Hoops, There It Is.

     This was a basketball junkie's hoops heaven weekend. The Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament has been paired down to the Final Four on the Men's side and the Women will have decided their semifinalists Monday night. The Warriors hosted Atlanta on Friday night, welcoming back Steph Curry from his ankle injury; they hosted the Jazz on Sunday night.

     I watched many of these games and the surprising outcomes. As it has been repeated--this is why they play the games. More on that later.

     We found ourselves in Philadelphia Saturday, attending the early evening (6:00) start between two playoff hungry teams. The Philadelphia 76'ers hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves in a clash of young and hungry squads. Given the hour of the day, a youthful, boisterous crowd was in attendance inside the Wells Fargo Center, a beautiful edifice in the same South Philadelphia location as its predecessors, the Spectrum and the Wachovia Center.

     After a fun parking job on South Chadwick Street, a narrow roadway surrounded by seemingly unending row houses of the same design, we hung out with my cousin's son and his girlfriend and their wonderful rescue pitbull mix dog. Then we did what South Philly residents and Jews do alike--we headed to Passyunk Avenue for Italian food, which constituted salad, epicurean pizza and beer. And in a nod to the day it was--National Cheesesteak Day--we indulged in cheesesteak egg rolls. How could we not--we were in the city of cheesesteaks. They were delicious.

     We survived our first Uber trip in a car that had a cracked windshield and with a driver who blatantly ran a red light on South Broad Street, leaving us off on Pattison Avenue to the honks of angry motorists behind him. As we approached the building, the first door was a mob scene and we were near game time. However, the next door over was relatively easy to enter.  Such is a classic scenario at sporting venues--the cattle-like slow movement towards one entrance, funneling in a torturous progression, even if an alternate gate is open.

     My last visit to a Philadelphia arena was to the late, lamented Spectrum. Shaped like a hockey rink, and with a capacity of 17,007 for Flyers' hockey which swelled to one 18,000 for Sixers' games, it was a loud place with narrow corridors with some windows to the outside and the bathrooms were small and dirty. Long, grumbling lines of men and women could not easily relieve themselves of  Schmidt's beer.  Such fond memories of the 5 games I saw the Sixers, driving almost 2 hours each way from Highland Park and West Orange, to the grungy area around the Philadelphia Navy Yard inhabited by Veterans Stadium, the home of the Eagles and the Phillies, and JFK Stadium, the 100,000 seat relic that was host to the annual Army-Navy football game.

     Contrast the area now with two stadiums replacing the cookie cutter/artificial turf monstrosity that the Vet was. Citizens Bank Park and Lincoln Financial Field (The Linc) are two beautiful stadiums rising up amongst the parking lots which surrounds the complex.  Philadelphians take their sports seriously, which is why there is big sign on the stands at the North end of The Linc proudly proclaiming for all of the world flying into Philadelphia or driving on I-95 or in the area that the beloved Eagles won Super Bowl LII.

     As much as Citizens Bank Park is a modern red brick throwback stadium and The Linc is a huge NFL stadium, Wells Fargo Center contrasts the other two with its gleaming white and glass outside. As much as it gives the true appearance of a large indoor arena from the outside, the opulence of the building inside makes it a very attractive venue. The corridors are wide and the escalators are fast; the bathrooms are large and clean; the signage is appropriate for commercial opportunity as well as the banners hanging from the rafters commemorating Sixers' and Flyers' greats and championship teams, as well as Villanova's National Championship (the Wildcats play a portion of their schedule in Wells Fargo Center). There also are banners for consecutive sold out concerts by Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Pearl Jam. Plus Bon Jovi's Philadelphia Fury Arena Football League championship twin banners are readily visible.

     The scoreboards display all of the vital information and replays are aplenty. The entertainment is constant and geared to a younger demographic. I especially liked the Liberty Bell replica which a celebrity rings to start the Sixers' introductions; Eagles' WR Alshon Jeffrey received a thunderous ovation when announced.

     The place is still loud. But unlike other visits to see the Sixers, there weren't very many boos. That is because the Sixers, wearing '70's throwback uniforms, beat up a tired Minnesota Timberwolves team which had struggled the night before to beat the Knicks in New York and was missing star Jimmy Butler.

