Selling Wooden Nickels
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A tip of the cap to Sports By Brooks for this gem.
Just days after the passing of John Wooden, the L.A. Times made the mistake of recycling a story about the late Sam Gilbert and his influence on the UCLA basketball program. The newspaper also printed some questionable info in Wooden’s obituary, published June 5.
The Gilbert piece, titled “The Dark Side of UCLA Basketball” and written by Chris Dufresne, ran June 8 and rehashed old stories that had been told years ago. Nothing new.
I asked to a friend about why the Times would pull out the Gilbert story, particularly when it offered no new material, less than a week after Wooden’s death. We concluded the large pro-USC wing at the Times must have gotten wind of the NCAA getting set to bust the Trojans’ golden egg. Kidding of course.
Former UCLA basketball player Andy Hill, who wrote “Be Quick, But Don’t Hurry,” about Wooden’s philosophies, was none too pleased with the obit or the Gilbert piece. Though he isn’t mentioned in the Gilbert piece, he rips Dufresne a new one.
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