January 21, 2008

"There goes the happy coach, back in his element. There goes the saddest man you ever saw."

This is just kinda submitted with minimal comment. This SI.com feature on Rick Majerus is big-media journalism at its finest - the type of profiling of a guy that SportsCenter simply will not give you, the warts-and-all treatment, face-to-face with who the guy is - and wonderfully descriptive writing to boot. Most sports geeks hate a guy like Bobby Knight and love a guy like Rick Majerus, because Knight comes across as such an S.O.B. to the media and Majerus never met a media guy he couldn't crack up with a story. Yet you read this thing and you could easily imagine Knight pulling off some of the stunts and cussing out his players like Majerus is described as doing here - and then there's Majerus' habit of exposing himself and making people around him feel awkward, far beyond anything Knight would do, which doesn't tend to keep people in modern academia employed for very long but coaches with track records of success can pull off.

But the raw shock value doesn't make the piece. The picture of the coach who simply lives and breathes basketball, who is a wonderful human being but for the sport that he loves that brings out all of his demons. S.L. Price, who wrote the piece, avoids the temptation to address Majerus' foibles with mock shock and horror - he uses them to construct a full picture of the man, hand in hand with all the positives, placing what makes him truly great side-by-side with what makes him so troubling.

The piece is seven pages long. Read them all. They set up this ending, which is devastating by itself, but literally had me shaking as I read it as the profile's conclusion:

Something about pain: Rick Majerus prizes his. Because pain teaches you. Because pain is the price of chasing one's passion, and if you don't do that, you're not alive. Because, ideally, losses like tonight's 22-point thrashing at Boston College show how limited your immediate future is, and that kind of clarity can only help. Majerus inherited this Saint Louis team. Few doubt he can put the program in the national picture, but he figures on a three-year struggle, and who knows how long his body will hold up? He's got a team, but for now it feels nothing like Utah.

"I realize the position I'm in here now: These guys didn't pick me; I didn't pick them," Majerus says after the Dec. 4 game. "We're in each other's worlds, and we're looking at each other, like...." He shrugs. "It is what it is. I like these kids, they're really nice kids. I would like any one of them as a son."

That only sounds dismissive. Majerus knows basketball cost him a marriage, kids. More than once he investigated adopting a child alone and allowed himself to be talked out of it. But the boys he never had and raised are never far from his mind. The boosters saw that in the bar back in October, when, apropos of nothing, he dropped into a public reverie, his voice gone mournful and soft. "I wish I could've had a kid like Dwayne Polk or Luke Meyer," he said of two of his seniors. "I don't have any regrets other than that. I look at Luke and think, Boy, his parents must feel so special to have that kind of a kid."

That sparked a tangent about parents today, and how they "want to take all the pain, all the heartache and all the sadness out of their kids' lives. All the things that make you a better person, a better coach, a better teacher -- all the things that are so much the fabric of life. I'm so much better for every loss I've had. I can...."

Majerus paused, and everyone in the place leaned forward in his seat. It was pin-drop quiet. When he spoke again his eyes had filled with tears, and the words came out slowly; suddenly it was 1998, March 30, and Doleac and Miller and Alex Jensen were beating Kentucky in the NCAA final, up by 12 early in the second half. No one had expected them to even get there. No one had expected Utah to beat Arkansas, Arizona and North Carolina -- all those traditional powers -- and now Majerus saw Kentucky, too, in his grasp. Then came Utah's collapse, his overmatched players finally run down and beaten 78-69, the whole awful film of it unspooling again in his head.

"I don't know how to tell you this," Majerus rasped. "I don't think I can get you guys there; I probably can't, because it's so tough to get to the Final Four. But, you know, I was just a bad player; any walk-on with me now is much better than I ever was. But I always loved to play, and I knew how to get my way in: I'd find all those guys who were good shooters and set picks for them and I'd go on the floor for loose balls. [At Utah] I had such great kids. I love those kids. They played their asses off, and we got to the national championship game; I can remember every moment of that game. You become so much better a person for all the bad things that happen to you. But all these helicopter parents, they just hover there, and they want to take all that away from their kids. They don't want them to fight through it."

And at that moment it became clear: the task Majerus set for himself long ago. It's not just the searing losses that will teach his players. It's him too: dealing out the hard knocks and heartbreak that he felt once. If parents won't do it? Majerus will be the pain their kids fight through every day. Some may understand. He's almost past caring. Majerus will walk that long tunnel to the locker room alone, head down, two people indeed. There goes the happy coach, back in his element. There goes the saddest man you ever saw.

Posted by Chuck at 11:23 AM | TrackBack

December 14, 2006

Saint Lamar

I have my own reasons for mourning the passing of one of the great sports owners of our time.

God bless Lamar Hunt. God bless his family.

