Jack’s Blog

The exact day I can’t recall, but I know it was this time of the year approximately 10 years ago that my mother shared a story with me she’d kept to herself for about 40 years.  We were discussing gift giving during the holiday season.

Growing up Jewish, we thought we had a pretty good thing going in that Hanukah was celebrated over eight days - and kids got a present each day.  I was telling her how there are kids today who would wonder why they were being punished because they only got eight gifts - independent of their religion - or if they even celebrate any holiday.  

Today, the goal of many parents seems to be to make sure our kids have it better than we did.  One example is the house we’re currently living in is easily the nicest house I’ve ever lived in to date.  My childhood house had one bathroom and the fact we now have three gives me at least a minor feeling of success.  The one thing I worry about as a parent is the question of when does it get to be too much?   Many people I know, as well as many I don’t, discuss this topic and have come to the conclusion that today’s generation is “softer” than ours (which I happen to agree with).  Then again, I used to hear the same thing from my father - about how much tougher he had it than my generation did (which also happened to be true).

My father was a toll collector on the New Jersey Turnpike right up until the day he died in 1976. My mom was a secretary at City Hall (actually, the town I lived in was so small, it was called “Borough” Hall).  I recall my father calling home, excited that someone called in sick and he’d be able to work a “double shift” (sitting in a toll booth for 16 hours) sand get time and a half.  Which is why there was never an excess of money flowing in our household - although we were classified (correctly, I believe) as middle class.

The story my mother finally told me was when I was around ten years old and my brother, Steven, was five, the family budget was stretched pretty thin.  Still, my parents wanted to keep up the Hanukah tradition of “a present each night.”  They’d hide the presents and my brother and I would frantically search for our gift.

Because of the financial condition during that one particular year, my mother told me that on one of the nights, all my parents could afford was one Hershey bar a piece for my brother and me.  At that time, a Hershey bar cost five cents.  All those years, it had bothered my mom that all each of us got was a nickel candy bar.  I thought for a while and then told her something that shocked both of us - and it was the honest-to-goodness truth.  After racking my brain, of every gift I ever got at Hanukah, the only one I could remember was that piece of chocolate and how absolutely thrilled I was to get it.  Back then, I really loved Hershey bars (now that I know things like nuitritional value, grams of sugar and what all that can do to your body - from teeth to stomach, I’ve cut way down on that particular food group - although not nearly as much as I ought to). 

We laughed and my mother said she wondered why she used to spend all that time trying to find gifts for me (a trait that was inherited from her by her daughter-in-law).  I suggested to my wife that we get our boys one of their favorite candy bars and years from now see if that’s the one memory they can recall.  Although by then, it will be too late to return the X Box 360, cell phones and all the other expensive “stuff” that takes up our family room at this time of every holiday season.

It only reinforces what I heard some time back and sincerely believe is true:

“If you focus on what you have, you’ll always have more.  If you focus on what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.”

P.S. My gift to you readers is a week off from this blog so we all can enjoy some Xmas “family time.”  See you next year.  Happy Holidays!

One of the hottest topics in college basketball is a team’s “strength of schedule.”  Nearly all of the teams (and all that matter) have conference affiliations which means approximately 2/3 of the schedule is already set by their conference office.  Depending on how many teams there are in a league, e.g. if there are ten (like the Pac-10), then each team would play a home-and-home series with each of its conference opponents.  This would count for 18 of the games on the schedule.  In a mega-conference (12 or more teams), normally the conference is split into North and South or East and West divisions and teams play a home-and-home series within their division and single games with the opposite division (half at home, half on the road), accounting for 16 games.  Also, each team must hold an extra game for its conference tournament (whether they qualify for it or not).  Every league, except the Ivy, has one and its either a gigantic money-maker (try getting a ticket to the ACC Tournament) or it means much more, i.e. it’s the only way a school gets its ticket punched for the Big Dance.  A few are in between, meaning they don’t make much money, which really means they try to keep the losses to a minimum, but still are able to get more than the winner into the NCAA Tournament (the WAC is a prime example of such a conference as it usually has two representatives in March Madness).

