SPORT AND SOCIETY -- BROADCASTS
An archived directory of past broadcasts
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF FRIDAY FEBRUARY 7, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 FM ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
Once upon a time he was the scourge of the NBA. He skipped practices and
road trips; head-butted two players and then a referee; threw a bag of ice
at his coach in San Antonio; used profanity in a live post-game interview;
and kicked a television cameraman in the groin at a game in the Target
Center. All of this earned him 24 games in suspensions, a suspension from
one playoff series, and one indefinite suspension, $67,000 in fines, and
millions in lost wages.
Along the way this man covered his body with tattoos, changed the color of
his hair with the same frequency as most of us change socks, wore eye
shadow and nail polish, wrote a book which described his sex life in
graphic detail, posed nude for the cover of the book, and appeared in drag
in a wedding dress to promote the sale of his book, BAD AS I WANNA BE. His
ex-wife is writing a response, WORSE THAN HE SAYS HE IS.
After his most recent suspension Jesse Jackson allowed as to how the NBA
should not try to take away this man's dignity. Inadvertently it was the
funniest line ever uttered by the Rev. Jackson and it is being quoted
everywhere. As we used to say in my neighborhood, you can't take away
what he ain't got.
This is a summary of the past five years of Dennis Rodman's life in the
NBA. Starting in Detroit and moving on to San Antonio, Rodman earned his
nickname, "The Worm," which was a comment on both his personality and his
basketball skills.
By the time Dennis left Detroit he was regarded as a major disruptive
force on the Pistons. Perhaps a change of scenery would help. It did not.
When Dennis threw the bag of ice at Bob Hill and was seen taking his shoes
off on the bench while refusing to reenter a game, he was clearly beyond
the pale.
And yet he was a talented player, and if anyone could "get to him" and
somehow harness this immensely talented force, it was clear that Rodman
could be a major asset for some NBA team. So there would always be teams
willing to take a chance, coaches who believed they could tame the worm.
Along the way Dennis Rodman learned many things. He learned that his
talent could keep him in the league, he learned that it was not who he was
or what he did but how he was perceived that counted, and he learned the
importance of marketing.
David Stern and the NBA have been praised mightily over the past few years
for their marketing genius. Stern has led the NBA to fame and fortune by
marketing the star players. Celebrity was the aim in every NBA city for
the best players. As for their teams, fame would follow fame, and the
merchandising windfall would be golden.
Rodman watched and understood. By the time he arrived in Chicago his
celebrity-making-machine was humming along like a dynamo. Dennis was
suddenly the best known personage in Chicago. There may be only one
Michael, but clearly there is also only one Dennis. Last winter along the
Kennedy Expressway heading in and out of downtown Chicago there was a huge
billboard showing a Dennis Rodman bust. Every few days the color of the
hair on this giant-sized Rodman head changed, and every day the traffic
snarled as commuters slowed to see their hero and to take pictures of the
doo.
At one book signing he appeared in feather boa and blond wig, and in short
order large numbers of small boys began to emulate the costume, or at
least the wig, at Bulls games and at book signings. He had become a role
model.
Dennis Rodman was transformed from "The Worm" to one of the most
marketable figures in the NBA behind Shaq and Michael. Product
endorsements came rolling in, the TV talk shows were calling, the book hit
the top of the best seller list, and Nike was paying Dennis $1.5M for a
three year endorsement contract. The baddest of the bad boys was suddenly
in demand and getting rich. Self-promotion was paying big dividends.
Then came the groin kick shown over and over again on television. At first
his teammates and coach tried to defend him, crowd reactions showed fans
in the stands laughing as the cameraman writhed in pain.
The suspension, the nearly universal media condemnation, presidential
comment, and the national outcry finally reversed those reactions. Rodman
may be on the downhill slide. Nike has indicated that his endorsement
contract will not be renewed. Other sponsors are wary of this kind of
product identification.
But it may not be over. There is no substance here, only style, and style
is fickle. Dennis could easily rise again, if only he can find just the
right combination of outrageous and repenting behavior, with just the
proper fashion statement.
Marketing is everything, and no one knows that better than David Stern,
except perhaps Dennis Rodman.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 14, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
Acting Baseball Commissioner for Life Bud Selig is currently making noises
suggesting that it's time to choose a permanent Commissioner and that he
doesn't want the job. I do, and I offer the following manifesto as my
application for the position.
First and foremost I will take this position only on the condition that
the Players Association take part in the selection process on an equal
footing with ownership. The Commissioner must be mutually acceptable to
both parties, and must be given wide ranging powers for a definite term of
office, say five years, with removal only by a three-fourths vote of
those who elect the Commissioner. Also the Commissioner must have binding
arbitration powers which would go into effect any time the collective
bargaining process fails.
This would help to establish an atmosphere in which the players and
owners are equal partners in determining the working conditions for major
league baseball, and negotiations as equals will lead to trust and a
workable collective bargaining process.
With the first measures of revenue sharing in place under the new
agreement, owners will be instructed to begin working on additional
revenue sharing measures, including all television revenues, as well as
home and visiting attendance revenue. The objective is to achieve
equitable sharing and balance along the NFL model. Franchises in the major
leagues should rise and fall together.
If a franchise is unable to earn a profit, then sale of that franchise
will be allowed on a free market basis. Under no circumstances will a
franchise be allowed to threaten to move in order to gain concessions
from state or local governments. Both threats and concessions undermine
the relationship between a franchise and a community.
When franchises are put up for sale the local community will be given the
right of first refusal. Moving toward community and/or public ownership of
baseball franchises, in a manner similar to that existing in Green Bay,
will be encouraged. This would have the advantage of removing the
monstrous egos and nineteenth century capitalist mentalities of existing
ownership from the game. A professional sports franchise should be
regarded as a public utility rather than a piece of private property, and
it should also be regarded as a public trust. This would be a major step
in creating a true stake in the game for the fans and the public.
In the matter of playing facilities, Major League Baseball as a function
of the commissioner's office will seek to facilitate the financing of
stadia, and teams will be encouraged to own and operate their own
facilities.
As to the game itself this commissioner will establish the principle that
there is only one form of major league baseball. The anomaly of having
two sets of rules, one for the National League and one for the remainder
of organized baseball must be ended. The two leagues and the players
will negotiate the rules unification, and if they cannot reach an
agreement, the commissioner will impose a settlement under his arbitration
powers.
Along the same line all umpires will be integrated into one body. Umpires
will work for Major League Baseball under the Commissioner's Office, not
for the American or National League. Existing crews from the two leagues
will be mixed, and the rules and procedures, including manuals and
training, will be standardized. In addition the disciplining of players
for violations of conduct, standards, and rules will be done by a single
person within the commissioner's office.
In the future no franchise will be awarded to domed facilities unless
they can demonstrate the ability to operate grass fields, and all
artificial fields will be converted to grass as soon as possible. Bumper
pool baseball will be no more.
As an economy measure all players will be declared free agents at the end
of each year, unless they have been signed to multi-year contracts. This
will flood the market with talent, drive down the price of mediocrity,
and encourage roster stability especially among the star players.
The Commissioner's Office will encourage the restoration of a relaxed
ambiance at the ballpark, where the art of conversation is not only
possible, but also encouraged.
The Major Leagues continue to be the place where baseball is played at the
highest possible level. The grace and geometry of the action, the relaxed
atmosphere of the ballpark, punctuated by the dramatic moments of speed
and confrontation, make it one of the great sporting events in the world.
