They have the power!

Whilst going through normal day to day life this week it became apparent that the "broken society" is the hot topic of recent days. With a child fathering a child in most of the papers this week i felt that the NBA All Star weekend couldn't have come at a better time. I shall explain.

This article, in The Sun, shocked me this week. Reading through the article I came across the video and without the mass media coverage you would probably think the boy is the 8 year old brother of the baby as opposed to the father(if you don't really listen to it that is). This is my first example of the "broken society". The other one I stumbled, well I didn't literally stumble but someone else had, across was whilst walking home after training on Friday night. There was a crowd of people and an ambulance surrounding a lad. He must have been about 14 at most I would have thought, he'd collapsed through drinking silly amounts of alcohol. The paramedic couldn't get a word out of him, and his illiterate or drunk pal wasn't of much help to her either.

Anyway to the NBA All Star weekend. Would the society be so broken if role models stepped up to the plate and helped out once in a while? I think that people like sports stars, musicians etc. can make a massive difference in someone's life. Just thinking a person you look at as a God on stage, court or whatever, cares about you could change your life. With the All Star Weekend comes the NBA Day of Service. A day in which players, coaches and even commissioners go out and work for community based projects, usually with kids. You can actually physically see the adoration in their faces and enjoyment they got from being face to face with their role models. The players even enjoy it. To quote Dwight Howard (Centre, Orlando Magic), " I really enjoyed working with the kids, it was great fun. You can make a difference and it's a good feeling."

Now to be fair to the 6' 11" man-child that is Dwight Howard, he does do alot of community work. But I can't help but ask the question, if they enjoy it, why don't they do it more often?

Face To Face With The Old Enemy

As a basketball fan I'm pretty damn happy this week. The team I follow, LA Lakers, have gone for a perfect week, 6-0, including away matches at both Cleveland and Boston. As a Lakers fan there is nothing better than when you beat Boston Celtics. Like AC Milan v Inter in football, this is the mother of all basketball rivalries.

When Boston travelled to the Staples centre earlier this season the Lakers beat them. I was really happy, but knew the Celtics would have their chance to get revenge this week. The Lakers played 6 away games in the last 9 days, one would be at Boston, the second best team in the Eastern conference, and one at Cleveland, the best team in the Eastern Conference.

You can probably imagine my excitement when I woke on Friday morning to find out the Lakers had gone to Boston Garden and faced off with the Celtics. They took them to overtime and beat them by one point ( and who says the small things don't matter?). In their back yard. They had gone face to face with the old enemy and battled through for a win. Apparently they didnt even play well, Andrew Bynum is out with a torn MCL and Kobe Bryant was only 10 for 29 from the field, and as Lakers most reliable centre and scorer respectively this was not exactly perfect.

The next stop was going to be tough for Lakers. They rocked up at The Q in Cleveland for a finals preview, yeah I went there Boston fans, Lebron and his Cavs against Kobe and his Lakers. Again Lakers had beaten Cavs at The Staples Centre earlier in the season, however winning at The Q would be different. No Andrew Bynum and the Cavs had a perfect 23-0 record at home. On Sunday afternoon I remember having a conversation with two of my U14s players about how doubtful I was of a Lakers win. But I had a good feeling when I went online to check the scores this afternoon. Sure enough Lakers had won. Kobe outscored Lebron by 3 points and the Lakers had won by double figures 101 - 91.

What was even better Celtics had lost. Again.

I now thoroughly believe the Lakers are going to win the Championship this year. They have gone on the road with a severely depleted squad and beaten the beasts of the east. They are now, deservedly, at the top of the power rankings and the only team to have not lost more than 9 games. The hold the best record in the West by quite some way and they would take some stopping on the way to the Finals this time round. And when they get there no matter who is waiting at the other side for them, whether it is Boston, Cleveland or even perhaps Orlando, they have clearly shown the fighting qualities that make winners and champions, whereas the Cetics and Cavs can't even hold their own at home.

This is our season.

Untitled

If you think you are beaten you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't,
If you'd like to win but think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't,
Lifes battles don't always go,
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later, the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can.

Only The Strong Survive

As will become apparent alot of my posts will come out of the world of sport, and this is to be no exception to that rule. The sporting world nowadays is filled with supposed "role models" like Christiano Ronaldo. This man, as I am sure you are aware, is not the most popular man in the world. He is talented but has tarnished his reputation with bad sportsmanship and arrogance. I recall after missing the penalty in the Champion's League final, Ronaldo said "well this is football, I score a goal in the game but I miss a penalty". He followed this comment with a nonchalent shrug of his shoulders. This is quite sickening for me to hear and see, not because of any deep hatred of Manchester Utd, but because he was not bothered by his mistakes. As a performer in sport I always want to be better than the last time I competed. People who have been on court with me will tell you it angers me when I'm not. A professional sportsman should constantly be fighting to make himself better than the next person and this is what makes a legend. Ronaldo don't get me wrong has achieved and he probably has worked hard to get it but that attitude is not one I would like to send out to kids who aspire to be me if I were in that position.


I would sooner be like the failing Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. Let me set the scene OKC have been the laughing stock of the basketball world this season, but they have battled on. The Thunder were looking in contention for the worst record of all time in the 82 game season and at one point losing to the Thunder would mean your team would automatically be put in the Number 30 spot of the NBA Power Rankings. However OKC began to turn it round, they are still bottom of their conference with 11 wins and 37 losses, but they are now holding a better win rate than Washington, Sacremento, and the LA CLippers. Now if that is not fighting then I don't know what is. They have even pulled out wins against highly respected teams like Detroit Pistons.


OKC Thunder do not have any players on their roster like Ronaldo. They all fought the odds in order to be better, whereas Ronaldo would sit back and say "Well, shit happens." I am not going to say that I believe the Oklahoma City Thunder of 2008/09 will stay in the memories of people longer than Christiano Ronaldo will but they symbolise the above statement. Only The Strong Survive. The best players of all sports will be remembered for their will to go out and train, the Roger Federer's, Michael Jordan's and Pele's never wanted to miss a shot (in fact i know for a fact Michael Jordan kept a tally of game winning shots he had been trusted to take and missed as a motivation to be better: it stands at 26) and when they did they had the strength in themselves to say "Yeh my fault." Then they went out and practised until it was done.


This drive, desire and strength is what makes sport a great pastime and a culture, not big Portugese pansies who don't care about the name on the front of the jersey, only the name on the back.





Only The Strong Survive