My last post, several weeks ago now, pointed out the "work" of a lazy sportswriter who didn't know the difference between Western Kentucky University and Murray State University, both of which regional schools from The Bluegrass had basketball teams competing in the NCAA basketball tournament -- the inimitable "March Madness". Of course, in the ensuing weeks I've read a lot of sportswriters' stories about the tournament. That mass of sportsreading was filled with stupid and inane statements. I would have written back "comments" to those who authored the pieces, but to do so one has to use Facebook or Twitter or one of the other "social media" methodologies in which I refuse to take part. So, I've decided that a part of this blog is going to be my own personal "comments page" about all of the ignorance that appears in the printed word in this great country.
With that said .... I write today about one of Sports Illustrated's most prominent writers on the subject of college basketball -- a guy named Luke Winn -- who wrote a piece that appeared on the SI website on April 8, 2012 about the University of Kentucky's having captured the NCAA National Basketball Championship on April 2, 2012 with a team that included three so-called "one-and-done" freshmen. This year's U.K. team was, of course, it's third team under Coach John Calipari and its third straight team on which one or more of its freshmen (in this year's case, at least two and maybe three of them) will enter the NBA draft and become a professional player after having played only one season of college basketball [each becoming, by definition, a so-called "one-and-done" (hereinafter, "OAD") player].
Now, I'm a huge fan of University of Kentucky athletics in general, and of U.K. basketball in particular, and it is important to point out that Winn's article was not critical of Coach Calipari for the fact that his seven-man rotation on this National Championship team included two or three OADs. The point of the piece was apt -- that Kentucky and Coach Cal have demonstrated that a college basketball program that recruits many OADs and signs a few obvious or potential OADs each year can win a National Championship while turning over a big part of its starting lineup every year. So I'll first compliment Luke Winn for a pretty good article, from the standpoint of the substance of it's general point.
But ... I almost laughed out loud when I read this line in Winn's piece: "What they proved was that the stockpiling-one-and-dones model, once thought to be a folly, can actually work."
Now, Dictionary.com tells us that when used as a verb (as Winn used it) the word "stockpiling" means "accumulating for future use". However, it is the very essence of a one-and-done player that he is not "stockpiled" -- that he is not going to be "for future use". What Winn could have said that would have been a correct usage of the word "stock" and would have made his point would have been: "What they proved was that the stocking-up-on-one-and-dones-every-year model, once thought to be a folly, can actually work." Kentucky did "stock up on" two or three OADs in the summer of 2011 when Coach Cal signed Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Marquis Teague. But the 'Cats won't be "stockpiling" them. Rather, at least two of those and maybe all three of them will not be around for the next season, but will instead be playing in the NBA.
After getting into this blog post, I've realized that it's taken a lot of time and a lot of words to explain what made me laugh out loud about Luke Winn's obvious misuse of the word "stockpile". I may or may not go to this much trouble again for a similar purpose ... but I probably will, because I just can't stand not to write a "comment" about such things !
Maybe most of the foolish sportswriter mistakes about which I write in the future will be easier to describe and/or explain and comment upon. One can only hope.
Best to all, and ... Go, 'Cats !
Lucian
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