Jacobs article on Pat...today's Courant [Aug. 25]

[Blakeon18]

http://www.ctnow.com/sports/hc-jacobs-summitt-0825-20110825,0,7573257.column

Just testing here....to see if I can link an article. Jeff Jacobs has a nice piece in the Courant today about Pat. He wants the best rivalry in women's sports to resume with a game to raise funds for fighting the disease that has overtaken Pat. Some nice quotes about Pat from Kara Lawson. Kara thinks that ESPN might just want to pick up coverage of that game. Ya' think so?

I wonder if it is even possible for this year given that OOC games are already scheduled. One might have to be dropped by both teams. Of course this would have to be run by Geno and Pat....and last we heard from Pat she wanted no part of UConn. I wonder if that has changed.

 

[bruinbball]

I know some nasty things have been said in the past, but when something like this comes up it is much bigger than a bitter rivalry. I would applaud the effort to make this happen and would love nothing more to see Geno and Pat shake each others hand at midcourt. They both have made each other better and increased the level of competition in WCBB leaps and bounds. It is something I would not want to miss.

 

[HuskyNan]

Got my cynical hat on here - whoever hosted the event could charge what they wanted for those tickets and TV outlets would hold fistfights for the television rights. What a spectacle that would be - the two most successful women's bball coaches, one a pioneer that paved the way for the sport and who's suffering from a horrible illness, the other the reigning Olympic coach, bitter rivals that come together for a worthy cause. Oh the pathos! The drama!

 

[Biff]

Got my cynical hat on here - whoever hosted the event could charge what they wanted for those tickets and TV outlets would hold fistfights for the television rights. What a spectacle that would be - the two most successful women's bball coaches, one a pioneer that paved the way for the sport that's suffering from a horrible illness, the other the reigning Olympic coach, bitter rivals that come together for a worthy cause. Oh the pathos! The drama!

Don't forget the 3 hour pre-game show lead-up with all the side stories you can handle.

 

[bruinbball]

No doubt, the countless number of interviews that could be done in regards to the rivalry, UConn vs. UT, Geno vs. Pat, the battle for recruits. It could go on for days.

 

[CL82]

I know some nasty things have been said in the past, but when something like this comes up it is much bigger than a bitter rivalry. I would applaud the effort to make this happen and would love nothing more to see Geno and Pat shake each others hand at midcourt. They both have made each other better and increased the level of competition in WCBB leaps and bounds. It is something I would not want to miss.

Couldn't we just tell Pat that she'd already agreed to the game....

What? Too soon?

 

[Huskymaniac]

Couldn't we just tell Pat that she'd already agreed to the game....

What? Too soon?

Ooooh, I laughed and cringed at the same time.

 

[EricLA]

there are 2 things about that - and i realize in light of Pat's disease, this may be premature, but she's still the same person who threw Geno under the bus several times accusing him of cheating, etc. and she's the one who canceled the game. First she would need to apologize, then ask for the series to be renewed.

 

[UConnCat]

Ooooh, I laughed and cringed at the same time.

I laughed and cringed too! But Summitt herself reportedly joked to her son that she'd already forgotten she has early dementia. Humor helps and by all accounts Summitt has a good sense of humor.

I don't think a game will be arranged, or at least I hope that won't happen. It would be too much drama about the coaches and not enough about the game and the players. That's going to be the case with Tenn now anyway, but there's no need to add to it. Maybe the teams will finally meet in the NCAA tournament. That would be enough drama.

 

[k9fanatic]

there are 2 things about that - and i realize in light of Pat's disease, this may be premature, but she's still the same person who threw Geno under the bus several times accusing him of cheating, etc. and she's the one who canceled the game. First she would need to apologize, then ask for the series to be renewed.

I have to agree. It's a terrible disease and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. My grandmother suffered from it and I got to experience it firsthand as she lived with us -- but having said that, dementia does not change who Pat was prior to the diagnosis nor what she did and said. She behaved in a reprehensible manner and her illness had nothing to do with it. I wouldn't need an apology necessarily, but at the very least an admission of error.

 

[Huskymaniac]

I laughed and cringed too! But Summitt herself reportedly joked to her son that she'd already forgotten she has early dementia. Humor helps and by all accounts Summitt has a good sense of humor.

Yeah, exactly! Humor is great medicine and a positive happy attitude should be the norm anyway. None of us know how many days we have left so hoping we all can laugh every day is about the nicest thing you can wish for a person.

 

[EricLA]

I have to agree. It's a terrible disease and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. My grandmother suffered from it and I got to experience it firsthand as she lived with us -- but having said that, dementia does not change who Pat was prior to the diagnosis nor what she did and said. She behaved in a reprehensible manner and her illness had nothing to do with it. I wouldn't need an apology necessarily, but at the very least an admission of error.

in many ways, and admission of error would be the same as apologizing. not exactly using the same words, BUT... can you ever really see her saying "I was wrong. Geno is not a cheater and my comments were in error..."? or something along those lines?

 

[Huskymaniac]

I laughed and cringed too! But Summitt herself reportedly joked to her son that she'd already forgotten she has early dementia. Humor helps and by all accounts Summitt has a good sense of humor.

