Patrice Altine. Jared Zwerling. The black John Stockon. The white Michael Redd. Longtime friends and basketball teammates, dropping sports knowledge and schooling each other on and off the court since ‘96. Different backgrounds, different perspectives — but both rise and rest to SportsCenter. PA sweating in Miami, JZ freezing in Manhattan — but both itching to talk sports. Now, they have brought their unique collaboration to a bigger stage. This is M2M (Miami 2 Manhattan) Sports and everyone’s encouraged to jump in and sound off. The conversation ends with you.

In this week’s installment, PA and JZ share their top three most difficult positions to play in sports.

JZ: Let’s crack it open like this: As I’ve been watching the NFL this season and thinking about the complex role of the quarterback, it got me thinking, What are the most difficult positions to play in sports?, as far as those where you’re asked to do a lot, there’s more attention and pressure on you, and you’re very influential in dictating a win or a loss. So with that said, PA, what do you think are the most difficult positions to play, starting with your number three?

PA: My number three is an NFL offensive lineman. There are several reasons why. One, they have a huge responsibility in creating holes and protecting the QB. Two, they are obligated to play at clinically obese and unhealthy weights. And three, as important as they are, they do not get a quarter of the recognition they completely deserve.

JZ: It’s ironic that when you speak of obesity, which relates to food, their only real stat is a pancake [laughs].

PA: [laughs] Yeah, you can just hear the announcer’s voice, “Big pancake block by Orlando Pace! He’s an animal” [laughs]!

JZ: You’re definitely right. They hardly ever show up in the box score and their salaries are lower than other positions. But when it comes down to draft time, OL’s are top priority. Every team knows that!

PA: Yeah, it’s almost like what they do is intangible and barely quantifiable. But without protection, you don’t have an offense.

JZ: Another intangible about offensive linemen, which makes them so special, is they have the best beards in the NFL. These guys are literally woolly mammoths [laughs].

PA: [laughs] You’re a mess, J. So, what’s your number three?

JZ: A MLB closer. They’re entering games that have already been close and competitive, and they have to conserve their team’s lead without having even played yet. It’s a very pressure-filled situation to finish a game that’s already been battle-tested for eight innings. And forget about getting away with a few bad pitches like a starter. You’ve got to be perfect. Everyone knows the importance of a closer to build a championship-caliber team. Just look at the Yankees.

PA: I completely agree, perfect example. Mo Rivera has been the shut-door guy forever for the Bombers. Closers have tremendous pressure, and they can either save a team or destroy it. Just look at Brad Lidge versus Albert Pujols in the 2005 playoffs, when Phat Al hit a moonshot off Lidge that so damaged his confidence, it almost ended his career. It was an Internet classic!

JZ: I can’t imagine what that long jog must feel like from the bullpen to the mound in the last inning of the game. It’s got to be an unbelievable mix of nervous energy. The spotlight’s all on them.

PA: Seriously, in front of thousands, especially if it’s to close out a tight game that has significance. The best closers relish that situation.

JZ: So PA, what’s your number two?

PA: Sticking with the baseball theme, my number two is a baseball catcher. Although I could pick several other deserving positions, a catcher is a difficult one because of the layers of the job. One, they have to read the batter and choose pitches. Two, they have to play great defense and pick off runners. Three, they have to be good hitters. And four, they have to squat in a position that will physically wear them down over the course of their careers quicker than other players.

JZ: To your point about reading batters and pitchers, they have to call audibles like a quarterback, especially when there are base runners. What’s also interesting to me is that a lot of MLB managers are former catchers, and to me that says a lot about what the position demands.

PA: Absolutely, the catcher is the coach on the field.

JZ: They have to squat half the game and then hit half the game. That’s got to be pretty challenging.

PA: Yeah, after about 10 years, most change positions to lessen the strain.

JZ: Like offensive linemen, here’s another position that’s underpaid. Wow, we’re seeing an interesting common theme here — difficult position players not getting paid very well [laughs].

PA: Well, in both cases there are a lot of variables (team, market, budget, tenure, history, etc.), but on average, yes, these positions get paid less by comparison. So, J, what’s your number two?

JZ: A goalie for a soccer national team. First of all, they have a lot of space to cover with that big goal behind them. And they really have to be aware of what’s going on when the ball is near because players crowd around the goal, obscuring vision. Also, I don’t know if there’s anything harder in sports to stop a penalty kick from going in. My last point, and the most important, is when you’re the last line of defense and you don’t just have the fans at the game behind you, but your entire country rooting for you, that’s a boatload of pressure unlike any other. This reason alone made me consider the position number one. Let’s just say there’s a lot at stake being a goalie [laughs].

PA: International soccer is the world’s biggest sport and the fans take it sometimes too seriously abroad. Goalies can be the biggest hero or the biggest goat. I can’t imagine being a losing goalie in a stadium with 100,000 people cursing at me [laughs]. Being a goalie on any level is very tough. Like most things in life, to get a chance to play against the best, you have to prove yourself. So if you are ready, you should get that shot. But readiness probably doesn’t prepare you for the overall experience in international soccer competition, though. I would bet anything they are still scared to death when they come out to play.

JZ: The most obsessive fan violence you see in the states is usually bar and stadium fights, but in foreign countries you see rioting, stabbings and shootings — even targeting the players themselves. Remember the Colombian soccer player who was killed in 1994 after scoring on his own goal? It’s a much more hostile environment overseas because of the extreme nationalism in sports competition, which you don’t really see in the states.

PA: Yeah definitely, it starts when they’re kids. American fans are passionate, but you don’t see that kind of overseas violence level here.

JZ: Exactly, to a lesser degree. Our misery seems to stem from rowdy drunkenness; theirs from extreme pride.

PA: So, drum roll please, what is your number one toughest position in all of sports?

JZ: An NFL quarterback. A few reasons: One, he has to get 10 other guys on the same page with him to run a play in a very loud stadium. Two, once he’s at the line of scrimmage, he has to quickly read the defense and call an audible if he needs to make an adjustment. Three, he’s going against basically 11 players on defense because all 11 of them are watching what the QB is doing before the play and during the play. And four, once he hikes the ball, he’s got to be able to read the entire field and make split-second decisions with defenders coming at him every which way at blazing speeds, including 300-pound linemen. From a pure position standpoint, there is so much he has to do.

PA: Wow, J, you might know something about sports [laughs]. I also chose the NFL QB for all the reasons you just said, but more specifically, an NFL QB has to be smart and confident, and have a good arm, the ability to read defenses, lead other players, stay in shape, etc. — not to mention learn 100- to 200-page playbooks. Also, they are the face of the team and will be — justly or unjustly — blamed for the good and the bad experiences his team goes through.

JZ: Don’t forget QB draft prospects have to take a test, the Wonderlic, like a job applicant. How many other positions can you say have to do that [laughs]?