It’s the remainder of the games that the fans, radio talk shows, TV commentators, columnists, and even bloggers rage about.  And it ain’t as easy as they make it out to be. In this world, I can truly enlighten the readers.  I scheduled for each of the last four or five colleges where I worked and every one had their own philosophy.  At USC, George Raveling tried to schedule as many “sure wins” as possible, stating many of the coaches he knew who played tough schedules “are now working at K-Mart.”  On the other hand, Jerry Tarkanian wanted to play anybody as long as they would return the game to Fresno the following year.  He didn’t fear for his job security since he was 66 when he came out of retirement to take the job at Fresno State and felt if his teams lost, he’d go back into retirement before they’d fire him.  

Therein was the rub.  Al Bohl, athletics director at the time, told me we had an agreement with the Bulldog Foundation (which supplied the money for all the scholarships in the entire department) for 18 home games.  The assistant coaches wanted as many games on TV as possible to make Fresno a more attractive sell because kids are overly impressed with the thought of playing on the tube.  The guys scheduling for television know lightweights don’t make for ratings. 

With a maximum of 28 allowable games (the NCAA had a provision for an “exempt” tournament, meaning all the games in that tournament didn’t count toward the 28), if you do the math, you had 14-18 WAC games (depending on the number teams in the WAC that year), plus one for the WAC Tournament.  Let’s take an example of a year the WAC had eight teams.  That would mean 14 WAC games and one for the Tourney.  So, I’d have to schedule 13 games, 11 of which had to be at home.  Two of those were in the tournament we hosted (during my time the Coors Light Classic - a terrific story on scheduling and stretching the truth in my book, Life’s A Joke - and then the McCaffrey Classic).  Of course, we had to pay three guarantees for only two games and, believe me, we weren’t paying what many of the other schools who hosted tournaments we paying.  That left nine home and two road games - no easy task. 

I laugh when I hear fans in Fresno demeaning the football team for playing Portland State.  “Portland State,” they say condescendingly.  “Why don’t we play Ohio State?”  What, exactly, do these people think the Buckeye fans are saying?  “Great, we get to play Fresno State!  To hell with the Michigan or Penn State games, I can’t wait until we get a chance to get a piece of the Bulldogs - and I don’t mean the Georgia Bulldogs either.  I was born and raised in Columbus and I’ve grown up despising Fresno State.”  As hard a pill as it is to swallow, the people in Columbus, Austin, Knoxville, Gainesville or Watts have the same feeling toward us we do toward Portland State.  It takes a lot of work, relationships built through the years and a coach with pretty big onions to agree to go somewhere with no return.  And even then, very few of your fans ever get to see these games in person.  It’s the same in basketball except there are more games.

For the perennial powers, the non-league part of their schedule is usually dictated by television (leaving room for two or three guarantee games, i.e. games where a team comes in, gets a check ranging from $20,000-70,000 and goes home never to see a return game with, most of the time, the team that just got through pummeling them).  The reason for the guarantee games is most “high major” schools also try to get a home season ticket package of 18 games for their students and fans.  It’s simply not practical to play all big games, one after another, sometimes as many as three or four in a week!

Guarantee games are a must because you get a home game you don’t have to return.  However, when you aren’t able to give the big payday, you have to be creative.  I learned that many of the schools who play these games never see the money, that it goes to the athletics department for other expenses.  Therefore, they’d rather you pay for their expenses and give them a smaller check because, in many instances, their recruiting budget is whatever’s left after they meet team travel and equipment costs.  The “big” schools didn’t want to be bothered with the nuisance of paying for plane tickets, hotel rooms, meals or, in one case, the coach who asked me if we’d buy his team a set of sweat suits!  Instead of giving a $25,000, I had the Business Office cut two checks (all perfectly legal) - one for $22,500 for the guarantee, another for $2500 for the “— University Men’s Basketball Equipment Fund.”

One practice that was born out of necessity was joining up with another school who’d pay the big money while I arranged flights, rooms & meals in Fresno (usually I could get our “partner” to spring for rooms there) and we’d add to their large guarantee what was left after those expenses.  This way, the visitors would play a two-game road trip, have everything paid for, but still return with a relatively big check (and, we hoped, two L’s).

