richmond

Yesterday, an anonymous commenter said:

So far you're spot on with this series. But I'm curious...what are the criteria? I mean, every team, especially a really good team, has 12th, 13th, 14th men who aren't good and don't see any time in the playoffs. But most of them are just guys who practice and cheer. Rice and Rider were both 1) way more talented than those guys, and 2) willing to squander it/sulk/commit crimes etc.

So do the people in this series have to be talented guys who ended up with a ring despite throwing most of that talent away, or just any sad sack who happened to be on the team?
To me, the bums and scrubs at the end of a title team's bench don't qualify as a "Worst NBA Champion." A WNC is (usually) one of the following:

1. A talented but selfish player who becomes a cancer and/or actively works against team goals, or puts his own welfare ahead of winning a title.

2. A talented (or formerly talented) player who does not (or cannot) live up to expectations and cannot (or does not) actively contribute to winning a title.

3. Someone who is actively piggybacking his way to a title.
Hopefully, this clears things up for you. Now, onto today's post.

I'm a Mitch Richmond fan.

No, really. I am. In 1988-89, Richmond won Rookie of the Year as a member of Don Nelson's Golden State Warriors. With the Warriors, he was the "M" of "Run TMC", a high-scoring trio made up of Richmond, Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin.

They were a devastating offensive combination. Hardaway was the playmaker and the leader of Nellie's fastbreaking attack. Richmond was the slasher and basket attacker. Mullin was the lights out shooter. Unfortunately, none of them played any defense.

I guess that's why the Warriors traded Richmond to the Sacramento Kings in return for Billy Owens. Of course, that trade didn't make a ton of sense back then, and it makes even less now. But hey, I'm not an NBA general manager.

Back then -- much like today -- being sent to Sacramento was like having your career sentenced to a slow but violent death. For seven long years, Richmond was stuck on some truly lousy Kings teams. But Mitch deserves some mad freaking props: the dude flat out killed himself for that team. He never quit or became a locker room cancer.

Instead of becoming a huge, fluttering asshole and demanding trades or attacking his front office like some two guards I could mention, Richmond just went about his business of being awesome. He was an All-Star for six straight seasons, even winning the All-Star MVP award in 1994-95. He made the All-NBA Second or Third Team five times. He became a deadeye three-point shooter, ranking 7th in the league in 1993-94 (.407), 9th in 1995-96 (.437) and 5th in 1996-97 (.428).

And, of course, Richmond was a certified scoring machine. He was a top 10 scorer for seven seasons. Mitch finished with a career scoring average of 21.0 PPG, which ranks 38th in league history. His 20,497 career points rank him 34th all-time.

Richmond played hurt. He played hard. And, considering his less-than-optimal circumstances, he played with relatively few complaints. But his suffering didn't end with the Kings. No, Mitch got shipped to Washington (along with Otis Thorp) for Chris Webber. And while Richmond languished in Washington for three agonizing seasons, he had to watch C-Webb transform his old team into a championship contender.

God, that had to suck.

But on July 20, 2001, it looked as though Richmond's luck had finally changed. That's the day on which he signed a $1 million free agent contract to play for the reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers (a deal made possible only because the Wizards agreed to buy out his contract for $10 million). Here's what Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak had to say about signing Richmond:

"Mitch has been one of the best guards in the NBA over the past 13 years. He's not only a great scorer and solid defender, but also a top-notch professional in the locker room and off the court as well. He should fit in perfectly with our team and we're thrilled that he's a Laker."
Yeah. The Lakers were so thrilled about Mitch that he appeared in only 64 games, logging 11.1 MPG and averaging 4.1 PPG. He reached double figures only five times, scoring a season high 13 points in a win over the Denver Nuggets.

Like Glen Rice and Isaiah Rider before him, Richmond just didn't fit in the triangle offense. Frankly, he had spent way too many years as a lone gunman on bad teams. Unlike Rice and Rider, Mitch wasn't a divisive force or an off-the-court distraction. But he was bummed out. How could he not have been? Over the last two months of the season, he played only 50 minutes. His ass was shining a fine polish onto the Lakers' bench.

