February might be short but the Lineup is long...

The Lineup: February ‘11

What I can’t live without: NBA All-Star Weekend.  Its definitely my favorite weekend in sports.  I haven’t missed a moment of All-Star weekend since Harold Miner won his first dunk contest.  And I watched it all from Friday evening until the end of the game on Sunday.  (Yes I even used to watch 2 Ball but I’m glad they got rid of it).   I watch every second of the dunk contest just for that one “oh s**t” moment that makes me reconsider everything I thought I knew about athleticism.   But there is nothing better than watching the 12 best basketball players on earth play at the same time.  Nothing.  This weekend did not disappoint and I will surely be back in 2012.

(UNrelated:  I know he’s Chinese but if he only played in 5 games, you shouldn’t vote for Yao Ming out of general principle. C’mon Son.)

(Related:  NBA trade deadline this year was crazy. So many stars in new places. It will surely make for an interesting playoff run.)

Fight or Flight.

Decision Points

“I'm not Egyptian and don't fully comprehend the burden that's been lifted by Mubarak's decision to step down, but I can empathize with their joy.”

- D. Elias

The revolution in Egypt is nothing short of remarkable.  The power of a people united never ceases to amaze me; it can literally move mountains.  Watching a group of young and educated Egyptian citizens mobilize and convince an entire nation to stand and fight made me reflect on my grandfather’s generation and how they performed similar miracles in this country.  But throughout the weeks of articles, editorials and interviews, one person who deserves a lot of credit for this historic event, fails to get mentioned.

He's on FIRE!

WWJD?

No, not that one.

The Jesus that I’m talking about played for Lincoln High School and had a father that looked a whole lot like Denzel Washington sporting an afro.  Jesus Shuttlesworth’s real life counterpart is Ray Allen, guard for the Boston Celtics.  On February 10^th, Allen became the most prolific 3-point shooter in NBA history eclipsing Reggie Miller’s mark of 2,560 career 3’s.  This milestone further solidifies Allen’s case as the greatest shooter of all time.  Sure he’s 6’5” and blessed with incredible genetics and athleticism, but his accomplishments can be summed up in one word.

I drove by the fork in the road and went straight.

“B”

There are no shortcuts…

When I first got to Brandeis, I was on a pre-med track with hopes of becoming a pediatrician.  One of my first classes was chemistry lab where we had to conduct real experiments and document every step of the process.  Once we reached our conclusion we had to do a separate calculation to determine how far off we were from the correct answer.  It was bad enough that I was wrong but to have to analyze how wrong I was pained me to no end.  Needless to say, I didn’t last long in that class and soon after, I left the path of medicine.  That’s great for all of the future sick kids of the world because I would have been a terrible doctor.  My brain is not equipped for science because if you are at point A and need to get to C, you must analyze - sometimes ad nausea - B.