There must be no more narratives glorifying Coach K. and Duke Blue Devils basketball as being special and different. The next person who writes or produces a “Duke does it the right way” storyline should lose their credibility.
The idea of Mike Krzyzewski being wholesome, pure and better than his peers died yesterday. We shouldn’t believe that anyone in this industry is innocent to begin with, but no figure in college sports receives softer coverage from the media than Coach K.
“#CoachK1K” or “#Coach1K” was the cheesiest and most cliche production of a college basketball game that we’ve ever seen. FOX went way over the top with the pablum during that broadcast.
You already know about ESPN’s Duke bias. Bristol has acted as a de facto extension of the Coach K Public Relations Department so much that the mere act of pointing it out is cliche enough in itself.
According to a report in the Duke University school newspaper, Krzyzewski, it seems, is basically a coach with a moral equivalency on par with Steve Alford or Jimbo Fisher.
The things that Coach K. let occur under his watch should be the most important sports story in the nation today. However, it’s not. ESPN’s SportsCenter did not feature it during the midday broadcast hours. In ESPN’s world it garnered only a small mention on the crawl.
There was coverage of Lebron’s Instagram page.
I wish I was joking, as this sounds like a Tweet I would make, but sadly, it’s true.
No offense to the NHL Trade deadline or NFL franchise tag, but when we find out Krzyzewski behaved in such a matter, and his mystique is destroyed, it’s a much bigger story than both of those transaction items combined.
After yesterday’s revelations, we’ll never look at Coach K and Duke basketball the same way again.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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