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2016 Philly Pressbox Radio Roundtable 3rd Annual Hall of Fame Ballot

In Misc Philly Sports, Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia Phillies, Philly Pressbox, Philly Pressbox Radio on July 27, 2016 at 8:51 pm

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Welcome to the 3rd annual Philly Pressbox Radio Roundtable Hall of Fame voting ballot.

As a review in 2014 we elected the following players. Chuck Bednarik, Steve VanBuren and Reggie White of the Eagles. Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and Robin Roberts of the Phillies. Bobby Clarke and Bernie Parent of the Flyers and Wilt Chamberlain and Julius “Dr J” Erving of the 76ers.

In 2015 we allowed the fans to select the top 3 by voting. Each fan could vote for 5 plauyers with the top 3 being inducted. Jim “Chet” Chesko and Bill Furman each selected one player. The fans selected Brian Dawkins, Richie Ashburn and Bill Barber while Chet selected Smokin Joe Frazier and Bill selected Pete Pihos.

We have added 5 new players to the ballot to combine with the 11 holdovers. Your job is to select 5 from the list. The ballot will close before next weeks show where we will announce our 5 new members.

So far the fans and the Philly Pressbox Radio staff have gotten it right. Lets see how 2016 goes.

 

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What Can Drexel Do?

In Misc Philly Sports on March 13, 2012 at 9:11 am

What more can you do if you’re the Drexel Dragons? Drexel finished the NCAA regular season with a 27-6 overall record and a 16-2 record in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), yet was still not selected to participate in the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament as one of the top 68 teams in the nation. There a few reasons why Drexel wasn’t selected: First, they lost to VCU in the CAA Championship game 59-56. The win gave VCU the automatic berth in “The Big Dance” from the CAA and left Drexel on the selection bubble. Second, the CAA is not considered a “major conference” and despite the Dragons having a 19 game winning streak and winning 19 of its last 20 games it wasn’t enough to get them selected.

So what can the Dragons do? WIN the NIT! If Drexel is as good as Coach Bruiser Flint has been saying all season they need to prove to the nay-sayers that they can compete at the upper level and should’ve been invited to “The Dance”.  They open the NIT as the #3 seed Wednesday night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center against the University of Central Florida, 22-10. A win in that game would put the Dragons in a match-up with either neighborhood rival St. Joseph’s, the #2 seed, or Northern Iowa, 19-13. St. Joe beat Drexel in November, 62-49. If everything played out for Drexel, they could meet #1 seeded Seton Hall in the quarterfinals to get to the Final 4. They will have to earn their way.

In order for this to happen the Dragons will need to stay focused and not think about what they don’t have but rather on winning the NIT one game at a time. They must continue to play good defense. They allow only 55.4 points per game. During the final 20 games of the season opponents only scored more than 70 points one time and over 60 three other times. If you keep your opponents under 60 points you have a good chance of winning. The flip side is the Dragons use balanced scoring with four players averaging in double figures while averaging just 64.7 ppg on offense. The scoring leaders for Drexel are Frantz Massenat, 13.6 ppg, Damion Lee, 12.7 ppg, Samme Givens, 11.4 ppg and Chris Fouch 10.5 ppg.

The Dragons have had an outstanding season that could end well by winning the NIT or be considered a major disappointment if they’re eliminated early in early in the tournament.

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WILT CHAMBERLAIN THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME!!!

In Misc Philly Sports, Philadelphia 76ers on March 2, 2012 at 9:45 am

“THE BIG DIPPER”

Tonight the 76ers will honor the greatest single accomplishment in professional basketball when they honor the 50th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlains 100 point game. They are also having the coolest giveaway that I’ve ever heard of for this game. For those of you that don’t know the history of this game it took place in Hershey PA on March 2, 1962. The Philadelphia Warriors beat the New York Knicks 169-147. The game was not on TV and was not video recorded anywhere. There is an audio recording of the game.  Wilt made 36 of 63 shots from the field and 28 of 32 from the foul line for exactly 100 points. 

The floor from that game was recently purchased by the 76ers who have had it cut in to 2”x2” sections which will be given to each fan that attends the game. I don’t know how they will package it but I’m sure there will be a letter of some sort to authenticate it when they hand it out. I think having an opportunity to own a real piece of history is a really cool thing. The remainder of the court will be cut in larger sections and given to the Chamberlain family, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and several other places.

