Cleaning out the inbox-Sports Edition

We start today's cleaning of the inbox with the 25th anniversary of the death of Loyola Marymount center Hank Gathers.
The death of Gathers along with Len Bias ranks as the top two deaths in college basketball in my lifetime and although Bias may have hit home more personally,Gathers death being on the court has a much more resonant part of the college basketball fans life.
Those Loyola Marymount teams were sure fun to watch and Hank Gathers was a huge part of that.
Many different sites are doing 25th anniversary articles on Gathers,but this one was the best from Gathers hometown paper-the Philadelphia Daily News and Dick Jerardi.
I'm not sure that Gathers game would have translated to the NBA as he struck me as a undersized center that lacked the shot of a power forward at that level,but it sure was sad to see him not have the chance to find out..

Grantland's Charles Pierce,a long time favorite of mine, nailed his retrospective on the late Jerry Tarkanian.
I've already written about Tark,but Pierce captured the time and the NCAA battle perfectly,
Combine that with some of the players that Tarkanian helped after their eligibility was over mentioned in this story and you have a winner....

Sam Amico and Fox Sports Ohio write about the 1984-85 Cavaliers that really saved Cleveland basketball with a 8th seeded playoff berth after a 2-19 start.
The article looks at just how close the Cavaliers came to upsetting the top seeded and eventual Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics.
Lots of World B.Free stuff,who I still think should have his number retired by the Cavaliers and some cool things on the role players too.....

Christina Kharl of ESPN interviewed one of our favorite players in Giants second baseman Joe Panik.
Joe was one of the nicest players that I've met doing the minors when he played for the Richmond Flying Squirrels and is a very easy player to root for.
The article looks at Panik's move from shortstop to second base,the adjustment and differences of the two positions..

We finish with another sad goodbye to former Indian and the 1970 American League batting champion Alex Johnson at the age of 72 due to prostate cancer.
Johnson played for eight different teams with his peak years being from 1968-70 with the Reds and Angels and was known for his Angels tenure that was filled with clubhouse struggles that resulted in a suspension and a labor grievance.
Johnson recently signed an Indians card that was given to me by Mike Oravec.