| 21 January 2011
As I’ve mentioned many times on this site before, I love to read. Magazines and books. Periodicals and my sister’s diary. At the book store and on the toilet. About sports, society and business. It’s like they say, knowledge is power, right?
A book that I really enjoyed recently was Adam Carolla’s “In 50 Years We’ll All Be Chicks.” For those not familiar with Carolla’s work, the premise is exactly about what it sounds like it would be: How oversensitivity and political correctness are ruining our society. How we over empower our Starbucks baristas and under empower our school teachers. How men can no longer be men. And that essentially in 50 years, yes, we’ll all be chicks.
So what does the book have to do with sports? More than you might think.
Take Tuesday’s Kentucky-Alabama basketball game for example.
For those of you who watched the game like I did, sadly, the most talked about moment from the evening didn’t have anything to do with what happened on the court. Unfortunately all these days later, no one is talking about signature of the Anthony Grant era, or a great comeback from a young- but clearly mentally tough- Wildcats team.
Nope, the big storyline happened late in the second half, when in the heat of the moment, cameras caught John Calipari blue in the face, spitting out a profanity laced tirade aimed at freshman superstar Terrence Jones. In a tight game, Jones did something his well-compensated and wildly successful coach didn’t like, and the coach let him hear about it. Granted, Calipari did his yelling with language that would’ve made the cast of Jersey Shore blush, but still. I saw the whole thing go down live, and I’d be lying if I said I gave a second thought. It was Cal being Cal, a coach being a coach, and after processing the situation for 1/10 of one second, didn’t have a second thought about it. A few minutes later, Kentucky lost, I settled in for the night, and assumed that’d be the end of it.
Like most things in my life, I was wrong.
When I woke up Wednesday morning, I had an abnormal number of e-mails in my inbox asking me if I’d seen the game, and if I was going to write about the situation.
To which my response was, write about what? A coach yelling at one of his players? It happens a hundred times a day, every day. It’d be like writing about my dog peeing on a fire hydrant. Who cares?
I guess a lot of a lot of people did, because as Wednesday afternoon went on, Cal’s tirade continued to be a topic of conversation. The blogs had fun with it, the mainstream media discussed it, and a few message boards exploded over it. All with one question: Was Calipari out of line?
Apparently the answer to some degree was yes, since the coach ended up apologizing for the whole situation.
To which I’ve got two questions, and two questions only: What is Calipari apologizing for? And what the heck is going on with our society?
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that coaches can get out of line. We’ve seen Bob Knight get fired for hitting one of his players in the back of the head and Woody Hayes get run out of coaching after taking a swing at an opponent. And truthfully, I’m sure there are a million other guys that have done a million worse things, who just didn’t happen to get captured by cameras or reported to authorities.
In the past, yes, we’ve given coaches too much discretion in too many important areas, like how long their player’s practice and which guys are “healthy,” enough to play. Believe me, I’m just as happy as you are that professional leagues, the NCAA and high school governing bodies have stepped in to take some control away from these guys. There’s nothing worse than a 60-year-old with no medical experience sending a clearly injured guy onto the field of play, and telling him to “rub some dirt on it.” It happened to me when I was younger, and I’m sure it happened to you if you played sports as well.
With that said, at what point are we stepping in the way, becoming overzealous soccer moms, and not letting a guy simply do his job?
Look, Calipari’s language was a bit offensive and over the top. That kind of stuff would obviously never fly at your workplace or mine. Then again, Calipari doesn’t have a normal job, keep normal hours or have realistic job expectations placed upon on him. He’s well-compensated by the state of Kentucky to turn young men into supreme basketball players however he sees fit. It’s what he’s been doing his entire adult life, and I think it’s safe to say he’s pretty good at it. The dude has a lot of wins over his career, and it’s why he’s the best paid man in his profession.
It’s also why Jones came to Kentucky; because nobody is better at motivating 17, 18 and 19-year-old young men than Calipari. Whether you love Calipari or hate him, you can’t question his ability to put guys in the pros. He’s like the Dog Whisperer for basketball. Eight months with Calipari and you’re going pro. He’s got the Midas touch. It’s why Jones came all the way from Seattle to play for him. So to all those saying, “I wouldn’t want Calipari yelling at my son like that,” I’ve got to ask, isn’t that why guys sign up to go to Kentucky? And isn’t the negative of the yelling, worth the positive of being 19, and cashing million dollar paychecks?
