This Is No Longer An Isolated Incident

When a teenager falls into a lifestyle of drugs and partying, we say this is a result of choices they made and we place the problems and consequences on the shoulder's of the individual. But if a family has four children fall into a life of drugs or crime, we must look deeper and realize we are dealing with a parenting problem, not four isolated instances of bad decisions.

I know people are going to call this a head-hunt and say that the media has their sights set on the biggest, most lucrative programs, but with the recent details coming out of O.J. Mayo and how he accepted gifts and money from agents, I have begun to believe that there is a problem with the USC athletic department. I realize that the player, not the school, decided to take bribes and money. But, USC must take part of the blame. There are two possible explanations. 1) The USC athletic department is run by a bunch of naive, clueless, incompetent individuals who didn't think it was weird how the biggest basketball recruit in 2007 just happened to choose their school without being pursued by the University. 2) If Mike Garrett and Tim Floyd and the other staff are not clueless, then this means they knew what they were getting when a kid from West Virginia (with a pretty shady background I might add), made it clear he was coming to Southern California for the sole purpose of being one and done. If this doesn't raise eyebrows, alarms, red-flags and every other type of cautionary sign then I am not sure if this is the right business for you to be in. Has USC forgotten that they are first and foremost an academic University. If Mayo was so key on getting to the NBA ASAP, why didn't he sit out a year, workout 24/7 and prepare emotionally and mentally for the NBA...I take that back; that is exactly what he did last year considering he didn't have any class or schoolwork to attend too.

The NCAA needs to keep a close eye and start regulating collegiate athletics much better than they have been. And for that matter, they need to place certain programs with bad track records underneath a magnifying glass. The University of Miami continues to have current and former athletes involved in crime related activities. If its one or two athletes then o.k., but when a trend arises it hints toward a deeper issue. And recently, a supposedly well behaved Florida Gator program has had one player use the credit card of a dead women and then yesterday, a player was shot at a park.

Another program that needs to be watched is USC. They have had top athletes demonstrate or be linked too some shady antics (Jeff Trepagnier accepted money, Reggie Bush accepted money (allegedly), Matt Leinart isn't your poster child for responsible leader, adult, quarterback or father, and Mayo might have been the most predictable athlete to make this list of any to come through Heritage Hall). These are no longer isolated instances. This is a trend at a University that has suddenly forgotten what is important and what isn't. Maybe Coach Neuheisel can teach some of the people in the Trojan Athletic department what accountability and consequences are all about.

Charles Barkley vs Ron Burgundy....CLASSIC

A Dangerous Precedent

A 15 year old, eighthgrader from Thousand Oaks, CA named Michael Avery committed to play basketball at the University of Kentucky in 2012.

Let me repeat myself: an eighthgrader committed to play basketball at the University of Kentucky.

Is it just me or is there a HUGE problem with this picture. I am a big supporter of making athletes play at least 2 years of college ball before entering the Association because I have a problem with the lack of maturity in some of the under 20 year olds in the NBA. With that said, I have an even bigger problem with a 15 year old committing to play college ball at a University before even deciding where he will play high school ball. What were Michael's parents thinking allowing their son to make this sort of statement? And on the flip side, what was Billy Gillispie thinking pursuing a child who is still four years away from entering college. I mean seriously, there is a good chance Gillispie wont even be at UK when Michael enrolls.

Michael's dad, Howard, made this bold statement when attempting to justify allowing his 15 year old to make this commitment.

I would think a kid in his senior year that doesn't have to worry about his performance on the basketball court, SAT scores and AP scores would have less pressure.

Your right, it is nice to be a senior and have already decided where to attend college. But that is three years away, so slow down Michael, slow down! and Howard, your kid wont have much to worry about for the next four years, therefore, he will have no academic work ethic and he will probably be extremely conceded since everything will be sitting beneath his feet and he won't have to work for it. I know you are trying to turn this into how Michael's life will be easier, but it simply isn't the case. There are limits on how 'easy' your life should be and committing to play college ball somewhere while still carrying a lunch box to school is an example of life being too easy for your own good.

I hope this is an isolated incident of two parents who have driven their kid so hard that all they see in the future is an NBA career with many dollar signs behind it. Because if this ever becomes a trend, it means our society has perverted the idea of childhood and bought into the "American dream" at far to early of an age.

Should we really be surprised?

