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Today's generation of anonymous blog contributors, Internet hypochondriacs and hometown cheerleaders clash dramatically with old-timers who cherish the traditions that youngsters take for granted, traditions that built reputations of universities and their sports programs.
What is tradition?
According to Webster's dictionary, tradition is "the handing down of information, beliefs and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction, an inherited pattern of thought or action."
Larry Hawkins said it more directly and eloquently. The late educator, coach and founder of the Institute for Athletics and Education at the University of Chicago often reminded his students and players:
"You must remember that you are standing on the shoulders of those who came before you, the ones who set the tone and established the traditions and built the programs and paved the way."
For example, today's yahoos tend to disregard Indiana and Kentucky as significant players in college basketball, pointing out that Indiana hasn't won an NCAA championship since 1987 and Kentucky hasn't won since 1998. Some even try to downgrade Duke, which hasn't won since 2001.
All of the schools we haven't mentioned--are you on the list?--would kill to be so successful even once a decade. The elite programs are disappointed when they don't reach the Final Four every year while most programs struggle to qualify for the conference playoff. Think about it.
Kentucky has seven NCAA championship banners, more than any school except UCLA, and Indiana has won four. Only one other SEC school (Florida with two) has won an NCAA title while the rest of the Big 10 has claimed five. Kentucky has won more games than any other school, boasts a state-of-the-art 20,000-seat cathedral and has scrapbooks dating to the 1930s and legendary coach Adolph Rupp.
That's all in the past, the e-mailers say. Today's kids don't know who Rupp was, they say. Kids only care about what is happening today, they say. Can the high school prospect play right away? Can he get national television exposure? Can he be groomed for the NBA? Will he be a lottery pick? Can we make the Final Four?
But tradition, like history, is about where we've been and where we're going. As the late Civil War historian and author Shelby Foote once said: "You can't know where you are going until you know where you have been." History has a way of pointing us in the right direction.
Cell Phone Alerts
SHELBY FOOTE MAY HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER
THAN BASKETBALL, I HOPE HE WAS, BECAUSE IF ADOLPH RUPP
WAS ANYTHING LIKE THE CHARACTER I SAW IN THE MOVIE AGAINST
TEXAS WESTERN, I DON'T THINK YOUNGSTERS WANT TO KNOW ALOT
ABOUT HIM, COACH WOODEN DIDN'T ACT THIS WAY, IN LA LA
LAND, SO MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE CHOSEN THE WIZARD FROM
WESTWOOD INSTEAD OF MR. RUPP FROM KENTUCKY!
TRADITION IS IN IMPORTANT, BUT YOU CAN THANK THE CPS FOR
THAT, WHEN I REPEAT THEY GOT RID OF NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS,
MANY YOUNGSTERS DON'T EVEN KNOW THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD HEROES
HOW DO YOU EXPECT THEM TO KNOW ABOUT NATIONAL HEROES?
THEY DON'T KNOW ABOUT RICKY GREEN, TONY PARKER, SONNY
PARKER, TIM HARDAWAY, CAZZIE RUSSELL, JUWAN HOWARD, THEY
BARELY KNOW KEVIN GARNETT!
TAYLOR YOU HAVE BROUGHT UP AN INTERESTING POINT, MAYBE
A CLASS SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE CPS SCHOOLS, SINCE
THERE IS ALOT OF HISTORY IN THE CPS SCHOOLS SPORTS WISE
AND HISTORY WISE AS WELL, NOT RELATED TO SPORTS!
AT TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY THEY TEACH A CLASS SOLEY ABOUT
TUSKEGEE, BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND HOW THE SCHOOL CAME
ABOUT, THE CPS COULD USE THIS MODEL AS WELL!
FINALLY DON'T BLAME A PLAYER BECAUSE HE DOESN'T KNOW
THAT OSCAR ROBINSON ATTENDED HIGH SCHOOL IN INDIANA,
OR THAT PURDUE UNIVERSITY IS IN INDIANA, WE MUST EXPOSE
OUR YOUNGSTERS TO THE LANDSCAPE, THE UNITED STATES ISN'T
JUST ILLINOIS, NOW A SHOUT OUT TO AAU BALL AT LEAST THEY
TAKE THE PLAYER TO DIFFERENT STATES, I JUST HOPE THEY
EXPLAIN THE GREATNESS OF EACH ONE WHILE THEY ARE PLAYING
BALL IN THAT PARTICULAR STATE, GREAT POINT BY TAYLOR BELL
WE DO NEED TO KNOW OUR HISTORY, GOOD HISTORY AS WELL AS
BAD!
"Kentucky has seven NCAA championship banners, more than any school except UCLA, and Indiana has won four. No other SEC school has won a national title"
Mr. Bell. Billy Donovan sends his regards. not a florida fan, and they dont have the tradition, but they won 2 in a row, not even 3 years ago.
Taylor I am from Lexington,Ky and UK is the greatest program in the history of college basketball. Problem is Rupp was a racist person who got his comeupance when they lost to Texas Western. UK will be back with Calipari at the helm. Also grew up seeing the corruption in the basketball program. Found out later that these things go on everywhere but I still think UK took it to another level.
CALAPARI ISN'T IN MEMPHIS ANY LONGER, THE SEC IS NO JOKE!
HE IS RECRUITING GUYS WHO ARE GOING TO BE ONE AND DONES,
SO HE WILL HAVE TO RELOAD EVERY YEAR WITH HIS RECRUITING,
UK WILL BE BETTER THAN BEFORE, BUT UK BLEW IT BY SHIPPING
TUBBY SMITH OUT OF TOWN, A VERY BAD MOVE AND BAD TASTE!