BL: Your Final Four Picks and...

BL: Your Final Four Picks and…

Can we all assume that 99% of you reading this will be pulling for Loyola and the lovable little old nun – Sister Stormy – in The Final Four? A no-brainer considering the other three.

Oops, did I say Sister Stormy… I’m getting my weekend news mixed up… The Loyola nun is Sister Something else.

Michigan? Memories of The Fab Four are still too fresh. It’s only been 27 years after all. Another three / four decades might dim that memory… maybe. Wanna bet 98% of American sports fans can’t name the Michigan Head Coach. It’s John Beilein, but who cares?

Villanova? Again… vivid memory of just two years ago. If that “dagger to the heart” broke your heart (Tru Blues) or delighted you (all Not-Tru-Blues) you do remember it. Their coach is some nice-looking guy whose name you can’t recall – Jay Wright – it’s NOT Rollie Massimino any more. I ran into Rollie Massimino about 8-10 years ago at a celebrity event. He was old and not really “with it”. It was one of those “didn’t you used to be somebody” situations that can be uncomfortable for all concerned.

Kansas? Because KU is one of those 4-5 SuperPowers that competes with UNCCH, Duke, Kentucky for all the Top Ten guys, nobody but KU alum/fans ever pulls for them… unless they are playing Duke. Bill Self is not as universally disliked as Coach K or Calipari but he IS disliked because he has the annoying habit of winning a whole lot. As I say that, I wonder if “Roy” is generally disliked outside of a 150 miles of The Old Water Fountain. Do college BB fan in Nebraska or New Mexico have strong feelings about Roy?

Roy Jayhawk

Speaking of ORW… the last time KU played in a F4 in San Antonio there was a bit of a brouhaha about “a Jayhawk sticker”… wonder who ORW will be pulling for this year?

So that leaves Loyola of Chicago. You can’t name the coach or any of the players who are probably an intramural team anyway. Cinderella teams are always easy to spot because they have the most white guys… or a weird coach named “Shaka”.

########

Blondie follows basketball even less than even I do, but asked me about Allen Grayson / Grayson Allen. She saw the replay of him hip-checking a guy several weeks ago. “Is he a bad guy?” she asked.

I explained the 60 year history of Duke always having “a universally hated white guy”… Art Heyman… Bob Verga… Jay Bilas… Danny Ferry… Mike Gminski… Laettner… Hurley… Ridick… WoJo… Collins… Schreyer… Quin Snyder… Greg Paulus… … … my apology if I omitted a few dozen.

I tried to explain the difference between “a dirty player” and “a highly competitive player”. The difference is all in the uniform he wears. Tyler Hansbrough, Mark Mirken, Tim Stoddard, and pretty much everyone who played for Frank McGuire at South Carolina in the late 60s-early 70s were “highly competitive” to their own fans… but “dirty” to everyone else.

OK… even USC fans knew John Ribock was a thug. And NC State’s “Dirty Dan” Wells was not so named because of lax personal hygiene.

Blondie naively asked why hasn’t Duke had any “hated black guys”.

Simple… Booing a black guy in Dean’s Dome much less yelling “F*** You Black Guy in Dean’s Dome simply can’t happen. Dean recruited Charlie Scott in case you didn’t know.

Several of Duke’s “hated white guys” have been rumored to have non-traditional sexual preferences. Yelling THAT out in Dean’s Dome would be quite unlikely too don’t you know. …

I don’t know if any of Duke’s “designated hated white guys” have been NRA members or had sex with porn stars.

Grayson Allen Grayson inherited his reputation as “Duke’s Hated White guy’ upon arriving at Duke and promptly enhanced it via several well documented tripping episodes over the past four years.

Tripping, spitting, throwing punches, mouthing obscenities, looking cocky, scowling, and being a clutch player in key situations are all real or imagined characteristics of “an officially- designated hated white guy”.

I’m sure my friend Bob Harris has an opinion on this… no one would ever accuse Bob of being biased…

Allen says Ridick was his idol growing up. Are there 14-15 y/os out there today practicing being Duke’s “Hated White Guy” in 2022 ???

I don’t follow recruiting (or porn stars… I had never heard of “Stormy”) so I am wondering does Coach K has a designated “hated white guy” coming in next year to replace Allen? He has an obligation to keep the tradition alive.

#######

Speaking of “traditions”… I have a tradition of not watching 60 Minutes that is going-on well over 20 years now. I have however read various accounts of “Anderson & Stormy”.

Would I have watched if Andy Rooney had been conducting the interview? I would certainly have given it stronger consideration.

Were dimwits really “blaming Duke” for going into OT and delaying “Anderson chats with Stormy”? If Grayson Allen Grayson had hit that floater at the end of regulation there would not have been a delay. Damn you Grayson Allen.

Gennifer Flowers

Is it just me… but is there a distinct resemblance between Stormy Daniels and Gennifer Flowers ??? … Paula Jones no, but Gennifer ???

Apparently the words… Marilyn Monroe – Chappaquiddick – and “better put some ice on that” – did not come up. I didn’t think they would.

How long do you think it would take a roving street reporter to find a dozen millennials who have ever heard of Mary Jo Kopechne? … it was July 18, 1969 for anyone wondering “when was that….?”

Anderson Cooper was born in 1967 as a point of reference. “Stormy” wasn’t born until 1979.

Vince Foster would be 72 this year… if he had not died mysteriously in Fort Marcy Park on July 20, 1993. You think CNN’s Brooke Baldwin (UNC’01) has ever heard of Vince Foster? Brooke was 13 when Vince died… mysteriously.

RE: That March in DC… I read somewhere that if all the signs containing “a certain 4-letter word beginning with F” were laid end-to-end, they would stretch twice around the equator. That’s a LOT of obscene signs… I also heard that the # of marchers in DC was 10X the # of “inconvenient” babies murdered in the womb each month. That sure is A LOT of marchers. I wonder if Hogg-Boy used Bill Barber’s Official “Logistician” Peter Anlyan to count his # of marchers.

Wonder if Hogg-Boy has ever heard of Monica Lewinsky?

These are indeed “troubling times”…

#########

Speaking of books I’m “reading” … I’m into a South African period these days. Wilbur Smith is generally considered the most prolific, if not best known, South African novelist. I’ve read his series featuring Hector Cross. Very good albeit somewhat graphic in its violence. I have Smith’s Courtney series in my queue.