Kevin Blackistone FanHouse

A Gift for Ron: Teammates Bound By Football and Life

Kevin Blackistone — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:14:00 EST

Until about three years ago, Everson Walls (right) was best known for what he took away: passes intended for receivers. Since then, he's become more known for what he's given: a kidney. After years of watching his one-time teammate and longtime friend Ron Springs being whittled away by diabetes, and losing hope in the wait for a life-saving kidney transplant, Walls, a former Pro Bowl cornerback, donated his to Springs early in 2007.

In A Gift for Ron, a memoir scheduled for release Nov. 3 from Lyons Press, Walls described to me in detail the moving story of how he shed selfishness as a star athlete to become a selfless organ donor. In doing so, Walls became the first pro athlete to donate an organ to a teammate. With Springs, he co-founded The Ron Springs and Everson Walls Gift for Life Foundation.

Two years ago this week, Springs, having risen from a wheelchair on the strength of Walls' kidney, walked into a Dallas hospital to have a cyst removed from his arm. He is still there. Upon being anesthetized, Springs lapsed into a coma from which he has yet to awaken.

Springs is awash in constant prayers and visits from his family and friends who underscore even more so now the importance of what Walls did, which was to save a life that is still here.

******

Excerpt from "A Gift for Ron", by Everson Walls with Kevin Blackistone

(From Chapter 1 - excerpted with permission from The Lyons Press, copyright 2009)

You wouldn't know how dire Ron's situation was from Ron. He was as selfish about his problem as he was selfless with his concern for others in the same boat.

Ron was a bright spirit in that dialysis center, just like he was when I met him in summer's dog days of my rookie training camp, and just like he was in the locker room after I was fortunate enough to make the Cowboys and become his teammate. He started tossing around jokes as soon as he rolled through the dialysis center's doors, trying to lighten the life-or-death load that weighed on everyone there, patients and caretakers.

"Here comes that crazy Ron Springs," someone would announce when we rolled him in. Everyone in earshot would chuckle if not laugh out loud.

Ron was praying under it all, though. So was I. We all were. We didn't say so to each other. We didn't want to, and we didn't need to. This was one of those times when deciding to pray was as frightening as it was necessary. You wanted to think that you didn't have to ask God to look out for a husband and father of three who sought in life only to make all those he encountered laugh and smile.

So Ron stayed Ron as much as he could. It was seldom that he let himself look less than upbeat. For one thing, he saw being on dialysis, which meant he was on the transplant list, as a blessing. He was certain a donation would come his way before his time ran out.

That was something else I learned from Ron: A challenge was no more than an opportunity. Those kids didn't have coats? No problem. We'll use our celebrity status to get them properly clothed.

So Ron asked me to start taking him to the gym when I went, which was almost every day. He said he wanted to stay in as good a shape as he could so that he'd be ready to take that transplant when it came and pick up his life again where the diabetes left off wrecking it.

"I want this vessel to be ready to receive that new kidney," he said.

I was glad because I felt like I was finally helping Ron feel better in earnest. It was like old times, too. Ron brightened up even more. We'd go to the gym, a new LA Fitness not far from where we lived. I'd do my workout. He did his for as long as he could. When he was ready to go, we left.

It wasn't easy. Sometimes Ron needed me to help him to the men's room. That was the hardest thing, harder than helping Ron stand and walk or pushing him here and there in a wheelchair. Helping another man in the bathroom was about dignity. But I did. It was necessary. And Ron and I moved on.

It didn't dawn on me then, but I was taking my onetime mentor under my wing. I was employing the lessons of teammate and friend that Ron cemented in me.

One day, I thought our dreams had finally come true. Ron didn't make a big announcement. He just mentioned sort of matter-of-factly that his nephew Chris shared his blood type, which made Chris a potential donor, and Chris was willing to take all the medical tests a potential donor had to take to see if he could give Ron a kidney.

I was ecstatic. We all were. Ron's life was about to be saved.

Ron had been down this road before, though. A niece who shared Ron's blood type said she wanted to be his donor and even started the battery of tests to make sure she was healthy enough. It happened at a Springs family reunion. I'll never forget the niece making a dramatic, teary-eyed announcement that she was going to save her uncle's life.

But along the way it was discovered she had become pregnant. Ron's hopes were dashed. He was very upset with his niece for pledging her kidney to save his life but allowing herself to get disqualified by getting pregnant.

So Ron didn't talk more about Chris after first mentioning him. And then, on that one day while we were at the gym, Ron crushed me when he told me Chris was ruled out.

I remember that moment now like it just happened. I could see Shreill's grandmother. I was thinking about her funeral. I could see Adriane's face and the faces of Ron and Adriane's kids. I recalled Ron's niece breaking down in tears at the family picnic. I could see those Fort Worth kids who needed coats and how Ron figured out how to get them. I could see the kids in the bone marrow unit, and I wondered how many of them made it home. And I fought and fought to keep the vision of Ron's funeral from materializing in my mind.

"Damn it, Ron!" I shouted angrily. "What blood type are you?"

"O positive," he said.

