Sitting in his wigwam on the Apache reservation, Geronimosmoking his peace pipe, restlessly grabbed his smart phone ‘Ed O’Bannon, a 6’8” basketball power forward out of Lakewood,California, leading the Bruins to the 1995 NCAA championship,energizing coach Jim Harrick’s “five” to their first title, since John Wooden ‘s yesterdays, his predecessor Wilbur Johns, putting his alter ego into Hall of Fame immortality...
II
He remembered his own Ed Pauley Pavilion encounter with big Ed O’Bannon, his opening the pavilion door, Geronimo walking back from a lap around the Harry Trotter Ducky Drake track, Geronimo into the peace pipe smoke “sweating out his poisons”, from his retirement tent , on the Apache reservation.
Ed O’Bannon was into his own sweats, standing at the open door, those deceptive eyes staring at the Apache warrior before him , his role of a power forward in the Bruins reenergized interdependence, now that the legendary John Wooden had retired, Harrick on his” wish fulfillment” list, filling the Pope’ssneakers.
III
But in that moment at Valhalla, there was a metamorphosis ,these larger than life athletes masquerading, fighting out theiridentities on campus.
Ed O’Bannon’s five years in his role as a student athlete. At 17,still green behind the ears, venturing into the hallowed halls of learning, to become an NBA draft lottery pick, into the big time.An honor not much different that naming the Reseda post officeafter retired Coach Wooden. Yet in O’Banion’s pilgrimage or odyssey as a student jock, he failed to finish his Academics ….five courses unfulfilled…two years in the NBA, seven as a journeyman in Europe. Five countries fifteen coaches.
No Halley Comet, yet he felt in his tether, that his mission was becoming more transparent..
IV
Fast forward….2009, transcending the Bruin turf, challenging the status quo. That the NCAA was a cartel: a monopolyexploiting student athletes..In streaming television images and college logos: a one way street. Where or where is the mutuality?
The structured March Madness Sweet sixteen, appropriating these student players for the Cartel’s own drives.. doubledribbles , shooting from downtown, scoring an inevitable “ w”, until confronting Ed O’Bannon’s own crusade.. ..
Where was the growth and development for their yearnings ,scorching the gym’s chords for a Shangrii-la, that fulfilled theirdreams.
That they freaked out for a Frank Capra Jimmy Stewart “It’s a wonderful life” as all those Ed O’Bannons stormed the Citadel, treading the tight rope, as they sought to realize their price in the tough white shirt and tie of their elders, that controlled their data base stats.
A hunger that Ed O’Bannon , standing in that Pauley Pavilion doorway, knew was his fate, as mentors Wilbur Johns and John Wooden knew were theirs. V
Joining his crusade in the paint, Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson “Prisoners on Shark Island”: their momentum entering a new phase, in the Federal District Court of Oakland,California.
Would the female judge identify with the licensing agreements?The sleuth of images on CBS and Turner t v. Turner streamingthose images into one of their corporate coffers.
Could Ed O’Bannon be Curt Flood in disguise? Suspending time, challenging baseball’s Reserve Clause. Players trapped into seven year contracts, playing for the same team..
Where was 42? Ucla’s Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey a a St. Louis Cardinal Gas House gang liberator whose Montagu Streets and Court, in downtown Brooklyn, fertilized this vibesof Pauley Pavilion to be, those tennis courts, and Babe Ruth inhis camel flannel coat, walking down those freshly cemented sidewalks of the Westwood Boulevard campus..
“ Pride of the Yankees” as Ed O’Bannon relentlessly “sweat” to get a piece of the NCAA action.
A woman judge in a cosmos, once dominated by the m ale of the species. Give O’Bannon his percentage. The Sultan of Swat at Ed Pauley’s cathedral to student athletes.
Who knew on that12 o’clock high noon day outside the Ed Pauley pavilion, that Ed O’Bannon in the prime of his day: thishis 6’8 inch power forward basketball student jock’smetamorphosis would play out his scholarship as an athlete,would tear part of his knee, in a pickup game.
