This is the most unlikely of blog posts. Throughout his first three years of eligibility, I was, without a doubt, one of Ty’s most ardent critics; one of those alumni that the national sports media talk about, who harped upon the young undergraduate for all of his many flaws. Understand that I crucified this young man for every off-court peccadillo: from his involvement in “the fight” between Coach Self’s basketball players and Coach Mangino’s football players in September of 2009 to his facebook transfer posts in 2010, to his suspension at the beginning of the 2011-12 season. I was utterly consumed by the off-court, “sports-as-life” narrative that was being written of the character, Tyshawn Taylor. And I ain’t that guy.
More importantly, I loathed his game. Having been privy to Kansas’ great court generals: the cerebral astuteness of Jacque Vaughn, the amazing vision and distributive prowess of Aaron Miles, the tenacity and assertiveness of Sherron Collins, the mantle passed to Taylor was admittedly, and perhaps unfairly, set at a very lofty level. Nonetheless, I was, let’s just say, less than impressed by Ty’s ball-handling, his decision-making, and, most importantly, his leadership skills. I was a forerunner of the guys who chanted “Turnover Taylor” and I basked in the decision by Coach Self to replace Ty with Elijah Johnson as a starter for several games in the 2010-11 campaign. I was, in fact, stumped as to the reasoning behind Coach Self not running the ungrateful and undisciplined Taylor out of Lawrence when he got chippy on The Book.
So having said all of that… let me now say this: I love Tyshawn Taylor.
Tyshawn Taylor has certainly, easily made his way into my Top 5 all-time Jayhawks list – and I’m old and sentimental enough where that list is composed of a stellar group of student athletes drawn from a few decades worth of top-flight talent. And let me take it a step further:
For me, the growth and development of Tyshawn Taylor was the highlight of the 2011-12 season.
That’s right; not our 8th straight Big XII title, not our epic 172nd victory over Missouri, not even our story-book run to the NCAA Tournament Championship game. I’m serious.
See, I’m that guy. I’m the guy that loves Batman and abhors Superman. For a Kansan, that’s a dangerous statement. But it’s true, and here’s why: when your alien physiology is dropped into a solar system with a Yellow Sun, battling mere mortals seems kind of trivial. Being faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound always excites Dickie V and the masses, but, for me, it’s just not as impressive as the average Joe who has to overcome adversity with batarang alone. That takes sheer will. The will to vanquish your enemies. And as the year progressed, Taylor and his batarang will slayed enemy after enemy. And I am not ashamed to say that Ty’s humanity - not just his twitter rants and his vapid insecurities - but his one-for-two dozen struggles from beyond the arc, endeared him to me on such a guttural level.
In so many ways, the media and the Kansas Athletic Department exploited the Thomas Robinson tragedy and turned him into a hero. And he is a hero. And his rise from tragedy is Shakespearean. But the physical skills and talents that the gods blessed T-Rob with are, for purposes of analogy, Kryptonian. By comparison, Ty is very human, very flawed. In Hollywood’s most recent incarnation of Batman, Commissioner Gordon states: “He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.” I can’t think of a more apt description of what Ty endured at KU, and, yet, I am so thankful to have benefitted from it.
Thanks, Ty. Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.
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