Okay, a little harsh. They were mostly calling Geno Auriemma the Antichrist, for his little trick of deigning to get Sales to the top of UConn's all-time women's scoring list. If you missed it, he arranged with the Villanova coaching staff for UConn to win the opening tip, move the ball uncontested downcourt, and allow Sales to sink a layup to make her the Huskies' all-time leading scorer. After clearing the trick with the Big East and the NCAA, it came to pass. 'Nova was allowed an uncontested layup of its own, and they played a basketball game from then on.
And then the next day, the vilification began.
You would think they shaved points.
What was it that really happened Tuesday night in Philadelphia? A woman who, from all accounts, is a beloved sportswoman both on her team and on the opposing bench, whose injury reduced her coach to public tears, got a moment she deserved but apparently was not going to get. The inexorable charge toward the UConn scoring lead was cut short by an injury, but they found a way to finish the charge. What's so insidious about this?
Oh, they compromised the integrity of the game. Sure. This took all of five seconds at the start of a meaningless Big East regular-season game.
Oh, now they've made the record meaningless. How many people know who used to hold that record? How many of those who know, knew a week ago? How many points is it? When was it originally set? Were the rules of the game the same then? In short, how meaningful can a record be in the first place if no one knows anything about it?
They let her score! Yeah. They did. How big a deal could it have been to them? Besides that, have you ever seen a soccer game where, when a player goes down in pain, his opponent will kick the ball out of bounds? And then, when the injured player's team gets the throw-in, they give it right back to the other team. It's called sportsmanship.
It turns the game into a sideshow. Most college sports are. Please, it's a game. At this level more than anything, it should be a game. Fun. Interesting. As long as these kids continue to be considered "student-athletes," on this side we've (and by we I mean I) have always kind of questioned the wisdom of "records," or at least school records, anyway, because so often they lack context.
What kind of precedent does this set? Hey, if someone argues that, because of this, Mark McGwire should be served batting practice fastballs in September, I'll be the first to tell them off. But this didn't change the rules of the game. This doesn't affect playoff races. This didn't affect this game. This didn't affect a run at a national record or an NCAA record or an overall college record. If someone at Princeton needs one hoop to set a school record, and Bill Carmody and Armond Hill can agree to let it happen, I'm all for it. If someone at UConn needs three free-throws to break the all-time NCAA record, and Villanova agrees to foul someone on a trey-shot, then we got issues. But that's not this.
What kind of message does this send? If you focus on the fact that a kid who could barely walk scored a basket, you might get pissed off. On the other hand, what kind of message does it send about character? If Nykesha Sales is a schmuck, do you really think this happens? Doubt it. What does it say about sucking up life's lumps? Well, life's lumps happen. This says that if you're fundamentally a good person with good friends, sometimes you can take your lumps and end up getting beyond them. Hey, Villanova didn't have to go along with it. They did and they gave her a hand when she hit that layup. Now, friends, what kind of message does that send?
Hey, whatever your opinion on this, you're not going to be swayed. But how cynical have we gotten that when something nice actually happens on the court, we have to find something sickening underneath? Has sports been so torn asunder by big money and shoe contracts that, when someone does something nice for someone else, we have to look for something evil about it? That's sadder than anything you can say about Nykesha Sales hitting a gimme layup. Because the fact of the matter is, in the immortal scheme of things - - hell, even in the NCAA this year and next and the year after -- this is so insignificant as to make this whole discussion ridiculous. Who honestly cares who the leading UConn scorer is? If this were for a national record, or some kind of qualification-mark, there might be a problem with it. But it's not. It's for an almost-meaningless figure in an almost- meaningless game. Give her a pat on the back for a great career, and let's move on, kids, because it's almost tourney time.
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