When I was at State, my favorite sport was men's basketball. It was the only sport where I could get front row center court and hear the other students harrassing the refs and opposing players. This was back when Bob Boyd was coach, and we were normally dreadful. However, we had some great moments....
-Jeff Malone. If we had had a 3-point line in the early 1980's, he'd have broken every scoring record, plus won several more games.
-First time I ever saw Charles Barkley. He was fatter than he is now. Plus he was only about 6'4". When I saw him about to jump-ball against Kalpatrick Wells (who was about 6'9"), I was laughing my *** off- until I saw Barkley jump like a had a pair of rockets in his shoes. Funny thing is, I think we beat them all three years he played here at the Hump.
-Saw Phi Slamma Jamma. Hakeem Olajuwon had the largest wingspan I've ever seen on a human. He was trying to swat long jumpers. You could see the ball on a high arc, and this hand about 4-5" below it. We lost, but only by 69-62. I talked with Kelvin Hildreth that day before the game (we had classes at Simrall at the same time). He said he'd try to do the best he could (he was only about 6'6"). Turns out he didn't do so bad....also had a hot, tall blonde for a girlfriend.
-Seeing us beat Georgia the year they went to the Final Four. That year we went 18-12, and got hosed out of any post-season play. Back then, I think it was 48 teams went to the NCAA's and 24 went to the NIT.
Didn't like football. Seemed like the students were herded in like a bunch of cattle. It became fun only when I started buying reserved tickets and being able to walk into the game later than 30 seconds after the gates opened.