PA: [laughs] It’s a very cerebral position. NFL play schemes are very complex and a QB has to understand them all. You can’t be a GED dunce and play QB, unless you might be Akili Smith or an alien athlete like backup Mike Vick. Not only do you have to understand the play schemes, but you have to be able to adjust to them at a moment’s notice and, most importantly, carry them out.

JZ: Peyton Manning is the consummate example of a great QB. Speaking of adjustments, I remember before the 2006 Super Bowl in Miami, he practiced wet-ball snaps to prepare for a rainy game because he knew how Miami weather can get. Now that’s preparation. And what happened? The Colts won. Being a great NFL quarterback requires the most pregame study.

PA: The huge amount of can’t-miss QB busts speaks volumes to our assessment: Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Eric Crouch, etc. Peyton is my favorite player. He’s the best QB currently and one of the best of all time. The work he puts in, plus his precision, sets him apart from the rest. You need to be the total package to do well as an NFL QB, and by well I don’t mean Jake Delhomme [laughs].

JZ: And you don’t mean Chad Pennington either [laughs]. The Dolphins, and the Canes for that matter, are not looking so hot. So, PA, what’s your honorable mention for toughest position?

PA: The NBA point guard. I love and respect CP3 and Deron Williams because in addition to running their team, making sound decisions and playing tight defense, they know when it is appropriate to take over scoring-wise. The best ones are usually prodigious talents early on. It takes a lot of responsibility to run a team of grown men.

JZ: I hadn’t considered any NBA position in this discussion for this reason: Because today’s NBA style of play is more of a running game than a halfcourt game, players can fill the court differently and there’s not as much emphasis on the specific 1 through 5 positions. Therefore, the role of the PG is not so defined. Nowadays, a shooting guard or even a small forward can get the fastbreak going. I just don’t think there’s as much emphasis on certain positions. Also, you don’t need a great point guard to win. For example, Derek Fisher of the Lakers isn’t exemplary. But I’m not discounting the point guard talent in the league today, from Paul to Williams to Tony Parker to many others.

PA: I disagree. Derek Fisher starts over Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar for precisely some of the reasons I mentioned: knowing the system, adapting to players, sharp decision making, timely shooting and great defense. There still are several elite pure points: CP3, D-Will, Tony Parker, Chauncey, Derrick Rose, etc. What’s your honorable mention, J?

JZ: My honorable mention is an NFL defensive back. Talk about the pressure of being on the unpredictable end of the only true one-on-one situation in the NFL. They have to basically start running backwards while reading the QB and the receiver at the same time, and then switch directions on the fly to make a play. They can either come up with a huge game-changing play or get posterized so to speak.

PA: Good pick, tough job. Over the past 15 years, there have only been a handful of elite DB’s: Deion, Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey, etc. Yes, you sure can get bombed on, but if you have your game tight, you can be like Nnamdi Asomugha from Oakland. He’s the highest paid defensive back in NFL history, and teams hardly throw to his side.

JZ: I wish when we watched football on TV, we could see these one-on-one matchups develop between the receiver and DB. Unfortunately, the camera angle is glued to the line of scrimmage and we only get to see the matchup unfold in instant replay. But if you go to a game, they’re fun to watch — from the action to the trash talking [laughs].

PA: They sure are. One-on-one proves your mettle.

JZ: Well, that wraps up another edition of M2M Sports. And it’s already 1 in the morning. PA will now head to the refrigerator to scarf down a few servings of chocolate pudding and JZ will play Sudoku on his BlackBerry [laughs]. Good night, everyone.

Photo credit: Fanpop.com

Occasionally, there are things in sports that frustrate me, but it’s rare for something to infuriate me. The Michael Crabtree situation is one of them. The 49ers rookie has decided to sit on $20 million, and now he plans to hold out this season and may re-enter the 2010 draft.

In response to Michael Vick’s return to the NFL, the reaction was that it’s a privilege to play with the big boys and he’s got to earn his spot back. Crabtree may have been a stud in college, but in the NFL he’s a nobody. There’s no question that among league circles, Crabtree is viewed as a punk, clown and idiot — even if players will never address it publicly. Do you realize what his decision represents, even if it was partly influenced by his overbearing agent and advisors? Sports are losing fans facing lower discretionary income due to layoffs or paycuts at work, and then Crabtree comes along and sets a terrible example in terrible times. He thinks $20 million is too little because it’s not in the same ballpark as the other draft picks’ contracts. Well, cry me a river. It’s simply inconceivable to me that he won’t even play this season.

Now, what do you think all this says about Crabtree? More importantly, the NFL should institute a prefixed salary amount for each draft pick, just like it’s done in the NBA. Nevertheless, Crabtree should step out of the pocket, be a man and speak up for himself, take the $20 million and then take some hits on the field. Like I said, earn it! You better believe that whenever Crabtree steps on to the field, every defensive back in the league will be coming after him. He’ll feel like King Leonidas in the movie 300.

Not everyone’s happy with Mikhail Prokhorov’s decision to buy a majority stake in the New Jersey Nets. Russia’s richest man, with a net worth estimated around $9.5 billion, will assume 80% of the Nets, including land around the proposed Barclays Center complex in Brooklyn. The NBA is ecstatic because the move should increase the viability of the league internationally, especially with wealthy investors.

But, according to the Sports Business Daily, some Russian legislators are calling Prokhorov’s investment a blow to the nation’s sports. Aslambek Aslakhanov, an advisor to Russia President Vladamir Putin and a member of the upper parliament chamber’s sports committee, said, “I can’t consider this action as anything other than unpatriotic.” Russian parliament members contend that the “hundreds of millions of dollars could have been spent better in Russia.” Legislator Viktor Ozerov said that Prokhorov is “sending his money in the wrong direction.” Ozerov: “I don’t deny that Mikhail Prokhorov has put money into developing sports in Russia, but I would have liked all the means he considered possible to have gone to specifically supporting sports in the fatherland.”

I’m not in favor with this overall reaction. Referencing a “Short Shot” I wrote a few days ago, Prokhorov’s decision represents what the world needs more of: interdependence. The NBA is a domestic league, but it has global outreach — that’s the significance. Their partnership will stimulate international investing, advertising, global fan interest, tourism to and from Russia and raise the profile of Europe and the world. I don’t see how the Russian legislators can be blindsided by that. And with America hurting right now, Prokhorov is a positive symbol for international relations. The bigger question is: With all that money he’s got, do you think he could pour $5 billion into the global economy and help develop a universal health care plan for everyone? That’s what the world really needs.

Photo credit: Courtesy of English.pravda.ru

The LeBron James videotape saga was the icing on the cake. But not in a positive sense. What I’m about to say may confuse you, but what occurred made me very confused — and completely fed up. Here goes: A meaningless incident was made into a meaningless story due to meaningless actions, which then created meaningless attention and then even more meaningless attention when everyone realized it was meaningless to begin with. In other words, a dunk that was recorded in a half-assed summer camp PICK-UP game was COVERED by the media because Nike (or LeBron) CONFISCATED the tape (based on media guidelines that no pickup games can be filmed … whatever), which then caused Internet HYSTERIA because everyone wanted to see the footage, which ended up being WACK and caused everyone to lose interest in something that NEVER should have received interest in the first place.