To this day I don't know why I'd never asked Ron that question before. Maybe it was because I didn't think he wanted me to because he saw me as someone who could look after his family should he not survive. Or maybe I didn't ask because somewhere deep down inside I thought I might be like most everyone when faced with this challenge, this opportunity, and would look the other way. I don't know why I didn't seek that answer earlier, but now I had, and I realized what it meant.

"Me, too," I responded immediately. "Hell, I'll go by the hospital and see if I'm compatible. You won't ever get a kidney at this rate."

Ron thought I was kidding. He didn't want to think I was serious because he was sick of getting his hopes up only to be disillusioned again in the end. It was an emotional roller coaster he was tired of riding. Adriane, Shreill, and I and all the kids were tired of riding it, too.

So the next week I started the journey to save Ron's life. And along the way I found a new purpose for the rest of mine, or it found me. It's like John Lennon wrote: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

Although I didn't know it at the time, it was something my life had been preparing me for all along.

A Gift for Ron: Teammates Bound By Football and Life originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:14:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Former Coach Gibbs Still Has Game Plan

Kevin Blackistone — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:40:00 EST

Filed under: FanHouse Exclusive

Former Washington Redskins coach and current NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs recently stopped by AOL's studios to talk to FanHouse about his new book ("Game Plan for Life"), how the NFL changed between his coaching stints, working with Tony Stewart, and the role his faith has played in both his career and his life.

Watch the full video after the jump.

Former Coach Gibbs Still Has Game Plan originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Edwin Moses, a Champion Then, a Champion Now

Kevin Blackistone — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:35:00 EST

Filed under: FanHouse Exclusive

Twenty five years ago this week, a lanky physics graduate from Morehouse College in Atlanta put on the line -- no, put on the highest of high wires -- what was already one of the most amazing winning streaks in sports history. He was Edwin Moses. The high theater was the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The streak was Moses' consecutive wins in the men's 400-meter hurdles, 102 at the time.

Moses came through. He won every heat in L.A. as well as the gold-medal final just as he had won every heat and final since September 1977. He went on to win every heat and final after L.A., until Danny Harris beat him at a meet in Madrid in June 1987.

What Moses wound up stringing together was a streak most of us, including him, thought no one would top -- nine years, nine months and nine days. But someone soon will. He is, quite appropriately, Moses.

"You're the first person to really point that out," Moses told me with a chuckle by phone last week from his West Coast home.

Moses, who was back at the L.A. Coliseum recently for a celebration of the '84 Olympics, is nine years and two months into his chairmanship of an organization called the Laureus World Sports Academy. It was born in May 2000 with the idea of using sports to effect social change, particular for the world's youth. Or as a most-famous athlete-turned-activist, Nelson Mandela, stated at Laureus' inaugural awards banquet in 2000: "Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination."

Moses has been so successful at carrying out Mandela's words that the University of Massachusetts at Boston last May during its commencement awarded Moses an honorary doctor of science degree.

"We're like social workers," Moses explained. "We don't go out and train, we don't build basketball courts or teach kids to play tennis. We don't do anything like that. We use sports as a tool to capture the attention of the kids and then have social agencies deal with their problems."

Moses said he is still most proud of his athletic achievements. I think what he's done since hanging up his spikes is more impressive.

After all, too many athletes nowadays seem to struggle to regain their footing once their playing days are over. It seems they either get a job in an announcers' booth, or flounder.

Moses has never been like most athletes, however, on the field of play and now off of it. Behind his cool aviator shades, he was mathematical in his approach to setting world records, capturing gold medals and winning almost every event he entered for roughly a decade. Thirteen steps he took between the hurdles -- not what was the standard then of 14, and no less. Behind his desk for London-based Laureus, which is funded by major European corporations like Mercedes Benz and Vodafone, he's grown Laureus' projects from six in four different countries nine years ago to 70 in 38 different countries today.

"Sports is one of the universal languages along with love and music and art," the thoughtful Moses said in his easygoing manner that always belied his competitiveness. "We're trying to help kids have a better life from kids who are living in Cambodia where there are landmines to midnight basketball in Richmond, Va., where gang conflicts were a big part of life.

"We even had a project in Kenya, a youth soccer association that has over 1,100 teams, that was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize."

That was the Mathare Youth Sports Association that serves one of the largest slums in Africa. It was nominated for the world's ultimate humanitarian honor in 2003.

In Sierra Leone, Laureus has used sports to return child soldiers from war lords to society. In South Africa, it has used sports to bring orphans off the street.

"We've affected -- what? -- 750,000 kids around the world," Moses figured.

He hasn't done it alone while hop skipping the globe. He's enlisted the help of other athletes to trot around the globe to different projects including former stars like the sprinter Michael Johnson, John McEnroe, Dan Marino, Jack Nicklaus and Martina Navratilova, and current stars like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and a host of men and women from European sports like soccer and cricket.

Moses has always been a leader despite making his mark in a sport for individuals rather than teams. He led the fight in the early '80s against the hypocritical prohibition in track and field against athletes earning money from competitions and endorsements. They were being paid under the table anyway, which threatened their eligibility but allowed them to make livings. Then in 1983 he became one of the first athletes in any sport to speak out against steroids abuse, citing the deleterious effects on the body and the dark cloud it would leave over the sport.

