Terrific SI Article on Geno and Diana

[UConnCat]

Posted yesterday. Lots of quotes from Geno, Diana and Kathy Auriemma. Excellent piece on a fascinating relationship, including the years at Connecticut, Diana's ups and downs over the years and USA Basketball.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/ncaa/05/31/Diana.Taurasi.Geno.Auriemma/index.html

Here's a sampling:

Even if they weren't linked by shared history, Taurasi and Auriemma would appear a fit pair. Each struts around sure it can kick your behind in basketball. The language used is often blue, especially by Taurasi, and open mics in front of each can make media relations folks shudder.

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They have immigrant backgrounds. Confidence teetering on cockiness. A self-assured level that allows each to speak honestly, the directness all the more shocking when dispatched in the current varnished sports world.​

* * *​

Despite the 28-year age difference, their relationship has leveled. The mental pummeling Taurasi endured as an 18-year-old at Connecticut is over.​

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"When we're together, something's got to give," Auriemma said. "When she was 18, I win, you lose. Now? She wins, and I lose."​

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Auriemma's ease of concession is surprising. It's not a duo known for capitulation.​

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"I got to say that because I need her for the next month," Auriemma said with a laugh. "Check with me after August."​

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* * *​

[Here's my favorite quote:]​

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"If you're great, I'm not the easiest guy in the world to play for, because you're not going to get away with it," Auriemma said. "For Diana, I was never going to allow her to cheat her talent.​

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* * *​

Taurasi's chance for her third gold medal almost didn't reach this point of give-and-take. A false-positive test for a banned substance while playing in Turkey in 2010 nearly derailed everything. Taurasi says she's never taken anything illegal, and the lab admitted it screwed up, then was stripped of its accreditation. She almost lost basketball.​

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"I don't know how that makes a person feel," Kathy Auriemma said. "It's devastating. She's not a casual person, she feels things very deeply. She cares and she loves strongly, and I think she was very lost [afterward]."​

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[UConnCat]

More. Ah, the swearing:

There's also the swearing. It's constant, rapid-fire and loud, especially toward officials. When she fouled out of Game 3 against the Seattle Storm in the first round of last season's WNBA playoffs, television cameras beamed out her illicit tirade as she left the court. Taming Taurasi's tongue would require an expanse of ambitious nuns with a surplus of rulers.

"There is time for restraint," Geno Auriemma said. "The thing that makes you great, ahhh, gets you in trouble once in a while.

"The filter between her brain and her mouth sometimes gets clogged, and it doesn't work. Little by little, it's working better."

​

 

[Wbbfan1]

Great Read. It also understandable why some good if not great players don't want to play for Geno. He's not going to make it easy for you and some may not want to work as hard as Geno is going to require. Have to have a tough hide if you're going to play for Geno. Geno and the coaching staff may also be able to recognize the great players that aren't going to be mentally tough enough to take Geno's coaching style

 

[MilfordHusky]

"If you're great, I'm not the easiest guy in the world to play for, because you're not going to get away with it," Auriemma said. "For Diana, I was never going to allow her to cheat her talent.​

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Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Sue Bird, Rebecca Lobo, et al. will absolutely verify this.​

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A good message for Brianna Turner, especially, but also Linnae Harper, Erica McCall, Kendall Cooper, Jannah Tucker, and Saniya Chong.​

 

[UConnCat]

"If you're great, I'm not the easiest guy in the world to play for, because you're not going to get away with it," Auriemma said. "For Diana, I was never going to allow her to cheat her talent.​

​

Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Sue Bird, Rebecca Lobo, et al. will absolutely verify this.​

​

A good message for Brianna Turner, especially, but also Linnae Harper, Erica McCall, Kendall Cooper, Jannah Tucker, and Saniya Chong.​

Yup. Brianna Turner said she wanted a coach who would take her out of her comfort zone. This should be required reading for all of the players considering UConn.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I love this. Their commonality is almost eerie.

Auriemma told Taurasi he had lived her life, one of duping immigrant parents who didn't know better. "But, you're not going to get away with that (expletive) with me," Auriemma said. "You can lie to some other people, but you're not going to lie to me. And, I always told her the truth."​

As we all know, Kathy Auriemma is a true gem.​

 

[CL82]

Thanks, that was great!

 

[Kibitzer]

Mark Twain used to cuss a lot and his wife was, ah, uncomfortable with it, but didn't know quite what to do to curtail it.

So one day, she decided to help him tie his bow tie, deliberately fumbled the job, and cursed loudly (and uncharacteristically) as she did so.

Mark never batted an eye, just looked down coolly and said, "Libby, you've got the words, but you don't have the music."

 

[UConnCat]

Here's some of my favorite Twain quotes on swearing:

"When angry count four; when very angry, swear."
- Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar

"There ought to be a room in every house to swear in. It's dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that."
- Mark Twain, a Biography

"Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
- Mark Twain, a Biography