A Grand Victory

Welcome back to The Sports Ace, where 1-year, $25 million contract offers never happen.

You might have heard, despite the pomp and circumstance of the Super Bowl, that Tennessee women's basketball head coach Pat Summitt is just a single victory away from her 1,000th career win. Her team lost tonight at Oklahoma in her first attempt at the mark, but it's just a matter of time before she hits that incredible milestone.

No matter what you think of Summitt and her coaching ability/style/talent, or whether you love her or hate her, it's time to take a pause and try to fully comprehend the magnitude of what she's about to accomplish. She's the winningest college basketball coach ever, a true trailblazer in the world of women's athletics in America, and she's on the verge of a milestone that has only been dreamed of up until now. The math of how many games you need to win in a season to reach that mark is simply mindboggling, and you don't just need a lot of great players and luck to win that many games. You also need to be able to teach, motivate and relate to players across decades and generations, and to combine superior people skills with a love and deep knowledge of the game. Very rare indeed...unprecedented, actually.

We here at The Sports Ace salute Pat Summitt for her historic accomplishment. May basketball fans everywhere appreciate what she's done for the University of Tennessee and women's sports in general.

I'm out like the NFL season.