Opening the mailbag (Soft Pretzel Logic)

Opening the mailbag

"Macadams fan" writes

Shame Shame Shame on Frank Fitzpatrick for failing to mention the legendary John MacAdams, who for years was THE voice of the building.

Booo

His simple way of saying "Villanova basket by #45 John Pinone" or "Temple basket by #12 Mark Macon" still rings in my ears.

I couldn't agree more. Way back when this blog first launched, I wrote about my interactions with John (except it's McAdams, not MacAdams) when he was inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame.

I bet, though, that McAdams wouldn't have wanted to be included on a list like that. What made him so great was the very understatement you refer to, how he tried to not make himself part of the action. Yet in the end, he was -- and still is -- right there in the middle of all our memories.

The column said: "All those coaches like Al Maguire and Gary Thompson who complained that they would never come back or go there in the first place weren't all wrong"

Who is Gary Thompson?

I may be pre-dating myself but that name doesnt ring a bell

I know of Gary Williams.
I know of John Thompson and sons.

What gives?

I haven't heard of him either, to be honest. But I'm not that old myself, and I only know Al McGuire from old highlight tape. Anyone who wants to chime in is welcome.

I do know that the movie critic for the Daily News is named Gary Thompson, but I doubt that's who Frank is referring to...

Tags:

Posted by Jonathan Tannenwald on November 30, 2007 8:29 PM | Permalink

Comments (3)

Willow:

Google attributes a quote (from the Pandemonium book) to Gary Thompson U. of Wichita

Posted by Willow | November 30, 2007 10:58 PM

Posted on November 30, 2007 22:58

FD:

Correct. From 1964-71.

http://books.google.com/books?id=V3DTYJ0GYgYC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=gary+thompson+ncaa+palestra&source=web&ots=aAOGnsV3hs&sig=S5_ZaehVF8LX249qEFyiCYg1ZDQ

Gotta love the Google Book Search.

Posted by FD | December 1, 2007 3:16 AM

Posted on December 1, 2007 03:16

FD:

By the way, that Wichita State (not U. of) team made the Final Four in 1965 (the season their coach became so upset after a game in the Palestra) where they lost in the semi-finals to UCLA who went on to win the championship. The other semi-final saw Princeton lose to Michigan.

Posted by FD | December 1, 2007 3:18 AM

Posted on December 1, 2007 03:18

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Jonathan Tannenwald is a producer with Philly.com.

I fell in love with the Big 5 at first sight upon moving to Philadelphia in 2002. At various points in my journalistic career, I've covered all six of the region's Division I teams. During that time, I've eaten many soft pretzels from the Palestra's concession stands, which is how this blog got its name.

In addition to the blog, I host and produce the Inquirer's College HoopsCast. It's a weekly podcast that features all the latest news and analysis from around local and national college basketball. Regular guests include Inquirer writers Mike Jensen, Joe Juliano and Mel Greenberg.

I also occasionally contribute to the Inquirer's women's basketball weblog, Women's Hoops Guru. If you've come here from there, this blog deals mostly with the men's side of things, though I do write about women's basketball and other sports when they fit in.

When not focusing on college hoops, I host and produce the Inquirer's PhilliesCast with Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki, and can occasionally be found behind the camera shooting videos of the Eagles, other professional sports teams and the tiger cubs at the zoo.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on November 30, 2007 8:29 PM.

The previous post in this blog was Friday morning thoughts.

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Soft Pretzel Logic

A blog about college sports in the Philadelphia region and across the country.