David Carter simply knows how to win basketball games. The Nevada basketball head coach has done an outstanding job with a young and thin team, guiding them to 16 wins in their first 25 games. This is not a great or even a deep team. On some nights they are not even a good team, but they find a way to win. They learn quickly from their mistakes and they compete and fight every night. Carter is squeezing every win possible out of this team and that's all anyone can expect out of a coach.
The Wolf Pack have a good chance to win 23, 24 games this year. It would be their most wins since a guy named Nick Fazekas was on the team. Don't be shocked if you are filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket in March and see Nevada as an 11th or 12th seed. Next year will be even better for Nevada, if Carter avoids a roller coaster off-season like the one he experienced last spring. It will be the best team since Fazekas and Ramon Sessions left after 2006-07. Malik Story and Olek Czyz will be eligible to suit up and Armon Johnson, Luke Babbitt and Dario Hunt will be a year older. Think legitimate Sweet 16 contender.
Tiger Woods sat in front of a camera, read a prepared statement and appear to be sorry for embarrassing his family, sponsors and the PGA. The media was not allowed to ask questions. He admitted that he cheated on his wife, stared at the camera and shed a tear or two. Denying that cheating on his wife helped his performance. Oh, wait, that was Mark McGwire. It doesn't matter what Woods says publicly. The only people he needs to apologize to are his wife and kids.
This whole Woods scandal has been blown totally out of proportion. He is certainly not the first famous athlete to cheat on his wife. Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Steve McNair, Alex Rodriguez, Babe Ruth all were found to be lousy husbands at one time or another. Who cares? Do you really think Tiger is the only PGA player who has cheated on his wife? If every current pro athlete who has cheated on his wife was forced to read a statement in front of a camera, your basic cable package would include a channel called Cheating Athletes.
Did it really surprise anyone that the media invited to listen to Tiger in person would not be able to ask any questions? What else is new? The golfing media is accustomed to being a bunch of robots fawning over pro golfers. They sit in a tent all day eating piles of food and don't even watch the event they are supposedly covering. Coaching third base for the Padres is a more grueling job than being a golf writer. The only questions the golfing media know are: Could you talk about your round? How did the course play? When is dinner being served? It shouldn't surprise anyone that the Woods scandal wasn't broken by a golf writer.
Watching the Olympics is like watching NASCAR, hockey, American Idol tryouts or sitting on an overpass and looking down on a freeway. You're just waiting for the crash, fight or meltdown. I'm waiting for Bob Costas' overly moussed hair to catch fire from a stray spark from that fireplace behind him on the NBC set. Hey, it beats looking at Simon Cowell in his tight T-shirt.
What's going on with the Oregon running backs? Last fall LeGarrette Blount punched a Boise State player in the head on national TV and was suspended. Now LaMichael James is facing domestic violence charges. Who is advising these guys? Pacman Jones? LeGarrette, LaMichael, LaTiger? Hey, it's nothing that a prepared statement read in front of a TV camera couldn't fix.
- Josh Newman - RotoKingdom Staff Writer