A Shootout Lost To History: The Great Alaska Shootout was once the premier preseason college basketball tournament. Alas it was lost to history, warm weather and lots of empty ballrooms with 50 people in them disguised as college basketball facilities. I was reminded of the beauty of the Shootout by my Fordham classmate Jim Johnson last week as he added the Maui Classic (this year in Honolulu because of the fires in Maui earlier this year).
Why Alaska? We were there 40 years ago this week, Jim and John Giannone on the call for WFUV, I as a student manager for the Fordham Rams, who out on an amazing showing, going 2-1 in the tournament, with the lone loss by one point 62-61 to 14th ranked Arkansas led by future NBA’ers Joe Kleine and Alvin Robertson. The Alaska trip was amazing for a kid from Brooklyn for so many reasons in a time when teams did things like go to people’s host homes for dinner on Thanksgiving. One other memory…we were waiting to get luggage and video recording equipment (that’s another story) at baggage claim, and as we were pulling the bags off as managers still do, I heard a voice behind us. “F…ing Fordham, always slowing things up.” The speaker was Jim Valvano, who arrived with his NC State defending NCAA Champion Wolfpack right behind us, and were waiting for their bags (in a time when teams travelled commercial to such places, even national champions). Jimmy V. smiled, patted us on the shoulder, and reminded us that it was Iona…not Fordham…that put college hoops back on the map in NY.
Fun times.
Amazon Gamifying Black Friday: Amidst all the buss was a nice add on by the Amazon digital team, adding a pass rush game that was easy to lay and further expanded the reach and understanding of how the platform can grow NFL fandom. Check it out here.
Lastly: Saw in Lowe’s over the weekend. A great stocking stuffer. A lump of coal. Well not really, it’s heavy duty soap that looks like coal. Even better The Big Lump has a cause tie for veterans for all purchases.
Falalalala
