hate
is too fresh and we will do plenty of baseball writing over the next couple of
months. So I tried to think of a good basketball or hockey one and the name that
always immediately came to mind is – Andrew Gaze. ANDREW GAZE
By PHIL RIPPA
Obviously we are very heavy on football and
baseball Forgotten Player Of The Moments but there was no way I was writing a football one since my hate
is too fresh and we will do plenty of baseball writing over the next couple of
months. So I tried to think of a good basketball or hockey one and the name that
always immediately came to mind is – Andrew Gaze.
Back when Justin Slotman would roam these parts, I constantly tried to troll him into doing the Gaze FPOTM… including I think requesting it after I won a week of the ill-fated message board (hehehehehe) pick’em thingy. Oh list of requested FPOTMs, how I have forgotten you so. Slotman, being a far bigger basketball fan than me and having that weird Olmypic mark/Seton Hall link to Gaze would have been far better at this than me. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and I will muddle along.
Most of you have no memory of Gaze. Bill had no idea but Bill is also amazingly young and Ed and I hate him so. Most of you also don’t know who Gaze is because you are not Australian. Gaze is easily the most famous Aussie men’s basketball player (I say men’s because Lauren Jackson is all over the internet showing the goods and the internet is full of lots and lots of creepy people, not that I would have ever seen said photos or anything… moving on.) Gaze is also arguably the best basketball player from the Land Down Under ever.
Here is the deal – because we as Americans are jingoistic we don’t even realize the rest of the world exists so in our eyes Gaze just appeared on Planet Earth as a dopey looking basketball player at Seton Hall University. The 1988-1989 season was a good year for Seton Hall as Gaze carried the Pirates to the Finals of the NCAA tournament where they lost 80-79 to the Glen Rice lead Michigan Wolverines in overtime. Okay… carried the Pirates might be a little stretch since Gerald Greene and John Morton both made the All-Tournament Team.
Gaze definitely was the HAIC (Head Aussie In Charge) as he lead the team in minutes and threes along with averaging 13.6 points per game. His 1270 minutes is still the Seton Hall record for minutes played in a single season. Plus he survived having to deal with P.J. Carlesimo for a year – that can’t be underestimated.
Now we… okay okay… one of my crutches is ye ole OLYMPIC HERO~! joke. And the one guy who truly was an Olympic Hero was Gaze. You kinda have to be to be named the flagbearer for your country when the Olympics are held in your home nation. He is also the all-time leading scorer in Olympic history and is second in scoring in the World Championships. He also bemoaned the lack of class that Dream Team II had. Oh and there are the like 9542 records and titles that Gaze has from owning the National Basketball League
Gaze didn’t catch on in the NBA. He had a cup of coffee with the Bullets/Wizards who decided that they would look in other directions for pasty unathletic guys who could stroke the three. Then four years later the 98-99 San Antonio Spurs picked up Gaze to help them out during the strike shortened season. Yes, you are now correct in your assumption. Andrew Gaze has a RING~! I always knew I liked Gregg Popovich.
Basically all of this has been padding for the three truly great things about Andrew Gaze.
1) After the non-existent NBA career, while still trying to catch on in the States, Gaze played for the Athletes in Action team. You remember Athletes in Action team? The one that would play exhibition games against DI teams and almost always smoke them while praying to the Baby Jesus. And the list of guys who played for Athletes in Action is another great source of potential Forgotten Players.
2) The mesmerizing clip of Gaze on the Eric Bana Show. Yes, THAT Eric Bana.
3) He has a Facebook page.
The Saddest Little Basketball Reference Page Ever
OLYMPIC STATS!!! (From my new favorite site)
The "Official Site of Andrew Gaze AND Australian Basketball Resources"