A Tribute to Jay Howard, Voice of the San Antonio Spurs

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I've been wanting to write this article for many years now, but for some reason, I simply haven't taken the time. But there's no reason why I can't take 30 minutes and get it done! By the way.. Absolutely no offense whatsoever is intended to Bill Schoening! Bill does such a fantastic job that I would rather mute the TV whenever there's no Bill Land & Sean Elliott Spurs' TV broadcast, and listen to Bill, than most of the scrubs we're "forced" to listen to on ESPN & TNT.

A lot of people in my circle of NBA basketball fans absolutely cannot stand the NBA announcing trio of Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Mike Breen, who call games for ESPN & ABC. There are also a lot of people who like them, and surely a ton who don't care. I have written about my opinion of these three before! But this post isn't directed at the blabbering of both Van Gundy and Jackson, as it is towards Mike Breen.

Of the three Mike Breen is the one guy who actually does a halfway decent job calling the play-by-play. While JVG and Jackson continue to argue over irrelevant ideas, and disregard the fact that the fans are listening to their banter, while trying to FOLLOW a game they're interested in, they haven't a clue that they aren't doing the job they've been hired for. As an aside -- Does ESPN get (or acknowledge) any customer feedback in this regard??

OK OK, I said this post wasn't about how much I can't stand Van Gundy & Jackson. This post is to give some long-overdue credit to a guy who used to call Spurs' games back in the day. And also to let Mike Breen know that, although he does a "decent" job as a play-by-play basketball announcer (and bonus points for enduring JVG & Jackson), he needs to know something he probably doesn't know.

Jay Howard was yelling "BANG" LONG BEFORE Breen was!

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Here is good ol' Jay calling our 1999 Championship!

One down, 4 to go.

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Really ESPN? We led for like 97% of this game. Except for about 2 minutes, this was a domination. C'Mon, Espn.

Go Spurs..

People are Nuts

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Fantasy Football Player Rankings Rant

All these major sites, who host hundreds of thousands fantasy leagues (ESPN, NFL, Yahoo, CBS...), should definitely have an application on their site that allows the owner to UPLOAD an Excel (or Works) spreadsheet, which converts into your player rankings. No, not every person who plays
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fantasy football is gonna spend the time to create his or her own spreadsheet (player list), but I guarantee for as many who do, there are probably the same amount who have one that someone else created for them.

Nevertheless, most people who play, and want to win, rank their players at the particular site prior to their draft, right? And it is those people - who have spent their time preparing - who deserve to save a few hours of their time by not having to drag & drop (or click up & down) 150+ players into a particular order.

Why is this not already a thing? We go apply for jobs, and sites instantly read our resumes, and not only show you the resume, but they take certain fields of information, and place that information where it is needed into their application!

C'mon... this is 2013 already!

Attn: ESPN.com Fantasy Football, NFL.com Fantasy Football, Yahoo Fantasy Football, and CBS Sportsline Fantasy Football

/Rant

Experts

Source: ESPN.com Screenshot

I just have to laugh at these things. It was the same way with the last series vs. Golden State. No one gives us much credit. We win titles.. we contend every single season for the last ... 19 seasons? Nine of these seasons we've been in the conference finals. C'mon, man! And Magic was saying the other night (just before our game-3 win, when ESPN thought of nothing better than to allow these guys to ponder when the Spurs were going to retire.. when they'll be done..), "All these young teams are gonna take over the Spurs next year..."

We're all used to it though.. All the media bias. All the lack of respect. All I have to say to them is "Expert this!"


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So Many People Wrong

This is a screenshot from an ESPN poll that was posted at their site last Thursday, May 9th. Golden State had just evened-up the series at 1-1 in game 2.


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50 Years of Fantasy Football

~An ESPN Video



Andy Mousalimas celebrated an anniversary more monumental than a wedding or a birthday. It was the 50th anniversary of his first fantasy football draft.

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He's mentioned in Wikipedia's "American Fantasy Football" article in the history section. I think we all have to thank this man and his buddies.

