Paranormal Fascination

For as far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated with all things paranormal.  From ghosts to aliens, from Atlantis to Roswell, from Ouija boards to the Nazca lines.  There is something about these mysteries that ignites my fantastical thinking while also hoping for some evidence that these things do in fact exist.  I can get caught up in watching hours of "Ancient Aliens" on the History channel or watching movies like "The Fourth Kind" that further spark my interest. 

What makes these paranormal activities so interesting?  Is it something to do with my way of thinking and beliefs in the world that allows me to want some paranormal thing to truly exist?  I think it is a variety of factors and I may never truly know a full answer.  What I do know is that the human brain likes to have complete answers to problems and sometimes will fill in the blanks to form a solution, such as in this image below.

See grey dots?  Are you sure they are really there?

TV shows that claim to provide some type of evidence of proof get me hooked because I hope they start to fill that gap that is missing with many of these mysteries.  Here are some of the things that have nabbed my interest over the years and some links for more information about them. 

Nazca Lines
In Peru amongst the foot hills and mountains you will find a mystery that has many possible explanations and yet none that have definitively been proven, as far as I am aware.  The Peruvian people called the Nazcas who inhabited the area around 200 BC formed these geoglyphs which would have required numerous hours and people by the masses contributing their efforts.  The soil in this part of the desert is quite dense and yet one can easily shuffle their feet along the surface to reveal a different colored soil beneath.  This method is what was likely done by the Nazcas to create the images they decided were important enough to collaborate together on and devote time to. 

Minus the obvious bird, doesn't it look somewhat like a modern day airstrip?

 What is most concerning and interesting is why go to all of this trouble?  Most cultures that had some need to create art did so on a smaller scale that would be easy for others to see.  The Nazca however chose to create their art in such a place that only someone in the sky would truly be able to take in the full form of what they had created.  Another interesting thing to consider is how they would have such precision in their art on such a large scale without ever being able to see it from above for themselves? 

Ancient Aliens
The History Channel has blessed its viewers with some 20 plus hours of a fascinating show called Ancient Aliens.  The point of this entertaining piece of television is to provide "evidence", or at least opinions, about how aliens have been visiting earth long before the Roswell incident and in fact all throughout time.  One theory of the Ancient Aliens is that people have actually been an experiment of sorts that were planted on earth for study.  The suggestion with this theory is also that we are therefore descendants of aliens which is why "the greys" look so much like us. 

 

One of the great parts of this show is how emphatic the experts are in their opinions, as if there are no other solutions.  Having said that, I do think that many of their theories seem rather plausible and yet many are clearly not. 

 

Oak Island Money Pit

In Nova Scotia there is a place called Oak Island.  In 1795 a few kids were playing on the island when one of them noticed a spot on the ground that looked as if it were lower than the rest, as if there may be something beneath it.  So naturally, the kids decided to start digging.  What they found would lead to numerous men, millions of dollars spent and some lives lost to figure out the reason for something being there that clearly should not have been. 

 

 

What the boys uncovered was a pit that seemed to have no end and was man made.  Every ten feet they dug down they encountered a platform of logs that acted as a barrier from going any further and were wedged securely in the sides of the earth.  Nevertheless the boys managed to dig through some of these platforms before giving up.  Some 7 years later a wealthy man and his crew had heard of the myths of Oak Island and decided to find whatever was at the bottom.  They continued to dig and every ten feet the same oak logs blocked the path and eventually there were other things mixed in as well such as clay, charcoal and a fibrous material which turned out to be coconut fibers which are not indigenous to the area. 

 

 

Approximately 90 feet down a stone slab was found with strange engravings on them and was later determined to be a type of stone found almost solely in Egypt.  Around the 110 foot marker is when things really got odd.  The pit became entirely filled with water overnight.  Unbeknown to the diggers the pit had multiple shafts dug horizontally underground at various depths so that sea water from the nearby shore of the island would be yet another barrier to the bottom.  So far at least 6 people have perished from attempting to uncover this mystery and divers have gone as far as 235 feet into the shaft and still no one has figured out how to go any further or how to surpass the water trap system.  



Images taken from the following sites: http://braintricks.org/black_dots.php, http://earth-search.net/nazca_lines.html, http://www.cityprofile.com/forum/canada/rennes-le-chateau-refresher-16804/index2.html

Crisis Counseling

I work for a county mental health program and am a member of the Crisis Services.  This essentially means that my entire job is to help members of the community, whether a client at my agency or not, manage their "crisis".  For some people a crisis may be simply not having the medications that they have been prescribed, to being homeless for the first time, to the more severe cases of wanting to kill themselves or others. 

