A little bit o' soap will never wash away my tears... -- Chan Is Missing

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Date Posted: 08:17:27 02/18/02 Mon
Author: Alvin Keyda, "Please DON'T call me Al"
Subject:

A little bit o' soap will never wash away my tears...

I am heartbroken for UMass basketball. It's bad enough that I don't think "fans" should still be at each others' throats over who the fuck the coach is, but I've now come to the conclusion that, through no fault of his own, James O. Flint Jr. was a worse hire than Ray Wilson AND Ron Gerlufson combined.

Not because of his coaching. Not because of his hoops knowlege. Not because he was a bad person. Not for anything he did or did not do. Lots of coaches are hired, and lots are fired. Hell, Ron Jirsa was fired after 2 seasons at UGA, and in the second of those he won 20 ballgames. Yep, lots of coaches are hired and fired.

What is fucked up is that people who should just be "enjoying kayaking" or whatever hobby they pursue have turned Bruiser's career at UMass into a personal obsession which prevents them from rationally watching a goddamn basketball game, or discussing it over a few cold beers, or e-mailing each other about it.

For those of us who met and talked with Bruiser, we were lucky. It coloured our perceptions. It made us high. It was really something to be that close to the head coach of our favourite team. It was really something exceptional.

EXCEPTIONAL.
Not normal. Not part of the real world. In the real world, coaches are hired and fired a lot. But not in the UMass hoops world where you hang with the coach and he buys the booze and tells you stories about the players and you don't even have to donate a couple of grand for the pleasure.

If Bruiser had been unapproachable, i.e., not himself, would the passion and anger and distortion be there? I can't say for sure, but I have my theories.

Heresy, orthodoxies, liturgy...why? Why did people who supposedly liked each other have to turn who the coach of a team is into a war? Does it matter in the grand scheme of things? I still care about v-dawg's employment situation/chick scamming/car jamming; I still care about Mel's pschobilly freakouts; I still care about Nat, as fucked up as he may be in his opinions...it's just not right for people to behave this way towards each other.

I guess I'll never really know what role Marcum played in undermining Bruiser. I'll never really know what players who were supposed to come to UMass but didn't might have done if they had and Bruiser coached them. But what I do know is that Brusier is not a UMass alum (a la Al Skinner, Rick Pitino) and is not the UMass coach anymore, and that Steve Lappas has said he wants to coach at UMass until he retires and that he wants to be a part of the community, and that he wants his players to graduate and behave themselves.

That's it. Imagine that, that's all I know.

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[> I'm not really sure what to say, but this post deserves a response. A further/better one will occur when I have some free time... -- V-Dawg, 10:52:04 02/19/02 Tue

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[> Good post, Alvin. And, as V-Dawg has said, one that deserves a thoughful reply. There may be one, but in the meantime I can only offer my theory: basically, people are fragile and need a good punch. People who personalize everything need to drop the men's movement shit and read a little Jack London -- Notorious, 12:32:30 02/19/02 Tue

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[> [> Fucking A right! -- jj, 13:26:32 02/19/02 Tue

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[> When Delkins posted this over at Mike's, I at least felt a little better about myself after the beating I took from Nat -- If anyone saw Brand in highschool, I doubt there are to many people who thought he'd be anything special at the college level. He looks now very similar to the way he looked in high school. -- Mel, 16:44:10 02/19/02 Tue

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[> [> Delkins and all of those B-Ball Hall of Fame guys sit in the row right in front of me at the Bill, and they're a wealth of information. Not pompous at all, but these guys know what's going on and don't mind saying it. -- jj, 20:24:43 02/19/02 Tue

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