Reign of the Three-Pointer

Steph Curry was reigning down 3-pointers of a biblical scale. Folks were having such fun. I tried not to say anything. But, when the clamor descended into hysteria, for the sake of humanity, someone had to say something.

Steph Curry is not the "greatest shooter God ever created," as ESPN's Stephen A. Smith so vociferously advocates. Steph is good. He may be great. But, is not "the greatest." 

The 3-pointer is one of many shots taken on a basketball court, including dunks, lay-ups, mid-range jumpers, hook shots, etc. Of these, the 3-pointer is the easiest shot to attempt. Let me give you an example: In a recent game between the Bucks and the Heat, both teams combined to take nearly twenty 3 pointers in the first quarter, alone. (They missed most of them.) In that same quarter, not a single dunk shot was attempted.  

Looking at the latest rankings of NBA player stats, I noticed that Steph is not among the top 30 in field goal percentage in the league, (though his brother Seth is ranked 20th at 51%). Neither does Steph's percentage rank among the top 30 3-point shooters, (though his teammate, Wiggins, is 16th at 42%). Steph ranks somewhere below the Lakers' Carmelo Anthony, the 30th ranked 3-point shooter at 40%. How could the 'greatest shooter God ever created" neither rank among the top 30 shooters in overall field goal percentage, nor 3-point percentage... in his own time? The objective answer is: He is not the greatest shooter ever. He is not a greater shooter than Jerry West or Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He is not a greater shooter than the Celtic, Sam Jones, whose pull-up 20-foot bank shot was "pure money." In Steph's own time, he is not a greater shooter than Kevin Durant.  

When it comes to shooting, we measure excellence by accuracy. In the five-game stretch surrounding Steph's assault on Ray Allen's 3-point record, Steph made 24 of the 74 3-pointers in attempted. That is 34% shooting. Nevertheless, basketball analysts across the land quickly attach their emotions to Steven A. Smith's visceral response. One analyst, Dominique Foxworth, a contributor on ESPN's popular "GET UP!" morning program, said of Steph's record-breaking performance, "I almost cried." Considering Steph went 4-14 from 3-point range that night, I ask, tongue-in-cheek, "Why ('cry')?" Because he missed so many? Seriously, I am becoming convinced that many of the people in today's media are getting paid based upon how prettily they can clamber onto the bandwagon. 

The basis of all "great shooter" comparisons should begin with, not volume shots taken but the percentage of shots made. If Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, or Steph's own father, Dell Curry, had taken 15 three-pointers a game, any one of them would have made as many 3-pointers as Steph has today. Reggie said it himself: "Five 3-pointers a game was the limit coach would let me take."

There are many great shooters in NBA history. We must refrain from settling such debates with subjective profusions. Better to simply say, "Steph is the most likable shooter of all time." That would be more accurate, especially since accuracy is what we are shooting for.  

Can Children "Stand Your Ground", Too?

A 15-year-old child in Oxford, Michigan, has just shot 11 people at his school, killing four children, and injuring seven others. This happens over and over in America. Why?

We are quick to wonder, "What is happening with these children?" Are we serious? These children are doing what children have done since the beginning of time. They are mimicking the adults in their families, and in their communities. 

Boys watch their fathers drink and smoke and long for the day when they can do the same. And, more and more, they watch men shoot other men, and what American courts declare, "He stood his ground." Some of these children are beginning to wonder, "When bullied, do I have a right to "Stand my ground, too?" It is a legitimate question for children to ask when they see their fathers getting away with it. 

There have been bullies since the Earth first took us on. We have all been bullied at some point in our lives - at home, at school, at work, and at play. As children, we learned to negotiate our way around that bully, or fight. And, for the most part, that is how we got through childhood. Come adulthood, the same principle applied:  Negotiate your way out or fight. Now, this "Wild West" culture has sprung up in America where you do not have to negotiate anymore. If someone threatens you, shoot him. That is your right. And, since nearly everyone in America has a gun nowadays, it is about to come down to who has the quickest draw... again. Only in America.  

I am not saying that what happened in Oxford is indicative of men "standing their ground." I bring up Oxford because it is immediate; more to the point, because schools are the venue where the majority of childhood bullying is most likely to occur. It is that "bullying" as much as anything else that is the catalyst for these terrible "stand your ground" moments.  

Adults must accept full responsibility for having ushered in this third option: the option to shoot. We have condoned men shooting other men in America as though such archaic permissiveness had no chance of seeping into childhood culture and affecting how children handle their own conflicts; without acknowledging that it is the nature of children to mimic adult behavior, no matter how destructive our behavior becomes.  

