‘The Document’

So I’m reading Kyle’s latest and nodding.

... they should be functioning time capsules that help us remember when our memory fails us. They allow future generations piece together the meaning for themselves.

There is a feeling that binds George Mason 2006, Davidson 2008 and Butler 2010 together.

... to sell those ahead of us on the idea that this was a really powerful experience for a lot of people.

And then:

I didn’t really like Michael Kruse’s Taking The Shot: when I first read it, I felt it was too esoteric and short, padded with extraneous material and featuring more footnotes than a David Foster Wallace book. But when I was back home for a few days nursing my broken immune system after Vancouver, I went back and re-read it. I “got it” a little more, and I could better see what the author was attempting. There are stories of the other players, and of fans and students, of free buses to Detroit, about the construction of the team, and the old and wise coach’s philosophy. And there is the feeling, in black and white, when the shot didn’t go down, when Davidson couldn't do what Mason did two years earlier, what Butler has done now. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a blueprint and a way forward.

It’s a very fair point. I actually would add a few more fars: far, far, far from perfect. I would change a lot of things about it, if I could go back and try it again, but I can’t. That’s the way it goes. One night at the Brickhouse, not long after it came out, I told William I thought it was flawed but earnest. Fail with some grace and hope to learn from it for later. This is one reason I’m excited about The Davidson Project. More voices, more accessible, and a much, much wider frame: I think ultimately it will be a better version of what Kyle’s talking about here.

The Davidson Project

A status update.

More with less

The other day in the St. Pete Times:

America’s teams, they’re often called, or Cinderellas wearing glass slippers, or overachieving underdogs within so much March Madness.

But all those sports entertainment cliches miss the more interesting, more instructive point: These teams are doing more with less.

That feels especially important right now.

AP: Davidson had a shot in the air to beat Kansas and reach the Final Four in 2008.

Waveland, Miss.

Hard to believe it’ll be five years come August.

Cornell’s Jon Jaques

On The Quad blog: “... a tough Davidson team ...” The Moment on The Quad.

‘Connections across the country’

Claire:

I like watching JP drive and being reminded of JRich. I LOVE watching Brendan hit threes and talk to his teammates. I’m proud that they play like they do, not saying I like it when they make stupid TOs or miss FTs, but I can see them starting to play like a team, moving fast and working hard and clumping into huddles and not stopping. Bob roaring on the sidelines, Kilgo in the background of the screen, cocking his head, chatting away in that sandpaper south voice of his that I can’t hear but I know it’s there, Kruse with laptop up and eyes on the court. I love connections across the country, sending texts to Sarah and knowing that her phone is ringing in the same building that I’m watching on tv thousands of miles away (and she called me afterwards, and I could hear the smile in her voice). I love starting to understand how the freshmen play, and realizing that I will get to watch them go and grow through the ups and downs of four years of Davidson basketball.

That new button

It’s there, over on the right, humbly and hat in hand, because I’ve been doing this blog for a while now, and I very much want to keep doing it. But flights to places like Indianapolis and Seattle and New York aren’t free. Neither is gas in Gainesville or Jacksonville or Savannah on the way from St. Pete to Davidson and back. I’m thinking the amount of ink and air and bytes devoted to Davidson basketball this season won’t be what it’s been the last couple and I’d like to try to fill some of that void. I’m not looking to make money here. I’m not even looking to not lose money. I’m kind of just looking to lose less money. If what you find here and what you’ll continue to find here is worth a buck to you, that’s great; five bucks, great; 20 bucks, great. More? Also great. A little here, a little there, and pretty soon it’s not so little. The basketball program at Davidson was a big part of my life as a student and over the last couple of years in particular has been a big part of my life as an alum. It’s been a way I’ve been able to reconnect with the people who make up the place that I consider home. Thank you.

Over at The Davidson Project

Watch. Me to Evan: “That day after the game I went to the press conference and then I went back to the locker room and THEN I went up there and that was STILL going on.” Evan to me: “What was so cool was that we all just needed to congregate. Our first instinct was to share it with each other. You know? It was so wonderfully spontaneous. Yet the emotions that produced it were years in the making.” Later that night back in the village.

