Vol. 1, Issue 9 (Special Big Dance Edition)

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 

TO OUR READERS:

Global Game history has been made this week.  For the first time ever, one item has hit the trifecta --- Gamer of The Week, 

Quote of The Week, and 
Hater of The Week.

All In One!

So many things going on this week, in so many places around the world.  But one event captured it all --- everything we and our Dear Readers are about.   What could have been more perfect?   Still haven't guessed?

Fit That Man For A Glass Slipper

Here it is --- upstart VCU upsets traditional power Kansas to make the Final Four, and reminds us all what we love about March Madness.   TGG, an underdog itself, always loves the underdog (and hint --- its not Butler -- they went last year).   So celebrate with us, and root for the Rams --- 'cause the clock hasn't struck midnight just yet....

Coach Shaka Smart

On his team's chances: "One of my sisters showed me where it said Kansas now has a 44 percent chance of winning the national championshiop, and we have a .9 percent chance," Smart said.  "So it's kind of like that movie, 'Dumb and Dumber' --- So you're saying we've got a chance!"

You've got a chance, Coach. 

 You've definitely got a chance!

Stay tuned next Weekend for Volume 1, Issue 10 of TGG,

and be on the lookout for periodic updates

"as events warrant"

Vol. 1, Issue 8 (The Fab 5 vs. Duke: "March Madness"?)

IN THIS ISSUE:
Jalen Rose, Grant Hill,
The Fab Five and Duke Basketball

We continue our prayers for the people of Japan and Libya, but in The Global Game's universe (that where politics, sports and culture intersect) there was really only one story last week: former Michigan guard Jalen Rose's explosive revelation in a documentary on the fabled "Fab Five" Michigan teams that he regarded Grant Hill and all black Duke basketball players as "Uncle Toms."

Speaking His Mind

Rose's Fab Five teammate Jimmy King poured further oil on the fire when he said he thought at the time that both Hill and Duke teammate Christian Laettner were "bitches."

"Both of Us, Grant?"

The controversy reached full boil when Hill responded in a piece in the New York Times, labeling Rose and King's comments
 "a sad and somewhat pathetic turn of events"

Still Ballin' and Taking Names

First, however, some context is necessary.   Duke Basketball plays a very specific role in the cultural touchstone that is American sports.   The Global Game would attempt to distill and characterize that for you, Dear Reader, but there are only three TGG rules and one of them is "Never Try To Restate What Somebody Else Has Already Said Perfectly Well."  Accordingly, we present a reader comment to Atlantic.com social commentator Ta-Nehisi Coates' meditation "On Duke Hatred":

"There are a couple of factors. I don't think, for example, Duke is more interested in background than UNC, but over time when your program gets to a point when you can pick and choose who you recruit you go for the best player who is going to cause you the least amount of trouble and graduate. They may come from a single parent home or not, but you can avoid kids than seem headed for trouble (Dean stopped recruiting Chris Washburn for this reason). It's kind of like Oprah. When her show first started she was doing paternity test, KKK, and makeover shows like everyone else, once she got success she was able to do it the way she wanted to. 

 Duke is very skilled at PR for their program. The basketball program is definitely used to sell the school. For example, every year they will play at least one Ivy League team in a non conference game. They are trying with this to sell Duke as being in the same class as the Ivies, but we also have a great basketball team which they don't have, you'll have more fun if you come here. Those are the students they are trying to appeal to. This further adds to the tension between UNC & Duke because most of them aren't from NC and don't really care for the state. I went on a recruiting trip to Duke and on the tour the guide said,'the only thing good about this state is this university.' He obviously didn't know I was a native. I also happen to think the annual drubbing an Ivy League school is important to the students as some of them didn't get into those institutions, probably one of the few times they had been told 'no'. One of the jokes at UNC is the easiet way to shut up a Dookie is just say 'Harvard.' 

They will usually schedule a game in the NY/NJ area as they have a lot of alumni there. The biggest difference between Coach K and his mentor Bobby Knight is the former's understanding of good relations with the media. That said I think the hatred for Duke ,outside of NC & MD especially, is due to the constant media narrative of Duke as the ONLY school that does it the right way. There are plenty of schools that are on the level of Duke in bball and academics but they have been singled out. It's the same push back seen in the Tebow and Tyler Hansbrough phenomena. 

