Columnist Steve Carp: Old school wasn't all that bad

AS COMMERCIALS GO, the latest Nike TV ad is pretty good.

Current NBA players do a little reminiscing, even though many weren't born when they refer to styles and legends as "old school." Nostalgia always holds its form, even if some are too hip to acknowledge the fact.

The Gen-Xers may not get it, but things didn't totally suck in the old days. High resolution television, cellular phones and the Internet may be relatively new in the grand scheme of things, but somehow, we managed to get along before the advent of Beanie Babies.

Watching these NBAers rap about Julius Erving's flowing 'Fro got me thinking. What really is "old school?"

How about hockey rinks with no advertising on the boards or on the ice? That's old school. Or an all-wooden hockey stick with a straight blade and black friction tape on it? That's definitely old school.

What about football uniforms with mud, blood and grass stains? What about stadiums with obstructed seats? What about high school gyms with wooden backboards? Or playgrounds with aluminum backboards and no nets on the rims?

That's old school, baby.

Old school is anything ABA or WHA. Old school is Eddie Layton and Norm Kramer at the organ. Old school is boxing on radio, even without Don Dunphy. It's a $1 bleacher seat. It's taking the train to the game.

Old school is Tim Grgurich, who coaches basketball for the right reasons. It's Pete Newell, who doesn't charge college players a fee to teach them how to be better.

Old school is Mac Court in Eugene, Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx and Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan. Old school is a Fenway Frank, a Dodger Dog or a brat with secret sauce at Milwaukee County Stadium.

Unfortunately, these days are more new school, or perhaps more accurately, reform school. New school is rap music every time a hitter enters the batter's box. New school is T-shirts being launched into the stands. New school is $15 parking, $1,000 courtside seats and celebrities acting as wannabe fans. It's McDonald's in ballparks charging $4 for a quarter-pounder.

New school is obnoxious, know-nothing talkies on the radio who think they have power. New school is interactive this and that. It's renting Nintendo at the ballpark so the game won't bore you to death. It's "Raising the Roof" and getting "Shigi wit it."

Then there are the reform schoolers. It's players choking coaches and coaches choking their spouses. It's J.R. Rider growing his own, Michael Irvin stabbing teammates with scissors and Bryan Cox losing it on the sidelines as well as on the field.

Reform school is giving the finger to whoever you feel like. It's threatening to do bodily harm to someone trying to do their job. It's Allen Iverson and his friends. It's Lawrence Phillips with women. It's Albert Belle with anyone. It's Mike Tyson, period.

It's sad. But one day, that McDonald's at the stadium will be old school. So will dot racing and those bombastic pregame introductions at NBA games.

Heaven help us.

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