It is great to be celebrating the 100 point game since it’s the 50th anniversary of the event. However this should also be a celebration of the greatest basketball player of all time. Some may argue for Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but they are wrong. There has never been and will never be another offensive player as dominate as “The Big Dipper”.  Below you see his career statistics and they are mind boggling. Wilt averaged 22.9 rebounds per game, FOR HIS CAREER!!! Not one big season but for a career. His 1961-62 season is one for the ages. Wilt averaged 50.4 points per game and 25.7 rebounds per game. The Big Dipper presently holds 72 NBA records and hasn’t played in 39 years. A few of the many impressive records are as follows: Most games of 50 or more points in a season, 45 in 61-62 and 30 in 62-63. The next closest is Kobe Bryant with 10. Most games with 50 or more points in a career, Wilt has 118, Jordan is 2nd with 31. Most points in a season 4,029 in 61-62, 3586 in 62-63, 3rd on the list is Jordan with 3,041 in 86-87. It’s amazing that as great as Jordan was that in his best season he scored 988 less points than Wilt did in his best season. Of the top five rebounding seasons in history the first, second, third and fifth season belong to Wilt. A couple obscure records are that Wilt never fouled out of a game in his 1,045 game career and in 61-62 he averaged 48.5 minutes per game because he played every minute of every game plus every overtime minute.

For those that didn’t get to see The Big Dipper play you may say that he was just bigger than everyone else and that’s just not true. Back in those days every team had a big, strong powerful and physical center unlike today when the game is much more guard oriented. The record books belong to Wilt.

So today we celebrate Philadelphia native, Overbrook High School graduate, former Philadelphia Warrior and Philadelphia 76er the greatest basketball player in NBA history, Wilton Norman Chamberlain, The Big Dipper.

Following is a summary of Wilts statisctics.

59-60 Phil. –  2707 points – 37.6ppg – 1941 rebounds – 27.0rpg

60-61 Phil. – 3033 points – 38.4ppg – 2149 rebounds – 27.2rpg

61-62 Phil. – 4029 points – 50.4ppg – 2052 rebounds – 25.7rpg

62-63 S.F.  – 3586 points – 44.8ppg – 1946 rebounds – 24.3rpg

63-64 S. F. – 2948 points – 36.9ppg – 1787 rebounds – 22.3rpg

64-65 SF, PHL – 2534 points – 34.7ppg – 1673 rebounds – 22.9rpg

65-66 Phil. – 2649 points – 33.5ppg – 1943 rebounds – 24.6rpg

66-67 Phil. – 1956 points – 24.1ppg – 1957 rebounds – 24.2rpg

67-68 Phil. – 1992 points – 24.3ppg – 1952 rebounds – 23.8rpg

68-89 LA – 1664 points – 20.5ppg – 1712 rebounds – 21.1rpg

69-70 LA – 328 points – 27.3ppg – 221 rebounds – 18.4rpg

70-71 LA – 1696 points – 20.7ppg – 1493 rebounds – 18.2rpg

71-72 LA – 1213 points – 14.8ppg – 1572 rebounds – 19.2rpg

72-73 LA – 1084 points – 13.2ppg – 1526 rebounds – 18.6rpg

Career – 31,419 points – 30.1ppg – 23,924 rebounds – 22.9rpg

 

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HOW DO WE PICK OUR FAVORITE PLAYERS?

In Misc Philly Sports on February 28, 2012 at 10:22 am

Have you ever given any thought to how you pick the players or coaches that become your favorites? My Father says if they wear our colors they’re my favorite. I’ve thought about this for some time but two events took place this past week that forced me to dig in to the books and do some research on the subject. Those two things were the reevaluation of Ryan Howard’s achilles tendon that seemed to bring out the “haters”. There are a lot of doubters out there about Ryan. The second one was the trade of Jeff Carter from Columbus to LA. Let’s start with these and we’ll go from there. Recently we did a poll on http://phillypressbox.com and on our Facebook page at Philly Pressbox and not one person selected Ryan Howard as their favorite Phillie. We also did a separate poll of who were your 5 favorite Phillies of all time and only one person mentioned Ryan. Honestly, he’s not my favorite either but he’s a really good player. I did some comparisons to the greatest home run hitter and greatest player in Phillies history to see how they match up. Howard is 31 years old so that was the bench mark to compare Howard’s stats to Schmidt’s when he was 31. Schmidt played in 1336 games and Howard in 1027 games. Schmidt had 4581 at bats and Howard 3794. Schmidt hit 314 HR’s, Howard 286. That’s 28 less homers in 309 less games and 787 less at bats. Schmidt led the league in Home Runs 5 times and Howard twice. Schmidt had 1216 hits and Howard has 1043 hits. Schmitty’s batting average was .265 and Ryan’s is .275. Now for the big stat against Ryan Howard – Strikeouts!!! Howard has struck out 1207 times and has led the league once while Schmidt struck out 1148 times and led the league 3 times. Obviously in the field there’s no one like Mike Schmidt. This isn’t meant to compare Ryan Howard to Mike Schmidt but to compare Ryan Howard to greatness. His numbers match up pretty well against the Greatest Player in Phillies history. Besides that, have you ever heard a bad word off the field about Howard? He’s a genuine nice guy!!!

