J-Speaks: The Final Season For Heat's Greatest Player

After the Southeast Division champion Miami Heat fell at the Philadelphia 76ers 104-91 to that First-Round playoff series in five games, there question arose would this be the last time future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade would take the court. He mulled for much of this summer about returning for possible one more season or retire. He looked into a camera standing alone in the middle of a pitch-black room and expressed his decision, weeping at times as he tried to say his answer. 

On Sunday night in a video taped earlier in the day that can be seen on YouTube, Wade announced that he will be returning to the Miami Heat for his as 16^th and final season in the National Basketball Association (NBA). 

The 12-time All-Star, who referred to this upcoming season as “Sweet 16” in his video spent the entirety of this off-season weighing his options and calling it a career—even just a few days back was in his mind close to a reality. 

His status of returning was such a question mark that with the start of training camp one week out the Heat kept the 20^th and final training camp slot and there was no question who that spot was for. 

While the spot was now filled by the most accomplished and the most important player in Miami Heat history, there was no guarantee that the No. 5 overall pick in the 2003 draft and his 22.5 career scoring average would come back.  

“I always did things my way,” the 36-year-old Wade, who is expected to sign a one-year, $2.4 million deal later on this week said in the 10-minute video on Sunday. “Whether they’ve been good or whether they’ve been bad, I got here because I’ve done things the way that I feel is right for me and my family. And what I feel is right—I feel it’s right to ask you guys to join me for one last dance, for one last season.” 

“This is it. I’ve given this game everything that I have, and I’m happy about that, and I’m going to give it for one last season, everything else I have left.” 

Wade, who is married to actress, and entrepreneur Gabrielle Union and has three children is the Heat’s all-time leader in points (20,473); games played (876); assists (5,009) and steals (1,433). 

The reasoning behind Wade taking long to make his decision is because he was undecided on if he was going to return, according to an ESPN.com story. That he had both family and personal business that required his attention and that it took time for him and the organization that he spent 13 of his first 15 seasons with on a deal that made sense for both sides. 

A person very familiar with Wade’s thinking process told “The Associated Press” that he was giving retirement strong consideration right up until last week when Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and others made a late push to help him make a decision. 

Those conservations must have work because the three-time champion and 8-time All-NBA selection decided to return for one more season. 

“These things to you guys may seem small,” Wade said. “But to me, they’re real. I feel like my family have put me first for so many years, for good reasons. But there comes a point in time when we’ve all got to think about someone else, especially the ones around you that have supported you, supported your dreams, supported your journey like my family have.” 

Wade’s return for the 2018-19 season means the Heat will have basically the same roster, that is young and up-and-coming it feels like it did a season ago. 

They went 44-38 capturing the No. 6 Seed in the East falling as mentioned to the Sixers in the opening-round in five games. 

This time around though, they will have Wade in the fold right from the outset, which a couple of years back did not seem possible. 

He spent the 2016-17 on his home grounds of the “Windy City” playing for the team he routed for in his youth the Chicago Bulls. He began last season playing for the now four-time defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers and his long-time buddy and 2003 draft classman LeBron James, the four-time Kia MVP. 

Wade appeared in 26 games for Cavs, mostly in a reserve role before returning to South Florida in a trade in February. In his return stint, Wade played in 26 games, including the postseason, enamoring the Heat while coming off the bench providing a 12.9 scoring average. 

He made a serious impact for the Heat on the hardwood as well as off the court getting involved in responding to the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School were 17 people were killed. 

One of those lives that was taken away far too soon was a young man named Joaquin Oliver, a huge Heat fan. At his memorial service, Oliver’s parents buried their son in a Wade No. 3 jersey. 

Wade was so touched by the sentiment that he spent the latter portion of the 2017-18 season dealing both with that passing as well as that of his longtime agent Henry Thomas. 

“When I lost Hank, I lost a part of me,” Wade said while wiping away tears. 

When the Heat selected Wade No. 5 overall as mentioned earlier in 2003 after James, Darko Milicic, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh went ahead of him at picks 1,2,3 and 4 respectably, no one knew how good he was going to be at the professional. 

He showed how special in his first playoff game hitting the game-winner in Game 1 of the Heat’s Quarterfinals series versus the then New Orleans Hornets’ lead guard Baron Davis and that set into motion the birth of the next great NBA star. 

Two seasons later Hall of Famer and current NBA on TNT studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal was dealt to the Heat and dubbed Wade “flash.”

After falling in the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals to the Detroit Pistons in seven games, they made it to the 2006 NBA Finals, where they fell behind 0-2 to the representative of the Western Conference the Dallas Mavericks. 

They were behind by 13 points with 6:30 left at home in Game 3, when “Flash” scored 12 points the final 5:30 to lead the Heat to a 98-96 win to cut the series lead to 2-1 as he finished with 42 points. 

The Heat would win the final three games of that series and capture their first of three Larry O’Brien trophies in six games, including the clincher on the Mavericks’ home floor. 

Wade won Finals MVP averaging 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.7 steals and one block per game. 

“Incredible, just the heart that he has…He just rises to the occasion,” Heat president and then head coach Pat Riley said of Wade’s performance in those Finals. 

Throughout his career there were two things that could not be questioned about Wade. His heart and his will to win games. He put that on full display in the summer of 2010 helping to orchestrate the biggest free agent coo in NBA history when Bosh and James joined Wade in South Florida, and the so-called Heatles were born. 

Today no team with three of the greatest players in the hardwood was under the kind of microscope or experienced the kind of dislike, borderline hatred for a four-year period the Heat did from 2010-14. Every time the took the court, except for at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, the Heatles were given the side eye in all the other 29 cities they visited. 

ESPN to illustrate how big of a sports storyline this was dedicated a website to cover them. The three people that covered the Heat and their polarizing trio was insiders Kevin Arnovitz, Brian Windhorst and Tom Haberstroh. 

