San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Only one GOAT, his name is Wooden
Sez Me … You know what gets my goat? GOATS. All caps, small s.
Or G.O.A.T. Or Greatest Of All Time.
There are fewer goats in Asia than there are GOATS in sports.
I bring this up now because Coach K — you know, Mike Krzyzewski — has completed his brilliant run of 41 years at Duke. And, of course, on some farms, K went out to pasture being called college basketball’s coaching GOAT.
We will address this absurdity in a moment.
GOAT gets thrown around willy-nilly, wildly instead of wisely, and should at least be considered animal cruelty.
Just the other day, a fellow with 525,000 Twitter followers (I won’t embarrass him more by saying his name) sent out this beauty: “There’s an argument Kansas is the greatest team of all time.”
Sure is.
I’d wager at least 500,000 of his Unsocial Media disciples read it and said: “He’s right. Just what I was thinking.”
So many among us have become hard of thinking — and listening.
There’s an argument Kansas wasn’t better than North Carolina. The Jayhawks’ own coach, Bill Self, said his 2020 team was better than this one.
But the GOAT? We’re being fleeced.
John R. Wooden is the greatest college basketball coach of all time. He is the best basketball coach, amateur or pro. He is the greatest coach of any sport. He is the capo de tutti capi of GOATS.
At UCLA, he won 10 national titles in 12 years, seven in a row. He easily would have won in 1965-66 if freshmen were eligible (Kareem/lew, Lucius Allen, Lynn Shackelford, et al.) He won 88 straight games. He won big (Lew and Walton), small, with the greatest press in history, and when he didn’t have the best players.
I know the East Coasters may holler it was simpler to do then, the Tournament being smaller. OK. He won 38 straight Tournament games. They can play basketball until Saint Peter allows players to travel and carry the ball over through the Pearly Gates, and that record is going to be standing. It was going to stand before the oneand-dones and transfer portalers.
Wooden retired after winning the title here in 1975. In 1980, we went to the Magic Johnsonlarry Bird Final Four in Salt Lake City. I was with our thencolumnist Steve Bisheff, who had covered UCLA for the Herald Examiner. He knew Wooden well, and Steve got the national break on Coach’s retirement.
Coaches basically have a convention at Final Fours, and Steve and I went to their banquet. Wooden was sitting in a chair against a wall, and Steve introduced me to him.
We chatted for about 15 minutes, and during that span, many, many active coaches came over to pay their respects. It was like the Pope with his audience.
They simply said: “Hello, Coach.” No ring-kissing.
The Wizard. GOAT. … Seriously, are we just now understanding many NFL teams have interviewed minority head-coaching candidates to circumnavigate the Rooney Rule? The rule is The League’s Operation Market Garden. …
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Matt Patricia and Joe Judge are defensive coaches and never have called offensive plays. But they may in New England, and much is being made of it. Ernie Zampese became a legendary offensive coordinator, and before Don Coryell came here, Ernie coached DBS. …
Draft guru Daniel Jeremiah likes 20 edge rushers in this NFL Draft. “Yes,” he says, “20.” That’s 20 more than quarterbacks I like. …
Nyckoles Harbor, a five-star junior edge rusher/athlete from Archbishop Carroll High in D.C., just ran a 10.32 100 meters. He can’t be drafted, but it looks as though he could make Jeremiah change it to 21, anyway. …
The two most available elements in America: Oxygen and Blake Bortles .…
I’m for anybody in any profession making as much as they can, but wide receivers don’t win Super Bowls, and there now are nine in the NFL making $20 million-plus. …
Few things please me more than a missed dunk. Missed 3s, no. They’re expected. …
I’d love to see the AP basketball preseason top 25 poll come out now. With so many players going here and there — probably at least 1,500 players will enter the transfer portal — it would be possible for all 25 to be wrong. …
Not as many in the women’s portal. Only 900-plus, and counting. …
The Aztecs got the point guard — maybe even “The Guy” — they so desperately needed in Seattle transfer Darrion Trammell .…
I loved the way Roy Williams’ Kansas teams played. But it was different at Carolina. Thought he’d get better players. …
Kansas or North Carolina? Roy had a problem figuring out which team to cry over, so he simply chose both. …
ESPN’S Jay Williams: “It is the most disappointing season, I think, in sports history. I’m not talking about Lakers history — sports history.” Jay, stop thinking. …
Lebron is a great player.
Lebron James is a lousy GM. …
Shaq has put together a cookbook. It’s his first volume in a planned series, and it’s more than 3,000 pages. …
On June 19, 1846, the first baseball game was played at Elysian Fields. Guaranteed, the Knickerbockers and New York Nine were cheating. …
Happy 75th birthday, Big Ed White. One of the good guys, and should be — and would be — a Hall of Famer if the NFL Team That Used To Be Here won what it should have won. It’s a difficult ticket for guards, as it is. …
Guinness is looking into it, so it must be true. Bryson Dechambeau is the second person in history to get injured playing ping-pong. …
Tesla is making a self-driving taxi. Wonder if it will take the long way around. …
The Ham & Eggers are apologizing for the Mira Mesa bike lane fiasco and are getting it right. How much is this mistake costing us? …
RIP, Dwayne Haskins. Tragic. …
Google-up what Gil Brandt said about Dwayne. Stupid and embarrassing. …
Ever notice the price of gas falls much slower than it rises? Ever wonder why that is? It’s what’s commonly known as getting screwed. Where’s my bike? …
RIP, Gene Shue. I vividly remember Gene, as Clippers coach, kneeling, watching the clock as Lloyd (World B.) Free dribbled away as time was about to expire, then yelling: “Now, Lloyd! Now!” …
If Elon Musk can clean up Twitter, he’ll have a smaller challenge with the oceans, lakes, rivers, streams and atmosphere. …
Steve Lavin at USD will be a slick follow. …
“Buy Me Some Peanuts and Hamburgers.” The Braves are selling a $151 burger. So they’re making a dollar profit . ...
Will Smith is banned from the Oscars ceremonies for 10 years. But I’d wager Dion Rich can get him in. …
Tiger has one of the all-time competitive engines. A marvel. But he wasn’t winning the Masters with those legs in that weather. They figure that if you walk Augusta, you’ve hiked the equivalent of a 50-story building. Making the cut was a feat of will. …
War is hell? Hell may not be that bad.