They’re all gone

Thanks.

The Davidson Project

What it’s about: This is our effort to tell a small piece of a big story that never stops. Basketball is the window here, it is the entry point, but the story -- the story is of a place and its people.

Taking the Shot at the Trop

Me and Vince

Vince used to work down here at the SPT. Sat in fact in the cubicle right next to mine. Dropped him an e-mail this morning:

Wondering if you might want to do for the blog a little e-mail back and forth off your story on NBA.com. Starting with this interesting observation: People WANT him to succeed. It’s something I’ve thought about since I started watching him -- more than that: since I started watching others watch him -- but it’s true. Fans seem to want him to do well. Not just fans. CBS has sold him a ton. ESPN has sold him a ton. The predictable and inevitable backlash has been there but really kind of minimal. He’s been the attention king of pre-draft coverage. The NBA, the league itself, I think, wouldn’t mind if he does well, and sooner rather than later. Why? Is it because of March 2008 (STILL)? Is it because of his dad? Is it because of his mom? Is it because he’s an -- ahem -- “acceptable” color? Is it because he’s reasonably well-spoken? Is it because he’s basically un-inked? Or is it because of how he plays? Can it be only because of that? Probably not.

Vince’s e-mail back:

Like I said in the column, fans seem to be devoted to this dude. And I think it’s all image/aura based. Now, granted, if homeboy couldn’t ball, then no one would care about him. That needs to be said. But, when you look at the composite reasons for the Curry-worship, I think his style of play and skill are somewhat secondary. It IS a composite-thing, though.

I look at it this way. American sports fans -- even the most casual of the casual -- love March Madness. Within March Madness, they adore Cinderellas. There hasn’t been a Cinderella, in recent years, that featured a player the caliber of Curry. So he was quite a phenomenon. Most Cinderellas feature a group of players that, together, knock off some big boys. But, while they’re knocking off big boys, the talent discrepancy is always apparent. That’s why the fans pull for them. Curry is one of the most unique stories in NCAA history because, while fans were pulling for this little squad from NC, they were watching this player -- who seemed like he might be the best player in the country -- carry his squad deep into the tourney in an unprecedented way. You probably have go all the way back to Danny Manning and The Miracles and that was KANSAS. Curry and the Wildcats didn’t upset one or two teams. They got all the way to the Elite 8 and Curry was UNSTOPPABLE. This scrawny little guard was proving himself to be unguardable. He was shooting 27 foot jumpers off the dribble. He was nailing 24-footers with two defenders in his face. He was breaking box-in-ones. He was hitting clutch shots when the whole opposing team challenged him. It was astonishing stuff. And the little dude doing it looked like he probably got his lunch money stolen everyday.

That’s compelling and dramatic stuff. Sports fans ate it up. Basketball fans loved the way he played. Tourney fans loved that he was carrying a Cinderella. Grandmas found him endearing. America wanted to celebrate and protect him.

I think his father gave him a little more notoriety. Had his father not been a former pro there might have been SLIGHTLY less pub. Then again, maybe if he came from an ordinary athletic background, his story would be even more fabled.

Race is not a huge factor, but it plays into it in this way: If he were white, America wouldn’t just be devoted to him, he’d be worshipped like a 1980s Michael Jackson. And, if he looked like, say, Jonny Flynn -- and by that I mean darker-skinned and muscle-bound -- he wouldn’t have elicited as much devotion and protectionism from America at-large. I'm sure of both of those premises. Dark skin still intimidates much of America, makes them feel a little uneasy. And, if nothing else, dark skin is associated with athletic prowess. “Well, of course he’s this good, he’s a young black kid.” When you couple Curry’s light skin with his unimposing physique, there’s this notion of overachievement that's heightened by the fact that he plays in a mid-major. Americans eat that kind of stuff up. Now, if he were white -- understanding that white America would have inevitably went bat-sh!t crazy over this kid like we would have never seen -- race would have muddied up his story. In fact, the white-worship may have even turned him off to minority fans. His whole mystique/story would just be tainted with more sinister questions.

