Sports Illustrated Nonsense... "The Bronze Age" (Updated)

"The Bronze Age?"

I have hated Sports Illustrated since the days of the "Jordan Feud", with that said I came across an article from SI in a Blog that I follow pretty consistently the other day. The basic premise of SI's article was how we prop up athletes quickly, build statues too soon, and glorify them as if they are hero's or more than that…"gods". The article goes on to talk about how only after 4 years of college we celebrate an athlete, or only after one contract year are we put coaches in the highest ranks. Well, correct me if I'm wrong but, doesn't the NCAA only allow an athlete four years of eligibility? These are not lifetime achievement awards for players, they are memorials of what they did while at that school. College players impact hard and fast, and if a college player stands out so much (in the case of Tebow) then really how long until a university or boosters prop them up? I'm mean Tim Tebow is only one of the top 5 college football players of all time.
Lets talk about the coaches... if you win a National championship, in Sabans case 2, or coach your team to one national championship game after another like Stoops, then, yes I think that the coach can be "glorified in a Sports sense" all they want, and as soon as they want.

Random thoughts in life's journey...

It's funny, I often times try to compare the state of my life as a 21-year old attending college and a 30-year old parent positioning my way through life... Each experience being accompanied by a certain degree of uncertainty about the future. At 21, I had hooked up with more than my fair share of girls, but I didn't know the first thing about dating, relationships, or real love (even though I thought I did). I had plenty of friends, but I didn't know anything about actually socializing. I'd never held down a job, and I didn't know squat about working. At 21, I knew absolutely jack-shit.

Well at 30, I still know jack-shit, but I know that I know jack-shit. Do you follow? In the 9 intervening years, I accrued experience and humility at approximately the same rate...

My Sphere of Influence...

Sometimes when I'm chatting with friends (like right now) I wonder about the sphere of influence that I have on them.  I'm not trying to say that I think I'm all amazing or full of awesomeness but, rather the crazy places life brought me to, and the actual affect I have had... the groups of friends, scattered across, whom I've had the privilege to meet.

On some level, a apart of me, the dreamer I suppose, feels that there is definitely a greater purpose to this... that perhaps, I may play some key role that allows me to connect with people from all over and influence them maybe just a little (maybe in the smallest way... just enough to gain thier curiosity), and not in a match making sense, although I hear there's a lot of money in online dating.

I suppose on one level, I might seem like a really confident and very forceful person in my opinions, but anyone who really knows me, knows that over the years I have really settled down and thats possibly because, believe it or not, I have seen myself screw up a lot, especially in the past few years here.

78%...

A few days ago, I shared some stats that that I was able to hear the pastor of my Church talk about a few weeks ago, as alarming as I found them, I also thought they were pretty interesting because I was once in the 78% that didn't really attend Church or care to for that matter.  If you didn't read the Blog entry (check it out).  With that said, I will give you a quick refresh on what it was about.  There has been data compiled from a survey of four schools–namely, the local high school district’s outgoing four senior classes. The survey revealed that of 40 qualities which represent basic overall personal health, only one finished in a distant dead last. 22% said they possessed this quality: only 22% of our seniors claimed to invest a minimum one hour of time in organized religious activity each week.

Athletic Propulsion Labs' $300 Concept 1 shoe...

Ever since I have been lacing up the kicks, the myth has been out there... These shoes will make you jump higher, run faster, or even make you play better. It's actually one of the marketing campaigns Nike used with its first pair of Jordan's to turn itself into a billion dollar company.

Well it looks like that whole idea is back, only this time... it’s for real.

22%...

A good friend of mine, who is also the pastor of my church, belongs to a local organization in the Frankfort/Mokena area, I get the opportunity to listen to him weekly and hear his thoughts on a variety of very intresting topics...with that said he also blogs @WorldPress on a variety of topics (not just church and religion).
 
Here is somthing that caught my attention on his Blog that I though was pretty intresting, yet somewhat troubling:

46" Samsung 9000 Series 3D LED TV Review

Being a huge tech geek and media freakazoid, I needed to get a TV for my newly finished basement. I shopped around for about a week and came across the Samsung LED9000 series. It was hands down, not only the best-looking TV but, it also had far and away the best picture quality of all the TV's I looked at (which was basically all of them).  I saw this thing a few days ago and was instantly mesmerized by it.  Not only is the picture gorgeous but, the over all Stainless Steel look of the TV is nearly perfect.

Samsung's LED9000 Series represent the pinnacle of its TV range. Designed with money-no-object flair combine the very latest in LED backlighting techniques and picture processing modes with 3D capability.

They are, in every sense of the word, 'statement' products.