Uh, I’m out of breath. But that’s really because I’ve been finally suffocated by the increasing amount of meaningless media air-time. Unless you’ve been hiding out in an underground cave somewhere preparing for the end of the world (because some elements of the media are currently fusing together to form a technological meteor), you know there’s been an eHarmony match between social media and celebrity culture. And it’s getting out of hand. There are three main things going on in the process: Social media sites keep popping up asking the question, “What are you doing right now?” (first), encouraging celebrities — who, by default, are trendsetters because of their fame — to post “newsy” items but are really meaningless postings of poop (second), and inspiring many young Americans to follow their antics and write their own meaningless postings of poop (third).

Unfortunately, sites like Twitter and Facebook, which have extremely functional mobile capabilities, have given people who think like a kindergartner easy access to become a self-publisher and disclose things you’d hear in a children’s playground. For instance, on July 24 at 2 p.m., Twitter user langwhitaker, who happens to be a well-known writer for SLAM magazine, posted, “http://twitpic.com/bgqo9 - How did I miss this Kobe headline?” When you click the link, it shows you a headline from a Yahoo! Sports page that says, “Kobe advises Taiwan’s Wang to be patient.” This is the kind of foolishness I’m talking about — it’s scary to think established writers are playing along — which is packing in herds on my computer screen like oxen on the Oregon Trail.

Even very respected and traditional media companies, like CNN, are succumbing to this social media pressure with the mentality, Hey, if non-brainy ramblings drive traffic, why not feature them? (On a side note, whenever I question something that someone is doing these days, I think to myself, Oh yeah, I forgot, we’re in a recession. Some people are desperate to do anything to please advertisers.) If you remember several months ago, Larry King invited Ashton Kutcher to come on his show to discuss — nope, not a new movie — his challenge with CNN to see who would get to one million Twitter followers first. Duh, who do you think won?

The power of celebrity combined with new social media platforms, especially micro-blogging sites like Twitter, have really clogged the Internet airwaves. When Michael Jackson died, Twitter collapsed like a lung. Mind you, M.J. was arguably the most famous person on the planet. But the web dug too deeply to reveal secrets about his private life — some we had no business knowing — and even ridiculous debates started, like “Is his body really in the casket during the televised memorial?” or “Should he be buried at Neverland Ranch or Forest Lawn Cemetery?” (If you really care, most people said Neverland Ranch.)

We live in a world now where this is news. And being in-the-know of all this useless content has become addictive. I know because I realize my reading habits have changed, and not for the better. If you know me, you know that I’ve been talking for a few months now about doing something about it, but I feel like I’m becoming more and more involved with social media. I read more TMZ-like blogs and keep adding athletes to my Twitter follower list. I’m not obsessed, but I’m engaged because I know there are some people and brands using social media in positive ways. All in all, what I know is this: I need to find a better balance in my content life. I have been a New York Times subscriber since I graduated from college in 2004, but recently you can’t find an open space on my living room table. Papers I keep meaning to read keep stacking up like chips at the World Series of Poker. Sometimes I feel like I’m a 90-year-old in a 27-year-old body, but I find tremendous value in edgy, intellectual and human-interest stories.

I was watching a replay of the ESPY’s a few nights ago, and an incredible story was told (by President Obama) about Nelson Mandela who won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. The former South African president was chosen for his actions at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was hosted by South Africa for the first time. After the host national team, the Springboks, won the final, Mandela presented the William Webb Ellis Cup to South African captain Francois Pienaar. The gesture was considered a major step in the reconciliation of white and black South Africans. This is the world I want to know I live in and want to be a part of. There is a lot of good going on out there, but a lot of it is under-reported, especially on the most popular websites. They’d prefer to focus on fluff and negativity. That’s one of the reasons I started SportzUndercover.com — to weave around the nonsensical clutter and banter. I wonder if there’s really a market for intelligent content anymore.

What is really the most important point to my rant is this: We must steer our youth in the right direction to read the most enriching content, so their lives are positive and successful. Especially now, with the hobbling state of the union, we need to go back to basics. Of course, there is a time and a place for social networking (did I mention Facebook is great for keeping in touch with friends?), but simple mental stimulation like learning, analyzing and discussing with peers should be encouraged. Nowadays, communication has taken on a robotic form. From web surfing to texting, we’ve become brief, quick-tempered and show less sustained emotion. New technology is a quick fix, but will it stand the test of time? For now, while we’re cleaning up the doping on the field, off it we must clean up the dopiness.

Photo credit: Associated Press

Excerpts of this interview will appear in the official program guide for the ESPN RISE Games, a weeklong, multi-sport event featuring the best high school players in the country. It will be nationally televised on ESPNU in July.

A back injury at the University of Michigan may have stunted Melissa “Skeeter” Gentile’s playing career in 2000, but she quickly bounced back – as a coach. While recovering from surgery, she became a student-assistant at UM, and within six years after graduation she rose from assistant coach at two colleges to head coach at Division 1 Jacksonville University. Now, the former U.S. National Softball Team standout is the director and head instructor at The Fastpitch Learning Academy. I caught up with Gentile to discuss high school softball and what’s in store for the future of the game.

Q: What was your experience like in high school?
A: It was great. I came from a small town, so small town to the University of Michigan was quite a shock. But I think that gives me a unique perspective to prepare some of the kids that I work with to go on to college, what to expect and things like that. You’ve got to grow up pretty quickly when you’re away from home.

Q: What was the best piece of advice you received when you were younger?
A: Everybody when I was growing up used to talk about how much potential I had. I used to think that was so cool. So one of my coaches said, “You know what potential means, don’t ya?” I said, “No what?” And she said, “Potential just means you’re not good yet.” I said, “Okay, that’s a good way of looking at it.” So from then on, it motivated me every time I heard, “You have so much potential.” In my head, I knew I wasn’t there yet and I had to keep working. It put things into perspective.

Q: How would you compare the athletes you played against in high school to the ones you coach today?
A: I think players have changed just like kids overall in society have changed. It’s a little different generation. I think the preparation and the work that goes in is different, but I think that’s because of society as a whole. What I’ve found with softball players is how early they’re specializing. When I was growing up and coming through the recruiting system, it was not uncommon at all for athletes to play multiple sports. I think coaches kind of appreciated that – well-rounded athletes who had overall athleticism as well as softball skills. What I find a lot today with the athletes that we see across the country is that they specialize really early. By 10 and under, they are only playing one sport. Now, these kids have strength coaches, speed coaches, hitting coaches, pitching coaches and catching coaches. They have a coach for everything. That’s definitely a big difference from when I started playing and now that I’ve been training them.