After losing to the Mavericks in the 2011 Finals, the world was laughing and figuratively spitting in their faces and they could do nothing about it. 

It was in that summer that Wade showed the world his heart and his willingness to win where on vacation in the Bahamas with James, the two superstars had a heart-to-heart conversation. Wade turned over the heavy lifting at the offensive end as well as the leadership of the franchise to LBJ. 

“It was probably one of the hardest things I had to do,” Wade said to ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez after Heat lost in the 2011 Finals in six games. “I want more success from winning. I don’t want another scoring title. I’m just trying to win.” 

“I felt that I had to come from nobody but me, to say, ‘Go ahead man. You’re the best player in the world. We’ll follow your lead.” 

The Heatles led by James, Wade and Bosh made it to The Finals all four years together, winning back-to-back titles in 2012 over the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in 2012 and over the mighty San Antonio Spurs in seven games one year later. 

In the 2012-13 season, the Heat won an incredible 27 straight games, setting the 2^nd best mark in NBA history to the 33 straight by the 1971-72 World Champion Los Angeles Lakers, on route to a franchise record 66 wins. 

Wade sacrificed his city, his franchise, his minutes, his body, and his wallet for the Heat to be successful. ESPN’s Jorge Sedano said on Monday’s edition of “NBA: The Jump” that he remembers on five occasions that he was asked by the Heat front office to take discount to allow the franchise to put the best team around him. 

It got to a point though two summers ago where the likes of Hassan Whiteside, James Johnson, Tyler Johnson, and Dion Waiters got big time contracts and Wade did not. That caused a rift with him and Riley, which led him to sign with the Bulls and then the Heat for those two prior mentioned seasons. 

Things were squared between when Wade was dealt back to the Heat as mentioned a season ago at the Feb. 8 trade deadline.

He showed last season that he still has some gas left in the tank as he turned back the clock hitting a couple of game winners against the Sixers in the regular season and postseason. 

The plan for Wade going into this season is for him to remain a reserve like a year ago. While it is unlikely he will begin games this season, it would be a sure bet that he will be in there at the finish, especially if the game is close. Spoelstra utilize Wade a lot as the closer when he returned last season. 

Being able to find minutes at times will be a tough task because unlike when Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour two seasons back, the Lakers were in rebuilding mode. For the Heat, they are a team expected to make the playoffs. 

On top of that, there is a lot of depth on the roster with notable guards in All-Star Goran Dragic, Johnson, Waiters, Josh Richardson, sharp shooter Wayne Ellington and Rodney McGruder, who account for $68.5 million of the Heat’s 2018-19 salary.   

In the upcoming 2018-19 season, we will get to see the NBA story of Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. conclude the right way. Being able to appreciate his career with the team that he will have spent 14 of his 16 NBA seasons with. The team that gave him a chance at greatness and he rewarded Heat nation as well as basketball fans by being a great individual player and a team player that guided the Heat to their three championships; earned a lot of individual honors along the way and showed that he was willing to share in the glory with two guys that were in the same draft class with him and will all be enshrined in Springfield, MA. 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 9/14/18 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Amin Elhassan, and Paul Pierce; 9/17/18 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Jorge Sedano, Brian Windhorst and Jackie MacMullan; The Sporting News’ 2006-07 Official NBA Guide, 2005-06 Review, Playoffs section, Page 105; 9/16/18 www.espn.com article via “The Associated Press,” “Dwyane Wade Will Return to Heat for ‘One Last’ NBA season;” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Heat; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971-72_Los_Angeles_Lakers_season; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwyane_Wade.  

J-Speaks: Longtime Clippers' Play-By-Play Man's Big Announcement

There are not a lot of things that the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) have in common. The Lakers have won 16 championships in their history, while the Clippers have yet to make an appearance in the Western Conference Finals. The one thing they do have in common is both franchises have had a play-by-play television analyst that has broadcasted their games for over three decades. For the Lakers, it was the late Francis Dayle “Chick” Hearn who had a broadcasting streak of 3,338 games from Nov. 21, 1965 to Dec. 16, 2001. The Clippers voice on the microphone for 39 seasons has provided enthusiastic commentary for a franchise that has been the least successful in NBA history. This past week he made a major announcement about his future with the team. 

The legendary play-by-play voice of the L.A. Clippers Ralph Lawler announced in the middle of the week that his 40^th season announced his plans to retire at the conclusion of the 2018-19 NBA season. 

Mr. Lawler said that he planned to make his retirement announcement at season’s end, but the Clippers organization wanted to celebrate he tenure with the team, so he made the announcement at that time. 

“My wife Jo and I have grappled with this decision annually for 15 years. I now realize that I have spent half of my 80 years as a part of this team. The Clippers are a big part of my life’s DNA,” Lawler, who turns 81 in Apr. 2019 said on Wednesday. “Yet, it is important that we have some ‘life after basketball.’ The current ownership and management team has been so supportive, and we are forever grateful for our years with the Clippers. I cannot express how much I appreciate the fans. I am looking forward to thanking as many of them as possible in person during this final season.”

Lawler, 80, joined the Clippers as their play-by-play man in their first season when they were in San Diego, CA in 1978. They moved to Los Angeles six years later and have called that home ever since. 

Since 1984, Mr. Lawler has called over 3,100 Clippers games and over the course of his career has distinguished himself as one of the elite sports broadcasters in the business being one of a few announcers to call games in all four of the U.S. pro sports leagues: The National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Hockey League (NHL) and NBA. 

That greatness and commitment to his work earned Mr. Lawler very special recognition on Mar. 3, 2016 as he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Lawler also has won three Emmys, A Telly Award and has been inducted into the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the California Sports Hall of Fame.

