The Sports Seer - There are worse logos.

Time 2020-07-14 11:04:45

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The interviewer, Roy Firestone, covered an array of hot-button issues with the most dominant individual player the sport of basketball has ever, and will ever, see.Go here for Part 1. Roy Firestone: The other guy that you re most associated with, and always have been, and something you almost don t even want to talk about anymore, but I m gonna bring it up anyway is Bill Russell. And people also theorize that the reason there s been a kind of thin feud between the two of you, if at all, is because that you got a bad rap through Russell, that Russell was always considered the more sensitive ballplayer, the more intelligent ballplayer, the more team-oriented ballplayer, and ultimately, of course, the more successful ballplayer. You guys were, once upon a time very, very close, but all of that stuff, all of that baggage added up and it split you guys apart.Wilt Chamberlain: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I would think that there is a little bit of myth involved. We were very, very close at one time, and Russell has some statements to make after he got out of basketball that I think were somewhat unkind to me.Like when I came out of the game, which was the seventh game with Boston and LA, with a knee problem, I tore part of my Achilles Tendon, and he said at a some type of speech, that he would never have left the game unless sort of broken back, something like that, you know? But then he apologized a few years later on, but never to me, but through the press or what have you. But you must understand, once again, you re talking about a guy who s filled with a lot of pride. I ve been fortunate. Off the court, I ve probably done better than I did on the court. Some of these guys have not been so successful off of the court. And it s hard for them, sometimes, to face their contemporaries and look at them the same way you would like to because they don t feel as comfortable about where they are now in life compared to what they were doing when they were playing basketball Roy Firestone: I don t say this to embarrass you, because I wouldn t want to do that, but that you sucked your thumb until you were in high school.And that you have really never have had a serious relationship before. You are a loner, as we said before. There s been little romance and no desire to marry. I never believe in closing the door or anything at all. I never say never. I m from a very successful family of marriage, as far as that s concerned. My mother and father have been married for almost 50 years. And I have a great respect for the institution. But I think, in today s world, there s almost no place for it.You know, when they look at you, Wilt, when everybody looks at you, they see a man who s indestructible. Ever been hurt by a woman?Wilt Chamberlain:Not really, no. No. Not that I can think of. I ve been hurt by the multitudes or the ones that say no, for whatever reasons.But, I mean, is that maybe because you don t let people in as close as you might or could? And that because of that, you disassociate yourself a little bit? You distance yourself a little bit?Well, I would say maybe there might be a fear of getting too close and then getting hurt. Yeah, that s natural, I think. I think we all have that. But basically, I feel as though that I have to find someone that is comparable, and that s almost impossible for me to do.Wilt Chamberlain: Probably Not old age, but not being able to do the things that I now am capable of doing. Not being able to function as an athlete, not being able to take care of yourself. I think that you can get old gracefully and enjoy it, but being able to do the thing that I love to do.It s interesting that you say that, growing old gracefully, because Wilt Chamberlain is not afforded that right, particularly. You always have to look like you could play. You ve even said that before. You re not allowed to become flabby. Does that bother you? Does that frustrate you a little bit?I think that it Normally it would, but in this case, it helps to give me inspiration and incite me to do the things that are necessary to keep your body in shape and be as healthy as you possibly can. But you re right. Sometimes it s tough. It s tough because you always have people who are always looking at you and they always want to know, Can he or can he not go out there and play, or