A slice of crow

I'm not above admitting when I am wrong. And when it comes to Shavlik Randolph, I was wrong. So were about a thousand so-called sports experts.

This summer I wrote what an idiot he was to test the NBA draft and what an overrated stiff I thought he was. I wasn't alone in this thought, by the way.

But he got a helping hand from another estranged Duke alum, Billy King, general manager of the 76ers. And now he is having a very respectable rookie year, having found a niche on the team and rebounding his butt off.

Good luck, Shav. I still think you were an overrated white stiff, but you are drawing a check, so you go on with your bad self.

Goodbye Leo

Damn. John Spencer is dead.

I don't know why I liked this guy so much. He was just a great character actor who played some great characters. He first garnered attention as Tommy Mullaney on "L.A. Law", had a couple of nice movie roles, and finished his career as White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry on "The West Wing". He had a great look and that gravelly voice really seemed to add to his appeal.

I don't know what Spencer was like as a person, but I especially loved Leo's character. Leo is exactly who I would like to be - a leader, but not necessarily on the front line. It's a role I have often assumed in my life in various circumstances.

ESPN had a hockey promo a few years ago about what role each player had on a hockey team - the "superstar", the "grinder", the "enforcer", etc. My favorite was the "playmaker". It went something like, "the playmaker makes everybody look good...he's not the president, but he's not an empty-suit vice-president, either - he's more like a really powerful secretary of state or chief of staff...because sometimes an assist is more beautiful than a score."

The best line may have been from the show itself, when Martin Sheen's President Bartlet was speaking with the one cabinet secretary who has to stay away from the Capitol in case the building and all major government officials are blown away at one time. The Secretary of Agriculture is picked. The President has him come to the White House and as he leaves, he tells him:

"If anything happens. . . . You got a best friend?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is he smarter than you?"

"Yes sir."

"Would you trust him with your life?"

"Yes sir."

"That's your chief of staff."

That was Leo's character, and to hear the "West Wing" cast describe it, it was Spencer's role on the show as well. We should all serve our friends and colleagues as well. So long, Mr. Spencer.

Another legend gone

Damn. Richard Pryor is dead.

Nearly every guy in his 30s or early 40s probably has a story about sneaking a listen to a Richard Pryor album as a kid. My personal tale is having my dad prohibit me from listening to his vinyl album of "Live on the Sunset Strip", then waiting until my folks went to sleep and playing the album on the turntable with my headphones on so Dad wouldn't hear me listening to it.

A month or so later, my family was at a pig-pickin' and my dad and a couple of his friends start reciting one of the routines. I start laughing hysterically and recite the scene with them under my breath, or so I thought. My dad noticed I was a little too familiar with the album and read me the riot act, but it was some funny stuff.

In addition to his groundbreaking stand-up work, Pryor was underappreciated as an actor. His pairings with Gene Wilder, especially in "Stir Crazy", were fantastic (as in the photo above - the "We Bad" scene). And I used to love Saturdays as a teenager or 20-something when you could catch "Bustin' Loose" on the afternoon movie.

He pushed the envelope, both in profanity and material, but the world is a funnier place for it. I think my favorite Pryor line came via Eddie Murphy, who said that Bill Cosby complained about Murphy's profanity in his stand-up routine. Murphy called Pryor for support, and Pryor advised Murphy to tell Cosby to "have a Coke and a smile and shut the fu*k up."

Classic. Thanks, Richard. You were the best at what you did.

Today's Object Lesson

My good buddy K-nine has a wonderful blog up. Check him out. And since he has linked to me as well, I'm going to have to update this one a little more before his friends find me to be a little slow on the uptake.

On his blog, he told one of his favorite stories about the two of us and some petty larceny at a bar almost 10 years ago (I do believe the statute of limitations has run out. At least I hope so!). But his second favorite story about us is today's object lesson.

When I first met K-nine, he was, by his own description, "a loudmouthed, leather jacket wearin', motorcycle ridin', hard drinkin', 3rd shift workin', womanizing pain in the ass with violent tendencies." Still, we immediately hit it off, despite our apparent surface differences.

Turns out we weren't all that different at all. We were both Eastern North Carolina boys, high school football players, both with strong feelings of family and honor and lots of things about being Southern men from Eastern North Carolina that if you're not from these parts, I just can't explain it to you.

But the point of story is this - we were on my back deck one afternoon, deep into a discussion of the issues of the day, when I dropped a level 4 vocabulary word for which I am known (I don't remember which one). K-nine has always said how impressed he was that I used my big words in front of him, assuming he would know what I meant.

