Billy Momma Drama



  • @BeddieKU23 Frankly, it would be too easy to transfer lots of goodies to a family and then claim the kid didn’t know. If we or anyone else claims “unfair treatment” now when, say, UNC doesn’t get slammed, imagine the outcry when bluebloods (where the recruits worth paying for tend to end up) figure out how to have their innocent little waifs commit while those behind-their-backs family members suddenly start driving new cars, taking trips to follow their darlings, and moving into nicer homes.



  • Sorry I was a bit harsh on Billy and his mother. But I’m sick of these guys coming in here with their families and turning our athletic department (and reputation) into a Jerry Springer show.

    These kids and parents should realize they are only damaging themselves. No NBA team hunts out drama as a positive factor when picking players.



  • @mayjay

    We need to FORMALIZE the training of recruits/players in staying between the lines.

    It should be done with forms of media, like short films. And then Q&As afterwards to make sure it soaks in, while we document that our players are in full knowledge.

    These are educational items that should be organized and designed through our compliance program.

    There is NO REASON why Kansas should go down for mistakes our players make as long as our coaches and administration play fair ball.

    Document, document, document.



  • @drgnslayr

    Lonzo Ball did go 2nd in the draft with as much drama associated to his name as any player I could think of…

    I certainly don’t agree with his mother’s comments making headlines. It’s not a good look.

    Ultimately the man in charge of our program must make the call on these situations. Billy could have been someone else’s problem to deal with…



  • @Gunman Innocent until proven guilty.

    Unless you’re 11-3 with 3 home losses. Then you are stone cold guilty and somebody better do something about it damn quick.



  • @BeddieKU23

    True… but Ball is an ongoing story. We will see how that plays out in the long run. If it goes bad, I think more NBA front offices will look to stay away from drama.

    Some drama is actually needed in sports. We only have to think back to the Magic/Bird era and their controversies. That was “good drama.” Fans loved it!

    But Ball’s dad is just an arse. I always try to put the game ahead of the drama… but it is hard to watch Lonzo with approval while his dad may be killing viewership of the game.

    Pretty much all pro sports are facing viewership issues. I don’t think “Ball-like” drama is going to rescue them. Eventually, marketing wonks will come out of the woods and point fingers at Ball’s dad, regardless of whether he did so much damage or not. It is about blaming someone else.



  • If Ball falls out of the NBA, it will have more to do with his production than his dad’s mouth.

    Right now, he’s averaging 10/7/7. That’s not great. I thought his assist numbers would be better, and I thought he would shoot better from 3 (currently under 30%). If this continues, he won’t make it. If he bumps that assist number up to 8.5, and starts shooting more in the 35% range from 3, Lonzo goes from being an iffy player to being a solid player. Not a star, but very solid, particularly because he can rebound and should be able to handle bigger guards in the post.



  • @drgnslayr

    I’ve been waiting for their 15 minutes of fame to end but it doesn’t seem like its happening anytime soon. ESPN seems set on covering what they eat for dinner, where they get their dry-cleaning. Heck they were front and center for the younger one’s practice in Lithuiana today!!! Seems as if the fabricated drama Lavar created has fooled everyone, he’s famous, his kids are famous. Drama sells…

    Preston’s mom’s tweets, that’s not good drama. Whether she’s right in the matter is irrelevant to the distraction it continues to bring. She called out a fan-base. What if Billy is cleared to play in the home game next week, does he get a roar from the crowd or do people take his mother’s comments to heart. I have a feeling the 16,300 would support him with open arms as we do any Hawk. It does beg the question though



  • justanotherfan said:

    If Ball falls out of the NBA, it will have more to do with his production than his dad’s mouth.

    Sure… but you can’t say his father’s actions have no impact. You can’t say that if there are two equal players, management wouldn’t rather take the one without drama.

    RIght now… all pro sports teams are focusing on viewership. Winning games is still the major factor in that. But it isn’t everything. I watch some NBA. Ball’s dad is a big turnoff for me and definitely doesn’t inspire me to follow Lakers ball.



  • @BeddieKU23

    True. At least, it sells for a while.

    I think the general public will become EXTREMELY SICK of most drama this year. Our political dramas have become overwhelming for everyone, and people are suffering from drama fatigue.

    If you want to look at drama that can have long lasting positive impact… look at JoJo’s personality! Look at how he is becoming a superstar and a chunk of that is his personality.

    I think eventually we will get away from being a society where one can claim, “ALL publicity is GOOD publicity!”

    At least… I hope so! lol



  • @drgnslayr

    Agree with everything you said.



  • This forum is so refreshing! I happened upon a facebook group that is called Kansas University Basketball Recruiting. I thought, oh, that looks interesting, so I liked it. Big mistake, but now I have a purpose there. It’s hilarious. Type something like “Dang this team is soft” and here’s a typical response: “Get lost troll” “GTFO” “You’re not a KU fan” One guy whom I questioned about his post that the NCAA always picks on us, nobody else asked why I’m on there because I’m obviously a Duke or Kentucky fan. When I asked him if he wanted to see my KU degree, he doubted that. I asked him if he was a KU grad. He had no response!