what have you. So you know, I believe what you re saying is true. Bigness, I mean, just big in the exterior, physical bigness, right, kind of brings it on. People just look at you as being impenetrable, whatever. They think if you re small, anything can hurt you. If you re big, nothing will hurt you. And yes, [inaudible 00:07:27].There s a responsibility of bigness. You ve got to have the biggest house, you ve gotta have the biggest appetite, you ve gotta have the best women, the biggest car. That stuff adds up.Yeah. Well, in some cases, I ve put that on by myself. In some cases I ve wanted to have the fastest car, the nicest this, the nicest that, but a lot of that still is natural. You know? But I think that you have to realize that you can t have all these things.Roy Firestone: Wilt Chamberlain, we re going to talk about the people and places.I have none because I understand, I think, a lot of what racial all that malarkey s all about. I ve been lucky enough to see people come into love, and that s what it s all about.You are in the minority in a certain level. I mean, you are ultra conservative, you support Nixon, you have come under attack for that. Certainly, you take none of that back.Because I believed very strongly at the time that Nixon was the best for our country, and at foreign affairs, he was the best at it, and we needed to get all that together. I believe strongly today that being conservative is still the way to go. I m not really a Reagan fan, but I m still Republican, I think.Roy Firestone: What would you say Here s what I m trying to get at. What would you say if someone said, Tell me something about Wilt that we wouldn t know. Give me one paragraph about yourself.Wilt Chamberlain: I think that I believe in love and I believe that we all have to reach out a whole lot more to everybody, whether it s color, race, sex, this country or whatever, and just touch and see. I was fortunate enough to travel the world a number of times with the Globetrotters, whatever, and see that we all are really alike, that we all need the one basic thing. It s love, and with that, understanding.Wilt Chamberlain: Oh, always has been. I think that it s a natural function. I think that it s helped to keep me alive and well, and still have many dreams in that fashion. Yeah, sex is very important.There is a lot of myth and legend associated with Wilt Chamberlain, as you might imagine, and sex. How much of that is true?No, super stud is in one s imagination. I just want to be satisfied. The right is satisfying. I want to be able to be satisfied.One who is intelligent, one who laughs a lot at herself and other people, one who enjoys a great deal of sex and can really cook.Roy Firestone: Greatest player you ever faced? Would it automatically be Bill Russell? Maybe you d be surprised to say.Wilt Chamberlain: No. Not at all. I think Bill Russell did a great deal for his team. There was a lot of great, great players I played. Willis Reed, Nate Furman, and Oscar Robertson, Jerry West. I faced these guys. Elgin Baylor. And I played against them. I played against teams, not individuals. And Russell was just one of the great players that I had a chance to play against.Roy Firestone: We have 30 seconds left, and we always run to the end of this thing and we ask you to tie it all up. What would you like most to be associated with, remembered for, for the career, and for the myth and legend?Wilt Chamberlain: Well, a big guy that had a lot of compassion. And what I m doing now in life by trying to help a lot of, you know, amateur kids involved in sports. I want to be remembered for trying to give something back. From getting so much out of sports to just giving something back.Roy Firestone: Red Auerbach, or the man that you never even mentioned by name, you just refer to him as, The man I don t like. Your comments on him?Wilt Chamberlain: Yeah, well, probably the best coach to ever coach professional basketball, very big egotist, and used me a ploy to help to make Russell great.To read Part 1 of this interview and see the original video, click below. In it, Chamberlain discusses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Young, hungry former assistants seeking to slay the king and claim the kingdom for their own.These are the some of the issues which plagued Paul Bear Bryant in the early 1980s, at the end of a legendary tenure as head coach of Alabama football.Nowadays, the other king of Alabama football, Nick