For my second article critique I read a column by a Chicago Sun-Times sports writer Jay Mariotti. Mariotti is praised and bashed for his persistence in getting involved with sports icons in his area of work. Being a sports writer from Chicago, Mariotti often gives his opinions of the sports around the area. Most recently, in a February 15th article, he wrote a column on Indiana's head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson and the violation he committed concerning 577 illegal recruiting calls.
Right away Mariotti gave the reader a feel for where he was going. Calling Sampson a "con man whose ethical foundation is so corrupt that he and his staff continued to participate in more than 100 more impermissible calls while ON PROBATION at Indiana." He let it be known that this kind of behavior shouldn't be acceptable at any time. He emphasized that to do it once is one thing, but to take part in over 100 calls while being given a second chance is just ridiculous.
What I found most bizarre about this whole scenario is the timing. Indiana is currently 21-4, 10-2 and ranked 13th in the AP poll. Why would a coach jeopardize the potential success of his basketball program for a current season for countless lousy phone calls to recruit players for future seasons that you may never coach in? When you really think about it, it doesn't make sense. The risk really doesn't, or in this case, "didn't" seem worth it.
Mariotti would make points in comparing how Indiana would've been better off sticking with a head coach like Bob knight, whom he bashed as a quitter a few days earlier after departing from Texas Tech.
The column would be closed with a solution. Mariotti presented the idea of a program hiring a young, rising head coach who would avoid these types of conflicts. He stated that a man like Sampson should never be seen as a man who could coach again because of how easily he abused the trust and chances given to him. Ultimately, I feel really bad for the program at Indiana and what they had hoped to accomplish. They may still believe that their season has a chance, but it seems that this recruiting controversy has become too impeding to accomplish success.
I have always been a bigger fan of college basketball than anything. When I saw and read about Bill Belichick and the Spygate scandal, I thought of how thankful I was that those kinds of flaws aren't found in my sport. I was wrong.
I suppose I can see how Sampson got Eric Gordon to change his mind from going to Illinois.
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