Sports Then and Now

Legendary sports announcer Vin Scully has passed away at the age of 94. Scully began his broadcast career as the third announcer along with Red Barber and Connie Desmond for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950 and spent 67 years broadcasting baseball for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers before retiring in 2016.

Listening to a Vin Scully broadcast was not just an afternoon enjoying live baseball. It was an afternoon remembering both legendary and relatively obscure players from baseball’s past while also likely having American culture and history woven into the conversation.

Scully was not just a walking baseball encyclopedia, he was a walking American history book.

Having grown up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, Scully spent two years in the U.S. Navy before attending Fordham University. During his college career, Scully played on the baseball team while writing for the school newspaper and broadcasting football and basketball games on the radio.

Following his graduation, Scully was a fill-in announcer for CBS Radio station WTOP in Washington, DC. It was during this time that Red Barber, the Sports Director for the CBS Radio Network, recruited him to broadcast college football games.

After joining the Dodgers broadcast team in 1950, Scully continued to learn his craft from the legendary Barber. In 1953, Barber got into a salary dispute with World Series broadcast sponsor Gillette, propelling the 25-year-old Scully into the broadcast booth for his first World Series. He still holds the record as the youngest broadcaster to announce a World Series game.

He eventually became the lead announcer for the Dodgers and stayed with the team when they moved to Los Angeles following the 1957 season.

Though he was originally a New Yorker, it was in California where Scully truly became a broadcasting legend. Announcing Dodger games during the era of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Maury Wills, Scully became a fan favorite as many would bring transistor radios to the stadium just to hear Scully call the action.

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t was a game that epitomized March Madness. The 1992 East Regional Final of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament between Duke and Kentucky was as thrilling a game as one can imagine. Basketball pundits and fans everywhere witnessed a game for the ages. It was an instant classic packed with as much drama as a play on broadway in New York City.

Actually, it was played in Philadelphia, PA at The Spectrum and featured the east region’s top two seeds. On Saturday March 28, 1992, the Blue Devils and the Wildcats battled in a game that is remembered as a theatrical masterpiece. Veteran broadcasters Verne Lundquist and Len Elmore called the game for CBS Sports and did a masterful job. With a trip to The Final Four on the line, the two nationally ranked powers went back-and-forth much of the game leading up to a frantic, thrilling, and dramatic finish.

Having just fallen behind by one point on a Kentucky basket after which they used their final timeout with 2.1 seconds left in overtime, Duke inbounded the ball under the Wildcats’ basket. Sophomore forward Grant Hill prepared to make the long inbounds pass which was nearly the full length of the court. The call by Lundquist sounded like this:

“There’s the pass to Laettner…puts it up…(Buzzer sounds) Yessssssssssss!

Hill’s long inbounds pass was caught by 6-11 senior forward/center Christian Laettner just outside the top of the foul line where he made a turnaround jumper as time expired. Echoes of Lundquist’s call have lingered on for decades since this fabled play.

Ecstasy resulted for the Blue Devils while Kentucky was left in anguish. Laettner’s basket, a swish, lifted Duke to an improbable 104-103 win and sent the Blue Devils to The Final Four for the fifth straight year. Wildcat senior forwards John Pelphrey and Deron Feldhaus, each standing 6-7, defended Laettner on the final play. Pelphrey made a reach for the ball before backing off to avoid fouling for Kentucky. Feldhaus was closer and raised both arms up on Laettner as he took the epic shot.

Syracuse versus Duke.

Coaching legends, hall-of-famers, and close friends in Jim Boeheim of the Orange and Mike Krzyzewski of the Blue Devils. The duo are the two winningest coaches in college basketball history and are coaching royalty. Cameron Crazzies and record-setting Carrier Dome crowds. Plain and simple it is must see television.

For nearly a decade the matchup has been a featured attraction in the Atlantic Coast Conference and all of college basketball. The sport welcomed the annual clash of titans when Syracuse joined the ACC in 2013. Since then this matchup has been nothing short of brilliant.

Roulette is one of the most popular games among casino operators. The game has been used in prominent companies and television shows, and it’s undoubtedly one of the most popular casino games in any casino. It works well because it is simple, fully anonymous, and safer due to blockchain technology. Also, it is evident that crypto now meets sports, and this relationship is growing stronger every day. However, if you want to play roulette at an online casino, you need to learn how it works first. Once you understand everything about this game, you will enjoy the numerous benefits of bitcoin roulette.

The basis of this game is already known to most people, but you can make it even more fun with a strategy. Here are the three most common techniques you can use to play the game.

Martingale strategy

Martingale strategy is one of the most popular strategies for playing bitcoin roulette. The concept of this strategy is quite simple since you choose a 50/50 bet. You begin with a low wager, which you will determine as a basic bet. When playing roulette, you choose black or red, odd or even, bottom half or top half. When you lose a round, you double the stake in the next round. And if you win a round, you place your basic bet again in the next round. The advantage of this strategy is that you recover the previous lost rounds when you win. Martingale’s strategy is most effective on sites with a low minimum bet and a high maximum stake.

