I wonder how Coach Summit's illness will affect attendance. I would imagine those (me included) who haven't seen her coach in person will try to do it this year. I wonder if the commentator's will be hesitant in their comments, wondering if her decision making is off because of her illness. Will they question things like they always do? Or will they wonder if it's the dementia when they don't agree with something she does? (Assuming they know enough to have an opinion that is.) I wonder if the players will be able to full out trust her like they always have. Or will they wonder. This whole situation breaks my heart.
I'd say she'll still be able to focus during such an intense situation. It's probably more tedious stuff she struggles with.
The disease is so undefined, you know what I mean? It isn't like an infection where you count the white blood cells and know where you're at with it. Anyway, I am so proud she's "ours". And I'm ashamed I haven't made the effort to go see her coach in person before now.
I don't think that you'll hear any mention of how the illness might affect her in-game judgment, however reasonable such a concern may be. The girls, from what I've been told, are going to go balls out for her. No pun intended.
I don't think the in-game second guessing will occur. For one, the assistants are going to be involved as much as they've always been, if not more. For another, in such a pressure situation I think the vast majority of the time she will be fine at this point in her illness. Lastly, it would be a huge shit bag move for a commentator to go there when it isn't out of the ordinary for any coach to have some head-scratching decisions in a given game.
Before all this came out, Summitt had pretty much reached the deified status where she was rarely questioned anyway.
Having a couple of family members that have had early onset dementia or Alzheimer's disease, the biggest key to at least try to hold it at bay or slow it's progression is early diagnosis. It usually begins as being a little forgetful, almost like a hiccup in the person's thought process. As the disease progresses, even the simplest of things start becoming a major task to complete if even able to complete. Little things like forgetting how to correctly hold silverware for example, can be a major chore. Had a coworker tell me that he struggled with telling his father that he shouldn't drive anymore. His dad went out to the grocery store that was a half of a mile away from where he lived and ended up driving 30 minutes in the opposite direction when he was going to come back home. Fortunately when he stopped at a gas station, a neighbor from a few doors down was there and helped him get home. He gave his son his keys after that. Sometimes people don't get that lucky. Hopefully we will continue to enjoy Pat as our coach for many more years!
