Jack’s Blog

Most of today’s NBA fans can remember Dennis Rodman when he was helping the Detroit Pistons win NBA championships.  An even greater percentage of people who enjoy the NBA can recall his contributions to the Chicago Bulls’ championship runs in the years following his tenure with the Bad Boys of the Motor City.  Yet, I would wager that far fewer can recite his career with San Antonio, the Lakers or the Mavs. 

Most of his career was based on a few “re” factors: re-bounding and re-belling.  The reason people don’t have memories of his time with the Spurs - even though it was in between his stints with the Pistons and the Bulls - is due to a third “re:” re-spect.  Rodman had some unique skills (for the purposes of this blog, I’ll limit them to the “on the court” kind).  Snatching missed shots was one, but not respecting authority, be it his coaches or referees, was just as pronounced a skill in his life - and it led toward his team’s lack of success just as the rebounding aided in their winning. 

With people who “had the hammer,” e.g. Coach Chuck Daly and teammates Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer with the Pistons and Coach Phil Jackson and teammates Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Ron Harper, Rodman acted up, but showed respect, or at least enough respect to be given some rope so he could “act the fool” - up to a point.  At San Antonio, Los Angeles and Dallas, his lack of respect caused more discipline problems (often translating in losses) than his talent could to help them win.   

We’ve seen other versions of this “respect or the lack of it” theme since Rodman and I’m not in any way suggesting he was the first NBA player to disrespect his coaches, teammates or the game, but he’s the first that came to my mind.  Since then, others who have picked up on this behavior are Latrell Sprewell, Allen Iverson, Baron Davis and Stephon Marbury.

In Sprewell’s case, nearly everyone remembers him choking his coach, P.J. Carlesimo, being dragged away, only to return and take a swing at him (which grazed the coach).  He was suspended for 10 games, the Warriors voided the remainder of his contract (nearly $24 million over three years) and, subsequently the NBA susoended him for 82 games.  Over a year later, he was traded to the Knicks - and claimed he was a changed man.  He focused his intensity to matters on the court and led the 8th-seeded Knicks to a first-ever (for a team seeded that low) spot in the NBA Finals where, despite his good overall play, they lost in five games. 

Since he “retired” over what he and his agent called insulting contract offers, it’s been reported he is in deep debt.  While he was suspended, I was with an NBA head coach and asked him if he thought Sprewell was a player he would want on his team.  His response was, “Sure, I think he’s very under-valued.”  The answer shocked me, but in the NBA, that’s what it’s come to - value for your money, i.e. it’s easier to deal with someone who might not respect you, than not have enough talent because if your people skills are good, he can help you win.  Not enough talent gets you fired.  But not having respect for people or money gets you broke.

Allen Iverson’s case is also complex.  A little guy in a big man’s game, AI backs down from no one.  Judging from his past (all the way back to high school), it seems like basketball isn’t the only venue Iverson refuses to back down - but that’s another story.  While he was making mega-bucks with the 76ers (Philly was the perfect type of city for AI and they loved him), he once went off when his coach criticized him for not attending practice. His “Practice?“ tirade is one that ranks alongside Jim Mora’s “Playoffs?” and Herm Edwards “You play to win the game!” as the three most often repeated lines when the topic of a question the interviewee doesn’t feel relevant comes up.

Now, however, after leaving Denver (his stop after the Sixers traded him) and hearing his coach there, George Karl, come out and criticize him for selfish style of play, he is determined to lead his new squad, the Pistons, back to a championship.  One problem: he skipped practice - yeah, practice - to stay and have Thanksgiving with his family.  He didn’t tell anyone, didn’t receive permission from bosses and was the only team member not to show up.  He has since apologized, claiming, “It’ll never happen again.”  Believe it?

Baron Davis isn’t as known for his lack of respect mainly because he’s always played on such bad teams.  Therefore, fans seldom get to see him.  He has unreal talent - even compared to guys in a league loaded with talent, but has acquired the nickname of “Coach Killer” or “CK” for short.  He met his match with Don Nelson and I’ve wondered on occasion if this isn’t the true reason, or at least one that played a bigger part than his wanting to go and make the Clippers a winner (ha!) with his buddy Elton Brand, who then signed a contract to play in Philadelphia.  While CK could have opted to stay with Golden State (he had yet to sign his new contract), he said he would move anyway because he was a man of his word - me being the word.  He’s an aspiring Hollywood director and Los Angeles is a better location, plus it’s home (he played high school ball at Crossroads, then went to UCLA for two years).  Not surprisingly, there have been reports that Davis and Coach Mike Dunleavy have been at odds, to which Davis admitted, “There has been a disconnect.”  Disconnect - must be a “director’s” word.