Reverse martingale strategy

The reverse martingale strategy is the polar opposite of the Martingale method. It entails doubling your bet when you win and lowering it when you lose. This strategy can help you increase your wins while on a winning run and limit your losses when you are on a losing streak.

Less than a week after leading a spirited, but ultimately unsuccessful comeback in the NFC Playoffs, multiple sources are reporting that 44-year-old quarterback Tom Brady is retiring from the NFL.

If the reports are accurate, it is truly the end of an amazing era in NFL history. Not only has Brady played in more Super Bowls (10) and has more Super Bowl rings than anyone else (7), but he holds the NFL records for most passing attempts, most passing yards, most touchdown passes and most passing yards in NFL history.

However, unlike some of the quarterbacks he overtook for the all-time passing records (Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, and Dan Marino), Brady’s legacy is truly less about the statistics than it is about his winning history.

In the 20 seasons in which Brady was the full-time starting quarterback, he led his squad to the playoffs 19 times, including the last 18 years in a row. His career playoff record of 35-12 in 47 games represents nearly three full regular seasons worth of postseason performances.

When describing great coaches, they often use the adage that he could take his team and beat your team and then take your team and beat his team. Tom Brady is one of a handful of football players for which you could make the same comment. If Brady was the quarterback of the team, you knew they always had a chance to win.

Few (okay, no one, except maybe him) predicted such lofty greatness when Brady was drafted by the New England Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 draft with the 199th overall pick.

Sad news from the sports world with the passing of legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden at the age of 85.

Whether from his days as a coach, broadcaster or simply as the name on a video game, John Madden was a football legend known by fans of all generations.

Though more than a dozen years elapsed between his final broadcast after nearly three decades as the preeminent color commentator on television and his passing, Madden remained a legendary and well-known sports figure until his death. Just this past Christmas, Fox Sports broadcast a program recognizing his legacy and larger-than-life personality.

Despite his death, Madden’s influence on football and pop culture will continue to live on in the leading football video game known as Madden NFL.

The journey for Madden from a 21^st round NFL Draft pick to the most recognized person in the NFL was truly a remarkable one.

A talented multi-sport athlete, Madden was a boyhood friend of John Robinson, who would go on to a successful career as head coach at the University of Southern California and with the Los Angeles Rams.

Madden played college football at the College of San Mateo for a year, earning a scholarship to the University of Oregon. However, an injury forced him to redshirt and he ultimately finished his college career playing two seasons as a two-way player at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. He was also a catcher on the Cal-Poly baseball team.

The Philadelphia Eagles selected Madden in the 21^st round (244^th overall pick) of the 1958 NFL Draft. However, a knee injury suffered in training camp ended his dream of playing in the NFL.

After completing his degree, Madden became an assistant coach at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. He was promoted to head coach in 1962.

Following the 1963 season he was hired as a defensive assistant coach at San Diego State by head coach Don Coryell. Before becoming a successful NFL head coach with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers, Coryell turned San Diego State into one of the top small college football programs in the country.

After the 1966 season, Madden was hired by Al Davis as linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders. During his first season in the AFL, the Raiders won the AFL Championship and played the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II.

Following the 1968 season, head coach John Rauch left the Raiders to become head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Davis tapped the then 32-year-old Madden to be head coach of the Raiders. Considering his age and that his only head coaching experience had been at the community college level, it was quite a bold move.

Fortunately for Davis and the Raiders, Madden proved to be up for the task. The Raiders posted a 12-1-1 record during his first season as head coach and reached the AFC Championship Game.

Over the next seven seasons the Raiders won at least eight games each year and reached the playoffs seven times. They advanced to the AFC Championship Game in each of the 1973, 1974 and 1975 seasons, but each year fell just short of reaching the Super Bowl.

After losing to the Miami Dolphins in the 1973 AFC Championship Game, the Raiders thought it was their turn after defeating the Dolphins in dramatic fashion in a game known as the “Sea of Hands” game for the final touchdown pass from Ken Stabler to Clarence Davis in the final seconds.

Unfortunately, the Raiders proved to again be the bridesmaids as they lost the conference title game to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The same occurred a year later when the game was played in Pittsburgh and Madden and the Raiders felt that the Steelers intentionally chose not to cover the field, thus creating a slick surface that neutralized the speed of the Raiders.

Finally, in 1976 the Raiders posted a 13-1 regular season record and then avenged their only loss of the regular season by defeating the New England Patriots 24-21 in the opening round of the playoffs.

Participating in their fourth straight conference championship game and third against the Steelers, Madden and the Raiders finally came out on top in a 24-7 decision to reach Super Bowl XI.