Iconic Arizona hoops coach Lute Olson denied that he had Parkinson's disease at his press conference yesterday, dismissing the claim as a "vicious rumor" intended to hurt his recruiting prospects.

"There is absolutely no truth to that statement. If it has been repeatedly on radio stations then I will take the necessary actions that I need to get this stopped," he said. "It is a vicious, vicious rumor. If I need to I will get my physician to make a statement. I don't think anybody deserves that rumor to be circulating… This is the kind of thing you get from people you are recruiting against."

Um, I'm pretty sure it's a fact that all old people have Parkinson's and smell like vinegar, and some old guy with Alzheimer's telling me he doesn't have Parkinson's isn't quite enough for me to believe him.

Besides, can we trust a 72-year-old who chooses to keep working an exhausting job like coaching the college game? If I have the bad luck to still be alive at 72, I'm not doing a damn thing besides sitting on the porch drinking bourbon, yelling at kids, and making off-color remarks about young women. In other words, basically the same thing I do now.

Via Signal to Noise