June 18, 1924: Basketball's 1st Great Big Man

June 18, 1924, 100 years ago: George Lawrence Mikan Jr. is born in Joliet, Illinois. Basketball's 1st great "big man," the 6-foot-10 center led DePaul University to the 1945 NIT title, then considered more prestigious than the NCAA title.

He won National Basketball league titles with the 1947 Chicago American Gears and the 1948 Lakers. The Lakers then went into the nascent NBA, and he led them to the title in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954. That's 7 league titles in 8 seasons.

It's been 68 years since he last strode the hardwood in a game that counted, but he is still responsible for 5 of the 7 World Championships that Minnesota basketball teams have won.

He was NBL Most Valuable Player in 1948, a 5-time scoring champion (twice in the NBL, 3 times in the NBA), and played in the NBA's 1st 4 All-Star Games (1951-54). He was bigger than the league: A game against the Knicks had the marquee at the old Madison Square Garden not mention the Lakers, just him: "GEO MIKAN v/s KNICKS."

That's a legend, but it's no myth, and it's no joke.

He was named the greatest basketball player of the half-century by the Associated Press, was a charter inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959, and was named to the NBA's 25th Anniversary Team and its 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. The Minnesota Timberwolves dedicated a statue of him outside the Target Center in Minneapolis. He lived long enough to receive all of these honors.

Shaquille O'Neal paid for his funeral, saying,

"Without Number 99, there is no me."

He died on June 1, 2005 at the age of 80, from the long-term effects of diabetes. In 2021, he was named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players. In 2022, the now-Los Angeles Lakers finally retired his number, even though 99 is a number rarely seen in the NBA. They also have a banner honoring their Minneapolis-era Hall-of-Famers.

Time for Yankee Fans to Get Concerned

On June 6, the Yankees were 45-19, leading the American League Eastern Division by 4 1/2 games, and looking like they might be headed for a title.

Then Juan Soto got hurt. I'm not saying he came back too soon. But since he got hurt, the Yankees are only 5-5.

The Yankees' trip to face the Kansas City Royals was very nearly a 4-game sweep. Last Monday night, Carlos Rodón was terrific for 7 innings, Alex Verdugo and Jose Trevino each got 2 hits, and the Yankees won, 4-2. On Tuesday night, Marcus Stroman pitched just well enough into the 6th, while we got home runs from Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Austin Wells (who raised his batting average to .211), and we beat the Royals, 10-1. On Wednesday night, we staked Cody Poteet to 6 runs before he even threw a pitch. He pitched decently, and he was backed by homers from Stanton, Trevino and Gleyber Torres, and we won, 11-5.

The Thursday afternoon game was a bit anticlimactic. It was a classic "day game after a night game." But there were worrying signs. Nestor Cortés pitched well for 7 innings. Soto went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Anthony Rizzo hit a home run. But it was 2-0 Royals after 7. The Yankees scored 3 runs in the 8th. But Clay Holmes is supposed to be our closer. In the bottom of the 9th, he got the 1st out. Then he allowed a hit. Then he got a forceout. Then he allowed a single and a 2-RBI double to lose the game, 4-3.

*

Finally, for the 1st time in the season, the Yankees faced the Auld Enemy. The Scum. The Boston Red Sox. The Friday night game couldn't have gone much better, with former Red Sock Verdugo hitting a 2-run homer in the 1st inning. Luis Gil pitched very well for 5 innings, but, with 104 pitches under his belt, Aaron Boone panicked, and took him out. Fortunately, the bullpen allowed just 1 hit and 3 walks the rest of the way. Trevino added a homer, and the Yankees won, 8-1.

But since this is Yankees vs. Red Sox, of course, there was a Saturday game on Fox, and a Sunday game on ESPN. How often do the Yankees win those, especially at Fenway Park? Rodón had nothing on Saturday night. Soto hit a home run, Stanton went 2-for-4, and the seriously struggling DJ LeMahieu had 3 RBIs. But the Yankees fell behind 5-2 after 2 innings, and were never really in it, losing 8-4.

Last night's game should have been winnable. Judge hit one so far over the Green Monster in the 1st inning, I thought it was going to get charged with a toll on the Massachusetts Turnpike. But Stroman was awful, falling behind 4-1 after 5 innings. The Yankees pulled 2 back in the 6th, including on another home run by Trevino.

The top of the 7th was the series, and the Yankees from July 2016 onward, in a nutshell. Verdugo led off with a single. Stanton added another. Anthony Rizzo reached on an error -- then had to leave the game due to an injury. Oswaldo Cabrera pinch-ran for him. Bases loaded, nobody out, trailing by a run, at Fenway Park. This could have been an explosive inning, a message-sender.