“Ralph Lawler isn’t just the voice of the team, he has been the heart and soul of the Clippers,” team Chairman Steve Ballmer said this past week. “Ralph has lived every single moment with this team and been an essential connection between us and our fans, who rightfully adore him. We will treasure every moment with Ralph and his wife Jo this season and miss him incredibly next year. I’m looking forward to celebrating Ralph and his legacy and want to sincerely thank him for everything that he has done for and meant to this team. His will be large shoes to fill.”

This great journey in broadcasting began for the Peoria, IL native in 1960 where he worked as a sports announcer at 1440 KPRO in Riverside, CA. 

From there, the Bradley University graduate, which is the same school that Mr. Hearn attended worked in Philadelphia broadcasting gams for the Flyers, 76ers, Phillies, as well as College Basketball games for the Universities of Penn, La Salle, Saint Joseph’s, Temple and Villanova University, which was known as the “Big 5.” Mr. Lawler also was a broadcaster of Temple college football and as a sports reporter for the then-CBS affiliate WCAU-TV as a sports reporter. 

He would return to Southern California in the late 1970s where he called the games of the San Diego Conquistadors of the American Basketball Association (ABA) as well as the San Diego Chargers. 

Among the color analyst that Mr. Lawler has shared the broadcast table with for Clippers telecast for Prime Ticket/FOX Sports West include Hall of Famer Bill Walton, whose work from 1990-2002 became wildly popular amongst Clippers fans and numbers of NBA fans because of their witty banter. 

From 2002-17, Mr. Lawler worked Clippers games with former player Mike Smith from and this last season with former NBA guard and two-time champion with the San Antonio Spurs Bruce Bowen. 

What made Lawler so unique from a lot of broadcasters is that he called games on a handheld microphone instead of the traditional headset.

Fans that watched L.A. Clippers telecasts expected to hear a number of Mr. Lawler’s catchphrases like, “Bingo” for a made three-pointer, “The Lob! The Jam!” when a team scores a basket off an alley-oop, or his most famous signature call, “Oh Me, Oh My” after a highlight play.

The most frequent of Lawler’s catchphrases that has been referenced by many of his peers is “Lawler’s Law,” that states the first team to reach the century mark will win the game and he would end it bay saying, “It’s the law.” 

Aside from the six of the past seven seasons, where the Clippers won 50 games or more and made the playoffs, they have had a very down history as the little brother to the Lakers. The one steady part of their organization, especially during some of their roughest seasons during these past four decades has been Ralph Anthony Lawler. 

In celebration of his 40^th and final season as the play-by-play man of the Los Angeles Clippers, the team and its broadcast partner FOX Sports/Prime Ticket will be celebrating Mr. Lawler at all 41 home games at Staples Center as his closest friends and colleagues during his great career like Walton at the top of the list will be joining co-piloting Clippers broadcast for special games. 

Game 4 of the 2002 NBA Finals on June 12, 2002, which the Lakers won 113-107 at the New Jersey Nets to win their third NBA title was the final broadcast of Francis Dayle “Chick” Hearn for the team’s radio feed. 

Mr. Lawler’s final regular season telecast as the voice of the Clippers will take place on April 10, 2019 when the team plays host to the Utah Jazz at Staples Center at 7:30 p.m. Pacific time on Ralph Lawler night. 

Along with the first 10,000 fans at the game receiving a Ralph Lawler bobblehead, the evening will feature special guests, ceremonies, and a celebration of the great career of Ralph Lawler. 

By the end of the 2018-19 NBA campaign, the city of Los Angeles, CA will have said goodbye to of the most tenured broadcasters for their respective teams. One broadcaster in Mr. Hearn saw some of the greatest to ever play on the hardwood lead the “Purple and Gold” to championship glory. Mr. Lawler saw some pretty rough basketball for the most part for the “Red, White and Blue” little brother Clippers. Both though brought their A-plus commentary to each game and represented themselves as the most important faces of their franchises and earned accolades and the respect of the players they covered, their respective peers in the business and fans who enjoyed hearing their calls of Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers games.

“The ‘Voice of the Clippers’ for 40 seasons and one of the league’s longest-tenured broadcasters, Ralph has called some of the most iconic moments in Clippers’ and NBA history,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement on Wednesday. “His distinct broadcasting style, highlighted by Lawler’s Law and other hallmark ‘Lawler-isms,’ has earned him respect and admiration from NBA fans everywhere. We wish Ralph continued success in his final NBA season and thank him for his incredible commitment and dedication to NBA basketball.”  

Information and quotations are courtesy of 9/12/18 www.espn.com story, “Ralph Lawler, Longtime Voice of Clippers, To Retire at Season’s End;” 9/12/18 www.nba.com story via Clippers Digital, “Longtime ‘Voice of The Clippers’ Ralph Lawler Announces His Intent To Retire At End of 2018-19 Season;” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Smith_(basketball,_born_1965); https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Walton; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_NBA_Finals#Game_4; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_Hearn; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Lawler.    

J-Speaks: 2018 Curt Gowdy Award Recipients

The 2018 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame will feature members that run the gamut of those that achieved greatness at Symphony Hall in Springfield, MA on Friday night. The Hall will open its doors to recent NBA perennial All-Stars in Grant Hill, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, and Jason Kidd. Old-School pillars like Charlie Scott, Maurice Cheeks, Dino Raja, and long-time coach at the University of Maryland Charles (Lefty) Driesell. Legends of WNBA in champions Katie Smith and Tina Thompson and pioneer of women’s basketball Ora Mae Washington. Making the Hall as contributors to basketball are Rick Welts, COO of the back-to-back defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors and former player, executive, and coach in the NBA for over five decades in Rod Thorn. Two other individuals who have made their mark in bringing us coverage of the NBA were honored enshrined this week with the prestigious Curt Gowdy Award. 