The fans of baseball know that, and the Commissioner will do everything in
his power to allow fans, players, and owners to concentrate on that
reality.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 21, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
It's mid-February, just past mid-winter in those regions to our north. It
is the shortest month, while at the same time the longest month for those
caught in winter. On the sports calendar it is the time between, when the
Super Bowl is over and we await the NCAA Road to Wherever to be followed
by the NBA and NHL playoffs. Nothing much is happening.
To fill the void and end the tedium of winter, Sport's Illustrated created
the swimsuit issue. As a marketing device it worked brilliantly and has
been emulated by numerous other sports magazines. The sexual revolutions,
waves of political correctness, and assorted liberation movements have
not changed this mid-winter ritual. It hit the stands this week, and in a
bow to the new age, the cover appeared on the internet before it appeared
on newsstands.
Unlike years past it did not arrive in a quiet week. Two major national
stories and one major local sports story have preoccupied at least some
fans who may actually have missed the arrival of the swimsuit issue.
On the national scene the New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks of the NBA
pulled off a blockbuster trade involving nine players. It was a roster
shift not unlike a shift in the San Andreas fault. Fans heading to games
in Dallas and New Jersey will find it necessary to buy a program so they
have some idea who is on the court.
Not coincidentally a story appeared in the New York Times on Monday about
the Nets and John Calipari, their overpaid and overhyped coach. The story
contained the names of several players who had recent run-ins and
disagreements with the coach. All of those named are now in Dallas. While
in Dallas the three J's, Jimmy Jackson, Jamal Mashburn and Jason Kidd, who
were tauted as the core of this franchise, have all been traded in bargain
basement deals.
Also on the national scene the past weekend saw the first major figure
skating event leading up to the 1998 Winter Olympic Games, the U.S. Figure
Skating championships.
In the men's competition Todd Eldredge won the gold as expected but was
overshadowed by Michael Weiss who apparently completed a quadruple toe
loop, a feat never before done in competition. A mere two hours later,
after reviewing the video tapes, the geniuses of the U.S. Figure Skating
Association decided that the landing was not clean, a view not shared by
Weiss.
In the women's competition, always the glamor event of figure skating,
Michelle Kwan was unable to defend her title. National and World champion
last year at the age of fifteen, she has now been pushed aside by younger
competition. Kwan, feeling the pressure , fell twice, and one supposes
that if she fails at the World's she will be considered over-the-hill at
age sixteen.
The winner was Tara Lipinski, at fourteen the youngest U.S. champion in
history. Listed as being from both Sugar Land, Texas, and Detroit, a
mind-bending combination, Lipinski landed seven triple jumps and dazzled
the crowd with her energy. Suddenly she emerges as a favorite for the
Winter Games in Nagono, Japan, and if Michelle Kwan can piece her ego back
together the U.S. could be very strong in this event.
These developments cause some to worry that women's figure skating may be
going the route of women's tennis and women's gymnastics, with an invasion
of the munchkins, and the specter of burnout at an early age.
Meanwhile in Orlando we have been obsessing on the sudden exit of Magic
head coach Brian Hill. Out of nowhere on Sunday came word that Hill would
be fired following the Bulls game. A leak to locker-room sniffer Peter
Vecsey of NBC indicated that Hill was finished.
John Gabriel, the Magic General Manager, power glutton, and master
manipulator, chose to leave Hill twisting slowly in the wind until the
team returned to Orlando on Tuesday. Hill even coached the team Monday
night in Charlotte, while Gabriel defined the word "disingenuous" for this
city, by saying that no decision had yet been made on Hill's future.
Gabriel also kept saying that this was an unfortunate situation and had to
be dealt with as quickly as possible so the organization could get the
team back on track, as if Gabriel himself was not responsible for the leak
which created this situation in the first place. Gabriel tried to deflect
the blame for Hill's sudden departure onto the players, and it appears
that the local media have bought this slight-of-mouth deflection hook,
line and sinker.
The next time anyone begins to talk about loyalty in sport think about
John Gabriel's rise to power in professional basketball from Philadelphia
Gofer to Magic GM. Then contemplate the fate of Matt Goukas, Pat Williams,
and Brian Hill, all of whom befriended Gabriel on his way up.
Pass the swimsuit issue. Winter boredom is killing me.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
Having been born and raised in Minnesota and now having lived nearly
thirty years in Florida, I have spent most of my life on this planet in
two of the fishingest states in the Union. Florida has almost as many bass
fishermen as it does ways of taking money from tourists. Minnesota is
called the Land of 10,000 Lakes, although in reality there are over
100,000 lakes in my home state.
So it would seem that I should be a fisherman.
Those who know me will not be surprised that I am not. Knowing that I am
always a bit off center, they would see the logic in the fact that I am
not a fisherman, that I don't like fishing, find it a massive bore, and am
offended by the very notion that some people are avid about fishing.
Over the years I have developed a particular dislike for fly fishing, a
dislike that has intensified in recent years as I have had too much
contact with those who have found in fly fishing a substitute for their
otherwise neglected religious impulses. Those who use fly fishing as a
form of animistic ritual, who see in it some elemental act of human
endeavor, drive me to distraction.
Most disturbing are those who read "A River Runs Through It" and thought
they had just experienced a set of revelations of biblical proportions,
and then went to the movie only to be disappointed that Charlton Heston
did not play the lead in flowing robes.
What makes me think about these things is the fact that I have seen over
the past few weeks several references to ice fishing--the quintessential
idiotic sport of the climatologically challenged. If fishing is a form of
insanity, then what of ice fishing? If I hate fishing, then what must my
feelings be about ice fishing?
In fact I rather like ice fishing, although I admit it has been a good
thirty-five years since I have actually been ice fishing. So I like the
memory of ice fishing, or the thought of ice fishing.
I like it, I suspect, because it has almost nothing to do with fishing.
For those who have never been ice fishing or who don't have a clue how one
ice fishes, some explanation is needed. You may think that ice fishing is
done outdoors. It is not. You do not stand out in the middle of a snow
covered lake, wind blowing to chill levels of sixty below, dig a hole,
drop a line, and hope that a fish comes around before you succumb to
hypothermia.
It is also not done alone. It is done in parties. The minimum number of
persons in an ice fishing party, as with most parties, is four, while
eight to ten is more congenial.
Most ice fishing is single gender. In my youth that meant guys, but I
suspect that in our liberated and progressive society it must also mean
gals. At times it could mean mixed gender, but then there were a whole new
set of rules employed for that variety of ice fishing.
It is a multiple day and night activity, usually weekends, and is carried
out only with an ample supply of snacks, steaks, beer and whiskey.
The venue is an ice fishing house. Seen from the outside, these buildings
look like nothing more than shacks on ice. If you have been inside you
know otherwise. Inside they resemble a working-class sky box. Two or three
rooms include bunk beds, fully equipped kitchens, gas grills, comfortable
chairs and couches, foot-rests, a Franklin stove, and most importantly a
card table and chairs. A hole here or there in the carpeted floor for the
actual fishing activity is required to legitimate the major activities of
the weekend.
For most Minnesotans of my acquaintance, many of the prototypes of whom
can be seen in the academy-award nominated "Fargo," ice fishing was a way
of spending the weekend with the guys. It would be a weekend of heavy
drinking, poker, more heavy drinking, a great deal of talk about wimmin,
always a tribute to massive male ignorance on the subject, and more
drinking. Occasionally this activity was interrupted by such fishing
terminology as "I think you got a bite," which would be responded to by
any number of obscene phrases or gestures; or "your hole is icing over" a
phrase that elicited even greater levels of verbal improvisation.
All of which was the occasion for even more drinking of beer and whiskey,
more verbal gymnastics, and in the end a level of intimacy with nature
that one can have only while ice fishing in America, or when trying to
write your name in the snow.
