"The Stack" 2-27-17
Kurt Busch won the Daytona 500 on Sunday. It is his first Daytona 500 victory in a race that featured several crashes that took out several notable drivers.
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Moonlight and La La Land took home some major hardware last night and both won Best Picture except they didn't. Warren Beaty initially said La La Land won Best Picture, but he had the wrong envelope. Moonlight was the actually winner. What an epic blunder.
Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY NETWORK
***Editor's note: A previous posting of "The Stack" contained some regrettable strong words in the Mark Cuban section of the blog causing some readers to be offended. I apologize for the use of the strong words and have updated the blog to reflect more of what I was trying to say. I am sorry to all.***
The Stack is back on this Monday and there are a number of different headlines to get to. If you watched The Oscars, there was a lot of major statements made last night and some very good actors and actresses left with Academy hardware including La La Land for winning best picture. Oh wait it was actually Moonlight? One of the biggest gaffes in Oscars history. Actually no, it is the biggest in history. How can you let that happen?! Today marks the beginning of what will likely be three straight weeks of blogs (if we can actually follow through with it) so make sure to check back each and every day regarding college basketball tournaments and more. Now then, let’s get right to “the stack” for today, Monday, February 27th:
Kurt Busch wins Daytona 500
Kurt Busch had finished runner up in the Daytona 500 three times entering Sunday’s race. He said enough of that and passed Kyle Larson on the final lap to win his first ever Daytona 500. There were multiple drivers who didn’t finish the race including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick who all were involved in wrecks. Clint Boyer also was involved in a wreck. That slowed the pace of the race down to a degree, but Busch passing on the final lap made for an exciting finish. Now the Super Bowl of racing is over and only 39 more races or so to go before the NASCAR season is complete. Probably won’t be talking much more about NASCAR after this.
Kim Mulkey says something she later regrets less than 24 hours later
When Baylor women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey took the microphone after Baylor’s win on Saturday, she said that if someone around any of the fans said they would never send their daughter to Baylor you should “Knock them right in the face.” Later in her postgame press conference she said she was sick and tired of hearing from the media reports about what is happening at Baylor, because she knows what is going on at Baylor since you know she works there and to, “Move on, find another story to write." Well obviously she didn’t know everything that was going on at Baylor since there were dozens of alleged rapes and rape attempts reported.
Those were not the best choice of words for Mulkey to use in either situation and she expressed remorse in an interview with espnW on Sunday as well she should. I don’t think violence is the way to solved differences with what has been going on at Baylor and if some parents don’t want to send their daughter to Baylor based on what has happened, I think that is totally fine and well within reason. Until Baylor proves they have changed the culture at the university, it would not surprise me to see the enrollment numbers for female students drop significantly. And while Mulkey has expressed sympathy for the victims in the past, what she did on Saturday will not help in any positive way going forward. Sure she was fired up and was trying to get the fan base to show some energy, her words will do a lot more harm than good both now and in the future. I don’t have a great view or great thoughts of Baylor as an educational institution right now. They need to prove some things first. Maybe making sure people in position of influence like Mulkey know that what they say now carries a great amount of weight for the university would be a start.
Mark Cuban pulls a Donald Trump
The NBA sent a memo to teams earlier this month letting teams know they were cracking down on criticism of teams and players on social media. That’s all well and good even though the Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks had some fun with it a couple of nights later. Maybe that move should be extended to the owners as well. Friday night, Bleacher Report tweeted a video of Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki shooting an air ball. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban did not appreciate it and sent profanity laced email to Turner president David Levy. Turner owns Bleacher Report hence the email from Cuban to Turner. Saturday, Bleacher Report deleted the tweet and sent a different tweet out praising Nowitzki. Cuban has been an opponent of Donald Trump often times saying how much he disagrees with him. In light of the White House banning CNN, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Politico and a few others from a gaggle on Friday and also saying that the media is an enemy of the American people (it’s not and if you believe that then we will strongly disagree, but that is your right and you may want to move on to the next section), the move from Cuban comes across of that as a bully. You don’t have to always agree with stories, reports or tweets that are sent out about your players or your team, but threatening them is absolutely inexcusable. If NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hasn’t done so already, he needs to get a hold of Cuban and tell him he needs to apologize himself and recognize that the media is a friend of the NBA. We already have a fight going on with Turner Sports and the Golden State Warriors regarding analyst Shaquille O’Neal constantly picking on Javale McGee. The Warriors have reached out to Turner Sports regarding this. I like Silver a lot and think he has done some great things for the NBA, but he needs to come down hard on Cuban (and Shaq if he feels so inclined), because what Cuban did cannot be condoned. What’s to say he won’t take on TNT or ESPN because of something unflattering they might say in the future? He becomes a major hypocrite or maybe he has been a Trump fan all along and is just playing us. Either way, something needs to happen here. Your move Commissioner Silver.
Gonzaga loses
The #1 Gonzaga Bulldogs had just one remaining roadblock to a perfect regular season and Saturday before they could focus on the West Coast Conference tournament. It seemed like they were going to get by their final game at home against BYU with that unblemished regular season record. However they were wrong. Everyone was wrong. BYU finished the game on a 10-0 run to pull off the 79-71 upset over the Zags. Gonzaga did everything you could ask for to lose this game. They missed thirteen free throws. They had sixteen turnovers. They did not play a sound game yet were still up with under two minutes to play, but that is when the train came off the tracks. Instead of 30-0, they finish 29-1. A one seed now is suddenly no longer a lock for them. I think they will still get it, but they must win the WCC tournament. Is it better to lose this game before entering the NCAA Tournament? Perhaps. Just ask Kentucky head coach John Calipari after his Kentucky team lost to Wisconsin in the Elite Eight a few years ago. But still, you want to be undefeated. Gonzaga will learn from this and we’ll see where this takes them come NCAA Tournament time.
Atlantic Sun tournament preview
The Atlantic Sun tournament starts today at the campus sites with the semi-finals happening on March 2nd and the championship game taking place on March 5th. Florida Gulf Coast is the top seed in the tournament as well they should be. They are very good, maybe not quite as good as the team that made the Sweet 16 run a few years ago, but still really good. The team that will give them the most trouble is the two seed Lipscomb. Do not be surprised if they win this tournament. I will take the Eagles though to win the tournament overall.
Pick: Florida Gulf Coast
Coming up Tuesday: conference tournament previews plus other top stories in sports.
