we here at soul glo did not really celebrate our 1-year anniversary (june 3, 2011 was the date of our first post). i know what i was doing this past sunday though: stocking up on supplies at BJ's; lamenting the united states men's national team's lackluster showing against canada in an international friendly; watching the mets take their third game against the cards; and barely winning at another trivia night. i think the others agree that all these activities are worthy of the sports cage's esteem. hear hear, and hopefully the whole lot of us contribute more this coming year.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1205/mr.T.rare.photos/content.1.html

I'll just let this sit here........

NBA Class of 1996

Random Classics : Why Shawn Kemp pointed at Lister after dunking on him

One of the most memorable dunks I remember seeing as a kid was this beautiful, in your face, I just took your manhood, oh and I'm going to point at you and make you even more embarrassed and you're going to accept it cause I OWN YOU motherbleeper! Anyways...I always thought as awesome as it was,it seemed,well kind of rude of Shawn to do that, dontcha think? Wasn't dunking on him enough? Well back then I didn't have cable, and I only got to see this highlight video when I would watch NBA Inside Stuff, or random highlight films or NBA commercials. Only until recently did I find out the back story as to why Shawn showed up Alton, and oh boy is this dunk even more awesome now.Video below shows why.

Steve Nash : The 2005-2010 seasons

As time is drawing near for the 38 year old point guard Steve Nash and retirement is in the horizon, let us reminisce what is probably one of the greatest statistical stretch of seasons ever. We may talk about Michael Jordan's dominance in the 80's and 90s, Wilt Chamberlain's scoring and rebounding numbers in the 60's, Oscar Robertson's triple double averages in the 1961 and 1962 seasons, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar's dominance in the 1970s, and John Stockton's dominance among point guards in terms of amount of assists from the late 80's to mid 90's.

What Steve Nash did from the 2005-2010 seasons was unprecedented. During this time, he shot more than or equal to 50% field goals, 90% free throws (in the 2006-07 season, he did shoot 89.9% from the free throw line. Let's just round that up to 90% for this moment), 40% from the 3 point line, 10 assists a game (in the 2008-09 season he did average 9.7 assists a game, but let's just round that up to 10 for this moment). These are incredible offensive numbers. We are talking about mastery in precision shooting that has not been seen in the NBA since Larry Bird.

Let's take a look at this by the numbers. Here is the list of players who shot better than 50% from the field, and 90% from the free throw line:


Full statistics here

To add to the statistics that detail his shooting performances, he was a good point guard who passed the ball at ease. Here are the list of NBA players who shot better than 50% from the field and averaged 10 assists a game in a season:


Full statistics here

A unique offensive player at his player at the finest. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about his defensive skills, as he was known to be a defensive liability on several occasions. I do not think we will see another player like Steve Nash.

Stat of the Day: Serge Ibaka 10+ blocks - Feb 2012

On February 20, 2012, Serge Ibaka blocked 11 shots, assisting the Oklahoma City Thunder in a 124-118 victory over the Denver Nuggets. This is his 3rd game in the fiscal month he has blocked more than 10 shots in a game.

Why is this significant? Since the 1985-86 season, one other person has blocked more than 10 shots in a fiscal calendar month. The player? David Robinson in Feb 1990. Former players who were known for their shot blocking abilities such as Manute Bol, Shawn Bradley, Mark Eaton, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Marcus Camby were not able to achieve this feat.

Stats here

Congratulations to Serge Ibaka.

Stat Of The Day: Ersan Ilyasova 29 Points, 25 Rebounds Feb/19/2012

Last night, there were two special statistical achievements to take notice in the NBA games.

On February 19, 2012, Ersan Ilyasova scored 29 points and grabbed 25 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the New Jersey Nets 92-85. Ilyasova played 36 minutes, making him the leader in the list of players with the least amount of minutes played scoring at least 25 points and grab 25 rebounds.

Stats here

Congratulations to Ersan Ilyasova.

Reggie Bush gets hit by Sheldon Brown

Flashback to the past. 2007 NFC Divisional Playoffs between the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orelans Saints. Drew Brees threw a pass to Reggie Bush, and unfortunately Bush never had a chance to see light as Sheldon Brown gives him a hard nosed hit to knock the ball away. New Orleans won the game 27-24 to advance to their first NFC Championship game.

