“Mister Magoo wandering around, I am not,”quoteth the former Pauley Pavilion human from Ucla’s reality scene, featuring the “Pope” coach John Wooden, Jim Harrick and an assistant out of Gene Keady’s swirl at Purdue’s boiler makers named Steve Lavin...a hoop transferee from Chapman College......
Sitting on these benches may be palaver for getting splinters, but this “Iceman cometh”sired in the Bay Area by basket baller “Cap” Lavin out of St.Ignatius High and teammate of Bill Russell and K.C. Jones at San Francisco State. ...an up tempo game, finding a “Hot Rod Huntley” rhythm... streaking coast to coast..
The youngest of six children, his crib like nursery already had the Pete Newell Johnny Wooden Gene Keady Eddie Sutton IQ .... a yearning for the promised land Ucla’s Pauley Pavilion.... Saint Johns into their “man to man” “zone defense”. the Big Apple’s’ fabled shrine..the “Garden”.
The serendipity being Wilbur Johns, the Ucla coach and athletic director who hired the Indiana high schooler... Purdue All American John Wooden for Ucla’s gym ... a role for the ages..
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Coach Lavin was a man on the make as they say. A passion for a “What makes
Sammy run” hen pecking syndrome. An ebullient good humor man, his teeth out like a snake charmer from those game films he drank ate and slept with...an Irish man like Charlie Chaplin’s father in law Eugene O’Neil: a counterpoint to a Bach fugue. A surreal Braque or Picasso.
To his tongue and demeanor. A swagger that Ed O’bannon one of his larger than life upper body strength at Pauley cried “Ho ho”, that noon sweating the poisons out of his jogging soul......off of the Ducky Drake track&field.
“An assistant under coach Harrick. Coach Lavin doesn’t let a blade of grass grow and groove under his “swishes from downtown” In fact he and his actress wife, notwithstanding coach Wooden as his congenital best man” playing out “God’s plan....
“Where else but at Saint John’s..... a Joe Lapchick the McGuire brothers Dick and Al when it was in Brooklyn....Lou Carnesecca Queens campus ipso facto with the likes of Mario and Matilda Cuomo among the alum whooping it up.,
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Into his gel hair ...another Harry Houdini from tinsel town. But unlike Burt Lancaster as Elmer Gantry, he was not pitching snake oil. He was a leading man fer shore, partner, Into the challenge...a full court press ... a swish from a ground hog light of day from downtown.
When gentleman Jim Harrick was called for not being transparent on an expense account with two North Hollywood twins, his assistant seemed to favor a God’s plan, becoming head coach, his new role lasting about six seasons until he was washed out at Ed Pauley’s dome..
A losing season, a new athletic director, the lack of chemistry, and he was gone ...becoming a analyst in the 14 hour grind of ESPN.....a far cry from the cable car, Market Street, “Original Joes”, Treasure Island, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, San Quentin San Rafael, Vallejo, and Hamilton Air Force Base.
Undaunted, our Johnny of a coach, appeared with Brett Mussburger ., his mojo on college players Macdonald All Americans and their surrogate father figures as he measured their gypsy dipsy doodle resumes in his Iceman Cometh quest ...to capture the Ed Obannon red woods. Upper body strength. Power under the pines... rebounding in the paint .... making the outlet pass..
Maybe not MJ”s and Scotty Pippens but Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, Bill Wennington.Mark Jackson Malik Sealy s “don’t waste your dribble
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The law of depreciating returns soon catches up with these immortals Clair Bee& his “Pic” Nat Holman Joe Lapchick Howard Cann. But having the mobility to dance within their charismatic moves seems like an adrenalin charge.... the testosterone of Mozart”s exalta Jupiter..
Balls said the Queen if I had two I’d be King”
Players on the ilk of Bernard King, his brother Albert, out of Fort Hamilton High, the ghetto playgrounds, the summer Rucker League, the AAU and PSAL coaches.....global clubs like Barcelona, Madrid, Bologna, Argentina, Brazil..in the flowing gig..
