Continue To Be Outraged

In the last few days, I have been following the story of Jamiel Andre Shaw, II.

If you haven't heard, Shaw was a promising young running back whose life was cut short last week when he didn't respond after being confronted by a gang member right outside his home. His mom was serving over in Iraq, and his dad was inside the house trying to warn his son about the gunshots he heard outside. But those gunshots were the ones that killed his son.

This story got even more attention because Shaw was being recruited by Stanford University and Arizona State University.

The story only got worse after I read Bill Simmons' article on the situation, where Simmons detailed how Shaw's dad had an "18-year plan" for his son. The plan entailed getting his son to his 18th birthday, after which he believed his son would have made it out of the treacherous years of life on the streets of L.A. He almost made it.

Apparently Shaw was not only talented but also a nice kid, which will prompt people to ask why something like this happened to such a good person.

I can't say that I know for sure, but I will say that sometimes we only pay attention to things when it happens to the best and brightest among us. How many more have to die before we really start doing something to make a difference?

It's not much in the scheme of things, but I'm taking my mentee to an NBA game tomorrow. Every little bit counts.

5, 4, 3, 2 . . .

The deal:

1. ESPN.com did a great piece on a fallen firefighter/assistant coach who died in a fire but whose lasting effect on his team propelled them to the state finals. Great job, ESPN. And good luck, Summerville!

2. If you hear some old guy cursing during the NCAA telecasts, it might just be Bob Knight. Yes, that Bob Knight of chair-throwing fame. Said Knight, "I think ESPN has been real good for college basketball and I look forward to working with some of their people who I have known a long time." Real good, Bobby, real good. I hope they're still using that five second delay.

3. Congress wants to talk about passing federal legislation banning the use of performance-enhancing drugs in all professional sports leagues. Naturally, the commissioners of the various leagues do not want the practices of their league members being legislated by the feds. I can't imagine why adding one more way for their players get arrested would not be appealing.

4. Title this under "Riiiight." Earlier, the Green Bay Packers official website ran an article stating that Brett Favre had indeed decided to retire. The Packers party line:

"There's nothing to it," Packers spokesman Jeff Blumb told The Associated Press.
"People who handle our Web site had set up a dummy page in the event he was to
retire. They were asked to take down that page."

Yeah, ok. Favre's decision is expected to come soon. Let's see if it differs at all from what was posted. You know where my money is.

5. This article is upsetting, if for no other reason than it contains information about 2 players that I find it tough to root for (see, I'm getting nicer ). According to Mary Sims, the MVP comes down to, among others, Kobe, LeBron, or . . . Kevin Garnett? Sims had him as leading the race back in December, and now still has him on the list at #3. I guess he felt like he could drop him down a notch but removing him from the top five would hurt his credibility. Too late. I'm not sure KG's the MVP of his own team much less of the entire league. Sims must have gotten dunked on by him in high school and he's just trying to make himself feel better.

Super Tuesday

It's late so I will cut to the chase:

1. The man hasn't even made it out of college and already Darren McFadden not only has one paternity suit pending against him, but also has two more bundles of joy on the way. Oh boy. How can you be the Shawn Kemp of the NFL before you even get picked by a team? Oh boy.
   
2. The Charlotte Bobcats' Gerald Wallace was knocked unconscious by a stray elbow during a game last week. My dad always warned me about concussions. I should probably leave this to the neurologists(!) but I think once you get one, you are more susceptible to continuing to get them. And Wallace has had four concussions in as many seasons with the Bobcats. Sounds more like a football or boxing injury. That's not a good sign. He may really have to pick a different profession if he wants to avoid permanent debilitation.
   
3. Details of the severance agreement with former Indiana University Hoosiers men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson have emerged. Apparently, Sampson has to cooperate with any NCAA investigation and he cannot interfere with the basketball team. How do we know all this? The press has this little pass they call FOIA requests that allows them to obtain info on just about every public contract there is. Powerful little tool, I tell you.
4. Are the Boston Celtics going to be making some roster additions? What, Danny Ainge realized it takes more than three players to win a championship? Having played for a very deep Celtics team back in the '80's, one would think he would have realized this early on.
5. I attended yet another basketball game this evening. This time for my cousin's team. Tough game but they pulled it out when it counted. The other team's fans decided to pick on a shorter player on his team, chanting "Gary Coleman!" I thought this was a fairly mean thing to say (and which may have contributed to their ultimately losing the game), but I did find it quite intriguing that these kids were too young to know him as "Arnold." I'm definitely getting old.
   

