Video: Young Mike Piazza Courtside
I just started reading Mike Piazza’s new autobiography “Long Shot.” I’ll have a full review when I am done. But early in the book he mentions that he used to go to 76ers games while growing up in Pennsylvania. He mentioned one particular game when Julius Erving threw down his “famous rock-a-bye-dunk” against the Lakers. Piazza said he was courtside for that 1983 game, and was actually sitting on the floor when the shot took place. He said he could be seen on the video wearing a red shirt and jeans.
Well, I searched YouTube and found the clip. You can see a kid in a red shirt sitting on the floor at the eight second mark just when Dr. J picks up the ball. You can also see him at the start of the first replay. You’ll probably want to make it full screen to see him better.
Pretty cool stuff. Mike Piazza didn’t know then that later in his life, people would be cheering his heroics.
Of course, this was the beginning of Slopball – Traveling and Palming as legitimate plays, the point where I decided that basketball was a jive sport and no longer worth my interest.