 

Prior to taking this position I was a drug and alcohol counselor, which surprisingly enough, was a lot more stressful.  There seemed to be more of a constant pressure from the day-to-day job duties that was certainly taking a toll on me, plus working late into the evenings to do group therapy was not helpful.  My job now consists of working from 8:10am to 5pm and every other week I get Mondays off. 

My crisis team consists of a colleague and my supervisor plus the support of some doctoral interns most days of the week.  Due to each of us having specific skills and comfort levels, I tend to go to the hospitals to see clients whereas my colleagues manage the walk in crisis situations.  I love going to the hospitals because I get to be out of the office and working with the physicians and nurses.  It is also pretty amazing that in mental health situations where a person who is at the E.R. with thoughts of suicide that I am called in for the "expert" opinion on how to handle the situation. 



Where I see the majority of the people.

Most of the time I come up with some sort of plan with the client to help them look forward to receiving some help and to practice coping skills to allow them to feel safe.  It is quite seldom that I put someone into a psychiatric hospital, which may seem contrary to my line of work.  In fact, most people that are suicidal do not benefit much from going to a psych unit because those issues are not easily resolved and tend to take long term counseling.  The people I put into the psych unit are generally the ones that are psychotic and may inadvertently be a threat to themselves or others and just need to get on appropriate medications. 

One facet of my job which I find very interesting is being able to put someone on a "hold" which allows me to have them sent to a psych unit for further evaluation and this may occur against their will.  This is something that can be a difficult decision to make because going involuntarily to a psych unit can be pretty traumatic at times and yet if it is essential in a person improving their functioning then it may be for the best.  Once on a hold they can only be held for five judicial days and at that point I need to have made a decision on whether or not the person will be able to be released or if I need to seek a civil commitment.  Civil commitment is a legal process that can mandate people to treatment and sometimes to residential facilities where they may live and receive treatment. 

Psych units have changed a lot from the days of "One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest".

My job has many different roles at times and yet it all boils down to one thing...being able to manage intense situations in the moment while maintaining my clinical judgment.  I really enjoy being in pressure situations at times and believe I thrive off of it.  It is almost like an adrenaline rush at times when there is a difficult person creating chaos in the E.R. and it is my job to diagnose them and plan on how to best help them.  I really love what I do and encourage other counselors, who are thrill seekers of sorts, to seek out some crisis experience. 

Images taken from the following websites respectively: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/12/poor-primary-care-access-drives-up.html, http://www.littlereview.com/goddesslouise/movies/cuckoo.htm,

Why Do Most Movie Remakes/Prequels/Sequels Suck?!

It seems that these days there are a lot of movies being either remade with more up to date graphics or as a prequel/sequel to a film that was released several years ago.  You would think that with the advancements in technology that these new movies would be much improved from their originals, however many of them sadly fall short.  Here are my thoughts on some of these new movies that clearly don't live up to the classic originals. 

Remake: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
I feel the need to go on record to say that I love Johnny Depp and have enjoyed nearly all of his films.  He is one of the great actors of our era and has left behind many infamous portrayals of beloved characters for their quirky and often odd idiosyncrasies and the one I am about to mention certainly fits these criteria.  In "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" Johhny Depp plays Willy Wonka who is entrepreneur in the sweets industry selling a large variety of intriguing and unique candies.  I won't go into more detail about the plot because, honestly, if you have not seen this movie or at least the original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", then you may as well stop reading this and go to your Netflix queue because you have some new movies to add.  Gene Wilder played the original Willy Wonka and was fabulous.  He is also the actor to give us such great performances in hits such as Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.  Johnny Depp, while providing an odd take on the well known character, does a great job at what he does best and yet it falls incredibly short with me because it is just too odd. 

 

Maybe I am being too harsh on Johnny but I like my Willy Wonka to be warm, able to sing a good song and lovable with a tendency to snap at any instance just to make sure he has your attention.  In the newest version of this movie I found myself just thinking of how much I would rather be watching the original.  And don't get me started on the Oompa Loompas.  I know the director was trying something fresh with one actor playing all the miniature workers in the factory but again, too over the top and not as good as those orange faced, green haired, white overall wearing, rhyming in unison geniuses from the classic.   