Must. Eat. Words.

Is Miami done?

Check out this look back at what Stephen A. Smith has to say after the Heat go down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals.

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Well done ESPN! Are You kidding me?

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The U.S. Open Begins Today!

And here are my TWO foursomes for the ESPN Majors Challenge.


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Entry 1:
Phil Mickelson - 15.0
Dustin Johnson - 13.6
Webb Simpson - 13.3
Blake Adams - 8.0

Entry 2:
Lee Westwood - 14.9
Jason Dufner - 14.1
Davis Love III - 11.5
Stewart Cink - 9.4

< - 50 point cap - >

Here is the full list..

ESPN's "Expert" Picks - Western Conference Finals

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I'll just give everyone a few days to take all of this in..

For now, here is a good synopsis of my opinion of Israel Gutierrez, written by Big50 at Pounding the rock dot com. (By the way he was the only one of these "experts" who picked the Lakers to beat the Thunder, but he also picked Heat over Pacers in 5, Celtics over 76ers in 5, Spurs over Clippers in 7, and (gulp) Spurs over Jazz in 7).

I'll be back with more..

Spurs' Success Starts at the Top

This is a terrific article by ESPN's John Hollinger (1, 2) about the Spurs' organization. I think the national media may be waking up to exactly what it is we've been doing here for many years now. I think I even heard several "experts" publicly praising us - who have never, ever praised us - now that we've won 16-straight, and in dominating fashion. Greg Anthony, Tim Legler, Jeff Van Gundy, and more.

This is an ESPN "Insider" article, which means it's an article you only get to read if you pay ESPN for their Insider package. I'll let you know now, I'm not the one who ripped it and posted it. That credit goes to georgestephanopoulos. But I give the guy a ton of thanks for sharing an incredible article with a ton of people who would have otherwise not seen it.

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Once the rest of the league starts to pay attention to what we've been doing for years & years, I think they might start to figure it out. Then again why has it taken them so long? More importantly once the media drops their "old & aging team" moniker that has been present since about, oh 2007, perhaps they'll also realize this franchise isn't gonna have a rebuilding stage. We're gonna be there - competing with the best of them - winning 50 games a season - for many, many years to come. My only hope is that Timmy & Pop stick around a little longer.

Some Things Never Change

Source: This ESPN poll..

So we win 11-straight, and 12 of 13. We go 8-1 on a 9-game road trip, and come home at 24-10 at the "half-way" point. Then we play a hard-fought game against one of the best teams in the league, and lose by 7, and suddenly a majority of the nation thinks we're not contenders? That's OK - they've said the same thing every single year that I can remember - even between 1999 & 2007. And yeah every season since '07 we're "washed-up".. we're in "rebuilding mode".. we're "so old" that our only weapons are our canes.

Once again, I just laugh at them all.

Well I Made it to the Leaderboard

...but then I missed my next pick to go to 16-straight. So close, but yet so far.


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My previous best was 12 (twice). Started out being really picky, and then when the streak gets longer & longer, you can't help but be even more picky. Then you get towards the end of the month, when the contest ends, and realize you're gonna run out of days. So on a day in which I didn't feel very confident in any of the possible props, I decided to go with "Syracuse winning margin" over "Connecticut 3-pointers made". The Orange won by 2, but UConn had 6 threes. Sigh! I was pretty confident they'd win by 10-15 or so. Oh well..

ESPN's Streak for the Cash challenge, in case you want to play..

ESPN NFL Rankings by Week

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San Antonio Spurs Named Top NBA Franchise In ESPN The Magazine’s 2011 Ultimate Standings List

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SAN ANTONIO (June 15, 2011) – ESPN The Magazine released its ‘The Ultimate Standings’ rankings for 2011 today and the San Antonio Spurs were named the top NBA franchise and the fifth-best professional team out of 122 total teams from the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB franchises. The Spurs have ranked as the top NBA franchise six times and is the only franchise to have been named the top overall team twice among the four major sports since ESPN introduced its annual survey in 2003.

