Published: April 11, 2008 12:32 am            

Self a man for all seasons, not just basketball season

Bah humbug, Barack.

Hooey on Hillary.

And John McCain ... he can pack it in to an assisted living home.

Bill Self for president of the United States!

I am going to write in Bill Self for president of the United States on my ballot this Nov. 4.

Self is, of course, the head coach of the KU Jayhawks men’s basketball team which won a mind-blowing NCAA national championship game against the University of Memphis on Monday night.

Wow.

Wow.

One more time, for good measure —Wow.

The Kansas versus Memphis game on Monday will be one for the ages. ESPN will be replaying highlights from this game – particularly the 3-point swisher by Mario Chalmers with 2.1 second left in the game – for as long as ESPN exists as a broadcasting medium.

The Kansas Jayhawks have magnificent individual basketball talent on their 2007-08 team (like all five starters and three to four deep on the bench), but the University of Kansas’ National Championship in men’s basketball this week is directly attributable to the masterful coaching of Self.

There were no first-third team all-Americans on the KU Jayhawks basketball squad this season. Self trained his players to be team players, to be selfless and to work as a cohesive unit. Though Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers, perhaps also Darnell Jackson and Russell Robinson, probably possess the talent to be all-American, they were coached and led so well by Self, they learned to make their egos subordinate to winning and to teamwork.

Barack Obama claims to be the “unity” presidential candidate – the lone candidate who can “unite” America’s disparate ethnic and socio-economic groups. But many white Americans fear Obama is secretly out to get them and may harbor “Kill Whitey” tendencies inside his heart and mind. It should be noted, however, Obama is half white and probably doesn’t want half of himself killed because of injustices done to some blacks in America, mostly a century-and-a-half ago.

Hillary is very experienced and as intellectually brilliant as her life mate, Bill. But Hillary appears to many people as too much the same-old, same-old in American politics, and Hillary is such a gigantic self-promoter and professional politician (read: faker). I think many Americans are tired of these types of egotistical leaders.

What to say about John McCain? McCain admittedly doesn’t know much about economics, and we possibly are in the beginning phase of a national economic recession. With all the money Self will be making after his triumphant win on Monday, Self has as much interest as any other American in the economy improving dramatically: Who wants to invest their wealth in a financial enterprise that doesn’t return interest and dividends and grow in worth?

McCain’s strengths, he claims, are in international diplomatic and military affairs. It doesn’t take a person with a doctorate in economics to conclude a 100-year American occupation of Iraq will hurt, not help, the chances of a booming U.S. economy.

It’s outstandingly wonderful news for all KU Jayhawks fans worldwide that Self agreed yesterday to stay at Kansas. Self reportedly signed a reworked contract extension which could more than double his current annual salary of $1.375 million per year.

Self is a very classy guy, and a terrific mentor of young basketball players. All the collegiate programs he has head-coached — Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois and Kansas — have turned into dominate champion programs. In the case of the KU basketball team, which Self inherited from a great coach (Roy Williams), Self in short shrift has made the men’s basketball program much better than the shape in which Roy Williams left it. As a collegiate head basketball coach, Self has the Midas touch. Soon, the University of Kansas administration and boosters will place more gold in Self’s pockets than he will know what to do with.

The Jayhawks basketball players demonstrated — all season — discipline, character and consistency. Self deserves much of the credit for the consistent positive team performance by his Jayhawks players.

Like I said, Self for President in 2008. Not really. But you get the point.



Kinamon is online/special projects editor of the News and Eagle. You may reach him at davidk@enidnews.com