Hey whats up everyone, been doing this law school thing as of late. I just got this blog app for my phone so this is more of a test case than anything. I'll be posting a blog on here soon, stay tuned, God bless.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
This is It: Put up or shut up.
We have reached the moment that we have all been waiting for. 11 hours (time of publishing) from the beginning of one of the most important Free Agent periods in NBA History. Soon and very soon, teams will not be able to feed their fan bases anymore bologna. It's either you get it done, or your franchise is done. Toast. Finito. Ballgame. As many of you already know I am a New York Knicks fan. Since 2008 I have been sifting through blogs, rumor mill websites, magazine publications, and press conference innuendos to try and get some sense or idea of what I could expect from my team on this date. We've gone through the absolute liquidation of anyone on the roster who makes more than a dollar going into next season (except for Eddy Curry...thanks Zeke). We are currently going through 3 years (I include this year cause Jordan Hill is a joke who is no longer on the team) of no first round talent in the draft, after giving away our next two picks to the Rockets to clear more cap room. Most people have compared this free agency period to a game of poker. With the moves that the Knicks have made through the draft (none), free agency (slim to none) and trades (fire sale) we have pushed all our chips to the center of the table. D' Antoni said, "We have put all our efforts and focus into this summer, and we aren't bluffing." Now I have no problem going all in when I play poker, but there is a difference between a poker player of my skill (amazing) going all in and the Knicks going all in. The difference is, I know whats in my hand before I shove. What I have been trying to figure out for two years is, what is in the Knicks' hand?
Lets look around the table. The Heat have D Wade already in their grasp. Sure he could leave, but lets face it, he isn't. They pretty much re-named Dade County "Wade County." They are also one deal away from equalizing the one advantage the Knicks had going into this: The ability to offer multiple max deals. We're talking not just two but 3. He could add any combination of 2 from a list of Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Lebron, Dirk Nowitzki, and Carlos Boozer. You can even go after guys like Ray Allen and Pierce who may not cost the full max. The point is going into this game they have a card that other teams can't boast: A Championship winning Dwayne Wade who is willing to share the spotlight and will most likely go on recruiting trips. Even if they do strike out, conventional knowledge suggests that they keep Wade and even if not, guys will go down there to live, party and (o yea) play in Miami/South Beach.
The Bulls probably have the best young core for these stars to work with. In the suddenly point guard driven league (to an extent) you have one of the best up and coming ones in Derrick Rose. Joakim Noah is that scrappy young horse that will do the dirty work (pause). Taj Gibson shows promise, and if they trade Deng they can open up even more room for players to come and help fill out the roster. Once again, if they strike out, they still have that young core to continue to build around through the draft and with other lesser-tier free agents. They are in on this thing, but they wont lose it all if their cards get trumped.
The Nets are one of the more interesting players at the table. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the 12 wins was an aberration with Brook Lopez and Devin Harris being hurt a lot of the year. Those two boys can flat out play. The Derrick Favors pick is solid too, and I think he will develop more going forward, as will Terrence Williams. The looming Brooklyn project (intriguing), the Jay-Z factor (illuminati), and this Prokhorov owner guy (think Mark Cuban International) gives them some street cred and appeal. If they can plug in a max guy or two with that existing core, watch out. The "supposed 2 years at the most" Newark Project throws a slight wrench in the plans. But if guys are thinking big picture, this might be a serious consideration. Once again if they strike out, they still have a decent core to build around with some randoms that can fill out their rotation. They wont contend for a title like they've been saying, but down the road when they get Brooklyn jumping, they can make real moves.
There are a couple teams that are looking to go the sign-and-trade route. This sounds a lot more complicated and sketchy at first, but the team that is most likely to do this is probably Dallas. They like Miami are the odds on favorite to keep their guy. Once they re-sign Dirk, he can help them recruit a side kick, or a guy that makes him the best side kick in the league. They have some attractive pieces to move; Beaubois (spelling), Dampier (Expiring contract), Caron Butler (solid), and Shawn "I used to be the Matrix" Marion (could be good). If say LeBron wants to leave in good faith and not hang the Cavs out to dry, this would be the most likely suitor. Think occasional home games in Cowboys stadium with 70,000+ screaming your name (pause). I'm not saying its likely cause the West road to the Finals is definitely a lot more dicey, but it still has to be an consideration not just for LeBronMelo anybody?).
