Sports Then and Now

Dan Lauria

ST&N was lucky enough to sit down with actor Dan Lauria of “Lombardi“ and “The Wonder Years“ fame to talk sports and acting. Lauria is currently narrating the musical version of “A Christmas Story”.

We asked him about his latest project, his incredible resume and even his interactions with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick:

The Doc Rivers ends and the coach can take his place in the Boston sports pantheon.

The city of Boston seems to developing a pattern of these coach-for-player trades. Prior to baseball season, it was the Red Sox dealing Mike Aviles to Toronto in exchange for the rights to current manager John Farrell. Now it’s the Celtics on the other end of such a transaction, acquiring a 2015 first-round pick from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for head coach Doc Rivers.

The long-rumored trade marks the end of another era of the Celtics and the end of a great ride for Doc in Boston. Now that Rivers’ Celtic tenure is in the books, we can start asking questions about where his place is in the pantheon of Boston sports.

Doc Rivers had coached the Orlando Magic for three full seasons prior to arriving in Boston, and his first year in the Hub more or less mirrored what he’d done in Orlando. Boston had a nice year, going 45-37, but lost in the first round of the playoffs. Doc was in a rut where he’d consistently win 40-plus games, but couldn’t get four more in the postseason and move into the second round.

Over the next two seasons, everyone would have gladly taken Rivers’ previous track record. Though it wasn’t his fault, as the Celtic roster was basically reduced to Paul Pierce and four guys from the local gym league and plummeted first to 33-49 and then bottomed out at 24-58.

Actually the gym league crack isn’t fair, because the organization did have Al Jefferson, who would become the key piece to acquire Kevin Garnett, whom the Minnesota Timberwolves were ready to unload. And though players like Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins weren’t yet ready to be contributors, they were at least under development. But as far as legitimate help for Pierce, there was none until the team added Garnett, and then Ray Allen in the summer of 2007.

Now there were big expectations for Celtics basketball, and Rivers began to come into his own as an NBA coach. The Detroit Pistons were still the most respected team in the Eastern Conference, with a championship in 2004, a Finals trip in 2005 and then successive conference finals’ visits. Cleveland had LeBron James and was on the move. And could these new Celtics’ stars all mesh together?

No one succeeds in the NBA without star players taking the lead, but Rivers excelled at creating the atmosphere where Garnett, Allen and Pierce could first come together themselves and then get everyone else to fall in line. While dramatic improvement could have been achieved by a lot of coaches, not every coach could have racked up 66 wins and immediately made the team look championship-worthy.

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There is nothing in sports like the NHL playoffs.  And there is NO trophy in sports like the Stanley Cup.

Lord Stanley’s Cup has been around since 1892, so it’s steeped in history and mystery. Like how are the names engraved on the holy chalice of hockey.

Find out how your favorite player has his name emblazoned on the world’s most famous sports trophy.

Pretty awesome eh?

The ’91 NBA Final was the defining series for the future of the NBA for the next decade. The best player in the league would learn how to win on basketball’s biggest stage. Michael Jordan and the Bulls would win six titles including the ’91 affair. The Lakers would not see glory again until they retooled for the Kobe and Shaq era. This series was certainly a definitive passing of the torch moment.

The first stage was part abdication and the rest annihilation. The Chicago Bulls finally vanquished their long time nemesis the Detroit Pistons in a convincing sweep. For three years leading up to this moment, the Bulls made continual progress towards usurping the Pistons dynasty. Each successive time they met in the playoffs, the Bulls came closer to beating them. Finally in 1991, the Bulls overcame their most bitter of rivals. Many notable Pistons left the court with eight seconds left, in a last gasp show of defiance.

While the conference finals featured Chicago overcoming their most bitter rivals, the NBA finals were a changing of the guard on a national scale. The Los Angeles Lakers were at the end of their “Showtime” dynasty. James Worthy and Magic Johnson were at the end of their storied careers. The stranglehold the Lakers had in the Pacific Division, ended this year as Portland finished first in the division. One last run was on the plate for these Lakers, as they triumphed over Portland in six games.

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Put away the old score sheet

Scorekeeping is an art and everybody has their own way of doing it. I’ve created a scorecard that tracks everything you could ask for, making it easy for you to keep track of your team. The scorebook was developed to accommodate a wide variety of baseball statistics, all of which are conveniently placed on one page.

The Touch ‘Em All Baseball Scorebook is for everyone and anyone, and can be used at any level for baseball or softball. The 11 spots in the batting order and room for 11 innings prepares you for innings or games that may go longer than expected. Whether you’re a fan at home watching on television or you’re at a little league game, this scorebook is the one to use.

Features:

• 11 innings – for games that go longer than planned
• 11 batting slots – comes in handy when a team goes around the order or if you need more than the usual nine slots
• 40 lineup cards (one for each scoresheet)
• Pitching stats – includes a chart for a maximum of eight pitchers per team
• Hitting stats – allows you to add up and total each batter’s offensive stats
• Pitch counts – not only track pitches thrown to every batter, but track the pitch count as well
• Runs by inning – a simple chart that allows you to recall when runs were scored during the game
• Bench and bullpen slots – list players on the bench and in the bullpen, allowing you to see which players each team has yet to use. As they enter the game, simply cross out their name to stay updated.
• A box for notes – use it for anything you’d like

Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like:

The scorebook even includes a full schedule page and a roster page with contact information. Of course you don’t have to use everything, but it is there if you need it.

The scorebook also includes instructions for how to keep score, in the event that you are unfamiliar with how it works. There is a page that explains how to do it and shows you examples for those that prefer visuals to learn.

The scorebook contains 40 scoresheets, so you can track 20 games (if you track both teams) or 40 games (if you track one team).

If you are interested in purchasing a scorebook or would like to help fund it, you can do so by clicking here.

Heading into the French Open, the second major of the season, most players prepare diligently for their final hurrah on clay. It remains as probably the least understood and least appreciated of the court surfaces players endure each year.

If the truth be told, players who learn to play on clay and who embrace the surface’s forgiving nature generally become better, more successful all-around players than those who learn the game on grass or hard courts.

The typical clay court player excels in patience by learning how to develop points as well as excellent defensive skills.

For a long time it seemed that some players segregated their careers by either avoiding clay altogether or by playing exclusively on the red dirt. But with the start of the Open Era and the necessity to play on multiple surfaces, some players built successful all-court games using clay court expertise as the foundation.

These male players achieved a top ten ATP ranking, a winning percentage in excess of 70 percent on clay throughout their careers—as well as double digit title wins on clay. Most also won at least one French Open, although not all.

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