What the Fark???

[Critical Thinker]

Re: What the Fark???

And we predicted this, didn't we??
http://nesn.com/2014/09/uconn-receiv...to-mone-davis/

Don't worry, UCONN will break off from the NCAA, become a minor league basketball team, and this will all be water under the bridge.

[CLS]

Re: What the Fark???

Seems to get earlier every year. I was in a stationery store today and came across a Christmas display. Can't be long before I hear The Drummer Boy on the radio.

[Slap Shot]

Seems to get earlier every year. I was in a stationery store today and came across a Christmas display. Can't be long before I hear The Drummer Boy on the radio.

I don't recall 9/11 stories ever having started this early on cable.

[Kepler]

Re: What the Fark???

Sigh. Is this going to be this year's "satanic cult" fad?

Spoiler: yes.

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: What the Fark???

Sigh. Is this going to be this year's "satanic cult" fad?

Spoiler: yes.

Maybe it's because I'm not a teenager anymore, but I've read a few of those Slenderman stories, and afterwards I've never thought, "Hey, I really need to go try to stab my friend to death" or "I think today is a good day to burn down my family's home."

[FreshFish]

Re: What the Fark???

And we predicted this, didn't we??
http://nesn.com/2014/09/uconn-receiv...to-mone-davis/

According to the story behind the story, Auriemma didn't even call Mo'Ne Davis directly. He called the Philadelphia Little League office (he came from the Philadelphia area originally and still has lots of contacts there), and asked someone there to pass along his congratulatory message to her. That person then said, "hey, she just happens to be here right now, hold on and I'll put her on the phone."

[Patman]

Re: What the Fark???

According to the story behind the story, Auriemma didn't even call Mo'Ne Davis directly. He called the Philadelphia Little League office (he came from the Philadelphia area originally and still has lots of contacts there), and asked someone there to pass along his congratulatory message to her. That person then said, "hey, she just happens to be here right now, hold on and I'll put her on the phone."

Not getting into whether or not he would work around the rules but my impression of Geno is he runs a tight ship. Press doesn't like him and his attitude but otherwise I'm very confident in what he does.

Jim Calhoun on the other hand... scum.

[FreshFish]

Re: What the Fark???

Not getting into whether or not he would work around the rules but my impression of Geno is he runs a tight ship.

According to the story in the link, he checked with UConn's compliance department before he placed the call, and they told him it would be okay.

Press doesn't like him and his attitude.

A lot of his shtick is designed to take pressure off his players. It's mostly a performance. He has had a weekly show, on PBS for years, now on SNY, and he is quite different then. One feature that they have had is his interviews with former players. You see a completely different side of him then.

I contrast the success of his players after they leave college to Bob Knight. Other than Isaiah Thomas as a player and Steve Alford as a coach, I am hard-pressed to think off the top of my head of a former Knight player who was successful after college. By contrast, the last US Women's Olympic team had 6 former UConn players out of 12 total, and he had no say whatsoever in their selection. The graduation rate of his four-year/five-year players is above 90%.

[CLS]

Re: What the Fark???

...

I contrast the success of his players after they leave college to Bob Knight. Other than Isaiah Thomas as a player and Steve Alford as a coach, I am hard-pressed to think off the top of my head of a former Knight player who was successful after college. By contrast, the last US Women's Olympic team had 6 former UConn players out of 12 total, and he had no say whatsoever in their selection. The graduation rate of his four-year/five-year players is above 90%.

Not exactly sure what that comparison means. Why did you pick Bobby Knight?

First of all, the women’s game is completely different. Top talent is concentrated at a few schools such as UConn . A more meaningful comparison is with, say, Pat Summitt. You’d expect the Olympic team to be mostly UConn players.

Secondly, all it could mean is that the whole (Indiana’s successful basketball program) was greater than the sum of its parts (i.e. few really great basketball players). Whatever you think of him as a person, the man could coach basketball. I don’t have Knight’s graduation rates on hand, but my understanding is that it was pretty high. Do you know it was significantly less than the 90% you quoted for Auriemma? And once again, the women’s game is completely different than the men’s; yes, there is a women’s pro game, but it’s not nearly as lucrative of the men’s, hence, you’d expect a higher graduation rate.

Yuck, I feel so dirty defending Bobby Knight.

[FreshFish]

Re: What the Fark???

it could mean is that the whole (Indiana’s successful basketball program) was greater than the sum of its parts (i.e. few really great basketball players). Whatever you think of him as a person, the man could coach basketball. I don’t have Knight’s graduation rates on hand, but my understanding is that it was pretty high.

Hey, don't misunderstand me, I loved watching Knight's Indiana teams play basketball. He's still the last NCAA Men's Division I coach to have a perfect season. His teams played basketball the way I love to see it played. Lots of talented role players playing at their best game after game after game.

At the same time, he also went beyond challenging his players to be the best they could be into outright bullying and abuse. The knock on Knight to which I was indirectly alluding was that he "burned out" his players during college so that they had nothing left after they graduated. Any discussion of Knight has to be nuanced and include the great and the vile at the same time.

Auriemma is very demanding, but never has he abused or bullied or physically assaulted his players. He reminds me very much of John Wooden, able both to recruit the best talent available and also to take that individual skill and meld it into a team-centric approach that makes the group even more effective as a unit than the sum of its individuals. Bill Walton may have been the most scintillating talent as a college player that I ever saw. Look how much better he was as part of those teams than he might have been elsewhere.

Funny that you mentioned Pat Summitt. She was truly a great figure in college basketball and a powerful figure for change and improvement. The graphic that ESPN showed at the end of the 2014 Women's championship was very fitting:
1. Wooden, Championship game record: 10 - 0
2. Auriemma, Championship game record: 9 - 0
3. Summitt, Championship game record: 8 - 5 (4 of the losses were to UConn).

Knight is very high on this list, he is in the top 6 or so I think.

[joecct]

Re: What the Fark???

Re Bobby Knight

How do you define success for his former student-athletes (flip of the chair to Miles Brand)? If you mean pro athletes and NCAA coaches, that's one thing. But what about successful fathers, HS coaches? Aren't these more important "role models" than pro athletes?

[The Rube]

Re: What the Fark???

Re Bobby Knight

How do you define success for his former student-athletes (flip of the chair to Miles Brand)? If you mean pro athletes and NCAA coaches, that's one thing. But what about successful fathers, HS coaches? Aren't these more important "role models" than pro athletes?

Some are both. See the recently-in-the-news Jim Kelly.

[joecct]

Re: What the Fark???

Bureaucracy at its finest, District of Columbia lodge...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...y.html?hpid=z1

[CLS]

Re: What the Fark???

Bureaucracy at its finest, District of Columbia lodge...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...y.html?hpid=z1

Unanswered is the question: how can a student who misses so much school make straight A’s?

Other than the social aspect (and I think even that’s questionable), she’s better off as a home schooler. She can learn at her own pace, which is apparently far faster than her former school.

I also think that her parents are misinformed about the actual cost of attendance at private schools. I’d bet if they did just a bit of looking, they’d find a private school that would (a) accommodate her travel schedule; (b) challenge her academically and possibly even musically; and (c) give her substantial financial aid.

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Unanswered is the question: how can a student who misses so much school make straight A’s?

Maybe she's really smart. Just a thought.