Shout Out To The People

I meant to post this yesterday, but with all the stuff I had to do before the blizzard, I was preoccupied.  Now that I have time though, I just want to give a big shout out to all the people who were out yesterday and today, whether it was the mailmen/women or the snow plow men.  We people couldn't get through this without you, so thank you so much for doing your job.

Stay safe and warm everybody!

Felix Hernandez: Return Of The King

Mariners fans are going to get used to seeing King Felix celebrate the next couple of years

There's that song from The Lion King that's called "I Just Can't Wait To Be King", when young Simba sings about the day he will become king.  The difference between him and Felix Hernandez; Simba wasn't king right away, while Felix Hernandez has been called King Felix for about as long as I can remember.  Yesterday, the big news in Major League Baseball was that Felix Hernandez resigned with the Mariners for  5-7 years for around 135.5-170 million dollars (nothing is exact because different outlets have different numbers).  The contract, once officially announced, would be the largest contract in history for any pitcher.  As tremendous an achievement it is that Felix finally got the contract he deserved, the more impressive thing to me is that he chose to stay in Seattle.

Loyalty is a dying thing in sports now.  Players want to leave teams for more money, chances to win, exposure, etc, but Felix chose to stay in Seattle because he was getting his due, he loves Seattle, and he believes they can contend while he's there.  It seems like it will be a difficult task with how stacked the American League is, but with their ace and many top prospects, hopefully things can change this season.

I don't need to say all the numbers Felix has since you can look them up and marvel at them like I have.  I just wanted to post about him since he's one of my favorite athlete's, and he just made history. As a diehard Red Sox fan, I'm a little bummed he didn't come to Boston since he would have helped the team so much, but I'm glad he's doing what makes him happy in his life.

Being in Boston, they say that Pedro Martinez was one of the best pitchers of his time.  I didn't watch baseball back then until 2003 when Pedro was arguably past his prime, but now that I love the sport, I'm glad that I will be able to see one of the great pitchers of my era flourishing in his environment like so many others have.  Felix Hernandez many not be what Randy Johnson was on the Mariners, but now that he's resigned with them, his place in their history will be immortalized.  Congratulations King Felix on returning to Seattle, but in all honesty, you never left, which is why I thank you as a baseball fan!

King Felix already has a Cy Young award, but can he add a World Series?

Home

This weekend, I'm going back home for the first time in close to three weeks.  One of the longest stretches of time I've been away from home since I've been in college.  I know that doesn't sound long to all you people who are out of state or far away, but for me, that's long.  I can't tell you how excited I am to go home because it's Chinese New Year Sunday, I get see some old friends, eat food, etc, but at the same time, I know I'm going to have to shovel, and then deal with the commute coming back.  So going home has it's perks, but it definitely has it's negatives to, which got me thinking, going home just doesn't mean what it used to anymore.

I first thought of home a couple days ago, while waiting for my 2 o'clock class to begin at school.  As I was waiting, it passed 1:40, which made me think of my high school, and how I used to be done with the day at that time.  School may of been harder then, and I may of had more work because of the bunched schedule, but I think I enjoyed going home more then compared to now because I got to see my friends, and those were simpler times.  Sure, as a senior in high school you have to deal with SAT's or college applications, but a majority of the time, you are hanging out with friends, and the schedule is so consistent with the same teachers, that you know what to expect.

People who have active lives in college may disagree with this sentiment, and they can, but I still think I'm right.  Sure, you may have fun in college, and get good grades, but look at the negatives.  You have to make new friends, have new teachers and classes every semester, pay up the a** in financial aid, and by the time you're done, you may have no home, or know what you want to do with your life.  College life may sound better than being at home with your parents, but the older you get, the more you realize you miss and need them. 

I know we eventually have to move on from home since soon we'll be the next generation of adults, but until that time, I'm going to enjoy going home every minute since in the future, "home" may not be around.  I may have my beefs with my parents and siblings, but it's better than being at college and not having them around.  Home may be far away, but it's still a part of me.

Athlete's And The Lives They Live

As a child, I didn't watch sports that often, but I knew who Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky were because they were everywhere.  It used to annoy the hell out of me seeing them, but as I got older and loved sports, I couldn't wait to see an athlete on TV.  Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky were basically retired when I got older, so I focused on athlete's who were popular at the time: Shaq, Kobe, Barry Bonds, Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong.  The list of athlete's seemed to run a mile long, but unfortunately all was not what it seemed.  For some athlete's, they had their own issues off the court, which seemed to get in the way of their athletic career's.  For Kobe and Tiger, it was infidelity, while Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong cheated to get an edge.  It was a sad reality being a fan of some of these people, but now it's even sadder because an athlete's personal life overtakes everything now.

I could point fingers at Kobe, Tiger, Barry Bonds, or Lance Armstrong for making sports this way, but it's already been done.  In some ways, I see how it's necessary to talk about an athlete's personal life since it's so interesting, but they're just normal people like we are, who deserve their own privacy.  Yes, I know they make millions of dollars, so it seems okay, but that still doesn't make it right.  It's hard enough being scrutinized on the field, but now they're getting scrutinized for living.  It just isn't right, especially since if they make mistakes, things are magnified.  Yes, there are good and bad athlete's, but we don't talk about good and bad people, or good and bad politicians all the time, so why athlete's? 