There is definitely an element of race involved. I think people realize Duke is being pushed to the forefront by the media in part because they attract white athletes who are stars in their program. This is the part that makes people mad, not at the athletes, but at the way their whiteness is celebrated. Through no fault of their own becoming media darlings created a backlash. Coach K embraced the backlash and uses it as motivation for his team.
 Dick Vitale was really bad about it."

Just in case anybody thinks this reader was either exaggerating or paranoid about the pedestal on which the mainstream media places Duke Basketball, here is a Parade Magazine cover from back in the day that couldn't make it any clearer:

Which begs the obvious question, of course ---

 "Then what are all of the other Division 1 men's basketball players and programs?"

A Rivalry For The Ages

Jalen Rose and Grant Hill were both fierce competitors....

Point Guard On The Fab Five

Point Forward On The NCAA Champions

Every Day Is Father's Day

And they both had pro athlete fathers.   In remarks that did not receive as much attention as his explosive name-calling, Rose made it clear that he had some envy of Hill because Rose's father, the pro basketball player Jimmy Walker, was not a part of his life growing up.....

Jalen's Father

While Hill's father, former Dallas Cowboy Calvin Hill, had been by Grant's side 
the entire time.

Hill Senior and Junior

As was to be expected, the commentators all had their say.   As also was to be expected, Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock came hardest with the truth, picking apart the mythology of the Fab Five and pointing out that John Thompson's Georgetown teams had a greater cultural and athletic significance:

They Shocked The World

Meanwhiule, Huffington Post, apparently with its sports editor on vacation, published a screed by Jonathon Weiler, a "Professor of Global Studies" (maybe he should study The Global Game more closely) at Duke archrival rival University of North Carolina attacking Duke's Hill for his response to Rose and placing their dispute in the context of an American society that "has become perversely defensive of the prerogatives of the most well-off." (Huh?)

The best analysis of the whole affair, however, particularly for cultural context, was by ESPN basketball analyst Chris Broussard on the network's "1st and 10":

Interestingly enough, in the wake of the controversy, Jalen Rose has been given every chance to retract or back down from the "Uncle Tom" comment, but has declined to do  so.   Watch him here (direct embed unavailable) with Fab Five teammate 
Jimmy King:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDlfp4ADJRE

What, then, to make of the whole controversy?   TGG breaks it down to you, like the Fab Five itself, in 5 easy pieces:

(1) It is OK to hate Duke Basketball.   For all the reasons cited above, and for all the reasons any Global Game reader knows by heart, they deserve it.  Duke Basketball thinks they are better than you and your team.   And they're not.   Just different.

(2)  Duke does recruit a certain type of player, both black and white --- The All-American Boy.   It is not easy to be an All-American Boy at the age of 17 or 18.   Not everybody qualifies.   Not everyone fits the image.   Grant Hill did.   Jalen Rose didn't.    It is OK to say, "Grant Hill and his teammates were All-American Boys and me and my teammates resented that."   It is not OK to call Grant Hill and all African-American Duke Basketball players "Uncle 
Toms."  They didn't, and don't, deserve that.

(3) Parsing through all the rhetoric, all the interviews, and the clarifications, half-retractions, charges, and countercharges, we think we know what Jalen Rose was actually trying to say, and it was this:  "By the early 1990s, Duke Basketball in the public's mind had come to represent White America's Team, or at least that portion of White America that felt threatened by, or hostile to teams such as Georgetown or UNLV or later our own Fab Five.   Even at 18, we were aware of the cultural significance of where you chose to play basketball, and I and a number of African-American players like me wouldn't have played for Duke even if we had been given the chance because we considered that to be selling out in the cultural wars."   True? False?  You can argue it all day.   But it might have carried almost the same impact without drawing the cultural and sporting worlds into an unedifying debate on the meaning of the term "Uncle Tom."

(4)  Grant Hill never was, either in demeanor, game or conduct, a "bitch."   We will leave our readers to draw their own conclusions with respect to Christian Laettner.   