A lot of money, creativity, the coach’s comfort in his job security, season ticket packages, television exposure, a willingness to start on the road (maybe play two road games for one home game, commonly known as a 2-for-1), a possibility to get absolutely pasted away from home (ask anyone who went with the ‘Dogs to Philly to open Temple’s new arena, The Apollo - although we got them back the following New Year’s Eve in Selland) - all these are factors in a team’s strength of schedule.

Admittedly uncommon, but one way some coaches (Tom Izzo, Roy Williams and Mark Few) look at scheduling is the way Reggie Jackson looked at the post-season.  Mr. October’s philosophy was:

“The difference between winners and losers is winners seize the opportunities to make a difference, to make history, while losers see them as threats or chances to fail.” 

Earlier today, an associate of mine, Andrew Robinson, stopped by my room at Buchanan High School.  My initial meeting with Andrew was when I took attendance on the first day in the basketball theory class I taught at Fresno State in the mid ’90s.  An extremely quiet, unassuming college student, Andrew surprised me one day when I asked the class if anyone was interested in an assistant coaching position at a local high school.

The previous weekend, the boys’ basketball coach at Roosevelt High School, Marlon Hall, had called me asking if I knew of anyone who’d be interested in working as his varsity assistant.  I told him of the class I taught and that I’d ask the kids if anyone wanted to help him coach.  The class was filled, for the most part, with athletes (male and female) from several sports and I mentioned to them that this would be a good opportunity for someone who wanted to eventually be a basketball coach - how it would be a way to get some valuable, hands-on experience in an actual high school program prior to receiving their degree and that something like this would give them a leg up on other recent college graduates who could only put “summer league coaching” on their resumes.

When I asked, only one hand went up and, sure enough, it was Andrew’s.  Of all the people in the class, I knew him the least since he was a Health Sciences major and, until that time, our paths had never crossed.  I told him to see me after class.  It was then I explained what a great opportunity this would be if he was serious about making coaching a profession.  At the very worst, he might find out that coaching wasn’t all he thought it would be and he could move on to some other occupation.

He followed through, came into our next class and was pretty excited.  “Hey, Jack, I went to see Coach Hall and I got the job!”  I congratulated him, although I knew that, unless someone came out of nowhere, the job was his.  Still, I was happy to see how thrilled he was. 

A couple weeks later, Andrew strode into class and, with a grin from ear to ear, said, “Jack, do you know they pay you to do this?”  Apparently, he didn’t realize that high school coaches get stipends for the time they put in - which when you figure it out on a dollar per hour basis comes to about 33 cents an hour.  It was then I knew Roosevelt and Marlon had gotten a steal.

Long after the semester ended, Andrew would come by the Bulldog basketball office just to stay in touch.  I got to see what truly great people skills he had and, after spending time with him at a few practices, got to understand him on a deeper level.  A devout Christian, he had his priorities in order and was going to make a great employee for someone, somewhere, in whatever field he chose.  After he graduated, he’d continue to drop by, telling me of his plan to get a master’s degree in health sciences.

When I got selected to be the boys’ basketball at Buchanan, one of the first people to congratulate me was none other than Andrew, who also asked if I needed an assistant coach.  Naturally, I wanted someone on our staff of such high integrity, passion for the game and a willingness to learn.  In addition, I knew he’d be loyal and, with the situation I was walking into, that was another virtue I needed in an assistant. 

On a sad side note, Andrew told me last summer of the tragedy Coach Hall suffered when he and his wife’s only child, a son, was killed in a car accident.  Ten years from when he’d worked for Marlon, Andrew had kept in contact with him, too and took time off to attend the funeral.  You don’t find too many guys like him these days.  

