Perspective Does the Body Good

I have to sit back and laugh lately. I’m not quite sure (or at least in denial about) where our society is headed.

Recent stories in sports include Rick Pitino cheating on his wife (in a restaurant bathroom nonetheless) and teams not wanting to sign Michael Vick, fresh out of prison after a 2 year federal dog fighting sentence. Despite public opinion, Pitino will have an easier time keeping his job than Vick does getting a new one in the NFL.

Why is this? Not money…although the common and easy answer, not this time. Louisville boosters who pay Pitino’s salary will gladly pony up the cash as long as recruits keep coming, which is the only issue there. NFL owners see one of the most marketable athletes in the African American communities in Vick, as well as a former Pro-Bowler with 4.3 speed in Vick. They would love to have him.

No, no, let’s be honest, this comes down to 4 simple letters.

P-I-T-A.

Let me state for the record: I love animals, I could never hurt an animal, I can’t imagine myself hunting and I cried as I held my first dog dying in my arms when I was 12. That said, I realize it is only a dog. Wild animals tame enough to turn into pets. If porcupines weren’t so prickly then perhaps they would be pets too. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a difference between man and animal. Michael Vick violated the latter.

We are in a time when there is a murderer playing d-line for the Rams (Leonard Little) who missed no playing time and did no jail time. We have a future Hall of Famer in Ray Lewis who was tied to a murder in Atlanta who is revered.

What Vick did was horrible. He paid a higher price than anyone in the history of time will ever pay for such a crime I dare say. And now…he can’t get a job? Because of PITA?!!!

Get a grip. I’m not a big fan of the Vick family. Between Michael’s several bad moves and his younger brother Marcus getting kicked off Frank Beamer’s V-Tech team, I am not sure if they are the best people around. That said, I feel after 2 years of time in Federal Prison Michael deserves some slack, and the chance to prove himself.

Let’s all just take a step back, get some perspective of what has actually happened here (btw, Dante Stallworth just killed a person while drunk driving and never spent a day in jail) and give the man a chance.

Give the Coach Cal Thing a Rest

I grew up in Mass. I was a teenager when I loved Marcus Camby, Lou Roe, Edgar Padilla and the rest. Who was the coach? Coach John Calipari.

He made the Final 4 and never looked back. At a time when Jim Calhoun, another Boston product from Northeastern, was making his name, everyone in Mass wanted to embrace the Italian out West. Soon he left, ending up at Memphis, and eventually a vacated Final 4 followed for recruiting violations (Camby accepting payment from an agent).

Coach Cal rocked it in Conference USA. In fact he went 219-65. Pretty f’n great by anyone’s standards. Clearly the conference wasn’t up to par with other major conferences, and Coach Cal clearly recruited faaaaaaar superior talent, but still, a win is a win. Remember even back to last year when he and his crew drew a #1 seed and made it to the finals, which they only lost due to Mario Chalmers.

Fast-forward. Today allegations of Memphis accepting a recruit who cheated on his SAT’s during the 07-08 season surfaced. In fact, they surfaced in January but are just reported now. Rumor has it the cheater was star player and future #1 draft pick Derrick Rose. (For anyone who has heard a Derrick Rose news conference, you are no where close to surprised!)

People will pretend they are offended. Competitors of Memphis will pretend they are pissed. Derrick Rose will deny as long as he can, and apologize emphatically once he can no longer deny. I promise this is the course of events.

What’s the real deal though?

#1 Coach Cal gets it, which is why he got the Kentucky job, recruit the best, don’t get caught, if you do, move to the next school before you are found out (I promise he’ll be more careful in the Bluegrass State)

#2 Derrick Rose cheated on his SAT’s. If the NBA’s age minimum wasn’t in place he never would have taken them and still have been a Top 5 pick. Still, I see a lawsuit from some smart person who realizes that their 1040 is bogus, because if Derrick Rose could cheat, who else could of, and therefore the percentile is bullshit.

#3 At the end of the day, the NCAA is the minors for the NBA, STOP TRYING TO BE SOMETHING ELSE!!!