Finally, we come to the poster boy for unrealized potential - Stephon Marbury.  “Starbury” comes from a basketball playing family - brothers Eric (Georgia), Donnie (Texas A&M) and Norman (called Ju-Ju, who signed with Tennessee but failed to qualify academically).  Selfishness ran in the family if you ever watched the Marburys play and, being the youngest and most talented, Steph was going to be it all and have it all.  He went to Georgia Tech and played well, leading the Jackets to the Regional Semifinal game. Everyone in the world of college basketball knew he was going to declare himself for the NBA draft following his freshman season, but he wouldn’t make the announcement public.  

This became the beginning of the end for Bobby Cremins and Georgia Tech.  Any talented point guard Tech tried to recruit would ask Cremins if Marbury was coming back.  He’d tell them what was common knowledge, but rival schools kept telling these prospects that if he was going to enter the draft, why hadn’t he said so.  Put 2 and 2 together, they’d tell prospects: he was coming back (none of them had that big an ego they thought they could beat out Stephon Marbury - recruiting at the highest level is one of the nastiest businesses you’ll ever find).  For whatever reason, Marbury kept putting off his announcement.  When he finally made it public, all the great point guards were gone.

Fast forward to today.  Marbury still has that sense of entitlement.  He’s making an absurd amount of money, not earning even a small percentage of it and when his new coach, Mike D’Antoni (he’s feuded with all the others he’s had) told him to go into the game (due to injuries on the team), he refused.  Next year, he’s due $20.8 million and initially said he wouldn’t take a penny less.  He hasn’t done anything to deserve it and has no consideration for how the economy is affecting everyone else (although, technically, it’s not his problem, if all of us took on his attitude, the US wouldn’t be one of the most desirable places to live - as it is now).  He’s become a cancer and as with all cancers, the best thing to do is cut it out.

The Knicks have suspended him so the NBA Players Association has filed a grievance on Marbury’s behalf.  I wonder who in the Players Association would want to publicly go to bat for him.  Sounds like a case for Mark Geragos, Gerry Spence or some other lawyer who has the ability to check their conscience at the door. 

At one of my nine college jobs, we had a player who was talented, but had the knack for getting into more than just mischief.  One day, his high school coach (who liked him, but also understood him) described this kid to my boss with a line I’ve never forgotten, even though it’s decades old: 

“I think he’s finally become more problem than he is player.”

First and foremost in the fan’s mind is a well-conceived plan for hiring a new coach.  It begins with, “We’ve got to fire our coach!”  When the situation has gotten to this point, the geniuses in the stands have had all they can take - because, after all, who cares more about their beloved football program than someone like them who go to every game and (maybe) write a check out to the athletics department each year?  Certainly not someone like the coach who spends about of 14-16 hours every day?  Hey, it’s what he’s paid to do.

Let’s take a couple of examples I’m somewhat familiar with - Tennessee and Fresno State - the former because I worked there from 1980-87 as an assistant basketball coach, the latter because my tenure as Director of Basketball Operations was also seven years (1995-2002).  The day I started at UT in 1980 nearly coincided with the day Phillip Fulmer, the recently deposed football coach, began.  He was returning to his alma mater from Vanderbilt to become the offensive line coach.  The two of us went through orientation together and, because of the training table UT offered, would sit together during lunch on several occasions until my departure to become the associate head coach at the University of Toledo.

Pat Hill arrived in Fresno in 1997 and, while Fresno State is not his alma mater, he did put in a five-year stint there as offensive line coach and recruiting coordinater (1984-89).  I distinctly remember the first day I met Pat, not so much because of our meeting, but because when I arrived home that night, our older son, Andy, said a new student just moved into his 2nd grade class and was sitting next to him.  That new kid was Zak Hill, the youngest of the three Hill boys.  Andy and Zak became fast friends and Andy, on many occasions, has vacationed with the Hill family.