Andrew has been an assistant coach on the junior varsity and varsity levels, and a head coach on the freshmen and JV levels, compiling winning seasons and forming close relationships with the players and their parents.  He’d always tell me his goal was to coach in college.  I hated to put a damper on his dream, but I felt, because of the close relationship we’d developed, that while I’d encourage him, I’d present him with the realistic side of his goal as well.  I advised him to work as many camps as possible, that coaches tend to hire people they’re comfortable with and that usually means somebody they know and know well.  I also gave him the straight scoop that it was a highly cherished job, that there weren’t nearly as many jobs as there were guys who wanted those jobs, yet that his being an African-American and having all the positive qualities he had, gave him a shot as more and more schools were filling positions with young, black coaches - something that was seldom seen when I first got into coaching.  Although getting a job shouldn’t have anything to do with race, timing was key in life and someone should use any advantage, legally, they could get.  We also talked about how all coaches feel they can coach, that everybody’s looking for guys who can recruit and while his people skills were exceptional, he needed some experience.

 This past summer, he called to tell me he had been offered an assistant coaching job at Imperial Valley Community College (roughly 40 minutes east of his hometown, San Diego).  I couldn’t have been happier for him although he quickly found out there were sacrifices he’d have to make - one of them not being able to work at Michael Jordan’s Camp in Santa Barbara where, in addition to doing an excellent job, he had gotten to make several coaching contacts.  While he was disappointed, he took it in stride and to this day, has one of the most positive attitudes I’ve ever encountered.

And he did get his master’s degree in Health Sciences - and a government grant for one of the proposals he’d written.

Here’s hoping Charles Lindbergh was right when he said:

“I’ve found that when you make a deep commitment, unseen forces come to your aid.”

Anybody who knows me will tell you that, to me, a case of laryngitis is considered life-threating.  When describing my wife’s greatest attributes, her “listening skills” always place way up on the list - if only out of frequency of them being used.

I’ve always felt communication is of utmost importance, even if it’s me doing most of it.  As I’ve posted on numerous occasions on these blogs, too many people seem intimidated or, at the very least, are uncomfortable discussing anything more than the weather or sports scores.  So, when I lost my voice during one of my Algebra 1 classes, I started to think, “What could be a worse catastrophy than this?” 

Then, I went home and read on the “crawl” on ESPN that Dick Vitale underwent vocal chord surgery and I had my answer.  If ever someone’s livelihood was connected to his voice, it’s Dickie V’s (see December 4 blog).  The news release went on to say he’d be back in February and I certainly hope that’s the case.

Dick absolutely lives for the college basketball season and to have surgery at this time is worrisome since the season’s just begun and he was scheduled to do more than a full slate of games, in addition to studio shows and appearances elsewhere on the network.  Let’s pray that everything goes well for college basketball’s greatest ambassador.

As for your truly, I know there are some concerned people around here, too, but “relieved” might be running neck and neck as far as adjectives go.  But … on a more serious note, my feelings regarding communication (which I share with anyone who cares to listen - and in the case of my sons - even some who’d rather not at times, are summed up by a woman named Virginia Satir, who said:

“Once a human being has arrived on this earth, communication is the largest single factor determining what kind of relationships he makes with others and what happens to him in the world about him.”

Rich Rodriguez’s introduction as the new head football coach at the University of Michigan surprised some people, but after having lived in the world of intercollegiate athletics, I don’t think anything of a coaching nature will ever shock my system.  In a world of “stay one step ahead of the posse,” coaches are constantly on the move.

Not that Rodriguez was close to having his head on the chopping block.  Au contraire, he was revered at his alma mater, West Virginia, and probably could have retired there if he chose to do so.  Therein lies another facet of college coaching.  Looking for the perfect place - the coaching “nirvana” - where you have that chance to “win it all” on a yearly basis.  Rodriguez leaves self-proclaimed “almost heaven” for The Big House and one of the most storied football programs in the land.

The tradition at UM (the last time they had fewer than 110,000 fans at a game was before they expanded the stadium), the fact that coaches last there pretty much as long as they want to, the fertile recruiting area and the dream of nearly every Michigan-born boy of becoming a Wolverine and wearing the maize and blue (not to mention getting fitted for that ugly helmet) must have been too much of an enticement.  