Q: With the recession that we’re in, do you think skills camps are hurting more because they tend to charge a higher rate for specialized services?
A: Yes, absolutely. I don’t know many industries, including the sports industry, that isn’t feeling it to some degree. I think the smart business people have made adjustments. We’ve made adjustments in the programs that we offer and the pricing structure that we offer. It’s not uncommon to have a kid to come in for a lesson and tell you that his mom or dad just lost a job, and they’re not going to be able to come in twice a week now. Now they’re going to have to come in every other week. I think as times have changed, you just have to adjust with it. I think that’s what the successful academies are doing, and they will make it through during this time. But there are certainly a lot of academies that are going under right now. A lot of people look at that specialized training as an extra. You’ve got to pay your mortgage, you’ve got to pay your gas, you’ve got to pay your insurance, but you don’t have to have a softball lesson for your kid.

Q: But for parents to get away from their workplace or the struggles they’re facing and to see their kid play sports is such a great satisfaction.
A: Absolutely. The parents are investing — it might not be to the degree that they were able to invest before — but they’re still investing in their kid for the satisfaction and the confidence that they build through softball. I just got a text message from a mom of a kid I’ve been working with. She said, “We had a great weekend. She’s hitting and coming out of a slump. She’s all smiles. I haven’t seen her smile like this in weeks.” That’s why parents find a way to still put their kid through lessons.

Q: How do you look to make an impression as a coach when you work with the players?
A: I think the impression that I want the kids to leave with is really two-fold. One, to just leave everything on the field, energy-wise, with your heart. When you walk off that field, you can never have any regrets, whether it was a great outcome or a poor outcome. You can never have regrets because you know you put everything into it. The second thing is just to take any experience and just enjoy it. Sometimes you get caught up in so many ancillary things that you forget to just take a step back and realize, “Wow, this is a pretty cool moment in my life.”

Q: Obviously softball is no longer an Olympic sport, but it’s one of the fastest growing sports in the country. What do you contribute this success to?
A: Well, I think the growth has a lot to do with how exciting our game is. I don’t know if you were able to see any of the College World Series this year, but I would say this last year was the most entertaining sporting event that I have seen in a long time. You had so many dramatic, heroic, come-from-behind moments this year that it really drew you in even if you didn’t know anything about the sport. You know with bases loaded, down by three runs, two outs and two strikes on the batter and the kid hits a grand slam, you can relate to that and just see the excitement. I think that’s why the sport’s grown and getting more TV coverage and getting more press time. People are exposed to it, and once you’re exposed to it, most people are hooked. It’s a fun game to watch and be around because it’s so quick and exciting.

Q: What impact have companies, most notably Under Armour, had to softball’s growth? They are introducing new apparel and technology to the sport and advertising it more. Do you think they’re proving there’s a coolness to the sport?
A: Absolutely. When power companies like Under Armour associate themselves with the fast-pitch game, it just goes to show that the sport does hold a lot of power. There is a lot of opportunity within the sport. Under Armour is definitely always on the cutting edge of apparel and things like that, so having a brand like that attach themselves and create some of these really cool opportunities for kids, like the Under Armour All-America game, goes a long way to just show the average person that doesn’t know anything about our sport how great it is and how powerful it is. It’s a very marketable sport because it’s so damn exciting and it’s such a quick game. It’s not like you have to sit three or four hours to watch one game. Once you watch it once, you’re hooked and you want to see it again. The game just has good energy – from the kids to the fans to the coaches. I think everybody involved in the sport is so passionate. The sport has to grow with that much energy and passion behind it.

Q: If you were the commissioner of the entire softball federation, what would you do to help the sport grow even more?
A: I think our softball community as a whole is on the right track because we have two of the best spokespeople I think for our sport in Michele Smith and Jessica Mendoza. Those are the two who are kind of leading the charge, along with all of the officials, to bring softball back to the Olympics. They’re making the pitch to bring softball back. It’s a daily grind right now, but they’re constantly working on it. I can say, from personal experience, I wouldn’t want anybody else other than those two to lead this charge. I really think they’re on the right track. But it will take more people getting involved, getting the information about softball out there, getting people to the websites to support softball and bring it back. It’s about letting people hear your voice. I think it’s like a presidential race – you want to be heard.

Photo credit: Jacksonville Athletic Communications

Here are two recent interviews I did, which are featured in ESPN Rise magazine’s Summer Issue. Click the titles below to check them out.

• “Flashback with Eli Manning”
• “Chillin’ with Wale”

Excerpts of this interview will appear in the official program guide for the ESPN RISE Games, a weeklong, multi-sport event featuring the best high school players in the country. It will be nationally televised on ESPNU in July.

Rashard Mendenhall plays the clarinet and saxophone, dances and writes poetry. And oh, by the way, he’s a running back for the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. I caught up with Mendenhall, who will be a second-year pro this season, to talk about his high school playing days and life in the NFL.

Q: Looking back on your experiences growing up, what advice would you give to younger players?
A: One of the more important things is decision-making. A lot of guys have that talent, but college is where a lot of people decide where they’re going to be, who they’re going to hang out with and things they’re going to do. Also, understanding the game helps you so much more. The best athletes in the NFL are the guys coming in – they’re young, have fresh legs – but the veterans know and understand the game. Things happen in their head way faster. As far as running the ball, don’t break your stride – even when you’re making moves or when you’re trying to get to a hole. One of my coaches would always tell me that, and when I got older I understood what he meant.

Q: Can you recollect a moment when you were younger playing football that made you realize you were on to something special?
A: I was in sixth grade and I got a toss from like the 15-yard line. And nobody blocked anybody. But I made seven of the other team’s guys all miss me. It was a series of jukes. Everybody was like, “Wow, he’s going to be the next Barry Sanders.” That’s when I knew I was real talented.

Q: What were the deciding factors for you about choosing Illinois?
A: I went there with my brother, Walter, because we wanted to go to the same school. It felt like the right fit. It had the perfect balance between football and school. We liked the program and the campus, and it was close enough to home but not too far away. For me, it felt right on all aspects.

Q: How would you sum up your first year in the NFL?
A: I feel like I learned a lot going through the season and getting to the Super Bowl. I’m a lot more prepared going into this year. Being through it one time, I kind of know what to expect. I’m not running around like a lost puppy anymore.

Q: What surprised you about life in the NFL?
A: It’s a lot like college, but just on a grand scale. When you walk around campus, people know you and they’ll let you into places and stuff like that. It’s just like college, but nationwide.

Q: In your road to recovery from a shoulder injury, how are you approaching this offseason differently to prepare for next season?
A: Nothing too different. I was going through the rehab process, getting my shoulder back and all the motion and strengthening it back up. Now, I’m not feeling anything in my shoulder, so I’m back on a normal schedule, getting prepared for training camp and working on speed, explosion and those kinds of things.

Photo credit: Associated Press

Excerpts of this interview will appear in the official program guide for the ESPN RISE Games, a weeklong, multi-sport event featuring the best high school players in the country. It will be nationally televised on ESPNU in July.

