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Spring clean: Somehow, dirt doesn't stick to Calipari
March 22, 2010
By Mike Freeman
CBSSports.com National Columnist
John Calipari has a good chance to make yet another Final Four as Cinderellas cram their high heels into the various orifices of shocked favorites. For Kentucky, that's great news. For the sport of college basketball, not so much.
If there were ever a symbolic figure for 21st century college sports, it's Calipari. The NCAA should put his face on the basketball right next to the picture of a dollar bill and skull and cross bones.
Incredibly, Calipari is basically being rewarded -- again -- with another title run despite only recently putting his previous school under the NCAA microscope. Again. It's incredible, really. The same people who blast Bill Belichick as a cheater and want to crucify Wall Street are golf-clapping Calipari.
I'm not sure how the man does it. How he's able to convince everyone that he's a good dude and that trail of disintegrated matter behind him wasn't his fault. Is it that smile? Is it the hair? Is it because he's a good quote? What enables Calipari to escape the blame and scarlet lettering that other infamous alleged crooks in various sports and walks of life cannot?
Help me out here. Please.
While Kentucky has obliterated everyone in its path during the tournament so far, there has been little public dialogue about the repercussions of such a stone-cold carpetbagger again dominating the sport. It's as if people are just holding their noses and enjoying the show.
People hate Mike Krzyzewski but love Calipari. Think about that for a second.
Whether Calipari is good or bad for college basketball isn't a question that should be asked in the cold winter of an offseason, but rather now, amid the torrid passion that is America's lovemaking to the NCAA tournament.
College sports lost their innocence some time ago but what Calipari represents is their symbolic loss. No coach has ever had the combination of wins vacated, Final Fours vacated, and recruitment -- almost exclusively -- of a legion of one-and-done players like Calipari.
The system is a sham and few coaches have embraced the sham as heartily and throatily as Calipari. It's coaches like Calipari who are turning college basketball into a sort of yearlong tryout for the NBA.
This isn't to say that Calipari is all bad. He wins. He seems to care about his kids. And many coaches are sharks and hypocrites.
But Calipari is Jaws. Other coaches at least attempt to have a kid stay a year or two. Roy Williams, no angel, won a national title with a bunch of non-one-and-doners. So did Kansas. The Florida Gators won two national championships with a group that stayed together for years. The Gators' win was one of the best moments in NCAA history. So far there has been no rash of scandals or vacated Final Fours for a group that captured consecutive titles.
Calipari makes the Final Four at one school and the NCAA comes calling. He bolted, fellas, the school tells the NCAA cops. He gets to another. Ding, dong it's the NCAA. He has bolted. Calipari stays one step ahead of the sheriff. If Bob Marley were still alive, he would sing a song about Calipari.
In the future, sports historians will look back at Calipari's reign and say he was one of the biggest reasons for the professionalization of college basketball and why it's transforming from Wonderland to New Jack City.
Yeah, I said it. Kentucky fans will flame message boards and threaten to burn down my house but in their blue and white hearts they know what I'm saying is true. They're holding their noses and enjoying the ride just like many others are.
Put on a surgical mask and take a deep breath, Kentucky fans. It's your turn to root for your for-now hero while looking over the shoulder and waiting for the NCAA to knock at the door.
Kentucky is playing Cornell on Thursday and the Wildcats will win by 30. At least. No matter what team comes next, Calipari will probably win as well. It can be argued he has the best team left in the tournament.
Great for Kentucky, bad for everyone else.
For more from Mike Freeman, check him out on Twitter: @realfreemancbs
March 22, 2010
By Mike Freeman
CBSSports.com National Columnist
John Calipari has a good chance to make yet another Final Four as Cinderellas cram their high heels into the various orifices of shocked favorites. For Kentucky, that's great news. For the sport of college basketball, not so much.
If there were ever a symbolic figure for 21st century college sports, it's Calipari. The NCAA should put his face on the basketball right next to the picture of a dollar bill and skull and cross bones.
Incredibly, Calipari is basically being rewarded -- again -- with another title run despite only recently putting his previous school under the NCAA microscope. Again. It's incredible, really. The same people who blast Bill Belichick as a cheater and want to crucify Wall Street are golf-clapping Calipari.
I'm not sure how the man does it. How he's able to convince everyone that he's a good dude and that trail of disintegrated matter behind him wasn't his fault. Is it that smile? Is it the hair? Is it because he's a good quote? What enables Calipari to escape the blame and scarlet lettering that other infamous alleged crooks in various sports and walks of life cannot?
Help me out here. Please.
While Kentucky has obliterated everyone in its path during the tournament so far, there has been little public dialogue about the repercussions of such a stone-cold carpetbagger again dominating the sport. It's as if people are just holding their noses and enjoying the show.
People hate Mike Krzyzewski but love Calipari. Think about that for a second.
Whether Calipari is good or bad for college basketball isn't a question that should be asked in the cold winter of an offseason, but rather now, amid the torrid passion that is America's lovemaking to the NCAA tournament.
College sports lost their innocence some time ago but what Calipari represents is their symbolic loss. No coach has ever had the combination of wins vacated, Final Fours vacated, and recruitment -- almost exclusively -- of a legion of one-and-done players like Calipari.
The system is a sham and few coaches have embraced the sham as heartily and throatily as Calipari. It's coaches like Calipari who are turning college basketball into a sort of yearlong tryout for the NBA.
This isn't to say that Calipari is all bad. He wins. He seems to care about his kids. And many coaches are sharks and hypocrites.
But Calipari is Jaws. Other coaches at least attempt to have a kid stay a year or two. Roy Williams, no angel, won a national title with a bunch of non-one-and-doners. So did Kansas. The Florida Gators won two national championships with a group that stayed together for years. The Gators' win was one of the best moments in NCAA history. So far there has been no rash of scandals or vacated Final Fours for a group that captured consecutive titles.
Calipari makes the Final Four at one school and the NCAA comes calling. He bolted, fellas, the school tells the NCAA cops. He gets to another. Ding, dong it's the NCAA. He has bolted. Calipari stays one step ahead of the sheriff. If Bob Marley were still alive, he would sing a song about Calipari.
In the future, sports historians will look back at Calipari's reign and say he was one of the biggest reasons for the professionalization of college basketball and why it's transforming from Wonderland to New Jack City.
Yeah, I said it. Kentucky fans will flame message boards and threaten to burn down my house but in their blue and white hearts they know what I'm saying is true. They're holding their noses and enjoying the ride just like many others are.
Put on a surgical mask and take a deep breath, Kentucky fans. It's your turn to root for your for-now hero while looking over the shoulder and waiting for the NCAA to knock at the door.
Kentucky is playing Cornell on Thursday and the Wildcats will win by 30. At least. No matter what team comes next, Calipari will probably win as well. It can be argued he has the best team left in the tournament.
Great for Kentucky, bad for everyone else.
For more from Mike Freeman, check him out on Twitter: @realfreemancbs
