There’s a five-part video of a conversation with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the New York Times site right now that I recommend checking out. Aside from the fact that the interviewer, Calvin Sims, speaks in this exaggeratedly correct diction that makes him sound like a Muppet, he nevertheless gets us a real glimpse into the mind of Kareem. And what a mind it is. I can’t think of another athlete of his caliber more intelligent or thoughtful. Or serious. My only complaint is that Sims didn’t ask the one question everyone yearns to ask Kareem – if he’d wanted to, couldn’t he have stomped on Bruce Lee in Game of Death like he was a rodent?

But oh well. I’ll have to ask that one myself someday. In the meantime, here are a few gems:

-On what he did before big games: “I read. Raymond Chandler, John Le Carre…” (Funny but I think that’s what Ron Artest does too).

-On why no one’s beaten his scoring record: “‘They’re making so much money now, nobody’s going to play for 20 years.”

-On his conversion the Islam: “I wanted to deal with real monotheism as it was explained to the prophets, and I could see clearly that up to a certain point monotheism was about one god, and then the Christians starting saying one was three and three was one, and then you had Muhammad who returned it to there being only one God. So I sort of went with what my instincts told me was the truth.”

-On his new book about the Harlem Renaissance: “I wrote the book so that people could understand me, because the Harlem Renaissance and the echoes of it really form who I am. I absorbed a lot of it through my father who was a jazz musician – he knew a lot of the jazz greats and played with them – so that music was in my household all the time on the turntable, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine, Count Basie, Dizzie Gillespie…”

-On the recent eclipse of U.S. basketball in international play: “It doesn’t surprise me very much because the game isn’t being taught very well in the USA, and in the other countries they’re teaching the game according to the fundamentals of the game, as five people working together. That’s something we’re losing sight of here in America.”

The Conversation with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (nytimes.com)

On this day in 1960, the U.S. hockey team won the first Olympic gold medal in American hockey history by defeating Czechoslovakia 9-4 at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley. Just a day before, the Americans had pulled off what is now referred to as The First Miracle, defeating the defending-champion Soviet Union in a taut 3-2 masterpiece, the first time a team from the United States ever beat the Soviets in ice hockey.

Much like their 1980 dopplegangers, however, the win over the USSR won the Americans nothing but pride in 1960. A gold medal hung in the balance with an 8 a.m. game the very next morning against the Czechs. Emotionally drained and physically exhausted, the Americans looked early on as if they were ripe for a major letdown. The Czechs scored their first goal in eight seconds, and proceeded to mount a furious attack, scoring four in the first period, and leading 4-3 at the end of two.

In the break between the second and third periods, the U.S. team got a highly unexpected visit from the captain of the Soviets, Nikolai Sologubov. Aware that the Americans were completely spent, and unable to speak any English, Sologubov mimicked repeatedly with a gesture to his face that after some confusion was eventually interpreted correctly – he thought the team should procure some oxygen. A tank was brought in, and the mask was passed. Revived, the U.S. side returned to the ice and promptly went bubonic, scoring six unanswered goals in the period to walk away with a most unexpected gold medal, an upset miracle at least as amazing as the more famous one that would come twenty years later. As for Sologubov, the motives for his locker room visit were far from pure. A Czech victory would have kept the Soviets out of the medals, while the American victory guaranteed them the bronze.

Yesterday, Floyd Mayweather Sr, father of Floyd Jr. and former trainer of Oscar de la Hoya, had yet another tearful reunion with his son, immediately after which the two decided to work together for the big Floyd/ODLH rumble on May 5.

Daddy Floyd has played a big role in this drama from the start, and you get the feeling that he wouldn’t have it any other way. Initially, ODLH said that his fighting Floyd Jr. was conditional on Floyd Sr. working his corner, something that daddy Floyd said he was unwilling to do. Then some hard words were exchanged between The Generations of Floyd, prompting Floyd Sr. to come out and say, sure, if my son is going to do me like that, I’ll train another man to whup his ass. And the fight was on, with Daddy Floyd intimating that he was the only man in the world who actually knew how to beat his son, in that “I brought him in this world, I’ll take him right out” kind of way.

