The NFL is a Weeny Sport

I just finished watching Wales defeat Scotland in an international rugby match. All I can say is the National Football League should be ashamed of itself. Rugby players wear no helmets, no pads. They play in T-shirts and shorts and advance the ball down the field in what appears to me with the kind of violence associated with the Visigoths sacking Rome or our Army storming ashore on the beaches of Normandy. Not a concussion protocol in sight. And talk about fast, holy hundred meter dash!!!!  And then, after the match, I'm told, both teams go to the pub and suck up suds and hug each other, and sing songs. Now that's football.

Sacramento Kings center Willy Cauley Stein, a free agent at the end of this season, would consider leaving for another team. He feels, according to this morning's sport page, unappreciated. He says of himself, "I've still got more skills that haven't been brought out." He wants to be more than a rim running center. I'm a fan of Cauley Stein, but find his complaint curious. Is he saying the Kings coaching staff have not developed his potential? If that's the case, pray tell, what would that potential be - skill wise? At this point in his career, the way I see it, Willy is a Tyson Chandler, DeAndre Jordan type of player and that's not an insult. Tyson won a ring being a rim protector and dunking lob passes. But, if Cauley Stein sees himself as possessing the kind of skills that would put him in the category of Anthony Davis, or Tim Duncan or Hakeem Olyjuwon, wouldn't it seem logical that in the four off seasons, Willy would have worked his butt off to learn to shoot a consistent jumper, or develop a few post moves or jump hook? Oh, but maybe, this was the job of the Kings coaches.

Watched my Dubs hand the Nuggets their jocks (I hear this is an outdated male garment) and said to myself if they can play like this through the playoffs, it's another Championship Parade. And just so you know where my heart is, as far as I'm concerned, it's all about Warrior defense. When the attack on D, every other part of their game reaches it's devastating potential.

Question going into end of season. Who will the Celtics give up to get AD? They better be careful not to give away too much. AD does not have a good medical history.

Watching My First Rugby Match    by Tom Meschery

I wonder in the chaos
called a scrum,
what is hidden
that is not the ball.

And remains behind
within the vortex
as the ball slips out
and pitched to run

until the next collision.
This way the ball 
moves down the field
one embrace after another

that it is not so fond
to its final destination
players bloody and broken
and wars are lost and won.