Bill Garret, Oscar Robertson, and 365 Plus Schools of Basketball Opportunities

Bill Garrett, Oscar Robertson, and 365 Plus Schools of Basketball Opportunities

    It has come to more recent attention to me that Bill Garrett was the Jackie Robinson of Indiana. More specifically, Indiana Univiersity. No coincidence, likely, it was a year after Jackie joined the Dodgers. back in the days of Brooklyn.

    The story goes that big, tall, skillful Bill Garrett, the best player in the state of Indiana coming from the ever popular high school level, was desired to play the game at the college level. Enter the dilemma. Indiana, which was a member of the Big Ten Conference, did not allow Black/African-American players in their league. IU wanted the best team, not some artificial construct of sport based on race. Or, rather, based on skin color. We are one human rice. Science proved it, over the fascist killers of Germany or elsewhere, killing a couple hundred thousand G.I.s a short time before.

    

    Garrett played for IU. Indiana broke the rules. Hurrah. Let's here it for fair play and meritocracy. Jesse Owens proved that in Berlin in 1936. Hello.

    While he did not lead them to a championship at the national level his immediate successors did in 1953. Maybe Garrett helped them get their NCAA ultimate victory during his tenure of play in Bloomington? I would think so.

    Oscar Robertson graduated from Indianapolis Crispus Attacks in the late 1950s. Apparently IU was too racist in those years under those coaches and environments, so he chose Cincinnati across the state border. Lucky Bearcats. Oscar was the best of his generation.

    These are gifted and talented Black men. Part of our shared history, glory, and joy.

    In 2026 we celebrate fetes and games in basketball more and more. 365 Division I schools, places of academic and professional training and potential, sponsor that many teams, giving thousands of Black, white, and all manner of backgrounds a chance to play, learn, matriculate, and succeed.

    Nothing is perfect, but even the smallest schools provide more opportunities to win, succeed, soar, and grow. Succeed on all levels. 

    This goes for women of all backgrounds. 

    This is good.

    We love and cherish basketball for all reasons. The pure thrill of the competition, the money generated, the spectacle and unity offered, the communities built and expaned.

    The schooling, as Bobby Knight would emphasize.

    Opportunity meets effort.

    It may be beside or on a hardwood court, but the nets and hoops and backboards give way to the worlds of hope and prosperity.

    From the 1940s till now, and long into the future. For Turks, Slovenians, Chinese, and on.

    Which school did your player attend?

It Gets Worse and Uglier: We Americans Have Helped the Jihadi Terrorists Kill the Victims

    How do we unaware Americans contribute to letting victims of terrorism suffer and die? Not too complicated. Yet opaque to many of us erstwhile hopeful citizens of our fine country.

    First of all, we do fight jihadi and other terrorists worldwide. We are the good guys in this sense, overall. Sometimes we mess up and torture, or bomb the wrong locales. Like a school full of girls. Accidents honestly and sadly do happen. We make mistakes. Torture and improper detentions and imprisonments. Errorful reports and actions can victimize the wrong folks. It happens all the time. But most of the U.S. military and law enforcement mean well. I truly beleive that. I believe in us, since 1776 and before. But we can be ridiculously bad and inept, or even bloodthirsty at times. Beyond mistake prone, hurting our enemies and ourselves, we can do some purposeful mayhem and debauchery. We need to improve, do better.

    Some men women were captured by Boko Haram terrorists in 2022. The women were raped and contracted HIV. The men, their lawful husbands, unknowingly got the virus and some died of AIDS. Some of these poor women, already bereft a spouse, then had to fight HIV and AIDS. They needed medicine, like Magic Johnson received since his shocking diagnosis in 1991 and did well ever since. He's wealthy. So are most U.S. citizens in comparison to most Nigerians.

    But, in 2025, a few people on our side of the planet decided to cut off the medicines and clinics to people in Borno State of Nigeria and dozens of other African countries.

    People got sicker and died right away. Hard to count the numbers.

    Some of the women raped and infected in 2022 got sick and died.

    Not our fault that they got sick in the first place, but...

    Donald Trump and Elon Musk have nothing to do with their deaths?

    Who is the terrorist? Certainly Boko Haram, in the name of Allah and their extremist and awful jihadi ideology and actions.

    Who else is terrorizing and killing the victims?

    Tell me, please.

    Physicians, heal thyselves.

    Jesus cannot be in this. 

    Are we Christians? Humans? Caretakers? Protectors.

    Look again, my fellow citizens. I have a slew of mirrors.

    Please keep looking.

    Accept how ugly we can be.

Thanks, Clarity. Bullies are Insecure: They Hurt and/or Kill Others from their Hubris

    This blog post should make sense. Let me know if you have trouble believing or understanding what I am going to explain.

    Nicole Simpson, the abused then murdered ex-wife of Orenthal Simpson, aka The Juice, was beaten lengthily and persistently for a long time until she was brutally butchered by the father of her children. A famous, and quite successful fellow. Problem was, he was a bully, a tyrant, a coward, and full of himself to pyschotic degrees. Much like the current commander-in-chief, Donald J. Trump.