It sent a message, all right: Never trust Gleyber Torres in a clutch situation. He ran the count to 3 balls and no strikes, then took 2 strike right down the middle, and swung at a pitch away and in the dirt for strike 3. Once again, Brian Cashman's golden boy, his "Derek Jeter," came up small when we needed him to come up big.

Trevino also struck out, and LeMahieu hit a long fly to center, but not long enough, and it was still 4-3 Boston when the inning ended. Then Boone brought Caleb Ferugson in to relieve at Fenway Park. Ferguson has been, by far, the Yankees' worst pitcher this season, so this was like giving a man with Parkinson's disease a loaded gun. He pitched to the minimum 3 batters: Walk, lineout, single. Boone then brought in Luke Weaver, who was just as bad: Single, triple, hit-by-pitch, before getting the last 2 outs. The Red Sox added 2 more in the 8th, and they won, 9-3.

*

We are now 45 percent of the way through the regular season. The Yankees are 50-24, with a winning percentage of .676, the best in baseball. We lead the AL East by a game and a half over the Baltimore Orioles. Things look great -- if that's all you know.

But it is time to get concerned. The Orioles are dead even with us in the all-important loss column. We are only 1-3 against them, 1-2 against the Red Sox, just 2-2 against the awful Oakland Athletics, 2-2 against the Seattle Mariners, 3-3 against the Toronto Blue Jays; and 1-2 , at home, in an Interleague series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a potential World Series opponent -- if we get that far. (And if they do: They just lost Mookie Betts to a broken hand on a hit-by-pitch. He'll be out for a while.)

True, we are 6-1 against the Houston Astros, but they don't seem to be in anybody's heads this season. And if they do get it together, and get into the Playoffs, can we really trust the Yankees against them?

Check out these on-base percentages. Not batting averages, on-base percentages: Wells .208, Stanton .238, Cabrera .275, Rizzo .289, Torres .298, LeMahieu .304, Verdugo .313, Trevino .317. Meanwhile, Clarke Schmidt is on the Injured List, and Rodón, Cortés and Stroman have been shaky lately.

Injury-wise, as I said, Schmidt is out, Gerrit Cole has been out all season, Jonathan Loáisiga is out for the season, and Jasson Domínguez, who had been tearing up Triple-A ball with his hitting in his injury rehab, is back on the IL.

Rizzo is day-to-day. The current rumor is that Cole could make his major league season debut this Wednesday night. Domínguez could be playing at Triple-A again in a week. Schmidt could return after the All-Star Break. So might reliever Scott Effross, which had better mean bye-bye, Ferguson -- if we don't dump him earlier.  

The Yankees have today off. Then, 3 games at home against the O's, a great chance to show that we can handle a good team -- or not. Then, 3 in a home Interleague series with the Atlanta Braves. Then, 2 away to the suddenly competent Mets. Followed by 4 in Toronto against those pesky Blue Jays.

This could be the trouble part of the season. Or the snap-out-of-it part of the season.

Meanwhile, tonight is Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and the Boston Celtics could win their record 18th title, eliminating the Dallas Mavericks. And the next night is Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and the Florida Panthers could win their 1st title, eliminating the Edmonton Oilers.

And in soccer, Euro 2024 is ongoing in Germany. And the U.S. hosts the Copa América, the Western Hemisphere-wide tournament for national teams, starting on Thursday night. The U.S. plays Bolivia at the Dallas Cowboys' stadium next Sunday afternoon, Panama at the Atlanta Falcons' stadium the following Thursday night, and Uruguay at the Kansas City Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium the following Monday night. Do we have a chance to win the tournament? Yes. A good chance? No.

June 16, 1944: A Southern State Executes a Black 14-Year-Old

June 16, 1944, 80 years ago: George Junius Stinney Jr. is executed for murder, in the electric chair, at the South Carolina Penitentiary, in the State capital of Columbia.

Who was the murder victim? He was. Because he was innocent.

And he was 14 years old.

He was born on October 21, 1929 in Pinewood, South Carolina. On March 23, 1944, he was 5-foot-1 and 95 pounds. On that day, the bodies of Betty June Binnicker, age 11, and Mary Emma Thames, 7, were found in a ditch on the African-American side of Alcolu, South Carolina, after the girls failed to return home the night before.

Unusually, a combined unit of white and black men, including George Stinney Sr., searched for the girls. They had been found beaten with a weapon, variously reported as a piece of blunt metal or a railroad spike. According to a report by the medical examiner, these wounds had been "inflicted by a blunt instrument with a round head, about the size of a hammer."

George Jr. and his older brother John were arrested on suspicion of murdering the girls. John was released by police, but George was held in custody. He was not allowed to see his parents, George Sr. and Aimé, until after his trial and conviction.

