Thunder Fans Are the Winners This Time

We’ve all seen the scene – a junior high kid and his friend run into the school bully and his friends and the two of them get beat up. Undeterred, the two kids scheme until they come up with a way to beat the bullies. And just when they reach the point where they have an opportunity to be superior to the bullies … the kid’s friend joins the bullies and beats up on the kid.

Movies don’t happen this way and life shouldn’t happen this way either. It would be shameful and go against everything we feel about how people – especially friends – should act. There is a right way to live life and there is the wrong way.

This movie scenario may sound familiar and that’s because it is. The two friends were Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. The bullies were the way too arrogant Golden State Warriors and their lone title that was won in a year when each of their playoff opponents suffered a significant injury to the starting lineup either prior to or during their series with Golden State.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gone on the attack against KD and his cowardly way of approaching his career. He spouted off for years about how he was a leader and that he was going to settle for nothing less than bringing a championship to Oklahoma City. Considering he was playing with one of the best point guards in the NBA, it seemed inevitable that he would in fact do just that. And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, he joined the bullies and became a tag-along on the way to a possible title. He became the Derek Fisher or Robert Horry of a team that has already proven it doesn’t necessarily need KD to win the gold.

I wasn’t at the game this weekend when KD returned to OKC for his deserved medicine, nor did I watch it on TV. Fortunately, in this day and age, I didn’t need to do either of those for me to be able to learn about the reaction of fans and players to the game. Between media reports and social media posts, I got more than enough of how it went for KD. Sure, the Warriors won. It is what happens when you have four of the best five players on the court. The fact that they aren’t undefeated this season shows just how flawed they are – they are the favorites every single game and yet they underperform night after night.

Based on the social media reaction following KD’s announcement, I was convinced the fans would take the soft way out and pretend as if KD never did anything wrong. But he did. Sports is a competition and as fans, we don’t root FOR or encourage the opponents. KD made a decision to play for the opponent and it is our duty to applaud our team while also rooting against our opponent. It is how competition works. We can be good sports following the game but the contest itself is not the time to hold back and act as if it was fine that KD decided to be shady and greedy in joining the bullies.

So, kudos to those fans out there who booed KD, and who made creative signs or t-shirts showing their disdain for his selfish actions. He signed on to that life and he knew it was coming. And who knows, maybe Mr. Unreliable will show his true colors once again and disappoint the Warriors’ fans the same way he did the Thunder fans each and every postseason he was here. That’s the KD we all came to know.

Standing Up for What is Right

The name Martin Niemöller may not ring any bells when your first hear it, but he was the prominent Protestant pastor whose quote about the Adolph Hitler regime has often been repeated throughout history.

First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me – And there was no one left to speak for me.

As he said, Niemöller initially held his tongue but eventually ended up being an outspoken public enemy of Hitler. He spent seven tortuous years in Nazi concentration camps as a result of his words. Fortunately, what was acceptable in Germany leading up to World War II wouldn’t be allowed in the United States. Or would it?

The thing is, nobody knows for sure what will happen in the future. Paranoia and anger stemming from the attack at Pearl Harbor led to the U.S. locking up Japanese-Americans in internment camps during World War II. Who can say with certainty that isn’t what will happen next to Muslim-Americans given the paranoia and anger that seems to be sweeping across red America?

When Donald Trump announced his executive order banning immigration from a select seven nations (Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen), it sounded the bell that he intended to follow through with all of his ridiculous campaign promises. Swiftly. But the fallout that has resulted from his action showed exactly what everyone feared – that he didn’t have much of an understanding as to how things worked and that he didn’t think through his actions.

Federal agencies weren’t warned of the pending policy change and were ill-prepared to immediately put a halt to processes that had been in place for decades. Some of them, for centuries. Private companies who had employees with dual citizenship suddenly found themselves in a quandary. It was a complete mess, driven by people with racist beliefs and a lack of knowledge and experience in this area. Ironically, the goal of the ban was for public safety purposes, but none of the 19 terrorists who were a part of the 9/11 attacks came from any of the countries on the banned list.

When the Trump administration first threw out the concept of “alternative facts,” it felt a lot like a propaganda campaign similar to what swept through Germany in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Hitler, preying on the nationwide desire for change and the desperation of a citizenry in need of something positive, manipulated the minds of his own people to advance his personal agenda. And they bought it and stood idly by as he wantonly destroyed lives over and over again.

People may be right in saying it isn’t fair to compare Trump to Hitler because all he has done so far is attempt to alter facts, take steps to begin construction on a wall for the southern border and temporarily ban all immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. But, it is early in his presidency and there is nothing wrong with making sure history doesn’t repeat itself. Because, as with what happened with Niemöller, when does he start coming after you and me?

The New England Patriots: Your Cheating Heart

In 1987, Pete Rose was coach of the Cincinnati Reds, but as we learned later he was also an addicted gambler. The results of his placing of bets on baseball – allegedly on his own team from time to time – led to his being banned from Major League Baseball. That lifetime ban continues today despite ongoing efforts by Rose and others to get him reinstated and potentially get included in the Hall of Fame.

This black mark for baseball was made even worse when it went through what is often referred to as the “Steroids Era,” a period of time that likely began in the late 1980’s and lasted until just a few years ago. Some of the bigger names in baseball – Barry Bonds, Roger Clemons, Alex Rodriguez, to name a few – have been linked to steroids and have been kept out of the Hall of Fame as a result of their reputations. With no link to steroids, these three as well as several others would likely be locks for the Hall of Fame, based on the numbers they posted while under the influence of performance-enhancing drugs. What those numbers would look like without PED’s is something we will never know.

For baseball, this represents the cheating that has taken place during my adult lifetime. The National Football League, on the other hand, has another cheating issue that has marred its reputation, but this one has always been centered on one team – the New England Patriots.

 The cheating began in 2000 when the Patriots began videotaping the hand signals from coaches signaling in the plays. This systematic videotaping coaches relaying in the plays was a clear violation of NFL rules and it continued through 2007 when the Patriots were caught videotaping the signals of New York Jets’ playcallers during the season opener. Spygate, as it is called now, became known to the NFL itself as that time, and was one of the first major conflicts involving commissioner Roger Goodell.

For this years-long cheating that allowed the Patriots to know the plays beforehand, coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000, the team was fined $250,000 and the team had a first-round pick taken away. It seemed like a slap on the wrist for a cheating scandal that likely made the Patriots a dynasty-like team during those eight years (six playoff appearances, four AFC championships, three NFL championships).

Having not learned their lesson and faced with the reality of not having won any Super Bowls since they were caught cheating in the Spygate scandal, the Patriots found a new way to “bend the rules.” Presumably to accommodate quarterback Tom Brady, Patriots staffers were instructed to deflate the footballs to a more preferred – and illegal – level of air. Thus, we have what is now called “DeflateGate.”

The cheating worked yet again. The Patriots won a fourth Super Bowl that season. However, Goodell was steadfast at not just offering up a slap on the wrist this time and instead were handed a million dollar fine, the loss of first- and fourth-round picks, and Brady was given a four-game suspension.

I give this history lesson on the eve of yet another Super Bowl appearance by the Patriots, who have thus far never won a Super Bowl in years in which they weren’t eventually caught cheating. History tells us that they will either lose or that if they win, they did so by cheating to give themselves an advantage they couldn’t otherwise attain on their own.

Root for whichever team you choose to pull for this Sunday and may the best team win. But if the Patriots are the victors, be assured there will be a team of NFL investigators pouring over everything because they know exactly who they are dealing with when it comes to the Patriots and competing on an unfair level. Once a cheater, always a cheater.