The Right To Work

EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS

Rick Pitino had a little more on his mind than Jeremy Tyler when he stepped to the podium at Louisville Wednesday and began the public portion of his recovery from self-imposed wounds to his reputation. Seems the Cardinals’ hoops coach had injected himself into the national healthcare discussion with his admission that he had provided $3,000 to a paramour for “health insurance,” when she came to him six years ago with news that she was in the family way with his spawn.

Wearing an open-collared shirt and a grave expression, Pitino followed the blueprint in his remarks, admitting his “indiscretion,” asking forgiveness from Louisville, the fans, his family and any media types who might be screaming for his resignation/removal from the bench. He talked about the need to move forward, how the best way to confront a bad situation is head-on and that “if you have a problem and you tell the truth, it becomes part of your past; if you lie, it becomes part of your future.” That’s profound stuff, to be sure, and it’s part of the reason – along with the Cardinals’ need to compete with a fully-operational University of Kentucky Death Star down the road and need to sell tickets in a rough economy in the new arena they’ll be inhabiting next season – that Pitino will likely survive this sordid affair.

When Pitino does return to the business of coaching college basketball, he’ll have to meet with assistants to come up with some new big-man prospects to pursue, because the 6-11 Tyler, U of L’s top recruit for 2010, has decided to pass on his senior year of high school to play for Maccabi Haifa. Saying that next season would be “extremely boring” if he had to face the triple-teams that rivals used to neutralize his size and skill, Tyler has chosen to become the first American-born player to leave high school early and play professionally overseas.

And he won’t be the last. Say what you want about the magic of the prom and how seniors “rule the school,” but guys like Tyler have different priorities and goals than the typical prep senior. They want to play NBA basketball, and they are exploring new avenues to reach their ultimate destinations. There will no doubt be many people who moralize about Tyler’s family, agent (former NBA player B.J. Armstrong) and adviser (shady former sneaker shill Sonny Vaccaro) and their allegedly exploitative treatment of the young man, but they will be wrong. All around the country and the world, elite athletes are being removed from their cozy schoolyard cocoons and fast-tracked toward professional careers. Tennis players are harvested while still nine and 10 years old for special training. Golfers get the same treatment. Special “academies” have sprung up throughout the country designed to cultivate young talent and distribute it to the proper outlets. And yet Tyler and those around him are going to be excoriated for doing essentially the same thing: playing in an environment that will allow him to grow quickly.

Oh, but he’s being paid for it. And by missing out on his last year of school, he’s missing a chance at an EDUCATION, which is the buzzword used by the college basketball hucksters to stop those promoting the right-to-work in their tracks. It’s a classic tactic, the kind of apple-pie and mother term that can’t be assailed. “What? You want to deprive these youngsters of an EDUCATION? Well, you have some pretty strange ideas, mister.” Forget that the kids who want to play in the NBA, particularly those of the one-and-done variety, couldn’t care less about Intro to Philosophy (Descartes: “To be is to do.” Nietzsche: “To do is to be.” Sinatra: “Do-be-do-be-do.”) and are generally checked out of classes by March of their freshman years. The people pimping their TV product are disingenuous about the game, to be sure. They talk about the awful NBA and its powerful spell while trying to sell ads and attract eyeballs by hyping the latest Duke-Carolina matchup or screaming about this season’s best newcomers.

Jeremy Tyler has made a calculated move designed to further his pursuit of a career. He may well graduate with his class at San Diego HS after taking classes on the net or completing coursework with a tutor in Israel. Or, he might just take the G.E.D. Not that either option matters to the NBA executives who will be assessing his potential. They don’t care about chem lab. They want to see his drop step. Tyler’s time with Maccabi Haifa will improve his game, and the years he spends abroad will help him grow more than any history lecture could. You want to study the Middle East conflict? He’s going to live it, baby.

