Michael Sam Announces He's Gay. Why Did Michael Sam Avoid The Easy Way Out?

Michael Sam is a really good linebacker who just graduated from the University of Missouri.

He is gay.

Apparently his team has known for some time now, but the world at large is getting this announcement now because Sam is preparing for the draft and he is likely to get a real shot at the league.  In reality, this is exactly what we have been waiting for in this journey.  A gay man that is both out and elite at his craft.  Jason Collins (the NBA center who came out last year) is an okay player, but not worth the risk of an uncertain locker room.

Michael Sam could be good enough for gay not to matter.  For certain some team will take a chance to find out, but has he hurt himself of helped himself with this revelation?

The obvious answer is both.

Michael Sam has taken advantage of an evolution in the world landscape.  The time is ripe for those who have lived within this lie to find their truth.  Sam would be smothered to pick back up the heavy weight that he dropped when he informed his Missouri Tiger team that he was gay.  He is unafraid to declare his truth because he has seen the dark side already, and it is not in the realm of truth.  With all of the difficulties of living in a world still so intolerant, living a lie is worse.  To this end, Sam has helped himself.

He has not helped his marketability much at all.  This guy plays like a ferocious beast and when the highlights of his exploits on the field started to accompany his announcement to the world, I thought about my Broncos and their upcoming need to improve the defensive front 7. Michael Sam is not Tim Tebow, but he might draw a similar interest soon.   Probably one that John Elway would rather do without.

If other GM's and owners look at the tape and say yes, but think about their immature locker room and say no, that will cost Sam in the pocketbook.  Some marketing executive could look at the way he performs on the field and think he would be a great spokesperson......if he weren't gay.  The truth is that Michael Sam made a decision that he knows, more than anyone, will cost him some loot.

That is what makes this declaration more impressive.  This young man had the opportunity to take the easy road and get his money first.  He had a chance to make a name for himself and then be the face of the big named gay athlete later.  He could have chosen the easy way out.

Just as long as he carried that thousand pound weight around along the way.
Yeah.  The easy way out.

Winter Olympics In Sochi Get An Avalanche From Colorado

The Avalanche have sent four players to the Olympics in Sochi

If Vladimir Putin needs any help with security he might be on his own.  If he runs short of snow, Colorado sent an Avalanche to Sochi. Actually, we have sent four Avalanche players to the winter Olympics this year, and it begs a few important questions.

First of all, why would the NHL risk injury to their most valuable players by sending them to the Olympics in the middle of a season?  The mere privilege of playing for your own country is incentive enough to risk a lot. I realize that this has been the Olympic standard forever, but my team hasn't had such a likelihood of littering Olympic lineups in a while.

This year we have 4 players that did make it.  Matt Duchene, Semyon Varlamov, Gabriel Landiskog and Paul Stasny.  If you are watching the Avs, it should be clear that the rookie, Nathan McKinnon could  soon become an Olympian as well as Ryan O'Reilly. But what about P.A. Parenteau, or Jan Hejda?  What about Erik Johnson.  These guys could help any team win games, and when America gets to know all of these Av's, we will lose a few to free agency.  Those that remain will join this years group of Olympians four years from now.  It is possible that the Av's will bum rush the league with a deep run in the playoffs this year. They will certainly do it before the next winter Olympics return.

That is good from the standpoint of prestige, but bad when you consider the physical demand a long run in the Olympics will require, and the physical risk that you incur while doing it.  The most difficult part of being or having young players is the adjustment to such a long season.  Those who make the adjustment with lots of rest and proper diet can overcome the mental walls that challenge young players. Typically, you won't know what you don't know.

I am excited and concerned for all of our Olympians.  They are deserving of the honor they've received.  A couple of them have teams that could win the whole thing, so Av's fans might have a rooting stake late into this tournament.  I will also find myself watching to see if they make it through safely, and if they return to the team with the inspiration of an Olympian, or the legs of a noodle.

Ty Lawson Is Down. Are The Denver Nuggets Out?

