AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2006 > May > 15
Monday, May 15, 2006
Catching up with Sekou
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’ve got to love this blog. I went missing for four days (more on that later) and while I’m catching up, I see there has been more than just a sharing of opinion. Folks are swapping medical advice, goods and services and all manner of good will. It’s enough to warm a guy’s heart, if I had one. I have to admit, though, I was impressed the communal approach.
Sunday night was my catch-up day for all the weekend’s playoff action I missed. So LeBron is back to being the King (for a day at least)? And Rasheed is guaranteeing wins (do the Pistons even need him to do that anymore seeing as how we all know they are headed for that showdown with the Heat?).
Speaking of the Heat and our man Antoine, wasn’t it good to see him finally shake his haters off with a big game in their Game 4 win? I know some people knock Antoine’s game (mostly his shot selection), but I happen to like the guy. I don’t know that he’s the championship piece that the Heat needed. But it looks like he’s at least going to help them reach the point they need to get to in order to challenge for that title (it has to be a bit cruel to Hawks fans, having to watch another former Buzzard help deliver someone else to the Promised Land).
Vince Carter has replaced Kobe Bryant for me as the most maddening player in the playoffs. Kid goes 0-for-forever at the 3-point line and continues his incessant whining about non-calls when he’s allowed to do basically whatever he wants out there. I guess I’m still sick to death of this cat after he quit on the Raptors so he could get traded and then goes to the Nets and plays like the player we all thought he would be years ago, when he seemed like the true heir apparent to 23! Leave Tim Thomas alone man, VC is the real Fugazy. And I don’t care how many times he teases you with his otherworldly hops and limitless shooting range. He should dominate games from tip to buzzer and instead he prances around the floor like a brat. It’s unacceptable from a guy blessed with so much natural ability.
Watched the last few minutes of the Clippers-Suns and was amazed at how a playoff team could go scoreless as long as the Clips did in the fourth quarter before Elton Brand’s turnaround jumper and Sam I Am’s 3-point dagger. But there was a moment there when I thought the Clippers were done. When the Suns crawled to within a point, it seemed like everyone in Staples Center felt it too. Then Brand broke the Clips’ 25-minute scoring drought (I know it wasn’t that long on the game clock but that’s how long it seemed). Doug Collins set up Sam I Am’s shot, saying “Sam Cassell lives for moments like this,” just before dude stroked his trey from in front of the Suns bench (watch the replay and see how the air comes out of the Suns crew over there). Whatever the Clips are paying the old man, it’s not enough. They could very well go on to lose this series. But he’s given them more than enough to build on if he does flee in free agency this summer to work his miracles elsewhere (perhaps Atlanta?).
Enough about basketball. Let me confess now that I finally get it. I totally understand why parents go to little league game and scream for their kid like he’s a major leaguer when he’s barely making contact in tee-ball. Your kids are it man, there’s nothing like watching them do their thing.
My son had a Cub Scout camping trip this weekend, so after school last Friday we packed up our tent and all our other trappings (you can do the instant-outdoorsman thing for your soul and a few hundred bucks at any of your nearby Shopzillas – Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) and head for the woods. It was truly an experience, we did this and Mother’s Day in one shot. I haven’t been camping in about 15 years or so, and even then it was in cabins and within rock-tossing distance of Lake Michigan. And there were girls there, too. So it was less like camping and more like an invitation to become a raging, adolescent fool for a week …
Anywho, back to the camping trip. We set up shop (I only broke one of the plastic stakes and thank goodness for the metal backups) and ended up having the best weekend I’ve had in a long, long time. Sure, it was so cold in our tent at about 6 a.m. on Saturday that I took a breath, watched it float above my head and then freeze up and come crashing back down on my dome. But whatever the hygienic inconveniences might have been, and there were plenty, watching all these zany little first graders run around camp every night with flashlights playing capture the flag was worth it.
OK – true confession time. I did have my PSP and iPod with me, but only watched half the Bourne Identity on Friday night and then packed the gadgets away for the rest of the weekend.
By virtue of the NBA schedule (it’s almost June and they’re still playing games and training camp started in October), let’s just say I don’t make it to many den meetings or events. So the lady of the house has to handle this business. You’d have thought I’d been released from prison the way the other parents reacted when I showed up (“Who are you? Oh, you’re Gabe’s dad. It’s so nice to finally meet you). Let’s just say there have been quite a few other activities in the past nine months that I was unable to attend.
It’s all good, though. Because my kid is the flagman for his crew. So when they marched out for the cross over ceremony Saturday night, he was leading the way. I was on my way out of my chair to start hollering like a European soccer hooligan when I realized that everyone else was sitting quietly. (sorry, I wasn’t ever in scouts. I was strictly a football, soccer, baseball, basketball and tennis player at that age. I didn’t even know the scout’s salute dealie until my kid got involved). So I sat back down and let the moment marinate a bit.
I’m still on the young side of this parenting thing, but if the milestones your child goes through are like this all the time, this could be fun. And why didn’t any of you more seasoned parents warn me about what I was missing?
