When Aaron Craft graduated, after what seemed like a 12 year career at Ohio State, he left a vacancy that has now been filled by Adam Woodbury. He’s the player all Big Ten fans hate; not love to hate but actually hate. It’s well deserved too.
Check out this video of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon from ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption:
Wilbon advocates some hockey style goonery to be inflicted upon Adam Woodbury. You can’t fault him for that. Former Maryland Coach Gary Williams appeared on Big Ten Network last night, and said (sort of) the same thing in a much softer, more corporate way. The BTN treatment of Adam Woodbury and Fran McCaffery was obviously a lot more bland and vanilla than how PTI handled it.
That’s expected though- how much actual thought does BTN ever put into anything controversial regarding the Big Ten? That’s a rhetorical question with an obvious answer.
Since neither the Big Ten nor the NCAA is going to do anything about Woodbury, someone has to. This is the third time Adam Woodbury has done this. Notice how every time he pokes someone, it’s the opposition’s best player. These are not coincidences. Woodbury is the league’s dirtiest and most destestable player since Illinois’ Lucas Johnson.
Of course, Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery is doing his part too. That’s pretty offensive the way he insulted a reporter who was just doing his job. McCaffery, no stranger to controversy, was so dismissive and condescending that he might be on path to becoming the league’s new Bobby Knight.
Minus all the success of course.
The Big Ten coach currently being ripped apart for his media skills is Illini Coach Tim Beckman. Obviously, Beckman made a terrible gaffe with the media, but he is still quite likable. Beckman is a lot of things, but he’s worthy of being loathed.
Direct your vitriol at McCaffery instead. And kudos to Wilbon and Kornheiser for calling out Adam Woodbury.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
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