These days I smile benignly at the fights that I see in NBA games. There aren't any broken noses or black eyes, which happened quite often when I played.

In whatever sport of field of endeavor you are interested, you should do whatever is necessary to compliment your God-given talent with proper mental preparation so as to do "the best you can." The criterion should be to fully exploit your potential rather than to win at any cost. What more could anyone ever ask of you than to be the best you possibly can?

I was the original socially depraved shy ghetto kid.

I won the city scoring championship as a senior.

Cooper was my road roommate, and also happened to be the first African American player drafted by a National Basketball Association team.

I had endured six years of frustration so I think winning it all meant more to me than most of the others on the team.

Kerner decided to trade my rights to the Chicago Stags, which sounded better to me than Tri-Cities, but the Stags folded up almost immediately.