Professional basketball has long passed its expiration date but there was a time when the games mattered. Los Angeles, in fact, had a pretty good team and its standout player, the guy that hit big shot after big shot was a dude named Dr. Jerry Buss.
By the time I first heard about The Hawk a lot of people were saying he was past his prime. But I didn’t know that. All I knew was that the voice coming out of the radio was talking about this player with high-pitched amazement, and The Hawk was about to bump my Lakers from the playoffs.