    Most of the posts this week have been people contributing nothing more than “I don’t care what happens, I’m a Jayhawk fan for life because I bleed Crimson and Blue”

    Of course very little of it has to do with KU recruiting.

    Then the thread on Billy’s moms tweet took on a decidedly different tone than here. No objectivity, just a bunch of absolute 100% agreement with what she wrote. Anyone who did question it was called all sorts of names.

    One person even called me a Wisconsin fan to which I pled guilty. Even with every privacy setting possible on FB he figured that out!

    BTW this could be the year two impressive streaks ends, our conference championship streak and UW’s NCAA tournament streak.

    Anyways, this cordial discussion I read through today has been a good reminder of what we have here! I appreciate you guys and gals!



  • Facebook is terrible.



  • I kind of like to think of myself as the @elpoyo of the facebook group!



  • @drgnslayr It’s who can be the loudest bigmouth. It’s just part of our overall cultural decline. It’s chest pounding, screaming, “look at me” garbage that has spread like a cancer since it began back in the 90s. Now we see these idiots pounding their chests and screaming because they make a routine tackle. It’s a joke. And it’s proliferated with the disease that is social media.



  • @HighEliteMajor I’d pound my chest if I made a routine tackle.



  • @HighEliteMajor I notice it more even at HS and Jr. High levels these days. All that type of thing was strictly verboten when I played. In fact. Any sort of end zone celebration at all after a touchdown would get you unsportsmanlike… I’m not sure why or when it all became okay. I find myself looking for the kids that don’t do it. It’s a rarity.



  • cragarhawk said:

    @HighEliteMajor I notice it more even at HS and Jr. High levels these days. All that type of thing was strictly verboten when I played. In fact. Any sort of end zone celebration at all after a touchdown would get you unsportsmanlike… I’m not sure why or when it all became okay. I find myself looking for the kids that don’t do it. It’s a rarity.

    Sprechen sie Deutsch?





  • HighEliteMajor said:

    @drgnslayr It’s who can be the loudest bigmouth. It’s just part of our overall cultural decline. It’s chest pounding, screaming, “look at me” garbage that has spread like a cancer since it began back in the 90s. Now we see these idiots pounding their chests and screaming because they make a routine tackle. It’s a joke. And it’s proliferated with the disease that is social media.

    This post belongs in the Politics category, right?



  • cragarhawk said:

    @HawkChamp ?

    You said verboten.



  • @HawkChamp I like it. It’s one of those big words with a little meaning.



  • This current look at me culture in sports can be traced directly to Muhammad Ali. Others that have a big influence would be Ricky Henderson, Deion Sanders, Michael Jordan, and Shaq. The difference between these guys and regular athletes is they could back up everything they said they are all hall of famers.

    It is beyond ridiculous now and a perfect example would be from the 76ers-Pistons game a couple of nights ago. Andre Drummond actually tried to shush the crowd after he made two FT’s. That’s a big deal for Drummond because he’s in the Shaq range of terrible FT shooting, but the real issue is that at the time, the two FT’s cut the 76ers lead to 30. That’s right, Drummond was trying to shush the crowd when his team was down 30 points.



  • @wissox Whatever, Kentucky fan.



  • Texas-Hawk-10 You are exactly right. Ali was the first loudmouth, really. But I think there was a gap there. Ali was kind like this unique, special, one of a kind loudmouth. While it is clear the that elements of the American black culture has been the major catalyst for this deterioration in sportsmanship, humility, and civility on the athletic fields and arenas, a significant player was Ric Flair. There was a large gap between Ali and what we saw in the 90s. If you saw the 30 for 30, they quoted the hip hop industry and Snoop Dog as seeing Flair as somewhat of a hero. Of course, that wasn’t real sports. But here are some interesting links on the topics.

    https://theundefeated.com/features/ric-flair-and-black-fandom-in-wrestling/

    http://www.complex.com/sports/how-legendary-ric-flair-became-hip-hops-favorite-wrestler

    A Snoop Dog quote from the first article, with Flair first linking Ali and Flair - “I mean, why did people like Ali?” Flair asks in the documentary. “No one has marketed themselves in boxing like Ali.” Moments later, rapper Snoop Dogg appears on the screen and explains how Flair pulled from and was an inspiration of the early roots of hip-hop and black culture. “As a kid growing up watching Ric Flair, he was very inspirational to myself and a lot of other hip-hop artists because he represented what we wanted to be,” Snoop Dogg said. “We wanted to be Ric Flair; we wanted to be flamboyant and the ‘kiss-stealin, wheelin-and-dealin,’ we wanted to be all of that. He was a part of our culture and our life. That’s why we love him and we cherish him. We’ve always held him high in the black community, because Ric is one of us.”

    When I mention “elements of American black culture”, the KU dichotomy is the clearest example – Chris Harris and Aqib Talib. Harris is an amazing guy. Talib is a thug. The latter is the type of garbage that has undeniably been glorified in elements of the black community, led by the hip-hop industry.

    @mayjay I am sorry, did you say something?



  • @HighEliteMajor No need to. You always prove my points for me.



  • The best endzone celebration was Billy White Shoes Johnson.


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