Lou Holtz is many things. Most notable in Chicago, perhaps, is his status as the last successful head coach of Notre Dame football. (Charlie Weis sort of counts, but the verdict is still out.) Among ND fans, Holtz isn't exactly legendary, but he does have a certain gravitas to him that the program has yet to find in the years since.
Lou Holtz is also a TV personality. We would call his spots on ESPN "widely mocked", but we're not sure that does justice to the term. They're more like "mind-blowing"; the sort of thing that drops jaws immediately and leaves people wondering what -- what? -- did they just see? What was that? Did he do a magic trick?
Yes. Yes, he did.
Anyway, why are we talking about this? Because the Bulls have entered Lou Holtz's world of inspirational pain:
Legendary football coach Lou Holtz addressed the team for 25 minutes at the request of Vinny Del Negro. "It was awesome," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "He's an incredible speaker. He shared some of his experiences and talked about what it means to be on on team. I think it can help us."
Del Negro said he planned to sprinkle other motivational speakers throughout the season. "I'm a big believer in trying to learn at least one thing every day," Del Negro said. "Maybe one guy takes something from what Coach Holtz said, and that makes me feel good."
Sports
First of all, it's sort of remarkable that Del Negro feels the need to bring outsiders in to an NBA locker room. Really, coach? This isn't a high school graduation. Nothing is being commenced. Do you really need sports' answer to Tony Robbins dropping knowledge on your players?
Second: We really, really wish we could have been in that locker room. Oh, man. It had to be good.