Prequel: The Thing
My family has satellite TV but due to being a one income family we have a pretty basic package.  So when I saw that we had a free weekend preview of one of the major movie channels I decided to record as many movies as I could that looked interesting.  One of these titles was "The Thing" which is essentially a prequel to the original which came out in 1982 starring Kurt Russell.  This film is about a team of scientists that find an alien life form in the middle of nowhere buried deep down in the ice.  They dig it out, they find out it's not dead, they instinctively try and kill it before being killed, the bad ass American saves the day...you know the story. 

I have several issues with the new version compared to the original.  First of all, why would anyone try and remake a classic movie starring Kurt Russell?  It would certainly not live up to his on screen brilliance!  I say this with some sarcasm because he is typically the sort of hero that is a bit goofy at times, provides some humor, then demolishes anything in his path.  For more references on this look up "Big Trouble In Little China" and you'll understand.  There is the stereotypical American however the actor does not do the film as much justice as Kurt once did and is much less believable.  The next issue is the graphics.  Back in the 80's they didn't have all the fancy computer graphic capabilities as they do now and in many cases is worked out for the better.  This is definitely one of them.  In the original movie the alien would take on these grotesque forms that were models used in the actual footage of each scene.  This made for a much more realistic viewing of the movie and likely an easier way for the actors to display their fear.  In the new movie it seems as though the graphics department has gone in and added these creepy flares after the fact and it makes the whole experience a drag if you have already seen the original. 

Sequel: Teen Wolf Too
Is there anything greater than watching a young Michael J. Fox surf on top of a moving van while doing a hand stand through the suburbs...and he's a werewolf?  Of course there is, a young Michael J. Fox dominating high school basketball due to his new found talents from being a werewolf, since all of them are obviously ballers, and everyone being cool with it.  Well the original "Teen Wolf" had both of these great cinematic moments including a scene in which an overweight character named "Chubby" is at a party and gets to, as part of a game, root around for jello with his face in an attractive young woman's top...and again, everyone is cool with it. 

Whoever pitched "Teen Wolf Too"  must have been out of their mind to submit a movie idea that would be released just two years from the original, without its original star, keeping only some minor characters for humor such as Chubby and Stiles (who was played by a different actor that was much less believable) and to focus this whole plot around the cousin of the original teen wolf.  Possibly the only smart decision in this sequel was to cast Jason Bateman as the new teen wolf.  Jason Bateman has since gone on to star in many comedy sitcoms and movies.  As for Chubby and Stiles, well they will simply live on in the glory days of 80's cinema.  

Images taken from the following sites respectively: http://movies.zap2it.com/movies/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/photo-gallery-detail/36068/66818, http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory/4549, http://www.film.com/movies/review-the-thing, http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/nov/22/my-favourite-film-the-thing, http://www.film.com/movies/1987-bad-movies, http://lollyjones.blogspot.com/2011/12/being-l-lone-wolf-in-l-l-london-town.html

 

Family Feud

Remember that great TV show from what seems like every decade since the 60's, due to so many new attempts to find a host as creepy as Richard Dawson, without much success.  In light of some recent events in my own life I have reflected, oddly enough, on the concept of this show, "Family Feud".

If you are unfortunate enough to have never witnessed such great television, please search the web for any episode starring the the host Richard Dawson, who was also a great addition to the cast of Match Game, another amazing game show from the 60's I believe, that allowed average people the chance to mingle with celebrities on national television in an amusing format.  Here is a clip of each to get you started.  Family Feud and Match Game. 

The thing that made Family Feud a great show was that contestants would come on with their immediate family members most of the time and the goal was to come up with the most commonly surveyed answers to silly questions.  What made for great television was that the family often had to agree on an answer to submit and more often than not there was great disagreement.  It was hilarious to watch the contestants plead for their answer to be submitted, only to have the captain of the team go with what they believed in their heart to be the best answer.   

This concept for a TV show is brilliant because the notion of having family members competing with each other, rather than a group of randomly selected individuals, is what makes it interesting.  In my life I have experienced family to be the people that I care most about and particularly when I was younger, the ones I spent the most time with.  Here in lies the genius of Family Feud.  When you care so much about one another and also spend a lot of time together it if impossible to avoid arguments, no matter how serious or seemingly unnecessary the issue.  This made for great television and in reality it can make for some pretty dramatic encounters and unfortunately in real life there is no cash prize.  