Jumping up for a rebound, coming down awkwardly, he tore his anterior ligament, and would be out for 18 months, the surgeryusing a anterior from a recent corpse in the medical school’s mortuary. He regained his form and his energy continued in UCLAs 1995 March Madness triumph.
Triumphing in the sweet 16, 1995. Drafted in the top nine, by the New Jersey Nets (Brooklyn Nets) he was offered a three year deal off the charts….. 30 million!
VII
As the Circuit Court trial continues the examination ofamateurism .The whole enchilada and spectrum of NCAAcollegiate sports, demanding an x ray of the issue of scholarships and who would get compensated for their lives outside the Pauley Pavilion….. students who attend classes, checking out books at the Research Library?
O’Bannon and his cronies on the 195 trophy team , may be characterized as amateurs .
****How about revisiting amateur tennis….Tilden, vines, Don Budge, Bubby Riggs, Billy Talbert, Fred Perry, ……PanchoGonzales? Jack Kramer? Alice Marble? Sarah Palfrey Cooke?Pauline Betz? Althea Gibson? Margaret DuPont? Helen Wills Moody? Helen Jacobs? The Aussies? Billy Jean King, ArthurAshe, Baron Gottfried von Cram? The Czech players ? Lendl?**Martina? Steffi Graff?*****
VIII
Today these larger than life tennis players. … Roger Federer, theMajoraca clay court “ Rafie” Nadal the Serbian grass court champ.….in today’s reality, a Pancho Gonzales would be able to name his own price. Lendl could be his coach. Even JimmyConnors or Herby Flam , both of UCLA, could name their own price.
Why not an Ed O’Bannon?. Is the cartel undercutting these athletes vulnerability? Why in the first place do these players seeks a n id entity outside those of their classmates who find theirs, in pursuing their scholarship, wile the Ed O’Bannon(s) pursue their roles in Pauley Pavilion. In pursuit of a better life than the one they accepted at birth. Why in the pursuit of reality, should they be held to that standard of consciousness?
******Isn’t “The Birth of a Nation” playing out?*****
The promise of” Great Expectations” of their alter ego in theclassroom and library. Their pursuits are not as automated on the UCLA quad. Why did Plato deny artists from proclaiming their art in the marketplace of Athens?( Royce Hal).
Therefore Ed O’Bannon(s) are redefining amateurism. He unlikePancho Gonzales is way ahead, competing in a moneyedreality..The NCAA can only reconcile their existence with the Ed O’Bannon(s).
Call the NCAA by any other name but cartel is an aptcharacterization The planet is ridden with many aberrations but if amateur tennis decried its Waterloo in those La Brea Tar P:its…..Ed O’Bannon, unlike Alley Oops out of the Tar Piss is on a merry go round, where grabbing the ring, requires practiceand aggression, grabbing the gold: promoting a cyber space moment into contemporary college life..
To deny Ed O’Bannon his prerogatives as a “laborer”,promoting the Bruin image, likeness, and the 16th Century video..Laboring for the school colors in the Coliseum , Rose Bowl,Pauley Pavilion …the common denominator is collegiate“business”…..Coaches, cheerleaders, half time acts. The Rose Parade. Indeed!
Amateurism is dead and done forever and ever….. Curt Flood is Ed O’Bannon. Baseball’s Reserve Clause was but a guise for abesieged athlete, being freed to bargain his services in a climate that recognizes his merits to the college. His guise as amateur isdead as Denny the Dinosaur and the Saber Tooth Tiger.
******”Viva Ed O’Bannon”******
IX
Geronimo put aside his peace pipe, his smart phone lying at his moccasins, playing out his retirement on the Apache reservation, reliving those gigs fought on and off the Ed Pauley Pavilion six story grandstands, of what was once the Bill Spaulding landscape for yearning “ pros” at UCLA...
June 14, 2014, closing arguments the first week, Federal District Court, Oakland, California.
