Dan Hurley is right; that’s why he’s wrong
What if…
Good morning, all and happy Sunday!
Dan Hurley is one of college basketball’s high profile coaches. He should be, after winning back-to-back men’s national championships at UConn and taking his Huskies to the national championship game this past season. So good for him to use the national stage to talk about the wild, wild west of college sports. Unfortunately his words will ring hallow.
Hurley took to the bully pulpit last week, lamenting the state of college sports, its uneven stage for eligibility requirements, coaches who play the fifth-year qualifications of “student-athletes” like a Stradivarius, etc. Hurley is right on most counts, but that is where he is wrong too. How’s that?
The genie is out of the bottle. Hurley may call the current system “unsustainable” but the reality is there is no turning back. With the NIL, college athletes have found they can make a pretty good financial haul, playing sports over a five-year period. With the networks paying the NCAA Division I schools big bucks to televise football and basketball, there is no way the participants in the games will ever again be denied a piece of the financial pie.
Maybe the bill in congress trying to reign in some of the more outlandish elements of college sports will pass and be signed into law. In the meantime, Hurley’s words are ringing hollow, no matter how noble they may sound.
What if?
One of the great questions in sports is what if? You could make a strong case the what if extends across all walks of life. What if it is pouring rain in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. The roof goes on the limousine.
What if is now extending to Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, which, after 66 years is apparently still being litigated. Someone posted this on Facebook last week:
I cannot believe it was called a check swing either. Back then, all of the MLB umpires were not under one roof. The American League and National League umpires were governed by their respective leagues. The plate umpire that day was NL arbiter Bill Jackowski, a native of North Walpole, NH. Jackowski died in Springfield, VT in 1996 and is buried in Bellows Falls, VT.
There were no replays back then, no challenges, but the batter, Hal Smith, has clearly struck out. Instead, Jackowski ruled it a check swing and Smith slugged a three-run home run on the next swing to give the Pirates the lead. The Yankees rallied to tie the game in the ninth, but Bill Mazeroski hit his famous, World Series winning homer in the bottom of the ninth and the rest is history.
But if Smith’s at bat is ruled a strike out, there is a good chance the Yankees win Game 7 and another world championship. There is a chance the Yankees do not “retire” legendary manager Casey Stengel and he returns to manage the famous 1961 New York Yankees. Maybe, however, those ‘61 Yankees are not so famous. Maybe Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle do not chase Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record and the Yankees do not win 109 games in 1961. All of baseball history might have changed, if Jackowski determined Smith had struck out.
And one more what if…
And speaking of what ifs. The New York Yankees held their annual Old Timers Day yesterday. I could not help but notice both Reggie Jackson and Willie Randolph receiving nothing more than polite applause as they were introduced, compared to the Yankees of the 1990s and early 2000s. We were reminded of the changing fan demographics. Life moves on. But I could not help but notice, what if?
With Billy Martin - whose widow was introduced before the game - as manager in 1978, the Yankees on July 17 were in turmoil. Winners of two-straight pennants and defending World Champions, the Yankees were 14 games behind the first place Red Sox. To say Martin and Jackson did not like each other would be an understatement.
On that infamous night of July 17, with the Yankees hosting the Kansas City Royals, New York took a 5-3 lead to the top of the ninth. With their ace reliever “Goose” Gossage on the mound, victory appeared imminent. Gossage retired the first batter on a ground out. Following a single, the hard-throwing reliever got the next batter to hit what appeared to be a game-ending double play to the sure fielding Randolph at second base. Except Randolph booted the ball and both runners were safe. KC tied the game in the ninth and won it in 11 innings, 9-7.
But the real story was Jackson defying Martin, when the manager ordered him to bunt with the winning run on base in the 10th inning. Jackson, the slugger, could not believe he was being asked to bunt. The first pitch was a ball, as Jackson squared to bunt. Then when Martin took the bunt sign off, Jackson bunted the next pitch foul. Third base coach Dick Howser called time and told Jackson the bunt sign was off. But Jackson attempted to bunt the next two pitches, fouling them both, the last bunt attempt being caught in foul territory by catcher Darrell Porter. Martin was livid after the game and backed by owner George Steinbrenner, Jackson was suspended for defying his manager.
When Jackson returned after his five-day suspension, Martin did not have him in the starting lineup. The Yankees, who had started to turn their season around, completed a series sweep of the Chicago White Sox. But at O’Hare Airport Martin made his ill-fated on-the-record comments about Jackson and Steinbrenner (“One’s a born liar, the other convicted”) to two reporters and was forced to resign as manager the next day.
Of course, it was announced on Old Timers Day, five days later, that Martin would return as Yankees manager in 1980, setting off an absurd chain reaction of events. Meanwhile, with Bob Lemon now the Yankees manager, his calming demeanor ignited a fire under the team and they went on to catch the Red Sox and win the World Series.
But think about it? What if Randolph turns the double play? The Yankees win the game, there is no bunting controversy, no suspension of Jackson and more than likely Martin remains as manager of the Yankees. But would they have caught the division-leading Red Sox? Would there have been a Bucky Dent home run? Would they have won their second-straight World Series?
What ifs? Just another reason to enjoy sports!
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. As always, thank you for subscribing and have a stupendous Sunday!
DAN