#4 I recently read that when Mark Prior was a Senior at USC and picked by the CUBS he became one of 17 college graduates in all of baseball. 25 people per team, 32 teams, do the math. We need to stop holding basketball to another standard.

At the end of the day Derrick should not have cheated, Coach Cal should not have turned the other cheek, the NBA should have different rules, and who the hell cares.

I’m pissed someone cheated on the test. Other than that, let’s face facts. These people have unique talents like Einstein did at 13, only instead of the Theory of Relativity, they are Relative Every Time We Turn on ESPN. You know what I mean. Let’s slap Memphis on the wrist, let Derrick Rose go, leave Coach Cal alone and accept college basketball for what it is!!!

Thing that make you go hmmm….

Honest to God, why are people reacting the way they are to the Greg Paulus story. To those of you who don’t know, Paulus has been a point guard for Duke the past 4 years. Paulus was a Gatorade Player of the Year in football for Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse and snubbed Notre Dame and Miami for Duke Basketball. Great decision in my opinion.

In these new days of coaches needing to explore every possible avenue to win now (Gillespie you hear me?) Rich Rodriguez has reached out to Paulus (as has 6 NFL teams) to check on his QB skills and Coach Rod has actually offered a scholarship to Greg.

Now, clearly a newsworthy story, it shocks me how people are responding to this. I think this move for coach Rod is nothing short of BRILLIANT.

To start, for those of you who don’t know, each college football team has 85 scholarships at one time, to span over 5 year of players (red shirting causes this). If I enter a season with 84 scholarships and have a choice between a walk on student and a former Gatorade Player of the Year, guess who I’m picking?
Second, last season Michigan almost led the country in plays for a loss and 3 and outs. Clearly the QB play in Coach Rod’s new spread system was going to struggle though. Gotta give him props though, he went out and recruited Tate Forcier to run the point in his new offense. Oh, wait, sorry, guess that was a Freudian slip, did I say point?

Anyone who knows anything about football knows that freshmen are your enemy.
So for those keeping score, Coach Rod has a chance to bring in a great freshman, bring him along at the proper pace, but add a quarterback to his team who as been a point guard for one of the most pressure packed programs in the country and who can toss the pigskin? Not only is Paulus battle tested, which is the biggest issue with most college players, but he has the ability to play free and easy which will undoubtedly allow him to excel.

I think this move is beyond brilliant. Paulus might fail, miserably in fact. But Michigan only has the QB who sucked last year and a freshman to depend on. Are you honestly going to tell me that’s a better option? And Paulus would be gone in a year allowing Forcier to pick up the system, put some weight on and pick up the leadership skills necessary to shine in the program of the Big Blue.

I don’t personally like or root for Coach Rod, but this is the absolute right move and I truly question the rest of the media coverage of sports I get if their opinion is so far off on this one….

Where did we go wrong?

I've actually turned away from blogging. I won't lie, it's too hard. But right now I can't resist. I've fucking had it with some people and have to let the 2-3 people who might read this know.

Since I last wrote we've had one of the biggest financial meltdowns in US history thanks to (enter names to be named later here + Madoff). Obviously it's easy to blame Bear Stearns, Lehman and AIG. Let's be honest though, you know that prick you went to your Ivy League school with who went on to be an IB? It's his and all his douche bag friends' fault. My favorite 2 words these days are "financial engineering".

We've elected our first black President who can't fill his cabinet because there aren’t enough qualified people who haven't committed a crime. I felt like telling that to the police officer who picked me up for doing 87 in a 65 last weekend on my way back from Tahoe with food poisoning last Sunday. How about a little perspective people?

Then finally I read this.

Dear America,

I hate social network pages. I believe though that there is one ENORMOUS benefit they have though. They allow you to know if your friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/relative is a fucking nutcase.

Sincerely,

Blair

I honestly think whoever is friends with this kid and didn’t give the old 9-1-1 a call once seeing the profile should be charged with accessory to murder if convicted. I am very happy I live in a civil society where we're “presumed innocent until proven guilty”, but there are cases where the system allows the clearly guilty to run free.