    One beat and killed with his hands and fists and brute strength, and eventually a knife; the second kills with his callous sense of humanity and mendacious self-aggrandrizing and idiocy. Is he racist? No. I do not think so. He simply does not value human life that much. Was O.J. racist? I do not think so. A maniacal abuser and killer? Yep. 

    Sadly, a two time president has killed (and abused) a lot more innocent victims than the former Buffalo Bill great. That could be reason for impeachment, in my opinion. Turn off the medicines to thousands and it makes you a killer. If at all avoidable, we do not let any innocent people suffer and die. I mean to speak of true blue Americans that realize that we should help people live, even at a cost or sacrifice to our time or pocketbooks.

    This is America. Home of the brave, free, and magnanimously generous. We preserve and save others, we do not igorantly or purposefully let them die.

    Come to find out or more fully realize decades later, OJ would basically torture his wife many, many times. Did he hate white people? Women? I do not think so. Did he hate himself? Probably. Some self-loathers hide their insecurities and hatred pretty well. They prance, they preen, they brag, they gas light, they puff themselves up, they narcissustically fancy themselves the victim.

    Sound about right? OJ? Your ghost? Donald? Your huge ego? Both will reckon with God, as we all will. Sure, I am casting a few heavy stones here. I am not past my own faults. But I am not a bully. I am secure and brave enough to call out bullies and cowards and killers as they are.

    Simpson. You were awful. 

    Donald. How can you look at yourself as a grand or great American leader? You are fired, sir.

    Which U.S. president was responsible for the most deaths of the sick and dying in Africa? Perhaps 15 countries, likely more. Blame Elon Musk for his lack of humanity or knowledge of how clinics and life-saving medicine and treatment works? Not good enough.

    No. Our twice elected leader cut off the aid to hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of desperate and underprivileged sick and needy. More or less overnight. No planning, no forethought. Maybe even less afterthought.

    That is why guys like me are around. We count the losses, the gains. We analyze. And we do not shut our eyes or turn off our brains or memories.

    Once a killer, I think you are always a killer. Truth.

    What are some names of those who died? I can find out.

    On September 11, we memorialize or commemorate the names of the poor souls vanquished on that awful day in 2001. I was thirty years old with a small baby. OJ was maybe locked up, with his two kids pushing adulthood. Donald was in his 50s, on his second or third wife, with his collection of kids, some adults, maybe. Others can do the math.

    Here is my math. OJ killed two. Nicole, and ill fated Ron Goldman.

    Donald (via Elon and the DOGE)? Some say 700,000. Was that the first year after his second inauguration? We have people dying right this second in 2026 because of lack of previous clinics, some of Ebola that might have been combatted otherwise...

    Okay. Pause for now. Do I have holes in my argument?

    Please tell me. Let me know where I am wrong.

    Killers are bullies, and bullies are insecure. How can they not hate themselves? Unless the psychosis is complete.

    Good night and good day, America. I will strive to protect us all: the weak, the lame, the poor, the sick. All of us.

    Lady Liberty is so much more a New Yorker than Trump, whose name gets more revolting the more that I think about it. Mudd seems innocently bland to me now.

    My parents were inspired by a former U.S. president (who was rich AND served heroically in the military and war) and went to Africa, Sierra Leone and Togo, to save lives. Ove. r two years of their lives to help the needy. Those with less. Losers? My folks or their patients and clients? Hardly. Heroes.

    Whom do I admire and acknowledge as champions and saviors and protectors?

    Thank God for the real heroes.

    Love you. 

Things I Am Not Good At. The List Lengthens. With Age, Perspective, Experience

    This afternoon I was thinking about a few of those things that I am not very good at. There is a healthy list, I would say.

    I was invited to a work dance thing. Part of the wellness for the office workers and company. I have had some less than stellar dance experiences lately, perhaps some of them are working on my psyche or my ego, or my pride or self-perception. A few other things.

    I can embarrass myself with some of it; over the last few years it gets a bit worse. I am not as strong, maybe I have lost a step or two or I do not have the rhythm that I thought I might of had.

    There are indicators that I do not have to divulge here. But it might be looks, or laughs, or reactions. From me and others.

    Then there is singing. Whoo, some poor experiences with that here and there. Sometimes being too loud, that is not good. Loud can mean bad. I had a few moments here and there that likely did not turn out well. In the Caribbean, the Middle East. International less-than-great performances. Maybe at that French  karaoke. Or that night in California...

    What else? Writing. That can be a dangerous downward slope. There are indicators. I do not need to list them here. I could be, or would be, more driven. More wanted. More enjoyed. Just more organized or prolific.

    What else? Cooking. Not me, really. 

    Gardening. Mowing. Home upkeep. I am not that domestic, or pushed to work the home front. I do help in a few ways. Not great. I am not that good at it.

    Making money. Nah, not that great.

    Working out. Nope. It is hard to do all that. Perhaps age and pains have something to do with it.

    Work in general. Perhaps too lazy.

    Exressing better things. Case in point: what I write right now. Not better, huh?

    Sometimes I am not that great at expressing better things.

    Asking better questions.

    Caring more.

    Staving off the apathy, or laziness. Sloth. Flojitis.

