Ballers, Gamers and Scoundrels

No one plays harder than Tyler Hansbrough!

No one has a bigger heart than Tyler Hansbrough!!

Tyler Hansbrough cures cancer!!!

We would not have been surprised at all to hear that last declaration from CBS announcers Dick Enberg or Jay Bilas during Saturday’s telecast of North Carolina’s exciting win over Louisville in the NCAA Tournament East Regional Finals. A few of my boys and I caught the game at one of our favorite haunts and by the middle of the second half it was clear that the talented and respected duo were beyond smitten with Tar Heel junior Tyler Hansbrough, the three-time All-American. Smitten to almost comedic proportions.

In time we were laughing out loud at the incessant fawning and lofty assertions.

Oh my Tyler Hansbrough!!!!

Nobody outworks Tyler Hansbrough!!!!!

Tyler Hansbrough stops global warming!!!!!!

Before I go on, let me be clear: Nothing I’m about to say is meant to diminish Hansbrough. Not in the least. His 28-point 13-rebound performance in UNC’s 83-73 victory was for the ages. The 6-9 forward hit 12 of 17 shots including two consecutive HUGE baskets after Louisville had erased a 12-point deficit to tie the game in the second half. From then on it was, quite frankly, as if Tyler Hansbrough was the only player on the floor. He was a downright beast hitting the kind of shots said Cardinal coach Rick Pitino, an opposing coach would “pray that he takes.”

‘Cept Hansbrough was knocking ‘em down like me and my boys were knocking back, well, never mind.

Moreover, he seems to be a nice, understated, humble kid. A Missouri native, he’s certainly shown me something.

I’m not sure what kind of pro Hansbrough will be, but he’s already one of the all-timers in college ball. He deserves his props.

But the way Enberg and Bilas were gushing you’d have thought Tyler Hansbrough was the reincarnation of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, David Thompson or, dare I say, Larry Bird. Their tone bounced from reverent to near-hysterical.

At one point I thought the veteran Enberg might start hyperventilating.

He’s a flailing crocodile, a whirling dervish!!!!!!!

To be fair, this isn’t just about the CBS duo. Much of the sports media have been lovin’ them some Tyler Hansbrough all season long. The kid gets a bloody nose earlier this season and he becomes Rocky. In fact, a colleague, Mike Freeman of CBSSportsline.com, first wrote about the media’s fascination with TH in early March. In a year that produced an array of stars on top teams - Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, just to name three - Hansbrough has been largely ordained by sports’ chattering class as the very best of them all.

He’s certainly in the discussion but he’s not so clearly better than the other top college players that his selection as player of the year should be delivered with a “Duh.”

So what are we talking about here?

To my boys it was pretty clear: “Isn’t he like the first white college superstar in like forever?” one of them said.

I thought for a moment, and the only name I could come up with was Christian Laettner, the former Duke star who left college ball in 1992. (Like most people, I completely blanked on J.J. Reddick, another Dukie who was the 2006 Naismith winner but was also a polarizing figure and pretty much an NBA bust. I couldn’t come with 2005 Gonzaga star Adam Morrison, either. See: Reddick.)

Is it really that simple? Even as our nation is on the cusp of potentially electing a black president, one who’s bravely forced us to talk about race in a manner unlike any politician ever, are we still so transparent that some of us will just get over-the-top giddy over a white guy who can ball?

Duh.

Primarily, I am annoyed at notions that evolve around “hard working” and “heart.” to assert, even in the emotion of the moment, that no one works harder that Tyler Hansbrough is asinine and unquantifiable. It feeds into the stereotype that white athletes “work hard” to achieve success while black athletes are “gifted.” Write this down: There is not an elite athlete in America that did not work hard to achieve greatness. Yes, some may have worked harder than others but to ultilize a particular hustle play to assert that no one works harder than that player is just stupid.

As for the declaration, based on Hansbrough hitting a big, tough shot down the stretch (of which he hit many on Saturday), that no one has a bigger heart, please. Heart is sports is on display every day and night on fields and courts throughout the nation and in every sport. How many big, touch in-the-clutch plays have you seen in your lifetime? Too many to count, probably. Elite athletes, who perform their best at the most challenging moments - on the biggest stages - all have heart. On that assessment, Hansbrough is just one among many bigger-heart ballers.
A generation ago, in 1987, we had this same discussion regarding the media’s views and descriptions of Larry Bird relative to the other great players of his age, particularly his clear peer, Magic. Dennis Rodman called Bird “overrated” by the media, which selected postseason awards. Isiah Thomas, then the littlest “Bad Boy,” defended his teammate: “I think Larry is a very, very good basketball player. He’s an exceptional talent. But I have to agree with Rodman. If he were black, he’d be just another good guy.”

