by Author Name Withheld 96

Created on: March 23, 2009   Last Updated: April 01, 2009

As some of you may or may not remember Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama's brother introduced Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention. There were videos at the Democratic National Convention that talked about Barack Obama's skills on the basketball court. In those videos it was noted that Barack Obama was once known as "Barry The Bomber" for his prowess from the three point line. Barack Obama would also reference how his high school basketball coach had a Bobby Knight style of coaching to him. Craig Robinson is the coach at Oregon State for the Beavers men's basketball team. He has been getting plenty of press this week to discuss his brother-in-law's NCAA Tournament selections.

Of course Robinson's own Oregon State program was able to beat Tom Penders and the Houston Cougars to advance in the CIBC Classic. What some people may consider a third rate postseason tournament many other folks consider it to be high quality basketball. Before Robinson took the job at Oregon State he was the head coach at Brown University. Robinson may now think that not only does ESPN have an east coast bias when covering college basketball, but his brother in law may have one as well given that Barack has selected the North Carolina Tar Heels to win it all over each of the last two years. The fact that ESPN covered Obama's bracket so much may also lead to more of that East Coast bias theory.

We certainly know that Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale have a love affair with the Duke program. Many of the other on air basketball commentators such as Steve Lavin and Digger Phelps make a note of it jokingly, but in many ways it rings true. Vitale appreciates the kind of person Coach K is for all the charity work he has done, but this should not effect your analysis of games. Bilas and his selection of the best of the best only nauseates me as he is constantly criticizing West Coast team like Saint Mary's for not scheduling enough tough games. He knows very well however that many teams are scared to play Saint Mary's whether it be for a home or away game.

Steve Lavin who has coached on the West Coast tries to balance some of this out, but he generally gets shipped to Big Ten games where he gets to talk about memories of working as an assistant for Gene Keady and the Purdue Boilermakers. Once again having to leave the West Coast teams out of the discussion within many sports talk shows and during games.

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