I’ve been meaning to write the blog about the sayings your mom always said being eternally true, but let me just stick with one here…"If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck".

Why is there any question that this nutcase should be off the street? I'm not advocating we go all Dick Chaney on the country, but a mild amount of common sense would be awesome right about now. Is it that hard to just call a spade a spade and do the right thing? Apparently so....

Ugh

As I said to a friend recently, I’ve been using those 3 letters way too much these days. Is it just me or does it seem like we are all in this cop's shoes with the economy slowly coming to crush us whether we like it or not. I was delusional enough to be hopeful that October would set a bottom and the repair would begin once we have our new President lined up. Not surprisingly, I was wrong.

I have had the ability to catch more than my fair share of CNBC over the past month. What began as a slow bleed, turned to a busted corroded artery, and is now back to those 5 cuts from shaving that just won’t stop. It has been the car wreck I just can’t bring myself to look away from. K2 has nothing on the Dow’s chart the past 8 weeks and even though we had a bit of a bump 2 weeks ago, we’re back down like Heath Ledger after…oh, sorry, too soon?

I’d like to go into a long analysis about how f@*%ed we are, but I don’t have the energy…CNBC has taken it from me. All I know is this.

The banks don’t have money, so they can’t lend to anyone. People don’t have money and they can’t borrow any. Businesses don’t have money and they can’t borrow any either. So the solution? Give the banks money.

Awesome, problem fixed. Only problem is, we got into this whole by giving undeserving people loans…so up go the standards. Great, so give loans only to the people who are worthy. Uh-oh, everyone is losing their job and the value of their greatest asset (their home) is shot. No one is worthy.

How about the businesses loans? Well, since the people don’t have jobs, can’t even pay their mortgages and have lost 50%+ of their investments, they kinda aren’t in the shopping spree mood. Looks like Tiny Tim’s Christmas had nothing on this year’s Christmas. Beyond that, businesses are having trouble collecting their invoices and their market cap has probably dropped 50-80% this year .

In summary...your home is under water, you lost your job and can't get a loan to buy a car from the bankrupt auto company to get to an interview. Your kid's school is closing because your state's budget is out of wack, and you can't pay for the babysitter to go to the job interview. This is alright though because no one is hiring because you also can't afford to go buy anything. Did I mention your 401k is more like a 97k right now? Boy, could we use a war...are there any more Bush's left? There are?! Awesome!!! Oh, Jeb...UGH...let's give Obama first crack at this.

The end result everyone? We’ll be fine…eventually. In the meantime, hold on because for any of you that aren’t 80+ this is new to you and it could take quite a while. Let’s just home my inspirational feelings last week weren’t misplaced.

Got Bush?

Am I the only one wondering why we haven’t seen more from our CURRENT President Bush the past 2 weeks? Obviously we now know that the 12 of 20 years Bush regime is over (for now), but he still hast 2.5 months to go. Besides the weeks following 9/11, has there been any more important period during his 8 year administration?

In President Elect Barack Obama’s first news conference he did his best to instill confidence in the imminent action of the new administration to implement policy to improve our economic conditions, while emphasizing that the current President is still George Bush. The new conference necessary? Yes, confidence of our nation is critical in our recovery. The message comforting? Not to me. Should we really need the reminder?

Often it is said that with adversity comes the opportunity for greatness. In an administration marred by what many view (only 25% approval rating) as poor decisions and lackluster leadership, George Bush has been presented the opportunity to drastically effect his legacy in a positive manner. $700 billion TARP plan? You think your job is done? Fade into the sunset? You’ve got to be kidding me! With so much work to be done I’d really hope that our President stops looking more like the coworker who just turned in their 2 weeks notice than the leader of the free world.

Strategic government spending of approved funds and implementation of essential policy (see: finance industry regulation, stimulus package and employment assistance) cannot wait. Either can I for a new administration.

