Basketball from a fans perspective
“Bueller?...Bueller?.…Bueller?”
The headline is from the 1986 movie classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off." If you haven’t seen the movie or don’t remember the scene allow a brief explanation. The economics teacher was calling the class roll; Ferris was absent that day having skipped school. “Baylor?....West Virginia?....Oklahoma?" These Big 12 schools along with Texas allowed Kansas to escape once again. In a manner similar to Bueller they are absent too they skipped competing in the Big 12.
Am I being too tough on the conference I don’t think so. The Jayhawks will win or share their 12 straight Big 12 title. Back in the day UCLA dominated the Pac 8 conference but that was a different era. In more recent times Duke and North Carolina have been very successful however neither has dominated the ACC in a manner similar to Kansas. Am I critical of Kansas basketball success that is not the case? My derogatory remarks are aimed at the other conference schools that every year “talk the talk but fail to walk the walk.”
Bits n Pieces
I’m Ol Skool regarding a number of issues, although I often don’t like change I’m okay with ads on jerseys. The NBA is considering placement of ads on team jerseys. For years Nike, Adidas and others have placed their logos on basketball tops. If you witnessed the All-Star Game recently you should have noticed players had Kia logos on the top right side of their jerseys.
We are no longer surprised the up and down seasons of the Top 25 college teams. Steve Lappas former coach addresses this issue in an interview. He says; “The freshman class this year has not been that outstanding in addition the upper classman are not really good. If they were that good they would have been in the NBA by now.” Is Lappas correct in his assessment?
The Laker page contained a photo of Pau Gasol guarding Kobe Bryant in the All-Star Game. I cannot and will not speak for Kobe’s relationship with all teammates over his career. What I do know unlike Dwight Howard the relationship between Big Man Gasol and Kobe resulted in three straight trips to the NBA Championships and two consecutive championships. Hear that Dwight?
It’s not me all the time---sometimes it’s them
I am critical of myself for being too opinionated at times. I am not going to swallow the caw-caw I hear or read as accurate and the truth. These guys are not always wrong however on radio or television they give you the impression “I’m correct because I have inside information.” A great deal of time the latter sentence is basically untrue. Often the “inside” information is not first hand. An example might be the media member talks to “the maintenance person who overheard the trainer discussing the issue(s) with one of the coaches or front office person.” I hope you understand the direction of this description.