In conclusion we'll deal with my Knicks. I have come to the conclusion that we truly are all-or-nothing in this high stakes poker game. I am excited about the prospects/opportunity of getting two franchise changing players in our uniform. But as I look around the table I see contingency plans...we supposedly have one but it is over paying and signing Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire. In other words the Phoenix Suns of the East without Steve Nash. Why Amare would even do that is a whole 'nother issue. So where we are now, it really seems like we really don't have a contingency plan. Lets look at our hand right now: Galinari (great shooter, promising future, but useless on a bad team), Wilson (great all-around player, but again if we're bad it won't matter), Toney Douglas (the jury is still out but could be a great back-up in the league...he's our starter), Bill Walker (an after thought in a Nate Robinson for Eddie House trade...but could be the best player out of that deal, is that saying much though?), Edward Curry (.....), and an unsigned David Lee (he's not worth max money and will prolly ask for more from the Knicks than he's worth while we wait on some max guys, then he'll end up elsewhere, its sad, hope we keep him somehow). That is it, that is what we are working with. So we are selling that and some combination of MSG (world's most overrated i mean famous arena), The Empire State Building (didn't know Knicks players got part ownership of that), Some of the greatest eateries, clubs, parties in the world (which he already attends), Mike D'Antoni's system (Great if you don't care about defense, and Celebrity requests (i'm still sort of in the dark on their role in all this). So on the eve of this monumental day, that is what we have to work with. I have come to the sad conclusion that we have pushed all our chips to the middle of the table in order to receive what everyone else at the table seems to already have: some meaningful cards. Lets call this the reverse poker strategy. For the sake of mine and all Knick fans sanity, and for the sake of the jobs of all the front office people involved; I hope they know something that I don't.
or else its back to the good ol' days....and i aint talking the 90s:
Lets look around the table. The Heat have D Wade already in their grasp. Sure he could leave, but lets face it, he isn't. They pretty much re-named Dade County "Wade County." They are also one deal away from equalizing the one advantage the Knicks had going into this: The ability to offer multiple max deals. We're talking not just two but 3. He could add any combination of 2 from a list of Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Lebron, Dirk Nowitzki, and Carlos Boozer. You can even go after guys like Ray Allen and Pierce who may not cost the full max. The point is going into this game they have a card that other teams can't boast: A Championship winning Dwayne Wade who is willing to share the spotlight and will most likely go on recruiting trips. Even if they do strike out, conventional knowledge suggests that they keep Wade and even if not, guys will go down there to live, party and (o yea) play in Miami/South Beach.
The Bulls probably have the best young core for these stars to work with. In the suddenly point guard driven league (to an extent) you have one of the best up and coming ones in Derrick Rose. Joakim Noah is that scrappy young horse that will do the dirty work (pause). Taj Gibson shows promise, and if they trade Deng they can open up even more room for players to come and help fill out the roster. Once again, if they strike out, they still have that young core to continue to build around through the draft and with other lesser-tier free agents. They are in on this thing, but they wont lose it all if their cards get trumped.
The Nets are one of the more interesting players at the table. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the 12 wins was an aberration with Brook Lopez and Devin Harris being hurt a lot of the year. Those two boys can flat out play. The Derrick Favors pick is solid too, and I think he will develop more going forward, as will Terrence Williams. The looming Brooklyn project (intriguing), the Jay-Z factor (illuminati), and this Prokhorov owner guy (think Mark Cuban International) gives them some street cred and appeal. If they can plug in a max guy or two with that existing core, watch out. The "supposed 2 years at the most" Newark Project throws a slight wrench in the plans. But if guys are thinking big picture, this might be a serious consideration. Once again if they strike out, they still have a decent core to build around with some randoms that can fill out their rotation. They wont contend for a title like they've been saying, but down the road when they get Brooklyn jumping, they can make real moves.