Oh, how I miss those winter sports!
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST FOR FRIDAY MARCH 7, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
The calendar says March. Time for March Madness. The Big Dance. The Road
to the Final Four. The Road to Big Dollars from Big TV revenues. The Road
to Commercialism and Compromise. The Road to Corruption.
Before we get too caught up in the CBS snow job on intercollegiate
basketball, the reverence and piety with which major college coaches are
interviewed, the sanctimonious profiles of student athletes, and even
before the really excellent basketball, and t he pure joy and excitement
of the competition during this month of single elimination basketball, let
us pause and remember what all this costs at too many institutions.
In recent weeks two of the more interesting coaches in NCAA history have
been in the news. Jerry Tarkanian who is now the coach at Fresno State
University and Bill Musselman who is now the head coach at the University
of South Alabama were back on the sports pages where their methods were
once again under scrutiny. Note please that once again they are both head
basketball coaches at Division I basketball programs, which raises the
question of just what you would need to do to get yourself permanently
eliminated from the college coaching ranks, or to make yourself such a
pariah that no one would ever hire you.
The Jerry Tarkanian story enters a new phase at Fresno State. Jerry has
hired a former player, Roscoe Pondexter, to serve as what an assistant
athletic director at Fresno describes as "a moral compass and role model
for the student-athletes."
While being recruited by Tarkanian at Long Beach State, Pondexter,
according to NCAA investigators, had another student take the school
entrance exam for him. More recently, just before being hired at Fresno,
Pondexter resigned as a guard from the California prison system amidst
charges that he had incited a riot between prison guards and had beaten
prisoners. Is this Fresno State's idea of what constitutes a role model
and a moral compass?
Tarkanian strongly defends his choice of Pondexter for the position at
Fresno State, perhaps indicating what kind of people Tark thinks he has
playing for him. The President of Fresno State Dr. John Welty, apparently
only an innocent bystander at his institution, pleaded ignorance when
confronted with the NCAA evidence of academic fraud.
Tarkanian keeps getting hired and keeps leaving trails of NCAA violations
wherever he goes. He gets hired because he wins. He wins because he gets
the players, is a good coach, and has little regard for anything but
winning.
Six weeks ago another name of another coach with a very unsavory track
record surfaced. That is the one and only Bill Musselman, now head
basketball coach at the University of South Alabama. Twenty-five years ago
this season Musselman was in his first year as head coach at the
University of Minnesota. In the middle of that season in a game at
Williams Arena with the Gophers hosting Ohio State, one of the ugliest
incidents in the history of college athletics took place.
It was a game between two unbeatens. With less than a minute to go Clyde
Turner was called for a flagrant foul against Ohio State's Luke Witte.
Corky Taylor offered his hand to help Witte up from the floor, but as he
did so, he put his knee into Witte's groin. A bench clearing brawl
followed involving both players and fans.
As a basketball coach Musselman has been heavily criticized for his win at
all cost attitudes. One of his favorite slogans was, "defeat is worse than
death, because you have to live with defeat." His teams were noted for
their intensity, and his sideline manner was one of a man totally and
completely obsessed. He calls it all "motivational technique."
Within two seasons Musselman had left the University of Minnesota to coach
in the ABA, leaving a trail of 120 NCAA violations for Gopher authorities
to ponder. He would return to Minnesota as the Timberwolves first coach,
and would ultimately be fired there as he was just too intense for the
professional game.
But he won and Tarkanian wins. So regardless of the trail of NCAA
violations, regardless of the obsessive behavior or the record they leave
behind, they will always find work. They will find work because there will
always be a university president and athletic director somewhere who
think it more important to win basketball games than to be overly
concerned about rules, regulations, ethics or the academic integrity of
their institutions.
That is the dark underside of March Madness, a form of madness you will
not hear discussed at the Big Dance on CBS.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST FOR FRIDAY
MARCH 14, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55
p.m.)
It's the first week in March and in sporting terms that means it is the
time of the first sounds of spring. No not the crack of the bat hitting
ball, but the sounds of dogs barking and men and women urging them on down
the trail. These are the sounds of "The Last Great Race on Earth," the
Iditarod.
This 1,159 mile dog-sled race from Anchorage to Nome has been contested in
Alaska, where spring in early March is but a rumor, for over two decades
now. The race commemorates the transportation of serum by dog sled to Nome
to fight a diphtheria epidemic in 1925. Dog-Sled racing itself goes back
into the late 19th century as a competitive sport, while the Iditarod was
organized in the 1960s by Dorothy Page and Joe Reddington Sr. to save
mushing from the growing trend toward snowmobiles.
The first race in 1966 consisted of two twenty-eight mile heats and was
named the Iditarod Trail Seppala Memorial Race after Leonhard Seppala one
of twenty drivers in the Great Race of Mercy in 1925. Seppala was a
transplanted Norwegian who was already famous for having won the
All-Alaska Sweepstakes of Nome three years in a row. The race was the
first major mushing competition in the world.
The name "Iditarod" comes from the gold rush town of interior Alaska which
sat on the major transportation and communications corridor linking mining
camps, trading posts, and other towns.
This race evolved into the full-blown event we now watch by 1973.
Thirty-four drivers and their dogs took on the course that year, in a race
billed as 1,049 miles long, the last 49 miles symbolizing Alaska, the 49th
State. The winner was Dick Wilmarth of Red Devil with a time of 20 days,
49 minutes, and 41 seconds.
The challenges are many. The elements often display their fury along the
trails. Four years ago 150 miles into the race teams were bunching up
because the trail ahead had been buried by blowing and drifting snow. A
few days later strong winds and a rough trail had been compounded by
overnight temperatures near minus 35 at Finger Lake.
In the 1990 race it was in turn too warm, too cold, the snow drifts were
insurmountable, there were Buffalo on the trail, and two sleds were
attacked by Moose, who tangled the lines and stomped the dogs. The
mountains and the tundra offer challenges of epic proportion. This year
five time winner Rick Swensen has already been disqualified because one of
his dogs died on the trail.
The place names along the trail are expressive and exotic. Finger Lake,
Rainy Pass, Koyak, Shaktoolik, Skwentna, the Yukon River, Cripple
checkpoint. This is a test of man and animal against the power of nature
in which the unexpected is always expected. This winter is no exception.
Snow has been as rare as sunshine, and plans were being made to use
snow-making machines to prepare the trails for the race. Training was
taking place mostly on frozen lakes. But then in early February several
feet of snow buried the trails turning them into a quagmire of unpacked
snow.
Some sixty mushers and their teams began the race last Saturday, and no
one looks for a repeat of last year's record setting pace. Doug Swingley
of Simms, Montana, was the first non-Alaskan to win the Iditarod, and he
did it in record time of 9 days, 2 hours, 42 minutes and 19 seconds. This
smashed the old record held by Swiss-born Martin Buser of Big Lake by
nearly 33 hours, and was over ten days shorter than Wilmarth's winning
time of 1973.
Buser will be heard again this year singing to his dogs, Swingley will be
back to defend his title. Not competing is four-time champion Susan
Butcher, who in 1990 was also the last woman to win the Iditarod. At age
39 Butcher, the all-time money winner an d new mother, has retired.
During the last half of the 1980's the Iditarod was known for its battle
of the sexes between Swensen and Butcher. T-shirts proclaiming
"Alaska-where men are men and women win the Iditarod" were said to have
irritated Swensen no end.
This year's competition has 60 mushers and their dogs, but prize money is
down by $50,000 from last year as a shoe company, pet food firm, and the
Chrysler Corporation have backed away under pressure from animal rights
groups. Five Alaska Dodge Dealers stepped in where Chrysler stepped out,
and other Alaska firms have increased their corporate involvement.