Of course, Floyd Sr. wanted some serious bank to impart this secret knowledge to ODLH, two million dollars worth of bank, to which Oscar replied, “ninja please.” He hired Freddie Roach about five seconds after that conversation. So much for his “I absolutely need Mayweather in my corner for this fight” bullshit. Suddenly, Big Daddy Floyd, the linchpin of the whole extravaganza, was out in the cold.

Which brings us to yesterday at a tour stop in Vegas, where the two Floyds evidently hugged it out – “Dad you crazy old crackhead, you’re more evil than Idi Amin” “Thanks son, I was going to train that fake Mexican to knock your teeth out but he wouldn’t pay me enough money so how about you give me some money” “Aw dad c’mere you big lug…”

In a final twist, at a post-reconciliation interview yesterday Mayweather Sr. described himself as a “former fighter and a poetry writer.” I ask you people – who needs the WWE?

Back in the Day
Speed, 1:30 p.m.
Half-hour show hosted by Dale Earnhardt Jr. that recaps Richard Petty’s win at the 1974 Daytona. I’m the most dilettantish NASCAR fan in the entire world, but when it comes to The King, I usually tune in.

Whale Rider
Oxygen, 2 p.m.
I’ve never seen this, but I presume that it’s about the highly dangerous sport of competitive whale riding, which means it must be good. What it’s doing on Oxygen I couldn’t say, but hey, I’m not complaining.

Simply Amazin
SNY, 4 p.m. & 12 a.m.
A documentary about the Mets’ ’86 season. Original title – “Blow.”

Bulls v. Celtics, 1991
ESPN Classic, 5 p.m.
Michael vs. Larry, 2 OT’s.

Jesse Owens Returns to Berlin
YES, 9 p.m.
A one-hour television show from 1964 that recaps Owens’ phenomenal four-gold-medal achievement at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Owens himself narrates most of it, and there’s a lot of actual footage from the ’36 Games.

UFC Fight Night 4
Spike, 9 p.m.
A replay of the event held April 6, 2006 in Vegas. Main matches to look out for are: Chris Leben vs. Luigi Fioravanti, Joe Stevenson vs. Josh Neer, Rashad Evans vs. Sam Hoger and Stephan Bonnar vs. “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine.

The Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee elected no one to the Hall for the third straight year, which evidently has some people pissed off. Why, I’m not sure. Of the names that topped this year’s list in the voting, I would say that only Jim Kaat is on the bubble, and if it was up to me that’s right where I would leave him. The fact that he won a record 16 Gold Gloves at pitcher (a record that Greg Maddux tied last year and could well break in 2007) is what makes it close in my book, because that is truly remarkable. And yes, he has 283 wins, 17 shy of the magic number, but that’s over the course of a 25-year career. I am in favor of rewarding longevity, but I still say that the most important qualification for the Hall has to rest with this question – was there a definitive period in the player’s career when they were utterly dominant, among the very best in baseball? In Kaat’s case, the answer is decidedly no. He had one great year, 1966, and otherwise an exceptional, very long, but not all-time great career. No Hall for you, says Large.

As for Ron Santo and Gil Hodges, Jesus, come on. Santo’s a career .277 hitter with 342 home runs. Here are some of the batters he’s close to statistically according to Baseball Reference – Dale Murphy, Gary Gaetti, Graig Nettles. Nice players all, but not Hall-worthy by a longshot. Likewise for Hodges – .273, 370 HR’s. They put Gil Hodges in the Hall, then they better put in Tino Martinez. Christ they might as well throw in Lee May.

Joe Morgan, who is an undeniable asshole, but nevertheless… in his capacity as vice chairman of the Veterans Committee he said this today – “We’re being blamed because something hasn’t happened. If you’re asking me, “Do we lower our standards to get more people in?” – my answer would be no.”

Hear hear.

