because like the man whose collection it houses, up to now, it is not open to the public for commercial recognition, or personal gain. At present you can only go there by invitation. Gary, however, makes it available to worthy philanthropies for fund raisers.

Thanks to P.R. Michael Saltzman, my son-in-law Danny and I were invited to visit the Museum. As a sports fan, I can honestly tell you it was a "once-in-lifetime" experience.  Let's look at what it entails... First a personal disclaimer:  my description can in no way do the museum justice. It is that overwhelming.  

There is much to see. You are bombarded going from one precious artifact to another. It is the largest and broadest known iconic sports memorabilia collection in the world. A Los Angeles businessman, Gary assembled his collection over a 25 year period.

The collection valued in the millions includes: Babe Ruth's 1934 Uniform, Joe DiMaggio's record-breaking ball from is legendary 56 game hitting streak, the original corner stone from Yankee Stadium in 1923, an ultra valuable Honus Wagner displayed under glass in a room whose wall are filled with uncounted other cards.

There's a room dedicated to the History of the Ball... another to the evolution of the ball and the glove. There is an entire room dedicated to the Negro Leagues, Josh Gibson, and to Jackie Robinson.

There are display tables on which stand to scale some of Baseball's Cathedrals... Fenway Park, Ebbets Field, Braves Field (Boston) and others.

The museum features a digitized old film that shows Robinson stealing Home Plate against the Yankees to win the World Series. Yogi always claimed he was out. This film answers the question.

On display are exact gold replicas of all World Series Trophies through 2007. That was the last year that A.G. Balfour Jewelers had the MLB contract.  Gary bought their entire inventory.

I am only allowed 500 words and I have barely touché the surface. Maybe one day, Mr. Cypres will open it to the public... I hope so.

On a somber note, as an American and a Bostonian, I stand shocked by the callous and horrific deed at yesterday's Boston Marathon. From the age of 5 until I was 16, I went with my dad to very BAA Marathon. It was out family tradition.

 I look to Sports to help heal and bind the wounds that were dastardly perpetrated on an unsuspecting populace. Pray for the victims and their families, pray for us and above all, God Bless America.

Like most communicators, be they  reporters, authors, or broadcasters who seek to constantly improve their art, I welcome criticism. When it's favorable it proves most enjoyable.  However, when it's constructive, it is also always welcome. Criticism deserves airing and debate.

That is why I have chosen to answer many readers who have had a different viewpoint from me on the subject of athletes who leave college after one scholarship year. Let me make myself absolutely clear.

I am not opposed to players trying their hand at a chosen profession even before their class is graduated. I oppose them taken advantage of a scholarship system that allows the opportunity  to do this while taking away space from someone who may eventually, because of  a much needed scholarship,  be the person who cures cancer or is the next aeronautical engineer that leads us to new space horizons.

It is always a pleasure when the critic in a scholarly manner from an obviously erudite individual stakes out a position that has been thoroughly examined and reflected on.

Just such a person is Mark David Blum.  Mr. Blum is both a lawyer and a Syracuse Graduate.  He currently lives in Syracuse and is passionate about the Orangemen who are currently in the NCAA Final Four. I respect his criticism and his thoughts.

 As part of his argument, he cites the case of Carmelo Anthony who led Syracuse to its last NCAA Championship as a freshman and then promptly left for the NBA where he is enjoying an outstanding career.

He makes many good points.  To me, the fact that if  Carmelo had stayed and played in college he might have suffered an injury that would have prevented him from plying his lucrative trade.

Every year we see it. Athletes that are still in college need to make a choice. If they stay in college, they  face the possibility of not going professional,  risking injury and losing it all. This might mean losing the ability to pave their way to financial security.

In 1971, as I am sure Mr. Blum knows, the U.S. Supreme Court  decided against the NBA which had a requirement that a player wait four years after high school graduation in order to play Professional Basketball.

In 1974, the ABA, the rival league to the NBA , signed Moses Malone who became the first player to go directly from High School to a professional league. He was extremely successful.

Additionally, I can cite Kobe Bryant, Darrel Dawkins, Lebron James and Kevin Garnett who were drafted right out of high school and did well. Wilt Chamberlain after one year at Kansas, joined Philadelphia, played for Philadelphia/ San Francisco and Los Angeles where he enjoyed a legendary career.