On Thursday night ESPN basketball analyst and sideline reporter Doris Burke was honored with the Curt Gowdy Media Award for Electronic Media, while long time photographer Andrew Bernstein received the same honor for Print Media. 

Burke, who has been an analyst with ESPN since 1991 became the first woman to be named a full-time game color analyst for the National Basketball Association (NBA). 

Presenting the award to Burke was her ESPN colleague in Mike Breen, who Burke has known for a long time going back to her early years as a radio commentator for the New York Knicks and who have worked together for nearly a decade at ESPN. 

“That you would consider me worthy to stand in this place with that elite roster of recipients is more than my imagination could’ve dreamed,” Burke said in her acceptance speech. 

These two recipients painted a picture of the game that brought us right in whether we were watching from the small screen in the case of Burke for over a quarter century or in the case of Bernstein through photographs, especially his work as the official photographer for the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers. 

Reaching the mountain top of recognition of their professions did not come easy for both Burke and Bernstein. 

Burke, a Manasquan, NJ native and mother of two before working with ESPN was a sideline and color analyst on men’s and women’s college basketball and for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) was a standout player at Providence College, where she held seven school records upon her graduation in 1987. 

After two seasons as an assistant for her alma mater, where a full-length bus of people representing Friar nation came out in support of Burke on her big night, she began her broadcast career as a color analyst for regional coverage of Big East and Atlantic 10 women’s basketball games. 

“That time was absolutely critical to my development,” Burke said of that opportunity as Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese and his successor Dave Gavitt to call men’s women’s games. 

Burke began her career at ESPN in 1991 and five years later became the first woman to call a Big East men’s basketball game on television. 

It was also during this time that she worked alongside three of the best to commentate College Basketball for ESPN with Dave O’Brien, Dan Shulman, and Hall of Famers Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas.  

Burke said that each time she worked with O’Brien called over a decade worth of Women’s NCAA National Championships and hundreds of college basketball games she “was better for it.” 

She also acknowledged ESPN broadcast colleagues in Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe, and Beth Mowins, who last season became the first woman to call an NFL regular season game for ESPN’s Monday Night Football said that their friendship and support is something that she cherishes and that kind of support is something that is necessary for all women and should always be there. 

Burke before analyzing NBA games on television for ESPN/ABC broadcast WNBA games when the league was launched in 1997, which she also called a pivotal moment in her career. 

She would continue to break the so-called glass ceiling in 2000 becoming the first woman commentator for New York Knicks games on radio and on television for Madison Square Garden Network (MSG). 

“The WNBA changed the equation for a young female broadcaster who wanted nothing more than to remain close to the game, and call basketball games,” she said. “And my subsequent association with Madison Square Garden Network, then the very vanguard of regional sports cable networks, that afforded me my first opportunity to call professional basketball, first for the New York Liberty and then under the intrepid leadership of Mike McCarthy, who was the head of MSG at that time to call the New York Knicks on both the television and radio.” 

“And in was virtually with few exceptions unheard of at the time, and I am so indebted to MSG and all the people there.”

While she has a new role with “The Worldwide Leader in Sports,” as a full-time NBA color analyst, she still is the lead sideline reporter for the network during its NBA playoff coverage. 

“To the players and coaches of the NBA—Rick Carlisle, LeBron James, Steve Kerr, Chris Paul and many, many others, your private words of support to me, and your public statements of support of my work, went far beyond what you could imagine. And the confidence that I had to the job ESPN has given me,” Burke said.

When Bernstein was a collegiate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, there were no courses in either photography or film. 

As a result, the 2013 Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductee transferred to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. He became hooked after stepping the plane into the 85-degree sunshine of that part of the West Coast. 

From there he began his professional journey that has taken him across the globe yet kept him in L.A. as the NBA’s senior photographer. 

His journey to now being a Hall of Famer began when he worked part-time as an assistant to Sports Illustrated, which led to him to his first gig as a photographer at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game at the Lakers’ former home The Great Western Forum. 

He eventually became the Lakers’ photographer as well as for the Dodgers of MLB, Clippers, and the Kings of the NHL. 

Three years later began a 25-year stint as senior director of NBA photos as the league’s in-house licensing agency starting back in 1986. 

He also chronicled the Gold medal runs of 1992 Hall of Fame Dream Team as well as the runs of Team USA in 1996 and 2000, while also working 36 All-Star Games and NBA Finals.  

“I don’t know what era we’re in now, but whatever era it is they still want me around documenting it. So, I will still be sitting baseline where you’ve seen me for so many years,” Bernstein said of his career to NBATV’s Ros Gold-Onwude and Steve Smith earlier this week on “Gametime.”

Both Burke and Bernstein reached the Hall of Fame because of their ability to create magical moments when the opportunity came. 

The first person to interview now Los Angeles Lakers four-time league MVP LeBron James after leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first championship in franchise history, his fourth title overall and the city of Northeast Ohio’s first title since 1964 was Burke. 

She was also the first one to interview now back-to-back Finals MVP Kevin Durant of the now back-to-back champion Golden State Warriors when they beat the Cavs in the 2017 Finals, his first title. 

When it comes to capturing some of the greatest moments in NBA history from the late 1980s to now, Bernstein is the one that presented those memories to us through his lens. 

Moments like Michael Jordan holding the first of six Larry O’Brien trophies the Bulls would win the 1990s alongside his late father James in the visitor’s locker room at the Forum after the Bulls won Game 5 of the 1991 Finals over the Lakers 108-101. 

Another moment captured through the lens of Bernstein was future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant with both ankles in two ice buckets before a tilt against the Knicks at MSG in Jan. 2010.

He also captured an emotional embrace between two former league MVPs in Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry after the Warriors following their Game 5 victory in the 2017 NBA Finals. 

