More bluntly stated — at a place called The Daily Dot — is: "Oscar Robertson's statue has a big rod going up his butt":
The 76-year-old Robertson is reportedly kind of a grouch these days — but no word yet on what he thinks of the ridiculous statue commissioned to honor Kaminsky's inside game.
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19 comments:
Oscar was always a grouch. He and Kareem on the same Bucks team were a total groucharama. They did win the NBA championship though. Oscar was older and a little chubby then but still could kick everyone's butt.
Vlad Dracul liked to impale his enemies. He's love that trophy.
Keep the pose and the rod but replace Robertson with Scarlett Johannson and you have The Laslo Trophy.
I am Laslo.
As the now discounted story goes, so did King Edward II. But, it didn't work out well for Eddie.
They need to change the name of the trophy. There have been some great college basketball players over the years but Larry Bird was the greatest.
Lew Alcindor was also great but only played three years and UCLA had a brilliant coach and excellent players. They won before and after Lew.
So rename the trophy after the best and then redesign it
The Big "O" was great. Probably peaked at earning 75K/year back in the early 70s, which was a lotta money back then. My Dad, a lawyer, made 10K/year in '72, his first job after law school. I have digressed, sorry.
The Big O was great. The problem is he thinks he was better than Jordan and LeBron. Not even close. Tough to compare players from different eras except on free throw percentage (Jordan, Magic, and Bird all higher career free throw than the Big O and higher career FG percentage).
But the Big O wasn't even the best player in his generation. He's not the best college player of all time, and he's a jerk. So why is there a trophy named after him?
Oscar was probably the worst sports analyst in the history of television, at least on the national level. He did NBA games for CBS with, IIRC, Brent Musberger.
You could understand about half of what he said, and he said nothing worth hearing. He used to whoop and exclaim a lot, I remember.
I don't blame him; he was doing his best. The fault lies with the moron who gave him the job and kept him in it for more than one year when it was clear he was not up to the job.
I've heard him in interviews and he is a thoughtful, sensitive man who chafed (understandably) at any perceived slight.
As a player, I just remember him over-dominating the ball on offense. Much like his contemporary, Jerry West, he almost never went to his left, but defenses back then let guards go pretty much wherever they wanted.
The greatest college basketball player was Bill Walton, i.e., he would be my first pick if choosing a player with which to start a college team.
Its just a bad angle. I'm sure it looks better if you don't view it straight on at eye level.
I think Lew Alcindor was the greatest NCAA BB player.
The greatest college basketball player was Creighton's Doug McDermott.
1. Lew Alcindor
2. Bill Walton
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.somebody else
Larry Bird???? He wasn't even the best player of his own era. That would be Magic Johnson.
A good argument could be made on behalf of every player mentioned above.
Here's a trivia question I came up with. Identify this player:
I am the only player to lead the NCAA Basketball Division I in scoring and assists in the same season.
I went on to win two championships in my career. I was an MVP winner and finished second for another MVP. I am not in my (professional) sport's Hall of Fame.
Pete Maravich?
Dick Groat.
MVP shortstop for the 1960 champion Pittsburgh Pirates, and shortstop for the Series-winning 1964 St. Louis Cardinals. He finished 2nd in the 1963 MVP voting to Sandy Koufax.
Groat was named the National Player of the Year after his senior season (1951-1952), when he averaged 26 points and 7.6 assists per game. He is the only player in NCAA history to lead the nation in both scoring and assists in a season. On May 1, 1952, he was the first player at Duke to have his uniform number (10) retired.
Apparently there is no truth to the rumor that Oscar the Grouch was named for Oscar the grouch. But The Big O was notably cantankerous. Still probably a top-10 all time NBAer, and definitely top-20.
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