 They are among the truly few success stories. For every one of them, there are countless others who leave school to meet with either mediocre success, or none at all... and have nowhere to go for financial opportunity.

I disagree with the NBA ruling brought on by the Players'  Union that no one be drafted under the age of 19 and must be at least one year removed from high school.  This rule I believe is the number 1 catalyst for talented kids decidng on just one year in college.  UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad is a perfect example.

 I say if a kid is going to play and is talented enough, draft him out of high school and not take up a scholarship position. Here in lies the rub, I have no problem with the foregoing, but I also feel 4 years in college is important to bring about maturity and develop a greater understanding of pitfalls that lay ahead in life.

 A college degree prepares everyone, not just the athlete for possible life success.  After all, even for the best, more often than not, an athlete's productive years are short -lived except for the extremely few.

So, I repeat, my stand is simple!  Give out the scholarships, but do it in a 4-year contractual arrangement. Whereby the athlete who leaves is obligated to compensate the college, or university based on the going rate at the time equivalent to the remaining years of tuition.

 I was sitting around knowing I needed to write a column, but without any thoughts in mind when my dear friend and partner David Salzman mentioned Jim Murray. To read Jim's columns, you felt as if he was your personal friend.

I was lucky, he was mine!

Where do I start? There is so much to say. But I am limited to just 500 words.

A day for me, if I did not begin by reading his column in the Los Angeles Times, was destined to be a dull one. I have never met another man who could turn a phrase like him. I wasn't alone!

 The National Sportswriters Sportscaster Association (NSSA), his peers gave him the Sportswriter of the Year award fourteen times ... twelve of which were consecutive.

He possessed a most unusual sense of humor.  So good, was this talent, that many of the top TV Comedy Writers, would paraphrase and actually plagiarize much of his material.

My late friend Alan Bernard enjoyed him so much, he hired him to write Comedy for the show I was involved in, the Andy Williams Show.  Never thinking he would accept, or be allowed to do it, we were surprised when he got permission from the editors of the Los Angles Examiner so he could augment his earnings. The most widely read writer in all of Los Angeles and soon to be syndicated, was in need of extra money.

A Hartford native, he graduated from Trinity College and started his career on the Hartford Currant. In no time at all, he was a featured columnist for Sports Illustrated and on to L.A.

In 1987 the Baseball Hall of Fame gave him the J. G. Taylor Spink Award...citing him as an influence to countless sports journalists. Actually, he had too many awards to be accounted for in this one column.  Among them was a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. The beauty of Jim he never took himself for granted.  He was always humble.

He felt he didn't deserve the Pulitzer for writing about sports.  He would often say, it should go to a writer who exposed graft, gave advise to Prime Ministers, or helped bring down a government. He called sports, his personal play room.

Through all this, Jim always had poor vision. Not being malicious since he himself said it, " My glasses look like the bottoms of Coke Bottles' they are so thick", we would often tease him.  Eventually, he tried an operation to better his vision and completely lost his eye.

As a result to me, he wrote one of his greatest columns. So good, David Salzman might remember I had it blown up and for years, it was on the wall behind my desk. It simply started out: Today, I lost a long-time friend. This friend was always with me at the Rose Bowl, the World Series, The Indianapolis 500 and many a championship fight. You see, I lost the sight of my left eye".

That was the poignancy of Jim Murray who once wrote of the Indianapolis 500, "Gentlemen, start your coffins". Another time he wrote about the all-time Base Stealing champion Ricky Anderson who constantly was getting walked... "Ricky has a strike zone the size of Hitler's Heart". Probably one of his funniest quotes was about Basketball's most successful coach and his dear friend, John Wooden... "so square he was divisible by four".

In 1989, he went totally blind, but until his death in 1991, he continued to write with the aid of his wife.

Recently in my columns I have been writing about scholarships and academia. Before he passed, Jim created the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation whose basic purpose is to raise money for journalism scholarships. At present, 28 universities participate annually in a national essay competition in which five scholarships are awarded.

Jim, in both words and action, left a marvelous wonderful legacy. To know him was an honor.