Both Phil and Pat took over their respective programs under very similar circumstances, following in the footsteps of legendary coaches who each had experienced a decline in the teams’ records near the end of their careers.  Johnny Majors was not only a Vols’ alum, but was a superstar tailback during his intercollegiate stay there.  Anyone who can remember that far back will tell you Majors got royally shafted in the 1956 Heisman Trophy voting by the Eastern and Catholic media, coming in second to Paul Hornung of Notre Dame after the Vols posted a 10-1 record while the Irish finished the season with only two wins.  In fact, I was in attendance at a meeting where Hornung admitted to exactly that.

Jim Sweeney, the coach Pat replaced and worked for, was at Washington State when I was a graduate assistant there, but with the rules being what they were at the time, e.g. unlimited scholarships, nobody could have won at WSU.  After a brief time with the Oakland Raiders, Jim wound up as the head coach of the Bulldogs and is considered the man whose program built Bulldog Stadium (the field is named after him) and put the program in the spotlight by winning in the Big West and immediately competing for the WAC championship.

Health issues marred the final year of both Majors’ and Sweeney’s careers.  The end for Majors was more controversial because the Vols had begun the season by losing.  Majors’ pain was so severe, he needed surgery shortly after the season begun.  Fullmer took over and the Vols won three in a row.  Majors returned to the sidelines, saying that had always had been the plan, but to the chagrin of many fans, who felt he should step down in favor of Phil (wonder if they hadn’t won the fans would have felt the same way?)  The team lost after Majors returned and at the end of the ‘92 season, Fullmer had the interim tag removed.  There’s been bad blood between the two coaches ever since, most fans siding with Fullmer in the early years, especially in 1998 when the Vols won the National Championship.  Lately, however, it’s amazing how many of these same fans are bringing up how “Phillip stabbed Johnny in the back.”

Sweeney’s departure, though, was not a cause of dissension, with Jim helping his former assistant get the Bulldogs’ job and continuing to be supportive.  When Hill first started scheduling “big-time” teams (Hill’s philosophy of “We’ll play anybody, anytime, anywhere” meant just what it said), the academic success and graduation rates (under associate head coach John Baxter, inventor of the now widely- used Academic Game Plan) dramatically improved and Pat’s knack for player evaluation (one of his NFL tasks he had while toiling as an assistant coach in for the Browns and Ravens) led to better and better recruiting classes, the entire San Joaquin Valley was gaga for the ‘Dogs.

Now, the two former offensive lineman, each of whom was an assistant for the school prior to becoming head coach, and each turned the success ratio of W’s and L’s around have been under fire from the “supporters.”  In fact, Fullmer has already been shown the door, replaced by Lane Kiffin (coincidentally a Fresno State grad), who lost his fight and job with the Oakland Raiders and boss, Al Davis, (usually the loss of one translates into the loss of the other).  Kiffin’s hiring, only a day or so ago, has been criticized by Mark May of ESPN who said his past experience doesn’t prepare him for a job the magnitude of Tennessee.  Talk about a short honeymoon!  “Good luck, Coach - but consider renting.”

Fresno losing to archrival and one of nation’s hottest teams over the past five years, Boise State, by a score of 61-10 has added fuel to the fans’ fire.  What I am constantly amazed by is the spewing of venom at the coach when his team doesn’t perform to the fan’s expectation.  “I don’t spend my hard earned money to watch us get beat time after time.”  For the record, FSU is 7-5 this season and will probably play in a bowl game.

Hill has himself to blame for some of the criticism because he sets lofty goals and then dares to make them public.  When the Bulldogs beat BCS schools as they’ve done at the rate of about one per season (a rather remarkable feat, considering they don’t get the chance to play them that often and when they do, it’s nearly always on the opponent’s home turf), chests in Fresno are stuck out proudly.  But, the mantra of “If we can beat those guys, how come we can’t win the WAC?” is heard by fans (chests now deflated).

My proposal: get a search committee of fans, ask them the following questions - printing their responses in the local paper:

Who do you think we should get to coach the coach instead of the man we have now?  The answer is simple.  Someone who will WIN!

What kind of offensive should the new coach run?  Are you kidding?  Wide open, throw it on every down, so we can score 50 points/game.  What a foolish question that was!