This week he's back in the United States working on a program to fight obesity among our youth, a disease that affects everything from their ability to learn to life expectancy. His work is just hard to find between all the news of what seems like a revolving door of justice these days that so many athletes seem to go through.

"I think that's the problem with the focus of the news on sports," Moses said. "It's easy and quite simple and quite titillating to report on the salacious personal habits and goings on of sports people. On many occasions you hear the debate in terms of what athletes are supposed to do, and that athletes are selfish and greedy. But in fairness, the balance is never reported on.

"If stories like ours [Laureus] don't get reported on," Moses said of his new unbroken do-good streak, "people simply won't know about it."

And this deserves as much attention as anything this champion has accomplished.

Edwin Moses, a Champion Then, a Champion Now originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:35:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Obstacles No Match for Blazing Pens

Kevin Blackistone — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:00:00 EST

Filed under: NHL, FanHouse Exclusive

WASHINGTON -- When Capitals owner Ted Leonsis learned that Game 5 of his team's second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against Pittsburgh would have to be played 24 hours after Game 4 in Pittsburgh because of a Yanni concert scheduled at the Penguins' arena, he complained that the back-to-back games were bad for the league, bad for the teams and bad for the fans.

Personally, I was more concerned to learn that there were enough fans of the Greek crooner to fill a major sports arena. But I digress. Leonsis was right. Yanni shouldn't have been allowed to have any influence on one of our major sport's postseasons, any more than he does on music in this country.

Penguins 4, Capitals 3: Recap | Box Score | Saturday's Scores

But the only impact Yanni had on this series was upon the schedule. He didn't have anything to do with the Penguins cranking up 42 shots on goal Saturday night to the Capitals' 31. He didn't have anything to do with the Penguins sticking four of their shots into the net for an overtime win and a 3-2 series lead to put them at the threshold of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Most important, Yanni didn't have anything to do with what has become the most critical development in this series: the cooling off of the Capitals' once red-hot 21-year-old rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov.

We made a big deal of Varlamov in the Capitals' come-from-behind vanquishing of the Rangers in the opening round of these playoffs, and rightfully so. Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau pulled veteran goalie Jose Theodore after a horrific Game 1 and inserted the then 20-year-old Varlamov. Varlamov seemed immediately to jump on the track to stardom in the NHL playoffs of former rookie playoff sensation goalies like Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy and Cam Ward. He posted shutouts, made highlight-reel saves, and was more the reason that the Capitals escaped the Rangers and advanced to meet the Penguins.

Varlamov started this second series just as stout and led his teammates to a two-wins-to-none lead on the Penguins. He stopped 67 shots in the first two games.

But Friday night in Pittsburgh, he was broken down.

"He struggled," Boudreau told The Washington Post. "He hasn't had a bad game. Arguably there were four soft goals out of the five. But he'll bounce back."

Saturday night back on home ice, Varlamov didn't appear fully recovered. Unless he makes a fast return to his playoff debut, the Capitals will be done.

Saturday night was loss No. 3 in a row for the Capitals. The Penguins have all the momentum headed home.

The Capitals have all the frustration. It's been borne out everywhere, particularly in the Capitals' front office and among their fans, who since Game 4 have been echoing the biggest excuse in losing: refereeing. The fans jeered the refs Saturday and littered the Verizon Center ice with giveaway pompoms and plastic beer bottles after the Penguins slipped out with the victory.

The refs in the end weren't the problem anymore than was Yanni. The Capitals' defense, which wasn't a strong suit until the Rangers series, was their nemesis, and their young goalie couldn't cover up for it.

Varlamov appeared to be wearing down as the game went on, just as he appears to be wearing down as the series moves on. The first period was scoreless. The rest were not.

Latest NHL Images

Chicago Blackhawks' Brent Seabrook, right, celebrates their teams 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks with goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, of Russia, following Game 5 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at GM Place in Vancouver, Saturday, May 9, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo pauses for a moment during the third period against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 5 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at GM Place in Vancouver, Saturday, May 9, 2009. The Blackhawks won the game 4-2. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

The Chicago Blackhawks celebrate their 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks following Game 5 of the western conference semifinal at GM Place in Vancouver, Saturday, May 9, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

VANCOUVER, CANADA - MAY 9: Duncan Keith #2 celebrates a goal with Martin Havlat #24 (C) and Andrew Ladd #16 of the Chicago Blackhawks against the Vancouver Canucks during Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 09, 2009 at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Nick Didlick/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Andrew Ladd;Martin Havlat;Duncan Keith

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Chicago Blackhawks Andrew Ladd, Nikolai Khabibulin, Brent Seabrook and Dave Bolland wait for workers to remove debris from the ice, thrown by fans after a goal on the Vancouver Canucks in the third period of Game 5 of the NHL Western Conference semifinal hockey playoffs in Vancouver, B.C., May 9, 2009. REUTERS/Andy Clark (CANADA SPORT ICE HOCKEY)

