Musings of an Old Sportswriter

On the booing of the U.S. national anthem, Woodson's hissy fit, the Boilers slump and the beauty of the 4 Nations hockey tournament.

I thought the Canadian crowd in Montreal showed great restraint.

Yeah, they booed the American national anthem Saturday night when Canada met the United States in the 4 Nations tournament at the Bell Centre. But it was somewhat muted. Because Canadians are the nicest, most polite people on the planet.

I’ll say something now that won’t be universally popular: I don’t blame them. The Canadian fans, that is. If another country was trying to annex my home and turn it into the 51^st state and engaging in a trade war, how would you react? And honestly, I thought it could have and even should have been much louder.

Imagine if the Canadians were treating us like we’re treating them; you think Americans would be respectful of the Canadian anthem? Hell, no. The boos would have been loud and lusty. We would have gone full-on Ugly American. We’re talking about Canada’s sovereignty here. I mean, if you’re a Canadian citizen, how would you feel?

I can promise you this. When the 4 Nations final is played Thursday night in Boston, the Canadian anthem may get completely drowned out in the TD Garden. Commence the pearl clutching.

How did Canada, one of our greatest friends in the world, get turned into a geopolitical foe? What have they ever done to us, besides give us Howie Mandel? This is so stupid but, then, we live in stupid times. Seriously, do you know how much it takes to piss off a Canadian?

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I’ve been disappointed but not at all surprised at how Mike Woodson has handled his time as a lame duck coach at IU. I’m particularly disappointed that he’s stopped doing pre-game, post-game and weekly radio interviews with the legendary Don Fischer.

First, he’s contractually obligated to do these spots with the long-time Voice of the Hoosiers. But even more, it’s a slight on Fischer, who deserves so much better. During an interview the other day with host Jim Coyle on Indiana Sports Beat, Fischer shared that Woodson wanted to cut the number of weekly shows from 15 to nine. And now he’s not even bothering to do his agreed-upon allotment of shows.

Why? Look, I understand he’s hurt. Of course, he’s hurt. It’s completely understandable. But he’s still the coach, still the voice of the program and he’s still getting paid by the school to do these hits. He’s still cashing the checks, right?

I have no problem with the fact he hasn’t yet addressed his “retirement”; that’s his prerogative, and in his defense, he’s still focusing on getting the Hoosiers over the eternal hump. If he wants to wait until season’s end, that’s cool. He doesn’t owe us in the media a thing.

But blowing off the legendary Fischer, who was here before Woody arrived and will still be here after he leaves, is really poor form and bad optics. Woodson is being small and petty and arrogant. Not a good look for a man who should be handling this so much better.

Speaking of IU…I really like their chances Sunday at home against Purdue. The Boilers have now lost three in a row and to quote the great Mike Vanderjagt, they’re “ripe for the picking.” Clearly, Purdue is the far better team in this matchup, but sometimes it’s not who you play, it’s when you play them. And Sunday seems like a perfect time for IU to pull off the upset.

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So now it turns out that A’ja Wilson not only has her own shoe deal with Nike, but she’s known about it for over two years; she just had to keep it under wraps. Which is interesting, because when Caitlin Clark and Nike came out with Clark’s shoe last year, Wilson stirred the racial pot and aimed the focus on Clark.

“I think a lot of people may say it’s not about black and white, but to me, it is,” Wilson said of Clark’s deal. “It really is because you can be top-notch at what you are as a black woman, but yet maybe that’s something that people don’t want to see.

“They don’t see it as marketable, so it doesn’t matter how hard I work. It doesn’t matter what we all do as black women, we’re still going to be swept underneath the rug. That’s why it boils my blood when people say it’s not about race because it is.”

Well, that boils my blood.

Again, Wilson knew her shoe was in the works for two years, well before Clark ever got her deal done. Wilson knew it had nothing to do with race. Look, race is an important issue, it informs just about everything in our world, but Clark did not deserve to be put in that kind of spot. Wilson owes her an apology. One I’d bet is not forthcoming.

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I did not watch a single minute of the NBA All-Star Weekend, and based on what I’m hearing and reading, it appears I didn’t miss a thing.

There’s got to be some way of putting together a U.S. versus The World sort of game. If you’ve watched any of the 4 Nations hockey competition, you know what I’m talking about. Despite the absence of Russia due to political issues – they attacked the sovereign nation of Ukraine, in case anybody’s lost the plot recently – this is some of the greatest, high-level hockey I’ve seen. I’m not saying the 4 Nations idea is sustainable as an annual event at the hockey All-Star break, but it’s something the NBA needs to consider. What better way to celebrate the growth of the game internationally?

They need to do something.

If they’re not able or willing to put a lot of money on the line for the winners – I mean, a lot -- appeal to their national pride. I can promise you, even Luke Doncic would play hard in that scenario.

“I would love that. Oh, I would love that,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo, who comes from Greece. “I think that would be the most interesting and most exciting format. I would love that. For sure, I'd take pride in that. I always compete, but I think that will give me a little bit more extra juice to compete.”

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The Pacers return to the court this week, and while they’ve turned their season around after that 10-15 start, I’m still mystified by the way Tyrese Haliburton has performed. True, he started terribly and has (somewhat) found his stride in recent months, but he’s still too hit-or-miss from night to night. There are still too many no-shows, too many nights when he drives to the basket and passes instead of finishing at the rim. He’s got to be intentional and aggressive.

If the Pacers are going to go deep in the playoffs, Haliburton has got to play the way he did early last season when he burst onto the scene as one of the league’s great, young players. He’s got the supermax contract now, and he needs to start playing like a supermax player.

Every night.

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It appears the field for the NCAA basketball tournament is going expand sooner rather than later, and while I don’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction to this concept, I, um, hate it. Sixty four teams was perfect. Sixty eight is acceptable, if only to give Dayton a bone. But now they’re talking about 76 or thereabouts, and that’s way too many.

Here’s how I know it’s too much: As poorly as IU has played this season, they still could get back on the bubble if they win a few Quad 1 games down the stretch. If they can somehow beat Purdue, they’ll be in a contending spot for the Tournament. And honestly, they don’t deserve to be. This is not an NCAA Tournament team. But move to 76, you’ll have lots of undeserving teams. And snubbed teams will still bitch.

Of course, money is at the center of all this noise and nonsense. So they will expand. Count on it.