Thomas, who was articulating the frustrations of many players in that era, meant that if Bird were black, the media would view him just as it did black stars, not deify him as many did. But rather than use the comment as a catalyst for an honest self-assessment and a discussion about how white stars were described relative to black ones, the media turned on Thomas like enemy armies on Spartan’s “300.” accusing him of racism. Ultimately, Thomas was forced to apologize.

Twenty years later, here we are again.

Tyler Hansbrough is unbelievable!!!!!!!!

Tyler Hansbrough will never be outworked!!!!!!!!!

Tyler Hansbrough rebuilds New Orleans!!!!!!!!!!

Tyler Hansbrough will no doubt be the darling of San Antonio. And what a stage. With an all-No. 1 seed Final Four, the Tar Heel has the chance to cement the legend that has already been crafted for him.

That is, unless he finds Osama bin Laden between now and then.

You probably didn’t hear them, but a lot of people screamed “Hallelujah” today when Candace Parker, one of the best basketball player on the planet, said she was going pro. Parker will graduate from the University of Tennessee this spring, and although she has another year of eligibility she’ll opt to play in the WNBA rather wear burnt orange for another season.

The hosannas came from those who’ve tried and tried and tried again to make the WNBA work, to make it matter to more than a small gaggle of fans. In their minds, Parker is The One. She’s the one who’ll make us care, who’ll make us watch, who’ll make little girls across the nation beg to tune into the summer games featuring the world’s best female players.

It almost seems preordained. Parker is the unquestioned face of women’s college basketball. Heck she may be the very face of college basketball. Period. (Is any male player more well known?) She’s one of only six players to dunk at that level (remember when a woman dunking was really a big deal?). In fact as a high-school player she defeated five boys, fellow all-American prepsters, to win a dunk contest. She’s won a national title, played on the U.S. team, and will almost certainly be one of the most high-profile Olympians in Beijing.

Moreover, the cards are aligned to team the 6-4 Parker with the baddest mother-baller out there, Los Angeles center/model/mom Lisa Leslie. The Sparks own the No. 1 pick in the upcoming WNBA draft and unless LeBron or Kobe gets a sex-change operation, they’ll chose Parker, placing her in the No. 2 media market in the nation.

So, if she’s not The One, then who is?

Answer: Nobody.

Candace Parker cannot “save” the WNBA. Just as The Last One - Diana Turasi - couldn’t save it. Nor could Sue Bird, Swin Cash or Theresa Edwards or Sheryl Swoops or Cynthia Cooper or any of the wonderful athletes who have donned WNBA uniforms during the league’s 11 seasons.

I don’t believe in saviors - not in sports, at least. And to think any one athlete can “save” a sport is ludicrous. Not even MJ saved the NBA and today, it’s not just LeBron who’s given the league new life. It’s Chris Paul. It’s Dwight Howard. It’s Deron Williams. It’s Dwayne Wade. It’s Steve Nash. It’s, well, you get the point.

Candace Parker will be great for the WNBA. But the league’s needs more than she can provide.

It needs smart management. It needs smarter marketing. It needs more compelling combatants. It needs rivalries more fans will care about. It needs a bit of luck, too.

The players have done all they can. They simply can’t be Tennessee or UConn or Texas or Duke - schools, like many others, whose indigenous fans support them season in and season out, no matter who’s wearing the uniform. Right now, the WNBA does not have those kinds of fans. At least not yet. And I’m not sure they would even if they opened franchises in Knoxville, Storrs, Austin or Durham.

What they can best hope for is that Candace Parker becomes the league’s tipping point. They can hope that she becomes the face of American pride in Beijing and that her success makes Madison Avenue swoon. (In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time this item is posted, one of Nike’s minion isn’t already in Knoxville with a fat deal.)

Parker and NBA rookie whiz Kevin Durant (pictured with her below) - They Got Next. They’ve got the game and the charisma to fly behind those players who’ve solidified the foundation. (And she is pretty cute - if not “hot”,” as this site attests.)

