College football and the seven deadly sins

By Jan Hubbard

A great philosopher once said the only constant in the world is change, which suggests that philosophy is probably a good field to enter because it doesn’t take much to be considered great.

Change has been constant in college football, but, more accurately, it’s been brutal with so many of the big stories being more about items like greed, power, wrath, pride, lust and envy. College football administrators may not have purposely designed their sport in the image of the Seven Deadly Sins. But let’s just say the similarities are unmistakable.

So in honor of the concept of seven, as the college season begins in earnest soon, this weekend, here are seven of the most compelling stories and their consequences.

1. Joe Paterno went from a living legend to a broken man whose 46-year career of personal and professional achievement ended in scandal, termination and death. In a few quick months, Paterno’s inability or lack of common sense to recognize the severity of former assistant Jerry Sandusky’s sex crimes destroyed his reputation.

Consequences: The image of Penn State football went from spotless to smutty in a matter of months. Nine players transferred to other schools including a star running back, wide receiver, backup quarterback, kicker and two tight ends. There was no death penalty, but the Penn State will know what it feels like to be Indiana or Minnesota in Big Ten football.

2. After 118 meetings, the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry ended – at least for the foreseeable future – when the Aggies tired of the overpowering shadow of the University of Texas and moved to the Southeastern Conference.

Consequences: Because it did not like being bullied by UT, A&M picked up and moved to a conference that has won the last six national championships and in a division with four of those winners. Looks like a classic Aggie response to an insult.

3. Bobby Petrino celebrated the spoils of elevating Arkansas to a level of competing for a national title with a woman half his age, which did not go down well with his wife or his employer. Despite a 21-5 record the previous two years, Petrino’s life crashed in a motorcycle accident when he was with his paramour and his attempted coverup was quickly, well, exposed and he was fired.

Consequences: The yell “Woo, pig, sooey,” has taken on an entirely new meaning.

4. Twenty-four schools announced they were changing conferences, including TCU to the Big 12 this year and SMU to the Big East next year. North Texas also will move from the Sun Belt to Conference USA next year.

Consequence: The Frogs are one of 10 teams in the Big 12 and the Mustangs are one of several teams West of the Mississippi in the Big East. It does seem both schools and conferences are challenged in basics like counting and geography, but at least the football will be better.

5. The young LSU defensive back referred to as Honey Badger apparently had become a little too dependent on his own brand of honey and a potential Heisman Trophy run stopped before it started. Tyrann Mathieu was kicked off the team and subsequently it was announced he had enrolled in a clinic for drug treatment.

Consequences: We are to assume that like many men in their early 20s, the Honey Badger thought he was bullet proof. The clinic he entered suggests the bullets were more powerful than he thought.

6. After two years on the sideline, Mike Leach will take his offensive system talents to Washington State, which has had a 9-40 record its last four years.

Consequences: College football’s resident wacky pirate may be in the far Northwest, but his history suggests that when he starts firing those big offensive cannons, Pac-12 will get their fill of him fast.

7. College football lost great quarterbacks to the NFL with Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill, Brandon Weeden and Kellen Moore all departed. USC’s Matt Barkley stayed and is tehe Heisman Trophy favorite, but Barkley said if he had left school, he would have been taken ahead of RGIII in the draft.

Consequences: It’s good to know that if for some reason Charles loses his voice, we have another Barkley to continue with outlandish statements.

Kobe leading the We Want Esteem Team

LAS VEGAS –Team USA embarked on a quest for a second consecutive Olympic gold medal Thursday night with a 113-59 victory over a Dominican Republican team that in another era could have been confused with Cuba.

The game concluded a day of concern and comedy that actually began on Wednesday when Kobe Bryant said the 2012 Olympic team could beat the 1992 Dream Team, thereby leading some to suggest the current team will now be called the We-Want-Esteem-Team.

Bryant’s musings sent outlets scurrying for responses, which were predictable. Michael Jordan was dismissive. Charles Barkley said no more than three current members of the team could have made the Dream Team. Magic Johnson tweeted that he laughed.

