She returned last week to the Target Center where, 18 years ago, Rebecca Lobo and the UConn basketball team won their first national championship. The image of Lobo circling the court waving a forefinger in the air after the final buzzer lingers pleasantly in the memories of those blue-and-whites who were there to watch.
The sellout crowd, more than 18,000 fans, cheered. The vanquished, Pat Summit’s Tennessee Vols, took the loss hard, but with a good measure of sportsmanship, knowing nothing lasts forever.
Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Jamelle Elliott and all the others have gone about their lives since graduation with the strong principles of loyalty and desire that identified that team.
Lobo was back in Minneapolis last week as an ESPN color commentator at the WNBA finals. If you’ve watched and listened to the broadcasts, you know how articulate and well-prepared she is for the job and how much she enjoys doing it.
When I contacted her recently and asked if she would be willing to answer a few questions so readers might catch up with her, she showed typical grace just as if she had nothing to do but chat with an old Courant sports writer who was barging into her schedule from out of her past. Just as if she didn’t have a husband and four children to claim her attention, flights to schedule and catch, stats to study, and whatever else demands her time and effort.
When asked about her TV career, Lobo said she had become interested in this type of work as a college junior. “I was fortunate to get some opportunities with ESPN and CPTV after the 1996 Olympics,” she said. “I had no idea what I was doing at the time, but knew that I really enjoyed it. I have come to absolutely love my job.”
You probably know she is married to Sports Illustrated columnist Steve Rushin. (Rushin’s Oct. 7 “Point After” effort was something to read twice, savor and save. It was that resoundingly strong.)
Lobo said they met “the old-fashioned way … in a dive Irish bar, the Dublin House in New York City. I was playing for the New York Liberty and knew of Steve’s writing because I’d been an avid reader of Sports Illustrated. During that first meeting, I took him to task for writing a stupid joke about the WNBA. That was in early summer 2001. We started dating later that summer and were married in the spring of 2003.”
Balancing motherhood and work can be taxing. “Travel makes things difficult,” Lobo said, explaining that understanding bosses “who are also mothers of young children” make it possible, especially during the two busiest times of the year, March madness and the WNBA playoffs in late September and early October. The travel is most difficult at those times.
“But,” Lobo said, “I am able to be home a lot during the rest of the year and I can volunteer at my kids’ schools, coach my daughters’ basketball teams and make our family dinner most nights. Those things are tremendously important to me and I’m not willing to sacrifice them.
“Again, I’m able to balance both because of a wonderful husband, a phenomenal babysitter and understanding bosses.”
That 1995 team began Geno Auriemma‘s ascension to the top coaching place in U.S. women’s college basketball. Rizzotti was its pounding heart, refusing to lose. Lobo was its smart, proud, peerless leader. And not a bad broadcaster, it turns out.
The Great Irving Kravsow
Some 42 years ago, one of our young sons had been stricken desperately ill. Devastated, I went to work the next day and was summoned immediately to the office of the managing editor, Irving Kravsow.
He said, “Tell me about your son.”
And after I had done so, he said, “OK. Every day, when you come in, come right into this office and tell me what’s going on before you go to your desk. If there is someone in here with me, I’ll ask that person to leave for a few minutes, even if it’s the governor. If you need anything, tell me. If I don’t have it, maybe I can get it for you. If you feel you can’t come to work, don’t come in.”
Our son recovered.
Several years later, I was scowling when I ran into Irving in the hallway. He said, “What’s the matter?’
I said, “I have to go to an important meeting and I need a necktie.” He took off his tie — ripped it off, really — handed it to me, and hustled on his way.
I’m sure you read the tributes to Irving, who died at 87 on Oct. 4. I must add mine because while he was fierce in appearance and approach when dealing with his charges, he was large of heart, a terrific newspaper man and he’ll always be the great Irving Kravsow to me.