Wade to Miss Summer Olympics Due to Knee Surgery

Through out the NBA playoffs there were rumblings that Miami Heat guard Dwayne Wade was suffering from a knee injury, however there was never an official announcement. Well today it was announced that Wade will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery and will be sidelined for 6-8 weeks and will have to miss the 2012 summer Olympics.

Have to give Wade some credit for pushing through with such an injury, know it has to be satisfying that it was all worth it having an NBA championship to show for it.

Bright side, at least Wade doesn’t have to answer questions all summer long about Olympians being paid and can sit back and enjoy the summer off with his family.

Related: Wade Says Olympians Should Be Paid

H/T To RealGM.com and Tim Reynolds

Jerome Harrison Has Alot on His Brain

In the movie ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ Rosie Perez’s character Gloria had a saying. Sometimes when you lose you actually win. Such is the case for Jerome Harrison who was set to be traded to the Philadelphia Eagles contingent upon him passing his physical. He failed, which might be the best thing to happen. During the physical doctors discovered a brain tumor, which since caught early should allow him to lead a healthy and normal life and allow him to continue his career. Now treatment for his tumor will sideline him for the rest of the year, however, losing a year on the field to make sure your health is alright sounds like a win to me.

Can’t a Man Be Sick In Peace

Maybe it’s because of the bye week; possibly it’s because they got trounced by the Titans 31-13 that all of this is falling on Peyton Hillis. But one thing for sure is it shouldn’t. Something that took place almost 2 weeks ago is still story. What reason do we have to believe that Hillis would sit out if he was able to play? There’s nothing to suggest that he’s ever given less than 100% effort for the Browns since he’s been in Cleveland. And for fans and media to question how sick a person is feeling is not right on so many levels. First, how can we accurately assume how much pain another man is in especially when it comes to being sick? Everybody responds to being sick differently so why hammer him if you can’t be sure of how he’s really feeling. Second, how many of us wake up not sick and would love to just call off of work and still get paid? I do believe that Hillis was sick and wanted to play but just couldn’t, but I’m not mad that he got the most out of the situation. He was sick, got a chance to stay home and still get paid, no crime in that at all. Contract or no contract issue, I don’t think that factored into his decision not play, I think it was based clearly on his health first everything else second. How’s this comparison for you, what would’ve been the difference if he had a concussion and decided that he couldn’t go, would it had been ok for him to sit out then? And the way the fans are harping on it, you would’ve thought he was the reason they lost to the Dolphins, let’s not forget they did win the game. In close, let’s not make this bigger than it needs to be, the guy was sick and couldn’t run through linebackers and blow his nose at the same time, no need to make it seem like he quit on the team after a 3 and 1.

Loss of Memory Not Determination

Pat Summitt, who has won more games in NCAA college basketball history as coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, has suffered a tremendous health loss. Summitt was recently diagnosed with early onset of dementia of the Alzheimer type at the age of 59. Dementia is described as affecting memory, thinking, language and judgment. Summitt noticed something was wrong when she was having trouble with remembering things but initially thought it was a symptom of her arthritis medicine. After consulting with her doctors and numerous tests they discovered the diagnosis of dementia. Having a grandmother who suffered from dementia in her mid 70’s I understand the hard road that is ahead of Summitt and her family. On many days my grandmother didn’t remember my name, my age and whether I was still in school or not. I saw the loss of determination, due to what her brain wouldn’t allow her to do anymore. So for Summitt to remain active is and remain head coach of the Lady Vols basketball team is great. What’s even better is her realizing her limitations, in an interview with ABC she was quoted as saying “I realize I may have some limitations with this condition, since there will be some good days and some bad days. For that reason, I will be relying on my outstanding coaching staff like never before.” Many times when we suffer a setback we fail to acknowledge that we have to rely on others more, and that we have to do things differently. In all the interviews and articles Summitt appears upbeat and prepared to fight this head on. Below is a video of Summitt speaking about her diagnosis and the road ahead.

 

Thome Gets 600 HR

Jim Thome has joined the 600 homerun club and now talk of his hall of fame status will increase. Some will argue for saying to get to 600 homeruns you must’ve been consistently good to put up those kinds of numbers. I’ll argue that he’s borderline out. Never have you thought of Jim Thome as one the elite players in the league, just a very good player. Yes you feared him because with one swing he could change a ball game, but he was also prone to strike outs as well. He’s only led the league once in homeruns, but has hit 40 or more homeruns 6 times. All good stats but this doesn’t mean that he belongs in the hall with the best of the best. I get the feeling with Thome that because he’s never been associated with steroids or performance enhancing drugs that he gets a boost. Thome over his entire career has been a very good player, but the hall of fame is reserved for all time greats, game changers, and Thome isn’t that. He’s a very good player that was blessed with good health, and developed to be one of the most statistical consistent players in the league. However, in my book that doesn’t justify hall of fame status. He’ll probably get in because it’ll be hard to deny a guy who will eventually end his career with over 600 homeruns, close to 2300 hits, and an on base percentage close to .400. Hopefully the writers understand that Cooperstown is home of the hall of fame not to be treated as the walk of fame.

