Pictures From Midnight Madness

By Trashtalk Superstar

Sports Illustrated has pictures from several schools' Midnight Madness exhibitions. As much as Midnight Madness has become a big deal on campuses across America, there's still nobody who does it better than Kentucky.

Edit:

Someone should have prevented Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan from embarrassing himself by doing the superman dance on camera. Once the white people start doing a dance, it's officially over.


Updated (10/19/07):

Bo Ryan is a great basketball coach. Wisconsin never gets the big time recruits and their style of play isn't exactly ballet on the hardwood, but Bo Ryan's teams consistently win. Drive and Dish's editorial staff has nothing but respect for Bo Ryan's coaching abilities. But Bo looks like a damn fool in that video.

Bo Ryan is a coach's coach. He spent much of his long career in total obscurity. First he was a high school coach. Then he went on to coach small college basketball at Wisconsin/Platteville, where his teams won several NCAA Division III national championships. He's paid his dues like few in his profession have. With his career accomplishments, and with the level of success he's brought to Wisconsin basketball, Bo Ryan commands respect.

That's why Bo Ryan should never have done that Soulja Boy superman dance. First, the song is terrible and represents everything that's wrong with the current state of commercial hip hop (and on a broader level, with the current state of the music industry in general). That song and its corresponding dance are the hot thing right now, but weren't hot six months ago and won't be hot six months from now. Hell, it probably won't even be hot two months from now because - as we noted above - once the white folks catch on to something, its days are numbered.

Bo Ryan is a man of stature who holds a position of authority. He's experienced. He's distinguished. He's the don of Wisconsin basketball. He should act the part. But he sure as hell shouldn't try to act young and cool. He's neither. And by attempting to latch on to the latest hot dance moves, Bo Ryan looks insecure, needy and desperate for approval.

Bo Ryan's best play is to project his authority. That's what big time college coaches do. After all, as far as all things UW basketball go, Bo Ryan is the man. Players and students should have to earn his approval. Not the other way around.