"It is with great pride that we congratulate the San Antonio Spurs for being ranked as ESPN The Magazine's top NBA franchise for the sixth time," said NBA Commissioner David Stern. "San Antonio's commitment to excellence starts with owner Peter Holt, is instilled in every member of the organization, and makes the Spurs a model franchise both on and off the court."

The Spurs ranked number one overall in two categories that were part of the judging process to determine the best overall sports franchise; 'fan relations' and 'players.' 'Fan relations' is described as the openness and consideration of players, coaches and management toward fans and the 'players' category is described as the effort on the court and the likeability off the court of franchise players.

Spurs Chairman and CEO Peter Holt was ranked as the top NBA “Ultimate Boss,” second overall among sports franchise owners, based on the criteria of honesty, commitment to their communities and loyalty to core players.

“This is truly a testament to the outstanding leadership and dedicated commitment to excellence from our basketball and business operations,” said Spurs Sports & Entertainment Chairman and CEO Peter Holt. “Our success is measured not only by what we do, but how we do it. By once again ranking first in fan relations showcases our loyalty to our community and exemplifies the passion our fans have as the best among professional teams.”


Spurs Chairman & CEO Peter Holt (Source)

The Ultimate Standings debuted in 2003 with the Spurs ranked #3 overall with the Green Bay Packers at #1. and the Arizona Diamondbacks at #2. In 2004, the Spurs garnered their first title ranking from ESPN, followed by the Dallas Mavericks at #2 and the Green Bay Packers at #3. In 2005, the Spurs ranked an impressive #2 behind the Detroit Pistons, and ahead of the #3 ranked Indianapolis Colts. In 2006, a year after their third NBA Title, the Spurs were voted to the top of the list again with the Detroit Pistons at #2 and Pittsburgh Steelers at #3.The Spurs finished second behind the Buffalo Sabers and above NBA Division Rival the Dallas Mavericks (#3) in 2007. The following year, the Spurs were ranked second overall behind the Indianapolis Colts (#1). In 2009, San Antonio ranked #9 overall and in 2010 ranked 7th.

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Alone We Stand

This was one of the pictures at ESPN's Daily Dime page around game time tonight. Are you kidding me? All you have to say is that this is the end of an era?

Obviously the thought was that we'd lay down and fall to the Grizzlies 4-1. Even if not - I know the percentage of people who believed in this team had substantially decreased after our game-4 meltdown - If we should go on to win game-5, extend the series, etc., is this really an appropriate thing to be posting? Not yet I say.. either way!

Take a look at this ESPN poll from early Tuesday morning:



It's obvious that most of the country thought we were done. It was early, but I couldn't find the poll again to check the results yesterday when I got up.

So back to game-5. Aside from a tiny little spell in the late 3rd quarter of this game, we were in control. Even when Memphis finally took their first lead, I could tell that this game would be different. We were resilient down the stretch. So I go back to ESPN just to see what they chose as their headline.

This is what they chose with 4-5 minutes left in the game:


And what's crazy here, is that the game is now over. It's been 30 minutes or so. This image is still there - same title. Only they changed a few letters.

"as the Spurs look to avoid elimination Wednesday night."

was replaced with

"as the Spurs avoided elimination Wednesday night."

Yeah we all know how the national media is. But I'm gonna do you one better. This Memphis team is very good. They are not like any other #8 seed I've ever seen (there are a few possible exceptions). We played this team 3 times in a month near the end of the season. All three were close, but they beat us up all three times, and won two of them. This team won a lot of games after the all-star break, culmanating in a 9-2 record just before they tanked their last two games "rested their players" - obviously OK with the idea of playing San Antonio. Why wouldn't they be? I told everyone time and time again near the end of the season - "We need to avoid Memphis. Portland isn't a good match-up either, but we must avoid Memphis."

So now here we are.

