Inspired by Barefoot Coach, Majerus to Coach Pantsless

ST. LOUIS – Inspired by IUPUI men’s basketball head coach Ron Hunter’s pledge to coach his team’s next game barefoot to raise awareness for a charity, University of St. Louis head coach Rick Majerus pledged today to coach the Billikens’ upcoming game Saturday against La Salle naked from the waist down.

“I heard about Coach Hunter, and thought what the heck, why not try to do him one better,” Majerus said. “I mean, the worst part of coaching is having to wear pants, so this is a perfect chance to avoid that all together.”

During a press conference on Majerus’ plans, the coach was asked which charity he was raising awareness for with his stunt, a question which confused the rotund coach.

“Charity? I don’t know what you mean,” Majerus said. “I thought that Coach Hunter just didn’t like wearing shoes. Well, there has to be some sort of charity that donates pants to needy Africans, right? If not, there should be."

A representative of the University of St. Louis said that the Catholic institution had no comment on Majerus’ plans, although they would rather that Majerus go back to commenting on abortion.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 11:43 PM 2 comments  

Yahoo! has a bit of a mix-up

At least I'm going to assume it's a mix-up. Otherwise, why in the world would they include a photo of former Dolphins head coach (and new Ravens offensive coordinator) Cam Cameron with their story on the GOP Primary in Florida?



There can't possibly be a connection there, right? I can't imagine that the endorsement of "Mr. 1-15" is going to count for a whole lot in Florida these days.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 4:19 PM 1 comments  

Coaching Barefoot: A Noble, Honorable, Gross Idea

IUPUI (it stands for Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis - don't ask me, I don't live in Indiana) head men's basketball coach Ron Hunter will be coaching barefoot on Thursday in his team's game against Oakland University. The stunt is a way to raise awareness for Samaritan's Feet, a charity started by Nigerian native Emmanuel "Manny" Ohonme, who eventually came to the US to play college basketball (no doubt recruited by Kevin Bacon). The goal is to send 40,000 pairs of shoes to Africa in honor of the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Helping put shoes on the feet of needy men, women and children in Africa is a great cause. Hunter has personally received more than 30,000 pairs of shoes already. What he is doing is a great and noble thing.

It is also, unquestionably, unbelievably gross and unhygienic. I'm far from a neat freak, but you couldn't pay me enough money to walk barefoot on a gym floor for several hours. The sheer number of variety of fungi and other infectious diseases lurking on any gym floor boggles the mind. It's a Tinactin commercial waiting to happen. Perhaps he should take a lesson from Howard Hughes and skip the shoes but wear Kleenex boxes on his feet.

I'd like to say that it would be neat if other, more established coaches follow his lead. But let's be honest - Bobby Knight's bare feet probably resemble something from a Lord of the Rings monster, and I don't think we need the dozens of ESPN close-ups IN HD that we would probably be treated with during that broadcast.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 2:45 PM 3 comments  

Proof of a Higher Power: Rusty Wallace Out, Dale Jarrett as Lead NASCAR Analyst on ESPN

NASCAR fans rarely agree on anything (Bud or Coors? Chevy or Ford? Skoal or Red Man?). But one thing that pretty much everyone agreed on last season was that ESPN's first year back covering NASCAR was kind of a mess. And a big problem was lead analyst Rusty Wallace, who seemed to mean well but also seemed to be hopelessly overmatched in the booth, which unfortunately lead to a reaction where he decided that if he talked all the time, non-stop, throughout the broadcast, you wouldn't notice that he actually wasn't saying much of anything. Volume over substance.

Well, ESPN finally pulled the plug on Rusty. Sort of. Dale Jarrett is going to be the lead NASCAR analyst next season, while Rusty moves over to become the lead analyst for ESPN studio programs. Dale is again following in his father Ned's footsteps, as the senior Jarrett was a longtime (although somewhat subdued) analyst for ESPN and CBS. And Dale was pretty good in his part-time role last season on Nationwide (Busch) Series races - certainly, he added when he could. and stayed out of the way when he didn't have anything to contribute.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 2:25 PM 3 comments  

Your YouTube Crash Video of the Day

I used to ride a bicycle. In the summer in junior high, a friend and I would take daylong rides, usually 80 miles or more, sometimes up to the base of the Sierra Nevadas. However, I was not one of those guys who wear neon orange and lime green bicycling suits that are tight enough to need a bucket of talc to get into and out of. Why? Because I'm not and never have been a professional cyclists, and neither have any of those idiots you see on the roads every day. I like NASCAR, but I don't wear a helmet with HANS device and a full fireproof suit when I get in my car to go to the store for groceries.

That said, Rigoberto Uran is a professional cyclist, although apparently not a very good one. I would think that "learning to turn" would be one of those skills that would be handy for a professional cyclist, especially on a twisty, mountain course:



Ouch. In case you are wondering, Uran wound up with two broken elbows, a broken wrist and a crack in the back of his neck that was described as "absolutely harmless", which seems pretty much impossible.

And because I hate to leave you with just one video, let me refer you to the Cycling Fans Anonymous Web site, which compiled a list of the Ten Worst Cycling Crashes of 2007. You'll be keeping the training wheels on your kids' bikes for a few extra months after seeing these videos and photos.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 1:26 PM 1 comments