At the end of each episode the winning team would get a chance to win even more money through a challenge round that only they could play in and the opposing team that lost had to stand by and watch.  It never failed, the team that lost always seemed so happy once it was over even though they may be going home with nothing.  But as cheesy as this may seem, the real prize was there all along, each other.  I know pretty corny right?  My family has had a variety of problems just like everyone else and over time it always seems to settle down and we are there for each other again. 

I have been wondering lately if there is a point of no return, where a relationship can go beyond repair...and I think I have found my answer.  Relationships are obviously like a two-way street, they go both ways.  My hope for all of my family members, extended ones included, is to have a good relationship with them.  That may not mean that we see each other all the time like we used to when life was a bit less busy, when full time jobs, kids and other great things were not taking up free time.  What I have to hope for is that each of my family members will meet me half way and do not decide to veer off the path that is our relationship.  As time goes on people change, priorities change, and certainly others change at different paces and yet if a relationship is truly desired than there should not be anything that can stand in the way. 

Image taken from http://www.fanpop.com/spots/family-feud/images/141578/title/family-feud-icon 

Dancing like Michael Jackson

So as some of you may know, my favorite musician/entertainer of all time is the one and only Michael Jackson.  I have seen all of his music videos, most of which I have on DVD, I have seen a lot of his television performances at award shows and unfortunately never got to see him in concert before he passed away.  I have always been in awe of how effortless he was with his dancing, probably because I am terrified to even attempt any moves in front of others.  I could literally spend hours watching youtube videos like this one Michael Jackson 1995 MTV Music Awards which is, in my opinion, one of the greatest performances ever.

So I was excited to see that my little boy has got some soul in his dance moves.  He started out by simply moving his legs up and down when asked to dance and has quickly advanced to one of the best moves of all time made famous by Michael Jackson himself...the Moonwalk.  As you will see in this video, it is still a work in progress.  He has a long way to go to be able to say he is one of the greats, but fortunately I have hours of DVD footage to share with him over the years that he may study and imitate.  Hopefully he will find as much joy in them as I have and at the very least, it will be fun to watch them with him and see him try out his skills.   
 

Fun with Landon

This post is at the request of my sister-in-law, who admittedly cares nothing about sports, and wants more "daddyhood" posts.  So here is a quick one. 

Being a father to a toddler is great because they are past that fragile, "oh my god I might just break this thing", stage and to the point of being able to rough house.  Landon, my 16 month old loves to wrestle around and for me to lift him high up in the air.  He also really enjoys a good game of chase which usually means he runs in circles around the island in our kitchen while I run after him, only to have our dog, Ripley, run and bark after me.  He has also found out all the joys of playing in the sprinkler in the backyard on a hot summer day.  Just yesterday he was in the sprinkler and it was great to watch the water moving closer and closer to spraying him in the face and once it did, the sheer shock of it all was a great thing to witness in his expressions...despite it having sprayed him in the same way just seconds earlier.  And lastly, kids at this age have no sense of self, which is great because they are not embarrassed when you do silly things with them like the picture above points out.  This is us playing with his Mr. Potato Head mustache.  It only took me about 20 pictures to get this one and in between takes he was laughing and trying to hold it up to his mouth since he obviously thought it was some sort of fun game.  We both had a blast, which seems to be a daily occurrence around our household.  

Professional Athletes in the Olympics

The debate over professional athletes competing in the Olympics seems to be one that comes up every time the countries of the world get together for the spectacular event.  Most of the discussion that I hear seems to revolve around the U.S. Men's Basketball team and how it is "unfair" that we use professional athletes to compete against other nations.  I personally think that this is one of the most ridiculous conversations ever to take place and I am baffled at the ignorance of some people to think that we (the U.S.) are the only country to do so.  I know that most people are smart enough to believe that other countries use professional athletes too, but the question always seems to come back to our Men's Basketball team. 

What I believe to be fueling this inquiry to the ethics of the Olympics is the notion that the U.S. Men's Basketball team dominates all of it's opponents.  This is clearly the case in most instances, particularly in their record breaking performance against Nigeria where they won the game by some 80+ points, more points than Nigeria even scored.  That was unbelievable and was an amazing performance.  Then in their next game they won a nail biter against Lithuania by a mere 5 points.  This goes to show that not all of their games are dominant performances, despite being the clear favorites in all of their games.  What some people may not know is that most, if not all of the other countries playing in the Men's Basketball Division, have at least one NBA player on their team.  Spain, Argentina and France have several in fact and these are not just bench players, they are start like Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Ronny Turiaf.  Ok, so that last one may not be a star, but he is certainly a hustle dork which can impact the game. 

