By: J. Daniel Pearson
For Positively Osceola
A lot of fans from the cheap seats are commenting about the punishment delivered to Head Coach Juwan Howard and others involved in the post-game brouhaha after the Michigan – Wisconsin basketball game on Feb. 20. But if you don’t have a rooting interest in either team, the punishments handed out seemed both fair and reasonable to me.
Consider some of the shenanigans that Bobby Knight pulled in his career and remember former Temple Coach John Cheney once threatened to kill then Massachusetts Coach John Calipari after a game and neither faced repercussions. But in fairness, there is one thing you should always remember about college athletics – any punishment is always going to be a reflection of the coach’s record at the time of the crime. Anyone want to bet that if Juwan Howard was 27-56 at Michigan rather than 56-27, he would have been fired in a New York Minute for “cause”?…
For some reason, my Facebook page has been hammered this past week with ads for non-alcoholic cocktails. Yeah, don’t want that buzz, but I sure could use that beer gut…
One of the best lines of the week comes from long-time Miami Hurricanes public address announcer Jay Rokeach. The Canes hosted Harvard in baseball this past weekend and when someone pointed out that because of Covid, Harvard had not played a college baseball game in 722 days, which led to Rokeach to deadpan… “Well, I guess their pitching staff will be well rested”….
For the first time ever, female high school wrestlers in the state of Florida will be able to compete for an official FHSAA State Title in the sport. It is huge that the state is finally recognizing the growing sport of girls wrestling and is will now conduct both a boys and girls championship this week. Previously girls were required to compete against the guys if they wanted to pursue a sanctioned state championship. Kudos to the many leaders, like Osceola wrestling coach and athletic director Jim Bird, for making this possible…
Now you know the rest of the story. Back in the 1960s, a musical group called Peter and Gordon had several hit songs that were written by Paul McCartney. At the time, McCartney was dating Jane Asher, the brother of Peter Asher who was one-half of the Peter and Gordon duo. At the time, McCartney was wondering whether the songs were partially a hit because his name was attached to it. So he gave the group a song named “Women” but asked that the name be credited to not McCartney but to the fictional name Bernard Webb. Despite the deception, the duo’s single did become a major hit, reaching number 14 in the US and number 28 in the UK…
The NBA has a real problem right now that it has become a trend for players – under contract – trying to force their way out of town by sitting out with questionable injuries or just refusing to play (Zion Williamson, Ben Simmons come to mind). While I have always been in favor of professional athletes making every last dime they can, this recent power play trend is bad for the league and bad for the sport. News Flash to NBA Players: Not all 450 of you can play for the same five teams…
Sports can certainly play a part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine if it is has the fortitude to do so. How does this sound, No more Russian teams in the Olympics, World Cup, or any other international competition? If these sports federations are willing to do so, it may apply additional pressure on Russia to do the right thing. For those who say politics have no place in sports, I would simply reply Get Real — it already does….
Y’all have a great week…
By: J. Daniel Pearson
For Positively Osceola
J. Daniel Pearson, a long-time resident of Osceola County, has joined Positively Osceola as a freelance contributor. His JD’s Monday Morning Musings column is a regular feature and he will be covering events for us throughout the year. Dan is a former Public Relations Specialist for Florida State University, Boardwalk and Baseball, the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the Orlando Predators, and other professional sports teams and has been a freelance reporter to many newspapers in the state.
