Another Veterans Stadium Memory...

In 1991 or '92, I went to a game with my parents and two of my cousins at the Vet. It was Phils v. Cards. We sat in the right field seats, 10 or 20 rows up from the wall. There was a fairly good crowd on hand, and the vintage Phillies fans were in attendance, of course yelling smack at the Cards' rightfielder whenever he came out on defense.

For a couple of innings, one guy in particular, probably hopped up on liquid courage, kept a steady stream of trashtalking going.

"Hey, Jose-- you're a bum!"

"Hey, Jose-- nice strikeout!"

"Hey, Jose-- go back to Saint Louie!"

This went on for a couple of innings. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Then, in the middle of the game, I guess the guy got flustered that Jose wasn't acknowledging his taunts, and-- I'm actually chuckling out loud already as I think back-- this fan busts out with:

"Hey, Jose-- what's your last name?"

(Note: I was an avid baseball fan at my young age and I knew very well that the player's first name was Felix and his last name was emblazoned on the back of his jersey, facing our section's direction most of the time.)

But without missing a beat, another guy from a few rows back hears the trashtalker's question and replies out loud with (again, I'm laughing)...

"Hey! Isn't that Jose Snyder?!"

I heard this and I was practically crying! Right along with everybody else! The timing was perfect and the name was right out of a movie. It reminded me of the movie Naked Gun, when the fan yells out, "Hey, it's Enrico Pallazzo!"

So anyway, the rest of the game, what do we hear from the taunting fan?

"Hey Snyder-- you suck!"

That's vintage Vet Stadium verbiage folks.

Philly Sports Quest Profile: Ron Anderson

Ok, you just read the name "Ron Anderson" and I can GUARANTEE I already know what you're thinking.

Answer: Baseline jumper!

Ronald Gene Anderson was a Sixer from 1989 to 1993 and I think somewhere around 92.6% of his points came from hitting that baseline jumper from 10-15 feet out. Am I right?

In thinking about all of the players that I've ever seen play, I can't think of another player who made his living from that baseline jumper shot like Anderson did. Some players make their living in 3-point territory, some from planting themselves in the post, others from a jumper from the elbow, or something of that ilk. But Ron found that hole on the baseline and exploited it. And I'll tell you what, for a guy that put up 18 points per game over his career, he did pretty well for himself there. Shoot, the Sixers today I'm sure would love to have a guy like Anderson... a guy who can shoot reliably well (47% from the field during his career), hit his free throws (81%), get about 3-4 boards a game, not turn the ball over, and generally just fill in where needed. Nice kind of role player to have around.

But anyway, here are some little known facts that I just learned about our buddy (and that's what he seemed like... a buddy, average Joe kind of guy who just did his job with little fanfare)...
(Note, for some reason my prized bullet feature disappeared so I'm winging it with the bullets and also the hyperlinks)

-Ron went to Fresno State and joined the NBA in 1984 after just 2 years of college ball
-He played from '84 to '94 on 4 teams: Pacers, 76ers, Nets, Bullets, and scored over 7,000 points
-After the NBA he ventured off to play in France and later to Israel... nice gigs there for him I reckon
-He played on the '89/90 team with "Thump and Bump" (Charles Barkley and Rick Mahorn... Man, that must have been a fun locker room!), and yes, Chris Welp
-If you go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyZilWOTi8U and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFsrb-M3CJg

You can see a glimpse of Ron in action (#20)... Okay, so they were the best I could find. Sorry! (At least you got to see Manute Bol dunk-- twice!)

Well that about wraps it up for Ron Annnnnnndersonnnnnn, as he was affectionately called from the Sixers's PA announcer whenever he scored. Ahh, memories.

Till next time, keep the Philly Sports Quest alive!

A Harken Back to the NES Days

I just wanted to take a break for comedy in this post. If you have any recollection of playing any Nintendo sports game, you'll get a good laugh from this video...



That clip just takes off when it hits "Bittersweet Symphony"... and never looks back. C'mon, the high jump? Wow. That was SWEET.

Ok, we'll be back with Philly sports chatter next time!

