I would hate to be a Division I college basketball player participating in this weekend’s Final Four. I would be willing to bet (somebody else’s money of course) that the most dreaded aspect of playing on this stage is dealing with us, the media.  Oh you should have heard some of the questions the Tigers had to answer while in Houston. Can you believe a player was asked when did he start shaving? What would you do if you were asked how many doughnuts do you think you could eat in a minute? I would have just looked right into the reporter’s eyes for about seven seconds before responding, for him or her it would seem like a lifetime, and hopefully during that time of silence and cold, he/she would think, why in the heck did I ask that? That stuff our teachers use to tell us in elementary school, that the only stupid questions were the ones not asked, I wonder what they would say if they had to listen to the questions people ask during the NCAA Tournament media conferences.

And the worse part is that after a team’s entire starting line-up goes up on the dais to take questions from the media prior to their Elite Eight game, they have to do it again in “break out” sessions. Again, if I’m a player, once I stepped out of the first media conference I’m disappearing like Houdini. And if coach or the NCAA asks me what happened, I’m like you said “break out” so I broke.

Now it benefits me to interview players and coaches because I am a sports journalist. But I certain understand why they can grow tired of talking to us and answering the same old tired questions about motivation, revenge, momentum, and confidence. So maybe the bizarre ones are actually a break from the norm. Some people will say that dealing with the media is just part of the responsibility of a student athlete. That doesn’t seem to be the case for the softball team or the golf squad. Plus, responsibility or not, it doesn’t mean that they have to like it. How many of us can say we don’t complain about some aspect of what we do for a living (and we get paid to do it)? And if you can honestly say you don’t, then perhaps you should fill out an application and speak with me about employment.  

Although you can tell they would rather study physics then put up with us at times, the Tigers, like other teams in the NCAA Tournament, have approached this with a great degree of professionalism. They answer ever single questions, even the ones your grade school instructor would encourage you to ask. So come on, let’s give these guys a break during the Final Four.

Please, no questions and history lessons about the Tigers playing UCLA back in the championship game in 1973. None of the players were even living in ’73.  Besides Joey Dorsey, who was born in December of ’83, none of the players were in existence that year either. Plus what in the heck does that game and the ’73 UCLA team have to do with Saturday’s matchup with UCLA? Besides former UCLA Hall of Fame coach John Wooden, who led the Bruins past the Tigers’ in that historic contest, being ill and the Bruins using that as something to inspire them during their run, that ’73 team has nothing to do with this game. For longtime Tigers’ fans, maybe this game does have a deeper meaning, but not for the players. They are playing the ’07-’08 UCLA Bruins, not the Bill Walton led ’72-’73 UCLA team.  

So unless Walton is getting playing time Saturday, and I don’t think he will after getting schooled by comedian Will Ferrell in a game of horse earlier this year, leave it along. Here’s a better idea, come up with some questions about the Kevin Love led Bruins of ’08 for the Tigers.