PASS THE TORCH
Anyone that has ever been an athlete understands that one of the most depressing and harder things to come to grips with is aging. There are many tortures in life, but nothing worst than when an athlete looks in that mirror and sees a few gray strands growing in the beard. There are days spent wondering why you couldn’t run that guy down to block his shot, when just last year you could. Or not being able to keep some young punk in front of you defensively when you just dominated him a few months back. Some say its the moment of clarity.  Many don’t accept it. Then they stay too long, and leave us with memories that we’d rather not have. Jordan came back, and although he didn’t damage his legacy, we could’ve done without the Wizards jersey. Patrick Ewing stayed too long and looked sad running up and down the court with that Supersonics jersey on. I mean he was playing in Seattle for gosh sakes!! I thought I would never see anything more pitiful than when Muhammad Ali got beat up by Larry Holmes at the end of his career. Then I saw this. Poor Shaq staggering up the court with 39 years on his back. Then I also saw this. Poor Artest barely able to get above the rim. Everyone in Queensbridge cried that day. I don’t play in the NBA anymore, but when I go to the gym it happens to me. The feet don’t move as quick. The hands don’t react as fast. The mind wants it, but the body is more realistic. And after I run about 5 or 6 games at LA Fitness I know my limitations. One day after running about 5 games a young kid yelled over to me “Yo, old school you wanna run next?” I looked around for a second. Even looked behind me, thinking that maybe he was cross-eyed. It was a sobering moment. He was talking to me! I looked, contemplated and understood I was done for the day. “Nah young fella you got it.” And that’s when I got it.  It’s time to pass the torch. For some, you have to pry it from their fingers.

THE MIAMI HATE
No, I am not dyslexic. No, that’s not a typo. The hate for the Miami Heat was big at the beginning of the year. I understand why. As great as Lebron James is, he tarnished his image with “The Decision” show that he did on ESPN. I personally saw nothing wrong with it. But of course, many don’t want to see a young athlete began to make his own decisions. With that said, it was trendy to pick against the Heat. It became somewhat of a cliche to say it wouldn’t work. There was no possible way that three superstars could play together. I beg to differ. At the beginning of the year I predicted the Heat would be in the finals. Why couldn’t three great players play together?  Magic, Kareem and Worthy did back for the “Showtime” Lakers. The Celtics did it with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Now all of sudden it doesn’t work for the Heat? I saw it as simply THE MIAMI HATE. When fans are infected with THE MIAMI HATE they don’t think rationally because they are so upset or incensed at the way the Big Three were formed,  What they fail to realize is that this is a great team. In this league you need two superstars if you want to compete for a championship. But when you have three, you go off the charts. The Celtics are in a huge whole being down 3-1 going back to Miami. Doc Rivers, in my opinion is the best in the game with X’s and O’s while drawing up plays in key moments of basketball games. But not even his magical clipboard can save the Celtics now.  Last night, they opened their own caskets.  They should all wear black suits to Miami.

YOUNG GUNS
I would have challenged any of you to name the starting lineup for the Memphis Grizzlies or the Oklahoma Thunder before the playoffs. This series is symbolic of what my blog and the NBA Playoffs are all about. Young legs are starting to become more important than the mind of a veteran. Memphis and Oklahoma City were the two youngest teams at the start of the NBA season. You see a triple overtime game last night. For OKC you have youngsters like Westbrook, Durant, Harden. For the Griz you have Marc Gasol, Conley, Mayo, Sam Young. Zach Randolph has come into his own, in a lost last night he goes for 34 pts and 10 reb. These are definitely not the biggest media markets for NBA teams.  Best believe David Stern and the people in the league offices may not be able to sleep at night, but lets face it, it’s how the NBA has always been.  The game stops for no man. Not Michael Jordan, not Kobe Bryant, not Tim Duncan. Soon we’ll be adding a few more names to this list. Everyone slows down, some become sitting ducks. Target practice for the young guns.

ATLANTA HYPE
I never understood why everyone loves the city of Atlanta. I’ve been there a few times and although there are some good things about the city, I never quite get it. It seems to be a city of transplants, people from the northeast who have all moved south with their rude attitudes and northeast accents. It seems that it lacks some of the southern charm in my opinion that some of the other cities like Charlotte, Dallas or Houston seem to have. With that said, I have always said the same thing about the Atlanta Hawks. I don’t get the hype. The Hawks are very talented. Joe Johnson is a superstar, or sometimes not. Josh Smith had 23 pts, 16 rebounds and 8 assists last game in a Hawks win over Chicago. He shows up sometimes and sometimes he won’t. Al Horford is talented. Or is he? Jamal Crawford is devastating off the dribble, but sometimes he can throw the ball right in the stands. Not sure what it is, but this team seems to lack something. It may be character. The same with the city of Atlanta, in my opinion. No real character.   Look no further than their jerseys which read A-T-L.  Like their jerseys, I think they will end with an L.  The Bulls have Derrick Rose, but to me the Hawks are much more talented offensively.  Then again, what the hell is talent anyway? There is a piece of a quote from Calvin Coolidge that I always remember, “Nothing is more common, than unsuccessful people with talent.” That’s why, like them cats in Spain, I’m running with the Bulls.

NO NO LAKE SHOW….Being a former Laker I was going to try to give the Lakers some mercy.  But with the urging of a close writing friend he said it wouldn’t be just.  Is there anybody in America who thought the Lakers would go out like this?  Is there anyone who would of thought that Phil Jackson would walk off into the sunset this way?  The Lakers got smashed.  And in the process they proceeded to play “hood” basketball at the end.  I am the first one that always jumps on people when they call basketball players thugs.  But the terrible display of sportsmanship by Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum was downright embarrassing.  Bynum’s move was cowardly.  He may get away with that with J.J. Barea.  But all I kept thinking was if this was one of those pro-am summer leagues in the hood of New Jersey, Chicago, Philly or Baltimore the goons would’ve been waiting for Bynum at his car after a foul like that.   And whatever was going on with Paul Gasol off the court and in the locker room doesn’t matter.  Good teams get through it.  I wouldn’t have guessed in a million years that the Lakers would get manhandled like that and then not take the loss like the men I thought they were.  SMH.

JUST DON’T DO IT!

The problem with sports fans and humans in general is that we always need something to compare something to.  We always need a reference point.   What does it taste like?  What is that city like?  She looks like Halle Berry.  She has a voice like Whitney Houston.  I think its time to stop with the Mike and Kobe comparisons.  I played with Kobe.  He is one of the greatest players ever.  But he is not the greatest.  That belongs to His Airness.  And it should never ever be argued or even brought up anymore until someone can come along and dominate in a fashion that Wilt Chamberlin did.  After seeing Kobe and the Lakers get swept, I realized that Kobe has been beaten up a few times in the prime of his career.  Although MJ was swept twice early in his career by Boston, once he started to win he never let up.    MJ played in 6 finals and won 6 championships along with 6 MVP’s.  None of them ever went to a Game 7.  Which means the outcome was never even in doubt.  Jordan hit game winners, had remarkable moves, the crossover, the push off, the shot on Ehloooo, the six three-point shots in the 1st half vs. Portland in 1992, all with no center.  Oh yeah and he averaged 41 ppg in 1993 NBA finals series over Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns.  No more talking.  Nike would say “JUST DON’T DO IT.”