Because, in spite of being a "a loudmouthed, leather jacket wearin', motorcycle ridin', hard drinkin', 3rd shift workin', womanizing pain in the ass with violent tendencies", he was (and is) one of the smartest, most insigtful and well-spoken people I know.

The object lesson, kiddies, is don't judge the book by its cover, nor let your differences divide you. Sermon on morality, diversity, and acceptance is now over.

The Death Penalty Circus Comes To Town

Wow, hard to believe little ol' Raleigh, NC, was the center of the media universe for about an hour and a half, in commemoration of the 1000th execution since the reinstatement of capital punishment.




Let me, as a disclaimer, state that I am for the death penalty. Like Jake Brigance said in A Time to Kill, my problem with the death penalty is that we do not use it enough. Plus, Ron White of Blue Collar Comedy fame says this of Texas - if you kill someone in Texas, we will kill you back. I kind of like living in a state where that is the case.

(As a sidebar, I have always thought it funny that lots of people who oppose the death penalty are in favor of abortion, and many who are in favor of capital punishment oppose abortion. It's just funny to me - either you're opposed to killing or you aren't. But I digress...)

Look, I understand the opposition to capital punishment. It is the most extreme of punishments for the most extreme of crimes. I certainly can understand why people would be against it on principle.

But as for the media circus that surrounded the execution of Kenneth Boyd - well, 1000 is nothing but a number, I suppose. Remember the 1000th person killed in Iraq? I didn't think so. But you do remember all the hype, undoubtedly.

Since Raleigh is not a high-profile hotspot and Boyd is not a high-profile case (he admitted the killings and told the authorities to "come and arrest me"), there was not the star-power that is being raised for Stanley "Tookie" Williams. But about 150 people did gather to protest.

Among the things the protestors did was to attempt to breach the prison walls (trying to break in to a prison?), a candlelight vigil, and a reading of all 1000 names of those executed (remember Ted Koppel trying this with soldiers on Nightline?)

At 2:15 AM, Boyd slipped quietly into that good night, having paid his debt for a brutal double-murder. At that point, you think the circus would pack up and leave town, and it did, headed to Sacramento to start begging for Tookie's life. But there was one comment made by a protestor that stuck in my boxers:

One thousand executions - that's one thousand lives needlessly lost.

Now wait just a damn minute.

As near as I can tell, there are two main arguments against capital punishment that hold water - it doesn't deter capital crimes, and/or two wrongs don't make a right. I don't agree with either, but I get where that comes from.

But 1000 lives needlessly lost? Of convicted murderers? Weren't the lives of Kenneth Boyd's victims - his estranged wife and his father - needlessly lost?

The best estimate of the number of victims of the 1000 executed murderers is just under 1,900. Now those were lives needlessly lost.

But alas, the circus has moved on - before I can even post this, #1,001 has taken place, just 200 miles away in Columbia, South Carolina. Just maybe, though, there is some justice - or peace - for the 1,900 needlessly lost.

Blog Spam

I know exactly zero people read my blog, except for the 15 or 20 that came for the rant on Mike Krzyzewski. Hell, I haven't even updated the thing in months.

But my buddy K-Nine, who has a great blog, gets seemingly all kinds of traffic and monitors it some. So, imagine my surprise when I checked the comments section. I mean, I think the stuff I have written is good, and timely, so I thought maybe someone had been seaching blogs and found it.

No such luck. I have... blog spam.

What the hell is that all about?

I mean, my old e-mail addresses are ridiculous. I have my very first e-mail address, which I keep active because I am too lazy to update my Southwest Airlines specials e-mails. I get, say, 1000 e-mails a week and probably 5-10 of them are legit. The rest are spam, from when you used your e-mail address for everything and when you thought "click here to unsubscribe" really unsubscribed you.

But how much time do people have on their hands to promote blog spam? And, from the arena of the marketplace, does it really work? I mean, are millions of people buying Cialli$ (so the spam filter doesn't catch it) from anonymous, unsolicited e-mails?

Welcome to the blogosphere - I now have blog spam. Ain't that something?

Illustrating absurdity....

How long before we see this?

NCAA To Ban Use of “Hurricane” Nickname

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 2) – In light of the ongoing tragedy surrounding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the NCAA Executive Committee has adopted a new policy to prohibit NCAA colleges and universities from displaying hurricane-related mascots, nicknames or imagery at any of the 88 NCAA championships.