As L.A. made their annual playoff run, all Richmond could do was watch. Hell, even when Kobe Bryant was all sickly from a bad room service cheeseburger during Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals, Mitch still didn't get into the game. That's when he almost cracked.

Said Richmond:

"I know I still can do it. If I get the opportunity, I'll try to help the team. But I can't sit up here and lie to you and say it's not difficult to sit over there and not be a part of it, knowing that I can contribute.

"I've been analyzing a lot over there, sitting on the bench. I look at (Devean) George, a guy that really didn't get an opportunity to play this year. George is kind of playing the minutes I was playing last year, and year in and year out. No one, I don't think anyone thought he could really help the team. And when he got 20 to 23 minutes a game, you see that he can perform and he's doing more than an adequate job.

"I haven't [asked Phil Jackson for more minutes]. Do I feel comfortable about it? No, I think in this situation, in the playoffs, I don't want to put any added burden on him, or myself. I haven't went to him. I haven't said anything about 'I want to get out there.' I hope he knows that."
Jackson knew:

"I couldn't be happier with the group of guys that I have. We have Mitch Richmond on our team, that is an elder statesman, a comedic kind of value that he brings to the team. He's got a great sense of humor and he knows a role, even though he'd love to be out there playing like he was 10 years ago, five years ago."
Yeah, Jackson knew...but that didn't change his mind about leaving Richmond on the bench. For the most part. Richmond logged fewer playoff minutes (4) than fucking Slava Medvedenko (21) and Mark Madsen (10). Mitch did make a token, three-minute appearance in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals...a 92-91 loss to the Kings in Sacramento. Nothing like a little humiliation in your old kingdom. Richmond must have felt like a dog having his nose rubbed in his own urine.

Richmond didn't make another appearance in those playoffs until the final minute of the Lakers' four-game sweep of the New Jersey Nets. Richmond made the most of that minute, scoring two points (see his fadeaway baseline jumper at the 3:40 mark of this video) and dribbling out the clock en route to his first and only NBA championship (watch him do it at the 4:00 mark of the same video).

Did Richmond deserve a title after all those thankless years of busting his butt for dreadful teams in Sacramento and Washington. Sure...I guess. But honestly, to someone like me, who spent the 1990s rooting for the guy, his final accomplishment as an NBA player felt like just another humiliation in a career full of them. Richmond didn't want to piggyback his way to a title. He wanted to help earn it. Sadly, that just wasn't in the cards.

But he has a ring.

Labels: ,

47 Comments:
Anonymous Barry said...
In this case, Scalabrine is not really eligible. He's not a cancer at all, he's not very talented and hey, the man's a good laugh. Perhaps he's piggybacking, but he was there for the shit years as well and it's not like he wanted a trade back then.

Anyway Mitch sounds dangerously close to today's Tracy McGrady!

Blogger 49er16 said...
When Olden Polynice is your starting center, the team is going to suck. That being said, Mitch Richmond is the reason why I love basketball. As you stated, even though he was on a bad team, he always tried. Too bad he had to go to (name redacted) to gravy train a ring.

Anonymous kazam92 said...
Really enjoying these. Awaiting a certain someone to show up. He had a penchant for shooting 3 pointers


(ok lets cut the crap. You can put the entire 06 heat team sans wade and mourning on "worst NBA champs"

Blogger Will said...
Have the Golden State Warriors EVER had a good defensive player? Have they ever played anything other than sieve-like defense?

Anonymous illogicaljedi said...
why all Lakers...why dont you go pick on scott burrel or something.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
why all Lakers...why dont you go pick on scott burrel or something.

In case you missed this, I'm choosing one Worst NBA Champion for each year of the past decade, starting at 2000. Don't worry. The Lakers didn't win the title in 2003, so the next post will feature a non-Laker.

