Is everyone going nuts?
Think
about it — non-stop coverage of LeBron James? Put
his name on a Google search and you get, bio, mom, thousands
of pictures of him, stats, quotes, shoes, movie, house...
On and on, plus 14,980 related articles in the first three
lines.
I know he is, after all, King James (his self title), and he
only pulls down a paltry $15 million a year salary, but does
he really deserve all the hype? What kind of example do we
set bowing at his feet?
Have
you ever seen him play? He is not a king, at least not yet.
I have seen him on the court, and yes, he is above
average,
but that’s all, as far as I could see. Someday he may
be “the greatest” but not yet. Seven years with
the Cavs did not produce a championship (although close) but
he sure made a lot of noise — all about him — and
got two MVP trophies for his efforts. The last game I saw him
play he definitely stood out – he sounded like
a freight train when he traveled the length of the court,
stomping
and snorting like a bull.
I
think the “great anticipation” of what
he was going to do was ridiculous. It filled every
news station
all day before the prime time special starring King
James. Even
when the time finally arrived he still dragged it out
for a half hour before announcing his choice to play
FOR the
Heat.
I find that word a poor choice... Why not WITH the
Heat? I do commend him for his intelligence to choose a team
that
already
has two stars that have proven their worth. I wonder
if he will be able to keep up with them playing pro
as
well
as
he did in the Olympics?
I think anytime a big star athlete signs a long term, high
paying contract it should be with reservations. If
he plays as well as he says he will, without having
to nurse a sore
arm or bum knee with time off, give him his big bucks.
If he turns out to be a big dud, make him suffer the
loss, not the
rest of the team. I hope King James helps the Miami
team, it is my winter team. If he does not, those fans
will be even
tougher on him than the Cleveland fans who are tearing
down his banner and throwing out all associated products
bearing
his name. The Miami fans will run him right out of
town.
Another
reason we are nuts – as I write this column on
Sunday, July 11 — the cap on the oil gusher
was removed, and BP, with a confirmation by Thad
Allen,
said it will
take between four to seven days to complete the
exchange with
the new cap. It is said to be a cap WITH A BETTER
SEAL. Do we believe
that? We are over 80 days with the mess and are
only now going to try a cap WITH A BETTER SEAL?
If the required
emergency plans had actually been filed, would
the cap WITH A BETTER
SEAL have been readily available?
And we are really nuts when it comes to the daily
topic of the feds suing Arizona. They want to
throw out the
new, tougher
immigration laws passed by Arizona which were
put in place to attempt to control its out-of-control
immigrant
problems.
Why didn’t the feds enforce federal laws
already in place or toughen them up? Then, they
would not have
to go
to court
to stop someone else from doing it.
As I see it, the federal government is not doing
all that well in court lately. Perhaps it should
try working
together
with
the states instead of trying to bully them.
Most of the reports I’ve read or heard on TV indicate a larger number of
citizens support Arizona’s new law than oppose it. Many
other states are proposing putting similar laws in place — even
a state without a border declared it was going
to (Idaho I think).
The only ones really crying about the law are
the immigrants. As I understand it the federal
laws require
all recipients
of green cards to carry them so they may
prove their right to be in our country.
So what is the problem? If that makes them
unhappy, they can always turn in their
cards, give up
all the benefits they receive
and go home.
I heard today Mexican government officials
refused to meet with their U.S. counterparts
because
of the controversy.
If they don’t want to work with our government they should
just turn down the jobs we send them and cancel any hope of
receiving additional work from U.S. companies. Without those
jobs, and with the additional need to care for all their countrymen
returning home, I think carrying green cards does not look
so bad. Cries of police profiling is beyond belief. They want
their rights and I believe they deserve to have them, so let’s
send them home to get their RIGHTS!
I have said it before but it bears repeating,
if I leave the United States, where
I am a citizen, I must
show
special ID
to re-enter my country. I must present
a passport or enhanced driver’s license. It is not a problem for me. I don’t
feel profiled or singled out in any way so why
would presenting a green card be a problem? Why
would they
not think of
it as a privilege?
P.S. — I need to pass along the happy ending to my telephone
saga I relayed a while back. A very nice young lady in the
Bad Axe corporate office fixed me up with a battery from stock,
and just in case, a brand new one will be shipped to me. She
announced, “It’s my goal to be absolutely certain
each customer is fully satisfied and their problem solved after
visiting our location.” Boy, what a departure
from the Florida and Phoenix experiences.