Thursday, February 14, 2008

Win and Win Pretty.

Indiana University basketball coach, Kelvin Sampson broke the rules...again. He is a rouge cheater who has no respect for the integrity of his program. He would rather flaunt the rules, ignore the NCAA sanctions imposed upon him and do whatever it takes to recruit players in order to win basketball games. He is single-handedly tarnishing Indiana's storied and glorious basketball history. Simply put, he is a scumbag.

Now you can say that he is no different than most Division 1 athletic coaches, at least, football and basketball coaches. That argument doesn't resonate with me. Just because those sports may be scummy and some of the coaches are scummy does not exonorate those who scuzz out to keep up with the Joneses. If you are a crook, you're a crook. There is no "Scum" Scale to rate these jerkoffs. They all suck.

Bruce Weber, the coach of my favorite team, the Fighting Illini, is an excellent basketball coach, and he is a good man. He is the anti-Sampson. The problem is that he is not recruiting enough talented players. Sometimes, I wonder if winning at the D1 level is worth getting in bed with these Scum-coaches. That is the bottom line, right? Winning? No one belives the mandate at D1 is education, do they?

My problem is that I love the University of Illinois. Rather, I love being a fan of Fighting Illini basketball and football. Especially, the basketball. I did not attend school there. In fact, I ruled it out because it was too big, and I was intimidated by its size. However, since I was a little kid, I rooted for the Illini hoop team. I believe that the U of I basketball program has a great and interesting history. They also win. At least they have a history of winning. Recently, they won quite often, culminating in an appearence in the NCAA championship game. This season, my Illini are losing. Losing ugly, losing at home, losing games that they could and should win. And I hate it.

The big story this past recruiting season was the defection of super-scorer Eric Gordon from his verbal commitment to Illinois to the ScuzzySampson and Indiana. A lot of name calling and accusations were flung at Indiana about Gordon's change of heart. This is a common occurence in big time hoops. I was sad because Gordon can score and score easily which is the one major flaw in this year's Illini. With Gordon, Illinois wins 20 games and are a lock for the tourney. But Gordon wanted Indiana; so be it. I let it go. But I want Weber to recruit and land these types of players. I am starting to resent his inability to land top high schoolers. I can't believe that some kids would play for such idiots like Kelvin Sampson. Most of all, I want to win.

When I get this frustrated, I ask the question. Would I tolerate a Sampson for the wins? The answer is, No. Fuck No. The ends does not justify the means. Not now, not ever. There is no free lunch. As Coach Ditka says, in basketball and in life, at some point, you have to pay. The fact that Indiana fans had to have this turd forced into their lives by some goofy Athletic Director is unfortunate. Now, they should run him out on top of his free Escalade. I am proud of Bruce Weber, the program and his work ethic. I will take him any day over Kelvin Sampson, recruiting be damned.

But Bruce, no more losing, O.K.? I am only human.

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