According to a handwritten statement, his arresting officer was H.S. Newman, a Clarendon County deputy, who stated, "I arrested a boy by the name of George Stinney. He then made a confession and told me where to find a piece of iron, about 15 inches where he said he put it in a ditch about six feet from the bicycle." Aside from this statement, there is no evidence of the confession: If it was written down, it disappeared.

Following George Jr.'s arrest, George Sr. was fired from his job at the local sawmill, and the Stinney family had to immediately vacate their company housing. George Jr. had no support during his 81-day confinement and trial. He was detained at a jail in Columbia, 50 miles from Alcolu, due to the risk of lynching. He was questioned alone, without the presence of his parents or an attorney. Although the 6th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees legal counsel, this was not routinely observed until the U.S. Supreme Court's 1963 ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright that explicitly required representation through the course of criminal proceedings.

The entire trial, from jury selection to sentencing, occurred on April 24, 1944. The boy's court-appointed counsel was Charles Plowden, a tax commissioner who was running for office, and didn't want to risk being seen as a supporter of civil rights. He challenged none of the prosecution's evidence, and called no witnesses. The trial portion took only 2 1/2 hours. The jury was all white, since jurors were chosen from voter rolls. Their deliberation lasted 10 minutes, and they found the boy guilty. Judge Philip H. Stoll sentenced him to death. Plowden made no appeal.

Appeals for clemency were made to Governor Olin Johnston. They came from the NAACP, and they came from churches, white and black alike. Some appeals came from people who admitted that they were white supremacists, but didn't think someone so young should be executed. His parents were allowed to see him once after the trial, when he was held in the Columbia penitentiary. Under the threat of lynching, they were not allowed to see him any other time.

He was put into the electric chair. He was too short to fit into the apparatus, so a Bible was used as a booster. The mask was too big for him, and it slipped off as the chair was activated. He was buried in an unmarked grave.

In 2014, following a review of the evidence, a circuit court judge vacated George's conviction. Suspicion has fallen on George Washington Burke Jr., a white man, known during his lifetime as a womanizer and a thief, who had made advances on George's mother Aimé, and she had refused him.

George Washington Burke Sr. was a wealthy local businessman. He was the owner of the sawmill where George Stinney Sr. worked. And he was the foreman of the grand jury that indicted George Stinney Jr. It appears that he engineered the boy's indictment in order to cover up for his son's crime.

George Burke Jr. died in 1947 -- I can't find a cause -- and thus was conveniently unavailable for later investigation. George Burke Sr. died in 1982, and never confessed to engineering the cover-up. The story that George Burke Jr. made a deathbed confession in 1947 remains as unproven as George Stinney Jr.'s confession.

June 15, 2004: Larry Brown's "Double" Shocks the L.A. "Superteam"

Left to right: Larry Brown, Rip Hamilton,

Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace

June 15, 2004, 20 years ago: The NBA Championship is awarded to the best team in the league. Not the best collection of players, but the best team.

From 1972 to 2010, Larry Brown coached 10 different ABA or NBA teams (a record), and also coached 3 different college basketball teams. He took UCLA to the 1980 NCAA Final, and the University of Kansas to the Final Four in 1986 and 1988, winning the National Championship in 1988.

Brown was from Long Island, New York. As a teenager, he was a camp counselor there, and one of his students was Tony Kornheiser, later a great sportswriter and, with Michael Wilbon, co-host of the ESPN show Pardon the Interruption. A lifelong friendship was formed.

Here's how Kornheiser once described Brown's genius for coaching: "He took the Clippers to the Playoffs! Nobody takes the Clippers to the Playoffs!" From 1976, when the Los Angeles Clippers were still known as the Buffalo Braves, until 2012, when a change in management made them a perennial Playoff team, the only coaches to take them to the Playoffs were Larry Brown in 1992 and 1993, Bill Fitch in 1997, and Mike Dunleavy in 2006. That's it: 4 times, and Brown provided 2 of them.

And it wasn't just the Clippers: He took the NBA's other "little brother team," the New Jersey Nets, to the Playoffs in 1982. That was the good news. The bad news is that he never seemed to stay in one place too long. He either didn't like the job, or he angered somebody in management. But somebody was always willing to hire him. He got the Denver Nuggets to the last ABA Finals in 1976, and the Western Conference Finals in 1978; the Indiana Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1993 and 1994; and the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA Finals in 2001.

But Brown and the Sixers' top player, Allen Iverson, couldn't co-exist. So, in 2003, Brown resigned, and took the head job with the Detroit Pistons. Despite this, in 2005, Iverson admitted, "I love him as a man. The coach, that's totally different. Yeah, I like him as a coach. He's the best coach in the world. I can't say it enough. He's the best in the world."

