Drama in Lawrence!
\nIdiots.<\/p>\n
That was my first thought, and remains for the most part, my assessment of <a href=”http:\/\/www2.kusports.com\/news\/2009\/sep\/23\/witnesses-report-second-altercation-between-basket\/”>the nonsense<\/a> that went on in Lawrence earlier this week between members of the football and basketball teams. The quick version, if you don\u2019t want to follow the links, is that apparently a young lady changed her affections from a member of one squad to a member of the other, creating some bad blood between the old suitor and her new beau. As tends to happen, each fellow\u2019s homies have helped circle the wagons, and after enough harsh words were exchanged, there was at least one fight on campus on Tuesday and another near-fight Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Boys will be boys, and all of that. Raise your hand if you\u2019ve never seen a fight between guys in their 20s over a girl. I was once waiting in line for drinks at a sorority formal when the two guys in front of me started swinging at each other. Over a girl, of course. So, to me, that\u2019s not a big deal.<\/p>\n
What is a big deal is that A) the members of both teams were too dumb to nip this in the bud and B) according to one source, there is some long simmering bad-blood between the teams. Someone, whether it was a team captain or just someone aware of what was going on, should have told the guys to knock it off. Or, they should have contacted the coaching staffs so they could step in.<\/p>\n
Some of the names being tossed around upset me, too. The campus paper reported that both Sherron Collins and Dezmon Briscoe were in the middle of yesterday\u2019s incident. Two guys who are key to their team\u2019s success, likely candidates for post-season honors, and each expected to be drafted next spring. And they\u2019re nearly fighting, in public, with fellow athletes. Not smart.* I\u2019ve seen Tyshawn Taylor listed in the top 12 for next year\u2019s draft. Messing up your hand in a fight isn\u2019t a good way to improve your stock if you\u2019re thinking about jumping early.<\/p>\n
Collins keeps talking about one of the challenges for this season is to prove that he can run a team, make smart decisions, etc. I don\u2019t think this will go in his Good Decision Making Examples file.<\/p>\n
If the coaches and players have truly gotten on top of the situation and it ends here, it\u2019s not a big deal. Thank goodness J.R. Giddens wasn\u2019t still around to start bashing people in the skulls with bricks. I\u2019ve been following some of the on-line discussions and it seems like a lot of people are far more upset with the language Tyshawn Taylor used on his Facebook page, some of which were quotes from popular music that the youth of today enjoy. They\u2019re worried about the racial overtones of the quotes and how that will affect KU\u2019s recruiting. While I\u2019m beginning to get old enough that I am chagrined at some of the language kids use today, I kind of rolled my eyes at this response. I don\u2019t think any recruits are going to think for a minute about a KU basketball player posting Lil\u2019 Wayne and Biggie lyrics.* While older white folks may find the lyrics odious, it\u2019s not like Tyshawn is the only basketball player in the country into those songs.**<\/p>\n
John Calipari might use it against is. \u201cWhy would you go to Kansas? Bill Self won\u2019t let you keep it real and post your favorite lyrics to Facebook, Twitter, etc. I understand what those lyrics mean to you. I understand where you\u2019re from. Come play for me and we\u2019ll show all those people who are against a young brother trying to make it in the world what\u2019s what.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chances are most of those older white folks have kids who are listening to the same music. Doesn\u2019t make it right, and that\u2019s a whole other conversation, but I\u2019m just saying.<\/p>\n
After that long intro, let\u2019s get to what I thought of most after this news broke. I think for a lot of fans, we can\u2019t imagine how players from two teams on the same campus would have beef with each other. \u201cThey\u2019re all Jayhawks,\u201d or whoever, \u201cwhy would they fight?\u201d It misses the point that they\u2019re young men, who tend to fight. They\u2019re athletes, in prime shape, operating with a little extra testosterone (some more than others, perhaps with a little pharmaceutical boost). Turf wars are bound to erupt. Throw in girls, perhaps some beer, and they\u2019re no different than a bunch of guys from different fraternities on the same campus who throw down for one reason or another.<\/p>\n
