AOS Celebrity Encounter Tuesday: The Day I Disappointed Az Hakim

I was adequate as a high school football player. I started a few games, caught a couple passes, even ensured that our team would win by 41 instead of 34 with a fourth quarter touchdown once. In the long run, I received my fair share of high fives, pad slaps, and chest bumps. But the glory of my high school days did nothing to save me one afternoon during a game of touch football with current Dolphins wide receiver Az-zahir Hakim.

For several summers during college I worked as a camp counselor with a group of 5-8 year olds. The entire day was spent sitting by the pool and participating in kick ball games which became surprisingly competitive. One afternoon, however, the schedule was changed to include a game of flag football.

Hakim had showed up at the athletic club apparently to participate in a flag football camp as part of a PR appearance on behalf of the Rams. Darius Blevins was also present, but much like his Rams career, he spent the better part of the afternoon on the sidelines, enjoying the game.



The kids were not nearly as exicted about playing football with the Rams as the counselors were. In fact, the kids were down right insubordinate to any activity which did not involve air conditioning or a water. So as they sat in the shade, enthralled more with recent grass clippings then Darrius Blevin stories, the counselors began playing touch football.

With the third overall pick in the draft, Hakim took me. To this day I do not know whether this was based on my perceived athletic prowess or his distrust in the female counselors that remained, we may never know. Now, Hakim had played quarterback in high school, so I was prepared for a west coast offense of short precise passes, but mixed with St. Louis Ram like timing routes. For the most part this was exactly what we got. We were coming out of cuts, turning our heads, and Bam! The ball was there, you'd better be ready.

After a series or two, the defense began playing tight at the line, whereupon Az gave me the sign to go deep. He hiked the ball, with an incredible swim move I gained separation. Noticing the six year old safety doing pirouettes instead of providing adequate over the top coverage, Hakim aired out a perfect spiral. I stretched out my hands all the while thinking about how cool it was to catch a touchdown pass from a former NFC special teams player of the week, when the ball caromed off the whispers of my fingertips. Incomplete.



Shaking my head I scuttled off to pick up the ball and return to the huddle, but before i made it back, Hakim met me half way.

Hakim: What happened there?
Me: I guess I just stopped running.
Hakim (staring into the depths of my soul): That's exactly what you did. Don't let it happen again again.
Me(mumbling, too broken a spirit to speak clearly): Ok.

From that point on Hakim tended to look at his other options. however, I was able to let him down one more time that afternoon. After a fellow counselor hauled in a touchdown pass, we met in the endzone to commence a bob and weave celebratory dance. "Az, get over here!" I beckoned. A succinct, "No," made his opinion and impression clear.

You Lose Everything You Love

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."--Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations

It is difficult for me to see the tragedy in the college basketball coaching carousel. Over the past few weeks, Bill Donovan's stayed. Billy Gillispie's left. Bobby Huggins has slithered. Dana Altman has changed his mind. And a slew of mid major coaches have mortgaged their careers for a chance at glory. Amidst it all Gillispie and Huggins have caused the most

Fans at Texas A&M and Kansas State are in an uproar over the perceived betrayal by the two former basketball coaches. Both of whom spent the past week trying to assuage the doubt by saying that they left for their dream job.


Kentucky will always be on the same plain as Duke, North Carolina, UConn, and UCLA as the preeminent basketball schools in the country. Texas A&M was coming off a magical season and losing its top player, Acie Law IV. People justify Gillispie's decision by saying that you can't turn Kentucky down, it's a chance of a life time

Booby Huggins graduated from West Virginia But with Huggins, this seems like another Bill Simmons type revelation. Haven't we been watching Huggins for decades? Are we really surprised that he acted in a way that a reasonable, upstanding person would not?

A joke that will never get old: With Bobby Huggins at WVU, get use to incorrect spelling

In the end I suppose that's what the real tragedy. This is not just self preservation. It's more than the Big XII conference suffering. The real tragedy is that these coaches bolted for what they perceived as a better opportunity.

Basically, what I'm saying is should you always answer the door when a better opportunity knocks? Isn't there an inherent pride in building something and sticking with it. I should stop writing about OJ Mayo, but I find his story fascinating. He said the onyl reason he is going to USC is that he wanted to be remembered as the greatest player to ever play for USC. If USC didn't take him, he said he would have gone to an all black college and attempted to achieve the same recogniton. Many people see this as haughty, and when he invariably jumps to the NBA after one year, I suppose you could say the same thing as I'm saying here. But in some respects you can argue that what Mayo is doing is noble. He does not want to pick up where some else left off, he wants to build himself. Sure you could pay someone to cut your grass, but sometimes it makes you feel good to stare out on a lawn and know that you accomplished something.