Joe Dumars, the guard who had led the Pistons' defense in their "Motor City Bad Boys" period -- losing the Finals to the Lakers in 7 games in 1988, then winning back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 -- was now the general manager. He had built a team with guards Chauncey Billups, Richard "Rip" Hamilton and Lindsey Hunter; forwards Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince and Corliss Williamson; and center Ben Wallace.

The Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1st round of the Playoffs, the New Jersey Nets in the next round, and the Indiana Pacers in the Conference Finals. Now, the NBA Finals were in front of them. Standing between them and glory: The Los Angeles Lakers.

Coached by Phil Jackson, and led by center Shaquille O'Neal and guard Kobe Bryant, the Lakers had won 3 straight NBA Championships: 2000, 2001 and 2002. There had been discussion of the Lakers getting favorable, but incorrect, calls from referees, especially in the Playoffs.

In 2003, the Lakers lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals. Their general manager, former Laker forward Mitch Kupchak, was determined to get the title back. He decided to build a "superteam." He signed 3 free agents: Karl Malone, who built a career as one of the all-time great power forwards with the Utah Jazz; Gary Payton, who had been a superstar point guard with the Seattle SuperSonics; and forward Horace Grant, who had helped Jackson win 3 titles as a forward with the Chicago Bulls, and teamed with O'Neal to get the Orlando Magic to the 1995 Finals.

Everything pointed to the Lakers going through the league like a hot knife through butter. But first, Bryant needed knee surgery in the off-season. He went to Colorado to get it. At his hotel, he was accused of sexually assaulting a female employee. The case was dropped, and, eventually, NBA fans decided, pretty much the way baseball fans did with David Ortiz and his steroid cheating, that it simply never happened, and that the man in question was a wonderful guy.

Eventually. But not in the 2003-04 season. Bryant heard it from fans all over the league, and he missed a few games. While the Lakers' record of 56-26 was enough to win the Pacific Division, it was not historically notable, and they only finished 2nd overall in the Western Conference to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

They knew they would truly be measured by what they did in the Playoffs, and they did raise their game: They beat the Houston Rockets in the 1st round, the Spurs in the next round, and the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals, to set up the Finals matchup with the Pistons.

Few people gave the Pistons the chance. The Lakers were considered a team of destiny. They forgot that a collection of players can be beaten by a team. The Pistons won Game 1 in Los Angeles, 87-75, despite 34 points from Shaq, and the basketball world was stunned. They pushed the Lakers to overtime in Game 2, with the Lakers winning 99-91, with Kobe scoring 33.

But getting a split in L.A. energized the Pistons. At The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan, the Lakers never had a chance. The Pistons won Game 3, 88-68. The Lakers were never in the game. Shaq had 36 points and 17 rebounds in Game 4. But Rasheed Wallace had 26, and he and Ben Wallace (no relation) each had 13 rebounds. The Pistons won, 88-80. Malone did not play in Game 5, and he retired after the Finals, so this was the last game for "The Mailman."

Game 5 was played at The Palace on June 15. The Pistons led 25-24 after the 1st quarter, but pulled away in the 2nd, pulled away further in the 3rd, and the Lakers simply couldn't come back. The Pistons won, 100-87, and the World Champions were, as the chant echoing through Auburn Hills said, "DEE-troit BAS-ket-BALL!"

The Pistons had done this despite not having a single player on their roster who was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame until Ben Wallace was elected in 2021. Billups was named the Most Valuable Player of the Finals. Brown finally had his 1st NBA Championship, as either a player or a coach, at the age of 63. (He had won the 1969 ABA Championship while playing for the Oakland Oaks.) He remains the only head coach to win championships in both the NCAA and the NBA.

The Lakers? They were now the biggest flop in NBA history -- or, at least, since their 1969 edition, when Wilt Chamberlain was added to Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Gail Goodrich, and lost Game 7 of the Finals at home.

And after the season, Bryant told the team's owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, that he could no longer coexist with either O'Neal or Jackson. Jackson told Buss that Bryant was "uncoachable." So Buss told Kupchak to appease Bryant. He did: O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat. And Jackson resigned.

With Bryant as "The Man," The Lakers fell apart. And Shaq, along with Dwyane Wade, helped the Miami Heat win the 2006 NBA Championship. In 2007, the Lakers got knocked out by the Phoenix Suns in the 1st round. Shaq was recorded rapping in a nightclub, saying, "Kobe, tell me how my ass taste!" (The implication was not that Kobe could kiss Shaq's ass, but that he already had.)

