Rant Time: The Content of Your Game

(Editor's Note: This is the full version of an article posted in The Breeze on February 16, 2012.)



I always laugh a little bit when I hear fully grown adults with PhD’s start taking shots at Generation Y. They say that we’re too lazy. We’re the dumbest generation. Don’t trust anyone under 30. Google is making us stupid. Really? You want to put your 8-10 years of higher education to use by putting down young adults that aren’t even fully formed persons yet?
 

As you can tell, I tend to reject most of the criticism that is thrown around out there. Still, there is a grain of truth to some of what is said. If anything, I think GenY is too naïve. Now a full generation removed from the 1960’s, few of us even really have parents who can fully remember what this country was like before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was ratified.


People who try to be trendy might say “I don’t see color.” But no one walks around saying that there are no differences between men and women. Growing up on either side of the turn of the millennium, I obviously saw color. I saw black, white, yellow, brown, and everything else. I just didn’t really care, nor did I see what the difference was. To a Generation Y kid, I can’t even understand what people were thinking when they might look at anyone different than themselves and think “gee, you’re a minority? That’s grounds for needing to go to a different bathroom.” It is truly unfathomable. In a world of overused hyperbole, it is a concept that literally boggles my mind.


That is why I don’t get Luis Suarez.


He’s a 25-year-old striker for Liverpool. Back in October, Suarez got into a bit of a verbal spat on the field with Manchester United player Patrice Evra. This was followed by a 115-page report that determined that Suarez kicked Evra and told him it was because he was black. When Evra understandably became angry because of this racial abuse and asked him to repeat what he had said, Suarez only replied, “I don’t speak to blacks.” Then Suarez called Evra a “negro” a couple times before scurrying along.

The Football Association — basically an English version of Roger Goodell — laid down a £40,000 fine and an eight-game suspension for Suarez’s inappropriate actions. Exactly the right move. Case closed.

Except that last weekend, when Suarez came back from his suspension, his first act was to skip Evra while the two clubs shook hands before their game. If you’ve ever played organized sports, you know that skipping someone in the handshake line generally isn’t an accident. It’s intentional, and it’s meant to send a message. I’d love to take Suarez’s £40,000 and bet that he planned and schemed up that little trick during his eight-game suspension. It would be great to come back with a racist bang, right where he left off, and start some fireworks.

Like all great vengeance plans, this one backfired. Evra and Man U of course felt disrespected and willed themselves to a 2-1 victory. This time, the football association failed to find Suarez’ actions as inappropriate, and they have announced there will be no sanctions against him. How the exact same commission that just spent 115 pages explaining why he was a racist can fail to find this inappropriate, I will never understand. But it does reinforce the fact that the subtle, ugly tones of racism still find themselves seeping into the world of sports every now and again. I don’t understand how someone just four years older than me can understand a mentality so completely when I don’t comprehend it at all.

Still, there is a new hope rising in the (far) east, and his name is Jeremy Lin.


If I told you three weeks ago that an economics graduate sleeping on his friend’s couch was going to ignite the sports world and dominate ESPN, you’d have probably wondered aloud how I even got a sports column to begin with. Yet here we are nearing the end of week two of Linsanity. With Amar’e Stoudemire already back and Carmelo Anthony set to return to the lineup later this week, people are buzzing with anticipation. Will the ascent of previously unheralded point guard Jeremy Lin continue? I don’t know. I am not a Knicks fan, so I am not personally invested in their success, but at this rate, Lin could be elected Secretary-General of the UN by the end of this weekend.


I don’t want to anoint him just yet, but there is certainly some substance to the hype surrounding Jeremy Lin. After all, in his first four starts, he has outscored every player since the history of the NBA merger of 1976. So how much hype is appropriate, you ask? That’s all a matter of perspective. Many pundits have said he is the Tim Tebow of basketball, but Tebow was a Heisman-winning quarterback with two national championships who was drafted in the first round. Lin was undrafted and received zero Division 1 scholarships. Tebow’s stats are underwhelming; Lin’s stats are just the opposite.


Some have gone so far as to say he is a 21^st century Jackie Robinson. Lin may have grown up as a minority at the turn of the 21^st century, but Jackie Robinson was truly discriminated against. He surely would not have been allowed to attend Harvard. Lin may be a cultural phenomenon, but Robinson is a historically significant icon. Let’s slow that bus down just a little bit.