Anonymous JJ said...
I can't blame Phil for benching him. Old guard who didn't play defense even when he was young is certainly a liability during playoffs. It's not like an old forward/center who can at least take up space and grab some rebounds. No coach who is serious about a championship will gamble in that situation (just look at how many minutes Doc gave to Finley).

That being said, getting benched because your coach thinks you're useless is somewhat subjective. I don't think it was really Mitch's intention to just go along for the ride. Though at his age, maybe he was foolish to think he'd be doing anything but that. I guess he was "actively piggybacking his way to a title", but I feel bad seeing Mitch portrayed in a bad light. =(

Anonymous msk said...
That anonymous commenter that asked for clarification was me - I just forgot to hit the Name/URL button like I normally do when posting.

Thanks for your clarification. Much appreciated.

Poor Mitch Richmond. He definitely deserved better.

Anonymous Heretic said...
Kobe Bryant's cheeseburger was poisoned and I'm pretty sure Shaq was the culprit.

Compared to Rider, Richmond seems like a superstar.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Let me guess... Stephen Jackson on the Spurs? ;-p

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
"Back then -- much like today -- being sent to Sacramento was like having your career sentenced to a slow but violent death"

So much love for chris in these last two posts =op

Anonymous JHo said...
That 03 Spurs team didn't have any Rider or Rice type players. I don't think Jackson fits. Danny Ferry, Speedy Claxton, Steve Smith, Kevin Willis...I'm not sure who it's gonna be.

- JHo

Anonymous Anonymous said...
It's gotta be Kevin Willis. They had two very competent post players in Duncan and Robinson. Stephen Jackson was almost literally a journeyman who fell into a great situation. Same with Steve Smith, except he was an All-Star at one point in his career.

Anonymous Karc said...
I'm going off the wall. I'm picking Mike Brown. Yeah, that Mike Brown. It's a cautionary tale for certain other "defensive specialists" that are currently coaching in Chicago. Just because you were on a team that had some modicum of success while you were sitting on the bench, doesn't mean that it will carry over to head coaching when your players turn against you. Spurs won in 1999 before Brown got there. His great "defense" got crushed by the Lakers in the playoffs for two straight years until they got Parker and Ginoubli and finally put up a fight with offense. Then he went to Indiana and couldn't get that team to score more than 70 points three times against the Pistons. And we all know what happened in Cleveland, because all of the success was LeBurnt, and all of the failure was on Brown (so I've been told by numerous NBA television partners and snarky blogs).

Moral of the story, it's a player's league. I know the focus of this is on the players, but is there anyone least deserving of a ring than the assistant coach that thinks he's all that until a superstar reminds him otherwise?

Blogger Unknown said...
My money's on Danny Ferry for tomorrow, one of the NBA's biggest disappointments from a draft standpoint. He was Darko before Darko. Scratch that, few GMs (outside of Detroit and David Kahn) thought Darko would be any good, but many people thought Ferry was going to be a Larry Bird- or, at least, a Tom Chambers-caliber of player. I'll stop there, as I'd hate to spoil Bawful's post too much (if it were to be Ferry).

Blogger chris said...
AnacondaHL: Hey, 59 years without a Finals appearance AND counting!

:facepalm:

Anonymous Mladen said...
Know what I don't get? There's a World Basketball Championship going on right now, and you guys are discussing NBA history...What the...??? Not even a mention of how your national team's doing? Last time I checked, this site's name wasn't NBAwful (mental note: register that domain).

I mean, seriously - during the freakin' Football World Cup, you guys were constantly mentioning it, and even discussing your shitty team's play, but now that you've actually got an exciting group of players competing on the international level, you're like: "Ah, screw that! I'm just gonna dig up some old timey NBA stats to look at."

Blogger Unknown said...
@Mladen

It's hard to make fun of guys volunteering their time to play basketball for their countries. It's easier to poke fun at guys doing it for money (like in the NBA). Plus, Olympic basketball is the only equivalent to the World Cup for American bball fans. FIBA is seen as an Olympic warm-up.