How about the defensive side of the ball?  We need a defensive coordinator who can figure out how to shut down the opposing team’s offense.  You know, if the previous staff didn’t understand that, they deserve to be out of jobs.

And who do you think that is?  This answer ranges from 1) the hottest coach in the country.  Nothing’s too good for us.  Who’s coaching the #1 team in the nation?  Oh, he makes four times what we’re paying our current coach?  How ’bout one of the Top 5 then?  Uh, each of them makes more, coaches at a BCS school and, undoubtedly has a buy-out clause in his contract that is greater than the entire budget for our School of Education (not to mention the buy-out we’re on the hook for in order to let go the coach you’re so anxious to fire).  2) Yeah, what about someone who’s a proven winner, but has retired?  You know how coaches have that itch and are always coming back for more.  So, … what about guys like Lou Holtz, Don Shula or John Madden?  Well, each has a  pretty cushy job right now, Holtz makes more in a couple of speaking fees than we can afford, Shula’s getting paid to lose weight and I’d love to see how you’d expect us to get Madden to the Hawaii game.  3) How about an up-and-comer, you know, like Gerry Faust, Karl Dorrell or one of the Bowden boys?  Wait, I’ve got the perfect guy?  The dude from Boise State.  Why would a guy want to leave a school he’s led to an undefeated season for another in the same league he just beat by 50?  So he can have you guys as fans?

It reminds me of George Burns’ line about complaints regarding whoever’s president:

“Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.”  Â

After having Thanksgiving dinner with my wife and our two sons, one of them home from college, it’s very easy to be thankful.  Since a great deal of what we’ve always done in our family has revolved around sports, on a Thanksgiving Day, our television is usually turned on to a football or basketball game.  (If you ask my wife, that’s not much different from any other day).

Seeing the “NBA Cares” segments, watching the NFL United Way spots, and seeing all the charitable work done by intercollegiate athletes, it’s heartwarming to see that many of those who have, reach out and help those who do not have.  What’s difficult to escape is that each year, it seems that the list of those who do not have, grows.  This year the growth seemed to have been exponential.

We’ve just elected a president who is so transparent in his feelings about this (expanding)section of our society that it does look like help will be coming in some way, shape or form. A good many of us are definitely paying for our excesses, i.e. buying things we truly can’t afford/don’t really need, such as (at the top end) new homes (shame on the people who made loans available to those who - if even a novice realtor or loan officer looked at the borrower’s financial condition - would never have, in good conscience, let them sign such documents) to those (at the other end) obscenely priced professional game jerseys.

It’s the season of giving thanks and we all should.  Things could be worse and according to many, are going to head in that direction for a while before we can right the ship once again.  However, we all still must keep in mind the quote from Honore Gabriel:

“Society is composed of two classes: they who have more dinners than appetite and they who have more appetite than dinners.”

We’re not even into December yet and people are talking about the University of North Carolina men’s basketball team as the - hey, forget about National Champions - most talented bunch of intercollegiate basketball players on one squad and, what’s more, the greatest team ever!  (For some of the less educated fans, there is a difference).  None other than Jerry Tarkanian - who flirted with perfection a couple times and knows how absolutely everything has to fall right for a team to go through an entire season unblemished (including the NCAA Tournament) - has stated on his radio show (which I co-host) the past two weeks that “the Tarheels will go undefeated this year!”  Now there’s something to chew on.

The past has shown us that the most talented group doesn’t always insure complete success (see the 1983 Houston Cougars, aka Phi Slamma Jamma for one example).  But,  what separates Carolina’s talent from all others is its coach, Roy Williams.  And it’s not the X’s and O’s that makes the difference.  Make that, not only the X’s and O’s. 

Roy learned most of his strategical knowledge at the foot of his mentor, Dean Smith.  The rest of it comes from what he’s copied from other coaches (all the great ones do that, be it from competition, watching other games on the tube or video study in preparation for upcoming opponents) or his own innovations - an area people overlook when discussing the great thinkers in the game.

What defines Roy Williams more than anything else, however, is his recruiting ability.  How many times in this blog space - and everywhere else where coaching success is talked about - has it been mentioned that talent is first and foremost the #1 factor in winning?  Yet, it’s more complex than “Roy gets better players.”  It does, however,defy credulity that anyone could bring in a Top 10 rated recruiting class after winning 36 games the year before … and all five starters return!

