John Rooke - Thinking Out Loud
Saturday, July 09, 2011
Thinking out loud…while wondering how I got so addicted to playing “Brick Breaker” on my cell phone…
• The July recruiting period for college basketball is crucial – in so many ways – for the “non elite” programs. The Kentucky’s, Kansas’s and Duke’s of the world simply “select,” while programs like PC are on the hunt for players that can make or break coaching careers. The Friars are in the hunt for several highly rated players, but can they close these deals?
• If I’m an 18-year-old college basketball player, being recruited by Division I programs, what do I really want out of a school these days? Have priorities changed for kids over the past 30+ years? For starters, I would want a “vibrant” campus life. No quaint, quiet, quad for me…
• After going through half of the summer watching a lot of “wooden bat” baseball, why don’t youth leagues (age 13 and up), high schools and colleges simply make the move back to playing with wood? The cost of two or three wooden bats is still less than one of the newer model “legal” aluminum bats…
• He may be a great coach, but former Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl (a Boston College alum) told an Atlanta radio station this week he could “write the book on how to lose $10 million jobs.” What does that say about Pearl, or about BC? Not really a campus-brochure moment, is it?
• TV exposure is important if I’m a stud player coming to your school…but I would also need to know if I can always measure myself against the best players, and the best teams, from all over the country…
• And does the dining hall have late-night hours? That’s a big one right there…
• Former Georgia Tech swingman Brian Oliver is transferring TO Seton Hall…he averaged over 10 points per game last season for the Yellow Jackets…a long-distance shooter, and potential replacement for Jeremy Hazell in two years…
• I really wish Roger Clemens could just slink off into the shadows. Who did he really hurt, besides himself, and his family? The process to sit a jury for his trial this week has a slimy feel to it…
• Emerging from the shadows of obscurity could be Kevin Millwood, who continues his comeback trail with Pawtucket. With Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz currently disabled, shouldn’t a guy with 159 major league wins get a look?
• I’m not a Yankee fan, but I can appreciate the milestone that Derek Jeter is approaching. Is it just me, or has his reaching 3000 career hits taken FOREVER?
• Baseball umpires with “attitude” certainly take away from the enjoyment of the game, and this week Detroit manager Jim Leyland said the friction between teams and umpires has become a problem. Leyland’s real problem has to be with umpire Joe West…who tossed him and Justin Verlander from a game this week…
• Did you see the story where Dallas Cowboys’ WR Roy Williams had to sue an ex-Miss Texas to get an engagement ring returned? Sounds like true love to me…
• If I’m 18, I play basketball, and I’m being recruited at the D-I level…I also need to know how many tickets I’m gettin’ for my boys to come see me ball. Jus’ sayin’…
• RIP Larry Kruger, a fellow classmate inducted into the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame for this year. Larry passed away this week at age 66…a wonderful man, very talented radio professional, and I’m certain many remember him as Salty Brine’s sidekick on WPRO who woke you up every morning, for years. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Kim, and his family…
• Don’t look now, but there’s 44-almost-45-year-old Tim Wakefield bailing the Red Sox out…again…
• If there was ever a “sugar daddy,” T. Boone Pickens would be one. The prominent Oklahoma State booster donated $250 million to his school to renovate the football stadium (named after him, of course), and has donated millions more for academics at OSU as well. This week, he was named “CEO Coach of the Year” by the American Football Coaches Association…
• If I’m 18, I play basketball, and I’m coming to your school…I want to know if your school has a T. Boone Pickens…
• I applied for a name change this week to “J. Michael Rooke,” but was told I don’t have the income to support that change…
• UConn’s Jeremy Lamb torched Lithuania for 35 points in the FIBA U-19 World Championships this week. The defending national champion Huskies, even without Kemba Walker, are my early pick for #1 in the Big East for 2011-12…provided Jim Calhoun stays on as head coach…
• And UConn’s new school president, Susan Herbst, said this week she hopes the 69-year-old Hall of Famer remains as head coach of the program…which is the equivalent of “kissing the ring” of the true president/emperor at UConn…
• Most hockey-krishnas I’ve talked to think that losing Tomas Kaberle to Carolina is no big deal for the Bruins, and that picking up Joe Corvo from the Hurricanes for a 4th round pick could be a good deal…
• Congratulations to the Patriots Charitable Foundation, which has surpassed its goal and raised more than $222,000 for victims of the Western MA tornadoes that hit last month…the campaign is continuing…
• The mailbag question this week comes from Randy in California, and he asks “have you heard from any of the Pats players regarding the CBA negotiations? Are they encouraged?” Not specifically, but generally yes, they are encouraged. All parties are apparently – finally – at the stage where money talks, and BS walks…
• Interested in having your questions on local RI sports (including the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Send ‘em to me! It’s your chance to “think out loud,” so send your questions and comments to [email protected]. We’ll share mailbag comments right here!
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