As we conclude another lazy "Baked Doritos and curling on TV" Sunday, we remember that 46 years ago was the night Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks (snerk) in a game. And the Dayton Daily News poses a good question: how would it be covered today? Oh, there's nothing better to do. Let's speculate.
(1) The game would not have been on national television, because the Philadelphia Warriors already locked up the second seed and the Knicks were in last place.
(2) Halfway through the game, ESPN would break into a SportsCenter update and show highlights of Chamberlain's 41 first-half points, saying he's on pace to break his own record of points in a game with 78.
(3) On Deadspin, about five people threadjack DUAN with news of the game.
(4) ESPN interrupts their Sunday night special: "Roger Maris: Greatest Baseball Player Ever?" with live feed from the game.
(5) SportsCenter leads off the show with the game highlights, the live press conference from the game, quotes from the coach, teammates, opposing players, and then re-runs it three more times throughout the show. Also, he's #1-10 on the Top Plays segment.
(6) The Drudge Report throws a siren on the front page, but it's not about the game. No, it appears JFK had an illegitimate baby. (The game's mentioned, though. Right column, third from bottom.)
The next day:
(7) Panelists on Around The Horn debate on whether or nor Chamberlain is a selfish teammate. Half agree, while the other half agree that the Warriors are in trouble because Chamberlain is the only person that can score for the team.
(8) That night's SportsCenter still talks about the game's placement in history, since it's a Monday night in March. The same highlights are replayed in the background as analysts debate if Wilt Chamberlain is the league's greatest player. Skip Bayless says no.
Two days later:
(9) The New York Post gets exclusive photos of the girl Wilt Chamberlain was spotted with in public the night before his 100-point game. This makes the girl he was with the next night jealous, prompting her to do a photoshoot for FHM.
After the season was over:
(10) Rumors surface that Wilt Chamberlain demanded to be traded on news that the team was moving to San Francisco. These rumors are denied, and nothing materializes from them.
46 years later:
(11) With nothing better to talk about, the media ponders how Chamberlain's famous 100-point game would have been covered had there been a hi-def uranium holovisi-camera present inside the arena and micro-chip heart-rate monitors embedded inside all the players.
Wilt's 100 Has Mystery That's Absent In Sports World Today [Dayton Daily News]