“NPR allowed me to treat sports seriously, as another branch on the tree of cultu…” — Frank Deford

'SI' came to me and said, 'We want you to do a story on Russell as the greatest team player,' which I certainly agreed with.

I remember one time I wrote something very, very critical about Wilt Chamberlain. The next time I saw him - and Wilt was not a man, as huge as he was - he was not a man of confrontation. And we were in the Lakers locker room. And he sent Jerry West over, and he said, 'Frank, Wilt would like you to leave.'

In the television era, the second week of the Olympics is reserved for what is considered the marquee event: track and field.

Owners own teams so that they might move them to another municipality with better luxury boxes.