Some Kind of Crazy--Michael Jordan B-ball Shoes?

I don't know about anyone else out there, but I am appalled and a little frightened by the recent idiocy of the folks in Indianapolis over a few pairs of $180 (are you flippin' kidding me?) basketball shoes. With the economy sucking as bad as it is, I am surprised that anyone is spending their money on such a stupid item. Who cares? People were so eager to get the shoes that they tore a store door off its hinges and trampled other human beings! Unbelievable! One woman left her children in a car in order to get the shoes--she was later arrested for leaving them. So these people who were acting like fools and criminals to get a pair of the shoes were saying that it was "business" and they were going to sell them for a profit? Seems to me their energy should be spend doing better things like getting real jobs, or tending to their children, or contemplating the new year. . . anything but acting like idiots for one pair of stupid shoes. If a person is that desperate to make money to feed their families, or whatever the reason was for acting like an animal, I would rather they beg in the streets for money like they do here in Fort Wayne, just a few miles northeast of Indianapolis. What embarrassing, and shameful behavior those people displayed. A pair of shoes! Really???!

Life Lessons from the 100 Point Basketball Game

I just had to make a quick comment on the girls basketball game between the Covenant School and Dallas Academy which ended with a score of 100-0, and ultimately, the coach of the winning team being fired. My girls play on various sports teams and it has almost always been a fun, worthwhile, character-building experience for my girls. I have mixed feelings about the outcome of the blowout game in Texas. You have to admire the girls on the team that lost; they didn't quit and seem to have taken the loss in stride. They are learning the game and learning lessons about persevering, grace, and sportsmanship while they are learning to play the game. The Covenant School team is also learning some things. While I am sure it felt good, for a moment, to have scored 100 points, I have to believe that at least a couple of girls on the team had some feelings of mercy toward the other team and felt the need to maybe pull back a little. The coach of the team could have slowed things down; he had to have realized the skills of the two teams were mismatched. It would have been a good time for the girls on the Covenant team to get a lesson in good sportsmanship and gracious winning. The lesson for the Covenant girls appears to have been "crush your opponent" and "it doesn't matter what the score is". I'm not sure the huge, lopsided score and the unapologetic coach warranted his being fired (maybe there are other reasons). I'm not sure the win required an apology or a forfeit of the game. An attitude adjustment of the coach and team members is what needed to be done. Parents and educators are always told to be looking out for "teachable moments" in kids lives. This would have been a great opportunity to teach mercy, grace, patience, and kindness.

Uh-oh, IU's Basketball Coach is in Trouble Again!

They had to know something like this would happen again. When Indiana University officials hired basketball coach Kelvin Sampson from Oklahoma, he came along with some pretty heavy baggage. I guess they thought Coach Sampson would behave differently in Indiana. I guess they thought wrong. News today is that Kelvin Sampson is back to his old tricks of ignoring the recruiting regulations set down by the NCAA. Even though I never attended Indiana University--I went to Ball State, the ugly step-sister school to IU and Purdue--I still feel like the powers that be at IU have really undermined the basketball program that was once such a powerhouse. After coach Bobby Knight left, things sort of crumbled. That, of course was good news for little underdog schools like Ball State, but still, I feel kind of bad for the players. Why would IU hire a guy who had violations in the past? That's just asking for trouble in my book. Shame on Kelvin Sampson, and shame on Indiana University!