How does someone do it?  Cynics might say UNC “buys” their players, but believe me, if that were all it took, the ‘Heels would be well behind a laundry list of others.  There are two distinct characteristics of Roy that are blatantly evident.  The first is that he outworks people.  His former running mate on Dean Smith’s staff, Eddie Fogler, a highly successful coach in his own right, once told me that Roy would take “red-eyes” from the West Coast, write letters to prospects because he can’t sleep on planes and when they landed, go directly to the coaches’ locker room, shower, and then to his office to start a new day.

The other trait that’s necessary for any successful saleman (and recruiting is the ultimate form of sales, i.e. coming in second gets you nothing but a lot of lost time, a broken heart - and occasionally a pink slip to go with it).  That trait is people skills.  He’s tough as nails(don’t be fooled by that “Ol’ Roy ain’t that good” twang), competitive as all get out, and demanding - but the players are loyal to him and Carolina because when he talks about Tarheel tradition and all it stands for, it’s apparent he means every word.

But undefeated?  In the ACC?  And it’s still November?  WOW!  They apparently have the potential and I guess anything is possible (although it hasn’t been done since Bob Knight’s 1976 IU Hoosiers) as long as they subscribe to Max DePree’s philosophy:

“It’s more important to reach your potential than to reach your goals.”

                                  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I’ll be checking into the Stanford Pain Clinic for a couple days, so please enjoy some of the early archived blogs in my absence (I’ve done nearly 500 since the beginning of April, 2007).  Look to the right side of the blog and see month and date.  For the earliest posts, i.e. April, ‘07-July, ‘07, click on August ‘07 and scroll down.  You may even have to click on “Previous Entries” to get to the originals.  For the others, just click on the appropriate month and year. 

You’ll also see links for ads above the blogs which are a brand new addition to my site. 

The chronic pain I’ve experienced is something I hope none of you ever have to go through, but I also fully realize there are so many more people out there whose pain, or whose family member’s pain, is much greater than mine.  It’s that time of year to be thankful. 

That said, this past weekend, especially yesterday (Sunday), I spent most of the day in bed (because the pain is less there).  When I wasn’t sleeping (got up at 1:00 pm, then back to bed for a two-and-a-half hour nap at 3:30 pm), I was either correcting math tests or - and no one who knows me will ever believe this - I was watching CNN or Fox News, as opposed to the NFL.  The reason for this choice is a first in six decades for me, but the fascination of the recently completed presidential campaigns, the state of the union and whom President-Elect Obama is going to pick as his “team” to assist him in fixing an ailing country vs. “just another week” of pro football had me glued to the political scene.  Kind of like the days leading up to the draft.

Later on, I found out that the Tennessee Titans lost their first game of the year and Peyton Manning led a last minute drive to turn a tie with the hard luck San Diego Chargers into a Colts’ win, neither of which was shocking to me.  I never thought I’d hear myself saying it but the political arena is actually more exciting than the athletic one right now.  Maybe it’s because of my age and the fact I have a lot more riding on the events in the political world than I ever did on the NFL.  Based on my past, this will surely change, but for now, with the mess the US is in, and it being such a historic time, the decisions that are made will either begin a healing process (especially if the right wing zealots at least give the new administration a chance, instead of searching for things to complain about or fault finding/creating irrelevant dirt from the past, i.e. “Karl Roving”) or the distance between us in this nation will widen even further.

It would be wise for the United States (as a team), although maybe not for certain individuals or parties, to pull together (see the top of most team sport standings), rather than bicker among ourselves or act a devisively (see the teams at the bottom of the standings).  Since the other factor that separates good teams from bad ones is talent and we have an overwhelming abundance of that ingredient in this country, it would be interesting to see what would happen if we were to work together.  As John F. Kennedy said:

“The basis of effective government is public confidence.” Â

Count me in favor of those who are pushing for a dumping/revamping of the current BCS system so a playoff can be instituted in college football.  It happens in all other sports (including the other levels of NCAA football), so it shouldn’t be that difficult to figure out (see my 12/3/07 blog).