There are a couple teams that are looking to go the sign-and-trade route. This sounds a lot more complicated and sketchy at first, but the team that is most likely to do this is probably Dallas. They like Miami are the odds on favorite to keep their guy. Once they re-sign Dirk, he can help them recruit a side kick, or a guy that makes him the best side kick in the league. They have some attractive pieces to move; Beaubois (spelling), Dampier (Expiring contract), Caron Butler (solid), and Shawn "I used to be the Matrix" Marion (could be good). If say LeBron wants to leave in good faith and not hang the Cavs out to dry, this would be the most likely suitor. Think occasional home games in Cowboys stadium with 70,000+ screaming your name (pause). I'm not saying its likely cause the West road to the Finals is definitely a lot more dicey, but it still has to be an consideration not just for LeBronMelo anybody?).
In conclusion we'll deal with my Knicks. I have come to the conclusion that we truly are all-or-nothing in this high stakes poker game. I am excited about the prospects/opportunity of getting two franchise changing players in our uniform. But as I look around the table I see contingency plans...we supposedly have one but it is over paying and signing Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire. In other words the Phoenix Suns of the East without Steve Nash. Why Amare would even do that is a whole 'nother issue. So where we are now, it really seems like we really don't have a contingency plan. Lets look at our hand right now: Galinari (great shooter, promising future, but useless on a bad team), Wilson (great all-around player, but again if we're bad it won't matter), Toney Douglas (the jury is still out but could be a great back-up in the league...he's our starter), Bill Walker (an after thought in a Nate Robinson for Eddie House trade...but could be the best player out of that deal, is that saying much though?), Edward Curry (.....), and an unsigned David Lee (he's not worth max money and will prolly ask for more from the Knicks than he's worth while we wait on some max guys, then he'll end up elsewhere, its sad, hope we keep him somehow). That is it, that is what we are working with. So we are selling that and some combination of MSG (world's most overrated i mean famous arena), The Empire State Building (didn't know Knicks players got part ownership of that), Some of the greatest eateries, clubs, parties in the world (which he already attends), Mike D'Antoni's system (Great if you don't care about defense, and Celebrity requests (i'm still sort of in the dark on their role in all this). So on the eve of this monumental day, that is what we have to work with. I have come to the sad conclusion that we have pushed all our chips to the middle of the table in order to receive what everyone else at the table seems to already have: some meaningful cards. Lets call this the reverse poker strategy. For the sake of mine and all Knick fans sanity, and for the sake of the jobs of all the front office people involved; I hope they know something that I don't.
or else its back to the good ol' days....and i aint talking the 90s:
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Walking the Tightrope
This video will serve as the backdrop for the blog which will follow, enjoy.
The guys name is Dean Potter... and to sum up what I think about what he just did i'll just state my humble opinion: HE'S CRAZY. When asked about why he does what is called "soloing" he had this to say: Soloing for me is about being completely in the moment, not worrying about the past or future, but just being right here, right now. That’s why I do it.
I am just going to try and unpack what we just saw in this video. Dean Potter is not your average person. As you saw, he gave two attempts at walking the rope with "protective equipment" on and he fell off the rope both times. I mean your trying to walk across a 100 foot rope, which is 7,800 feet in the air so I don't mind you having something to ensure your safety. Then this man does the unthinkable. After failing to walk across the entire rope with his protective mechanism, he decides that THIS is the time to shed himself of his self-made protection and try to walk across this rope without it. At this point you are probably thanking me for stating the obvious in your mind. Bear with me as I start to unpack this.
Our lives are like tightropes. We walk this thin-line from the time we are born between what feels "good" and what we know is right. Between what we want, and what God is telling us we need. Most of us are currently standing at the beginning of that rope. There are people of many different ages standing here. The side we are standing on consists of several things. It could be what we have been taught to be true our entire lives. It could also be our sins and personal habits. It could also be our legalistic mindset which could include our worship preferences, holier than thou attitude, or our "don't judge me" my life doesn't need to show my Christ attitude. We all are at the beginning of this rope for different reasons. Before we move forward, I want you to be thinking about what your current condition is and why.
