CALLING YOU OUT - SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

“Calling You Out!” is a periodic segment where WCT takes people to task for irresponsible journalism, foolhardy activities, or just general douchebaggery. Nothing is sacred, no one is spared, watch your ass mister! You could be next!

In this edition - Sports Illustrated

This week, SI took a look at college basketball lifer Rick Majerus.

They examined his career, the different places he has coached, and all of the former players that he has affected.

To be honest, it is a good piece, and I have no problem with the article itself. The only problem I have is with the timing.

Two weeks ago, Majerus' St. Louis Billikens squad suffered the extreme embarrassment of losing to the George Washington Colonials 49-20. You read that correctly. SLU scored 20 (TWENTY) points in a regulation 40-minute college basketball game. This was the lowest scoring output by any college basketball team since the advent of the shot clock.

The box score from this game was downright comical. As is to be expected, St. Louis had several long scoring droughts, including one stretch where they missed 23 shots in a row. Obviously, SLU didn't have any players in double-figures, and their leading scorer had only one field goal. Between the 8:39 mark of the first half and the 11:00 mark of the second half, St. Louis scored exactly 1 point. To be fair, ending the game with 20 points was actually a pretty good outcome for the Billikens, considering they shot just under 15% from the field and had seven points at halftime.

So, SI, I like where your heads at, with the whole Rick Majerus retrospective...thing. It is a great idea on paper. And the article itself really gives the reader insight into what makes Majerus tick, and the reasons why he is so highly regarded by his current and former players. In the future though, you might want to make sure there is sufficient time between an article chronicling a subject, and that subject's huge embarrassing failure.