Ten first- and second-graders this year were asked to identify the one thing above all else they would want if given just one wish. Here are the results:
1. A lot of money and a fish
2. A flat-screen TV
3. Unlimited wishes
4. Yankees tickets
5. A 38-foot fishing boat
6. To be at Six Flags forever
7. $1 million
8. More recesses
9. My own private plan, scooter, and moped
10. For cars, trucks, houses, and tanks to be made out of LEGOs
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Catching Heat
This morning at school, a teacher in an adjoining classroom stormed into mine to adjust the thermostat our rooms shared.
"It's freezing in [my room]," she said animatedly as she pushed up the dial after first extracting the cover plate looking for who knows what. "If that doesn't work, we'll have to call someone." As she was leaving, she turned back to explain something to me. "You're fine -- because you're a man and men are never cold." Very definitive. "You're always hot. Right!" It wasn't a question.
"If you say so," I mumbled.
"If I say so?" Talking very fast now. "My husband is always hot; my son is always hot...."
I was beginning to feel the heat.
"It's freezing in [my room]," she said animatedly as she pushed up the dial after first extracting the cover plate looking for who knows what. "If that doesn't work, we'll have to call someone." As she was leaving, she turned back to explain something to me. "You're fine -- because you're a man and men are never cold." Very definitive. "You're always hot. Right!" It wasn't a question.
"If you say so," I mumbled.
"If I say so?" Talking very fast now. "My husband is always hot; my son is always hot...."
I was beginning to feel the heat.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Go West, Young Men
The two sides in the current NBA labor negotiations continue to talk in an attempt to come to an agreement over a new contract, but wouldn’t the more prudent game plan for success emphasize less one-on-one and more team play? No doubt compromise will be necessary if there is to be a 2011-12 season. In the meantime, perhaps the league could bring one of the greatest clutch players from its past off the bench here in overtime to help break the tie.
Jerry West may not be the face of the NBA, but he is literally its silhouette. It is his image, after all, that is the league’s logo. West was in the news with today’s release of his autobiography, “West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life.” But back in 2005, in an interview for SportsBusiness Journal, West told me something that is as relevant today as it was then:
“I’ve always felt that players should not be underpaid. Nor do I think that they should be overpaid. I just think that in today’s world, with the agents playing such a prominent [role] and free agency being so important, I think all of us would tend to overpay if we want a free agent. And paying money to players does not make you win. It’s been pretty evident in all sports.
“Does it give you a better chance? You would think it would. But you look out around the league today, and some of the teams with the biggest payrolls have not accomplished very much. I think it’s almost a testament to the agents: They can get people to buy into how great their players are when they might be average players, wanting these average players to make enormous salaries, which a lot of them do.”
Some time later, when I asked West who or what had had the biggest influence in his professional life, a career that included one NBA championship as a player with the Los Angeles Lakers and eight as a front-office executive with the team, he said this:
“Oh, boy. You know, I’ve always been a person who tried to learn something every day. I have some friends who have been very successful away from the basketball arena. And I marvel at the differences in personalities and the incredible instincts that they seem to have for making financial deals and acquiring companies and stuff like that.
“I had a pretty good education working for Jerry Buss for the Lakers when the league was not as prosperous as it is today. Being around him and some of his philosophies and how he viewed you should run a sports franchise… It’s pretty interesting, his philosophy. I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot from a lot of people.”
Maybe the NBA and its players could now tap into that knowledge before it is too late.
Jerry West may not be the face of the NBA, but he is literally its silhouette. It is his image, after all, that is the league’s logo. West was in the news with today’s release of his autobiography, “West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life.” But back in 2005, in an interview for SportsBusiness Journal, West told me something that is as relevant today as it was then:
“I’ve always felt that players should not be underpaid. Nor do I think that they should be overpaid. I just think that in today’s world, with the agents playing such a prominent [role] and free agency being so important, I think all of us would tend to overpay if we want a free agent. And paying money to players does not make you win. It’s been pretty evident in all sports.
“Does it give you a better chance? You would think it would. But you look out around the league today, and some of the teams with the biggest payrolls have not accomplished very much. I think it’s almost a testament to the agents: They can get people to buy into how great their players are when they might be average players, wanting these average players to make enormous salaries, which a lot of them do.”
Some time later, when I asked West who or what had had the biggest influence in his professional life, a career that included one NBA championship as a player with the Los Angeles Lakers and eight as a front-office executive with the team, he said this:
“Oh, boy. You know, I’ve always been a person who tried to learn something every day. I have some friends who have been very successful away from the basketball arena. And I marvel at the differences in personalities and the incredible instincts that they seem to have for making financial deals and acquiring companies and stuff like that.
“I had a pretty good education working for Jerry Buss for the Lakers when the league was not as prosperous as it is today. Being around him and some of his philosophies and how he viewed you should run a sports franchise… It’s pretty interesting, his philosophy. I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot from a lot of people.”
Maybe the NBA and its players could now tap into that knowledge before it is too late.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Devoid of Meaning
In yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle, Scott Ostler identified three things in sports which he labeled “devoid of meaning.” The three: a football coach's praise for an upcoming opponent, a boxer's boasts before a bout, and anything said during a labor dispute. “That stuff will produce enough hot air to blow-dry Def Leppard,” Ostler wrote.
