Some context: Patrick James Riley (born March 20, 1945) is an American professional basketball executive, and a former coach and player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995 and head coach in two separate tenures (1995 through 2003, and 2005 through 2008). Regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, Riley has served as the head coach of five championship teams. He won four with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s, and one with the Heat in 2006.
After stepping down, Riley accepted a job as a television commentator for NBC. However, this job only lasted one year, and he became head coach of the New York Knicks starting with the 1991-92 season. Commentators admired Riley's ability to work with the physical, deliberate Knicks, adapting from his style with the fast-paced Laker teams in the 1980s. The Chicago Bulls had easily swept the Knicks in 1991 en route to their first championship. However, in 1992 with Riley, the Knicks pushed the defending championship Bulls to seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The physical defense of the Knicks against the Chicago Bulls' finesse superstars Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen during the 1992 playoffs led to a feud between Riley and Bulls head coach Phil Jackson regarding the officiating and the Knicks' rough style of play. In 1993, Riley led the Knicks to their best regular season record in team history (tied with the 1969-1970 team) and received his second Coach of the Year award. The Knicks met the Bulls in the playoffs at the Eastern Conference finals where they lost in six games. Ironically, Jackson's Bulls went on to win the finals and accomplish the first "three-peat" in 1993, despite Riley's trademark in 1989. Riley returned to the NBA Finals in 1994, en route defeating the three-time defending champions Bulls (without Michael Jordan) in seven games during the Eastern Conference semi-finals. However his Knicks lost in seven games to the Houston Rockets after being up 3-2 in the series. During the 1994 Finals, Riley became the first coach to participate NBA Finals Game 7 with two different teams, having been with the Lakers in 1984 and 1988. However, he had the unfortunate distinction of having become the first (and to date, the only) coach to lose an NBA Finals Game 7 with two different teams, having lost to the Celtics in 1984. It also denied him the distinction of becoming the first coach to win a Game 7 NBA Finals on two different teams, having defeated the Pistons in 1988.
Why so short of a time span?
A:
Some context: White was born Barry Eugene Carter in Galveston, Texas on September 12, 1944, and grew up in South Central Los Angeles. White was the older of two children. His brother Darryl was 13 months younger than Barry. He grew up listening to his mother's classical music collection and first took to the piano, emulating what he heard on the records.
In 1972, White got his big break producing a girl group he had discovered called Love Unlimited. Formed in imitative style of the Motown girl group The Supremes, the group members had gradually honed their talents with White for two years previously until they signed contracts with Uni Records. His friend Paul Politi hooked him up with music industry businessman Larry Nunes, who helped to finance their album. After it was recorded, Nunes took the recording to Russ Regan, who was the head of the Uni label owned by MCA. The album, 1972's From A Girl's Point of View We Give to You... Love Unlimited, became a million album seller and the first of White's string of long-titled albums and singles. White produced, wrote and arranged their classic soul ballad "Walkin' in the Rain with the One I Love", which climbed to #14 in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop chart and #6 on the Billboard R&B chart in late 1972. This single also reached #12 in the UK chart. White's voice can clearly be heard in this piece as he plays the lover who answers the phone call of the female lead. Soon after, Regan left Uni for 20th Century Records. Without Regan, White's relationship with Uni soured. With his relationship with Uni over and Love Unlimited contract-bound with the label, White was able to switch both his production deal and the group to 20th Century Records. They recorded several other hits throughout the 1970s, "I Belong to You", which spent over five months on the Billboard R&B chart in 1974 including a week at #1 and "Under the Influence of Love", which hit #3 on the Billboard Pop album charts. White married the lead singer of the group, Glodean James, on July 4, 1974.
his production deal and what else?
A: White was able to switch both his production deal and the group to 20th Century Records.
Some context: Carroll was born in Joliet, Illinois on May 18, 1945. His father worked in a coal processing plant. The family moved to San Diego in 1954 where Carroll grew up. He describes his early years in Ocean Beach as an ideal childhood.
Carroll did not believe in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent god. However, in his essay "Why I am not an atheist", Carroll described his dislike of the term "atheist" because he feels that the term is being exploited by theists and used as a straw man argument. He felt that the term implies a dogmatic set of beliefs and carries its own share of negative baggage. So, Carroll suggested that atheists might as well adopt the term "Brights" with all its negative connotations. The only religion that Carroll found attractive after abandoning Catholicism, despite never following it, is Buddhism as taught by the Dalai Lama. Carroll has always maintained the opinion that people have to be more skeptical of religion than they are now. He said in multiple interviews that religion is an area that skeptics don't target enough, and that pure faith is winning the race against critical thinking. Carroll tended to have a moderate outlook on religion. He believed that religion has a role to play in people's lives and he didn't condemn religion for terrorism. When asked about the relationship between violence and religion he said that he can't recall anything negative about his religious upbringing, and that maybe Catholicism can provide more good than harm. He didn't believe religion causes wars, he rather believed that it serves as an excuse for people who will go to war regardless of religion's existence. Carroll believed that some people rely on religion as their only source of morality and as a source of comfort. However, he found it distressing that some people are unable to find meaning in their lives without religion. In an interview with Beyond a Doubt he said "There is nothing dull about a life without fairies, Easter bunnies, devils, ghosts, magic crystals, etc. Life is only boring to boring people."
What other reason did he have for disliking the term atheist?
A:
He felt that the term implies a dogmatic set of beliefs and carries its own share of negative baggage.