UPDATE: I was hoping that Bob Hunter would write this kind of a column. That pretty much says it all, right there.

Posted by Chuck at 09:59 AM | TrackBack

November 10, 2006

Re: blogpost of November 3

I wrote, just about exactly one week ago:

Next Thursday night, it's Louisville-Rutgers with national title implications. If you only watch one college football game this century, make it that one.

Told ya.

I have a love-hate relationship with college athletics. I've seen the dark side of the monster - remember, I went to grad school at Ohio State. When "the monster" is fed in the wrong way, it can do some pretty serious damage to a college.

But I totally understand the appeal of the monster. You build the monster for moments like last night, for the sheer rapture of a home game between two unbeatens with the eyes of the nation upon you - and rising to the occasion to cultivate a tremendous, tremendous moment.

Those fans pouring onto the field of Rutgers Stadium last night was just such a moment.

I'm presuming all college football faithful will be watching Ohio State-Michigan the 18th. But do not sleep on a little matchup in Morgantown, West Virginia two weeks later. If Rutgers is still unbeaten going into that game - and that's a significant if, at this point - there is going to be even greater drama to come.

Posted by Chuck at 04:28 AM | TrackBack

November 03, 2006

Warning: college football post

News item: Louisville 44, West Virginia 34.

Eric Crawford of the Louisville Courier Journal:

The first time a guy talked about a football national championship in Louisville, people laughed.

Howard Schnellenberger said in 1985 that the University of Louisville "is on a collision course with the national championship. The only variable is time."

After the No. 5-ranked Cardinals beat No. 3 West Virginia, 44-34, last night before a record crowd of 43,217 in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, time is no longer a variable.

The only variable now is victory.

Collision course? Buckle your seat belts.

Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader:

At long last, the commonwealth of Kentucky got to see what a genuinely big-time college football game looks like.

It was a press box jammed full of the most regal names -- New York Times; Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Chicago Tribune; Sports Illustrated -- of the traditional media.

On this night, the folks in the garish blazers were scouts from actual BCS bowls -- Sugar, Orange, Fiesta.

U of L marketers declared this "Black Out Thursday" and encouraged Cardinals fans to turn out in all black. By kickoff, the PJCS looked like a convention of Dale Earnhardt followers.

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher was decked out in a black UofL sweat jacket. Ex-UofL great Tom Jackson -- now better known as an ESPN pro football analyst -- came back to watch his old school.

What they saw was UofL parlay an opportunistic defense and the kind of creative offense Petrino has become known for into a win UofL fans will talk about forever.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline:

The problem is the winning team gave up 540 yards and a pair of 100-yard rushers. A couple of top 10 scoring defenses combined to give up 78 points and 1,008 yards.

You know what? The man who runs the league doesn't care.

"If we're 12-0 at the end of the year regardless of what happens that's pretty good," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said, "considering a year ago they had the coffin out for us and two years ago we played in a limbo league. The year before that we were dead. If you've lived it, these are nice times..."

So to have Louisville and Rutgers as two of the five remaining undefeated teams at this point is not such a bad thing. Neither is having the first Big East game between two top five teams in six years live up to expectations...

And, last but not least, Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated:

Name the last national champion that had to beat consecutive undefeated teams in November? If they win, a Thanksgiving-weekend trip to 6-2 Pittsburgh awaits two weeks after that.

Which is why Petrino, though certainly more upbeat than usual, wasn't exactly jumping for joy either in his postgame news conference. "There's no time for partying," he said. "Tomorrow we get ready for Rutgers."

When was the last time a potential national-title participant said that?

The moral of the story is simple: It's fun to talk about a top-flight football team from a non-traditional place. It's a absolute HOOT.

Next Thursday night, it's Louisville-Rutgers with national title implications. If you only watch one college football game this century, make it that one.

Posted by Chuck at 03:58 PM | TrackBack

June 12, 2006

For all five of my fans...

...I would like for you to know that I have been published.

(And if you can't watch the USA-Czech Republic game, that minute-by-minute blog is probably the best place to follow the match as any.)

UPDATE: Czech Republic 3, United States nil, oh wow the Czechs made the Yanks look shabby and amateurish.

Posted by Chuck at 11:55 AM | TrackBack

June 10, 2006

Chuck Pearson in soccer-content shock!

Back at my old web-place of residence (I would link a specific blogpost, but alas, Blog MatchNight has gone the way of the dodo) I used to offer links to the splendid soccer writing of Dan Loney all the time. He's one of the few writers who makes me laugh out loud at least once every time I read him. Of course, the things I laugh at, nobody else does. Oh well.

Anyway, I spin this tale just to let you know that Dan Loney of American Soccer News is the only pundit on the planet to predict that the United States gets farther than the second round of the World Cup.

