Chasing NBA Boxscores in the 1970’s

So one Saturday night in  March of 1972, this eleven-year-old basketball fan was amped because his favorite team, the New York Knickerbockers (more on the current version in a later post), had a late-night game scheduled for television in Portland against the Trailblazers, who were in their second year of existence. Those West Coast games were cool – like a bedtime story – win or lose. But against an expansion team, this was one the Knicks, a title contender back then, would surely win.

The details are fuzzy, not sure if there was a snack or anything involved, but the anticipation was building as  game time – 11PM Eastern Standard Time – approached. By 10:55 the endless string of commercials on WOR-TV (Channel 9) only added to the anxiety. Even though the teams traveled to the West Coast twice per season (there were only 17 NBA teams at that time ), those late games on television on the weekend were rare, and the parents granted permission to stay up and watch.

The clock finally struck 11, and instead of the usual Knicks’ intro, a husky voice suddenly hi-jacked the televison accompanied by a message on the screen: “Due to technical difficulties, we are unable to bring you tonight’s Knicks – Trailblazers game.”

What? Technical difficulties? This is 1972! They put a man on the moon three years ago and they can’t get the transmission right for a basketball game? C’mon, man! What a letdown. Even worse, there was no radio coverage of the game, either. Totally blacked out.

Time for bed.

The next morning on the way to the grocery store with a friend, we saw a neighbor jogging past who matter-of-factly said, “The Knicks got beat by 47 points,” and kept on running. We just kind of stared at him, unable to respond. He was already out of shouting distance before we could call him a liar or determine if he was joking.

No way the Knicks lost to that team by 47 points, we thought. This had to be verified. Picked up the Sunday New York Daily News – perhaps 15 cents at the time, $1.50 now – and turned right to the Sports section:

• Atlanta 115, Cincinnati 106
• Buffalo 116, Detroit 103
• Chicago 109, Cleveland 91
• Phoenix at Golden State (late)
• Knicks at Portland (late)

Sigh…No score, but even worse, no boxscore.

We couldn’t turn to ESPN SportsCenter , check the internet or tune in to the 24-hour sports radio station, and we didn’t have SportsPhone yet, either (at 10 cents a pop).  All we had was 1010 WINS – the 24-hour radio news station – and the local television news which was limited, especially on the weekends.

Finally heard the score on the radio: Trailblazers 133, Knicks 86. Glad there was no three-point line back then. Maybe missing that game wasn’t such a bad thing.

But that wasn’t enough. Still needed to see the boxscore, which was rather streamlined compared to what we have today. For the local teams, if there was enough column space you’d get:

• Field Goal Attempts
• Field Goals Made
• Free Throw Attempts
• Free Throws Made
• Total Rebounds
• Assists
• Personal Fouls
• Points
• Minutes Played

When the publication was short on space and for games not involving the locals you’d get:

• Field Goals Made (G)
• Free Throws Made (F)
• Points (P)

Clearly, this was well before Fantasy Sports became all the rage.

That was it. And to top it off, had to wait until the following day – in this case, Monday’s paper for a game played on Saturday – to get the boxscore, which was under the caption: “Reprinted from Yesterday’s Late Edition.”

Don’t miss those days. Getting fatigued just thinking about it.

Time for bed. Will check the late scores from the NBA Summer League in the morning.

Some things never change.