The Sales gesture affected no player or program outside of UConn. The Sales gesture affected none of the UConn players who finished their careers with lower point totals. The Sales gesture affected none of the players who would go on to surpass the point totals of Sales and Bascomb. I doubt it mattered much to Moore, et al, which one had the higher point total when she passed them, nor will it matter to the future players that pass them. It affected Bascomb, of course, but not in depriving her of a permanent record, but rather to hold onto that record for a little shorter time. Knowing it was bound to be broken anyways, she gave it her full, enthusiastic approval.
It affected Sales as well. It was supposed to affect her in a good way, in appreciation of what she had done. That was the ticket, the appreciation, not the record, as Sales likely knew as well as Bascomb that the record would not be permanent for a program starting to attract the best players. Alas, reports later revealed that it did not affect Sales in as good a way as intended, because of all the flack involved. The purity of the game was the alleged concern, as if a high profile sport would be pure otherwise if not for such an incident, but I find that to be a smokescreen for whatever else makes people so concerned over such a trivial matter.
And, yes, Jeff Jacobs, me being one of the BY guys you interviewed and who happens to appreciate most of your columns, I am thinking about you.
By virtue of that winking , he is telling us that he is being sarcastic. This subtlety is just way to easy to see. Just look. Everyone here agrees it was a lovely gesture to a respected opponent, even if they do not know that they agree!
