Often in the second half of December and January, if we were having any vaguely warm weekend afternoons, my neighborhood was starting to get interested in the CBS Sunday NBA games if our NFL teams were eliminated or clearly out of the race (my Dolphins and the Cardinals, Rams and other favorites of the nearby boys). Plus, we were excited about the new Topps basketball cards on the shelves for the current NBA season, and we were restless to get outside and play on one of the three backyard goals I remember in our little square of homes off Cairo Road.
That said, I can't remember any of us pretending to be Artis Gilmore, Bob Lanier or any of these Bulls or Pistons, so I imagine this particular game didn't much grab us. Super Bowl Sunday was its own animal and demanded our attention even though none of us was any too jazzed specifically about the Broncos or Cowboys. Also, we certainly weren't having any vaguely warm weekend afternoons in January 1978.
Nonetheless, here's where things standing in the 1977-78 NBA season when things tipped off in Detroit and on Channel 12 on Jan. 15:
Eastern Conference, Atlantic Division Philadelphia 76ers 28-11 New York Knicks 22-19, 7 games back Buffalo Braves 16-22, 11.5 Boston Celtics 13-26, 15 New Jersey Nets 9-32
Eastern, Central Washington Bullets 24-16 San Antonio Spurs 23-18, 1.5 Cleveland Cavaliers 19-20, 4.5 Atlanta Hawks 19-23, 6 New Orleans Jazz 17-24, 7.5 Houston Rockets 15-25, 9
Western, Midwest Denver Nuggets 27-13 Chicago Bulls 23-19, 5 Milwaukee Bucks 23-21, 6 Indiana Pacers 17-21, 9 Detroit Pistons 17-23, 10 Kansas City Kings 15-27, 13
Western, Pacific Portland Trail Blazers, 33-6 Phoenix Suns, 27-14, 7 Seattle Supersonics, 23-20, 12 Golden State Warriors 19-22, 15 Los Angeles Lakers 17-24, 17
At 2, Channel 12 was planning to go to the Phoenix Open final round. When CBS finished its coverage Saturday, they (and reportedly all of the leaderboards on the course) reported that George Knudson, defending-champion Jerry Pate, Jim Simons and Lee Trevino shared the lead at 10-under. But then Knudson turned in his card, and it turned out he had shot a 66 Saturday—best round of the day—and actually held the sole lead in the tournament by one stroke. And by this point on Sunday, it appeared Knudson’s surprise lead might hold up altogether, as a rare desert rain besieged the Phoenix Country Club.
Golf is a new competition for The Superstars in 1978, and we have Bonds, Cey, Rice, Tug McGraw and Joe Morgan competing in a nearest-to-the-pin thing on a par-3 hole. McGraw gets plenty of laughs from the assembled gallery and ABC sideline-reporter Bill Russell, but it’s Rice and Joe Morgan who duel for first place after both landing their initial drives 4 feet, 9 inches from the hole …
It’s Morgan claiming the 10 golf points! That gives the Reds second baseman a chance to win the whole preliminary going into the final event, obstacle course. Through nine events, here are your overall leaders from Lucaya:
1. Steve Garvey 35 points 2. Dwight Stones 29.3 3. Joe Morgan 26 4. Bobby Bonds 24 5. George Brett 21
On Saturday, January 14, 1978, Kentucky hammered LSU 96 to 76 in Rupp Arena. That game moved the Cats' record to 12-0 overall, and 4-0 in the SEC. The Cats are ranked number one in the country.
Mike Phillips led all scorers with 23 points. Rick Robey had 18 points and 12 rebounds. The Cats went 30-39 from the line, and four LSU Tigers fouled out.
I had completely forgotten this, but back then the Cats used to play SEC games on Saturdays and Mondays. So UK's next game will be on Monday, January 16 at home against Ole Miss.
So Garvey wins this overall qualifier, and he, Stones, Morgan and Cey head on the final (along with last week’s qualifiers, Wayne Grimditch, Franz Klammer and Maurice Lucas). According to this terrific report from TheSuperstars.org, it's a payday of $7,933 for Stones's Desert Oasis Track Club.
CBS went all in on this Super Bowl. This is the one where they (presumably) broke the bank for LeRoy Nieman to do original artwork for the pregame show, lineup announcements and commercial bumpers. The on-air people were, of course, Irv Cross; Phyllis George, Brent Musburger and Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder in the main NFL TodayM booth (renamed "Super Bowl Today" today) and Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier to call the game. At various points around the stadium, they also had (at least) Gary Bender, Nick Buoniconti, Paul Hornung, Sonny Jurgensen, Hank Stram, Johnny Unitas and Jack Whitaker to do interviews or add insights. It was a show, man!