Fans tend to think that all athletes on a campus are part of a tight fraternity. That\u2019s not true. They\u2019re in a bubble to begin with, venturing out only for class (in theory) and the occasional trip to a non-athletic social function. Teams are bubbles within the bubble, seeing others at training table and in the halls of dorms, but mostly sticking together at practice, meetings, and on road trips. While there are certainly some friendships that form across team lines, for the most part teams are insulated from each other. Word has it (shockingly) that the KU basketball players are a bit full of themselves, thinking they run the campus. The football players, in light of their recent success, are looking for respect on campus as much as off. The subtle tension that is always present between revenue sports has been cranked up a notch or two. Throw in the girl situation and you get what we got.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s embarrassing, disappointing, frustrating that this happened. But as long as it ends now, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something that will damage either program or the university.* I\u2019ll be thankful no one was dumb enough to bring a weapon to the fray. The players should be thankful the worst injury to come out of this was a dislocated finger and bruised egos. Hopefully the jackasses will leave each other alone and get back to winning games and pretending to go to class.<\/p>\n
There was a classic comment on one of the public message boards last night. There was the usual \u201cThis never happened when Roy Williams was the coach,\u201d nonsense. First off, Roy covered up a lot of stuff while he was at KU. If you were on campus in the 90s, you heard rumors of this and that going on. Everyone in Lawrence was too scared of Roy to let anything go public, though. Bill Self seems to think his players need some freedom and deserve to face public humiliation if they fuck up.** Anyway, one poster responded that the basketball players were too high in the Roy era to get in fights. An argument for letting your guys get baked and then cover up any positive test results.<\/p>\n
(It can be argued too much freedom.)<\/p>\n
(See Aqib Talib, who, now that he\u2019s subject to the NFL drug testing policy, seems to be awfully eager to throw down.)<\/p>\n
(Just seeing if you read these or not.)<\/p>\n
\u2756<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Drama in Lawrence! Idiots. That was my first thought, and remains for the most part, my assessment of <a href=”http:\/\/www2.kusports.com\/news\/2009\/sep\/23\/witnesses-report-second-altercation-between-basket\/”>the nonsense<\/a> that went on in Lawrence earlier this week between members of the football and basketball teams. The quick version, if you don\u2019t want to follow the links, is that apparently a young lady changed her affections from a member of one squad to a member of the other, creating some bad blood between the old suitor and her new beau. As tends to happen, each fellow\u2019s homies have helped circle the wagons, and after enough harsh words were exchanged, there was at least one fight on campus on Tuesday and another near-fight Wednesday. Boys will be boys, and all of that. Raise your hand if you\u2019ve never seen a fight between guys in their 20s over a girl. I was once waiting in line for drinks at a sorority formal when the two guys in front of me started swinging at each other. Over a girl, of course. So, to me, that\u2019s not a big deal. What is a big deal is that A) the members of both teams were too dumb to nip this in the bud and B) according to one source, there is some long simmering bad-blood between the teams. Someone, whether it was a team captain or just someone aware of what was going on, should have told the guys to knock it off. Or, they should have contacted the coaching staffs so they could step in. Some of the names being tossed around upset me, too. The campus paper reported that both Sherron Collins and Dezmon Briscoe were in the middle of yesterday\u2019s incident. Two guys who are key to their team\u2019s success, likely candidates for post-season honors, and each expected to be drafted next spring. And they\u2019re nearly fighting, in public, with fellow athletes. Not smart.* I\u2019ve seen Tyshawn Taylor listed in the top 12 for next year\u2019s draft. Messing up your hand in a fight isn\u2019t a good way to improve your stock if you\u2019re thinking about jumping early. Collins keeps talking about one of the challenges for this season is to prove that he can run a team, make smart decisions, etc. I don\u2019t think this will go in his Good Decision Making Examples file. If the coaches and players have truly gotten on top of the situation and it ends here, it\u2019s not a big deal. Thank goodness J.R. Giddens wasn\u2019t still around to start bashing people in the skulls with bricks. I\u2019ve been following some of the on-line discussions and it seems like a lot of people are far more upset with the language Tyshawn Taylor used on his Facebook page, some of which were quotes from popular music that the youth of today enjoy. They\u2019re worried about the racial overtones of the quotes and how that will affect KU\u2019s recruiting. While I\u2019m beginning to get old enough that I am chagrined at some of the language kids use today, I kind of rolled my eyes at this response. I don\u2019t think any recruits are going to think for a minute about a KU basketball player posting Lil\u2019 Wayne and Biggie lyrics.