And somewhere Oscar Robertson is seething, thinking to himself, “What about me, Jerry West and the 1960 team? We could have taken these guys.”

The debate has largely missed the point because anyone can see that the current team would easily beat any of the past Olympic teams.

Kobe, LeBron, Carmelo, KD, etc. vs. Michael, Magic, Larry and Charles? No contest.

Kobe is 33, LeBron James is 27, Carmelo Anthony is 28 and Kevin Durant is 23.

Now look at the Dream Team. Michael and Charles are 49, Magic is 52 and Larry Bird is 55.

Case closed. Kobe is correct. The young guys could beat the ’92 team easily.

Presumably, however, Bryant was assuming that some sort of time machine could be found and both teams would meet in their prime. And, predictably, that led to one of those silly sports discussions that is presented so seriously but actually is quite stupid and has no definitive answer.

Dream Team would win? Fine.

Current team would win? OK with that, too.

We will never know.

So other than the sport of arguing, why even spend time on it? And if you are going to engage in such an argument, the 1996 team with Shaquille O’Neal, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill, Gary Payton and Reggie Miller should be in the discussion.

The Dream Team cannot be matched as a cultural icon. Not only 11 members are in the Hall of Fame, but because of them, the popularity of basketball also exploded all over the world. Bryant knows that. Everybody does.

(To see the original column that appeared on Sheridanhoops.com, click here.)

U.S. players not impressed with 23-and-under proposal

LAS VEGAS – Depending on who is asked, the idea is somewhere between harebrained and bizarre, which, come to think about it, isn’t saying a lot for the proposal.

The rule in question is the proposed age limit of 23 for players participating in the Olympics, which has been floated out there as a trial balloon by NBA commissioner David Stern but which has a real chance of being implemented prior to the Rio Games of 2016.

The current members of Team USA, from the top on down, don’t like it.

But Stern is the boss, and the boss has decided that the governing forces of soccer are far more on the ball than their basketball counterparts because they have an age limit of 23 in the Olympics and then open competition in the World Cup, which is a global phenomenon every four years.

So why not follow the lead of soccer and create a World Cup of Basketball?

Nitpickers would point out that making the Olympics worse in order to make the world championship better is a curious strategy. But, then again, the NBA could run a World Cup and benefit financially. and when sports is driven by greed rather than what is best for the sport or its fans, anything is possible.

Count Jerry Colangelo, managing director of the U.S. national team, as one opposed to the change.

Colangelo said he has had a discussion with Stern and told him to step carefully.

“Before any final decision is made, it’s important that all the people understand what the ramifications are – to the current group of players, to the future group of players – what really are the limitations as a result?” Colangelo said. “I think that discussion should be a long, thorough discussion before anyone goes off half cocked. That’s my opinion and I shared that with David.”

(To see the original column that appeared on Sheridanhoops.com, click here.)

Kyrie Irving puts on dream show

After beginning training camp with a couple of five-minute scrimmages that were open to the media, U.S. Olympic coach Mike Krzyzewski has pulled the curtain shut.

The last four days have featured games divided into four 10-minute quarters between Team USA and the select team, which consists of younger NBA players. Media has not been allowed to watch.

Although statistics have not been made available, the message from those who are Coach K-approved is that there has been one player who has consistently excelled – 20-year old Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, a member of the select team.

That’s not to say the Olympians have not had many moments. Any team with LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams is going to put on a show. And then there is Blake Griffin, a.k.a. Human Highlight Film 2.0, who has put on a private dunking exhibition for those allowed in the gym.

But Irving, who had 11 points in a 14-11 select team victory on the first day of camp, has been consistently excellent, and although the next Olympics in Brazil is four years away, it may not be too early to predict that he has locked up a position on the team.

“Kyrie Irving is a player that literally you could move from one court to the other court,” Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo said, referring to shooting drills that have the Olympic team and the select team on adjacent courts.