“Brother can you spare a dime? “
If the pumkin ain’t worth a massage then the humans and their surrogates are merely putting in their time, ...what’s playing out is more than x’s and o’s, Doctor J......Julius Irving flying to the moon out of Roosevelt, Long Island. undaunted by Colonel Lindbergh&Amelia Earhardt flights from nearby Mitchell Field. “
A brave new world”:double clutch alley oop passes into space , “Mister President.”.Obama dissing Clark Kellogg at Ncaa’s elite four “ horsey anyone?” .
“Coming of age on the hard courts of the Coney Island projects” what hath Margaret Mead posting her Samoan “ defense” for these hungry hard nosed Dr. Js in futuro. Giving them a legitimacy for the ages..
Indeed the fans are prisoners beholden A bondage which spritzs expectations dreams and ideals recycling them from the bin of cynicism .
The gig’s rebirth rings true.
Their souls are into Spencer Tracy.and Mickey Rooney’s zone...transcending their roles in “Boy’s Town” ,... buying into downtown,... the Obama.”J” .
”Opportunity and timing.... in synch with preparation” quoteth Father Flanagan
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Knowing the stakes are what they are in the cosmos, the Ncaa sharks have scanned their crystal ball...expanding their turf to 96 colleges, giving mid America’s
Cinderella (Butler Bulldogs) ......and the Iceman a much needed grin : a monied flair to the participants.. life may be short but the calibration with television is long.
“No matter whether Gene Keady accepts his offer of sitting on the Johnny bench as a Bela Lugusi or Boris Karloff Frankenstein....his intimidating Big Ten “no mistake mojo” is his currency.
The Steverino.... his bride...remember he was a stud for most of his Ucla “ impeccable coaching tone”Can he miss being and becoming another Pope of Westwood., partner?.”
Coach Wooden’s strides across Ventura Boulevard, sweating the poisons out of his system on his daily....the City of Angels didn’t rename their valley Reseda post office in his name...”the Wooden post office.: for nothing, partner...nor the Futuro Farmers of America Wooden High School.,either..
“77 straight “w”’s eleven gleaming Ncaa trophies for Ucla’s Kherckoff Hall mantelpiece.....
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Al McGuire borrowed a towel from his keeper. “I may have second thoughts during my tenure with the Red Storm but “The Iceman Cometh” from where I sit.
He”s got his jersey hanging from the rafters, Lapchick and Connesaca never had it so good, did they If his recruitment goes thru the networking all court press with the high school coaches ...the AAU honkies..the Chris Mullins Walter Berry’s Bill Wennington’s will be banging down the doors....
“It’s a renaissance not seen since Robin Hood wooed Olivia deHaviland in Sherwood Forest... is “The Iceman Cometh” another man of destiny?”
“I don’t see any downside unless it’s his laundry. Running out of white shirts or gel for his Pat Ruley headband. But he’s got those Chinese laundries off campus How can the “the Iceman” beat the match up? “
”Gimme a break..a fast break if you will. The Red Storm blasting off
“Believe me ,the “Iceman ” is no Baby Snooks growing up with Cap and Mom...six decades He’s got our Johnnies in his DNA chops.... thinking outside his wardrobe ”
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“So what if “The Iceman” has got the Pope’s rabbit foot and the Purdue connection . He’s earned his birthright, hasn’t he partner..
“Toiling the boards in his teen years. Honors on high school unbeaten teams taking them to a higher level making his footwork better... his passes crisper...doing his homework.
“Didn’t Burt Lancaster done dood it...the Jimmy Cagney “touch”...akin Hebrew Educational Society ettlement house and the Red Holtzman state of mind.......
“Making us better...... isnt that was Dolph Schayes career is about. His six foot ten inch son...the branch doesn.t fall far from the trunk..
Right? Right.
