Really?

I watched 3 basketball games on February 27, 2016. Two were at the collegiate level. One was a Saturday night prime time telecast involving 2 top NBA squads. 3 games. At 3 different levels. 3 different results. All provoking the question in the title--Really?

First on tap was an afternoon Big 10 Conference tilt between the lowly Rutgers Scarlet Knights and second-division Northwestern on the home floor of Wildcats in Evanston, Illinois. Rutgers has not won a Big Ten game this year nor have they won since a monumental upset of Wisconsin at home last January--the same Wisconsin team, albeit minus its star player, that beat the vaunted University of Kentucky team destined to go undefeated and win the National Championship. There have been some competitive games during that stretch--it took Illinois triple overtime to dispatch the Knights.

Rutgers entered the game minus its 2 top big men due to injury and its top scorer, sidelined by an unspecified violation of team rules. That proved to be the key to this matchup. Rutgers gamely tried but offered little resistance to a hot-shooting Northwestern team who hit three-point field goal after three-point field goal enroute to a 30 point halftime lead, which they never gave up and cruised to a 39 point victory, mercifully not going for the 100 point mark. The Knights looked disorganized and, after awhile, disheartened. A picture of their beleaguered coach, looking sleep worn and frustrated with his team's inability to execute the fundamentals of the offense they practice. This kind of performance, no matter what the reasons--bad chemistry, individual motivation over team goals, lack of key players, still should not come with such a heavy price attached to it. Not at this level. Seeing the final score and having witnessed the massacre, I could only ask myself--Really?

At 7:00 I turned on the computer for the webcast of my alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College, hosting Swarthmore College in the Centennial Conference Tournament championship game on F&M's home floor in Lancaster, PA. These were the top two seeds, the two best teams in the Conference, vying for the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament that goes to the winner. F&M, coached by D III's winningest coach and an almost perennial post-season team, up against Swarthmore, who had never made it to the CC final. The two regular season games were close F&M wins, including the one in Lancaster which resulted in coach Glenn Robinson's 900th career coaching victory. So I was nervous about the game.

The first 20:00 was a blowout. The Diplomats dominated the Garnet from every aspect, leading by an astonishing 50-26 at the half. Yet I had seen some spark coming from Swarthmore at the tail end of the half which gave me pause to think this may not be over.

Swarthmore came out on fire at the outset of the second half and F&M did not. It was a reversal of fortunes. F&M had no answer for the shooting, rebounding and hustle evidenced by the Garnet. The game kept getting closer and closer and I was edgy. Then with a bit over a minute left in the contest, Swarthmore pulled to within one point at 62-61. Somehow, the Diplomats hit just enough baskets and free throws when the Garnet started to foul in order to give them more possessions and a greater chances to tie or lead if F&M did not make its foul shots.

It was a scrappy, determined effort by a Swarthmore team which was missing its top scorer. Sure F&M won at home. But it was far from pretty. Given a lead almost like the one Northwestern had over Rutgers, the Diplomats hung on for a victory that should never had been so close. Was I happy? Yes. Was I elated? No. Just like the game a couple of hours earlier, I again asked myself--Really?

With my wife in tow, we marched to den TV to watch the Golden State Warriors, they of the record-setting win total and defending NBA champions, take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC, a team with two superstars and only 18 losses thus far this season. As soon as I turned on the screen, I saw it was 9-0 in favor of the Thunder. I remarked to my wife that this might be time for the Warriors to lose only their sixth game as opposed to their gaudy 52 wins.

The Thunder were clicking on all cylinders. Their stars, big man and high-scoring Kevin Durant was having a high-scoring night, virtually unstoppable in an array of three point attempts and on shots closer to the basket, while fellow All-Star guard Russell Westbrook was a bull, strong finishes to the hoop along with stifling defense. With that one-two punch and the role players at the top of their game, the Thunder kept thwarting advances by the Warriors and maintained a sizeable enough lead. Through three quarters and into the fourth stanza.

In the third quarter, the reigning Most Valuable Player of the NBA last season and the likely MVP again this season,Stephen Curry, had been kept somewhat in check by the Thunder's switching defense. Given his herculean performances in the three prior games on this elongated 7 game road swing, it seemed inevitable that he, like the Warriors, were destined to have an "off" game. "Off" to Curry meant that he would score below his season's average of 30 plus points per game.

