God's Winks

My parents are relatively religious people. My dad a Roman Catholic and my mom a Congregationalist. My dad helps seat people at mass, and my mom attends bible study every Tuesday. They aren't corny or anything, but they do have a tendency to read Mitch Albom books and some what I used to and still somewhat do consider lame faith books.

Maybe three years ago, they each read a book called When God Winks, about little everyday things that prove there is a God. They tried to get me to read it, but as a teenager, and already knowing everything like I did back then, I called it cheesy and refused. Two weeks ago something small happened in my life, and I sent my parents this e-mail.

Mom and Dad,

You both know I certainly believe in God and although not all of the practices of the Catholic Church, at least a good amount of them. At the same time, you know I don't particularly like the sappy religious stuff and what not. However, I must tell you this story - because yes I have had other moments like the one I'm about to explain to you, but if nothing else they reaffirm for me, the existence of a higher presence.

The other day on Campus, an Asian man was going around asking for donations. I couldn't really understand what he was saying, or exactly what the donations were for. He asked me for one in the morning, and I told him I couldn't because I didn't have any cash in my wallet. I saw him also get denied by most of the other students he asked. I walked away and didn't think much about it.

At around five o'clock of the same day, I came out of class and was waiting for the bus home. I saw the same Asian man asking for donations of the people across the street. They both denied him, and upon looking around, saw me waiting alone for the bus. As he bound for me, I could see the bus approaching down the road, about 3 minutes away. He asked me for a donation, and I looked in my wallet for cash, I had none, but he saw my debit card and pointed toward it, clearly signaling that I could use it to make a donation. He was very persistent, so I gave in. He asked how much I wanted to donate, and I said 10$ and he told me the minimum was 50$. Obviously I didn't have the money, and so he showed me a different sheet that said for $20 I could help feed children in a China orphanage. So I agreed to donate $20. As I started filling out my billing information for him, the bus was just about to get to me, and I began to get afraid that I wouldn't finish filling out my information and I would miss the bus. At this same time, Thunder boomed and it started to sprinkle.

As I finished filling out my information, the bus passed me carrying a sign saying: Not In Service. As the Asian man thanked me and walked away, I somewhat cursed my luck and prepared to wait another 15 minutes for the next bus in the rain.

Maybe two seconds after the man left, I heard someone say: " Do you need a ride?" I turned to see a car by the bus stop, with a guy I didn't recognize looking at me. "I asked if he was talking to me," and he said" " you live at Sigma Chi don't you?" I asked him how he knew that, and it turns out he was a friend of an older guy in the house. Again, as it turns out, he had been at the house two weeks earlier drinking with some of the older guys and I had met him for maybe two seconds. He then proceeded to be extremely nice, and drop me off at the house.

The fact that he was drinking and remembered my face is pretty amazing in itself. The fact that he offered me a ride, as it started to rain, after I had made a donation for an amount much more than I had intended and a bus I had been waiting for turned out to not be in service... well that, that is a wink.

Love,
Nate

Please don't take this the wrong way, and think I am giving myself props for my donation and what not. Believe me, I really didn't want to give the man any money, and certainly not anymore than ten bucks. But he goaded me, and smiled and I eventually felt either so much like a jackass or just totally awkward (not sure which, you make the call) that I did. And then I got a ride home out of the rain from an almost stranger.

Call it luck, or coincidence. Call it whatever. I think God Winked at me - and I definitely know he's smirked and flipped me off a couple times too. And I definitely deserved those.

-Lates

I Can't Feel My Face... And Neither Can Ned Yost

So the playoffs have started, and they make me happy. But let's talk about a few things.

For those of you who don't pay too much attention to the NBA, and particularly the Cavs, Wizards series, it may be the most interesting of the first round. Why might you ask? Shit talking, that's why. Here's the deal. Before the series even started, Gilbert Arenas essentially said: Everyone wants to play the Cavs because they limped into the playoffs, and we know we can easily beat them. On top of that, DeShawn Stevenson called LeBron James one of the most overrated players in the NBA.

For those of you playing at home, the Cavs are up 2-0 in the series, beating the Wizards by 30 in game two. LBJ has scored 30 + points in each game.

I'm all for shit talking, and whether the Wizards did it as a motivational tool, or as Arenas said, to distract LeBron, I don't really care. But the fact is they did shit talk and LeBron has so far completely embarrassed them with his play and his celebrations.

In case you didn't know, sometime last year, Stevenson decided to make "I Can't Feel My Face," his catchphrase. So usually when he hits a three, he runs down the court waving his open hand in front of his face. He even made t-shirts this year with the slogan on it and had them handed out to the crowd. Pretty badass if you asked me.

