Best Current Athlete

Today while I was having a slow work out day, I started thinking about the best sport athletes playing right now. Right away, four names came to mind: Michael Phelps, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods. To decide, I will have to analyze each one at a time.

Michael Phelps - Some people might start off by saying that swimming is not a sport. I want to eliminate that right away. Swimming is not only a sport, but probably one of the most demanding sports. After all, it is the best form of exercise. It seems like everyday time this kid hits the water, he is breaking another record. The guy won eight or nine gold medals in the last Olympics. I mean how amazing is that? He is in such good shape; he gets to eat like 12,000 calories a day. Sounds to me like his workouts aren’t a walk in the park. However, is he the best athlete? NO

LeBron James - James will probably be the hardest guy to look at. Just looking at him, he is a pure specimen of a great athlete. He is lighting fast, can jump higher than anyone and can score at will. He single handedly took the Cavaliers from the bottom of the East to one of the clear favorites these past two years. However, and this will come up every time you have the Kobe LeBron debate, James has not won a Championship. In order to be the best, you must win Championships. Until then, LeBron can not be the best current athlete.

Kobe Bryant - What can you say about him? The guy has won four championships. I'm not sure, but I think he has two MVP's. The guy is turning the LA Lakers into a dynasty. He not only does it on offense, but he is also one of the best defensive players in the league. While doing that, he averages around 25 ppg, keeping in mind that every night the opposing team has their best defender on him. Every night, he has to deal with guys like Bruce Bowen, Ron Artest (not anymore I guess) and Shane Battier. For some reason, he just doesn't seem like the dominant athlete I want to call the best. However, he is my number two.

Tiger Woods - This guy is just amazing. Every weekend, it seems like he is winning another title. did you know that Tiger has won 27% of the tournaments he has entered? The next closest was Nicholas at 9%. 9%. Think of that difference. By the end of his career, he will destroy both the major title win and tournament win records. Just last year, he won the U. S. Open with a torn ACL. Are you kidding? That's like Kobe playing ball with a broken wrist. Tiger didn't make any excuses, didn't even tell the press, went out and won. Even today, Tiger is leading the way at the PGA Tour Championships. This guy just knows how to win and compete. He's got that killer instinct, ala Michael Jordan. Something LeBron needs to learn. Tiger dominates his sport like no other, and that is why he is the best current athlete.

Tiping

Any true Chicago sports fan must know the story of Patrick Kane by now. In case you don't know it, it was a late Saturday night, Patrick and his cousin was out for a night on the town in Buffalo, Kane's hometown. By 4 a.m. we can assume they were a little tipsy, considering they were in the "night life" district of Buffalo. Anyways, they took a cab home and had a little altercation with the driver. The fare was a whopping $13.80. Now even thought Kane made $875,000 this year, the most any rookie in NHL can make as a rookie; Kane did not want to tip the driver. The cabbie gave back one dollar from the 15 the Kane's gave. However, the driver did have the remaining $0.20. The Kane's decided to beat up the driver, break his nose and glasses, and took the $15 back. So there's story.

The point of this post deals with a person who called into the Danny Mac Show today on 670. This guy tried to justify the actions of the Kane’s. He then went as far to say that people have a right to walk out on restaurants went they don't enjoy the food. Danny Mac pursued to rip him apart. And I completely agree with him. People have to pay for food when they order it. Just because the customer isn't satisfied with the service or the food, does not give them the right to leave the place without paying. Customers have right to speak their opinion about the food and the service based on their tip. Tipping is the silent language between a customer and a server.

This brings me back to the Kane's. Patrick and his cousin have every right in the world not to tip the driver. However, no way in the hell do they have a right to beat up the driver over $0.20. This is the same for someone who walks out on a bill at a restaurant which cooked the steak too long or took too long to take an order. The restaurant and the cab provided a service, and the customers need to pay the minimum, which is the bill. Even though Patrick is a professional sports figure, in his hometown, drinking underage by the way, he has to pay the cab fare. We all do dumb things during these years, including me. However, we all take responsibility for our actions. Kane should be punishing himself. He should take him off the Olympic tryout roster. He should make it up to the driver. He should apologize. This is just another incident showing that athletes are not role models, but gifted individuals taking advantage of their talent.

A Week of Nothing

This upcoming week could be great or it could end up being incredibly boring. This is mine, and many others, last week at home. I don't have to think about work, school or basically anything that requires responsibility. This is the week to let everything go; the week to prepare for the better one that will follow while at school with no responsibility as well. I'll get to do nothing. I can sleep in try to get in some shape, eat some good food and even go shopping. Don't worry the shopping isn't my top priority. Honestly, I am looking forward to this. The feeling of having nothing to do and no one to look out to, is a good one. I hope all the other kids who will be doing the same thing can enjoy the time before school starts. After that, the responsibility starts again. Keep in mind, for incoming seniors; this is our last time to not really worry about life. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I hope this was more of an uplifting post for Mr. JF

End of work

I am done with work. It was a a good time. I appreciated everyone who took the time to make my last day a good one. I would also like to talk about the small people in a business. Since I was a small person, one might think i'll have bias in saying that small people make a business. Let's think about it. First of all, who makes all the copies and faxes? Small people. Who calls the people that no one wants to wait on hold for? The small people. Who makes the most money for the comany? NOT the small people. However, the company doesn't run without the small people. Even though I was one all summer, I truly believe the small people make a company run. Thank you to all the people who made my summer worth while. DH, RW, MG, AW, SS, DK, GB.
Thank you for an intersting summer.


More to come.