In the long run, as usual, the lyrical stylings of Ludacris give us guidance on what most likely is the best way for K-State and A&M fans to handle the situation.

"We didn't take no money from Chingy/Thought I was cool with him/I wish his ass well, but I don't want nothing to do with him...Don't trust nobody but your goddamn self." --Ludacris,

We Stumble and Fall More than We Walk

"I apologize to you all -- the children of America and South Africa -- who must cope every day with dangerous street gangs. I no longer participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that I ever did.... I vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions."--Tookie Williams

When I was a kid I rarely missed an episode of the X-Men cartoon series. In hindsight, the premise of the show was fairly formulaic. Magneto stirs up some trouble. Wolverine is a loner. Gambit a quipster. X-Men come together and defeat Magneto. Week in and week out, this is how it worked. Then one week, they decided to throw the entire series on its head. I am a little fuzzy on the specific episode (and for some reaon I remember everybody being sent back in time and having to fight a T-Rex, but that could be way off), but the point is that Magneto and his rogues were forced to band together with Professor X's pupils for the betterment of all. It was a great moral, put petty differences aside for the good of all. But at the end of the episode, Professor X asked Magneto if this could become a recurring alliance. Magneto looked at him and said, "Times change, Charles, people don't."


Times change, people don't. I used to teach religion to a group of freshman, and when you think about it, such sentiment is the exact opposite message I tried to convey. Times change and so do people. That is why we have religion, it gives us hope, it dissolves despair. Even though we fall, we can always get up. The Prodigal Son. Dismus, St. Paul--all redemed themselves. All accepted the mercy of God. In the end wasn't that Judas' greatest sin? He refused to believe he could change.



Sports offers a strange twist on this. In baseball, redemption is only one at-bat away. A slump and derisive fans disappear with one hit. We, as fans, are unlike God, we condition our mercy. As long as talent is present, then we forgive, we forget. Leonard Little avoids jail as long as he gets ten sacks. There was always one more strike for Steve Howe, because there was always one more strike in his arm. I wonder sometimes if talent is the reason? Do we feel it would be a waste to take these "gladiators" away from the arena? Will they do more good, provide more for society exhibiting their talent?

Elijah Dukes has been arrested six times. He has been suspended from his team for drug use and a poor attitude. His hitting coach at Durham, a man whom Dukes lunged at said about him, ""He will snap in a minute. He couldn't keep his mouth quiet and his ears open. Tampa's given this kid how many mulligans?" But who are we to say how many mulligans? When is it too many chances? Is it ever?

Dukes hit his first major league home run in the season opener in Yankee Stadium this year. Redemption?



That's always why I feel strange watching action films. The bad guy always dies. Is there an underlying message? Are we to believe that death is the worst punishment? That God will judge much more harshly than we ever could? It seems the message is that people do not change. To leave this villain alive would to put us all in danger. His death saves us.

Many people doubted Tookie Williams changed. Many thought it was a show, a man grasping for straws in an attempt to save his life. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a man who knows about getting the bad guy, decided that clemency was inappropriate in Williams' case. Tookie was put to death. There was no room for redemption. That's not right.



There is something about watching Dukes and Cincinnatti Reds' Josh Hamilton, both who have come from dark pasts, rising above it and performing. Sure they both could relapse, but more importantly they were given the change to change. We all stumble, we all fall, albeit some harder than others, and it becomes a fine line to figure out or to decide what the final chance is because you always hope that one time Magneto looks Professor X in the eye and says, "You know what? I want to change."

AOS Celebrity Encounter Tuesday: Todd Zeile is my Lex Luther

This is going to be a (hopefully) weekly feature where someone relates a "celebrity encounter." Future subjects should include: Jarret Wright; Carlyle Holiday; Juan Uribe; Mario Lopez (AC Slater was a hell of a wrestler); and more. But today's subject is catcher turned third basemen turned first baseman who played for 11 major league teams: Todd Zeile


There's something about meeting a professional baseball player, and not just a professional baseball player, but a professional baseball player on your favorite team. Being indoctrinated as a St. Louis Cardinals fan, you learn from an early age about the pride of the birds on the bat. Your grandmother tells you about Stan Musial and Red Schoendist. Your dad entertains you with tales of Bob Gibson and Lou Brock. You grow up idolizing Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee.


Eventually though you mature and the novelty of seeing a Cardinal in public wears off so that it is not really that disappointing, or disheartening, to show at Humphrey's on Wednesday and see Steve Kline and Eli Marrero hitting on college-aged girls. But when you are a kid walking down the streets of Chicago and you hear your dad say, "Wow, that looks like Todd Zeile." Well, that's a whole other story:

It was July 4th weekend, 1995. Todd Zeile had just been traded from the Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs. I was a whippersnapper, who looked eerily similar to this guy:

Although I might have had thicker glasses.