Never underestimate the heart of a Champion! --Rudy Tomjonavich (Houston Rockets' Head Coach), 1995

That quote is all I can think about right now. Count us out if you want to. Start elaborating about what this team is gonna be like without Tim Duncan, or without Gregg Popovich.. Consider how we've blown a few chances in a few seasons (specifically 2010, 2009, and 2002) - But what most of the critics who celebrate those three seasons in which we admittedly didn't do it down the stretch, I remind you of this:

2004 - Tim Duncan hit a shot at the (apparent) buzzer to put us up in game 5 of the semi-series against the Lakers, only to have Derek Fisher hit one of the most improbable shots of all time. Yeah 0.04. He doesn't hit that shot, and I feel strongly we win that series, and perhaps the rest is history.

2006 - Being down 3-1 in the western conference finals to Dallas, we stormed back, and did well in game-7 at our place. If it was not for a subtle Manu Ginobili foul on Dirk Nowitzki at the buzzer, that game was ours, and WE go on to the finals against Miami. Remember: Dallas won the first two games of those finals, and then lost 4 straight.

I see a ton of people online wanting to argue that this is not a DYNASTY. They claim that a team must repeat a Championship to be a dynasty. They claim three-peats, and all sorts of things. This Spurs team has won 4 Championships in a span of 13 seasons. 13 seasons in which we have not only compiled the best regular season record in ALL OF SPORTS, but have continued to be competitive with the same primary nucleus for more seasons than any other team I can think of.

Going backwards:
• 12 straight 50-win seasons: 687-297 (69.8%) - Three titles - 3-0 in Finals
• 37-13 in the 1998-1999 season (74%) - 74% of an 82-game season is 60.7 wins - 1 title
• 1997-1998: 56-26
• 1996-1997: David Robinson Injured in game-6 of the season.. (20-62) Leads to Tim Duncan acquisition.
• 1989-1996: 383-191 (66.7%) - 5 more 50-win seasons
• 127-95 playoff record in 21 seasons prior to this season - 21 playoff appearances in 22 years, including this season

Think about it all. Not only is this certainly a professional sports dynasty, it's not over with just yet.

Now it's after midnight, and ESPN has posted several variations and different camera angles of the Gary Neal Shot on its main page. But most are videos, and they all contain the same text as before. And the same title. We are Barely Alive and have "avoided elimination". Here is the final analysis page.

Perhaps some of this media attention is deserved. Not because we "eluded fate," or surprised everyone by playing the kind of basketball we've played all season, but because we freaking deserve it, and have much more to say in the coming days.

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Breaking News: 2012 Masters Tickets Available To Public

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Augusta, Ga. -- For the first time in decades, Augusta National will make a limited number of Masters Tournament badges available to the public via its website, beginning with the 2012 event.

The Masters has traditionally been one of the toughest tickets in sports, with a waiting list for patron badges dating back to 1971. Only spectators on the club's list are allowed to buy tournament-round badges each year.

Golf fans will be allowed to submit their applications to both the tournament and for practice rounds via Masters.com. The club is moving all of its ticketing online, including ticket services for annual patrons.

"Moving the entire application process to our official tournament website is a safe and convenient way for those wishing to apply for daily practice round tickets," said Masters chairman Billy Payne. "We are also pleased to provide a limited number of tickets for the individual tournament round days, which, up until now, have only been allocated to our series badge holders."

Daily tournament ticket applications must be submitted by June 30, with practice round applications allowed until July 30. Each allocation will have its own random selection process, with applicants notified by email within several weeks of the application deadline.

Until now, practice round tickets have only been available via lottery.

Next year's tournament runs the week of April 2.

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Butler vs. Connecticut 8:23 PM CDT

"Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time.” -- John Wooden

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Zenyatta

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I don't really get into horse racing, but there is a HOT 6-year old named Zenyatta, who's about to take on the horse racing world. Why is she special? She has never lost a race! 19 races. 19 wins.

You might be able to watch some history this year, starting with the Breeder's Cup tomorrow at 6:45 PM EST on ESPN2.

This is the way she does it, every time. She's bigger than them, her stride is longer than theirs, and she has the stamina to kick it late, when it matters:



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