Saban, is facing similar obstacles in the wake of the Crimson Tide s shocking national title championship loss to Clemson. The comparison between Bear Bryant and the 67-year-old Nick Saban is something Paul Finebaum, longtime SEC football radio host, recently delved into. I covered the end of Paul Bryant s tenure, as one of my first big responsibilities as a reporter. He was sick, he was 69 years old.But what also hurt him his last year or two was staff turnover, the rumors of his age working against him and competing in state against a younger, aggressive coach who knew his blueprint. Finebaum here is referring to Pat Dye, who d coached linebackers under Bryant from 1965 to 1973 before head coaching at Auburn. There are two Nick Saban era equivalents to Dye. First, Jimbo Fisher, who worked under Saban at LSU as an offensive coordinator.Second, there s Kirby Smart, who was Saban s longtime righthand man and defensive coordinator at Alabama. Smart has already built a powerhouse at Georgia, a program which in the last two seasons has given the Crimson Tide more trouble than any save Clemson.Pat Dye ended up stealing some high-caliber players from Bear Bryant and Alabama. Bo Jackson wasn t the one everybody thought was going to hurt [Bryant], Finebaum said. Nope, that was lineman Ben Tamburello, a Birmingham area native whom Bryant badly wanted.Tamburello had grown up an Alabama fan, but when he committed to Auburn, a lot of people saw that an important sign that Bryant had lost his recruiting mojo.These kinds of forces of atrophy are usually what gets a good coach, Finebaum added. I m not suggesting Saban is anywhere near the end, although he s had a pretty bad week. Listen to this analysis, and far more, by visiting The Paul Finebaum Show. Click on the 4:14 marker here.Another NFL Playoffs is set to launch with four tantalizing Wild Card match ups. Odds show that at least two Wild Card teams will win this weekend, including the Chargers.Here are the three biggest storylines to watch going into Sunday’s showdown between San Diego and Baltimore:No team gives up fewer yards per game than the purple and black. In Week 16, in a win against the Chargers, the Ravens flexed their defensive muscles.They held San Diego to its lowest points (10), overall yards (198) and pass yards (147) in any game this year.The Ravens also created three turnovers. Cornerback Tavon Young sealed the game with a 62-yard fumble recovery touchdown. Watch Baltimore safety Eric Weddle to wreak some havoc, too. Weddle, a former Charger, knows Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers’ tendencies inside and out. I ve referred to him as football savant, Baltimore defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said of Weddle. He knows what bothers Philip. We know what bothers Philip. Philip knows what bothers Weddle. So, that s the fun challenge to watch. The Chargers have gone all year without the services of Henry, one of the top handful of tight ends in the league.In May, Henry suffered an ACL tear. It was expected he would be out for the entire season. Thanks to the wonders of modern science, though, he’s made nearly record time in recovery and has rejoined the team for practice this week.It’s up in the air whether the 6’5,” 250-pound third-year player out of Arkansas will play on Sunday. If he does play, and plays well, then Henry could provide just the kind of X-factor the Chargers need to break through the Ravens’ vaunted defense.Henry could help the weakest part of the Chargers’ offense: their third-down conversion ratio. Jeff Miller of the Los Angeles Times writes:“The Chargers have struggled particularly in trying to sustain drives, picking up more than two first downs on only three of those 24 series. Against a Ravens team that loves to hog the ball on offense and pressure the quarterback on defense, the ability to prolong drives figures to be paramount. The Chargers converted only four of 13 third downs against Baltimore in a 22-10 loss at StubHub Center on Dec. 22. An injury to Joe Flacco earlier this season allowed the rookie sensation out of Louisville to break into the starting lineup.Lamar Jackson has taken full advantage. Since Week 11, he’s led Baltimore to a 6-1 record and averaged 79.4 rush yards per game as a starter — the most by any QB with at least five starts since the 1970 NFL merger, according to NFL.comJackson has given the Ravens a jolt: Baltimore averages 19.4 more carries per game and 