Some Things Can't Be Taught

As I mentioned, I attended my mentee's basketball game on Friday. I got there fairly late (those of you who know me - I actually tried to show up on time, but she didn't tell me it started a half hour earlier than the last game, which is a lot with 8 minute quarters) so I missed the first half and a few seconds of the 3rd quarter. When I saw the score, I assumed, or hoped, that her team was the one up by 30 points. Alas, it was not to be.

After watching the remainder of the 3rd quarter, I couldn't figure out how in the world they got down by so many points. Then I saw the other team get about 4 offensive rebounds in a row and put the ball back and I had a sense. My mentee's team had a few runs late in the game, but they could never really get close enough or get enough rebounds to make a dent in the lead.

The reason I've even decided to blog on this is because of the performance by my mentee. Now I know I may be biased, but the numbers don't lie. She was driving and shooting three's as if they were only down by 5 points, and she played that way all the way until the final buzzer.

That is why I love sports. You can teach someone the fundamentals, how to shoot, rebound, and box out, but you cannot teach heart. And heart is what will take her to the next level. She was fairly down, as one would expect, after the game, but she did crack a smile when I told her how impressed I was with her tenacity. Since she is only a sophomore, she has plenty of time to recover.

And believe me, there will be plenty of colleges waiting for her even if her team doesn't. I'm proud of you, kid!

These Girls Got Game

I had the pleasure of attending my mentee's high school basketball game last night, and I must say that I was impressed. These girls weren't very tall, and this was a Class D game, but they greatly exceeded my expectations. My mentee's team (who won the game) had about 60 points at the end of the third quarter. 14 points in the first quarter, 23 points in the second, and at least another 23 in the third. These are 8 minute quarters. One girl had to have about 30 points just from draining 3's. I must say when I first got there, I was not expecting too much based on the physical maturity of the girls and what I believed to be their skill-set, but they blew all that out of the water after I watched my mentee take another girl off the dribble and slash to the hole about two minutes after I sat down. And the three point shots were raining from all over the court.

I have to say one of my favorite parts of the game was near the end, when the team was up by 30+ points, and the coach cleared the bench. One girl who is an obvious team favorite and probably doesn't get to play or shoot much. Well, this night, the ball landed in her arms and she instinctively threw it back up - and into the basket. Her entire team - on the bench and on the floor - was jumping up and screaming. That's why we love sports.

It was encouraging to see this level of basketball coming from an every day program, not some high school powerhouse. They have their district finals on Friday night and I will certainly be in attendance.

I will add that I was a little disheartened that the losing team, in contrast to the team that won, had not one friend or family member in attendance, and can't help but wonder if that contributed to their play during the evening. I can't imagine having played sports without my parents there, but I know everyone does not have that support. But they can . . . mentor a kid, folks. It really makes a world of difference even if you don't think that it will.

Congrats to the Lady Vikings!

Offensive Lineman

Every day, I hear some unbelievable story that really makes me think the end of the world must be quickly approaching. And then I can't help but wonder if this kid isn't just mentally ill because what you're about to read is just downright bizarre.

Yesterday was "National Signing Day" in college football - the day when high school seniors can seniors officially sign with their school of choice. So on this particular Wednesday, high school football linebacker Kevin Hart announced during his school assembly in a small town in Nevada that he would be attending the University of California.

Apparently someone didn't believe him, and they did a little snooping. Well, it turns out that not only would he not be attending the school, but he was never recruited. Today, he admitted that he made the whole thing up.

But not before he told the police that he was duped by a man into believing that he had a scholarship.

Well, there is not much to say about this because the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is clearly a sick child calling out for attention. Either that or he thought his town was small enough that no one would find out. I hope he does find a school eventually . . . and some help.

2 Quickies.

Two other items that I am waiting for more details to develop before I comment:

1) The father of a California high school (female) basketball standout was gunned down during half time of her game. The father was apparently very involved with the team and his daughter's development as a basketball game. The game was called before it ended after officials learned what had occurred. The man's daughter had been pulled from the game prior to that. No word on a motive. Very sad.

2) Orenthal James Simpson may be heading back to jail for violating the terms of his bail by contacting one of his co-defendants in the case to discuss testimony. If this is true, he should be tethered to his lawyer at all times.

Hitting Below the Belt . . . Literally

Everything in the sports world these days seems to be a variation on the same theme:

• A player is injured, may not play this week/weekend
• A college athlete violated the NCAA rules and will be made to suffer
• Some college team has been ranked in something by someone
• Some team is sooooo good
• Another team is sooooo bad
  
• An NFL player is being suspended and/or is returning from a suspension
• An athlete tested positive for a banned substance and has now or will be suspended
• An athlete signs a multi-million dollar contract to re-join the team
• Where is Kobe going to be traded?

You get the deal.

