The KC CALL

Jerome Tang: Overlooked But Still Standing In MARCH MADNESS Tournament

Y’all remember Bobby Brown, lead singer for the New Edition. He was equally wellknown, as Whitney Houston’s husband. Well, Bobby recorded a song called, “It’s My Perogative”. Well, that song became the preamble for many of us young men, during some awful turbulent times. However, that seemed to be the key “theme” for our Monday Niters’ weekly zoom meeting, last Monday night. As you will see, every discussion topic that came up, was either slightly endorsed or totally rejected….except one. And with that teaser, let me recap some of those conversations, and gradually acquaint you…with how Bobby Brown’s song really fits in.

First off, Dr. John Martin gave us a full update on the plight of Green Bay’s AllPro, MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers. As everyone knows, this Green Bay legend has gone “bonkers”, saying he wants more money or he might just sign on, with the New York Jets. Even though John had given us his usual thorough assessment, this football-relevant topic was not pursued, at all. And my fellow Monday Niters seemed to be invoking a Bobby-Brown privilege, by silently saying “it’s their prerogative, not to discuss Aaron Rodgers” or anything else. Of course, I’ve met with these guys for fifty-three years now…and they know what they want to and not want to discuss. It’s that simple. Let’s see how this “it’s my prerogative theme unfolded.

Continuing, someone (me) suggested that we talk about a young Grandview lad, who is a current player on a local team that remains in the running i.e. Kansas State. That team, as of Wednesday, still remains a contender for the March Madness, national college basketball championship. His name is Taj Manning, a 6’7” lad that played high school basketball at Bishop Miege, but is from Grandview. Even though I had witnessed some community interest in this particular subject, our guys just kinda snuffed and invoked another Bobby-Brown privilege and nicely rejected further conversation. That’s two perogatives invoked, if you’re keeping count However, the mere mention of March Madness did ignite another related topic… like what happened to .KU?

Led by the everalert Ed West, we just had to reluctantly talk about that particular topic …that of KU being knocked out of a chance, to contend for the national championship. It became national headlines when this highly-rated, KC-area team, Kansas University, was knocked completely, out of the tournament’s top spot…. by the quick and fearless University of Arkansas. It all happened in the first round of this prestigious tournament, called MARCH

MADNESS. Ed West again invoked his prerogative by saying KU’s untimely loss was directly because of Bill Self’s absence. Bluntly, Ed said if KU’s venerable Head Coach was coaching, Arkansas would have lost. You will recall that Coach Bill Self got sick and was unable to “coach” that game against Arkansas.

And although KU was “the” top-ranked team in the tournament, “that” Harry Sypert asserted that the Jayhawks just didn’t play “good defense” and that led Carl Clark…to add that the Jayhawks just didn’t play “up to capacity”. At this point, I was still convinced that the KU topic would “stir things up”. But it didn’t. Feeling disappointed I concluded that my longtime friends just used their “joint prerogative” and chose NOT to continue this Jayhawk-loss conversation. And as could be expected, Coach Price used his “prerogative” and stirred things up, with another MARCH MADNESS-related subject .

So, Coach Price shocked us all, and scolded us out loud, because we had just plain overlooked the contributions of Kansas State’s Head Basketball Coach J,erome Tang. I guess Coach Price was saying…. that Coach Tang’s team is still in the running for the MARCH MADNESS championship and ought to be recognized, like we tried to do with Bill Self. So, as usual, Coach Jerry Price, was usied his “prerogative” to talk more about the Big 12’s Coach Of The Year, Jerome Tang.

So, everyone agreed that Jerry was righton, with his suggestion. Yes, we had overlooked this unsung guy, whose team was still in the big tournament and just may just go further. Unknowingly, Jerry’s suggestion about Jerome Tang had actually unified our discussion. Just like that we got on-board,…all six of us. And shining light on this unknown brother, made us all jointly recognize this Caribbean-born brother, who just might have gotten lost in the mix….(because everyone in the national media, was focused on the significance of Bill

Self’s absence was, in KU’s loss to Arkansas. So Jerry’s bring-up had led us all to zero in on Jerome Tang.

First of all, he is fifty-six years old and he’s married. He got to Kansas State, when his predecessor retired. Just before that, Tang was a fiery assistant basketball coach at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. (Baylor won last year’s MARCH MADNESS tournament). “That” Harry Sypert later said that Jerome Tang is currently a finalist for the prestigious James Naismith College Coach Of The Year award. That’s because Don Williams noted that his players say that Tang is a great motivator and often uses music, to make the practices more interesting. And he’s been known to “jump on the table” to show support for his team. That kind of enthusiasm helped Kansas State beat the University of Kentucky and remain in contention for the national championship….unlike KU. In fact, this guy already been chosen Coach Of The Year, in the Big 12, beating out KU’s Bill Self.

Ironically, no one has said anything bad or smart-ass about this rather-humble, head basketball coach. But, it was Dr. John Martin that summed it all up. John said that he was impressed with Coach Tang…because he took a “nothing team” like Kansas State and turned it into a winner….one that just might end up in the championship game, in April. Thanks Jerry for bringing this “motivator” to our attention.

As bad as I hate to say it, we are all glad Coach Jerry Price used his “prerogative” and recognized Jerome Tang. After all, this guy apparently knows his stuff. Let’s thank Bobby Brown, too for giving us a theme, to say good things about Jerome Tang. Jerome is just one example of how the national media invokes it prerogative often.,…and in the process, leaves out someone worthy, like Jerome Tang.

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2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://kccallnews.pressreader.com/article/281659669289463

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