I've been watching these games, and I'll say that Mike Krysshdkjfski still hasn't made up his mind on the rotation. The Brazil-USA game was exciting, if not an f'n abortion for offense in the fourth quarter. Durant has been a stud, and Rose looked really good (although he made some poor decisions in the Brazil game).

Also, I'm going on a limb and saying Rubio is not as dope as we hoped; On offense, he's more like Rondo (facilitator/bad shooter) than Nash; and on defense, he's more like Nash (a little slow, not physical) than Rondo.

How's that for FIBA talk?

Anonymous The Other Chris said...
Actually, as I recall the (un)official tagline of the site is:

The best of the worst of the NBA. And there's a lot of it.

The site doesn't post a lot (any?) commentary about summer league, NBDL, college, or WNBA action. It is pretty exclusively focused on the NBA.

I'm enjoying the "worst champions" series, and bawful can't be expected to write about every single basketball thing happening all of the time.

The World Cup is the most prestigious, important and popular sporting event in the world - outside of the US, there's not even a a question - barring maybe, MAYBE, the Summer Olympics. The World Basketball Championships are not in the same hemisphere.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Mladen - cranky much?

Many of us can't get the games on TV and they are played when we are all at work. Hard to get excited about box scores from 10 hours ago.

Sorry to crush the "Damn Arrogant Americans" angle.

Anonymous Karc said...
@Mladen - Sad truth, US and the NBA doesn't care about this thing. Why else are we sending second-stringers (minus Durant)? Why'd Rondo get booted/left off the team after the stellar stuff he did in the playoffs? The Olympics matter more.

Hey, I'm with you, there's some weird stuff going on. Spain is dogging it right now without Pau Gasol, and the US should have lost the game to Brazil. But it doesn't matter. Even if the US lose, it'll just motivate Wade and Howard to push the Olympic team. The World Cup is the Olympics for soccer. This is like the World Championships. No one really cares about the World Championships.

Blogger Unknown said...
Pistons fan looking to the 2004 edition with Darko. I mean, it really has to be Darko, doesn't it?

Anonymous Geert said...
I think it needs mentioning that Jordan once said Richmond was the best player (or toughest or hardest to defend, something like that) he ever played against.

WV: clanger, as in: 'with .407 3pt shooting, Richmond wasn't a clanger.

Blogger Unknown said...
Poor Mitch. The guy could flat out score, and had he had a decent coach before he turned 33, he might have played defense. I feel a joke about Tyreke Evans coming on...

Blogger Dan B. said...
Mladen -- I'd make fun of it, but damn, the World Basketball Championship is just unwatchable in my opinion. Horrifically boring and it just doesn't really matter. And for the record, I didn't watch (or care about) the soccer World Cup either.

Anonymous Bryan said...
I love this series. I remember after the Lakers won the title they had Mitch come up at the parade to say a few words and Id never heard someone so dejected after winning his 1st nba title. He seemed like a good dude and one of the guys you root for. Sad to see but Phil Jackson can be kind of a prick.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
My biggest problem with Worlds is the box scores come in PDF format. Honestly wtf. I'm at work and have no means to stream the telecast, and all recaps are the same words gushing over Durant (most deserved) and a crappy document.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
http://espn.go.com/extra/fiba/schedule
There are links on that page to normal boxscores in html format, play by play summaries, and live streams/replays of the games

Blogger Unknown said...
Speaking of FIBA, it will adopt most of the NBA rules and regulations (except for some of the traveling/timeout calls) after this tournament: three-point line is moving back, the key is going to be a rectangle, and the court will be longer and wider. I'm going to miss the trapezoid key.

