The Famous Ego

Barry Bonds is as lost as Joe Torre without Don Zimmer at his side. This is a guy who clearly has no idea what it means to be a human being. He thinks he is God's gift to mankind.

Barry, you play baseball! That's it!

You happen to be extremely talented and excel at this profession, but the bottomline is, you play baseball. You didn't discover electricity, bring peace to the Middle East or end world hunger. Ya know - stuff that Ms. America contestants think they can do. You just play baseball!

It has always bothered me that professional athletes and actors have somehow felt that because we watch them on TV and follow their careers in the newspaper, that somehow they are worth more as a human being than the rest of the people on the planet. I mean does Sean Penn really think I give a damn who he thinks does a good job or bad job as President. He has to be out of his mind to think that I would spend half a second of my busy day worrying about his opinion on an important matter. I care many times more about the decision he makes in Mystic River than I do about who he votes for come election day.

(By the way - when you stop traffic in midtown Manhattan in the middle of the day because you have to film a scene, and you take extra time to come outside thinking that everyone wants to see you... it makes us hate you more, not love you.)

Too many of these people think they impress us. They are so misguided. These people don't impress me. Yes, their talent and accomplishments often impress, but that doesn't make them impressive people. When people run into athletes or actors in the street, they are often taken aback and act as if they are in the presence of a person greater than them. Why? Why are we so intimidated? Why are we so excited? So the guy can swing a baseball bat, or dunk a basketball - be impressed at the stadium or in the arena not in the middle of the street.

Many athletes are very similar in this manner. They believe that since they are able to get endorsement deals, that people really look up to them outside their sport. Bonds epitomizes this idea. If your son or daughter wants to play baseball like Barry Bonds...OK. But if your son or daughter wants to BE like Barry Bonds... then you, my friend, have major issues as a parent and as a role model.

Notice I have not even touched on the steroid issue. Here is why: I don't care. What do I care if the guy cheated? If he did, he'll get what's coming. Clearly the negative publicity and expressions of disapproval by the fans over the last season have brought this man nothing but shame. As he continues to break records and grow his legend he simultaneously shrinks his credibility and likeability. He deserves it. He's worked hard at it.

I am still young thankfully, but in my short time in this world so far I have found that those who work hard at being a prick, generally succeed.

The bottomline is if we as a society didn't treat these people like deities, they wouldn't think they were all that. If that was the case, athletes would be more accessible. If they were more accessible, I'd be able to meet Derek Jeter for lunch one day and tell him how freaking amazing I think he is before anyone else realized how cool it is to worship famous people!

What a Lunatic...

This freakin guy... makes it so easy to post a blog on a busy day where you have nothing to say, but haven't put up anything of substance in a long time and feel like you have to or the 4 people who read your blog per day will suddenly dwindle down to 2.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12851397/
Preacher: God told him about storms, tsunami
Robertson says warning was for this year; tsunami might hit Northwest

"...religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says God told him storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year."

"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8. On Wednesday, he added, "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest."

"Robertson has come under intense criticism in recent months for suggesting that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip."

What a piece of work. I think I'm going to ask this guy to speak at my son's bar mitzvah when the time comes many years from now. I'm going to write that down. This guy is too precious. I smell a great Family Guy episode where Peter ends up being a preacher and claims to get messages from G-d. Then Brian could spend the episode trying to bring him back down to Earth , saying things like, "Are you sure you heard G-d speak? Are you sure it wasn't... nothing."

I just stopped in to say, yo momma...

My Wife the Sports Analyst

Just a quick one.

I was watching Lebron dominate last night and score 45 including a game-winner with .9 seconds left against Washington (Gilbert Arenas aint too bad either, but he still has two names as opposed to just Lebron).

Anyway, after I finished almost waking up my kids yelling at the combination of Lebron's strength and control getting to the rim like that, coupled with Antoine Jamisson and Washington's utter lack of defense, I was on the phone with my brother discussing the maturing that Lebron just did in that 3 seconds and what it could mean for his career. Why? Because we're basketball junkies, it's what we do. And we don't even love the NBA. Whatever.

Anyway, my brother commented how college would have been a complete waste of time for this kid. Which I totally agreed with. My justification was that he started at 18 and had about 10-12 years to keep improving. That means at this point in his career, where he is arguably the best all around player in the NBA at 21, he still has a good 8 or 9 years of getting better ahead of him. The conversation, as it always does, quickly turned to the Yankees. I said, "how is it, that Derek Jeter at age 32 (in June) is still getting better every year?" He has had his best start ever this year. In general baseball players seem to get better as they get older for longer than other athletes.

Here is where my wife made me very proud. She was sitting next to me watching the game (1st thing that makes me proud), and was listening to my conversation with my brother. She very quickly responded to my baseball players comment by saying, "well, baseball is a game of skill as opposed to athleticism like basketball."

Brilliant! Can you believe those words came out of a woman's mouth? Unbelievable.
And it's true. Think about it - basketball obviously is a game that possesses much skill and talent, however, athleticism is needed to enhance that talent and bring it to the right level. A guy who could make 50 set shots in a row, but cannot run or jump or move well cannot play competitive basketball - he can only play horse.
Baseball is a game of skill first. If you can hit the ball hard and far, you can play. You have slow guys running and fielding all the time. As long as they can get that ball in play, there is room for them. That skill can continue to be improved upon year after year, even while athleticism starts to dwindle. Look at Barry Bonds. He is not nearly as athletic or mobile as he was in his younger days, but he is still a dominant force in the game and still is the most feared hitter in baseball. He can barely walk to first, let alone run, but nobody wants any piece of him. (Leave out the steroid argument. It doesn't give you hand-eye coordination or skill of any kind. You still have to be able to hit the ball. Bonds sees maybe 1 or 2 good pitches a game - and he never misses them).

Anyway, I thought that was an interesting point.

So you may or may not have noticed that I have not been posting much lately.

It seems spring and summer are annually busy times for me. I happen to be working on a couple of new projects and have had to devote my non-working time to those. I will get something up as soon as possible.