For Candace the pivotal question isn’t whether she’s good enough, but this: Will her sweetness (or hotness) be enough?

See, I’m not the only one. Blogger Mr. Irrelevant was watching TV the other night and commented that North Carolina coach Roy Williams had fielded an all-white squad. Granted the Heels were up by 40+ against Virginia Tech. But still ….

I never got it. Truly. The Bobby Knight thing. I never got it.

Oh, I get the record. I get the 902 wins. I get the 29 20-win seasons. The three national titles. The numbers speak for themselves.

But I never got the man. I never got why he had to be the way he was, never got whom he seemed to be so damn mad at all the time.

I never got the attitude. The anger. The jerk.

Men I admire spoke otherwise of him. men who played for him. Men who endured the attitude. The anger. The whip.

They said otherwise. They said he was great to play for. They said he was what they needed.

They said he helped them become men.

But so did a lot of other men, and they did it without the attitude, the anger, and without being a jerk.

Bobby Knight retired tonight. Smack dab in the middle of college basketball season, he up and quit. No one seemed to know why, or have any warning. His son Pat is now the head coach of Texas Tech. Good for him. Pat said: “He was tired.”

If Bobby Knight is indeed retired, then what do we do? Do we celebrate a maker of men? Or do we just say, well, bye?

I never got it. Some people did. Just not me. So I’ll say, well, bye.

Mom and Genarlow Wilson - Free Again!

He’s free! Genarlow Wilson was just 17 years old when committed the “crime” that obliterated what had been a promising future. Until then he was one of the good ones. Not perfect, mind you, but with a 3.2 GPA, solid credentials in high-school football and the admiration of his peers (he was homecoming king), well, Wilson was one black boy who was supposed to get through, despite the odds against him.

But then he committed the “crime,” the “crime” of being a young boy with raging hormones.: He had oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. Consensual oral sex. For that “crime,” Wilson was convicted of “child molestation” (by law wasn’t he a child, too?) and sent to a Georgia prison for 10 years without the prospect of parole, the mandatory sentence under state law.(FYI: The jury was not informed of the mandatory sentence until after it rendered its verdict.)

Now, what homie did was dumb. If I’d been the girls daddy, well, never mind. Dumb. But ten years?!

The conviction prompted outcries from many sources, including the sports media - which did so even though Wilson was not a superstar. A solid defensive back, he was getting interest from some schools but not college powerhouses. ESPN.COM wrote a particularly compelling piece called “Outrageous Injustice.”

In 2006, the law was changed to a misdemeanor with a maximum one-year sentence. Yet the law was also specifically designed NOT to be retroactive - thank you, Georgia - and Wilson continued to live being the barbed-wire fence of state custody.

Today, the injustice was finally undone. The George Supreme court ruled Wilson’s sentence was grossly disproportionate” to the “crime” committed, and ordered him released. He was freed this afternoon. Hallelujah. Although Wilson is now 21, perhaps he can regain the track that was ripped from beneath him by an unjust court. maybe he’ll go to college. Maybe he’ll even play ball. But more than anything, now he has a chance again. A chance that should have never been taken away.

But here’s something scary. The Supreme Court vote was 4-to-3. That three members of the George Supreme Court would have kept Genarlow Wilson behind bars - even after the law that sent him away was changed - is truly frightening. Thank you, Georgia.

Okay, the 2007 college football season is officially in the Twilight Zone. Tonight, Stanford, my alma mater and a school whose football team likely possesses the most lopsided ratio of brains to football skills of any team on the planet, beat arch rival and No. 2 (or No. 1) ranked USC 24-23 at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The victory snapped the Trojans’ 35-game winning streak at home, dating back to 2001 when, yes, the Cardinal last beat the Trojans. Stanford was a 40-point underdog. Yeah, forty. ( Unbelievable.

There were myriad subplots to this name - not the least of which was the bit of trash-talking by Stanford rookie coach Jim Harbaugh, which began almost before the new Cardinal coach had gotten a key to his new office. He told reporters he’d herd that USC coach Pete Carroll would leave following the 2007 season. (Carroll denied it saying Harbaugh had not checked with him about career moves.” ) Then at media day, Harbaugh said with a sarcastic tone: “There is no question in my mind that USC is the best team in the country and may be the best team in the history of college football.”

Harbaugh didn’t back down from his comments in the days leading up to the contest that was to be no-contest. But in a sly twist he also said: “We bow to no man. We bow to no program here at Stanford University.”