     These are two playoff-type teams, full of young talent, and led by 2 very astute coaches. Karl-Anthony Townes, from New Jersey, hits couple of 3 point shots early on to keep Minnesota even with the Sixers. But he developed foul problems which sent him to the bench. His counterpart at the center position, Joel Embiid, outperformed Townes and the entire T-Wolves team. With a bevy of 3 pointers, good defense and rebounds, complemented by the outstanding point guard play from 6' 10" rookie Ben Simmons, the Sixers made the game into a rout--until the Sixers reserves were throughly outplayed by the T-Wolves reserves, which required Simmons, Embiid and some of the other starters to come back in with a little over two minutes left to go to settle things down and preserve the win.

     We left with the spectators who remained to the end, to the streets and to the Broad Street Subway. Once a dirty, unsafe and squalid place, it has been cleaned up and is a fashionable way for the many young men and women to travel back to Center City or to catch a train at the 30th Street Station to ride back to the suburbs. All fitting with the image which Philadelphia wants to project--a safe, fun city for all to enjoy.

     Which I cannot deny. Old neighborhoods are being transformed into retrofitted homes which are pricey without losing the charm of the surroundings. Like other rising cities, the return to the city by young people has started to boom in Philadelphia.

     Thus it is fitting that the rise of the Eagles, Flyers and Sixers mirrors the image of the area. The Phillies will soon join its brethren, making Philadelphia a residential and sports mecca.

     As to the Sixers, they have an opportunity to reach as high as third in the Eastern Conference. I believe the pundits who say that the Eastern Conference is weaker than the Western Conference. I also look at the Toronto Raptors and think that if they reach the NBA Finals, they can give a real test to whomever emerges from the West. I expect that the inexperience of the Sixers will show in the playoffs and they could lose in any given round, but their future is as bright and shiny as the Wells Fargo Center.

     Given the amount of fun we had on Saturday night, the NCAA's almost seemed secondary. Villanova and Kansas, both #1 seeds, made the Final Four. Kansas had to go an extra 5:00 to defeat #2 seed Duke, who lost the game in overtime when they should have won it in regulation. Questionable officiating also hurt Duke.

     The two blue bloods were joined by #3 seed Michigan. Benefactors of a last second shot to get them to the Sweet Sixteen, Michigan put up 99 points in their first game on Thursday, then managed to hold off upstart Florida State on Saturday. Former Williams College D-III All American and National Champion Duncan Robinson seals the win with two clutch foul shots. I am willing to bet that there aren't very many who have won National Championships at the DI and DIII levels. Should the Wolverines win in Saturday's semi-final and prevail over Villanova or Kansas, Robinson's story would be truly unique.

     Then there is the uninvited guest to the Final Four. The Loyola of Chicago Ramblers, winners the Missouri Valley Conference, having lost only four times during the season, have used the support of 98 year old Sister Jean plus some pressure defense and a whole lot of luck to make it to San Antonio, the site of the Final Four. It would be the unlikeliest story for an #11 seed to make it to the final contest should they take down Michigan. But with the many surprise outcomes this year, can we really be the shocked?

     I felt a little bit better knowing that Stephon Curry was returning to the Golden State lineup on Friday night. His return sparked the listless Warriors, missing three All-Stars--Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. After a rough start, going 1 for 6 from the field, Steph righted himself to end up shooting 10 for 18 for 29 points in leading the Warriors to a win over the Atlanta Hawks.

     Except that teammate JaVale Mc Gee rolled into Steph's knee in the third quarter. Saturday's MRI disclosed a Grade 2 MCL sprain. It appears that Curry will miss the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

     Is that devastating for the Warriors' chances to repeat as champs? Not necessarily. In order of importance, the Warriors need a healthy Durant, Thompson healed from the broken thumb on his shooting hand and Green fully ready and able to compete at his hyper speed best.

     Yes, Curry is special. But for Curry to do it without the supporting cast I have mentioned--they stand no chance to win it all. And this takes into account that Curry comes back and is instantly his unstoppable self. Which would be something else considering Curry's late season maladies.

     Teams like Houston, who will now wrap up the top seed in the Western Conference, Utah, easy winners Sunday night over the injured Warriors team, torrid Portland, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Minnesota and even New Orleans are capable of defeating Golden State. I didn't think the Warriors were going to win it all before this spate of injuries and now I am more convinced than ever that they are not going to repeat. What they have accomplished over the past three years is proof of a great team. I feel badly that their run is going to end this way.

