Two victories stand out in Jerry Schemmel’s career of broadcasting more than 1,200 Nuggets games on radio.
On April 9, 1998, Denver beat Sacramento in a home game that probably only Schemmel and a few die-hard Nuggets fans can recall.
Denver won its 10th game that night, thus ensuring that the team would not be in the NBA history books with an embarrassing record.
The futile Philadelphia 76ers won only nine games in 1972-73. (Denver managed 11 victories during that 1997-98 season — the worst in team history.)
The other standout victory — familiar to all Nuggets fans — occurred Wednesday night when Denver beat Dallas to move into the Western Conference finals for the first time since Schemmel started covering the team in 1992.
“Most seasons start on a note of some optimism,” Schemmel said Sunday after the Lakers blew away the Rockets.
“My optimism rose when the team traded for Chauncey. Then Denver beat Boston on the Celtics’ home floor.
“And this was followed by the team’s vastly improved play following the all-star break.”
Like many media members who follow the Nuggets, Schemmel would have preferred playing the Rockets in the Western finals.
“Our home court would have been a major advantage,” he said.
And like most media members, Schemmel believes the key to victory is stopping Kobe Bryant — “something Denver has not done well in recent seasons.”
Schemmel has gained numerous accolades for his fast-moving, accurate “one-man-band” broadcasts on KOA-AM (850) and KKFN-AM (950) and his current work on KCKK-AM (1510).
His three-year contract with Altitude expires at the end of the season.
Schemmel hopes he can work out a new broadcasting deal that won’t force him give up roundball broadcasting because of his love for hardball coaching.
Schemmel emphasizes that his baseball coaching job at Metro State, which forced him to miss a half-dozen games this season, remains his top priority.
Around the dials.
LeBron James, obviously with a lot of down time on his hands last week, showed up on Dan Patrick’s nationally syndicated radio show and announced his all-time favorite team: Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal — and Le- Bron James. Wonder if Kobe Bryant agrees?
• ESPN’s Thursday night coverage of the Lakers-Rockets Game 6 playoff game drew 7.3 million viewers — the largest basketball audience in the cable network’s 30-year history. Don’t look for Sunday’s game on ABC to approach such audience figures. ESPN’s previous record: 6.6 million viewers for Game 6 of a second-round Pistons-Heat game three years ago.
• NBC’s NHL Sunday telecast of the entertaining first Chicago-Detroit battle for the Western Conference championship might have picked up some disillusioned NBA fans. NBC’s overall national Sunday coverage shows a 15 percent audience ratings hike over 2008. And the percentage is even higher in hockey meccas like Chicago, Detroit, Boston and Pittsburgh.
• Charles Barkley has become an agile broadcaster when it comes to jumping on and off bandwagons. Following the Nuggets’ elimination of the Mavericks on Wednesday, Barkley picked Denver to beat either Los Angeles or Houston, adding: “LeBron is the best player and Kobe Bryant is No. 2. I’ve elevated LeBron past Kobe, but the best scorer in the NBA is Carmelo Anthony.”
TV pioneers.
On May 17, 1939, Princeton beat Columbia 2-1 in a college baseball game at New York’s Baker Field.
Why mention such a seemingly meaningless contest that occurred 70 years ago Sunday?
The game was the first televised sporting event.
It’s a major understatement to note NBC’s coverage, viewed by an estimated 400 households in the New York area, was a stone-age TV event.
Several sources report the ball was seldom seen on the screen, except on bunts and infield plays that were close to the single camera. And seldom were more than three players on the screen at one time.
The announcer: Bill (“the Colgate Shave Cream man”) Stern.
And here’s a bit of trivia for you contest players: Columbia’s shortstop was Sid Luckman, left, who went on to major football fame as a Chicago Bears quarterback.
Longtime Denver journalist Dusty Saunders writes about sports media each Monday in The Denver Post. Reach him at tvtime@comcast.net.