Despite this sour note "The Last Great Race on Earth" really does live up
to its name. The Dogs and their best friends challenge the elements and
one another in a test of skill, power, and endurance, over the course of
1,159 miles, almost any one of which can claim the life of a participant.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF MARCH 21, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
It was about as varied a week in sport for me as I can remember. I have
been off to western Canada where the big story was the Brier, or I guess I
should say the Labatt's Brier, Canada's national curling championship,
being contested in Calgary at the Saddl edome, or rather the Canadian
Airlines Saddledome. Some things don't change even when you cross the 49th
parallel. The television and newspapers were full of stories from the
Brier, which drew almost a quarter of a million people to the Saddledome
during the week, riveting the attention of a nation.
The storyline was particularly attractive as Alberta's team led by Kevin
Martin knocked over opponent after opponent, ending the run on Sunday by
defeating Manitoba, 10-8, in a final that drew a sellout crowd of over
17,000 to the dome, and several million more to their television sets.
I must say that I don't have a clue when it comes to curling, expect that
it looks like it may be similar to shuffleboard. The spectacle of men
running down the ice lane with brooms sweeping frantically in the front of
the stone seems silly to the ignoran t eye, but believe me the attention
and enthusiasm of a city and a nation can be appreciated even by those
clueless to curling.
The other spectator sport of note in Calgary was youth hockey. Our friends
have a son playing in the eight and nine year old league and we were off
to several games. I was surprised by the level of play as these undersized
hockey players skated, stick-han dled, and passed with remarkable skill.
Their enthusiasm for the game was evident and it was great fun to see,
while the stands were nearly devoid of Little League parents.
In addition the opportunity to skate outdoors and to skate on the Olympic
Oval, along with the chance to give cross-country skiing a serious try for
the first time, made this trip to winter a good one.
On our return we plunged back into the middle of March Madness where once
again it was apparent that college basketball remains a coach's, rather
than a player's game. It was John Chaney's Temple Owls and Mike
Krzyzewski's Duke Blue Devils and Roy Williams' Kansas Jayhawks.
The biggest story of the first weekend was Dean Smith's elevation to the
position of winningest coach in college basketball history. With the win
that put him over the top, number 877, Dean Smith's teams have now reached
the sweet sixteen in fifteen of the last seventeen years. At age
sixty-five Smith is in his 36th season of college coaching. For the 27th
season in a row Smith's Tar Heels have reached the 21 win plateau, a
remarkable record of consistency. The numbers are indeed impressive.
Dean Smith has been head coach at Carolina since 1962 coaching a variety
of types and styles of players, but almost always winning. In a profession
that has changed dramatically over the past three decades, Smith has been
a constant. His teams have won a dozen ACC championships and two national
championships. He coached the United States to a gold medal at the 1976
Olympic Games after the U.S. had failed to win the gold in basketball for
the first time in 1972.
Dean Smith has seen many changes in the game and caused one of the most
significant of those changes. Nothing that I can remember irritated me
more about college basketball than the use of the stall, and no one used
it more effectively than Dean Smith. His famous four-corners pattern
drove me up the wall, and I cheered lustily the few times it failed. It
was so effective that it finally produced a radical change in the college
game, the introduction of the shot-clock. It is one of Dean Smith's
monuments.
Smith's achievement brought to mind the coach he passed on the total wins
board, Adolph Rupp of Kentucky, another of my least favorite figures in
the history of college basketball. Rupp's career at Kentucky remains a
legend but my memories of him are really two-fold.
One was the arrogance with which he reacted to the college basketball
point shaving scandals of 1951 which he was sure did not involve his team,
only to learn that they did. The other was his racism which received its
just reward in 1966 when Kentucky lost the national championship game to
the all-black starting five of Texas Western, and which got another jolt
when he lost his final game as a college coach to Florida State in an NCAA
regional final. The FSU win was engineered by two black Louisville
athletes, Ron King and Otto Petty, who never got a look from Adolph Rupp of
Kentucky during the annual recruiting wars.
So maybe it is more than a coach's game.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF MARCH 28, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
If you are a lifer in Minnesota you are having the Final Four experience
for the first time. As a Minnesotan-in-exile and an alumnus of Marquette
University and Florida State University I have had the Final Four
experience on other occasions. As a Gopher alumnus, however, it is a new
and exciting experience.
For all my misgivings about college basketball, the Final Four, the hype,
the money, the commercialism and the corruption, I still got into it when
the Maroon and Gold went two overtimes to beat Clemson and then came from
behind to end UCLA's dreams of an other national championship.
It is a tribute to the coaching of Clem Haskins that his team concept,
both offensively and defensively, has done so well. The beauty of the run
is that it has been a nine man effort on the floor. It is also clear that
Coach Haskins is truly loved by his players, and it would be nice to see
the man who coached so well at Western Kentucky in the shadow of the
University of Kentucky, beat the team from Lexington on the way to a
national championship.
The post-game interview following the Minnesota-UCLA battle featured one
of my all-time favorite college basketball coaches, and one of the great
characters in the history of the game. Al McGuire, who was starting his
career at Marquette University when I was a graduate student there, was in
great form Sunday on CBS. In addition to the genuine outpouring of
affection for Clem Haskins-that was a hug of bearish proportions-Al went
into a dance with one of the Gopher players, and then jawed with several
others. He was having a great time, and the Minnesota players were
learning from the master what fun at the NCAA tournament really means.
His phrases are wonderful and some have entered the language. "He is an
aircraft carrier." "He put up a Hail Mary." "That shot was a crier." "It's
lights out." "That's all she wrote." "Pick up the hymnals, mass is over."
And on Sunday, "One, two, three. Johnny ride the pony."
For all of his zaniness, Al McGuire is a serious man who lives by a street
philosophy that seems part New York hustler and part Jesuitical logic,
with a dose of Irish mysticism. McGuire understood the inner-city athlete
of the mid-Sixties and early Seventies as well as anyone in America. In
part the understanding was a result of his own experiences as a New York
street kid, in part because he is man of deep emotions capable of
considerable empathy.
When he recruited players at Marquette he used all the tricks of the
trade. He would have the name of the player put up on the marquee at the
campus theater, he made certain that the recruit was taken to parties
attended by less than virginal coeds, and he showed the recruit the
Milwaukee Arena where Marquette played its games, but didn't let them near
the old gym, vintage 1910, where all the practices were held.
Most important for Al was the time he spent with the recruit. Always he
would take the young man on a walk around the campus and into the
neighborhoods surrounding the campus or the adjacent downtown area.
McGuire said that walking induced conversation, never a problem for him,
and it was in these moments that he got an excellent sense of the young
man, while the recruit got a full dose of the Al McGuire worldview. Al
stressed to each recruit that this was his opportunity to move up the
social ladder in America, not by playing basketball, but by using his
basketball talents to get both a degree and an education.
When a player came to Marquette in the McGuire era they were guaranteed
the right to stay on after their basketball eligibility ended, and retain
a scholarship until they earned their degree, no matter how long that
took. Some were six or seven years fini shing, but most of McGuire's
players at Marquette did complete their degree programs. Al was committed
to winning basketball, but he also believed deeply in the American dream
that education would move you up in the world, and he believed that
basketball provided his players a chance to capitalize on that
opportunity.
Marquette players were monitored for class attendance and their progress
was checked regularly. The athletic department never once, in the time I
was there, pressured anyone on grades, even when one of the better
players was caught cheating on a history exam. When University
administrators learned of the incident the punishment given out exceeded
that which the History professor would have given. And never once in the
entire process did the athletic department, the head basketball coach, or
anyone else connected with the university try to bring any pressure on
the two graduate students who had uncovered the guilty student.
