Good Knight

So, I got an email recently regarding the "revelation" that Bobby Knight would be interested in returning to college basketball if it was the right opportunity -- the revelation was tied to the comment that he would be interested in the University of Georgia job if they called. I mention the email because it got me to thinking about the purpose of big time Division I college sports (primarily football and basketball) and the role of the people paid to coach athletes at this level. Note that I did not say "student-athlete."

The email contained the following rant:

Bobby Knight should have no place in the NCAA and he should have been banned years ago after his second outburst. The first time he flipped out and berated a kid or threw chair it would have been okay to put him on a plan of improvement, or make him work with a counselor or anger management coach. The second time it happened, he should have been tossed out of his job and out of the NCAA. You don't get to pull that shit in corporate America, and you certainly shouldn't be allowed to pull it in EDUCATION. I know you're going to say "he's a coach, not an educator." Yes he is a coach, but his job includes teaching game strategy as well as sportsmanship and appropriate conduct and how to represent the school. Come on. He was a terrible example. He might have been good at the game strategy part and winning games and making money for the the schools, but he failed miserably has a mentor/example... and being a coach involves both. The NCAA should have washed its hands of him years ago.

Angry? Sure. Well thought out? Yeah. Correct? Hell and no.

By now, you all know me...I adore innocence and naivety. It's cute and it's a sign that we haven't completely lost our way in this mean and cruel society. However, that rant is ridiculous! Here's why...

First, Division I sports are not about educating kids. They are about winning games, generating money, and showcasing kids for professional sports. School schedules are manipulated for kids so that they can spend a majority of their time on their major -- sports; coaches make significantly more money than anyone else on campus and, at public schools, are almost always the highest paid state employee. Oh, and not by a little.

Second, Coaches are fired for having winning records and good kids. Coaches are fired for having great records overall, but losing records against rivals. Coaches are fired because they are poor recruiters of talent. And, coaches are fired when schools are not maximizing profit through the program.

Show me a school that rewards graduating players and producing good men, and I will show you a losing program. Case and point -- Northwestern is a fantastic school with a great academic reputation and a history of producing quality student-athletes. They have also NEVER been in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. I wouldn't want to be associated with that.

Finally, Bobby Knight is a genius. Bobby Knight understood the two most important things about Division I basketball. How to coach it and how to win at it. He also has done it without having to cheat! No recruiting violations. No paying players. Nothing!

Let's look at the facts...

• 902 wins (most by any Division I men's basketball coach)


• 3 NCAA Championships (including the last undefeated team -- 1976 Indiana Hoosiers)


• Only coach to win championships in the NCAA, the NIT, Olympics and Pan American Games


• He has won the Naismith College Coach of the Year, the Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award, the Henry Iba Award twice, the Big Ten Coach of the Year six times, and was the Naismith Award winner for Men's Outstanding Contribution to Basketball.

What has Indiana Basketball given us since Bobby Knight left? After a highly successful 29 year career with the General, Indiana has had 4 coaches in 8 years and is currently serving a 3-year probation for recruiting violations.

Do you think that the alumni and students of Indiana would prefer wins now? Or a good example? With the amount of money tied to college sports these days and the profile it gives a university, count me among those that would choose the wins.

I have been around a lot of college coaches and they ain't saints. Their jobs depend on them winning games. Period. Schools that value anything else ALWAYS suffer .

Catch Me If You Can

This is going to be a quick entry, as we are fast approaching kickoff, so I will say the Pittsburgh Steelers win, and fairly decisively. They definitely cover the spread. I have already read Sinickal's predictions, and I concur wholeheartedly. I think Willie Parker has a great game with lots of yards, and possibly multiple touchdowns. The Steelers defense closes out. Game Over.

Games are usually that simple. You can overthink predictions, and this is why the Super Bowl should be held the week after the conference championship games. However, if most people overthink the game, and that affects the spread in my favor so be it.

Most prognosticators seem to be caught up in the whole Arizona hype/bandwagon. On this front, I was watching a very underrated flick this morning, Catch Me If You Can, in which Tom Hanks is trying to catch a criminal named Frank Abagnale played by Leonardo DiCaprio. I bring this up simply for one quote. After you read Sinickal's last post, you would hate to be caught up in a dilemma that the young Frank Abagnale encounters. He is approached in the hospital by a senior doctor while pretending himself to be an actual doctor. Abagnale's simple response; "I should have concurred. Don't be Frank Abagnale. I concur - Steelers.

A Super Day!

Quick post today to get on the record about the only day of the year that really matters...

Let's get the pick out of the way up front -- Pittsburgh wins and I don't think it will be a close game. The score may be close, but I think that Pittsburgh will really beat up Arizona and win this decisively.

I know that this isn't a popular pick. EVERYONE seems to believe that the Cardinals are a team of destiny; or that Wisenhunt knows the Steelers players to well; or that Larry Fitzgerald is a great feel good story; or any number of other reasons that emerge when you have two weeks to do nothing but think about why the best team won't win. By the way, I do this periodically also. In the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, I spend 10 days not even questioning my pick and 3 days wondering why everyone else (especially the experts) is questioning theirs. Then, of course, self doubt creeps in. And THAT'S how you lose money with your bookie.

This happens a lot in College football. Remember that just a few weeks ago, everyone had convinced themselves that Oklahoma was a much better team than Florida. You will also remember that I was the voice of reason in explaining why Oklahoma could not stay on the same field with the Gators.

To me, picking games is a pretty simple science (which is probably why I am wrong so often). In the case of this game, I look at a few practical nuggets:

1. Pittsburgh has better talent. Other than Fitzgerald and, maybe Warner (Ben has as many rings by the way), where is Arizona better? When all is said and done, talent and solid coaching win football games and I like Pittsburgh for both.


