MINNEAPOLIS — I have Jimi Hendrix on my discman, but only because my eight-track expired about the same time he did. I have an old tie-dyed T-shirt and a peace medallion somewhere in my basement.
I'm ready to groove.
As Jimi himself sang:
A love is nice if it's understood.
It's even nicer when you're feelin' good.
Boy, am I feelin' good.
The Final Four is here, and along with it comes a guy who — to use a period phrase — blows my mind. It's Arizona forward Eugene Edgerson, who looks as though he stepped off the set of "That '70s Show." Knee pads. High-tops. Socks waaaaaay up high. Fu Manchu.
And best of all, a big 'fro the size of a medium-sized shrub.
Far out, man.
He doesn't look as though he plays at Arizona in the year 2001. He looks like someone from the 1973 Wildcats, during the Fred Snowden era.
He looks like his hero, Dr. J.
Remember Darnell Hillman? Artis Gilmore? Picture Link from "The Mod Squad."
You get the idea. He's coming at you from behind the Purple Haze.
These days, Edgerson isn't just retro-cool; he's on the cutting edge of basketball fashion. He's taking us back to the future. The days of shaved heads and low-slung socks are coming to an end. According to Edgerson, it's all about big hair now — shinin', gleamin', streamin', flaxen, waxen. Shoulder length or longer.
The oldest of four children, he was raised in a single-parent home in New Orleans, just a Pete Maravich jump shot away from the French Quarter. He went to Arizona to play basketball, promising his mother he would graduate in four years. Last May, he did. But it took skipping a season of basketball to get there. During that year, he student-taught a kindergarten class — an assignment he adored.
When he came back, he looked like he had been gone, well, 25 years.
He wears the Afro to honor the old-time players and show his respect for what they did for the game.
Imagine that. A college degree, loves kids and grooves to the oldies, too.
Is this guy too good to be true?
BYU basketball fans don't think so. The 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward knocked out Bret Jepsen with an elbow in 1998, effectively ending his career. Edgerson apologized afterward, but said he was simply retaliating for rough play by the Cougars. It was the sort of response you'd probably get from another blast from the past: Rick Mahorn.
But that incident is behind him now. He's focusing on helping the Wildcats win their second NCAA championship. Meanwhile, he's making sure the fashion of basketball continues to evolve, or regress, depending on your perspective.
For a few decades, court couture amounted to high shorts and crew cuts. If you wanted to get really get creative, you laced up a pair of black Boston Celtics' sneakers. But in the late '60s and early '70s, things took a sudden change. Sneakers began arriving with colorful stripes, swooshes and slashes. No longer were they made of canvas, but leather and even suede. Headbands and wristbands were must-have accessories.
Fashion had hit the hardcourts.
Later, Michael Jordan shaved his head and changed the way people look at baldness. Then players started wearing long, baggy shorts and low-cut socks. Funk was out, hip-hop was in. Tattoos arrived. The look was this: shiny head, baggy pants and shoes that looked like they were designed by someone on LSD.
Inspired by his shaggy-headed idols, Edgerson is determined to take things another direction. He's joined, at least in spirit, by a growing number of players who are embracing the good old days, such as Seattle SuperSonic Shammond Williams, who wears both an Afro and a headband. Kobe Bryant, who had a shaved head when he entered the league, now wears a moderate Afro, as does Houston Rocket Moochie Norris and Maryland's LaRon Cephas. Even the Utah Jazz — traditionally impervious to fashion trends — are affected. Veteran David Benoit is growing his hair out after going with the MJ look for years.
The only thing players haven't done is revert to midthigh length shorts like John Stockton, who never changed his style in the first place. He's so far out of fashion he'll soon be back in again.
But what about those in the Final Four who are staying with the short, sleek look, like Duke's Shane Battier and Carlos Boozer, or even Arizona's Lamont Frazier?
Never mind them. Those guys are sooooo '90s.
Nowadays, it's all about the classics.
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