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More Final Four

Reacting to my recent blog about the 1983 Final Four in Albuquerque, Dennis Latta, then sports editor of the Albuquerque Journal, emailed me with recollections not just of Final Four week but of that entire NCAA Tournament and how the Journal covered it. Forthwith:  Your note made me stop and think about that 1983 Final Four and I thought I would pass along some of the things I remembered. When we were preparing, I went to a weekly  Tuesday  meeting with Frankie (McCarty, managing editor) and crew. I never went so she was surprised to see me there. I told her we should coordinate coverage, and she informed me that they didn't need anything for A1 on a sports event. But Susan (Stiger) and the woman who was head of that weekly women's magazine we printed (Pat Reed) stood up and told her it was a very big event. So Frankie informed me that they would assign someone from the city desk, she didn't want anyone from sports writing for A1. That needed a real rep...
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To taunt or not to taunt

  I come here in support of the NFL’s crackdown on taunting, and if you don’t like it, consider the ball spiked at your feet. Yeah, that’s right. Man, I was really hoping this issue had been dealt with. After eight taunting penalties were called in Week 2 of the 2021 season, only eight more were assessed in Weeks 3 through 7. My takeaway at the time was that coaches and players had gotten the message.  And my question to all the fans was to have been this: was the fun really taken out of the game for lack of those antics? Did anyone really miss them, or was the game itself enough for you?  Alas, in Weeks 8 and 9, nine taunting penalties were called — most controversially referee Tony Corrente’s flagging of Chicago linebacker Cassius Marsh in Monday’s Bears-Steelers game.  Just like that, the No Fun League critics were at it again.  Corrente should be fined/suspended/fired/tarred and feathered, they howled. And the NFL’s emphasis on taunting is a joke/traged...
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Sidney Poitier and I (and no, I never met him)

  There are elements of this blog that may tend to portray me in a less-than-flattering light, but that’s OK (I think). I’ve decided that, nevertheless, it’s a story worth telling. Years ago when I was a teenager — OK, many years ago — my family and I were visiting my father’s relatives in rural west Tennessee. Somehow, Sidney Poitier came up as a topic of conversation.   “He’s not a (n-word)” one male relative (not my father) opined. “Why, he’s as black as ...” said the other (also not my father). “But he’s not a (n-word),” responded the first.  Translation: The only thing worse than a black man is an uppity black man, one who speaks English better than we do. Now, did I challenge this blatant racism and use of a vile epithet, coming from members of my own extended family? No. I was a teenager taught to respect my elders, was a guest on their turf, and held genuine affection for both men. That said, their bigotry, and my tolerance of it, was as wrong then as now. M...
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