RIP Marty Blake

[DanOregon]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2013/04/marty-blake-the-godfather-of-nba-scouting-has-died/

Don't know how many times I heard him quoted, interviewed etc. about the guy in the draft that nobody had ever seen play.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Holy ****, he was accessible. I talked to him all the time about the draft prospects of college guys I was covering, and he was super candid and was amazing to deal with.

RIP... What a great guy.

 

[Mark2010]

Wow. I interviewed him on radio as a halftime guest doing college basketball pbp years ago. Very friendly and amazingly knowledgeable about mid-major college players.

 

[MTM]

There was a mid-major guy who attended our local JC years ago and Marty knew all about him and spent time on the phone with this small-town schmoe.
RIP.

 

[Ace]

Holy ****, he was accessible. I talked to him all the time about the draft prospects of college guys I was covering, and he was super candid and was amazing to deal with.

RIP... What a great guy.

Marty Blake, Mel Kiper and **** Vitale might be the triumverate of big-name experts in their fields who are/were accessible and helpful to scribes of all types.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Holy ****, he was accessible. I talked to him all the time about the draft prospects of college guys I was covering, and he was super candid and was amazing to deal with.

RIP... What a great guy.

Marty Blake, Mel Kiper and **** Vitale might be the triumverate of big-name experts in their fields who are/were accessible and helpful to scribes of all types.

You could ask Vitale about the team's 12th man and he'd make him sound like a superstar.

I called Blake about a player who most were projecting as a late first-round pick. He told me, "I think he's a great player, but I don't think he's going to be drafted at all. I think he's going to have to prove himself in the D-League or in Europe before anyone gives him a shot.

The coach calls me the next day, just irate that Blake would say that. He told me, "There's no way he slips to the second round."

The player was not drafted. He played in Europe for a couple years and now has had a very nice NBA career.

Blake knew his stuff.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

Jesus Christ, Mizzou. How many sports did you cover?

Let's be clear, I'm not accusing you of Dripism, I'm just marveling at all the **** you covered. Were you a GA?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Jesus Christ, Mizzou. How many sports did you cover?

Let's be clear, I'm not accusing you of Dripism, I'm just marveling at all the **** you covered. Were you a GA?

I know you're not... My first job they basically used me for everything and I was young and dumb and eager that I was willing to do it all. I had a GA/Colleges title, but did everything from Olympics to Super Bowls to MLB to NBA. Then I started doing colleges exclusively for a few years and then I closed out my career with five years on the NFL.

The columnist at my first job called me sidebar boy, because in addition to whatever my beat was at the time, they always would send me to NFL games and big events for sidebar duty.