That brings us to Carter. Why is it that people don’t like Carter? I keep hearing that he and Mike Richards liked the night life of Philly too much. Really? They were in their 20’s, single, millionaires that are out having a good time. Do you think players from other teams sit in the house at night? More importantly why do we care what they do outside their uniform unless it’s David Akers and many others trying to raise money for charities or their foundations? Do you really care about the 76ers player that had 8 children with 3 different women and 2 of the children outside his marriage while he was married to his wife? Who cares, it’s his business so why do we care about Carter? In Carter’s Flyers career he scored 181 goals and had 162 assists scoring 46 goals in one season and topping 30 in two others. Yet, many people were happy to see him traded by the Flyers and seemed it was funny that he was traded to LA to play again with Richards. Why don’t we like Jeff Carter?

Moving along to a few others that I find interesting. We love Dick Vermeil but we hate Andy Reid. Vermeil is still on billboards in town after leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl and losing, ummm 32 years ago. Vermeil coached the Eagles for 6 ½ seasons and had a record of 54-47. The Eagles finished first in the NFC East 1 time and 2nd – 3 times under Vermeil. Everybody seems to want a shot at Reid, although I’m not one of them. Reid has been with the Eagles for 13 seasons. His record is 126-81-1. The Eagles have been to one Super Bowl and lost. They have won 6 NFC East titles and have finished 2nd – 4 other times. Why don’t we like Andy Reid?

Andre Iguodala is next on the list. At the start of the season everybody said this guy had to go. Here we are at mid-season and he’s selected for his first all star game. Iggy is the best player on the team but we have no love for him. He’s a hard worker on both ends of the court and is a fantastic defensive player. He’s in his 7th season with the 76ers and it’s surely not his fault there hasn’t been anyone to play around him. He’s averaged 79 games a year up to this year, they only play 82, and he’s averaing15.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 4.8 apg over his career. These aren’t superstar numbers but solid none the less. Why don’t fans like Iggy?

Then we have Jimmy Rollins, he calls out the Philly fans but we love him. Even Jason Avant called out the fans and for some reason we still like him. DeSean Jackson quit on his team, the fans and the City of Philadelphia but we seem to still like him. Shane Victorino has a great smile so we love him. Jayson Werth strikes out too much we don’t like him. Cole Hamels is borderline. A couple bad game and we don’t like him. Mike Schmidt wasn’t a beloved player for most of his career but Larry Bowa was. What about Brett Myers? We loved Harry the K and Whitey but don’t think much of Wheels and Sarge. Donovan McNabb, we’re not sure what to think about him. There’s no in the middle with him, you’re either in or you’re out. The same can be said for Randall Cunningham. Did we really have Ron Jaworski fans in town when he played? Jeff Garcia was a fan favorite. We love Reggie White and I have no idea why. We’ll talk more about him in a future post. Bill Bergey, Vince Papale, Brian Dawkins and Brian Westbrook are in, TO and Freddie Mitchell are out. What about Eric Lindros? Is he in or out? Scott Hartnell is in this year but out last year. How about Mark Recchi who won rings everywhere but here? Rick Tocchett is in. How about Lappy, Ian Laperriere? Do we really love any Flyers goalies besides Bernie Parent and maybe Ron Hextall. Brad Lidge made us nervous but we love the Tugger and even Mitch Williams, talk about two guys that could make you nervous. We love John Kruk but don’t like Ryan Howard.  What about Aaron Rowand and Lenny Dykstra? We even love Darren Daulton but don’t like Scott Rolen and Curt Schilling. Gregg Jefferies, Danny Jackson, Jamie Moyer? What about Dick, don’t call me Richie, Allen and what do we think about Charles Barkley and Allen (It’s only practice) Iverson? How about George McGinnis?

