NCAA Men’s Basketball Quiz: Who were the MVPs in the
following Final Fours: 1) 1993 / UNC over Michigan, 77-71. 2)
1997 / Arizona over Kentucky, 84-79. 3) 1998 / Kentucky over
Utah, 78-69. Answers below.
Hitler”s Olympics
The following is a bit “dark” and needs to be set up. [Don’t
worry, there is some lighter fare after this piece.] Recently, I did
a series for my “Hott Spotts” link on appeasement and Munich,
1938. In doing my research I used a book by Piers Brendon
titled “The Dark Valley: a panorama of the 1930s.” Needless to
say, while terrific history, it’s not exactly uplifting.
But in light of the recent stories about Saddam Hussein’s son
Uday – who we hope took a tomahawk up his ass in that first
attack on Baghdad – and his brutality in dealing with athletes in
Iraq’s national sports program, I thought it was a decent time to
review some of the facts of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Most of
the following is gleened from an extensive look at that event in
Brendon’s book.
Hitler initially saw the Olympics as a device of the “Jews and
Freemasons,” but then he realized it could be used “as a splendid
way to enhance German prestige abroad” and an advertisement
for the Nazi state and the Nordic race.
Of course a black American, Jesse Owens, stole the show, but
the French Ambassador to Berlin, Andre Francois-Poncet,
described the Berlin Olympics as “a great moment, a climax of
sorts, if not the apotheosis (deification) of Hitler and his Third
Reich.”
[Editor: Sorry, I had to check out ‘apotheosis’ myself…I’m
assuming I’m not the only one.]
The preparations for the Games were on a grand, “Wagnerian”
scale. Hitler oversaw construction of the stadium, Grunewald,
that would hold more than 100,000 and in constructing the
Olympic Village every detail was attended to. [During the war it
served as an infantry training center.]
Once dreary Berlin was all spiffed up and swathed in miles of
banners, most of which had swastikas on them, and on all the
streets were uniformed interpreters to help the tourists. The
prostitutes were summoned from the provinces to show the
visitors a good time and the city was purged of petty thieves. To
disprove tales of censorship, the Nazis even stocked the
bookstores with previously banned books. The president of the
IOC did persuade an angry Hitler to take down anti-Semitic
signs, however, which was in response to the 1936 Winter
Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where the entrance bore a
notice, “Jews Forbidden Entry.”
Initially, not every country wanted to participate. Many Brits
feared the Games would be used to persuade the German people
that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was “condoned by the world.” In the
U.S. there was an outspoken campaign to prevent Americans
from competing “under the Swastika.” According to Brendon:
“Its supporters pointed out that German Jews, banned from
public swimming-pools and sports centers, could neither train
nor compete on equal terms. ‘Despoiled of good-will,
sportsmanship and fair-play, the Games can have no meaning
except as a prestige-building enterprise for the Nazi regime.’”
[“Manifesto of the Organization of American Good-Will
Olympic Association”]
Avery Brundage, however, was the President of the American
Olympic Association and this supreme dirtball was convinced it
wasn’t the Nazis but proponents of the boycott who were trying
“to use the Games as a political weapon.” He concluded the
Games must go on to ensure politics is kept out of sport, a phrase
you would see again from this same man. Meanwhile, Hitler’s
SA (stormtroopers) were under orders to behave, but nonetheless
they still got drunk in the streets and shouted to anyone who
cared to listen, “When the Olympics are past, the Jews will be
gassed.”
Finally, on August 1 the elaborate torch run neared its conclusion
and 28,000 Aryan youths, in precise ranks, greeted the flame at
Lustgarten and listened to Goebbels proclaim, “Holy flame, burn,
burn, and never go out!” Then the flame followed Hitler’s
phalanx of black Mercedes-Benzes, past the troops, into the
Grunewald stadium. The crowd erupted with “Heil’s.”
Each of the 153 teams acknowledged Hitler in its own way as
they entered. The Americans clapped their straw hats over their
hearts and turned their eyes right but (by tradition) refused to dip
their flag. The French used the Olympic salute, which resembles
the Nazi one, and were applauded. The Brits, though, did not
give it, earning a rebuke from the government, which later in
1938 forced the English football team to give the Nazi salute in
Berlin before a match. [Another Neville Chamberlain special.]
