Now That Football is Over .......

Now that football season is over, what do we have to look forward to on Sundays? Theres PBA bowling, NBA basketball and soon MLB baseball. Sounds so exciting. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who is going to miss football.

The NFL was a better soap opera this year than the spanish soaps that are on during the day. Peyton Manning played zero games and the Colts suffered horrendously; the Packers almost went undefeated after winning the Super Bowl last season; two brothers almost faced off in the Super Bowl for the first time in NFL history as head coaches; the Houston Texans made they're first playoff appearance in franchise history; the "Dream Team" Philadelphia Eagles flopped miserably; and America's team, the Dallas Cowboys, choked in the last game of the regular season to the wildcard Super Bowl Champion, New York football Giants, who went on to face the New England Patriots in a rematch of Super Bowl XLII.  

With many of juicy stories left out, the NFL has many stories intertwined with hard hitting and fast running super humans. Is America's game filled with so much drama for a specific reason? Do they just make things up to keep people interested? Without the soap opera stories, I would certainly still watch football. But that is because I bleed football, better yet I bleed sports. 

But for those who aren't interested at all; do they add the humanistic drama to these super-beings to keep the non sport lovers involved? The NFL is one of the most publicized and dramatic leagues that exists. What if the NFL hired soap opera writers every summer to sit around a huge round table to come up with dramatic stories to help script the season? 

At times, the NFL does seem scripted to me. Two wild card teams make it to the Super Bowl in back-to-back years and win. The NBA isn't even this dramatic and NBA players are more dramatic than TNT (We know drama). The most dramatic thing that goes on in the NBA is how terribly LeBron James keeps failing. The MLB is so boring that I don't even think drama can save it. The NHL doesn't even need drama because its just football on ice.

But this was just a crazy thought of mine. The government is trying to control so much as it is, why not try to control one of the most entertaining and highest grossing sports in the country.

My media writing professor made a great point that simply the best story always wins. 

Being on Top of Your Game On and Off the Field Helps

I was talking to one of my coaches the other day and he seemed to make a very valid point about athletes and being on top of their "game" on and off the field. On the field "game" is self explanatory but what I mean when I say off the field "game", I'm pertaining to an athlete's sex life. And by sex life I mean more than just intercourse; dealing with the opposite sex, relationships, etc.

The conversation had me thinking hard for awhile simply because it made so much sense. My coach broke it down to me like this; If an athlete is taking care of business off the field, it will eventually transfer over to helping them perform on the field. Sex can bring confidence, relieve stress, help with depression and increase competitiveness; its basically it's own medicine. 

Results vary from athlete to athlete of course, everybody is different. But personal experience is one of the best teachers we have in this world. I had a teammate who was going through some woman troubles during our season and I noticed that it was really affecting his game. His head wasn't into practice, he would mess up plays that he knew like the back of his hand. 

Take a look at Tiger Woods for example. He was on top of the world. He was playing the best golf out of anybody in the world, was always winning and had endorsements deals; he was living the american dream. As soon as he was found out and scandal hit the streets his game went down the drain. His whole routine was thrown off and his game went with it. I'm not saying that a woman is to blame for his decline in his performance. He was a married man who knew what he was getting himself into, it was his own fault. BUT, if he had never been found out, would he still be winning? 

I'm not saying that athletes have to have a healthy sex life to be at the peak of their game. All I'm saying is that, it was brought to my attention that being on top of your game off the field can help transfer to performance on the field. Another one of my teammates has been in a relationship for a really long time now and his performance on the field has been outstanding. He has the potential to go to the NFL from a D3 College, which is pretty rare. 

I think this is a really interesting topic and a longitudinal study should be conducted to help figure out if all this is really true. 

Kobe Bryant-LeBron James Debate a Restless One

The Kobe-LeBron debate (best player in the world), is an ongoing debate when ever people talk NBA basketball. People call 'Bron the best player in the world and a lot of critics and Kobe fans have a problem with that. The main argument that always arises is, "Who has more rings?" Championship rings speak for themselves; but are championships the only thing that define greatness? 

We all know that LeBron has no clutch gene and has yet to win an NBA Championship, which causes the huge debate. If "Kobe lovers" want to go off of championships though, Kobe wouldn't even be considered the best player in the world.

If we categorized NBA greatness by championship rings Kobe would be 23rd on the list (5). If championships defined the best player in the world Bill Russel would be considered the greatest (13). Robert Horry would even be in the debate. He has more rings than Kobe (7).

With that being said, I'm not a complete idiot, I definitely know that Horry is not a better player than Kobe Bryant. Horry won 3 of his rings with Kobe. Of course Bill Russel is retired and the debate should only be between active players because every great thing gets old. But if we are going to talk about active players, Kobe and 'Bron are the best players in the NBA.

Kobe is the second best scorer of all-time, behind Michael Jordan of course. "The Black Mamba" is so great because nobody can stop him. If you are the only person who can stop yourself, you obviously are doing something great. He can get to the rim, shoot from the outside and hit a mid-range jumper as consistent as the SportsCenter analysts said Tim Tebow's name after his first playoff victory.

'Bron is an explosive athlete. There is no stopping him when he wants to get to the rim. His mid-range game has come along very well and his three-point shot has gone up 8% from last season. But it seems like he continues to disappear late in games when his team needs him the most. His consistent failure to seal the deal in the NBA Finals has him ringless.

Even though 'Bron is ringless, he has done so many other things. He was the youngest Rookie of The Year, the youngest to reach 5,000 points, an MVP award (08'-09') and a gold medal from Beijing.

If you had to ask me, I would say that Kobe is the most gifted scorer in the game right now; who can't win a championship without a big man *cough, cough*. And Bron is the most physically gifted player in the game right now; who has no clutch gene and continues to struggle in the 4th quarter when needed most. But the bottom line is that greatness isn't only defined in how many rings a player has. There are many of great players in the NBA Hall of Fame who have never won a championship. Kobe is the closest thing to Michael Jordan and Jordan is the best player of all time, which is another reason why people continue to put Kobe on that pedestal.