I see improvement, but everything that I do seems to take twice as long (Imagine Joe Namath running the option!)
We start with the oldest piece in the inbox with a phenomenal story by Brin-Jonathan Butler and Kurt Emhoff from SB Nation on the late light heavyweight contender James Scott and his story on fighting on national television in the late 70's and early 80's while being an inmate at Rahway State Prison in New Jersey.
Scott's story is well known to boxing fans, but I think even boxing haters would find this story very interesting.
Look for Scott down the road in a Forgotten Superstars piece...
As we continue to clean from the bottom of the inbox. Deadspin writes of the two-year history of the NHL's Cleveland Barons and the failures that contributed to the only two years of NHL hockey in Cleveland.
I often think back to how things would have been different had the NHL allowed the Barons to enter the league in the 1950's or if the Barons had answered the NHL's request to enter the league in the 1940's.
ProWrestlingStories.com scores with this look back at the career of the late Ray Traylor, better known as Big Bossman to WWF fans or as I prefer to remember him, Big Bubba Rogers in his NWA tenure.
The article discusses the career of Traylor and the "Chair shot heard round the world" thrown by Dusty Rhodes and taken without emotion by Big Bubba!
ESPN writes of a new documentary on Cuban boxing on the Olympic Channel (I didn't even know this channel existed) that is based on the great Cuban heavyweight Teofilo Stevenson, but also talks to and covers some of the other great Cuban amateurs as well.
Stevenson, who grabbed gold medals in the 1972, 76 and 80 Olympics (and might have added 1984 if not for the Soviet boycott of those games, which Cuba honored) and knocked out future WBA champion John Tate (in 76) along with Duane Bobick, who was thought to be a future champion at that time (Bobick was actually the favorite entering their fight) was often thought about for a dream fight against Muhammad Ali in that era.
What would have happened had Stevenson been part of the heavyweight division then?
I think Stevenson at 6'3 used his size and reach to his best advantage against smaller heavyweights and I think he would have struggled against the similar sized Larry Holmes and the Holmes jab.
Stevenson would have had his share of success, but this fantasy that Stevenson would have swept through the division at a time when it was as deep in talent as in any time in boxing history, is just fallacy.
The Athletic finishes this off with an article on Penny Hardaway's return to Memphis as head coach to revitalize the Tiger basketball program.
The article looks at the city of Memphis, Hardaway's background and recruiting the city vs expanding the base for the program.
The issue that I think stands largest for Hardaway and success is that he has never coached above middle school and trying to lead a tradition-deep program like Memphis with zero experience, isn't just a leap, it's a jump of miles.
I'd like to see Hardaway succeed, but the odds are stacked heavily against him.
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