My point is this...lay off the U.S. Men's Basketball team already for being fortunate enough to have a large pool of elite athletes at the game of basketball to pull from to form the best possible team to compete with at the Olympics.  If I am not mistaken, that is the "spirit of the Olympics", to put forth your best efforts.  This year there have been multiple athletes disqualified from competing in the Olympics for not trying their best and yet when the U.S. puts together a dominant force to reckon with, multiple years in a row, all of a sudden there is a question about if it is the right thing to do.  Of course it is ethical, anything less than one's best would just be a slap in the face to the other nations who want to play against the great players in the NBA.

As for the more general topic of "professional athletes" participating in the Olympics.  Good luck getting that to stop across the board with the various countries and events.  Most people know that NBA players make several millions of dollars to do what they love and know best.  What is less known is the amount of money other athletes earn for their respective sports.  Take Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki..."who?" you might be saying.  She is a tennis player who earned $13.7 million last year and is in the Olympics this year competing for her country.  Another tennis example who is a lot more famous, Roger Federer of Switzerland, earned a measly $54.3 million last year.  Both of these earnings were found on http://thechive.com/2012/08/06/the-20-highest-earning-athletes-of-the-2012-olympics-20-photos/ and were reported to be taken from Forbes list of money earned over the past 12 months. 

Another thing to think about are the athletes that make a living off of their endorsements.  Take Michael Phelps for example.  Arguably the greatest Olympian of all time.  Do you expect to find him working a 9-5 job when he is not competing?  Hell no!  He is likely in the pool training everyday of his life because he gets paid by Subway and other endorsements to do just that, get better at what he already has mastered so that their company can use him as a spokesperson to sell more sandwiches.  Other countries most certainly do the same.  Take China for example.  They won nearly all the diving gold medals, if not all of them, this year in the 2012 London Olympics.  I would be willing to bet that they have some sort of financial backer to allow them to spend the ungodly amount of time perfecting their sport to compete at such a high level, year in and year out. 

Lastly, the world does not want to see a bunch of "non-professional" athletes competing in events when they know that there are other, more skilled, people that would be more amazing to see.  As much fun as it would be to think that any average Joe, like myself, could compete on the world stage doing, let's say the long jump, I know that it would not be very entertaining.  No one wants to see anything but the best of the best competing and fortunately we live in a world where businesses and professional sporting associations have the means to pay these athletes enough money that they only have to worry about one thing...pushing themselves to their limits for the sake of entertaining the masses. 

Images taken from the following sites respectively: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/2012-usa-olympic-men's-basketball-team, http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/07/sport/olympics-five-things-to-watch/index.html, http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/olympic-tennis-roger-federer-survives-scare-in-first-round-match, http://ifitandhealthy.com/michael-phelps-smoking/, http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-08-02/london-2012-olympics-medals-table

Events I Want To See At The 2016 Rio Olympics

As I have spent the past week watching numerous hours of Olympic events with my wife, it takes everything in me to not make silly comments to her about what I am observing and thinking.  This goes for most things in my life and she, unfortunately, has grown somewhat tired of hearing my "funny" comments.  So I thought "hey, I have a blog now...what a great place to share".  As much as I am in to tradition and the spirit of the Olympics, I do think it would attract more viewers like myself, if say...each athlete had to participate in one not so traditional event. 

For example, I would love to see the swimmers compete in a new event such as the 10m Plunge.  This is where swimmers take their marks on the block and at the sound of the horn begin their race to the bottom of the pool, approximately some 5m in depth, and then finish strong to the surface where the fastest competitor will win the gold.  My wife heard this and thought it would be terribly stupid and yet I think it would be incredibly fun to watch and it would be a super fast event, unlike the 4x200m relays that can drag on for several minutes. 

Another event I would like to see is the Synchronized Platform Dive'N'Splash.  This is obviously an event in which a pair of divers climb to the top of the platfom and while one provides a traditional dive to be judged the traditional way, the other tries to create the highest splash possible, likely with the infamous cannonball technique.  Their scores would be a combination of technique and minimal splash from one diver with the technique and height of splash from the other.  A similar event from the platform would be the Platform Long Jump.  I think that is all the explanation that is needed. 