Change.  Makes you wanna hustle.

Lyrics from an old Donald Byrd jam that I thought about when the Nuggets watched Ty Lawson walk to the locker room stooped over at the waist.  One of the greatest challenges of coaching is balancing winning with growing, realizing the necessity for a fair balance of both.

Ty may be down for a while now with a cracked rib.  Some of the damage might be a by-product of the players own ignorance and the coaches uncertainty of how to handle it.  Brian Shaw is a good coach but a great guy.  He could stand to be a little more bad.

When the season began, he played almost everybody in an effort to get to know his players.  They lost with it that approach and then they won with it.  When they started to lose again because players (Andre Miller) complained of inconsistent minutes, he tightened the roster and let key guys play key minutes like key guys do on great teams.  The problem with that idea is that he is now asking Ty "I need to eat better this year" Lawson to make his body do things that he is not disciplined to accomplish with success.

Kevin Durant is only partly Kevin Durant because God blessed him with the talent to be Kevin Durant.  If Kevin Durant only worked as hard on his game and his body as Ty Lawson does he would be Rudy Gay.  Legends are who they are because they match legendary ability with world class work ethic.  The Denver Nuggets try with Ty, but it is clear that they do not have the leader in Lawson to demand excellence of others.

A few years ago, Jeremy Lin launched his way unto the scene when a flailing New York Knicks team pushed him into the line up.  Lin had nothing to lose and everything to gain. For the Nuggets, a window has opened for a two headed monster (Fournier and Miller) to emerge in the Nugget back court.

Randy Foye has stepped up a couple of times in the pinch to ease the pain of losing Lawson, but his shooting is sorely sacrificed when he plays point.  Evan Fournier has shown the capacity to do the job, but he gets inside of his own head at times.  The Magic Johnson alternative to this problem is proving to be Quincy Miller.  Miller can push the rock, create off of the dribble and knock down the 3 if you lose him in the shuffle.  He plays the way Fournier used to play before he realized that his services are so vitally needed.  Together, the window to their growth and our future may have just opened wide.

Shaw will also need to alter the short bench experiment because he is insisting on a style of defense that demands an altered line up from night to night.  Injuries have already forced his hand, but guys like Anthony Randolph and Jordan Hamilton, who have had to cool their heels could stand to get those extra minutes right now as Denver continues the 4 game road trip tonight playing game 3 of 4 against the Indiana Pacers.

This will be an ugly affair if the Nuggets do not come out with the kind of energy that Indiana plays with.  It could get ugly if they do bring energy, but without it, the Pacers will punish the Nuggets for the defeat they suffered in Denver a few weeks back.

Denver is quite the enigma right now.  The flashes of brilliance are so apparent that it makes them a hard team to blink at.  Stretches of crappy play makes them downright painful for an eyes wide open fan to witness. Conventional wisdom has said to give up on this team and on a run at the playoffs, but the fans and the players fight on. They have plenty of youth and talent to grow into a respectable team, but the injuries could cause the front office guys to get an itchy trigger finger.

The trade deadline is February 20th.  Between now and then, keep your ears towards the
Pepsi center and listen for a loud bang.

Pursuit of the Presidency: Hillary's Journey Will Go Through Land Of Barack Or Billville

Thanks to a stellar record that extends itself way back to before the Clinton presidency. Hillary Clinton has worked to make  a name for her self.  Although we know her name and thought we knew the person reasonably well, the next 2 years will reveal Hillary Clinton in a manner that we have never quite seen.

HRC - (Hillary Rodham Clinton), is an esoteric rebranding of Hillary by those who move to do such things upon the eve of an election.  An Amazon excerpt on HRC reads as follows:

Order Me Now!