Such is not the case at other institutions I have been or of which I have
knowledge. This is one of the many reasons I greatly admire Al McGuire. It
is also why I am happy to see him still enjoying the game.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF APRIL 4, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
Championship games should be close and intense with the players giving
every ounce of their energy and coaches struggling to adjust and readjust
as the game unfolds. The only flaws in this year's struggle between the
Wildcats of Kentucky and Arizona were provided by CBS which continues to
be unable to identify its best announcers and commentators, and whose
broadcasting crew has grown like kudzu in August.
Two things especially stick with me in the wake of this tournament: the
way in which college basketball is beginning to resemble the pros and the
dominating presence of Rick Pitino.
Although the skill levels are not as high as the pros, the level of
college play has jumped as players have become bigger and faster. The
result has been an adjustment of the officiating which allows for more
physical pounding and a resulting inconsistency in the calling of fouls.
The pushing and shoving for position in the middle has become nearly
Ewingesque, and the meat-grinder runs full force during rebounding. The
result has been no-calls on the physical play inside, often followed by
the phantom touch-foul in the open court. The inconsistency is baffling
and maddening to partisan fans or to those who don't regularly watch the
NBA.
Like the NBA the college game has seen the replacement of the three second
violation, by the four or five second violation. Travelling is moving
toward the endangered species list except on a good stutter-step when the
officials get fooled, or when it is called for no apparent reason. This
occurs because, as in the NBA, college officials are randomly programed to
make that call once or twice a game. Palming, or carrying the ball, has
vanished entirely, going the way of the double-dribble and the two- hand
ed set-shot.
Who knows, someday soon at a college game you may even here the announcer
say, "First in the last two minutes."
As for Rick Pitino it seems to me that this was his tournament, or at
least his final four. For several days before the start of play at the RCA
Dome, most of the discussion centered on whether or not Minnesota could
handle the press, and then if Arizona having handled North Carolina and
Kansas could handle the Kentucky press. Minnesota could not, while Arizona
could. The Gophers had nearly 30 turnovers while Arizona had only 18, with
very few caused by the Kentucky pressure in the back-court.
The press has become a trademark of Pitino teams. The trapping, the
closing of passing lanes, and the constant pressure on the ball, left
Minnesota gasping for air. Arizona, however, had several players who could
break the defense with ball-handing abili ties and good court sense. Like
all defenses, it can be broken and the opponent can be made to pay.
Arizona's guards drove through the press, or skillfully passed over it,
creating three-on-one advantages in the front court several times, while
they almost never got trapped or made a pass in panic.
Pitino's press reminds everyone that defense generally wins games, and the
presence of John Wooden at halftime of the telecast reminded me of the
tremendous zone-press that UCLA used over its glory years to dismantle the
offensive plans of its opponents. Wooden explained what makes this work,
when he said that the first thing he looked for when recruiting was to
find players who were faster at their position than anyone else at that
position. You can teach quickness, but not speed. Certainly this is one of
the great strengths of this Kentucky team.
The second thing Wooden wanted was a player who looked for the pass first,
and then for the shot. Wooden knows that basketball is still a team game.
Pitino's comment that he will no longer recruit players who want to go the
pros after one or two years in college, makes a similar statement.
This final four was made up of teams that play very good team basketball.
The towering individual stars of the college game were either at home
watching on TV or already in the NBA.
Kentucky's offense made excellent use of screens and cuts to get the open
shot, and dominant rebounding which is a function of both effort and
positioning, or blocking-out. These are skills that are taught, and Pitino
does an excellent job on both.
I was also impressed by Rick Pitino in defeat, saying that he was proud of
his team and their effort, and congratulating Arizona for an excellent
game. There was no whinning about the injuries that ravaged his team, only
pride in a Kentucky team that gave every ounce of its effort, talent, and
skill, only to come up short. It may have been his finest coaching job as
well as a sign that he is maturing as coach and a person.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF APRIL 11, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
On Tuesday, April 15, President Clinton will go to New York and Shea
Stadium for ceremonies commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Jackie
Robinson's breaking of the color line in major league baseball. On that
date in 1947 Robinson played for the Brook lyn Dodgers in their opening
day game against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.
President Clinton will present Rachael Robinson with second base even
though Jackie played first-base on that historic day.
It was the major league opening of what has been called Baseball's Great
Experiment. Over the past several weeks there have been innumerable
commemorations of this event including several television specials, a
multitude of newspaper and magazine pieces, and numerous public
celebrations of the man and the event.
Major League Baseball will not only mark the day with special ceremonies
at Shea Stadium, but this season has been dedicated to the memory of
Jackie Robinson. Each player will wear an official patch on his uniform in
commemoration of the anniversary. Last weekend I spent three days at Long
Island University-Brooklyn where a symposium was held to mark the event
and examine its significance.
Many of Jackie's former teammates were there to talk about the first day
and the first season, to relate the trials and tribulations facing Jackie
Robinson, and to discuss the ballplayer and person who was their teammate.
Others came to rewrite history. Enos Slaughter was intent upon clearing
his name. Slaughter, an outfielder with the Cardinals, in what has become
one of the best known incidents in that first year, viciously spiked
Jackie on the back of the ankle in a pla y at first-base. Slaughter now
insists that Jackie was off-balance and stumbled off the bag and into the
base path where Slaughter was unable to avoid spiking Jackie. Few accepted
Slaughter's rendition of these events, but perhaps it is significant that
the old Cardinal outfielder thought it necessary to offer this public
denial.
Bob Feller, whose quotes about the short-comings of black players and
Jackie Robinson are well-known, also sought to correct history. Apparently
some of Feller's best friends were black, and he and Jackie were great
pals.
Bobby Bragan, a teammate on the Dodgers, was more forthcoming, as he
admitted his hostility to a black player on his team and his desire to be
traded. He also allowed as to how he was wrong.
Perhaps the most interesting discussions involved the ongoing problems of
race that plague baseball and America. New York columnist Jimmy Breslin
talked eloquently about the decline of the Brooklyn neighborhood that had
once been the site of Ebbets Field. According to Breslin when the Dodgers
left Brooklyn the politicians didn't care, when the neighborhood slipped
into decline they didn't care, and today no one cares as a generation is
being lost.
In the worst moments of the weekend those who came only to get autographs
from Hall of Fame players threatened to crush their heros in a stampede
toward the dais as sessions came to a close. This was a reminder of the
commercialization of sport and the trivialization of history which haunts
our commercial culture.
Frank Robinson talked about the trials of being the first black manager,
and the failure of baseball to progress in the area of on-field and
off-field black management personnel. There is one black general manager
today, and two in the history of the game. There are no black presidents
or owners and never were. There are very few black writers covering major
league baseball as beat reporters. In all facets of the game Jackie's
legacy remains quite limited.
So, we celebrate the event. Those black players and writers who
participated in the symposium repeatedly talked of how much things have
changed. Others have asked if the young black baseball millionaires know
who Robinson was, while David Justice asks if the white players know. Both
questions are important, and the answer is no to both, symptomatic of a
general ignorance of history that one encounters every day.
Much of this celebration has a decidedly white cast to it. The people of
Brooklyn remember their role in history with pride and
self-congratulations. The liberal and radical press recount their
catalytic role in the process. White America pats itself on the back for
having achieved desegregation in one small area of American life without
violence and death, but not without the threat of both.