 It's that time of the year!  I can already smell it... hot dogs, and peanuts. soda pop, the smell of newly mown grass, beautiful multi-million dollar stadia and the thud of a 90-mile fastball as it strikes the catcher's mitt. Then the resounding whack  as a wooden ash bat makes contact with the 8" (108 stitches)  rounded leather sphere.  You are right it's time once again for Baseball.

I remember the old verse written in Brooklynese that went like this:

"Spring is sprung, the grass has riz,

I wonder where the boidies iz?

The boid is on the wing.

Don't be absoid, the wing is on da boid!"

Silly, non-sensical ... yup! However, what it tells us, is it's Baseball time. Once, the National Pastime, Baseball now lags in popularity to Pro Football.

When I was a kid, everywhere you looked there were pickup games on vacant sandlots.  In my case, it was either behind the local food mart where we would sneak through a hole-in-the fence to get there, or behind the Ward School where more than once my pal Earle ( we would call him "Oile"), would rattle a double off the brick wall of the school.

It was pure fun and enjoyment!  Unlike the Little League we made do with what we had: no fancy uniforms, no specially designed playing field with stands, it was just the opposite... not even the bases were real.  

Instead, sometimes home plate was part of a cardboard box.  First base often times was a burlap bag with pebbles to hold it in place. How about second base? More than often, it was a discarded brick from an old building. Oh yeah! Third base  was yesterday's newspaper also held down with stones.  Needless to say, there was no sliding!

A great comparison and a good read is the book by Stan Fridstein entitled "Going Yard". I urge to you to read it.  He has portrayed to the nth degree all the Major League Ball Parks, both old and modern, that he and his son Eric visited.

We had no managers to guide the teams or to assign positions our equipment was inferior.  We couldn't afford the best ball, so we chipped in to buy what we called a "nickel brick". I can't tell you how many times we used that ball in multiple games. The  fact that black electric tape was an important part of our equipment that we used without sparing once the ball became frayed. That magic tape gave us at least a dozen games where we did not have to find the funds for a new ball.

How about the bat? Often times, from constant use the handle would splinter.  Not to be dissuaded, out came the magical tape aided and abetted by a nail holding the handle and wooden bat  together... "Play Ball".

We played in all kinds of weather and when it was cold, you almost wished you didn't get a hit.  If you did, your hands might sting for weeks.

When we weren't playing in the hot summer months and could not afford to go to a game, you would find us "Royals" (that was the name of our club), sitting on Arnie's front steps, gathered around the radio, listening as the play-by-play announcer painted word pictures.

Times were exciting. We had no money and needed none to have a good time.

Also, the cost of games made it possible for families to attend together. In addition, the fact that there was not much player movement between teams, players seemed to stay with a team forever. In my youth,  not only could you be loyal to a team, but even more so to a player.

Today, that's all changed. It costs too much for families to attend  game en mass. Only the wealthiest and corporations can afford to go on a regular basis. The players are mobile and sometimes do not finish out the season with the same team.

I love these days we live in, but there was a lot to be said for continuity. Still I holler, "Take me out the Ball Game, it's time to play Baseball."

         For me and for Collegiate Sports Fans this is the most interesting time of the year.  Like so many fans, I am glued to the TV Set until each night when I get ready for bed, I can hardly recognize the old man with the blood show eyes and tired expression staring back at me from the mirror.

In fact, I wondered how I once played for a division one-basketball team. Hell, they would take one look at me today, grab the scruff of my neck and throw me back into the pack.

The kids today are bigger, stronger, faster and most athletic. When I played our tallest man was 6'4" and he was our center. The guys like me either hovered around 6'1, or as small as 5'10".  This was the norm.  in fact, the first 7 footer I remember was Bob Kurland who played for Oklahoma A & M (The Aggies) in 1945-46... Today, the Oklahoma State Cowboys. He then played AAU Ball for the Phillips Oilers.

... And they certainly have. Just as heights and size of the players have grown exponentially bigger. This size plus athleticism has made for more exciting basketball. Today's players have learned from all those who have gone before and have added many a new wrinkle.