And even if you don't get this, I think it's bleedin' hilarious:

United States over Brazil. Yeah, you heard me. Revenge for 1994. Brazil is ready to fade. Eddie Lewis is a better right back than Roberto Carlos. We've heard of defense. Rickety old Brazilian defenders are no match for Brian McBride. Somewhere in Miami, Romario looks at Kasey Keller leading his legions of German fans and says, "I told you so." Belo Horizonte is forgotten. Nike permits this because they forget to order the United States to lose.

(I especially like the bit about Brian McBride. However, I would.)

Loney has the Yanks also getting through the quarterfinal stage, "solidifying America's position as the most hated nation on the planet. In fact, I hope we win on a bad call. That would be just awe-inspiring." He projects a semifinal exit to Argentina. "What are you, crazy? We're not as good as Argentina. Get real."

And if you believe any of those predictions, I have an MLS franchise to sell you.

Posted by Chuck at 10:41 AM | TrackBack

April 02, 2005

Observations, USA-Guatemala (in Birmingham)

(Crosspost from BLOG MatchNight.)

I am going to ramble and quite possibly come to conclusions as I write this out. I honestly can't tell you going in how much this will have to do with the soccer. Be patient with me.

(My students, given that many of them are English majors and I never have been anything vaguely resembling an English major, will repeatedly critique my writing/journaling style. They tell me that I should just write to get my emotions out, that I shouldn't be as intentioned as I write to the detriment of getting the writing done at all. Well, here, people, this one is for you. Appreciate.)

On Wednesday afternoon, after the fullest day of my teaching week, I threw myself into the car and started driving without stopping from my outpost in the Georgia Mountains to Birmingham. It was a route I'd never taken before (I lived in Birmingham five years ago, but I'd always driven into and out of Birmingham from the south, never the north, so I left early and took backroads here, there, and everywhere to get to I-59 so I could start careening south.

If you've never driven this part of the country, you need to drive into Alabama on State Route 9 and drive into Centre, Alabama on a late March afternoon - over the lake and in clear view of the rolling hills all around. Words will never do justice to the feeling I felt in that car, with The Killers working on the radio ("Mr. Brightside" is an epic pop song) with creation spilling out all around me, in fullness. Just some kind of awesome view.

I hit I-59 right about exactly at 5:30 PM Eastern Time (4:30 Central, I guess) which made my heart dance because it meant that I hadn't gotten bogged down in the backroads for three hours, which had been my biggest fear. I could just drop the hammer and plow down the interstate and be in Birmingham for plenty of time. I even had the odd thought pass through my head that I could have been a press guy if I had known I'd have had this much time, try to do the work in the press box as Dr. Chuck Pearson, Citizen Journalist or some rot

And then I thought straight again. I've seen the US National team play before (even went to a game at Legion Field against Tunisia while I still lived in Birmingham) but never a qualifier. There were plenty of things that I wanted to accomplish on this night. Most of them involved singing, cheering, and generally getting my voice behind the Yanks. In short, I was there to be a fan.

Simply being a fan - a singing, supporting fan - at a soccer match is something I haven't done in five years, since that match against Tunisia. The soccer options in Georgia are limited - I'm grateful for being able to get down to see the Silverbacks, but even then I have been there just as much as an interested media-type party as a fan, and there's been a lot of freedom to lose myself in the game that I simply haven't allowed myself. As I drove down the interstate to see this match, I was going - I realized I was going - simply because this was a chance I hadn't been able to take in the longest time, a chance just to enjoy it.

And in meeting up with a couple of guys - in the persons of ERic Vormelker and Howard Hamilton - who I have traded plenty of e-mails with in the past, and enjoyed company with on the old USENET newsgroups - as well as seeing net.denizens and meeting new faces standing with Sam's Army - I reminded myself how personal this errand was. Meeting ERic and Howard in real life especially was a thrill - each, in their own ways, served as examples of how to do this writing about soccer thing, and I've really enjoyed doing it. But it's nice also to get beyond just the writing about soccer, or even just the soccer, and to take a few moments to share life together - and, when the moment is right, bring the focus back to the soccer.

(Plug-o-matic: Howard has been keeping a blog on the progress of the hexagonal, and I'm amazed and sorry I haven't found it and pointed it out before now. It's about a million times better than anything I've posted about anything.)

There's not too much about the game itself I could write that hasn't been said plenty of other places (and I'm more than willing to defer to El Harfang Supremo on this front, who apparently posts his stuff on The Mother Ship now...Lee, you so rock the free world...), so let me comment on atmosphere:


I crashed out in Birmingham on Wednesday night, as massive rain was opening up. I said goodbyes far too early on Thursday morning, and drove through that massive storm.


Science seminar started at 11:00 AM back at school, just a bit over 20 hours after I left.


I was back just in time.


I have memories to last a lifetime.

Posted by Chuck at 01:04 AM | Comments (2)