BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — One of the greatest automobile advertisements ever produced was a magazine ad for Cadillac, written way back in 1915 by legendary Detroit ad man Ted MacManus, entitled “The Penalty of Leadership.” It read in part:

“In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white glare of publicity. In art, in music, in industry, the reward and punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. The leader is assailed because he is the leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy—but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. If the leader truly leads, he remains—the leader. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live—lives.”

You can find the entire ad and the story behind it here:

http://caddyinfo.com/wordpress/?p=2313

Let’s face it kids, the Flyers entered the Red and Blue game the way that we always hoped and dreamed that they would start a season: as a top 25 team in every poll that matters (and no, Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com doesn’t), with a Naismith and Wooden Award nominee in Chris Wright and with high expectations for a squad that legitimately goes 12 deep.

For years, many Flyer fans have decried UD’s perennially weak OOC schedule. Why can’t we schedule good teams, they asked? They were pleased when BG and the Boys beat a good Creighton unit, in the toughest opening game of any program in the country. Then when the Red and Blue ventured to PR and lost to #5 Villanova and dropped another game to a soon-to-be Top 25 Kansas State squad, many on the MBs proceeded to declare the season over.

Get. A. Grip.

That is the cost of entry to the big time, folks. You wanted UD to tipoff against tough teams, you got it. Scheduling difficult matchups is one thing; winning them, particularly away from UD Arena, is a whole ‘nother deal entirely. This is “the penalty of leadership.” You can’t have it both ways, unless you happen to be Syracuse and are rarely required to leave the Carrier Dome before the Big Least slate commences. Speaking of which, how many of were you chuckling along with me after the Orangemen lost that exhibition game to Lemoyne?

There actually were some things to like in San Juan: the emergence of Chris Johnson as a bona fide star; the shooting of Luke Fab; the steadiness of Paul Williams; the sight of Rob Lowery dressed in a uni doing non-contact drills.

And of course there was some not-so-great stuff: the MJ disappearing act; the non-production from the 5 spot; the lack of rebounding and of the in-your-face defense that was the team’s trademark last year; turnovers; foul shooting; the regression of CW back to bull in a china shop mode.

As an aside: Ever wonder why there appears to be a growing number of pre-season hoops tournaments like the Puerto Rico Tipoff?

E-S-P-N.

Linky not-so-goodness courtesy of Luke Winn at CNNSI.com:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/luke_winn/11/24/espn.tournaments/index.html

The reality is that we are only 4 games into the season, ladies and germs. A 4-0 start would have been really swell, no? 3-1 would not have been too hateful. 2-2 is not unlike kissing your sister, but let’s not make like lemmings and jump off the cliff just yet, okay?

Is it fair that UD fell so far out of the AP Top 25 Poll to the point that Eggsavior (who opened their season 3-0 against legendary basketball powerhouses Youngstown, BGSU and Sacred Heart) is now ahead of the Flyers in the “Teams Getting Votes” listing?

Hell no.

But that is the “penalty of leadership” for you.

Right now, here are two things I think I think:

— Something tells me that I probably would not want to have been a Flyer player during BG’s practices this week.

Day off on Thursday? Nope:

http://twitpic.com/r07w8

— I’m pretty sure that I would not want to be the Towson Tigers when Saturday afternoon rolls around at UD Arena.

Somebody’s gotta ante up and the payback will, indeed, be a beeotch.

Happy Thanksgiving!

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
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