Random Rumblings (On Favre, college basketball and Calhoun)

• Like all the legends in sports that have retired before him, Brett Favre used family as one of the main reasons why he retired from football this week. And we accept it–maybe more than we did from Michael Jordan- because of who he is and all he’s been through.
  
  But what if the Packers were able to sign Randy Moss? Would Favre have walked away then?
  
  The answer is no. Despite the success the team had this season, Favre didn’t believe he had the right pieces to win a Super Bowl, and he said as much when he talked about how getting there in losing wouldn’t be good enough.
  
  Family might have been the reason he retired. But he wasn’t talking about his wife and children. He was talking about Greg Jennings and company – his second family.
  
  The one he didn’t believe in.
  
  
• The NCAA Basketball Tournament might be the greatest event in sports, but it is going to be hard for most of the country to get excited about players they just don’t know, and that’s why the NBA forcing players to attend school for a year is going to hurt the college game in the long run.
  
  Last year, Kevin Durant and Greg Oden became household names because of the success their teams were having. This year’s best player, Michael Beasley, plays on an average Kansas State team that is barely ever on national television.
  
  The same goes for a lot of the big-name freshmen. O.j. Mayo’s USC team still needs to do work in order to qualify for the Big Dance. Eric Gordon at Indiana has been overshadowed but the Kelvin Sampson situation. And most people probably don’t even know what team Jerryd Bayless plays for.
  
  And the trend isn’t going anywhere. As long as the freshman classes are more talented than the juniors and seniors, the average fan will not get a chance to learn about the stars they are watching come tournament time.
  
  And interest will fade.
  
  
• Speaking of college basketball, The Big Lead asked who the coach of the year was going to be and didn’t include Jim Calhoun.
  
  The guy has won a National Title has a huge underdog (1999) and as an overwhelming favorite (2004), but if he can get Connecticut to the Final Four this season, it has to be his best coaching job.
  
  And he should be rewarded.

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