Of course there has to be a separate love/hate category for Pete Rose, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Ricky Watters, Peter Forsberg, and Jaromir Jagr.  Superstar outsiders that we hated before they got here but cheered for like crazy once they were here. Only Forsberg really let us down.

We’ve thrown out a lot of names and missed a lot as well but what we haven’t figured out is why we like or don’t like players or coaches when in almost every case we’ve never met them. Is it whether they brought a championship to town or if they’re the best players on their particular team? Is it the effort we feel they put in while they’re playing? Is it the way they come across on TV? Is it the way the media presents them or is it because you did see them and got or didn’t get an autograph?

Let us know?

As Andy would say “TIME’S YOURS”

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Philly Broadcast Legends

In Misc Philly Sports, Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia Phillies on January 30, 2012 at 8:06 am

Philly Pressbox originally published this article on January 30, 2012. We’ve been asked to republish it several times by our readers so here it is. We hope you enjoy it. Feel free to comment.

With the passing of Penn State legendary coach Joe Paterno this week it was somewhat lost in the news of the passing of a Philadelphia legend Andy Musser. Musser was often below the radar in the Phillies broadcast booth from 1976 – 2001that was full of larger than life personalities but Andy was a true professional, a gentleman and a man that could broadcast any sport and do a great job of it. Many people know Andy from those Phillies years but he also broadcasted the Eagles from 1965-68 and the 76ers from 1965-71. That’s 34 Philadelphia sports season in the books for Andy. Great Job!!

Andy’s passing made me think about the broadcasters that we’ve had in Philadelphia over the years. Do you realize that if you were born after 1955 you had never heard a Phillies game that was not broadcasted by a Hall of Famer? When I first started watching and listening to Phillies baseball it was Bill Campbell, Rich Ashburn and By Saam. All are HOF members in their own way. Campbell as a broadcaster in the Basketball HOF, Ashburn as a player in the Baseball HOF and the legendary By Saam as a broadcaster in the Baseball HOF. Saam called Phillies games from 1939-49 and again from 1955-1975. Campbell was replaced by Harry Kalas and another 38 years of broadcasting from a Baseball HOF member. Add to that the one year stints of Hall of Fame players Robin Roberts in ’76 and Mike Schmidt in ’90 and “The Box” was loaded with All Stars. Another long time member of “The Box” is Chris Wheeler who just completed his 34th season with the Phillies as well as Musser and his 25 years.

Moving on to the Flyers, people my age learned the game of hockey by Hall Of Famer Gene Hart. Hart was a Flyers broadcaster the initial 67-68 season and then full time from 1971-1992. Who will ever forget Gene calling the games of the Broad Street Bullies and the Stanley Cups? The Hart legacy lives in with his daughter Lauren singing the National Anthem and God Bless America at all home games. Here’s an interesting Flyer broadcast fact for you, during the 1970-71 season Flyers Sunday games were broadcast by former Phillies 1st baseman and later National League Commissioner Bill White. White was the first black to announce an NHL game. The Chief, Bobby Taylor spent 16 seasons, Gary Dornhoefer 14 and now Jim Jackson has been bringing us games since 1993. Maybe HOF will be in JJ’s future one day.

The Eagles Merrill Reese, although not a Hall of Famer at this time, has been broadcasting games on radio since 1977 and does he do a great job? How many of you have turned down the TV to listen to Merrill do the play-by-play along with his many color commentators, Herb Adderly, yes the HOF player, Bill Bergey, Stan Walters and now Mike Quick call the game the way it should be called. Tracing way back to 1940 By Saam was doing the games up until 1955, minus the 50 and 51 seasons when Bill Campbell took over. Campbell called the games until 1964. In ‘64 Saam was back for one last year working with Campbell and former Eagle Tom Brookshier. Musser took over from 1965–1968. Charlie Swift covered from 1969-77 and Reese joined Swift in 1977 until now. What a run of great announcers! Did you know that future Baseball HOF broadcaster Jack Buck did Eagles games in 1961? Anyone who was able to go to games at Franklin Field and the early days at The Vet will never forget the booming voice of PA announcer Matt Goukas Sr. who handled the duties from 1953-1985. Goukas was legendary! His call of 2nd down and niooooooon (2nd & 9) is still in my head after all this years. Amazingly enough when Goukas retired Dan Baker took over and he has been the PA voice of the Eagles ever since not to mention handing the same duties with the Phillies since 1972 and doing Big 5 basketball from 1977-1989. Baker has been a busy man in Philadelphia.