Hitler gave some opening remarks and the famous composer
Richard Strauss conducted the Olympic Hymn, which Strauss
had composed specifically for the occasion. The German team
would then go on to perform very well, much to Hitler’s delight,
but they were far from amateurs, as Olympic tradition mandated,
with the Reich financing training of many competitors.
As for Owens, he would win four gold medals and with his
modest demeanor became a crowd favorite. Germany’s largest
tobacco company, Reemtsma, used Owens’s picture on its
advertising, but at the same time Hitler snubbed him. Due to the
international nature of the event, an aide suggested that the
Fuhrer have his picture taken with Owens, but supposedly Hitler
replied, “Do you really think that I will allow myself to be
photographed shaking hands with a Negro?” [Hart-Davis,
“Hitler’s Olympics”]
Of course Owens’s athleticism made a mockery of the Nazi
theory of Nordic supremacy, but the real result of these Games
was the fact it became a contest between nations, with George
Orwell predicting the Olympics would lead to “orgies of hatred.”
Nonetheless, the Germans did take home far and away the most
hardware, winning 33 gold, 26 silver, and 30 bronze. The U.S.
was next at 24-20-12. [Italy was third, 8-9-5, and Britain a poor
tenth, 4-7-3…but they kicked ass in the end, when it really
mattered!]
The Nazis took all the credit for the success, as you’d imagine,
with Goebbels proclaiming, “The national spirit created by this
regime was responsible for the German victories.”
Unfortunately, many Brits and Americans went home from
Berlin with favorable impressions. Hitler was low-key
throughout and as author William Shirer noted, foreigners were
“favorably impressed by the Nazi ‘set-up.’” One tourist wrote
the Times of London, praising the “community spirit fostered by
‘that remarkable man of vision who directs the destinies of
Germany.’”
But U.S. writer Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938, not Tom Wolfe) said
of the Berlin Games that they symbolized the new collective
might of a people “desperately ill with some dread malady of the
soul.”
Sir Eric Phipps wrote in his diary that there was “no such thing
as sport for sports sake in Germany. There is only sport for the
sake of war.”
And war was on Hitler’s mind. At the end of the Berlin Games,
as the Olympic flame “guttered out” [Brendon], he declared, “I
summon the youth of the world to Tokyo.” As Brendon relates,
however, Hitler told Albert Speer, yes, first Tokyo, then “for all
time to come, they will take place in Germany.” Mr. Brendon
concludes his tale of the Berlin Olympics with the following.
“In 1937 the Fuhrer laid the foundation stone at the Nuremberg
site of this perpetual home for the Games, work on which was
still continuing as late as 1944. Like other architecture with
which Hitler was associated, it was designed on a scale
appropriate to ‘the ruler of the whole world.’ As a preliminary to
global conquest, the Fuhrer retired to his aerie at Berchtesgaden
immediately after the Games and formulated a plan to speed up
the evolution of a self-sufficient and rearmed Reich. Within four
years, he said, ‘the German economy must be fit for war.’”
Of course if you learned your history, or read my “Hott Spotts”
pieces on the era, you’d know that it was during this period that
the West could have stopped him in his tracks. That’s our lesson
for today’s world.
NCAA Men’s Basketball Tidbits
–Top 5 Tournament Appearances (entering this season)
1. Kentucky, 44
2. UCLA, 38
3. UNC, 35
4. Indiana, 31
5. Kansas, 31
[Louisville, 29; Syracuse, 27; St. John’s, 27; Duke, 26; Arkansas,
26; Notre Dame, 26.]
–Seeds in the Final Four
2002: 1,1,2,5
2001: 1,1,2,3
2000: 1,5,8,8
1999: 1,1,1,4
1998: 1,2,3,3
–2002 Conference Records in the Tourney
ACC: 10-3
Big 12: 13-6
Pac-10: 9-6
Big 10: 9-5
Big East: 6-5
SEC: 5-6
[Of course your editor threw the above data in just to remind all
those Big East fans that one year does not a trend make!]
[Of course your editor is incredibly defensive of his ACC.]
–Since 1970 only two players have scored 40 or more points in a
Final Four game – Bill Walton / UCLA: 44, 1973; Jack Givens /
Kentucky: 41, 1978. [In both cases the feat was performed in the
title game.]