"The story of Hillary’s phoenix like rise is at the heart of HRC, a riveting political biography that journeys into the heart of “Hillaryland” to discover a brilliant strategist at work. Masterfully unfolded by Politico’s Jonathan Allen and The Hill’s Amie Parnes from more than two hundred top-access interviews with Hillary’s intimates, colleagues, supporters, and enemies, HRC portrays a seasoned operator who negotiates political and diplomatic worlds with equal savvy." (Amazon.com)

It is hard to clearly calculate how a Hillary presidency might play out.  She has an advantage that none of her male predecessors ever enjoyed.  Hillary has just about done it all.  Hillary is both an insider and an outsider at the same time.  She knows the ins and outs but should be far enough from it all to maintain sufficient deniability.

 Hillary had an inside view of the enormity of being the president, and was a Senator, and Secretary of State.  She tried and failed at universal healthcare before Barack got it done so there are a few key areas of attack that Hillary may be prone to, but not many of them involve Hillary directly.

Ask Rand Paul.  He understands the strengths of this political engine, but what he doesn't realize is that what was once an 18 wheel diesel has become a freight train.  Hillary is undoubtedly going to be aided by the masterful skill and the positive record of her husband Bill, but he is the caboose of this train.  Hillary no longer relies on him as she might have prior to her latest round of seasoning.  If  Monica Lewinsky is revived, Bill could become the bane of her existence if his philandering becomes central to her trust quotient that is an element of being presidential. At least that is what Paul is hoping for.

Paul is more than a conservative, he is a republican rebel (aka Libertarian) so he must offer up red meat for his rebel republican base, which the attack on Bill represents. What is unclear is whether or not he will shift gears  to hook the Hillary caboose to the Obama legacy.  If Barack Obama is still fighting for the merits of his signature healthcare law, Hillary will hug up closely to Bill and avoid Barack like the plague.  If ObamaCare is thriving and not simply surviving, Hillary will have the best of both worlds to choose from, but may track back to Barack in order to define herself independent of her famous husband.

The biggest danger for Hillary is showing up too soon for this party.  Hillary could almost benefit her hopes by pretending that she may not actually run instead of leaning her head into the fray.  Today's modern media frenzy, which has seen the next presidential election start way too soon, is only valuable to the media outlets who need ratings.  To the candidates themselves, less is almost always better.  The longer you stay out in the battle, the more bruised you become.

HRC, the above mentioned book, is the beginning of the Hillary bruising.  In it, Hillary is depicted as a strategic, wheeling and dealing pragmatist. This book offers an insider perspective on the path to become the most powerful woman alive, but it reveals the toes that get stepped on along the way.  HRC shows the Clinton that we already expected and the unknown Clinton with a capacity for retribution.  With the Benghazi to Bridgegate comparisons, it is likely that Hillary will gain more comparisons to her potential republican opponent.  

The reality with Hillary is that she will be the only potential candidate treated as the foregone conclusion.  Her pathway to the presidency is paved in platinum and trimmed in gold.  If she isn't ready to start the walk yet, then her opponents will simply have to fire their bombs at her platinum pathway.

Related Post:  

Pursuit of the Presidency: Rand Paul Declared Himself A Presidential Candidate, And Called Out The Opposition

Pursuit of the Presidency: "Uncle Sugar", Mike Huckabee, Rises To The Top Of GOP Race

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Pursuit of the Presidency: Rand Paul Becomes Candidate, Calls Out The Opposition

For many republican candidates that are shining their shoes for a power shift in November, destroying Obama and his Care feels like a winning message.  If you are in a state that happened to block the medicaid expansion and gerrymandered the vote in your favor, you are expecting big things from the House and bigger things from the Senate elections.

Winning the House is a foregone conclusion, but the only way republicans take over the Senate is the abject failure of ObamaCare and not just screams of pending doom. For many republicans, ObamaCare offers  enough of a winning opportunity to have already gone "all-in" against it.

Rand Paul can't get off so easy.  He and his congressional cohorts are currently in a more systematic war against the Obama political machine.  They not only need to render him a lame duck, they need to roast him and glaze him in orange sauce.  The problem with putting heat to his message is that it burns the line that connects Hillary back to Obama. Like most things Obama, republicans will continue the attack no matter how personally damaging it becomes.

