Tag: Hall of Fame

WATCH: Reflecting on a Hall of Fame career with Celtics broadcaster Mike Gorman

The standard of excellence in NBA broadcasting, Gorman will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this Saturday.

For almost as long as many of us can remember, Boston Celtics play-by-play announcer Mike Gorman has been a fixture of Celtics broadcasts. And on Saturday, Sept. 11, Gorman will be granted the highest honor the sport he covers can give him: immortality via induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a broadcaster.

Gorman’s career in sports predates his post working alongside Celtics great Tommy Heinsohn, back to the formative years of Big East NCAA basketball and beyond, with the New England legend getting into the field in the latter half of the 1970s.

To honor his contribution to the wider Celtics, NBA and basketball community, NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg recently interviewed Gorman ahead of his Hall of Fame induction on the “Celtics Talk” podcast.

Watch the video embedded above to hear all sorts of Celtics lore drawn from more than four decades of experience calling the sport we so love to watch be played by our favorite NBA team.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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WATCH: The ‘Truth’ be told – Paul Pierce’s career, and Hall of Fame induction

Look back on Pierce’s career ahead of his induction into the Hall of Fame.

Soon, Boston Celtics champion small forward Paul Pierce will be a bonafide hall of famer, with his induction set to take place this Saturday, Sep. 11. Joining him will be iconic Celtics center Bill Russell, who will enter the Hall for the second time, this time as a coach after making it in previously as a player.

With so much Boston-related news regarding the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to talk about, the hosts of the CLNS Media “A-List” podcast spent most of their most recent episode talking on these two Celtics luminaries’ big day, as well as the recent Sports Illustrated article covering all kinds of details from Pierce’s career.

Watch the podcast embedded below to hear Kwani A. Lunis and A. Sherrod Blakely’s thoughts about these two Celtics legends, as well as some other news about the Boston roster of today.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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WATCH: Revisiting an interview with Boston’s Bill Russell ahead of his second Hall of Fame induction

For his second induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, we revisit an interview with Bill Russell on his storied career.

On the eve of the weekend of Bill Russell’s second induction to Springfield, Massachusetts’ Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame — this time as an NBA head coach — Boston Celtics legendary big man Bill Russell stands alone among the sports’ most winningest figures.

To honor his storied career as a player and coach — the first Black head coach of a major North American sport in modern history — we dug up this interview on his time with the Celtics in which he won a staggering 11 titles (among countless other accolades over the years) to commemorate his achievements on both sides of the clipboard.

Watch the video embedded below courtesy of our friends at CLNS Media to see the mini-documentary on Russell’s time with the Celtics as both a player and a player-coach, winning titles for Boston as both.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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LOOK: Chiefs unveil redesigned Hall of Honor at Arrowhead Stadium

The #Chiefs are unveiling their brand-new Hall of Honor tonight. The remodel has interactive exhibits featuring the greatest players and moments in franchise history.

The Kansas City Chiefs have made an entirely new wave of improvements to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium this offseason.

They spent over $13 million upgrading key features of the stadium, from new club-level seating to a newly redesigned locker room for the players. One of the newest upgrades is finally being unveiled today, which is an exciting redesign of the Chiefs’ Hall of Honor.

Now fans who attend games will get a chance to take part in an interactive exhibit celebrating Kansas City Chiefs’ of Fame inductees. It also celebrates some of the most notable moments in franchise history such as Super Bowl IV and Super Bowl LIV.

The team is having a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly redesigned Hall of Honor this evening. Several former players who are featured in the exhibit along with Clark Hunt are speaking at the dedication. Some media members are also in attendance for this and got a first-hand look at the new exhibit.

Check it out:

Chiefs fans will be able to check out the new Hall of Honor on Sunday, Sept. 12 when the team takes on the Cleveland Browns in the season opener.

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Birmingham Barons legend Michael Jordan was in attendance for Derek Jeter’s Hall of Fame ceremony

Michael Jordan, the baseball legend.

I never really understood the comparisons the kids make between Michael Jordan and LeBron James. They never really made much sense to me.

Mostly because they played two different sports. How are we comparing Cleveland Cavaliers legend, LeBron James, to Birmingham Barons legend , Michael Jordan? That just doesn’t seem right.

The latter made a rare public appearance on Wednesday when he was spotted in Cooperstown to celebrate his buddy, Derek Jeter, who was being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

He was looking as cool as ever with his shades on and those hoop earrings. Y’all know how Mike does it.

Smooth. Much smoother than his baseball swing, that’s for sure. Although, I will say, batting .202 at 31-years old fresh off of the basketball court really isn’t that bad.

Just had to get a little Michael Jordan praise in there before he actually reads this. I don’t want to end up like LaBradford Smith, of course.

Regardless, this is cool. It’s rare we see Mike out like this. But it’s also just really awesome to see two legendary baseball players supporting one another.

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Paul Pierce finally opened up about getting fired from ESPN and it was so spicy

Paul Pierce clearly has a lot on his mind.

Paul Pierce has had quite the year in 2021, to say the least.

It feels like this was ages ago, I know, but Pierce got fired from his job at ESPN earlier this year for sharing a video of himself live on Instagram drinking and smoking with exotic dancers. He also posted some pretty awful tweets about Rachel Nichols afterward. And he didn’t apologize for any of it.

