When magazines or newspapers publish an error in an article, the correction sometimes appears in the next issue. It seems that the retraction is often hidden at the bottom of a page somewhere in what I would call cryptic form.

Today I am battling that trend by putting it up front: I goofed in my most recent column by saying, “Many cities have most of their residential city streets at 25 mph…” The very day this appeared in the paper, I happened to come upon Ron Bedow at the grocery store and after the usual pleasantries (where hopefully we were at the proper social, coronavirus induced, distance from one another), he asked if I were sure about that speed limit. He remembered the driver instruction book from when he got a license that he thought it had said residential speed limits were 30 mph. Uh, oh!

I had to go back to research a bit more and found the MN Statute 169.14 that said that unless otherwise posted, speed limits were: “10 mph alleys” and “30 mph in urban districts.” There was also a clause that indicated cities could possibly change the rules after an internal study. For my second source, I checked with Marshall’s Director of Public Safety Jim Marshall Oh, Fiddlesticks! He verified my worst fears. Apologies to all you readers (and my editors) for my misleading statement in that previous column. It is 30 mph.

jtr

The coronavirus isolation has brought forth some witty statements that have appeared on the internet. With slight rewording, I rather liked:

The only good thing about this isolation

Is that the whole country should finally

Realize that we can survive in a world

Without college and professional sports.

Having flipped through about 100 channels the other day, I happened to find myself watching a college basketball game. It did not take long for me to notice some big changes in the game. Changes I had evolved with and become used to, but were stark now as I watched the game, generally:

No tattoos were obvious on any of the players. There were no dreadlocks. There were often four players on at least one side of the key lane for free throws. There was no shot clock. There were no afros. There were no beards. There were no 3 point shots. Players all wore short shorts. All players had the same color of shoes.

The game I was watching was the 1983 NCAA Final with the Houston Cougars versus the North Carolina Wolfpack held at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M. Despite the witty statement given above, watching this game from 37 years ago was a thriller and I became glued to the TV to the very end.

At the half, NC was ahead 33 to 25, but early in the second half, Houston outscored NC 17 to 2 giving Houston 42 points to 35 for NC. With 44 seconds to go, the game became tied at 52. NC held the ball for a final shot 30 ft from the basket by Dereck Whittenburg which was missed, but his teammate Lorenzo Charles rebounded and dunked it for a NC win 54 to 52.

Probably the most famous player from that game was from the losing team: Akeem (Hakeem) Olajuwon who played in the NBA for many years.

jtr

Having watched the rerun of that game from almost 40 years ago made me wonder when the 3 point field goal was introduced. Though the National Basketball Association (NBA – merger of the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America) was founded back in 1946-1949, there had been some discussion about a 3 point goal even before that, but the first professional games that used the 3 point goal were part of a short lived American Basketball League (ABL). The ABL adopted the three pointer in 1961, but the ABL lasted less than two years. The American Basketball Association (ABA) started in 1967 adopted the 3 pointer to make their games more exciting. Minnesotans may remember George Mikan who was an ABA organizer. Mikan played for the Minneapolis Lakers 1947-1956. Nine years later (1976) the ABA merged with the NBA. In 1979 the NBA then adopted the 3 pointer.

In Ryan Wood’s essay on The History of the 3-Pointer he told the story of the ABA game on Nov. 13, 1967, between the Indiana Pacers and the Dallas Chaparrals when there was one second to go with the Chaparrals ahead 118 to 116. At the far end of the court, the Pacers inbounded the ball to Jerry Harkness who was 92 feet from the basket. He threw a “towering Hail Mary” (Wood’s words not mine.) It came off the backboard into the basket. Pandemonium. In Terry Pluto’s book, “Loose Balls,” Harkness told the story: The Pacer team began to huddle up to decide strategy for the overtime only to have the official come up to tell them it was not a tie. Harkness had put in a 3-Pointer. The final was 119 to 118 for the Pacers. Such was the first year of the professional use of the 3 point field goal.

It took another seven years (1986) for the NCAA to adopt the 3 point goal. High school teams began using the 3 point goal in 1987.

Until next time: Oh, Fiddlesticks!