Friday, April 2, 2010
Explaining the Mess
A good one tonight, fair readers. I learned something tonight, and I wouldn't have believed it had I not heard it straight from the source. I said last week that I felt it unfair to judge Tom Crean, and after what I heard tonight, I feel even more strongly about that.
Newsflash : The Final Four is this weekend and it's being held in Indianapolis. (Gee, RT, I hadn't heard. Get to the point already!) I went downtown with my 7 1/2 year old son this afternoon, and to say it was a glorious day would be an understatement. God must really like Indianapolis, because Good Friday is normally rainy, cold, and very gray. As it should be for all of us Christians who believe Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for us. But I digress.
The sun was out, Lucas Oil Stadium looked terrific, the women I saw by and large wore less clothing than a week ago, and my son got to see the stadium set up for big time college basketball (and some women who looked set up for big time.....fun. Too bad this Final Four doesn't feature Florida, Alabama, UCLA, and Texas; he'd have learned a lot more. Michigan State builds 'em kida' thick). It was awesome.
Tonight however, was even more so. Brad Stevens is a class act. No other way to put that. He and his wife Tracy organized a Coaches vs. Cancer dinner for this weekend as Butler is the official host university of the Final Four, and planning obviously began long before anyone knew they'd make it this far (I'm going somewhere with this...bear with me). I was lucky enough to attend, and had ample opportunity to "work the room," though I did so simply as a wide-eyed fan completely in his element. Stevens invited several college coaches to attend, and about 30 actually did; including Coach Stevens himself. Not like he has anything else going on, right? Jim Nantz showed up; Clark Kellogg was there; Don Meyer (winningest coach of all time); Pete Gillen (emcee); John Belien; Bobby Cremins; Anthony Grant; and yes. Tom Crean.
The first thing I'll report is that Maurice Creek's knee is "ahead of schedule" accoring to Coach, who answered that question from a guy in front of me. Great news for all Hoosier fans, and Crean looked relieved to give that answer, to say the least. The next thing I heard him say blew my mind given what Indiana Basketball used to be. When Crean arrived, the team had 30 - yes THIRTY - failed drug tests. On a team with 13 players, a few of which we know were clean. I'm guessing that's 4-5 per guilty player; and some have wondered why the house cleaning was necessary and what was really so wrong other than phone calls. Now we have the answer. Dan Dakich clearly did what he had to do, and Crean's support was clearly the right call.
Give the man some slack, boys and girls. Cleaning up a mess that big is no easy task; and I made a commitment to myself to be more patient, even as hard as it will be. 30 failed tests and we didn't even have Steve Howe or Daryl Strawberry. I don't know whether to be impressed or shocked.
RT Brightman
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