You Say Parity, I Say Mediocrity

With the semester wrapping up, I thought I'd write about something else which is soon wrapping up its season, the NFL. I heard Bernie Mullin speak about his love of basketball and how he believed that David Stern was the best commissioner EVER in any league. I squirmed in my seat a little at the thought of this, because if it were put to a vote in the U.S., I think Pete Rozelle would win in a landslide. He merged two football leagues into one, and had the vision to create one of the best sports "holidays" of the year, the Super Bowl. He had one big criticism during his career, playing games the weekend after the JFK assassination in 1963. If he were alive today, he would probably be asked about rumors of steroids and amphetamines in locker rooms in the 1970s and early 80s. That said, I'm not sure Rozelle would be happy with some of the aspects of today's NFL. He would like that television revenue sharing keeps small markets like Green Bay competitive with larger markets like New York. I don't know if he would like treatment of retired players who built the league or mediocre product on display on Sundays. Good teams used to routinely beat the bad teams and the cream would rise to the top early in the course of a season. The problem is that the cream doesn't necessarily rise now and a team can get hot in December and win the Super Bowl. Awful teams routinely beat good ones and quarterbacks are regularly asked not to lose a game rather than win it. The lowly Oakland Raiders have three wins against playoff teams (Philadelphia, Denver, and Cincinnati) and the then undefeated Saints were a botched field goal away from losing to a three win Washington team. The NFL has avoided the over expansion that baseball, basketball, and hockey have had in the last 20 years. Too many teams and a watered down talent pool. It has also surpassed baseball as our pastime in my 39 years on Earth. Unfortunately, the on field product and game have declined and I think Pete Rozelle would agree with me.

The Weight of (Unrealistic) Expectations

Monday, Notre Dame fired their head football coach, Charlie Weis after five seasons. His 35-27 record was not acceptable by Notre Dame standards. Notre Dame while prestigious, has become a job that only a select few desire anymore. This is because of the unrealistic expectations placed on coaches to deliver them back to the old days when national championships were common place. In reality, Notre Dame hasn't won a national title since 1988 and hasn't really been relevant since Lou Holtz left in 1996. In reality, Notre Dame has won four national titles since integration and seven before it. Their 1966 national title came under scrutiny because number three Alabama may have had the best team but were punished in the polls because Bear Bryant didn't have any African American players. I don't know where football fans lost track of time but Notre Dame is no longer a football power when it habitually loses to service academies and doesn't draw top flight recruits anymore. SEC football, Big 12 and Pac 10 to lesser extents are played at a different level and at a different speed. Notre Dame fans would do well to lose the sense of entitlement because they think they are an elite football program. If they need help, they may look to the southern end of Indiana and the Indiana University basketball team. The fans have no illusions that the school is a work in progress and pretty much has been since the firing of Bob Knight. Tom Crean inherited two players when he took over in 2007 and is gradually building the program back to its place in the college basketball world. They still sit third all time with five national titles (tied with the University of North Carolina) behind Kentucky and UCLA. Take a lesson gold domers, rebuilding takes time. REBUILDING-learn the word.

My Mount Rushmore of 20th Century Music

I want to talk about Mount Rushmore today. I'm talking about Mount Rushmore the concept rather than the historic landmark. The concept is putting four people, in metaphoric stone, above all others for eternity. My friends have a Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches for example. It generally includes Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll, and Bill Walsh with the fourth spot being hotly contested. The Mount Rushmore I'm speaking of today is for 20th century music, which, with all due respect to Beethoven, Bach, et al, is when music took off with the birth of rock and roll. The first person carved into my rock is Robert Johnson. He laid the foundation for electric blues and the other three men on my monument. He only recorded 38 songs but they are some of the most important recordings in music history. Even Eric Clapton said he'd never heard anything more soulful. The second is Muddy Waters. McKinley Morganfield was from Mississippi, like Johnson and learned the guitar while working on Stovall Plantation. He took the blues sound to Chicago and electrified it, changing his name to Muddy Waters along the way. In the movie "Crossroads" Willie Brown says "Muddy Waters discovered electricity" and he couldn't be more correct. Waters crossed over and took delta blues to new heights. Howlin' Wolf is the third member of my Mount Rushmore. Wolf was an amazing vocalist and bandleader, who along with Waters, influenced some working class kids from England, with names like Clapton, Page, Jagger, and Richards, and started a revolution called the British Invasion. The last one may raise some eyebrows because I think he's the king of rock and roll but I'm in the minority; it's Chuck Berry. Now Elvis fans are going to be upset with me but there's some logic behind my thinking. I really thin Elvis was the first "brand" entertainer. He was bigger than just a musician. He was a movie star and American icon. We still print stamps of him 30 years after his death. Chuck Berry on the other hand, was a rock star. He also had a hand in the British Invasion and laid the foundation for modern guitar rock. These four gentlemen represent the most influential and best the twentieth century has to offer.

