Interesting that Danny Manning should go into this his last game in Allen Fieldhouse coming off the most regrettable incident of his historical Kansas basketball career.
Fighting can never be condoned in athletics and yet, since no one was hurt and it didn’t affect the outcome, I’m not sure Manning’s outburst in the Colorado game on Wednesday night in Boulder was all that heinous.
In fact, in retrospect, those swings Manning took at Colorado forward Brian Robinson were more symbolic than they were couched in cold-blooded intent.
Let me tell you what I mean. Manning has always tried to be someone who does the right thing – whether it’s to sign an autograph for a youngster, to brush his teeth after every meal or to say his prayers before going to bed.
Along the way, we’ve come to take Manning for granted as, more or less, a Jack Armstrong-type who goes out every day and performs in every way like an All-American.
That’s fantasy, of course. Human beings act like human beings, not fictional characters…and Manning was due – way past due, I believe – to prove he’s a real flesh and blood person. Boy, did he prove it.
Sometimes, it seems to me, the pressure of his conscious role-modeling had taken a toll. For instance, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him smile, either during a game or during a post-game interview.
And yet, after the Colorado game, Manning was as gregarious and outgoing as I’ve ever seen him. He was chatty, smiling, friendly…your basic hail-fellow, well-met. It was almost as if he’d turned from an introvert into an extrovert overnight.
Did the fight cause that? Did it release all those bridled emotions? Was Manning secretly yearning to explode?
Aw, who cares. We’re here to praise Manning, not to toss out 10-cent psychology. There’s a lot to praise, of course. You can talk about his scoring, his shooting, his rebounding, his blocked shots, his steals, his defense, etc.
However, the bottom line to Danny Manning – the common denominator of all his accomplishments – has been his work ethic, his willingness to perform regardless of his physical or mental well-being.
Since Manning has been at Kansas, the Jayhawks have played 138 games and he’s been in every one of them, mostly for long stretches. Not once has he ever mentioned, before or after a game, that he didn’t feel good or that he was in pain.
Yet it’s unrealistic to believe Manning has played 138 games in perfect physical condition.
“Right now he has a sprained and swollen left index finger,” said KU trainer Mark Cairns. “And something a lot of people don’t know is that he’s a mild asthmatic and has played with that condition all these years.
“Also, there have been a couple of times this season his patella (knee) tendons were inflamed, and I felt he had to be in severe pain because they were swollen quite a bit. But he doesn’t complain a bit.”
Manning isn’t just a game player. He doesn’t malinger at practice, either, according to Cairns.
“You have to sit on him to make him stay out of practice,” Cairns pointed out. “I remember once last year when he had a sprained ankle and he sat out one day. The next day I wanted him to sit out, too, just to make sure. He looked at me and said, ‘No way.’
“I’d imagine he’s missed maybe a total of a week of practice his entire career.”
So you can throw all the numbers and all the records and all the kings horses and all the king’s men at me, and I won’t waver in placing Danny Manning’s college career into perspective.
In the final analysis, it doesn’t matter that Manning has all that talent. What does matter is that he has made the maximum out of it.