I myself remain ambivalent about this moment in history. I do know that
Jackie Robinson made a difference and that what he accomplished can not be
reversed. The question is, can the process be moved forward any further
than it has been moved thus far?
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF APRIL 18, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
There is a character in Thomas Klise's 1974 novel, The Last Western, whose
name is Willie. The young man was born in New Mexico, became a baseball
pitcher with a supernatural pitch, and was of multi-racial origin. As he
developed his athletic skills he quickly achieved perfection, which
vaulted him into the public limelight and superstardom. Shortly the public
tired of h is perfection, being bored by it. He was cynically manipulated
by greedy sports owners and ultimately the public turned on him.
Tida Woods, the mother of the new golf superstar, says that Tiger "has
African, Chinese, Thai, American Indian, and European blood. He is the
universal child." When she took Tiger's astrological charts to Buddhist
monks in L.A. and Bangkok, they told Tida that her son has "wondrous
powers." He too is manipulated by the new greed embodied in Phil Knight
and Nike, and that too could be his downfall.
The parallels may end there, but I was struck by the similarity this
weekend as life seemed to imitate art.
Who could go through this past weekend without having sensed that the
sport of golf was passing through a historic moment both on and off the
course? On the fabled fairways and greens of Augusta a twenty-one year old
golfer was redefining the game as played at the Masters. The course
which has inflicted so much pain on so many over the years, was humbled
by this young man who has been a professional for less than a year. Like
Jack Nicklaus before him, he has taken the game of golf to another level.
It was the largest margin of victory in the history of the Masters, the
lowest score, the best middle thirty-six holes, the best opening and
closing fifty-four holes, the most under par on the back nine-16, the most
three's in a Masters-26, and Tiger Woods is the youngest champion to win
a Masters or any of the majors. He has people seriously talking about a
grand slam possibility.
If all of that were not enough, because of the peculiarities of racial
definition in America where if you look black you are black, Woods is the
first black to win a Masters and win a major; this on a course where
until six years ago there were no black members. For many at Augusta
National this must have been a week in which the mint juleps lost some of
their jolt, and the artificially colored water looked less blue. Some no
doubt took the lack of dogwoods and azaleas at this tournament as a sign,
in this region where nature speaks to man in many manifestations. The
blossoms came a bit early this spring, except in the case of Tiger Woods
who blossomed just at the right moment.
If Tiger Woods had achieved this victory at such a young age it would have
been considered remarkable, if he had done so with such a dominant game it
would have been considered remarkable, and if he had won this tournament
as a African-American it would have been considered remarkable. That he
did all three gave this event a power over and above any of those
singularly, the total being greater than the sum of its parts.
But still there is more. Tiger Woods not only became the first
African-American to win at Augusta, to win a Masters, but did it two days
before the fiftieth anniversary celebration of Jackie Robinson's entrance
onto the stage of major league baseball. It was good to hear Woods speak
of the significance of Robinson's effort for himself and all black
athletes, and to hear him thank the pioneering black golfers like Charlie
Sifford who never was allowed to play Augusta, and Lee Elder who was the
first black to play there.
It was less encouraging when many commentators and writers made the claim
that Tiger Woods' achievement at Augusta was comparable to Jackie
Robinson's achievement in 1947. A lack of historical perspective, combined
with the hyperbolic tendencies of sports writers, no doubt led to such
comments along with the coincidental timing of Woods' fete.
Make no mistake, there is no comparison. What Robinson did was much more
impressive and significant. Jackie Robinson cracked a major racial
barrier, he was subjected to pressures and abuse not experienced by Woods,
and he lived in a society which constantly made demands on his dignity as
a human being, on his very humanity.
No doubt Tiger Woods has experienced racial insults and physical threats,
including death, and no doubt those will increase with his notoriety.
However it is not likely that Woods will ever endure the pain and
loneliness that Robinson endured especially in those first two years.
The one parallel that is clear is that Tiger Woods like Jackie Robinson
has an opportunity to break new ground, and to pass from celebrity to
hero, to be someone whom we would like to emulate, someone we would like
our children to emulate. If he does this, he will be worthy of all those
comparisons with Jackie Robinson and more.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF APRIL 25, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
How many more times will the courts need to rule before university
athletic administrators and presidents finally understand that Title IX
really does mean that men's and women's sport must be dealt with on an
equal basis? This, in effect, is what has bee n said for the fifth time by
the courts, when The Supreme Court this week refused to hear the appeal by
Brown University of a lower court ruling of last November.
At that time a three judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled that cutting funding for two women's teams at Brown University had
been an act of discrimination, and required the university to have "gender
parity between its student body and its athletic lineup" or show progress
towards that goal. The Circuit Court also ruled that this could be
achieved either by increased funding for women's sports or decreased
funding for men's sports.
The American Council on Education, sixty universities, and forty-nine
members of Congress had joined Brown University's appeal of that decision.
The Supreme Court's action not to rule on the case in effect means the
Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling will stand. This decision does not have
the same power as it would have if the Supreme Court had made this as a
positive ruling of its own, nonetheless it is significant.
Donna de Varona, Olympic gold medalist and past-president of the Women's
Sports Foundation called it the "greatest single legal victory in the
history of women's sports..." On the other side the prophets of doom and
gloom warned that it could mean cutting men's sports or even cutting
academic programs. I would bet on the latter before the former.
Men's football coaches, who theoretically have the most to lose on this
issue because of the absurd size of college football squads, some running
as high as 100 to 150, have been wringing their hands since the November
ruling in the Brown University case. It will be interesting to see how
many positions are ever really cut from college football squads at the
major football institutions. Have you ever seen a competitive college game
in which any team used more than fifty or sixty players, max?
What it is more likely to mean is larger and larger athletic budgets for
those programs, and therefore more and greater need for revenue
production. This will put more pressure on coaches to win, on athletic
directors to turn a profit, and pressure on everyone to cheat and to sell
themselves to the highest bidder. The forces of commercialism will
increase geometrically and will increasingly affect women's sport.
The current argument over sport equity contains several contradictory
assumptions which go to the heart of the century long debate over
intercollegiate athletics. Intercollegiate athletics has always been
justified on the grounds that it fit the ancient Greek ideals of balance,
that it was part of the educational experience of students, and that it
prepared the participants for life. In the more common parlance, it built
character.
In its purest form physical activity may have these redeeming and
educational qualities. If so the entire student body should share in such
an experience, and not only vicariously. They have not.
Instead college sport and intercollegiate athletics evolved quickly into
commercial spectacle and entertainment. It became an advertising arm of
the university and a promotional tool for ambitious college presidents.
Never missing a beat the advocates of intercollegiate sport, including
many college presidents, justified this commercial entertainment activity
at an institution of higher learning on the grounds of the value of
participation, competition, and physical culture, their version of the
Greek ideal. This despite the fact that it affected a small minority of
students, and despite the fact that intercollegiate athletics have little
or no relation to the justification.
Thinking in terms of this phony justification of college sport, the courts
see no reason why women should be denied an equal opportunity to its
alleged benefits. In a sense the irony is rich, as college presidents,
athletic directors, football coaches, and all those apologists for the
corrupt commercial spectacle of intercollegiate athletics have been
hoisted on the petard of their own specious arguments and those of their
predecessors.
If it were a world in which right finally triumphs over the unsavory, the
outcome of this struggle over Title IX would be a curbing of
intercollegiate athletics. Instead what we are likely to see is continuing
growth of commercialized intercollegiate sport, especially among women,
with the money getting bigger and the pressures to win increasing
proportionately. It will be equal opportunity corruption.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF MAY 2, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
For the sport's junkie there is no better time of year. Be it in person or
on the tube this is the time for unfettered excitement at the professional
sports level. Both the hockey playoffs and the NBA playoffs are underway.