“At a time in which our nation is suffering as a result of these catastrophic natural events, we feel it is irresponsible – in fact shameful – that colleges and universities continue to promote the use of these nicknames and mascots”, said Bernard Franklin, NCAA senior vice-president for governance and membership. He added that hurricanes kill hundreds of people and destroy millions of dollars of property every year.

Franklin stated that “the use of the hurricane nickname, mascot, or imagery can certainly be deemed hostile and abusive by the surviviors of Hurricane Katrina,” or any of the two dozen or so hurricanes that have impacted the United States in the past three decades.

Institutions displaying or promoting hurricane-related references on their mascots, cheerleaders, dance teams and band uniforms or paraphernalia are prohibited from wearing the material at NCAA championships, effective August 1, 2008.

The NCAA is encouraging its schools to educate their internal and external constituents on the understanding and awareness of the negative impact of dangerous weather symbols, names and imagery, and to create a greater level of knowledge of meteorology through outreach efforts and other means of communication.

NCAA member institutions affected by the new ruling include the University of Miami, the University of Tulsa, and Georgia Southwestern University.

University of Miami President Donna Shalala vowed to fight the NCAA’s ruling.

“We have a proud hurricane heritage here at the University of Miami,” said Shalala in a prepared statement. “South Florida has been impacted by hurricanes as long as this area has been inhabited.”

Shalala noted that her university spends millions of dollars each year in research on hurricanes and how hurricanes and humans might co-exist. “The University of Miami should be heralded as an example of the positive relationship between people and hurricanes, not singled out as being hostile or abusive, “ said Shalala in her statement.

Miami athletic director Paul Dee remided reporters that the university had long abandoned any hurricane logos or imagery. Miami uses a “U” as its primary logo and its mascot is an ibis, a type of sea bird. Dee said Miami might revisit its idea of a “throwback night” against the University of North Carolina in October, when helmet designs from the 1960s, which featured hurricane warning flags, were to be used.

Tulsa athletic director Judy MacLeod said she didn’t understand what all of the fuss was about.

“It’s a metaphor, for crying out loud,” said MacLeod. “I mean, what’s the chance of a hurricane actually hitting Tulsa, Oklahoma?”

Despite the fact that Tulsa uses as its logo a blowing, hurricane flag that could cause anxiety among hurricane victims and survivors, MacLeod said the school had no plans to change either its mascot or its symbols.

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin welcomed word of the NCAA’s action.

“In a time when our city is suffering, I am glad to see that at least one national organization is stepping forward to truly make a difference in the lives of people affected by this tragedy,” said Nagin. Nagin also blamed the Bush Administration and FEMA for not being more proactive on the offensive mascot issue.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson also weighed in on the hurricane mascot issue in a hastily-called press conference designed to allow him to weigh in on the issue, thereby getting his name in print on an issue that doesn’t concern him in the slightest.

While stopping short of calling the use of hurricane-related mascots and imagery racist, Jackson did point out that the vicims of hurricanes are often poor and black.

“Look at the faces of victims, be it in the Caribbean, or in New Orleans. Hurricanes target people of color, and I do not know why we continue to sanctify and glorify these killers,” said Jackson.

On a related note, there was no immediate word as to whether or not the NCAA would seek to discourage the use of other nicknames and logos that are weather and natural disaster-related, such as Tornadoes, Cyclones, or Earthquakes.

"I hate terrorism..."

Not as catchy as Franklin D. Roosevelt's classic 1936 line, generally considered the "I hate war" speech. But as I turned on the TV tonight with CBS News keeping a running count of combat deaths in Iraq (around 1800, if you're counting), I thought back to FDR's Chatauqua speech, which I was required to learn in the 7th grade.

We are not isolationists except insofar as we seek to isolate ourselves
completely from war. Yet we must remember that so long as war exists on earth
there will be some danger that even the nation which most ardently desires peace
may be drawn into war.

There are those who might argue that we are, in fact, not a country that desires peace. But do not forget that September 11 was forced on us - we were drawn in, as FDR would say. Iraq was an extension of that. Could we have gone to war against Hitler and not disposed of Mussolini?

I wish I could keep war from all nations, but that is beyond my power. I can at
least make certain that no act of the United States helps to produce or to
promote war. I can at least make clear that the conscience of America revolts
against war and that any nation which provokes war forfeits the sympathy of the
people of the United States. . . .

Again, some people may argue that we bring certain acts upon ourselves. Yet, anyone who provokes war (al-Qaeda hijackers, Guantanamo detainees, Iraqi insurgents) should, in fact, forfeit the sympathies of the people of the United States.

