K-State stop crying

Memo to everyone in Manhattan, Kansas: Get over it. I realize you lost your basketball coach, Bob Huggins, to West Virginia after only one season, but what were you expecting? You hired a mercenary. You knew about his questionable character and his past, but you didn't care, you wanted to make your basketball team relevant and win games. You used him and he used you, and in the end you made out pretty freakin' good.

I have some insight into this whole scenario being from Cincinnati, the place where Huggins used to coach before he aligned with Kansas State. Huggins is dry, sequestered, and talks like a cyborg, but overall he's a decent human being. And despite the fact he coached at my school's archrival, I regretted that he was fired. Though I was one of the few people in a 50-mile radius that supported the University of Cincinnati's President, Nancy Zimpher, in her decision to get rid of him after he was arrested for a DUI.

It was refreshing to see an action contrary to the philosophy of winning trumps all else. And there's no doubt about it, Bob Huggins wins games, so for most people that have a vested interest in the program, or any team for that matter, they could careless about graduation rates, DUIs, or anything else, the guy could be on heroin and wife-beater, but as long as he gets "W's", he's all good.

It's the hypocrisy of sports, fans of every other team like to point a condemning finger at a high-profile player or coach who has done something wrong, but would embrace the person in an instant if they were to join their organization and produce more victories. Did anyone care when Jamal Strong was suspended by MLB for testing positive for steroids? Exactly, who?? Yet, Barry Bonds is one of the most hated men alive, outside of San Fransisco, because he was suspected of using steroids. Despite this animosity, there are 29 other teams that would love to have him, well, the old, juiced Bonds at least.

What's even more hypocritical is the fact that K-State supporters feel like they took a chance on Huggy Bear and he stabbed them in the back? Really? What sort of risk or consequence was there to hiring him, I don't even recall there being any kind of backlash for hiring someone with Bobby's baggage. It was all reward, and in the event things somehow went awry or he didn't win enough games, he would have been dropped faster than The Nine. So much for loyalty, huh?

Face it, the guy did more for your program in one year than others have done in a decade, he had the #1 recruiting class on-tap for next year, and suddenly you had a sip of what it would be like to not suck and you're pissed that you're losing it. I would be upset too, but not at Huggins.

Trust me, I can relate, after Thad Matta took Xavier to the Elite 8, he jetted for Ohio State, that little school that just happened to play in the NCAA championship game this year, and I was furious. But I wasn't mad that Thad left, I was pissed about how he left. He told us he had absolutely no interest in the job, wasn't even considered for it, and loved it at X; the next day he was holding a press conference in Columbus.

That's a stab in the back, front, and face; what Huggins did wasn't. Huggs was honest the whole time; K-State just wasn't honest with themselves. If you really believed that Huggins would stay in Manhattan for any substantial length of time, you deserved to lose him.

You were the rebound chic. He got dumped by an attractive girl for being a drunk and ended up dating you. But you had to have known he would have never gone out with you if it wasn't for the fact that none of the other popular girls wanted anything to do with him due to the negative perception he created. He lowered his standards because he had to. But after his year-long relationship with you, he proved to other girls that despite the fact he's a drunk, he still brings home the moolah. And that's really what matters, right? So another chic, that's on his level, comes along and courts him, and you're left crying in your Häagen-Dazs.

Cheer up and just be thankful you got a chance to date a stud. He already gave you Bill Walker and if any of the recruits from his highly touted incoming class end up playing for you (the University should be ashamed if they force them to stay and don't give them the option), you owe the man a great deal of gratitude, not disdain.