Former Dukie and Chicago Bull point guard Jay Williams may be better known as a coulda-been, but his career-ending motorcycle accident didn’t leave him in the dark. When he was younger, he learned the importance of networking and building relationships, and now, in addition to his work for ESPN, he’s a motivational speaker and involved with several business ventures. He has his sights set on becoming a president for an NBA franchise. I caught up with Jay to discuss his AAU basketball experiences growing up, how he prepared himself for life after basketball and his thoughts on the evolution of high school hoops.

Q: Looking back on your experiences, what insights do you share with younger players when you meet with them?
A: For me in particular, I wasn’t always the most acclaimed high school player. I really didn’t get any national awareness really until my junior year – not even just national awareness, state awareness too. I mean, my freshman and sophomore year I didn’t even get invited to the ABCD camp. So it’s always about having the will and the passion to always fight, always work hard – even for the guys who are considered to be top of their class. It’s just knowing that people put these standards on you, but you still have to work. Nothing’s ever just given to you. There are always going to be guys out there like me or guys different than me who are working hard and want to be the best. You can’t turn that switch on, not only on the court. I think the most important thing for each kid is that they take advantage of the stuff that they’re going to be offered off the court. Kids should take advantage of the situation coaches provide for them, in going to a great school and utilizing those contacts and those alumni to network. You may make $50 or $60 million if you get lucky enough to be a pro, but how can you turn that $50 or $60 million into $140 million, where you’re able to provide a dynasty for you and your family and their family for the rest of their lives?

Q: How did you approach AAU ball differently from the regular season?
A: Well, I had a knack for info. I would always ask different coaches, “What do I need to do? How can I get better?” I would tell them, “Be blunt with me. Don’t hold anything back. I want to be the best player I can be. I want you to tell me the things I can do well and how I can be better at them. I also want you to tell me the things you don’t think I’m as good at and what kind of drills I can do to become better.” The best experience a kid can have is when a coach is candid with him and tells him what he needs to do in order to be better.

Q: At a young age, you play for several coaches a year from the regular season to AAU to camps. How did you benefit from dealing with multiple personalities?
A: I thought it was a benefit from dealing with more personalities. I played for a lot of different AAU teams. I played for the New Jersey All-Stars, I played for the Madison Square Broncos, I played for the Rising Stars a lot of the time. I even played for the New Jersey Hawks. I thought it was great because I got different experiences on different teams. With the Rising Stars and New Jersey All-Stars, I had to score the basketball because we really didn’t have guys on the team who could score the ball. Whereas playing with the Broncos, I had guys on the team who could score the ball, so I was working on different aspects of my game, like passing, being more of a team leader, understanding time and situations, being an extension of the coach on the floor and being a playmaker and creating opportunities for my teammates. When you experience different things, it broadens your worth as far as what you can bring to the table. It makes you more valuable to college coaches.

Q: High school basketball continues to break barriers. First it was Brandon Jennings skipping college and now it’s Jeremy Tyler skipping his senior year of high school. What are your thoughts on these developments?
A: I think a lot more of it’s going to happen. I’m objective because I’m in the middle as far as being an ex-player, so a part of me relates to the player’s perspective, but also being a part of the media and spending a lot of time with coaches and hearing their takes on it, I can relate to the coaching staff as well. My thing is this: From my player perspective, nobody is going to guarantee you a lifespan in this sport. I am a prime example of that. It can be two years, 15 or 20 years, you can be the first pick and get hurt the next day and become expendable and not make the team anymore. Anything can happen. So, for you to tell a 17- or 18-year-old kid who comes from a single-parent home, like a Brandon Jennings, who watches his mother work a job or two jobs, how can you tell a kid not to earn some money to give his family the lifestyle he’s always dreamed about? Plus, you don’t see this happening in baseball, you don’t see this happening in tennis, you don’t see this happening in soccer. You see this happening in a predominantly African-American sport. But then again, I can relate to the coaches because they want the player to stay and to learn. I’ve heard if a player decides to go to college, the NBA will make it a mandatory two-year stint. I don’t really know if I agree with that 100 percent. I would really love to see if the NCAA could provide an escrow account, which gives players an incentive to stay in school. They know they would receive a certain allotment of money after a certain time is fulfilled.

Q: These kids don’t have a lot of time outside of basketball to establish another career interest. They’re going from one event to the next all year round. Do you think more “second career management” should be instituted?
A: Yeah, definitely. I think one thing that should be done is help them understand their value. When these kids first come into the NBA, you make a lot of money and they’re trying to keep up with the Joneses. They think, If he has a Bentley, I need to have a Bentley. Or if this Bentley was a 2008, well guess what, it’s 2009 and I need to upgrade. Also, the $100 bill becomes a $1 bill, and they lose track of what’s real and what’s not. In the NBA, it’s kind of a fantasy world. I was very lucky to have a great father and mother. My father worked for American Express and AT&T for over 25 years. Before my sophomore year, when I decided to stay in school at Duke, I did an internship with a private investment firm in New York to start understanding about money, investing, stocks, bonds and things of that sort. And my mother was a school principal for 15 years and worked in guidance. So I always kind of had an educational background. I learned a valuable lesson in my freshman year when I was at Duke during an alumni event. The team was sticking together and the alumni were talking. My dad called me over and he said, “What are you doing?” I said, “What do you mean what am I doing? I’m just hanging out with the team.” He’s like, “Look at all these powerful people around here. Do you think basketball is going to be the thing that’s going to take you to the elite level?” And I said, “Well, basketball can make me $50, $60, $70 million.” He’s like, “Well, you’re thinking really small, son. Think bigger.” And that’s when it really clicked for me that I really wanted to be a part of something bigger. I started thinking about life, not just after basketball but how I could capitalize on life during basketball with relationships. I think that’s what a lot of kids miss out on when they don’t take the chance to go to school because they don’t build on those networking opportunities.

Q: It’s important that young players don’t take failure too hard during their adolescence because it may cause great suffering during their development. I was wondering after you knew the extent of your motorcycle injury, what drove you to keep fighting to recover?
A: It was a learning experience for me. It was not only about the people around me in my camp, but more importantly I learned more about myself as a man more at that time than any other time in my life. Growing up, what I had been known for was a basketball player. It kind of reminds me of the great quote that Bill Russell said, “Basketball is what I do, it’s not who I am.” I think it’s so commonly confused with kids who are younger because they associate themselves with just being a basketball player. I was a lot more than a basketball player, but basketball is what I knew, it’s what I did and it’s who I was as a person. Especially your first couple of years in the league, you get put up on this pedestal where things aren’t necessarily real. You’re just living this lifestyle with the rich and famous and all of a sudden, all the little parties you used to go to aren’t the little parties anymore. They’re Hollywood parties. Things kind of get blown out of proportion. The biggest part for me was going back through the process. It was very humbling because one day you go from dunking on Yao Ming to the next day being told you might not be able to walk again. So it was about fighting back and understanding who I was as a person. I wasn’t a quitter. I wasn’t somebody who was going to lay down and roll over. I was going to be a fighter and I was going to work hard at it everyday and start taking advantage of the business opportunities I had in front of me and networking, and all the things that you say you’re going to do while you’re playing but you get so consumed with playing that you really never get a chance to really do it. It was a character building experience, and that’s the one challenge I have for a lot of these kids when they’re in high school or they’re in college or they’re in the league. Some of these opportunities are at their front door and it really takes some time to first and most importantly understand who you are as an individual. If you get lost in that professional world, the opportunities can be lost forever. And if you don’t understand who you are and you don’t have values and morals, you wont have anything to take away from the game when you leave it.

