D.C. BOYS…..Earlier this year when the Big East Season was just beginning I picked the Georgetown Hoyas as the best team in the Big East. I went on record as I wrote an article for the Big East Website putting it in print to solidify my allegiance with them. Then they attempted to embarrass me and everyone in D.C. by losing 4 of their first 5 Big East Conference games. But for some reason my confidence in them never wavered. With the perimeter of Austin Freeman, Chris Wright and Jason Clark I knew that for some reason the D.C. boys would get it back together. They’ve now won 8 games in a row behind their Georgetown offense. It’s just something about seeing a bunch of “brothas” running back door cuts and making the fundamental bounce pass that just cleanses my basketball soul. I like what John Thompson III is doing. I like the type of kids he recruits. I like the way they play the game. I like that they dress in jackets and ties before the game. I love this famous Georgetown quote that they give to all incoming freshman accompanied with a deflated basketball: “Don’t let the sum total of your existence be 8-10 pounds of air.” Now that is refreshing.

FATHER TIME…… As I watched the Lakers vs. the Celtics the other night I started to reflect on my own basketball career. Even though it was short, I must say it was very rewarding. I realized that I had played with the greatest player ever to play the game. Then I started to think, that everyone in the NBA gets that honor. You either play with him or against him, but you’ll get the chance. You’ll marvel at his greatness. You’ll never understand how he continues to do it. He continues to take down one opponent after another. Nobody can stop him, nobody wants to be in an individual match-up with this guy. As everyone else begins to lose a step this guy seems to continue at the same pace. I don’t care what anybody says, this guy is the greatest player in the game. Kobe Bryant is great, but Father Time is even greater. And as I watched Kobe destroy the Celtics in the clutch the other night, I noticed that he was a bit slower, jumped a little less high, and layed up a few balls he used to dunk. Ask all the great ones and they’ll tell you the same. Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan will all tell you just like me. Father Time remains undefeated.

NBA NFL & BEYOND….This is a warning to all my married male readers.  Heck, you don’t have to be married, you can just have a girlfriend that your serious about, maybe you even live with her.  Next year may be a tough year for you and for all of us.  If the NBA Owners and Player’s Association can’t come to terms on the Collective Bargaining Agreement say bye bye to your life.  Hell, you may already have one foot in the grave because the NFL will be in the same boat in the Fall as the owners and the players argue over the same thing.  All I’m saying is this, can you imagine the things that our spouses can now ask us to do on what used to be a football Sunday?  Can you imagine not having NBA basketball for the entire winter?  We no longer have the age old excuse, “I’m going to stay home honey, the game is on.”   We will now all come to grips with the fact that there is nothing worse than wearily wobbling down an aisle pushing a damn cart in Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate and Barrel or Target with your significant other?  I can see us all now, picking out drapes, bed spreads, sheets, bathroom accessories and brand new plates all because Roger Goodell or David Stern can’t get it together. They will be responsible for the demise of many a relationship in 2011/2012.   Thank you NFL. After this year’s Superbowl being the most watched event in television history, we are going into a lockout.  If this isn’t an illegal hit to the head I don’t know what is.  Thanks NBA, for making your league a place where the little people have no say and the people with the big heads have all the power. So amazing

FOREVER EVER?? FOREVER EVER?……That was the great line made famous by Andre 3000.  But I realized it was a lie a long time ago.  As I attended New Jersey’s best and most famous high school basketball tournament, the Prime Time Shootout, over the weekend,  I realized I was witnessing a who’s who of basketball talent in the arena.  And although it was great to see such great talent and all stars from the past it was somewhat sad.   DaJuan Wagner, the Camden High great and one of the greatest New Jersey High School basketball players ever sat courtside.  I saw Jerry McCullough, former Pittsburgh Star, Dana Dingle a guy who played on those great UMASS teams in the early 90’s for Coach John Calipari.  New coaches on the block such as  Jamie Dixon from Pitt and Mike Rice from Rutgers eyed the talent.  Even Irv Gotti, the former CEO of Murder Inc Records who had produced great Hip Hop and R&B talent such as Ashanti, JaRule and many more took in the action.  Isiah Whitehead, a freshman from Lincoln High School, put on a show and had everyone saying he was the next Marbury or Telfair or Stephenson out of Coney Island.  St. Patrick High School’s Michael Gilchrist, who some believe to be the best high school player in the nation, had the crowd going crazy. Then it hit me.  Everyone’s time will pass.  The limelight doesn’t last forever.  For some it’s five years, for some its 10, for some it’s disappears in an instant. You have to relish it, but you can’t get caught up in it.  It can’t be the only thing that makes you who you are.   The game or the fame can’t be your total identity.  Who are you really when the fans stop screaming, the autograph seekers stop asking, the ball stops bouncing?   Are you going to be one of many who are left to wonder in the end when it’s all over….What now?