II
Adolph Rupp of Kentucky (tonight’s championship rival) John Wooden of UCLA Coach K of Duke, Bobby Knight of Army Indiana Texas Tech’ and Eddie Sutton of Oklahoma State. Coach Self playing out his role as an assistant to the jacked "original" Okie State coach a quarter of a century ago.
III
Everybody finds their own level Hopefully later than earlier after stirring challenges to the surrogate father’s persona and role, his athletes attaching themselves to his direction and command.
The beauty of these physically gifted young men out of high school finding themselves by identifying with coach Wooden for the sake of the guest, is that their attachment to their coast to
coast gig transcends the game and has mystical proportions.
Attachment to the surrogate’s system masks the proclivities, bettering human beings in their
in the longing to dominate and conquer.
To those Hubie Brown diagnosticians who see the Bill Self system playing out before that global audience reiterate the word "selflessness" articulating the quest. "Going coast to coast, spacing the pumpkin and finding the open man... their other Self in disguise.
That a human doesn’t have to prove him self by challenging the status quo. The proof lies in the pudding to drop a cliche. It lies in the collective will of losing oneself to find yourself, in a the hour glass "of running a coast to coast" metamorphosis.
Sharing the pumpkin, the high fives, touching skin on a partner’s nifty move, double pump or a fake or fade away ‘j’. An instinctive give and go, a breathless three pointer from down town,the shot clock and game clock ticking down.
IV
Didn’t the studio cast always say in retrospect after they finished toiling in a Burt Lancaster scenario that the former trapeze artist and circus performer "Burt always tried to make us ".
betterSo in the sound and fury challenging our drive and passion, spreading the floor, those Eddie Suttons and John Woodens are able to weave a design, a magic carpet in their dress rehearsals the youngsters buy into.
V
A case in point is the Jeremy "Linsanity" playing out among the pros in the NBA. His constantly in motion, after two franchises let him go. Whether the thinking was disenchantment or lack of chemistry, the point is he impressed the Knicks, spinning his fire works.
His flair restored Madison Square Garden to its glory days three decades earlier. The coach resigned, the new role playing coach concentrated on defense and the team’s collective will.
Then Jeremy crashed, his knee buckling. He could no longer cut to the boards. Thru the paint and his fluidity was not what it was when he was feeling it.
His fate interwoven with those of his other selves
VI
At 23 years of age, may the fans come to grips with his surgery, and what the basketball Gods are playing out.
In our time of insanity, our Uncle Max incapacitated behind the asylum bars of the Islip ward The witch doctor thumbing thru his dossier.
"All your Uncle Max needed was emotional support."
VII
Life on the planet is precarious to say the least, yet it still is precious. Heroics playing out our
own wish fulfillment..
A Brooklyn Flatlands Hall of Famer, Chris Mullin , a pure shooting lefty, found himself within the NBA’s Golden State, Indiana "fives", transcending his beer drinking addiction.
His St. Johns roots restoring his soul to the mirror of his self.
Soul searching into his cosmos was supportive of coach Self’s optimism. A guru giving his
insights post St. Johns, was humbling and optimistic in playing out his "coast to coast" passion and love of the game.
The city that never sleeps, April 2, 2012..
