JFK, the NFL & Jim McKay

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It brought to mind a story about the legendary sports broadcaster Jim McKay, who passed away in June 2008 after a long and distinguished career in journalism.

McKay was the first sportscaster to win an Emmy award; he also won Emmys for writing and broadcasting. The understated and eloquent McKay is best remembered for his role as host of ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” and Olympics coverage. During the 1972 Olympics in Munich, it was McKay who unforgettably told television viewers of the deaths of the Israeli athletes at the hands of terrorists. “They’re all gone,” McKay said.

McKay was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun and broke into broadcasting in 1947. He was later part of the New York Giants’ broadcast crew in 1963. His son, CBS Sports president Sean McManus, used to accompany him to the games back then.

“I went to a lot of Giants games with my father,” McManus told me. “His broadcast partner was Chris Schenkel, and I would squeeze in the little radio booth and sit between Chris and my dad and afterward go down to the locker room and see players like Sam Huff and Y.A. Tittle and Erich Barnes. They were my heroes in those days.”

McManus was at the Giants game with his father the weekend JFK was assassinated. The NFL games were not cancelled that day. I spoke to McManus a few years ago and asked him what he remembered about that day.

“I remember the discussion that my parents had regarding whether we should go to the game,” McManus said. ”My father had promised me that we would go, and he was trying to balance that promise with what was the right thing to do.

“In the end, I think he made a decision that he might have regretted, much like [NFL commissioner] Pete Rozelle regretted it. He might have made the wrong decision, but he did so purely out of, I think, loyalty and affection to me because he knew how disappointed I would be.

“When you’re an eight-year-old boy, you might not be able to comprehend what a devastating event the assassination of a president is. I was looking forward to going to a football game, and I think my father was very torn. In the end, he made the decision based on my feelings, I think.”

Roger Staubach and the First "Hail Mary" Pass

Roger Staubach had a storybook football career. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1963 as the U.S. Naval Academy quarterback, graduated and later fulfilled his military service requirement, and in 1969 joined the Dallas Cowboys, who had drafted him in 1964. He led the Cowboys to nine consecutive winning seasons, including their first Super Bowl championship in 1972, for which he was named the game’s MVP.

He retired in 1979 with the league’s No. 1 passer ranking. Six years later, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Staubach was well known for his ability to rally the Cowboys, directing them to 23 come-from-behind victories in the fourth quarter, including 14 in the final two minutes of regulation. Less well-known perhaps is the fact that he threw the very first “Hail Mary” pass. 

“That term had never been used by the press or anybody else,” Staubach said. “In the past, if you threw a pass at the end of the game, it was the alley-oop or the bomb or whatever you wanted to call it.

 “We were playing the Vikings in a playoff game and were behind 14-10. Drew Pearson made a heck of a catch —it wasn’t a great throw — and went in the end zone and we won 17-14. After the game, the press asked me what I was thinking about at the time.

“When I threw the ball I got hit. So I said, ‘I just closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary.’ The next day, the press wrote ‘Hail Mary Pass Wins Game.’ ”

Special K Endorsement

Here's an endorsement that would make sense: CC Sabathia for Special K cereal. It has more nutrients and fewer calories that Cap'n Crunch and thus could help to keep some of the weight off that talented arm. It would also serve as an example to youngsters of a healthy choice. Tie it in with a charitable pledge of x dollars for every special K (strikeout). CC and his agent can thank me later.   

Marv Albert: From Street Games to the Pros

Back in the 1950s, when he wasn’t pretending to broadcast sporting events from his self-appointed second-floor broadcast studio at his family’s home in Manhattan Beach, Marv Albert was just like any other kid in Brooklyn. He played stoopball, stickball, punchball, slapball, Wiffle ball, and other street games of the time. But in that era, before “play dates” were organized by micromanaging parents for their offspring, the children in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs in New York City just came out into the streets and improvised their own games.

Later on, Albert acquired more formal education (Syracuse University) and experience (MSG, NBC, YES, Westwood One). One of the legends of sports broadcasting, Albert is well known in New York for his past play-by-play for the New York Knicks and Rangers and nationally for his coverage of boxing and baseball as well as for the NBA, NFL, NHL, and NCAA basketball. He now covers the NFL for CBS, the NBA for TNT, and college basketball for CBS and TNT.