136.9 more rush yards per game with Jackson as the starter.Jackson is set to become the youngest quarterback to ever start an NFL Playoffs game. At 21 years, 364 days, he will surpass Bernie Kosar — who was 22 years, 40 days old when he made his first playoffs start in 1985.Jackson isn’t too impressed. “It’s just a name ‘the playoffs,' he said. You’re trying to get the championship now. It was for us to get in it, and we’re in it now, so we want the big thing. We want the big thing now. The most interesting TV conversation conducted with the great Wilt Chamberlain occurred in front of ESPN cameras in 1987. The interviewer, Roy Firestone, covered an array of hot-button issues with the most dominant individual player the sport of basketball has ever, and will ever, see. Roy Firestone: . Sometimes you will go three or four days without eating. Sometimes, and it s fact, you have gotten into a car and just driven as far as you can drive. In fact, you drove, on a whim, across country. What do you think about the mystery behind Wilt Chamberlain?Wilt Chamberlain: Well, it s pretty ordinary to me, once again. You know, you re right. You say a whim. I love to drive, see, but I love to be alone. I ve always driven by myself. I ve gone across country 20 times maybe, always alone.Wilt Chamberlain: Oh, a number of things. Who I am, what I d like to be, going fast, doing things you shouldn t be doing, maybe a little faster than you should be going. Flirting a little bit, not with death, but, you know, just those things that seem to be what we like to do but a little bit afraid of. I water ski at over a hundred miles an hour. When I ride in my cars I ve gone as much as 180 or 170 miles an hour, and most people will dream of doing those things but never have enough nerve, maybe, to try them.Wilt, on whether he would be as dominant in the late 80s as he was in the 60s: But I think there was a lot of big guys when I played. Guys who weighed more than I do, a few guys taller than I was, a lot of seven footers, but today the guys are much more athletic. But I think sometimes when you have all that going for you in a body, how is your head? I watch Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] out there now. Now, I think the center position has suffered. I think they have lousy centers right now. There are two or three that are really good, the rest of em couldn t make Overbrook High School. I believe they have athletic ability, but they don t use this right up here [points to head], which a great many athletes don t do. But I think that basketball players today are much as athletes, but some of em, their thinking process as far as the game is concerned .Roy Firestone: I wanna go back to Kareem for a second. He has known you since he s 14 years old. People don t realize that you guys grew up, you took him under your wing, you befriended him. You showed him the ropes. You literally gave him the shirt off your back. You used to give him your own clothes. Took him to the Latin Quarter in New York once upon a time. Why aren t you guys closer?Wilt Chamberlain: Well, you know, I would say that athletes are really tough people to They have a lot of pride and so they re very, very competitive, and him and I are natural rivals. Even though we grew up together in one way, we still are rivals. People put us together. Why? I don t know. He plays a different game than I ever played, but I think it also works on him. I would love to be more friendly with Kareem, but maybe he s in a different world than I am right now. I know this right here. I think if I came to Kareem and said, Hey, how about letting me [inaudible at 5:17 marker] it wouldn t be a problem.For Part 2 of this interview, in which Wilt discusses Bill Russell, his outrageous libido and more, visit below:Doby set to become the second black baseball player to win the Congressional Gold Medal.In 1947, Doby became the second African American in major league baseball months after Jackie Robinson had broke the barrier in the modern era.Now, nearly 72 years later, Doby is set to follow Robinson as the second black baseball player to be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal— one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States. The U.S. Senate recently passed legislation to posthumously honor Doby, who died in 2003.Like Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby had to deal with a lot of racist hatred in his career, especially at the beginning. Most of it came from opponents. I guess Philadelphia, St. Louis and Washington were the worst, Doby told the Washington Post in 1987. I d get the usual nigger, coon, shoeshine boy. I could understand from some fan or some jerk sitting on the bench. But I d get it from managers, too. Like Casey {Stengel}. He d call me a jigaboo. All game, he d be yelling, Hey, jigaboo. But you d mention this to the writers and they d say, No, not Casey. Doby might have also got it bad from his own teammates if not for Cleveland owner Bill Veeck. Before Doby signed with Cleveland, Veeck stood up for for Doby when he heard about certain Indians who resisted accepting him as a teammate.Bill Veeck, right before Doby signed: “I understand that some of you players said that “if a nigger joins the club you’re leaving. Well, you can leave right now because this guy [Doby] is going to be a bigger star than any guy in the room.”Veeck, it turned out, was spot on: Doby played 10 seasons and two World Series for the Cleveland Indians, while hitting 215 homers.He led Cleveland to a 111-game win season, an American League record, to end the five-year pennant reign of Casey Stengel’s Yankees team.After each season in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Doby and Robinson would barnstorm together for about 30 games after each season in the late 1940s and early 1950s. “We never got to the point where he discussed the bigotry or the segregation, you know, because you get enough of that,” Doby said.The only thing we talked about was some of the people on other teams who were kind of nasty… At the time there were a lot of people called ‘bench jockeys.’ They didn’t play much, but they ran their mouth and that kind of stuff.I never felt I needed to discuss any of those type of things with him, because we’re going through the same situation. I didn’t want to hear it and I know he didn’t want to hear it.When the season is over and you’re happy to get home and enjoy your family and your neighborhood and just have a relaxing good time — without thinking of all the negatives that happened or are gonna happen.Larry Doby shared these thoughts with an audience in 2001. The setting was a conference on the The Integration of Baseball with Slick Surratt, Joe Black and Commissioner Fay Vincent.It was there that he learned that Bill Veeck, who had passed in 1986, was a Kenyon alumnus. Learning that made Doby smile and share more about Veeck:There was a restaurant in Miami that didn’t allow African Americans. We were down there with my wife and oldest daughter. He was there. He said we’ll go into this restaurant, and we had no idea it didn’t allow African Americans. So we get out the car and my daughter’s six or seven years old. And he puts her on his shoulders and walks right into the restaurant. We went to a table in the corner, sat, ate and had a good time. The next day he told me “You know what? You were the first blacks to eat in that restaurant.” I said ‘What? What are you trying to do, get me killed?”He and Don Newcombe played part of a season in Japan, becoming the first former major-leaguers to play there (and the first blacks, too). In 1978, Doby became baseball s second black manager when he took over the White Sox for half a season. Below is the list of the SEC s leading tacklers since 2005. The leader is Kentrell Brothers of Missouri.Name | Total Tackles | Season | TeamDe Jon Harris  118 2018 ArkansasRoquan Smith 137 2017 GeorgiaZach Cunningham 125 2016 Vanderbilt1 Kentrell Brothers 152 2015 Missouri1 Martrell Spaight 128 2014 Arkansas1 Ramik Wilson 133 2013 Georgia1 A.J. Johnson 138 2012 Tennessee1 Danny Trevathan 143 2011 Kentucky1 Danny Trevathan 144 2010 Kentucky1 Rennie Curran 130 2009 Georgia1 Dominic Douglas 116 2008 Mississippi State1 Jerod Mayo 140 2007 Tennessee1 Patrick Willis 137 2006 Mississippi1 Patrick Willis 128 2005 MississippiNeed to go shopping for groceries?Below are some highlights that will get you feelin jacked before stepping into that Piggly Wiggly’s down the street.Martrell SpaightAfter College:Drafted by the Washington Redskins, Round 5, Pick 141• Washington Redskins (2015–2017)• Miami Dolphins (2018)• Jacksonville Jaguars (2018–present)Career NFL performance:Total tackles: 105Sacks: 0.0Pass deflections: 3Interceptions: 1Roquan SmithAfter College:Drafted by the Chicago Bears, Round 1, Pick 8Career NFL performance:Total tackles: 81Sacks: 4.0Forced fumbles: 1Danny TrevathanAfter College:Drafted