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“The Iceman says the mythology morphed as a pathology at Ed Pauley’s tome The Pope’s success cuts two ways. Tattooing the fans into an addiction. They can’t see anything else but the’w’ .
$35000 tops in his breaking thru the basketball Gods... becoming an immortal, stretching our petty existence as gym rats and jocks.
How can the Iceman miss. He’s got his head band on unless he goes Broadway......Flo Ziegfeld Billy Rose Tommy Manville. David Merrick clones.
Naah. The Iceman is beyond that ....his actress wife will keep his shirts clean for his Chinese laundry “Charlie Chan Key Luke #1 son ...starch ? Cantonese? Mandarin?... what’s your passion?”
“A role model and father figure...., he fell into the loop, didn’t he? From Wilbur Johns to our Johnnies, partner.
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“The Iceman’s modus operandi..... recruiting complete players....Bob Cousy out of Queens and Holy Cross......Oscar Robertson selflessness, his body spacing Pete Maravich’s dipsy do instinctive genius ...Earl the Pearl Monroe ball handling.....a phenom like Jerry West Bill Sharman Tex Winter’s “triangle”system..
.Dave Debussure’s inspiration and hustle....Willis Reed’s soft touch “Clyde: quickness Barnet Bill Bradley’s “j” from the corner... Phil Jackson, off the bench..Wes Unseld pro4ecting the paint ...Russell... Wilt... crashing the boards...
“That’s what the Iceman needs, partner. Y’ know where’s his web site? Blackberry? tech messaging?
Bob Kurland George Mikan Dave Minor Don Barksdale Alcindor “Magic” Patrick Ewing......... Elgin Baylor Sam Jones John Havlichik Dennis Johnson Larry Bird the “Chief” sweeping in from the weak side McHale penetrating the passing lane...swish .
The friggen synergy.... calibrating these selfless souls. into the team gig...
Wow!! What would Marie Dressler make of their challenge...not just to be good but to be the best they could...
Tthe Hank Luisetis of the two handed shot in the PSAL....Al Goodlearner, Honest Bill Rosenblatt, Lenny Singer, Wally Kaplan Shelly Fein Jackie Goldsmith, Danny Forman Dutch “no look pass”Garfinkel Maxie Zavalovsky Bernard King(small forward) Albert King Sid Tannenbaum .....
Whurling deities Connie Hawkins Pearl Washington Ozzie Schectman Dolly King Stan Waxman the Rader twins.... The mailman Karl Malone his alter ego John Stockton Stephon Marbury of Abrahm Lincoln High..... .
On the court.... in the classroom Wherever their man to man synergy flows.
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Oh if I could whisper my sweet nothings on channel’s 2 elite Bill Rafferty.....Not about me myself and my shadow..
“Here comes coach. McGuire(“Jordan”) throwback to the gym .Our imagination plunging into the futuro. About buying into the coach’s mojo, believing in him and proving ourselves..... my banner and battered “Oh my” hanging from the rafters..
“Searching the cosmos by becoming and being a role model,”the game and shot clock ticking....
Isn’t that what it’s about Coach? When we depart.... the”humans around us are better
Fuzzy Levane, Harry Boykoff, Hy Gotkin, Dick McGuire. Walter “the truth” Berry Mark Jackson lefty Chris Mullin Bill Wennington Malik Sealy..: deities in the pantheon of coaches Lapchick..... Carnesecca’s sweatered joy.
Right coaches Wooden? Pete Newell? Keady? Eddie Sutton? Lavin?
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Let the collective consciousness begin. the Johnnies greasing the Iceman’s mojo... 6 million over a 9 year swish.....
“There’s a tide in the affairs of man when taken at the flood lead on to fortune .Omitted all their voyages are bound in shallows and miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat and we must take the current where it serves or lose our ventures”.
The Big Apple’s Boro of Queens Saint Johns University....Easter Sunday 2010.