     Finally, UConn's women's team defeated defending champ South Carolina Monday night for a Final Four berth. I root for UConn to win--I think that as long as Geno Auriemma remains as their coach, I want them to be dominant. I liked Red Auerbach in Boston, John Wooden at UCLA and Phil Jackson with the Bulls and Lakers. Superior coaches who took the best talent and had the wherewith all to form teams that could win championships. Auriemma falls into that legendary category.

     With the onset of the baseball season upon us, and Yankees' first baseman Greg Byrd again going under the knife, using the same surgeon who extracted a benign tumor from my left ankle at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Still, we all have one more weekend of college basketball ahead and some rugged NBA Playoffs starting in mid-April. By then, my heart and mind will be on baseball.

     At least my thirst for one more basketball game to attend has been quenched. I just hope that someday my cousin's son contacts the Sixers' management to correct the grammatical flaw in this closing remark from the P.A. announcer--"Thank You and drive home safe!"

     While I share his pain, this is what Philadelphians accept when they see their teams play. They have seen too many disasters along the way. Or, with my apologies,  this article had to be entitled "Hoops, There It Is."
 

The Basketball Gods Are Angry

     I had completed an entire dissection of the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.  I had done a thorough examination of the loss by #1 Virginia to #16 UMBC, the first time since the Tournament expanded to 64 teams.  I had examined the Power 5 conferences plus the Big East and their bids, noting that only 23 teams of 37 slots made it into the Round of 32. Some were grossly overrated--Arizona, Wichita State and, of course, UVA. I felt that the lack of Power 5 schools being placed no lower than an 11th seed was an injustice to the mid-major schools like Buffalo and Marshall. This created a true lack of competitive balance.

     I also observed how Ryan Odom, the UMBC coach, out coached his rival and had picked up a nice $17,500 in bonus money for winning the America East Tournament and picking up a victory in the NCAA's. The new flavor of the moment in coaching vacancies is Ryan Odom. UMBC surely was no #16 seed; UVA was a true #1 seed who faced a team that should have been seeded about 8 or 9.

     Seemingly the only seeds that the Committee had right involved the Big Ten after the first round as they went 4 for 4. The ACC and the SEC did not go unscathed but performed better than the Big 12 and the flop of the Tournament, the Pac 12, which failed to send a team to the second round.

     I wanted to know when there would be justice for the smaller schools who are constantly forced to play the big boys at the latter's home court, a decided disadvantage, or be shunned completely by the Power 5 and big East so as to not hurt their precious R.P.I. (Ratings Percentage Index), an analytic used by the Committee to assess the worthiness of a team to gain entry into the Tournament.  It is simple logic that if you can't play top competition, which includes the strength of schedule inherent in a Power 5 or Big East conference, then your R.P.I. won't be enhanced.

     Then I shifted gears to the plight of the Golden State Warriors. Their four All Stars are either unable to play due to injuries: Steph Curry (ankle); Klay Thompson (Broken R thumb); and Kevin Durant (cracked ribs). Draymond Green is playing despite a sore shoulder. As a result the Warriors have lost three straight contests. Plus forward Omri Casspi hurt his ankle in a loss to Sacramento on Friday night.

     Given the grueling NBA regular season schedule, the fact that the Warriors had played in three straight NBA Finals while winning two, which has amounted to nearly a full season's worth of playoff games, makes injury and fatigue more likely. It is happening to the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers, who are winning less frequently. With the plethora of very good teams in the NBA's Western Conference, it is very unlikely that Golden State would win back-to-back titles even  if they were to survive that gauntlet, to face the best team in the Eastern Conference in the Finals.

     There are only 17 games left in the regular season. It is doubtful that the Warriors would get the stars healthy and ready to withstand the playoff grind. What they have accomplished over the past 4 years is nothing short of remarkable. Besides winning the two titles, they set the all-time record for wins in a season. Curry became a household name. Other teams gear up for the warriors as if they were playing a playoff game. Night after night intensity. And they continued to win. Amazing.

     That's where the blog ended. My computer ate my entire draft. I had been sloppy and not saved the  words I had committed to paper. I had seen a warning sign when a blue light started to eat my typing. Stubbornly I had persisted until I looked up from the keyboard to see no more typed page.

     I frantically went searching everywhere for my text. Alas, the dog had really eaten my homework. My 12 year old Dell computer had consumed my blog.

     There is nobody to blame but me. I had tried to avoid using my new Apple laptop for 2 months. Perhaps out of fear, but more because I was comfortable typing in the solitude of the Man Cave (our converted cellar) and I had unreasonably put the fear of a repeat ingestion of my work in the recesses of my cluttered 67 year old mind.