by the Denver Broncos, Round 6, Pick 188Has played in two Super Bowls with the Broncos (2013, 2015), racking up 20 tackles in all• Denver Broncos (2012–2015)• Chicago Bears (2016–present)Career NFL performance:Total tackles: 498Sacks: 8.0Pass deflections: 31Interceptions: 7Forced fumbles: 6Defensive touchdowns: 1Patrick WillisAfter College:Drafted by the San Francisco 49ers, Round 1, Pick 11 I ve coached two of the greatest linebackers—one that has already proven to be one of the greatest and one who will prove to be. — NFL Hall of Famer Mike Singletary, referring to Ray Lewis and Patrick Willis.Career highlights and awards* 7× Pro Bowl (2007–2013)* 6× First-team All-Pro (2007, 2009–2013)* Second-team All-Pro (2008)* Butkus Award (pro) (2009)* NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year (2007)* Butkus Award (college) (2006)* 2× First-team All-American (2005, 2006)* 2× First-team All-SEC (2005, 2006)Career NFL statisticsTackles: 950Quarterback sacks: 20.5Interceptions: 8Forced fumbles: 16Touchdowns: 2Retired in 2015So, what about the SEC leading tacklers before 2005?Here’s the hard-hitting truth: the NCAA and SEC did not compile year-by-year tackle leaders before 2005. Theoretically, one could go find the top tacklers for each program and then retro-engineer the entire conference’s leader from that compiled info, but nobody has done that in 13 years. We are lazy Americans!Below is a list, via Saturday Down South, of the leading SEC tacklers from the 1970s through early 1990s. We don’t have individual season info, but based on these totals an “average” great season would be around 130-135 tackles.That s right in line with the modern player.Player                                        Program                              Tackles Once again, Bobby Petrino has gone down in flames. The latest implosion went down in Louisville (for the second time). Louisville resident Pat Forde, a national college football columnist, spoke to Arkansas sports talk show host Bo Mattingly about what happened. The below excerpts are lightly edited for clarity: Bo Mattingly: Bobby Petrino is known as an offensive genius. Has that changed? Pat Forde (Yahoo): I think it has, yeah. Can he develop the mechanics of a quarterback? Yes, because he made Lamar Jackson significantly better.But the schematic advantage he had 10, 15 years ago has been diminished. It’s a faster game now and his advantage was really built on personnel, substitution, formation, motion — things that really don’t lend themselves well to an up-tempo game.You’re gonna be taking time to huddle and bring in three tight ends, then take out these guys and set up and go motion here. Those sort of things have been mitigated by pace of the game and I don’t think he really adapted and improved in that area.Bo Mattingly: When did things start going south for Petrino?Pat Forde: I think people really started getting down on him last year. That team should have been better. You had Lamar Jackson, the best quarterback since Johnny Unitas in Louisville football, and you don’t put a good enough team around him. You cannot block for him. You can’t figure out ways to maximize what he can do. Your defense isn’t good enough. You’re losing games — to Boston College, to Wake Forest, and I think there was a feeling that they had really squandered an opportunity.Then they came into this season, and it got that much worse quickly. People jumped off the Bobby Petrino bandwagon with great haste. H/t to Reddit s u/WheelsMcGee28 Bo Mattingly: He was fired along with his son Nick Petrino, his quarterbacks coach, and two son-in-laws who were position coaches. Why did [athletic director Vince Tyra] clean house? Why did he have all these family guys and his buddy [Andy Wagner, football operations] working for him? Pat Forde: That was part of the problem. He had a terrible staff, and part of that was he was hiring the whole family…. I think the [the mass firing] would be accentuating the point. “We don’t want a bunch of Petrino loyalists hanging around the building.” It was basically Michael Corleone and the godfather settling all family business, whacking all them right then and there. Power move by Vince Tyra. Bo Mattingly: Who gets a job next — Rick Pitino or Bobby Petrino? Pat Forde: Boy, whew. Good question. A couple of talented, tainted guys. I think Bobby has a better chance of getting the next job. Certainly he would be willing to be an assistant coach. I can see some