In Orlando Monday night the Orlando Solar Bears were involved in one of
those tense and exciting decisive playoff games. It was the fifth game of
a five game set. These are one of kind playoff games in which one team
moves on and the other one goes home. The incentive is the same for each,
and, to use the old cliche, "there is no tomorrow."
The Solar Bears started the series at home losing two games, one in double
overtime. Facing elimination they had to go on the road and win two in
Grand Rapids, which they did. Monday night back in Orlando the decisive
game produced sixty minutes of high tension as both teams played cautious
and defensive hockey. Grand Rapids scored two fluke goals on shots that
most anyone in the stands could have stopped. The Bears tied the game
about half way through the third period and then took the lead for good
with about four minutes left. The final was 3-2 in a game filled with
spectacular goal-tending.
Tuesday night on television the NHL offered three seventh games. Only one,
the late game from the coast between the Mighty Ducks and Phoenix lacked
nail-bitting excitement. The other two went to overtime. Buffalo used the
home ice advantage to finally put away the underdog Ottawa Senators, a
team that didn't exist five years ago, 3-2.
In Dallas the transplanted Stars with the second best record in the West
were beaten by the young and quickly maturing Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in
overtime. This was a game dominated by the Stars and by the superb
goal-tending of Curtis Joseph for the Oilers. The deciding goal came in a
four-on-four situation which woke up the ghosts of the past in the faraway
Northlands Coliseum. It could have been Gretzky, Messier or Tikkanen, but
it was Todd Marchant who went flying past the Dallas defense on the right
wing and beat goalie Andy Moog, topshelf.
The third period was scoreless and the game went about half-way into the
overtime before the goal was scored. The tension was thick and the goal
tending was outstanding especially on the Edmonton end. CuJo looked like
the CuJo that many of us saw last year as he led the Utah Stars in IHL
finals against the Orlando Solar Bears.
If all of that wasn't enough the Orlando Magic returned home on Tuesday
night facing elimination in the first round of the NBA playoffs. In Miami
last Thursday and Sunday the Heat turned the Magic into the Tragic with
two humiliating defeats. On Thursday the Magic were down twenty-five
points by the end of the first quarter, and Sunday they were down by the
same margin by the middle of the second quarter.
At that point in both games this team gave up. They looked like deer
caught in the headlights, like candidates for a group heart transplant. It
was a pathetic performance that no volume of injuries could justify. The
Heat pushed them all over the floor without resistance, and shut them
down with smothering defense.
The local media and the talk shows produced an avalanche of ridicule,
outrage, and disgust. Many went to the game Monday night to observe the
interment of the corpse. Others did not go at all, as empty seats were
scattered across the O-rena.
Those who were there watched in anger as Miami came out and pushed the
Magic all over the floor again, and about half-way into the second period
built a twenty-point lead at 39-19. Just over a minute later that pushing
sent Ronny Seikley flying across the floor. and as he went he incurred a
badly sprained ankle. He was carried out on a stretcher with the look of
excruciating pain on his face. Miami scored only 36 points the rest of the
way.
By the end of the period the score was tied at 42 and the O-rena was near
bedlam. Two things happened. Darrell Armstrong came off the bench and
picked up the defensive intensity, while Penny Hardaway took the game on
his shoulders and transformed the score. He had 36 points by the half,
finishing with 42. Armstrong had 21 points, four steals and eight
assists. Most importantly the Magic played defense and matched the
physical aggressiveness of the Heat.
Armstrong was clearly a key to the victory, but in the final five minutes
of the second quarter Penny Hardaway took the game over, dominated it, and
turned a twenty-point deficit into a tie. He transformed a defeated and
lackluster group of players into an aggressive team that took the game to
the Heat.
This could be the game in Magic History that people will look back on and
say, this was the night that Penny Hardaway became a true team leader and
franchise player.
This is what the playoffs can do.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF MAY 9, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
The year was 1974 and the place was Zaire. The event was the Rumble in the
Jungle. The principal characters were Muhammad Ali, Don King, and George
Foreman. After nearly twenty-three years the documentary of that happening
has made it to the big screen, and indeed it won the Oscar for Best
Documentary of the year.
Leon Gast who undertook this project in 1974 has waited all this time to
find the financing that would allow him to complete the final editing and
develop the narrative. It was worth the wait.
"When We Were Kings," is a film of extraordinary energy, tremendous
entertainment value, great insight into both Muhammad Ali and Don King,
and, appearing as it does now, carries an eerie quality in its references
to Zaire's Dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and his country. It is also a film
that explores a bit too briefly the many facets of the "Sweet Science."
Interviews with George Plimpton, Norman Mailer, Spike Lee and others add
to the film's insight, while helping to drive the narrative.
Clearly the centerpiece of "When We Were Kings" is Muhammad Ali. His
enormous presence dominates the screen in the same way that he dominated
life. The speed of his body is matched by the speed of his brain and his
mouth. This is a brilliant man, a genius, whose field happened to be
boxing, but whose life quickly moved way beyond the ring.
Those who have never seen Ali in his youth will marvel at his presence.
Those who have seen him, will remember either the joy or anger of that
experience. The film offers several glimpses of the very young brash Ali,
so facile of tongue, with his couplets and insults, and the ability to
charm a snake or an angel in less time than it takes to say Mobutu Sese
Seko.
Almost equally fascinating is the young Don King whose career was built on
the Rumble in the Jungle, and could just as easily have been ended by it.
King was just beginning what would be a two decade dominance of the sport.
What you see here on film is th e quick mind, the charm, the warmth, the
amazing facility with words. At the same time you are reminded that you
are watching one of least trusted people in all of sport.
It was Don King who persuade Mobutu to ante up the ten million dollars to
stage the fight in Zaire, and it was King who saved this documentary from
being cancelled over issues of race in the days leading up to the fight.
It was King who put together a tre mendous show by bringing some of the
best acts in music to Zaire for this event. The James Brown troupe, whose
show is interspersed throughout the film, provides great music and dance,
which when intercut on film with local Zairean musicians and dancers
underlines another theme of the event, namely the return of the
African-American to Africa.
Ali speaks frequently about his "return" to Africa, about his rediscovery
of his origins and his cultural roots, his sense of being African, and the
importance of these experiences to him and the significance of them for
African-Americans. At one point flying into Zaire on board a Zairean
plane with an entirely black crew, Ali notes that this could never happen
in America.
One is struck also by the way in which Ali is worshipped by the people of
Zaire, while George Foreman is not. Ali crosses the cultural divide with
ease, he leads the crowds who gather around him wherever he goes in chants
of "Ali, Kill Him," a chant with a wonderful cadence in French. Ali is
admired for his boxing skills, for his defiance of the American government
over Vietnam, and for his personal charm. He is clearly seen by Zaireans
as one of them, and the film gives you the sense of what a tremendous
force Ali is as an international hero. Foreman's problems begin
immediately when he descends from his plane with a German shepherd, the
dog that Zaireans associate with the oppression by the Belgians. He never
recovers public support.
The climax of the film comes with the fight in which Ali reclaims the
heavyweight title in a major upset. The fight footage accompanied by the
comments of Norman Mailer and George Plimpton are amazing to watch.
Foreman is obviously so much stronger than Ali you can not believe that
Ali can survive, and yet with brilliant head games in advance and an
equally brilliant strategy in the ring, he does. Foreman is spent by the
end of the fifth round, and you can see it. You also see the raw power of
boxing, as well as the speed, grace and skill.