Speaking of which, it’s not like Calipari hasn’t had his battles with kids before. He butted heads with DeMarcus Cousins so much last November, December and January that NATO practically had to step in to run interference. Of course by March, Cousins swore by Cal, and probably would’ve donated his old coach a kidney if he’d asked.
Eric Bledsoe had his moments of disagreement too. Even John Wall (by all accounts the most level-headed kid out there) said (and I’m paraphrasing) “Playing for Coach Cal isn’t always fun.” He’s right, it probably wasn’t, but was he better in the end for it? I’d say so, since 18 months out of high school he was the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. Believe me, if I could put down this pen and paper and go play for Cal, I’d do it. Even if that meant getting yelled at, berated or getting hit over the head with a frying pan. Sadly I don’t think he has much use for a 5’11 white guy with no left hand and the leaping ability of Betty White.
Finally, I’ve got to ask, for everyone complaining, have you ever been around big-time college athletics before?
Here’s a quick side story: By now most of you know that I went to UConn, and spent quite a bit of time around the athletics department. Honestly, how could you not? I talk about the whole experience like a blushing bride two years after her wedding day.
Well, one time I was in a room with about 25 or 30 people, including UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun and his immediate family. At one point, everybody was mingling, and I happened to be standing by myself when his young granddaughter (I’m talking four or five years old), ran past where I was standing, and almost bumped into me. No big deal obviously. Still, Calhoun was nearby, and I felt like I should probably say something.
So when she slowed down, I looked down at her said something to the effect of “Be careful, we don’t want you getting hurt,” then smiled. You know, just to show her that I was harmless and looking out for her best interests.
Now obviously you’d think Grandpa Calhoun would be appreciative of the whole thing, right?
You obviously don’t know Calhoun.
As soon as the words left my mouth, we made eye contact, and he gave me a look of “I have no idea who you are, and honestly I don’t give a f***. But if you ever, even so much as think about saying another word to my granddaughter- or anyone I’m related to for that matter- I will snap your neck in half, and throw your head across the street like it’s a shot put. Got it?” Then, after about five seconds (that seemed like 15 minutes), he broke eye contact with me, and went back to chasing his granddaughter.
Even all these years later, I can’t fully describe it. I could honestly be held up at gunpoint walking around tonight and not be as scared as I was at that moment in my life. And the crazy thing was Calhoun didn’t say a word to me. But he didn’t need to. That stare told me everything I needed to know, and also told me why Calhoun is one of the best coaches ever put on Earth. With one quick stare, he let me know who was boss, and who not to mess with. I didn’t need to play for him to know why he’s a Hall of Famer.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “Typical Aaron. Always trying to throw himself into the story.” In which case, you’re usually right.
But the reason I brought up this particular story, in this particular case, is to let people understand that coaches are demanding, controlling, emotional people. All of them. It’s part of their job description.
Can they be a little dramatic at times? Sure. But do they have your best interests in heart? Absolutely. And if that means pushing your buttons by talking about your mom, your dad, your grandma in a wheelchair, your three legged dog with the lazy eye, well that’s what they’re going to do. And guess what? Chances are, in the end you’ll be better for it.
Luckily Jones understood that and took the whole thing in stride. He even followed up on Twitter, “I’m happy and blessed for playing for Cal don’t think otherwise.” Good for him.
Ultimately though, that’s not the issue. The issue is that this whole thing was even an issue to begin with. If that makes sense. Because in the end, Calipari was just doing what every coach, in every sport, at every level does. The only difference is that he got caught on camera doing it.
So to all of you sensitive, overly protective, politically correct people out there, please be realistic. It’s your prerogative to stop watching basketball, if you think the coaches are out of control, and the players are senseless victims. But it’s also Cal’s prerogative to coach his team the way he sees fit.
Of course, if this whole outrage has taught us one thing, it’s that Carolla might be right after all.
The way things are going, in 50 years, we really may all be chicks.
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