Jim Calhoun was Mr. Angry tonight.
Really, the less said about UConn's 14-point win over South Florida today, the better.
So let's talk about something much more entertaining: Jim Calhoun getting mad at people.
We've had fun in the past with Calhoun's tirades on the subject of players he should have recruited.
Today, though, was a yelling of a different sort.
In about as uncomfortable an interview exchange as I've witnessed in person, a freelance reporter used a photo pass to get into today's postgame press conference with Jim Calhoun. After Calhoun finished his preliminary statement on the game, this fellow raised his hand. What happened next was fantastically entertaining, and is (verbatim) after the jump (I'll see if I can get the audio up on the blog tomorrow, although I just saw the video on SportsCenter, and I'm sure it will be up on YouTube shortly.):
Guy: "Considering you’re the highest-paid state employee, and there’s a $2 billion budget deficit-" (Uh oh.)
JC: "Yes."
Guy: "Do you think that-"
JC: "Not a dime back."
Guy: "Not a dime back?"
JC: "Not a dime back. I’d like to retire some day."
Guy: "You don’t think $1.6 million is enough?"
JC: "I’m sorry?"
Guy: "1.5 million?"
JC: "I make a lot more than that."
Guy: "What’s you, what’s your-"
JC: "What was the take tonight?"
Guy: "I don’t know. What’s the deal with Comcast worth?"
JC: "You’re not really that stupid, are you?"
Guy: "Yeah, I am."
JC: "OK. I got some advice for you."
Guy: "Yeah?"
JC: "Shut up."
Guy: "Thank you."
JC: "You’re welcome."
Guy: "I appreciate it."
JC: "You’re welcome." (At this point, I figured it was over. The guy was not done making a spectacle of himself, though.)
Guy: "That’s very polite of you."
JC: "No, it wasn’t polite. We're talking about basketball. If you want to talk outside about this, we can go outside and talk."
Guy: "If these guys covered this stuff, I wouldn’t have to."
Assorted reporters: "Oh, get out of here! Give us a break!" (This part really happened.)
JC (noticeably more angry): Will you please? Quite frankly, we bring in $12 million to the university. That has nothing to do with state funds. We bring in $12 million to this university.
(from this point on, imagine Jim Calhoun has turned into Bill O'Reilly, arguing with someone he doesn't normally agree with)
JC: GET SOME FACTS, AND COME BACK TO SEE ME! GET SOME FACTS AND COME BACK TO SEE ME. DON'T THROW OUT FACTS ABOUT OTHER THINGS! Get some facts and come back to see me. WE TURN OVER $12 MILLION TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT, WHICH IS STATE-RUN!
JC: Next question.