There has been a lot of media attention given to the death of Eight Belles in last weekend's Kentucky Derby and If your like me, I'm not sure exactly how to respond. PETA is crying for the jockey's head (not literally) saying he pushed the horse too far while many trainers and owners inside the sport claim that it is a freak accident and very sad. But really, should we be surprised that horses or greyhounds or any other animal's that we use for sport come up with injuries that are sometimes life-threatening. Think about it...we lose human athletes every soo often and these are people who can communicate with doctors about injuries or things that do not feel right. With animals, we are dealing with something that cannot complain if it wants to or yell at the coach when they are tired. Horses are trained to run and for that matter beaten and directed to run and block out everything else (including physical discomfort). Can you imagine an NBA player being whipped into shape so that when he was on the court he exerted all his energy because a timeout or a break wasn't even an option. I am not taking on side on whether horse racing should be outlawed or not, I myself don't know where I stand. But, I am not shocked like so many other people at the death of Eight Belles...and sadly, I will not be shocked when the next horse dies in the next few years.

Total Access

I was at the Laker Jazz game 2 on Weds. night with an all-access staff pass and wide open eyes that moved back-and-forth taking in my surroundings. Here is how my night went.

I walked into the arena 2 hours before tip-off and players were just starting to arrive. First the Utah Jazz team bus pulled up, then Ira Newble in his Range Rover, D.J. Mbenga in his Range Rover and Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton in Jordan's brand new white S55 Mercedes (did you know they carpool). If you have never seen an NBA players parking lot, let me tell you it is like an auto show of the newest and finest cars around: Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Range Rover, Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche, Lexus and many more.

Next, I entered the court for pre-game shooting and the pre-game MVP ceremony. I saw more celebrities/ athletes at this game then I have ever seen before...here is the short list of my random sightings: LaDainian Tomlinson, Norv Turner, Denzel Washington, Ron Artest, Andre Iguodala, Jack (of course), Adam Levine, Jack Black, Penny Marshall, A.C. Green, Jerry West, Esteban Loaiza, etc. And all these people got to witness what I witnessed; a phenomenal pre-game ceremony honoring the 2008 MVP, Kobe Bryant. Staples was blaring with the chants of 'MVP' and 'Kobe' and it truly was surreal to be apart of. The game itself was fine, my seat was high in the rafters overlooking the floor, but I can't complain too much since I shared it with Michael Wilbon, Ahmad Rashad, J.A. Adande, Bill Plaschke...some fine journalist themselves.

The highlight of the entire night might have been after the game ended and the players game running off the court into the locker room. All the reporters, cameramen and journalists were waiting in the hallway to be let into the Laker locker room, and when the doors opened it was like a bunch of hungry wolves attacking a fresh kill. The media rushed in leaving the hallway nearly empty. And that worked to my advantage because I decided to observe things from the outside and I ended up not regretting this. Minutes after the locker room doors opened, Vanessa Bryant (Kobe's wife), and his two daughters came around the corner and waited with me in the hallway. There really wasn't any significant story besides that fact that his two little girls are adorable, Vanessa actually acts like a real mom making sure her kids behave and overall, the Bryant's seem like a normal 2 kid family (besides the money, status, media attention, haha).

I don't know if I will have access like this ever again, and if I do I am not sure any sporting event could match the hype, and craziness of Weds. nights Laker game.

Kobe vs CP3

Kobe Bryant will receive the 2008 NBA MVP award. Kobe is the best player in the NBA, but is he the most valuable?

Kobe's stats: 28.3 PPG, 5.4 APG and 6.3 RPG
Paul's stats: 21.1 PPG, 11.6 APG and 2.7 SPG

Kobe's PPG are 2nd highest in the NBA, but averaging 28 points isn't anything crazy. Paul's 11 assists per game are crazy...especially when you consider he also scores 21 points per game. Kobe can take over a game like no other player...but, can he make his teammates better like Paul can. I don't know the answer to that question and if people point to the fact that the Lakers' finished first in the West as evidence that Kobe makes his teammates better, be careful. I don't know if Kobe made his teammates better this year, I think that his front office made the team better by adding/drafting players (Gasol, Fisher, Ariza and a more mature Bynum and Farmar). Kobe didn't do anything different then what he has been doing since Shaq left.

The fact that Kobe has never won an MVP award is mind-blowing, but the 2008 NBA MVP isn't a career award, its a single season award. And to stamp Kobe as the runaway MVP this season might be a little narrow minded.

Learn to Count before You Come to Play

It was announced today, and later confirmed by the man himself, that Miguel Tejada is in fact 2 years older than he has lead us to believe over the last 15 years. In 1993, Tejada, a youth out of the D.R., told scouts he was 17 years old. He is currently listed in the Houston Astros Media Guide as 33 years old, but he is in fact 35 years old. This goes over really well considering Tejada is also under investigation regarding his alleged steroid use in previous seasons. I guess the fact he lied about his age is going to go over real well with the authorities when he tells them that he didn't use roids.

But we have no reason to believe he is lying, do we?