Blogger DC said...
Sorbo:

I don't know who you're watching, but you sure as hell aren't watching Rubio on D. In the last exhibition game vs. the US, he was a steals machine with his lightning quick hands and his long reach. Not unlike Rondo (or Durant in FIBA play). As for physicality, he was not unlike most FIBA guards - more physical defense out in the perimeter, because FIBA rules allow perimeter defenders to actually sneeze on their assignments without fouling, unlike in the NBA.

Rubio's not a small dude - he's 6'4", and he's put on quite some muscle since 2008. He still needs some seasoning on D (and O for that matter), but I don't think he's going to be eaten alive by strong guards in the NBA as many "pundits" have claimed (that is, if he ever jumps across the Atlantic).

Of course, he may have very well regressed on D since then, since Spain did lose twice, the latest loss being quite bawful indeed. I haven't watched those games yet.

And how about Slovenia today going up by 17 early in the fourth quarter, only to play with "deer in the headlights" intensity as Brazil whittled that lead down to 2?

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Few people thought Darko was going to be good? No, this is wrong. He was always projected to be a top five pick. Plenty of GMs were high on him. There really wasn't much controversy with him going second. Carmelo was expected to be good but Darko's upside as a very skilled 7-footer was thought to be too much to pass up.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Richmond reminds me of Joe Johnson. Both were very strong guards whose average athleticism prevented them from being full-blown superstars. They both averaged more than 25 points once but primarily were in the low 20s--good but not great scorers. Richmond may have been a slighty better outside shooter but his best three-point percentages came with the shortened line. Johnson's a qmuch better ball handler since Richmond was only functional in that area. They were both even on all-star Olympic teams but got lost amongst their better peers. I can't remember Johnson playing during the Olympics.

Blogger JdotD said...
i really dont get this selection...
he doesnt fit into any of the categories you listed above because he wasnt a bust/cancer/piggbacker and he is a genuinely great player. just seems a bit harsh to call him one of the worst champions ever with guys like isiah rider in the same category...

Anonymous Sorbo said...
Drake: You're right, I was exagerrating a little bit as he's a little bit better of a shooter than Rondo, and while he can fill a passing lane, I haven't quite seen the tough man-to-man D out of him yet, but like you said, that might have something to do with being a product of Euroleagues. He's still young, and I love much of his game, but he needs a little more seasoning before he's a top-flight player. For whatever reason, I can't shack the Nash comparisons when I watch him during this tournament.

@Anonymous, Sure, he was listed as Top 5, but with a fat asterisk of "this guy will be a project" next to him. When a player gets that label, it means a lot of clubs will pass on him.

Anonymous Mladen said...
@Sorbo:
I hear you, man, and let me first go on the record saying that I wasn't necessarily going for ridicule, but more for just any kind of discussion about the tournament.
In my opinion, even though this USA team is yet another group of 2nd rate NBA talent (with a few exceptions), they are playing well, and are showing some very good signs, such as togetherness, toughness and a good sense of "who's who" out there on the court. Durant is unbelievable, and I can only imagine what he'll be doing in the league this season...
As for Rubio, I'm still not sure about him. I think that the most important fact right now, is that he's still very young, so there's immense room for improvement. Props to the guy for playing so well at that age, anyway.

@Anonymous ("Damn arrogant Americans"):
I'm not cranky, but I just can't understand how come a nation which has the strongest basketball league in the world (which means that you guys do have a lot of basketball fans), shows so little interest in international competition. Yeah, sure, 60-70% of other nations have absolutely no chance of beating you guys (example: Iran, or Tunisia (barring a miracle)), but:

a) there are good teams out there, that can push you guys to the limit
b) where's your sense of national pride?