But it was that third quarter which changed the dynamic of the battle. Curry got tangled up with Westbrook on a drive to the basket and turned his left ankle. The Warriors had to foul to stop the game so that they could substitute for him. Curry hobbled to the dressing room. The game's outcome seemed to be preordained. No Curry meant no win this night.

Magically, he reappeared and was immediately reinserted into the game. With a fierce determination, Curry started to take over the game, bombing away behind the three point arc with virtual unerring accuracy. All the work of his cohorts, especially his teammate Draymond Green, who scored little, rebounded and passed like no none and had a halftime profanity-laced tirade which was so loud that the ABC sideline reporter felt compelled to report apparent disharmony to the national TV audience, suddenly mattered.

Even so, in the last two minutes of the the game, the Thunder still kept their lead. But with another Curry trifecta and a bad pass by Durant scooped up by Green on a heady play before the ball went out of bounds to end any Golden State hope, Durant made a colossal error. He fouled Andre Iguodala as Iguodala went to shoot a last second desperation shot to try to tie the game. Iguodala, a seasoned pro, an Olympian and last year's NBA Championship MVP, sank both foul shots despite having only a 60+% seasonal average at the free throw line.
Instead of a Thunder win over the Golden State juggernaut, there would now be a 5 minute overtime session.

That's when Curry made an awe-inspired statement. Dancing and prancing around an array of defenders, he launched three pointer after three pointer, all seemingly touching nothing but net on its way through the hoop. And Durant committed his sixth and final foul early in the overtime period foolishly trying to block a Curry shot. That proved to be game, set and match, although the game's score vacillated back and forth between the two teams until it came down to the end.

Who had the ball as time was rapidly running down and the score tied? Steph Curry of course. No timeout by Coach Kerr. Steph came over midcourt and without hesitation let the ball fly. It's high arc was majestic. The downward flight proved to be the dagger to the OKC heart as it swished through the cords. Nobody shoots like that.

Curry finished with 46 points, more than half obtained after his ankle injury. He shot an amazing 12 for 20 from three point territory. That tied the NBA game record for three pointers made. He also broke his season record for most total three pointers as well as continued his record streak of having made at least one three point goal in each game he has played. You have got to be kidding...

Three games. Three different paths to victory. The final one punctuated by a inhuman performance by a player who may be the best shooter and perhaps the best player to play in the NBA in a contest for the ages. What a day.

Can you blame me if I once more say Really?

                                                        THE Rivalry

        Each college and university has its rivals. Arch enemies to the end. Bitterness and acrimony to the hilt.
Alumni in a froth. Students besides themselves. Television agog over the ratings.

        So many rivals. In-state. Inter-state. Intra-city. Public schools versus public schools. Private schools versus private schools. Catholic schools versus Catholic schools. Public versus private. Public versus Catholic. Private versus Catholic.

        Some are sport specific. Football. Basketball. Women's Basketball. A number of schools have multiple rivalries.

        There are trophies involved. There are mascots taken. There are symbols marred or destroyed. There is storming the field or court after a victory. Riots occur, win or lose.

        I can recite so many. Alabama-Auburn. Army-Navy. Georgia-Florida. Oregon-Oregon State. Stanford-California. UCLA-USC. Harvard-Yale. UConn-Tennessee in Women's Basketball. Smaller schools are no exception, i.e. Amherst-Williams and Hampden-Sydney versus Randolph-Macon come to mind.

       They have their names. The Civil War. The Red River Rivalry. The Bedlam Brawl. The Holy War. Every one has its own unique level of intensity.

       However, thee is one rivalry, at least for me, which captivates me season after season. It is sport-specific. Both teams get a home game out of it and sometimes end up playing each other in a post-season tournament. Television makes a spectacle out of it--a big leap from its formative days when the game was only shown regionally. And the teams are normally, year in and year out, at the top of the sport.

       That rivalry is Duke University playing the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Men's Basketball. Or simply-Duke-Carolina. Located only 10.5 miles apart. Duke is a  private, elite academic institution. UNC is a top flight public research university. Students who attend each college differ greatly in their diversity and aspirations.