Bernstein got one of the most iconic shots of the NBA during the 1980s when the two pillars of the league then in Hall of Famers Earvin “Magic” Johnson of the Lakers and Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics fighting for rebound position along the charity stripe at the old Boston Garden in the 1987 Finals, the third and final time these two teams met with them as the headliners. 

In 2016 Bernstein got a shot of him and Bryant before the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in the Western Conference locker room at the Toronto Raptors’ home the Air Canada Centre. 

What allowed Bernstein the chance to capture these moments was the kind of respected relationships he formed with some of the stars in those photos like “Magic” Johnson, whose career was just beginning at the same time as Bernstein’s. 

He also formed solid relationships with former NBA Commissioner David Stern and has continued that with his predecessor Adam Silver and Hall of Famer Phil Jackson where when he was able to get unprecedented access to photos of all 11 of his title runs with the Bulls and Lakers. The two even wrote a book together about the Lakers title team in 2009-10. 

It was also during this time he was able to record some of the best moments of Bryant from his first day in the league to his very last, Bernstein said he formed a solid relationship with Shaquille O’Neal going back to before he came into the NBA.  

In fact, Bryant and Bernstein just finished a book together called “The Mamba Mentality,” which will be out next month.  

Both Burke and Bernstein reached this great pinnacle through relentless hard work; dedication to their craft; a focus to be the best of the best at their craft and a great encouragement and respect from those that they worked with and covered during their remarkable careers. 

In a time where it seems like certain parts of our society seem to be exclusive, the NBA in Burke’s words under the leadership of former NBA Commissioner and his successor Adam Silver “is the single most inclusive, open-minded, progressive sports league in the country.” “And both men’s support of me speaks volumes.” 

For Bernstein, he felt that what makes a great photograph was the one that would elicit a response or as he put it, “an emotional response.”

“So, things just don’t happen but when they do happen and come together it’s very gratifying and to have some of my photos be remembered as sort of the image of the NBA or what people want to remember certain eras or certain athletes by is incredibly humbling and gratifying for me,” Bernstein said of his work. 

On Thursday night, the Naismith Hall of Fame enshrined Doris Burke and Andrew Bernstein with the Curt Gowdy Media Award for Electronic and Print Media respectably for their work on bringing us closer to the players we have come to love of yesterday and today. 

This moment for both also represented a moment for them to say thank you to not just the players, coaches, and staffs of the collegiate and professional game, but in Burke’s the people involved in the decision making at the Big East, MSG, and ESPN that lifted her up every single day. 

For Burke, this was a moment to acknowledge her son Matthew and daughter Sarah, who she sacrificed quality a lot of her time to chase her dream. 

“You were not afforded the luxury of a mom who was home every night, nor Midnight Madness or the NBA Playoffs. A schedule that resembled anything that would come close to normal and I appreciate the sacrifices you both made and the way you did it,” Burke said to her kids at the close of her acceptance speech. 

“I have the best job in the world for somebody who loves the game. But that pales in comparison to the pride and the joy and love I have of being your mom. God Bless and thank you.”    

Bernstein recognized his friend and fellow photographer Lane Murdock, who passed away a few weeks ago. 

Bernstein said of his friend in Murdock, “I hope to one day to present this award to his family in his memory.”  

Information and quotations are courtesy of www.nba.com video section of Doris Burke and Andrew Bernstein’s acceptance speeches receiving the Curt Gowdy Award for Electronic and Print Media respectably; www.hoophall.com/index.php/events/enshrinement/class-of-2018; 9/3/18 www.nba.com article, “Worth a Thousand Words: NBA Photographer Andrew Bernstein Details His Best Shots,” by Steve Aschburner; www.espn.com article, “Hoops HOF Awards Doris Burke, Andy Bernstein with Curt Gowdy Awards;” and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Burke.

J-Speaks: The Ultimate Send-Off For The "Queen of Soul"

Three Thursdays ago, the world lost one of the most impactful people on not just the music industry, but one of the most powerful and forceful people that created change in not just music but in society. On Friday, the “Queen of Soul,” who taught us all to have “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” for one another received a star-studded send-off where a who’s who of entertainment, politics, media and the famous of the “Motor City.”  

The grand marathon eulogy of Aretha Louise Franklin, who passed away on Aug 16. at the age of 76 from reportedly pancreatic cancer had the proper send off fit for a queen at the Greater Grace Temple in her hometown of Detroit, MI. 

Ms. Franklin’s body arrived at the Temple in a very glossy gold casket that was carried into the temple by six pallbearers down her last ever red carpet. 

The casket was placed in right in the front of the church and was surrounded by hundreds of pink roses. 

She was dressed in a floor-length gold down and gold sequence pumps, which was the fourth and final wardrobe change in a week-long celebration, where her casket spent three days for the public to see in the “Motor City.” 

During one of the public viewings, Ms. Franklin was dressed in famed Christian Louis Vuitton high heel shoes, that were red. 

In tribute to her 1985 dance pop hit song “Freeway of Love,” more than 100 pink Cadillacs were brought in from across the nation to escort Ms. Franklin out in style. 

“Usually if it moves me, then other people like it,” Franklin said back in 1985 to “Entertainment Tonight” of her single being a hit. 

“The video was a lot of fun. It was my first. We did it at Doug’s Body Shop here in Detroit. I thought it was very nice.” 

It was fitting that on the day of her passing that a 1942 white two-door LaSalle Cadillac transport Ms. Franklin’s body. It was the same car that 34 years prior that transported her father, the renowned minister C.L. Franklin to his funeral. That same car also transported the body of Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks. 

Franklin sung at that service at the same chapel and said of honoring her fellow civil rights icon to “ET,” “I have a great respect and admiration for her courage.” 

Ms. Franklin’s final resting place will be at the famed Woodlawn Cemetery near her two sisters, her father, and the same place of Ms. Parks. 