Anyway, we had just finished dinner and were walking by Planet Hollywood when my dad spotted Zeile waiting in line to get in. This tells you a little about Todd Zeile--he had to wait to get a table at Planet Hollywood, a mere five years after finishing 6th in Rookie of the Year voting. My dad told me to go up and say hello to him.

Oh boy. My legs were like noodles. My palms--sweating like they had just run three pick-up games in a row. What could I possible say? How would he perceive me? Do I go with the hand shake or the high five? After conquering self doubt and being admonished by my dad, I walked up to Zeile.

Me: I'm sorry to bother you, but you really look like Todd Zeile.
Zeile (looking around): I am
Me: Can I just shake your hand?
Zeile (begrudgingly): Sure, I guess.

Todd Zeile wins again!

It does bear noting, though, that from the moment Zeile shunned me, the rest of the season he hit .210 with 7 HR and 25 RBIs, plus he had a deplorable .260 OBP. In contrast, that same year Tom Urbani gave me a high five after I complimented him on hitting a home run at Shea Stadium. He finished that season 1-2 with a 3.55 ERA, striking out 25 and only walking 9 in 38 innings.

That, Mr. Zeile is what we call karma.

A Different Kind of Alone

"I mean, damn, I'm doing things in this league nobody else is doing. Come on, now give me my respect. I'm not no big man. I'm a basketball player out here doing things at my size that no one else is doing." --Suns forward Shawn Marion from ":07 Seconds or Less" By Jack McCallum

Marion is unappreciated. He is passed over. He was in Phoenix first. He took the Suns to the playoffs before Nash--averaging in consecutive seasons 17-11, 19-10, 20-9. In the playoffs, he averaged 18-12. The Suns existed before Nash, and they were powered by Marion. But the only glory he received for his labor was an endorsement deal with the Roomstore, where he holds a basketball in front of an incredibly comfortable looking chair.


The unappreciated character is a staple of literature. And the path which the character chooses is usually what drives the plot. Will the unappreciated one take his slight as a personal affront and try to destroy all around him in an act of revenge, or will he suffer silently, all the while exuding an aura of contentment? Shakespeare used this plot device effectively several times, but perhaps no more effectively thant in creating Iago from "Othello" and Cordelia, from "King Lear."


Shawn Marion is no Iago. Sure he possesses the jealousy, but this jealousy has never shown signs of morphing into villainy. Iago was fueled by hatred and effortlessly destroys those around him, paying no thought to the consequences of his actions. Marion has never reached that level. Above most he is devoted to the team, although he is not the face of the franchise, he has never tried to bring down the team in revenge for his slight. Although such action is not uncommon in the League.

In the NBA, the role of Iago has already been cast.
In contrast, Marion exudes many of the characteristics which make Cordelia an unappreciated hero in King Lear. Cordelia is a paragon of devotion and honesty, but nevertheless is passed over and exiled. In the face of adversity and this banishment, Cordelia is still devoted, never stooping to the level of her sisters.

Marion's "banishment" is not nearly as drastic as Cordelia. Marion is still in Nike commercials, he still is an All-Star, and even has represented the country in the olympics, but at the same time if you asked someone to name three Phoenix Suns, Marion would not be in the top two (and maybe not even the top three, if you were talking to someone from France, or a fan of Nebraska basketball and Eric Piatowski.) Yet Marion is still devoted to the team despite the "cruelty" of the fans and the public relations staff. So he still scores 30 points, like against Denver last week, but in the backdrop there is still that slight, personified in his comments about his teammates finally getting him involved.

Marion skills make him one of the most valuable and talented players in the NBA. But while he has always been devoted to the Phoenix Suns organization, the more and more his feeling of inappreciativeness fester, the more and more the possibility or demand of a trade becomes. Since Marion would rather leave paradise then destroy it.

My Brain Hurts

Bill Simmons, in his blog dated March 27, wrote, "By the way, I made up the nickname "CHB" for Shaughnessy in 2001 -- happened right after Carl Everett derisively referred to him as the "Curly Haired Boyfriend." It remains one of my top 20 career achievements."

If you don't know the story, basically, Shaughnessy, who has a history of being confrontational toward certain players, was feuding with the volatile Carl Everrett. During an interview with another reporter Everett asked the reporter where his "Curly haired boyfriend" (Shaughnessy) was. Simmons then took Everett's quote and started referring to Shaughnessy as CHB. That is of the top 20 career achievements of Bill Simmons.