“He’s that far advanced in terms of his talent, it appears. He’s made a good showing here. He had a terrific rookie season in the NBA and certainly he will be one of the leading candidates going forward.”

(To see the original column that appeared on Sheridanhoops.com, click here.)

Dream Team? Sorry, hadn’t been born yet

LAS VEGAS — As the years go by, reminders of advancing age increase, and no one who has reached adulthood is spared.

When asked about one of those events Monday, U.S. Olympic basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski – who is at the retirement age of 65 – said, “I try not to think about it.”

If the person who conceived the term “time flies” wanted to make different age groups feel older, he or she could point out:

1. How painful it has been for baby boomers to watch as rock stars hit 70. If they’re getting older, so are we.

2. That is has been 29 years since the final episode of M*A*S*H was televised. Even the younger are feeling older.

3. Magic Johnson announced he had HIV 21 years ago. Is that possible? Someone born about that time is now legal age? Depressing.

4. The Macarena craze began 17 years ago. Seems like it played a million times only yesterday.

5. The first episode of The Sopranos appeared on HBO 13 years ago. Meadow and A.J. are 31 and 27, respectively. Even kids are feeling older.

Yes, time flies. Time disappears. As Pete Townshend once wrote, “We tried not to age but time had its rage.”

During this summer of 2012, however, as we commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the Dream Team, I think I found the ultimate fact to make all of us – younger and older alike – feeling nothing less than ancient.

On August 8, 1992 in Barcelona, Spain, the Dream Team defeated Croatia, 117-85, to win the Olympic gold medal.

About seven months later – 215 days to be precise – Anthony Davis Jr. was born in Chicago.

Yes, that’s correct. When the Dream Team won the gold medal, the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft – a finalist for the 2012 Olympic Team – was an embryo.

“How crazy is that?” Kobe Bryant said Monday. “Does he even know who [Michael] Jordan is? Does he think [Jordan’s] a silhouette or something?”

Davis set the record straight.

“I read a little bit about them,” he said. “I watched a couple of specials, but I don’t know much. I wasn’t even born [when they played].”

(This column first appeared on Sheridanhoops.com. Click here to view the full column).

Team USA will play to its strengths

LAS VEGAS — In their continual quest to keep up with American talent, the serious basketball countries in the world have relied on fundamentals, intelligence and, well, Yankee stupidity.

The U.S. has always had better basketball players and more of them than any other country. Sometimes, however, talent doesn’t translate to gold. International teams have proven that experienced teams playing with skilled unselfish players can cause problems for the U.S.

The 2012 U.S. Olympic team is aware of history – losses in the 1972, 1988 and 2004 Olympics that they’ve seen film of and/or participated in.

The players will go to London with a bit of an attitude and a determination to prove they are not only the best in the world, but also that the U.S. plays superior basketball.

And they will not make the mistake made by past unsuccessful teams, most notably those in 1972 and 1988. They will not rely on the set offenses and deliberate styles employed by the respective head coaches of those two teams, Hank Iba and John Thompson.

The 1972 loss was no doubt tainted by the controversy at the end of the gold medal game that gave the Soviets two additional chances to win the game. But the fact is the Soviet Union was in position to win, and the game probably should not have been that close.

The differences in talent were less in 1988 because international teams had players in their mid to late 20s and even in their early 30s playing against U.S. collegians. The approach of a halfcourt offense and pressure defense simply did not work against an experienced, veteran Soviet team. That victory was not tarnished.

“Style of play is important,” Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo said. “That ’72 team did not take advantage of the athleticism it had. The ’88 team didn’t have enough shooters.”

If there is one possible deficiency in the makeup of the current team, it was the presence of only one true center – 7-1 Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks.

(The original column can be viewed here on Sheridanhoops.com

Team USA on Olympic mission

LAS VEGAS — Although the collective talent of the newest group representing American basketball can probably be compared to the great Olympic team of 1992, there is one area where the current group cannot compete. That was evident Saturday when no one said, “I don’t know anything about Tunisia, but Tunisia is in trouble.”