Music as expected was the highlight of the epic service and producer of the ceremony Curtis Farrow said to “ET’s” Kevin Frazier the performers asked to sing at the service were more than happy to be a moment as Farrow put it, “We truly lost a history maker.” 

Grammy Award-winning artist and 2004 “American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino performed the gospel song “Precious Lord, Take My Hand/You’ve Got a Friend,” without her shoes, which Franklin also did on her “Amazing Grace” album. 

“Everything,” is what Barrino said after her performance to ET’s Frazier. “Aretha Franklin, she is music. She is music.” 

Ariane Grande, whose short black dress made a lot of negative headlines sung Ms. Franklin’s 1967 hit “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. 

After her performance, the minister of the ceremony called Grande over for a funny moment saying, “When I saw Ariane Grande on the program I thought that was a new something at Taco Bell.”

Former American Idol contestant, singer and actor Jennifer Hudson, who sang “Amazing Grace” and said to the cameras of Entertainment Tonight about Ms. Franklin’s passing before her performance, “I have no words. I just want to be here for The Queen.” 

Audrey DuBois Harris, who sang “Great Is Thy Faithfulness;” The Clark Sisters, who hail from Detroit and who Franklin sang at their mother’s funeral sang “Is My Living in Vain?”

Legend Chaka Khan brought the house down with a lively version of “Going Up Younder,” while Jennifer Holiday and Ron Isley also performed. 

“I loved her very much. We loved each other,” Khan said to Frazier about her friendship with Ms. Franklin. “I’m honored to be here and give her a beautiful send off.” 

Another performance that got some of those in attendance on their feet, especially actor, and co-host on ABC’s “The View” Whoopi Goldberg was country star Faith Hill set the gospel tone for the service with a soul infused version of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” 

Other stars in attendance were actor and director Tyler Perry, and actors Cicely Tyson and Jennifer Lewis of ABC’s comedy “Blackish.”  

Childhood friend of Ms. Franklin’s since age 8 in the Motown legend Smokey Robinson crooned a few lines from his song “Really Gonna Miss You,” consisting of, “really gonna miss you. Truly gonna be different without you.” 

Robinson, who sat next to NBA Hall of Famer and two-time champion of the Detroit Pistons Isiah Thomas said of the first time that he heard Ms. Franklin’s God-Giving voice to the audience, “Eight years old just singing. That was my first reading and my first sight of you, and you’re going to be one of the featured voices in the choir of angels because you have to be.”

Former President Bill Clinton, who sat next to Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and Nation of Islam’s leader Louis Farrakhan in the front row played Ms. Franklin’s music on his phone, which consisted of the song “Think,” that got a laugh from Ms. Franklin’s Orchestra, his wife in former Secretary of State Hillary.” 

Mr. Clinton said to the audience that before ever holding office, Mrs. Clinton and he were “Aretha groupies” and performed once at The White House while he was president. 

 “She lived with courage. I just loved her,” he said at the service. “God Bless you Aretha. We love you.”

Among those of Ms. Franklin’s family at the service were granddaughter Victorie Franklin, niece Cristal Franklin, and grandson Jordan, who spoke with great affection for their famous relative who loved gossip and kept photos of her loved ones on her piano.

For the service, many of Franklin’s loved ones were dressed in all white in tribute to the legendary singer.  

Victorie in her speech said, “I remember when I was a kid people used to always ask me, ‘What’s it feel like to be Aretha Franklin’s granddaughter?’”

“And I would always shrug my shoulders and go, ‘I don’t know? It’s just my grandma.’” 

While she might have been just that to her grandchildren, she was an inspiration, motivator, and captivator to all those that saw her perform live, on television or on the silver screen. 

Ms. Franklin was also someone who had a personality of a diva, but also had a personality that was relatable to the average person. 

As Holiday, who sang Ms. Franklin’s “Climbing Higher Mountains” to conclude the service put it, “A lady next door.”

Legend Gladys Knight, who segued from the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to “Bridge Over Troubled Water” echoed those same sentiments by saying to Frazier, “She gave it all. Everything that God gave her as far as her gift is concerned. She used it and she used it to make a difference in the world.”

That was on full display at her funeral where before the service all those in attendance, especially the big stars of today had a chance to meet and mingle inside the church. 

Grande and fiancée Pete Davidson mingled with the likes of former President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton while also taking selfies.   

To bring home how special this send off was to a true American treasure and inspiration, there were 27 speakers in total at a service that was over eight hours long. A total of 18 musical tributes and what was supposed to be a private service for 4,000 people, but the Franklin family at the last minute opened the service to 1,000 members of the public. There were seven video cameras and three still photographers to capture candid moments of the grandkids hugging one another and of Mr. Clinton with Grande and Davidson.

Back in August, the nation and the world said goodbye to Aretha Louise Franklin, a woman who was a once in a generation entertainer, a wonderful mom, grandmother, and a leader who had an impact both musically and socially. She found her voice and shared it first with the members of New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit and then the world. 

She also gave to the world a sense of responsibility of respect and care for one’s self and for others regardless of their differences. 

That resulted in a career, a life that was celebrated and a home going where her family, friends, fans admires, “Motor City” natives and the world got a chance to say thank you to a “Queen” whose music ruled the airwaves and stages across the globe and whose music will live on until the end of time.   

Information and quotations are courtesy of 8/31/18 7 p.m. “Inside Edition” on WCBS 2 New York with Diane McInerney with report from Steven Fabian; 8/31/18 7:30 p.m. edition of “Entertainment Tonight” on WCBS 2 New York with Nancy O’Dell and Kevin Frazier; 9/1/18 7 a.m. edition of NBC News’ “Today” with Sheinelle Jones and Kristen Welker, with report from Ron Mott; 9/1/18 Newsday article, “Paying R-E-S-P-E-C-T-S To Aretha,” by “The Associated Press;” 9/1/18 New York Post article, “Aretha’s Voice Lives On,” by Chuck Arnold; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_of_Love; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aretha_Franklin.

