A Different Take on Some Things NBA
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.
Watch and Think
By · CommentsThis doesn’t have any real direct correlation to sports and competition in Christian perspective, but I would like to ask you to watch and compare two videos today. The first is the new iPad video. The second is documentary-type footage of the Kimyal people receiving the first batch of complete New Testaments in their language.
I watched the first today, because I am looking forward to purchasing an iPad at some point in the near future. And though I love Apple’s products, I think their videos are usually ridiculous. For they tend to talk about their new products as if they were much more important than they really are (even if they are crazy cool). As Erin said today, “The way some of those guys were talking with the music in the background, you would think they had just cured cancer.” I agree. It might be good for marketing, but it is downright ridiculous, and we are all too-easily sucked in.
So check out the iPad video. Here is the link (couldn’t find a way to embed it here, though after viewing their video, I am sure I would have been able to do it if I had a new iPad 2). After checking that video out, press play on the video below in order to gain some perspective and to ask yourself how well you are valuing the things that really last. Hope it proves as fruitful as it was for me.
The Kimyal People Receive the New Testament from UFM Worldwide on Vimeo.
HT: Vitamin Z for the video and Married to a Baller for the basic thought that led to this blog post.
Illegitimacy and African-American Athletes
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
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.
More on Boys Wrestling Girls
By · CommentsTwo more perspectives from two wise men.
Al Mohler points out the clash of worldviews involved. An excerpt:
This is insanity masquerading as athletic competition. The controversy over the Iowa state wrestling tournament reveals the fact that this debate represents a clash of worlds and worldviews. In one world — the world that increasingly demands the total erasure of distinctions between men and women — Joel Northrup is considered to be a religious nut. In this world, it makes sense that girls wrestle against boys and that society should celebrate this new development as a milestone in the struggle to free ourselves from the limitations of all gender roles. As if to make this point impossible to miss, Bill Herkelman, Cassy’s father, said: “She’s my son. She’s always been my son.”
John Piper says it straight, with particular focus on the fathers. An excerpt.
I just watched a wrestling instructional video on line, illustrating some basic moves for the takedown and pin. These two guys are pressing and pulling on each other with unfettered and total contact. And it isn’t soft. It’s what we do not allow our sons to do to girls.
Okay, dads, here’s what you tell your son. You say, “There will be no belittling comments about her being ‘a girl.’ There will be no sexual slurs. If you get matched with her, you simply say to the judges, ‘Sir, I won’t wrestle a girl. My parents have taught me not to touch a girl that way. I think it would dishonor her. I hope you will match me with a guy. If not, I am willing to be disqualified. It’s that important.’”
Be a leader, dad. Your sons need you. The peer pressure is huge. They need manly restraints. They know this is wrong. But then they look around, and the groundswell of conformity seems irresistible. It will take a real man, a real father, to say to his son. “Not on my watch, son. We don’t fight women. I have not raised you that way.”