       To me, there is simply no rivalry which matches the fervor of its games. Packed houses always at the 9, 000 seat barn called Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham and first at Carmichael Arena and now at the gleaming nearly 22,000 seat Dean E. Smith Center, a monument to what the game of basketball means to the UNC faithful and to its legendary coach.

       Media names are big, too. Billy Packer, the long-time network analyst. Dick Vitale, he of the North Jersey bombast. Jay Bilas, a Dukie who actually played in the series, as did Hubert Davis who had a stint at ESPN, the current televisor of the games. Former Duke coach Bucky Waters. Mike Gminski, another Duke player. Their analysis made the event even more colorful. And the play-by-play announcers are legendary--Dick Enberg, Dave O'Brien, Dick Stockton, Tim Brando and my favorite, Jim Thacker who worked for the great C. D. Chesley and Jefferson Pilot Sports.

       Those coaches who have been involved since the start of the intensification of the games in the 1950's are among the giants of the sport. Carolina first had Frank McGuire and his New York pipeline of players, succeeded by Kansan Dean Smith, once the winningest coach at the highest level of play, followed by his longtime assistant Bill Guthridge and then eventually procuring another aide, Roy Williams, a national championship coach at the University of Kansas, itself an epic locale in college basketball . At Duke, Vic Bubas and then Mike Krzyzewski, now the winningest coach who has won Olympic Gold and who is either revered or hated.

        Then the players themselves were of the highest caliber. Michael Jordan. Christian Laettner, Kyrie Irving. Charlie Scott. Phil Ford. James Worthy. Art Heyman. Len Chappell. J.J. Redick. Grant Hill. Charlie Scott, Bobby Hurley. Royalty. Epic players on a big stage.

        Tonight at 9:00 another chapter in the long-storied battles waged by the two very different champions of NCAA Basketball begins. Although it is merely a regular season Atlantic Coast Conference clash, don't tell that to those animated, agitated and seated in the blue of the Smith Center with the millions watching. I will be enjoying it all, now in High-Definition TV, a far cry from Thacker-Packer intonations  in black and white back in my childhood home of Highland Park.

       You can say your rivalry for your school is the best. I cannot disagree. For me, it is Duke-Carolina with rapt attention. Hands down.

     

                                                    The GOLDEN Super Bowl

         The game is in the record books. Denver, behind a stout defense and just enough offense, throttled the vaunted Carolina Panthers and MVP Cam Newton. Peyton Manning won his second Super Bowl. We can stop questioning how good he is given all of his achievements in the pantheon of  NFl quarterbacks.

         Of course the experts dissected the outcome and its myriad of reasons why things turned out the way they did. Thee are as many divergent theories as to why Carolina lost the game as Denver won the game. Then again, we have wildly speculative ideas of alien life on Earth, who should be the 2016 G.O.P. Presidential candidate and who shot JFK.

         The National Football League will tell you that it is all about the game. Yes, it is a championship for the league title, and in this instance, the two top teams in their respective conferences faced each other. So the NFL got that right.

         What the NFL continues to get right is the command that they have over the American conscience through the continued efforts to market a football game into a part of Americana. Let's face it--the Super Bowl is marketing bonanza; pretty unique in that it is simply a football game.

         Last time I looked, despite their ties to the United Way charity and community charitable events, the NFL is a big time money-making conglomerate with tax-exempt status. The Super Bowl is their ultimate merchandising/marketing spectacle, for which nearly half the TV sets in this country are tuned into.

         From a simple game there became extravagant halftime shows lasting now 30 minutes and starring the greatest names in current musical entertainment. No wonder more sets were on the show than the game, even if it was a mere one percentage point more. Each airing network ties new or unique events after the game to rope in more viewers and therefore higher advertising revenues. Considering the rights packages they negotiated with the NFL requires them to make back every last cent and then some while still enriching the League's coffers. Equitable distribution at its finest.

         Speaking of advertising revenue, the Super Bowl is the greatest single money maker for a network for a one day event. Advertisers pay exorbitant fees to market their products, using niches and gags to captivate the audience who hungers for the ad spots more than the game itself. Sorry PuppyMonkeyBaby.