Keep in mind, the last time we saw this guy (after WVU’s “incredible beyond belief” loss to a pretty poor Pitt team, causing them a shot a the national title - and a serious threat of heart failure of many, if not all, of the BCS cronies), people were making calls to the suicide prevention hot line.  Most coaches handle press conferences in one of two ways - take the high road (”We had a great season and this loss, while disappointing, doesn’t diminish that one bit”) or becoming downright hostile (blaming referees or ranting about how when the chips were on the line, “We didn’t execute and that’s my damn fault and I take full responsibility for it” - knowing that not for a second does he believe that and doesn’t want to wring a player’s or coach’s neck for a bad performance or call).  Instead, we saw a coach who was absolutely devastated, at a loss for words and, reading between the lines, a coach who felt like he might have just lost the only chance he’d ever have at West Virginia to accomplish such an monster goal.  Now he had a reprieve - he could coach at a school where they felt the national championship was theirs to lose.  If he recruited well (one of the highest rated hgh school quarterbacks in the country, the type of QB he needed to run his system, publicly came out and said he was adding Michigan to his list after Rodriguez signed on at UM).  If he brought his wide open style of offense to a Neanderthal conference still of the belief the team that wins is the one that pounds people into submission, well, it just could be successful, interesting and a lot of fun.

Another factor being reported that may have played a part was a deterioation of his relationship within the athletics department, something that does surprise me because West Virginians love their own and I can’t think of another major state institution that has two of its graduates coaching the two most high profile sports (Rodriguez and Bob Huggins).  But relationships are built on trust and trust, once violated, can seldom be regained.

Although he probably could have stayed for many, many more years at WVU - and it would have been the “safe” choice for him, Rich Rodriguez may just feel there’s another challenge with higher rewards.  And when it comes down to it:

“There are two kinds of people - those who want to get things done and those who don’t want to make mistakes.”

As documented as the New England Patriots’ undefeated season has been, the storyline on the Miami Dolphins chasing football futility has followed closely behind.  Unfortunately, behind is where the Dolphins ended up following their first thirteen games this season, a start (and middle and nearly end) that has to be frustrating to a group of professional football players and those in the organization.

Keep in mind that this isn’t a local Pop Warner team whose superstar quarterback ran out of eligibility because of age and is going through a tough period because the talent of that age group is down in that particular area.  This team was assembled by a management team of people considered highly skilled in their respective fields - be they coaches, scouts, strength and conditioning experts or the general manager (and his heretofore unmentioned advisors).  Dealing with this adversity can’t be easy.  I can tell you from personal experience a 1-13 league record may start at the beginning of the conference season and finish on the final game - just like a 15-3 conference record does - but the former seems a whole lot longer than the latter (which whizzes by).

Everyone involved, you hope, is constantly looking for answers, ways to climb out of the hole the team’s in (the old line “The only difference between a rut and a grave is the length, the depth and how long you’re in it” certainly applies), but human nature and the (negative type of) personal pride of some of the key participants can take a stressful situation for all and make it even more miserable.  Fingers are pointed (a coach once told me, “When you point a finger at someone, there are three more pointing right back at you,” a line I’ve never forgotten), excuses are made, reasons are given, yet the losing continues.  It’s a true test of character for all involved.

The only way out is to pull together and work your way out - as a team.  So, congratulations to the Dolphins on their first win of the season (they play New England next, so the streak may come to a screeching halt).  The winless ‘76 Tampa Bay Bucs record is safe for another year (by the way, that franchise rebounded nicely even though it took a little longer than those involved anticipated). 

After I heard of the ‘Fins success, I told a friend of mine, “Their gorilla was more energetic than others” and he asked what I meant.  I repeated a line I’d heard:

“Success is like wrestling a gorilla.  You don’t stop when you’re tired; you stop when the gorilla is tired.”

