Finally, someone with some class takes the nation's hoop scribes to task during the final four. From the SF Chronicle...

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Talk Final Four or Get Out of the Business
From Sporting Green columnist Bruce Jenkins:

You know that guy around the office who's always saying the wrong thing to the wrong people at the wrong time? We have idiots like that in the sportswriting business. The last couple of days, they've been asking Billy Donovan about the Kentucky job.

I'll guarantee you the Chronicle's Ray Ratto is not among them. Ray's funny that way -- he actually likes the Final Four. He likes the spectacle, the player matchups, the coaching philosophies. Maybe next week, he'll get around to wondering who gets the Kentucky job. Most of the veteran guys covering the tournament, the ones who get it, are like that. They'll leave Donovan alone and ask the questions pertinent to the UCLA game.

But there's always a parade of clowns who just can't wait -- as if Donovan is actually going to reveal his true feelings to some total stranger who hasn't trimmed his nose hair. I mean, could it get any more rude? This guy's trying to prepare his team for a second consecutive national championship. This is Donovan's time, his moment, the culmination of yet another remarkable season. "But seriously, though, Billy -- what about it? Have they contacted you? Is it something you just can't turn down? Is your fly open?"

These guys should all be driven out of Atlanta on the back of a pickup truck, back with a bunch of barking, drooling dogs. We get this stuff all the time, too. Heartbreaking loss in the baseball playoffs. The losing pitcher, about to become a free agent, is trying to keep it together as he bravely addresses the media. And some jerk, guaranteed, will ask him if he's thought about playing for the Mets next year.

Sadly, this is how it works in sportswriting. Everybody wants the scoop. They showed up at the arena with everything but pride, patience and good taste. Dandy shirt, though, buddy. Where'd you get that, Ralph's?

In general, I agree--but this has been a hell of a boring NCAA tournament along with Final 4. As a fan of neither team, there's nothing I need or want to know about either team that we've haven't already heard before--since both teams have been two of the most media-exposed team throughout the season.

If the game seems like an afterthought--that's because it is.