And then, there's a story that makes you go what in the h-e-double hockey sticks has this world come to? (Otherwise known as "what the _____ was s/he thinking?")

From the land of Colorado comes that story. Former high school basketball coach Gregory Lynn Burr is on trial for hitting players in the groin area with various objects, including basketballs, tennis balls, clipboards, among other things, perhaps. He's being charged with sexual assault, but the judge has emphasized to jurors that the conduct is related to physical abuse, not sexual gratification.

Incredibly, one student had to have surgery after Burr's assaults. Gee whiz. He's also being accused of showing them porn at his house, and of dousing them with water and then exposing them to cold weather. Sounds like someone forgot to tell him that he's not their teammate, he's their coach.

I really hope that this guy has some other skill because if he loses this case, I can't see too many places beating down his door to hire him. The most he can hope for is that time makes everyone forget. I think he'll probably need to leave Colorado, at the least.

I don't know personally, but I have been told that hits to the groin are "breathtaking." I can't imagine that a man hitting another man in the groin with such force that it requires surgery. I thought this was just a case of over-sensitive (pun accidental) litigation until I heard the surgery bit. That's ludicrous.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in that jury room.

No pun intended.

Ouch.

On Tuesday night, the Smith Center high school football team in (what do ya know) Smith Center, Kansas defeated Plainville, scoring 72 points in the first quarter, ultimately winning the game 83-0.

Wow.

The first thing people will say is why did they run up the score like that? I understand some people are upset with the New England Patriots for "running up the score" on the Washington Red Skins last week, winning 52-0. Basically, this means that because the Patriots were winning by so much, they should have just folded and stopped trying to score.

This is hogwash. In professional sports, there are so many things that factor into every single play in the game, including contracts that might ride on particular stats. Player goals. Fantasy football numbers. But who cares? It's a professional sport, and these are professionals. If you don't want to have the score "run up," then stop them from scoring or get a new job.

However, I don't think this same rule should apply to high school sports. This are teenagers who are not professionals and shouldn't be treated as such. There are plenty of kids who are just playing to be involved on a team, not to mention that we're dealing with young egos here that are still being shaped. I would put the responsibility on the coaching staff to say "give it a rest."

But I wasn't at the game, so perhaps Plainville was just playing so poorly that it would have seemed like Smith Center was going easy on them if they didn't take the opportunities to score when they had them. From this article, I'd say that is about accurate. The Smith Center coach seems almost embarrassed by the lopsided win. And this the second time this year that Plainville lost to Smith Center, having lost 69-0 in a previous meeting.

Smith Center hasn't given up a single point the entire season.

Well, Plainville, keep your heads up. And listen to your coach:

"Right now, for a lot of our kids, things look pretty dim," Petrie said. "But it's our job to put this in perspective. I told them after the game -- this is probably the worst thing that's ever happened to many of them. But you know what? If that's the worst thing they ever have to go through, they're going to be in pretty good shape. It's going to take time, but they'll soon realize the sun is going to come up again."

A lesson for us all.

Broncos, Schmoncos. It's All About the "Creek"

Jack Elway, son of John Elway, the Super Bowl winning, likable former quarterback for the Denver Broncos, is going to have an interesting year. It turns out his famous pops will be his QB coach this upcoming season. Apparently the apple didn't fall far from the tree when it came to talent. This season can go one of two ways for young Jack: really fun or suck miserably.

I recall one time, among many, when my dad took an active interest in my sports. He took it upon himself to build an apparatus in the front yard for me to practice on at 6 in the morning. Now, I am not a morning person; never have been, not sure I ever will be. So that lasted about three days, and I think my mom got more use out of it than I did. We have since moved out of that house but that apparatus still lives on. At the same time, I was also receiving pages of barely legible legal pad scribbles which he slid under my door, detailing (and hyperbolizing) the status of my "game." Just recently, he has been telling a story about how he would take my TV out of my room if I lost, but it seems I'd remember if that ever happened (that goes for having my TV taken - and losing). If he had been my coach, too, I'm not sure we would be speaking today.

I don't know what kind of kid Jack is, but somehow, I think this could be way more cool to other kids than it will be for him.

Then again, how many people can say they were coached in high school by one of the best there ever was? Despite my comments above, I realize now that my dad was just teaching me the discipline and work ethic that enabled him to be successful at everything from Division I basketball to winning cases. He may not be John Elway, but in my eyes (and in his own eyes, if you know him), he was better. And let's be honest: if he didn't come to every match and write me a note afterward, I would have been looking for him to get his feedback. Hey, teenagers are complex people.

So the moral of the story is this: Just suck it up, Jack! Suck it up! It'll all be worth it when you get that Super Bowl ring . . . or pass the bar.