Spectrum memories

AP Photo
Security workers take a photo of the Spectrum prior to
the building being demolished on Tuesday.

Today, I say farewell to another part of my youth.

More than six years after watching the implosion of Veterans Stadium, a wrecking ball will be sent through The Spectrum as the building once known as "America's Showplace" gets demolished to make room for an entertainment and retail area in the South Philadelphia sports complex.

I don't have as many great memories from The Spectrum as I did from The Vet, but I saw dozens of events there, mostly basketball games. For a stretch covering 16 years, two of the greatest players in NBA history -- first Julius Erving, then Charles Barkley -- called The Spectrum home.

I didn't see a concert at the venue, but I do remember in college taking a trip to The Spectrum to watch a World Wrestling Federation card that featured WWF champion Bob Backlund fighting to retain his belt against Big John Studd.

And on those rare occasions our seats were in the third-level, the smell of marijuana wafting through the air.

There are a handful of moments that standout, but only a few games that are etched in my memory. So here are my top 3 Spectrum memories, in ascending order:

No. 3: Feb. 17, 1979. This was the first -- and only -- Flyers game I saw at The Spectrum. The Flyers were playing the hated New York Rangers when the blade of an errant stick jammed through the eye opening on the mask of Flyers' Hall of Fame goalie Bernie Parent. Parent's eye was permanently damaged and he had to retire.

No. 2: May 16, 1980. Unfortunately, another negative for the home team. It was Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Sixers and the Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had sprained his ankle in Game 5 and didn't make the trip to Philadephia. So Lakers rookie point guard Magic Johnson volunteered to play center and had one of the best games of his career 42 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists in the Lakers' series-clinching 123-107 victory. It was a tough blow for a soon-to-be 17-year-old kid.

No. 1: March 28, 1992: This one I just watched as a college basketball fan. It was the NCAA East Regional championship between Duke and Kentucky. The seats were great. Fourth row on the floor to the left of one of the baskets. The only thing better than the seats was the game itself. It went into overtime, and with Kentucky leading 103-102 with 2.1 seconds left, Duke's Christian Laettner took a length-of-the-court pass from Grant Hill, dribbled once, turned and fired a shot that hit nothing but net in the basket just feet away from our seats to give Duke an improbable 104-103 victory. Laettner was perfect for the game, shooting 10-for-10 from both the field (including a 3-pointer) and the free-throw line for 31 points. For many experts, it it considered the greatest college basketball game of all time. Duke went on to win the title.

So farewell, Spectrum. And thanks for the memories.

Sixers go old school

The Philadelphia 76ers announced earlier this week that they were bringing back the team logo they used during the championship seasons of 1966-67 and 1982-83.

The logo is a "76ers basketball" logo with a red, white and blue color scheme.

Now if the 76ers could just come close to achieving the success those teams had a generation ago.

Can I take credit for Sixers' surge to playoffs?

One of the first blogs I did back in January was on the Philadelphia 76ers. I lamented how awful they had become, and didn't care if I missed a game on TV.

Well, someone within the organization must have read it. Since that time, the Sixers have been one of the hottest teams in the league.

On Feb. 4, the team was 18-30 with little hope of making the post-season. Over the past 9 weeks, the Sixers have posted a 22-8 record and surged into the playoffs. With 4 games left, they currently hold the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. If the season ended today, they would play the Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs.

Once again, the team is exciting to watch. The team has played a more up-tempo style since the beginning of the year, and the younger players seem to improve each game. Point guard Andre Miller and small forward Andre Iguodala, shown above in an Associated Press photo dunking in a recent win over the Detroit Pistons, have provided the leadership the younger players needed.

So maybe the future for this team isn't as bad as it looked 2 months ago. No, they won't win the NBA championship, and they likely won't win their playoff series.

But if they can just keep the current roster intact and add an inside offensive presence, the Sixers will again be among the elite in the NBA's Eastern Conference.

What has happened to my Sicks-ers?

My love for basketball began as a teenager when I would watch the 76ers with Julius Erving, George McGinnis, Doug Collins, Lloyd (not yet known as World B.) Free and Darryl Dawkins. When Bobby Jones and Maurice Cheeks joined the team, they always challenged for the title, eventually winning in 1983 when Moses Malone was added to the core.

But that was a long time ago. Great players like Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson have come and gone, but the team hasn't come close to matching the standards of the late 70s and early 80s. And the last few years, they've been among the worst teams in the league.

And guess what? It doesn't bother me if I don't watch them on TV. I have better things to do now.

At least when the Sixers had All-Star players. I'd turn on the TV just to watch them play. But now, it's a bad product and I have no desire to waste my time watching them lose.

Having a starting power forward like Reggie Evans (shown above in an Associated Press photo taken by Eric Gary during a game against San Antonio), whose scoring average is just a few points higher than mine, is part of the problem. And having 5 or 6 guys who play the same position is another factor.

Firing Billy King as president and general manager in December was a move in the right direction, though it came at least a year or two too late. He made bad trades, gave out bad contracts and made bad draft picks -- a trifecta no GM should be proud of.

Of course, my dislike for King goes back nearly 20 years, when he and his Duke Blue Devils shut down Mark Macon and my Temple Owls in the NCAA East Regional final and prevented the Owls from going to the Final Four. I just can't seem to let that go.

I hope new GM Ed Stefanski, who grew up in the Philly area and played college ball at Penn and came over from the New Jersey Nets, can turn things around. When the Sixers are lousy, it makes for a long winter.