Costs  for a University to field a competitive team have reached the sub stratosphere. President Obama , himself, a basketball fan, has promised to tackle rising costs. He has put schools on  notice that if they wish to continue to get taxpayer funding, they must stop tuitions from going up. I ask how?

However, every time there is an announcement that a new head coach is coming out from oblivion to be a newly minted millionaire, the landscape changes  That process is not bad in itself, as wages seem to be keeping pace with all sports.

What is bad is the fact they reward immoral and unethical behavior both among coaches and athletes!  The most hypocritical and self-serving is the NCAA itself. It seems it is constantly being faced by one bad situation after another.  Most deal with finances and how the NCAA takes advantage of young athletes.

The bright-eyed and bushy tailed scholar-athlete enters the institution of higher learning expecting to not only play an important role on the school's Teams but also to get an education, which prepares he, or she for a life career.

The NCAA is guilty of looking the other way and doing many wrong things. First, they permit opportunistic colleges and universities who are interested in only victories to impress their alumni, the luxury of allowing an athlete to matriculate for only one year and then move on to a professional career.  

If the NCAA had any guts, they would do the right thing... set boundaries. Among the boundaries that can be set are that a student-athlete, providing he/she has the grades, may qualify for an athletic scholarship, but must sign a four-year commitment.

If he/she leaves anytime before the four years are up to play a professional sport in which he/she has exhibited worthiness during their collegiate career, they must then be obligated to pay back the school a pre-set amount based on prevailing education costs at the time.

Another thing the NCAA needs to be penalized for making money on athletes by using their visage and likeness their school days are over. In its greed, the NCAA has made numerous deals with video game companies and advertisers that often use visual play situations from college games to make money.

... And make money they have, in the multi-millions. This has prompted Ed O'Bannon former UCLA and NBA star to bring about a class lawsuit on behalf of all student athletes whose likenesses have been used whereby the NCAA reaps the rewards and the athlete receives nothing. Later this year, this suit will be before the Supreme Court .

Mark Emmert has now been heading up the NCAA for almost three terms.  The years have been filled with a multitude of problems marked by a constant ineptitude in dealing with them. Let's look at the players.

Allowing Emmert to head up this organization never mind being in charge of the necessary policing, is like letting the Fox guard the Hen House.  He is the same man who prior to assuming the mantle saddled both University of Connecticut and LSU where he had been Chancellor with investigatory scandals. Mostly due to his mismanagement.

If there is to be integrity and parity then it stands to reason the organization in charge must have the proper leadership.                            

In the midst of March Madness, I  wrote an article about Florida Gulf Coast  University and how in an exciting fashion, an extremely low seed was knocking off the big guys. For a moment it looked like FGCU might wear the missing slipper from the "Big Dance".  Alas, it was not to be!

However, all was not lost. Andy Enfield, the Charismatic young coach became in a brief moment a "Super Star." His team labeled "Dunk City" was making believers out of many.  Only two years competing in Division 1, they were beholding to no one. They played an exciting brand of basketball and it was evident the respect their coach commanded.

Enfield, FGCU's only coach took the reins when the school athletically joined division 1 in 2011.  It had gone from being  an online Internet and commuting college in 1997  to a full-fledged university in the year 2000.Located between Naples and Fort Myers Florida it has a resort-like campus. Its growth has been phenomenal.

So who gets to wear the Slipper?  It's the boyish coach with the beautiful wife. It's a true Hollywood Story.  Here, this beautiful couple... (did I mention the coach's wife was a super model who not only graced the cover of many International Magazines, but also on occasion walked the Victoria Secret runway). Is on their way to live and hopefully flourish in America's Movie Capitol.

In a town that worships celebrities, they will fit right in.

From a school with a Division 1 athletic tradition of only 2 years, Coach Enfield will take the reins of a University Program steeped in pride and owner of multiple NCAA Championships/  awards garnered over 133 years... He comes  from a comparatively  unknown school to which he brought National attention, where he will lead   one of America's premier collegiate athletic organizations.

Athletic Director Pat Haden, himself, at one time, the golden-haired scholar-athlete of USC Athletics, like the great producer Cecil B. DeMille but in his capacity of AD,  is looking to bring the once proud program to the "Promised Land" of athletic fruit and honey.  As his lead actor, he has cast Andy Enfield as Moses (not Charlton Heston).