J-Speaks: The Long Goodbye to the Great Senator from Arizona

Two Saturdays ago, the nation, especially the people of Arizona lost a great servant to the United States after his long battle with cancer. Last week he was eulogized both in the state that he served in our nation’s capital for over three and a half decades and then was honored in the place that he had an incredible second act as a politician after a remarkable first one in the Navy. On Saturday, all of DC’s best from those that served in office, to those that serve currently, family and friends turned out in full force to not only say goodbye to a truly great American who showed how that we are all better when we work together regardless of our differences politically. 

The farewell to six-term Senator John Sidney McCain III (R-AZ), who passed away on Aug. 25 from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer and began his political career as a U.S. Congressman of the Arizona’s First District began at the Arizona State Capitol on Wednesday.

On Sunday afternoon, he was buried in a private ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.  

The 81-year-old father of seven, who was married to the former Cindy Hensley for 36 years body was carried into the Arizona State Capitol with scores of Arizona veterans, members of the military, law enforcement, fire departments and first responders lined the sides of the Capitol Plaza. 

McCain’s body joined former State Senator Marilyn Jarrett in 2006 and Olympic Gold Medalist Jesse Owens as the only other people to have their bodies lie in state at the Arizona Capitol the past four decades. 

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and his wife, First Lady Angela greeted Mr. McCain’s body once it arrived. 

Among the 3,500 in attendance in the Capitol Rotunda were former Senator Jon Kyl, who echoed a them that was heard throughout the week of tributes saying how Senator McCain “believed in America.” 

He added, “He believed in its people, its values and its institutions,” and that he believed that, “America is stronger for his fierce defense of our values.” 

“Imagining an Arizona without John McCain is like imagining an Arizona without the Grand Canyon. It’s just not normal.”

Also, in attendance were NFL All-Pro wide receiver of the Arizona Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald, who joined former Diamondbacks outfielder and World Series champion Adrian Gonzalez and former forward of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes Shane Doan as the three pro athletes of the state to speak at Mr. McCain’s service. 

Fitzgerald said in his remarks that it was their differences that allowed him and Senator McCain together and helped them understand one another. 

“I’m black. He was white. He wasn’t so young,” Fitzgerald said of the many differences that brought them together at the service. “He lived with physical limitations brought on by war. I’m a professional athlete. He ran for president. I run out of bounds. He was the epitome of toughness, and I do everything I can to avoid contact. I have flowing locks, and well, he didn’t.” 

Fitzgerald added, “His work ethic: tireless. His fight: legendary. But what made Senator McCain so special was he cared about the substance of my heart rather than where I came from.” “Yes, ours was an unlikely friendship. But it’s one that I will always cherish.” 

At the close of the private ceremony, members of the McCain family approached the Senator’s coffin to give their goodbyes. 

Mr. McCain’s wife Cindy touched the casket while leaning her left cheek onto it, while his daughter Meghan, a co-host on ABC’s “The View” cried over the loss of her father. 

At Friday service for Mr. McCain at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC, in a show or irony it was raining as his body was brought up the steps of the Capitol Hill by a military honor guard. His casket was placed on the catafalque built a century-and-a-half ago. He became just the 31^st person to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. 

The Rotunda was jam packed with the country's top leadership from both parties. Also in attendance was Academy Award-winning director and actor Warren Beatty and his wife actress Annette Benning.

The rare honor of lying in state on the Capitol Hill Rotunda, where only 30 prior people have had the honor had a rare showing of bi-partisanship where the leaders of both parties in Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of the Senate and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Paul Ryan (R-WI) of the House of Representative laid wreaths at the casket of the man who for years worked and tangled with on issues like Health Care reform laid. 

“Airing our great debates is the gentle way to describe how John approached the work of a senator,” McConnell said at the service about his long-time colleague, who famous no-vote ended any hope of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act in July 2017.

Representative Ryan called Senator McCain “one of the bravest souls our nation has ever produced. However, you choose to do your part, I hope you do it the way he did it.” 

In another show of rare bi-partisan unity, Minority Leader Pelosi helped 87-year-old Sam Johnson (R-TX) to the Mr. McCain’s casket to pay his respects together. Mr. Johnson ironically enough was McCain’s cellmate for a part of their years at Hanoi’s Hoa Lo Prison main prison, dubbed the “Hanoi Hilton.”

Aside from those famed sparing debates in the Senate chamber, Senator McCain, who also served as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee is also remembered for the compromises on immigration, campaign finance and foreign policy reform. 

It is skill he inherited from his 106-year-old mother Roberta, who during the service was wheeled over in her wheelchair to say goodbye through a sign of the cross. She also at one point grasped the hand of her granddaughter Meghan trying to comfort her. 

When it was her turn to say, Meghan sobbed while saying with her shoulders shaking with grief, "I love you." 

Mr. McCain's wife Cindy put her hands together over his casket while her head over the coffin that was covered with the American flag. 

While President Donald Trump was not in attendance, as he was asked not to come by the McCain family, he was represented by Vice President Mike Pence, who said at the service, "As President Trump said yesterday, 'We respect his service.'" 

Outside of the memorial service, the Sun appeared and so did thousands of men, women, children mourners from the District of Columbia as well as across the nation filed passed Mr. McCain’s casket to say their farewells with a salute, a tear, a prayer or just silence throughout the day and into the night. Among those in the crowds were Navy sailors dressed to the nines in their whites. Average citizens that Mr. McCain never met and now will never meet but were touched by his example of service and sacrifice. 

“History in the making and I wanted to be present for that. I wanted to be here,” one man said to NBC News’ Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell on Friday. 

“Today he lies in the place where he served to the last, Congress of the United States,” Vice President Mike Pence said at the service on Friday. “Soon he will go to rest on the grounds where he served first, The United States Naval Academy.”  

