STAFF WRITER
Four long months have gone by since everyone has heard from The Gun Show, and in that time, I’d say I’ve been graced by a few sports epiphanies. Luckily (I can only hope), you’re in for another year of college sports news decoding. Whether this saddens you or gives you comfort, there’s one thing I can say (as Peter Griffin once made clear), there are a few things that really grind my gears…
With the semester coming to a close, it is only natural to look back at the year that was. To say we had a substantial amount of news in sports would be an understatement. We saw everything from sex scandals to praises on the Cuban dictatorship to different Monmouth athletes coming out of college and entering professional sports.
In an average baseball conversation, do you normally discuss terms like riots, communism, dictators, misinterpretation and oppression? Well this is not out of the ordinary in today’s baseball world after Ozzie Guillen, the new Miami Marlins manager made extremely controversial statements to Time magazine.
From net-cutting, to pre-game dunks, national viewers missed out on a memorable women’s basketball championship game this year. Although it has been reported that the game received positive TV ratings (and its best since 2004), it still had a sub-par standing compared to other popular sports. It sure seems like the media just ‘forgot’ to cover Brittney Griner’s pursuit of championship and its aftermath.
It is one day before a highly anticipated Final Four game. The Kentucky Wildcats are set to take on the Louisville Cardinals. At stake is a trip to the Championship Game and the ability to be the talk-of-the-town. An entrance to college basketball’s biggest game surely must rile the nerves of players, coaches, athletic directors, fans, family, etc. But, what’s really on the minds of the sport’s power-wielders? Business.
If you didn’t believe my testament about the powerful nature of the NCAA Basketball tournament, maybe you will when a political figure gets involved. Not only is basketball pride a way of life, but in North Carolina this week it came above national security, in a sense.
It’s that time of year again. Flip on the TV: brackets. Log onto the Internet: brackets. If you dare turn on an ESPN network, you get bracketology. But what is the rage around these brackets, I mean aren’t they just pieces of paper? Well once March rolls around, NCAA basketball becomes a way of life. Suddenly it rules the lives of millions of fans.
If you’re looking for an inspirational story, you don’t need to flip on an HBO documentary or an ESPN 30 for 30 show, just look at the University of Connecticut. Instead of hearing the promising tale of a player who has made it from nothing to take the NCAA by storm, I’ll give you reason to believe that Jim Calhoun is an admirable man and an icon for the game of basketball.
YouTube phenomenon and Marquette head basketball coach Buzz Williams nearly brought on a full-fledged riot at West Virginia Coliseum on February 24th after pantomiming a ballroom dance to John Denver on WVU’s home court. The action greatly angered the West Virginia student section, who gave Williams a piece of their mind during an ESPN interview conducted shortly after.
What exactly is the plight of today’s modern college basketball athlete? Well for some it could be NBA stardom and a life no one could forget, for others it could be trouble-filled years of D-League debacles and mishaps. But what if I told you there was one person, who in his actions, revolutionized the sport in only two weeks and has put the NBA back on the map after its lockout.