With the departure of Coach Pete Carroll to the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL, USC lost most of its charismatic appeal to the ever-critical fans of Hollywood. Andy Enfield with his smile, energy and the warm camaraderie and success, brings back great deal of that aura and perhaps assure in his own era.

I predict in the Magical Kingdom known as Hollywood where celebrities flock to support winning teams,( just look at Jack Nicholson and Penny Marshall at Laker Games, or Billy Crystal and Justin Timberlake cheering on the clippers), Andy Enfield will soon build such a following.

USC has truly brought about a true Hollywood beginning. However, that's only the start.  What USC, Pat Haden, Alumni and Fans really hope for is a Hollywood ending where truth will be stranger than fiction.

Ironically, today, I find myself as the last remaining member of the California Sports Executive team in 1971-72. California Sports was the parent company of the Los Angeles Lakers. All members of the team are still alive with the exception of number 52 Harold "Happy" Hairston who left us too early.

I watched as every other Basketball fan did, the extended streak of the Miami Heat.  I must admit I had mixed emotions. However, I believe like Jerry West that all streaks are meant to be broken (note: maybe not Joe Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak). However, having been a part of the 1971-72 streak, What Miami was trying to do, I found was an assault on an important part of my legacy.

That year, I was at every game.  Yet, I would only see part of each one. Because Pete Newell, considered one Basketball's all-time great coaches during that season was General Manager of the Lakers. He was too nervous to watch each game in progress.  Instead, he would stay by the Forum Club outside the Arena and chain smoke while pacing back and forth.

The team members themselves were not nervous.  They didn't have to be, Pete was edgy enough for everybody. I agreed, as a part of my relationship with Pete, to come out and tell him the score midway during each period.  He would only come in at the Half and at the end of the game.

The Lakers had 4 future Hall-of-Famers, just like the Heat have today. In fact, just as Dwayne Wade got injured in the middle of the streak, Gail Goodrich suffered a severe stomach muscle pull in '71.  This injury did not slow down the team on its victory march.

Bill Sharman was the coach and he gave 150% of himself to winning. As a result, toward the end of the streak, his voice was down to a whisper. With assistant coach Bill Bertka, (who is still considered one of the great talent evaluators), holding a slate board, Sharman resorted to chalk in order to diagram plays at timeouts and in the locker room. To this day, 41 years later, Bill can hardly talk above a whisper.

Dr Ernie Vandeweghe, a former New York Knick Player and trainer Frank O'Neal kept the team out of the infirmary. Dr Vandeweghe, also acted as team spiritual leader and psychologist.

There is a another close tie to both teams. It is Pat Reilly, Miami's former coach and President. The world today knows Pat as a suave, debonair mastermind. When he was playing in '71-'72, he was anything but. If you look at the team pictures this great Kentucky All-American by way of Schenectady had long beatnik type hair and a flowing mustache.

Pat, however, was always a student of the game.  Whenever we needed a player to speak at any organization he was always there and volunteering... he was our top PR weapon.  As sixth man, his contribution was invaluable.

 When his playing days were over, he was doing color commentary to the great Hall-of-Fame announcer Chick Hearn.  At the time, my then 13 year old son Steven had a job that all teenagers dream of. He was Chick's runner and liaison to the Press Corps while hanging out with all the players... the envy of Agoura High School.

Pat's big break came when Jerry West who in later years was the coach, went to our boss Jack Kent Cooke urging him to let Pat replace him as coach, Jack reluctantly agreed with the idea. He would look for a permanent coach in the interim. Pat it turned out became the permanent coach and the rest is history.

The Lakers were so powerful that two years earlier, artist Alan Siegel commissioned by the NBA to create a logo, copied Jerry West in action and to this day, almost 45 years later, the logo still stands.

Taking nothing away from the Heat and especially Lebron James, if the late Wilt Chamberlain was told about the 27 game win streak, he would probably have answered, "But who did they beat, today it is a watered down league with 30 teams whereas in 1971, there were half as many. Then it was really the best of the best."

By the way, '72 was the Los Angeles Lakers first World Championship!