Q: You specialize in analyzing young basketball talent for ESPN. I was wondering when you attend elite events featuring the best amateur players, what makes a kid really stand out in your mind?
A: The first thing that I look at is the kid’s competitive edge. I spent some time with Tim Grover and we were just talking while I was working out about Kobe Bryant. Tim works hand-in-hand with Kobe. I saw the way they worked at the Olympics and seeing him get up two and a half hours before practice and work out until practice, and then when he gets to practice still have that same killer mentality every possession. These days, basketball has kind of translated into this fun thing. And granted, basketball is fun. But the first thing I look for in a kid is just how he approaches the game. Is he serious? Is he laughing in the corner before the game? What kind of mentality is he bringing to the game? Is he going to try to dominate you every possession or is he going to dominate you when he wants to and then take three or four possessions off? And dominating doesn’t have to mean scoring the basketball. I’m talking about effort. If he scores on you, are you going to lock him down on the next possession? Is he listening to his coach and being a sponge to learn more? Michael Jordan was cut from his high school team, but he was a sponge for knowledge. You can’t expect things to be given to you.

Photo credit: Grant Halverson

There are many possibilities with an engineering background. The usuals: Automotive engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, nuclear engineering, mechanical engineering and so on. But one individual, Ron Yu (pictured left), utilized his engineering expertise from Georgia Tech to become one of the most sought after personal tennis racket technicians. Uh, yes, customizing tennis rackets deals with moments of inertia.

Hear Ron’s fascinating take on the racket customization business (including Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi’s unique influence) and his work with Priority One, which serves A-list tennis stars Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Q: What did you aspire to be when you were younger?
A: I didn’t even play tennis when I was young. I went to school at Georgia Tech for engineering. My friends my freshman year of college said, “Let’s go hit tennis balls.” And I was like, “I don’t play tennis.” I played racquetball when I was a kid. But I ended up falling in love with it – just absolutely fell in love with playing tennis, and my school work suffered because I was playing three, four hours a day, seven days a week. And then I was hanging out in a local tennis shop all the time, and the owner of the shop finally says to me, “Ron, you’re here all the time anyway, you might as well just come work and make money if you’re going to hang around.” So I started working at the tennis shop and I dropped out of school. In this industry and in a lot of industries it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Luckily, the owner of the company knew people who worked at Babolat, and I started traveling to tournaments for Babolat back in 1989. And then I got to know different people and moved up to make it more of a career. I moved beyond just stringing. In the beginning at tournaments, I was really there as a racket stringer. And then I moved into the customizing side, which is really the main crux of our jobs. The stringing side is a great perk for our clients, but the part that most of our clients find really important is the customizing side.

Q: How did you progress beyond the tennis shop?
A: I stayed at the tennis shop for quite a while. I would go with Babolat to a couple of tournaments a year. Then in 1998, I got hired by Jay’s Custom Stringing. They were basically the top traveling stringing customizing company back then. I worked for them from ’98 to 2000. I traveled with Andre Agassi for a while as a stringer. I also learned a lot more about customizing there. And then in 2001, Nate Ferguson hired me.

Q: Did you ever consider moving out of the stringing profession and into a different realm of tennis?
A: Racket stringing is the part of the industry I enjoy the least. I love customizing. Stringing is fine, but it doesn’t excite me because I’m very good at it. You have to be meticulous to do it, but once you’re a good stringer, it doesn’t engage your mind as much as customizing. There can be new problems that arise in customizing where you really have to sit back and try to figure them out, but in stringing it’s pretty rare when those occurrences happen.

Q: Who were some of the first athletes you worked with?
A: At the time when I was working at the shop in Atlanta, there were some local pros. The guys I started stringing for first were guys like Stefan Edberg. There used to be an exhibition tournament in Atlanta every year. Guys like Edberg, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras would come and I’d string for those guys.

Q: You mentioned you majored in engineering. Was there sort of a link between your major and the engineering of rackets that got you hooked?
A: Absolutely. It’s all about engineering. We’re working with weight balances, moments of inertia. And I think that’s what interested me. When I got into school for engineering, it wasn’t very hands on. But immediately when you get into customizing, you’re doing it – it’s right in front of you. So customizing is all engineering.

Q: Are there conferences where those in the industry exchange new ideas, methods and technologies about customizing rackets?
A: There is an annual meeting called the Grand Slam Stringers Symposium and racket stringers come from around the world for three, four days. They talk about stringing and the new technology of rackets. We don’t go to that mainly because we’re on the road. But it’s geared in a lot of ways to a retail shop because they talk a lot about the new different types of strings that come on the market or the different types of rackets. While, for us, strings and rackets don’t change yearly like they do in retail. Players kind of stay with what they’re used to. They stay with the same type of racket. They might change technologies, but for the most part they’re not changing as radically as the manufacturer changing technology for retail.

Q: How do you look to expand your portfolio of athletes?
A: A lot of it is word of mouth in the locker room. Nate worked with Sampras for years and that brings a lot of clout. I traveled with Agassi for a couple of years, and people got to see and know me at tournaments. They figured if Andre and Pete are willing to let these guys work on their rackets and feel comfortable, they’ve got to know something. And so you sit in the players’ lounge and you might be just sitting there reading a book, waiting for a match to go on or something, and a player will come up to you and start asking questions. Quite a bit of our work is generated through word of mouth and just reputation.

Q: Are your clients generally more broad or specific about how they want their racket customized? Do they seem to be knowledgeable about it or do you help them pinpoint what they need?
A: In many cases, they know exactly what they want to feel. But they don’t necessarily know the terminology. So we kind of have to listen to them as to what they’re feeling and decipher that into technical engineering terms. And that’s a lot of times the hardest part of the job. They say things like, “This doesn’t feel quick enough or this doesn’t work.” And we have to figure out, well, why doesn’t it feel quick enough? Is it a swing weight issue? Is it a link of the racket? That sort of thing. But they know what they want to feel.

Q: How did you first get involved with Priority One?
A: I first met Nate in 1998, when he was traveling with Pete. And I was at a tournament traveling with Andre. We just ended up talking about things. At the time, I think we might have been the only traveling personal stringers on tour. Both being Americans, we just gravitated to each other and started talking about things. We ultimately became friends and then I quit the other company, Jay’s Custom Stringing. And afterwards, Nate asked if I wanted to work for him.

