With respect for the life and impact, may Joe Paterno find restful peace.

Okay, so after some “your last post was depressing” comments, I came into this one feeling like I could do something more positive and good feeling-ee… but (uh, rah) then I turned the television on. I’ve gotta work with what I’ve got, man…

Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, is filing for divorce, after over 10 years of blissful (well, not exactly) nuptials. I know, personally, I’ve heard of someone ending their marriage and the feelings varying from total disbelief to it-took-this-long reactions. This L.A. Lakers’ superstar isn’t a stranger to marital troubles, but 10 years in his arena is like a lifetime. Vanessa and Kobe have two daughters and I’ve found that children sometimes tend to be that false foundational glue that keeps marriages together for as long as they actually manage to be kept together.

Ending any relationship, a lengthy one at that, has to be difficult just from the simple fact of impending change that no one can avoid. I’m not an authority on how others live… I just say everything happens as it should and remember to live. All of life stuff falls under those two things.

[Merry Christmas!!... LOL! Here's to more positive posts. Crack up.]

I heard about this some time ago, but you know how I am when it comes to writing and sharing information… I feel like its not always about breaking news, but its about appropriate timing. Anyway, I know the holidays can conjure up many feelings, and some that aren’t always of cheer and good tidings of great joy. Whatever the feeling… and relatively speaking… its good to know that you’re not alone with having adverse feelings.

NBA Hall of Famer, Jerry West (he’s also actually the NBA symbol), has suffered from depression since childhood. That seemingly sounds crazy, right? All the fame and notoriety and yet still, such a human emotion. With this depression came low self esteem and the feeling of just not measuring up. West chalks these feelings and state of mind up to the abusive upbringing he suffered by the hand of his father.

I would go to bed feeling like I didn’t even want to live. – Excerpt from HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel

This abuse was shared among his other siblings and as West relives horrible moments, he still, even after his father’s death, wondered if his father would be proud of him. With 14 seasons with the L.A. Lakers, West also found a way to incapsulate his depression while on the court by carrying the overwhelming fear of failure. Obviously, his frame of mind followed him into his personal life with family and friends…

You should really look deeper into his story because its an interestingly sad one… But, he survived. And you know, it is really actually a common story, but you just never think about a well-known superstar, who displayed such poise and grace, being plagued with such mental afflictions. You just never know and I guess that’s the point, right?…

Why am I writing about LeBron James again? One way or the other I find myself being drained by the news surrounded around him, but this takes the proverbial cake (lemon, if I have my choice).:

“Absolutely not, because at the end of the day, all the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today,” James said. “They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that.”

Now, I know this quote has resounded around the world as millions witnessed (that was funny) the Dallas Mavericks river dance on the throats of the Miami Heat for the 2011 NBA Championship, but there are so many things to address here. I like to parallel the sport stories to that of every day life and I feel the range of human emotion and reaction involved around this Dallas win does just that (The numbered bullets were successful last time, so let’s try that again.).:

