Coming home from the office Thursday night, I did what I have tended to do on Thursday nights for the last 14-or-so years. I sat down and watched the NBA on TNT.
Ever since I started following the NBA closely, right at the end of the Lakers’ last three-peat, when teams like the Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets were the top dogs, as well as the Kobe-and-Shaq Lake Show. TNT, with a majority of its broadcast schedule falling on Thursdays from October to May, has increasingly become a night filled with joking banter between analysts and former pros Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley with host Ernie Johnson refereeing the debates in the middle.
Over the years, more high-profile names have been added to the broadcast schedule, including Shaquille O’Neal, Reggie Miller and Chris Webber.
During the actual games — yes, as entertaining as the NBA on TNT is, there’s more than just the studio show — Craig Sager was a fixture on the sideline, trying to get a quote or two out of a stubborn coach (like San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich) or enigmatic player (like Dennis Rodman) mid-game, when the sideline reporter has to think incredibly quick while asking a meaningful question.
Later in his career, Sager’s wardrobe became more and more — colorful. Just like his career. Sometimes, it overshadowed his work ethic and journalist abilities.
“I think that sometimes people see Craig and they just see a bright suit and actually forget the guy went to Northwestern,” Barkley said from TNT’s Atlanta studio Thursday night.
Sager died Thursday at age 65 after a bout with leukemia. It was almost fitting he passed on a Thursday, the day most fans saw his work on TNT.
As I was sitting in my room watching some of the best players to ever compete in the NBA say such nice, endearing things about a sideline reporter, it hit me how amazing this was from a journalistic perspective. A reporter, being showered in compliments and well-wishes from the people he reported on, worked with and questioned.
How often does that happen? A better question: How often will that happen going forward in the next four years with the political climate the way it is and angst toward media at an all-time high?
But then again, journalism isn’t about reporting in a way that will gain you popularity, but instead reporting in a way that’s honest and fair.
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Any time I watch a basketball game or read about it online or in the newspaper, I always look to the team’s foul shooting. More often than not, the team that executes at the charity stripe is the one that comes away with the close victory.
If foul shooting is an artform, Tom Kibbie’s masterpieces belong in the MoMA. Kibbie, who competed in senior foul-shooting events over the years, could rattle off amazing strings of shots, shooting upward of 90 percent from the line.
Kibbie died earlier this month. He was 81.
Over the years, he taught foul shooting to countless players coming up through Kane’s elementary basketball program, while also helping out older players learn the magic of his BEEF (Balance, Eyes on the target, Elbow in and Follow through) acronym.
I was one of those players who learned from Mr. Kibbie. I wasn’t the best pupil, however, bricking my fair share of attempts.
However, his legacy will hopefully live on through a new generation of ballplayers whose parents or relatives learned the basics of shooting from Mr. Kibbie. Whenever I see a team — at any level — stink it up at the foul line, I still think to myself, “They must need some practice with Mr. Kibbie!”
