NBA Draft

I won the Geography Bee when I was in 6th grade, but I was lost as everybody else watching the 2011 NBA Draft last night. In a record setting year, 4 of the first 7 players and almost 15 total players were playing basketball overseas last year. It was hard to watch at some points because I felt so lost from location to pronunciation of names. ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy admitted on some prospects he has never heard of them. I loved the honesty shown by the TV crew. They did not hold back talking about the problems in Cleveland or the weaknesses of the prospects.

Admittedly it was a very week draft class. There will be some solid role players but none that we will look back on and be amazed by their careers. Most likely to become a star? Maybe Cleveland Cavaliers Kyrie Irving or Minnesota's Derrick Williams... but even these two are going to franchises with tremendous issues.

After today will we finally be done having to listen about former BYU G and new Sacramento King Jimmer Ferrdette? He was all the media wanted to talk about. Luckily for me the no defense playing and low percentage shot taking guard was taken by Sacramento, and because the team is no good and is in a small market hopefully we will not have to hear from him for a while. Do not get me wrong, as a former white guard and current lover of the defenseless J.J. Redick, I am pulling for him. I do not see how he is getting as much love as he does (He is a version of Tebow-lite.). Nor do see him becoming anything more than a solid bench player in the league.

The best story of the whole night was when Marquette's Jimmy Butler was selected as the final pick in the first round by the Chicago Bulls. He was kicked out of his home by his mother when he was 13. "I don't like the look of you. You gotta go." are the last words he remembers from her. At 23 with all of the resources I have, I am not sure I could go and be as successful as he has been without the support of my family. Here is the full article by ESPN's Chad Ford. A true inspirational story of perseverance and never giving up on a dream.

Also, I hope I am as lucky as Washington Wizard's Jay Vesely when I get my first real job. How about the kiss he got from his girlfriend after his name was called. ESPN's Stuart Scott said, "You know... some people just got it going for them."

Passport 2011: Ask. Seek. Knock.

Demaya finally talked to me at the
end of the week (after I made her
America glasses).

This time last week I had the pleasure of being back in Wingate, North Carolina. I was a chaperoning for a group of youth from FBC Gainesville. I have been able to become much more involved with the youth group here. Over the last few weeks I have gotten to know many of them and have begun to truly find a church family other than that of my home church, FBC Rome. With last week under my belt I also completed the trifecta of Passport Camps: camper, staffer, and chaperone.

There is nothing like living in a room with ten seventh and eighth grade boys to welcome you to the group, trying to control sugar/caffeine intake and waking them up in the morning. The one redeeming part? I was bigger and stronger than all of them, thus resulting in me being the wrestling champion every night. 

Creft Park-where I played Kobe and
everyone else was LeBron

I got lucky and was placed as a chaperone at one of the kids mission sites during the day. At these sites we went to local parks and YWCAs and play with the children, sing silly songs, and tell Bible stories. I was on a kids mission site during my summer staffing Passport and it was good to be back. Another adult at the site with me was one of my best friends from Rome who came with FBC Savannah. He worked camp the year before I did and we walked around striking fear into the bible study leaders as the dreaded former staffers. Ok, so not that much fear... the camp was run fantastically for Week 1.

Being a little older, not a camper and not worrying about logistics as a staffer, gave me a new perspective of camp. I was able to take a step back and watch the youth work through the week. The theme was "Treasure," with an emphasis on Luke 11's "for everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." We are God's treasure, unique and special to him, and he is our treasure, a gift that we must share.

Forgot how much I love four square... and big ball.

One Week Down

Last night I completed my first week working at The Gainesville Times. After one week do I dare say this may be my favorite summer job? Last summer's job of working for Samford definitely had the best benefits (lived with and near friends, free rent, better pay, some free meals), but this summer at The Times is going to be a good one. I update schedules and prepare the agate part of the newspaper when I get there, write a story or brief depending on the day, and then I sit at my cubicle watch and talk sports with the sports writers. Finally I have some sports conversations in Gainesville, not too many of those when you go to an all girls school.

Yesterday, I almost got my chance to get my name on an article. It was going to be the headline of the sports section. During editing we noticed the press release had been sent a month late and my story got moved to the third page and a "From staff reports" author. My time is coming. I will not do this for every article I write, but these are the first two I had in the paper that made it online. Mostly to my family, but if you would like for me to send you links to stories I write I can copy you an email and send you the links. Let me know.