Ohio State is number one in the A.P. poll for the first time since their legendary teams of the early 60′s, when John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas formed the core of the greatest basketball team in Buckeye history, one that went to three consecutive NCAA Finals and won the school’s only national championship in 1960.

Despite being sophomores, Havlicek and Lucas were undoubtedly the stars of that 1960 team, but there was more than enough talent to go around on the court. Every one of the Buckeyes starting five was ultimately drafted to play in the NBA, a rarity back in the day. They lambasted Cal 75-55 to win the championship, after Cal unexpectedly had made the finals by upsetting Cincinnati and their all-world guard, Oscar Robertson.

Though Robertson would leave the Bearcats after that season for the NBA, Cincinnati would still manage to defeat the Buckeyes in the next two NCAA Finals with a team anchored by future Celtic, Ron Bonham, and future Knick, Paul Hogue. Havlicek, Lucas and stalwart guard Mel Nowell all graduated from Ohio State in 1962 and went on to the NBA, and the school would not attain the A.P. number one ranking again until Greg Oden and company did so this week.

Below are the starting lineups of the ’60, ’61 and ’62 Buckeye squads:

1960 (25-3)
John Havlicek
Joe Roberts (CC)
Jerry Lucas
Larry Siegfried
Mel Nowell

1961 (27-1)
John Havlicek
Richie Hoyt
Jerry Lucas
Mel Nowell
Larry Siegfried (C)

1962 (26-2)
John Havlicek (C)
Doug McDonald
Jerry Lucas
Mel Nowell
Dick Reasbeck

MUST-SEE NO MAS TV
Ivan Robinson v. Arturo Gatti I & II, 1998
ESPN Classic, 8 p.m.
Classic whips out both of the Robinson/Gatti wars, the first of which was Ring’s Fight of the Year for 1998. Central bouts to the Gatti as Warrior Loser mythology, and feral bloodbaths both. Just check out the first round of the first fight and you will not change the channel, I guarantee it.

BEST OF THE REST
Florence Griffith-Joyner SportsCentury
ESPN Classic, 4:30
Half-hour SC on Her Royal Fingernail-ness, a.k.a The Queen of the Drug Games. Did roid use play any part in Flo-Jo’s death? Knowing the SC protocol, I bet they’ll at least pose the question.

ECW Wrestling Sci-Fi, 10 p.m.
There are only three words that can finally settle the Lashley vs. Hardcore Holly feud. STEEL. CAGE. MATCH.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
VH1, 12 a.m.
About the most idealized trip to the ballpark ever captured on film. Makes you want to go back in time just so you could ditch school and go to a baseball game. Wrigley Field should have won an Oscar for this movie.

The Pride of the Yankees
TCM, 2 a.m.
Today (today… today… today…) I consider myself (myself… myself… myself) the luckiest man (man… man… man) on the face of the earth…

I was watching this show over the weekend called “The Light Heavyweights,” hosted by Curt Gowdy with the all-time No Mas Hall-of-Famer Don Dunphy as his guest. It was just a half-hour of the two of them shooting the shit and watching footage of those they deemed to be the greatest 175′s in history. In the end, they arrived at a conclusion one would be be hard-pressed to argue with then or now – that Archie Moore was the greatest light heavyweight ever to lace up the gloves. Bob Foster they named in a respectably close second place, and they showed Foster’s infamous one-punch first-round knockout of Dick Tiger, which I’d never seen, and which was some straight-up Tommy Hearns-like shit.

I wanted to feature that as the No Mas Knockout of the Week, but unfortunately I couldn’t find the footage anywhere on the web. But the show also got me thinking that if ole Curt and Don were to revisit such a countdown of great 175′s today, they would still place the Mongoose at the top of the heap, but they might have to think about putting Roy Jones Jr. above Foster in second place (surely some Irishman in Southie is reading this right now and screaming Billy Conn at the top of his drunken lungs – sorry Mick, not in Largeland).