Catholic School to Drug Test Students?

To think that pro athletes are the only ones taking performance enhancing drugs would be very naïve thinking. So an Elyria High School athletic director has decided to implement a drug testing program for his football team that will screen for recreational and performance drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Mike Wisnor is the athletic director for Elyria Catholic High School and has already ran this program for the soccer last year with the soccer team and the team captain had no problem with even going as far to say that he felt it helped the team. In my opinion, I hate this initiative. It’s discriminatory in every way. Why are only the athletes only expected to not take drugs? What about the kid that doesn’t play sports that takes steroids just to bulk up for the ladies. Or the kids that takes uppers to keep him awake to allow him to stay up all night and still be fresh for class? I completely support promoting a clean athletic program, but not in this manner, and if I was a parent and the school didn’t extend this testing to all students I would send my child to another school. This goes completely against what we fight for as everyday Americans. To be judged and viewed fairly. This however, highlights one particular group and ignores everybody else. Also what about the funding aspect, it can’t be cheap to run these tests, and in an economy where school funds are shrinking, I’m pretty sure there are better ways to spend budget money.  For now Wisnor is saying the money for the testing won’t come out of the students or parents pockets, which leads one to ask, well where will the money come from? Football coach Mike Polevacik has said he’s all in favor of the test and holding his student-athletes to a higher standards; which is great, however, the way these higher standards are being enforced is all bad. If you’re going to drug test student-athletes then drug test all students, just because they play sports doesn’t mean they should be treated differently.

Indian Fever

What is it going to take for you to believe in the Indians? They’re only in first place and have 7 series sweeps so far this season. They’ve had one of the most consistent pitching staff in the entire league. Similar to a Dj Khaled song all they do is win. The Indians entered this season so far off the radar that they were on no one’s map. Now they have the second best record in the majors and are being talked about as a legitimate championship contender. For me it took 40 games for me to become a believer. I wanted to see this team be consistent before I laid my money on the red, white and blue. The Tribe has done it this year every which way they can winning 13 games by 4 runs or more, and 14 games by 2 runs or less. Even in defeat they remain competitive having 10 of their losses occur by 2 runs or less. This Indians team is a far cry from the 93 lost team they were in the 2010 season. And for all the criticism the owners get, we must give them praise when their moves work. Fans have killed the Indians for being cheap and trading Cy Young Award winners and faces of the franchise. However, they’ve assembled a team that currently sits atop first place in their division with a six game lead. Now injuries have started to take their toll on the Tribe. Travis Hafner in currently on the disabled list with an injured oblique and Grady Sizemore is coming back from a knee ailment, but he hasn’t been the consistent threat we’re used to seeing. Nonetheless, this team has yet to allow themselves to fall into a terrible drought and I find no reason to believe they will now. Even coming off of losing a series to the Tampa Bay Rays, I still have faith that the Indians will end their current road trip with a winning record. And as the Indians are in the most challenging part of their schedule, this will show what they are made of as they will face the Rangers, Yankees, Tigers, Rockies and Giants over the next month. All of these teams are capable of making the playoffs and 3 of those 5 teams have above .500 winning records. The Indians must prove to the rest of the league that they are here to stay, and the only way they can do that is to start winning series’ against teams with winning records, something they’ve only done twice this year. This is the only concern I have about them. Granted, it’s great that you beat the teams you are supposed to beat. Although if that’s how you’re stacking your record, you will eventually be exposed when it comes time to beat teams of note. Just reference the Cincinnati Reds from 2010 and their short playoff run. But so far the Indians have made April and May enjoyable times for Cleveland fans considering the absence of Cavs presence in the NBA playoffs. So let’s enjoy the success and see what happens. Who knows, maybe we’ll catch Indian fever reminiscent of 2007.

Pressure & Performance

Could you imagine needing therapy for your job? Ok maybe bad analogy. Better yet, could you imagine needing therapy to perform the job you loved? How would you feel if the pressure to perform just became too much to handle and you had to step down? Well this is the very disorder that has caused Tom Durkin to step down from his job of announcing the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and Belmont Stakes for NBC. Durkin said he took medication and even tried therapy but nothing helped and that he would feel a wave of stress and nervousness during the three months of these events. Stress and anxiety is a problem many of us may face and not know it. According to anxietymatters.com around 13% of the population will suffer from some kind of anxiety. Though anxiety is what helps keep us aware of danger and allows us to feel trepidation when taking on certain tasks, it is still important to know how to manage your anxiety. Ricky Williams once suffered from anxiety so much that he at one point couldn’t talk to reporters without his helmet on. Tom Durkin will still announce horse races for the New York Racing Association three tracks Aqueduct, The Belmont Stakes, and Saratoga. However, he has no plans to do them on a national level, saying it’s more important to look out for your personal life more than your professional life. So for all of us let this be a reminder that nothing is more important than your health and that no one or anything is in more control of your mood than you. If you wish for more information of dealing with anxiety, below are a few links that deal with preventing anxiety and some self help steps to take to help deal with stress.

http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/preventing-anxiety

http://helpguide.org/mental/anxiety_self_help.htm