My Problem with Naismith and Thoughts on Manny

Next week will be the first of March, so our collective sports focus turns to basketball and the fun of the tournament. Kansas is right in the hunt again this year and having a good season despite losing some stars from last year’s championship squad. Whether you want to or not (and most of us don’t want to), when you live in the Midwest, you hear a lot of chatter about Ohio State during football season and Kansas during basketball season. The Jayhawk faithful despise and look down upon anyone who does not embrace all of their traditions with fondness. From my observations, the first commandment for being a Jayhawk fan is to worship James Naismith as if he were a God. I want to point out a simple problem that I have had with Dr. Naismith for years, and I simply cannot get past. The fact is that I do not find Naismith to be nearly as admirable as whichever of his students decided to cut a hole in the bottom of the peach basket. That is really the person to admire and the history I find simply says it was a student. Just imagine if every time Kansas scored a basket, someone had to get out the ladder to get the ball.



Manny Being…Humbled…

Is anyone else as happy as me to see that teams are not lining up to try and sign Manny Ramirez to the money that he believes he deserves? Manny is truly a gifted talent, and as good with the bat as you will ever see. Maybe that fact is what makes his ‘bigger than the program’ attitude the saddest of all. Still, I am glad that the collective memory of baseball owners and GM’s is long enough to remember that if Manny decides your team has not given him enough money at any particular time, he will turn off the switch and shut down. Well Manny, it looks like there are not a lot of folks that are going to fight for your services, so you might want to think about that before you shut down next time. The rest of us will continue working our 9 to 5 for whatever we can fight and claw for and with the economy as it is, we will be glad to simply have a job.