As for Paul, in order to best prepare himself for the battle ahead, he has acknowledged which Clinton he will run against.  If he is fortunate enough to run against the OG of universal care herself,  he could easily build an effective narrative.  This Clinton was in the white house when she first had the healthcare dream, and became a Senator when the law got enacted, pushing hard for the mandates that republicans now abhor. A failed ObamaCare will be tied to this Clinton for sure.

If you haven't noticed, Paul is not posturing to take on this Clinton at all.  He is posturing to take on the Clinton that got Obama elected simply for the power of "splaining things".  Paul is perfectly clear about the challenge before him, and understands who he represents.  Paul represents a party that will push him forward even if the GOP will not, so he has to talk like a conservative but fight for the Libertarian..  The Libertarian will functionally dismantle government, leaving behind whatever they deem "necessary".  In other words, he is the voice of a radical movement within mainstream America.

What does the voice of the radical sound like when fighting for an electoral advantage?  Take a listen.

Rand Paul chasing after Bill (not Barack) in attack of Hillary.

If for any reason his words sound harsh, think of them in the context of his options.  If he could pull up a nasty pie chart about the Clinton economy he would have already done that.  Bill Clinton is not only good at explaining stuff, he has the pie charts during his presidency to give him street cred, even against democratic enemies.  The only real line of attack that Bill offers up as a result of his presidential legacy is that of Lewinsky.  Republicans otherwise look at him as the unfair advantage of the other side.

The angry white man who is rapidly watching his nation being wrestled from his grip and is fighting to conserve the last memories of the land his father promised him. He has decided that he might not even listen if the message is not from the mouth of one of his own.  No one has destroyed the legacy of Bill Clinton enough to keep him out of the ear of those voters who every politician is hoping to influence.

Rand Paul is a few undeniable things.  He is number two on the GOP, likely to run poll (10% favor Paul).  He is also the most likely to run of them all, evidenced by many recent behaviors. Paul's Bill bashing is just the most recent campaigning signal. More than anything, Rand Paul is the person most clear about Bill's ability to neutralize Obama's connection to Hillary; most clear about  making Obama unnecessary in regards to his role on the stump.

There really is no question how hard Bill will work to fulfill this journey. He will become the rock beneath Hillary's feet.  Paul has to chisel Mt. Bill down to a sizable rock or he, and all other republicans, won't be able to get close enough to Hillary to even make it a fair fight.  Whatever you are seeing right now from Paul is the only card he has to play.

Next Post:  Pursuit of the Presidency: Is Hillary Following In The Legacy of Bill or Barack?

Previous Post:  Uncle Sugar, Mike Huckabee Rises To The Top Of GOP Race

Pursuit of the Presidency: "Uncle Sugar", Mike Huckabee, Rises To The Top Of GOP Race

Political prognostication is an evolving industry.  Back in the day, cable networks across the nation were flooded with mystical offerings like the famous Miss Cleo.  Sure, there are those who like the fun and intrigue of a good reading, but most people find it to be nothing more than entertainment, much like what we do everyday in professional sports.  The Miss Cleo's of modern political punditry are finding a similar demand to this mystical mayhem of old.

And what does Miss Cleo say about the prospects for the next republican presidential candidate?

Right now Uncle Sugar has taken a lead in the conservative run at the presidency.  Miss Cleo reserves the right to change her visionary prediction (as poll numbers change), but right now, Mike "Uncle Sugar" Huckabee has taken the lead.

Few would have expected him to even gain support for the presidency after failed attempts in the past.  In a recent speech, Huckabee denounces women who can't control their libido enough to pay for their own birth control without the help from Uncle Sugar. This statement got as much notice from those who support his thoughts as it did from those who never met their uncle named sugar.

For the laymen who did not catch his coin of phrase, Uncle is a reference to Uncle Sam and Sugar is a reference to the term Sugar Daddy, a man who pays a woman (non-prostitute) for her time and wares. What he did not quite realize is that whoever takes over the role of president becomes the embodiment of this mythical "Uncle Sugar" that he speaks of.  If Huckabee seeks to become president, he will also become Uncle Sugar.