That Mr. Smith is an Ice Guy

According to this recent news item, the Sixers' Joe Smith had over $100,000 in jewelry nabbed from his hotel in Philadelphia.

Um, simply, wow.

First, I don't think I'll ever see $100,000 worth of jewelry belonging to one person in my lifetime.

Second, on the off chance that I do see $100k+ of jewelry belonging to one person, I would hope that this person would not leave said jewelry in a hotel room, unsecured.

Last, I will never feel bad for an NBA player who is traded because he's a throw-in as part of a salary-maneuvering trade.

Passing of a "King"

While this is not a local story, I just couldn't help but take notice when I saw this AP-published obituary for Eddie Feigner, the "King of Softball" who toured with "The King and His Court" group for 50+ years, performing Harlem Globetrotters-style exhibitions..

Perhaps I'm showing my age, or just general lack of awareness, but I never heard of this spunky gentleman. But reading about his achievements in the world of softball really opened my eyes. Mind you, I realize that the following statistics for Mr. Feigner were compiled during his days of barnstorming, which involves notoriously unofficial records, but take a look at these numbers:

• 930 no-hitters thrown
• 238 perfect games
• 141,517 strikeouts
• 10,000+ games played
• Struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Maury Wills, Harmon Killebrew, Roberto Clemente, and Brooks Robinson all in a row on a nationally televised exhibition game

Wowzers. And to think that the Phils never went after this guy to figure out a way for him to play some pro ball and bring home a World Series. For God's sakes he had to have been better than Mitch Williams in the bottom of the 9th inning against Toronto, even if "the King" would have been in his late 60s at the time.

(See, I tied it all back into the Philly sports scene nice and neatly. Dang, it's tough being this good.)

(Note to Mitch Williams: sorry to single you out here, but unfortunately you provided the best example as to why this town is so jinxed with winning. Thanks in advance for being a sport about it. Carry on.)

De Ja Vu All Over Again?

Ok, take a gander at the following couple of paragraphs (and/or the entire article if you so desire) that I just saw on Philly.com's homepage:

A woeful season might be of comfort

By Frank Fitzpatrick

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

If this woeful season winds up as the Flyers' worst, it may be comforting for their fans, players and officials to look back at the team it will have supplanted in franchise infamy.

Though 1969-70 produced just 17 Philadelphia victories - in addition to 35 losses and an NHL-record 24 ties - it laid most of the groundwork for the remarkable hockey success that was just around the corner.

Now I'm no conspiracy theorist, nor am I one to toot my own proverbial horn, but now take a look at the opening of this post I wrote on January 12, 2007:

Even in Philly, Patience is a Virtue

Any Flyers fan will recognize these names:

Bobby Clark
Gary Dornhoefer
Bernie Parent

Indeed, they are three of the more recognizable names in Flyers' history, since they were great players.

That, and they helped bring the first Stanley Cup to Philadelphia in the 1973-74 season.

But what many people may not know (and I didn't know this until just now), is that these three players were on the second-to-worst team in the league just a few seasons before winning the Cup. In 1969-70, these players suffered through an ugly year as the team won just 17 out of 76 games, and tied with the now defunct, short-lived Oakland Seals in the NHL's Western Conference.

In 1973 they improved to the first place team, winning 50 out of 76 games.

Notice any similarities? What's up with that?

A Star Sneaks In

So this post isn't really about Philly sports, as per usual, though I thought it was worth chatting about. Take a look at this bit of news...

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=local&id=4994132

If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, here's the gist:

Stephon Marbury has a new line of sneaks called Starbury 1's. He's having them priced at $14.95 per pair. That's almost a 10th of the price of other brand name bball sneakers, a la Jordans. That's pretty cool in my book. To make matters even sharper, he is giving free sneakers to 1,600+ high school boys and girls who play on their high school basketball teams in Philly.

Hopefully this trend will continue and other prima donna athletes will follow his lead. I think back to when I tried out for basketball in middle school and kids asking me how much I paid for my shoes. Maybe now kids will high five each other for buying kicks from the bargain bin. And start focusing on playing "real" basketball instead...