In the Headlines for All the Wrong Reasons

The Final Four begins today!

Now let me guess, upon reading that the Final Four is nearly here, your first thought was something along the lines of “oh ya, that’s right!” instead of “I know, I’m excited!”  Am I right?

College basketball has been in the news ALL WEEK, yet there has been no preview of the Final Four matchups. There has been no talk of the “Don’t call us Cinderella” Wichita State Shockers taking on #1 overall Louisville. There has been no talk of John Beilein never defeating Jim Boeheim.

Absolutely nothing.  Yet college hoops is in the news not only on sports channels but on national news as well. When that happens, you know that there is something wrong with sports right now.

Topic #1: Kevin Ware

The first national-news-making headline in college hoops not called the Final Four is Louisville’s Kevin Ware. After viciously breaking his leg on Sunday (and no, we will not be showing any images of it…if you want to see the injury just google it), Ware has been an inspiration for his Cardinal teammates. And that’s a great thing! He had surgery Sunday night and was walking on crutches by Tuesday morning. He has been released and will travel with his team to Atlanta for the Final Four, the city where he played his high school ball.

However, Ware’s injury is all that you hear about. People came into work on Monday not asking “did you see the game?” but asking “did you see that guy’s leg?” Yes I understand it is news and yes I understand this injury is quite rare. But after hearing over two dozen different people ask me if I saw the injury and not one of them talking about Louisville battling back and winning one for their fallen teammate, I wonder if people even care about the game anymore. I think they (fan, sportswriter, whatever) just care about the headline. Everybody loves a great story. If this was the NFL, I’d put all of my money on Louisville to win the title now. #EasyMoney

Now, don’t think I don’t care about Ware or about his health. I am glad to hear he’s already moving around and hope to see him on the basketball court again. I’m sure he would be the first one to say that he doesn’t want the attention that he’s getting and that his team deserves it. I agree. But all you see is Internet memes saying that Roger Goodell is banning jumping in the NFL after seeing the Ware injury. Fake twitter accounts, some of which had more followers than the real one at times on Sunday into Monday, also result. I’m staying away from the social media outcry, but you know already how I feel about Twitter ruining sports.

Lots happening around the Kevin Ware injury. I hope for the best for the young man. It deserves to be national news. But when news sources talk about the injury on Monday but fail to mention that his team advanced to the Final Four? More cameras will be on him than on the court come Saturday, I’m afraid.

Topic #2: Bounty-Gate Part II

The Pac-12 Head of Officials, Ed Rush, is being investigated for inappropriate comments during the Pac-12 Tournament. He said that he would award officials with a paid vacation or $5,000 in cash for giving Arizona coach Sean Miller a technical foul or for ejecting him from the game.

Wouldn’t you know, at a crucial moment with a little over four minutes left in the semifinal game vs. UCLA, a questionable call leads to Coach Miller protesting and immediately getting “T’ed up.” Arizona guard Mark Lyons was called for traveling, when replay clearly shows the ball was knocked from his hands by an opposing player. The Wildcats ended up losing by two.

It’s not like he was irate or was cursing out officials. All Miller said was “He touched the ball. He touched the ball. He touched the ball.” If that’s worthy of a technical foul on a coach, then you might as well eject 95% of coaches right at opening tip.

Apparently, according to CBSSports.com, Ed Rush repeated prior to that Arizona-UCLA game that officials should take action if Miller did anything. 

The Pac-12 is reviewing this. Commissioner Larry Scott has said that Rush made inappropriate comments during internal meetings that referenced awards. He says that the comments were made “in jest” and that those in the room realized he was not being serious.

The facts of the case are these: a bad call on the court led to a technical foul that should not have been assessed that quite literally (two points on the free throws, two point loss for Arizona) was the difference in the game.

Will officials be held to the same standard that coaches and players are? Jest or not, you cannot say that stuff. Period.

Topic #3: Mike Rice

Rutgers coach Mike Rice has been fired after practice video got out showing him physically and verbally abusing his players. He was originally suspended for three games, was required to attend anger management classes, and was fined $50,000 for his conduct.

A former employee gave Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti a video back around Thanksgiving. After investigating the allegations, Pernetti issued the punishments upon the coach.

However, on Monday, ESPN’s Outside the Lines ran a report that caused a national buzz. Again, when sports news hits the national spotlight, you know something is wrong. In that report, video showed the coach chucking basketballs at his players and (reportedly, though I haven’t seen in the clips I’ve watched so far) grabbing players. They also show him shouting obscenities and homosexual slurs at his players. Only after the OTL report came out (and subsequent social media outcries began) was Rice fired.

We’ll be breaking down the Mike Rice incident in full in a future article. But the brunt of it is that Pernetti quite likely let something serious slide by. It wasn’t until the news got into the open that he finally pulled the plug on the coach. Social media determined the outcome of this case (thank you OTL for making everybody aware! It needed to be put out there). Further, Pernetti’s screw up should cost him his job, but him moving to the school to the B1G likely means that his job is safe.

 Endangering kids attending his school, but his job is safe. How nice.

There you go. Three different college hoops stories you probably have heard this week - three stories that are capturing the headlines instead of the Cardinals, Shockers, Orange, and Wolverines. The world neglects the big, good stories to focus nearly solely on the bad. And, it is far too easy to find these stories of people doing wrong than there are of people doing right.

That’s what’s wrong with sports.