He also found out he was being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame with the class of 2021 this year. Bill Russell will actually be his presenter, which is pretty awesome.

So, yeah, 2021 has been a bit of a roller coaster for the former Celtics legend. And he was asked about that roller coaster in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix. Mostly, whether he was actually sorry for any of what happened.

And his response was a hard no. He didn’t seem to regret any of it.

Pierce opened up about everything that happened and, as it turns out, he was apparently ready to leave ESPN anyway. His firing was a long time coming and his video along with those tweets were just icing on the cake.

“I was done with them, anyway…It wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron all the time.” 

And we all know how Pierce is about LeBron James. He hates him.

Pierce clearly didn’t enjoy his time at ESPN. This is why he seemed unphased by the entire situation.

That wasn’t all he had to say, though. He talked about how there are some people in the hall who have done much worse things.

“I didn’t do anything illegal,” Pierce said. He added people have done much worse but “you’re just hiding it. And you all are married while doing it. I’m divorced. I’m retired. I’m having fun.”

Sheesh. This is a man who truly does not care, for better or worse. He’s just saying whatever at this point. That bar should probably be a little higher, though.

None of it ultimately matters. He made it into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. But, man. Just imagine the rant we would’ve gotten if he didn’t.

We may have missed out.

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Calculating the Hall of Fame odds for Boston Celtics yet to make it in

There are more Boston Celtics in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame than players of any other team – but who else might be joining them from Boston’s ranks?

The Boston Celtics have more players in Springfield, Massachusetts’ Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame than any other franchise in NBA history, and could be poised to add several more in the future, if the odds listed by Basketball-reference.com pan out favorably.

But who are the Celtics alumni with a good chance — or for that matter, any chance at all? We put together the following list of candidates with at least some shot at making the hall according to the essential reference of all things NBA statistics, excluding players who did not complete at least one full season with Boston to put some manageable limits on this exercise.

Let’s take a look at the potential candidates.

How many Boston Celtics are in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame?

No team in NBA history has produced more. How many can you name?

With famed Boston Celtics Paul Pierce now officially part of the incoming 2021 class and big man Kevin Garnett finally getting his formal induction into Springfield, Massachusetts Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in May of 2021 — nearly a year after getting the nod due to the pandemic — all three members of the so-called “new Big Three” of KG, Pierce and Ray Allen have been ensconced in what serves as the Valhalla of basketball.

But they are far from the only Celtics to be so honored — in fact, there is a veritable host of Boston legends populating the Hoop Hall just a short drive away from the NBA’s titletown, with the Celtics having more such players than any other team in league history.

Let’s take a look at the 40 Celtics who have been honored with a Hall of Fame induction.

Former Chiefs HC Dick Vermeil selected as finalist for 2022 Hall of Fame class

Former #Chiefs HC Dick Vermeil has been selected as the Coach Finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2022 class.

A former head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs has been selected as a finalist for the 2022 Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A panel of Hall of Fame selectors met virtually on Tuesday to make selections for the 2022 Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Senior Finalist and Coaching Finalist. After plenty of deliberation with seven total candidates, the committee of selectors named former Chiefs HC Dick Vermeil as the Coaching Finalist for the 2022 class.

Vermeil joining the Chiefs as head coach just a season after leading the Rams to a Super Bowl victory. He’d coach in Kansas City for his final five seasons in the NFL, mentoring some of the most explosive offensive players in franchise history to that point. That group included Priest Holmes, Tony Gonzalez, Dante Hall, Willie Roaf, Will Shields and more.

“I am overwhelmed. I’m not sure I belong there,” Vermeil said, via the Hall of Fame’s website.

He added that the committee had his, “deepest appreciation and gratitude.”

While Vermeil was unable to repeat his Super Bowl successes with the Chiefs, he did win plenty of games in Kansas City with a 44-36 regular-season record in the 80 games he coached the team. Unfortunately, that success only once resulted in a playoff berth. His 2003 team went 13-3 in the regular season, but lost to the Indianapolis Colts 38-31 in the divisional round of the playoffs.

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Cowboys News: Prescott and Amari back to work, ‘Hard Knocks’ highlights

Dallas welcomed two of its offensive stars back on Tuesday, plus a surprising admission from Roger Staubach about new HoFer Drew Pearson. | From @ToddBrock 24f7

Two of the Cowboys’ A-list superstars are back, just as the team goes primetime on HBO. Those were the lead stories as fans geared up for the season premiere of Hard Knocks Tuesday night. While the reality show’s debut lived up to the hype (and offered several intriguing moments), the club gave its fanbase even more to get excited about in the hours before, with a double whammy of good news: quarterback Dak Prescott is throwing once again in practice… and he’s throwing to Amari Cooper, who was taken off the PUP list.

Elsewhere, Cooper’s wide receiver mates Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb are both eyeing big seasons of their own, new linebacker Michael Gallup looks to employ a strategic gambit to getting up to game speed in his rookie campaign, and kicker Greg Zuerlein is supposedly still on track to resume normal kicking duties… but maybe not until Week 1. Roger Staubach makes a somewhat startling admission about his now-Hall of Fame companion Drew Pearson, there’s depth to discuss along both the offensive and defensive lines, one outlet estimates the cost of acquiring a second-year standout, and a rule change from the COVID season makes a welcome return for 2021. Here’s the News and Notes.