     My modestly large male ego was wounded. It is bad enough that Toby is trailing me by 1 point in our NCAA Tournament contest, and I picked UVA to win it all. Losing the blog today when I had entrusted hours of work and research, all for naught, was reckless and cavalier.

     So here I am, pride shot to hell, typing the revised edition on this shiny new Apple. I am still unaware of all its bells and whistles (we had put off scheduling beginners classes) and I hope that I can make it through the end of this blog, save it, and properly load it onto Facebook and emails for my faithful readers.

     My mea culpa is to you. I blew it with my impertinence when it came to creating a blog. That will be no more.

     So if this blog makes it to you, I sincerely apologize for not giving the in depth analysis that I have developed in my own style during the nearly 3 1/2 years RetiredLawyerSportsOp has existed. From now on, RLSO will come exclusively from my laptop. I will periodically save my writing. I will sublimate my ego--okay, maybe not too much except when it comes to technical computer issues. And we will enroll in computer classes to learn how to operate this modern technological advance, thereby escaping the dinosaur world of the Dell desktop.

     It is March 17. St. Patrick's Day. Perhaps a leprechaun got involved. Or maybe because last week I missed the Selection Show for the first time in ages, the Basketball Gods got even with me by destroying my blog, my bracket, the Warriors and having the UConn women score 94 points in the first half in their NCAA opening round game.

     I have begun my penance. I hope that there will not be any more retribution. I have started to remunerate.

     I cannot afford any repeat of this terrible episode in my fledgling writing career. After all, in two weeks, the baseball season starts. Then I can settle into a more serious mode.

Tuesday musings

     Apologies to my readers, but the response by JCP&L to the previous Nor'Easter proved to be the downfall to a posting this past weekend. Governor Murphy sure isn't happy with JCP&L. We escaped the cold of the house (49 degrees overnight Thursday to Friday) by prudently driving to Pittsburgh to visit our daughter. We encountered snow showers en route and cold on Friday, morphing into nice cool, sunny days on Saturday and Sunday. And we stayed in a Homewood Suites room which felt much warmer than the last time we were in the house. The one plus to the cold weather and sleeping under three comforters and several layers of cold was that I had two great night of sleep. Now I appreciate what a 3 Dog Night really is.

     So now with our power fully restored and no noticeable damage to the interior of the house, I am free to delve into sports from this past week. The first full week of March always delivers a powerful lineup of events to choose from.

     I missed the Warriors beating the Spurs on Thursday night. I also missed the Warriors losing big for a second time to Portland on Friday night and to the Timberwolves in Minneapolis in a closer battle on Sunday. The defending champs were in the midst of playing 4 games in 6 nights. All-Star guard Steph Curry once more tweaked an ankle, which doesn't help when Golden State is playing so many games on short rest. More importantly, Curry has to get better fast--the NBA is in the throes of the stretch run towards to the NBA Playoffs.

     The seemingly unstoppable Houston Rockets lost a game!! Not to a bad team, but to the Eastern Conference leaders, the Toronto Raptors, in Toronto. I think a team like Toronto is underrated and can create problems for a Western Conference team like Houston or Golden State should they meet in the NBA Finals.

     My attention was on Franklin and Marshall College playing Friday at Ramapo College in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament. F&M had made it through the first two rounds by defeating Emory & Henry and Christopher Newport on their home court. F&M had been ranked in the top 25 for much of the season, but Ramapo had consistently been in the top 20. F&M played hard, but shot poorly. The Diplomats were within 2 at 62-60 with 1:54 left in the game. The game was decided by free throws, with the Roadrunners hitting 20 of 27, while F&M converted 9 of 12.

     Thus F&M ended the season with a 22-7 record. The guard duo of Matthew Tate and Brandon Federici played their last collegiate game.  Tate scored 24 points in the losing effort, while Federici added 14.

     I have followed the career of Federici since he was a freshman. With good reason. Federici leaves as the all-time leading scorer in the Centennial Conference and at F&M. He was first team All Conference all four years. He was the Centennial Conference Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year.

     Federici played four years at Colts Neck High School, where he was All-Monmouth County and All-Group 3 his senior season. A season ending groin injury which required surgery, shied Ivy League and other Division I suitors away. Even after a stellar post-graduate year at the Lawrenceville School, F&M remained the top pursuer.

