I am a 43-year-old man.
While I can’t do many of the things I used to (running fast, jumping high, having high muscle flexibility), there are a few things I like about getting old.
Becoming wiser. Having a broader perspective on life. Appreciating the little things and not taking stuff for granted.
The last of the things that the “older” me appreciates is honesty.
After all, when you are my age, you are staring at the “back nine” of life, if you will. Life is too short to not be truthful for the sake of hurting feelings and being nice.
Two dudes in the world of college basketball – and the same conference – embodies the latter in spades: Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and North Carolina’s Roy Williams.
Boeheim was asked about playing a conference tournament game in New York, and he responded with this:
“There’s no reason to play in Greensboro. The only reason they play there is because the league offices are there, it’s always been there and there are like 150 people who like to have meetings. It should not be there.
“The media centers, the recruiting centers are Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New York. How many good players are in Greensboro? New York made the Big East.”
Now, here’s Williams’ post game comments when asked about the presumed media and recruiting benefits to playing this tourney in a big city:
“Now everybody’s has got social media, and we don’t need “The New York Times” to find out what in the dickens is going on in the country.
“You know, our president tweets out more bullshit than anybody I’ve ever seen. We’ve got social media.”
Some media members and fans think Boeheim was being his typical mean-spirited, condescending self. There are other fans who applaud Williams, particularly for his comments on President Donald Trump.
I liked the fact that both were candidly honest in their responses, and therefore didn’t give TWO damns about what anyone thinks. I guess the combination of getting old, being Hall of Fame coaches and having national championships could afford such a luxury.
Hey, if the media members didn’t like the answers, then next time don’t ask them any questions.
And for the record, I agree with Boeheim’s thoughts on Greensboro.
I grew up in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad – Winston-Salem to be exact – so I have first-hand knowledge of all things Greensboro. While the Gate City has made copious improvements to its infrastructure since my childhood, it will NEVER be New York City, Atlanta, DC, or even Charlotte.
In this stage of college athletics, you gotta follow the money. And if what you are doing as a conference is not making lots of dollars, it ain’t making sense.
ACC Commissioner/ninja John Swofford steered his conference to this point by thinking outside the box, so I’d advise him to stick to putting his men’s basketball tournament in major media markets.
That said, I would be remiss if I didn’t give props to the City of Greensboro for dropping perhaps the greatest clapback of all time on Boeheim…
Categories: college basketball
Leave a Reply