         This parade of commercials is tied to nearly 6 hours of pre-game hype and hysteria leading up to the actual start of the game.  The 30 second airings during the game are even more costly in the hopes that they are memorable enough to sell the desired product.

         We, the American people, susceptible to the NFL's clamor for us to focus on this extravaganza, have mad this event a party date akin to New Year' Eve. The money spent on parties is enormous and has a surreal impact on the local economies.

          Let us not lose sight of who reaps the largest benefits of the game itself first and foremost--the NFL. The players are handsomely compensated to begin with--do I see any tears really shed for Cam Newton despite his subpar performance and post-game childish behavior?  Then there is the licensing aspect--the NFL licenses EVERYTHING. Apparel. Cars, Drinks. The League's haul is gigantic.

          So who loses out here? The hosting municipalities are losers because, in order to get the game, they cede almost all their rights and not adequately repaired for the honor of being the venue. In this instance Santa Clara, California might lose a lot of money in time spent dealing with this spectacle, but the NFL even opted to market this as the San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl, headquartering much of its weeklong festivities in San Francisco, which is good distance away from Levi's Stadium. Take that Santa Clara.

         But most of all, it is the fan who loses the most concerning a Super Bowl. The cost of a ticket is stratospheric. Add in the cost of a hotel, plane flight, car, food, etc. and the savings of many people can be shredded.  The NFL gets richer while you get poorer. I wonder how Bernie Sanders feels about that?

         Did I not watch the game? Of course not. Did I go to a party? Nope. Nor did I rush out today and buy a car, eat a Snickers or want to get fuzzy with a marmot. I sat in my cozy den with my wife and took it all in, starting at the late hour of 5:45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  Satisfied that I did not submit to lure of the NFL any more than I had to, notwithstanding that I pay a goodly sum annually for New York Jets tickets and have little to show in the way of a return for my investment in terms of Super Bowl appearances let alone victories..

         For the record, I have seen better games. The halftime show was bad. Only a few commercials were noteworthy. Colbert was not worth staying up for. Peyton can have his Budweisers (another bit of self-promotion by the master player sales person) for we do live on the same planet yet not in the same realm.

         Now all I have to get through is the New Hampshire primaries tomorrow night. Cynically I wonder what is at stake there for the NFL and the networks...

Athletes and Surgery

                                                             
                                                          Athletes and Surgery

        By no means am I anything more now than a Weekend Warrior with an obsession to stay in shape. All the years of training, running, weightlifting, throwing, serving, swinging a bat or tennis racquet, swimming, etc. have had there profound effect on my body. Which is why on January 20 once more I will be taking that lonely, glasses off walk down a corridor of a surgical center in a hospital gown and an IV in my left hand.

        This time it is to repair my clavicle which has bothered me from the earlier 2015 surgery on my shoulder. This will be shoulder procedure number four. I have my knees (twice); both ankles; and a hernia; the result of a lurid attempt to hit an overhead smash in a tennis match. Orthopedic surgeons must love me.

        One thing for certain--we live in a time when these kind of surgeries have become commonplace and they return all levels of athletes to their chosen sports. And that is exactly what I am shooting for. A return to normalcy. To run again. Swim laps. Play tennis. Lift weights. All pain free other than the accumulation of years of abuse resulting in arthritis which I don't yet have but can anticipate.

        As much as I marvel what arthroscopic surgery has done for me, I think of the magic of the surgeries which bring professional athletes or those who want to be highly competitive athletes from the sidelines to the games. How they are even able to come back within a season is amazing.

        In baseball, one need not look any further than the surgery for a blown out elbow, aptly named Tommy John surgery for the left-handed pitcher who had a second, highly successful career when Dr. James Andrews determined that taking a tendon from the leg and transferring it to the elbow to replace an damaged ulnar collateral ligament with sufficient time to heal would allow a pitcher to once more pitch at a high level. The fact that both John and Andrews are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame is a flat out travesty. It seems that a significant number of elite pitchers now playing in the majors have had Tommy John surgery.

        How many times have I heard of players who tear their meniscus in some manner in the knee, only to be back competing in two weeks time post-surgery? Or that when the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL. is torn after a vicious tackle or a bad cut by a football player running at full speed, that they are back in a year after extensive rehabilitation from a reconstruction surgery similar to Tommy John surgery but this time in the knee? Abdominal tears and sports hernias are now effectively diagnosed and surgically treated, too.