I don't think a game will be arranged, or at least I hope that won't happen. It would be too much drama about the coaches and not enough about the game and the players. That's going to be the case with Tenn now anyway, but there's no need to add to it. Maybe the teams will finally meet in the NCAA tournament. That would be enough drama.

Hey UConnCat, that's a mighty cute you have there.........

 

[HuskyNan]

Hey UConnCat, that's a mighty cute you have there.........

New site but we still have same cultures on the various boards as the old one. I don't care if it gets a little rough on the men's & football boards but it's a different crowd on the women's board.

 

[UConnCat]

Hey UConnCat, that's a mighty cute you have there.........

Thanks, it's not mine. Just borrowed the photo largely because it resembles my cat (Camille) who died a few years ago.

 

[CCinCT]

Cat ? Where ?

 

[VAUConnFan]

Couldn't we just tell Pat that she'd already agreed to the game....

What? Too soon?

LOL
I'm still laughing.

 

[Icebear]

LOL
I'm still laughing.

That is terrible. Funny, but terrible. It is like the old, "What's one of the good things about Alzheimer's?" You can hide your own Easter eggs. Or you make new friends every day. Our Alzheimers Support Group had a couple dozen of them. It was a matter of laugh or you will cry.

 

[alexrgct]

I would love to see the game renewed. UConn-Baylor, UConn-Duke, UConn-A&M, UConn-Stanford, and UConn-ND, are all well and good, but UConn-Tennessee still has a special resonance, tired as veryone involved with either program may be of talking about it. It would be great if some good came of this unfortunate turn of events.

 

[stwainfan]

nice article!

 

[OSouthBranch]

I laughed and cringed too! But Summitt herself reportedly joked to her son that she'd already forgotten she has early dementia. Humor helps and by all accounts Summitt has a good sense of humor.

I don't think a game will be arranged, or at least I hope that won't happen. It would be too much drama about the coaches and not enough about the game and the players. That's going to be the case with Tenn now anyway, but there's no need to add to it. Maybe the teams will finally meet in the NCAA tournament. That would be enough drama.

 

[OSouthBranch]

I was wondering how we got a new poster who was as smart as Cat Camille! I'd welcome you aboard, but I'm made to walk the plank every time I sign onto this new board.

I think the idea of such a game is terrible, and not only because it will be seen as a major pity party. There is WAY too much water that has gone under the bridge, almost all of it generated by phs.

Additionally, I assume the males who rule the ut athletic program will, fairly quickly, make sure the ut women's hoops program doesn't amount to anything for the next 2,000 years or so. If that turns out to be the case, a game such as that would become a laughing stock, which would truly be a tragedy. I suppose it would be unfair to the other teams in the conference to make the sec tournament a Dementia fundraiser, but UConn - ut is way too much of a stretch, imo.

 

[DoreBurt]

http://www.ctnow.com/sports/hc-jacobs-summitt-0825-20110825,0,7573257.column

Just testing here....to see if I can link an article. Jeff Jacobs has a nice piece in the Courant today about Pat. He wants the best rivalry in women's sports to resume with a game to raise funds for fighting the disease that has overtaken Pat. Some nice quotes about Pat from Kara Lawson. Kara thinks that ESPN might just want to pick up coverage of that game. Ya' think so?

I wonder if it is even possible for this year given that OOC games are already scheduled. One might have to be dropped by both teams. Of course this would have to be run by Geno and Pat....and last we heard from Pat she wanted no part of UConn. I wonder if that has changed.

I think you can assume it has not changed.

 

[VAMike23]

http://www.ctnow.com/sports/hc-jacobs-summitt-0825-20110825,0,7573257.column

Just testing here....to see if I can link an article. Jeff Jacobs has a nice piece in the Courant today about Pat. He wants the best rivalry in women's sports to resume with a game to raise funds for fighting the disease that has overtaken Pat. Some nice quotes about Pat from Kara Lawson. Kara thinks that ESPN might just want to pick up coverage of that game. Ya' think so?

I wonder if it is even possible for this year given that OOC games are already scheduled. One might have to be dropped by both teams. Of course this would have to be run by Geno and Pat....and last we heard from Pat she wanted no part of UConn. I wonder if that has changed.

It would be great to see the series resumed, but I just don't see it happening while Pat is still coaching.

I always thought an alumni game would be a really exciting event, with the first game held in Knoxville and the winner getting homecourt for the following year. Squads could be 'coached' by alumni as well--no shortage of coaches to choose from. The alumni game idea has been mentioned before. The big difficulty that comes up always seems to be scheduling, since the pro players have so little time.

One possibility would be to have the game just before the start of the WNBA season. Although this is a still a tight time window (there is no "good" time in the calendar for pro players), I think that if someone tried to get such a game together next year as a fundraiser for Alzheimer's research, alumni from both sides might well make a special effort to play given the special circumstances and that it would be "for Pat". Pat and Geno could attend, or not attend, as their choice. Also, having it be an alumni game would probably make it somewhat easier for ESPN to produce, since the players would all be graduates, not current student-athletes with the attendant restrictions.

That would be some legendary talent taking the floor to do battle. And Rebecca could do the commentary!

 

[connboy77]

I don't think a game between UCONN and Tennessee in the regular season will ever happen as long as Geno and Pat are still at their respective schools. To bad because a game between the top two basketball programs would be great for women's basketball.