Basketball on Television – Circa 1970

If you are a late baby boomer who remembers trying to follow your favorite NBA or college team as a kid, you know of the many obstacles you faced back then.

You had to be serious – there was a dearth of media coverage, especially when compared with the many options available today. With cable packages like NBA League Pass, Conference Network Channels, ESPN, TNT, etc., you have a choice of watching (or recording) most live games at least at the higher levels. With the internet, you can get instant updates on your team’s progress and even stream the games live.

Back then, a live game on the tube was a happening.

Got your parents’ TV Guide, checked the “Sports on the Air” section and got your homework and chores done around the schedule.

You made your popcorn, got your beverage and gathered your buddies, then braced yourself for perhaps the biggest challenge you would face to watch a televised game: the television itself.

We had the 19-inch black-and-white (Zenith, I think) on a cart with wheels. We could move it all over the apartment and sometimes had to in the – mostly futile – attempt to get a watchable reception. Add one of those rabbit-ear antennas (truly an electronic placebo – the wire hanger/aluminum foil combo was just as effective), and good luck trying to get a clear picture on a rainy day while surrounded by tall buildings.

This meant watching the Knicks play the Baltimore Bullets with a picture dominated by “snow” and distorted images of each player in triplicate. Three Walt Fraziers chasing three Earl Monroes around the Baltimore Civic Center. Ten players in motion looked like thirty. Then the vertical hold button would malfunction. The result was Willis Reed’s head at the bottom of the screen and his sneakers at the top, all this separated by a dark, horizontal border going across the screen.

And on those rare days with two events showing simultaneously, we had to physically get up and change the channel. Manually. Then repeat the rabbit-ears thing again for the new channel. Big fun.

We were so happy to see a live game we didn’t complain much. Home games were blacked out, and only select road games were aired. Local games started at 8PM which eliminated West Coast games and their 11PM starts on school nights.

Thankfully, we had radio, skilled play-by-play announcers and our imaginations to fill in the gaps.

Otherwise, slim pickings, indeed.

ABC had the national television package back then; announcers like Chris Schenkel and Keith Jackson called the action while Bill Russell or Jack Twyman worked the commentary. But since the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers were the premier franchises then, they would get heavy coverage on national games.

NBA greats like Nate Archibald and Nate Thurmond remain underappreciated because we rarely saw them play during their prime years.

Game Seven of the 1970 championship series between the Knicks and the Lakers? You know, the Willis Reed game? Listened to it on the radio. The blackout rule was in effect, even during the finals. A youthful Marv Albert described the action beautifully and mentioned a midnight (EST) replay on local (NYC) television. Got out of bed, rolled that television on a cart with wheels out of the parents’ room as a nine-year-old and watched a few minutes (the reception, of course, was crystal-clear that night) while they slept. And lived to tell about it.

Finding a college basketball game on television that didn’t involve UCLA (totally dominant back then), Notre Dame, Kentucky or the occasional showcasing of Pete Maravich was a major challenge as well.

The 1971 Final Four at the Astrodome – only one of the semifinal games was shown locally. You could see the players for the second game taking the court for warm-ups as the broadcast was signing off the air with credits rolling. What a tease.

Nowadays, with so many live events available the airwaves have become saturated to a degree.

We’ll take it, especially if a clear reception and remote control is part of the deal.

Now if we can just get that 15-foot jumper back in the game…