There’s gong to be an absolute tsunami of publicity and story lines and “stuff” about the Super Bowl and the NFL over the next two weeks. So, let me spend some time today talking about other stuff. It’s not like all of us won’t have our fill of NFL items in the near future. Let me point out a couple of the bits of silliness that the NCAA continues to involve itself with. We don’t want those goofs flying so far under the radar that we forget how feckless and venal they are.
So, let’s start with their continuing crusade under the banner of multicultural inclusiveness to banish the nicknames and mascots of schools where such nicknames and mascots might – I said MIGHT – be offensive to some Native Americans. Oh, it’s a noble cause they have taken up indeed… But, the NCAA is totally silent on another issue of multicultural inclusiveness because it is inconvenient for them to say anything about it and it’s embarrassing for them to admit how multiculturally exclusive they are. Let’s look at a couple of facts:
- Mike Tomlin’s hiring by the Steelers makes him the sixth NFL coach who is Black. That means that about 19% of the head coaches in the NFL are Black. That’s a bit higher than the population statistics but not as high as the racial mix in the NFL. The NFL adopted rules/procedures to assure that Blacks – not minorities, Blacks – got meaningful interview opportunities for coaching vacancies.
The NCAA has 119 schools in Division 1-A and there are seven Black head coaches. That means that less than 6% of the head coaches in Division 1-A of the NCAA are Black. That’s less than half the population statistics. The NCAA has no rules/procedures to assure that Blacks – or any other minorities – have access to interviews for head coaching jobs.
So, how come no one calls Dr. Myles Brand on the carpet for this? How come people give him a pass for inserting himself into the business of schools when it comes to mascots and names but for looking the other way when job discrimination happens? When will the fawning media types make this man and this organization tackle some real issues of real importance and not only ones with PR value?
Oh and here’s the latest college football edict that will solve lots of real and important issues. Remember about two months ago when Jim Tressel refused to vote in the NCAA coaches’ poll regarding who should be ranked #2 and #3 because he thought it was improper for him to be involved in picking his National Championship opponent? Remember all the foofaraw about that – - as if it mattered? Well the American Football Coaches Association has taken care of all that for us. This is the body that oversees the poll itself and it has now decreed that a coach in Tressel’s situation will not be allowed to abstain.
If there is a karmic force in the universe, please let it be that a coach is in that position next year and that he chooses not to vote. I want to see what the American Football Coaches Association does then. Will they put a gun in the reluctant coach’s mouth and blow his head off unless he marks a ballot? Will they get him fired? Will they not allow his team to play in the National Championship Game? What a bunch of bloviating nonsense. Here’s what a coach can do in that situation without riling up the AFCA by following their rules to the letter:
Vote for neither of the contending teams who might be voted #2 or #3 in the final poll. Keep both off the list entirely. That way, the vote hurts neither team and helps neither team. And the coach voted…
What does the AFCA do then? Oh, I know; they’ll institute another new policy…
Just asking, did you realize that the NBA season is about half over? This is getting close to the time when the games have a fighting chance of being interesting and ones in which most of the players on the floor actually care about playing hard. Let me give you a picture to hold in your mind whenever you begin to think that the early part of the NBA season actually matters. Pat Riley lambasted his Miami Heat team for being unprepared and unwilling to work hard. So what happened when the Heat started to lose more often than it won? Riley took a leave of absence as the head coach and had joint replacement surgery that could have waited until the off-season – or could have been done in the previous off-season. He’ll be back – so he says – about the time that Dwayne Wade and Shaq are back and healthy. Talk about setting an example for the players…
Gregg Drinnan’s column, Keeping Score, in the Kamloops Daily News had this item last week:
“Featured in the Los Angeles Dodgers official 2007 calendar are players JD Drew, Eric Gagne, Kenny Lofton, Bill Mueller, Dioner Navarro and Odalis Perez. None of the aforementioned will play for the Dodgers in 2007.
Look folks, I know that getting things like calendars together takes time and things have to be done in advance of the distribution date. But in these days of “just in time deliveries” and all that managerial control stuff, couldn’t the Dodgers have come a bit closer to reality here?
I read in two different places that Ichiro told some Japanese media folks – I can’t go and read the Japanese sources because the only languages I know are English and Profane – that he doesn’t think the Mariners are sufficiently serious about building a winning club and he might just become a free agent after this year. I hope for my friends in Seattle that this is not true because Ichiro is one of a very few ballplayers who is worth the price of admission all by himself. But if he does become a free agent, every club that is within hailing distance of a pennant ought to be in line to try to add him to their roster. No team in baseball is so good that it does not have room for Ichiro.
Here’s a public service announcement for you. January is National Oatmeal Month. I’m letting all of you know in case you hadn’t celebrated properly yet this month. Since I hate oatmeal – I’d rather lick a mouse – I don’t observe this festive time of the year, but I didn’t want this to slip by anyone who actually eats that stuff.
Finally, an observation from Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle:
“The Giants’ problem is that if they Bonds to have a clubhouse pit crew, what if other players demand the same? That would put the Giants over the lackey cap.”
But don‘t get me wrong, I love sports…