February 17, 2023
GOD BLESS UKRAINE AND THE USA!!!!
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TODAY’S COLUMN:
Chinese Balloons tied to LSU Basketball?… Please scroll down to see FINE IDEAS below… Scott delves into LSU and the Saints. See WIZARDRY OF OS BELOW.
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FINE IDEAS
The good news for our country is that China has agreed to send us the coordinates of the next spy balloon it sends and is giving the US the right to shoot it down.
The bad news is that China has stipulated that the LSU Men’s Basketball team does the shooting.
Ouch!
There have been a lot of Ouch’s for the Tigers program in the last 3+ years.
March 2019: Former LSU coach Will Wade is caught on an FBI wiretap saying that there is a “strong (derriere) offer” on the table that he has made to an LSU recruit (Javonte Smart)
Wade is asked to meet with LSU athletic department officials and the NCAA and refuses to do so. He is suspended by LSU.
April 2019
About a month later, Wade agrees to and does meet with the NCAA and LSU athletics and is reinstated.
2019-20 season
LSU goes 21-10. The season is short circuited by the Pandemic during conference tournament play. Wade keeps his job.
2020-21 season
LSU goes 19-10, makes the NCAA Tournament, where they defeat St Bonaventure, before falling to Michigan. Wade keeps his job.
2021-22 season
LSU goes 22-12. Wade is fired after the SEC Tournament. LSU says they received notice of NCAA violations.
Why LSU waited until they were officially told that there was likely NCAA probation in its future to fire its head coach indicates they were ostensibly acceptable with Wade’s statement, heard by the FBI, admitting blatant, flagrant cheating, as long as there was no mention of NCAA sanctions. And, as long as LSU was putting a winning product on the floor. If those 21-10s or 19-10s were 10-21s or 10-19s, Wade would likely have been deemed expendable and probably would have been canned during or after the 2019-20 or 2020-21 seasons. So, cheating is okay as long as your program is not punished by the NCAA and you still have a winning product on the floor.
Putting a winning product on the floor would not be how one would describe Matt McMahon’s first season at LSU. The Tigers were 0 for January, followed up by 0 for ½ of February in stinking out the PMAC while in the midst of its current 13 game losing streak.
But the embarrassment has not been confined to the product on the floor, but has been extended to the name on the floor. After having named the floor of their home arena The Dale Brown Court last season, LSU recently decided to change the name to the Gunter-Brown Court.
Some thoughts on what has transpired:
--Yes, there was not proper procedure followed when the floor was initially named for Dale Brown. Yet to change the name subsequently with the pretext that initially the name of the floor is invalid because it was done without adhering to the proscribed protocol is an unjust rationalization.
--Although proper procedures were adhered to in the recent name change, it was reportedly done with influence exerted by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and LSU President William Tate IV. I would think Tate has more pressing needs on his agenda, but it is his school. But the Governor getting involved in the name on the LSU Basketball arena floor?
--To a certain extent this is much to do about nothing. When LSU’s home basketball arena is mentioned, it is referred to as the PMAC (Pete Maravich Assembly Center). Once this most recent controversy fades away, no one will make mention of the Gunter-Brown Court, just as the Dale Brown Court did not attract any attention a month after the initial announcement was made. Yet, the optics are horrible. M I C K EY M O U S E.
I had the privilege of interviewing and getting to know both coach Brown and the late coach Gunter. I have fond memories. Both were extremely accessible to me in my capacity as a Louisiana radio sports talk host. I liked both a lot… in fact 2 of the nicest people I got to deal with.
If there had to be a choice as to whom to name a floor after, my first response would be who cares? As, this is basically irrelevant to the program. Yes, a nice feather in the cap of the recipient(s). But, having little meaning to LSU Men’s and Women’s Basketball.
Yet if I had to choose one over the other, I’d choose Brown. He is the single most important person in LSU Men’s or Women’s Basketball history. He built a dominant program from one which was barren. And he did it by travelling the state, with carnival-barker like enthusiasm. If truth be told, his name should be on the building. LSU should be playing its games at the Dale Brown Assembly Center (DBAC?!). Pete Maravich was a remarkable individual performer. The teams he played for at LSU did not have success. But, like a comet, he had an immense impact on LSU Basketball. Yet upon entering the NBA, interest in LSU Basketball receded to its apathetic-like pre-Maravich following. Until Daddy Dale came to town! The Tigers then enjoyed unprecedented sustained success during much of coach Brown’s 25-year career at LSU. And, he did it with a flair, a panache, a charismatic personality. Dale Brown was fiery and irrepressible.
This is not to denigrate the classy coach Gunter’s achievements. She brought winning season after winning season to an LSU program that had often been a complete non-entity. Yet, coach Gunter’s impact prior to coming to LSU—at Middle Tennessee State and Stephen F Austin and as the 1980 Olympic team coach (boycotted by USA)-- surpassed what she accomplished at LSU. So, in totality, Gunter could be mentioned in the same sentence with Brown as far as career success. But, you don’t have your name put on a building based on your entire career.—It should be limited to what you did at the particular school in which your name is etched. What Gunter did at MTS, SFA and US Olympics should not be part of this evaluation.
Again, of little consequence because the public and media pay little attention to this long-term, but if you do go with 2 names, it should be Brown-Gunter. And to add insult to injury!--Naming your floor Dale Brown Court and then changing it to Gunter-Brown, not Brown-Gunter, can easily be interpreted as unnecessarily (vindictively?) throwing shade on Dale Brown.
