Sam Gardner

Cleveland stuck in shadow of Pittsburgh while on brink of title

Sports fans in Cleveland will settle for a championship any way they can get it.

Even if it comes by way of the city’s NBA team as opposed to their beloved NFL Browns.

Even if it comes via the help of the greatest player in the world, who several years back went on national television and publicly embarrassed the region when he took his ball and won titles elsewhere.

But again, make no mistake, you take the sweet taste of success any way you can get it.

That’s what happens when you’ve gone 146 major sports seasons without a title. The last of which came on Dec. 27, 1964 when the Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts for the NFL championship.

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Carnahan Chronicles Radio: Sam Gardner of FOX Sports talks 1985 Villanova championship team

Three of the four NCAA Tournament games played in Jacksonville in the Round of 64 were decided by three points or less, highlighted by a memorable upset of No. 3 Baylor by No. 14 Georgia State.

Arkansas, North Carolina and Xavier also advanced and Sam Gardner of FOX Sports was there to see it all play out.

Gardner joined the show Saturday to talk about the start of the tourney. He also shared details about recent interviews he conducted with players and coaches from the 1985 Villanova men’s basketball championship team for an anniversary story that was published earlier this week.

Read about the improbable journey for that Villanova squad at FOXSports.com and keep up with Gardner on Twitter for more out of Jacksonville.

Carnahan Chronicles Radio: How Tom Chambers Changed the Course of NBA Free Agency

The hysteria that’s become free agency in the NBA has been at an all-time high in recent years. So much so that it’s hard to imagine a time when players moving from team to team was such a foreign concept.

But thanks to one particular player, who thoroughly explored his options in the late 1980s, players today are able to call their own shots when it comes to employment opportunities within the league much in the same manner as those in the working class, albeit with much better compensation.

During the summer of 1988 Tom Chambers became the first NBA player to leave one franchise for another, on his own terms, when he went from the Seattle SuperSonics to the Phoenix Suns. Sam Gardner wrote about how Chambers paved the way for free agency in the NBA as we know it today and he joined me on AM 740 The Game to talk about it Saturday morning.

( – Click here to listen to J.C. talk to Sam Gardner about Tom Chambers’ impact on free agency – )