I don't imagine my wife will waste her time reading this post and I ask her this and all of you who may be reading.  Are these events I have described so ridiculous compared to some of the events already in place in the Olympics?  At some point many of these events did not even exist and had to be proposed as new additions to the Olympic Games and I'm sure many people had their doubts.  Take the shooting events for example.  In my best Jim Gaffigan impression I bet the proposal sounded like this, "Hey I got an idea.  How 'bout we make a new game where we shoot stuff and the best shooter will win like a medal or somethin'.  Well what will we shoot? Uh, I don't know, we could shoot clay discs!  Clay discs?  Yeah, we could call 'em skeets...we could shoot like ahundred of 'em and the best one wins". 

Or this one..."Hey I got an idea.  How 'bout we mix together basketball, soccer, swimming, polo and wrestling.  We could put like a goal at the end of the pool and you could throw the ball in it.  A combination of these events sounds interesting, tell us more.  Well everyone could wear funny hats for protection and we'd make the pool real long so they have to swim really far making a lot of dull moments, you know for them to rest.  Hmm.  Polo you say, what about adding horses to this?  Psshh, no that'd be crazy!

I don't entirely mean to poke fun at these events, and certainl not the elite athletes that play them, I just mostly want to speculate about how they were invented and what to expect in the future.  I hope this has got some of you thinking about new events to propose for the Rio Olympics in 2016.  Please post a comment if you have any great ideas.  It is fun to think of them and doesn't take much time.  These new events above took all of about 3 minutes for me and I'm sure there are even better ideas to be had yet.  Let's see. 



Images taken from the following sites, respectively: http://www.hometownstation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29690:olympics-tradition-fun-facts-clarita-2012-05-30-15-30&catid=26:local-news&Itemid=97,  http://www.nbcolympics.com/photos/diving/womens-10m-synchronized-platform-finals-471675.html, http://www.waterelementswim.com/Pages/ClassSchedule.aspx, http://www.socialtechpop.com/tag/cannon-ball-dive/, http://www.celebuzz.com/photos/olympics-2012-the-scene-in-london/olympics-day-2-shooting/full-size/, http://www.theskipshot.com/2012/7/30/3205388/london-olympics-2012-mens-water-polo-tv-online-schedule

Dwight Howard Fiasco

If you have ever turned your TV to ESPN in the past year, or any other sports related program, you will no doubt have seen that Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic wants to be traded.  Prior to the Olympics in London starting it was nearly all that ESPN covered.  And that worst part is that I got sucked into the all of the drama and would watch the same broadcast repeatedly to see any new information on the ticker tape updating the developing story.

One thing you should know about me before I go on is that I have been a Los Angeles Lakers fan for several years now, much to the disappointment of my close friends and family.  Another thing I should say about myself is that I don’t believe I am a traditional fan and by that I mean, I seem to have more allegiance to individual players I enjoy watching, rather than a specific team.  I live in Oregon where we have not had a truly successful Portland Trail Blazers team since the Clyde Drexler, Cliff Robinson, and Terry Porter days.  And back then I considered myself a fan of those players, even if I was just about 5 or 6 years old.

As I got more into basketball and particularly the NBA, I started to branch out my fan base to other players in the league.  When Clyde Drexler went to the Houston Rockets it got me watching Hakeem Olajuwon, or Akeem depending on the year of the basketball card you may have, and I grew into a fan of his finesse style of play around the rim.  I also became a huge fan of the Orlando Magic team that boasted an incredible roster of Anfernee Hardaway, Dennis Scott, Nick Anderson, Horace Grant and of course Shaquille O’Neal.  As I watched them develop into an almost unstoppable force in the NBA, and unfortunately lose to the Houston Rockets in the 1994-’95 NBA Finals against some of my other favorite players, I was stunned when Shaquille O’Neal left Orlando in the 1996-’97 season for the Los Angeles Lakers. 

This is one benefit of not having an intense devotion to a single team because instead of experiencing unnecessary agony and grief over Orlando’s loss of arguably one of the most dominant forces the NBA has ever seen, I simply started watching him as a Laker while continuing to cheer for Anfernee Hardaway on the Magic.  Many of you may know that the 1996-’97 season was also the first of Kobe Bryant’s career in the NBA and it couldn’t have come at a better time for me as a fan.  Naturally I was watching a lot of Laker games and quickly saw the incredible potential of Kobe to be an amazing player, as well as hearing about all the media hype surrounding this teenager coming directly from high school into the NBA. 

