Family Guy

D. J. Augustin looks like a good guy. He seems like one of those guys that has had to work hard to get where he is. Well...in an article by Pat Forde about D. J. we learned that he is more then that.  Augustin is a family man who calls his parents every night to talk about...well to talk about his day. What else have we learned about Augustin? He was in New Orleans when hurricane Katrina hit. His family was displaced to Houston where they have stayed. The stories about the Augustin family are more then heartwarming, they are insightful. Now we get to see a little bit in to the character that allows  a short man in a tall world be the nations only player to be an academic all american as well as a first team all american. D. J., my hat is off to you. 

Shut-Up and Play

Ok...Maybe I'm biased but I think teams should just shut up and play. What am I talking about you may be asking yourself? Well...I'm talking about the Final Four and all the crap that UT is getting for playing their regional semis and finals just two and a half hours from Austin in the great city of Houston. This past week on ESPN every analyst made sure to point it out.  The only sane on on ESPN is probably the one that gets the most flack from fans...and that is former Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight. Knight said that no matter where you play, if you want to be a champion you're going to have to win. When you start allowing for excuses like location that is when your team can find a pit fall. To be a champion I feel that you have to be the best not only on your home court but on any home court. It's time we stop looking for scandals in sports and just play ball. 

HeartWarming

We always hear about the bad guys in sports. We hear about DWI's and arrests and how athletes at the professional and college level are always getting in to trouble. But every once in a while an athlete will do something to restore your faith in  man kind. The story I'm getting at here involves The University of Texas Softball team.  Just last week I recently went to dinner with four UT softball players with my 12 year old sister. Working everyday with these players I have come to see them as friends. It wasn't until I walked in to the locker room with my little sister that made me realize that they were more then that. Seeing a girl that I tower over, tower over my sister made me see how these girls play such a huge role in the lives of little girls who come to watch them play. That isn't even the half of it. It was great to see how willing these girls interacted with my sister and her friends at dinner. To see her face light up as she sat at a dinner table with her heros as equals was really something to see. The best part was that it wasn't even my idea. It was the idea of the players when I told them I had family coming in to town. It was really great to see that there are some good guys or girls in sports today. 

Mo' Money Mo' Money

What is it about our sports culture that is all about money. You read about A-Rod's 25 plus million a year. Big Ben just signed a 100 plus million dollar contracts. If there is one thing about the athletes in pro sports it's that they love money. I'm not arguing against money cause I love it too; I just don't see the difference from 5 million to 7 million. What ever happened to team? The New England Patriots have already lost a receiver and a DB with more players expected to leave to free agency. A team that went 18-1, a team that was being compared with the greats, a team that was nearly perfect is now losing all its players to big contracts. But this is what free agency and the salary cap is all about isn't it? Well as a person who longs for the days of T-E-A-M...I hope not.