Dylan Hernandez Hernandez can be reached
at [email protected].
I really enjoyed my friend Adam Karon’s column that ran on
Tuesday (“Coach Lavin
has proven that he deserves better fan support,” Feb.
20).
That column almost convinced me Steve Lavin should be kept as
the UCLA men’s basketball head coach.
But I can’t put my feelings aside ““ the man has to
go.
My reasons for wanting the guy out are a little different than
most.
I think Lavin has done a great job with the team this year. I
have not watched enough Bruin basketball to comment on what
he’s done specifically, but I know he’s about to take a
team that was killed by the NBA Draft deep into the NCAA
tournament.
My problem with Lavin has nothing to do with basketball. I just
hate his image. It’s really annoying.
As Adam wrote, I’m sure Lavin is a swell guy. Only that
could explain why his players play so hard each time his job is on
the line.
One day, perhaps, I’ll get to know that side of Steve
Lavin. But for now, the Steve Lavin I know is the one I see on
television.
The Lavin I’m familiar with is the Pat Riley-wannabe
saying all the right things to the media, all the time. Every word
that comes out of his mouth seems so rehearsed. He’s always
so busy complimenting everyone, I wonder if he means any of it.
And then there’s Lavin’s hair. God, do I hate that
look. We already had a basketball coach in L.A. who slicked his
hair back. Can’t Lavin have an original hairdo?
To me, Lavin seems like he’s made of plastic. I
don’t know if he has any emotions or thoughts of his own.
OK, Lavin’s potential replacement, Rick Pitino,
isn’t the sincerest of people either. He’s the guy who
left Kentucky for the NBA after swearing to his players he’d
stay. He’s the guy who drafted Ron Mercer after saying he
wasn’t interested in him.
But Pitino is expected to lie. He’s a liar. It’s
part of the persona he’s developed over the years. I really
doubt anyone takes Pitino’s claim of not wanting to coach at
UCLA seriously.
As a habitual liar, I like blatant liars. But I don’t like
liars who lie subtly and hope no one will catch on. These people
remind me too much of myself.
I prefer the liars who lie flagrantly. Don King and Bill Clinton
are two of my favorite public figures. Pitino is among my top ten.
I adore them because they can lie, make everyone know that they are
lying, and still get away with it. Their boldness gives them
character.
Another plus for Pitino is that he has a hard time controlling
his emotions.
Even when rumors of his dismissal were rampant, Lavin maintained
his cool. We never heard of him cracking under the pressure. It was
probably good for our basketball team, but it was boring.
Pitino, on the other hand, reportedly cried several times in
front of his players in Boston, pleading for them to play harder.
That was probably bad for the Celtics ““ really bad, come to
think of it ““ but it was entertaining. In the abstract, I
felt for the guy.
For the coach of my school’s basketball team, I want
someone who represents me. Pitino lies and cries in public the way
we do in our private moments. We know he’s human.
He projects traits, good or bad, that we can relate to, if not
admire. I like Pitino’s image. And forget about what Sprite
says: image is everything.
Heck, image decided the presidential election. I met countless
people who said they voted for Bush because Gore was “too
stiff.” No one seemed to care about the issues at hand. I
sure didn’t. I voted for Gore because my Republican
acquaintances are more annoying than the Democrats I know. I simply
assumed Bush was just another Republican.
Some of my more pretentious readers are probably thinking,
“This guy goes to UCLA. How can he be allowed to express such
a childish opinion in the school paper?”
Well, because this is the way people think. Even some of the
brighter minds allow shallow observations to dictate their feelings
toward people.
In an interview that aired on PBS last year, Norman Mailer
““ considered to be one of the best American writers of the
20th century ““ admitted he didn’t like Lyndon Johnson
because of his face.
“I never believed in (Johnson’s vision of the Great
Society), mainly because I didn’t like his face,”
Mailer said. “I was that visceral, if you will. My feeling
is, if I don’t like somebody’s face, I probably
don’t like what they’re up to.”
I understand that a gut feeling isn’t a good reason to
fire someone, and that unless Athletic Director Peter Dalis finds a
brilliant way to screw him, Lavin is here to stay. Pitino would
probably do a better job recruiting than Lavin and run a better
program, but Lavin has done enough to keep his position.
So barring me getting to know Lavin personally and finding out
he’s a really fun and caring guy, I guess I’m stuck
being annoyed with him until I graduate.