Baseball Toaster: Dodger Thoughts : John Wooden Turns 95

John Wooden Turns 95

2005-10-14 22:50

by Jon Weisman

Heck, he's young - my grandmother just turned 95 1/2.

Quite a month for ESPN.com's Eric Neel - Vin Scully and John Wooden features back-to-back. Happy Birthday, Coach.

Comments

2005-10-15 00:41:40

1. trainwreck

Happy Birthday Coach! Hope he has many more. As a UCLA fan I have always admired Wooden and I am still amazed at the work he does and just how many people come to him for guidance.

2005-10-15 07:42:50

2. ryu

Check out the EPSN pictures, they're great.

2005-10-15 09:25:38

3. Bob Timmermann

My grandmother passed away in 2000, a month shy of turning 97. She grew up and lived in St. Louis until she was 56. She remembered Rogers Hornsby being a rookie.

2005-10-15 09:30:28

4. Vishal

my grandfather turned 100 a couple of months ago. is there a door prize or something?

2005-10-15 09:33:16

5. Bob Timmermann

Did Willard Scott wish him a happy birthday?

2005-10-15 09:33:26

6. Vishal

sorry, that was a lot more sarcastic than i meant it to be.

2005-10-15 09:34:10

7. Vishal

no, he lives in india. he's pretty amazing. he was a practicing physician until 97, when he was forced to retire because his clinic burned down in a riot.

2005-10-15 09:35:37

8. Vishal

(age 97, not 1997)

2005-10-15 09:44:12

9. MikeB

Coach Wooden became the UCLA coach for the 1948-49 season. His first NCAA championship was the 1963-64 season. That's a fourteen year journey to the top of the NCAA pyramid. Along the way were several seasons with zero post season games. I wonder if there is a John Wooden-type coach out there somewhere who is struggling right now, but will someday reach the top, and do it with as much dignity, class and respect for ethical values.
Many argue, and I count myself as one of them, that John Wooden is the greatest coach in the history of sports - all sports - at all levels. And it's not just for his winning 10 NCAA championships, 7 in a row! - but for the way he accomplished his goals. A great coach, and a greater human being.

Happy Birthday Coach!

2005-10-15 09:52:47

10. Bob Timmermann

Remembering that I am a UCLA alum and I hold Coach Wooden in the highest respect, but I feel that someone has to:

coughSamGilbertcough

2005-10-15 10:03:07

11. Vishal

that article was really excellent. neel keeps outdoing himself.

2005-10-15 10:07:59

12. Eric Enders

I'm sure Bob remembers what was the only other school to win the championship between 1964 and '73.

2005-10-15 10:12:25

13. Bob Timmermann

Adolph Rupp said that team cheated. Which is sort of like Chick Gandil claiming that someone was dealing from the bottom of the deck.

But my mother taught me Rupp was an evil, horrible man. And I don't think the other champion cheated.

So when is the movie about Don Haskins and Texas Western coming out?

2005-10-15 10:14:31

14. MikeB

13. A movie called Glory Road concerning the 1966 championship is set to be released in January, 2006.

2005-10-15 10:17:04

15. Bob Timmermann

Thanks.
I think that actor Josh Lucas, almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Don Haskins.

2005-10-15 10:24:52

16. Eric Enders

The movie comes out January 13. It'll be a Disneyfied version of the story, but from what I've seen of the script and the trailer, it looks to be fairly historically accurate. Lucas is actually a pretty good choice for the young Haskins, unlike the initial pick, Ben Affleck, who would have been disastrous.

I was too young for '66, but we had UTEP season tickets growing up and I had a streak of not missing a home game for something like 15 consecutive years.

2005-10-15 10:26:46

17. Bob Timmermann

Ben Affleck as Don Haskins?

Propriety keeps me from saying what I would have thought about that choice.

2005-10-15 10:32:56

18. das411

So about baseball...

NL: Matty Mo and his beard shut down the Astro "offense", Clemens takes a hard-luck loss, call it 3-1 StL.

AL: Chief Garcia is no match for whoever is possessing Ervin Santana (seriously, a good game here and he will be hyped as The Next Josh Beckett), and the LAAoANA scrap together a couple off maybe a single, sac bunt, and then Vlad HR. 2-0 Angels.

And then Mike up top there complains some more about how low-scoring all of these games are. While today's thread tops out at about 20 posts.

2005-10-15 10:36:40

19. Bob Timmermann

We'll likely have more posts about the USC-Notre Dame game.

But I'll be at work.

It was a very nice drive out to Fillmore, although the element of danger has been removed since Highway 126 was widened. Fillmore really needs a greasy spoon diner. It mainly has fast food and an IHOP.

2005-10-15 10:40:21

20. Linkmeister

So how many Notre Dame fans are commenters here? A former boss of mine was an ND grad, and the company owner was a Purdue grad; made for interesting Saturdays for a few years there.

2005-10-15 10:51:37

21. MikeB

Baseball owners often show a "herd" mentality. Free agent frenzies. Collusion. New ballparks. 18 different uniform styles. So, despite the often negative local/national press about McCourt - many MLB owners must be looking at the Dodgers swing towards profitablity and lower payroll. Could 2006 turn into a "revenge of the nerd-GM's" off-season?

Recent, current & possible GM vacancies for 2006 off-season.
Devil Rays - New owner a former Wall Street broker. Young guns in charge of front office
Yankees - Brian Cashman says adios to the Boss? Boss says adios to $200M payroll?
Red Sox - will Epstein follow the $ out of Beantown?
Phillies - 600,000 drop off in attendance. No-shows wave goodbye to Wade.
Padres - Kevin Towers leaves? Than what?
Diamondbacks - Kevin Towers going here?
Nationals - Bowden a bow-wow. New owner means new GM?
Rangers - 28yr old Jon Daniels now in charge
Orioles - Flanagan again - solo this time

Current "stat-minded GM's" roster
A's - Beane - longterm deal/5% ownership
Dodgers - Depodesta - entering 3rd yr of 5 yr deal. Lower payroll means higher profit for owners.
Blue Jays - Ricciardi - club on upswing. Yankees, Red Sox & Orioles trending down?
Red Sox - Epstein - contract is up - Lucchino may not want to pay top $$$
Rangers - just hired - Daniels (Cornell Finance grad)

Last Chance in '06 Candidates
Royals - Baird gets at least one more year
Reds - who is really in charge?
Giants - does Sabean leave when Barry does?
Mariners - if the fans leave, so will Bavasi
Cubs - last gasp for Dusty & MacPhail?

2005-10-15 11:18:39

22. das411

20 - I actually was on a local baseball team with one of the ND wideouts a few years ago.

That was also the team with Kyle Ambrogi, the kid from UPenn I posted about a couple of days ago.

I won't watch the game but it's fine with me if USC loses, so...GO NOTRE DAME!

2005-10-15 11:52:26

23. Vishal

[18] no way.