Tuesday Grab Bag: The State of the CU Athletic Department

The news broke last night: the great Pat Summitt had passed.  A titan of the college basketball world, Summitt owned the women's game for nearly four full decades, heading the Lady Vols of Tennessee through 8 national titles, 16 conference crowns, and well over 1,000 wins (at an 84% clip).  Really, the only head coach who can hold a candle to her success is UCLA's John Wooden, but Summitt coached longer, endured against more persistent competition, and ultimately won more (though Wooden did leave a bunch of years on the table). In that vein, there is a very credible argument to be made that Summitt, not Wooden, is the sport's greatest coach.  Oh, and did I mention that she graduated everyone and ran a clean program?

It's with all that in mind that the entire basketball world mourns the loss of a legend; RIP.

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Today in the bag, I'm talking the Rick George roundtable, some recruiting news that has BuffNation all abuzz, and soccer notes from both the Copa and the Euros.

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Tuesday Grab Bag: A new Mayor for Chicago

While Rham Emmanuel isn't gone, the City of Chicago did see some Mayoral reform last week. Yep, the one, the only, Spencer Dinwiddie is headed to the Madhouse on Madison, as the former CU star was traded to the Chicago Bulls late last week.

The move by Chicago, ostensibly to build guard depth while avoiding paying guaranteed money to a bench slot, makes sense.  As Blog A Bull pointed out, with Dinwiddie's non-guaranteed portion of his contract lasting through November, the Bulls get a relatively cheap look at the former Colorado guard before having to make a decision on the roster spot at season's onset.  All it cost them was Cameron Bairstow, a reserve forward who was probably going to get cut anyway.

Sure, this essentially innocuous trade isn't going to turn too many heads around the basketball world, but one thing it did do is lead me into a victory lap around my office. For me, to see one of my favorite CU stars of the recent past winding up on my beloved Bulls is a wonderful turn of fate.  I still believe Spencer has the talent to play at the NBA level, and the team that gives him a solid chance should be able to reap some good rewards.  If it's My Bulls, you better believe I'm dropping the cash for a new jersey... and boy will the Bulls.com shop be surprised when they receive in that online order.

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Today in the bag, I'm talking Game 7, Copa America, and the solidifying of the non-conference schedule in men's hoops.

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Tuesday Grab Bag: ... and just think, summer hasn't even started yet!

Straight to the action today, as we all wind our way towards the true opening days of summer.

Today in the bag, I'm talking playoffs in three sports: the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Final, and Copa America Centenario.

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Tuesday Grab Bag: A new hope on the recruiting trail?

Before I get to the bag today, I want to take a minute to remember the true Greatest of All Time, Muhammad Ali.  If you've been living under a rock, and hadn't heard, the three-time heavyweight champion of the world passed away last week, at the age of 74.  I won't spend too much time here, as others much more capable then myself have written on the subject, but there isn't a single athlete of past generations that I resent having missed more than Ali.  Beyond simply being a boxer, he commanded the ring and the narrative more than should've been capable, owning the public spectacle at a time that you still got your news from papers.  To have been alive, watching as he held the sporting world in the palm of his hand, must have been awe-inspiring and transformational.

Even today, watching film of his fights is fascinating.  No one takes punches like he could, no one that size has ever been as fast, no one more ferocious when he had a man stunned; this isn't just smoke, he was, legitimately, the GOAT.  As a boxing fan, I pain seeing what others got to absorb in real time.  As a historian, I marvel at the impact he had outside of the ring.  We will never see another athlete like him, a defining American caricature now lost to the ages.  RIP.

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Today in the bag, I'm talking one last gasp on the 2016 recruiting trail for Coach Boyle and crew, the NBA Finals (such as they are), some #SoxThoughts (as promised).

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