I love players like DeShawn. He is the Clinton Portis type, dressing up crazy for practice, shaking things up and always trying to get the crowd involved.

With that being said, I think "I Can't Feel My Face" is dead. DeShawn has been guarding LeBron the entire series and sometimes vice versa, and Lebron has 62 points already - not to mention the best part.

Remember the unbelievable slam LBJ had in game one? The one where he caught the ball behind his bed with his back arched, his head above the rim and threw it down with a thunderous scream. Remeber that one? The one that brought all of Cleveland to its feet and made every Washington player die just a little inside. Try and find it again, because guess what LeBron did when he ran down the court?

HE WAVED HIS HAND IN FRONT OF HIS FACE BECAUSE HE COULDN'T FEEL IT.

He has since somewhat overused it, but it may never get old to me. If you're going to talk shit, back it up, and if not get out of the way when the thunder comes down.

To make matters worse for DeShawn, when the Cavs were up 25 in the fourth quarter of game two, Damon Jones, who hadn't played a minute yet, drilled a three from the left side. Guess what he did while running down the court. Yea, he waved his hand in front of his face, and the camera panned to LeBron who was doing it on the bench and laughing.

Sorry DeShawn, I think it's time for a new gimmick.

. . .

And now to the second part of the title of this post.

I want Guillermo Mota to be the closer for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Sure Gagne has sixe saves, but he also has four blown saves. He's the Borowski of the National League.

But the real problem and I'm sure people will disagree with me, is that Ned Yost cannot manage pitching at the end of the game. We saw it last year, and it cost us a trip to the playoffs, and we're starting to see it again this year.

Ned Yost can't feel his face...in a bad way. No offense Ned, but that burning feeling you get in your cheeks every time you make a pitching change past the 7th inning - it's embarrassment.

I understand sticking by a closer for a little and giving him time to adjust, but it seems somewhat clear that Gagne still needs roids to be effective. If anything, Yost should be quick to change closers, considering the past trouble we've had with TurnBlow.

I like Ned Yost, I really do, I just honestly don't think he can manage pitching past the seventh inning. At least try something new. The Brewers should be tied, if not leading the division right now, were it not for those blown saves. How long is it going to take until someone understands that.

Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but well I like seeing the Brewers win.

I just downloaded the new Flight of the Conchords CD and the new Atmosphere CD. Both are pretty good. Have a listen, see what you think.

-Lates

More on ACTUAL Sports

Now that the debate has - at least from my end - been posted and recorded, I can move on to everything else.

April is a fucking awesome month. Baseball season begins and, in what has become one of the best years for NBA basketball, the playoffs begin.

I'll start with the playoffs. Unfortunately, I can't celebrate the man at the top of this post anymore this month - on Monday night, the Suns officially knocked the Warriors and B Davis out of the playoffs. Thus the 8th and final spot in the West goes to the Denver Nuggets, on a day when not only did Carmelo Anthony get arrested for a DUI, but he also got a ride to his hotel from the police. (His fiance refused to come get him - luckily the guys who tagged and bagged him where able to get him home safe - fucking ridiculous.

- All of this happens and we're still waiting to hear/understand why Don Nelson sat Davis for the entire second half of Monday's game.

- The Lakers clinched the 1 spot last night and probably a Kobe MVP, while the Hornets and CP3 clinched the 2 spot.

On Facebook right now, there is a new NBA Playoffs application that allows you to predict the playoffs. Mine for this year: Suns vs. Celtics - Garnett brings another Banner to Boston after a 22 year drought. Hoops Addict wrote an awesome futuristic piece about what happens in the 08 playoffs and it's extremely cool. Check it out here.

Of course, with my man-crush on LeBron, I have to give he and the Cavs some hope in my mind, but unfortunately, he still doesn't have the supporting cast. He needs a Pippen and he doesn't have it. With all that being said, I'll be wearing my LBJ jersey on the 19th in the Ozarks no matter what.

Transition: baseball

Yesterday, Jeff Passan wrote a great article on Griffey, Jackie Robinson and the declining number of African American players now in the MLB. Read it here.

It makes some very interesting points about Griffey and how he helped market version as the kid who played for love of the game and all that. (I actually had a poster of him on my wall in the exact pose as the one above, only he was wearing a backwards cap and it said Moonshot at the top. I wish I could find that...)

The article also talks about how Griffey was the first to call Bud Selig and ask to wear Jackie Robinson's number to remember his legacy and continue his legend.

Towards the end however, Griffey talks about the decline of black players in baseball and mentions the treatment of the league and fans on Barry Bonds as part of the reason. Now I love Griffey and we all know my stance on the asterik cheater that is Barry Bonds, but I'm not sure how much I like Grifs comments.