Of all the nations of the world today we are in many ways most singularly
blessed. Our closest neighbors are good neighbors. If there are remoter nations that wish us not good but ill, they know that we are strong; they know that we can and will defend ourselves and defend our neighborhood.
We seek to dominate no other nation. We ask no territorial expansion. We oppose
imperialism. We desire reduction in world armaments.
We believe in democracy; we believe in freedom; we believe in peace. We offer to every nation of the world the handclasp of the good neighbor. Let those who wish our friendship look us in the eye and take our hand. (emphasis added)

I've got news for you, friends. The Islamic extremists are going to hate us, no matter what we do. We can nuke Israel off the map for them and make Ramadan a national holiday, and it won't be good enough. So they had better learn that we can, and will, defend ourselves, our friends, and our neighborhood.

An infant democracy is alive in Iraq. It's not perfect. But the insurgents who continue to bomb Iraqi civilians as well as the occasional Allied target are the enemy of democracy, of freedom, and of peace.

I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen
blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed
lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have
seen 200 limping, exhausted men come out of line—the survivors of a regiment
of 1,000 that went forward 48 hours before. I have seen children
starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.

The daily situation in Iraq is no longer a war against oppression, against an evil dictator who supervised the genocide of his own people. It is now about terrorism - by Iraqi extremists (and their supporters) against peaceful, free Iraqis. This, as much as any, is what the war on terrorism is supposed to be about, and those 1800 who have given their lives have not done so in vain.

How can you not hate war? But more importantly, how can you not hate terrorism more?

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Mike Krzyzewski, appearing on tonight's ESPN SportsCenter's "50 States in 50 Days" tour in North Carolina, had this to say about former Duke player (and assistant coach) turned ESPN analyst Jay Bilas:

"Yeah, I do remember Jay Bilas, but I get fixated on his shorts and how he filled them so... Anyway, he filled them."

Anything you want to tell us, coach? I swear I hit the rewind button on the TiVo about a dozen times to hear him say it over and over, it was so hilarious. Can't wait to see that one on the Duke Basketball Report quote list.

At least we know where Chrissy Laettner and Brian Davis got it from.

You get 72 virgins for that?

You mean to tell me Islam states you get 72 virgins for blowing up commuters in a subway? No wonder hundreds of young men (and women) are signing up to be suicide bombers.

A couple of thoughts on Britain's 7/7 and this week's follow-up attacks:

1. What is the purpose of blowing up the Tube? Twice? I get the WTC (al-Qaeda had a hard-on for that one for years), the Pentagon, Washington DC... But the London subway? Twice?

2. If this is a holy crusade (such as it is), then what is the purpose? There are only three reasons to go on a holy war: A) Conversion, B) Defense, or C) Eradication. Don't see a whole lot of A or B in 9/11 and 7/7.

3. I am an open-minded guy who doesn't think my religion is the only way to eternal salvation, but I am having a really hard time with the Islamic extremists. I mean, if a Christian nut-job attacks an abortion clinic, at least the attack is targeted to the actual place where the affront to the religion is taking place. Exactly how is the Tube a threat to Islam?

4. Along those lines, I don't get why the Islamic leaders refuse to come out in condemnation of these type of attacks. I truly hope Mohammed Atta and the 9/11 hijackers showed up at the door of Heaven, whereupon Allah said, "What the hell were you thinking?" And then, instead of 72 virgins, they were given 72 Virginians. Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Robert E. Lee, and the rest of the boys could then do a little dance on his face.

5. England survived Hitler. They will certainly press onward from this annoyance.

Another thought on the 24/7 Sports Monster

So I was thinking about the concept of this all-inclusive, all-knowing world of sports (and news) in the cable and internet world, and it started me thinking - is the proliferation of high schoolers being drafted by NBA teams a result of the 24/7 sports monster?

In 1974, Moses Malone was drafted straight out of high school into the ABA. Known for their gimmicks, many thought the ABA was just offering up another gimmick with Malone. Still, two high schoolers put their names in the next year's NBA draft and were selected. One of them, Daryl Dawkins, went on to a solid NBA career, and the other, Bill Willoughby, lasted 8 seasons. Still, it would be another 20 years before a high schooler tested the NBA draft waters again.