The reason many who want a playoff system is that the fans have the right to know who the best football team in the country is.  As flawed as whoever the BCS leaders’ (pull back the curtain, maybe it’s the Wizard) reasons are, e.g. the players will miss too much class time (ha! that crock is addressed in my 12/3 blog), the people on the other side’s arguments are just as absurd. 

To say student-athletes will miss too much class time (we’re talking, what, eight schools? - and the games will mostly be held over Xmas break when class is out) is ridiculous, but to say that the playoff will determine the best team in the nation is just as amusing.  As with all the other National Championships the NCAA holds, the final game of the year is not about who has the best team, but who has the best team on that day.  Go back and look at the basketball championships (which I’m better acquainted with than the other sports) and many will argue the team that won it all was far from the best team in the country.

One major factor influencing any game, championship or early in the season, is injuries.  As far back as 1973 when Providence made it to the Final Four, their point guard and leader Ernie DeGregorio, got hurt and wasn’t able to play in either game.  The Friars, without Ernie D (even though Marvin Barnes was healthy), got steamrolled in both the semi-final and consolation games (they were still playing those in ‘73).  Imagine if one of the two football finalists lost their quarterback (or stud running back or other “X factor type of player) just prior to the final game?  Unless there was a “Willis Reed ” moment, it might be an ugly final, leading to even more arguments about who’s the best?

Evening forsaking injuries, if the theory that the winner of the National Championship game is the best team in the land, then it would stand to reason that the Final Four are the best four teams in the country.  Would anyone propose that George Mason was in the nation’s top four teams the year they pulled off their miracle run in the Tourney?  Of course not, look at the regular season and see some of their losses.  But they got into the field, proved they belonged, and pulled off some MAJOR upsets.  You can’t deny they were one of the best four teams playing at the end of the season, but one of the top four teams in the nation?  It’s too much of a stretch.

As for the question of the fans’ right?  We have enough rights already.  With all the frivilous lawsuits and interpretations the top lawyers’ (as determined more by income generated than ethics) invent, we probably have too many rights.  What a tournament brings, other than school pride, big crowds, great TV ratings and huge dollars is a finality to the season.  By that time, everyone  - including the fans - are exhausted and want, even deserve, a tourney to bring the season to a climax.  That is why we need it.

The BCS leaders really ought to take Henry Kissinger’s advice on this this one:

There is “a belief that an issue deferred is a problem avoided; more often it is a crisis invited.” 

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Several high school basketball coaches, in an effort of goodwill - or to insure the elementary school players continue to play basketball when they get to the high school level - or both - have been offering their varsity players, the ones the younger kids look up to as “role models,” referee their “jamboree” type of event in which all the feeder elementary schools play a 7-8 minute “game” against each of the others.  This is held prior to the actual season.

In an effort to cut back on cost (quickly becoming America’s fastest growing industry), the high school coaches bring their varsity guys to the jamboree, give them whistles and - let the (5th-6th grade teams’) games begin!  Not only does it help the elementary’s coffers, but it serves as an invaluable learning tool for players - who are used to watching their role models (college and professional ballers) on television.  They see, in addition to more highly skilled athletes, that today’s player has become a part-time referee - complaining when a foul is called against them, not called on the player guarding them or simply aiding the zebras in whoever’s ball it is (their team’s) when it goes out of bounds.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot and these high schoolers are finding out that their judgment, hustle (or lack of it), calls they make (but mainly the ones they don’t) are being criticized - vocally, by the coaches (usually a science or AB -academic block - teacher) and the parents (who are practicing for when their own kids will be playing for the high school).  It’s a major shock to the system of these teenagers (and quite possibly, the younger players as well).

What they thought was a kind gesture just turned into (to their stunned minds), a situation in which they feel as though the SWAT team might have to be notified.  They realize nobody likes to be embarrassed - or, more likely, nobody likes to see their kid embarrassed, so putting the blame on someone they don’t know (or at least to someone who doesn’t live in their own house), shifts the attention from junior’s inability to perform to this “outsider” who has ruined a truly competitive (less than ten minute) battle between 10- and 11-year-olds.  Or so they think - or hope.  It doesn’t really work - and, deep down, they know it.  Not only that, but usually the volume of the complaint is in inverse proportion to the ability of the player whose side the parent (mom or pop) is defending.