With all due respect to Scott, I think he overlooked a number of other items devoid of meaning (sports division):
∙ Rex Ryan guarantees
∙ Belabored individual choreography after every play in football
∙ Motorsports
∙ Quickie half-time interviews with college basketball coaches
∙ Pitch-by-pitch replays
∙ Slo-mo exploding logos after said replays
∙ NFL quarterback ratings
∙ Oblique injuries
∙ Discussions about pitch count
∙ Commentary by Dan Dierdorf, Bill Maas, Stephen A. Smith, Craig Sager, Tony Siragusa, Rick Sutcliffe
∙ The BCS
∙ Signature home run calls
∙ Catch phrases
∙ Half-time extravaganzas
∙ Super Bowl pre-game shows
∙ Discussions of Super Bowl commercials
∙ Heaven-pointing athletes
∙ Hyperactive TV directors who insist of cutting away from live action to shots of fans in the stands
∙ Sportswriters whose postgame questions seek to gauge the level of excitement, disappointment, joy, surprise, and meaningfulness. You know, “How excited/disappointed/happy, etc. are you about today’s game?”
∙ The Pro Bowl
∙ The NBA Dunk Contest
∙ Fireman Ed
∙ The strike zone graphic used in this year’s MLB playoffs
∙ Bracketologists
∙ Solemn postgame interviews with losing coaches
∙ Heart-pounding athletes
∙ High-fiving adult spectators who have done nothing to celebrate
∙ National anthem balladeers (It’s an anthem, not a ballad)
∙ Tattoos
∙ Primal screams by athletes after a play while the game resumes without them
With all due respect to Scott, I think he overlooked a number of other items devoid of meaning (sports division):
∙ Rex Ryan guarantees
∙ Belabored individual choreography after every play in football
∙ Motorsports
∙ Quickie half-time interviews with college basketball coaches
∙ Pitch-by-pitch replays
∙ Slo-mo exploding logos after said replays
∙ NFL quarterback ratings
∙ Oblique injuries
∙ Discussions about pitch count
∙ Commentary by Dan Dierdorf, Bill Maas, Stephen A. Smith, Craig Sager, Tony Siragusa, Rick Sutcliffe
∙ The BCS
∙ Signature home run calls
∙ Catch phrases
∙ Half-time extravaganzas
∙ Super Bowl pre-game shows
∙ Discussions of Super Bowl commercials
∙ Heaven-pointing athletes
∙ Hyperactive TV directors who insist of cutting away from live action to shots of fans in the stands
∙ Sportswriters whose postgame questions seek to gauge the level of excitement, disappointment, joy, surprise, and meaningfulness. You know, “How excited/disappointed/happy, etc. are you about today’s game?”
∙ The Pro Bowl
∙ The NBA Dunk Contest
∙ Fireman Ed
∙ The strike zone graphic used in this year’s MLB playoffs
∙ Bracketologists
∙ Solemn postgame interviews with losing coaches
∙ Heart-pounding athletes
∙ High-fiving adult spectators who have done nothing to celebrate
∙ National anthem balladeers (It’s an anthem, not a ballad)
∙ Tattoos
∙ Primal screams by athletes after a play while the game resumes without them
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Standouts On and Off the Court
With the first two weeks of games canceled and the 2011-12 NBA season starting to slip away, the league and its players union continue to negotiate terms of a new contract. But with the U.S. economy struggling and basketball fans trying to manage household budgets and stretch their own dollars, public sympathy seems to be with neither side as the owners and players discuss ways to divide a multibillion-dollar pie.
Pro basketball Hall of Famer and NBA analyst Charles Barkley once proclaimed that athletes should not be considered role models. By their actions, two current NBA stars and former Duke All-Americas, Grant Hill and Elton Brand, disagree.
With a combined 28 years in the NBA, Hill and Brand have carried themselves in exemplary fashion off the court. They have established foundations in their names and donated their time and financial support to numerous national and community philanthropic programs, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Special Olympics, Covenant House, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and various other initiatives to serve disadvantaged youth and families, education, literacy, and recreation.
“One of the things we’ve always done in this country, and really all over the world, is look at our athletes as heroes,” said Grant Hill. “And with that comes a certain responsibility. Some athletes embrace it and some don’t.
“But I feel that what we do is a privilege, not a birthright. Sometimes maybe we lose sight of that and forget the effect we have on people, not just with our performance but how we conduct ourselves off the field or the court. It’s not a burden. There are only a handful who are fortunate enough to be looked at in this way.”
Elton Brand called it a “blessing” to be considered a role model. “Athletes—and celebrities in general— are held to a higher precedent,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. And I think we should be. We’re more visible, and the kids look up to you. The average person is not seen in that same light. They can do a lot of malicious things, and no one cares.”
Pro basketball Hall of Famer and NBA analyst Charles Barkley once proclaimed that athletes should not be considered role models. By their actions, two current NBA stars and former Duke All-Americas, Grant Hill and Elton Brand, disagree.
With a combined 28 years in the NBA, Hill and Brand have carried themselves in exemplary fashion off the court. They have established foundations in their names and donated their time and financial support to numerous national and community philanthropic programs, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Special Olympics, Covenant House, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and various other initiatives to serve disadvantaged youth and families, education, literacy, and recreation.
“One of the things we’ve always done in this country, and really all over the world, is look at our athletes as heroes,” said Grant Hill. “And with that comes a certain responsibility. Some athletes embrace it and some don’t.
“But I feel that what we do is a privilege, not a birthright. Sometimes maybe we lose sight of that and forget the effect we have on people, not just with our performance but how we conduct ourselves off the field or the court. It’s not a burden. There are only a handful who are fortunate enough to be looked at in this way.”
Elton Brand called it a “blessing” to be considered a role model. “Athletes—and celebrities in general— are held to a higher precedent,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. And I think we should be. We’re more visible, and the kids look up to you. The average person is not seen in that same light. They can do a lot of malicious things, and no one cares.”
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