teams in the SEC who have struggled offensive who say “Man, let’s go get him to liven up this offense and coach up our quarterback.”Secondly, this was an on-the-field failing for Bobby. Rick’s failings were off the court and they were multiple. That’s tough to overcome when you have as many strikes against you as Rick has. Bo Mattingly: If we went back and Bobby Petrino never had the issue he had at Arkansas, and he remained here, do you think he’d still be the coach here? Pat Forde: He had it going pretty well, if that could have been sustained — and you remain in the upper half of the SEC West, win 9 or 10 games and do everything but beat Alabama — that would be pretty attractive. But could have sustained it and could have done it without alienating people? That’s a good question. The above partial excerpts were lightly edited for clarity: Listen to the entire Sports Talk Primetime talk below. The interview begins around 36:00 Pat Forde s Yahoo! Sports column is titled Where It All Went Wrong For Bobby Petrino at Louisville. Former Razorback Trey Flowers has surged past even J.J. Watt in Pro Football Focus ranking By Evin DemirelQuick experiment: Google your favorite football player. Next, look at the bio box  popping up on your screen and scroll down to the Education. For 99.9% of your faves, you ll see the university that player attended. Not with Trey Flowers, though.Flowers education is simply listed as Sam M. Walton College of Business. Listing the college of his major instead of the University of Arkansas is  appropriate, though. Flowers has been all business this season and it shows: Pro Football Focus has tabbed him as the NFL s best edge defender so far.The highest graded edge defenders in the NFL through the first eight weeks of the season. pic.twitter.com/BfiKRleCmx— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) October 30, 2018In each of the last two seasons, Flowers has led his back-to-back AFC champion New England Patriots in sacks and quarterback hits. This year, the fourth-year pro is putting it all together. He s not the most explosive athlete, but he maximizes his quickness playing at only  6 2 and 265 pounds. He s able to stand-up double teams, split em, and still make plays, said Alan Branch, his 11-year veteran teammate. I honestly haven t seen too many players with the size he is who can defend the run and the pass on the inside like him. He s the only one I ve ever met like that. Razorback and New England coaches have helped him develop such a fundamentally sound technique that teammates jokingly refer to him as Technique and even the G.O.A.T. We re trying to just have fun with that guy, former Patriot cornerback Logan Ryan said. He s not going to say much about himself so we ll throw some wild nicknames on him and see if he comes out of his shell. When a local reporter asked him about being dubbed the greatest of all time while still in his early 20s, Flowers got embarrassed.   Aw, man, he said. I just let it roll off and keep working. It s sure showing this season. Continue reading Trey Flowers Ranks No. 1 Among All NFL Edge Defenders After hammering Kiko Alonso into mincemeat, Frank Ragnow s national star is on the riseAt Arkansas, former Razorback Frank Ragnow was no fan of Auburn Tiger Kerryon Johnson.But now, playing for the Detroit Lions, the rookie duo can only sing each other’s praises. They have become one of the most effective lineman-tailback combinations in the NFL.That was never more evident than on Sunday, when left guard Frank Ragnow steamrolled the way to a career-best 158-yard-day from Kerryon Johnson. The highlight was a 71-yard scamper in which Frank Ragnow pounded Miami linebacker Kiko Alonso in flatbread.“Frank did a great job of getting around, getting a solid block on the guy and kicking him out,” Kerryon Johnson said after Detroit’s win over Miami. “From there it was just me and the safety one-on-one. Corner [Xavien Howard] was outside, but didn t feel like he had a great angle. There was a lot of trash over there he had to work through. I just started running and running, and [Reshad Jones) caught up to me. I ve never been the fastest, but he caught up to me, and it’s just how it happened.”Here’s another thing that s happened: the Detroit Lions’ run game has improved from worst to first. As Lions beat writer Tim Twentyman points out:In 2017, the Lions converted on their 3rd 1 and 4th 1 rushing attempts just 50 percent of the time (7-of-14). The 