Oscar and Tiki

I stumbled across this in the New York Times today in a column by William C. Rhoden about how Tiki Barber must feel seeing the Giants win the Super Bowl the year after he retired.

"In the midst of all the 'how must Tiki feel' speculation, I thought about Oscar Robertson, one of the greatest basketball players ever. Robertson was a star at the University of Cincinnati and led the Bearcats to the Final Four in 1960. The season after Robertson left, Cincinnati won the first of two consecutive national championships. I wondered how he felt.

'I was really happy for them,' Robertson said Thursday from his home in Cincinnati. 'Everything is timing, you know.'

Robertson said that when the star player left, younger players who watched and took notes often stepped up the following season.

'All that time, when the star is taking all that heat, getting double- and triple-teamed, you've got to learn something,' Robertson said. 'Without even knowing it, sometimes you lay a foundation.'

Was there any part of him that wished he were there to enjoy the thrill of winning a national championship?

'Naturally, I would have liked to have won while I was there, but I had my time,' he said. 'I couldn't go back; I had my time.' "

As most of you know, Oscar attends almost every UC home game. He sits right next to press row, so we can hear a lot of what he says during the games. He can be pretty critical at times, but the important thing is that all these years later he still cares about his alma mater. No one can question that.