Flashback: 2007. My city hosted the U19 WBC, and I attended almost every game (since entrance was free). Team USA didn't exactly boast high-profile players (the only two guys from that team who are playing in the NBA now are Michael Beasley, and *snicker* DeAndre Jordan), but they still acted like unbelievable douchebags. I'm not just talking about the sense of entitlement, which I can actually understand. They refused to communicate with anyone outside of their team. They would show up to watch other games, with those big-ass headphones, and they would make sure to sit far away from any other team or members of the audience. They even ignored the little kiddies asking for their autographs. I even got the slight impression that they were afraid of something, like somebody would jump out of the stands and punch the shit out of them, or something (which, if true, is insanely ridiculous). On the other hand, teams like Brazil, France and even fucking Korea, were walking around the city, hanging out with locals, and having fun. The Brazilians were particularly cool guys, always smiling and positive. Sure, Team USA made it to the Finals, unlike those other groups, but I doubt that they actually enjoyed the competition, or their stay in Serbia. Oh, and BTW, they lost to the hosts in the Finals, in a game in which they never lead.
My point isn't that Serbia, Brazil, or anyone else is better than the USA. I'm just saying that the WBC is a celebration of basketball on the international level, and a chance for each team to experience something new. If nothing, at least you get to travel to another country, and soak in the atmosphere. Not to mention, that, in my opinion, there's no greater honor for an athlete, than to represent his country on the world stage. That's why the attitude of your top stars, and your national fanbase baffles me...

Anonymous Mladen said...
@Dan B:
I can understand that you'd find a 37-point drubbing of Iran tedious, but don't worry, things will get more interesting, as the tournament progresses. The problem is, that shitty teams (i.e. anyone from Africa or Asia) have to participate, too, because of the need to popularize basketball on those continents, as well. After all, if they are to eventually create stronger basketball programs, they need this experience. Sadly, for now, this experience boils down to getting blown out by the 6-7 top class teams.

@Everyone talking 'bout Darko:
I'm from Serbia, and let me tell you, this guy is the prime example of how far good "advertising" can get you. Seriously, I'd watched the dude play in our national league, and I was wondering why the fuck would anybody draft him, let alone in the first round. The story around here, to make things even more ridiculous, was that he might just get picked first overall.*barf* When I saw him go 2nd, I was flabbergasted, to say the least. Now, don't get me wrong, he did have some upsides, and his time in the NBA did wonders for his physique and athleticism. (I remember watching him on Team Serbia, during pre-game warm-ups, and having my mind blown by the fact that he was laying the ball up from almost the top of the backboard. For real.) Still, the guy's a mental mess, and that's why he never took advantage of his "talents". In my opinion, he is one of the worst draft picks ever. The fact that he was the youngest player to "win" a ring, and in his rookie season, when, for example, Vlade Divac retired ringless, makes it even worse...

Anonymous Mladen said...
Wow, my first long-ass comment didn't make it trough? Bummer. Sorry, Sorbo and Anonymous, I actually replied to you guys, but now I lack the energy to type it all up again...
Anyway, for those of you who say that the WBC is boring:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNSo7ivCpN0

Anonymous Original said...
@Will: "Have the Golden State Warriors EVER had a good defensive player? Have they ever played anything other than sieve-like defense?"


Mike Dunleavy, Jr. Some days.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
@Mladen

Thanks for the response re: cranky.

I unfortunately believe what you said about the behavior of the NBA players in 2007. Clearly NBA players are individuals, not all acting the same. But in general this is a group of athletes that has been pampered from a young age and treated unlike normal Americans. So their sense of entitlement is sky high. Regarding the aloof behavior, at home they are constantly sought out by people wanting money/autographs/etc. So I can understand that.

Re: WBC. America is swamped with sports coverage of every kind. American NFL football is by far the most popular and receives the most attention. Pro basketball, baseball, and hockey all get a lot of attention too. Many Americans also avidly follow college (amateur) football/basketball/baseball/hockey.

All of those sports are covered heavily in the media and the games are shown on TV at times when most people are off work.

In that environment, it is difficult for other sporting events held on a different time schedule to get a lot of attention.

The Olympics are an exception, as many Americans follow them closely. I was amazed at the US interest in World Cup action and suspect it was due to the US team going further than expected.

