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There is Rip, and there is RIP. As in Chicago Bulls guard Richard “Rip” Hamilton and former college basketball coach Rick Majerus. Hamilton suffered an injury in a 93-88 victory Saturday (Dec. 1) against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers. Majerus died at age 64 in St. Louis. Rest In Peace.
Lauren of the Luvabulls rates No. 47 on bleacherreport.com’s list of 100 Hottest NBA Dancers. Compiling that list had to be a lot of hard work.
In no way is this column trying to say Hamilton’s injury — “I heard something pop on the bottom of my foot,” he said after the game — is on the level of someone’s death. It’s merely a simple way to put two stories related by sport in one spot. Hopefully that will cut down on any irate emails.
Anyway, Hamilton exited the game with 3:15 left in the third quarter. Word went out from the Bulls PR staff that Hamilton was out for the rest of the game with a sprained ankle. He returned in the fourth quarter with 20.8 seconds left. He hit three of four free throws in the closing seconds to close out the Sixers, who eliminated the Bulls from last season’s postseason after star guard Derrick Rose suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
“They always say the worst injuries are when nobody is around and you don’t fall down,” said Hamilton, who finished with 15 points, second on the Bulls’ to Luol Deng’s game-high 25. “When it happened, it scared me. I felt I did not want to put pressure on it, but it was not a whole lot of pain. He [Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau] did not want to put me back at first. But I’m like, ‘I’m good, I’m good.’ ”
How good should be determined by an MRI on Sunday.
Speaking of Sunday, there may be NFL picks and pics from Playboy Playmate Jaime Edmondson. We will find that out Sunday as well. If she does post them on Twitter at @jaimeedmondson, we will be happy to post them here.
Of topics less pleasant, there is the death of Majerus, something of a larger-than-life individual. Literally and figuratively. In 25 years with four colleges (Marquette, Ball State, Utah and Saint Louis University), he had one losing season.
He died in a Los Angeles hospital of heart failure. He had been hospitalized there for several months.
“That’s a tough one for me,” Boston coach Doc Rivers, a former Marquette star, said after the Celtics’ loss in Milwaukee. “He’s the one that gave me my nickname. I knew before [the game] that he wasn’t going to make it through the night. I don’t want to talk much about it.”
Majerus was 95-69 in five seasons at Saint Louis and had a 25-year record of 517-216. At Utah, his teams went 323-95.
“Rick left a lasting legacy at the University of Utah, not only for his incredible success and the national prominence he brought to our basketball program, but also for the tremendous impact he made on the young men who were fortunate enough to play on his teams,” Utah athletic director Dr. Chris Hill said in a statement.
“His standard of excellence extended beyond the basketball court and into the academic and personal success of his players. He will be deeply missed and we grieve for his family and all of his friends.”
Majerus does not fit the cookie-cutter mold of contemporary coaches. He wasn’t a fancy dresser. He didn’t have rugged, good looks to impress a recruit (or the recruit’s mother and/or father). He didn’t look like a guy who could go on the court and play for a few minutes. He appeared about as far from slick as almost anyone. But he could coach.
Whether college basketball ever will see another Rick Majerus is doubtful. To say he is the last of a dying breed would not be understatement.
Video from the Bulls game, pregame and postgame (if things go according to plan — which they occasionally do around here — there will be a couple of more Luvabulls videos for Monday):
Some Majerus-related video:
Need a hockey fix? Me neither. But for those who do, this video might have some therapeutic benefits. Actually, upon further review, this video might work for those who are not emotionally and/or financially invested in the NHL lockout:
Time to go to more video — gratuitous and otherwise (although the video-research department around elliottharris.com generally does not find much it would define as “gratuitous” thanks to its liberal definition of the word):
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