Reuters

Vancouver Canucks' Ryan Johnson, right, hangs his head as the Chicago Blackhawks celebrate Dave Bolland's game winning goal during the third period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at GM Place in Vancouver, Saturday, May 9, 2009. The Blackhawks won the game 4-2. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

From left, Chicago Blackhawks' Dave Bolland celebrates his goal with Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane during the third period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at GM Place in Vancouver, Saturday, May 9, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

VANCOUVER, CANADA - MAY 9: Willie Mitchell #8 (L) and Roberto Luongo #1 of the Vancouver Canucks watch a puck shot by of the Chicago Blackhawks during Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 09, 2009 at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Nick Didlick/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Roberto Luongo;Willie Mitchell

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VANCOUVER, CANADA - MAY 9: Andrew Ladd #16 of the Chicago Blackhawks tries to control the puck in front of Roberto Luongo #1 of the Vancouver Canucks during Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 09, 2009 at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Nick Didlick/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Roberto Luongo;Andrew Ladd

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VANCOUVER, CANADA - MAY 9: Nikolai Khabibulin #39 of the Chicago Blackhawks is congratulated by Duncan Keith #2 after they beat the of the Vancouver Canucks during Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 09, 2009 at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Nick Didlick/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Duncan Keith;Nikolai Khabibulin

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Varlamov failed to control the puck several times, which appears to be the weakest part of his emerging game. After his teammates battled back to take a 2-1 lead into the third period, he missed what should've been an easy stop to make against Ruslan Fedotenko. Friday night, he let one go right through his glove.

It was apparent after Fedotenko's goal that the Capitals no longer had the most-important weapon in the playoffs, which is not, by the way, an explosive high-scoring player like Alex Ovechkin, who evened the score twice Saturday and assisted another time.

The most important weapon in playoff hockey is, instead, a hot goalie.

Varlamov is no longer. He has been cooled off by the Penguins. To be sure, those were secondary lines that scored against him Saturday night. Sidney Crosby didn't score or register an assist. The Penguins aren't supposed to beat the second seed with their biggest gun held in check.

"We just wanted to keep shooting the puck," Penguins forward Jordan Staal, who notched the game's first goal in the second period, told me afterward. "Putting it to the net gave us more rebound opportunities. That's always the biggest thing for any goalie [to deal with]."

Varlamov wasn't helped much by Capitals defensemen, either, who never handled the pressure applied by Pittsburgh centers and forwards, the ones not on Crosby's line. Varlamov's attackers haven't been able to consistently pressure Pittsburgh's defense, either.

"Our forwards have to come back hard in order for our defense to be able to step up," Crosby said. "It's a group effort out there and they [the Capitals] have a lot of speed. It's not easy to do that [get back] a lot of times, but between the defense stepping up and doing a good job, keeping the gap, and our forwards coming back hard, we have been able to do that."

It will be up to Varlamov's teammates to change that. Varlamov's coach, who so boldly changed goalies after one game against the Rangers, can't go back to his season-long No. 1 goalie now. The curtain has dropped on that show.

Yanni, by the way, opens in Pittsburgh on Tuesday in The Igloo, a day after that Game 6 where the whole cooling off of Varlamov began.

Obstacles No Match for Blazing Pens originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Sun, 10 May 2009 02:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amir Khan Caught in Middle of Brit Furor

Kevin Blackistone — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:12:00 EST

Filed under: Boxing, FanHouse Exclusive

LAS VEGAS -- Amir Khan stood sheepishly Friday in a back corner of the crowded stage as we all awaited Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton to weigh-in. His shyness was understood when his name was called to say a few things about the upcoming fight.

"Traitor," some of the sauced Brits screamed from the bleachers. "F-off, Khan," a trio of Brits screamed.

If there is a more loathed man among Brits this week than Khan, who, oddly enough, was born amongst them in Manchester, England, I don't know who it would be. He may as well be Salman Rushdie in Mecca.

Here's his problem: He's the current English lightweight champion, the WBO Inter-Continental lightweight champion, and the WBA International lightweight champion. He's the lightweight top contender in the WBO and beat Marco Antonio Barrera. He's professed to be a good friend and fan of Hatton.

But Khan had the temerity to spar with Pacquiao in Pacquiao's preparation for his fight against the Brits' favorite fighter, Hatton.

Khan was clearly aware of his uneasy situation and tried to smooth over any hard feelings with British fight fans, who are said to number 25,000 in Las Vegas this weekend.

"It's a 50-50 fight," Khan told the audience. "It's going to be hard because you've got Ricky Hatton who can punch hard and Pacquiao who is very quick."

His countrymen didn't buy his diplomacy and hooted him back to Pacquiao's corner of the stage.

Amir Khan Caught in Middle of Brit Furor originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Fri, 01 May 2009 20:12:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No Real Results From Skewed Weigh-In

Kevin Blackistone — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:29:00 EST

Filed under: Boxing, FanHouse Exclusive

LAS VEGAS -- With 6,000 screaming fans crammed into a cordoned off portion of the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, Manny Pacquiao stepped onto a scale and tipped it at 138 pounds. Then came Ricky Hatton; his weight was announced at 140 pounds.