Article 1
Article 2 (almost headliner)

So after one week of work I am taking next week off and chaperoning the FBC Gainesville Youth as we head to Passport Camp in Wingate, North Carolina. It is the same camp that I helped staff two summers ago (another amazing summer job). Looking forward to completing the cycle: camper, staffer, and now chaperone.

The one negative about going? I am going to miss the last two games of this year's NBA Finals, which are as anticipated, if not more than, any other Final series I can remember. Not getting to warch a Finals series featuring the Mavericks and Heat is normal because the last time these two teams met our family was in England.

A Mountain and a Job

As low key as the first few weeks of my summer were (many days by the pool, on the lake, and fishing), the last week has been all but slow. I had plans everyday of the week. Even one day of plans during the first three weeks was uncommon.

For those of you who do not know I was hired at The Gainesville Times with the official title of Sports Clerk. I am now employed by the local paper and will have my works published in print here and there, more so when the sports world picks up a little bit. Either way, it is fun to say I am a member of the media, can get press passes, and have access to the Associated Press wire. Even the lowest member of the totem pole at a small paper (me) can acess and do some of the same things as the guys on TV and the biggest papers. It may not seem impressive to most, but I think it is pretty cool. Now I am taking suggestions of themes for my cubicle.

In field trip news, I was asked to be a chaperone a trip with the FBC Gainesville youth to a classic Georgian destination, Stone Mountain State Park.(Earlier in the week I was asked to also go with the youth to Passport, the same camp I staffed two years ago.)  I have called Georgia home for 11 years the youth could not believe I had not been to see the South's proud version of Mount Rushmore. It was a lot of fun and as always, a reminder of how much you change from high/middle school through college. Still at heart though, no worries. I tweeted of how the laser show is sort of like a glorified PowerPoint presentation, but a good one. One that will make you proud to be a Georgian and American, two things I do love.

How 'bout them generals, fireworks, and lasers? Woo!

Spending Money for Tim Tebow? Give Me a Break.

Talk about the possibility of paying players participating in NCAA sports is starting to heat up. The argument of paying players is heating me up. A legal pay-for-play scheme will not work in college sports. The recent wrongdoings of USC, Alabama, even a little further back, the entire Southwest Conference, and the current allegations against Ohio State have not shown the NCAA to learn form its mistakes. If a system is ever set up to allowing players to receive “spending money,” there will be no way to control it. May the floodgates be opened and may the highest bidder get all the top recruits and national championships.

There is not enough money to go around. If the NCAA is going to pay players only participating in the money making sports, good luck. I am sure Title IX, the bill that makes sure women athletes and their programs are given the same opportunities as men, will have something to say about the salaries.  Football and Men’s basketball are the only money making sports and allow for the rest of the programs to exist, but imagine having to pay a backup volleyball player as much as the star quarterback, not happening. The proposed system is flawed.

I am sorry the 100% free education you receive when you sign a scholarship is not enough. Denver Broncos QB Tim Tebow was on the Daily Show with John Stewart and he was talking about the hardships he and his teammates had to go through while at the University of Florida.

“It would be nice to have a little extra money so we could buy scooters to get around campus. The kids in school now don’t even have enough money to go eat at Outback.”

Timmy, I am so sorry you are going to have to walk to class amongst the commoners as you are worshiped for being a national champion and Heisman Trophy winner. (You should have signed at UGA. All of their players are given free scooters to get around campus.)  I am sorry the $500 or $1000 handshakes are not enough to get you from week to week. You can’t go eat at Outback with your buddies? The money you do not have to spend on tuition, books, or anything else for school is not enough? Welcome to being a normal college student.  Go in the already paid for cafeteria and live in the already paid for on-campus apartments. In my experiences athlete housing is usually far superior to the mortals housing.

For me and my buddies, going to Cracker Barrel was a real treat. When it wasn't a big night out we frequented Waffle House or McDonald’s. Outback was only an option when parents came to town or you wanted to impress a date. It is part of the experience. Living on nothing and joking about being broke is part of learning to appreciate the first real paycheck you get, especially when the first paycheck is $9.7 million from the Broncos.