Jim O'Donnell: Consequences of Will Smith's 'slap shot moment' extend beyond any sports movie

FOR EVERYDAY PEOPLE who like Will Smith, generally good things have happened every time he's touched a movie steeped in some aspect of sports or athleticism.

That horizon has ranged from "The Legend of Bagger Vance" (2000) to "Ali" (2001) to "The Karate Kid" (2010) on through "Concussion" (2015), in which he delivered a remarkably understated performance as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the neuropathologist who published the first findings on football's dreaded CTE.

Smith's arc was to have reached new stratum Sunday night. He was the odds-on favorite to win the Academy Award for "Best Actor," honoring his turn as Richard Williams, the precise and uncompromising father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams in the film "King Richard."

Instead, in "The Slap" still being heard around the pop cultural and pop political worlds, Smith's celluloid happy bones crumbled.

THERE IS NO POINT in excessive pontification. Much sooner than later, the Smith incident will be archived afterwash in the voracious 24/7 news cycles of America's confused new world.

But the most unfortunate residual is what the stark imagery of Hollywood's Irrational Black Influencer has handed to "the other side."

AS GREG BRAXTON, senior writer, culture and representation, eloquently admonished in The Los Angeles Times:

"If the 94th Academy Awards marked a personal triumph for Smith, his journey to honor Richard, Venus and Serena Williams ultimately ended in dishonor; for Smith himself, for the Williams family (members of which looked visibly uncomfortable after the night jumped the rails) and for the Black creative community the actor has come to represent.

"After all, Smith delivered a gift-wrapped present to conservatives dismissive of the Black Lives Matter movement and increasingly frustrated by the battle against systemic racism, from voting rights to critical race theory.

"It was easy to imagine Tucker Carlson watching the awards in his pajamas, leaping up and pointing to the screen: 'Look! White people aren't hurting Black folks. It's really Black-on-Black crime. Those people are beating up each other.' "

THERE CAN BE NO QUESTION that a segment of ground-staked America constantly looks for any sign of flaw in Black people of accomplishment.

And when one comes out?

In sports, how many variants of LeBron James does it take to trump one O.J. Simpson? Will a Russell Wilson ever completely override a Deshaun Watson?

The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then.

As Will Smith should never, ever have forgotten, living in America, it still makes an enormous difference what group you're in.

FOR THE RECORD, a little more than two weeks ago, The Daily Herald sports & media alcove presented, "Hidden keys to bracketing a perfect Final Four."

The five "keys" were based on empirical data gleaned from an analysis of the past six NCAA men's tournaments (2015-19 and 2021).

And, all five held up perfectly.

Call it luck, call it blind faith, call it Traffic (thank you, Stevie Winwood).

NOTABLY, ONCE AGAIN, none of the previous Final Four teams (in this case, from 2021), made it back to the charmed quartet.

That is kind of amazing. But that also eliminated Gonzaga, Baylor, Houston and UCLA.

Key No. 2 was "Pick one No. 1 seed" - Check - Kansas (Midwest-1).

Then, "Pick two of the remaining nine Nos. 1 through 3 seeds" - Double check - Duke (West-2) and Villanova (South-2).

THEN THE HARD ONE: "Pick 'The Kookallah" - one of the Nos. 5 through 11s.

That one didn't come easy. But Hubert Davis, Armando Bacot and North Carolina (East-8) came through.

And, as a kicker, once again, no No. 4s made it. That is an oddity that requires further study.

Some are already calling this template "B-ODage," referencing the old Kentucky Derby winnower "ODage" that was presented in the pages of The Sun-Times from 1997-2010.

In terms of core analytics, those "some" would be summarily correct.

STREET-BEATIN': Viewership for the men's Elite Eight games didn't exactly knock 'em dead. The order: North Carolina-Saint Peter's (13.5M), Duke-Arkansas (10.3M), Kansas-Miami (9.5M) and Villanova-Houston (7.1M). Chris Rock co-starring in "The Fresh Slapshot of Bel-Air" on ABC later Sunday night drew 16.6M ...

Credible backstage reports that Mike Krzyzewski will be throwing out a first pitch at Wrigley Field this season. (The Cubs could go full frontal polka and make it "Czernina Night.") ...

All but official: Kevin Burkhardt will be anointed as Fox's No. 1 NFL play-by-play man. Seventeen years ago. Burkhardt, 48, was selling Chevys at a New Jersey dealership to keep his broadcasting career going. ...

Ratings on TNT for its inaugural slate of NHL have not been good, but Eddie Olczyk isn't losing perspective. "Humility is a great quality to have," the supremely adept analyst said. ...

And Dean Richards, also playing the blue lines, on Sunday night's Oscar moment, "Years from now, we'll all be saying, 'Hey, remember when they tried to give an awards show and a hockey game broke out.' "

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears three times weekly, including Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.