There have been too many goodbyes lately
A GRIP ON SPORTS • It's been a bad stretch recently. Many of our sports icons from the last half of the 20th Century have passed on. Read on.
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• There seems to have been more sports-related obituaries than news recently and that's too bad. Billy Casper, Dean Smith, Charlie Sifford, Ernie Banks and now Jerry Tarkanian. The first of this year has been filled with sad news. Of all of the above, the only one I ever spoke with personally was Tark and I did it twice. Once as a child, when he was coaching at Pasadena City College and my dad took me to a game, and the other as an adult, when I was covering UC Irvine, coached by one of his protégés, Bill Mulligan. Both times Tarkanian was memorable, the first because he looked and sounded so, well, different than most adults I had been around, the second because he wasn't anything like I expected. Tarkanian was always known as an offensive force, a guy who let his teams explode down the court. The Running Rebels as they were known nationally. But the Tark I watched run a UNLV practice in the early 1980s didn't talk much offense. It was all about pressure defense and competition. His teams, those at Riverside CC (where Mulligan had followed him as head coach), PCC, Long Beach State and UNLV, had always been about pressure man defense. If you didn't want to guard people, he didn't want you. And he found out quickly if you did because his practices were tougher than most games. You know how people rave these days about Pete Carroll's culture of competition? Well Tark's teams were doing that years ago. Practices were dominated by competition. It was a treat to watch athletic young men, known mainly for their open-court skills, do drills that forced them to either succeed or be embarrassed. You either went hard on the defensive end or someone dunked on you. So you played hard. All the while Tark's gravely voice urged you on, though the term "urged" can be taken more than one way. I guess a kick in the butt can be, strictly speaking, classified as a way to "urge" someone on. Tark could do that with his words. It's those words the guys who covered him remember and I pass on a couple of their columns this morning. But it's the words he spoke in practice that I remember. And the actions. He was a basketball coach. A well-rounded basketball coach whose labels as a rabble-rouser, a recruiter, a Father Flanagan in sweats and, yes, as an offensive guru, distracted us from seeing. That's too bad. Much of what basketball has become, defensively, can trace its roots to Tark at Long Beach State and UNLV. Physical, attacking, pressure-filled defense. The guy could coach it. Heck, he lived it. Just ask the NCAA.
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• WSU: It's Thursday, so basketball dominates the landscape. In the paper, Jacob Thorpe has his short preview of the upcoming weekend as well as a note on the Cougars. ... This morning on the blog he has his usual post with links. Yesterday he held a live chat and has a transcript available. ... Mike Leach has replaced his lost receiving assistant coach with a former quarterback. ... Klay Thompson has been pegged to start the NBA all-star game.
• Gonzaga: The Zags are at home this weekend and Jim Meehan previews the two games. ... BYU and St. Mary's will meet in Provo tonight in what has to be considered the WCC's featured game.
• EWU: Though basketball takes center stage tonight, with the Eagles hosting Sacramento State in a Big Sky Conference first-place showdown, there is also football news. Jim Allen takes care of the basketball, with a preview and a feature on do-everything point guard Drew Brandon. ... The football news, as can be expected, revolves around Vernon Adams and his defection to Oregon.
• Idaho: Sean Kramer has a weekend preview.
• Preps: It's basketball playoff time in Washington and Idaho and we have roundups from both. ... It's also Prep Page day, so we can pass along Greg Lee's column on Lakeside girls hoop as well as his feature on Tyrel Derrick (pictured), Lakeland's star guard. ... Bill Pierce's history lesson today doesn't reach all that far into the past.
• Chiefs: The Chiefs' scoring woes continued on the road, as they lost 3-0 at Prince Albert last night. ... Tri-City picked up a rare road win over Everett.
• Indians: The Indians' coaching staff is now full.
• Seahawks: General manager John Schneider had more to say yesterday concerning Marshawn Lynch and other items. ... The draft is the highlight of the offseason and the Hawks will have plenty of picks. ... The changes to the defensive staff don't have to ruin what the Seahawks have going.
• Mariners: Depth is always in demand during the long baseball season, so the M's moved to shore up their bench a bit yesterday, agreeing to a contract with veteran Richie Weeks. Weeks has been a second baseman his entire career but may take more of a utility role with Seattle. ... Speaking of second basemen, the M's have the best one.
• Sounders: Seattle has a rookie they expect big things from. ... The national team may alter its schedule a bit next year.
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• There are a handful of good basketball games tonight around the area. I hope you are lucky enough to get to one. Until later ...