Too bad they aren't fighting this evening.

If there is one thing I've never liked about boxing it is the day-ahead weigh-in, particularly for a fight like this. Neither fighter will be near the light welterweight limit of 140 come Saturday night. Pacquiao will be closer to 148, which was what he weighed in knocking Oscar De La Hoya into retirement last December.

Hatton, whose one advantage in this fight is he is naturally bigger than Pacquiao, will work between the official weigh-in Friday and the opening bell Saturday night to emphasize he is the bigger man in the ring. He will beef up in the hours in between with plenty of protein and step into the ring Saturday probably weighing more than 150. Rumor was that he had trouble getting down to the max of 140 to begin with. He denied the accusation.

Getting bigger doesn't always work to a fighter's advantage, which was supposedly what did in Roberto Duran in his infamous No Mas bout with Sugar Ray Leonard. He spent the hours between weighing in and the opening bell beefing up on steak and orange juice and suffered diarrhea, along with some well-placed fists.

There isn't any chance, of course, that boxing will ever change this method of weigh-in. Promoters can't afford to have a guy not make weight just before stepping into the ring, which would force a nullification of whatever crown the fight was for or, at worst, force the cancellation of the bout.

But if Hatton has a decided size advantage in this fight and uses it to win this fight, then this fight won't be right. It'll be a super welterweight fight disguised as a light welterweight one, which isn't what we're being sold.

Kevin B. Blackistone is a panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, the Shirley Povich Chair in Sports Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, and a former award-winning sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News. He lives in Silver Spring, Md.

Pacquiao-Hatton Photos

LAS VEGAS - MAY 01: Terry Mirlow, of London, holds a British flag as he cheers on Ricky Hatton of England after the weigh-in for Hatton's junior welterweight title fight against Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Terry Mirlow

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LAS VEGAS - MAY 01: Host/actor Mario Lopez attends the weigh-in for the junior welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines and Ricky Hatton of England at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Mario Lopez

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LAS VEGAS - MAY 01: (L-R) Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines and Ricky Hatton of England shake hands after both fighters stepped on the scale during the weigh-in for their junior welterweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Manny Pacquiao;Ricky Hatton

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LAS VEGAS - MAY 01: Retired boxer/promoter Oscar De La Hoya attends the weigh-in for the junior welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines and Ricky Hatton of England at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Oscar De La Hoya

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LAS VEGAS - MAY 01: (L-R) Humberto Soto of Mexico and Benoit Gaudet of Canada pose after their weigh-in for their super featherweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Humberto Soto;Benoit Gaudet

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LAS VEGAS - MAY 01: A fan of boxer Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines holds up a sign before the start of the weigh-in for Pacquiao's junior welterweight title fight against Ricky Hatton of England at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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LAS VEGAS - MAY 01: Ricky Hatton of England answers questions from host/actor Mario Lopez after Hatton stepped on the scale at 140 pounds during the weigh-in for his junior welterweight title fight against Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ricky Hatton;Mario Lopez

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LAS VEGAS - MAY 01: Ricky Hatton of England steps on the scale at 140 pounds during the weigh-in for his junior welterweight title fight against Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ricky Hatton

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LAS VEGAS - MAY 01: Ricky Hatton of England looks up to the crowd after he weighed-in at 140 pounds during the weigh-in for his junior welterweight title fight against Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ricky Hatton

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No Real Results From Skewed Weigh-In originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Fri, 01 May 2009 19:29:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tar Heels Are Aged for Victory

Kevin Blackistone — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:09:00 EST

Filed under: FanHouse Exclusive, NCAA Basketball

MEMPHIS -- After Roy Williams answered his last question Sunday night at the press conference following his Tar Heels' easy 72-60 win over Oklahoma to advance to next weekend's Final Four, a North Carolina sports information official barked out some trivia for the departing media: the Tar Heels won for the first time all season with forward Tyler Hansbrough, the defending player of the year, and shooting guard Wayne Ellington failing to score in double figures.

That is how good the latest edition of the Tar Heels is - they can soundly beat a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament with two hands tied behind their back.

I don't know that these Tar Heels are better than the squad Williams coached to the 2005 national title in his second season atop Chapel Hill. That team had four first-round draft picks - the No. 2 overall in Marvin Williams, plus lottery picks Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants. NBADraft.net predicts this season's Tar Heels have three first-rounders in Hansbrough, Ellington and their most-important player, point guard Ty Lawson, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year.

I don't know that these Tar Heels are playing better now than the team they'll meet Saturday in the national semifinals, Villanova.

I don't know that these Tar Heels, despite weathering an injury to Lawson and losing to injury Marcus Ginyard, have overcome more than Connecticut, which lost guard Jerome Dyson for the year, lost their coach for a spell at the tournament opener and are now playing under a cloud of NCAA scrutiny.

All I know for certain is none of that really matters. With two games left on the season, these Tar Heels - as was predicted by so many at season's start - have proven the last two weekends that they are the team to beat for the crown. The selection committee got that wrong.