Yet, this experience still serves as a wonderful reminder to the players that 1) it’s not always the ref’s fault, 2) refereeing is a darn tough job - even if it’s a 5th & 6th grade game you’re officiating and 3) they’d better mention to their own parents that, although they want them to be at every game, thay don’t particularly want everyone in the gym know they’re there - and figure out a tactful way of getting that across without getting grounded or losing the allowance money.

Also learned is that the average fan considers that refereeing can be substituted for government in Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s quote:

“The single most exciting thing in government is competence, because it’s so rare.”

I’d planned on blogging about the stock market and how every time we have one of these down periods, the “experts” always tell us, “Don’t worry, in the long run, the market always bounces back.”  Now, my wife and I are close to retirement and waiting is getting more and more stressful - for everyone in our situation.  So, after struggling to post a “BELIEVE” story, in all honesty, I don’t know enough about the market to be so reassuring and after listening to Suze Orman (someone who knows plenty about it) say it may go even lower, I had to turn to what I do know.  Funny stories.  Here’s another from my book, Life’s A Joke, that’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face, although it may be temporary.

The year 1972 marked my first college coaching job, a graduate assistantship at the University of Vermont.  The stipend was only $1,000 plus tuition for graduate school.  Naturally, I was going to try to find the cheapest place I could to live.  I was gung ho about coaching in college after having spent my first two years after graduating teaching math and coaching football and basketball at my alma mater, Highland Park (NJ) High School. 

I knew I was going to spend most of the time at the office and just needed a place to sleep at night.  I drove up from New Jersey to Vermont, about a six hour drive, got a newspaper, looked through the rental properties and noticed there was a room in someone’s home for $80 a month.  This was about the best deal I could find, so I went, spoke to the people and found out that they had two grown children, a son and a daughter, who had moved out of their house.  It was their rooms they were renting out.  I would have one bedroom another grad student would have the other bedroom, and we would share the upstairs bathroom.

I signed the piece of paper the lady handed me which served as a contract and then she uttered the words, “Of course, we don’t allow you to bring any girls up to the room.”

Anxious to get back to NJ and realizing I probably wasn’t going to find anything cheaper, I said, “I understand.”

After I moved in, I realized the social life wasn’t going to be real good in Vermont with this type of arrangement.  The people were extremely kind, allowing us to use the living room to watch TV, even occasionally giving us refrigerator access.  One day I was downstairs and looked at the pictures of their son and daughter on the wall.  The daughter, I thought, was relatively attractive, so when her mother said, “Oh, by the way, our daughter is coming over tonight,” the wheels of my devious 24-year-old mind started turning and I thought maybe this was a way to circumvent the rules.

I got all cleaned up, thought I was looking and smelling pretty good and figured, “Let’s see how the evening unfolds.”

Finally, there was a knock on the door and I heard her parents say, “Oh hi honey, come on in and meet Jack.”

I turned around, trying to give about the coolest look any 24-year-old at the time could give when I’d say I was the most shocked I’ve ever been in my life.

I was staring at their daughter, the nun.

Since then, I’ve often wondered (possibly because of her employer) if, even though (I think) they had no inkling of my intentions, I should have taken on the idea of Margaret Lee Runbeck, who said:

“Apology is a lovely perfume.  It can transform the clumsiest moment and make it a gracious gift.”

But then, I always come to the conclusion that the brief evening of chit-chat we had, before my excusing myself to go upstairs (and take a cold shower) was probably the wisest path to follow.Â

Pete Newell was a true Renaissance Man, pioneer, innovator and any other positive description of a person of lasting influence.  He passed away at the age of 93 on Monday and when he did, the basketball world lost the finest teacher of fundamentals since James Naismith nailed the peach baskets to the balcony.

Pete won the NIT Championship with the University of San Francisco when that tournament was the better of the two.  He took over Michigan State the year they entered the Big Ten and turned a 4-18 team into a competitive group.  Then he moved to Cal where he won the NCAA Title and took the Golden Bears to the Final Four twice.  Maybe something that will astound the hoops fan even more is that the last eight (8) times his Cal teams played John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins, the record was Newell eight, Wooden zip.  The truly knowledgeable fan would say that this was prior to John Wooden’s power teams with his great players.  The point is Newell’s entire coaching career was without great players.

