Rick Reilly: I participated in Paterno hagiography

Yeah, those are the main two. I'd be pretty surprised if Summitt has anything of substance she's hiding. It says a lot when the only person in the country who doesn't like you is Geno Auriemma.

 

But that's the kind of reasoning that makes me shake my head. The "everybody knows" argument. The "we saw him look like a douche on the sideline, so we pretty much know . . . " observations.

They may be worse than we think. Some may actually be better.

How many years did people have an image of Ivan Lendl based on what they saw on TV? Robotic. Lacking in humor. Typical Eastern European machine-like athlete. Well, the guy gets his teeth fixed so he's not ashamed to smile, gets more accustomed to talking in front of a microphone and all of a sudden he's wickedly funny.

But he was always funny. We just didn't know.

We rarely do really know. But we sure pretend to.

 

That is just flat untrue. Lots of people, in Tennessee even, have a deep and intense hatred of Pat Summitt. It is usually indicated by the people who still call her Pat Head Summitt.

 

Great stuff by Reilly. I especially like the point that this really does cast doubt on everything Paterno did because it makes you wonder what else he covered up.

 

Wabash College is run by athletics, so scratch that one off the list.

Great piece by Reilly.

 

Congratulations. You've successfully defined humanity.

Nobody knows anybody. Not that well.

 

It's getting more and more rare that a coach stays at one place as long as Paterno did. Coach K is one obvious example. Can't recall how long Bear Bryant was at Alabama, or Darrell Royal at Texas or Bob Devaney at Nebraska. It takes a long time to build up the following Paterno had. I doubt we will see that longevity again.

 

I want me hat.

 

Been on the Reilly mailing-it-in bashing bandwagon for a long time, but this was excellent. And it really makes me wish he would return to being the writer he used to be.

 

Nothing more foolish than a man chasin' his hat.

 

Was trying to figure out how to say that last night ... well done, BDC99.