If you type
“Jack Taylor” in Wikipedia’s search bar, you’ll find any of thirteen persons:
two baseball pitchers, two footballers, a referee, a journalist, an
entrepreneur, two actors, a musician, a swimmer, a weightlifter, and a
cricketer.
None of
those guys made the sports headlines yesterday. None of those guys helped his
basketball team to a 179-104 victory in Division III of the US NCAA. None of
those guys converted 52 of his 108 field goal attempts.
None of
those guys scores ONE HUNDRED THIRTY EIGHT points in a 40-minute game – that’s
almost four points per minute!
Good enough
to impress no less than the player who holds the single-game scoring record
among all currently active NBA players – Kobe Bryant.
"Really?
Wow. That's impressive. That's crazy," Bryant said after receiving word of
Taylor’s milestone. "I don't care what level you're at. Scoring 138 points
is pretty insane."
 |
| Jack Taylor is the latest to breach the 100-point barrier in organized basketball. (image by Corey Hall/USA Today) |
Of course,
not everyone is as impressed. Some have criticized him as much as they’ve
praised him, including this bit from David Steele of AOL.SportingNews.com:
“You and your coach have made a mockery of
sportsmanship, Jack; you might have picked up on that by now. Not how you
wanted to introduce yourself to the world. Then again, Kobe, Melo and the
Durantula love you. Didn’t see that coming when you pulled on your jersey
Tuesday night, I’ll bet.
Now, you get to weigh those conflicting
reactions for the rest of today, the weekend, and probably your life. Enjoy the
holidays, travel safe.
…
It’s horrifying, it’s dangerous, it’s not
what the sport is all about, it appeals to our lowest, most basic, most
primitive emotions. But holy … just show one more replay, just to see exactly
how out of control it got.”
Mr. Steele
does shift to more level-headed expression later in his article, but that
particular excerpt reflects how supremely ironic this whole incident is.
A guy named
Jack Taylor, who shares that exact same name with THIRTEEN other Wikipedia
entries, distinguishes himself by scoring 138 points (and, yes, making ZERO
assists). His individual feat overshadows the 75-point winning margin of his
Grinnell College Pioneers over Faith Baptist Bible, 179-104. It overshadows the
marathon 14-game NBA schedule that included FOUR overtime games yesterday. It
overshadowed Roy Hibbert’s first ever triple-double performance (he still sucks
by the way).
A guy so
anonymous, with a name so ubiquitous, achieves something so momentous. A guy
named Jack did something Kobe will perhaps never ever be able to do anymore
(unless he decides to play Division III ball, too).
It’s not a big
surprise, then, that Kobe had some final words of wisdom to offer Jack:
"Would
people be celebrating me if I scored 138 points? You know how it is, some
people would, some people wouldn't. They can all kiss my ass, and I'm sure
[Taylor] feels the same way. If you score 138 points, you kind of have a
license to tell people to eff off."
Someday
soon, there will be a fourteenth Jack Taylor in Wikipedia –the same guy who now
has the license to tell people to eff off.
Jack Taylor’s 138-point performance: