Jack McCallum > Quotes

“They're talking about Kobe and how great it is that he's playing with the team. Well, isn't that what you're supposed to do? Now he's the savior because he's playing that way? He's no god. He does what he's supposed to be doing, which is what we learned in kindergarten. Share the ball and play. And that's what we do better than they do”
― Jack McCallum, Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns

“Eventually they [Sarunas Marciulionis and Don Nelson] got a call from a representative of the Grateful Dead, whose members had been inspired by Lithuania's struggle for independence. Nelson and Marciulionis showed up at the address they were given in San Francisco, which was a small, nondescript garage. 'I thought we were the victim of a practical joke until we opened the door and there was a state-of-the-art recording studio' says Nelson.

'I still remember the Dead were trying out Beatles covers, doing stuff like "Here Comes the Sun" and "Hey Jude"... but they were just kind of working through things and sounding kind of nasally and, well, maybe there was a little pot going on. So Sarunas pulls me aside and says 'Donnie, no way these guys are famous. They're terrible.' '.”
― Jack McCallum, Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever

“the only thing a marketing man can do is shine a brighter light on the stage.”
― Jack McCallum, Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever

“They're talking about Kobe and how great it is that he's playing with the team. Well, isn't that what you're supposed to do? Now he's the savior because he's playing that way? He's no god. He does what he's supposed to be doing, which is what we learned in kindergarten. Share the ball and play. And that's what we do better than they do”
― Jack McCallum, Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns”
― Jack McCallum

“Gentry conjures up a story about meeting moon-walking astronaut Buzz Aldrin at a party at the Malibu home of Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling. “So it’s a full moon, beautiful night,” says Gentry, “and I’m trying to think of something to say to this famous guy, and finally I say, ‘Buzz, damn, you ever look up and see the moon and think to yourself how people stare at it all the time and write poems about it, and you walked on it? You walked on it.’ “And Buzz looks at me and shrugs and says, ‘No. Fuck no.’ ” Gentry shakes his head. “Damn, you can even be cynical if you walked on the moon,” he says. “Isn’t that something?”
― Jack McCallum, Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns

“Russell stopped by to congratulate West, and Russell said, “I’m just glad to see this finally happen to him.”
― Jack McCallum, Golden Days: West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball

“The most oft-repeated quote about Cooke, uttered behind his back, of course, came from Hearn: “He's the only man I've ever known,” Chick would say, “who would like to die in his own arms.”
― Jack McCallum, Golden Days: West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball

“When it was [Larry] Bird's turn [to sign souvenir Team USA basketballs], he said to [Brian] McIntyre ' What's the quickest it's taken anyone to do this?' McIntyre said between fifteen and twenty minutes. Bird said, 'Time me,' finished in about six minutes, tossed the pen to McIntyre and said, 'Won another one, didn't I?”
― Jack McCallum, Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever

“That’s how pathetic the NBA television contract was at the time. West vs. Robertson and Wilt vs. Kareem…and no TV of any kind.”
― Jack McCallum, Golden Days: West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball

“They taught everybody to not just focus on the money they were making or not making, but to play every single game like it’s important. And when you have the best guys doing that, it rubs off. I think back to before I was playing, when the league had a bad name, there were only certain guys who would do that, a few on each team and maybe not even that. But just as bad habits are contagious on a team, so are good habits. And a lot of them started with Larry and Magic.”
― Jack McCallum, Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever