There’s always a price to pay, some moral compromise to suffer, for watching and mostly enjoying the NCAA tournament as basketball.
Throughout Wisconsin-Vanderbilt on Saturday, Badgers coach Bo Ryan behaved as he often does: like a raging, uncaged madman, a lunatic. He made it uncomfortable to watch the game and almost impossible to root for Wisconsin, especially given the dignified comportment of Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings.
But the CBS/TNT duo of Spero Dedes and former Rutgers coach Bob Wenzel apparently felt Ryan’s behavior was to be ignored or enjoyed. In the first half, with Ryan shown on tape acting like a nut loaf, the best Dedes could mirthfully manage was, “The coach of Wisconsin is unhappy!”
Later on Saturday, Indiana coach Tom Crean went crackers, getting smack in the face of his kid, Jordan Hulls.
You would have thought Crean had just caught Hulls stealing his wallet … instead of throwing a bad pass. Crean’s behavior was excessive, abusive, disturbing.
And on TBS it was given a free pass by Brian Anderson and Dan Bonner.
Yeah, I know, Tom Jones. It’s not unusual, none of it.
The commercials: Throughout, the bulk of the endorsement money and national exposure has been assigned to the overly entitled, those, in a sane world, who’d be deemed commercially inappropriate given their noted misdeeds and reputations. But there they have been, over and over: Bobby Knight, Charles Barkley, Charlie Sheen and Alec Baldwin.
Knight plays himself, a career bully. Barkley? Well, try as he might, there’s nothing he can do — prostitutes, boozing, accruing hundreds of thousands in gambling debts, a DWI — that can reduce his commercial appeal.
Sheen, attracted to drugs, prostitutes and bigoted spews, stars in a commercial for an automobile, as if you’d want to be anywhere close while he’s driving. Does he still have a license? Baldwin wisecracks about being tossed from a commercial flight, having violated instructions in the post-Sept. 11 era. Gee, isn’t he clever?
Finally, there have been frequent casual mentions from the TV and radio announcers of what countries players are from. Those from non-English-speaking countries are never explained in terms of whether they speak English or at least enough to be educated in English-speaking American colleges.
Gonzaga’s 15-man roster included seven non-U.S. players, including one from the Ivory Coast, one from France and two from Germany. Yesterday, St. Louis’ team included players from Australia, New Zealand, Greece and Canada.
It’s like this: If you can play basketball, a U.S. college or university will find you and recruit you.
You don’t have to worry about anything — everything’s free.
However, if you’re a superior student from another country, U.S. colleges are a lot less likely to be interested — unless you also can “shoot the three-ball in crunch time.”
More Tournament: Odd, Wisconsin 60, Vanderbilt 57 ended with Vanderbilt’s in-bounds being swatted by 6-foot-10 Jared Berggren guarding the pass.
Throughout the tournament we’ve seen tape of Duke’s Grant Hill throwing that long, inbounds pass to Christian Laettner for the 1992 buzzer-beater against Kentucky, a play that was immeasurably aided by then-Kentucky coach Rick Pitino’s decision to not guard Hill.
* All week, play-by-player Kevin Harlan was particularly skilled in avoiding facts about Syracuse’s continuing picks-and-rolls toward the netherworld. Harlan used “distractions” (a lot), “speed bumps in the road” and Saturday, “significant issues.” He also can’t speak simple basketball. One doesn’t shoot, one “hoists.” One doesn’t “make” 3-point shots, “authors” them. Oy!
* All the nice plays by Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, yet CBS/Turner’s highlights package had to include him making an immodest muscleman flex to a TV camera.
* There is no goofy, long-form expression that doesn’t become poison ivy.
Now, Mike Gminski, one of my favorite humans, too! Yesterday, during Georgetown-N.C. State, he also replaced “scoring” with “scoring the basketball.”
Why stop there? Make it, “scoring the basketball through the basketball hoop from the basketball court during the basketball game.”
* By the way, according to several TV/radio voices, teams eager to play as well as possible are at a disadvantage against teams that have “a chip on their shoulder” — as if tournament teams need motivation!
You no longer “hit a shot,” you “knock it down.” And if your team’s down, there’s only one cure: “Someone has to step up.”
Mets trial set to begin
Would you buy a TV, or a car, or a refrigerator from a salesman who tells you you’re not allowed to ask any questions?
How about your life’s savings and investments, everything you’re worth? Would you invest them with someone who said, “Once I have your business, your business will be none of your business. You can’t ask questions”?
Well, Mets ownership accepted such a proviso in throwing in with Bernie Madoff. Today, the trial that could, to some degree, determine what Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and Co. knew, wanted to know, didn’t want to know, refused to know and chose to ignore is scheduled to begin.
The current ownership of the Mets and SNY will be at risk.
I have no idea what happens when such hundreds-of-million dollars matters reach court, or what legally defines common sense. I was an English major, pre-spell-check. But I do know the moment I’m told, “You’re not allowed to ask any questions,” is when I bolt, not when I sign on. How about you?
* NBC golf analyst/silly talker Gary Koch yesterday explained the Innisbrook course as favoring “precision” players. “But, if you can hit it long and straight, then there definitely is an advantage.” Oh, one of those courses.
* Sure, Mike Woodson was named “interim coach.” That way Jimmy Dolan can keep charging him the $5 per game “facility fee.”
* We’re still waiting for a golf commentator to tell us which member of the PGA Tour is “not a good striker of the golf ball.”
* Department Of Can’t Make It Up: The Pac-12 basketball tournament next year will move from Los Angeles to the arena within the MGM Grand Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Comin’ out … Pac-12, boxcars!