     The Ivies loss was F&M's great gain. He has topped Georgio Milligan, who I thought was the best player ever at F&M. Federici's squads did not make a Final Four like two other F&M teams did. His impact on and off of the court was lasting. I will miss watching him in person or on the computer; he would launch a three point shot that would routinely be a dagger to the opponent.

     Whatever lies ahead for Federici, I hope he does it well. I wonder if he can go to a Division I school and play an extra year as a graduate student, permissible by NCAA rules. That would be fun to watch and might even make me miss a game or two on the computer.

     Then there was Tiger Woods. For at least a brief moment, Tiger was back. Finishing second at the Valspar Championship, Woods had a chance to tie on the 18th hole, but left a birdie put two feet short.

     When Woods started to make his run, the ratings on NBC took off. The golfing public misses Woods. No matter how talented the top tier of the PGA Tour is, Tiger Woods remains golf's polestar. He is mesmerizing. He is divisive. But he is one of the greatest athletes ever--when you think of him, you think of Michael Jordan in basketball, Roger Federer in tennis or Tom Brady in football. The best of the best.

     Having overcome personal demons and surgeries, Woods appears to be back to form. With the Masters looming ahead in April, perhaps he is ready to make a challenge. The Arnold Palmer Invitational is next up as Woods tries to play back-to-back tournaments for the first time in a long time. Plugged in as the favorite, the TV ratings will soar.

     Do I believe he is the Tiger Woods of old? Not really. He has to prove that he can maintain consistency and even win a tournament before I am convinced. I am not rooting against him. I just want more proof before I make that decision. Can you blame me?

     One casualty of the power outage was my missing the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday. I watched with fascination every March as the field is unveiled. I felt good for the bubble teams who made the tournament. I felt sad for those who were relegated to the N.I.T. as a consolation prize. Oh well, being on I-78 and wondering if the house was in one piece trumped the show, at least for this year.

     I have made my bracket, which is loaded with upsets. I have a Final Four of Virginia, Villanova, Michigan State and Michigan, with Virginia defeating Villanova for the championship.

     Do I question some of the selections for the tournament? Yes. Take Oklahoma for instance. Losers of 11 of the last 15. Yet they have star power in guard Trae Young, who seems destined to play next year in the NBA. Arch rival Oklahoma State was more deserving a bid into the tournament--and they didn't deserve to be in the Big Dance. But I am hypocritical, for I have the Sooners winning their first round match up with an under performing Rhode Island team.

     I thought Providence College deserved entry into the tournament based upon its performance in the Big East. I have liked Florida State since I saw them at the RAC in November when they handled Rutgers; they looked like a tournament team then. The four teams in the play in games--Arizona State, Syracuse, St. Bonaventure and UCLA are questionable invitees. I felt that St. Mary's, USC, Nebraska, Penn State, Western Kentucky and BYU had better resumes.

     Who am I to quibble? I am more concerned that my wife does not beat me in our 2nd Annual head-to-head bracket challenge. After all, I write a blog. She faithfully reads it. My ego is at stake. Let the madness begin.

     Speaking one more time about basketball, I noticed that for the four public high school groups, all of the winners came from Central and South Jersey. Woodbury, Haddonfield, Nottingham and Shawnee. Are they the best in the State? Roselle Catholic and Don Bosco Prep are the Parochial winners and Roselle Catholic is nationally-ranked. It is nice to see that the non-North Jersey teams play some very sound basketball.

     In hockey, I see that the Las Vegas Golden Knights are still playing well overall, but they have been surpassed by the surging Nashville Predators, last year's Western Conference Stanley Cup finalist. Also, right on the heels of Vegas are the Winnipeg Jets. Finishing second or third in a very competitive conference is still remarkable for an expansion team. I just don't see them doing well in the playoffs.

     Football free agency has begun. The jockeying for ex-Washington Redskins' QB Kirk Cousins has started and ended in Minnesota. The amount of money he will eventually receive--a fully guaranteed $84 million over 3 years--is obscene. He is no Drew Brees of New Orleans, who just signed a 2 year $50 million deal. Brees is a Hall of Fame QB. Since his Redskins' teams have not had that much success, I wonder what the Cousins hullabaloo is about. The New York Jets had him in their sights; I wonder if he even had them in his sights? Besides, would the Jets be better off finding a QB of the future to groom, like Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Rams have done? This is a draft with 3-4 solid QB available. Good luck to Cousins and the Vikings; that is a staggering investment. Which makes the Jets' re-signing of Josh Mc Cown and then the offer of a contract to the injury-riddled Teddy Bridgewater to be their 2018 QB's even more puzzling.

