REALLY – How did the NBA General Managers, on the hottest hot seats, end up in the NBA Finals? Before this season, Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was in deep dog shit because the best player of this generation, Kobe Bryant, wanted out of LA. Across the country, Celtics GM Danny Ainge had to deal with a team that only won 23 games in 2006/2007 – yes that’s only 29% of their games, REALLY. These two teams have combined for 30 of the NBA’s 61 championships, and they were living in a nightmare. Yet, these two GMs found a way to get their legendary organizations with previously disappointed fan bases back into the NBA Final excitement. They should share Executive of the Year, REALLY.

SERIOUSLY – Jordan Schafer, the Atlanta Braves top prospect and future centerfielder, was suspended 50 games for “violating the baseball’s substance abuse policy as it relates to HGH“. How can you be suspended for violating that policy when there isn’t a test for HGH? Certainly if Schafer was a member of the MLB Players Union, he would not be suspended without a positive test, SERIOUSLY. If you don’t believe, please reference a player named Bonds, Barry Bonds. Speculation exists that some players saved their skin by tattling on Schafer using the new anonymous tip line. A tip line, SERIOUSLY?!?! So is the use of performance enhancing drugs now being equated to poor driving of tracker trailers down the interstate?
So where does Schafer go from here? He goes right back to work on the field and plays the game. May I remind you that Schafer first attracted attention when Baseball America rated him the nation’s top 13-year-old in 2000, when he started at first base for his high school team as a seventh-grader, SERIOUSLY! He was a third round pick, 107th overall, out of high school. As he grew into his body transitioned to a wood bat, he made some swing adjustments and had a great 2007 season.
The blind eye to steroids by Major League Baseball is embarrassing, and the effects of steroids on athletes are well documented. However, the effects of HGH are not well known and understood. When confronted by MLB, Schafer accepted responsibility for his actions, apologized to his teammates and his organization, and served his suspension. Respect him and root for him as he works to get into the majors because that type of maturity is not seen in 21 year old professional athletes.

C’MON – If I was DerMarr Johnson, i would be so freakin’ embarrassed that I would never show my face to the public again.
For those of you who do not DerMarr, he was a high school All-American in basketball along with Parade’s National High School Player of the Year in 1999. He went to the University of Cincinnati and ended up being the 6th overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft. In September 2002, Dermarr crashed his Mercedes S600, breaking his neck, and it was feared that he faced paralysis as he missed the entire 02/03 season. In October of 2003, he returned to the court playing in the ABA. DerMarr played in the NBA for the next three seasons, seemingly overcoming the horrific accident and near paralysis to compete at the world’s highest level of basketball. It was a second chance on life and the game that he loved – and he ran with it.
Seems like a wonderful story . . . but here is the disappointing, embarrassing, and just sad part. In June 2007, DerMarr was tasered and arrested outside a Denver nightclub. He was formally charged with resisting arrest. C’MON DerMarr! I guess that you can write that off as possibly “wrong place, wrong time” or whatever else excuse one has used before, but now last month, DerMarr was arrested for DUI!!! C’MON – now there are no excuses. This is obviously the behavior of somebody who has no respect for himself and those family who love him – DerMarr needs help, and i hope those around him can give him the support he needs, but until then, stay away.