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Current and former Knicks greats, plus his broadcast partners, share their congratulations to Clyde Frazier on his 80th birthday Saturday: Bill Bradley “I’m sorry I cannot be at the 80th Birthday Party. It was an honor to be your teammate all those years. You’re a terrific human being. But, I’m going to be there for the 90th for sure.” Jalen Brunson “Happy 80th birthday Clyde! A New York Knicks icon on the court and on the mic, thank you for all you’ve done for this organization and the city.”
In an email exchange with the Hall of Famer and former U.S. Senator, Bradley shared that his only turnoff when watching the 21st Century NBA is the prominent stature that gambling has seized in the modern game. How much are you watching the Knicks of today … and do you enjoy watching today's NBA? BRADLEY: I see 10 regular-season games and watch the playoffs. I enjoy the talent and coaching. The game is about maximum player and ball movement and it requires unselfishness. Champions know that today just as they did when I played. My only problem today is legal gambling on games. I think it's a mistake. Please expound on your issues with gambling. BRADLEY: I don't think players should be turned into roulette chips; it's a scandal waiting to happen. There will always be gambling around the edges, but to legitimize it as a central part of the sport is counter to the values of the game.
Bill Bradley: 'I don't think players should be turned into roulette chips; it's a scandal waiting to happen'
How much are you watching the Knicks of today … and do you enjoy watching today's NBA? BRADLEY: I see 10 regular-season games and watch the playoffs. I enjoy the talent and coaching. The game is about maximum player and ball movement and it requires unselfishness. Champions know that today just as they did when I played. My only problem today is legal gambling on games. I think it's a mistake. Please expound on your issues with gambling. BRADLEY: I don't think players should be turned into roulette chips; it's a scandal waiting to happen. There will always be gambling around the edges, but to legitimize it as a central part of the sport is counter to the values of the game.
Bill Bradley on legal gambling: It's a scandal waiting to happen
How much are you watching the Knicks of today … and do you enjoy watching today's NBA? BILL BRADLEY: I see 10 regular-season games and watch the playoffs. I enjoy the talent and coaching. The game is about maximum player and ball movement and it requires unselfishness. Champions know that today just as they did when I played. My only problem today is legal gambling on games. I think it's a mistake. Q: Please expound on your issues with gambling. BRADLEY: I don't think players should be turned into roulette chips; it's a scandal waiting to happen.
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It's been more than 50 years since the Knicks won their last championship. How many more years do you think it will take? BILL BRADLEY: When a team gels it is part mystery, planning, talent and luck. The Knicks had a great January (14-2); now they just have to equal that in March. Then the real season starts and that's when character will show. Once a Knick, always a Knick.
Your Knicks teams were and remain beloved. How do you reflect on the two title teams all these years later? BILL BRADLEY: Some of the best years of my life were with an incredible group of human beings — my teammates. We weren't the best players in the league, but we were the best team … and for two years we were the best in the world. It's a bond that lasts forever.
"I wanted to know America, like I once knew the seams of a basketball." HBO Max has revealed an official trailer for a sports biopic documentary called Rolling Along: An American Story, available streaming at the start of February on Max. "A story about all of us." Written & performed by two-time NBA Champion, former U.S. Senator, and lifelong storyteller Bill Bradley.
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You mentioned you were a Knicks fan growing up. Although it was before my time, I know those Knicks teams were great, with guys like Walt Frazier, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe and Willis Reed among others. What did those teams mean to you, and did you have any opportunities to go to Madison Square Garden to see them play? Frank Fraschilla: Well, Walt “Clyde'' Frazier just turned 76 and it seems like it was just yesterday that we were trying to buy Puma Clyde's, when we could save the money. It was a big deal in New York back then when he signed with Puma. The Knicks probably shaped my love affair with basketball. I did go to a number of Knicks games when I was a kid. I’d go anytime my dad or my uncle could buy tickets. We would usually sit in the upper tiers of Madison Square Garden. Because I loved the game so much, I’d go to the park, in the playgrounds in New York City, and try to emulate my heroes: Clyde Frazier, Bill Bradley, and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe.
Of course, the legendary icons with their numbers retired in the rafters will be there — starting with Frazier, the team’s longtime MSG Network broadcaster, Willis Reed, Bill Bradley and Dick Barnett. “It’s going to be the same — we’re just older,’’ Frazier said. “Willis will be the captain telling us where to be. Other guys will be telling jokes the same like they used to do — like Barnett. It was fun. The sad part will be the people who were not there. [Coach Red] Holzman, [Dave] DeBusschere, [trainer] Danny Whelan. He was the life of the team — always in a joking mood, getting us to laugh.’’
That's former NBA player and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley delivering perhaps the most trenchant dissection of Trump's methods that I've read yet. It deserves to by typed out: "I think what's driving it is that people realize that athletes are citizens, too, and have their own opinions. And I look at this and I think Donald Trump is going to go wherever there's press. And a lot of people are interested in sports and sports is very intensely emotional. That's his bailiwick and he knows how to divide. So he uses sports to divide people. That's something that, to me, is so antithetical to what sports is.”
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