Tom Thinks You're An Idiot

There is a long tradition of athletes talking about themselves in the third person. Ricky Henderson was the one who really pioneered the craze ("This is Rickey calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball.") and Deion Sanders took it to an entire other level when he occasionally referred to himself by his self-given nickname of "Prime Time", making him the first athlete to refer to himself in the fourth person. While I don't think this is a practice that should ever have caught on, I think it's ok as long as you have the resume or personality to pull it off. Henderson was one of the greatest baseball players of all time while Sanders was bombastic enough that people could just shrug and play it off as part of his charm. They could make it work for them.

However, this morning I was reading the paper and saw this quote from Michael Campbell following him finishing tied for DFL at this year's Masters, "I just need to get myself sorted out mentally because it's just not working and Michael Campbell should not be shooting these scores, simple as that." Alright, there are two thing wrong with that statement: 1. Michael Campbell is a golfer. I love golf, but it is not a sport that lends itself to referring to oneself in the third person. 2. He's pretty much only known for winning the U.S. Open in 2005, which was his only PGA Tour win and a victory that is now widely considered to be a fluke. He hasn't won another tournament since that year and hasn't even had a top-20 finish in any major since his 2005 win. So, as it turns out, those are exactly the kind of scores he should be shooting. Perhaps Michael Campbell should just be happy that he got to play in this year's Masters, because his exemptions run out after this year and he is unlikely to be back anytime soon.

-So, Butler University, the darlings of this year's NCAA tournament after a deep run to the championship game, rewarded Brad Stevens, their fresh-faced coach, with a new 12-year contract extension. This is a nothing new. Colleges and universities give coaches big extensions following good seasons all the time and I understand that Butler is just trying to send the message to other universities that may be in need of a coach to back off, because Stevens isn't going anywhere. But, a 12-year contract seems excessive because, let's be honest, all it really means is that Stevens isn't going anywhere for next season. Anything beyond that is up for grabs. Let's just say following the 2011 season Bill Self decides he wants to try his hand at the NBA and the University of Kansas sets their sights (and considerable athletic budget) on Brad Stevens. Do you honestly think he would stay at Butler? Of course not. I'm sure Butler is a great school, but they are not the Jayhawks. That 12-year extension isn't really worth the paper it's printed on. All this will really do is make Stevens pay more money if he ever wants to buy out his contract. The NCAA spends most of their time coming up with rules that don't help anyone, perhaps a limit on how long a coach's extension should be are in order.