In 1995, Kevin Garnett was drafted number 5 overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves. The next year, Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal were selected in the first round. Garnett was a well-known commodity, but had expressed a desire to go to college if he had the test scores. Bryant, on the other hand, was the son of a veteran NBA player, spoke three languages, and had a 1300 SAT. Reasons aside, most of the early high schoolers who declared for the draft were big men, with Kobe being the obvious exception.

It wasn't until the late 1990s that this concept of high schoolers jumping to the NBA exploded, about the same time as, oh, huge internet coverage of sports and of prospects.

Up until the late 1990s, weren't most NBA scouts scouring the colleges for that small-college gem like Scottie Pippen or Dennis Rodman, with one eye to Europe for a Vlade Divac of Drazen Petrovic. But the proliferation of internet sites devoted to college recruiting opened a whole new door. In a culture where "recruiting analysts" rank kids as early as 5th grade, is it too far of a step to imagine that it opened up a whole new world to NBA scouts?

Wasn't the entire high school career of Sebastian Telfair open for all to see? Was there any doubt he was going straight to the league? The numbers on high schoolers aren't all that great - about a 30% success rate of even being a contributor, but teams are still hoping for the next KG, Kobe, T-Mac, or Lebron , and ignore the lessons of Taj McDavid, Kwame Brown, and Korleone Young.

The 24/7 Sports Monster

Pardon the interruption, but I'm the Doc-tor.

Gosh, what intelligent sports fan doesn't love "Pardon the Interruption", or want to do that for a living? How cool must it be to have a professional life like either Mike Wilbon or Tony Kornheiser?

Still, the summer doldrums of the sports world started me thinking - has the cable and internet-driven 24 hour a day, 7 day a week monster that has devoured the news industry spilled over into sports?

The news industry finds itself in a quandary - there is more access to news through cable and the internet, which creates a greater demand for news. But sometimes, there just isn't enough news to justify 24/7 coverage.

The result is wall-to-wall coverage of Scott Peterson, or Michael Jackson, further sensationalizing otherwise grisly tales of murder and pedophilia. But what the heck else are you going to put on the air 24/7?

Even the cable news channels are going toward more entertainment-driven shows in the guise of news (Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Headliners and Legends). Sometimes there isn't enough of that to program 24/7, so you catch the occasional infomercial on MSNBC.

Which leads us back to sports programming. In the dead of summer, when baseball is the only thing going and NFL training camp hasn't started, what do these sports outfits do for coverage? There is a proliferation of sports talkers on TV nowadays: PTI, Around the Horn, Best Damn Sports Show, etc. Not to mention the challenge of keeping SportsCenter fresh.

I watched PTI this week, which felt it had to air a July 4th show with two hosts nobody had ever heard of, and for the 147th time this year, PTI debated the merits of the careers of Danica Patrick and Michelle Wie. Enough already!

But then I thought, this is the 24/7 monster applied to sports. In the dead of July, what else are you going to put on? And heaven forbid watching "Around the Horn" and "PTI" back to back, unless you want to hear the same 5 or 6 topics debated over and over.

We are a sports-obsessed culture, but there is only so much sports to go around. CNN/SI found out the hard way. It's time to cut out some of the worthless sports talkers and go find some more original sports programming to feed the 24/7 monster.

Anybody else miss the CFL, Strong-man competitions, and Aussie rules football that used to be shown?

A Big Kentucky Fried Chicken Eatin' Mother...

Luther Vandross is dead. Damn.

For those of us who found our first love in the 80s, Luther (no last name required) provided much of the soundtrack of our teenage years. He also had a strong dance/R&B side that made a Luther album good at a party - something to dance to, and something to romance to.

"If Only For One Night" may have been the anthem of my fumbling teenage romantic angst, while "Wait for Love" made it onto many high school mix tapes.

"Here and Now" and "Always and Forever" became cheesy wedding ballads, but the voice was unmistakable, and his duet with Mariah Carey on the remake of "Endless Love" even topped the Lionel Richie/Diana Ross original.

Luther was a pop icon in the 80s and early 90s, even working his way into Eddie Murphy's stand-up act as a "big Kentucky Fried Chicken-eating motherf*%#er". But his career waned as he battled health problems in the latter part of the 90s. Known for his girth (thus the Ediie Murphy reference), his weight fluctuated wildly as diabetes and hypertension ravaged him.

He made a big comeback with two huge singles, "Can I Take You Out Tonight" and "Dance With My Father", even as he fought through a debilitating car accident and a stroke. He never seemed to really recover from the stroke, complications of which claimed his life yesterday.

Some musicians seem phony, or plastic, or shallow. There was something about Luther that seemed genuine, that really touched people. You will be missed, you big KFC-eating mother...