    Eating right. Avoiding the fatties or the sweets.

    Drinking correctly. More water? Healthy beverages?

    Memorizing things.

    Yeah, verbatim stuff and me do not get along. With age likely worse.

    Keeping cool all the time when driving. I lose my patience enough.

    I commit driving errors.

    Okay.

    Enough for now.

    There is more for later.

    Getting emotional, sad, and crying too much? Not always at the same time, but still.

    You get it.

    Okay, there.

    Blog that, Fox Sports folks, you 2006 to 2009 blog killers...

    I hold grudges over time!!!

    Yet another.

 Most Poetry Does not Rhyme

    Either way, I have difficulties with poetry.

    When I hear it, I have things in it that I do not understand or hear right.

    Some things sound wrong or I object to what I think I understood.

    It happened Sunday morning when I heard my wife read Billy Collins' poem about poetry.

    Meta-poetic. 

    Putting a "hive to your ear"; that got me. I was stuck. Then other parts of the poem, my beautiful spouse across from me, recanting, reciting, the Poem of the Laureate.

    Me, stuck in the silly hive on the ear. A bee hive? What? 

    Is that poetry? Foolish stings and pain to the face?

    No, I declaim!

    I am thinking that diacritically I maybe am a semi-colon and an interrogative.

    Not a period, not an exclamation. Point.

    Not a full colon.

    Diacritics.

    Within the languages of poetry.

    Poetry in Chinese and Sanskrit.

    Persian, Farsi, or Amharic. What else in Ethiopia?

    All the languages, the native American ones dying off.

    Or perhaps the weird ones of Papua New Guinea.

    What do they speak in the Andamans?

    It is not written, they are truly savages, in the non-racist sense. 

    The Andaman islanders do not welcome the rest of us.

    Almost poetic, really.

    Kit Marlowe or William Shakespeare? The son of the cobbler or the son of the glover?

    Did the real bard die by age twenty-nine? Perhaps he was skewered by Skeres.

    Rodney Bolt is so hard to read.

    But I do it.

    Prose about poets.

    "History Play."

    And none of that rhymed.

    And this, my friends, is not normal poetry.

    Barnes and Noble does not have it.

    But maybe someday.

    This poetry might sing.

    What?

    Billy Collins is all right. Maybe it is me.

    Me and the oratory tradition. 

    Prose, too. I have issues with listening.

    I see it on paper, on a screen, and I can understand it better.

    Then, there is other languages.

    Oof.

    I can do pretty well in Spanish. Portuguese, not bad, really.

    French/ It 

First Week of October 2026. 14 (Fourteen) Undefeated Teams Left. My Two (three) among Them.

    IU crushes Rutgers in Piscataway. 5-0. Nebraska next, in their place of worship. Cornie Huskerers.

    Brigham Young holds on to beat the Christian Horned Frogs Who knew those funny amphibians professed a religion? Cougars are obvious Latter-day Saints: Book of Mormon is all about Western Hemisphere wildcats and felines of prey!

    Who else? The Catholics of South Bend, of our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of her mother Anne. Jesus came later. True story, true believers.

    Then there is the Bible Bashing south. Texas, Georgia, Alabama. Even Missouri. James Madison, North Dakota State... 

    Ummm... Miami. Nebraska, next up for the Hoosiers. All the rest of the Big Ten is undefeated. USC, Oregon, and Ohio State have one loss each. Ha! Penn State and MEECHAGUN have two each! Ha! Ha! HAHHHHHH!

    Wow, the world is upside down. We love it.

    Who else is among the 14 left? Not to say the others, like one-loss LSU cannot get to the 12 part CFP. Likely not Oklahoma State. 

    Oh, I had one. Texas Tech. Anyone else?

    I had to re-read the above, (or imagine it), and take a leak (pardon, relieve myself in the powder room) and think of:

    Pittsburgh! Very lucky to remain lossless as poor Virginia Tech blew the 36 yard field goal. When I fell asleep last Friday or Thursday night. In Blacksburg! Oh, enter light, exit light. Indeed. 

    Did I get them all? Hawai'i is racked with losses. Sorry, sports magazine as I consider going out to the local grocery store to get the basketball magazine. Not too late...

    See ya!

    

    

Pale Hose! We Got This! Counting my Chickens: Yankees or Rays?

Da White Sox rally to win 4-3 over hometown homies Guardians. Yay! I watched much of the game! Yay! I had not seen them visually most or much of the season. They look compact and good. Even though, despite their hitters who barely are hitting .200 plus. Even one below the Mendoza line... One of the Montgomerys... I think the short stop. Forgivable with great defense and clutch hitting and running.

    Poor Padres. Blew it last night to the Brewers, now trailing 2-0 out of five.Oh, well. Brew crew are all right, my fourth favorite hope. Or fifth? 1. White Sox, two: Padres. Three Rays. Four Brewers. Okay.

    I hope we play the Rays. That way, and "we" are the White Sox, a never-been will have a chance. Best case, Padres versus the... Braves. Tired of the Braves and Dodgers. Yeesh. Yankees last won in 2009, but too much of them, too.

    Blog it.