Steve Bisheff of Orange County Register is one of the more solid MSM reporters from Southern California. Just like Brian Dohn from Daily News, he usually does his homework before writing a story. He is not a moronic bandwagoner like Plaschke or Adandes of the world, who simply glance over the sports stories of the day, and opine without thinking or more importantly actually researching about the topic. This was really evident during those dark days of Steve Lavin when most of these MSM journalists/columnists were buying the spin coming out of that posers' cliche filled press conferences hook, line and sinker, while journalists like Dohn, Bisheff et al. were actually caring to report on what was so wrong with UCLA hoops.
We will be writing and commenting on more on this trend down the line. But for now wanted to share this column from Bisheff from today's register. He list's his top-40 magical sports moments from his 40 years in sports journalism, which includes 4 Bruin Magic Moments:
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12. Lew's Three-in-a-Row - He hadn't changed his name yet. He was still Lew Alcindor, the only center to take his team to three consecutive NCAA titles with a textbook final victory against Purdue. He finished his glorious UCLA career with an 88-2 record.
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21. Beban's Bomb - Gary Beban, UCLA's only Heisman Trophy winner, had his greatest moment as a sophomore, throwing two long fourth-quarter TD passes to stun USC and win the Rose Bowl bid in 1965.
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37. UCLA Hoops Revival - Tyus Edney and Ed O'Bannon returned the Jim Harrick-coached Bruins to the top of the NCAA charts after a 20-year absence. John Wooden was there watching, too.
GO BRUINS.