HALL OF FAMERS—Bernard King, Gary Payton and Rick Pitino. (AP Photo)

(AP) It’s now official—NBA legends Gary Payton and Bernard King will enter the hall this September. Here is an official rundown of the class.
•Gary Payton: A lock-down defender who is one of the greatest point guards of his generation, a nine-time All-Star, NBA Defensive Player of the Year, two-time gold medalist and the face of Seattle Sonics basketball. He has an NBA championship as well (Miami 2006).
“When I started playing basketball and got in the NBA I just wanted to be a guy in the NBA doing something,” Payton said in a televised interview on a stage in Atlanta with the other inductees. “But even as my career went on and started getting better and better I still never thought about being in the Hall of Fame.
“When I think about it, I don’t even feel like I’m here now. It’s such a dream.”
•Bernard King: The Knicks swingman was one of the greatest pure scorers of all time. He averaged 22.5 points per game during a 15-year career and had some monster playoff runs, like 1984 when he averaged 34.8 points per game. This was long overdue, glad to see it happen.
“I’d like to say this was a dream, but you can’t dream of something like this,” Kings said from the Hall of Fame stage.
•Richie Guerin: A native New Yorker who played for the Knicks, is a six-time All-Star guard known for his feisty style of play.
•Roger Brown: One of the great players of the ABA all time, a four time All-Star in that league.
•Oscar Schmidt: The Brazilian legend should already have been in, he is a five-time Olympian who remains the only player with more than 1,000 points in the Olympics.
•Russ Granik: David Stern’s former right hand man for years. Helped clear way for NBA players to be in Olympics.
•Also in are Rick Pitino (college coaching legend), Jerry Tarkanian (college coaching legend), Dawn Staley (WNBA legend, three time gold medalist), Sylvia Hatchell (North Caronia’s women’s college coach), Guy Lewis (University of Houston college coach including the Phi Slama Jama years), and George Raveling, the longtime college coach enters on a lifetime achievement award.

FAVORITE--Tiger Woods tees off on the first hole during a practice round for the Masters April 9, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

by Tim Dahlberg

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — He's got a swing he can finally trust, a putter that shows flashes of the old magic, and a string of wins to prove that it's all finally coming together.

BILL NEAL

:10 The Masters is Coming, the Masters is Coming, the Masters is Coming…and so is Tiger Woods, and he’s bringing hell with him. (Tombstone…Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp, after they killed his brother.) Come on people try to keep up.
:09 “Champions” High School All-Star Basketball Classic (formerly The Kenny Durrett High School All-Star Basketball Classic) is back on track after a down year last year due to extenuating circumstances beyond our control. But as the saying goes, “Champions Rise to the Occasion…That’s Why They Are Champions.” And rise we did as the 38th annual classic tipped off Sunday, April 7 at the brand spanking new and super magnificent, state of the art Penn Hills High School. Over 1,000 people rolled through on the day to see the middle school girls’ tournament won by Pittsburgh Impact and the boys middle school tournament won by “UMOJA” out of Homewood. The big events on the day saw the WPIAL high school senior girls dominate the Pittsburgh City League girls for the fifth consecutive year with a final score of 58-36. And bringing home the WPIAL sweep, the WPIAL boys won a hard fought contest in a great game over the City League boys, 54-53. The event was a slam-dunk on the day and a “Great” time was had by all. A big thank you goes out to all our sponsors, volunteers, players, coaches, All-Star committee and executive staff, and most especially Chuck Sanders Charities and the Penn Hills Democratic Committee. And a real tip of the hat goes out to Jerry Chippinelli and Phil Scaleri.

:08 “The only mistake you made is you got caught.” (Lee Marvin talking to Charles Bronson when he was getting him out of jail to join The Dirty Dozen) And that was the beginning of Mike Rice Jr.’s problems. Yeah it’s old school coaching. Lord knows we…me…and you…and a bunch of us got worse than that when we played ball back in the day, especially you “Bulldogs”…hell, what Andy Urbanic did to us in Penn Hills would get him 10-20 years in jail today. But, But, But You-Can-Not-Do-It-Today!!! The rough stuff and the loud talking…well, okay. But the slander and the Homo-Phob references and the balls thrown at the family jewels, no can do. Rice will coach again, but you won’t be alive to see it. I’m Just Saying!
:07 Do yourself a favor. Come Friday and until Monday for the next year…Stay your butt off the Parkway East…I am telling ya!
:06 Louisville wins the NCAA just like I said. Take it to the bank! Okay, okay, I really said Indiana. So for the first time in the three years I’ve been writing for this historic newspaper I was wrong. C’mon man!!
:05 Don’t feel bad about “Your” Pittsburgh Pirates being 1 and 5 to start the season. Last year at this time they were 2 and 6. Hope ya feel better.
:04 Here’s your movie review. Shut up and take it like a man…or woman…or whatever! First you got Halle Berry in “The Call.” You remember Halle, don’t you, the Oscar Award winning actress by day and resident Hoochie-Mama by night. (Yeah I said it! She’s about to have her second baby with another baby daddy…what do you call her?) Anyway, the movie was really good and I give it 3 Basketballs. You’ll be pleasantly surprised, I promise. And because I love ya and I know you love the reviews, here’s a double dip for ya. Go see “Olympus Has Fallen” with Gerard Butler. He kills a bunch of bad guys and in ugly ways, including stabbing them in the brain. Man I love that stuff. 3 ? Basketballs. Now swallow!
:03 Serena wins again. Some tournament, somewhere. What else is new!?!
:02 In case you haven’t heard “Master Jacquet Bazemore” is back and in superior form. He did The Halftime Show at the All-Star Classic Sunday. All he did was bust up 22 inches of concrete blocks with his head and then run a 12 inch spike through his neck and hang a bucket of bricks from it with a rope…yeah that’s all he did…what! Okay, you don’t believe what my eyes saw, then don’t miss his upcoming show coming up the first of June, you will be amazed at what this man can do.
:01 The University of Pittsburgh lost running back Rushel Shell and center Steve Adams in the same week. In my opinion…no loss at all. Champions Step Up!
:00 Double Overtime. Harlem Nights coming April 26, get ready to get ready. Rayco War Promotions, Five Starr Corporation and the legend, Sly Jock with “Rock ya til we drop ya”— more next week.
:00 Triple Overtime. “Slade” you and the other cats that call me to admit I am wrong about what I am writing about…forget about it…never gonna happen. REMEMBER, THE MAN WITH THE INK PEN IN THE END WINS!

Brendon Ayanbadej

BALTIMORE (AP) — Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo says up to four NFL players may soon come out as gay, according to a published report.