Shav: How I Stupidly Spent My Summer

An update of anti-Duke venom...

So what is the deal with Shavlik Randolph leaving Duke, rather unceremoniously, going undrafted, and neither Duke nor Shav really get grilled on it? A pal of mine says that if the manager at Texas Tech left the program with the slightest bit of unhappiness, an ESPN crew would be there within three hours to chronicle the young man's pain and villify Bobby Knight as an abusive jerk.

The word around Raleigh is that Shav's father hates Mike Krzyzewski and everything about Duke. Speculation centers around how the most brilliant college coach ever took a frail, thin Shav and tried to make him into a back-to-the-basket banger while Shav wanted to be a 6-10 wing guard, a la Christian Laettner (though to Laettner's credit, he could bang when he had to - just ask Brian Davis!). There is also some speculation about the Randolph family financial situation as well.

Nevertheless, there is a story here that is going unreported. Shav is leaving Duke, without a whole lot of regret on either side. One (or more) of these things must be true, but good luck finding it in either the local or national media:

1. Shavlik Randolph, a McDonald's all-American and one of the most celebrated high schoolers in North Carolina in more than 10 years, went to one of the nation's premiere programs and was a complete and total flop.
A. Either Randolph was extraodinarily overrated, OR
B. He, like many other Duke big men (especially since Laettner), failed to flourish in the Devils' program, begging the question of why Duke doesn't put out quality big men who can play on the next level.

2. Shav, despite three injury-pagued, sub-par seasons at Duke, decides to test the NBA waters (remember, there was speculation he might do this straight out of high school). Coach K issues a terse statement of support for Shav (given his displeasure at others who have left early), but rumor has it that K was not willing to talk to Shav about it and that Shav's converations about his decision were held mostly with Steve Wojchiehowski, who coaches the Duke big men. Krzyzewski finally did make comments about Shav's decision, all of which pointed to goodness and light in the Duke universe.
A. According the the N&O article linked above, K offered to call NBA teams on the Thursday before the NBA draft on the following Tuesday. K may have supported the decision, but looks like he did precious little to get his player drafted.
B. Why have the mdia pressed so little on the topic of Shav leaving?

3. After his first few workouts, where the response must have been fairly negative, Shav and his father both reiterate a desire/plan to return to Duke. Yet, they choose draft uncertainty, and ultimately, not being drafted at all.
A. Why the change of heart? It must be more than "chasing a dream".
B. Many people, even NBA executives, sensed something was wrong for Shav at Duke. Some even suggested if he didn't want to return to Duke, that he return to college somewhere.

In all of the articles written about this topic, few even acknowledge the rumors of unhappiness within the Duke universe, much less address it. And those that are critical in any way usually blame Shav for walking out. In fact, I have only seen one writer (who must not have any aspirations of covering ACC basketball in the next 10 years) even call B.S. about the whole thing.
I guess "Iron Mike" has the basketball media drinking the Kool-Aid, because either Shav was an overrated flop, or Duke is not a pristine place when a highly touted returning member of your team walks away from a near-consensus preseason #1 team. As my friend says, can you imagine if this happened at Texas Tech?

More on the "Year of the Rat"

The "Year of the Rat" diatribe has somehow made it to a great website, TruthAboutDuke.com Thanks, guys!

A couple of corrections/additions have already come in:

Shelden Williams was not selected to the McDonald's All-American team after he was kicked off his high school team following rape allegations.

The Duke Basketball Report noted that a reporter, not them, labeled last year's Duke team Coach K's best coaching job ever. OK, you win on a technicality. Speaking of technicalities, I noticed the DBR has not fixed a blatant error I pointed out to them months ago:

They were posting a link to some article about Robert Brickey of the mid-80s Duke teams. In the write-up with their link, they commented that "Brickey's team of course won the state title at E.E. Smith." Not only did Fayetteville (NC) Smith did not win the 1986 state title, they didn't even make the final game. I know because I was in the gym the night they were beaten in the regionals.

It's been months without any response to me - I even sent them the link above. Can't let a little thing like the truth stand in the way of a good blurb from the DBR...

Year of the Rat

After the heart-pounding college basketball action of the weekend, I can finally let out a breath and say “I’m glad that’s over.” Not the NCAA tournament, mind you, but the Year of the Rat.

You may recall that the Chinese culture names each year according to one of twelve animals. The Chinese year that spans over 2004-2005 is supposed to be the Year of the Monkey, but in the basketball universe, 2004-2005 was the Year of the Rat, meaning the rodent-resembling Mike Krzyzewski of Duke.

