khandor’s sports blog

In an effort to achieve a specific goal in life, it is always difficult to try one’s very best and still come up short.

What distinguishes an authentic champion in life from everyone one else isn’t their ability to emerge victorious from the battlefield every time but, rather, their willingness to get up and start again every time after they have been beaten to the ground when non-champions would, in fact, on occasion, choose to stay down.

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Simple words to live by with significant meaning for those who elect to compete in the arena.

On occasion, in this life …

“There comes a time when you have to plant your feet, stand firm, and make a point about who you are.” – Leon Riley [Pat Riley's father]

because the simple fact is …

and the real joy comes from doing what you believe is right, both, for you …

and

for others

even

in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and the opinions of countless other so-called experts.

Khandor’s Sports Service, Super Bowl XLVI Selection

For this little corner of the ethernet, today just happens to be one of those occasions.

It really is quite simple …

… if you understand what makes “winning teams” fundamentally different from “losing teams” …

… and, IT has nothing to do with an “individual player’s performance-based statistics”.

… finally arrives on the US national network television stage, in the Mile High city at 4:15 PM this afternoon.

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Enjoy what should be another hum-dinger for the Denver Broncos and their unconventional – but, also, without a doubt, highly talented – 2nd-year quarterback.

NFL icon Al Davis has died.

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Team: Raiders owner Al Davis dead at 82

The Oakland Raiders say longtime owner and Hall of Famer Al Davis has died. He was 82.

Davis, one of the most important figures in NFL history, is best known as a rebel, a man who established a team whose silver-and-black colors and pirate logo symbolized his attitude toward authority, both on the field and off.

It was Davis’ rebellious spirit, that willingness to buck the establishment, that helped turn the NFL into the establishment in sports—the most successful sports league in American history.

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A sad day for anyone who has ever been a fan of the Oakland Raiders.

We wear the Silver, we wear the Black,
We never retreat, we always attack.

R.I.P, Al … YOU – and, by extension, your TEAM – were truly one of a kind.

Related:

‘Mean’ Joe Greene remembers legend Al Davis

Al Davis, one the NFL’s greatest innovators, dies at 82

In the wide world of sports … there are relatively few numbers of people who actually “get it.”

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Tedy Bruschi tees off on Ochocinco

“Drop the awe factor, OK, Ocho, Chad, drop the awe factor,” Bruschi said. “You’re not a fan, all right.  You’re not someone who’s on another team or watching TV.  You’re not an analyst.  You’re a part of it. They want you to be a part of it.  So get with the program because obviously you’re not getting it and you’re tweeting because you’re saying, ‘It’s amazing to see’?  It’s amazing to see because you don’t understand it.  You still don’t understand it and it’s amazing to you because you can’t get it.

“Stop tweeting and get in your playbook.  Wake up!  If you’re just waking up now — I don’t know when this was, six minutes ago? — get out your bed and get to the stadium and watch some film if you still think it’s amazing.  If you’re in it and you know what you’re doing and you execute out there you don’t think it’s amazing.  You know why? Because it’s what you’re supposed to do.  All of a sudden it’s second nature.  ‘I know I was supposed do that, yes I went 99 yards, I threw for 517.  You know why?  Because we’re that good and that’s what we’re supposed to do and that’s what I thought we were gonna do.’  You are still in awe to be a member of the New England Patriots offense. Join the system, buddy.”

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Mr. Bruschi, most assuredly, is one of them.

In this instance …

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Arrogance of Ownership: NFL Lockout Goes Into Overtime

Despite the awesome weight of ownership, media, and personal financial pressure, the players are holding firm to actually reading and discussing this mammoth 10-year labor agreement before signing off and good for them. I fully expect the lockout to end shortly. There is too much money at stake, too much expectation for football to go forward as planned. But after a 132 day lockout, the players have every right to actually understand in full what it is they’re voting upon. The owners would be lucky if the NFLPA doesn’t look at the number of publicly funded stadiums, look at the star-power of their own players and say to the owners, “Why do we need you again?”

This is bigger than the NFL. This is about the arrogance of Capital in a period of austerity. The actions of the owners are little different from the arrogance of the Republican leaders of congress, Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin, John Kasich of Ohio, Jerry Brown of California, Andrew Cuomo of New York and all who believe that it’s belt-tightening time for everyone but the fat-cats and to hell with democracy, due process, or any semblance of thought for the greater good. This is about those at the top of society who want “socialism” for the rich and an apocalyptic Ayn Randian nightmare for the rest of us. As Troy Polamalu, the All-Pro safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers said,

“I think what the players are fighting for is something bigger. A lot of people think it’s millionaires versus billionaires and that’s the huge argument. The fact is its people fighting against big business. The big business argument is ‘I got the money and I got the power therefore I can tell you what to do.’ That’s life everywhere. I think this is a time when the football players are standing up and saying, ‘No, no, no, the people have the power.”

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yours truly happens to be in complete agreement with the opinion of Dave Zirin.

John Mackey epitomizes every aspect of the NFL, i.e. good, bad and otherwise.

The Death of a Football and Union Legend

John Mackey’s death is a tragedy that should remind us of both the price paid by players past for decent wages and benefits and the price every player pays once the cheering stops. As the NFL owners continue to insist on longer seasons and benefit cuts, we should all remember that it’s the players who bear the scar tissue of America’s twenty-first-century pastime. No one should have to be martyred to play this game. Every player now bears an obligation to carry the memory of John Mackey forward so no family ever has to bear the weight that his family was forced to bear with such remarkable grace.

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To yours truly, however, he will forever be remembered as, A Peerless Titan Of The Game.

When Coach Erik Spoelstra goes to the following 5-man unit:

Point Guard/Small Forward – LeBron James
Off Guard/Point Guard - Dwyane Wade
Small Forward/Off Guard - Mike Miller
Power Forward – Udonis Haslem [or Joel Anthony]
Center – Chris Bosh

The team which Pat Riley has created:

actually resembles ‘the look’, and ‘the feel’, and the ‘in-game production’ of the 1985 Chicago Bears?