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Message: [QUOTE="Fireball Jr., post: 1779607, member: 404"] That's because you have to be an octogenarian like me to have seen him play and to appreciate his greatness, particularly in the context of days of yore, in-between and now. I became a sports fan just as the Rochester Royals were packin' up and headed for Ohio, I got my first taste of The Association in the late '50s on Saturday afternoon network games and a Nats exhibition (Dolph was in full effect) here in Rochester. It was game on when the Big O led the nation in scoring three freakin' years in a row at Cincinnati and took them to two consecutive Final Fours. This 11-year-old was hooked on hoops when Oscar and Jerry West captained the great 1960 Olympic "dream team" and then went to the NBA while I fell in love with Wilt (he and LeBron, only 2 players, along with the Say Hey Kid, I have passionately pulled for, regardless of the team), and went to college to become a sportswriter. A month or so into my first gig after graduation, the Akron Beacon Urinal, my editor -- who grew up down the road from Cabin Creek, but he was no Zeke -- asked me to drive to the Cleveland Arena and cover an exhibition between two new NBA teams, the Cavs and Buffalo Braves. Lot more Cavs, Knicks, all that great stuff and, ladies and germs, I stand before you today a full-fledged NBA junkie,and I ain't ever gonna go to Betty Ford for this addiction. Bottom line, Big O's problem in the big picture of all-timers is he played so long ago, but when I think of players from the '60s and '70s whose skills were so profound and advanced that they could play today, I immediately think of four guys -- Oscar, The Logo, Wilt and Russell -- Bill, not Cazzie. [URL='http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/steve_aschburner/08/04/1960.team/']NBA.com: Olympic feats by 1960 team still worth marveling today[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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