Sportswriter Dave Zirin wrote, "Kobe did to the Lakers what Jimmy Hoffa did to the Teamsters: Both made them a national force & ruined them forever." (Ironically, when Hoffa disappeared, it was in the northern suburbs of Detroit, at a restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, then Machus' Red Fox, now named Andiamo, just 14 miles from where The Palace would be built.)

Well, not forever, as it turned out. Shaq's teasing was the wakeup call that Bryant needed. He made peace with Jackson, who returned. The Lakers got Pau Gasol. Together, they got back to the Finals in 2008, and won the title in 2009 and 2010. Meanwhile, O'Neal never won another. The final total: Bryant 6 titles, O'Neal 5; separately, Kobe 2, Shaq 1.

Kobe and Shaq made peace with each other before Kobe's death in a helicopter crash in 2020.

Jerry West, 1938-2024

The two greatest figures in the history of the National Basketball Association are Red Auerbach and Jerry West. That cannot be disputed.

Wilt Chamberlain was a greater player. So were Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. Phil Jackson was a better coach. Maurice Podoloff, the 1st Commissioner, and David Stern, the longest-serving Commissioner, shaped the league more in an official capacity. But in terms of shaping the history of the league, it's Red and Jerry.

Jerome Allen West was born on May 28, 1938 in Chelyan, West Virginia, 17 miles up the Kanawha River from the State capitol of Charleston, and on the bank of Cabin Creek, leading to a hick nickname he hated, "Zeke from Cabin Creek." He had an abusive father, and his brother was killed in the Korean War, a combination he later admitted made him introverted. He was cut by the head basketball coach at East Bank High School for being too short.

He grew to 6 feet even, and his endless practice made him the best basketball player, maybe the best athlete, in his State's history. On March 24, 1956, he led East Bank to the State Championship. Thereafter, every year on March 24, until the school closed in 1999, the name of the school was changed for the day to West Bank High School.

He got West Virginia University into the NCAA Final Four in 1959, losing to the University of California, coached by Pete Newell and led by Darrall Imhoff, in the Final. He was an easy selection for the U.S. team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, coached by Newell. Not only did they win the Gold Medal, but that entire team was collectively elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Meaning that some of them were elected twice: Newell, West, Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas and Walt Bellamy.

The rest of the team: Imhoff, Jay Arnette, Bob Boozer, Terry Dischinger, Allen Kelley, Lester Lane, Adrian "Odie" Smith, and a holdover from the 1956 Gold Medalists, Burdette Haldorson. This was the best basketball team ever assembled, until the "Dream Team" of 1992. How good were they? Lucas' Ohio State teammate John Havlicek only made it as an alternate.

He was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, and was a rookie in their 1st season after moving from Minneapolis, 1960-61, joining Elgin Baylor. He was an All-Star in all 14 seasons in which he played in the NBA, and became known as one of the best shooters, and one of the best passers, in NBA history. He was named Most Valuable Player of the 1969 Finals, even though the Lakers lost, the only player from the losing team ever so honored.

In 1970, despite the team eventually losing the game and the series, he launched a 60-foot shot to send Game 3 of the Finals into overtime. In spite of the defeat, it's considered one of the greatest shots in NBA history. Shots like that gave him a much better nickname than "Zeke from Cabin Creek," or the one that Baylor gave him because of his country accent, "Tweety Bird." Shots like that gave him the nickname "Mr. Clutch."

And he is "The Logo": In 1969, Alan Siegel, following up his design of the Major League Baseball logo that bears a resemblance to Harmon Killebrew, used a photograph of West dribbling with his left hand, to design the NBA logo. There is some dispute about the picture: Siegel claimed it was by Wen Roberts, but it appears the photo at the top of this post is the one, and that photo is credited to the great Sports Illustrated photographer Walter Iooss Jr. So when you hear of someone being called an "icon," know that this term is usually used as an exaggeration. Jerry West was The Logo: He was literally an icon.

In the 1971-72 season, with Baylor retiring, the Lakers finally put it all together. Coach Bill Sharman, as West's predecessor as the game's best shooter while with the Boston Celtics, led West, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich, Keith Erickson and Jim McMillian -- and a backup guard named Pat Riley -- to the team's 1st NBA Championship in Los Angeles, after going 0-7 in the Finals, 0-8 if you count their last Finals defeat in Minneapolis.

This run included a 33-game winning streak, the longest in the history of major league sports. (While the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers, and some European soccer teams, have had longer unbeaten streaks, that included ties.) They avenged their 1970 defeat to the New York Knicks.

*

But the legacy of Jerry West was just getting warmed up. He was the Lakers' head coach from 1976 to 1979, chief scout from 1979 to 1982, and general manager from 1982 to 2002. He built the Laker dynasties of 1980-91 and 2002-10. At the 2001 title parade, Kobe Bryant, whom West talked the Lakers into acquiring in a trade after the Charlotte Hornets drafted him out of high school, wore West's Number 44 jersey instead of his own Number 8.