If I were to be able to deliver W one message, it would be a reminder that the United States of America is a land of opportunity and of second chances. 50 years from now, are my grandchildren going to be reading how you protected a nation in its time of need and then made poor decision after poor decision from that point on? Or will they read about a misunderstood leader, unafraid to make the unpopular decision who ultimately protected our country’s freedom and saved us from crippling economic crisis? Carpe Diem George…you’ve got plenty of time to rest come January 20th.

Inspired

Sitting here watching our President Elect Barack Obama accept his appointment to the 44nd President of the United States. Sitting here listening to the messages our future first black president is delivering from Grant Park in Chicago. Sitting here surprised how emotional the crowd of 125k+ supporters, and myself included, are… hanging on every word.

For the record, I was a McCain supporter…was…

Perhaps it’s the difficult times we’re in. The wars. The housing crisis. Failing corporations that were once mainstays in the US. Job losses that will continue to skyrocket. Whatever the reason, Barack Obama has our attention. And the message? Come together, help thy neighbor, be Americans first and prepare for change. One of hope, promise and inspiration.

Who would have thought…really?!! 150 years ago blacks were enslaved, only 50 years ago did the civil rights movement start to accelerate the righting of years of wrongs. And now we stand as a nation with a black man as our leader. The combination of the tumultuous times we’re in, systemic uncertainty and witnessing history is making it hard for me have the proper perspective to truly understand where our country is headed.

What I do know, is that after listening to our new leader, all I can hope is that this man who has endured so much, risen up against great odds and prejudice, and now become the next President of the United States, uses this strength to follow through on his mission, and not bend to the political pressures that have ruined our system. Should this path be followed I have great confidence our direction will be righted, and together we will build momentum to re-creating the country we hope to live in and to leave for our children. Optimistic? Yes. Overly Utopian? Perhaps. Inspired?? Definitely...

Knocked off your game…

So on Election Eve it’s only fitting that MNF is played in our nation’s capital. In fact while writing this we’re only moments away from our Arizona and Illinois senator’s final pleas for your hanging chad.

Pregame discussion surrounded Big Ben’s tough times this year and his sieve of an offensive line. It delved into what one too many hits from the blind side can do to a quarterback and his career. The crew brought up the stories of Jim Everrett(click the link, trust me), Jeff George (troubled in other ways as well admittedly) and now JaMarcus Russell who suffer not from a lack of ability, but the inability to have time to showcase it.

The beauty of football is the teamwork that it demands. Basketball can win with 1-2 superstars, baseball can pull it off with a great pitching performance, but football requires all 22+. Safety blows an assignment? TD. WR slips and allows the CB to intercept? TD. Offensive lineman not able to handle the bull rush resulting in a fumble and a return for a…TD? Yup, not good. No other sport reflects life more accurately.

Where am I going with this? No team is going to win without a team effort, and no team is going to win without their top QB. How do you keep your QB safe? Keep him from getting hit. Allow that backside end in a few too many times…allow Joey Porter to run free on a delayed blitz…here come Brian Dawkins, uh-oh! Get hit enough times and all the sudden your internal the clock is a bit shorter, you start throwing off your back foot, you don’t follow through as well…aka you’re hearing ghosts.

The mental game of sports is just as important as the X’s and O’s. As easy as it is to ask your players to have a short memory, human nature is to flinch…it just is. Hit a good man enough and eventually he’ll break. Some make it back…good job Kurt Warner, and then 5 years later, Kurt Warner…but most don’t. Then again though, life isn’t much different…but that’s a different post all together I guess.

Demoted!!!

If this is the end of the road I'm going to miss it

The NBA Draft...it's FAAAANTASTIC!!!

Cheesedoodles anyone? Oh, how I've been waiting for this day. Finally it's here. The NBA Draft, when we get to see the new YouTube video of these guys giving our old friend Stephen A. the business. Quite frankly I'm more excited than Stephen A. when he finds a way to use Sasha Vujacic, Vladimir Radmanovic and Rasho Nesterovic in the same sentence...enjoy