Media overplayed Bibby reunion in matchup against Southern California

Editor:

I would like to comment on the unfair treatment of the Arizona vs. Southern Cal men's basketball game on Thursday. The media billed the game as a match up between father and son. They billed it as a match up between Bibbys. This was an unfair assessment by the media. This was not the case. Mike Bibby was only matched up against his on-court counterpart. It was in fact Lute Olson that was matched up with Bibby's father.

It is a shame that Mike Bibby was tormented by the media. With the elimination of the hype surrounding the Bibbys, the game might have had a different outcome. Being from a broken family, and subject to much of the same type of social pressure as Mike Bibby, it is easy to see how this might have occurred. The usually smooth, ice cold play of Bibby was not as pronounced as it has been in past games. At one point, I watched in horror

as Bibby hesitated on a wide open jump shot, missing short and to the left. Bibby can make this shot in his sleep, and certainly wouldn't think twice about taking it. The pressure of a Pacific 10 Conference game makes it a little harder to make such a shot, but Bibby has proven time and time again that the pressure can be put aside and the hoop impaled.

It is one thing if pressure builds because of 'the big game', but another if it builds because of the useless desire of the media to make a soap opera of the lives of our athletes. It is not their place to dramatize the personal issues of families like the Bibbys. It is a shame that the general public can't put the media on probation for such low actions.