I Got 99 Problems But A Front-Runnin' B!#*% Ain't One.

As you know, since surely you've been following my last couple of posts with rapt attention, I've been doing my level best to divorce myself from animosity and moralistic interpretations when it comes to Butler's NCAA games. But then I clicked on a link to the Yahoo college basketball blog and see this -

Yep, that's Shawn Carter, stage name Jay-Z. hanging with the Wildcats after they punched their ticket to Houston. Emphasis on the AFTER.

Now, there are two possible explanations for this. Either Hova is visiting with Coach Cal's Little Urban Achievers because he, as a minority partner in an NBA team might be drafting one or more of them in the upcoming months. Or he is a sports fan similar to his pal LeBron, and simply runs with the squad that is most likely to win each year. Let's not forget that BronBron, native of Ohio, professes to be a Yankee and Cowboy fan.

So Jigga has either committed a flagrant NCAA violation in contacting college players regarding future professional employment in the NBA. Or he has chosen to throw his support behind a team with no geographic relationship to his Brooklyn origins, but who does have the most championships of the four teams left and has, arguably, the greatest wealth of talent.

Would I be as indignant if H-to-the-Izzo had chosen instead to visit the Bulldog's locker room after they defeated Flo-Rida? Probably not. However, Butler doesn't have a coach with a long history of questionable financial scruples. Nor is Butler the Vegas favorite to win the whole thing, as UK now is. Whether those two things smack of illegal contact and front-running, I'll let you decide.


But I do know this, teams from Indiana love it when other teams have New York celebrities sitting courtside, rooting against them.

Winning or Not Losing

Butler won. In spite of, or as a result of my Swiftian exhortations? I don't know. All I know is that my son, keen little pitcher with big ears that he is, when I asked what he thought about Butler winning, said, "I'm speechless. I don't know what to say." He heard this phrase from someone at my parents' house, either my mother or Bob Proctor. Nevertheless, he knew that we were all hooting and hollering about something rather unexpected and unprecedented and he brought out the line on cue. I almost swerved off the road.

In five days, Butler will play a semi-final game against Michigan State in Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana. And here, in the seemingly wonderful serendipity of the location, lies the only impediment to their winning the whole dang thing. It is not their lack of relative size compared to other teams. It is not that MSU and West Virginia are spectacular rebounding teams, or that Duke has three NBA players in its starting lineup. The home city advantage is actually a very sharp, double-edged sword for these Bulldogs, because no matter what the result this weekend, these Bulldogs cannot lose.

They may get beaten by twenty-points on the scoreboard, but in the end they are winners. Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack, Ron Nored, Matt Howard, Willie Veasly, and all their teammates will be conquering heroes whether they win or lose. In the eyes of Indiana residents and the country at-large, they are the underdogs who made it to the Final Four. Everything else is gravy on the taters. So Brad Stevens' lone challenge is not game-planning for the Spartans and crazy-good coach Tom Izzo, rather it is to get his team to fear contentedness and satisfaction.

Even the most competitive sumbiches could get pretty swelled up and slow if they came back home at 4 in the morning to screaming, delirious crowds. And if they are anything, these Bulldogs are competitive. But fighting against the insidious mindset that they have "already won" has to be tough for player and coach alike.

Forgive me, I could ramble on about these less-than-concrete ideas for too long. My hope is this, Butler goes out looking for blood. Elbows to the neck, heel-kicks when defending in the low blocks, rabbit punches to the kidneys. No holds barred. Use every flipping foul they give you and get ready to take a punch and shoot the technical afterwords. Butler may be a feel-good story but their opponents will give them no quarter. They should be ready to do the same.

Go out and try to win, because they already can't lose.