He wanted a new challenge, and moved on to the Memphis Grizzlies. He had no luck there, retiring in 2007, but in 2011 he joined the board of the Golden State Warriors, who won 4 titles as a result of his involvement. He went back to Los Angeles, with the Clippers, whom he got to their 1st-ever trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2021.

After going 1-for-9 in the Finals as a player, he officially had 9 rings, though he had a hand in building 15 titles. That's the most of anybody in NBA history except for longtime Boston Celtics head coach, general manager and team president Red Auerbach, who won 16.

His Number 44 has been retired by both WVU and the Lakers, and statues of him are outside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown and the Crypto.com Arena. The stretch of U.S. Route 19 that runs past the Coliseum, named Monongahela Boulevard for most of its run, is named Jerry West Boulevard. (Elsewhere in town, U.S. Route 119 is named for another WVU graduate: Don Knotts Boulevard.)

He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. When the ceremony for the 50 Greatest was held at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 players showed up. One, Pete Maravich, was already dead. One, Shaquille O'Neal, was injured, couldn't play in the game, and simply refused to show up. His name was heavily booed when it was announced. The other was West, who was in the hospital, recovering from surgery.

He was able to attend the 2022 ceremony for the 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players. That same year, The Athletic ranked him 14th on their list of the greatest players ever. In 2019, in a rare decision of his that I agreed with, Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He married his college sweetheart, Martha Jane Kane, in 1960. They divorced in 1976. They had three sons: David, Mark, and Michael. Jerry married his second wife, Kristine "Karen" Bua, in 1978. They had two sons, Ryan and Jonnie. Jonnie played guard for West Virginia, like his father, and married professional golfer Michelle Wie in 2019.

After being in ill health for a year, Jerry West died today, June 12, 2024. He was 86 years old.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: "Jerry West was a basketball genius and a defining figure in our league for more than 60 years. He distinguished himself not only as an NBA champion and an All-Star in all 14 of his playing seasons, but also as a consummate competitor who embraced the biggest moments."

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "The reason Jerry West is the logo for the NBA is because he embodied the qualities we admire in our best athletes: skills as a player, dedication as a teammate, and integrity as a person. He was my coach, and my advisor, but mostly he was my friend."

Byron Scott, part of the Laker dynasty of the 1980s, who later coached the New Jersey Nets to the 2002 and '03 Finals: "It’s because of Jerry West that there was even 'Showtime.' It’s because of you that I am who I am today. You believed in me when no one else did and for that I’m forever grateful. You will always be my 'Basketball Dad'. I love you Logo my heart is broken. You will be missed."

Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN: "Jerry West lived a profound basketball and American life — iconic as a player, executive and looming figure in the history of the game. He was an MVP, a champion, a gold medalist, a dynasty-builder and literally the league’s logo. His loss leaves a massive void."

Michael Jordan: "I am so deeply saddened at the news of Jerry's passing. He was truly a friend and a mentor. Like an older brother to me. ... Rest in Peace, Logo."

Paul George, Clippers All-Star: "We will always remember you for your undeniable legacy, and more importantly, greatness as a human being."

LeBron James: "My thoughts and prayers goes out to your wonderful family! Forever love Jerry! Rest in Paradise my guy!"

"Smokey and the Bandit" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" Are the Same Movie

June 11, 1986: Ferris Bueller's Day Off premieres. It is one of the most popular movies of my generation.

July 29, 1977: Smokey and the Bandit premieres. It is also one of the most popular movies of my generation.

Hear me out: Smokey and the Bandit and Ferris Bueller's Day Off are the same movie. Yes, I know, one takes place in the rural, working-class South, and the other in the wealthy suburbs north of Chicago. But the similarities are uncanny:

* Bo "Bandit" Darvill (played by Burt Reynolds) and Ferris Bueller (played by Matthew Broderick): When we meet the protagonist, he is already established as a hero within his own community, and we don't know how he got that way, and we don't need to know.

* Likeable or not, the hero is a criminal: The Bandit is bootlegging, and causing all kinds of mayhem on the road; Ferris steals a car and hijacks a parade.

* Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Jerry Reed) and Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck): The protagonist has a best friend that he needs to help him get around. (Big difference: Snowman is happy to be involved, while Cam, claiming sickness, is not.)

* Carrie, a.k.a. "Frog" (Sally Field), who was supposed to marry Buford T. Justice Jr.; and Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara), who was supposed to be in school: The hero takes the leading lady away from where she's "supposed to be." (Big difference: Sloane already knows Ferris, and has an idea of what she's getting herself into; going into the film, Carrie has never heard of the Bandit, and has no idea of what she's getting herself into.)