After all, of the teams headed to Detroit, the Tar Heels are alone in getting there mostly without a hitch. Sunday against Oklahoma was par for their course. They jumped to an early lead and never relinquished it. The 12-point margin of victory was closer than the competition really was. Oklahoma never had a chance.

NCAA Tournament Action

GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 21: Wayne Ellington #22 of the North Carolina Tar Heels drives against Garrett Temple #14 of the Louisiana State University Tigers during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum on March 21, 2009 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Wayne Ellington;Garrett Temple

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PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 21: A Washington Huskies cheerleader performs during a break in the action against the Purdue Boilermakers during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Rose Garden on March 21, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

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KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Manny Harris #3 of the Michigan Wolverines jumps to the basket for a lay up against Taylor Griffin #32 of the Oklahoma Sooners in the first half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Manny Harris

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KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Zack Novan #0 and Zack Gibson #32 of the Michigan Wolverines vie for the loose ball with Blake Griffin #23 of the Oklahoma Sooners in the first half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Zack Gibson;Zack Novak;Blake Griffin

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KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Willie Warren #13 of the Oklahoma Sooners makes contact as he goes to the basket with Zack Gibson #32 of the Michigan Wolverines in the first hafl during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Willie Warren

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KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Taylor Griffin #32 of the Oklahoma Sooners goes up for the short jump shot against DeShawn Sims #34 of the Michigan Wolverines in the first half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Taylor Griffin;DeShawn Sims

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PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 21: JaJuan Johnson #25 of the Purdue Boilermakers goes up for a shot over Jon Brockman #40 of the Washington Huskies in the second half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Rose Garden on March 21, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** JaJuan Johnson;Jon Brockman

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KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Taylor Griffin #23 of the Oklahoma Sooners and Zack Novak #0 of the Michigan Wolverines vie for position to the loose ball in the first half during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Zack Novak;Taylor Griffin

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KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 21: Head Coach Jeff Capel of the Michigan Wolverines yells from the sideline during their game against the Oklahoma Sooners in the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 21, 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jeff Capel

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PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 21: Lewis Jackson #23 of the Purdue Boilermakers goes up for a layup as Quincy Pondexter #20 of the Washington Huskies looks on during the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Rose Garden on March 21, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Lewis Jackson;Quincy Pondexter

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The only team the Tar Heels saw the past two weekends that managed to make part of a game interesting was LSU for a moment in the early second half. The Tigers wound up going down by 14.

The biggest worry the Tar Heels really had in this tournament was Lawson's injured toe that kept him out of the tournament opener against sacrificial lamb Radford. Said Lawson on Sunday, after leading the Tar Heels with 19 points, five assists and three steals: "Once I get the adrenaline and just the intensity of it [the game], I really don't feel the toe or start favoring it."

Lawson makes the Tar Heels look like an almost perfectly constructed team. They have inside might in Hansbrough. They have outside shooters galore in Ellington, Danny Green and Lawson. Green also is a slasher and Lawson is fast and quick and can get around most any guard to get to the rim for an easy bucket or pass.

If there is anything they don't have much of it is depth. A freshman shot blocker, Ed Davis, and senior guard Bobby Frasor were the only reserves to log double-digit minutes against Oklahoma. But what does that matter at this time of year?

Williams said his team played a nearly perfect game in overwhelming Gonzaga in the regional semifinal on Friday, 98-77. Sunday Williams said his team repeated that performance for at least the first half, when they jumped to a 12-point lead behind 13 points off nine turnovers. They didn't allow Sooners' superstar Blake Griffin to score a field goal until after 12 minutes expired and the Tar Heels had established a double-digit lead. (Update: There was no comparison between Griffin and Hansbrough. Griffin finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds.)

The Tar Heels won't see a more dangerous or determined player in Detroit than Griffin. They'll see better shooters and tougher defense with Villanova. If they escape that match up, which they should, they may see a more imposing defender in the paint with Connecticut in 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet. Or they could be forced to roll up their shirt sleeves against Tom Izzo's Spartans.

But these Tar Heels will have one more thing to lean on that none of those other teams have - the all important intangible of experience.

The Tar Heels last got this far just 12 months ago. They'll be the only team with players who've played in the Final Four. Winning it all is a big reason seniors Hansbrough and Green and juniors Lawson and Ellington came back for this campaign.

"This game, we were used to it," Lawson said of the Final Four, "and just experience overall in the NCAA tournament."

In the last Final Four, the Tar Heels looked like they suffered stage fright as the eventual champions from Kansas bolted to an 28-point lead before every fan had settled into their seats.

"It's a different team," Green said of himself and his mates. "It's a new year, a new day, a new game. We know what our goals are. We know what our focuses are and what we have to do to win games. Last year, of course, we use...as a learning experience."

Next weekend is the final exam and these Tar Heels will ace it.

Kevin B. Blackistone is a panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, the Shirley Povich Chair in Sports Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, and a former award-winning sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News. He lives in Silver Spring, Md.

