Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

[TigerVols]

That 70s CBS intro with the cartoon silhouettes also meant they didn’t have to show black players right from the start of the broadcast. I wonder if the theme song was also meant to be non-threatening?

Even today, NBA fandom tends to fall off sharply outside of the home metro area. Not many outstate residents identify with the teams the way they do in football and baseball.

This.
The amount of race-driven animosity towards the NBA I run across on various Vol fanboards I view is astounding. Of course, it doesn’t help that “the local” team is located in a town also loathed by most Vol fans (for the same reason, of course).

 

[Webster]

Heh. Lakers winning the title at Boston Garden in 1985 was a noon tipoff.

I have a hazy memory of my friends and I agreeing to meet up to play hoops 15 minutes after that game was done.

 

[Songbird]

If bad ownership is determined to ruin a franchise, who is going to stop them? Sterling was the last in a long string of owners running that team into the ground, whether it was located in Buffalo, San Diego or Los Angeles.

Always an interesting what if … the Buffalo and Boston were both owned by the same person (I might be wrong) but what if the Braves had moved to Boston and the C’s to San Diego?

 

[MTM]

Hard to say what kind of basketball town San Diego would be, both both teams they lost was because of the owner seeking greener pastures, and didn't have anything to do with the city.

 

[FileNotFound]

Not many outstate residents identify with the teams the way they do in football and baseball.

Can speak personally to that being a big reason the Kings are no longer in Kansas City. Jackson County alone wasn't going to be enough to carry them, but nobody else in Missouri or Kansas felt any affinity for them. The brief tenure of the St. Louis Rams captured the hearts of more Missourians than the Kings did.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

Even after the Pistons’ success they are the fourth team in a four team town. Maybe fifth if you want to count Michigan football

 

[dixiehack]

Always an interesting what if … the Buffalo and Boston were both owned by the same person (I might be wrong) but what if the Braves had moved to Boston and the C’s to San Diego?

The two owners did a franchise swap. Don’t believe one owned both at the same time.

 

[Songbird]

The two owners did a franchise swap. Don’t believe one owned both at the same time.

Right, I forgot the specifics.

 

[BTExpress]

Celtics couldn't move to San Diego because the league literally blocked it. But owner Irv Levin wanted to own a team in California so he swapped the Celtics for the Braves, whom the league did not stop from moving because, well, they weren't an "iconic, cornerstone franchise."

Would have liked to see how courts would have interpreted that.
"You absolutely CANNOT move!!! But you over there? Start packing."

 

[nietsroob17]

Harkening back to Winning Time and Adrien Brody's portrayal of Pat Riley...

Scrolling through the channels, I stumbled across one of his truly iconic roles -- as one of the background players in "Angels in the Outfield."

One of the other background players who got maybe a few lines? Matthew McConaughey.

Amazed that THAT movie in all its schmaltzy, Disney-rific glory, had two future Academy Award winners (and another previous Oscar in Brenda Fricker).

 

[Shelbyville Manhattan]

A paycheck is a paycheck. As Michael Caine said of his work in Jaws IV: The Revenge, "I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."

Better yet, the house he bought was for his mother.

Harkening back to Winning Time and Adrien Brody's portrayal of Pat Riley...

Scrolling through the channels, I stumbled across one of his truly iconic roles -- as one of the background players in "Angels in the Outfield."

One of the other background players who got maybe a few lines? Matthew McConaughey.

Amazed that THAT movie in all its schmaltzy, Disney-rific glory, had two future Academy Award winners (and another previous Oscar in Brenda Fricker).

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Meanwhile, the 1981 Celtics beat a team with a losing record in the Finals and it gets treated like the glory days because Bird.

I've had just about enough of your Del Harris and Calvin Murphy bashing, Bubs!!!!

 

[nietsroob17]

A paycheck is a paycheck. As Michael Caine said of his work in Jaws IV: The Revenge, "I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."

Better yet, the house he bought was for his mother.

Yes, I get that, but Caine was well beyond established by then.

I was moreso amazed that "Angels" came out as a vehicle for Danny Glover, Tony Danza and Christopher Lloyd, but it had two background actors who went on to have three Oscars between them.

Before that, Brody hadn't done anything of note, and McConaughey just had pre-cult status "Dazed and Confused."

Just like the MLB team who might add a September call-up in a month, and that call-up ends up in Cooperstown in 20 years from now.

 

[DanOregon]

I almost think its easier for actors before winning an Oscar. How many winners have we seen fall off because they aren't offered roles "worthy" of an Oscar winner? Hillary Swank, Halle Berry, Eddie Redmayne? A lot easier to just take roles that are offered you, grab anything that pays. I imagine people don't send scripts to some actors because they feel its "beneath them" and actors feel they has some "standard" to uphold - at least until the bills start piling up.
Always thought character actors had it best. Yes, the paychecks are missing a few zeros, but they can come in, shoot for three or four days, then on to the next thing and they can keep working and not get sidetracked to do the press for a movie. They aren't tied down for three months.

 

[DanOregon]

Finished it off. Would have liked to have seen the Buss palimony case played out, at least the following year beating the Celtics, but I also wonder if there was more off-court drama from the 85 season that people can recall. If they went three more episodes they could have put a more tidy bow on it. I really like the way they shot the basketball scenes. The DP had game.

 

[Della9250]

Finished it off. Would have liked to have seen the Buss palimony case played out, at least the following year beating the Celtics, but I also wonder if there was more off-court drama from the 85 season that people can recall. If they went three more episodes they could have put a more tidy bow on it. I really like the way they shot the basketball scenes. The DP had game.

There was supposed to be a Season 3 and continue the storyline deeper into the 80s but HBO pulled the plug which is why it seemingly ends so abruptly knowing there's half a decade to go

 

[DanOregon]

I read that further up, I didn't expect it to conclude with Magic's HIV - but maybe Riley's exit.