By: Richard L. King
I’m a big fan of the Miami Heat team in the NBA. Duane Wade recently retired and now that he has I feel that I can express my opinion. For years I have privately steamed at some of his antics. He has always been such a revered star that the sports writers never seemed to criticize him.
I myself have always wondered how a person with the coordination of a star basketball player, and Wade was a star who was exceptionally coordinated, how could that person always seem to fall down after a simple jump shot or after so many layups? I decided early on that McDonalds didn’t do him any favors with that advertisement in his first or second year, (the one where they praised him for falling down seven times and getting up eight). Certainly, they didn’t do any of the rest of us any favors. After that ad it seemed like he took it to heart and there just wasn’t any way he could stay on his feet.
Not only that, but he always embellished it each time he went down. He’d throw his feet up over his head and make it look like just a terrible mishap. The problem with all of that is, as play continued, he’d still be getting up off the floor and would be out of the next play. Not to take anything away from the star that he was, but I just never understood how so many less coordinated athletes could stay on their feet when Wade couldn’t. I blame it all on that ad.
I have also always been troubled by the numerous times Wade would still be in the backcourt when all of his teammates had gotten back on defense. Some of that was because he had been down on the floor, but many of those times it was because he had stopped to complain about the lack of a call by the referee. Many a lesser star has been chastised by his coach or by the media for such a transgression, but I do not recall every hearing anyone criticize Wade because of it.
Unfortunately, during this last basketball season Wade’s propensity to complain about “not getting the call” seems to have spread like the plague. I wish Coach Spolestra would talk to his players about all the griping they do to the referee’s. It’s an epidemic. Josh Richardson is one of the most likely to complain and you can see him, long after the play, still shaking his head. If I were his coach he’d either discontinue that or he’d be riding the bench. Referees notice that sort of stuff and contrary to what you might believe, it doesn’t make them any more likely to give you the benefit of the next call. What’s worst, after the 3 or 4 replays they show us it is usually obvious that the call was correct. Just once it would be nice if the player would just shut up and play the game. That goes for Justice Winslow, James Johnson, Hassan Whiteside and Kelly Olynick too.
Tyler Johnson used to be a big complainer too. Often you’d see someone at the line shooting free throws and Tyler would be in the background still grousing to the referee. You see where that got him, don’t you? Traded! Of course that big contract probably had as much to do with that as anything, but he was on the referee’s case far too often.
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Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #309
About: Self-confidence
“He thinks he’s an “ace,”
…but he ain’t spellin it right.”
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As a new feature, we will be adding hints from one of our Hints Books to our posts.
Today’s hint is from THE HINTS BOOK ALMANAC II
CLEANING/KITCHEN – Clean your copper, brass and stainless steel kitchen sinks by making a paste of salt and lemon juice. Scrub gently and rinse with water. Dry with a soft cloth. For copper bottomed pots, spray the bottom with white vinegar. Let sit and sprinkle with salt. Wipe to a shine. Another possibility is to mix equal parts of salt and ammonia to remove the ‘green’ from brass and/or copper. Still another possibility to clean and/or shine copper or brass, combine equal parts salt and flour. Add enough white vinegar to make a paste. Rub the paste on with a soft cloth and let sit for about an hour. Wipe off and buff. And finally, for those copper pots that you want to hang to display, but they don’t look their best, try Worcestershire® sauce on them to clean and shine them. The sauce breaks down the grease that accumulates on them. Rub the sauce on them until clean, then rinse and buff.
Am I The Only One 