(5) Ultimately, sports is about winning.  These are the last lines of Grant Hill's response to Jalen Rose:
"I am proud of my family.  I am proud of my Duke championships and all my Duke teammates.  And I am proud I never lost a game against the Fab Five."  As TGG reader "The Sandman," a Duke alumnus himself, said, "Grant showed the value of a Duke eductation."  Rose and King should have chosen their words more carefully --- in sports, it never looks good to question the manhood/street cred of a team you went 0-3 against in head-to-head competition. 




Most of all, however, TGG hopes that Rose is able to reflect upon his words and actions and bounce back from the mess he finds himself in ("the mess he started").  For better or worse, the legacy of the Fab Five has come to be associated with too much hype and not enough championships.   It is probably not the legacy that a proud athlete like Rose wanted as his memory.

Five The Hard Way 

In recent years, however, Jalen Rose has transcended his Fab Fiver persona to become one of ESPN's most knowledgeable --- and likeable --- basketball analysts.   He knows the power of words and images because he works with them every day.   Now, because of his words, his image has taken a hit.  TGG hopes the master playmaker still has a few more tricks up his sleeve. 

A Winning Smile 

And this year, like every year,

we hope Duke makes it to the
Championship Game
of The Final Four.

And loses.  In the last seconds, if possible. 

We suspect that Global Game readers will have a few comments of their own on this story.   You can do so below, in the "Comments" box.  

Stay tuned next Weekend for Volume 1, Issue 9 of TGG,

and be on the lookout for periodic updates

"as events warrant"

Vol. 1, Issue 7 (Special Fault Lines Edition)

IN THIS ISSUE:

-- DISASTER IN JAPAN

-- POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE IN WISCONSIN --

"AMERICA IS NOT BROKE"

-- REVOLT IN LIBYA --

WHOSE SIDE ARE WE ON?

 (FEATURING MORE VIDEO WISDOM FROM GRASSHOPPER AND MASTER PO)

-- NPR HEAD OUSTED --

"WHO YOU CALLING A RACIST?"

-- NFL ON LOCKOUT --

"WHO YOU CALLING GREEDY?"

-- A TIGER WOODS COMEBACK? --

"WHO YOU CALLING THROUGH?"

FEATURING A TGG READER

POINT/COUNTERPOINT

DISASTER IN JAPAN

The week ended with a fearsome demonstration of Nature's power.

All we can say is, 

"God Bless the People of Japan."

POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE IN WISCONSIN -

"AMERICA IS NOT BROKE"

Meanwhile, back in the United States, the epicenter of the political earthquake remained in Wisconsin, where the Republicans in the State Senate used a parliamentary maneuver to pass their controversial bill stripping state public workers of their collective bargaining rights.

The bill's proponents, led by Governor Scott Walker, insisted that it was necessary because the state was "broke."   The same arguments were being made in statehouses across the country.

But filmmaker and social critic Michael Moore, in a fiery speech to the workers in Wisconsin entitled "America Is Not Broke," challenged the very premise behind the new round of assaults on government spending and public workers:

He Had Something Important To Say

"America is not broke.

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

Today just 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined...

One of The 400

...Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have as much loot, stock and property as the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can't bring yourself to call that a financial coup d'état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true..."

The entire text and a video of the spech is  here (thanks to reader "Stephen Q." 
for good looking out). 

 Some people call Michael Moore "radical." 

 Is he? Or has what passes for political debate in this country been taken to a place where his facts and arguments 

become deemed "radical"?

REVOLT IN LIBYA --- 

WHOSE SIDE ARE WE ON?

In international affairs, the story of the week was in Libya, where the world stood by as Muamar Khadafy attacked his own people with jets and tanks.  As this cartoon from a Mideast journal makes clear, the Obama Administration --- starting with the President himself --- was apparently of two minds as to whether to provide desperately needed military assistance (starting with a "no-fly zone") to the Libyan rebels:

On The One Hand, On The Other Hand....

