March Madness: Mouse and Earl, Great First Rounds

3/17/2021

Mouse McFadden and Kevin Mackey beat Indiana, 1986, left. Earl Boykins beat Duke, 1996.

This was always one of my favorite weeks, when I was working – the first round of the NCAA men’s tournament, when weird things could happen, and did.
I loved being in some arena, with eight – count ‘em, eight – teams still alive, still dreaming.
Teams I never heard of during the long season, teams with fresh nicknames and gaudy colors and wired coaches and peppy cheerleaders and sassy mascots. Sometimes we were seated near the college bands, with their own characters and sizes and shapes and hair styles. Sometimes they were more fun to watch than the game.

I have other events I love – any match in the World Cup of soccer, the U.S, Open of tennis in my home county, and just about any Mets game, because. Oops, almost forgot epic Stanley Cup finals of Islanders or Rangers, plus The Derby in Louisville, where we used to live.
I remember my pal Charlie Pierce always loved the Saturday of the Final Four, but I hold out for the opening day, for the unknowns, the upsets, the slippery slopes.

Take the first round in 1986. I was there, Perpetual contender Indiana was playing outsider Cleveland State. Before the game, Bobby Knight swaggered out to shake hands with his counterpart, Kevin Mackey, chubby little dude out of Boston. Some words were spoken, followed by cranky words and gestures from the terrible-tempered Knight.
''I said, 'Hey, take it easy on me, Big Guy,''' Mackey told reporters later. ''But, hey, he's no fool. I'll paraphrase his answer for you. He said: 'I'm not gonna give you any breaks out there.' ''
I’ll bet he paraphrased Bobby Knight.

Then, Cleveland State, seeded 14th in the region, promptly beat Indiana, seeded third, 83-79, and Knight, who liked to lecture reporters, said any fool knew that Cleveland State was loaded, with a guard named Mouse McFadden, New York City guy, who had somehow wound up at Cleveland State with an outlaw/outsider tag.

I have to tell you, it was fun. And the fun continued to the next day when Cleveland State showed up early for its off-day media conference and witnessed the players from Navy – particularly David Robinson, close to his ultimate 7-foot-1 height, in spit-shine shoes and uniform and polysyllabic vocabulary and braces. Mouse and his mates were clearly impressed by Robinson's polished interview.

Ten years later, double upsets on the first day: defending champion UCLA sleepwalked against Princeton, which cut them up with crisp interior passing, and I re-named the school “The University of Catatonia at Los Angeles.”
The same first round, tiny Earl Boykins, looking like somebody’s sixth-grade kid brother, helped Eastern Michigan stun haughty Duke, 75-60. In the closing minutes, Boykins dawdled with the ball, staring into the stands while dribbling. It was his night.
In the next round, little Boykins (admitting he might not even be his listed 5-foot-7) was beaten by Connecticut, whose coach, Jim Calhoun, raved that Eastern Michigan reminded him of his first coaching stop, with Northeastern in Boston -- outsiders, bootstrappers, who never gave up.

You didn’t have to be at the game. In 1991, I turned on the television and watched Richmond, seeded 15th, coached by Dick Tarrant, city guy out of Fordham, play a brainy, resolute game to knock off Syracuse, 73-69 – the first time a 15th seed had defeated a second seed.
The last barrier fell in 2018 when the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, defeated Virginia, 74-54. For a list of major upsets, see this.

Last year, there were no upsets, no nothing. My alma mater, Hofstra, reached the finals of its conference tournament against Northeastern and Coach Joe Mihalich called a timeout and delivered an impassioned speech about playing the best five minutes of their lives – which they did, with baskets and stops and rebounds, and celebrated the victory for the next 24 hours….until the NCAA called off the tournament because some people in the country had figured out there was a pandemic going on. I later told Mihalich – a lifer, who made some of my old jock friends feel welcome -- that this was a great five minutes of coaching that he would always remember. Now Mihalich has missed this season for health reasons, and Hofstra fell short. Joe, you know what my Brooklyn Dodger fans used to say: “Wait til next year.”