This is a superb film. It brings insight to sport, culture and
personality, and takes us back to Muhammad Ali in his prime, showing us
why Ali is the single most dominating athletic personality in the world in
this or any century.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF MAY 16, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
It has been one of those weeks when there are so many things to comment
upon, I don't know where to begin. The embarrassment of riches has come
from a multitude of sources, and invites a veritable plethora of opinions
and attitudes from joy and praise to disdain and disgust.
Among the gems available for examination are the test of endurance
performed by Susie Maroney of Australia who became the first woman to swim
from Cuba to the United States. She overcame a failure of a year ago, the
stings of jelly fish, hallucinations, nausea, and 15 foot waves in this
monumental test of will.
Then there is the basketball coach game of musical chairs. Rick Pitino
goes to Boston for a ten year/ $70 million deal which will give him total
control of the Celtic operations and finally send Red Auerbach to the
pines. This moved Larry Bird out of Bost on to his home state to coach the
Pacers, who just lost their coach Larry Brown who moved on to Philadelphia
for $5M a year. Bird will pull down four and a half-million a year,
presumably so low because he has never coached as much as a second of
basketball at any level.
It would seem that a milepost has been achieved in the NBA. When Al
McGuire was at the top of his profession at Marquette University he often
said he would never coach in the pros because he did not want to coach
players who were making more money that he was. Al may now want to
reassess his options given the salaries being paid to Pitino, Brown, Riley
and Bird.
It is in fact surprising that more coaches are not better paid, as
obviously personality management of professional athletes is an extremely
tricky business. Those who can do it best, are the most successful coaches
in the NBA, and should be paid as generously as the best players.
Pitino's departure from Kentucky, where he had earned the right to turn
the bluegrass purple if he chose to, led to the hiring of former Pitino
assistant and Georgia Head Coach Tubby Smith at $1M a year. The beauty of
this hiring is that one of the last southern schools to resist the coming
of the black athlete, now has a black head coach, an event that someone
once said would come just after the Martians occupied the White House. One
would guess that Adolph Rupp is spinning in his grave, and that in cafes
and on front porches across the Commonwealth of Kentucky there have been
some very interesting discussions of racial theory over the past few days.
A more disturbing event this past week was the defeat of Garry Kasparov,
the world chess champion, by the IBM computer known as Deep Blue. Not only
does this bring to mind the specter of the HAL 9000, but it brings into
question the future of man and mach ine. Kasparov had never lost a match
to anyone. He was the undefeated champion of the world, and in the final
game he was swept away by the RS/6000 SP better known as Deep Blue.
The implications for IBM in their struggle with Bill Gates and Microsoft
are encouraging, while the implications for sport and society were more
ominous. No longer can we say, "May the best man win." No longer will it
be possible to dismiss the notion that a sports team might be run by a
computer. Deep Blue could soon be wearing Dodger Blue especially if Fox
Sports Inc. purchases the Dodgers, making them the property of Ruppert
Murdock. If CBS could destroy the Yankee dynasty in a few short years, how
lon g would it take Murdock to dismantle the Dodgers, and when the Dodgers
start losing might Murdock, the Aussie android, turn to Deep Blue as the
solution to his problems.
National League purists of course will question whether or not Deep Blue
is clever enough to make the double switch, but if managing is a chess
match, then what else need be said. This makes artificial turf and the DH
look like minor irritants.
As to irritants, Garry Kasparov seemed to have a truckload of them at the
news conference following his defeat at the inappropriately named
Equitable Center in midtown Manhattan. The humiliation of this defeat was
anything but equitable, coming in a mere 19 moves. Kasparov lashed out at
the machine and its acolytes, accusing them of some sort of unnamed
underhanded behavior.
When asked if he was accusing IBM and Deep Blue of cheating, Kasparov
would only say, "I have no idea what's happening behind the curtain." He
also vowed to come back and tear the machine to pieces in a rematch. By
the end it was beginning to sound like the WWF.
One commentator said that Garry Kasparov had something that the computer
did not have, a pulse, and this was both his strength and his weakness.
One year after beating Deep Blue handily, Kasparov faced defeat
gracelessly and proved once again, as I say each week:
This is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't have to be a good sport
to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF MAY 23, 1997
WUCF-FM 89.9 ORLANDO, FLORIDA
(7:55 a.m. and 5:55 p.m.)
Is it reasonable to expect those who participate in inter-scholastic
athletics be bona fide students with a minimal commitment to success in
the classroom as well as on the playing field? And should it be the
function of the state legislature to guarantee that this is the case?
The simple answers to these questions are "yes" and "no."
These questions have been asked because in the legislative session just
concluded a law was passed requiring students in the State of Florida to
maintain a "C" average in order to participate in athletics. As one might
expect the howling coming from high school coaches and athletic directors
has been formidable.
It is sad that this has become a state law. First, state legislators who
are elected by pledging to minimize government involvement in our lives
should be the last people to involve themselves in the micro-management of
the schools and their athletic programs. Second, it is a sad commentary
on educational leadership across the state that such requirements were not
already in place in more than a few locations. School boards,
administrators, and athletic directors should have instituted this minimal
standard long ago.
What the law requires is that students maintain a cumulative 2.0 average,
a "C" average, in order to participate in athletics. It will also become a
graduation requirement for all. This means that athletes who have any
ambitions to go on to college to further either their education or their
athletic careers, must maintain a "C" average, unless of course colleges
begin to admit athletes who are not high school graduates, always a
possibility.
Currently Orange County students must have a 1.6 average over the previous
nine-week period to maintain eligibility for athletic competition over the
next nine weeks. So the standard has been raised significantly--from
requiring students to be semi-conscious to being fully conscious. Many
are in shock.
One local athletic director, whose name will not be used out of charity,
announced "I am the archenemy of the cumulative 2.0 in core classes. I'm
anticipating as many as 30 percent of my athletes will not be able to
participate." Indeed, state figures showing that 38 percent of state
students do not have a "C" average would seem to confirm his estimates.
Others raise a different flag against the law, claiming that sports keep
people in school, and that sports are used to motivate students in the
classroom.
If sports do keep students in school and they are not maintaining a "C"
average, what are they doing in school? Are they getting anything from
this experience? Yes, we are told, they are exposed to education and this
is good. The rain coat theory of education, expose them to education as
an exhibitionist exposes himself to others, has always mystified me. What
is to be gained from this exposure, if the exposees are comatose?
If sports do motivate students in the classroom then shouldn't a minimal
standard for classroom performance motivate the sports playing student to
give this minimal performance in the classroom? I would think so.
What coaches, athletic directors and students tell us is that if students
can't play sports they will not go to school. That's all right. Let them
drop out. They will have plenty of time to play sports, and maybe the
local authorities can organize sports leagues outside the schools, where
former students can hone their athletic skills and not have to clutter up
the educational system as dead wood, or worse, as disruptive forces.
This could be a major money saver. When you look at what it costs to
educate one student as opposed to the costs of a county athletic program,
we should rejoice at the prospect of one less student. It could even mean
lower taxes.
My only real concern over the new regulation is the pressures that this
could bring on teachers to push the grades up to a "C." Those pressures
have always been there, because there are always some people who can not
meet the standard no matter how low. And that is the point, isn't it?
There will always be people who can not meet the standard, if you have a
standard, no matter what that standard is.
So why not have a meaningful standard rather than a joke? Would it be the
end of world if some students dropped out of high school where they are
learning very little anyway? Shouldn't our educational institutions have
some meaningful educational standards? I would hope there would be no
debate about something so self-evident, especially within the educational
community. But I know there will be.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don't
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
SPORT AND SOCIETY BROADCAST OF MAY 30,
1997