From an undrafted rookie, to an 18-year veteran, Ben Wallace has retired.
He was a 5x NBA All-Defensive First Team, 4x NBA Defensive Player of the Year and NBA All-Star, 3x All-NBA Second Team, 2x NBA Rebounding Champion, and 1x NBA Champion (2004 Pistons).
He averaged 5 shots a game.
He made 7 three pointers in his career.
He shot 41% from the free throw line.
He had 10,842 rebounds.
He had 15,000 muscles inside his body, and they were all huge.
Congratulations to you, Ben Wallace. A mighty tip of our cap.
David Letterman, and his show, changed comedy, hosting and television as we know it. I’d give anything to work for him.
Happy 30th Anniversary.
GOT ‘EM COACH FACE MASK TRIBUTE
We like gimmicks here at Got ‘Em. Last year, I ran #AllBlakeAllDay, which was 24 hours of Milkshake, and during the dog days of this past Summer’s thick, wet heat, I ran a Michael Jordan Photoshop Week. Well, it’s a new year, and it’s time for a new gimmick. I present the Got ‘Em Face Mask Tribute.
You could make a serious, and rightful case for Rip Hamilton to kick start our week (and change), but I chose a different Piston. Bill Laimbeer not only wore the first face mask I can remember seeing in a basketball game, but Laimbeer’s face mask was, by far, the most sentimental. Why, you ask? Because the remorseless, kid version of me was openly glad Laimbeer had to endure the pain of an eye socket fracture that extended down into his cheek.
I grew up on the Bad Boy Pistons, and still strongly believe in the philosophies that got them back-to-back titles - play constant, hard nosed defense for 48 minutes, and get the ball to the hot hand on offense. I appreciate them now, but goddamn it took a long time. The Pistons effectively ended the Showtime Lakers, and that was a mighty tough pill to swallow as a youth, especially with all of my Northwest Ohio neighbors hopping on the bandwagon.
It’s with that background that I celebrated Bill Laimbeer’s face mask - not because Bill was a warrior who refused to stop playing Detroit Piston basketball, regardless of the potential long-term damage he could do to himself, but because Bill Laimbeer had a broken face.
And that was awesome. Like Desert Storm, it brought our country together.
*Come back every day for a new face mask.
REMEMBERING RASHEED
He’s not dead, but why not take the time to Remember Rasheed?
- Rasheed Wallace was T’d up and ejected from the McDonald’s High School All-American Game.
“Some people say I’m mean and this and that. On one hand that’s cool. That keeps away all the riffraff and all the bugaboos.” - Rasheed Wallace
- Allegedly psyched up teammates by yelling, “Let’s go out and play like we’re Chicago on NBA Jam.”
“Every time he took a shot he said, `Don’t worry young fella, I get paid for this. I get paid for doing this to you.’” - Kwame Brown, on Rasheed
- Allegedly wore Timberlands during a mid-season Blazer practice.
From the Detroit News:
“I ain’t going to say (nothing) to him (George W. Bush). I didn’t vote for him. I’m not excited at all, it’s just part of the thing.” - Sheed
“He ain’t lying, either. He won’t say nothing to him.” - Chauncey Billups
THE 2004 PISTONS: All Ben Wallace’d out
Now THAT’S a jump shot. I feel comfortable calling this the “Greatest Photo Ever Taken of Ben Gordon.”
If you close your eyes tight enough, Laker fans, you can dream the dreams inside your heart.
If Kobe doesn’t get to 7 titles (or 6), he can think back to the one they lost in 2004. No slight to those Pistons who played inspired defense and team basketball, but that has to go down in Kobe’s diary as an opportunity lost.
Don’t worry though, just do as I do. Deny, deny, deny. It never happened.
