By most accounts the 1980′s and 90′s were the glory days of the NBA. Who could forget Magic vs Bird (you know you had the video game on NES), the “Bad Boys,” of Detroit and of course his Airness one Michael Jordan. And this is just scratching the surface, let us not soon forget, Olajuwon, Reggie, Mailman, Clyde, Stockton, Barkley, The Admiral, Skinny Shaq, etc. While I was a product of this time period, and like every other kid in my school grew up wanting to be “Like Mike,” my personality present day is not one that tends to get all sappy over the “Glory Days.” I acknowledge this was a great time for professional basketball and that there was definitely a dead period for whatever reason in the 2000′s, but in the last 5 years a new class of NBA stars have taken front stage (Kobe, Wade, Lebron, Carmello, Nash, Duncan, etc) and in many ways carried the torch.
While it will be hard for any of these guys to compete with legacy of the trailblazers before them (and I mean players who have laid the path for the NBA today, not the potheads in Portland in the early 2000′s), physically today’s stars do measure up in more ways then we give them credit. However this offseason, young as it may be, has made me realize that today’s NBA star may match up to the greats physically, but that is where the comparison stops!
While I, like others, have been completely intrigued by the possibilities that lay before the biggest NBA free agency ever, the way it has been handled by several of the players is equally a turn off. Chris Bosh, for example, has prostituted himself out at every corner. Going so far as to poll his Twitter followers as to where he should go, and cohosting Mike and Mike to openly discuss his thought processes on where he and others might go. He also shared the fact that conversations were taking place between free agents such as himself, Lebron and Dwayne Wade. Could you ever imagine Magic and Larry pulling this garbage? Here let me answer for you, ” HELL NO!” Here’s how that phone call would have went.
Ring Ring
Larry B: Hello.
Magic: Hey Larry Magic Here.
Larry: What do you want?
Magic: I was thinking maybe would could join forces (click) Hello? Hello? Larry you there? (more…)
The discussion of Coach Cal going here and there seems to be the concern keeping all of my blue blooded UK friends up at night. While several of them (which is more than usual) are facing this head on, and realize that the word of a college coach is not really as strong as oak, (Jerry Maguire reference) others seem to suffer from a strong does of denial, which is what I have come to expect. I don’t say this to ridicule or take easy shots at my Wildcat friends, for that is 2nd rate Louisville territory and I will leave that to them, but if you truly believe Coach Cal is not considering a jump to the NBA you are only kidding yourself. And while I find it hard to believe in this day and age that any program, regardless of stature, could believe a coach who says, “I will be the coach of (insert team) next year, I can hardly blame my friends from the Big Blue Nation for clinging on to some hope.
As fans of the University of Kentucky they are not used to the seat they have been forced to sit in the last four years. With the history and resources of UK Basketball how could they comprehend that they would have to settle on a guy like Billy G and not making the tournament, or come to grips with the possibility that Coach Cal (like Coach Pitino years before him) would even consider trying to make another soon to be failed run at the NBA? I know, I know it’s not fair guys but it’s life, and no matter how many tweets Coach Cal and Matt Jones send to the contrary, there is more truth to the recent Chicago Tribune article than you want to believe.
WKU fans, on the other hand, have become somewhat numb and humble to the fact that a coaches’ commitment to the university is day to day at best, and even when they say, “This is not a stepping stone job,” it is in fact just that. (Hey Coach Horn, how is that South Carolina weather treating you?) Now I’m not trying to draw parallels between UK and WKU basketball for I fully realize they are two totally different animals, I’m just saying maybe for once all my UK bretheren, who are always lecturing me on the ins and outs of college hoops, should for once sit down, listen, and take a lesson from a Hilltopper (or a second lesson, we will chalk up the 2001 game in Rupp as Lesson #1)
The video above is affectionately titled “Calipari, Memphis is where I want to be,” and was fillmed following Coach Calipari’s return from the National Championship game with Memphis in 2008. The video runs about 8:43 but the interesting part for most starts around 5:21, enjoy.