* New (1977) Pontiac Trans Am, classic (1961) Ferrari: The hero drives a cool car that, at the start of the movie, was not his. The Ferrari never is Ferris' car: It belongs to Cameron's father. At least the Bandit's possession of the Trans Am is legit, having gotten money for it from "Big Enos" Burdette (Pat McCormick).

* Get to the fairgrounds outside Atlanta with the semi-tractor-trailer full of Coors beer by 4:00 PM the next day, get back to his house in Shermer, Illinois before 6:00 PM the same day: Each hero is on a very strict time limit.

* CB (Citizens Band) Radios, desktop computers: Each hero uses the hot new technology to help him do what he's gotta do.

* Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) and assistant principal Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones): The authority figure chasing the hero is just doing his job, but he does it badly, and is so gung-ho about it that he makes an ass of himself.

* The hero needs a lot of luck to pull off his victory, and gets it, including from women. (Big difference: People are happy to help the Bandit evade the Sheriff, making his luck for him; while Ferris mainly succeeds through sheer dumb luck, including the incredibly unlikely idea that, Jennifer Grey being 25 in real life or not, Rooney would believe that Jeanie, Ferris' younger sister, is actually his mother.)

* Finally, despite their very different backgrounds, the protagonists would probably like each other: The Bandit does what he does "For the money, for the glory, and for the fun. Mostly for the money." Ferris doesn't do it for the money, but would certainly agree with the glory and the fun. Ferris says, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." The Bandit would absolutely agree.

Soto Injury Shows Just How Precarious Yanks' Position Is

Halfway through last week's homestand, the New York Yankees were on an 8-game winning streak, and on a pace to go 114-48, the same as in the legendary season of 1998.

Then came the announcement of forearm pain for Juan Soto, and the decision to hold him out of the 2nd half of the homestand, and possibly longer.

And, as Yankee Legend Yogi Berra would have said, it was déjà vu all over again.

First, there were 3 games at Yankee Stadium against the Minnesota Twins, a team over .500, but one the Yankees usually handle. On Tuesday night, Luis Gil pitched 6 innings, allowing only 1 hit. The bullpen allowed only 1 more. Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton hit home runs, and the Yankees won, 5-1.

On Wednesday night, Carlos Rodón went 6, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits. Aaron Judge went 1-for-5 with a bases-loaded triple. He also had an RBI on a groundout, and another on a walk. Think about that: One hit, 5 RBIs. The Yankees won, 9-5, as reliever Dennis Santana was shaky.

The Thursday night game was more of a struggle. It was 7-2 Yankees after 4, including a home run by the so-far light-hitting Trent Grisham. But Marcus Stroman fell apart in the 5th inning, and the bullpen had to hold it from there: 4 relievers, 4 1/3rd innings, no runs, 4 his, 2 walks. The Yankees won, 8-5.

*

But Soto had to leave the Thursday night game. Manager Aaron Boone said Soto would get the weekend series with the Los Angeles Dodgers off, except maybe for pinch-hitting duty. Suddenly, the lineup, which had usually been:

Anthony Volpe, Soto, Judge, Alex Verdugo, Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, Torres, catcher (Austin Wells or Jose Trevino), DJ LeMahieu (working his way back from injury; became Volpe, Verdugo, Judge, Stanton, Rizzo, Torres, LeMahieu Grisham, catcher.

Big difference in this much-hyped series, which was being called a possible World Series preview. And none of the games was on YES, let alone WPIX-Channel 11: Friday night, Apple+; Saturday night, Fox; Sunday night, ESPN.

On Friday, over the 1st 7 innings, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the off-season's prime acquisition from Japan, held the Yankees to a double and a walk by Judge, Torres reaching on an error, an single by Grisham, a walk by Torres. With 2 out in the 8th, and Anthony Banda on the mound, Volpe and Verdugo singled, Judge drew another walk to load the bases, and Stanton hit a long drive. But it conked out, and, instead of being a dramatic grand slam, it was just a long, inning-ending, rally-killing out.

Cody Poteet, filling in for the injured Clarke Schmidt, did his part, taking a 2-hit shutout into the 5th, while the bullpen kept the Dodgers off the board. It was 0-0 after 9 innings. A soccer game with similar performance would have been hailed as a superb game, and both teams would have walked away with a point and their heads held high.

But this was not soccer, it was baseball. And it was Rob Manfred baseball, with the ghost runner starting each extra inning on 2nd base. Neither team scored in the 10th. But Ian Hamilton gave up a walk to Freddie Freeman and a double to Teoscar Hernández in the top of the 11th. Judge singled Volpe home in the bottom of the 11th, but Stanton struck out, and Volpe popped up. Dodgers 2, Yankees.1

So the 8-game winning streak was over. We couldn't feel too bad about the loss, as it was against a very good team, and the pitching had done very well, including keeping Shohei Ohtani off base. Mookie Betts has a nagging injury, and did not play in this game. Still, there was that nagging feeling that, even if it was only one appearance as a pinch-hitter, Soto could have done something.