2. Football is a simple game. You run the ball. You stop the run. Arizona can't do either consistently. They may be able to pull off the upset today (a big chore), but I don't want my hard earned gambling money on a team that had a game this year in which they ran the ball 7 times in 57 total plays.


3. You should never forget what you have seen. Arizona was a dysfunctional team playing in a horrendous Division all year! If this game were being played any other week but this week, people wouldn't be thinking twice. Pittsburgh is a solid, consistent franchise that just wins games. Period. That counts for a lot with me.


4. Two words -- Mike Tomlim. Okay, here is where I fall apart. I simply love this man. His quotes and philosophies on football are original and - to quote Tony Kornheiser - flamboyantly articulate. Everyone seems to relate to him! I will follow him anywhere. I just hope that he never ends up coaching the Green Bay Packers.

I will answer the "Ken Wisenhunt used to be the offensive coordinator for the Steelers and knows the tendencies of the players there" argument this way. Dick Labeau was there also, and understands the tendencies of Wisenhunt. Oh, and LaBeau IS a genius.

I already know that the Steelers are a physically and mentally tough football team that is never out of a game. Arizona is a team that has shown several times this year that they can be taken out of a game. I am positive that the Wisenhunt and the Cardinals have a plan for how to beat the Steelers today, but I will leave you with this quote courtesy of Mike Tyson..."Everyone has a plan until they get hit."

And Pittsburgh is going to hit Arizona today.

Girl of the Week

Here is your girl of the Super Bowl week: Susan Ward

Very Random...

I didn't really have enough material for a full post on either of the random incidents from this week, so this will probably be a really strange post.

Let me start with tonight's NHL All-Star Game. Hopefully everyone saw it? I wouldn't have seen it - or known it was on for that matter - except, I happen to be in Lansing MI, I had to go out to get food and Versus was on in the bar/restaurant. I look up at the screen and the game is getting ready to go into overtime. Okay, you say?

THE SCORE WAS TIED AT 11! FREAKING 11!

That is one goal every 2 minutes and 43 seconds. I understand that all-star games in professional sports do not generally replicate play during a regular season, but it should at least resemble the game in concept. 22 goals in 60 minutes? Really?

Oh, and to top it off, the game went a full overtime with no scoring and ended in a shootout. I simply don't have words to describe where the NHL is right now. Let's just all hope that the economic crisis swallows the Bettman abortion and I don't have to write about this anymore.

The other incident happened on Monday in Washington DC at a pre-inaugural party hosted by Stevie Wonder. LaRue Martin was holding court throughout the night and was clearly one of the most popular people in the room. Most of this is because he is 6'11" tall and is pretty good looking for a man in his late 50's.

Who is LaRue Martin? Glad you asked. Here are the first three sentences of his Wikipedia entry...

LaRue Martin (born March 30, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois) is a retired American professional basketball player. Martin was taken first overall by the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Portland Trail Blazers in 1972, drafted ahead of future Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo. Martin has been cited as the worst first overall draft pick in NBA history.

How's that for infamy! Oh, he was also drafted ahead of Julius Erving.

How big a bust was LaRue? He only played 4 seasons in the NBA, never averaging more than 7.0 points per game. In fact his best year came during a season when Bill Walton got hurt and he was pressed into service. He never averaged more than 17 minutes a game during his career. Period! Everyone talks about the other centers of Portland lore...Sam Bowie, Bill Walton, and now Greg Oden. But seriously, just go look at his numbers. THEY ARE ATROCIOUS!

I enjoyed this random encounter more than I can express. I didn't even know who he was until a family friend who also happens to be the mother of a current NBA player asked him who he was. And THAT was funny since the question was meant to be a joke!

It doesn't matter how often you encounter them. Professional athletes and former athletes never fail to entertain. They always believe that they are the most important person in the room. Even if someone like Stevie Wonder is also in the room.

Just ask Roger Clemons how it went when he testified in front of Congress. Or Michael Vick. Or Rae Carruth. Or Mike Tyson.

LaRue Martin isn't going to jail, nor did he do anything wrong. He just couldn't play basketball very well and...well, that's really it. At least I wrote about him.

Girl of the Week

Happy Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday. I present to you this week's "Girl of the Week": Jennifer Freeman.

The Meeks Shall Inherit the Earth

This past week in college basketball, something happened that had never, in the history of one of the most storied programs in college basketball history, occurred. Jodie Meeks, a talented junior shooting guard for Kentucky, went into Thompson-Boling Arena and absolutely lit up Tennessee for 54 points. That's right, 54 POINTS!!! Against Tennessee, an incredibly athletic, legitimate NCAA team.

Meeks' 54 points is the highest single game total in Kentucky history, surpassing the 53 and 51 put up by scoring machine Dan Issel almost 40 years prior.

Even more phenomenal is the way in which Meeks scored his 54. Meeks' ouptut came on only 22 field goal attempts. 22!!! Hardly a ball hog, Meeks shot 15-22, including 10 of 15 from 3-point range. He also shot an efficient 14-14 from the free throw line, where he is shooting an SEC best 90.8% for the season. (In the next game, against Georgia, Meeks snapped a 36 consecutive free throw streak with a rare miss). Although 54 cannot be expected, Meeks is averaging a cool 25.7 points per game, placing him fourth in the NCAA to date. If he can continue to produce at this level, then Kentucky can make a big run in the SEC, and hopefully deep into the NCAAs.

So Jodie, how did you feel after the Tennessee game?