Still, as an Asian Harvard grad who wanted to play in the NBA, I’m guessing Lin knows a thing or two about unfair judgment. He’s no Robinson, but it’s reasonable to assume Linsanity hasn’t always been quite so, well, insane. These scouts have gotten so use to seeing a certain type of mould at combines, and let’s face facts. Jeremy Lin is not that mould.


It shouldn’t matter what you look like. In 2012, I would hope a player is judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their game.


But what do I know? I’m just a stupid kid.

What the CAA and Big 12 Have in Common

Happy Lupercalia to you all, may you enjoy high testosterone and estrogen levels.


On this wonderful day of random girls walking around with flowers and even larger than normal amounts of completely obnoxious PDA, I put a simple question to you:


What do the Big 12 and Colonial Athletic Association have in common? Anyone? Anybody?



Let's start with the BXII, who just got some pretty great news: Morgantown, WV is almost heaven.  The 304 is officially cheering for a Big 12 team (unless you're in Huntington), as West Virginia and the Big East have officially announced their 20-million dollar divorce.  WVU will pay 11 million, and the Big 12 will pick up the rest of the bar tab.  And it's that simple.  Facebook relationship statuses have been changed. The Mountaineers and the Big East are no more.

Fresh off the heels of that news, WVU's new conference was quick (and I mean lightning fast) to release their 2012 football schedule, complete with TCU and WVU's entire conference roadmap.  Though most of it had already been finalized, the West Virginia court issues were considerably slowing things down.  Now the schedule can be completely finalized with the Mountaineers' games present and accounted for.  WVU plays a fairly balanced schedule next fall. Notable games:

9/29 (B12 opener): Baylor @ West Virginia
10/6: West Virginia @ Texas
11/3 TCU @ West Virginia
11/10 West Virginia @ Oklahoma State
11/17 Oklahoma @ West Virginia


Like I said, it's pretty balanced.  In fact, it's downright favorable, with WVU's overall schedule featuring seven home games.  Not bad for your premiere in a new conference.

Now, regarding the November 10 matchup of West Virginia and Oklahoma State:

1. It's actually not that farfetched to think WVU could be undefeated in early November (only two road games in conference, Texas and Texas Tech, plus Marshall, JMU, and Maryland all at home)

2.  You're watching the two most prolific offenses on college football next year

3. It's Dana Holgorsen's return to the school and team he formerly coached.

All that adds up to one thing: buy your tickets now for college gameday in Stillwater, Oklahoma on November 10, 2012.


For the Big 12 complete schedule, click here.
For WVU's complete schedule, click here.



Now, onto the CAA.  Remember them?  They're that SEC-like conference of Division 1AA football and that basketball conference that has had two separate final four teams in the last five seasons.  They are the conference that JMU is in, and that I must partially cover in an actual newspaper and not this online soapbox.  What's that, my non-captive audience?  You want to know what's going on with the CAA before The Breeze tells you on Thursday?  Yeah, okay, I guess I can do that.

The Colonial has just recently (as in, information released in the last 24 hours) signed a TV deal with NBC's new sports broadcasting channel. You know, the one I frequently trash on twitter becuase it'll probably never be as big as ESPN? Yeah, that one.  And by TV deal, I mean five years of the most extensive coverage the CAA has ever, bold italicized underlined EVER, had.  The deal not only covers national coverage of football and men's basketball, but also additional regional coverage of multiple other sports. 

The CAA is the first conference on any level to sign with NBC.  I have learned from very credible sources how difficult it has been for JMU and the CAA to negotiate media rights with ESPN.  For a conference that has been wildly successful in the last 5-10 years, they certainly don't get respected like it.  So yes, take this as a wag of the finger- probably the middle one- toward ESPN. And rightfully so. We've taken are business elsewhere, and Adam Smith wouldn't have it any other way.


So what do the CAA and Big 12 have in common?


Well, they're both random girls walking around with bouquets of flowers.  Happy Valentine's Day, CAA/Big 12.  It's sure to be a memorable one.

Rant Time: Shaka Smart's Comments On the Mark

Eleven NCAA tournament bids, three Sweet 16 appearances, and two Final Four trips. 