So how did he do it?  One word tells it all: FUNDAMENTALS.  Every coach who ever put on a pair of sneakers talks about the importance of fundamentals, but Pete believed it, taught it, never let up or went away from it and because of his insistence and persistence, his team mastered them.  In fact, none other than Jerry Tarkanian, who is more infatuated with talent than possibly anyone, past or present, who ever coached the game, said, “No coach can win without talent.  Except Pete Newell.”  Tark counted Pete as one of his greatest mentors, a thought echoed by the likes of Bob Knight, Jerry West and countless others.

And here was a guy whose head coaching career spanned only fourteen years.  His chain smoking habit, inability to sleep (imagine if his teams had lost), the stress his lifestyle brought on him were all factors in his doctor ordering him to get out of coaching if he wanted to stay on the top side of the grass.  He remained in the game - in the NBA front office of Houston, Los Angeles and San Diego NBA teams, but what most people (under 50) know him for is his equally legendary “Big Man Camp.” 

This started when power forward Kermit Washington asked Pete for some help in the off season and his marked improvement, as well as a few others who went with him, spawned a flock of Newell groupies.  In no time, this was a huge business, with Pete working on, first and foremost, footwork.  Stories are told of the biggest of stars attending the camp, but what thrilled me when I attended (it was held on the campus of Loyola Marymount University near LAX and was free to anyone who wanted to watch) was the complete, undivided attention guys like Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal paid to him.

Although it was a big business (he eventually moved it to Hawaii), Pete never took any money.  He felt no amount of money could ever compare to the fact that he was making a major difference in helping players reach their potential.  Others imitated his camp, but no one ever even claimed to be as good.  There was no way anybody would ever believe it, so why discredit yourself?

He was one of only three coaches to have won an NIT Championship, an NCAA Crown and an Olympic gold medal (Dean Smith and Bob Knight are the others).  Many feel his Olympic team was the finest collection of basketball players ever (Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Jerry Lucas) and every game was an absolute blowout.  It’s been said that if any other coach took the best twelve players from the rest of the world, Pete’s team would have beaten them by twenty.  Other coaches have said, “That’s what Pete’s teams would have been like if he ever recruited talented kids.”  What a frightening thought.

Most of all he was a leader and the leadership line that could have best described Pete was: 

“Leadership does not mean getting people to do their job.  Leadership means getting people to do their best.” Â

More computer problems over the past two days causing a late entry on 11/17 and no blog the following day.  Unplugged it and took it to the “computer doctor” for a check up.  Prognosis is it’s either fixed … or its days are numbered.  Pray for the former.

The reason there are so many more Cinderella stories in college basketball than the other sports is that one guy can make so much more of an impact on the entire game in hoops.

In baseball, if you get Albert Pujols or Derek Jeter, they only get to bat one every nine times - and you still need somebody to pitch to the opponent.  Tim Lincecum might be able to shut somebody down - or even out - but, in that case, you’re still only assured of a tie.

As far as football goes, we’ve seen a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady make a major difference in a game, but they still need blockers, guys to catch passes - and, even with those two groups, somebody has to play defense.  Ditto for a great running back or a big-time defender.  Similar cases can be made for the other team sports, e.g. scorer or goal tender in soccer.

Basketball is the one sport where a superstar can dominate at both ends of the floor.  Or, in the case of an unstoppable scorer (Pete Maravich, Stephen Curry), he makes the other players on the floor so much more effective because he has so much of the opposing defense focused on him.  In this scenario, a coach may take the approach that, “OK, we can’t stop you, but we’re going to outscore you.”  You’re an underdog anyway, why not give that philosophy a shot? 

Maybe the team has the opposite strength going for them, i.e. a player who may not be a prolific scorer, but allows no shot inside 8′ to go uncontested and no second shots, independent of where they’re launched (Bill Russell, Hasheem Thabeet).  That type will always get points, too, even if by accident.

Still and all, in team sports, the real name of the game is winning.  So each of these guys needs to make certain (as most do, although occasionally there will be one who tends to be a little more interested in personal stats than the team’s record - especially in the “play for pay” league) that they subscribe to the theory I read in a coaching book (but can’t remember who the author was):

“You can either do your own thing and get all the credit or do the team thing and share the credit.”