If you thought that Connecticut's Geno Auriemma would be able to resist wading in to the spotlight in a story that does not concern him in any way, you were sadly mistaken.
"My only comment would be that it will happen with players who don't want to be in school," Auriemma said in an e-mail from Latvia, where he scouting the European women's basketball championships for USA Basketball. "If they are in school just to play then this will be more common. I don't see this being an issue at UConn."
Sometimes I'm concerned that my posts here give off the impression that they are much angrier and mean-spirited than I intend to come across as. Auriemma is not just some blogger though. He's a well compensated ambassador for the University of Connecticut and their athletic department, an extraordinary successful figure by any definition. And with one sentence he comes off as more petty and immature than any clown on the internet. I don't even follow women's basketball all that closely, but cannot think of a sports figure that I truly dislike more. Every action, every phrase, is seemingly calculated to get under my skin and push all the wrong buttons. Well, here's a confession: it worked. The schoolyard bully kept flinging insults, and I have finally blown my top, and now should probably time out in the corner.
Even though C. Vivian Stringer has yet to win a NCAA championship, this is the one area where she will always run laps around Geno. I'm sure that she chews out her players to smithereens behind closed doors. That's just it though; it stays behind closed doors. She's so old school that Joe Paterno's practices look like a leisurely round of cardio in comparison. It's not a generational thing though. Even children pick up eventually that they should mind their own business. If you're asked for a quote, utter something vague, call it a night. Don't plead for coverage with every word. This chicanery is nothing more than a full on, Peter Panist, borderline autistic level of arrested development.
Prince leaving could tank next year's season, but Stringer isn't ripping her in public. CVS may be fuming, but has the dignity to, you know, be an adult about the matter. That's why her Scarlet Knights are, as Stringer would say, the "jewel of the east". Despite the tremendous accomplishments of his players, assistants, support staff, and yes, Geno's masterful coaching; Auriemma has yet again managed to completely overshadow all of that, in one fell swoop invalidating all but one possible description: sore winners.