Many years ago, while I was still in the college game, a head coach I had known for over 15 years told me a close friend and former assistant of his (then a high school coach) had called and was raving about a freshman he had.  I thought my colleague was going a little bit overboard when he said this kid was the best player in the country.  “The best freshman?” I asked him.  “No, … the best player!“  

It’s common knowledge on the recruiting front that high school coaches oversell their players - and it’s completely understandable.  I can’t think of a high school coach I’ve ever met (and that covers nearly 40 years) who coaches for the money.  Mostly it’s about the relationships and the difference a coach can make in the life of a teenager.  Some coaches get closer to their players than others do, but even for those who keep their distance, it’s only natural that if a coach is going to get close to any player, the best one is certainly going to be a logical candidate.  That youngster the “difference-maker” in games and the one you, as a coach, need to have buy into your philosophy and need to rely on more than the others on the team.  You also hope your best player is your hardest worker and strongest leader.  When this occurs, it tends to create a tighter bond between player and coach.

In the case of the coach whose motivation is to move up in the college ranks or the one who’s ego isn’t quite in check, promoting the player may land you the college job you covet, get you audiences with college coaches or, at the very least, have newspaper articles and radio/TV interviews - where you can promote yourself along with your superstar or get your ego massaged.

The player referred to at the beginning of the blog was LeBron James and whatever superlative was used when he played in high school fell short of the mark.  “Man-child” was the most accurate I ever heard.  One thing I learned when speaking with pro coaches and scouts was it was ludicrous for anyone outside the NBA to think any high school player was ready to make the move directly to their sacred league.

However, I never heard anyone from the NBA, no matter their position with an NBA team (scout, assistant or head coach, general manager or even owner) say LeBron James wasn’t ready to not only play in the NBA, but have the ability to make an immediate impact.  HAnd he certainly hasn’t disappointed on the court.  I

n fact, the only criticism leveled at him was that he was bored, that things weren’t going fast enough for him, thus that foolish commercial last year he did for Nike.  You remember the one in which he played all four characters: young LeBron, businessman LeBron, player LeBron and wise, old LeBron.  It was allegedly done because he wanted to show off his “acting” skills.  I can’t believe that commercial set any record for shoe sales (like the “Be Like Mike” commercials did).

So, now Nike’s produced a new LeBron ad.  He’s shown dribbling downcourt as a youngster, gradually getting older as he makes his way across midcourt and toward the basket, climaxing in him, then fully grown, taking off from the free throw line, about to throw down a monster dunk…when the commercial fades to black…and you hear LeBron say, “You don’t want to be like me.  You want to be better than me.”

It’s seems like it’s an attempt to create a new image for LeBron, but the message is somewhat absurd, coming from such a freak of nature - a young man physically mature waaaay beyond his years as well as a sports icon in his early 20’s.  Nowhere in “blogsphere” or whatever this medium is called will you encounter an entry that has a message from LeBron James and John Denver in the same post, but what JD said is what LeBron’s advise is, only from someone we might relate to a little easier:

“The best thing you have to offer the world is yourself.  You don’t have to copy anyone else.  If you do, you’re second best.  To achieve is to be first, and that’s being yourself.”

In the midst of the outrage regarding the Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball, has anyone asked the question, “What if Jose Canseco had never gone public with his (at the time) wild accusations about rampant steroid use (and abuse) in professional baseball?”  Would none of this ever have surfaced?  Maybe no one would have come forth and the “ignorance is bliss” setting would still exist.  One thing for sure, there certainly would have been a lot less controversy. 

Fans had been “taking themselves out to the old ballgame” in record numbers, until the “roids hit the fan.”  A statement that was most shocking to me, yet not discussed as much as so many others, is former Senator Mitchell’s claim that all 30 major league clubs had at least one player involved in illegal activity, be it steroids, human growth hormone, or who knows what.  All 30 teams!  Not one team was totally clean?  The United Way doesn’t even get a 100% participation rate?  If five people get together for breakfast, they can’t decide which joint they’re going to eat at, yet every freakin’ major league team had a representative in this (spin it how you want, but in reality it’s a) cheating epidemic.  The magnitude of this statistic and the remainder of the report is absolutely overwhelming!

From scrubs desperately struggling to make rosters to regular position players to all types of pitchers (starters, set up guys and closers), to all-stars (31) and MVP’s (7), no one was spared.  Many of those who are innocent may have the thought cross their mind, “I wonder how much better I could have been had I partaken?” 

