I’m feeling as conflicted and heart-broken as Usher today, and I’m not even sure it’s over yet. I am prepared for the inevitability of Johnny Dawkins (forget what you hear, not Brey, not Amaker, definitely not Quin) filling Coach K’s shoes as the next head coach of the Duke University men’s basketball team. I am prepared for that day coming no earlier than 2010, and certainly not prepared for it tomorrow… Either way until a decision is final, I guess I’ve gotta let it burn. Good thing I’ve got 2 hours of Sharapova to look forward to tomorrow. (Click the link and you’ll have a PG-13 rated photo of Paige Davis to look forward to right now!)

It’s gonna burn for me to say this
But it’s comin from my heart
It’s been a long time coming
But we done been fell apart
Really wanna work this out
But I don’t think you’re gonna change
I do but you don’t
Think it’s best we go our separate ways
Tell me why I should stay in this relationship
When I’m hurting baby, I ain’t happy baby
Plus there’s so many other things I gotta deal with
I think that you should let it burn

The NBA has flirted unsuccessfully with Krzyzewski in the past, and he has chosen to stay in Durham despite seemingly compelling offers. Paul Allen touted millions to clean up the TrailBlazers, Red Auerbach was willing to share a percentage of ownership of the Celtics, former player and current 76’er G.M. Billy King called K before Larry had his bags packed, hell even Jordan, a former Tar Heel, took a shot on the head Dukie.

The reasons not to go are aplenty:
?New professorship with the Duke School of Business/Leadership
?Significant charitable work with Duke Children’s Hospital and Emily Krzyzewski Life Center
?Proximity to family and grandchildren
?Less hectic travel schedule
?Appear hypocritical after years of urging kids to stay in school, and espousing the virtues of the college game
?Vitale unlikely to transition to the NBA for continued on-air azz-smooching
?If he told the Crazies to jump off a bridge they’d do it
?Two more years of J.J. Redick
?Medvedenko?
?Only a matter of time before he breaks all of Wooden’s records (yep, I said it…)

When your feeling ain’t the same and your body don’t want to
But you know gotta let it go cuz the party ain’t jumpin’ like it used to
Even though this might ruin you
Let it burn (let it burn, let it burn, you gon’learn)
Let it burn (gotta let it burn)
Gotta let it burn

Reasons to go? I suppose there’s a few:
?Early defections to NBA tarnishing college game
?Unnecessary ACC football-motivated expansion begins to tarnish ACC this season
?Return to Final Four this year unlikely with freakin’ Sean Dockery running the point
?Offer is reported to make him the highest paid coach in any sport
?Possibility of joining Larry Brown as the only coach to win titles in college and pro hoops
?Get the hell away from Vitale
?Two more years of Shavlik Randolph
?Staples is air-conditioned
?Only a matter of time before Quin somehow triggers an NCAA investigation at Duke (“I’m not doing anything different than K does at Duke, where do you guys think I learned all these moves anyway?…”)
?New Duke University president has been on the job for an entire day and still not kneeled in K’s presence to and offered to kiss his Championship pinky ring

Deep down you know it’s best for yourself but you
Hate the thought of her being with someone else
But you know that it’s over
We know that it’s through
Let it burn
Let it burn
Gotta let it burn

In my heart of hearts, I think Rudy Tomjanovich will be announced as the new Lakers head coach by mid-July. Tom Izzo as a longshot. Coach K is a thoughtful and analytical guy. If there actually is an offer on the table not only making you the richest in your profession at any level and in any sport, in a place you can also win — I can understand why you’d want to take a holiday weekend to consider all the pros and cons. Even should he eventually reject the offer, there is a sizeable balance of power issue happening right now at Duke University. How successful of a tenure could a college president possibly have, when literally his first full week on the job coincides with the departure of a Hall-of-Famer with three rings, responsible for millions of dollars in upgrades throughout the entire campus — not just the athletic department like some schools. Can you say new and improved contract (with increased clout)?

From the Lakers’ standpoint, why not go after the king of the college ranks? Had Kobe went to college, it would have allegedly been to Duke, maybe there’s enough trust in that relationship for Kobe to come to his senses and forget about the Clippers’ max offer to play for Mike Dunleavy, Sr. If indeed the Lakers’ ownership and G.M. Mitch Kupchak has prioritized keeping Kobe over Shaq, maybe K is their ace in the hole. Though he’s publicly said otherwise, Jerry West and the Grizzlies could put a package together including Pau Gasol and (hmmmm) Shane Battier, along with enough bad contracts to work for Shaq. As much as Coach K might not be best suited at this time in his life for the daily grind of the NBA, and more specifically the soap opera that the Lakers have become during the last couple of seasons, he does love Battier. Or maybe if K has enough juice, he convinces Kupchak that he’d only take the job with Shaq on board, leading to a sign-and-trade to the Clippers for Kobe in exchange for Brand and Maggette. Hmmm… It’s all about leveraging, and the Lakers’ roster is in enough flux, that Kupchak would be hard pressed not to consider an outsider’s viewpoint and every possibility this offseason.

