Terry Foster: Is Lying A Teachable Moment?
By: Terry Foster
@TerryFoster971
A Duke fan called our show last week that I would love to call out. But of course he won't likely call back.
He insisted that Mike and I were wrong to chastise Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski who was caught in a lie on national television. This guy said there was no evidence that Coach K lied about a regrettable incident where he called University of Oregon player Dillon Brooks a liar.
Now it is clear we were right all along and I am sure this fan boy will disappear into the wilderness.
Coach K lied. The high definition televisions, boom microphones and the Internet caught him in the fib.
He finally apologized, which I applaud. Brooks, at the instruction of his coach Dana Altman, launched a three-point shot before the shot clock expired putting an exclamation point to the Ducks 79-68 victory that sent them to the Elite Eight.
Afterwards Krzyzewski told Brooks in the handshake line: "You're too good of a player to do that. You're too good of a player."
It was caught on cameras.
Brooks apologized and retold the incident to reporters afterwards. The kid did the right thing after doing the wrong thing.
"He just told me that I'm too good of a player to be showing out at the end," Brooks said. "And he's right. I've got to respect Duke."
When asked about it during his post-game press conference Coach K angrily denied the conversation with Brooks, in essence saying the kid was a liar. It was obvious that Krzyzewski scolded Brooks which is a no-no in sports.
We all saw and heard it.
That is Altman's job, something he could not do because he gave Brooks the green light. Coach K should have scolded Altman who is the coach or the official who did not call traveling on Brooks after he took three steps to shoot the three. The shot never should have counted but the official was already making dinner plans that night and had checked out of the game.
Here is the Krzyzewski statement:
"Today, I spoke with Oregon head coach Dana Altman and apologized to him for my remarks to Dillon Brooks following our game. It is not my place to talk to another team's player and doing so took the focus away from the terrific game that Dillon played. In the post game press conference, I reacted incorrectly to a reporter's question about my comment to Dillon. Clearly, the story that night was about Oregon advancing to the Elite Eight, and the outstanding game they played. I sincerely hope I did not create a distraction for Coach Altman and his team at this critical time of year. Certainly, I have the utmost respect for the Oregon program and their tremendous accomplishments."
The Inside the NBA crew headed by Kenny Smith were embarrassing also. They called Coach K's involvement before the apology "a teachable moment" at least 10 times during a three minute segment. Lying is a teachable moment?
They bent over backwards to defend Krzyzewski, who deserved their scorn. Of course that was not coming. You do not dare lay a finger on Krzyzewski, who is an icon in amateur basketball.
I love how coaches try to deny things that happen on the court and ball fields. Don't they realize that their every movement is recorded by dozens of cameras and mics in this gotcha world?
Coach K overstepped his bounds and only apologized after getting caught red handed.
Sometimes you wonder how many tall tales high profile coaches have told over the years when the cameras were not on them.
(Foster can be reached at Terry.Foster@cbsradio.com)