A long way from home
Let me tell you something that probably you already know.
It is a long, long way from Salt Lake City to Springfield, Mass., home of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
I left my house at 5 a.m. on Thursday for my seven o'clock flight. I flew to Detroit, where I had an hour-long layover and before continuing on to Hartford, Conn. I must tell you, however, that the folks at Northwest Airlines gave me a first-class upgrade for the last leg of the trip without me even requesting it and that made the two-hour flight seem shorter.
Anyway, from the Hartford airport, it's a 30-minute drive to Springfield. I arrived at my hotel at 5:30 p.m. local time.
Fortunately for me, there is nothing to cover until Friday morning at 10 a.m., when the Class of 2009 -- Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Vivian Stringer, John Stockton and Jerry Sloan -- is made available to the media for the first time. As my colleague Ross Siler noted earlier, the official induction ceremony begins at 4:30 p.m. MDT and will be televised on ESPN, so Utah Jazz fans can watch Sloan and Stockton go into the Hall of Fame.
Sloan and Stockton will have a boat-load of family and friends in Springfield for their induction, and I saw a few of them during my day of travel.
University of Utah sports psychologist Keith Henschen, who has worked with Jazz players for years, was on my both of my flights.
At the baggage claim area in Hartford, I ran into Frank and Barbara Layden, as well as Phil and Ann Johnson. Jazz broadcaster Craig Bolerjack was also just arriving via Cincinnati.
Waiting for my bag, I also saw two current members of the Hall of Fame -- former Texas women's coach Jody Conradt and ex-high school, college and professional star Ann Meyers. Seeing Ann made me think of the night I met her late husband, baseball great Don Drysdale. He was broadcasting games for the California Angels and, during the players' strike in 1981, he was sent to Salt Lake to call some Triple-A games that were being aired back in Los Angeles.
The Tribune's baseball writer, Ray Herbat, invited me up to the press box at old Derks Field to meet Drysdale. I took Ray up on the offer and he introduced me to Drysdale, who I remember being extremely friendly and incredibly gracious. When he died in 1993, I was deeply saddened because he seemed like such a good, down-to-earth guy,
Sorry, I digressed again.
Frank Layden gave me the day's best tidbit of news: Stockton is scheduled to throw out the first pitch before Sunday afternoon's Red Sox-Tampa Bay game at Fenway Park.
I guess locating the Hall of Fame in Springfield -- about 90 miles from Boston -- has some advantages after all.
-- Steve Luhm
It is a long, long way from Salt Lake City to Springfield, Mass., home of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
I left my house at 5 a.m. on Thursday for my seven o'clock flight. I flew to Detroit, where I had an hour-long layover and before continuing on to Hartford, Conn. I must tell you, however, that the folks at Northwest Airlines gave me a first-class upgrade for the last leg of the trip without me even requesting it and that made the two-hour flight seem shorter.
Anyway, from the Hartford airport, it's a 30-minute drive to Springfield. I arrived at my hotel at 5:30 p.m. local time.
Fortunately for me, there is nothing to cover until Friday morning at 10 a.m., when the Class of 2009 -- Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Vivian Stringer, John Stockton and Jerry Sloan -- is made available to the media for the first time. As my colleague Ross Siler noted earlier, the official induction ceremony begins at 4:30 p.m. MDT and will be televised on ESPN, so Utah Jazz fans can watch Sloan and Stockton go into the Hall of Fame.
Sloan and Stockton will have a boat-load of family and friends in Springfield for their induction, and I saw a few of them during my day of travel.
University of Utah sports psychologist Keith Henschen, who has worked with Jazz players for years, was on my both of my flights.
At the baggage claim area in Hartford, I ran into Frank and Barbara Layden, as well as Phil and Ann Johnson. Jazz broadcaster Craig Bolerjack was also just arriving via Cincinnati.
Waiting for my bag, I also saw two current members of the Hall of Fame -- former Texas women's coach Jody Conradt and ex-high school, college and professional star Ann Meyers. Seeing Ann made me think of the night I met her late husband, baseball great Don Drysdale. He was broadcasting games for the California Angels and, during the players' strike in 1981, he was sent to Salt Lake to call some Triple-A games that were being aired back in Los Angeles.
The Tribune's baseball writer, Ray Herbat, invited me up to the press box at old Derks Field to meet Drysdale. I took Ray up on the offer and he introduced me to Drysdale, who I remember being extremely friendly and incredibly gracious. When he died in 1993, I was deeply saddened because he seemed like such a good, down-to-earth guy,
Sorry, I digressed again.
Frank Layden gave me the day's best tidbit of news: Stockton is scheduled to throw out the first pitch before Sunday afternoon's Red Sox-Tampa Bay game at Fenway Park.
I guess locating the Hall of Fame in Springfield -- about 90 miles from Boston -- has some advantages after all.
-- Steve Luhm
5:10 PM
| 
2 Comments:
The Jazz have one of the greatest players in history going into the Hall of Fame, along with one of the greatest coaches ever, and this and the Jordan article are what you come up with?
I just got back home from Springfield. Sure it is a long ways from Utah, but lucky for me I live in Albany NY now. Lived in Utah during the days of Stockton, Malone, Tag, BRuss, Horny, etc etc It was great to see Jerry and John in person again ....I will always remember the fun back then. Congrats to both John and Jerry. Both class acts. It was neat seeing all the NBA players past and present on the red carpet! Go Jazz!
Post a Comment
<< Home