Tar Heels Are Aged for Victory originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:09:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Carolina Roots Give Capel Perspective

Kevin Blackistone — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:00:00 EST

Filed under: FanHouse Exclusive, NCAA Basketball

MEMPHIS -- Of all the things a little boy growing up in North Carolina coveted in his bedroom, none was more precious than one of the Tar Heels posters on his wall, the one with Michael Jordan shooting a jump shot against North Carolina State.

"It was picture perfect form, his legs were spread out, and it had, 'The Tradition Continues,' " the now grown-up little boy cooed Saturday afternoon. "I just thought that was incredible."

Who's the little boy who was all grown up on Saturday? He's the coach who will try to knock off North Carolina on Sunday, Jeff Capel.

It is funny how things come full circle, especially Jeff Capel's basketball life. Born and reared in North Carolina. Fanatical as a child about the Tar Heels. Mesmerized by Mike Krzyzewski to the point of playing at Duke. Now about to meet his once beloved, then despised, Tar Heels for the right to get to his first Final Four as a coach. And he's just 34.

We could excuse him if the speed of this spin makes him dizzy. But he is not in such need. He appeared calm on the eve of the impending storm, the biggest game in his young coaching career.

"I grew up a Carolina fan," Capel admitted sitting at a dais in the bowels of FedEx Forum sporting a crimson-trimmed, cream-colored Sooners polo shirt. "I always told my mom and dad when I was younger, that when I grow up, I'm going to Carolina.

"Carolina was the first ACC [Atlantic Coast Conference] school to start recruiting me, and it was the summer going into my 10th grade year. When I was in 10th grade, I was actually in Chapel Hill. I went to quite a few games. When I was younger, my father was a high school coach. I used to always go with my dad to Coach [Dean] Smith's clinic.

"My father would take me up to Carmichael [Auditorium] and watch a lot of games. I was there when Kenny Smith broke his wrist against LSU.

"I thought that was where I was going to go," Capel continued to testify, "until I met Coach K."

The longtime Tar Heels fan didn't admit to getting brainwashed in Durham, N.C., where Coach K weaves his magic, or at least used to. Capel's alma mater, which got dropped by Villanova on Thursday, was last in the Final Four half a decade ago. Capel ultimately was wooed by with whom he would play, he said.

"I wanted to play with Grant Hill," he said. "But then also, as a freshman, I thought it [Duke] was more of an opportunity for me to play early. Duke would be losing Thomas Hill and Bobby Hurley, while North Carolina would be returning [Derrick] Phelps and Donald Williams. I thought it was more of an opportunity for me to go in as a freshman and earn playing time. So that ... was maybe the deciding factor towards the end."

This is a man who has been making mature rather than emotional decisions his entire life. That was how he wound up leaving his comfort zone of the southern East Coast for Norman, Okla.

Capel didn't say he regretted the decision to sport a different blue in college. But the Tar Heels did beat him with the Blue Devils all but one meeting in his four seasons, and it didn't come until the first of two meetings in his senior season. Capel's most memorable moment against the team he grew up rooting for: In a 1995 game at Duke, he hit a running 40-footer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime, where Duke lost.

The Tar Heels during Capel's years at Duke were stocked, at one time or another, by Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison and/or Jeff McInnis. Or sort of like what Capel will lead the Sooners against Sunday afternoon.

He'll have Blake Griffin, the prohibitive player of the year, and a lot of hope in the rest of his starters who, save freshman guard Willie Warren, are little more than role players.

Capel said his college coach left him a message Friday night congratulating him on coaching into the Elite Eight. Capel said he caught up with Coach K later but they didn't talk strategy about playing North Carolina, which is just as well since North Carolina beat Duke both times this season.

NCAA Tournament Action

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Not that Capel needs any advice as the son of a coach who played for Coach K and now is in his seventh season as a head coach and has never suffered a losing campaign.

"The thing we have to do is, as best we can, control tempo," Capel said. "We can't play at their pace. No one in college basketball can play at the pace that North Carolina plays."

Capel knows not only from having grown up a North Carolinaophile. His younger brother did what he wanted to and played for the Tar Heels. Jason started on the Tar Heels' 2000 Final Four team and will be seated over his older brother's shoulder on Sunday just as he was Friday night.

"My brother's going to have on a ... red OU shirt, and he'll be cheering for us," Capel assured, "which he should. I know a lot of Carolina people may not like that, but he was my brother before he was a Tar Heel."

If Jeff Capel could drop North Carolina for the rest of his life, the least his little brother can do is suspend his allegiance for an afternoon.

Carolina Roots Give Capel Perspective originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hansbrough-Griffin a Heavyweight Brawl

Kevin Blackistone — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:20:00 EST

Filed under: FanHouse Exclusive, NCAA Basketball

MEMPHIS - The last time I came to Memphis for a heavyweight title bout it turned out to be the dud most everyone figured it would be. It was 2002 and Lennox Lewis battered and befuddled Mike Tyson for eight rounds in The Pyramid before Tyson toppled over and could not get up.

This time, Sunday afternoon in FedEx Forum, I expect to see a more competitive match: 6-foot-10, 255-pound Blake Griffin v. 6-foot-9, 250-pound Tyler Hansbrough.