1. I hope with this statement that those who were stupefied by a ridiculous comparison between Michael Jordan and James will now come to their collective senses as even the Majestic Jordan never stooped so low as to rub people’s socio-economic situation in their faces… Oh and yes, after the 7th season, doesn’t have a ring.
   1. Let’s chat about this a little bit… Even if he was just talking to or about his haters or the media, the whole world heard this crass statement and may have taken it personally. The thing is, there are marginal people out there who just jumped the fence to now being a LeBron hater because of his snobbish comments (Thanks, I’m a billionaire and you’re not. Thanks for that.).
2. He [James] drains me… period… And his hairline has a remarkable resemblance to Paul Pierce’s hairline (Random? Yes, but true.).
3. I actually feel like he or some family member must have been threatened or something because he was not King James during the entire series… He was extremely inconsistent, lazy, disengaged, and all around just average.
4. There is no secret that Kobe Bryant is my fave. And one thing I love about him, which is very Jordanesque`, is that every game he shows up to play. He puts it all on the table, night in and night out. Why is it that James displayed such cry-baby-like tendencies, was a sore loser, and could ever think of being just average when the game required greatness?
   1. Dwyane Wade, during this entire stretch, displayed crazy maturity and poise. I think I have to give Marquette (his college) the credit for that. I think the training there prepared him for such moments. This is something James never experienced. Even being the high-school champion, it cannot groom you in the art of manhood and sportsmanship. I believe it’s something James will need to learn in order to be a champion in the League.
5. Savannah Brinson, James’ fiancee`, is being accused of having an affair with Washington Wizards’ Rashard Lewis and this turn of events is also apparently the reason for James sub-par play on the court.
   1. Okay, first off, I thought you had to be married in order to have an affair. Having a lot of children by someone doesn’t count.
   2. The fact that she has a lot of children by him counts… (cha-ching!).
   3. I want to know why Brinson and James’ mother like these NBA stars so much… There are other professional sports, you know?
6. Why was Chris Bosh crying so hard?
7. And my new fave quote, “The ring is the thing… and everything else is just statistics.”

Did I leave anything out??

My sports sporadics don’t necessarily line up with the latest headlines… I don’t seem to flow that way. These are just my thoughts surrounded around some countries within the world of sports, recent or not.

1. LeBron James is not better than Michael Jordan. And until he wins something, which is the point of this game called professional basketball, the NBA, he will never be as good. He will simply be another awesome player who never won a ring… Like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said, “the ring is the thing… and everything else is just statistics” (In context, he actually said this in reference to #2 [with Bill Russell having 11 championship rings], but it fits quite nicely here, too.).

2. Why is Scottie Pippen trippin’ (I’d usually ask why a person is on crack, but that can be considered defamation of character here.)? Did his PR person tell him he needed to do something to bring attention to himself? Who is he anyway to even open his mouth, ever? I can’t even think of a parallel to make this make sense [Did I mention Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said the ring is the thing? And Scottie can think Jordan for this honor.].

3. Mike Brown? Really? The end…

4. Why do colleges pick and choose integrity? Jim Tressel tenders his resignation to Ohio State? But, there has been recent press around the fact that “maybe” these college athletes should get some type of stipend above room, board, tuition, and such (People are so dramatic. Drained.)…

5. FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association [a.k.a. soccer]) can now join the other elite professional sports with [opened to the public] scandals, lies, betrayal, bribery, isolation, embarrassment, and denial. Good times…

6. After the first NBA Finals game, Dirk Nowitzki is who we thought he was…

7. I went to Dallas this past weekend. Is there any other sport/team there outside of football?… There was no shortage of Cowboys memorabilia, symbols, or random stars that weren’t isolated to the Lone Star State. It was a crack up… It definitely shows who brings in the money (Or, who has the most money at least).

8. Roger Federer is a man god…

9. Did you know Kim Kardastian’s fiance`, Kris Humphries, plays for the New Jersey Nets?… I didn’t either (Yes I did. It was just funnier to say I didn’t. Love is grand!).

10. “The ring is the thing… and everything else is just statistics,” is my new single-sentence argument.

Sometimes, there is no need… no need at all to try and punctuate on an already beautiful ending.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6128100

Okay, I was relaxing after a long day… Hanging out, watching Sports Center. The news came on that Lawrence Taylor pleaded guilty to misdemeanors surrounded around rape charges, but avoided jail time.

This Pro football Hall of Famer admitted to having sex with a 16-year-old runaway prostitute. He said that she told him she was 19 (Really? Okay, we’re not going to take that any further; Neither are we going to discuss his wife, Lynette.). So, no jail time, but along with serving 6 years of probation he has to register as a sex offender.

This former New York Giant isn’t new to trouble, but as his lawyer spoke to the media I had that dog-turn-my-head-to-the-side look… He reiterated the facts and then concluded that this was an unfortunate situation and that his client was not a sexual predator (Are you serious, Dude?). I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing, literally. Does he deserve to be on the list?

