Clockwise from upper left: Bob Lanier, Hot Rod Hundley, Bill Walton, Adrian Dantley and Richard Nixon conspired to steal the spotlight from Spencer Haywood in 1974.

Spencer Haywood sat in the corner, sulked and wondered why he should be so unlucky at his own coming-out party.

Thirty-five years ago today, Jan. 15, 1974, Haywood scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help the West All-Stars defeat the East, 134-123, before 14,360 at the Seattle Coliseum.

Why was "Woody" so unhappy?

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First of all, his starring performance on his own stage wasn't quite enough to earn him MVP honors. That award went to the Pistons' Bob Lanier, who scored 24 points, pulled in 10 rebounds and made six consecutive shots in the fourth quarter to keep the East stars at bay.

"I just can't seem to get any satisfaction," Haywood told TNT reporter Dick Kunkle afterward. "I thought I would win the MVP."

Then the 24-year-old manchild noted that he only made the team because he had been added by NBA coaches after the voting had been tabulated.

"I just barely got here," he said. "I Just can't seem to get any recognition in this league."

Reading the front page of the next day's News Tribune wouldn't have helped Haywood's mood at all.

Adjacent to a story reporting that heavy river flooding had forced evacuations in Pierce and Thurston counties was a photograph from the All-Star Game.

It included the caption, "Not this time, Woody" and showed Haywood getting stuffed by Celtics star Dave Cowens.

The 6-foot-10, 265-pound Lanier finished the game at forward, playing alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He didn't seem to be too concerned about the MVP voting, though as winner he could afford to be gracious.

"I didn't think about that stuff because there were so many good players here," Lanier said. "If I got it, I guess I deserve it. The writers used good judgment without a doubt."

For a look at the rosters of the East and West All-Stars, which included such legends as Walt Frazier, Pete Maravich and John Havlicek, check out basketball reference.

The top story in the TNT 35 years ago today was a piece on the notorious 18-minute gap in the Watergate tapes.

Experts told U.S. district judge John J. Sirica that the gap in the record was "caused by repeated stopping and starting of the recording machine" and the the recovery of the lost portion was "not possible by any method known to us."

An advertisement for Kent cigarettes, the preferred brand for this blogger's father, filled up half of page C12.

What did Kent have to offer?

Apparently, the revolutionary Micronite filter, which "chooses which tastes to hold back and which to let pass. And what it lets pass is the mild, smooth taste that makes Kent what it is: America's quality cigarette."

Well, you don't see that in the newspaper anymore.

The All-Star Game was broadcast by Ch. 7 at 6:30 p.m. Pat Summerall did the play-by-play and color commentary was provided by Elgin Baylor and Hot Rod Hundley. The other network stations countered with "To Tell the Truth" and "Happy Days" (Ch. 4) and "Truth or Consequences" and "Adam 12" (Ch. 5).

Speaking of Hundley, the former West Virginia star was the subject of a column by TNT sports editor Earl Luebker that appeared on the day of the game.

He talked about dickering over contract terms with the Minneapolis Lakers after getting drafted in the first round out of West Virginia. Actually, the Cincinnati Royals made Hundley the first overall pick in the 1957 draft, then traded his rights to Minneapolis.

"I asked the Lakers for $11,000," he told Luebker. "They offered $9,000. We settled for $10,000, and I thought, 'I gotcha.'"

The day following the All-Star Game, on the TNT's sports cover, a short story ran in the upper left-hand corner of the page, adjacent to a photo of West star and former UCLA All-American Abdul-Jabbar.

The headline reported, "Walton to make Midwest jaunt." UCLA center Bill Walton had sat out two games after injuring his back in a fall during a game at Washington State. The story said he planned to play at Iowa the following day and then on Saturday in game against second-ranked Notre Dame.

The story also noted that the Bruins' last defeat prior to their 87-game winning streak occurred at South Bend, Ind., back in 1971. Fate would snare the Bruins again at Notre Dame, when Dwight Clay's jumper from the corner with 29 seconds left gave the Fighting Irish a 71-70 victory that snapped UCLA's record 88-game streak.

This is how Barry McDermott, doing his best to channel Grantland Rice, remembered the historic event:

"It ended the way Hollywood would have written it, drama and symbolism holding hands with ghostly legend at Notre Dame, the denouement arriving on an arching shot from the corner. It was an attempt born of chance and cloaked in destiny, and the UCLA miracle ceased. The winning streak was over.

"In the shadow of The Stadium and The Gipper and The Golden Dome, on a leaden Saturday in South Bend, Dwight Clay stared opportunity in the face and never shivered. His jump shot with 29 seconds remaining wiped clean UCLA's 88-game winning streak and once again cast Notre Dame as the bad seed in the Bruins' victory garden."

What else is there to say?