Ultimately, he looks and plays the perfect part. I understand why America is in love with him. And that’s cool when it comes to college basketball. People’s love for NCAA can typically be about more than just basketball. That’s why a lot of people will say they love the NCAA, but hate the NBA. If you love basketball, then you undoubtedly love the NBA, because that is where the best basketball is played. But people love NCAA because they like watching kids compete, they like rooting for alma maters, etc. So, yeah, it’s cool to fall in love with Curry while he plays college ball. But now he’s entering the NBA and it’s time to look at his game within a pro context and I’m not sure it translates the way folks WANT it to.

More to come.

Sports in the Carolinas

My contribution about Davidson and March 2008 is in here, pages 21 to 34, along with essays about Dale Earnhardt, Michael Jordan, Big House Gaines, Kay Yow and many others, from writers like Tom Sorensen, Lenox Rawlings, Will Blythe and Ron Green Sr.

On Stephen’s ‘athleticism’

Most people who talk about “athleticism” are talking, I think, about running, jumping, dunking -- the kind of athleticism anybody can see.

But to be athletic, to be an athlete, or at least a successful athlete, really comes down to this: Can you get to where you want to get when you want to get there?

So.

Stephen.

1. One thing we learned from watching him in his time at Davidson is that he’s uncommonly good at stopping and starting. Which sounds ridiculous … but: Straight speed is one thing, and it’s not unimportant, but the ability to hesitate, then accelerate -- to change directions faster than the guy trying to keep up with you -- is almost certainly more important.

Where does that come from?

Well, last summer for the book I talked to a couple trainers who’ve worked with him over the last few years, and here’s what Charlotte’s Chip Sigmon said: “All sports is bending and extending, and he’s very good at those two things. He bends. He extends.”

Is that athleticism?

2. That ability, though, doesn’t come just from physical ability.

I wrote about this in the book and also in the Stephen story I did last fall for Charlotte magazine.

Here:

Stephen was able to take the information given to him and correct mistakes almost immediately. It wasn’t that he never made mistakes. He made a lot of them. He just usually didn’t make any of them a second time. McKillop has been coaching for three and a half decades, and he says he has never had a player like that. It was as if Stephen listened to what he was told, painted a picture of the movements in his head, then channeled those movements onto the court, at full speed, the very next play.

Jay Bilas once told me Stephen is one of the smartest players he’s ever seen. Not college players. Not recent players. All players ever.

Something else I heard from another trainer who’s worked with Stephen: “I never had to explain anything twice to him. He always got it.”

Is that athleticism?

3. Last summer up in Davidson I sat in the stands one day at basketball camp with former Davidson player Ben Ebong. He described Stephen’s game as “unorthodox” in that he goes “against the rhythms of a normal player.” He doesn’t just dribble, dribble, for instance -- he drops the ball from different spots, and at different times, the point being that his defender is always off balance.

Ebong, a big college football guy, a Nebraska fan, brought up an old Florida State runner named Amp Lee. He wasn’t the fastest guy, or the biggest guy, but somehow nobody could ever get a clean hit on him, Ebong said.

Stephen, he said, is like Amp Lee.

“He’s like a running back who never gets tackled hard.”

Is that athleticism?

Look. I don’t know if Stephen will be good in the NBA, or great, or just okay, or not okay at all. I’m not enough of a basketball expert to be able to say for sure. Even the people who are can’t either.

But I think he’ll be fine on the “athleticism” front -- whether people choose to call it that or not.

Words

Meanwhile, down here in The Fla, watching a different kind of human drama. Also these.

May 18, 2008

B.J. Rudell on the phone from Washington: “We knew those players without having met them.”

May 17, 2008

Logan Kosmalski at Summitt: “It made me feel better that Matt was here. He wasn’t going to leave his son.”

In the newsroom

May 16, 2008

Tom Richards in Huntersville: “Jason was a man.”

Lee Sargent in Huntersville: “Jason and Thomas gave him a chance to take a breath.”

Jane Sander: “After the Georgetown game, he came into the stands, and I hugged, and I said, ‘Thomas, can you believe this?!’ And he said, matter of fact, ‘Yeah, Mom, we’re really good.’”

Out and available

Sports in the Carolinas -- the Davidson basketball story included.