Now we get to the point in our lives where we are sick of the place we are at. We hear a good sermon, get an emotional high during praise & worship etc and we decide a change needs to be made. Christ gives us simple instructions: "Leave your condition behind, keep your eyes on Me and keep walking towards me, I am at the end of the rope." This sounds cool and all and we definitely want to change....but these instructions are CRAZY!!! You want me to walk across this rope??? I've been in control of my life this whole time and your trying to tell me that I haven't even really started living yet? How could I still be stuck at the beginning after all these years? All you get in response to these questions are the same instructions. But what about all I have been through??? All the pain and suffering that i felt when I lost my father. The pain of my divorce. The guilt of my sins, and the shame it has caused me. I am supposed to leave that behind??? At this point we make the all too familiar choice. We decide to start walking across the rope, but we strap ourselves with the safety harness of our current condition so that just in case we fall we have our old ways to fall back on. Yea God, a compromise, that'll work right??? I'm still walking towards you, but You really expected me to do that with no safety mechanism?
We embark on our journey, getting a little farther each time but always finding a way to fall. We get to the point where we travel all the way back to the beginning and are on the brink of giving up. We pray and pray to Christ and He responds with these simple instructions: "Let go of the safety harness." But God that is who I am, I can't leave all these things behind...I won't be able to make it. Many times in the church we get caught up in the box that we have placed God in so much that we feel like He is only capable of doing things one way. If God were to confront us on that "box" that we have created, our whole entire world would shatter. God is telling us to shed ourselves totally of what has kept us at the beginning of our walk with Him for all these years. So we finally get on the rope, no safety harness, past behind us, not fully understanding why He said what He said. But our eyes are on Him, He's at the end of the rope, and with each step He begins to reveal to us a little more about Himself. Things we only could have learned by taking that first step of faith on the rope with him. We learn that He is our shelter in the time of storm because even the winds and the waves obey Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega, He was with us as we were stuck in our beginnings and He will be with us when we make it to His intended end for us. He lets us know to not worry about falling because since we have decided to put our past, present, and future in His hands, He has become not just a harness but our safety net. We find a new comfort with Him in the middle of a thin rope with no visible harness that WE DIDN'T have when we were standing at the beginning of the cliff in control of our lives. The truth is that if you have surrendered your life to Christ you are currently on this rope. Things will get wobbly from time to time, but if we keep our eyes on Him we will make to the end of the rope and walk into eternity with Him.
I am not sure how religious if at all Dean Potter is. I would like to conclude by analyzing what he said when he made it to the other side of the rope:
The guys name is Dean Potter... and to sum up what I think about what he just did i'll just state my humble opinion: HE'S CRAZY. When asked about why he does what is called "soloing" he had this to say: Soloing for me is about being completely in the moment, not worrying about the past or future, but just being right here, right now. That’s why I do it.
Our lives are like tightropes. We walk this thin-line from the time we are born between what feels "good" and what we know is right. Between what we want, and what God is telling us we need. Most of us are currently standing at the beginning of that rope. There are people of many different ages standing here. The side we are standing on consists of several things. It could be what we have been taught to be true our entire lives. It could also be our sins and personal habits. It could also be our legalistic mindset which could include our worship preferences, holier than thou attitude, or our "don't judge me" my life doesn't need to show my Christ attitude. We all are at the beginning of this rope for different reasons. Before we move forward, I want you to be thinking about what your current condition is and why.
Now we get to the point in our lives where we are sick of the place we are at. We hear a good sermon, get an emotional high during praise & worship etc and we decide a change needs to be made. Christ gives us simple instructions: "Leave your condition behind, keep your eyes on Me and keep walking towards me, I am at the end of the rope." This sounds cool and all and we definitely want to change....but these instructions are CRAZY!!! You want me to walk across this rope??? I've been in control of my life this whole time and your trying to tell me that I haven't even really started living yet? How could I still be stuck at the beginning after all these years? All you get in response to these questions are the same instructions. But what about all I have been through??? All the pain and suffering that i felt when I lost my father. The pain of my divorce. The guilt of my sins, and the shame it has caused me. I am supposed to leave that behind??? At this point we make the all too familiar choice. We decide to start walking across the rope, but we strap ourselves with the safety harness of our current condition so that just in case we fall we have our old ways to fall back on. Yea God, a compromise, that'll work right??? I'm still walking towards you, but You really expected me to do that with no safety mechanism?