Yes, for the fourth straight Olympics, there will be no Charles Barkley on Team USA, so colorful headlines and international incidents will likely be at a minimum.

But there will be something fascinating about Team USA in 2012 because the world will get to see exactly how deep American talent is.

Twelve players made the team that was announced on NBA TV (as opposed to NBC, where the Dream Team was announced in 1991). It is a versatile roster that includes 10 players who can play more than one position. Only center Tyson Chandler and point guard Chris Paul are true one-position players.

The team has great scorers in Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James.

It has great defenders in Kobe Bryant, Andre Iguodala and Chandler.

It has explosive players in Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin and James Harden.

It has classic point guards in Deron Williams and Paul. And it has a great combination rebounder/3-point shooter in Kevin Love.

What it doesn’t have, however, is Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, LaMarcus Aldridge or Derrick Rose – five of the top players in the NBA. Each is recovering from injury and is not available. So the question is: Can the U.S. replace five of its best players and still have enough talent to defeat the rest of the world?

The players say yes, and in Thgreat tradition of Michael Jordan – who never let an insult, real or imagined, pass – the players are creating incentive for themselves.

(The remainder of the original column can be viewed here at Sheridanhoops.com

Reminder: USA voted against the NBA in the Olympics

For David Stern, the Olympic experience has come full circle.

The NBA commissioner has often found himself depicted as an international bully, and nothing could be further from the truth – at least as it applies to past Olympics.

The oddity of such a charge is that it occurs only in this country, which leads us to one of the great mysteries of American sports journalism: How is it that so many journalists throughout the world know exactly what happened, yet accomplished reporters in the U.S. continually either misrepresent or misunderstand the way NBA players became eligible for the Olympics?

With the basketball world commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Dream Team this summer, the process of how NBA players were invited into international play has been revisited in various forums, and it is simply amazing how often it is incorrect.

In the second installment of our summer series celebrating the Dream Team, we will again try and set the record straight with 20 facts.

Part 1 of the series was the Isiah Thomas Exclusion.

Part 2 is the NBA Inclusion.

1. Start with a simple point, but apparently one that is very difficult for the American mind to comprehend. Let me make this perfectly clear:  THE 1988 LOSS BY THE UNITED STATES TO THE SOVIET UNION IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, HAD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH NBA PLAYERS BEING IN THE OLYMPICS. ZERO.

2. Basketball is like all Olympics sports. It is controlled internationally by an organization that establishes rules including those governing participation. In basketball, that organization is the Fédération Internationale de Basketball, which translated is the International Basketball Federation. The acronym is FIBA. The NBA has no more power in FIBA than FIBA has in the NBA.

3. Until 1989, the representative of FIBA and governing body of Olympic basketball in this country was the Amateur Basketball Association of the United States of America (ABAUSA). It included several amateur organizations such as the AAU, high schools and junior colleges. But it was run primarily by colleges. The NBA was not a member of ABAUSA. Later, that organization became USA Basketball, and the NBA joined it in the fall of 1989.

4. A few months earlier, ABAUSA representatives went to Munich for the vote on allowing NBA players to play in the Olympics. That measure passed in April 1989 by a count of 56-13. One of those 13 “no” votes was cast by the ABAUSA. To make sure there is no misunderstanding, let me state it again a little more forcefully: THE UNITED STATES VOTED AGAINST INCLUDING NBA PLAYERS IN THE OLYMPICS.

5. The first tournament where NBA players were allowed to compete was the 1990 World Championships in Argentina. USA Basketball, however, chose to continue using college players and sent a team that included Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner, Billy Owens and Kenny Anderson. That team lost to a Yugoslavian team led by NBA players Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac in the semifinals. Yugoslavia went on to win the gold medal.