Coach arm-wrestling makes for good copy. But this is real: The Cardinal’s starting QB was out of the game after suffering a seizure last Sunday while watching former teammate - and now Buffalo Bills rookie QB p- Trent Edwards beat the New York Jets. (I am not making this up.) That left starting duties to sophomore Tavita Pritchard. The last time Pritchard started a game he was in high-school. In college, he’d thrown a total of four passes.

Pritchard

Tonight, his numbers (11-for-30, 147 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) weren’t particularly impressive. But this was: Trailing 23-16, the Cardinal had fourth and-ten on the USC 10-yard-line with :50 left. Pritchard had just throw two successive incomplete passes and. At the snap he back-peddled to avoid a USC assault, lofted the ball towards the left corner of the end zone and hit WR Mark Bradford (whose father passed away last week) for the game-winner. Add the extra point, and you had the biggest upset in Pac-10 football history. Some even called it the biggest upset in college football history. Unbelievable.

Mark Bradford

Lest you wonder whether Pritchard was just an out-of-nowhere wonder, consider this: His uncle, and the man who tutored him as a child for hours at a time? Jack (“The Throwin’ Samoan”) Thompson, the former All-America QB at Washington State. Ya gotta love it, especially during this wacky season

The only downside of this is that if Florida upsets LSU tonight, Cal could be No. 1. Ugh.

Nephew Tavita (top) and Uncle Jack

I love stories like this. I love watching players emerge from nowhere to make us care. make us watch. Make us go: Damn, where has he been?

It happens most in college sports, where pundits like myself declare Guy 1, Guy 2 and Guy 3 as all that and a bag of peanuts even before the first snap or tip-off. This year, the race for college football’s Heisman Trophy began with a handful of players. Among them: USC QB John Booty. Louisville QB Brian Brohm, Arkansas running back/stud Darren McFadden and my favorite, Rutgers running back Ray Rice (full disclosure: Ray hails from where I live - New Rochelle, NY - and he’s a great kid).

But right now, I’m blown away by Kentucky QB Andre Woodson.

Let me be straight with you. He won’t come close to winning the thing. But after wins over highly ranked Louisville (and Broehm) last week and a 42-29 thumping of Arkansas on Saturday, the 6-foot-five-inch, 230-pound statue of a QB (Check out his stats: Click here.) has got to be the dark horse guy heading into the stretch of the college football season.

Woodson is a prototype QB, Big guy. Big arm. And smart. Think Tom Brady. Not flashy. Just gets the job done. On Saturday, he was 20-for-38 for 270 yards and two TDs, including a 32-yarder to Keenan Burton and a one-yard plunge that capped a come-from-behind thriller.

Oh,BTW, in the second quarter, Woodson also threw his 272 consecutive pass without a INT to set an all-time collegiate record, surpassing the mark set by Trent Dilfer when the now-NFL QB played for Fresno State.

Kentucky is now ranked 21st in the nation. They’ll likely move up this week - if for just the time being. The next three weeks are, well, a bear - South Carolina, LSU and Florida. By the time the Gators come through town, Woodson might just be a feel-good afterthought for the season.

But write this down: Come next spring at the NFL draft, Andre Woodson will be a Top 10 pick. Ahead of Brohm, unless the NFL geniuses are nuts. write it down.

And I’ll not yet give up on seeing him in NYC in January. he may not win the Heisman, but he’s already college football’s story of the year.

Blue Blooded Opinions

So there is life at the Associated Press. The venerable newswire actually made news last night by announcing that any college football team in the nation was eligible for ranking in its 71-year-old poll. Duh. Isn’t it supposed to be the top 25 college teams in the nation?

Well, at least now it is. The move was spurred, of course, by Appalachian State, who represented U’dogs everywhere with its inspiring victory over Michigan last Saturday in what was the biggest upset in college football history. (If ya’ll have a better one, holla.)

App State is a Division I-AA school (I refused to get into the new Subprime, or Subdivision terminology), a notch below Division I-A where all the college football behemoths reside - or so it’s supposed to go. Division I-AA programs are supposed to comprise the dregs of the college football crop, players who either didn’t fit the Division I-A mold (i.e. they were smaller or slower than the Div. I-A box) or couldn’t make the grades that would allow them to be eligible for the top schools.