As all fight fans who lived through the 90′s know, there is no shortage of mind-blowing Jones knockouts to choose from. I went with this first-round beheading of Montell Griffin in their rematch of 1997. Earlier in the year, Jones had suffered the first loss of his pro career to Griffin due to a disqualification after clubbing Montell on the head twice when he was down in the 9th. In the rematch, Roy sought quick and painful revenge, and oh did he get it. A minute into the ring, he knocks Griffin all the way across the ring, and soon after he knocks him into tomorrow. Personally, I rate Griffin’s queer street struggle to stand up as more ridiculous than Trevor Berbick’s Frankenstein walk after Tyson clobbered him. That should tell you all you need to know.

David Cone’s Perfect Game, 7/18/99
YES, 7 p.m.
YES takes us back to Coney’s perfecto against the Expos. I vividly remember this game for a few reasons. I won tickets to it at Teddy’s and gave them to my main man Eddie Morris for his birthday (Ed was also with me at Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter – holms sees a no-no every other time he goes to the park). Also, the final innings took place at the exact same time that Jean Van De Velde was having a nervous breakdown on the 72nd hole of the British Open at Carnoustie. Large got himself a blister on his clicker thumb that day, let me tell you.

WWE Raw
USA, 9 p.m.
Rated RKO (Edge & Randy Orton) get their rematch against the World Tag Team Champions, Shawn Michaels & John Cena. Also, the Donald should announce his representative in his match against Vince McMahon. And rumors are swirling that a certain “Rattlesnake” will return.

Note: If you’re thinking of trying to kill Rulon Gardner, forget about it. You will most certainly die before he will, because he is superior to death. To wit…

2000 – He wrestles King Kong.
The moment that brought this Wisconsin farm boy to the attention of the world, and maybe the most dangerous of his stunts – his defeat of Alexander Karelin, a.k.a. King Kong, The Experiment, The Siberian Bear, in the gold medal match of the super heavyweight division of Greco-Roman wrestling at the Sydney Olympics. Karelin was known for his mercilessness and superhuman strength, which allowed him to fling around 300-pound foes as if they were rag dolls. He was undefeated in international competition for 13 years before Gardner beat him in Sydney, an upset that belongs with the greats of all time.

2002 – He gets lost, costs him a toe, but it’s cool because he never used that toe anyway.
In February of 2002, Gardner went snowmobiling with friends in the mountains surrounding Star Valley, Wyoming. After becoming separated from the group, Gardner tried desperately to work his way back to familiar terrain. Unfortunately, he twice plunged into the icy Salt River on his snowmobile. Too cold, and becoming disoriented, Gardner found a resting place and remained stranded all night. After 17 hours in temperatures that dropped to around -10 degrees, he was rescued at 9 a.m. the following morning. A saw had to be used to remove his boots. The result was severe frostbite on all of his toes, one of which had to be amputated.

2004 – Stay out of the lane when Rulon’s driving.
In a pickup basketball game, RG goes hard to the cup and lands on his hand. The ensuing dislocated wrist keeps him out of the national championships and jeopardizes his shot at defending his title in Athens.

2004 – Motorcycle accident, flips over the handlebars, whatever.
Just another day in the life of Farm Brother Number One. A quick trip to the E.R., lot of blood, nothing broken, yeah cheers. Gardner flipped over the handlebars when his Harley Davidson collided with a moving car in Colorado Springs, Colo. Rulon said his training as a wrestler helped him land safely and avoid serious injury. It might also have had something to do with the fact that he is bad as fuck.

2007 – Freaking Plane Crash, or Just Rulon Being Rulon, or Dude What the Fuck?
Rulon, his brother, and a pilot went down in a crash near Good Hope Bay on Saturday, and weren’t rescued until earlier today. Evidently the three men swam for more than an hour in 44-degree water before reaching shore and then spent the night without shelter, but of course, none suffered life-threatening injuries. You think something like this is going to rattle Rulon’s cage? Come on. Rulon laughs at Death like he’s watching Chris Rock. For breakfast Rulon washes down his Death Flakes with a steaming hot cup of Death. When Death sees Rulon Gardner, it fears for its life. Sometimes Rulon Gardner thinks about how he will die, but then he just laughs, because he knows that actually he will never die.