6. The man responsible for NBA players playing in international tournaments is Boris Stankovic, who was Secretary-General of FIBA for 26 years and currently serves in an emeritus role. Stankovic was born in Serbia and was a player, coach and administrator before becoming the head of FIBA. Stankovic long thought the ban on NBA players was, to use his words, “dishonest” and “immoral” because professionals from other countries were allowed to play. In 1988, Brazil’s Oscar Schmidt was making a salary in excess of $500,000 playing in Italy but was technically an amateur. Only NBA players were classified as professionals.

7. A fact that is not widely known is that at the 1986 FIBA convention, Stankovic introduced a resolution to allow NBA players in the Olympics and brought it to the floor for a vote. Stankovic said it narrowly failed 31-27 but that “18 or 19 countries abstained.” Stankovic was irritated because those abstentions could have made a difference and NBA players would have been eligible for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

8. Here’s the myth: The U.S. lost in Seoul so the NBA made a unilateral decision to send the Dream Team to the 1992 Olympics and carpet bomb the rest of the world.

9. Here’s what really happened: The U.S. lost in Seoul so FIBA made the decision to invite NBA players because their member countries got no thrill out of beating U.S. collegians. If the Olympics are about being the best in the world, the only way to be the best is to beat the best. I wrote a magazine article on the issue in 1996 and USA Basketball still has it on its web site.

10. Americans have a very difficult time understanding why anyone would react to a huge victory bychanging a rule that would ensure embarrassing losses. Stankovic explained with a track analogy: “If you have a chance to run a sprint against Carl Lewis, you know you’re going to lose. But you still want to run the race.”

(To see the original column that appeared on Sheridanhoops.com, click here.)

Twenty facts about Isiah Thomas and the Dream Tean

Perhaps the most amazing part of the NBA’s documentary of the Dream Team that aired Wednesday night was that Isiah Thomas has now become a sympathetic figure.

Thomas actually released a statement after the show aired and addressed not making the Dream Team in 1992.

Now I have to say my first reaction was pretty straightforward:

A statement in 2012 about not making a team in 1992?

Are we still talking about this?

Beyond that, I kind of felt sorry for the guy. The fact that it’s an issue 20 years later is outrageous. But it is obviously part of the cultural phenomenon that was and is the Dream Team.

I had the good fortune to be one of only a handful of reporters who covered the team from the first day of training camp until the last day of the Olympics while I was working for Newsday in 1992. So in honor of the 20-year anniversary, here is the first in what could be a series of 20 memories about various issues surrounding the Dream Team.

Part One: The Isiah Thomas Exclusion.

1. From Day 1 when the story broke that the selection committee had not invited Thomas, the speculation was that Michael Jordan kept him off the team. In the Dream Team documentary, however, Jordan said he was told even before he committed that Thomas would not be on the team and “I was getting strong innuendo that it was coming from higher places that didn’t want Isiah Thomas on the team.”

2. And that is true. It wasn’t only the enemies that Thomas had made. He had as many friends on the selection committee as anyone, including Detroit general manager Jack McCloskey. But he had little support. No one fought for him to be on the team.

3. In what has to be one of the greatest misjudgments by any member of any front office in NBA history, when the first 10 players were announced, McCloskey said not being on the team would not be that big of a deal to Thomas. I was at the NBA league meetings in Palm Springs and after they ended, I found McCloskey at the pool and asked him about Thomas’ exclusion.

“Isiah is above all of that,” McCloskey said in an interview that was recorded. “He can handle it. There’s going to be some great players that are not going to be on that team. … It may be a disappointment to some, but they’ve got to learn to live with those things.”

4. Later, McCloskey discovered how wrong he was because Thomas was incensed. So McCloskey resigned from the committee in protest because it was an insult that Thomas had not made the team! McCloskey simply was not going to take that! It was a matter of principle!

It was, however, a grandstand play that was really not grand at all.

5. The late Chuck Daly was the Pistons coach and head coach of the 1992 Olympic team. He did not have a vote on the selection committee, but one influential member of the committee told me, “If Chuck had come in and demanded Isiah to be on the team, he would have been on the team.” Daly did not do that.

