[Ed. Note- rex was so angry on Tuesday he assumed the World Series started that night-LOL!! It actually starts Friday.]

The 2 day rant concludes today. Bear with me. This is a bit long. Hopefully the message and the song will make it worthwhile. It starts against this 1974 background and ended on Oct. 22/2024 in Los Angeles.

THE START

The Year: 1974 The Location: Walkerville Collegiate Institute The Sport: Basketball

I was the manager of the sports teams at Walkerville in grades 10-13. I took care of the equipment, and other sundry tasks. I also kept score for all 3 boys basketball teams. I was around sports and that was everything to me then…

By my last year, the Senior Boys Basketball Team had sunk to a new level of ineptness after some darn good years. I think we won 2 games all season. If I am wrong it is because I guessed too high.

As the last game of the season approached (versus a not-much-better team from Riverside High) I had a brainstorm: “Wouldn’t it be great if I could suit up as a player and get on the floor for a few minutes of a varsity basketball game?”

I asked Coach Free Montour and he agreed I could suit up.

What a thrill. I was not good enough to make the team for a variety of reasons (had I even tried out) but I was not hopeless either. But I was going to play in a game!

Anyway, the day of my Big Game arrived. I went out with the team for warmups and joined them on the bench.

The game started and we fell behind. And then fell more behind.

I kept looking anxiously down the bench and was frantically trying to telepathically say “Put me in coach.”

In the final moments I thought my moment was going to come as we were getting stomped.

But it never did….

Although I never said a word or complained, I was a bit crestfallen.

We were bad and getting destroyed in this season finale. I thought no harm could come had I got on the hardwood for just a few minutes.

A year or two later however, I figured it out.

Coach Montour didn’t play me because it would have been disrespectful to the team. While the team was lousy, the 12 or so guys had worked hard all season at practice and during the games.

It would have been an affront to their efforts to have put me- a one man little circus out there- even as a tip of the cap for my 4 years of work assisting all of the Tartans sports teams at WCI.

In the end I respected the decision. No “Rudy” story there.

THE DISGRACE

I never gave that event imuch thought over these past 50 years until this week when something similar (at least to me) occurred in Tinseltown.

Now, full disclosure before I rant.

I am not a fan for a variety of reasons, but LeBron James is, without room for debate, one of the Top 5 players in the history of the NBA. I get that.

It is also amazing that at age 39 he is still an excellent player. I get that.

I must also preface my comments by saying that it is fantastic that 20 year LeBron Jr. recovered from a horrible heart attack he suffered in July of 2023 while practising for his basketball team at University of Southern California.

Having said all of that, Tuesday night LeBron Jr. became me at Walkerville in 1974.

The Los Angeles Lakers drafted him in the second round even though he only scored 4 points a game in college! (As Dennis Miller would say, that’s only 4 points more a game than he scored and he wasn’t even playing!)

This was all done so that they could have the first Father/ Son combination play in the same game in NBA history.

What a disgrace.

It was a disgrace because Jr. has no business being in the NBA. None. But for his pedigree, none of us would know who he is and there would have been zero chance that he would have been drafted by the Lakers or any other team in the league.

This story is magnified because the word is that LeBron’s agent was threatening the other teams in the league that Jr. would go play in Europe if they drafted him out from under the Lakers. I am sure even the lowly Detroit Pistons were laughing at that one.

What made it even worse is that the baseball father son same- game combo of Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. attended to give gravitas to this circus. Seriously?

Sr. Griffey was himself an excellent player over 19 years. He almost had a career .300 average. AND he joined the SEATTLE MARINERS when his future Hall of Fame son was in his 2nd season. Over two years as an occasional player Sr. batted .329 for Seattle.

Last night was nothing but a barnstorming event that would have made Mr. Barnum proud and cheapened the NBA even more.

For the records, Jr. played 3 min with his pop, got 1 rebound and missed two shots.

My guess is that the Fakers will soon send him to the D League for some “playing time.” Whether he makes it back again to play in his Dad’s last game or something is debatable. Shame on everyone involved in this manufactured “accomplishment.” Glad I missed it. Damn glad.

If the Lakers were to have signed this otherwise non- league caliber player to a 1 day contract on LeBron’s last game ever to give him the pleasure of playing with his son, I would say fine, even if Fred Montour wouldn’t have played him. To make this have the appearance of being legit though – disgraceful.

Now for a song that marries up with this….

Here is “Basketball Shoes” by Brits BLACK COUNTRY NEW ROADS 🇬🇧

Like the famous debate about whether British Prime Minister Liz Truss would last longer than a head of lettuce debate from a couple of years ago the question here is will today’s song length of 23:37 eclipse the time Jr. spends on an NBA court?

I sure hope so.

Here is a live version.

SPOTIFY-

https://open.spotify.com/track/4ShVovnLIlObG43vwaCRkJ?si=Zw-BCNc2S3CHzD2ugodxBQ

(SONG 862)

Thanks for reading. Your normal rex programming will now return.

October 24, 2024