There’s certainly enough logical buzz that makes you think hmmmm, which amounts to a little more than a weeklong summer camp romance. Remember Coach K was never a fan of ACC expansion, between defections of Jay Williams, Carlos Boozer, Dunleavy, Jr., Deng and Livingston over the past three seasons, he may have lost two additional national championship opportunities. That trend is likely to continue — and was probably the biggest contributing factor to Mike Montgomery leaving Stanford for Golden State. Though, who wouldn’t want to coach Dunleavy, Jr.? Unlike Montgomery, K has already made his lasting mark on the college game, and competitive guys are always looking for the next insurmountable milestone. At 57 and already having dealt with major health issues over the last decade (back, hips…), maybe he’s given himself three more years in coaching before retiring and sleep-walking through public speaking engagements at $100,000 per. During that 3-year timeframe it’s just as likely for him to win an NBA title than a collegiate one.

Now all my fellas do you feel my pain?
It’s the way I feel
I know I made a mistake
Now it’s too late
I know she ain’t comin back
What I gotta do now
To get my shorty back
Ooo ooo ooo ooooh
Man I don’t know what I’m gonna do
Without my booo
You’ve been gone for too long
It’s been fifty-leven days, um-teen hours
Imma be burnin’ till you return

The college game would continue to suffer without K around as senior statesman. If the NCAA won’t listen to him regarding the demise of the game in the wake of illogical rules unreasonably over-legislating coach-recruit/player access, that allow NBA scouts and AAU street thugs more interaction with student athletes than their own coaches at their own institutions, they’re certainly not gonna listen to anybody else… And maybe K is finally resigned to the fact that there will never be a minimum age for entering the NBA Draft and that the NCAA is not concerned enough with leveling the playing field, and I don’t know, employing simple logic from time to time, instead of suspending kids 10 games for playing in an unauthorized rec. league. Maybe it is time to stop preaching to deaf ears, quit jacking with recruiting kids whose parents are encouraging them to get paid as soon as possible, and get paid himself. And a tan…

Hell, after watching this week’s the Casino, even I am considering a career change from Desipio contributor, to independent party planner. Supposedly it’s a completely different profession than pimp. I’m sure it ain’t easy, but it did look like fun. And it’s pretty much a public service, shouldn’t everyone, assuming they have enough money, be allowed to party? Some people just don’t know how. That’s where the independent party planner steps in, you pay the man, and he brings the girl, errr, party to you!

I’m twisted cuz one side of me is tellin’ me that I need to move on
On the other side I wanna break down and cry (ooooh)
I’m twisted cuz one side of me is tellin’ me that I need to move on
On the other side I wanna break down and cry

My fantasy baseball team is in last place, I pulled both a quad and calf muscle during a softball double-header this week, B.C. thinks I hate him, and I am soon going to be spending a 4-day weekend home alone with a 10-month old. I am in a very precarious stage of my life, and really don’t need any more stress right now. I don’t even want to think about writing a eulogy for Coach K’s Duke tenure, considering the benefits and prospects of a national coaching search (Mark Few? Kelvin Sampson?), hearing grumblings of player transfers like you always do in similar situations, and/or looking forward to a season without Coach K on the bench needling refs and dropping F-bombs. I’m still a bit upset that they blew a lead with 3:30 to go against the Huskies in the national semifinals. Don’t even get me started on Luol’s greedy bastard of a dad (Luol supposedly wanted to stay)…

All to say, this has got to be much ado about nothing. Right??? And for the record, though my buddy C-Mac is trying to piss me off by arguing the contrary, this has nothing to do with Roy Williams and the fact that Duke could easily land behind Carolina, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and in a tie with Maryland for 4th place in the ACC next year… Ugh… Everything sucks…

Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh oooh
Ooh ooh oooh (can ya feel me burnin’?)
Ooh ooh ooh oooh ooh oooh
So many days, so many hours
I’m still burnin’ till you return

See, even Britney’s upset. (Yes, that’s Britney and not Mimi from The Drew Carey Show). Damn girl, what the hell happened to you???