If there was one thing the men's NCAA tournament selection committee did right to spice up this March Madness, it was putting this season's undisputed player of the year, Oklahoma's Griffin, on a collision course with last season's disputed player of the year, North Carolina's Hansbrough, to get to the Final Four. Friday night made that possibility a reality, after Griffin and his Sooners crushed the Syracuse Orange and Hansbrough and his Tar Heels raced by Gonzaga.

(I interrupt this column for those in Tar Heels blue fuming at the word "disputed" to describe Hansbrough's accomplishment last season, when he swept the many player of the year awards. I must remind them that Kansas State's Michael Beasley averaged more points, rebounds, assists and blocked shots than Hansbrough and had more double-doubles. Hansbrough averaged more steals and shot a little better and played on a much better team. As Jay Bilas, one of Hansbrough's biggest fans, said last year: "Michael Beasley is the best player in the country and an unstoppable man among men. But, Tyler Hansbrough is my choice as national player of the year." That was a common illogical explanation.)

Sunday afternoon will not, of course, settle anything that seems unsettled from a season ago. Beasley is hooping for dollars after being forced to labor for NCAA basketball for one season. He'll have to wait for Hansbrough to join him next season in the NBA to settle any score the rest of us would prefer him to have with Hansbrough, or prefer Hansbrough to have with him.

Griffin is just the next best thing, maybe better.

Griffin has more double-doubles than Beasley put up. He averages more rebounds and makes almost 65 percent of his shots because he plays around and above the rim so much.

Unfortunately, Griffin sounded Friday night as if he is the product of a household that taught humility. He refused to engage in the me-against-him tenor of what we'd like to think of as a titanic tussle with Psycho T, as Hansbrough is known.

"It's another team," Griffin said of his next game after dropping 30 and 14 on Syracuse. "I'm not going to get into a personal battle with Tyler Hansbrough. I have no beef with him.

"They're a good team. This game ... it's not going to be me against him. It's going to be Oklahoma versus North Carolina, and that's how we plan to attack them."

Hansbrough, sadly, took the same tact.

"For me ... I just have to play my part within this team, not, like I said, not try to force anything, let the game come to me," Hansbrough said following his 24 and 10 outing against Gonzaga "I'm not looking at it [Sunday] as a matchup between me and Griffin or something like that. I'm looking at it as North Carolina is playing Oklahoma."

So, it is up to the rest of us to blow their impending matchup out of proportion and call it the biggest meeting of big men in the NCAA tournament since the 1984 Final Four. That was when Georgetown's Patrick Ewing took on and slayed Kentucky's two-headed dragon of Sam Bowie and Melvin Turpin before knocking out Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon. There was no trash-talking then, either, except for the ferocity with which Ewing played.

Griffin and Hansbrough aren't as polished yet as I recall Bowie and Turpin being in college, and certainly not as good as Ewing and Olajuwon. Those big men were smooth; neither Griffin nor Hansbrough conjures that adjective, though Hansbrough's jumper is more likely to splash while Griffin's, should he attempt one, is most likely to crash.

It can't be overlooked that neither is sized like a center, either, but like a power forward. Bowie, Turpin, Ewing and Olajuwon were seven-footers, or played like them.

But I'll take Griffin and Hansbrough as the best big men we've seen square off in a critical college game in some time and enjoy it.

Griffin isn't at the disadvantage Beasley was at last year in comparison to Hansbrough. His Sooners are a lot better than Beasley's Wildcats were and better commanded by Jeff Capel. If Oklahoma plays Sunday as it did Friday, with Tony Crocker leading its three-guard offensive attack to 9-for-21 shooting from beyond the 3-point stripe, Oklahoma will be as good a team as North Carolina usually puts on the floor. The Sooners don't generally get that kind of production from their three guards, though, particularly Crocker, who had a career game scoring 28.

Hansbrough's Tar Heels, however, are better than they were a season ago. They are more experienced and deeper and point guard Ty Lawson, if healthy, is even more explosive, all of which has helped depress Hansbrough's numbers a little. Other guys around him are doing more.

It isn't fair, of course, to heap so much expectation on two young men or to draw from whatever they do a grand conclusion. This really won't be Memphis's Tyson-Lewis II. Basketball is a team sport.

NCAA Tournament Action

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But these guys are the centers of their teams, literally and figuratively, and both will soon be carrying much of the same hardware - Wooden, Naismith, etc. They play the game a little bit differently; Griffin's game is defined by power and Hansbrough's game is defined by energy. If Griffin's game inspires oohs and ahhs, Hansbrough's brings forth attaboys.

Chances are, this will be one of those games where the player with best numbers, Griffin, loses the game and the one who walks away a winner, Hansbrough, winds up with the accolades again.

But if Griffin leads the Sooners to victory, en route to being the next No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, there is likely to be a run on Tarn-X, with Hansbrough lovers seeking to get all that tarnish off his hardware from last year.

Kevin B. Blackistone is a panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, the Shirley Povich Chair in Sports Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, and a frequent sports opinionist on other outlets. A former award-winning sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News, he currently lives in Silver Spring, Md.

Hansbrough-Griffin a Heavyweight Brawl originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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