Q: What is your role with Priority One?
A: We travel to the Slams and Masters Series events. When we go to a tournament, we do all of our work out of the hotel room. We set up our stringing machines. We’re always stringing in the morning and getting rackets to the players for their practices or their matches. And then we collect the rackets again afterwards, usually in the late afternoon or early evening. And then we cut the strings out and string at night and string in the morning. That’s our day on the road. In the office, we run normal office hours. That’s where we do the customizing.

Q: What does the customization entail specifically?
A: We can’t get too specific on our customizing techniques, since it is not something we like to divulge. All of our clients have sponsorship deals with a particular manufacturer. We are sent the rackets from the manufacturer without any handles molded on them or any additional weight added. We have specific handle molds for each player, so we then mold a custom-shaped-and-sized handle onto each racket. After the handles have been molded, we’ll add weight to particular areas of the racket to achieve the correct specifications each player wants. One of the most important parts of the process is wrapping the grip. Players are very sensitive to the feel of the grip, and each grip must be wrapped identically.

Q: What other factors are you weighing besides basic customization needs?
A: Weather conditions can vary the tensions by maybe plus or minus two or three pounds. So let’s say a range of five to six pounds. If it’s cold or the balls are heavy, they need lower tension so they can hit with more power. But if conditions are quick, like if it’s really warm and dry, or if it’s high altitude, they’ll go a little tighter to get a little more control.

Q: I understand that many female players don’t worry so much about customization. They’re not as aware of it as the men. Why is that?
A: We work with very few females. Male players tend to want heavier rackets and the rackets that come from the manufacturers are, in most cases, too light. So they get into customizing earlier. While for female players, when they’re young they’re not quite as strong as young men. So they don’t necessarily want a heavier racket. Also, the female players usually string less rackets per match and they don’t have access to us. We travel mainly on the men’s tour. We see the women at the Slams when there’s a combo event. But we don’t get access to the women from a week-to-week basis as we do with the men’s side.

Q: From your perspective, do you think it would be valuable for females to know more about your customization work?
A: Absolutely. I think it’s beneficial. More information is never a bad thing. Access to options is always good.

Q: Has there ever been a female player who has approached you and wanted to know more about your work?
A: We do some work with Shahar Peer and Sabine Lisicki. We do a little bit of work with them, and hopefully more in the future. Again, a lot of the business we get is word of mouth. If we can get our foot in the door with a few of the women on the tour, maybe they’ll talk about us.

Q: What are some of the challenges you face on the job, and are there things you’re looking to improve about your business?
A: Our job is always just to maintain that high level, which I think is the best in the business, as we work with more and more players. That’s always a difficulty of any company. When you do very good work at a small level, when you build your business you want to maintain that level. From a personal standpoint, I hate traveling with my machine, but it’s the necessity of the job. Each of us carries about 200 pounds of gear to each tournament.

Q: How do you get through airport security?
A: [laughs] Exactly. Excess baggage charges and going through customs is difficult. But it’s a great job and I love this job, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Q: Obviously you meet a lot of the players, but are there any unique perks that come with the territory?
A: When you’re dealing with top professional athletes, you get to sometimes tag along a little bit. Private jet rides here and there. Meeting Tiger Woods was a great thing for me in Shanghai a couple of years ago, because Roger and Tiger are pretty close friends. Tiger happened to be there playing in the HSBC Champions event at the same time Roger was there for an end-of-the-year championship. I was able to go with Roger to watch Tiger play a round. That was a great perk.

Q: Do you have a memorable experience on the working side of the job?
A: I would say stringing for Andre when he won the 1999 French Open. That was really special. It was a career Grand Slam for him. That was a big deal.

Q: How would you say the industry has changed over time? Were there any big developments that revolutionized the way customization is done?
A: I think equipment and technology have, in certain ways, made our jobs easier and quicker, but they also have made it so everyone thinks they can customize well. Now the average tennis shop can say, “Oh, we customize rackets.” And I think in a lot of ways, it’s important to educate people that there’s a difference between what a normal racket shop can do and what we can do. Because our shop has some equipment that your average tennis shop wouldn’t have, which helps us customize rackets. The good thing, though, is that the same technology and the average racket shop gets people involved with customizing more and gets more players thinking about customizing, which is ultimately good for the industry.

Q: What kind of unique equipment do you have?
A: In our office we have a couple of different types of sanding machines, a miter saw, a chop saw, a lathe, a drill press/milling machine, a jigsaw and a few tennis specific diagnostic tools.

Q: What new methods or technologies do you foresee impacting your line of work in the next five, 10 years?
A: I don’t know. Every year, somebody comes up with the next big technological advancement in rackets. There’s been some great advancements in rackets over the past 10 years: Babolat with their Pure Drive, which has done very well for them; Prince with their O Series rackets. These are pretty radical changes in rackets that have caught on.

Q: I know there are very specific customization things that you do, but are there any interesting details that players want on their rackets, like initial labels or certain colors for strings?
A: Some players don’t like certain racket colors. Some players don’t want stickers on their rackets. For most players, we’ll put a tension label on each racket. But somebody like Mardy Fish doesn’t want any stickers on his rackets. I don’t know if it would be considered a superstition, but it’s certainly something they want.

Q: Was there one player who was much more technical than the others?
A: Pete Sampras was the most particular about his customization, and that’s why he hired Nate. Pete went to multiple people to try to see if they could make rackets for him, and Nate was the only one who could do it. Nate used to work for Warren Bosworth who was customizing for Pete, but Pete also wanted somebody to travel with him, which Bosworth didn’t supply. That wasn’t part of Bosworth’s company plan. Pete went to another competitor, Jay’s Custom Stringing, who I worked for and Jay did do that. He had traveling stringers, so Pete went there for six months or so. But Jay couldn’t make his rackets properly. Pete could feel the racket grip changing. Leather compresses after a while if you keep playing with it. And they just couldn’t get it right. So Pete went back to Nate and said, “Look, you’re the only one who can make my rackets, but I want somebody who travels with me. Will you become my personal technician?” So Nate ended up going with Pete.

Q: Did Pete and Andre having personal racket stringers change the groove of the industry? Do you think other players were influenced by the fact that Pete and Andre were the best players in the world with personal racket technicians?
A: Absolutely. I think with Pete and Andre at the time, both having a personal stringer on the road, certainly got into guys’ heads that it might be worth an investment.

Q: What are some of your personal goals looking ahead?
A: As a professional, I just hope to provide the best service possible for the players to help them achieve their goals. That’s our job. We can’t go out there and win them tournaments, but we can help them hopefully play better and have more confidence. That’s the goal.

Photo credit: P1Tennis.com

Below are excerpts from an interview that will appear on ESPNRise.com near the end of the month, as part of the website’s ongoing “Great State Debate” special feature analyzing the best states in the country for high school basketball.