Anonymous Mladen said...
@Anonymous:

I kind of understand what you're saying about the abundance of sports coverage. They're actually trying to pull the same stunt here, by adding an insane number of sports channels on cable TV, most of them simply dedicated to showing old Manchester United games, or the epic competition in the Mexican 3rd League, or stuff like that...
Also, I do remember reading an American newspaper, which my cousins from the States brought some years ago, and being amazed at the fact that in the Sports section, NCAA basketball got 2 whole pages, while the NBA was pretty much just relegated to a quarter of one page, and consisted mostly of scores. I guess some people over there don't even give that much of a fuck about the NBA.

All that being said, I was pretty disappointed that you people, who come to this website, which happens to be completely dedicated to basketball (and the occasional movie reference), seemed to completely ignore a big international competition like the WBC. By the way, it's been getting more and more interesting, especially with Spain kind of sucking against good teams (but I still wouldn't want to play them in the elimination round), Brazil actually playing well, and Turkey elevating my expectations (only to disappoint me later on, I assume). Ersan Ilyasova's pretty much been the Turkish Durant so far. The guy's been lighting it up like crazy.

Blogger Dan B. said...
Mladen - To us Americans, international competition other than the Olympics means absolutely nothing. We just don't give a shit. (And I personally don't even give a shit about the Olympics, but I appear to be in the minority there) I tried watching some of two USA games in the past week or so, and they just felt completely, totally boring. There were like five people in the stands so there was no atmosphere, the three point line being so close meant it was just a clusterfuck of bad jump shots, and it was like a 20 point blowout both times. I have better things to do with my free time during the NBA's off-season, like bowling, and watching old action movies and Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes so that I can randomly reference them during the season.

Blogger Unknown said...
Dan B: Which MST3K episodes are we talking about? Joel or Mike? Personal favorite has to be Fugitive Alien from season 3. With 8,000,000 cable channels, why doesn't that show comeback in some form?

Blogger Dan B. said...
Sorbo -- I like both eras, though I'm not terribly fond of Early Joel stuff, when the show hadn't really found its footing yet and the riffing is really sparse and completely improvised. (The Robot Versus the Atzec Mummy, for example, is practically unwatchable) I haven't gotten to see a ton of episodes yet since I never saw it when it was on TV. However, some favorites of mine are probably Mitchell, Laserblast, Operation Double 007, Santa Claus, Warrior of the Lost World, Jack Frost, The Final Sacrifice, Werewolf... long list, I know. And to answer your question about why it doesn't come back on TV, it comes down to one word: money. It's expensive to get rights to show those movies each episode, and combine that with a 2 hour runtime per episode, and it's a hard sell to any station, no matter how funny it is.

Anonymous AK Dave said...
AAAaaaaahhh I love it when people get pissy because the USA just doesn't care about things they are so passionate about. You know: like pollution, child labor, and whales.

Anywho, I think I MIGHT watch the WBC if we could get the MST3k guys to call games.

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Mitch Richmond was a great defender. Phil Jackson himself said that Mitch was as fine a defender on Jordan as the best of them. Richmond is quite frankly the most underrated player of his generation. He was on a team with a bunch of players more suited to the d-league. It's a miracle that his teams were able to win 30 games. Brain Grant was the second best player on those Kings teams. Read that sentence again. Brian Grant! If you had Richmond and Reggie Miller switch places, Richmond would have shot over 50% from the field and the Pacers would have been more of a threat (I love Reggie Miller too but a fine defender he was not)

Anonymous Anonymous said...
As the brother of Mitch Richmond I'm very happy with the success and work my brother put in. He didn't get all that he deserved through out the years but in the end he still is the best and one of those guards well known by Legend Michael Jordan. He's always did his part as a player on and off the court he's the best brother I ever had. There's a lot of great players out there who haven't even had the chance to sit on the bench or even got a ring. I'd like to play during a championship game but hey if I'm getting a ring it wouldn't matter to me I have the ring that's all that counts. His headphones are doing great put in your orders other celebrity's like Terrell Owens and Dwayne Wade has a pair.