Anecdotes from They Call Me Coach

In typical sports autobiographies anecdotes are used to shock or make the reader laugh.  John Wooden is not a typical sports figure.  Throughout his autobiography They Call Me Coach, written with Jack Tobin, Wooden emphasizes his belief that character is more important than basketball and that basketball’s best tool is the ability to develop players off the court.  For this reason, the three anecdotes that resonate the most with me from They Call Me Coach deal with the character of John Wooden’s two most famous players and Wooden himself.

Dissecting pay-for-play in college sports

Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated

            The importance of collegiate athletics in our country is something unique to America.  In other countries collegiate sports are recreational and not used as a source of profit for universities.  However, in the United States, college sports are nearly as popular as their professional counterparts and in some areas more popular.  This popularity, particularly in men’s basketball and football, brings in millions of dollars for large universities.  However, other than scholarship money, the players don’t get to see that money.  The absence of pay for college athletes has created a schism among sports fans.  Some fans go to extremes, believing college football is a form of modern day slavery, with a large, poor population of black males making a small population of white males rich.  The question many sports fans are struggling with is whether or not athletes should be paid, but this question is more complex than a simple yes or no answer.  Which athletes should be paid; by whom should they be paid; and how much they should be paid are all questions that need to be answered if a pay-for-play system is to be instituted by the NCAA. 

Early Season Stock Watch

In honor of Dick Vitale and college basketball being superior to the NBA, here is my early season stock up and stock down.

Stock up:

Missouri- Missouri has rolled through early season competition with an athletic team featuring an extremely up-tempo offense.  Marcus Denmon and Kim English make up one of the most dynamic backcourts in the country, combining for 40 a game.  The Tigers rank 6^th nationally in points scored, 14^th in assists, and 7^th in field goal percentage.  Missouri and Baylor, another team off to a hot start, have made perennial powerhouse Kansas look like the third best team in a conference it historically dominates.

Fantasy Madness

               March 

     Fantasy Madness

I for one have been devastated by the NBA lockout.  I’ve paid a little more attention to the NHL and even have begun to follow -- gasp -- the MLS.  Luckily Love Boat Sports has come up with a new fantasy college basketball game called Fantasy Madness to help fully integrate you to the college season.  The Loveboat staff is currently drafting but it has been a long process that has been made longer thanks to this guy.  We will get some posts up after the draft but until then here are the rules:

A Much Needed Classic

Tonight’s Carrier Classic served as a representation of everything that’s still good in sports.  In the midst of an unthinkable scandal defaming one of our most beloved figures and the prolonged NBA lockout, we needed an event like the Carrier Classic to remind us why we love sports.  With the game played outdoors on an aircraft carrier, both teams wearing camo jerseys, and frequent interviews with military personnel, including the Commander in Chief himself, the game was a great celebration of Veterans Day.  Although there were questions about whether or not having the game outdoors would affect playing conditions, both teams’ players and coaches did not even consider moving the game to the lower deck of the ship.  While there were a few slips here and there, the outdoor conditions did not cause any real problems.  The game itself was not particularly exciting, we were treated to our first look at UNC, the pre-season number one.  In the midst of one of the most depressing sports periods in recent memory, it was a refreshing change to see two teams of amateurs putting it on the line to make history, playing the first outdoor game in college basketball history, and more importantly, to put on a display for the troops.  While most of us will probably sleep in tomorrow morning and have a relaxing weekend, the sailors on the USS Carl Vinson will be up before six performing their regular duties, and soon enough, will be deployed.  They will carry the memory of tonight’s game with them through long days and nights overseas, and if that isn’t enough, at least for one night, for any sports fans out there, I’m not sure what is.