Players Who Averaged 20 Points and 10 Rebounds a game in one season

Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, and Dwight Howard are on pace to have another season averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. Before this season, it occurred 298 times, with Shaquille O'Neal (13), Kareem Abdul-Jabaar(12), Wilt Chamberlain(12), and Hakeem Olajuwon(12) topping the list. Many basketball players in this prestigious list have solidified their careers as consistent scorers and/or rebounders, or are mere outliers in careers not as memorable.

Clark Kellogg - 1982-83 Indiana Pacers

Points Per Game (PPG)	Rebounds Per Game (RPG)	Minutes Per Game (MPG)	Games Played
20.1	10.6	34.1	81

Today, Clark Kellogg is known as a CBS College Basketball color commentator with some quotes I am sure he does not want to repeat again. He has said quotes such as:

• "He sized him up and sprayed him from deep" -- 2011 NCAA Championships


• "He gets that guy behind him and takes him for a ride" -- March 2009


• "Kansas clearly the overall #1 and a slight favorite, but the group is clearly a bang bus ... -- 2010 NCAA Championships

Not many know about his short stint in the NBA. Drafted in the 1st round by the Indiana Pacers in 1982, he averaged 20.1 points and 10.6 rebounds a game while starting 81 games. After that year, he had 2 more respectable seasons before being plagued with chronic knee problems forcing him to retire in 1987. He played in 260 games starting in 241 of the games. People of the early 80's may remember him by his nickname "Special K".

Jeff Ruland - 1983-84 Washington Bullets

Points Per Game (PPG)	Rebounds Per Game (RPG)	Minutes Per Game (MPG)	Games Played
22.3	12.3	41.4	75

Jeff Ruland was a 6'11" 280 pound center who had a successful 3 years at Iona University in the late 1970s. He was drafted as the 25th pick by the Golden State Warriors in 1980, but opted to play in Barcelona. In 1981, he made his debut with the Washington Bullets as a backup behind veteran Spencer Haywood. Jeff had his career year in the 1983-84 season when he played a whopping 41 minutes per game averaging 22 points and 12 rebounds per game.

The following year he suffered a broken bone in his foot while playing in only 37 games. Unfortunately due to the injury, he was never able to come back his peak form the previous year and was plagued by injuries. He attempted a comeback in 1991-92, but suffered an achilles injury involving a luggage accident. Jeff Ruland played in a total of 332 NBA games, starting in 189 games.

Roy Tarpley - 1990-91 Dallas Mavericks

Points Per Game (PPG)	Rebounds Per Game (RPG)	Minutes Per Game (MPG)	Games Played
20.4	11.0	34.2	5

We can make a case that Roy should not be mentioned in this blog piece, but Roy was an interesting character. Roy Tarpley was a talented basketball player who made his name known at the University of Michigan in the mid 1980s. He was selected in the 1st round 7th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 1986. Roy was an integral part of the Mavericks bench in the late 1980s, but however broke multiple NBA alcohol and drug abuse policies causing him to be expelled from the NBA in 1991.

After a stint in the USBL and two years playing professional basketball in Greece, he made a return to the NBA in 1994, but was permanently banned from the NBA in 1995 for breaking multiple NBA alcohol policies and a court-imposed personal aftercare program. He would make multiple stints in the Europe, China, Russia, and the CBA before retiring from basketball in 2006. Roy played in a total of 280 total NBA games, starting in 57 of the games. Here are some hilights of Roy Tarpley with the Dallas Mavericks:

Stat of the Day: Rajon Rondo - Feb/12/2012

Today, Rajon Rondo scored 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 15 assists against the Chicago Bulls to lead the Boston Celtics in a 95-91 victory. This is a rare feat to accomplish. Before Rondo since the 1985-86 NBA season, there has been nine occurrences where a player scored 30+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 15+ assists in a game, most recently done by LeBron James almost two years ago (43 points, 13 rebounds, 15 assists). Remarkably, Magic Johnson has done it four times, twice during the 1988-89 season. A random name in the list? Reggie Theus.