Well, the differentiation gap has shrunk in recent years as Division I-AA programs began to attract better coaches and upgrade facilities. They began attracting better local athletes, too, guys who’ve come to know that in this digital age talent will be found no matter where it matriculates.

The kids from Boone, NC arrived in Ann Arbor believing they belonged on the same field as the boys in maze and blue, believing that they were the right team at the right time.

Then they went out and proved it.

Now, as I stated on SNY’s “Daily News Live” on Wednesday, they indeed belong in the rankings, too.

Here’s RSJ’s Today College Football Top 25:

1. LSU

2. Florida

3. USC

4. OU

5. West Virginia

6. Wisconsin

7. Texas

8. Cal

9. Ohio State

10. Georgia

11. UCLA

12. Auburn

13. Penn State

14. Rutgers

15. Georgia Tech

16. Arkansas

17. Boise State

18. Appalachian State

19. Virginia Tech

20. Nebraska

21. TCU

22. Hawaii

23. Texas A&M

24. Boston College

25. Cincinnati

“Thanks” to I-Man, girlfriend went on The Oprah Show! Seemed her name was pretty good back then.

I’m not sure whether this is simply about a quick buck. (Okay, maybe it is.) Or whether it’s a mere case of a still impressionable young woman, a college student, getting bad advice. (All right, maybe it’s that, too). But I definitely know this: The recent move by Kia Vaughn, one of the young women on the Rutgers basketball team, to sue Don Imus because she says his reference to the team as “nappy headed hoes” during an all-fated show on April 4 damaged her character, reputation and “good name,” according to her attorney, is stupid.

Bad move, young lady.

I know. We live in a society where anyone has the right to get the money any legal way they can. And this is legal. But what is the basis for her claim? Well, since Kia isn’t talking all we know is this: “This is basically about vindicating my client’s good name,” said Richard Ancowitz, her lawyer. “This is not a situation she ever asked for, and she would love to turn the clock back. But unfortunately she can’t.”

Vindication? To me, in the wake of the fallout over Imus’ reprehensible comments, there were no women in America with better “names” that than the members of the Rutgers women basketball team. The day they went on national TV and told us how hurt they were by Imus’ words was the day the radio host was doomed. In the following days the young women stood tall, proud and strong and came off as America’s daughters.

Yes, they would forever be known to some as the women Imus referred to in such a heinous fashion. On the flip they’d also be able to leverage their notoriety for gain. Next season, they’ll be cheered in every arena in America. And once the young women were out of school, is there a corporation that would turn away one of them away?

By filing the suit, Vaughn, a 6-4 junior center, now puts each of her teammates in the unenviable position of having to explain that they’re not not that member of the team, the one that filed the suit. And as for her own job prospects. who wants to hire someone who’s already shown to be litigious?
Now a colleague for whom I have tremendous respect disagrees with me on this. She says she has no problem with the suit because the young women, no matter the dignity with which they carried themselves, will always be know “around water coolers all over Corporate America” as one of the nappy-headed hoes Imus was referring to. “Get it now,” my colleague said, referring to a more of Imus’ reported $20 million settlement with CBS (which came to light only hours before the suit was filed. Coincidence? hardly.) “They she may not have to worry about it.”

She certainly has a point, but I’m a take-the-high-road guy (or at least I try to be), and I believ in tyransforming bad into good With their national TV appearances - including on the saintly Oprah Show - the Rutgers women put themselves in postion to win.

With this suit, Kia Vaughn only makes herself look like a victim and a loser. Who wins that choice?

It was really sweet…and cheesy. And a lot of us thought they’d never go through with it. Just minutes after scoring the winning points against my Sooners in the Fiesta Bow,l, Boise State running back Ian Johnson dropped to one knee and proposed to his girlfriend, cheerleader Chrissy Popadics. It was abut as Apple pie all-american jimmy stewart as one gets these days - with a twist. Ian is black and Chrissy isn’t. And the coule wasn’t exactly living in a thriving urban community. They were in Boise, for goodness sakes.

This weekend the couple may have been the bst thing to happen to sports in a long time. Despite the kind of ugly threats many of us expected, Ian and Chrissy got hitched ina fairy-tail wedding - well, expect for the extra security that had to be hired because of the insipd telephone calls and about 30 hate letters the couple received in recent weeks.

To their credit, they did not let America’s losers steal their love.

Jut before the ceremony, the couple prayed for the hate to go away. From their lips…