The Death of Sports Loyalty

Today's blog is a buzzword that is thrown around in sports, LOYALTY. Older sports fans wonder what became of it and some even go as far as to say it ruined the game. Would the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s have won four Super Bowls if there had been free agency in the NFL then? Would their star players have stayed for the championships or left for more money? On the other hand, with the current NFL salary cap Pittsburgh's management would have been forced to let players go? It seems that coaches, players, and management have free reign to go to the highest bidder. Now the average sports fan may preach loyalty, but they would have a hard time resisting the large sums of money that are offered in sports today. Even colleges have gotten in on the act, hiring big name coaches and luring coaches who are considered "hot names" from smaller schools. Coaches will also leave top schools for their "dream jobs" in what's basically a lateral move. These moves can enrage the passionate sports fan and create animosity towards teams, players, coaches, and management. Nick Saban has left multiple organizations for money and the stroking of his ego. Numerous baseball players have jumped from their teams to teams with deeper pockets. Can you really blame them as a fan? The days are gone when you knew your team would be together and your stars would always be there. Unfortunately this is what sports fans have to accept going into the future. Hired gun coaches will also be a part of it. As a fan of college athletics, this bugs me more. There won't be anymore Don Haskins, Bob Knights, or John Wooodens who spend twenty five plus years at one school and who's names are synonymous with their schools. College sports have gone the route of the pros and winning now and having the best pay at the best schools are paramount. I guess I need to get with the times too.

Two Words: Basketball Withdraw

Normally this time of year, I am polishing my offense and working out details for the upcoming basketball season. This year, I'm unable to coach because of my internship which culminates my college experience. I love working with the players and seeing them develop from the start of the year to the end. I like a good hard practice focusing on fundamentals of defensive basketball combined with a couple of new elements that players can learn and take away. Most of my drills are ones I've learned from college coaches and altered to suit my players. In three years, my teams have been among the best prepared and consistently at the top for free throw percentage, which is one of the most basic fundamental skills to me. I like the match ups against other coaches, whether it's substitutions or their offense versus my defense, etc. I'll be attending some games but it's just not the same thing. The hours of preparation and practice leading to to game success or failure are what I'll miss the most. That translation from teaching to doing is about the best part of being a coach. Hopfully, I'll have the chance to coach and teach the game next season.

Two National Anthems and the Power of Music

I had a debate with a professor last week about which anthem was better, O' Canada or the Star Spangled Banner. I like the Star Spangled Banner and all, but there's just something about O' Canada, particularly before a playoff hockey game. It's a simplistic and beautiful song which hasn't been embellished unlike our own anthem has at times. This made me think about the power of music and those great bar stool debates when you tout your favorite band and trash your friend's band. I still remember Don McLean's "American Pie" playing at my prom in 1989 and everyone singing along. Two years ago when I was coaching basketball, my daughter (who is an assistant coach) and I listened to Tom Petty's "Runnin Down a Dream" on the way to the gym, during our season ending tournament. The dream came true and that group of boys won the championship. It's been twenty years now since I saw my favorite band, The Rolling Stones, in concert for the first time and I still remember the set list, lighting, and Mick Jagger's green leather tuxedo jacket as vividly as it happened yesterday. There may never be a bitter fit for a person and a song as coach Bob Knight and Frank Sinatra's "My Way". I even play a little guitar, though not very well. Great music is also timeless. Beethoven resonates today like when he created the music. Listen to Bob Dylan's "Masters of War". The lyrics are as true as when he wrote it in 1965. There's a genre for everyone and it bridges generations. I can still spend hours in a store looking through different things. I keep a fairly hefty wish list. I hope you do too. Until next week, keep learning!

On Going Home

Those of you who know and for those of you who don't, I lost a childhood friend to cancer recently. I returned home over the weekend for a memorial service. It was the first time I'd set foot in my hometown in 18 years. I left New Jersey and moved to Pennsylvania and have lived here since 1990. I drove through my hometown about six years ago when my aunt passed away. The place still looked the same, but a little different at the same time. The memorial was at a church my family and I attended which burned down five years ago and was rebuilt on the outskirts of town. The old one was at the center of town. It was great seeing everyone, under the extreme circumstances. The scene was also surreal. I felt like the scene at the start of the film 'The Big Chill', where old college friends are brought together by the funeral of another friend. Good movie, great soundtrack by the way. Obviously there was catching up to do, kids, marriages, etc. We reminisced about Joe and told stories. It made for a special time. Later that night, I got the tough question put to me, via instant message ironically, 'why did you leave?' It was tough to answer. First, my parents told me to get out of town and experience the world. Ultimately they helped facilitate this when they divorced and went their separate ways. So my parents were responsible with their actions and words. Some of it was me also. Pennsylvania became a safe haven for me to deal with their divorce and I had met some great new friends. Life started over for me, essentially. So, while moving on is nice, it is okay to go home once in awhile, say every 18 years. Until next week, keep learning.