Isaac
Years ago

Black Pearl hits Ozhoops thread

Someone starts a thread on OzHoops about a potential revival of the Canberra Cannons and next thing you know, the Black Pearl, Cal Bruton, is in there dishing out some interesting reading:

Thread: Cannons Back in the NBL

His first response is towards the bottom of the opening page. He takes a bit of a Q&A later in the thread too.

Maybe there's a potential issue with precedent at being so accessible to the public (e.g., ending up having to answer to every single rumour), but I like hearing those in the know (the coaches, former players and so on) opening up a bit and giving more than we typically see in a newspaper article. We've seen something similar with this forum when Ken Cole posted from the US with a couple of his thoughts on the Sixers roster back in his day.

Gotta love him sticking up for his son:

CJ has 2 Rings, Co Captains Australia and soon will be announced as International Player of the year and you're still hating on him.

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John Lawrence
Years ago

Cal Snr is a 100% class act, who did everything he possibly could to improve basketball wherever he went, be it Perth, Hobart, Brisbane, Canberra, and wherever he travelled doing camps. Any person who bags Black Pearl doesn't have a clue. I had the pleasure of meeting Cal at Supercamp V and VI (1993 and 1994), and like everybody else, was totally awestruck by the charisma he showed with virtually every step he took on the blacktop, and through CJ whilst I was in Sydney, we tried to keep in contact wherever possible. He is somebody who will always have my respect as a player, coach and person in general.

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Doctor E
Years ago

Well he sure does have charisma. I think he has proven to be a better coach than some other coaches currently in the league. I hope he's back coaching NBL one day.

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TR
Years ago

Cal did and still does a lot of good work here in Canberra. He busted his ar$e in trying to save the Cannons. I don't think the Cannons are back purely due to lack of corporate sponsorship here in Canberra. We lost the Cannons, Cosmos and Coments due to lack of funds which are usually generated by third party sponsors.

Geez, just ask Matt Giteau about third party sponsorship.

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Anonymous
Years ago

was reading that thread on OzHoops yesterday and was very impressed that cal took the time out to answer some very upfront questions put to him. Good on him I say

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Don't be fooled
Years ago

John Lawrence your assessment of Cal Bruton is through rose coloured glasses. Did he pat you on the butt and give you a wink when you made a basket at the camp or something???
Good for you that you went to a supercamp and got a chance to meet Cal. Dr Mengele at Aushwitz was probably at pleasant guy at his camp too.

Cal Bruton - great player on court but whether he is coaching or management he has been cancer to that particular organisation.

I.E
Cal wins championship as coach at Perth but is sacked after the win as the players refused to play for him again.

Cal goes to Hobart to coach, comes out of two years retirement to player/coach. His tenure in Hobart equates to bottom of the ladder results and the organisation having to close due to his financial decisions.

Cal goes to Canberra. Makes CJ the highest paid player in the league @ $250,000 per year, pays himself over $200,000 and Canberra folds again due to his financial decisions.

John, these are only three quick examples that come to mind.

Cal released a book about himself that was full of B/S, he has a great imagination.

Those in the know refer to Cal as The Black Stabber. Watch your back John.

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Thomo
Years ago

great to make a point dont be fooled,

but i would like to make a point about your post please dont make reference to the holocaust in it dont think its appropriate, again thats just my view but its a pretty sensitive topic and shouldnt be used at all.

apart from that your analogy of his time at canberra is something i thought was the case for a long time

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Cal Stamp
Years ago

Ahhh yes...'Don't be fooled' you are right on the money. Good to see there is enough of us still around who know the truth!

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Statman
Years ago

Hey John - seeing your so close will he be featuring in a Q&A on your new forum?

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VC fan
Years ago

LOL, sucks to be John Lawrence right about now. If I were you I'd stick to your own forum.

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wheat board enquiry
Years ago

i will be very happy to see a canberra team back in - it will take some of the sponsorship money away from the canberra capitals!

back to a 2 team town

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Hoops

Black Pearl hits Ozhoops thread

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