Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 31, 1990 TAG: 9003310122
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: DENVER LENGTH: Medium
As you might suspect from such a mass interview process, relatively few pearls of wisdom are offered.
There was a strange twist to that story Friday at McNichols Arena.
Georgia Tech's "Lethal Weapon 3" - Dennis Scott, Kenny Anderson and Brian Oliver - were replying to the usual probing thrusts from the large gathering of journalists.
Scott was asked again about his preseason weight loss, Oliver about the stress fracture in one of his feet and Anderson about why he never plays as if he's nervous.
Just the sort of stuff you can't wait to read in your favorite family newspaper.
Then, in the wide aisle that led into the interview area, came a familiar, albeit totally unexpected, figure.
It was "Tark the Shark," Jerry Tarkanian, the coach at UNLV. The sunken-eyed, bald, towel-chewing head of the team the NCAA loves to hate, the Runnin' Rebels. The man referred to last week by a California columnist as "Elmer Fudd."
Tark hated that.
Tark was not due on stage for another 90 minutes. Never before, since this event has become so mammoth that these mass gatherings have been required, has another coach listened in on the response of the opposing players.
Clearly, something was amiss. The Shark was out of water.
But Tarkanian wasn't trying to overhear what the Tech players were saying. He was seeking out Sports Illustrated's longtime basketball writer, Curry Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick was leaning against a wall, obscure to most of the media, when the Shark put the bite on him.
To put it mildly, Tarkanian was miffed at an article in the current issue of SI, written by Kirkpatrick and selecting UNLV to win the NCAA title.
Kirkpatrick had written:
"Finally, the villains - the troublin', trash-talkin' Runnin' Rebels of UNLV, some of whom were seen drinking beer in a parking lot the night before the semis of the West Regional. One of their tournament hosts in Oakland was (irony unintended) a bail bondsman."
Tark found no humor in that paragraph.
"That was chicken----," he said to Kirkpatrick in a tone of voice that did not disrupt the conference. In fact, only a handful of reporters were aware of what was happening.
"We have the greatest kids," Tark said. "Our boosters watch everything. It didn't happen."
Calmly, Kirkpatrick explained that he hadn't seen anybody drinking any beer in any parking lot the night that UNLV, in its only scare thus far, held off underdog Ball State 69-67.
Kirkpatrick had been following Loyola Marymount, which, until losing to UNLV 131-101, had been the story of the tournament.
The report on the beer drinking had been filed by Shelley Smith, a Los Angeles-based writer for the magazine, and was included in Kirkpatrick's article picking a likely winner - UNLV.
Later, Tarkanian insisted to Kirkpatrick that, once again, his players had been unfairly maligned by the media.
Tark has been carrying on a running battle with the NCAA and carrying a huge chip on his shoulder for 12 years over a suspension he never served for rules he swore he never broke. Tark and the NCAA on Wednesday finally settled things legally.
Tark, who wouldn't know or understand a clean college basketball program if he saw one, demanded that Kirkpatrick name names in the beer drinking incident.
"Give me their names and I'll do something about it," Tark said.
"OK," Kirkpatrick replied, "Augmon and Johnson."
Stacy Augmon is UNLV's defensive stopper, a U.S. Olympian who scored 33 points against Loyola Marymount. Larry Johnson is the junior college transfer who has made just about everybody's All-America team.
Tark said nothing more. His eyes blaring, he just turned and walked away.
Later, when it was Tark's turn to meet the media, he was not asked a single tough question about the image of his program.
It was suggested by one scribe who knew of the Kirkpatrick brouhaha that Tarkanian would suspend Johnson and Augmon on Tuesday.
The championship game is Monday night.
That report is pure speculation. You can draw your own conclusions.
by CNB