Schedule Wasn’t Made With True NBA Fans in Mind

Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe writing on the drawn-out NBA playoffs: “We might have a new president before the first round is over.”

“With nothing--nothing!--but television considerations in mind, the league has submitted schedules that are, in some cases, so preposterous as to be laughable. The only problem is that they’re very real and people will be forced to play them.

“It’s all about ratings. Forget the combatants. Forget the paying customers. In the NBA world view, it is far better that a guy in Fargo, N.D., have a TNT or TBS doubleheader or an NBC tripleheader just about each and every day or night than to do something that might stimulate competition or serve the needs of the people who actually have a direct rooting interest.”

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Trivia time: Which NBA team holds the record for the best home-court regular-season record?

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Why watch the game? Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star on the NBA: “A couple of friends of mine went to a bar and were watching an NBA game on the screen. We saw more passes in the actual bar.”

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Enough, already: ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale is already giving reports on the baby boy that was christened Espen:

“What an absolute Diaper Dandy! Awesome, baby, with a capital A.”

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A steadying influence: Steve Kelley in the Seattle Times:

“On a team (the SuperSonics) that sometimes acts with all of the maturity of a kindergarten class with a substitute teacher, (Horace) Grant has been the touch of class,

“At 6 feet 10, he has been asked to play every All-Star big man in the game. He has played 76 games on aching knees, averaged 8.1 points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds.”

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Perspective: Tracy O’Hara of UCLA set a women’s NCAA pole vault record on Saturday with a mark of 14 feet, 7 1/4 inches.

Her winning height would have won every men’s NCAA outdoor championship meet from 1938 to 1950.

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Looking Back: On this day in 1963, Bob Cousy ended his 13-year career by scoring 18 points to lead the Boston Celtics to their fifth consecutive NBA championship by beating the Lakers, 112-109.

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Trivia answer: Boston, 40-1, in the 1985-86 season.

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And finally: Jayson Stark in the Philadelphia Inquirer: “It seems impossible to go a decade without a home run, but Rafael Belliard somehow went from May 5, 1987 to Sept. 26, 1997 between homers (1,869 at bats).

“In between, 40,653 homers were hit by everyone else and 379 just by Mark McGwire.”