DOUBLE CLUTCH

So its like 1:00 am and I flip on NBA TV’s Greatest Games (since there nothing else sports related to watch) and the 1972 NBA all star games playing. As I begin to watching, I don’t immediately recognize any players although I know there’s gotta be a few legends on both teams, (Jerry West, Abdul-Jabar, Oscar Robinson, etc). I do, however, instantly notice one player seems to be in a league of his own. The way he palmed the ball and waved it around looked Iike he was playing keep away with kids. I thought to myself, “he has to be at least a foot taller than anyone on the court”. I wanted to change the channel but just couldn’t get past the size of him. He was as big and intimidating as Shaq and physically built like Dwight Howard.. Plus, I got a kick out of how he shot free throws in a STRAIGHT LINE to the rim. And you thought Shaq was bad….

Of course this was Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain as my dad would always call him. Still not sure what the nickname meant though….maybe some strange reference to the 20,000 women he allegedly slept with haha. But seriously, I now see why people still call him the greatest Basketball player to ever play the game even with Jordan in the equation. Before, I had never really seen him play on TV so it was hard to imagine the magnitude and dominance he had on the game. For someone to average 50 plus points a game or score 100 was just unrealistic to me, but I get it now. For the record, if he was playing in the league today, he’d probably do the same against all these weak centers.

On another note, I didn’t know Jimmy Walker had a stint in the NBA before acting. Hmmm, you learn something new every day.