Current and former players contend that this is just another bump in the road and baseball, being the all-American game it is will survive and thrive again as it has after all other misdeeds (Black Sox scandal, strike).  Even a player of the stature of Jim Maloney was quoted as saying, “I’m not surprised by any of this.  Spitballs.  Cutters.  Stealing signs.  Taking amphetamines.  Players will always experiment with things.  It’s the nature of the beast.”  Does he think we’re supposed to be proud of that?  That’s like a Mafia head saying, “C’mon, people moving inta odda families’ territories and a few guys gettin’ whacked, store owners bein’ shaken down for some protection dough, a couple new kids makin’ their bones an’ it gettin’ a little outta hand, hey, it’s a rite a passage.” 

You mean the game’s bigger than any scandal and so popular nothing can diminish the public’s love for it?  Keep testing us.  A good deal of baseball’s current popularity lies in its “fantasy craze” where people don’t care about who plays for which team, or even who wins or loses, just the stats.  And if they’re tainted?  Well, make sure you do your homework before the next fantasy draft.

What’s disappointing to a purist like me is that baseball used to be the ultimate team/individual sport ever.  Team because of the alignments, strategy, teamwork and inherent beauty of the game.  Individual because it was pitcher versus hitter and few moments in sport captured the drama as that matchup when the game was on the line.  To think there were guys doing things illegal or legal (with some big-time loopholes - mainly in integrity) lessen the memories (or heighten them for those of us who go back when the worst thing guys were doing were drinking and carousing - none of which mattered to the guy with the ball or the one holding the bat when that time came).

And now we’ll undoubtedly bear witness to the American trifecta.  What to do when you get into trouble: 1) blame someone else; if that doesn’t work, 2) lie; and if that doesn’t exonerate you, 3) sue.  Again, the big losers are the fans and the big winners are the lawyers.  It’s evident what we’ll see.  Attack the messengers and lesser mortals: Mitchell, Canseco, the trainers, the schmuck in the locker room getting his 15 minutes of fame for supplying cream, clear, needles, pills - whatever was requested of him.

I know in my mind the game we all loved to play and watch as kids will never be the same - mainly because no matter what else happens, as Gerald Simmons remarked:

“We don’t live in a world of reality; we live in a world of perceptions.”  Â

A few weeks ago, the dreaded letter showed up in the mail - a summons for jury duty.  The thought immediately entered my head - I’m going to get stuck on one of those two-month to a year trials where me and eleven others like me are brought in day after day to hear lawyers do what they do best - paint pictures of their emotionally distaught clients whose lives have been ruined after wrongfully being accused of something they’d never do (even though they’d done something similar a few other times in their past), draw tears out of witnesses (including their client and members of the immediate family), deal with hostile witnesses by cutting them off in mid-sentence and, if all else fails, lie (because in today’s world, it’s often necessary to win to get paid, and then, having to watch the opposing lawyer attempt to undo it all when it’s his or her chance to rebut/perform/entertain/(or lie).

It’s mandatory to follow the judge’s orders but not get swept up in the drama of the moment or the fact that one attorney is louder/more likable/less despicable/has more of a prescence (like Perry Mason or Gerry Spence).  It’s the American way to insure justice is served and that lies with the jury.  Trepidation was the word that came to mind as the day for me to report crept closer and closer. 

All I could think of was I could be holding someone’s future in my hand.  And then, the evening arrived and I had to make the call to decide my - and possibly someone else’s -fate.  Trembling fingers dialed the number on the summons and I heard the voice say: “You do not need to report for jury duty.  Your one-year commitment has been fulfilled.”  Mark Twain’s quote immediately came to mind:

“I’ve had many problems in my life…most of which never happened.”

On this date a year ago, Bobby Petrino was coaching football at the University of Louisville.  They were on their way to winning the Orange Bowl and shortly thereafter, he’d sign a ten-year contract to remain the Head Cardinal.  Then, the Atlanta Falcons came calling and Petrino was faced with a dilemma. 

