“What doth this big dance madness? Coach Wooden asked..... eleven championships 77 consecutive wins, the program clasped in his gnarled fists, his assistant Denny Crum out of San Fernando High, sitting on the bench, .next to a gap in space.,a calibration of digital data and Ucla mystique draped in his hands. ...... rolling the dice in a nirvana...the Ides of March in synch ..
II
Picks screens swishing threes from downtown.... crashing the boards for slam dunks....a flagrant fouls scrambling for loose balls.... blocking or charging fouls? one on one double pumps in yer face... reverse spin thru the cords 7 footers ladders tip ins put backs touching the iron goal tending refs eh what! Hook shots two on one pivots swish ..hacked into free throw the pressure of their life on the line.....going home or to the sweet sixteen in Salt Lake City... the final four
in Houston, baby.
Survival of the fittest in this chess game. ....Oh my goodness the game clock on ,the shot clock 29 28 27 26 tick tickings away... a gift to be alive and watch our own youth being served, both clocks winding down ... Their mentors coaches rock stars whatever..... whom they identify with....expectations on the bench........our own gam clocks winding down.
III
The ghosts and spirits of these athletes....the Pope of Westwood , “coach” John Wooden telling his boys there is no failure. “To be as nimble and caring in the classroom as on the floor. Spread the wealth, be selfless give up the ball whether you’re in the two three zone as Syracuse’s Jim Boe heim or my man to man.
“ Be selfless don’t look for your shot, brethen but look for the team’s “w”.”
Clasping hands,”their better instincts coming to the fore, the players streaking to each other after some miraculous shot in the paint... along the baseline “alley oop”, the teammates high five in recognition of his mate’s “unbelievable”. eye contact and presence under the pine.
What hath glory? A triumph of Bach Vivaldi Sondheim’s “Follies” old can can girls., reliving the enchanting musica of glorious energy, bringing the fans to their feet......
Getting a second chance at Fate playing out ..
The flow of the game, the intense anxiety& pressure to the “ohs” and “ahs” of their mothers and fathers sitting in the stands...the apprehension on their faces..whether their DNA’s rises above their lifelines and into the cosmos of the dreamed moment ....realization of those living sleeping eating the pumpkin......into the. rhythms and flows. of our own lives....
Liberation Paris Baghdad! :.......Hail Mary.”
IV
South Philadelphia projects hard tops grueling weary s grinding Rucker league ball.....a mentor? A nod? From high school into the promised land..College and....ask Denny Crum from San Fernando High and the Pope’s anointed assistant,,sitting next to him on the bench,. Denny Crum into his role..... the Pope’s alter ego...the son he never had...
Neither wars Korea Vietnam unconscionable 9/11 ambushes Iraq Afghanistan gushing blood sniper murders on our souls could beleaguer our spectre of ghosts for some seven decades...the inexhaustible Harlem Globe Trotters.....”Sleepwalking Tatum.........”
Barney Cohen’s Midwood High’s nirvana.... point guard captain Lenny Singer...forwards Honest Bbill Rosenblatt Ira Schneider..center Howie Lustgarden Shelly Fein Wally Kaplan.....,coming offf the bench Gerry Ringleheim Eddie Joachim Norman “Lefty” Fischer Howie Weisglass Buddy Solomon Jack “the moose” Dym Shelly Flanzig Jack Singer el capitan Stan Rubin and the inestimable “commish” Marv Glauberman....
V
The college million dollar men setting the level......CCNY and Nat Holman Long Island University and Clair Bee, his “Pic” assistant. into the bench&paperwork.....NYU and Howard Cann.... St. Johns and Joe Lapchick.......
Weren’t the mid majors like Northern Iowa taking it to the Jayhawks while a blue blood like Michigan State gets a buzzer beater against Wisconsin. The parity is infinitesly less majestic that the Pope himself.....
Coach Wooden shakes his head in disbelief. “The blue bloods of the major conferences reeking their headbands and sweats...rethinking the entry passes from the conferences across the tracks. Could the championship at Houston feature the Big Red. Cornell’s seniors against Northern Iowa.? Ah Horatio that is the question?” ...
A maestro like Tiger Woods in his Hamlet like confession can’t dent the soul of the Ncaa’s sweet sixteen ...the Tiger may have freaked out but the pumpkin’s universe has larger than life expectations ....... coming to grips with the best in our natures.....
That’s the bottom line.....a no brainer
Right Coach? Right..
Ncaa’s “Sweet Sixteen” Salt Lake City, Utah March 23, 2010