I pay almost no attention to college sports these days, but I have memories. At this time of year, when fellow Irish-Americans celebrate, I know it’s time for the NCAAs. This year’s entire tournament is being held in Indianapolis, a traditional center of basketball in this country. The players will keep the game going until the world gets back to some semblance of normal, when we can pay more attention to stomping coaches and high-flying players and acrobatic cheerleaders and crowded stands – and wide-eyed student lunatics in the pep band blaring saxophones. Plus, upset time.
* * *

My 1986 column on Cleveland State:
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/16/sports/sports-of-the-times-the-secret-is-out.html

My followup column on Mouse McFadden and how he got to Cleveland State:
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/19/sports/sports-of-the-times-the-mouse-makes-the-grade.html

My 1996 column on Earl Boykins:
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/15/sports/sports-of-the-times-earl-boykins-has-arrived-on-the-scene.html

When Indiana gave its heart to underdogs Princeton and Eastern Michigan.
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/17/sports/sports-of-the-times-indiana-gives-its-heart-to-game-s-underdogs.html

Patrick O’Neill

3/17/2021 04:56:39 pm

George, thank you, this resonates for two reasons:

Hofstra — I was a Hofstra sophomore in March 1977 when HU went to the NCAA for the second year in a row. Their draw that year was Notre Dame, with the game at the Palestra in Philly. As my friends and I walked across the UPenn campus to get to the game, I was surprised to see that it appeared the students there were very much rooting for the favorite, as there’s were green shamrocks painted on the sidewalks and streets. I then realized it was March 12th, and the decorations were just a little early for the major holiday on the horizon.
Tony Kornheiser had a nice article about the game in the Times a couple of days later, an ND win 90-83.
https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/14/archives/hofstras-pride-is-intact-in-defeat-by-irish.html

Cleveland State / Robinson — I recently shared with you that I always looked forward to your end-of-year post cards, and particularly remember the 1986 entry where you described the news conference you mention above. My recollection of your description of Cleveland State’s reaction to the Robinson interview was that it painted a more vivid image than “clearly impressed” so I checked, and “gaped” it was.

George Vecsey

3/18/2021 09:19:37 am

Patrick: Thank you for the great memory -- filed on the day of your namesake. (I'm a Plastic Paddy myself, courtesy of my grandmother.)
Some of my best friends from Hofstra had a 23-1 season in 1959-60-but the only loss, to Wagner, on a last-second shot from the top of the key, kept them from the ECAC slot in the much smaller tournament of the day. I believe 5 or 6 are on my email list...they can still see that shot drop in.
Then last year, Joe Mihalich's team won the conference....Oy.
Be well, GV

bruce

3/17/2021 05:16:44 pm

george,

anytime bobby knight lost was a good day.

mackey reminds me of george dzundza.

bruce

George

3/18/2021 09:21:40 am

Bruce, don't know him....actually, I think Jimmy Fallon would play him in the movies, or vice versa Actually, I'm not sure what happened after his coaching career...GV

Alan Rubin link

3/18/2021 09:44:36 am

Lehigh upset Duke 80-75 in the first round of the 2012 NCAA tournament McCollum led the team and he went on to have a good pro career.

My daughter Jen, who ran a Madison, WI based "Max 5" kidded me for not picking Lehigh to beat Duke since it would only have cost me a first round 1 point.

It cost $5 to enter the pool and the winner received $5 and a bag on M&M's. Half of the poll money went to local Madison charities and the rest was for a local party to watch the final. Those of us from out of town received a bag of M&M's.

The fun was in all the dialog among the regional participants who always claimed that Jen and her co-commissioner were corrupt.

This was never satisfactorily resolved.

George Vecsey

3/19/2021 10:27:41 am

Alan: So, Jen was kiting the M&Ms, eh?
Could happen.
2012: Lehigh 75, Duke 70.
I saw Lehigh scare somebody a decade or two earlier.
Brown uniforms? Yes, looked it up. That's what I love about NCAA -- team uniforms, nicknames, the energy of outsiders.
Be well, GV

Alan Rubin link

3/19/2021 05:05:15 pm

Of the many exciting games that I have experienced watching on TV over the years, including the 1980 USA-USSR hockey game and many World Cups, the 1966 Texas Western upset of Kentucky is my favorite.

It was exciting down to the wire basketball, and enjoyable to see racist Rupp get his comeuppance. As explained in Coach Dan Haskins book "Glory Road", it was a major attack on racism and promoted the worth of African-Americans. It was amazing how understanding the two white seniors were in accepting that they would not play in the championship game so that an all-black team could play., They were an integral part of the team, but they also understood the importance of the message that coach Haskel wanted to send.

