Mom to the rescue

The Wildcats need a mom.

That’s what I realized as I was reading coverage of the scandal that rocked — and is still rocking — the University of Arizona’s basketball program this week. There needs to be a mom on the bench. This mom.

While uncertainty and fear envelope the players and program since the arrest of assistant coach Book Richardson in a pay-for-play scandal, I’d give ’em all a hug. I might even hug head coach Sean Miller, but he’s been eerily quiet and, can’t help it, but that makes me suspicious. Seems like not a smart choice to be so mum on the subject.

I’d offer them some soothing words, maybe something along the lines of, ya know what, guys? This sucks. It really does. It’s not fair that one person’s greediness, and seediness, can upend your life. But, the reality is, bad things happen and too often, they happen to good people who’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. All you can do at this point is keep your head up. Hope for the best. So much is out of your hands. Control what you can control, which is your attitude and your schooling. When things all shake out, you can decide what action to take, but remember basketball isn’t forever. No one — as far as I know and granted I don’t know a ton about sports — ever retired from playing NBA basketball at 65, so you need to get an education and be ready for Plan B. Basketball will only get you so far, but a good, solid education, that’s forever.

And then, of course, I’d cook for them. Comfort food. Homemade mac and cheese and maple-chipotle brisket and, because there needs to be some green stuff in there, a kale salad with dried cranberries and Parmesan, tossed in peach balsamic dressing. For dessert, chocolate chip cookies dusted with a bit of gray sea salt. And dunked in milk.

I do all this for my own kids for free. But for the UA, I’d settle for the $235K salary that Richardson got. Wonder if he ever cooked up anything for the Cats, other than a lame bribery scheme? Do I need to add an “alleged” in there? Probably. OK, Take 2: Wonder if Richardson ever cooked up anything for his players other than an alleged bribery scheme? I hear the football coach’s wife makes some sort of Velveeta dip concoction for their players when they do well. That could explain their record.