I remember it really well -- there hadn't been anything like it before. I'm pretty sure that there was a bit toward the end where everyone else had made their predictions, and it went to Musberger, who had been keeping his views to himself as the host, and then Musberger had a funny segment about how he made his prediction by analyzing biorhythms for all the players. But I don't remember which way the biorhythms pointed.
Summerall's live introduction of the individual Cowboys and Broncos was carried both on the air and over the Superdome public address. When he settles back in with old-friend Brookshier for Jim Turner's opening kickoff, the veteran broadcaster seems nearly (but not quite) overwhelmed with the moment. "I can't remember a Super Bowl--and I've been to every one of them--more packed with emotion," Summerall says.
The party, of course, started last night in 1978--Saturday, January 14--with the third-annual Super Night at the Super Bowl, live from New Orleans. Andy Williams, Paul Williams and Joe Namath shared the hosting job, and I'm particularly intrigued by the Mills Brothers appearance. Here's an entertaining, second-hand recap of proceedings from inside the New Orleans Theatre of the Performing Artists.
ReplyDeleteChannel 12 then kicked off its Sunday afternoon of sports programming with a Bulls-at-Pistons tipoff at noon Central.
ReplyDeleteOften in the second half of December and January, if we were having any vaguely warm weekend afternoons, my neighborhood was starting to get interested in the CBS Sunday NBA games if our NFL teams were eliminated or clearly out of the race (my Dolphins and the Cardinals, Rams and other favorites of the nearby boys). Plus, we were excited about the new Topps basketball cards on the shelves for the current NBA season, and we were restless to get outside and play on one of the three backyard goals I remember in our little square of homes off Cairo Road.
That said, I can't remember any of us pretending to be Artis Gilmore, Bob Lanier or any of these Bulls or Pistons, so I imagine this particular game didn't much grab us. Super Bowl Sunday was its own animal and demanded our attention even though none of us was any too jazzed specifically about the Broncos or Cowboys. Also, we certainly weren't having any vaguely warm weekend afternoons in January 1978.
Nonetheless, here's where things standing in the 1977-78 NBA season when things tipped off in Detroit and on Channel 12 on Jan. 15:
ReplyDeleteEastern Conference, Atlantic Division
Philadelphia 76ers 28-11
New York Knicks 22-19, 7 games back
Buffalo Braves 16-22, 11.5
Boston Celtics 13-26, 15
New Jersey Nets 9-32
Eastern, Central
Washington Bullets 24-16
San Antonio Spurs 23-18, 1.5
Cleveland Cavaliers 19-20, 4.5
Atlanta Hawks 19-23, 6
New Orleans Jazz 17-24, 7.5
Houston Rockets 15-25, 9
Western, Midwest
Denver Nuggets 27-13
Chicago Bulls 23-19, 5
Milwaukee Bucks 23-21, 6
Indiana Pacers 17-21, 9
Detroit Pistons 17-23, 10
Kansas City Kings 15-27, 13
Western, Pacific
Portland Trail Blazers, 33-6
Phoenix Suns, 27-14, 7
Seattle Supersonics, 23-20, 12
Golden State Warriors 19-22, 15
Los Angeles Lakers 17-24, 17
At 2, Channel 12 was planning to go to the Phoenix Open final round. When CBS finished its coverage Saturday, they (and reportedly all of the leaderboards on the course) reported that George Knudson, defending-champion Jerry Pate, Jim Simons and Lee Trevino shared the lead at 10-under. But then Knudson turned in his card, and it turned out he had shot a 66 Saturday—best round of the day—and actually held the sole lead in the tournament by one stroke. And by this point on Sunday, it appeared Knudson’s surprise lead might hold up altogether, as a rare desert rain besieged the Phoenix Country Club.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know what Channel 12 showed instead of the golf (maybe a repeat of this past week’s Lou Grant episode, “Sports,” which I loved!), but 1978 me doesn’t care because I’d already flipped over to Channel 3 for The Superstars. We join ABC's Frank Gifford and Reggie Jackson for the tape-delay coverage from Lucaya, Bahamas, with George Brett and Tug McGraw competing in rowing!
This is a 1978 Superstars preliminary. Ron Cey outpaces Dwight Stones for the rowing championship.
ReplyDeleteBobby Bonds edges Jim Rice in the bowling final.
