Angus Jung wrote:Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:FYI, Rick Pitino coaches the University of Louisville Fighting Cardinals, who, against all odds, advanced to the Final Four last year.
Had Rick Pitino coached, say, the UC Davis Fighting Aggies to last year's Final Four, it would be legitimate to say that it was "against all odds."
If any of your local sports hacks haven't come up with a cute nickname for Rick Pitino, may I suggest "The Ego Pud With The Middle Manager Hairdo Whose Corporate-Homily-Spewing Blueblood Yankee Ass We Would All Despise, Except That He's Coaching OUR Thugs."
Angus, you have touched a nerve. Two nerves, actually--one steeped in truth, the other rooted in fiction.
Yes, Coach Pitino is arrogant, cocky, vain--take your pick. But as my father likes to say (I think the quote traces back to Dizzy Dean), "If you can do it, it ain't braggin'." And I'll be the first to admit that, when he coached the University of Kentucky, there was no one on earth I hated more. And as much as I have always hated UK, I never hated them more than when Pitino coached them, most likely because they were so fucking good.
When Pitino was named Louisville's coach, I was rent by the fact that a man I considered my own personal nemesis would now be coaching the Cards; on the other hand, I had to own up to the fact that he was--and is--probably the finest college basketball coach alive. Coach K, really, is his only competition. The cup was tipped toward half-full by the perverse glee I knew I would derive from Kentucky fans mentally melting down at the thought of their beloved Pitino "defecting" to the Cards.
But what I ultimately decided--and this is where you hit the mark--is that nothing is worse than when your arch-rival is coached by an arrogant little banty rooster who happens to be the best in the business, but when your team is coached by a cocky little prick who can back it up, day in and day, out--well, that's pretty cool.
But THUGS? You're dead wrong there, my friend. You must be thinking of Memphis or Cincinnati.
