Hmmm

...I saw this little nugget in today's Washington Post:

Temple Coach John Chaney suspended himself for one game and apologized for putting a player in against Saint Joseph's for the sole purpose of rough play and quick fouls.

..."I would like to apologize to Saint Joseph's University, its fans, student-athletes and head coach Phil Martelli for my reprehensible behavior during Tuesday night's game," Chaney said in a statement. "I spoke with Coach Martelli today to voice my apology to him and his team."

Sending in goons to rough up the opposition sounds awfully familar, but I don't remember any other coaches offering up an apology for similiar behavior. Now a suspension may be a bit much, but at least Chaney has the decency to admit that maybe it wasn't in the spirit of the rules to send in Temple's version of hack-a-shaq to make a point (of course Chaney didn't send in a 6-foot 190 lb. walk-on to do the dirty work either; he turned to Nehemiah Ingram, who runs 6-8, 250 lb). Now if we can only get Ingram and Davidson to compete in a goon-off, we can put all this silliness behind us.

...OK, now this is wrong (but in a really funny way).

...Alright, in all fairness to Duke, I think it only prudent to also mention this story in today's New York Times. For as much grief as I give Duke and Coach K, I guess it's also important to point out the good stuff too. Specifically, it looks like Krzyzewski, in addition to being a good coach, is also a good person (oh it pains me to type these words). In fact, Bob Brown is one of his former Army players who's currently a Colonel serving in Iraq. He cites a lot of what he learned under Krzyzewski as being applicable to his current job: namely leading 8,000 troops.

Brown is in charge of 8,000 troops in the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, known as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team. And as he leads his troops in Iraq, Brown said, he uses the tenets of leadership and teamwork that Krzyzewski helped instill at West Point.

"It was that type of discipline that he demanded," Brown said. "Even if you hit a game-winning shot."

OK, I grudgingly admit that Krzyzewski isn't a cult leader, and does seem to positively impact the lives of his players (at least those not interested in an NBA career), but I'm still waiting for the Chaney-esque apology (and as long as we're apologizing, I think Matt Doherty is long overdue one from Johnny Dawkins after Dawkins left him hanging back in 2001; you remember, it was right after Chris Collins and Doherty almost came to blows in what would later be known as Nerd-Off I: Battle of the Ages).