     Moving on to tennis. Venus Williams beat sister Serena in straight sets in the Round of 32 at Indian Wells. Serena is coming back from the difficult birth of her baby. The fact she is competitive at this juncture is amazing. To expect her to return to her prior dominance is almost unthinkable. It would make a remarkable story if she did.

     Then there is Yankees' news. Aaron Judge said he is likely to skip the Home Run Derby at the All Star Game in Washington. While he won't outright admit this, his shoulder injury which required surgery and led to his slump, was the result of his participation in the Derby. Judge wants to let teammates Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez win the crown. Smart thinking.

     GM Brian Cashman signed switch hitting 2B Neil Walker to a 1 year, 10 million dollar deal. The addition of Walker shores up the infield, allows the young talent to mature a bit more in the minors and makes an already potent lineup even fiercer. Provided that the pitching staff and the vaunted relief corps are sufficient, the Yankees have been projected to win between 97-100 games in 2018.

     Then there is one other X factor in the Yankees' future. Rookie Manager Aaron Boone is that unquantifiable factor. An event last week led me to be slightly concerned.

     Dellin Betances completed his pre-planned inning. The next pitcher slated to pitch was Adam Warren. Except no one called the bullpen to have Warren warm up. Betances was already in the clubhouse, half undressed when he was hurriedly told to get dressed and come out to pitch to start the next inning. He did and when Warren was warm, Betances was removed from the game.

     While that gaffe was funny in part, the problems attached to that are greater. Betances could have hurt himself. Warren too. All because of a rookie managerial communication mistake.

     Such mistakes come with inexperience. Boone may have great baseball blood lines, but he is coming directly from the ESPN booth to the role of manager of a contending team in the toughest media market. If this was a regular season game, he would have been severely second-guessed.

     It is best that this happened without incident and in spring training. But this event does raise the issue of how well prepared Aaron Boone is to be the Yankees' manager. Will he make costly errors which could lose winnable games or hurt players unnecessarily.?

     It may be snowing today. The season opens at the end of the month. Yankees fans should have a little trepidation as the team starts its quest for a 29th World Championship.

     At least I have other things to distract me until then. And we still do have power.
   

Priorities

     This was a very basketball-oriented week. The NCAA and its one year in college rule came under fire by NBA coaches and players like Le Bron James and Kevin Durant. The Big 10 Men's Basketball Tournament landed in Madison Square Garden, a week earlier than normal, a concession to the contractual right of the Big East Conference to hold their tournament at MSG in the week following the end of the regular season in March.  James Harden, Houston's M.V.P. candidate and leading scorer in the N.B.A., faked the Clippers' Wes Johnson off his feet and calmly sank a three point shot with almost a sneer. And not to be outdone, James pulled out a ridiculous move of his own in a loss to Philadelphia later in the week.

     So let's sort some things out and then end with some serious perspective. The continuing uproar over the alleged pay-to-play from nefarious sources to entice leading high school basketball players to a particular college is not something new. Instead, it has become so pervasive that its sordidness has finally oozed out into the public, with the expected outrage which followed.

     James and Durant both were correct--the system as it now stands is horribly broken and seems beyond repair. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, the governing body of college sports, is a toothless billion dollar empire, unready to really police the landscape when money, the driving force behind most everything is coveted by so many.

     I say the NCAA is toothless because it rarely imposes its will enough to make a difference and stop the cheating once and for all. When SMU received the "death penalty" for its behavior in recruiting football players and Penn State incurred the wrath of the NCAA over then Head Coach Joe Paterno when he allegedly looked the other way when Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky was abusing children, it managed to survive and get back into the game and, as Penn State has shown, with great success.

     Imposing sanctions against offending schools is the best that can be done. No one dares talk about expulsion, because the member schools know that they, too, are cheating in some form, whether it be in football, basketball or another sport.

     What the latest scandal has shown is that the cheating is rampant. This mentality is a byproduct of many factors and is historical in its nature. It is woven into the fabric of sports and includes the professional ranks, where getting an edge by any means is the norm--see the string of cheating established by the New England Patriots. Yet with all of the penalties imposed, they too rose to be successful in Super Bowl LI.