There is something happening in the universe and I have yet to put my finger on it. I looked up at the open sky and the sun and moon were rotating, as they should. I am still convinced that there’s a phenomenon taking place. I know I cannot be the only one witnessing the downward spiral of the Indianapolis Colts and more specifically, their future Hall-of-Fame quarterback, Peyton Manning.

If there is someone I have to explain this significance to, okay, here it is: Manning is considered to be among the top 2 (maybe 4 if you’re considering Vick and Rivers) quarterbacks in the League and he has held this reign for some time now. Unlike many teams and quarterbacks, for that matter, a deficit to Manning was nothing as he scored viciously in 4^th-quarter come backs and flawlessly executed 2-minute drills. Along with donning NFL’s highest jewel (the ring), he also comes from thorough pedigree stock… So, you have the cliff notes of his pro career… Which adds the bigger question mark to the end of what is going on?

It makes me sit back and wonder if he was always this tremendous pocket passer or if it was all the doing of his supporting cast. Manning was part of an outstanding dynasty of names and grandeur that reclaiming that roster (the talent at least) would be near to impossible. Well, that’s where he seems to live these days… impossible that they’ve loss another game; impossible that the receiver just isn’t Jerry Rice; impossible that all his weapons (I mean all) live outside the lines now with injuries. Manning blames himself for the Colts’ losses and that’s an honorable move as it acknowledges his athletic mortality and the awareness that without his supporting cast, his top rankings are bottoms up.

Stuff only gets better…

Okay, so Miami Heat’s LeBron James is a finalist for TIME magazine’s Person of the Year (Yes, you’ve guessed it, I’m drained already.). This honor has previously been given to Dr. Martin Luther King and Ghandi… so, choosing LeBron for consideration would only be natural, right?

I’m with the analyst who say’s win a championship first and then maybe the consideration would be warranted. It’s just a funny representation of where these United States of America (like the way I said that, huh?) spend their time.

Now, in all fairness, this “honor” is based on who made the most news within the particular year and with that in mind, LeBron is definitely a contender (Was I the only one to think of Marlon Brando here?). He’s in good company with President Barack Obama, Lady Gaga, Sarah Palin, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, conservative commentator Glenn Beck, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan… LeBron fits right in, right?

A part of me is happy that he’s living his life like it’s golden, but the other side just wishes he would earn the level of celebrity that he has garnered.

Any time a professional player says some variation of “I’ll do what I want”… I think you can expect trouble.

I’m definitely an afar-off-admirer of Minnesota Vikings’ wide receiver Randy Moss (His locale could be changing any time while reading this post.), but his behavior is suspect. I guess more specifically, he is just a primadonna with tremendous skill and I’m not sure why it’s still tolerated within the National Football League, or professional sports for that matter.

What does it say to aspiring athletes or young people as a whole?… As long as I have skill I can act however I choose?? It is a poor example of sportsmanship and it shows a great lack of character. I have watched Moss back when he was with the Raiders and his antics were the same… I don’t get my way, I don’t play. I often get into friendly disputes over the Randy versus T.O. battle and my message is the same. Yes, both are talented and some say Randy is the better player, but T.O., within the lines, is the professional you’ve paid him to be. Forget age, or that balls have been dropped, or even his off-the-field frolicking… On the field, he takes the hard hits, he’s not afraid of the middle, and he doesn’t give up on plays. Now for Moss, it’s just the opposite. Let him not like the quarterback or feel that his number isn’t being called enough, or of late, that he was fined and now he’s not taking questions from the press… He won’t play. He sits on the sidelines with the quality-quilted towel gently tossed over his head and looks out into nothingness.

I hope Moss finds a place where he can spend his last years … A place where he can, hopefully, display sportsmanlike conduct and maturity. Otherwise, his legacy as a Hall of Famer will always resound, “When he wanted to play he was one of the best at his position…”