Over the years I have been so lucky to watch some of my favorite players win NBA Championships, specifically the Lakers battle against the Blazers on many occasions in the playoffs while my die hard Blazer fan friends watch in disgust.  The most current phenoms in the NBA are undeniably Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant to name a few.  Out of this short list I tend to want to cheer the most for Dwight Howard and Kevin Durant.  Dwight Howard now finds himself in a similar state that Shaq was in while playing with the Magic.  He is currently the most dominant center in the NBA, he is a dream for the media due to his extroverted personality and sense of humor, and he is considering joining the Los Angeles Lakers as his next team in his NBA career. 

One would think that as a Lakers fan, or more simply a huge fan of Kobe and Derek Fisher (former Laker), that I would be excited that a great basketball player like Dwight would join the team of my favorite player today.  Well you would be unfortunately mistaken.  There has been so much controversy over his impending trade and a lot of it has to do with how he has conducted himself with the organization and the media.  It has been well documented that Dwight had many issues with the Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy and allegedly spoke enough of his concerns to management, that Stan was eventually fired this year.  On top of that, Dwight has essentially demanded a trade to the Brooklyn Nets which has fallen through the cracks.  He continues to say that he will not sign another contract with the Magic and the team has explored options with the Rockets and Lakers most recently. 

Here is my concern…the Lakers are in such a spotlight with the media that should Dwight come to L.A. he will most certainly continue to cause organizational issues, since there is apparently no such thing as bad press.  Should Dwight get traded to L.A. it would mean that Andrew Bynum, the Lakers current big man, would be sent off to another team, and the two of them are nearly the same player.  Both have extreme height and length in a league that is lacking in the center position, both are major drama queens but when Dwight complains he does so to the media where as Bynum simply stops playing hard and doesn’t join team huddles during timeouts, both are somewhat injury prone and most importantly both have a year left on their contracts. 

As much as I would like to see the Lakers improve their athleticism with the addition of Dwight, I don’t think it would improve their overall effectiveness in the league.  They may be better suited with keeping Bynum who they are learning how to better manage his emotions as opposed to bringing in a new talent that has already shown he has the means and determination to drive out staff he does not appreciate. 

Having said all of that, I will certainly embrace the addition of Dwight when it happens, since I do believe this trade will happen and he does live in L.A. in the summers and will be much more in the limelight, where his talents belong.  I also expect that this will happen before the next season begins and that a year from now the same discussion will occur, only in L.A., since he will not sign an extension until he is a free agent next year so he can earn a larger financial contract. 

The thing to remember as you read this and likely have accusations in your mind about me being too soon to forget his media mishaps and too willing to embrace his skills, is that superstar athletes have the benefit of being able to act inappropriately off the court, and sometimes ridiculously inappropriate, and yet still manage to win over the hearts of the nation as they put the masses in awe and wonder with their athletic prowess.  This is consistent through NBA history from Wilt being infamous for having sex with some 2,000 women, to Michael Jordan having had an affair, to the rape charge that Kobe Bryant faced not all that long ago.  All in all, Dwight Howard has not committed any offenses as close to any of these just mentioned and the memories of his actions over the past several months will hopefully be replaced by numerous NBA Championships for him, Kobe and Nash…do I dare say 3 peat.  I had to throw that last bit in for my Blazer fan friends who probably hate me right now.    

Images taken from these pages respectively: http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/07/11/dwight-howard-orlando-magic-brooklyn-nets/, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/525529-tony-parker-manu-ginobili-and-the-50-most-exciting-backcourts-in-nba-history, http://www.aolnews.com/2010/07/01/without-lebron-cleveland-would-channel-orlandos-pain/, http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3458420, http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/255970-can-trades-keep-howard-in-orlando, http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1680&bih=955&tbm=isch&tbnid=Ta5caFCD-Fm4HM:&imgrefurl=http://jockpost.com/imagine-dwight-howard-jerseys-picture-gallery/&docid=LMA6DAIQFrIDbM&imgurl=http://cdn.jockpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/dwight-howard-lakers.jpg&w=450&h=566&ei=s40ZUJPjDcTV0QHu5YGQAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=181&vpy=127&dur=2332&hovh=252&hovw=200&tx=102&ty=149&sig=100526067145634536499&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=125&start=0&ndsp=41&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:73