The Saturday game, most of the way, was more of the same. Nestor Cortés did not have good stuff. Hernández homered in the 2nd inning. Ohtani singled in the 3rd. In the bottom of that inning, Judge responded to (aside from Soto) his main contender for the title of best player in baseball with a tremendous home run. But Enrique "Kiké" Hernández (no relation to Teoscar) hit one out in the 5th. Teoscar drove in another run in the 5th.

Still, it was only 4-2 Dodgers after 7, and the thought was, if we can get something going, maybe Judge can do something -- or Soto, if he pinch-hits.

Unfortunately, Boone brought Tommy Kahnle in to pitch the 8th. Betts did play in this game. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Kahnle walked Betts. He got Ohtani to ground to 2nd, but Torres, he of the million-dollar bat, the two-bit glove and the five-cent head, made an error. Kahnle struck Freeman out, but walked Will Smith, baseball's premier slap hitter. (Sorry, the joke was too good not to use.) Teoscar came up again: Grand slam. 8-2.

It got no better. Dennis Santana got the 1st 2 outs in the 9th, then allowed single, walk, double, and 3 straight walks, the last with the bases loaded, before getting out of it. Judge hit a long, but meaningless, home run in the bottom of the 9th -- a tribute, perhaps, to Alex Rodriguez, part of the Fox broadcast team, along with Derek Jeter and A-Rod's fellow cheater, former Red Sox blob David Ortiz? -- and it ended 11-3 to the Los Angeles Baseball Team. (After the game, Santana was designated for assignment.)

Despite the bullpen meltdown, it was only 6-3 Dodgers over the 1st 18 innings of this series. Now, Soto's hole in the lineup looked positively cavernous. It was looking like, without him, this would be the same old Yankee team of 2004 to 2023, except for 2009: Unable to get the runs home when it really mattered.

Gil started last night, and allowed only a double (to Teoscar) and a walk over the 1st 4 innings. Oswaldo Cabrera was put back at 3rd base, and he homered to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. Later that inning, back-to-back doubles by Verdugo and Judge made it 2-0 Pinstripes.

After that, though, Gil struggled for the 1st time all season. He gave up an RBI double to Betts in the 5th and another home run to Teoscar in the 6th, and it was 3-2 L.A. But in the bottom of the 6th, Verdugo and Judge had back-to-back singles, and Grisham, batting .086 going into this game, made it 5-3 New York with a home run.

The Dodgers pulled a run back in the 8th, but Judge responded with yet another titanic home run. (He didn't quite hit it to the spot where the Titanic sank, but far enough.) Clay Holmes did his best Aroldis Chapman impression in the 9th: He got the 1st 2 outs, then allowed back-to-back singles, before getting a game-ending strikeout. Yankees 6, Dodgers 4.

The Yankees didn't need Soto in the series finale. They sure could have used him in the 1st 2 games.

*

We've played 67 games. That's 41 percent of the regular season. The Yankees lead the American League Eastern Division. The Baltimore Orioles are the only team close to us, 2 1/2 games back, but only 1 in the all-important loss column. The others are all .500 or worse: The Boston Red Sox trail by 12 1/2, the Toronto Blue Jays by 13, and the Tampa Bay Rays by 14.

The Dodgers now lead the National League Western Division by 8 games. However, the only team in Major League Baseball with a better record than the Yankees is the Philadelphia Phillies, who split (and nearly swept) 2 games with the New York Mets in London this weekend.

The same concerns are there: Torres is batting .230, and can't field any position. Stanton and Rizzo are both batting .224, and both strike out too much. LeMahieu, now back from injury, is batting only .219. He turns 36 next month, and he looks finished. The catchers, Wells and Trevino, are still batting only .228 between them.

However, things are looking up on the injury front. It looks like Soto will not have to go on the Injured List. Gerrit Cole has looked good in his 2 rehab starts. And Jasson Domínguez is tearing up AAA ball in his rehab appearances, and looks ready to go. If Soto can't play, maybe "The Martian" can step in.

The Yankees begin a tough roadtrip tonight: 4 games in Kansas City against the Royals, then up to Boston for 3 against The Scum. Although the Auld Enemy aren't as strong as usual, a statement by the Yankees would be very helpful here, especially if Soto -- or Domínguez, or, dare we dream, both -- can return, added to Judge and the others, to help once again make Fenway Park a little green pinball machine.