The Year of the Rat began well before the basketball season, when Coach K played a very public game of footsie with the Los Angeles Lakers regarding their vacant head coaching position. Television stations in North Carolina led their newscasts for four or five nights with the “will he or won’t he” hype usually reserved for celebrity murder trials. Newspaper and broadcast pundits all over the country chewed up column inches and air time proclaiming Coach K to be the anointed master of college basketball and predicted flood, fires, and famines - as well as the demise of the game - if he left for the NBA. Never mind that Phog Allen, Adolph Rupp, Henry Iba, John Wooden, and even Dean Smith had moved on, yet the basketball world survived.

The “intensely private” and “deeply committed” coach took the better part of a week for “soul searching” and finally ended the high drama with – get this – a letter from a Duke fan begging him not to go. All that was missing was for that fan to be a young boy in a hospital bed somewhere, so Mike could have his picture made with the lad, tousling the boy’s hair and proclaiming that he would go out and hit a home run for him that day at the ballpark… Sorry, I got sidetracked with my overdone sports clichés there.

SI.com writer Phil Taylor noted how this whole situation could be a great recruiting ploy, as well as allowing him to sweeten his already amazing deal with Duke. Taylor said that dragging it out kept Coach K “in the headlines for the entire weekend, with each speculative story raising his profile even more, not to mention his public speaking fees and his endorsement possibilities... Stretching things out was a great career move. All in all, Coach K played this situation out as masterfully as any game he's ever coached. “. So as a result, Krzyzewski was promoted from “one of the game’s top coaches” to King of All He Surveys by not taking a job offer. Smooth move, Mike!

Then it came time for the actual season. The ACC was set to be awesome in 2004-2005, with Wake Forest and North Carolina loaded to the gills and all the key parts back for 2004 national finalist Georgia Tech. Duke, on the other hand, was to be stung by the defections of Luol Deng and Shaun Livingston to the NBA. (Interesting sidebar: Shaun Livingston is the most important Duke player to have never actually put on a Duke uniform. Almost any article about Duke’s season laments the loss of both Deng and Livingston, despite the fact Livingston never came to Duke). Given how stacked the top 3 were, Duke was picked to finish fourth in the first-ever 11-team ACC, despite returning three starters and three top reserves. Some pundits proffered that Duke was picked too low, but most observed how it would be a “down year” for Duke, or at least a rebuilding year.

Such low expectations generated a Herb Sendek-esque non-conference schedule for Duke. The Devils played only two ranked teams in non-conference play (and one of those was in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge). They did not play a true road game until January 13. Duke rolled to a 15-0 record against its softest schedule in 10 years. How could this be, asked the Krzyzewski admirers? This is supposed to be a down year! Well, with 14 of your first 17 games against teams who would not make the NCAA tournament, it is easy to build a little confidence and momentum.

Somewhere in this 15-0 start emerged this notion that this might, in fact, be Coach K’s best coaching job ever! I mean, before he’s just been loaded with talent and has just had to roll the balls out, but this year the genius, the King of All He Surveys, has actually had to coach! Egad! While some injuries took their toll, mainly on the underachieving Shavlik Randolph, two schools of thought began to emerge – 1) Duke isn’t very deep; and 2) Duke isn’t really all that talented in the first place.

Both of these ideas should have been an affront to the players on Duke’s roster. After all, Duke only had five McDonald’s All-Americans (Dockery, Ewing, Randolph, Redick, and Nelson), an honorable mention Mickey D’s (Melchionni), as well as Shelden Williams, who was an EA Sports All-American (Interesting sidebar: Duke’s media guide lists Williams as a “consensus high school All-American” – how are you consensus if you are not on the McDonald’s team?) By my count, that’s six high school All-Americans and an honorable mention. What other team could go that deep in A-A’s? Not even North Carolina or Wake Forest. And besides – since the Laettner/Grant Hill teams, when has Duke ever been more than seven deep? When every game is on TV and you get a timeout for two minutes after every four minutes of game time, how deep do you need to be?

As for the “lack of talent”, well, the results have to speak for themselves. J.J. Redick was ACC player of the year and a first team All-American. Shelden Williams was ACC defensive player of the year and third-team All-American. DeMarcus Nelson was named to the ACC all-rookie team. Not bad for a bunch of no-talents.

