I remember his last year when the Nets played the Memphis Tams. I was at the coliseum when the Nets got beat and the fans booed Looie off the court. How quickly they forgot.
Lou's career record with the Nets was 114-138, 13-17 in the playoffs.
Not too shabby when you compare it with Casey Stengel's record as Mets manager: 175-404 (.302 winning percentage!) and the Mets retired his number. (But not Mike Piazza's, or Keith Hernandez's, or Gary Carter's, or Darryl Strawberry's. Go figure.)
Not certain when the Mets retired Stengel's number, but Stengel accepting a position witb the Mets after a brilliant run with the Yankees gave the Mets a certain short lived legitimacy. Stengel, who was regarded as ascerbic at best with the Yankees, quickly realized that the Mets were horrific and morphed into a playful sarcastic old guy coasting to retirement. Joan Payson though was a huge baseball fan and I'm sure that the beloved Stengel was rewarded for coming out of his deposed retirement to lead the Mets for a little more than 3 seasons.
Wow, I haven't even considered that the Mets had not retired those numbers of the best players in their history. Good job.
Beast, you think hiring Stengel gave the Mets legitimacy? Let's face it: it was a money-driven P.R. stunt, with the long-over-the-hill Stengel playing the incomprehensible, double-talking clown, thereby giving the Mets a buffoonish persona that took years to overcome. Aside from Casey, the only Mets to have their numbers retired are Seaver and Hodges. Meanwhile, the Yankees are running out of numbers and center-field real estate. I'm hearing next year the Yankees will be retiring Scott Brosius's number and putting up a monument for the incomparable Andy Velarde.
Apologies for deflecting the attention from the Nets' tribute to our beloved Looie. But as Woody Allen pointed out long ago, they give awards out for everything nowadays. It's just another way to fill seats.