I HONESTLY, 100% DO NOT BELIEVE THAT ANYONE WHO HATES BARRY BONDS, DOES SO BECAUSE HE IS BLACK. Once again, race is being made an issue where it shouldn't be. The color of Barry Bond's skin has no merit on the hatred he gets. IT'S BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK HE CHEATED.

Obviously there were other who did too, and some people - Griffey being one - may ask, why isn't there any such scrutiny being put on them. The answer is the record.

Before Bonds hit 72 in a season, he was already a guarenSHEED hall of famer. No question. The thing that pisses people off, and me especially, is the fact that he took "performance enhancing drugs" in order to break one of the most coveted records in all of sports.

Towards the end of last season, Hammerin Hank gave a speech at Miller Park commemorating the Milwaukee Braves. He spoke of fans and legacy and when he spoke of all those things, especially the city of Milwaukee and it's support during his own run, there was somewhat of a noticeable grimace. Take it as you will, I'm going to take it as this: Fuck Barry Bonds, not for his race or skin color, but for the blemish he left on baseball and history.

During a week when we do celebrate a man for his skin color in conjuncture with baseball, it is kind of sickening that Barry himself and others still play the race card.

I just wonder what Jackie would say about all of this.

What is a Sport?

This weekend my friends and I had some relatively heated arguments about what is/is not a sport, and what defines something as a sport. The argument came up because I decided to say that I didn't consider Golf a sport - which landed me in a *1 vs. 20 royal rumble.

*Note that 20 includes fathers who were in town for parent's weekend.

I have since given some ground and decided that I could consider Golf a sport, but it got me thinking and at least interested in looking at what actually makes up a sport.

Dictionary.com provided this as their first entry for sport as a noun: 1.an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc. Read the other entires.

With that being said, I will say that I agree with parts of that definition and not others. I would define a sport as this: An athletic activity requiring MULTIPLE skill SETS AND physical prowess with a competitive nature.

Now under that definition, it is hard for me to consider Golf a sport, and here are some of my arguments. Afterwards I will also provide my own counter arguments.

1. Golf does not particularly require physical prowess, as demonstrated by John Daly and even Phil Mickelson during his last Masters win.
Obviously these are only two examples, and one could say that the majority of professional golfers are physically fit. I DO NOT disagree with that, but the actual playing of golf does not particularly require that. Tiger Woods doesn't sprint to his ball or run laps around the greens. Yes, it takes endurance to swing a club the number of times these guys do, but that is muscle memory and repetition, not physical prowess.

2. Golf is one of the only supposed "sports" where professionals statistically play well into their 40's and 50's. Physical prowess usually takes a toll on your body, and certainly this can be seen in some golfers, but Golf is one of the only sports where this is possible or even seen. There is a Seniors Golf Tour - enough said.

I guess what it comes down to for me, is there really isn't a physical prowess component of golf. Is it too much for me to ask for a little running or physical strain when considering something a sport?

With all of this said, I do recognize the counter arguments to mine.

1. Tiger Woods. His off season workouts have been publicized and we all know the guy is jacked. Do I consider him an athlete? Yes and perhaps within the top 3 in the world right now. However, just because an athlete plays something or competes at something, does that make it a sport? I am still on the fence. Maybe, just maybe, Tiger Woods is so good at Golf and so dominating because he is an athlete competing against some non-athletes.

2. I certainly recognize that Golf is one of the most mentally taxing sports - if not the most and it definitely has multiple skill sets, certainly more than other things I consider sports. BUT, doesn't that kind of just make Golf a SKILL?

3. People have also told me I am biased against GOLF because I never played it competitively. This is a valid point, however, I never played Lacrosse or Hockey and I certainly consider those two things sports.

Throughout this whole ordeal, I have made numerous reference to "athletes." So, again, I decided to look up what dictionary.com considers an athlete to be: 1. a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.

This definition is even more interesting. It makes absolutely no mention of any mental attribute. Technically it helps my case, but again, I don't necessarily agree with this definition. I DO believe that an athlete should have some mental abilities, and perhaps this definition assumes one will read between the lines and decide that for someone to trained or gifted in something, they have to have considerable mental skills regarding their "activity."

Obviously from my above statements, I don't believe an athlete should be contingent on his/her participation of a sport, so that is the part of this definition I disagree with.

I'm still on the fence about golf, but it's up in the air. (Clearly this is all personal opinion and subjective to me)

Here are some other things I don't consider sports:
NASCAR Racing
Poker
Curling
Bowling

If you want to watch a good sport tonight, check out the Warriors vs. the Suns. If the Warriors win and the Nuggets lose tomorrow night, Golden State is in the playoffs.

There can be only one.

Please comment on this, because I know, no one agrees with me.

-Lates