Before his body was moved from Capitol Hill to Washington’s National Cathedral on Saturday morning, upon Mr. McCain’s request his motorcade paused at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial on a six-mile route. McCain’s wife Cindy laid a wreath at the Memorial as a showing of honor by her late husband’s respect for those that made the ultimate sacrifice.  

At Senator McCain’s Funeral at the National Cathedral on Saturday, where 2,500 people were in attendance the private ceremony that consisted of Washington’s political elite, former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and his wife former First Lady, New York Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House and Senate colleagues and senior officials from the current White House staff like Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Among those who gave eulogies were his oldest daughter Meghan, who said of her father, “I am here before today saying the words I have never wanted to say. Feeling the loss, I have never wanted to feel. My father is gone,” were the words of Senator McCain’s oldest daughter on Saturday at his funeral while a few tears came down from her face. 

She added, “He was a great warrior. He was a great American. I admire him for all these things, but I love him because he was a great father.” 

A former senate colleague of Connecticut, along with the two people who beat Mr. McCain for the highest office in the land also spoke at a service that was essentially a rebuke of the political, social, and racial discourse that has plagued our nation, especially after the election of Donald Trump. 

“John’s great strength was his character,” former Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said. “He was honest, fair and civilized.” 

Liberman, who Senator McCain once tried to recruit him as his running mate back in 2008 said about that moment, “You’re a Democrat. I’m a Republican. We can give our country the bi-partisan leadership it needs for a change.”

Former President Barack Obama, who beat Mr. McCain in 2008 Presidential election said of being asked to speak at his funeral showed his “irreverence.” 

“His sense of humor. A little bit of a mischievous streak. After all, what better way to get a last laugh then to make George and I say nice things about him a national audience.” 

That last comment got a laugh out of Mrs. McCain and one of her sons who was seated right next to here in his Navy uniform. 

Former President Bush, who beat Senator McCain for the Republican nomination for President 18 years ago said that back in the day Senator McCain would frustrate him and he would say the same thing about him. Mr. Bush said though that McCain made him better. 

“He was honest, no matter who it offended. Presidents were not spared. In the end I got to enjoy one of life’s great gifts, the friendship of John McCain,” the 43^rd President of our nation said. 

The two former Presidents of the United States also talked about how important McCain’s ability to respect others, regardless of their political differences was necessary in a time where it seems the ability to create compromise in our nation’s capital and across the nation seems out of sight. 

That so-called divided America referenced by the two former leaders of our country was aimed at the feet of the current occupier of The White House in Mr. Trump who reportedly was not invited to, even though his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner were in attendance along with the previously mentioned Chief of Staff Kelly. 

While Mr. Trump was not in attendance at the service, nor his name never mentioned by any of the speakers, but each speech had an underlying reference to what his twitter rants, his behavior in his speeches and his representation of us abroad were and underlying reference. 

In a recent interview with "Bloomberg News" Mr. Trump says he has no regrets about how he handled Mr. McCain's passing. 

"We had our disagreements and they were very strong disagreements," President Trump said. "With that being said I respect his service to the country."

Mr. Obama called all the strife, drummed up drama and in fighting across the political isle can seem as he put it, “small and mean, and petty.” “John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that.” 

Mr. Bush said in agreement with Mr. Obama said that Mr. McCain “detested the abuse of power. Could not abide bigots and swaggering despites.” 

Perhaps the biggest rebuke of how Mr. Trump has conducted himself as the leader of the free world came from Meghan McCain said in a defiant tone in reference to his campaign slogan “Make American Great Again,” “The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.” 

Two Saturdays ago, the United States of America lost a great solider and a great Senator in John Sidney McCain III who served the nation with dignity, integrity, grit, courage, honor, love, and respect. That as Mr. Obama put some principles “transcend politics” and that some values “transcend party.”

That you can have a spirited debate with someone, sometimes passionately, but never question that person’s patriotism. The week of memorial services for McCain were personally designed by him, from the people that were invited to speak to those in attendance from Arizona to Washington, DC as a final call for respect, decency, and unity to one another from those that serve in our nation’s capital to those that serve at the state and local level.  

The hope going forward is that the legacy of Mr. McCain will turn into immediate and consistent action and not just be words. 

The kind of action that made everyone who new the great senator personally to those that just knew of him from his service in the Navy and on Capitol Hill come to pay their respects to someone who was the true definition of a hero. 

“Like so many other heroes, you leave us draped in the flag you loved,” Meghan McCain said. “We don’t put heroes on pedestals just to remember them. We raise them up because we want to emulate their virtues. This is how we honor them and this is how we will honor you.” 

Information and quotations are courtesy of 8/27/18 People.com article, “Will Melania Trump Attend Sen. John McCain’s Funeral? The White House Responds to Speculation?” by Jodi Guglielmi; 8/29/18 www.cbsnews.com story “John McCain Lies in State at Arizona Capitol,” by Emily Tillett; 8/30/18 www.sportingnews.com story “Larry Fitzgerald Speaks at Sen. John McCain’s Funeral,” by Kristie Chiappelli; 8/31/18 6:30 p.m. edition of “CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor,” hosted by John Dickerson, with report from Chief Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes; 8/31/18 7 p.m. "Inside Edition" on WCBS 2 New York with Diane McInerney; 9/1/18 7 a.m. edition of NBC News’ “Today,” with Sheinelle Jones and Kristen Welker, with report from Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell;  9/1/18 6:30 p.m. edition of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt,” with reports from White House Correspondent Kelly O’Donnell and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell; 9/1/18 11:30 p.m. edition of WABC 7 “Eyewitness News, “ with Joe Torres, weather anchor Jeff Smith and sports anchor Sam Ryan, with report of ABC News’ Elizabeth Hur; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Johnson.