Still, as Duke avoided the bloodbath that was the ACC regular season, the media chorus began to ring even louder that this was Coach’s K’s finest coaching job ever. Preseason media darling Georgia Tech suffered a truly crippling injury to B.J. Elder, and people expecting a breakout year from NC State had to suffer through numerous injuries, especially to Tony Bethel. Despite the fact both of these teams recovered to make the NCAA tournament, neither Paul Hewitt nor Herb Sendek were regaled for their “finest coaching jobs ever”. Meanwhile, over in Durham, there were six high school All-Americans who apparently couldn’t win a game of “horse” without the genius of Mike Krzyzewski.

At the beginning of March, the chorus grew louder that this was the best ever for Coach K. His hearty bunch of overachievers had, in fact registered wins over UNC and Wake, but had finished in 3rd place, two games behind Wake and three behind Carolina. That means the man in the midst of his career-defining coaching masterpiece had improved his team’s finish exactly one place over its preseason prediction. Fortunately, smarter heads prevailed and Seth Greenberg, who led Virginia Tech from an 11th-place preseason pick to 4th, won coach of the year honors.

This still did not silence the Krzyzewski crusaders. Duke’s march through the ACC Tournament confirmed it for his loyalists (meaning almost all of the media): this was his greatest coaching job ever. He had taken this ragamuffin band of six high school All-Americans, three returning starters, the ACC player of the year and the ACC defensive player of the year, and won the ACC Tournament by beating the #11 seed, the #6 seed, and the #5 seed – and all of whom Duke had beaten in the regular season. This in no way demeans the accomplishment; it’s just that it may have seemed more impressive had Duke beaten Wake and UNC to do it.

Not to be left out of “K Fever”, the NCAA rewarded Duke – the number 3 finisher in the ACC – with a number one seed for the tournament, ahead of Big XII regular season and tournament champ Oklahoma State, SEC regular season champ (and upset loser in the conference finals) Kentucky, and oh yeah – Wake Forest, the team that finished a full two games ahead of them in the ACC regular season and played without their star player in the ACC tourney.

Despite the predictions of some pundits that Duke was a very vulnerable #1 seed, K crusaders marched in lockstep as if reading from a “Cameron Crazies” cheer sheet: “This is Mike Krzyzewski’s best coaching job ever.” And UNC fans were taken to task for cheering against the Blue Devils when both teams were playing in Charlotte. “Can’t you see, Carolina fans, that this is K’s best coaching job ever? Don’t hate!” was a common cry on sports talk radio.

Plus, in passing Dean Smith’s all-time NCAA tournament wins record, some were ready to anoint him the “best tournament coach of all-time”, even ahead of John Wooden. I’m sorry, but Wooden was the Wizard of Westwood for a reason – 10 titles in 12 tries. No one, not even a guy doing his best coaching job ever, gets that title.

But the most maddening (or sickening) thing to happen during the tournament was being showered with Coach K ads every other timeout during the tournament. It wasn’t enough to see Krzyzewski’s ubiquitous face smiling from behind the wheel of a Chevy SSR, but I think it was the self-aggrandizing American Express ads that sent me over the top. Some on sports talk radio thought that those ads were equivalent to a recruiting video, but they disgust me because they present him in a light that I perceive to be phony; I could write another whole epistle about that (Interesting sidebar: the picture in the commercial of guys in graduation garb was the class of ’86, Mark Alarie, Johnny Dawkins, and Jay Bilas. Wonder where the picture is of Elton Brand, Will Avery, and Corey Maggette in their caps and gowns? Again, another epistle.)

Nevertheless, the little miracle that was the 2005 Duke team found one last hill it could not climb, in the person of the now-Final Four-bound Michigan State Spartans. All good things must come to an end, and so does the curtain fall on Mike Krzyzewski’s best coaching job since… well, last year (the Duke Basketball Report declared the 2004 team to be Coach K’s best coaching job ever, but have since decided this year is even greater).

The Year of the Rat closes with Mike Krzyzewski having sweetened his Duke contract; having been anointed the premier college coach in the country; having developed the greatest recruiting line ever (“Son, I turned down coaching Kobe and the Lakers so I could stay at Duke and coach kids like you.”); having boosted his retirement fund though all his endorsements; having a ready-made recruiting video done for him (just show the AMEX ads); and having done the most remarkable coaching job in a remarkable career. All in all (to borrow a Sinatra line), it was a very good year.

But the Chinese New Year rang in on February 9th. The calendar says it is the Year of the Rooster, but all those wearing light blue hope that on April 4th, it will become the Year of the Ram.