As for those who scream about the deterioration of America’s youth and the evil attraction of professional basketball at the expense of the “pure” college game, wake up. Tyler is an 18-year old man who can go to war, be charged with capital murder (and, in some states, fry) and get married. (It’s unclear which is more risky business.) He wants to go to work, and that’s not a bad thing. And anyway, El Hombre hears that this year’s prom theme at San Diego High is “All-a-Twitter.” Who wants to be part of that?

As for Pitino, he’ll be just fine. The Cardinals need a heavyweight on their bench for the coming wars with John Calipari and UK. Louisville can’t afford to take a step back, not with so much at stake. And as the coach looks for someone to replace Tyler in the 2010 recruiting class, he’s advised to be careful on the home visits and steer conversation away from his moral obligation to prepare mothers’ sons for life. Stick to basketball. That’s what this is all about, anyway. Jeremy Tyler knows that, perhaps better than everybody else.

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EL HOMBRE SEZ: Reason number 932 professional golf is a joke: Tiger Woods broke the rules. Tiger Woods wasn’t fined. Think the PGA is scared of him? Nahhhh. Everybody knows a showdown between Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker at this week’s PGA Championship would make for compelling TV…If the U.S. soccer team wants us to believe that it is becoming a world power, as its crowing after a second-place finish at the Confederations Cup indicated, it must stop playing for a tie on the road in World Cup qualifying matches. Once Mexico evened the count Wednesday at the Azteca Stadium beehive, the U.S. lined up at the 18 and assumed a defensive shell. Disaster was inevitable, and it struck in the form of a 2-1 loss in front of the typically classless tricolores throng…If there is a bigger jerk in professional sports these days than Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, then stay away from him. Kane became abusive with a cab driver over 20 cents and allegedly hit the man who didn’t have sufficient change from $15 for a $13.80 fare. (He had the buck.) Kane will most likely avoid jail time for his alleged assault, but this wimp on the ice who delivered all of 18 hits last year sure looks like a classless dolt, especially after pulling out the “Do you know who I am” line. We sure do now, Patty…If you watch just one thing on TV this weekend, make sure it’s the 100 meter final at the World Track and Field Championships in Berlin. Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay are likely to square off in what could be one of the most compelling sprints in history...David Mamet is taking on The Diary of Anne Frank, for Disney of all places. Didn’t know there was so much profanity in the story. Wonder what part Alec Baldwin will play.

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YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? The Phillies absolutely made the right decision in moving Satchel Moyer to the bullpen to make room for Pedro Martinez in the starting rotation. The Old Man was losing his precision, and when your fastball tops out at a school zone speed limit, you had better hit your spots. Moyer’s whiny reaction belied his 51 years in the major leagues and was surprising from someone who should know more than just about everybody that baseball is a business. Now, this whole thing comes with a codicil. Martinez may have picked up the victory Wednesday night against the Cubs, but his performance was hardly overwhelming: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER 99 pitches. If he’s going to need 100 pitches to get through five innings, even with a 12-1 lead, Martinez will be better suited in relief work, because at least Moyer could get into (and most of the time through) the sixth. Martinez deserves a couple more starts, but let’s not get carried away with his debut, because he looked very much like a guy at the end of his road.

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AND ANOTHER THING: The entire Michael Vick situation is getting more ridiculous by the minute. As the disgraced QB approaches inclusion on an NFL team’s roster, his spin cycle is in danger of careening out of control. Vick will be on “60 Minutes” Sunday for the obligatory public mea culpa. He has had “adviser” Tony Dungy doing advance work for him. The TV folk are laying the groundwork for his return. Is there anybody else out there who smells dead, rotting fish? For the record, “60 Minutes” is aired by CBS, an NFL TV partner. Dungy works for NBC, another league outlet. (And wouldn’t you be a little mad, as a sports director, that one of your employees is withholding information from you?) And, of course, espn is a full-fledged propaganda cohort. Vick’s coming back, and the NFL is creating the perfect environment for his return and a great storyline for the upcoming season. If you think any of this is happening organically, you probably are betting on the Lions to make the playoffs this season.

-EH-