Walking into the teacher’s lounge at Archbishop Molloy High School (Queens, N.Y.) on a recent Thursday afternoon, only one table commands attention. Four faculty members are seated, listening to a living legend speak softly and meticulously. Soon you are introduced to 78-year-old Jack Curran (pictured) and you instantly become his student, magnetized to his basketball storytelling as if in a state of hypnosis.

Curran is quite simply the country’s most accomplished high school basketball coach. In his 51 years – yes, 51 years – at the school, he has won more than 900 games (a New York state record), captured five Catholic League city titles, been inducted into nine Hall of Fames and, best yet, has helped 475 young men receive athletic scholarships – including eight All-Americans such as Kenny Smith, Kenny Anderson and Kevin Joyce. During his run, Scholastic Coach Magazine named Curran Coach of the Year 22 times and Coach of the Century. Not to mention, he also owns a treasure chest of accolades as the school’s longtime baseball coach, amassing more than 1,600 wins and 17 city championships.

I spoke with Curran, who’s leading the Stanners to a 12-4 record this season, to take me back in time and describe his ascent into the basketball coaching heavens.

Q: You’ve spent a long time coaching. What do you credit your success and longevity to, being in the game for 51 years? When you look back on it, what has helped you get to the next step every year and keep going?
A: Doing what you enjoy doing. I’ve always enjoyed working with young people, teaching them basketball or baseball – two sports that I love. We had good stability in our program here. I just think our success has been based mostly on the type of players we’ve had over the years. We had a run of 30 years or so where we had outstanding players. They were very willing to work hard and do what they had to do to become successful. It makes the job a lot easier. It’s not really a tough job – it’s fun.

Q: What was the attraction you had to Molloy?
A: Before I was here, I was selling building materials in western Massachusetts. And I would be racing home on weekends to coach the local baseball and CYO basketball teams in [the New York City area]. I was a salesman and I really enjoyed it. One day I saw an article in the paper that Lou Carnesecca had left Molloy [at the time, it was called St. Ann’s School] and had gone to St. John’s University. So I called [former Long Island University coach] Clair Bee who was a close friend of mine. I used to go up to his clinics and his camp all the time and talk to him about basketball, and bring teams up to play against his teams in the summers. He had All-Americans from all over the country at his camp. So I called him up and I said, “Coach, Lou left and went to St. John’s.” He said, “Yeah, why don’t you go down and get that job.” I said, “You think so?” He said, “Yeah, go down and get that job.” So I drove down [from the Bronx], sought out the principal at St. Ann’s and they hired me.

Q: When you were transitioning to coaching from being a salesman, who were some of your influences in the coaching world?
A: Well, at that time, I had to take a big cut in pay, but it didn’t matter because this is what I wanted to do. I felt I would be happier doing this. The guys that I used to go and watch included Frank McGuire. He was my coach at St. John’s. I always admired him and my high school coach, Dick King. I kind of respected a lot of the high school coaches who were in the business for a long time. The college coaches at the time who I admired were guys like Adolph Rupp, Kenny Loeffler, Joe Lapchick. I mean, those guys were icons.

Q: Obviously kids now are much more technologically-driven. They are so adept at getting information at their fingertips and the athletes, especially during the recruiting process, are able to interact more with other players, coaches, etc. electronically. How do you, as an older coach, stay close to your kids, keep them grounded and maintain a relationship with them?
A: Well, it’s tougher. At one time, you were the main guy. At that time, I was here from 7 in the morning until 7 at night teaching classes all day, so you had them in class and they related to you a little better than they do now. Now, I’m just in coaching and they’re on two or three teams in the summer, travel teams with different coaches and they get influenced by a lot of different people. So the kids are listening to a lot of voices. A lot of times even their parents are more involved. Naturally parents are going to be more involved with their own children and concerned about them, whereas we try to blend their child in with 11 or 12 other guys on the team. It makes it more difficult. I think the kids are a little more self-concerned than they used to be. At one time, it was more of a team concept. You still get it, but it’s not as natural or as easy.

Q: How have you seen the game itself change through the years?
A: It’s less team-oriented and more athleticism, more individual skill. It’s a little more difficult to get them to pass the ball. Passing is kind of a lost art. When you see somebody who can pass, you get pretty excited because they’re all looking to be this high scorer and things like that. Not all, but a lot of them. The game has changed. Mainly you see it more on the Varsity levels when they get a lot of good physical athletes. They’re amazingly talented. It’s hard to say they shouldn’t look to score because they’re so athletic. But there has to be a team concept where they trust each other, have faith in each other and play with one goal in mind, which is to try and play better than the other team. We keep working on it and trying to drill it into them.

Q: What were some of the reasons you continued coaching on the high school level for so long, rather than jumping to college or the pros?
A: Oh, I watch these great college coaches now, like Norm Roberts, Mike Krzyzewski, Jay Wright and Bobby Knight when he was coaching. You wonder how they do it. I don’t know how they do it. It’s a difficult job. I don’t think people realize how tough it is. The coaching itself is enough. But the recruiting has got to be unbelievable. The travel they have to do, the things they have to do. And then they have to promote the game in their communities. I mean, it’s a very difficult job these guys have and I don’t think I’d want any part of it.

Q: The New York Catholic High School Athletic Association is considered the top league nationally in high school basketball. Why do you think that is?
A: Early on, when I first came here, I think the public school league had the better athletes overall. They had some tremendous athletes. I would say it just kept gradually growing where a lot of those youngsters who normally would have played in the public school league started coming to the Catholic schools, because their opportunities seemed better out of these schools. Educationally their opportunities were better because there was no danger of them being harassed in any way. The environment was a lot better for them, so the people involved with them wanted them to come to these types of private schools where they could be playing their game and getting a good formal education at the same time, with people being totally interested in them. The benefit of one of these schools is you can totally get involved with the youngster overall. I think gradually a lot of those youngsters have drifted into our programs where now it’s kind of balanced out, even though the public schools are still very good. I think it’s a much more difficult job coaching in the public schools than it is in our schools because there are too many distractions. In these schools, there are no distractions, there are no disciplinary problems. Here, if a guy’s tie isn’t straight, that’s a problem, or if his shirttail is hanging out, whereas at the other schools sometimes it’s a safety factor. We used to scrimmage at all those schools years ago. Now we don’t bring them there. If they want to scrimmage against us, they come here because we don’t want to gamble on something happening in that neighborhood or at that school where we’d be responsible.

Q: Give me the best player you coached and why.
A: The most dominant player we ever had was Kevin Joyce. He was fabulous. He was great in practice every day. Probably the most exciting was Kenny Anderson. He could do anything with a basketball. Probably the most skilled was Billy Lawrence. He played in 1961. He’s retired and lives in Florida now. I think if you picked one game, the guy who could control the game more was Kevin. We’ve had a lot of great players. It’s hard to pick one.

Stay tuned for the full interview.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Jared Zwerling