Today there are significant segments of our government and country that still needs to understand Coach Haskel’s message,

ED MARTIN

3/20/2021 12:44:18 pm

Another, memorable moment for me was when John Thompson and Georgetown eclipsed Lefty Driesel of Md. It was Driesell’s fall, not Md’s that pleased me. Later as a St.John’s fan, I still liked Thompson, (second to Louie), especially when he wore that sweater!

Final 4, a bit of disappointment, despite 3 Big East Teams, one never matched.

George

3/21/2021 03:52:17 pm

Ed: In 1986, in Lexington, I took a hike in the Red River Gorge in the morning, covered the amazing final at night. Villanova played a stunning game, for control. Neighbors of ours had a license plate:
BIGEAST3. Their kids had connections to all three Big East teams in the semifinals. And the parents were there, in lexington, with tickets.

George Vecsey

3/21/2021 03:47:26 pm

Alan, et al: I covered that UK-Texas Western final. in DC, en route to spring training, I wrote about the basketball upset while my mentor, Stan Isaacs, wrote about the all-black angle (both for Newsday, in 66)
Haskins played his best players....didn't deliberately keep white guys on the bench to make a point. The white guys knew who the best 7 were. Benches always get shorter in final games, etc,
Old basketball saying about black players: 4 on the road, 3 at home, 5 in the tournament.
My strong recollection is that Rupp was a total gentleman that day. I can still hear him praising "those boys: (!) for "beating us fair and square They deservedit..." etc. I've asked Pat Riley about how Rupp took it (Riley was in that game) and he said Rupp took the high road....
I've written about the Texas Western team since then, at anniversaries, etc. GV

Alan Rubin link

3/21/2021 11:44:04 am

George-you certainly got your wish with a rash of early upsets. There seems to be some divine guidance with Oral Roberts's upset of Ohio State.

Comments are closed.

QUOTES

Measuring Covid Deaths, by David Leonhardt. July 17, 2023. NYT online.
The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal….

After three horrific years, in which Covid has killed more than one million Americans and transformed parts of daily life, the virus has turned into an ordinary illness.

The progress stems mostly from three factors:
First, about three-quarters of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine shot.
Second, more than three-quarters of Americans have been infected with Covid, providing natural immunity from future symptoms. (About 97 percent of adults fall into at least one of those first two categories.)
Third, post-infection treatments like Paxlovid, which can reduce the severity of symptoms, became widely available last year.
“Nearly every death is preventable,” Dr. Ashish Jha, who was until recently President Biden’s top Covid adviser, told me. “We are at a point where almost everybody who’s up to date on their vaccines and gets treated if they have Covid, they rarely end up in the hospital, they almost never die.”

That is also true for most high-risk people, Jha pointed out, including older adults — like his parents, who are in their 80s — and people whose immune systems are compromised. “Even for most — not all but most —immuno-compromised people, vaccines are actually still quite effective at preventing against serious illness,” he said. “There has been a lot of bad information out there that somehow if you’re immuno-compromised that vaccines don’t work.”

That excess deaths have fallen close to zero helps make this point: If Covid were still a dire threat to large numbers of people, that would show up in the data.

One point of confusion, I think, has been the way that many Americans — including we in the media — have talked about the immuno-compromised. They are a more diverse group than casual discussion often imagines.

Most immuno-compromised people are at little additional risk from Covid — even people with serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or a history of many cancers. A much smaller group, such as people who have received kidney transplants or are undergoing active chemotherapy, face higher risks.

Covid’s toll, to be clear, has not fallen to zero. The C.D.C.’s main Covid webpage estimates that about 80 people per day have been dying from the virus in recent weeks, which is equal to about 1 percent of overall daily deaths.

The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions.

Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine in Massachusetts, told me that “age is clearly the most substantial risk factor.” Covid’s victims are both older and disproportionately unvaccinated. Given the politics of vaccination, the recent victims are also disproportionately
Republican and white.

Each of these deaths is a tragedy. The deaths that were preventable — because somebody had not received available vaccines and treatments — seem particularly tragic. (Here’s a Times guide to help you think about when to get your next booster shot.)
***

From the great Maureen Dowd:

As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop.
But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels."

--- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing.
***
"Putting out the paper," we called it.
Much more than nostalgia.
---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html

March Madness: Mouse and Earl, Great First Rounds

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