Word: woodenly
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...easy to scout but tough to play against." That is John Wooden's way of saying that U.C.L.A.'S court tactics are textbook-simple on paper yet devastatingly effective on the court. "With Bill Walton in our lineup, our strategy is simple," Wooden explains. "You go to him until the opposing team stops it. Then you go to others. If you don't go to Walton, it's like using Babe Ruth in your lineup to bunt...
...Wooden approach is, of course, more sophisticated than that; the Bruins always play within a well-rehearsed plan. On offense, Wooden's first love is the fast break, with Walton firing lead passes to his teammates streaking down the court to score before the opposition's defense...
...more patterned play, Wooden deploys four men near the basket-three forwards and the center-leaving only one guard to bring the ball up court and start the play. In this "low-post" system, Guard Tommy Curtis' priority is to pass the ball to Walton, positioned on the left side of the court close to the basket. If Walton is well covered, Curtis tries to hit Keith Wilkes, roving near the foul line. As a last resort, he can also pass to Marques Johnson or Dave Meyers, who play up front on opposite sides of Walton...
After three years of playing together, the Walton gang is a little set in its ways. In one recent game, the Bruins simply ignored Wooden's instructions to start using a full-court press. "They listen but don't hear," says the coach. Wooden has another, more unlikely problem. "I tell my kids to play as if Walton wasn't playing," he laments, "but I think subconsciously they have the attitude 'Bill will do it.' " Other coaches dream about having troubles like that...
...Victorian of great eccentricity, some means and considerable connections. She was born the year of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and did not take a picture until 1864, when her daughter and son-in-law gave her one of the earliest models, which consisted of two wooden boxes, one sliding inside the other. "It may amuse, Mother, to try to photograph," they wrote her fondly. Little did they guess. At first Mother could hardly tell the difference between treacle and collodion, the sticky fluid used to coat her glass negatives. But she had an eye and the kind...