Lin vs LeBron: the burden of gifting, the challenge to greatness

A comparison of recent game-ending situations confirms what many recognize - LeBron's gift is a burden for him, and he's afraid to be great.

What's my name? Metta World Peace and self-determinism

I've got the Lakers/Thunder game on and there's a stream of tweets ridiculing Metta World Peace (born Ron Artest) for his change of name. I find it all the more remarkable as I reflect in the context of Black History Month.

It was 1967. Cassius Clay had changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Leading up to one of his earliest fights after the name change, opponent Ernie Terrel continued to refer to him as "Clay," publicly disrespecting Ali's decision to change his name.

Ali spent 15 rounds beating Terrel up while yelling at him, "What's my name?!"

Wide left

So, the Ravens were pushing for the winning TD, couldn't convert 3rd and 1, and promptly went ahead and missed the game-tying field goal with 13 seconds left in the 4th quarter. Patriots take one knee and it's over.

Shucks.

Twitter dropped the ball

I''ve got the AFC championship game on between the Patriots and Ravens, while editing a book manuscript, and it's been a good game thus far. I'd like to tweet some of my thoughts and play reactions but, if I may borrow from the immortal words of Howard Cosell, "Down goes Twitter."

Bosh's comments likely won't hurt anybody, least of all James

For those who might question why Chris Bosh, in a recent GQ interview, would give the ball to Dwayne Wade to be the one to take the last shot with the game on the line, the Bible will help you to understand.

Proverbs 18:23 reads "The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly," which is an olde English way of saying "when you have no power, you care what people think and you avoid offending anyone; when you have power, you don't give a rat's butt what people think so you say what's on your mind without worrying if it hurts anyone or not."

These guys are men, they're rich, and they call it as they see it - like it or lump it.

More NHL dumbness

A little while ago I observed NHL's oddball culture in how a hurt player's teammates show their concern...by ignoring him altogether, content rather to fight about it.

There's Miller, all alone, while his concerned team mates do what hockey players do - ignore him and fight about it. Note particularly the direction most of the fans are looking; all the focus is on the fighting. Why not just build a new coliseum and throw people to the lions? Are we any more civilized and humane?

Well, recently, we had another installment that reaffirms this absurdity. Everyone's shorts are in a knot over this collision between Milan Lucic and goaltender Ryan Miller, so much so that no one thinks to pop by and show the fellow some compassion or the least concern for his wellbeing. But this being a collision with a goaltender brings up several other issues which, all together, show just how annoying the NHL is.

Only in the NHL...

...can an undefeated team actually be behind a team with two losses in the standings.