        Let's not forget the physical therapists too. They toil in relative anonymity but they are critical to insuring that athletes at all levels of play can play safe and sound after their operations. PT's are unsung heroes in the realm of orthopedic surgery.

        Today arthroscopic surgery is the least invasive norm. I wish that a great player like Mickey Mantle had access to that type of surgery. He might have lasted longer (notwithstanding his rampant alcohol abuse) and hit more home runs and played center field that much more. Unfortunately he was ahead of his time--however, not in a good way.

        Doctors and athletes are now inexorably intertwined. Without advances in medical science I dare say that a sport like baseball would be still a lot like the way the game was played nearly 50 years ago.

        Absent these surgeries, I would not be dreaming of a pain-free swim or hitting a tennis ball at age 65. While I will not be under an arthroscope this time,  I will take that knowledge with me when I make that all-too-familiar trek to the cold surgery suite with the hope and promise that I will be back playing the sports I love based on the knowledge and techniques of modern medical science.

The Sports Conundrum

                                    The Sports Conundrum

       Here it is--just past mid-January and I am a tired sports fan.

       I have just watched 8 NFL playoff games, some of them with tremendous finishes that defy description (See Seattle-Minnesota, Pittsburgh-Cincinnati and Green Bay-Arizona).

       This is the midst of the college basketball season. Conference games abound. They are available on ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN News, BTN, FS 1 & 2 and sometimes on YES and SNY in a seemingly non-stop merry-go-round of compelling (and not so compelling) match ups. Plus there are a slew of women's games telecast notwithstanding UConn's seemingly unending dominance of its sport. I am even compelled on occasion to watch my alma mater, Franklin and Marshall play, telecast on the computer.

       Moreover, there is the NBA in full swing. There is the march of the Golden State Warriors to try and unseat the Chicago Bulls as the winningest regular season team. Add in the Cleveland Cavaliers with Le Bron James and the San Antonio Spurs playing exceptional ball under the radar from the Warriors. Plus checking out the locals--the improved and playoff hopeful Knicks and the woeful Nets. That's another full slate.

       So, too is the NHL in the midst of its season. The three local teams--the Rangers, Islanders and Devils are all making heavy playoff pushes.

       All of this comes after the exhausting bowl season has ended and the college football championship was decided in robust fashion, anointing Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide (again). And the New Year's Day NHL Stadium Series with Original Six rivals Montreal and Boston meeting before a sellout crowd in the New England Patriots home in Foxborough,,MA. And on the heels of the conclusion of the NFL regular season which saw my New York Jets lose to the Buffalo Bills coached by their former leader, Rex Ryan on the final Sunday of the season in early January.

      Which has led to a carousel of changes in head coaches, including the New York Giants removing Tom Coughlin and replacing him with offensive coordinator Ben Mc Adoo while Coughlin engaged the Philadelphia Eagles in talks to become their head coach, an opening created when the Eagles fired Chip Kelly who resurfaced as the new head in San Francisco with the 49'ers. And Rutgers football has a new man at the top--Chris Ash, the former defensive coordinator at national powerhouse Ohio State--whose machinations are chronicled locally on the sports pages.

       Not to be denied, baseball, while in its off season and about a month away from the start of spring training in Florida and Arizona, has grabbed headlines with the Hall of Fame announcements and free agent and arbitration signings.

      It does not get any better as the NHL, NBA and college basketball seasons come to their ends with playoffs, tournaments and March Madness to crown an NCAA champion. Only to have baseball join in with its start of the 162 game slate televised in its entirety locally and with a whole lot of ESPN, TBS and FOX/FS telecasts. The NFL will have its draft and then signings, trades and free agency.

      Oh, did I forget that the Australian Open has started for men's and women's tennis, with a short hiatus in Grand Slam events until the French Open in May?

