Tuesday, March 29, 2011

So, how is YOUR NCAA pool doing?

ESPN reported last night that out of 5.9 million NCAA bracket pools submitted to them, only two had correctly named the actual final four teams. I would not be surprised if some of you had put UConn or Kentucky in the final group - but please don't tell me you had VCU or Butler because I will have to say - liar liar pants on fire.

I thinks it's great that these two mid-majors are dancing with the stars for a variety of reasons, not the least being that our wonderful pundits are as clueless as the rest of us in picking thee things. Obama was doing well until this past weekend, but now his pool is as cold as the reception he would get at an Iowa Tea Party fundraiser.

Not being a big college basketball fan, the first action I saw was the second half of the VCU-Kansas match-up. I was actually kindly disposed to Kansas because they have two brothers from our fair city on their squad. At the end I was thrilled that they won. I like when David dumps Goliath.

One of my friends asked me the other day why I don't much like college basketball. First. Watch an NBA game. Last night I watched the Mavericks-Suns game and as bad as the Suns have become, they would tune any of the final four teams. NBA players are the best b-ball players on the planet and I like watching the best do their thing as opposed to watching kids who for the most part can't shoot well, can't create an open shot, and don't have the stamina to keep it in full gear for the entire game. They also make dumb mistakes. Kids are allowed to make dumb mistakes, but I'd rather watch the best athletes in the world than most college players. Oh sure, there are always a few college players who can bring it all the time, but they are few and far between.

Second, the college game is not about the players and hasn't been for many years. The game is about prima donna coaches wearing $2,000 suits and acting like they are gods of some sort. To me, they are overpaid egomaniacs lacking in character who for the most part fail as pro coaches, because the NBAers just won't put up with the happy horseshit dished out by the likes of Pitino and Calipari. You know that I dislike whiner Coach K of Duke, but at least his kids graduate. Guys like Pitino and Calipari have piss poor graduation rates and Calipari has already had two programs censured by the NCAA. He is slick enough that he has avoided any sanctions, but his tenure at Kentucky is still young. The guy's picture is next to the word "scumbag" in the dictionary.

Speaking of Kentucky, they have a habit of hiring nasty people as head coach. In one of his previous stops Pitino coached Kentucky before moving on to much greener pastures. Long ago the school had a guy named Adolph Rupp. Rupp ran the program from the late 30's until the late 80's. Adolph Rupp didn't believe that black kids could cut it - so until he had no choice, there were no black players at Kentucky. In fairness, there were no black players at most of the other southern schools either. It was the era of segregation but Rupp and the other SEC and ACC coaches wouldn't even travel north to play the eastern powers unless these schools would promise not to use their black players. I hope Rupp is slowly roasting on a spit somewhere in the nether regions of hell.

Kentucky has been to the final four many times over the years, but I thought it would be fun to get in the Wayback Machine and travel back to the 1966 championship game between Rupp's Wildcats and the Miners of what was then called Texas Western (now, UTEP). Since it's 1966 that we are headed for I have put in one of my favorite 8 tracks - The Temptin' Temptations. So settle in and listen to David Ruffin since "Since I Lost My Baby" while we travel back to watch this historic game.

The Wildcats that year beat Dayton, Michigan (led by Cazzie Russell), and Duke and were listed as heavy favorites to beat Texas Western, coached by Don Haskins. It was the legend against the unknown Haskins and nobody thought that the Miners would even get to the game let alone beat the established elite that KY was.

Kentucky fielded an all-white squad led by 6'0" guard Louie Dampier and 6'4" forward Pat Riley - Yes, the same Pat Riley who coached the Lakers in the 80's and more recently the Heat. The other KY players were what you might call journeymen white guys who all pretty much looked and played alike. As I've said before - not the cream of the crop.

Texas Western beat Okla City, Cincinnati, Kansas, Utah and Kent State to get to the championship game. They were led by 5'10" guard Bobby Joe Hill, 6'6" center David Lattin (1st round pick by the Warriors and 7th round pick of the NFL Chiefs), Orston Artes, Harry Flournoy, and 5'9" guard Willie Worsley who played the 68-69 season with the ABA Nets. If you hadn't already figured out the beauty of the story, all of the starters for Texas Western were black, and the won the game 72-65.

The Miners were the first team to start an all-black line-up of starting players in the NCAA. They beat a team that wouldn't have their first black player until 1969 (7'2" center Tom Payne) and a coach who didn't think black players could cut the mustard.

When coach Haskins was asked about his line-up he said, "I didn't think about starting 5 black players. I just wanted to put my five best players on the court. I just wanted to win that game."

Bravo to the late Don Haskins for doing it the right way.

If you get the idea that white guys can't play basketball, that is not the message I wanted to send. There are many great white players, some who are stars in the NBA. Different communities embrace different sports at different times and in different ways. Jews were once so predominant on professional basketball courts that contemporary sportswriters attributed it to some sort of natural advantage. Times have certainly changed, but Newsweek missed the point when talking about Jewish athletes in 1934 and Jimmy The Greek missed the point when talking about African American athletes in 1988.

Enough of basketball because as of Thursday the world will be where it should be - watching baseball games that matter. ESPN is showing 3 games that day and I will watch all of them. Stay tuned for my opening day posting where I will reveal my new beloved team. As you know, I decided to adopt the Royals in 2010 as an expression of my frustration with and in protest of the 2010 Phillies season. I have dropped the Royals and have chosen new heroes for the 2011 season.

Here's a hint - my new beloved team does not wear candystripes or have an overpaid underachieving bum playing first base!

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