- CURE THE FEVER: When Michael Jordan hit that shot in the last game of the NBA Finals, I felt like I was the one who'd been shot.
Then, another feeling hit me.I felt as if I'd been shot and put out of my misery. No more sorrow, no more tears. All my trials were over.
It was then I realized that I'd been held hostage by the NBA for six long weeks. Worse than that, I'd allowed myself to drift into "basketball abuse." And it was high time I got into detox.
So for next year's Finals - if we make the Finals - I'm taking the pledge.
If you feel the same, take it with me.
All together now:
1. I pledge I will read at least one other newspaper story first each day before turning to the basketball articles.
2. I pledge I will not wait up to watch the midnight edition of ESPN's Sportscenter just because I missed the earlier broadcast, or missed the local sport jocks at 10:30.
3. I pledge if I am away on vacation (I was in Hawaii), I will not sit in my room and watch the Jazz play basketball while the surf and sand are waiting just outside my door.
4. I pledge that when Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman begin slapping each other on the rear and smiling, I will not get upset because they don't see the game as a matter of life and death, as I do.
5. I pledge that each time I hear someone say "Show Me the Title," "Feed the Fever," "How About Them Jazz?" or "You Gotta Love It, Baby," I will repeat the Larry Miller mantra to myself three times:
It's only a game.
It's only a game.
It's only a game.
- 20 DOLLARS FOR YOUR THOUGHTS?: Father's Day is here and the "wisdom books" are rolling in. Half the authors in America, it seems, have something to say to Dad, about Dad, for Dad, by Dad or in place of Dad.
Here are some glimpses.
From "Lessons From a Father to His Son," by John Ashcroft: "Another weakness of my father was that he was almost hopelessly `prone to belief.' Organizations or teachers with this `positive' approach to life were always his favorites. He loved Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale."
From "Daddies and Daughters" by Carmen Renee Berry and Lynn Barrington: "There comes a time when you must face the fact that Dad has forgotten how to do algebra."
From "Fathers" by Brett Walker: "Fatherhood requires flexible shoulders. Shoulders to carry children that have lost all energy in their legs after walking around the mall for just a few minutes."
And finally, this from "Fathers and Sons," an essay by Ethan Canin: "Every father must, by needs, teach something to his son. . . A passing remark, a gesture, a swing in a game of golf can hold everything we need to impart and everything we are capable of receiving."