      Mercifully, I only have a partial season ticket to Rutgers men's basketball and I attend a hockey game or two in Newark (although I am doing a bucket list trip to see the Devils play the Maple Leafs in Toronto) and I go once or twice to see the Yankees on Senior Citizen days when the prices are vastly reduced. I do add to the stress by my obsession to see a game in every MLB locale and that I do have Jets season tickets of which I get to usually 2 games a year. Could I help it that I am curiously going to see top ten-ranked Rutgers wrestle against Michigan? Or drive to Piscataway to see RU play Big Ten baseball in the spring sitting in my lawn chair beyond the outfield fence? Factor in my slavish devotion on a daily basis to ESPN's Pardon The Interruption and savants Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon formerly of the Washington Post  sports pages.

       Lest we forget the PGA and the Masters in April and the Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing commences in May. It is also an Olympic year.

      Which is why, in the end, a good book, a fun movie, an enjoyable TV series or three, a fine dinner or even cleaning the house and many a nap is a necessary respite from the TV sports carnage we are exposed to.

      Just think if I had any interest in boxing, bowling, Alpine and Nordic sports, the MMA or WWE or the Kardashians...

     

                                                        National Championship Hysteria

          The bowl season has been in full swing. Innumerable games before very empty stadiums. To promote tourism. To enrich the coffers of the groups sponsoring or owning the rights to the games themselves. Fueled nicely via corporate sponsors and the almighty television revenue. So that the winner can crow about being a victor at a mediocre 7-6 while some teams actually have losing records before the contest and then lose again? At least classes are, for the most part not impacted, unless of course you look into the early bowls where I guess the student-athletes on scholarship have enough academic moxie and intellectual fortitude to weather practicing and playing during final exams.

          These are some of the reasons why I have hardly watched any bowls during the current season. But now we are in the heart of the bowl frenzy, where the traditional "big" bowls with the really good teams are playing. New Year's Day used to be the sine qua non regarding bowl games. If you played in the Orange, Cotton, Sugar or Rose Bowl, you had made it to the great stage, representing your conference and your alma mater. Then it would be up to a bunch of writers or some coaches who used Sports Information Directors to vote for them and arbitrarily select a National Champion.

          This unscientific method morphed into much more as conferences expanded and the number of bowl games with their monetary payouts correspondingly increased. In many instances the money, whether shared withing the conference or disproportionately given to the bowl team itself, was the ingredient needed to put a bloated athletic budget into the black for another year.

          Thus, from multiple perspectives, bowl games were a veritable cash cow for those who reaped the benefits. At least at the higher level bowls. Many other programs floundered in the red going to a low to mid-level bowl for the status that it derived to loyal patron alumni and to the recruits who are needed every year to sate the thirst for success.

          Make absolutely no mistake--college football, and to some extent, college basketball is big business. With the resultant clamor over having a true national champion rather than a mythical one, yet keeping the enhanced bowl structure in place so that more than half of the Football Bowl Subdivision membership is active in December and January in a dome or a "warmer" weather site, there appeared to be a windfall of immense proportions out there.

          A National Championship playoff. It would settle all of the debates on the field. Once and for all. And with the networks blessing, everyone would get far richer.

          With much fanfare and a lot of negotiations among the "power" conferences who dominate the landscape of big time football and led to the flurry of conference realignments and additions, a committee was developed to use a formula and vote, at meaningful periods leading up to the designation of four teams worthy of playing for the title.

          So we have the playoffs. Rotating among the bigger bowls to satiate their desire to continue to host really important games, here we are this New year's Eve with two National semi-final games.

         What do I think of all of this? I think it is contrived and the whole bowl system is contrived. Sure, the Committee ranks teams below the top four so as to "fairly" stock the other games. Big deal. Those games are all show and have very little meaning other than aesthetically and, of course, financially.

         I look at the systems in place for The Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II and III along with every other sport that the NCAA sponsors. They work just fine. I still don't understand, absent my jaundiced view that the present bowl structure requires its red meat to sustain itself, why we, as fans continue to pander to this fraudulent way of reaching a winner.

        It would be far better to drop the number of games played by FBS teams to permit 16 teams to participate in a true National Championship. Without a committee using formulas to make their picks for the Final Four. That Committee, if still in existence, could rank the Top 16 teams for the Championship and THEN rate the teams accordingly from whatever sources or tie ins that have been negotiated so that the games can be continued.If the lower bowls needed to be perpetuated, they could still utilize teams that did not win or finish second in their conference. Should a couple of the lesser bowls fall to the wayside, it would still be a far better tournament and reward for those schools who truly merit another game or games to proudly reach a worthy conclusion to their seasons.

