USBWA News from Lenox Rawlings News
The Tipoff, Change a common denominator among writers of all ages
John Wooden's zone press and Dean Smith's Four Corners became fixtures on the strategy map, but times and distances changed the map.
In an age of shot clocks and 3-pointers, the driveway bomber and summer league dunker rule the talent pool. Some nights, the toughest strategic call is choosing whether to go over or under picks against certain shooters at the 3-point line.
The sportswriting game has also changed, the rate calculated by squaring each writer's hyperbole level and multiplying 2X for each wireless crisis.
The Tipoff, Time tells us that history will keep taking twists and turns
RALEIGH, N.C. – In college basketball and sportswriting, you never know how things will turn out.
I certainly had no idea back in March 1966, before I had a serious inkling about going into journalism or even a driver's license. I caught a ride with an equally obsessed friend and traveled to Reynolds Coliseum for the NCAA East Regional, a Friday-Saturday whirlwind that propelled Duke toward the Final Four.
The Tipoff, USBWA benefits extend beyond directories and contests
Kansas is still a basketball school. Syracuse is still a Big East school.
Mike Krzyzewski is still two wins short of Bobby Knight's 902. Jim Calhoun, the defender, is still a contender (and still on probation).
The Tipoff, USBWA, CoSIDA can help each other in confusing times
These are fragmented times.
The blowup started before the recession, but the recession didn't help. The shards started flying before the financial meltdown, but the meltdown didn't help. The media splintering started before newspapers offered their product free of charge, but supplying a cheaper-than-cheap alternative online didn't help.
The Tipoff, We'll tackle the usual issues, as well as the unexpected
Based on loose history compiled through random experiences, USBWA presidents seem far more prone to run-on sentences than running on platforms.
There are reasons for this other than white space in The Tipoff. The basic reason is simple: Basketball writers' issues evolve, from the occasional flashpoint ("wireless is down," blurted profanely with a hint of panic) to the apparent solution ("wireless is $20 per site, with wires").
Judging from anecdotal accounts, the wireless worked sufficiently during the NCAA Tournament except for those less-than-blissful moments in the Washington NBA arena named for some communications company (fill in blank).