One prominent columnist, the New York Times' Nick Kristof, weighed in on the question in a piece rather straightforwardly titled "The Case For A No-Fly Zone."   Kristof (no warmonger --- he had been opposed to the war in Iraq),  quoted former Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrill McPeak, who made some obvious statements and asked a few obvious questions: 

“I can’t imagine an easier military problem,” he said. “If we can’t impose a no-fly zone over a not even third-rate military power like Libya, then we ought to take a hell of a lot of our military budget and spend it on something usable.”

He continued: “Just flying a few jets across the top of the friendlies would probably be enough to ground the Libyan Air Force, which is the objective.”

General McPeak added that there would be no need to maintain 24/7 coverage over Libya. As long as the Libyan Air Force knew that there was some risk of interception, its pilots would be much less motivated to drop bombs and more inclined to defect.

“If we can’t do this, what can we do?” he asked, adding: “I think it would have a real impact. It might change their calculation of who might come out on top. Just the mere announcement of this might have an impact.”

Some (OK, "we") had compared our young President to Kwai Chang Caine, "Grasshopper" of Kung Fu fame.   Was the crisis in Libya another instance where Grasshopper needed to summon up some of the wisdom imparted to him by the Shaolin monks?   Or, As Master Po might have said, "Is A Man's Universe Only Himself?" 

NPR HEAD OUSTED ---

"WHO YOU CALLING A RACIST?"

In other news, NPR Chief Executive Vivian Schiller was forced to resign this week after one of the public radio network's  fundraising executives was secretly taped calling 
Tea Party supporters "seriously racist" and criticizing what he described as

 "an anti-intellectual move[ment] in a significant part of the Republican Party."

"Ummmm........and?"

NFL ON LOCKOUT --

"WHO YOU CALLING GREEDY?"

Unfortunately, for Americans who were hoping that the sports world might offer some break from the madness, the NFL's billionaire owners and millionaire players, as expected, deadlocked over 
how to divide 

$9 Billion Big Ones in Annual Revenue:

San Francisco Chronicle Sports Editor Al Saracevic, in a provocative piece written on the eve of this year's Super Bowl, wondered if this year's NFL season would not represent the league's all-time high point, and if from here on out, because of both greed and brutality, there was nowhere for  America's favorite sport to go but down:

"I believe two major issues will knock the NFL

 from the summit.

In the near term, greed threatens to weaken the league. If the expiration of the NFL's collective bargaining agreement in March leads to a work stoppage, loyal fans will become bitter. Baseball and hockey paid dearly for their interruptions, and the NFL will, too. In a hardscrabble economy, bickering over billions will leave millions angry.

But greed and labor unrest are light fare compared to the long-term problem facing football. The game simply takes too great a toll on mind and body.

As players grow bigger, faster and stronger, spinal injuries and concussions have become as much a part of the game as post patterns and handoffs. Scientists are only beginning to understand the impact of repetitive head trauma, but already there is an established link between concussions and dementia, or even death."

A TIGER WOODS COMEBACK? --

"WHO YOU CALLING THROUGH?'

Meanwhile, with the golf season about to get back into full swing, sports fans wondered about Tiger Woods, who has not won in his last 19 tournaments.   It seemed fair to ask --- was it all over for Tiger --- would he ever return to greatness?

A Thing of The Past?

In our very first Point/Counterpoint, two Global Game regulars weighed in on the question in our first Point/Counterpoint.  "Fresno Joe," a scratch golfer himself, is convinced that the Cablinaisian will get his mojo back:

"STAND DOWN, HATERS --
LIKE GENERAL MACARTHUR, 
TIGER SHALL RETURN" 

"You can mark this down: Tiger will be back.  Ballers everywhere know there are at least two reasons why:

1. Tiger has created his own practice facility on Jupiter Island, FL (see link for info and pictures for the Haters) http://web.tigerwoods.com/design/jupiter_island.html .  "It's phenomenal," he wrote. "Working with my team, I designed the short-game facility and oversaw its construction. It features four greens, six bunkers with different depths and kinds of sand, a video center and a putting studio. If no wind is blowing, the longest club I can hit is a 7-iron."  "It's also set up so I can hit shots out of my second-story studio,".  The practice facility also has multiple grass types, allowing Woods to practice his short game from 150 yards and in on any conceivable PGA Tour surface.
2. The facility is near his new crib which includes 6,400 sq.ft living space, gym/media room/bar, an elevator, a reflecting pond and a lap pool.  (again, see link for info and pictures for the Haters) http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Tiger-Woods-moving-into-swank-new-home-practice?urn=golf-330963