ReplyDeleteGolf is a new competition for The Superstars in 1978, and we have Bonds, Cey, Rice, Tug McGraw and Joe Morgan competing in a nearest-to-the-pin thing on a par-3 hole. McGraw gets plenty of laughs from the assembled gallery and ABC sideline-reporter Bill Russell, but it’s Rice and Joe Morgan who duel for first place after both landing their initial drives 4 feet, 9 inches from the hole …
ReplyDeleteThis fantastic YouTube video from "The Media Hoarder" doesn't include the setup for the episode, so I'm just guessing here that we have all baseball players in this preliminary, plus the amateur-for-now high-jumper Dwight Stones. Super Wikipedia: "In the transitional time when amateurism requirements were fought by the athletes, Stones was a leading advocate of the change striving to break the barrier of payment to athletes. During that period, one of the first options was for winnings to be paid to the athlete's club. To answer that, Stones created the Desert Oasis Track Club, a California corporation. The only athlete in the club was Dwight Stones. The stockholders and officers were Dwight Stones and his family members. Stones first made money in the televised sports creation Superstars which was 'donated' to the track club. This caused the IAAF and its American affiliate the AAU to suspend Stones. The ensuing lawsuit led to the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, which broke up the AAU, decertifying it as the national governing body for track and field (and many other sports) causing the formation of The Athletics Congress and the slow transition to direct renumeration for athletes."
ReplyDeleteIt’s Morgan claiming the 10 golf points! That gives the Reds second baseman a chance to win the whole preliminary going into the final event, obstacle course. Through nine events, here are your overall leaders from Lucaya:
ReplyDelete1. Steve Garvey 35 points
2. Dwight Stones 29.3
3. Joe Morgan 26
4. Bobby Bonds 24
5. George Brett 21
On Saturday, January 14, 1978, Kentucky hammered LSU 96 to 76 in Rupp Arena. That game moved the Cats' record to 12-0 overall, and 4-0 in the SEC. The Cats are ranked number one in the country.
ReplyDeleteJoe B. said before this game that no one is going undefeated in the SEC.
DeleteMike Phillips led all scorers with 23 points. Rick Robey had 18 points and 12 rebounds. The Cats went 30-39 from the line, and four LSU Tigers fouled out.
DeleteJoe B. was never exactly a ray of sunshine.
DeleteI do believe this is the best of all the great Miller Lite commercials. Joe Frazier and his backup singers are terrific, and that jingle is really catchy.
ReplyDeleteI had completely forgotten this, but back then the Cats used to play SEC games on Saturdays and Mondays. So UK's next game will be on Monday, January 16 at home against Ole Miss.
ReplyDeleteDave Parker wins the obstacle-course event!
ReplyDeleteSo Garvey wins this overall qualifier, and he, Stones, Morgan and Cey head on the final (along with last week’s qualifiers, Wayne Grimditch, Franz Klammer and Maurice Lucas). According to this terrific report from TheSuperstars.org, it's a payday of $7,933 for Stones's Desert Oasis Track Club.
ReplyDeleteCBS went all in on this Super Bowl. This is the one where they (presumably) broke the bank for LeRoy Nieman to do original artwork for the pregame show, lineup announcements and commercial bumpers. The on-air people were, of course, Irv Cross; Phyllis George, Brent Musburger and Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder in the main NFL TodayM booth (renamed "Super Bowl Today" today) and Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier to call the game. At various points around the stadium, they also had (at least) Gary Bender, Nick Buoniconti, Paul Hornung, Sonny Jurgensen, Hank Stram, Johnny Unitas and Jack Whitaker to do interviews or add insights. It was a show, man!
ReplyDeleteI remember it really well -- there hadn't been anything like it before. I'm pretty sure that there was a bit toward the end where everyone else had made their predictions, and it went to Musberger, who had been keeping his views to himself as the host, and then Musberger had a funny segment about how he made his prediction by analyzing biorhythms for all the players. But I don't remember which way the biorhythms pointed.
DeleteSo proud of its investment of money and effort, CBS started celebrating the achievement on the fly and even before it aired. I read on Wikipedia last night that, "when the planned lead-in (the Phoenix Open golf tournament) was halted due to poor weather, CBS Sports president Robert Wussler (in New York) and producer Barry Frank (at the Superdome) ended up filling the time period with an impromptu look at how the game would be produced."
ReplyDeleteSummerall's live introduction of the individual Cowboys and Broncos was carried both on the air and over the Superdome public address. When he settles back in with old-friend Brookshier for Jim Turner's opening kickoff, the veteran broadcaster seems nearly (but not quite) overwhelmed with the moment. "I can't remember a Super Bowl--and I've been to every one of them--more packed with emotion," Summerall says.
ReplyDeleteIt was a spectacular broadcast. Unfortunately, they then had to show the game.
Delete