Speaking of PA announcers we can’t forget “The Zink”, Dave Zinkoff. Zink was with the Philadelphia Warriors and then the 76ers from 1946-1985. Zink had many favorites but “Dipper Dunk” for Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Errrrrrrrrrrving and Moses Maaaaaaaaaaalone have to be at the top of the list. Of course we can’t forget Bill Campbell again. Campbell along with his work with the Eagles and Phillies called Warriors games from 1946–1962 and 76ers games from 1972-1981. Andy Musser followed and Mark Zumoff has been holding it down since 1994.

There can’t be another city that can say that they’ve had a run with broadcasters and announcers that Philly has had. From Saam to Campbell to Ashburn to Kalas to Musser to Hart to Goukas to Zinkoff to Baker to the present day guys of Reese, Wheeler, Zumoff  and Jackson it’s been quite a run. The bar has been set very high.

As Gene Hart would say, “Good Night and Good Hockey”!!!

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Philly Pressbox Weekly Sports Update – 1/22-28

In Misc Philly Sports on January 29, 2012 at 8:40 am

A quick review of Philly Sports for the week of January 22

  •   We lost Joe Paterno – RIP
  •   We lost Andy Musser – RIP
  •   We said goodbye to Brad Lidge. 2008 was a great season. There’s nothing like being perfect.

We said goodbye to Wilson Valdez. No more 19th inning pitching wins.

Phil Knight –Enough said!!

We found greatness in Penn State, Kenny Jackson, Charlie, Pittman, Jimmy Cefalo, Todd Blackledge, Chris Marrone, Michael Robinson, Michael Mauti, Lauren Perrotti, Jeff Bast, Susan Welch, Kurtis Cleckner and Jay Paterno, Sue Paterno and the Paterno family.

The Phils welcome Juan Pierre. Could he be the leadoff hitter we need?

Congrats to Flyers Claude Giroux, Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell for making the NHL All Star team. Especially Hartnell making his 1st appearance in his 11th season.

Claude Giroux goes to the All Star break 2nd in the league in points

The Flyers go to the All Star break in 2nd place in the Atlantic Division 3 points behind the Rangers.

The 76ers finished the week 3-1 and lead the Atlantic Division by 4 games.

Congrats to Shady McCoy, Jason Peters and Jason Babin for making the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. A special shout out to former Eagle David Akers for another trip to Honolulu.

Temple (15-5) whipped St. Joe’s (13-9), 78-60 at the Liacouras Center. I wish those games were still at the Palestra.

Drexel is 17-5 and has won 9 in a row.

Penn is 11-9 and has won 3 in a row.

LaSalle is 16-6 and has won 3 in a row.

Villanova lost to Marquette falling to 11-12.

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Philly Fans Are 1st Class

In Misc Philly Sports on January 1, 2012 at 10:23 am

Yesterdays Winter Classic Flyers verses Rangers Alumni Game gave the world another opportunity to see the real class of the Philly sports fans. Many bad things have been written over the years about the “Best Fans in Sports in America” in a negative way but the love affair for five decades of hockey showed bright at Citizens Bank Park. From Parent and Clarke to Lindros and LeClair to Recchi and Tochett it was truly a special day highlighted by the Lauren Hart and Kate Smith singing God Bless America. It was truly an electric celebration at The Bank.

Over the years I’ve seen some of the bad, I was actually an 8-year-old kid at Franklin Field when the fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus. I was there when a mannequin of Joe Kuharik was hung from the upper deck and planes flew over the stadium pulling “Joe Must Go” signs. Those things really did happen! I was also at The Vet when WE threw snowballs at Jimmy Johnson and the hated Cowboys. I saw the signs that said “Paul the Pope and Danny the Dope” in the late 70’s referencing Paul Owens and Danny Ozark of the Phillies. More importantly I’ve been at every venue in this city over the last 45 years and have seen the passion and knowledge that makes Philly fans the best. When it’s all said and done, what separates Philly fans from the rest is that they recognize greatness in the game and the players whether they are our players (Clarke, Dr. J, Schmidt, Carlton, Parent, Bergey, Wilbert, AI, Big E, B-Dawk and on and on)  or our opponents. (Magic, MJ, Kareem, Emmitt, The Great One, Messier, Brady, Montana, Mario)

New Years Eve at The Bank was just the latest opportunity for the Philly fans to show the National and Canadian TV world what it’s like to be “The Greatest Sports Fans in America” and be 1st Class!

LET’S GO FLYERS!!!!

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