I don’t want to claim that I can see into the future, but I might just be able to see into the future. My future sensing might only apply to Minnesota Golden Gopher football, which is not the best thing to be able to see the future of, but I guess that I’ll take it.
On September 21, 2013 I tweeted the following:
The question on all of our minds now: Where is Phillip Nelson going to transfer to? #Gophers
A hug can mean a million things. The list expanded to a million and one on Sunday when North Carolina coach Roy Williams embraced Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg signaling the end of the game with the Cyclones of Iowa State advancing to the Sweet 16. The hug told the whole arena and the viewers at home the game was over, not the time running out because the NCAA apparently can’t hire anyone who has ever run a clock before. The clock ran out on North Carolina Sunday, but the advancement of the Cyclones might have again started the clock on their own coach.
A year ago, Fred Hoiberg’s name was quite popular around the state of Minnesota with rumors and hopes of him being Tubby Smith’s replacement at the University of Minnesota. I’m sure that The Mayor’s name will be highlighted once Iowa State’s tournament run ends, but with a different basketball squad in Minneapolis.
It’s more than likely that Rick Adelman will not be coming back as the Minnesota Timberwolves head coach next season. Adelman will be 68 when training camp opens which will follow a third failed attempt at making the playoffs despite having a remarkable Kevin Love healthy for the duration of the season. This leaves a vacant coaching spot on an NBA team that should be in the playoffs given the right circumstances.
Hoiberg will be offered the job. It simply makes no sense not to offer him the job and the Timberwolves would be doing themselves an injustice by not asking the former Wolves player and exec, but Hoiberg needs to stay in Ames. He’s The Mayor for crying out loud.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with Hoiberg, here’s a quick rundown: really good quarterback at Ames High School and turned down the University of Nebraska’s offer of a football scholarship, won the Iowa state high school basketball championship as a senior and was named Iowa’s Mr. Basketball, played basketball at Iowa State and was beloved, played ten years in the NBA but forced to retire due to a heart condition, worked in the front office of the Timberwolves and now is sitting in the Sweet 16 as head coach in his return to Iowa State amidst their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
The Mayor is loved in Ames and there’s just no denying that, but he’s also very loved in Minnesota where he was a big part of the last Timberwolves teams that were actually worth a damn. Minnesotans love him so much we really wanted him to be the Gophers coach, but nothing makes the Gopher job better to him than his hometown/alma mater Iowa State. The same should apply for the Timberwolves.
I beg Fred Hoiberg to stay in Ames and coach the Iowa State Cyclones until he can’t coach anymore. There’s something special in being loyal to one team and I believe Fred Hoiberg can be that guy. He’ll never be fired by Iowa State, he’ll have the job as long as he wants and I hope that is a long time.
Loyalty to one team rarely happens anymore, but rarely does one’s town reflect such loyalty back on someone the way it appears that Ames, Iowa does onto its unofficial Mayor in Hoiberg. The Mayor is going to get a lot of calls trying to move him into a bigger pond, but sometimes greatness comes in small packages, kind of like a hug.
The NBA is at a crossroads. Newly minted commissioner Adam Silver has a big decision to make on the All-Star Saturday Night activities, more specifically the Slam Dunk Competition because Saturday’s display was just dreadful.
First off, what the hell was Nick Cannon’s deal? Nick Cannon is kind of fun on America’s Got Talent, but it’s looked like someone killed his dog earlier on Saturday and Cannon didn’t have enough time to back out of the gig. The NBA brought on Cannon to be the on-court MC for the Saturday events and on its face it should work, but it didn’t. Cannon brought little to no energy to a job that the only job requirement is to have energy and pump up the crowd. It seemed through the television that the arena was dead, Cannon’s demeanor didn’t help.
The NBA pulled out their usual activities of Shooting Stars, Skills Competition, Three Point Contest and Slam Dunk, but they put a conference slant to the competition. That’s not a bad idea, it ties the whole night together and all the winnings are heading to charity, but the Slam Dunk was not a slam dunk. In fact it was the least entertaining of all of the competitions. Yes, even the Shooting Stars beat the Slam Dunk. It’s reached that level.
With the new conference alignment strategy the NBA introduced a ‘Freestyle Round’ where the three competitors dunk in conjunction with each other. This was kind of fun and has a lot of potential. The winning conference got to decide if they would go first or last in the ‘Battle Rounds’ where an Eastern Conference dunker would go against a Western Conference slammer, the first conference to three ‘Battle Round’ win would win the competition and the fans would voter for the individual dunker winner.
It was a total mess. The ‘Battle Rounds’ only featured three rounds because the Eastern Conference and only featured one good dunk. John Wall had the only memorable dunk and on his first attempt which is something that usually doesn’t happen. Many thought the competition still had more to go, it was just so anticlimactic.
The NBA needs to reinstitute the point system to the Slam Dunk or get rid of it. The Slam Dunk has gotten very tired, old, gimmicky and nobody is brining any new stuff to the table. If the NBA takes away the Slam Dunk for just a year or two, people will start clamoring for it back. The NBA needs to get people reinterested in what used to be the best part of All-Star Weekend at whatever costs necessary.
The Slam Dunk of my childhood is gone. Vince Carter and Jason Richardson aren’t coming back anytime soon.
The Minnesota Timberwolves might be heading for a disappointment of a season if they don’t string together some wins really soon, but the PR department is on fire.
The Wolves marketing and PR gurus basically strong-armed Kevin Love into the starting lineup for the Western Conference and now they are making the push for center Nikola Pekovic to be an All-Star reserve. How? With only the greatest promotional material of all-time.
Nathaniel Wertz, 17, was fired by Odyssey 1 family entertainment in Tacoma, Washington for wearing a Denver Broncos jersey to work or, at least, that’s what he wants you to believe.
Odyssey 1 allows their employees to wear Seattle Seahawks jerseys on Sundays, Wertz showed up to work donning Broncos threads and was told to go home and change into a standard uniform.
Now this might seem kind of petty and Odyssey 1 probably should have just accepted it and let the kid get tortured by rabid Seahawks fans, but they didn’t really fire him for his selection of clothing. In the article on ESPN’s website, referencing KUSA-TV in Colorado, Wertz didn’t return to work. His father allegedly tried to call his son’s manager, but the phone was not answered and the son decided to stay home.
Hey, kid, that’s why you were fired. If you are sent home to change, you have one strike on you, and not showing back up is worth two strikes. Three strikes, you’re out.
Congratulations, you have your fifteen minutes of fame. You have your name on an article on ESPN that is titled ‘Teen Fired for Wearing Broncos Jersey’, even though you really weren’t. You were fired because you cried to Dad and Daddy apparently didn’t teach you work ethic.
ESPN, change your headline. Nathaniel Wertz, grow up.
Collin Kottke: All-Around Swell Guy 