Category College Sports

Fixing “Countdown to Craziness”

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Here at Duke, tonight marks the official beginning of basketball season with “Countdown to Craziness.” Fans pack into Cameron Indoor Stadium to hear the team introduced, see a split-squad scrimmage and a slam dunk contest afterwards. Sounds thrilling, right? Wrong.

I’m about as big a Cameron Crazy as they come. I’ve tented all four years and never been worse than tent #8. I’ve been to every Duke basketball game that I’ve been in Durham for. My friends can attest to my Cameron Craziness.

But even I don’t get excited for Countdown to Craziness. It’s become such an absurd event and is actually really awkward. During the scrimmages, fans have no idea to cheer for. There’s obviously no taunting, “air ball-ing,” or other defensive chants. You cheer each time a team scores and that’s about it. It’s fun to see the players red shirting who we won’t get to see the rest of the year (Rodney Hood this year and Andre Dawkins – though I’m not sure if he’s playing tonight). But it’s really just strange.

The introductions are cool, though a bit over done. Certainly, Nolan Smith’s entrance in my freshman year (0:52 second mark) to Jay Z’s “Public Service Announcement” was pretty great. But most entrances are just too over-the-top.

And then there’s the dunk contest. In my three years at Duke, I haven’t seen a dunk in the contest yet that has wowed me. There have been some good ones but nothing great and there have also been a lot of not-very-good ones. Of course, most dunk contests in recent years at any level haven’t been great (oh how I long for the days of Vinsanity).

But the worst part is the event has lost it’s true meaning. “Countdown to Craziness” used to occur at midnight when NCAA rules first allowed the team to practice. At midnight the team would come out and have its first practice, with fans cheering them on. Now, that’s cool.  That rush of the clock striking midnight and the team coming out, ready to practice as soon as possible means something.That’s what Countdown to Craziness should be.

Duke began practicing last week though and already have taken a trip to Fort Bragg. It’s not the beginning of the season. It’s just an awkward event to show off the team and impress recruits (a number of important ones will be in attendance tonight). Normally, Countdown to Craziness is on the first day the team is allowed to practice. That does make it better. I’m not sure why it’s pushed back a week this year – most teams had their “Midnight Madness” last Friday. But even then, it’s still not at midnight.

Nevertheless, it’s still a chance to see the team up close and have some fun. And wit that, I’m off to go get in line.

AAU Instituting Mandatory Screening

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

So my posting has not been very frequent since I “came back.” I’m working on it. I have a couple of political posts up at the Washington Monthly blog so I haven’t made it over here yet. I’m hoping to include some more political blogs on this site as well and may refine the look of it when I get a chance as well. Onward:

The AAU announced recently that they will start conducting strict background checks on everyone involved with the AAU circuit:

AAU president Louis Stout said Tuesday during a news conference at the organization’s national office the screening of more than 100,000 adults who work with youth athletes coincides with the new membership cycle. No one will be exempt from the screening and any questionable information it turns up could disqualify people from participation in AAU programs.

With everything that has happened in the sports world over the past year (Jerry Sandusky, Bernie Fine, etc), AAU took a big step forward to stop any potential sexual abuse and molestation. It needed to happen and is a good thing it did.

I never played AAU basketball when I was younger, but I had plenty of other coaches on various other teams. My dad coached me a lot. My friends’ dads coached me a lot. And then there were a couple of random people who would coach me. Much of the media says that kids are clueless about this, but when I was young, I was always confused when there was a very random person coaching me. Maybe that was because I was lucky enough to have my dad/friends’ dads coach me so often that a random person felt strange just because he was random. But I think kids do notice more than people think.

And that’s not to say random people are not great coaches. But it’s much more comfortable for parents and kids alike to personally know the coach and know that his/her son/daughter is also on the team. But everyone is going to feel a lot better knowing that everyone associated with AAU is going through required screenings. If I were a parent, I’d certainly willing to pay an extra fee to make this happen (though I’m not sure that is even the case). Safety is priority number one and this new policy is an excellent move the the AAU.

Back Again and Marijuana in Sports

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted here, more than four and a half months actually. It was a very busy spring semester at school and I’m now interning at the Washington Monthly, a political magazine, in Washington D.C. I’m hoping to get to some Nationals games while I’m here, but right now, I’m head deep in politics and policy and enjoying it a lot. However, it also gives me some time to get this blog back going. I’m adjusting my philosophy on posting though. Previously, I tried to write between 300-500 per post, delivering more of my opinions and delving a bit deeper into a topic. But as I read more and more, this just isn’t the best way for a blog to work. One hundred or 200 words is plenty for a blog post. Quoting an article and offering a brief thought is good as well. So while I still put out a lengthier post every once in a while, I’m planning on sticking to short ones for now.

The Associated Press recently examined the drug testing policies of eleven of the 12 SEC schools and what they found probably will surprise some people: testing positive for marijuana really isn’t a big deal at all:

In the most successful league of the BCS-era, players routinely get third, fourth and even fifth chances before they’re booted from the team

If you fail an NCAA drug test, you receive a suspension. But SEC schools are much more lenient:

Currently, a second positive test at Mississippi might simply mean the loss of free tickets for family and/or community service.

Six of the schools have a three-strikes-and-you’re-out method. At Florida, you might get a fifth strike. At Arkansas, four. And Ole Miss doesn’t have a defined number.

Is this really a big deal at all though? In the April 30 issue of ESPN the Magazine, Mark Schlabach detailed it more specifically:

In the NCAA’s latest drug-use survey, conducted in 2009 and released in January, 22.6 percent of athletes admitted to using marijuana in the previous 12 months.

And that number is almost certainly on the low end. I’m sure many players feared that their anonymous answer would become public and ruin their careers. College athletes smoke weed. But it’s more than that. Many college students smoke weed. Now, I’m certainly not going into the legality of marijuana here, but the fact is that college students smoke pot and student athletes are no different. Stringent drug testing would certainly bring down the number of athletes who partake in the activity, but it would also catch many athletes, likely some of those at the top of their revenue-generating sports. Does the NCAA want its best players sitting out a significant period of time for smoking weed? I doubt it so I don’t see stricter enforcement in the future. If anything, I see the opposite.