Greatest NBA Players Ever: Debunking a Writer’s Top 10 List

vSportsTalk - By Gil Vieira

Let me say right off the top…I hate ‘greatest’ lists – especially those offered by writers barely out of school.  Kids ranking basketball greats who have never seen the likes of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson or Jerry West play should be automatically disqualified from a greatest ‘ever’ NBA list. Recently, I was reading a list by a young writer who is published in a reputable sports website. I won’t embarrass or promote him…

COWBOY JOE…One of a Kind

theMook - by Frank Pace (The Mook)

(Excerpted in part from the book, IF THESE LIPS COULD TALK)   How did I become pals with Cowboy Joe West, the man who will set the major league record for most games umpired in baseball history (5,376) tonight (5/25) in Chicago?  The man of whom someone once said, “This is a guy who will walk into a blast furnace with two gasoline buckets, he doesn’t give a damn.”     Racquetball.  That’s right, racquetball.  You remember racquetball.  It was…

My Dinner with Don Rickles

theMook - by Frank Pace (The Mook)

The highlight on my career was an invitation to Don Rickles 70th birthday party. It was an incredibly star-studded event, even for Hollywood.  The guests included Frank Sinatra, Robert DeNiro, Sharon Stone, Bob and Ginny Newhart, Milton Berle, Marty Scorsese and Red Buttons along with movie moguls Marvin Daly and Bob Daly. My wife and I were seated with comic Jack Carter ,his wife and noted cosmetics maven Tovah Borgnine (wife of Academy Award winner,…

Venting: Things in Sports That Piss Me Off!

vSportsTalk - By Gil Vieira

A warning to the younger people who read this blog…when you reach a certain age, some things in life become intolerable, which includes watching insufferable sports professionals. Also, get ready for some old-man ‘back in my day’ comments.  However, my life is all I have to compare happenings over the years – and trust me, there have been plenty of years to analyze.  I promise, you’ll be there one day, too, if you’re not already.…

MLB – Wake Up and Save Your Game: The Root Cause of Major League Baseball’s Problems

vSportsTalk - By Gil Vieira

Make no mistake, baseball is America’s pastime.  As the Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum often says, “Baseball is sewn into the fabric of America.” The word pastime has multiple meanings. To me, it’s a manner in which to pass time. Unlike the fast-paced Millennial and Gen-Z generations, former generations lived a slower, more in-the-moment lifestyle – and viewed baseball as a means of gathering with family and friends to enjoy watching the ‘boys of…

That Demon Rum

By Billy O’Connor (Da Mick)

                           One afternoon, many years ago I was tending bar when an ominous looking man with a Boston Blackie style pencil thin moustache walked in and slid into a seat.  He was barely at his stool when the Killer said, “Alcohol is the cause and solution of all problems.”   “Killer Miller” was an exterminator, hence the benign rhyming nickname.                      As a former drunk, the sentence hit my ears like a powerful left…