I always watch the final March Madness games in the women’s tournament, because of the high quality of the playing and coaching and, yes, because as a Baylor University alum and legacy guy, it was hard not to watch coach Kim Mulkey’s teams in the dynasty years.
That said, I was one of the Baylor fans who were miffed when the administration either (a) smiled and let her hit the exit door for a few more dollars from her home-state school or (b) sort of pushed her toward that exit because she was too flashy, too conservative (however one wants to define that), too private or too willing to step on the toes of powerful men and women.
Mulkey is not a woman who knows her place.
So I paid attention to the stunningly improbable LSU run to the national title — at the end of Mulkey’s second year at that job, after arriving at a school in or near the SEC cellar.
I wondered, frankly, if she was going to say one of those things that she says that the press kind of has to look away and pretend that she didn’t say. I wasn’t expecting it to be a quote about religion.
With a minute to go in the game, Mulkey was shown crying — almost weeping — on the sideline when the dagger three-pointer hit the net to defeat a great Iowa team. The Tiger queen was still fighting to control her emotions during her first post-game comments to ESPN. Struggling to speak, and wiping away tears, she finally managed to answer the inevitable “How do you feel?” question from reporter Holly Rowe.
“Coaches coach for a lifetime. This is the fourth time that I’ve been blessed,” Mulkey said to Holly Rowe postgame. “Never in the history of LSU basketball, men or women, have they ever played for a championship. And to win it? I think my tears are tears of joy. I’m so happy for everybody back home in Louisiana.”
“Blessed” is, of course, deep-Bible Belt talk.
That’s from a Sam Gillenwater post at the On3 website: “Kim Mulkey 'blessed' after leading LSU to program's first national championship.” It’s the quote that ended the interview that caught my attention.
“I’m just stunned. I’m blessed, I’m appreciative. It’s Palm Sunday,” Mulkey said. “I just … wow.”
Yes, the game was played on Palm Sunday — according to the Gregorian liturgical calendar used in Western Christian traditions. It’s the opening drama of Holy Week that leads to Easter, the most important feast day in the Christian faith.
Yes, Palm Sunday is a day of celebration, yet one tinged with sadness because worshippers know that there’s lots and lots human frailty and dark betrayal ahead — before the triumph of Easter.
What was Mulkey saying? I assumed that she was simply saying that Easter was just ahead. Maybe she was saying that it would be hard for Tiger fans in predominantly Catholic Louisiana to dance in the streets and celebrate during Holy Week.
I don’t know what she meant and, thus, I was curious to know if anyone would ask. Mulkey — even when working in Jerusalem on the Brazos (that’s Waco, Texas) — was always very private about her religious beliefs. Clarifying that remark, in a strange way, would be news.
But there was no follow-up question on ESPN. In the main story about Mulkey’s triumph — “'Very emotional' Mulkey leads LSU to elusive national title” — readers were given this:
Mulkey is the first women's college basketball coach to lead two different teams to national championships, and this one by far is the most unexpected, as a No. 3 seed questioned for large swaths of the season for not playing a tough enough nonconference schedule. With one minute left in the game, Mulkey turned to her bench, put her hand to her mouth and tried to hold back her tears. The crowd chanted, "L-S-U!"
"I couldn't hold it," Mulkey said. "I got very emotional. That's really not like me until the buzzer goes off, but I knew we were going to hold on and win this game. I don't know if it's the mere fact that we're doing this in my second year back home. I don't know if it was the fact that I am home. I don't know if it was looking across there at my daughter and my grandchildren. I don't know if it was looking across at LSU. I don't know what it was, but I lost it.
"So that should tell you what I think about it. Very, very emotional and tears of joy."
That’s valid and very human. But the other quote was much more complex and emotional.
Using a search engine, I went looking to see if anyone in the mainstream press would dare to quote those loaded words. The answer appears to be “no.”
However, LSU fans knew that this was a bold image, to say the least, and responded on the “Tiger Rant” page with some celebratory, but not so reverent, memes. One even went to far as to predict the “liberal sports media” reaction to Mulkey’s words as:
That’s a bit much, methinks.
Did anyone else see media, or social-media, responses to Mulkey’s words? Yes, I know that there may be 10 GetReligion readers, tops, who care about sports. But, still, I will ask.
FIRST IMAGE: Screen shot from LSU sport social media.