Full chart here

Random Classics:The 1997 MTV Video Music Awards and when America started to notice Electronic Dance Music

While we were all exposed to the incredible "Smack My Bitch Up" music video,this was my first, and I'm sure to many others the first time seeing Prodigy perform LIVE. Never had a pure Electronic band been featured on MTV's biggest stage. Brings back memories of when MTV was actually groundbreaking and wasn't scared to challenge the norm once in a while in music. Madonna introducing them was a sign of acceptance and for America to say , holy shit these guys are crazy, this is heavy metal on cocaine, this might be the coolest song I've ever heard in my entire life,I'm buying their fuckn CD tommorow at SPECS....ok that's what I said, but as the album reached #1 in the USA Charts, it looks like they started a whole new Dance Revolution, and as a High School freshman at the time in a hip-hop neighborhood, it cemented my new identity,and soon many others at my school caught on and "breathed with me".

Madden Bowl 1993

Mike Ditka (Cowboys) vs. OJ Simpson (Bills)



You can't get any better than this.

Random Classic: Lesley Visser screwing up on air during1991 Playoff game

Just 2 years removed from a 1-15 season, Jimmy Johnson had led the young Cowboys back to the playoffs and beat the Bears on the road 17-13. While finding this game and looking over it briefly, I noticed a little gem of Lesley Visser screwing up during a halftime report. Just a small mishap for her in a time before the internet where it could be brushed away from memory quickly....well except if someone recorded the game and uploaded it 20 years later.
This day and age a slight screw up like this will get a lot of attention from blogs and twitter, and the poor reporter will feel embarrassed. Is it right? Nope.But they're all still pretty funny to watch, cause we all love the occasional awkward moment on air.
Lesley is an award winning reporter so messing up on air usually wasn't the norm obviously. But I have noticed a lot of Broadcasters got away with a lot of errors week after week during the innocence of pre Internet times. And I gotta tell ya, it was pretty loveable, and I miss it.

Other stuff I like from the video...
-Madden was so great at this time,his analyses on the guys on the boat is so madden.
-Ditka looking all DITKA like.
-LIKE A RRROCCCKKKKK!
-Oh come on Gardocki!Wheres Kevin Butler?

Random Classics: '92 Albertville FigureSkating/Commercials

20 years have flown by since the Albertville Winter Olympics.Here's some random stuff I found to remember it.
Including:Surya Bonalys backflip



You have to admit that's pretty cool. No one else at the Olympics was doing stuff like that.People like Surya is a favorite of SoulGloSportsCage,because while she wasn't a champion, she did enough to stand out and be different in a random way.



The Video below drew my attention for the following reasons:
-Kareem doing a Apple Computer spot for their new PowerBook laptop computers...
-A typical overly sanged power anthem in a Snickers Olympic Skiing commercial...
-Boy did CBS have crappy PrimeTime shows...I don't even remember 'Scorch' but holy Alf ripoff Batman....
-Apperently George Michael was all the rage at the 1992 Grammy Awards...
-yes, I'm a big Charlie Chaplin fan, but come on now....



As for the video below,it involves how Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan were 2 years before the craziness, a 60 minutes commercial featuring Saddam Hussein,and Murphy Brown.

Random Classics: When Larry Bird Posterized Caldwell Jones

Yes, Larry Bird actually dunked at times, but none were as emphatic to me as this masterpiece in 1982 vs the 76ers.

Here's a highlight video of other Larry Bird dunks.Believe it or not there was enough to make a 21 second video.......

Random Commercials : '98 ESPN The Mag with Randy Moss and Cris Carter

Once upon a time veteran Cris Carter mentoring a young and reckless Randy Moss was considered a feel good story. Of course looking back now it probably wasn't as it seemed, but ESPN milked it for all it's worth at the time.
Also of note in the video, Kenny Mayne being...well Kenny Mayne.

Random Commercials: Local Miami Station 1992

of note.. a commercial for the upcoming BIG EAST Basketball tournament , a commercial for the Miami HEAT , and a cheesy ad for the movie Gladiator...no not that one,it's the flop with Cuba Gooding Jr.