Any guesses on what I’m talking about?

That’s the combined achievements of George Mason, Old Dominion, and Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA tournament in the last ten years.  Just let that sink in- eleven, three, and two from three Mid- Majors in the same state.

Now let’s compare that to the two “Power Conference” teams from that same state.  Virginia Tech and Virginia have combined for two bids to the Big Dance in the last ten years.  That means that in the last decade, Virginia CAA schools have as many final four runs as Virginia ACC schools have NCAA bids.  That’s pretty telling.

So I can’t really blame VCU coach Shaka Smart for stepping up Monday and announcing to the world that he believes “the best programs in the state [of Virginia] are in the CAA, and it’s not even close.”  What?  Cue the media uproar.  How dare he blaspheme the ACC like that!  After all, the ACC is the media darling of Dick Vitale and sportscasters everywhere.  Does Smart think he can say whatever he wants just because he went to one measly little Final Four?

Well, yeah.  Especially when what he is saying has the advantage of being entirely true.  Last time I checked, North Carolina and Duke are the only ACC programs that have really been nationally relevant over the last six or eight years.  According to my globe, those schools aren’t in Virginia.

I like the program that Tony Bennett is building at UVA.  The Cavaliers are back in the national rankings, and they have been a more consistent #3 option in the ACC this year than Florida State.  I think Bennett will build a program that will remain relevant for some time.  However, if we’re talking about what programs have been doing in the past few years, then the boys in Charlottesville blue haven’t done much of anything recently.  The team in Blacksburg has probably done even less.  Don’t forget, eleven and two.

In an age where postseason results are all that seem to matter anymore, VCU, ODU, and Mason have entirely outperformed their supposed big brothers.  Some people might argue that a comparison between the two groups is unfair because of the level of competition each school must endure in conference play, but think about it.  ACC schools like UVA and Tech must play Duke, UNC, and each other.  After that, there have been about two more average teams and around six other below average teams, to put it nicely.  People think highly of the ACC because it is a storied conference, but look at their recent results.  In a twelve team conference, they have only averaged about five teams per year.  That’s 40% of the conference.  Compared to other power conferences like the Big 12 and Big East who regularly get close to 75% of their conference in, the ACC is not nearly as deep.  Even the CAA—a mid-major conference!—managed three bids (25% of the conference) in last year’s NCAA tourney.  Who were those teams, I wonder?  It was George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, and Old Dominion, and they combined for six wins.  Stop me when this is starting to sound like a broken record.

I really just don’t understand the outrage and controversy surrounding Smart’s statements though.  The “controversial comments” made headlines up and down the east coast and even trended regionally on twitter Monday afternoon.  CAA coaches have since come out and defended his statements, but other coaches like Bennett still seemed upset.  They seemed to think that the comments were unfair to the basketball programs at the University of Richmond, UVA, and Virginia Tech. 

The only injustice I see is the unfair playing field that recruiting takes place on.

Head coaches like Tony Bennett and Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg get to tell recruits to come play for them because people love the Atlantic Coast Conference.  They will be watched on TV.  ESPN exclusively pays millions and millions of dollars to conferences like the ACC because of the status quo that has been established.  The ACC is a “good conference,” even though results from the last decade might suggest that it’s overrated and full of bottom feeders.  The CAA, meanwhile, must fight and scrap for the most marginal of television rights.  Whereas the ACC has their own night carved out on ESPN (Sunday Night ACC basketball) in addition to countless other televised games, the CAA has virtually no bargaining power regarding their own television broadcasting schedule.  ESPN will choose three or four Colonial conference games that they would like to televise, and that’s really all the CAA will be awarded despite being arguably the most successful mid-major conference of the last five years.  The conference continues to succeed in spite of ESPN’s coverage, not because of it.  This plays right into the hands of the power conference teams, who continue to ride the success of their conferences instead of the strength of their own programs.

So if these power schools can ride the benefits of their conference for recruiting, why shouldn’t Shaka Smart?  Why shouldn’t Mason head coach Paul Hewitt or ODU coach Blaine Taylor?  By extension, why can’t Matt Brady?  The answer is that they can and should.  The CAA has outclassed the other Virginia programs of the last five years, and yeah—it’s not that close.  It’s time that people start recognizing that.