For me, this all goes back to the Manti Te'o girlfriend "scandal".  I've never seen such a waste of time in my life from media and sports outlets like ESPN.  Yes, Manti Te'o got pranked, and made a gullible mistake, but we don't have to talk about it for weeks on end.  Finding an answer would be enough, but to ruin his life or to make his stock in the NFL Draft go down because of it seems extreme.  He didn't want to talk about it, everyone else did.  And because of that, now I can't go a day without hearing about Manti Te'o, Lance Armstrong, or someone else.  I'm sick of it!  Yes, they all made mistakes and we can talk about it, but we eventually need to move on.  Everything isn't as interesting as it seems, and if you love/hate someone, why pay attention to their personal lives?  You don't do it for your friends and family all the time, so why athlete's?  What makes them special?  I used to ask myself that same question, but now I don't anymore.  I love sports and the athlete's who play it, but I draw a line between paying attention to their play and what they do on their free time, because there's just more important s**t to do in the world.

Rondo: To Keep Or Not To Keep?

 Rondo has that look again, but what's it mean?

In a sport like basketball, it's rare to find a superstar who doesn't talk much, but that's what Celtics point guard (PG) Rajon Rondo does.  He doesn't talk much to people and the media; he lets his play do the talking, which I commend him for because his play speaks for a lot.  This season, Rondo's stat line was

• 13.7 points per game (tied for career high)
• 11.1 assists per game (leads NBA)
• 5.6 rebounds per game (career high)
• 48% field goal percentage (4th among guards)
• 64.5% free throw percentage (career high)

As you can see from his stat line, Rondo was having a career year by many people's standards, even having some people call him the best PG in the league.  I don't know if I can agree with that statement, but there's no doubt in my mind that Rondo is a top 15 player and a top 5 point guard.  That brings me to last week though.  Last week, the Celtics played the Miami Heat and it was discovered that he had a tore Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) from the previous game against the Atlanta Hawks.  The Celtics won, but their star PG was lost for the season.  Since ACL's are tricky injuries, people in Boston have surprisingly said to trade Rondo, or that the Celtics are better without him, but I think that's a bunch of BS.

Now, I'm not the biggest fan/defender of Rondo in the world.  His attitude annoys me, as does his lackadaisical effort whenever he plays against certain teams, but he is a dynamic and great player.  You can tell from how hard he plays when he puts in max effort and by his stat line.  I know for Rondo the stats are iffy since he does seem to play for stats sometimes, but that shows he cares about winning.  What I don't like about Rondo though is that ego of his.  Him thinking that just because he has a ring, he is better than Chris Paul or Derrick Rose when it just doesn't work that way.  Sure, Rondo may have better stats or more triple doubles, but he can't score consistently like Derrick Rose, run a team like Chris Paul, and most importantly of all, can't get wins like them.  You can disagree with me if you want, but ask anybody who they'd rather have and they'll mention tons of PG's like CP3, D-Rose, Russell Westbrook, etc.

The Celtics recent four game winning streak would suggest to you that the Celtics are better without Rondo, but again, I say that is nuts.  That's just a small sample; it doesn't prove anything if you beat Sacramento or Orlando, two of the worst teams in the league.  Sure, the Celtics beat the Heat last week, but there's no way they could beat them 4 times in the playoffs.  It just can't happen.  Like I said before, Rondo isn't the best PG in the league, but he is the most important player on the Celtics besides Kevin Garnett in terms of value.  And you can see from the way he plays that on nights, he can be the best player in the league.  I like to think of Rondo as Randy Moss sometimes because they take plays off, but when they're on, they are the best players at their positions.  Two different sports I know, but you see my point.

Trading Rondo or thinking the Celtics are better without him may seem good now, but in the long run, I don't think that will help.  Rondo is young now, and because of that, I think he will bounce back from this injury and come back stronger.  I know trading the veterans for young talent is the new thing now, but staying loyal can pay off, like it did last year.  I know Rondo can and does get on everyone's nerves, but his talent outweighs all of that.  Whether that leads to wins, I don't know, but I would like to see how it goes since Rondo is special.

Rondo showing that team leadership

Rage Against The "College" Machine

I don't consider myself a person with great fashion sense since I wear common clothing like t-shirts and jeans, but despite being that way, one thing I am proud to say I am against is college clothing.  I'll never understand how/why someone will buy clothing from their college, yet they despise the school so much.  Do they want to reward them for giving tons of loans or wasting years of their life?  A person's money is hard enough to come by as it is.  It's bad enough students have to overpay for books they'll never use again.  Now they have to overpay for shirts or sweats if they do want to represent the school.  It just isn't worth it, especially for colleges because they always have money even when they say they don't.

Sometimes, I wish colleges would give back to the students, but most of the time they're just machines who want money at another person's expense.  I know not all colleges and situations are like this, but when you're a college student, it seems like most of the time colleges always get what they want. It sucks, but it's reality.  That's why I maintain my independence, and will never feed the machine.