We embark on our journey, getting a little farther each time but always finding a way to fall. We get to the point where we travel all the way back to the beginning and are on the brink of giving up. We pray and pray to Christ and He responds with these simple instructions: "Let go of the safety harness." But God that is who I am, I can't leave all these things behind...I won't be able to make it. Many times in the church we get caught up in the box that we have placed God in so much that we feel like He is only capable of doing things one way. If God were to confront us on that "box" that we have created, our whole entire world would shatter. God is telling us to shed ourselves totally of what has kept us at the beginning of our walk with Him for all these years. So we finally get on the rope, no safety harness, past behind us, not fully understanding why He said what He said. But our eyes are on Him, He's at the end of the rope, and with each step He begins to reveal to us a little more about Himself. Things we only could have learned by taking that first step of faith on the rope with him. We learn that He is our shelter in the time of storm because even the winds and the waves obey Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega, He was with us as we were stuck in our beginnings and He will be with us when we make it to His intended end for us. He lets us know to not worry about falling because since we have decided to put our past, present, and future in His hands, He has become not just a harness but our safety net. We find a new comfort with Him in the middle of a thin rope with no visible harness that WE DIDN'T have when we were standing at the beginning of the cliff in control of our lives. The truth is that if you have surrendered your life to Christ you are currently on this rope. Things will get wobbly from time to time, but if we keep our eyes on Him we will make to the end of the rope and walk into eternity with Him.
I am not sure how religious if at all Dean Potter is. I would like to conclude by analyzing what he said when he made it to the other side of the rope:
"Its as pure as it gets, there is nothing but my stripped down body walking my path. I feel like I'm climbing out of a darker place, one of the deeper lows I've been in in my life. And I was kind of resentful of being divorced, getting dumped and stuff, but the whole world is kind of opening up to me ya know?"
God is calling us to strip ourselves of those darker moments in our lives and walk the path He has planned for us. He only asked that we have faith and trust in Him and keep our eyes fixed on Him. Be encouraged family, God bless.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Glenn Beck Attacks Me!!!!
ok so not really, but check this out, got an actual blog coming later this evening.
thats wild aint it!
thats wild aint it!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Meaningless- Anthony Evans
This is one of my favorite artists. This is from his previous album, but this song always speaks to me. It really captures the heart of our Christian walk and what is really important. I hope you are blessed by it as we draw closer to the Sabbath hours. God bless.
I hope you enjoyed the song and its message. I won't always be "super-religious" in the blog but my faith is important to me. Blog on the Healthcare Summit/Debate and some other pertinent sports issues coming soon. Spread the news on the blog if u like it, leave comments at the very least click the box that says interesting lol, 1.
I hope you enjoyed the song and its message. I won't always be "super-religious" in the blog but my faith is important to me. Blog on the Healthcare Summit/Debate and some other pertinent sports issues coming soon. Spread the news on the blog if u like it, leave comments at the very least click the box that says interesting lol, 1.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Eternal Optimism
So where is the hope? This doesn't sound like optimism at all. As I conclude as I would like to remind you why it is important to be eternally optimistic. It doesn't put you out of touch with reality, it actually ensures that you have the firmest possible grasp on it. This can only be fully realized in the Christian experience. When you have eternity in mind, the things that happen around you do not have a major effect on your optimism. Though the Knicks continue to let us down and Washington continues to remain stagnant, there will always be one thing to be optimistic about: eternity with Christ in community with others. If you feel like this is some pie-in-the-sky feel good message or you have been numbed by the fact that you've heard this already, i'd challenge you to give it a try. That means a real dedicated try. Those who seek Him with their whole heart will find Him along with true peace, direction, and perspective. Thanks a lot for struggling through the run-on sentences and occasional typo's. I promise to do better in the future. Take this photo as a gift for reading till the end of the blog. Let me know what you think, looking forward to hearing from you and writing more in the future. God bless.
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