Since those who actually respond to polls will segment their support from the list of the most likely's, no one candidate has gained a larger percentage than the 14% support that Uncle Sugar possesses.  I have seen polls that show Mitt Romney at or near the top (14%-15%), but no one yet believes that Ann Romney will let him run again. However, the mere notion that Uncle Sugar is leading the pre-preseason race speaks to the most resounding force in the republican party right now.

The religious right is ready to place its fingerprint on this race.  They are tired of losing with left leaning candidates because invariably, you will look back on your failures and always wonder if the compromise was the cause.  A moderate candidate might just make it through again, simply because prudence dictates these things, but this will be a bruising battle to win the party nomination.

Uncle Sugar might appeal to Tea Party religiosity, but he does not seem equipped to raise the money it takes to give more bruising then you take in a primary battle, and comes off as a bit too sour to become that sweet uncle we depend on to support our pleasures.

Next Post:  Pursuit of the Presidency: Rand Paul, The Libertarian Champion

Russell Wilson's On A Pathway Towards Greatness And The Sky Is The Limit

Sorry Denver.  I love my city and my Broncos, but the next time a black quarterback goes up against the Denver Broncos in a Superbowl, I am betting the farm on that team and that quarterback.

As Russell Wilson lead his Seattle Seahawks into battle against the Broncos, he was repeating a championship journey of a brother from another generation. Back in the day, Doug Williams took the Washington Redskins into a Superbowl battle with the Broncos in which his team was also not favored to win.  He won by a similar landslide.

Doug Williams interviewed after winning the Superbowl

Unlike Wilson, who played well but not great, Williams had a career day in a come from behind thrashing of the Broncos and John Elway that ended 55-10.  In addition, Williams passed for 340 yards, 4 touchdowns and was named the Superbowl MVP.  Doug Williams went on to coach at his alma mater, Grambling State University, so I can guarantee you that he would have taken that win no matter who captured the MVP.  What Williams is unlikely to diminish is the importance that his monumental achievement had on the future of the black quarterback in football.

The legend of the black quarterback has roots that deserve their own respect.  Russell Wilson was a black quarterback winning the Superbowl again over My Denver Broncos.  But this time, he was also just another player on a really great team that just so happened to be black.  This time, that was a good thing for the team and for the quarterback who did not have the legacy of black QB's anchored on his shoulders like Williams and others did before him.

Is Russell Wilson The Tiger Woods of Quarterbacks?

Next time, he will.

Next time, Wilson will become the recipient of a microscope that already assumes what it will find long before he is squeezed between the glass plates.  Next time Wilson will be judged on how long next time takes for this special team full of special talent.  Presumably, he is the most special of them all.  Next time, the pundits will say prove it.

If Pete Carroll is the legendary mastermind that his college resume says he is, next time should be more of the same; a total team effort that makes you clueless as to who the final MVP should be. Winning, especially winning repeats, are never quite that easy.  Free agency will eventually become a financial boon to the Legion of Boom, so Wilson will see his role evolve as they do.  The way Wilson sat down a highly paid free agent acquisition as a rookie tells us all what kind of quarterback he is.  His Tim Tebow sound bites at the end of games tells you a little about his character.  Are we seeing the beginning of a football legend?

In his second year as a quarterback, when he was supposed to be experiencing the sophomore slump, Russell Wilson is a champion.  He joins the elite fraternity of Superbowl winning quarterbacks who sit in a special glass house away from others who never won it all.  Yet, his youth and his potential have opened a path in the crowd for him to enter the luxury box of Superbowl winning quarterbacks.  Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, Steve Young.  These guys will always gain mention in the conversation of all time greats because multiple championships allow them to dangle their ring littered hands in order to lean the argument their way.

Russell Wilson will easily join these guys some day.  What scares us is how many others might he surpass as he builds a dynasty in Seattle?


Previous Post:  Seahawks are the champions.
                        Will they repeat? Three-peat?