The word Legend is often banded about, when describing sports stars. It is perhaps too easy a description. However, I can definitely say on November 23 1990, I saw a legend. The name. Michael Jordan. Air Jordan. His Airness. The Number 23. We back to MJ later in the blog. If the Chicago Bulls had made a trade decision at the time of the 1988 draft, the day would have been very different!
The lockdown goes on in the UK in a slightly more relaxed way, but the focus has now shifted to the possible renewed threats from across the Channel. We are all itching to go somewhere, anywhere! However, the signs are that the somewhere might not include anywhere beyond our own borders from a while yet. The press is now highlighting the risks from mingling with continental Europe. After the UK rollout of a successful vaccine programme, it is being noted that the programmes in France, Italy and Germany etc are lagging behind. The Other Half is often keen to point out, that someone will have a very big bonfire with the contents of my store of programme boxes. After the successful mission into
the section that is marked American Football, I dug out the Other American Sports boxes to relive some more of the memories from wanderings on the other side of the Atlantic. The vinyl of Everything But The Girls 1989 Imagining America seemed an appropriate musical as I delved deeper.
Whilst the early US sports trips were mainly motivated by gridiron, I soon latched on to anything else we could watch along the way. If nothing, they would be a different night out and a chance to possibly head off the beaten tourist path. The basketball story started in 1989. It was an alien game. We never really played it at school and even if we had, I was too short to be effective. A friend of ours knew more about it. His uncle lived in California. He even had a pair of those vintage Converse, that are all the rage today. We left the grassy knoll in downtown Dallas behind, had a brief flirtation with Austin and drive south to meet up with David in San Antonio. Davy Crockett and the Alamo was a bit underwhelming, but David The Admiral Robinson and the San Antonio Spurs were playing
that evening. He was to an integral part of the USA 1992 Olympic Dream Team and led the Spurs to a series of championship victories in the following seasons. However, this was before the Spurs really took off and getting a ticket was surprisingly easy at the downtown Hemisfair Arena. The Alamodome was just a future project. I was concentrating on Mr Robinson. Meanwhile the Other Half was concentrating on her star of the show that night in San Antonio - their mascot, The Coyote. He remains her Number 1. I note from the current Spurs website, the Coyote is available to brighten up your function event. It took the NBA a while to see the potential the Other Half had spotted and it took him until 2014 to be named NBA Mascot of the Year. The delay was perhaps due to his disciplinary record - the first mascot to be formally ejected from a game in 2005. The Spurs held off the visiting Phoenix Suns with the help of The Admiral. The Other Half was on the lookout for basketball mascots after this game and I am reliably informed only a Stuff The Magic Dragon sighting
in close to the Coyote. She missed the point that we were there to see another member of the Dream Team Charles Barklay and Phillie 76ers take on Orlando Magic, but she always remembers that game. Barkley probably dont remember it as their finest hour. The Magic didnt quite live up to their name, but were still too good for Philadelphia on the night.
We were in LA for an action packed few days in November 1990. I had hot footed it across the desert from the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe in time for an appointment with The Great One. The Magic Johnson inspired LA Lakers had seen a new kid arrive in town and there was a possible shift in the balance of power regarding the hottest ticket in town mantle.