6. I wrote a column at the time saying that it wasn’t enemies who kept Thomas off the team, it was friends. The next time I saw Dave Gavitt, who was the head of USA Basketball, he pulled me aside and said, “You hit that right on the button. I made copies of your column and faxed it to every member of the committee.”

7. Rod Thorn and Russ Granik, both high-ranking NBA executives at the time, pointed out in the documentary that the selection committee began making decisions shortly after the 1991 NBA playoffs. That’s when Thomas led a group of Pistons off the court when it was obvious the Bulls were going to sweep their Eastern Conference finals series. It was repugnant sportsmanship and who could have possibly been excited about that sort of mentality on an Olympic team?

8. Ah yes, we have heard and witnessed so much of the Michael Jordan competitiveness, and theree several funny moments in the documentary. But after writing all of the above, I do have to report that in Jack McCallum’s book on the Dream Team, which will be released next month (and can be preordered here – you’re welcome, Jack) , Jordan takes full credit for keeping Thomas off the team.

9. That is vintage Michael. He and Thomas have despised each other since 1985 and the infamous All-Star freeze-out (which colleague Mark Heisler wrote about here). After being eliminated for three straight years by Detroit, Jordan and the Bulls won in 1991, and Thomas and the Pistons did their little walk-off, which proved to be quite large. At that point, Jordan gained the upper hand. And when Michael has the upper hand, he’ll use it. So now he revels in keeping Thomas off the team.

(To see the rest of the article on Sheridanhoops.com, click here.

Popovich tells troops: Get nasty

SAN ANTONIO — If there is one certainty about the next couple of days, it is that in various areas of free market trade in the greater San Antonio area, t-shirts emblazoned with “I Want Some Nasty” will be available for purchase.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich provided a one-liner that will follow this series the rest of the way, and will continue following the Spurs franchise into the next days, weeks and, well, maybe even years – although Popovich would settle for about a month.

By then, the NBA champion will be determined, and if it is to be the Spurs – who certainly are the favorites right now – then Game 1 of the Western Conference finals will undoubtedly be a focal point.

That’s because the Spurs overcame a gallant effort by the Oklahoma City Thunder to take a 1-0 lead in the series with a 101-98 victory Sunday night. (Boxscore here).

The Thunder battled evenly for a half, asserted themselves throughout the third and early in the fourth period and were playing confident, free-flowing basketball. They entered the last quarter with a nine-point lead and it seemed Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and a strong group of role players was coming of age.

In growing up, the young team with its core players all 23 or younger, was poised to end the Spurs 18-game winning streak, steal home court advantage and take a giant step towards advancing to the NBA Finals.

But then Popovich addressed the situation. He was unhappy because the Spurs had not played with the same passion or energy of the Thunder. He asked the players if they thought winning was going to be easy. He reminded them that each round was more difficult.

And then he uttered a line that will become a permanent part of Spurs lore, “I want some nasty.”

And he got it – well, as much nasty as a nice group of guys like the Spurs can muster. A minute into the fourth quarter, the Spurs began playing their regular game.

They trailed 73-64 with 11:19 left. They responded with nine consecutive points. And get this – four by Gary Neal, three by Tiago Splitter and two by Tony Parker. They took control of the game. They disrupted the OKC offense. They stifled Durant, who had 27 points in the game but was 0-of-2 from the field in the fourth period.

And after three periods of difficult, grinding basketball, the Spurs breezed to the victory, which was more convincing than the final three-point margin suggested. San Antonio was nine points ahead with 22.1 seconds left but OKC made several desperation shots. But the outcome was never in doubt at the end.

After the game, Popovich was able to laugh at himself for “I Want Some Nasty,” which has all sorts of commercial possibilities – Hip Hop, Country & Western, Heavy Metal, Triple-X rated and, very importantly from a cultural perspective, Jersey Shore.

(To see original column that appeared on Sheridanhoops.com, click here.)