Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Another Victory For Coach Eddie Robinson
Coach Eddie Robinson. Once again the winningest coach in the history of collegiate football. In October of 2011, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno passed Eddie Robinson for the most career coaching wins in college football. At that point in time,
Paterno was as good as gold and his coaching legacy well intact for mythical status; and then out of nowhere came the allegations of sexual misconduct and molestation against members of his coaching staff. When the smoke cleared the allegations against one of the members of Joe Paterno’s coaching staff proved to be true and Coach Paterno was not guilty of anything; except of the fact that he did not proceed to tell authorities of the sexual misconduct of a member of his staff with children. Paterno knew of this truth but basically turned a blind eye to the events that he had been made aware of and proceeded to go about his life as Penn State’s head football coach. Fast forward to today; the accused assistant coach was found guilty on all accounts, Joe Paterno was forced to resign from his position as head football coach (dying a short time after his resignation) and the Penn State football program was placed on probation, forced to vacate wins and incurred a multitude of different fines and penalties. There is only one thing that a person can truly see from this story that developed before our eyes; everything that is done in the dark will come to the light. The value of honor and integrity and truth has been lost in the world, especially in the world of sports. The fact that many people tried to discredit Eddie Robinson’s record by saying he faced inferior competition was a slap in his face. Coach Robinson led the Grambling State University football program with integrity, high merit and honor and those are the attributes that defined Eddie Robinson. On the other hand, all of the success and accolades that Joe Paterno earned as a coach were vanished by the simple fact that he did not demonstrate truth/honor when he should have and that fact not only cost Paterno his job, but his legacy.
Friday, July 13, 2012
The Dream Team...UNDERSTOOD
With the recent formation of the 2012 United States Men's Olympic basketball team, there has been a slightly heated debate about how this current Olympic team would fare against the Dream Team of 1992. The opinions and statements of many of the people discussing this topic seem to believe that this year's Olympic team consisting of Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Tyson Chandler, Kevin Durant Blake Griffin James Harden Andre Iguodala LeBron James Kevin Love Chris Paul Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams. There are many different factual statistics that could be used to dissect the presumption that this year's team could beat the Dream Team and prove without a doubt that that would never take place. The 1992 Dream Team consisted of Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Christian Laettner, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson and John Stockton. The difference in these two teams is night and day and it's not something that can be debated. The productivity that each player on the Dream Team had had up until that point of their career is unmatched by the current achievements and statuses of many of the players on the 2012 Olympic team. The consistency of the players on the original Dream Team is what elevated those players to the superstar status which enabled them to become the Dream Team. Magic, Michael, Bird, Barkley Malone and the rest of the members of the '92 team competed against each other on a nightly basis, which refined not only their basketball games, but further fueled their competitive nature, which in turn led to the highest level of basketball being played in the NBA on a nightly basis. There were no friendships or laughing once the players of the '92 team stepped in between those 4 lines; off the court they were cordial, but on the court it was war. The players of this generation are not completed enamored with the fact and significance of beating each other. Many players (not all) in the league will compete, but in the end will find a cop out as to why the job didn't get done and seek the easy way out to maintain a certain status quo. Kobe Bryant is the only player on the current US Olympic team to have competed against Michael Jordan at the peak of Michael Jordan's greatness. The mold that he is cut from is that of which the entire 1992 team was cut of; WIN AT ALL COST, MAKE NO EXCUSES. That is why it wasn't surprising to many that Kobe made the statement that his 2012 team would beat the Dream Team. He came up in the era of understanding what greatness is, what it took to be great, and that is why people make comparisons between he and the greatest player ever Michael Jordan; same mold. Each player on the '92 team was a bonafied All Star/ALL NBA Team selection player (with the exception of Christian Laettner) throughout their career. There are members of the 2012 Olympic team that have never made an ALL NBA Team, never played in an All Star game; and these are players "supposedly" the best in the league, a league that is watered down in many positions, which would essentially mean, the best players would easily be seen as THE BEST players. But this is clearly not the case. Many so called experts like to say that age and athleticism would ultimately be the deciding factor in the 2012 team triumphing on the Dream Team, but any person that has played the game of basketball and has any type of knowledge of the game understands that athleticism and age do not play a major factor in a team winning. The ultimate factor in a team winning is one talent level, 2 skill set, 3 heart and 4 desire to win. Every player on the Dream Team was the product of the "earn what you receive era type of basketball;" contracts were earned based on productivity, not given off of potential. Lebron James and Kobe Bryant are the ONLY players on the 2012 team that would be selected for the 1992 team based solely off of their talent and achievements. I would like to pose one question; excluding Lebron James and Kobe Bryant, could you swap any of the other players on the 2012 Olympic team with any members of the 1992 Dream Team and expect the same result? The 2008 "Redeem Team" was overall better than the 2012 Olympic team, yet the only main difference in that roster and the roster of the 2004 team which won the Bronze medal at the Athens Olympics was the addition of Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant was the driving force in the United States rally to win Gold over Spain in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The other players on the 2012 team are not even consistent players on their respective NBA teams on a nightly basis as were ALL of the players on the 1992 USA Dream Team, and those players competed in a much more physical, talent laden league of players.
Let's look at the actual areas where the Dream Team would have the advantage on the court. '92 would have the advantage with court savvy, in the post and defensivelyy. There are no real shooters on this year’s Olympic team; by shooter's I Mean knock down on the kick out from the post shooters. Mullin, Bird (With a Bad Back), Stockton, Karl Malone, MJ & even Magic with his set shot would knock down open shots continuously. The fact that the '92 team had players that could play WITHOUT the ball would lead to easier scoring opportunities because no one player would have to have the ball in his hand to make something happen. Chris Paul HAS to have the ball to be effective, Deron Williams HAS to have the ball to be effective, Carmelo Anthony HAS to have the ball to be effective. This slows the game down at times and has a tendency to take other players out of the game. One of the reasons that the Dream Team was able to blow its opponents was due to not only their outstanding talent, but their ability to mesh well and their unselfishness. A basketball will ALWAYS move faster down the court being passed, than being dribbled; the fact that this team had three of the best passers ever in Stockton, Bird and Magic is only part of the reason this team was so great. People are quick to say John Stockton would get killed by Westbrook, Paul and Williams, but let's not forget he competed during a time when many of the best players in the NBA were point guards; Tim Hardaway, Magic Johnson, Gary Payton, Kevin Johnson and Isiah Thomas were great point guards that he competed against and held his own against for over15 years and those are just the All Star Point Guards. Let's not forget the mental toughness of the players of that era. Those players played hard, regardless and they weren't buddy-buddyy in their approach to the basketball game. The friendly interaction of many of today's player's has resulted in some of the digression of the NBA over the last few years, hence why the competitors worldwide have been able to somewhat equal the playing field in international competition. As somebody that has witness both teams play there is no comparison of the two teams. OF course realistically we will never know who would win these games, because they will never play each other, but just taking a brief glimpse of the two teams, it's UNDERSTOOD that the DNA of the players that compromised the Dream Team is unmatched by those of the 2012 Olympic team.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
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