* While older white folks may find the lyrics odious, it\u2019s not like Tyshawn is the only basketball player in the country into those songs.** John Calipari might use it against is. \u201cWhy would you go to Kansas? Bill Self won\u2019t let you keep it real and post your favorite lyrics to Facebook, Twitter, etc. I understand what those lyrics mean to you. I understand where you\u2019re from. Come play for me and we\u2019ll show all those people who are against a young brother trying to make it in the world what\u2019s what.\u201d Chances are most of those older white folks have kids who are listening to the same music. Doesn\u2019t make it right, and that\u2019s a whole other conversation, but I\u2019m just saying. After that long intro, let\u2019s get to what I thought of most after this news broke. I think for a lot of fans, we can\u2019t imagine how players from two teams on the same campus would have beef with each other. \u201cThey\u2019re all Jayhawks,\u201d or whoever, \u201cwhy would they fight?\u201d It misses the point that they\u2019re young men, who tend to fight. They\u2019re athletes, in prime shape, operating with a little extra testosterone (some more than others, perhaps with a little pharmaceutical boost). Turf wars are bound to erupt. Throw in girls, perhaps some beer, and they\u2019re no different than a bunch of guys from different fraternities on the same campus who throw down for one reason or another. Fans tend to think that all athletes on a campus are part of a tight fraternity. That\u2019s not true. They\u2019re in a bubble to begin with, venturing out only for class (in theory) and the occasional trip to a non-athletic social function. Teams are bubbles within the bubble, seeing others at training table and in the halls of dorms, but mostly sticking together at practice, meetings, and on road trips. While there are certainly some friendships that form across team lines, for the most part teams are insulated from each other. Word has it (shockingly) that the KU basketball players are a bit full of themselves, thinking they run the campus. The football players, in light of their recent success, are looking for respect on campus as much as off. The subtle tension that is always present between revenue sports has been cranked up a notch or two. Throw in the girl situation and you get what we got. So it\u2019s embarrassing, disappointing, frustrating that this happened. But as long as it ends now, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something that will damage either program or the university.* I\u2019ll be thankful no one was dumb enough to bring a weapon to the fray. The players should be thankful the worst injury to come out of this was a dislocated finger and bruised egos. Hopefully the jackasses will leave each other alone and get back to winning games and pretending to go to class. There was a classic comment on one of the public message boards last night. There was the usual \u201cThis never happened when Roy Williams was the coach,\u201d nonsense. First off, Roy covered up a lot of stuff while he was at KU. If you were on campus in the 90s, you heard rumors of this and that going on. Everyone in Lawrence was too scared of Roy to let anything go public, though. Bill Self seems to think his players need some freedom and deserve to face public humiliation if they fuck up.** Anyway, one poster responded that the basketball players were too high in the Roy era to get in fights. An argument for letting your guys get baked and then cover up any positive test results. (It can be argued too much freedom.) (See Aqib Talib, who, now that he\u2019s subject to the NFL drug testing policy, seems to be awfully eager to throw down.) (Just seeing if you read these or not.) \u2756 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,58],"class_list":["post-1613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-college-sports","tag-kansas-jayhawks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1613"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14989,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1613\/revisions\/14989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}