Odds & Ends

I think I'm going to expand the "Supplementary Members List" on the List of Greatness to include guys that are in the top 25 for X number years rather than just the top 10. So far it only adds two players Arnie Risen who spent 11 years in the top 11, and Carl Braun who spent 14 years in the top 14. If it ends up getting ridiculous with too many members I'll take it back down to just the top 10, but we'll go from here and see how it goes.


Also I'm in the process of updating the Hawks' Hanging from the Rafters article to include the "close calls" so that should be up by the end of the night.

The List of Greatness - 1981

I don't have much commentary for an intro today, but for some reason I found quite a bit to say about a lot of the guys after the career summaries, so read ahead for 1981's top ten.

Hanging from the Rafters - Boston Celtics

Here's our (probably) longest list of retired numbers. There's 21 actual Celtics jerseys hanging from the rafters. Or 23 if you want to count "LOSCY" and Johnny Most's microphone. And actually, there's only 19 players that have had their jerseys retired because Walter Brown (owner) and Red Auerbach (coach) have #1 and #2 respectively. Personally, I think it's ridiculous to retire actual numbers for non-players. I'm all for giving them banners, but players wear numbers, not coaches and owners and other personnel. Anyway, let's see if my list of criteria ends up being longer than the actual Celtics list.

The List of Greatness - 1980

If you were paying close attention to the List in 1979, our man in the driver's seat is Chet Walker, sitting with a total score of 190.4. Our top prospects to overtake him are now Bob Dandridge at 174.1 and Bob McAdoo at 162.9, neither of whom were in their prime in 1980. Here's where the interesting things start to happen. Do we see a few of the long standing second and third ranked guys (Walker and Hagan) make the List proper? Do some of the other veterans manage to overtake them first? And how long before the young guns (Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, etc.) start to overtake them. It's going to be very interesting from here on out.

Hanging from the Rafters - Intro and Atlanta Hawks

I'm introducing a new, ongoing feature today at the Glorious Extra Pass: Hanging from the Rafters. I've always been fascinated by how teams decide which players to bestow the honor of retiring a jersey upon on which ones they decide don't make the cut. But I'm going to tackle this from a perspective that every team must follow the same rules to retire a jersey, and then we'll see which players from which teams get to have that honor. I'm also going to look at which jerseys teams have actually retired, and whether or not they meet the criteria that I set up.

Upcoming Site Projects/Ideas

Hey guys, just wanted to give everyone a brief heads-up on what to expect from the Glorious Extra Pass in the coming weeks. The List of Greatness will continue, most likely as it has been (sporadically - but with at least one post a week), but I realize that that project might not be everyone's cup of tea, so I think I'm going to mix in a "Retired Jerseys Project" now as well.


Basically, I'm going to look at what jerseys teams should have retired versus the jerseys they actually have retired.


And as soon as we hear word on whether or not games will be cancelled this season (any or all), I will let you in on the "season long project" I've got under wraps. So, if we lose any games, it'll be one thing, if we don't, it'll be another. I just don't want to say one way or another yet until we know for sure.

The List of Greatness - 1979

I'll be honest with you guys, I've kind of been slogging through the List of Greatness for most of the 70's here. Without particularly enjoying it. I mean, let's face it, 1972-1979 was kind of a rough patch as far as the NBA was concerned. During that eight year stretch, we had only six Hall of Famers enter the league. (They were Bob McAdoo, Bill Walton, Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Dennis Johnson, and Robert Parish.) And four of those guys (the last four listed) were from the draft of 1976. That's not exactly hitting for power or average there. Basically, we've been watching the old guard fade away with no one to really replace them, and by about 1979, the NBA is really hurting for superstars.

The List of Greatness - 1978

Last week, one of my readers made a guarantee that Chet Walker would be 1978's inductee. Was he right? Click ahead to find out.


(Also, no "Honorary Members" this year, which is good, because I don't want to end up with too many of those guys.)

The List of Greatness - 1977

For some reason, I always associate 1977 as "The Year of Bill Walton." I know why - because the Blazers won the title in '77. And he was really the only superstar on that team. (And I kind of just assume he won the MVP that year, even though he didn't - that was 1978.) But I don't do that with any of the other one hit wonders of the late 70's. I guess 1975 is sort of "The Year of Rick Barry" in my mind, but not even close to as much as 1977 with Walton. 1978 is not Wes Unseld's or Elvin Hayes's year in my mind, or even a combo Hayes/Unseld Year. And 1979 is definitely not the "Year of Jack Sikma" ... I kid. It should probably be Dennis Johnson or maybe Gus Williams. I don't know really know why. I don't know if it's because there were two big Hall of Famers on the '78 Bullets and there were no really big names on the '79 Sonics, or if there's just a certain mystique about Bill Walton - or a combination of all of the above.


Anyway, I just wanted to say that because Bill Walton isn't going to be anywhere on this list. In fact, he'll probably never be Top 10. He just didn't have a long enough career to do well on my Greatness Equation. I mean, he played a total of 209 of 328 games for 63.7% of his possible games. (What's with Portland and big men? Bill Walton. Sam Bowie. Greg Oden... Joel Przybilla... When will the hurting stop?) So, I had to get a little Bill Walton shout-out in here while I could, because it likely won't come later on.


But click ahead for the actual 1977 inductee into the List of Greatness.

New Sporcle Quiz

Here you go guys, "The Most Depressing Sporcle Quiz Ever."

The List of Greatness - 1976

We've got a complete surprise for this year's inductee. As in, someone who wasn't even in the top ten last year.