One thing is for certain. Neither coach Brown or coach Gunter (presumably looking at this from above), for all they did for LSU, should be subjected to the Dog and Pony show that has taken place over the name on the LSU Floor. They both deserve a lot better.
In the bigger picture, I think that all of this focus on this foolishness is detracting from efforts (if any) taken to have coach Brown’s name attached to another building. It is not in Baton Rouge, but in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is absolutely egregious that coach Brown has not been enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. This is something that LSU and friends of LSU need to attend to. YESTERDAY. Appropriately born on Halloween, Brown is a young 87. Shouldn’t he be able to enjoy this much-deserved entrance into Basketball immortality while he is still alive, able to enjoy it?
So, Governor Edwards, General Landry, Dr. Tate, LSU Board of Idiots (I mean Supervisors), Shaq, Bob Petit, Rudy Macklin, Collis Temple Sr, LSU Sports Information, Tim Brando, Jim Engster and others
It is time to collectively get off your fannies (former Tigers Football coach Curley Hallman vernacular!) and make a concerted effort to see that Dale Brown has his name attached to the most important edifice of all, The Basketball Hall of Fame.
Sue Gunter, by the way, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005. And, after coach Brown is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, another wrong needs to be rectified. And PRONTO. Former LSU Baseball coach Skip Bertman, at 84, unequivocally, should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. It strains credulity that Bertman is not already in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Safe to say LSU Sports Information will not be researching this. But, I wonder, has any other college had one of its Basketball teams go undefeated in a month (December, January or February), while its other team went winless. This happened at LSU in January. Kim Mulkey’s women’s team had a record of 8-0, while the men’s team went 0-8.
NIL suggestion for LSU women’s basketball. Howsabout Hostess, in deference to the Tigers John Thompsonish cupcake pre-SEC schedule it has played this season.
Speaking of name changes, I’m glad to see that the LSU Women’s Basketball team’s name is now the Tigers, not the Lady Tigers as they were known previously. Lady Tigers confers second class citizenship to LSU Women’s Basketball. Coach Kim Mulkey has a first-class program. She could very well be building a John Wooden like (or would that be Dawn Staley like… ouch!) dynasty in Baton Rouge, although that is obviously premature. The only downside with both the men’s and women’s programs now both named Tigers is that I’d hate to think that someone might confuse the women’s program with the men’s. Ouch!
This just in. The Chinese have recapitulated a bit. They are also offering the New Orleans Pelicans the opportunity to shoot down its balloons
Wait a second. This would have worked a couple of weeks ago, when the Pelicans were in the throws of a 10-game losing streak. The Pelicans have since gone 4-2
And, if the Pelicans were to shoot down the Balloon, one wonders if the debris would land in New Orleans, causing further injury to Zion Williamson.
Rest in peace Raquel Welch. She was my first wife. Then the alarm clock went off. I was 12. She was 32. Does that make me the original Cougar chaser?
Go Jackets!
THE WIZARDRY OF OS
As a fan of professional teams from New Orleans and all things LSU, I am struggling to find where I can place my faith.
The Pelicans have clearly demonstrated they are one of the best teams in the NBA. The roster is well constructed and the team is well coached. Repeat after me… ”WHEN HEALTHY.” Actually I should say, “when healthy?” When are they healthy. For one small stretch, in December, maybe? It is impossible as a fan to get excited about a team that is one stretched pinky ligament away from collapse.
The Saints? We used to trust in Payton and Loomis and now Payton is in Denver. Injuries to Michael Thomas, the defensive line, and legal troubles for Alvin Kamara make it hard to keep the faith. Thanks to Tom Brady finally moving beyond pro football, the entire division is looking for a quarterback. The division is begging for a team to win and make the playoffs at 8-9 or 7-10.
I would like to be hopeful, but I was hopeful that Davenport and Turner would be great this year. I was hopeful the Ohio State tandem of Thomas and Olave would be like AJ Brown and Devonta Smith. I was hopeful Dalton or Winston would be as good as Brock Purdy. I was hopeful the Saints would get more than a late first round pick for Sean Payton. Where did that hope get me?
Tiger fans are oozing with anticipation over this baseball team. The pitching staff is loaded. The positions have talent and depth everywhere. The Tigers are ranked #1 in 27 of the 30 college baseball polls (the 27 is a joke, the 30 is reality). I want to be hopeful too. But, I also remember a few years ago when we were all sure that we had the best starting pitching in the history of LSU baseball. Injury here, injury there, and poof. It all went up in elbow surgeries.
I am hopeful this pitching staff has depth to handle a few injuries that always happen. The lineup seems to have great depth as well. But, I also know that baseball is baseball and it doesn’t take long for a slump to turn into a bad “
” season. I know the SEC has 7 of the top 10 teams in the country, so even good teams can drop 2 of 3 or get swept by a hot team. And, I know that #1 teams in baseball are famous for falling well short of expectations.
I do think LSU baseball is set up for a great season, but the one place I am going to place my faith right now is with LSU women’s basketball. Alexis Morris and Angel Reese are as smooth and talented as you will find in women’s college basketball. The other players play their roles to a T.
South Carolina is like the Alabama football teams that went 10 deep on the defensive line. Forget about them. In the NCAA tournament, LSU will be in a different bracket and LSU is a Final Four team. As we head to March, and get ready to fill out our brackets, go ahead and start with that. This is the team that I have faith will make the promise into reality.
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