The Man Should Really Shut Up (Part I)

Three points but split over three days to keep your ever waning attention spans.  Tomorrow how Tom Crean is actually the second coming of Bobby Knight.  Now, without further adieu...

Ahhh Seth Davis.  The man who would be Billy Packer is constantly making outrageous statements whether it be on the CBS selection show prior to the selection show (last year he said South Dakota State would beat Baylor--final score Baylor 68 SDSU 60 and Baylor's run ended at the Elite Eight) or as the College Basketball contributor for Sports Illustrated.  Seth's mouth is only surpassed by the hyperbole that spews forth from it.  His most recent attempt, however, is downright embarrassing.

SI came out with a special issue commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the NCAA Tournament.  The feature of the issue was the selection of the top ten tournament players of all-time as selected by the SI writers and included the usual suspects (Magic, Bird, Robertson, West, Chamberlain).  When you get to such a list, quibbling over who is in which place is a little futile.  Compare ten players from different eras over a 75-year period?  No way.  In fact they shouldn't even rank them, they should just list them.  #1 was the former Lew Alcindor, now referred to as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  SI, in its infinite wisdom decided there was no better writer to briefly tell Mr. Alcindor's tournament story than Seth Davis.

Seth started out his piece with a quote from the late, great John Wooden, the UCLA coach at the time.  According to Seth, at the start of Alcindor's UCLA career, Wooden stated that Alcindor's mere presence would not guarantee three straight championships (freshman were ineligible for varsity) and that "anybody who believes that is only displaying his ignorance".  Davis goes on to describe how Alcindor dominated his competition and led his Bruins teams to three straight NCAA titles.  He ended the piece with "The ignorance, as it turns out, was Wooden's".

I am never going to say that someone is above criticism, even the legendary Wooden.  But Seth's parting shot at the "Wizard of Westwood" reads more like his cute way of wrapping up an article and doing so in a crass way while completely missing Wooden's point.  The "Wizard" was not denying Alcindor's potential for greatness.  In fact, he was probably acknowledging it, indirectly through his comment.  Anyone who has read Wooden's quotes from his career (probably the wisest and easily most quotable coach in history) knows that Wooden preached humility and patience.  He knew that unreasonable expectations could as easily suffocate greatness in the 60s as it does now in a different millennium.

But Davis did the Wizard a disservice.  Had you read the story without knowing Wooden, you would think he was an unintelligent oaf who won at least three titles purely by the luck of having a player the likes of Alcindor, whose greatness was apparently a mystery to Wooden.  Not that Wooden would care if he were still alive since his quote was actually a shot at pundits like Davis.  And by ignoring that fact, Davis once again shows that the real ignorance is not in the story itself but in the telling of it.

As only Seth can.

Peace,
Reg