Flex on, Mr. Swagger

There's probably a lot of nuance to be mined in K-Mart's threat to forcibly un-retire his college jersey, take back his trophies, and wipe out his legacy for all the world to see. Most of it, though, would focus on the relationship between Hugs, Cincy, and the more orthodox basketball programs—not exactly my cup of tea. The great, flashing part of all this, though, is that K-Mart doesn't just stare down institutional power—he's flat-out denying that an institution exists in the first place. Fuck an endowment, campus, thousands of alumni. . . this is between three people: the coach, his former star, and, uh, a large state university. You heard him: it's "personal" between him and the school.

This isn't an overmatched mastermind picking apart an army, or the fearless leader imagining himself larger than life; that would be delusional. No, what we've got here is one man insisting that, when it comes to settling shit, buerecracy and sheer size still should deal like you and me. Even if it makes absolutely no sense, he wants Cincinnati to face him like a man. Watch him do with the same thing with a pro franchise if ever one tries to Reef him. And best believe that, were such a thing as the FreeDarko Power Rankings, for today he would be perched up on high, seething with greatness.

That, or it just proves that if a program's not serious about student-athletes, you can't expect them to see the university as anything more than just a bunch of classrooms trying to get in the way of superior wills, higher goals, and strength from deep within.