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Thursday, March 29, 2007
Today’s Final Four memory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
To fully appreciate the completion of that miracle on March 28, 1977, inside the Omni, you have to consider the days, years and decades afterward.
March Madness in Atlanta:
One thing McGuire didn’t do: He didn’t coach again.
This was a Hall of Fame guy who won 80 percent of the time during his 13 seasons at Marquette. There was an NIT title. There also were a slew of other loaded teams, but there was just one Final Four championship resulting from the completion of that miracle. And, remember: When McGuire departed the Omni back then for his last game as a coach anywhere, he was only 48 years young.
All of that is why it was even more significant than we thought to see McGuire crying at the end of the Marquette bench on that rainy night in Georgia.
Yes, McGuire announced his retirement plans down the stretch of that season, but few believed him. Then one of his weaker teams kept winning before surviving mighty North Carolina in the title game to make McGuire an emotional wreck.
Looks like the sobbing icon knew what the rest of us didn’t: That he truly wasn’t coming back.
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Joakim Noah: Love him or hate him?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As HoopHead wondered whether the exploits of a flashy college athlete are fair game for discussion, it didn’t take much flying through cyberspace to find out the answer to the question:
Is it proper to ask whether you love or hate Florida’s Joakim Noah? Should he be subject to the treatment reserved for coaches and pro athletes?
The matter is already being bandied about. Plenty. Has been for some time. And the junior All-American for the defending national champions hasn’t shied away in what has been a somewhat controversial season.
March Madness in Atlanta:
Check out the AJC’s Final Four page• PHOTOS: Joakim Noah’s Florida career
As the Gators arrived in Atlanta today to continue their quest for a second title in a row, there’s plenty being written, talked and blogged about regarding Noah. His appearance. His playing style. His exuberance. His many, many words on many, many subjects. Mostly about basketball.
Love him or hate him is the topic these days. He says the personal swipes do get him down.
He’s been called quite a few off-color things.
He’s been compared to Christian Laettner.
He’s been PhotoShopped in imaginative and tasteless ways, this Geisha girl being a rather harmless exception.
Fans at UCLA, which lost to the Gators in last year’s championship game and meet Florida again on Saturday, are having their own kind of fun with Noah.
Do you think some of this goes over the top?
Then again, Noah does enjoy the spotlight, and insists he and the Gators feed off the “hate” they receive.
After Florida won the SEC Tournament, Noah launched into a dance copied all over YouTube land. He insists it was all in good fun.
His own YouTube, in which he pumped up his “Gator Boys,” got to right to the point: “Love us or hate us we’ll give you 150 percent.”
What do you think of Noah and what he brings to the game? Is it proper for grown adults to heap scorn and abuse on a 22-year-old college athlete who says he means no harm?
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