Great people like to talk to other great people. Case in point: Tiger Woods rooting for Roger Federer against his countryman, Andy Roddick, at the 2006 U.S. Open. Not to mention the Gillette superstar ad with Federer, Woods and Derek Jeter/Thierry Henry.
So it obviously came as no surprise last spring when the most dominant coach in the NFL, Bill Belichick, called the most dominant coach in women’s lacrosse, Northwestern’s own Kelly Amonte Hiller. Their conversation topic? Greatness, as the Wildcats approached their fourth consecutive NCAA title.
But alas!
Belichick’s dominance has slipped. While his Patriots are just 3-1, they aren’t the same steamrolling force they were the last few years.
With The-Man-in-the-Cut-off-Sweatshirt out of the picture and Federer not quite the player he once was, who does Amonte Hiller have to talk to?
The world of professional sports, and I mean all sports, does not provide many options.
Michael Schumacher? Retired. Tiger? Bum knee. Billy Donovan? His players left. LeBron? No NBA championship yet.
Currently the only big players left are Olympic heroes, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, and Manny Ramirez, and that’s a hard group to sustain a conversation with.
When Amonte Hiller gets bored chatting with the likes of Padraig Harrington, she might start dishing out some of her own congratulatory calls to successful personalities.
Obviously, Amonte Hiller could start with the winner of this year’s presidential election, but that’s a pretty big jump up for a rookie caller. So instead let’s focus on what’s available at home first.
Greatness wasn’t achieved by either of Chicago’s baseball teams and it doesn’t look like Kyle Orton and his neck beard are going to be hoisting hardware at the end of this season.
It may turn out that she will end up looking on the NU directory, knock on wood, for her first major congrats call.
NU’s football and futbol teams are undefeated and gaining more media coverage. Should they continue on their current tears, coaches Tim Lenahan and Pat Fitzgerald might get a pep talk before their team’s respective big games in the upcoming months.
While some NU fans get giddy with Rose-tinted goggles about the football season, Amonte Hiller might want to make that call this week before Saturday’s showdown with the dreaded No. 23 Michigan State Spartans.
The winner of this week’s game will be bowl eligible, and probably not the Toilet Bowl, so Kelly, please impart some of your winning wisdom to the Gridiron Cats.
Aside from helping the men’s soccer team score more goals and keeping Javon Ringer a non-factor on Saturday, the only thing Amonte Hiller has left to do is start complementing her designer shades with a cut-off sweatshirt as her lacrosse team starts gearing up for its quest for a fifth-straight national title.
