Lydon comments

[CuseFaninVT]

My thoughts have changed as I've gotten older. 18 seems like such an arbitrary age to call someone an adult.

Scientifically, we may still be growing past 18. Our brains aren't fully developed yet.

In our society, there are weird laws and practices for the ages 18-21 as well. Some things you can't do until you're 21. Some things you won't be penalized until you're 21. This really goes on until 25 for some items, but it is understandable because some haven't reached the appropriate maturity.

As our life expectancy has gone up, and college has become the norm, it seems more and more that 18-22 are still kids to many.

If we call them adults, they should get full privileges of being adults. Most people I know usually refer to people in college as "college kids". Like, oh yeah bobby, nice college kid.

As the father of an 18-year old boy, I completely agree

 

[imdevo]

I didn’t. 10 years later, I’d like to, but instead of being young and dumb I’m just dumb now. Tough to pick up Brazilian chicks on the beach at my age.

I highly recommend a trip to Brazil at any age.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

5-4 here... work boots are your friend. JB never said anything about in shoes or socks.

I'm actually 5-7... in Timberlands, at least.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I’ve learned that adults are very very weird in that their happiness relies on whether a college basketball team does well and I’ve met many of these people. I don’t get that part of it and never will. I think these types of people were never athletes and live vicariously through people like Tyler Lydon and lash out to them when they do not perform up to standards in their eyes.

People that have never played D1 sports have zero clue about the life. Zero. And that’s the part that bothers me more than anything. Lydon is absolutely right and I have this conversation often because people love throwing shade

I agree to an extent. But I think it's a generalization that only people who weren't college athletes are the ones who get all worked up.

People who play sports at a high level have a level of commitment, competitiveness and concentration that they are the kinds of people - some of them - who become "that guy" who is angry all day at everyone if his team loses a game. Some of those hyper-competitive people become gamblers, too - hopefully not compulsive ones.

I used to be a guy who would get angry if our players didn't play well. But I got over that by around my early 30s. It's just entertainment, and socializing with friends. Sports are the background for great times (and some disappointing ones, too), but winning and losing is not really what it's about.

You want your team to be competitive at high levels, if you're a fan or an athlete. But if you team loses, you shouldn't let it ruin your day. I played 3 years of varsity sports in Division 3, not Division 1, but it still takes a lot of commitment to do it successfully.

There is no reason to trash young people who are trying their best in any sort of personal way. Calling someone a player who is lacking is legit, but not personal attacks.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We can’t critique players on here?

I would never reach out directly to a player or coach. That’s very weird behavior. But to criticize the play of anyone on the team is open game imo more so now since they are in position to get paid and be pros in college

Oh, we can - and do.

It's just that you cross a line when you send a text to somebody or post to his social media page and say he should just kill himself, or quit the sport, or whatever really nasty insult these kids get from supposed adults.

 

[elimunelson]

Oh, we can - and do.

It's just that you cross a line when you send a text to somebody or post to his social media page and say he should just kill himself, or quit the sport, or whatever really nasty insult these kids get from supposed adults.

I didn’t get the issue initially. I’m in agreement 100% then. That’s very weird behavior. I wouldn’t have even contemplated such detestable actions. Those people are losers

 

[xc84]

I understood a long time ago what Tyler says. I used to think I was a decent basketball player. Then I played against good D1 and D2 players. It was then that I realized "I suck" and that I would never say that anyone who plays D1 is not good. People who are critical just don't get how good even the least good are.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

I understood a long time ago what Tyler says. I used to think I was a decent basketball player. Then I played against good D1 and D2 players. It was then that I realized "I suck" and that I would never say that anyone who plays D1 is not good. People who are critical just don't get how good even the least good are.

I used to play occasional pickup games with SU players when I was a student. Keep in mind that, at that time, SU was not the force it is now. We were not recruiting nationally-ranked 5 star players. Stars didn't even exist. We were ordering our peach baskets directly from Dr. Naismith. What I'm trying to say is that it was a while ago.

Even so, those guys were on a different level than guys like me. Sure, I could occasionally score on them. Sure, if I fastened myself to them with epoxy (a trick that I am sure Jamie Dixon somehow picked up from me) I could keep them from scoring at will on me. Sometimes.

But it still was night and day.

With the NIL rules, players are becoming more like pros...in fact, at some schools they are flat out pros already. That has always been the case, even at SU to a degree, but now it isn't even a wink and a nod at a lot of places. I'm sure there are a number of players in college who laugh at what G-League players make compared to them. In those cases, "laying off the kids and reserving your criticism for the coach who makes millions" starts to wane a bit as a personal philosophy. But, in general, I try to always avoid personal attacks on the players and always have. It isn't like I personally have ever contributed in any way to an SU win.