The NFL, whether he ever dreamed of coaching at that level or not, is the ultimate level of football.  With apologies to Frank Sinatra, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.  He is also known as an offensive wizard and the thought of having the opportunity to develop an offense around someone as multi-talented as Michael Vick, a proven NFL superstar, had to make him tingle (although he was a wizard, unfortunately he wasn’t a fortune teller).  And then there was the money.  So he bolted the ‘Ville.  Now, less than a year later, he’s back on a college campus coaching the Arkansas Razorbacks.

This scenario is not a rarity.  In football and basketball, coaches move from the college to the pros and back on a regular basis.  Why?  They made a decision to coach in the professional ranks for all the reasons above (especially the one about the money).  Why, then, go back?  In some cases, they’re forced to go, i.e. they get fired.  This happens to pretty good coaches, too.  Guys like Pete Carroll, Rick Pitino, Jerry Tarkanian, Lon Kruger and Lou Holtz.  No one ever has been so hot a commodity to be considered competent enough to run a professional franchise for mega dollars who wasn’t a big winner.  Then they don’t succeed and they go back where they had their glory days - in the college game.  Where they’re comfortable.

One main reason that college coaches lose in the pros is that they usually get the bad jobs - poorly run franchises with a tradition of losing, making bad trades and/or draft picks, signing the wrong guys to long-term deals and not being able to hold onto or letting the good ones go as free agents (often getting nothing in return).  Factor in the new “role” the coach takes on.  No longer is he the dictator that he was (if he so desired) on the college level.  Instead of leading young adults who, although they might be somewhat irresponsible, are still used to the coach calling the shots, he’s walking into a locker room of, in many cases, a not much older group of guys who think they’re something else because they have make a lot of money.  They’re not about to be told what to do.  It’s now a business for them, too, and their livelihood can be threatened by this new guy who hasn’t yet “proven himself.” Remember we’re talking about, more often than not, perennial losers, but still, guys who are pros, getting paid vast sums of money (in several cases more than their new leader), yet very few of whom are stepping up to take responsibility for their team’s losing.  Instead, they talk about coaches who don’t treat them like the “men” they are.

Another dramatic difference between the two levels is a double-edged sword, that of recruiting versus the draft and free agency.  Recruiting can be extremely distasteful and somewhat humiliating - having to kowtow to 18-year olds and their “advisors,” be they parents, relatives, friends, summer league coaches or other names not particularly suitable for print.  However, none of the coaches making the college-to-pro leap got to be successful without great players so, whether they like recruiting or not, they managed to be pretty good at it.  The draft always looks like so much fun.  Rank the nation’s (in the case of the NBA, world’s) best available players and hope at least one of them is still on the board when your turn comes.  Then, pick him and he’s yours!  Sure, there’s an agent involved and discussions, but at the professional level, the coach doesn’t have to deal with those headaches.  Just start plugging him into your schemes. 

And free agency!  Need someone right now?  At the college level, you have your 85 (football) or 13 (basketball) scholarships and unless you did a snake oil salesman job on a walk-on who can help, that’s your squad.  In the pros, check the waiver wire.  Instant help could be a phone call away (one you don’t even have to make).  Of course, your opponents are afforded the same luxury you are when it comes to upgrading a roster.

In his press conference (the Arkansas one), Petrino said he was looking forward to developing young men and helping them reach their goals.  It’s not as easy at the other level.  Guys want you to help them reach their goals, becoming a Pro-Bowl player, putting them in position to make plays (which equates to making more money and longer term contracts) and, maybe, down the line, helping them win a championship - or in some cases, win something.

Admitedly, I’m biased toward college coaching (having spent 30 years doing it).  Having the team, the guys you’ve recruited and promised their parents you’d look out for, to your house for a meal or just to hang out is a lot of fun - and you can really get to know your guys.  You want to and they want to get to know you - and your family.  That’s not going to happen in the pros.  There, if the team’s going to anybody’s house, it’s the multi-multi-million dollar QB’s house or the NBA superstar’s crib, not the coach’s home.

So, look for Petrino to make the “commitment” to the Razorbacks, not a year after he committed to Louisville.  But, this time, I believe he’ll honor it.  Having been to “the other side,” he now can see what Roy Disney meant when he said:

“Decision-making is easy when the values are clear.”