Archive for Sports
Divorce in Professional Athletics
Posted by: | CommentsI have a guest post coming by the end of the week over at my lovely wife’s blog in response to her post today and another she will post tomorrow concerning the prevalence of divorce in the marriages of professional athletes. Check them out.
Cheering for Jacob Tucker
Posted by: | CommentsHis YouTube video has gone viral…and rightfully so, because this boy can dunk! Here he is being interviewed by Julie Foudy for First Take. I think the NCAA would do well by themselves to welcome him into the dunk contest, for he sounds like a kid that is easy to cheer for. It also sounds like he is a Christian, for he spoke very wisely and humbly about seeking to maximize his God-given gifts. As you might expect, I loved that part.
Also, here is his official video from YouTube. His dunks really are phenomenal and fun to watch. I am looking forward to seeing Elijah’s face when I show him tomorrow.
A Different Take on Some Things NBA
Posted by: | CommentsI have probably said this more than a few times here, but I really enjoy reading Bill Simmons of ESPN…for the most part. At times he writes much that I don’t think is funny and that shouldn’t make print, but on the whole, he is entertaining and, I think, very insightful. I found his column after the trade deadline to be particularly insightful. It is long as usual, but I would encourage you to take a look at the end of his part 2 in particular. He speaks about things NBA in a different fashion than most and I, for one, believe he has some very, very good points. He ends his column talking about the Celtics’ trade involving Kendrick Perkins. His last few paragraphs run like this,
You might remember LeBron and Carmelo getting excoriated for stabbing their respective teams in the back. You want to know why they didn’t care? Because, deep down, they know that teams don’t care about players, either. They probably witnessed 20 variations of the Perkins trade during their first few years in the league. Hey, it’s a business. Hey, that’s just sports. Hey, trades come with the territory. Isn’t loyalty a two-way street? When a team does what’s best for itself, we call it smart. When a player does the same, we call him selfish. We never think about what a double standard it is.
I thought Perk deserved better than getting blindsided in Denver, then having to limp around with a sprained knee and pack his stuff with tears rolling down his face. Maybe I’m a sap. But that was our guy. Family. On the phone, my dad decided — completely seriously — that he would rather have lost the 2011 title with Perkins than have tried to win it without him. Why?
“Because he was truly part of our team,” Dad said. “I don’t want to root for laundry. I watched that guy for eight years. That should mean something. Continuity should mean something.”
Within a few weeks, both of us will have talked ourselves into the Jeff Green era. That’s what fans do. We take the hits, shake them off, keep coming back. The Celtics will morph into something slightly different: a little more athletic, a little more flexible, a little younger and, hopefully, almost as tough. Perkins will fly to Oklahoma City, live out of a hotel room, make new friends and try to help Durant and Russell Westbrook make the Finals. Maybe the Celtics will see him there. It won’t feel weird at all, because that’s the way professional sports work. We are rooting for laundry. Whether we want to admit it or not.
He makes you think doesn’t he? At the very least you have to admit that although many NBA players aren’t saints, all the blame cannot fall squarely on them. It just wouldn’t be fair.
Illegitimacy and African-American Athletes
Posted by: | CommentsI’ll have more to say concerning the NBA tomorrow, but I had to post this video. Though it is long, it is very interesting. Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports talks about the impact of illegitimacy on today’s African-American Athlete with Dr, Harry Edwards and Michael Irvin. Black or white, these issues need to be considered.
I found most of their discussion rather insightful (though I do think Michael Irvin talked a bit too much). But there was one part I thought they really missed out on. While speaking about Charles Barkley’s famous comment, “I am not a role model”, both Dr. Edwards and Michael Irvin seem to have missed the simple reality that professional athletes should watch their behavior for the same reason we should all watch our behavior. For no matter who we are, we have a responsibility to our fellow man to do good to them. To seek their welfare. To love our neighbors (young and old) as ourselves.
They never hit on this point. And we are all the poorer for it. For it is this point that puts Barkley’s statement in its place. For if it is true that we have a responsibility to one another (before God I might add), you cannot say you are not a role model or that you don’t have to watch your behavior for the good of others (old or young). If you are human that just cannot be true. I should probably write more on this in the future. Suffice it to say now that I do think they missed the point.
HT: Vitamin Z
Perspectives on the NBA
Posted by: | CommentsOver the past week or so, numerous commentaries have been written concerning the conduct or general perspective of NBA players. I assume the Carmelo Anthony and Detroit Pistons’ situations brought things to a head. But there can be no doubt that plenty of other things have occurred over the past few years to bring us to this point. Indeed, plenty of other things have occurred over the past 40 years or so to do so.
That being said, I will be linking to and commenting on a few things I have come across as of late. First, from Vitamin Z on the state of the NBA. I don’t have much to say, because I agree strongly with him, so I will just quote from his post and encourage you to read the entire thing.
Is it any wonder that a guy like LeBron James has no one to tell him the truth? Why would he listen? He doesn’t have to! He’s got more power, money, and physical talent than anyone else he knows. In the most literal sense possible, he is King James. It doesn’t help either that many of the young men in the NBA did not group up with any sort of positive male role model other than the hip-hop culture that trumpets the objectification of women, the allure of money, and the glory of the self-promoting man.
But this issue runs deeper. It runs right to my doorstep.
I don’t like to be told what to do either. I don’t like to be a team player. My heart gravitates towards selfishness and I could just as easily be drunk on power and self-worship. Do I surround myself with “yes” men? Am I listening to a higher authority or do I bow down and worship the autonomous self? The finger that points to the dysfunctional culture of professional sports and the NBA in particular needs to have it pointed back at itself.
I need to repent too.
