Kansas is Crowned...Again

With last night's 83-75 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the famed Allen Fieldhouse, Bill Self and his Kansas Jayhawks clinched at least a share of the 2013-2014 Big 12 regular season championship. "Kansas" and "Big 12 champions" have now become synonymous with each other as this is the tenth straight year the Jayhawks have achieved the honor. The crazy thing about this accomplishment is that three of these titles have come on years where Bill Self has not had a starter return from the previous year. This is one of those years as the core of the team is composed of freshman, headlined by future lottery picks Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid.

Smiles have been easy to come by for Self

So now, with Kansas' recent yet prolonged success, the question has to be raised: is Kansas the most dominant program of the 2000s? With their stretch of ten straight conference titles they join John Wooden's UCLA teams from 1967-1979 and Mark Few's Gonzaga Bulldogs from 2001-2011 as the only programs to win ten or more consecutive conference championships. While these three programs enjoyed long-term success, Gonzaga never captured an NCAA championship in the midst of their run, and Kansas has only snagged one. UCLA on the other hand had the most dominant run of any program in the history of the game in which they won eight national championships throughout their thirteen year Pac-10 reign.

While Gonzaga's run also took place in the 2000s, they are nowhere near the postseason success that Kansas has had, which is why the Jayhawks are making a case to be the most dominant team of the new millennium. In the grand scheme of things, though, how successful has Kansas REALLY been? They won it all in 2008 when I saw them play in San Antonio, but other than that they have been to just two Final Fours since 2004 (2008, 2012) despite being a number one seed five of the past ten years and never being seeded lower than a four. They have made the Elite Eight three times but have also been eliminated before the Sweet Sixteen the same amount of times. So while they have dominated their conference, have they really dominated the NCAA Tournament?

Wiggins and Embiid hope to lead Kansas to Dallas

Bill Self has worked wonders at Kansas (though a bitter Illinois fan such as myself would hate to admit it). He has the program on the highest pedestal and they are a perennial contender. Yet when it comes to the Big Dance, Kansas rarely seems to live up to expectations. Lawrence, Kansas has truly played host to perhaps the most dominant regular season team as the Jayhawks have not had a double-digit number in the loss column since Self took over in 2003-2004. But the dominance in the NCAA Tournament has not been there as teams like UCLA, North Carolina, Michigan State, and Louisville have all reached more Final Fours than the Jayhawks have in the past ten years. With that in mind it would be nearly impossible to truly pinpoint the most dominant program of the 2000s as there are plenty of schools that have made numerous trips to the Final Four, but for Kansas to be the most dominant team in the Big 12 the past ten years? Well there's simply no doubt about that. Another exciting season of basketball is under way in Lawrence but time will tell if the Jayhawks' latest Big 12 regular season championship will translate into success in March.

Topic of Gay Athletes Receiving Unnecessary Attention

Michael Sam and Jason Collins are two African-American athletes who are both trying to make it at the professional level. But there is just one thing that sets these two gentlemen apart from the rest of the field and that, as I'm sure you know by now, is that they are both gay. There. That's all you need to know...right? Well sadly news stations, specifically ESPN, believe it necessary to litter the headlines with a breakdown of every second of Sam and Collins' lives. Why? I understand that these two men are displaying immense amounts of courage by bringing their difference in lifestyle to the public eye, but why do we insist on alienating them even further by continually placing their names in the news and drawing attention to them?

Sam revealed he was gay after the college football season

Now I have a view on homosexuality but I refuse to express that in this post. This is not the place to discuss something like that and if you feel led to comment on this post I encourage you to be mindful of those who may have differing opinions. With that in mind, I fail to see how the announcements Sam and Collins have made warrant this kind of attention. Is it big news? Absolutely. Could it cause discomfort to the athletic world? Most definitely, but if we know that these two men will be viewed differently as it is, why do we continue to force their name into the news? Everyone on this earth, whether they're black, white, short, tall, rich, or poor is a human being and should be treated as such. Just because Michael Sam and Jason Collins are gay does not mean that we need to be acting like they're both charity cases that deserve special attention. They lace up their shoes and put their jersey on the same way heterosexual players do. There is no need for this kind of attention, let them worry about themselves and let them go and play the sport they love without all the extra attention. I'm sure that Sam and Collins don't want to have to deal with the constant interviews anyways.

Collins has played for multiple NBA teams

Another thing that bothers me is people seem to have changed their opinions on these two athletes just because of their sexual preference. I think that says a lot about society today and the same thing happened when basketball stand out Britney Griner revealed that she is lesbian last year. All of the sudden it was no longer about praising her success on the court, it became about her sexuality and whether or not WNBA teams would welcome her. Seriously? These athletes enjoyed stretches of success before people knew that they were gay. Now all of the sudden their entire careers are viewed differently because of their sexuality. Whether a player is homosexual or not should not change a fan's view of how they play the game. It's bothersome to see people turning on these athletes because of a difference that has no bearing on their ability in their sport.

The last thing I want is to come across as saying we should not talk about gay athletes. That is not my intent of this post nor is it a feeling that I have. My view is that we should treat gay athletes just like we do straight athletes. They are no different when it comes to how they play the game, so why add all the unnecessary drama to their lives that are already stressful enough? It's exciting that we have athletes like this that are willing to come out and are leading the way for future gay athletes. But the constant news coverage needs to be laid to rest.