"Haters Beware"

On the human side, he's spending more time with his kids, and has gotten back to his Buddhist roots. which will put him at peace mentally. I haven't seen or heard of him in any post-divorce relationships (I'm sure the Global Game "research" team could investigate this and provide something to the TGG readership), but that lack of serious romance will also help him focus and keep him "hungry".

On the golf swing side, he's got a new golf coach (Sean Foley) that should make him technically better. He's working his azz off and will not continue to embarrass himself with bad shots on the course like he has in his recent events (although we'll see this weekend at the WGC event in Doral - he's paired with Philly Mac on Thursday and Friday - great golf drama). Admittingly, what's hurting him now is "confidence" in his new swing and applying it and becoming comfortable with it in varying 
golf course conditions (and under pressure).
 Once he gets that back and under control - he'll be back.

On the Old School side, my fellow Buckeye Alum and golfing great Jack Nicklaus has commented that Tiger will regain his top form and best his golf major total of 18 wins (that's a combination of Masters, US Open, British Open and PGA Championship wins for the golfing uninformed) - a phenomenal feat.  As all golf admirers know, Tiger has 14 majors (note to haters - at 35, Tiger has 2 more majors than Jack at that age)....this places him second on the all-time list....the next golfing great following Tiger is Walter Hagen who has 11 and has been dead since 1969! (note, the next living golfing great on the golf majors all-time win list is Gary Player at 9). For the left-handed TGG readers, Phil Mickleson, at 40 has 4 golf Majors.  One thing I know for sure,Tiger will be better at 40 than Phil is now - whose form is fading a bit from last year (without the negative scrutiny and end of world media hype afforded Tiger, I might add).

Like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods is blessed with God-given talent and is a killer competitor 
(and unfortunately, some of the moral, life trappings that come with that "gift") -

 he will not allow himself to fail
 and settle for mediocrity - he'd quit first.

So will Tiger be as dominant as he once was, probably not...he's 35 with a different focus in life than he had earlier, but he'll regain his form (and be #1 again, that's right #1) and be back on top and break 

Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 golf Majors."

The opposing point of view comes from "J.B. in D.C.," no stranger to the links himself, who says that Tiger is basically like the old lady of '80s ad fame ---

 "[he's] fallen and he can't get up."

Is J.B., in the words of "Joe from Fresno," just another "Hater"?   Check out his reasoning and decide for yourself....

"LET'S GET REAL --
YOU CAN STICK A FORK IN HIM,
'CAUSE TIGER'S DONE"

"Tiger's troubles run deeper than practice facilities and concentration.  Golf is a mental game and a game of inches. He can't make it up...

His Time Is Up

My basic premise is that in professional golf, the difference between great and really, really, really good players in miniscule.  One errant shot per round,
 a couple missed putts, etc.

If Tiger has an 'addiciton' problem, the first step in ANY addiction program is to admit you do not have control.  Tiger, if anything his entire life, has been about control.  Having to admit that, and work on it the rest of his life, will create permanent doubt about his invincibilty and invulnerability (even when he was cheating, he thought he was invincible).  Inside the ropes, that will be enough to cause doubt over putts, chip shots, drives under pressure.  It doesn't take much.  He will still win, be competitive etc. on his incredible talent alone.  But he will never get back to the top. 

 It's too bad for golf."

Not to be a Hater, but TGG tends to agree with "J.B. In D.C." More than most, golf is a supremely mental game.  Back In The Day, Tiger had complete mental dominance.   He was perceived, and thought of himself as, virtually infallible.  Recent events have changed that perception forever.   Once lost, an edge like that cannot be recovered.   The Tiger we once knew is gone --- and he's not coming back. 

Stay tuned next Weekend for Volume 1, Issue 8 of TGG,

and be on the lookout for periodic updates

"as events warrant"