(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
It’s one thing to lose—make sure you don’t lose twice.
Sage advice shared by many a coach.
In the past, the suggestion of such words offered perspective for young athletes. Losing a single contest should serve as an opportunity for learning. One needs to make sure to not lose respect through such a process—respect for the opponent, respect for the game, and respect for oneself.
On this day like so many other days, with sports stories swirling through the ticker, those words of advice need to find the ears of Coach John Calipari.
The Memphis Tigers’ 2007-2008 season faces extinction. Like a common advertisement delivered by the post man quickly whisked to the circular file, college basketball fans can dispose of the Memphis run to the NCAA finals. For Calipari, this is not the first time through such an experience.
Followers can consider what might have been for those teams that lost to Memphis. There was the first round victory over Texas-Arlington. It didn’t matter. The Mavericks earned a sixteen seed and would have only fallen to someone else.
Then came the three-point victory over Mississippi State in the second round. Memphis promptly blew out the ‘Sweet Sixteen’ candles of Michigan State before eliminating Texas and earning a spot in the Final Four. UCLA posed little threat to the Tigers in a national semi-final decided by 15 points.
Maybe fans of those schools can seek the counsel of Central Florida, Stanford, Arkansas, and Georgetown. After all, those teams found themselves trudging through the manure of Calipari’s University of Massachusetts Minutemen as they rode their horses into the 1996 Final Four.
Forgive me if I overlook those injustices.
I find it difficult to believe Coach Cal is “not implicated in either instance.”
Calipari made famous the mantra: ‘Refuse to Lose.’ As if he possessed some deep understanding of the virtues needed to inspire young men on a quest to become part of something larger than themselves.
Now, it seems impossible to separate Calipari from the allegations of a fraudulent SAT score, doctored high school grades, and paid trips for relatives.
Yet Calipari has conveniently left all of that behind as he now prepares his Kentucky Wildcats for the upcoming season.
Calipari and his fans can rationalize all they want. Hey, at least Calipari isn’t like that thug Michael Vick who killed defenseless dogs, lied to the Feds, and smoked pot.
No, Calipari didn’t do those things. All he did, in his dapper suit with a clean-shaven face, is lead a team of young men. And he led them to believe in another mantra: “It ain’t cheating unless you get caught.” Now, it seems Calipari has even figured out how to manipulate that adage. Calipari’s new motto reads: It ain’t cheating when you can run from the consequences.
Maybe, Calipari could consider the wisdom found on a wall of the Philadelphia Palestra: "To win the game is great...To play the game is greater...But to love the game is the greatest of all.”
Winning is NOT the most important thing; loving the game is what matters. For all those who came before him, Calipari needs to take responsibility for what he has done. From now on, all of us will wonder what could have really happened in the 2008 NCAA tournament.
Let’s hope Vick is not like Calipari. Let’s hope Vick can make good on his second chance.
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