     And illegal gambling has always been in the shady underbelly of college basketball. The scandals of the 1950's took down players and teams from CCNY and LIU. In the 1970's, Boston College players shaved points off of their games at the behest of gamblers taking advantage of poor kids needing the money.

     Thus, to me, the problem is in the grass roots of sports. It starts when the players are mere boys. Scouts identify who is talented and  pluck from their communities to join other talent on traveling squads on the AAU circuit. Shoe companies sponsor the team and finance these bird dog coaches. Everybody is looking to find the next talent--the next Durant or James or Kobe Bryant--in exchange for financial reward.

     This is what the child and his parent(s) learn--that there is a money trail. And they want a piece of the pie. Look at the Ball family. The father yanked his two other sons from UCLA and high school to play overseas in a misguided attempt to cash in on fame and fortune and have them join their brother at the NBA level, preferably with the Los Angeles Lakers.

     Star players are recruited for high school teams. I find this to be abhorrent. The child never remains in his community and many times stays with a coach of a parochial school or an academy where the emphasis is not on academics but winning with a procuring of talented players, no matter what their true academic level is.

     In New Jersey, the number of public high schools which have good basketball players on their rosters simply pales in comparison to the vast number of really exceptional kids who find their way to the Catholic school powerhouses. These children and their parents are told how wonderful they are and they know that attending known basketball powers is the way to achieve success and entry into college. I sincerely doubt that they pay the tuition to enroll in a non-public school.

     One example of a child traveling distances is J.R. Smith of the Cleveland Cavaliers. J.R. is in the news this week for allegedly throwing a bowl of soup at an assistant coach, earning a one game suspension by the team. Smith grew up in Millstone Township in Central Jersey. Super-talented, he managed to enroll in a public and parochial school before playing at Lakewood High School. From there, he ended up at/was recruited by St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, a school which is not governed by N.J.S.I.A.A. rules. While Smith never went to college and was drafted in 18th in the NBA Draft, I find his journey to riches to be very sad.

     Not every child is talented or mature enough to enter the NBA straight out of high school and attain stardom. So they go to college, where they must stay a year before they can become eligible to play in the NBA and be at least 19 years of age. That rule was established and went into effect with the 2006 NBA Draft.

     Which is why a school like the University of Kentucky, a perennial power in the college ranks, with savvy Coach John Calipari is recruiting high school stars like Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who stay for one year and then ascend to the pros. Towns, who is from Metuchen and the son of a high school basketball coach in nearby Piscataway, was the number one-ranked high school player in the country when he entered Kentucky.

     Kyrie Irving of the Boston Celtics is another example of the one and done mentality. Irving's father resided in West Orange. He sent his son to play at Montclair-Kimberly Academy, where he starred. Needing a greater challenge, he enrolled in St. Patrick's High School, a small Catholic school in Elizabeth. St. Pat's and Coach Kevin Boyle went out and procured the best talent; Irvng's teammate was Micheal Kidd-Gilchrist who went to Kentucky and now also plays with Towns on the T-Wolves. It was no accident that two mega-talents were on the St.Pat's team.

     Highly-recruited, Irving chose to go to Duke University and play for legendary Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Irving's tenure at Duke was short; he played a few games before being injured and then indicated during the NCAA playoffs that he would enter the NBA Draft. Just like Towns, he, too, was a number one selection. I find it abhorrent that Duke, a premier academic institution, provides a scholarship to a basketball player who is clearly headed to the NBA after year of college ball. Is it a double standard that so many others go into debt in order to attend Duke while a basketball star does not even stay the year and was recruited to simply win another National Championship for Coach K? Isn't this ludicrous?

     Many would argue that the present set up for entry into the NBA is racist. While it is certainly perceived as a limitation, the star players are clearly identified early in their lives, and brought up in a culture where they have been recruited at an early age. The kids know that what they want is to play professionally. They have learned from their peers that there is money to be made along the way. Which is why dollar signs enter into the fray when a renowned high school star is looking at the best deal he can find to attend a college to showcase his talent on the way to the NBA.

     At the collegiate level, the recruiting is fierce. Theer is abundant money given to the superstar coaches, through both the school they work for and by shoe deals with Adidas, Nike and Under Armour. Many of these star recruits know that there is money to be had if they enter a certain school. In years gone by, it was the boosters who wanted to enrich their schools with talented players. Now the cash is supplied by shoe companies and divvied up by assistant coaches who want to make their mark and become a head coach raking in the dollars.  Or the money is dispersed by unscrupulous agents who want to snare a prospect early by fronting the player or providing "loans" which are never repaid. The expectation is that for the money advanced to the kid or his family, the athlete will sign with that agent who stood for the athlete's best interests. What a sham.