I hate to harp on this but here's another quote from Simmons, this time from his blog dated March 29:

"Like it or not, Mayo's style of game resonates with a certain demographic, with his final high school dunk symbolizing the divide between traditional fans and the budding generation that was weaned on Slam Magazine and me-first "superstars" like Stephon Marbury and Vince Carter (neither of whom has played on a 50-win NBA team, by the way). Head over to YouTube and you'll find an unedited clip of the dunk that makes Mayo look like an attention-seeking punk, as well as a heavily edited clip of the same dunk that lionizes it. Is it alarming that a 19-year-old kid throwing himself a halfcourt alley-oop in the final minute of a 40-point win, dunking it, tossing the ball into the stands and getting thrown out of his final high school game, then soaking in a standing ovation could be considered a beautiful moment by some people? Probably not. That's just our culture now."

I might be reading through the lines here, but I tend to think that Simmons falls on the side of OJ Mayo being an "attention-seeking punk." I'm postulating this based mostly on the fact that the title of the blog was, "Down with OJ Mayo." Then Simmons also posted that letter saying that Mayo needs pity becuase the controversial dunk was the highlight of his life. Now Simmons did not say that, but I don't think it's a ridiculous leap to contend that Simmons tacitly agrees.

So to recap, Simmons disparages an 18 year old kid for being attention-seeking, but praises himself for the fact that he contracted a nickname Carl Everret came up with about a Boston sportswriter into three letters. Absolutely nothing attention-seeking about that. Nothing

Loosely borrowing from a McSweeney's idea: If Bill Simmons' writing were a Greek myth it would be Jason and the Argh-onauts

In the Thesaurus, I'm Next to Illest

I was all set to do a post comparing Talib Kweli and Greg Oden to Mos Def and Kevin Durant. Basically, I read this quote from Kweli: "Ain't nobody making music to not be heard and the easiest way to be heard is to be on the radio, but you should never compromise who you are, your values or your morals." And I thought that was kind of like Oden. Common sense says he should declare himself eligible for the NBA Draft next year, start playing and as soon as possible sign that max extension. But, reports continue to filter out about how much he enjoys school. How in high school Calculus he argued over one point, how he calls old high school teachers to talk about what he's learning, not mentioning basketball once. The goal of any college basketball player is to one day play in the NBA, but you should never compromise who you are. Maybe Oden enjoys being a kid, maybe he will put off today what he can do tomorrow. And in that way I thought he was like Kweli someone who, sure has some beats from Kayne West and Pharrell, but was always seemingly more interested in his lyrics, and not in catering his music to the masses.

Conversely, Mos Def was always much more commercially successful than his Black Star counterpart. Mos Def's single "Umi Says" was a Nike commercial, he has stared in movies with Bruce Willis, Halle Berry, Mark Whalberg, and Damon Wayans. Kevin Durant is Mos Def to Oden's Kweli. Durant was the AP and Big XII player of the year. There are already estimations that his deal with Nike will be between $35-$70 million. It is almost a foregone conclusion he will declare for the NBA Draft and there is no dcoubt he will be one of the first two picks. College was a stepping stone and he's ready to make the leap.

I started off by saying that I was wanted to post about the comparisons between Blackstar and the two most impressive players in the country. I wanted to argue that Kweli was more lyrically talented than Mos Def and that his resistence to the limelight has enhanced the quality of his music. I wanted to argue just as Kweli is superior, so is Oden. Even though his team in the Final Four because of his implacable block against Tennessee and rancorous play in the second half versus Memphis, Oden, himself has conceded that he's not ready for the NBA. His humility and openness to learn, I felt, made him that more impressive a player. I was going to write all of this, until I read about this guy:



His name is Ben Kweller and he wrote a song entitled, "In Other Words." The song was sampled in Talib Kweli's song, "Ms. Hill," off his lastest album "Right About Now." According to Kweller, Kweli did not have permission to use the song, and made no effort to point out that the music was Kweller's. In his defense, Kweli starts off the song by answering a phone and over the beat saying, "Yo who's this? Yeah, I heard it. I mean it's fire." So maybe he didn't know it was someone else's music. Maybe.

Finding out Kweli took that song made me rethink my view on Oden, whether right or wrong. Maybe Oden was just like Kweli in that these stories coming out about how much he loves school and that the NBA can wait, are just illusions. That maybe in the end, he's just like the rest of us, hindred by the rationale of Saturn, as discussed below. In the end, we do what we have to do. It's sort of like something else Kweli said, "Well if somebody's giving me a script, I'll consider it. But it's not something I'm chasing."