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I'm thankful for SPORTS!
I'm thankful for Los Angeles Lakers basketball, USC Trojans football and Dodgers baseball. I'm thankful for getting to hear Chick Hearn and Vin Scully grace the airways for the majority of my life. I'm thankful for Coach John Wooden and UCLA basketball. I'm thankful for Jerry Buss, Jerry West, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. I'm thankful that when I was growing up I got to watch the Showtime Lakers to learn what basketball was. I'm thankful to Dr. James Naismith for hanging that peach basket in 1891, thus inventing the game I love so dear.
I'm thankful for lay-ups, jump shots, slam dunks, alley oops, no look passes, steals, crossover dribbles, blocked shots, rebounds snatched out of the night sky, cheerleaders, games being put "in the refrigerator" and nicknames like Big Game James, Half Man-Half Amazing, The Human Highlight Film and "Air" Jordan.
I’m thankful for Dodger dogs, homeruns, base hits, snowcone catches, double plays, strikeouts, curveballs, squeeze plays, unassisted triple plays, hitting for the cycle, perfect games, grand slams and nicknames like Charlie Hustle, Lefty, Nails and Bulldog.
I’m thankful for touchdowns, laterals, sacks, 100 yard rushers, punt return specialists, the audible, spirals, facemasks, interceptions, field goals, safeties, 1st & 10, 4th & inches and nicknames like Broadway Joe, The Refrigerator, Mean Joe and Sweetness.
I'm thankful for air conditioning, refrigerators, indoor plumbing and deodorant.
I'm thankful for having the privilege of being born and raised an American.
I believe anyone lucky enough to be born here, should fully appreciate our Founding Fathers and the single greatest government document ever written,
The Constitution of The United States of America.
I'm thankful for the freedom it grants us and the dreams it enables us.
I'm thankful to the soldiers and veterans who have fought to defend it.
Were it not for the oppressiveness of the King of England some 200+ years ago, this young nation may never have come to be, so I must express thanks to King George for being such a tyrant.
I'm thankful that SRM allows us the creative freedom to post our blogs...It gives the "little guy", the "average Joe" a chance to express our sports opinions and imagination...it essentially gives us "regular people" the opportunity to be sportswriters.
We're ALL thankful for our families and good health, I hope that continues for all my friends here at SRM and for the world as a whole, but Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the past, to celebrate how America came to be.
It's about the Pilgrims finding religious freedom and the founding of a new nation...a new hope.
A nation where WE THE PEOPLE get to choose our leaders and vote them out when they don't live up to their promises...A nation that despite the beliefs of some, still represents good and justice in a complicated world.
How many nations have gone into a civil war over the decision to abolish slavery?
Most wars were fought to enslave people and nations, not free them.
This scenario is unique to a nation that has always strived to do the right thing. The Founding Fathers had the foresight to use the words "All men are created equal", into the Constitution -even though it hadn't been a very popular opinion at the time, but truer words were never spoken. We have now come full circle and elected a president of African descent to the highest office in the land, if not the world. That in itself speaks volumes to the greatness and goodness of the people of this country. Even for those who didn't vote for him.
I'm thankful for Plymouth Rock and the spirit the colonists who made the long perilous journey to form this nation. They ended up fighting what was the most powerful military force on the planet at the time, for the freedoms we take for granted every day.
Props to the colonists for fighting for what they believed in. They almost starved to death when they first got here. It was only after they divvied up the land that the feast came about. See, the initial thought was that everyone pitch in for the greater good and share in the spoils....only there were no spoils...only growling stomachs, empty breadbaskets and barely enough food to survive.
John Lennon's Imagine envisions "the world will live as one"...It's a nice thought and beautiful song, but some folks just plain work harder than others and therefore deserve more. You reap what you sow. The pilgrims learned this the hard way by first working as a community, then breaking up the land and letting the individual farmers keep the harvest of the land they worked rather than pool it. It worked then and still holds true today. It's why Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter and Brett Favre will cash bigger checks than the rest of us. They're simply better at their jobs than most other players and therefore deserve more...simple supply and demand...capitalism at its unabashed best...or worst, depending on your political leanings.
Despite the economic downturn we're currently in, sports provides a sense of normalcy. The Constitution also has a phrase that no other government document in history ever addressed…The Pursuit of Happiness.
We hold these truths self evident: Sports brings us happiness.
Therefore, I'm thankful for SPORTS!
Basketball...
Football...
Baseball...
Hockey...
Boxing & MMA...
Golf…
And tennis...
And, if you hadn't noticed....I'm also thankful for beautiful girls...
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I'm thankful for the fact that my brother is home from Iraq but I'm not so thankful that he won't now be sent off to Afghanistan. And the quagmire that there is now there, especially given the fact that the President of the country and his administration is god damn friggin' corrupt ! Which of these were said to be the lesser of two evils as of now ? The Taliban or Hamid Kharzai ?
My latest should you at all be interested ?
http://tophatal.wordpress.com/... to you.
Alan Parkins aka tophatal ..............