14 attempts were the third lowest in the league, a testament to how little confidence the offense had in converting those situations on the ground.This season has been a completely different story.So far in 2018, the 3-3 Lions lead the NFL with a 100 percent success rate on those 3rd 1 and 4th 1 situations. Detroit is a perfect 5-for-5. Stafford has only attempted two passes in those situations.NFL insiders understand Frank Ragnow’s instrumental role in this amazing turnaround.That’s why uber-insider Peter King just named Ragnow as his co-offensive player of the week alongside Cam Newton. Here’s what Peter King wrote about the former Razorback star:“You know why Kerryon Johnson had that 71-yard run in Miami on Sunday, the longest run for the Lions in seven years? A perfectly played, perfectly executed pulling block from Ragnow. The rookie from Arkansas stepped from his left guard slot, ran in front of the quarterback/running back in the backfield, stepped into a hole around right tackle, and erased tackling machine Kiko Alonso, the Miami linebacker. Johnson, starting from his nine-yard line, sprinted all the way to the Miami 20 before getting knocked out of bounds, running through the void created by that block. Later, Ragnow had a key block on defensive Robert Quinn on a two-yard touchdown burst by LaGarrette Blount. After a tough start through two games, Ragnow, a first-round pick last April, has been solid for the Lions—and never better than he was Sunday.”Before the season, Arkansas fans knew what Ragnow was capable of. Now, a lot of Detroit Lions fans have seen the light too. LeBron James L.A. home debut vs those of Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O Neal, Magic, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and George Mikan.LeBron James scored 24 points in his regular season home debut with the Lakers, a loss to the Houston Rockets. Although he missed six of seven three-point attempts, he otherwise showed off his usual, versatile arsenal of shot-making abilities, scoring mid-range jumpers over the outstretched arms of Clint Capela and one amazing flip shot off the glass from 10 feet away against P.J. Tucker that he made look effortless.LeBron James 24 points ties him with Wilt Chamberlain for the third- most points by a top Laker legend in a home debut. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Elgin Baylor scored more. For a complete breakdown of home debut box scores among Laker legends, scroll below.Not all stat categories were tracked in earlier decades, so you will notice holes in blocks, steals, rebounds, etc. I rank these Laker legends by points scored, since that s one metric every generation tracks.Lakers LegendsKareem Abdul-Jabbar 19x All Star2x Scoring Champ1975-76 Rebounds Leader4x Blocks Leader6x NBA Champ15x All-NBA11x All-Defensive2x Finals MVP6x MVPRecord Going Into That First Home Game: 2-2Age: 28 Date: 10-31-75Opponent: SeattleOutcome: W (+16)Points 27Minutes Played: 44Field Goals: 10Field Goals Attempted: 15FG %: 66.7%Free Throws Made 7Free Throws Attempted 12FT % 85.7%Total Rebounds 24Assists 5Blocks 7Elgin Baylor (Minneapolis Lakers until 1960)11× NBA All-StarNBA All-Star Game MVP10× All-NBA First TeamRecord Going Into First Lakers Home Game: 0-0Age: 24Date: 10-22-58Opponent: CincinnatiOutcome: W (+20)Points: 25Minutes Played: 32Field Goals: 10Field Goals Attempted: 21FG %: 47.6%Free Throws Made: 5Free Throws Attempted: 7FT %: 71.4%Total Rebounds: 13Assists: 6Fouls: 4Wilt Chamberlain13x All Star7x Scoring Champ11x Rebounds Leader1967-68 Assists Leader2x NBA Champ10x All-NBA2x All-Defensive1959-60 AS MVP1971-72 Finals MVP4x MVPRecord Going Into First Lakers Home Game: 1-3Age: 32Date: 10-25-68Opponent: Baltimore Outcome: W (+6)Points: 24Minutes Played: 48Field Goals: 11Field Goals Attempted: 14FG %: 78.6%Free Throws Made 2Free Throws Attempted 8FT % 25%Total Rebounds 21Assists 4Fouls 1LeBron James14x All Star2007-08 Scoring Champ3x NBA Champ14x All-NBA6x All-Defensive3x All-Star Game MVP3x Finals MVP4x MVPRecord Going Into First Lakers Home Game: 0-1Age: 34Year: 10-20-18Opponent: HoustonOutcome: L (-9)Points: 24Minutes Played: 39Field Goals: 9Field Goals Attempted: 22FG %: 40.9%Free Throws Made: 5Free Throws Attempted: 7FT % 71.4%Total Rebounds 5Defensive Rebounds 5Assists 5Fouls 0Steals 2Blocks 1Turnovers 1 Continue reading Ranking LeBron James Home Debut Among Top 9 Lakers Legends

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