        Until then, I guess that I am stuck watching the games tonight when I get back from dinner. Maybe the Final will be captivating. Not quite as meaningful as the NCAA basketball tournament or any other championship. It's certainly not the Super Bowl either. Tell that to the fans, players and media. I wish them well in this charade.

       Cha-ching.



       

The Admiral & Steph

                                                       The Admiral and Steph

         I am in awe of what Stephen Curry does on an NBA court.

         I was in awe of what Stephen Curry did his last season at Davidson College.

         I was in awe of what David Robinson did on an NBA court.

        So, too was I in awe of what he accomplished in his last year at the United State Naval Academy.

        Let's start with the obvious--Curry is a 6'3" guard. Robinson was a 6'8" center/forward. They play different positions on a basketball court. Robinson had a Hall of Fame career. Curry is in the nascent portion of his career as he seems to be ascending to the Hall of Fame.

        Both men were big time scorers in the NBA. Robinson led the league in scoring for the San Antonion Spurs without taking a lot of 3 point shots, playing against some of the best big men the pro game has ever seen. Curry, with his acrobatic game as the Golden State Warriors point guard, seems to effortlessly drain 3 point shot after 3 point shot.

       Each one has won an NBA title--Robinson won 2. Robinson had a complimentary player who he mentored--a big man. Tim Duncan has nicely carved out a place in NBA history on his own but in Robinson's last season in San Antonio they combined to win an NBA title. Curry won last season with the help of fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson, a scoring machine, and Draymond Green, who can pass, rebound, score and defend within a big man's body.

      What made me think of each one was the mercurial rise each had in college. Robinson attended the Naval Academy and was granted special dispensation to continue there because of his height exceeding the Academy's limit of 6'6".  He was an All-American and player of the year in many circles. What he did was merely lead Navy, with its cadre of undistinguished but gritty players, to the East Region finals.

      Curry went to Davidson College outside of Charlotte where he grew up because all the major college programs deemed him too short and too slight. This was notwithstanding that his father, Dell Curry, had a fabulous career in the NBA, and he left the Charlotte Hornets as their all-time leading scorer. Steph Curry had a chip on his shoulder during his time at Davidson. He led them to 2 Southern Conference championships, 2 NCAA berths and some improbable wins and was an NCAA scoring leader before leaving after his junior year for the NBA.

      Immediately Robinson and Curry began to dominate the NBA upon their arrivals. It took Robinson, nicknamed "The Admiral" due to his tenacious play, a couple of years to win his first NBA title. Curry notched his first NBA title in his second year after improving his exceptional game even more. Robinson won a scoring title in 1994; Curry appears to be well on his way to winning the scoring title for 2015-16.

       Robinson's NBA resume is an impressive body of work accumulated over a 15 year career. 10 time All-Star, Olympian, NBA All-Defensive team multiple times, Most Valuable Player in 1995 and a member of the 50 greatest player squad for the NBA.

       Curry has a formidable start to his career. It is easy to predict that many of the accolades which Robinson garnered during his tenure with the Spurs will be attained by Curry although Robinson was ultimately to reach 7'1" in height while Curry will come no where near that. That, of course, does not make him any less the player that Robinson became.

       In one game for San Antonio, Robinson, a consummate team player, scored 71 points. Given his uncanny shooting and dribbling acumen, who would doubt that Curry could reach or surpass that amount in one game.

       David Robinson left a legacy in San Antonio and has become a cherished member of the community for the Academy he opened. Stephen Curry is young but has spoken up about gun violence and is a doting father of 2. Because he left Davidson after his junior year, he did not graduate and his number will not be retired by the College until he does so. If Curry, whose parents are solid role models themselves, is the person I think he is, he will eventually graduate from Davidson and establish a foundation to serve people better either in his home state of North Carolina or in the San Francisco Bay area.

       Two different players from two different eras. Veritable giants on the court and perhaps off the court as well, notwithstanding their physical differences. Both put their imprint on the NBA  with roots from small schools that no none could ever have thought could beat the big boys of the NCAA.

       Here's rooting for them today to continue their successes. What's not to like about them?