–As for Walton, his 44 points came in UCLA’s win over
Memphis State, March 24, 1973; the first NCAA title game
played in prime time. Walton made a spectacular 21 of 22 field
goals and pulled down 13 rebounds.
Bill Clinton
I was going to discuss the following last ‘chat’ but other events
precluded me from doing so. If you haven’t already done so,
read the terrific Don Van Natta Jr. piece in last week’s Sports
Illustrated. Van Natta is the author of the forthcoming book,
“First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers and Cheaters
from Taft to Bush.”
Van Natta plays a round with our former president up in
Westchester County. They have to work a few connections to
get on a course because as of last fall, Clinton still hadn’t been
admitted to any of the exclusive ones in his neighborhood.
So while Van Natta describes how Bubba is a terrific driver of
the ball, on occasion, it’s still unbelievable how much Bubba
feels compelled to cheat. For example:
“Fifth hole….Clinton hits a drive into the trees and takes a
second, practice tee shot. He hits this one short. He hits another
tee shot; this one goes long and far. He drives the cart over to
the trees and takes a drop but hits that ball short. He then plays
three more practice shots from the fringe and ends up playing the
second of his practice shots. He is on the green in 4 but picks up
without putting. On his scorecard he takes a 4 on the hole. It’s a
no-putt 4.”
Clinton ended up “carding” an 82 for the round, but as Van Natta
writes, “it does not feel like he shot an 82, perhaps because he
takes so many swings. Clinton easily hit 200 shots during our
six-hour round.”
Evidently, Clinton’s favorite phrase seems to be “Which is my
first ball?”
Stuff
–Some baseball memorabilia continues to soar, even if the
overall card market has soured big time. For example, back in
1973 you could purchase a Babe Ruth signed ball for $150-$225.
Today, you’d get $12,000-$15,000. A Jackie Robinson ball may
have set you back $50 then…today you’d be pocketing around
40,000. [Source: Smithsonian]
–We note the recent passing of George Bayer at age 77. Bayer
played one season in the NFL as a lineman for the Redskins, but
it was as a golfer that he made his name. A strapping 6’5” and
230 pounds, Bayer didn’t take up the sport until he was 29, but
he developed quickly and made the PGA Tour, winning 3 events
in his career. Bayer is best known, though, as being perhaps the
first to drive a golf ball 300 yards with consistency, and he did
this with wooden shafts and low-tech balls.
[I just double-checked the NFL Encyclopedia and there”s no listing,
but the obituaries all said he played. Wassup with ”dat?]
–Back to NCAA basketball, my buddy Phil W. down in North
Carolina passed along a piece by Gregg Doyel in the Charlotte
Observer concerning Dean Smith and UNC basketball. To wit,
Doyel writes, “Dean Smith is crippling (the program).” Ever
since Smith stepped down he has been pulling one stunt after
another, trying to be the “wizard behind the curtain,” and has
undermined his successors, particularly Matt Doherty. Of course
most other profiles of Mr. Smith are slavish in their praise.
–You may have noticed that the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Randy
Johnson signed a 2-year contract extension that pays him $33
million. Even though this would take him to age 42, after his
past four seasons it’s tough to doubt his ability to be effective
even then. With Arizona, Johnson is 81-27 with 1,417 strikeouts
in 1,030 innings, as dominating a stretch as any in baseball
history.
–Finally, there is the case of the beaver in New Jersey. Did you
know (of course you didn’t, or you have no life like yours truly)
that the beaver population in my state has exploded from 500 to
2,500 in just 6 years?! No wonder housing was booming.
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/27/76: #1 “December, 1963 (Oh,
What A Night)” (The Four Seasons) #2 “Dream Weaver” (Gary
Wright) #3 “Lonely Night (Angel Face)” (Captain & Tennille)
NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four MVP Quiz Answers: 1)
Donald Williams was MVP for UNC in 1993. 2) Miles Simon
for Arizona in ’97. 3) Jeff Sheppard / Kentucky, 1998.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday. *Folks, I know you understand that
some days regular fare may not be quite appropriate given the
tone of the war. I’m doing my best to set the right balance.