Getting back to what Tyler said though, the difference between stars, starters, and the 12th man on a D1 team is often great. The difference between that 12th man and most other guys who wander onto a court is sometimes astronomical.

 

[dollarbill44]

Yeah, it’s high Major D-1 ball.

If anyone has a problem with the type of discussion that happens here, they should probably go play ping pong or something, instead.

No one on this year's team should have any time to read this forum. They should be spending all their extra time working on their game.
It's freaking embarrassing!

 

[dollarbill44]

I’ve learned that adults are very very weird in that their happiness relies on whether a college basketball team does well and I’ve met many of these people. I don’t get that part of it and never will. I think these types of people were never athletes and live vicariously through people like Tyler Lydon and lash out to them when they do not perform up to standards in their eyes.

People that have never played D1 sports have zero clue about the life. Zero. And that’s the part that bothers me more than anything. Lydon is absolutely right and I have this conversation often because people love throwing shade

I get your point, but I wouldn't say "zero clue". While I never played D1 sports, I have nieces and nephews, cousins and friends etc that are now or have been college athletes ranging from elite D1 to D3. Even some club teams, particularly at the military academies are treated like a varsity sport.

That said, I try not to criticize the players, except for boneheaded mistakes like technical fouls or unsportsmanlike behavior and focus my criticism on the coaches.

 

[senorpalmer]

Lydon's post is pretty general and could be interpreted a number of ways. There are no doubt a lot of negative words and actions that should be considered out of bounds (things like personal attacks, harassment, trashing players, etc). At the same time, if you want to play a sport in front of 20-30,000 people regularly and be on TV regularly and get compensated for it, I mean it's not gonna be all unicorns and rainbows. A significant number of people invest time and money in watching collegiate athletics, one could interpret Lydon's post with an air of entitlement that fans should just be grateful to see anything at all (again I'm not 100% sure what he's saying, this may not apply at all to him). But to that hypothetical point of view, I say perhaps you would like it better playing in front of 300 people and no TV instead of 30,000 people and being nationally broadcast, you are not entitled to other people's time and money.

 

[CooperCuse]

There are no occupations that are immune from criticism, dribbling a ball isn't an exception. College athletes, particularly now that payment for their services goes beyond a free $200,000 education and all the trappings that come with that, cannot expect to be sheltered from critical opinions. Can people be d-bags and take it too far? Absolutely. But you deserve no special consideration just because you're athletically gifted.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Lyndon just ball faked again. Players are basically getting paid now so they better get used to the criticism. They want money, they should be treated like pros.

 

[AZOrange]

Eh Lydon has a good point. He isn’t talking about this place generally but a deeper darker part of the internet’s. The stalking that goes on is nuts

 

[orangecuse]

I'm not on social media, so I may be off base here. However, I just have to imagine that these "grown ass men or women" he is referring to who engage in this specific type of behavior are, for the most part, overwhelmingly the same age of folks 18-21, that he refers to as "kids." I guess there may be some loser late 20's early 30's type dudes that are still quite immature, etc., but I imagine it's few and far between relative to that age group, let alone older folks than that.

 

[721Comstock]

I'm not on social media, so I may be off base here. However, I just have to imagine that these "grown ass men or women" he is referring to who engage in this specific type of behavior are, for the most part, overwhelmingly the same age of folks 18-21, that he refers to as "kids." I guess there may be some loser late 20's early 30's type dudes that are still quite immature, etc., but I imagine it's few and far between relative to that age group, let alone older folks than that.

Ahem.
You just posted this to social media.

 

[ClamOtto]

At the Elite 8 game in 2013 there were some SU "fans" near me screaming at Rak, insulting him and calling him names for most of the game. Finally my wife turned to them and said "you know he's just a college kid, right? Taking classes, going to practice and playing basketball for your school and not being paid for it. I teach there and these are my students. Why don't you lay off him?" To my shock, instead of getting in a fight, one guy said "you know, I never really thought about that" and stopped yelling at him. Small victories. So yeah, I agree: stop hassling college athletes, NIL or not. The refs, on the other hand, are fair game...

 

[orangecuse]

Ahem.
You just posted this to social media.

Ha. I was referring to the much broader type media platforms like Facebook (Meta) or whatever the frig it's called nowadays, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Not this cult-esque type forum we have here.