     I am not proposing the answer to this mess. Fixing it is not akin to Major League Baseball's crackdown on illegal drug use to enhance performance. The NCAA is unlikely to implode. It almost seems like Congress needs to intercede in order to have some regulation over the NCAA and its members. Unless there is an epiphany, the self-regulation by the member institutions will never be enough because the rules are always broken when winning and the money attached is so lucrative.

     I am not surprised that the alleged conversation that Arizona Head Coach Sean Miller had whereby the FBI overheard $100,000 involved in obtaining the services of a star player  for one year could be mentioned. And since nothing has been released or turned into formal charges, Miller was back on the Arizona bench after a self-imposed one game absence (It hasn't been a good week for the Millers--Sean's brother Archie's Indiana squad was eliminated in the Big 10 Tournament by last place Rutgers).

     How this is resolved is beyond me. It is an interesting story that will be continued for awhile.

     Which is why I looked for something to be happy about in college or pro basketball this week. I did not have to look very far. it was supplied to me by Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

     Last season, the Warriors won their second NBA crown in three years. Traditionally, the winners get an invite to the White House for a photo op with the President. Racial politics espoused by President Donald Trump factored into Curry rejecting the idea that he would go to the White House and be with President Trump. Trump's answer to Curry was a tweet withdrawing any invitation to the White House. Curry and the Warriors made a strong statement which was applauded by the critics of the President and vilified by his supporters.

     The Warriors made their annual trip to D.C. to play the Wizards. This was the time they would have gone to the White House. Instead, something else was on the minds of Curry and fellow Warrior Draymond Green, along with General manager Bob Myers.

     Durant grew up in Prince Georges County, a mere 10 miles away from the White House. Politely turning down an invitation to meet with House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, whose district is in San Francisco, along with Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, the Warriors sought not to further politicize the event while doing something for the local hero and reigning M.V.P.

     What the Warriors chose to do was tour the National Museum of African American History and Culture along with children from the Seat Pleasant Activity Center, the locale where Durant first learned about basketball. As close to D.C. as he lived, Durant did not know about the museum and surely did not visit the White House.

     But giving back to people, especially the children of the community is in Durant's and the Warriors' DNA. Durant has a long history of giving--he has made major donations to the University of Texas where he played for a year; he has donated to Positive Tomorrow, a place for homeless children in Oklahoma City, where Durant played a number of seasons; and in Seattle, where Durant began his NBA career.

    Now there are the plans for the Durant Center in Seat Pleasant along with a chapter of College Track, an organization to which he has donated $10 million. Giving back to the community is foremost in this native son's thoughts.

     The trip to the museum and the tour with his town's youth impacted on all. Durant plans to return there for another long visit.He gets it. The Warriors get it too. Their coach said it was their day and they had the right to choose how to commemorate it. Which they did in great style.

     The next night Golden State took it to the Washington Wizards, led by Durant and Curry. They were in the right frame of mind.

     Perhaps the only downside to their 3 game road trip was Curry unwisely practicing his golf swing in his room and getting startled by the phone, breaking a glass table to smithereens. Only his ego was hurt, and after the Warriors defeated the Atlanta Hawks, he and fellow All-Star guard Klay Thompson traveled over to Augusta to play a round of golf on the famed Augusta national course, home to the Masters tournament next month. The symbolism of this side trip is that African-Americans, even those who are half like Curry and Thompson, were not permitted to play a round of golf in the once-segregated club until about 35 years ago.

     Breaking down barriers and stereotypes. That is what the Warriors and Le Bron James are doing. In this highly charged, highly political climate, that is some achievement.

    Maybe those with the money--the NBA, the NCAA will be forced to accept change as is the National Rifle Association in response to the Parkland, Florida school shooting. It is a rallying cry form the grassroots. Whether it is from Parkland, Sandy Hook, Seat Pleasant or the local gym and in the colleges, this is the time for not accepting the status quo.

    This is a crossroads in sports. We can only hope that the powerful get it. Starting with sports and the relationship it has with the youth of our nation. This latest round of misdeeds and payments has demonstrated that the time for change is now.