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Show Foul-mouthed cagers fade away ; V I 111 Clip Board by Jay Taylor players I can't remember. I would have bought a ticket to see him play even if the team continued to lose. Sadly for me, I missed seeing him play before I moved to Utah when the old San Diego Rockets opted not to try to outbid the ABA the year Pete was the country's No. 1 draft pick. I remember Pete's dad doing a lot of cheering, but I don't recall Pete celebrating with anything but floppy old socks. It's not likely I'll forget Cosic, Maravich or Stockton. But players with foul mouths like old what's his name who used to play for the Jazz will fade. ONot many basketball fans know ie real reason that the Jazz are not Keeping Delaney Rudd. Seldom have I been privy to the inside scoop on such momentous announcements, an-nouncements, but this one evolved right under my nose (well, actually, ears). The morning after Rudd's last second three pointer tied a playoff game against Portland, a fifth grade teacher friend of mine approached me and asked if I had seen and heard the expletives in Delaney's celebration statement. Obviously the sports world, including boys and girls and all the ships at sea, were O listeners. She told me that she was so disappointed dis-appointed and upset with the display from a prominent sports semi-hero that she had already called the Jazz management office. To their credit, they suggested that she address her comments directly o Rudd through their office. Evidently as a result Delaney is gone, reaffirming the power of the poison pen! Essentially, the teacher's point was that one athlete might counter in one moment of inappropriate expression ex-pression her entire year's effort to inspire civility if not eloquence in the mouths of her babes. I personally personal-ly hope she sends letters to the movie makers and the TV networks and I might add my Dan Q. to the bottom. Of all the expansion and change in sports over recent years, the "celebration" seems most visible (and somewhat foreign) now that even a toddler knows a ' high five." One of my vivid memories of BYU basketball is Kresimer Cosic acknowledging the crowd's cheers with a huge, naive grin. What a novelty he became because any player of the era previous would have been mortified if he thought the fan noticed even a hint of conceit. Perhaps one reason John Stockton seems to be so well liked is that he seems genuinely humble at a point in his career when he is becoming virtually peerless. He's even made me almost stop pouting about not seeing more of the late Pete Maravich. After closely following Maravich's college career, I was definitely among the disappointed to suffer with Pistol Pete, the ultimate entertainer, sitting on the bench after an NBA franchise finally final-ly came to Utah with a team whose |
