Bob Lobel: Two Conns

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

This might be somewhat inappropriate but here goes- This is a Conn job of biblical proportions. 

One over the top winner and one over the top loser, and I'm tired of hearing about both of them, besides wondering how they got where they are today. The two cons are UConn and Aaron Hernandez. 

It has become anything but fun hearing about either, yet they are on opposite ends of the spectrum. First the loser, whom we shall simply call Aaron for purposes of identification. I am sick and tired of hearing about his latest victims, when he already has been convicted of killing another. How much money has to be spent on a murderer before he has to be proven guilty, or even innocent for that matter, again in a totally separate incident? 

Please, just go away.

The images of a wasted life are etched in memory in the video of his initial arrest, kneeling down at his house and taken away.  Oh my God, can it get any worse than that? On the other hand, when you talk about the other Conn, how many games do you need to win in a row to get any better than what you are or were? What was the magic number you needed to pass to get to immortality, and how much fun are you really having doing it? 

Beating teams into submission (unless you're Aaron) can't be that enjoyable, can it? What am I missing? 

What benefit to NCAA women's basketball has this remarkable and untouchable, never again reachable streak become? Why? 

Will a point-shaving scandal be the only thing that can stop them? Certainly no other women's college team is going to, and no other women's All-Star college team can be put together to do the deed. I say play North Carolina or Gonzaga next week so we can create some interest and, by the way, I would not bet on the Heels or the Zags to get it done either. 

Just point out the unspeakable blow outs night after night. 

What great coaching, huh Gino? 

Instead of being the John Wooden of the women's game, he is becoming some dark, murky anti-hero that has the insatiable ego to be quenched. Yes, he has the great players. But all of them? Where is the justice, where is the competition, where is the fun? We can just say the point has been made in spades, except we don’t know what the point was to begin with. 

Now that we are entering this week of the Final Four and the Masters, it's my one week of wanting to be Jim Nance. Theoretically, it could have happened 30 years ago when I passed on the opportunity to fill an opening at CBS in New York, and they hired the great (my true feelings) Jim Nance. I don’t tell you this out of any remorse for past actions, because I doubt I would have lasted as long or been nearly as good, but there is that one week each year when the Final Four and the Masters features Nance, and his abilities as a world class announcer. 

Sorry Bob, you snooze, you lose.

I can honestly tell you I think I did the right thing, but why would anyone believe that? Then I close with this story about being a sideline reporter during the tournament with CBS during Paul Pierce's last college game as a Kansas Jayhawk.

His coach was Roy Williams, and my job was to get a taped interview with him after that season-ending loss.  I bring it up because last Sunday night with confetti coming down, and Coach Williams was being interviewed at midcourt by this year's sideline reporter, I remember having to find a quiet place to interview him as the losing coach. 

The nearest thing was a janitor's closet (either in Birmingham or Dayton, I cant remember) and, with cameraperson in tow, that’s where we did it. Actually, we both deserved better. Thank you for hearing my story, and I'm sticking to it.  All of it.