During the course of research and a subsequent interview with him, I uncovered a few less-well-known facts about Marv, which he confirmed:

1. He is an honorary member of the Stoop Ball Society.
Albert: Right. That was a big game. Huge in Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. It was full of stoops. They sent me a certificate. I get their mailings on a regular basis, so I am up on all the stoopball activities around the country.

2. Years later, he had a stoop built onto his suburban home.
Albert: I did. Very popular item. But there’s a skill to that because you have to work on it. You have to hit [the ball on the point] just right. It takes hours of preparation. And it’s worthwhile.

3. First on-air job was at a classical music station.
Albert: Yes. WONO-FM in Syracuse. Part of my philosophy of taking anything just to get on.

4. Fired on the first day for giving the listening audience more baseball box score information than they bargained for.
Albert: I was a little overly animated when it came to sports. It was not exactly what they had in mind. It was a little too much, yeah. I don’t think it adhered to what their listeners wanted. That was not the demographic group we were hitting.

5. Later worked for a rock station under the name Lance Scott.
Albert: They didn’t like Marv Albert as a name. What a thrill that was to get on the air. It was a regular station. That was a great thing about going to Syracuse, the fact that it had a very good broadcast journalism curriculum. You had opportunities in the city. Few of us were able to get on the air, either doing news or rock-type stuff. I started as Lance Scott and then I went on to one of the bigger stations. That was a great experience being able to do that, in terms of being able to ad lib and kid around and experiment on the air.

6. Tom Brokaw wanted to trade jobs with Marv at certain times of the year.
Albert: Tom is an enormous sports fan. As great as he is at what he does, maybe he’s a frustrated sportscaster, I don’t know. But Tom would be at games all the time and would always come by and chat. I get a kick out of that. When you do games in New York or L.A., people I have admired will come by at halftime and just talk basketball, from Jack Nicholson to Steven Spielberg to David Kelley.

Prescription for NYC Marathon Runners

With the stage set for tomorrow’s New York City Marathon and the more than 47,000 runners presumably having completed their training, we went to an expert for some last-minute advice on foot care for the race entrants. Dr. Robert Conenello is President of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine, the owner of Orangetown Podiatry, and a global clinical adviser to the Special Olympics, having volunteered his time and expertise to that organization for the past decade. He is also a past participant in the New York City Marathon.

Q. Is there anything runners should be focusing on now, with the race set to begin at 9:10 tomorrow morning?
Dr. Conenello: Today, you should try to hydrate and just relax. As far as your feet go, prepare. In other words, make sure that you have all the right gear, including a good moisture-wicking sock. If you have any hot spots on your feet, put Vaseline or some kind of body glide on them to make sure you don’t get blisters. And get a massage today. It’s a great idea to relax.

Q. What about mid-race. What should a runner do about foot pain that occurs during the race?
Dr. Conenello: First, try to walk it off if you can. Take it slowly. It could just be cramps or tightness or improper posture. It could even be a simple thing like a sock that bunched up. If that’s not the case, seek medical attention. There are so many good professionals on the sidelines that can take care of you there. If you are having sharp discomfort, don’t try to run through it because it could be a problem. A stress fracture, or something like that.

Q. And after the race, what should the runners do for their feet?
Dr. Conenello: Again, hydrate, because you could still have problems with your feet if you don’t have enough fluids in you. The most important thing for your feet, though, is R.I.C.E. That is, rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Get your shoes off. Alternate as the day goes on between hot and cold treatment for your feet. Get another massage to get some of those toxins out of the muscles. If you have blisters, soak them in a little bath of Epsom salts to shrink them down. Cover them with a little antibiotic ointment and a non-stick dressing. If you’re in a lot of pain, or if you have a black toenail, go see your sports podiatrist. Those are the main things to address.

Elementary Questions

Questions from curious third-graders after they were read a story today about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:

1. Why do they have to guard it?
2. Can the soldiers talk?
3. What if their wife comes up to them and asks them a question?
4. Can they yawn?
5. Can they cough?
6. Do they still guard the tomb if it rains?
7. How long do they work?
8. Can you walk in front of the solider during his patrol?