Children cannot legally own a handgun. However, many children own rifles. Kyle Rittenhouse was 17 when he took an AR-15 rifle and shot three people - killing two and badly wounding a third. The court ruled he acted in self-defense. Do you think other children were not watching? They watched, and they listened as many in America declared Rittenhouse "a hero."  Do you think those children did not like the sound of that? They are children; we all were at one time. We were often quite impressionable. 

I remember school. There, I saw more busted lips, black eyes, and bloodied noes than my father ever saw on his job. I never thought about shooting anyone; I don't think anyone did. I, like the others, negotiated my way around bullies or fought. When we were coming up in the '50s, '60s, and '70, those were the only two options we had. 

These were the good ol' days when men and boys could have their disputes, and still make it home in time for dinner... perhaps sporting a black eye, or two.  

When Doing Right is as Difficult as Going to the Moon

For Americans, this Afghan diaspora is a difficult thing to get our heads around. It tugs at our hearts and reeks beneath our noses. We don't know what to do.  

One CNN analyst suggested that America should get as many Afghan women and girls out of that country as possible. To that damned suggestion, I could imagine, if Jed Clampett was an Afghan, he'd say, "You're 'bout to muddy my creek."  

It is too easy to lose our way in matters such as these, especially when we are not only unsure but also dishonest about our motives. 

America's altruism does not run nearly as deeply as does its pride. One Fox host, Greg Gutfeld, gloated that, within two weeks of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan, there will be no money in their banks, no gas for their cars, no electricity for their homes. Rather than pat ourselves on the back for the "greatest airlift since Berlin," we might should worry that Gutfeld's vision of Afghanistan is what we leave behind.  

America did not have much trouble putting together a formidable coalition to help it bomb Afghanistan. How about we put as much effort into a formidable alliance to ensure Afghanistan's survival? At present, we seem a bit too angry to do that. 

Perhaps we are simply pouting over losing the Afghan war to a band of rabble, and along with that, losing $80 billion worth of advanced American weaponry. There is an old saying, however: "To the victor belongs the spoils." That is a bitter pill for the greatest nation on Earth to swallow. Yet, swallow we much, last we soon choke on our pride, and further lose our way. Better that we should shake with the Taliban, like good sports, and move to make the best of a bad situation. If we don't those Afghan women and girls we feign to love so much will be the ones who suffer most. 

We pretend that the Taliban is our enemy. They are not. they did not attack us on 9/11; their guest Al Quaeda did. It is right that we held the Taliban accountable for being such a gracious host to the terrorist outfit. But they, themselves, are no more our enemy than were the Viet Cong, who ceased to be our enemy the moment we quit their land.  

Today, I hear the Afghan Girls' Robotics Team has slipped away from Afghanistan and is now in America. At the risk of sounding harsh, I suggest America does not need those fine young ladies a tenth as much as Afghanistan needs them. Of course, for them, life will be easier in America, and so will the immediate optics be easier on us. 

President John F. Kennedy once said, "We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard." The easy way out for the U.S. is to look magnanimous while taking in the cream of Afghanistan's crop and adding them to our own stacked roster. The way to the moon is to suck up our pride and assist the nation that defeated us. We need to help all 20 million Afghan girls and women, all 40 million Afghans. You may say, "We tried; it didn't work." Well, let's try again. Look, this is difficult for everyone. Need I repeat the words of JFK?

I do not know if there is anyone living who can vouch for the Taliban. Who would? Yet, we must give ourselves a chance to give them a chance... for the sake of the Afghan people. The Taliban won the war, fair and square. If we do not give them a chance we write off 40 million Afghans - we purposefully relegate their lives to desperation, rather than the hope and dignity all peoples deserve. 

Let's do it! Let's see if we can put aside the mirror that only reflects our exceptional selves. Let us see. Let us define what a real American can be.  

Whatever Happened to America's Black Men?

Black men in America are not just in the doldrums, they are in a tailspin. They don't seem able to do anything right - politics, sports. They can't even sing anymore. All they can do is rap. What is that?

Black men led the Civil Rights struggle in America. I'm not just talking about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. I'm talking Eldridge Cleaver, H. Rap Brown, Huey P. Newton, and Stokely Carmichael. The voice of America's black man blared like a thousand trumpets, and black communities across this nation heeded their calls. Today, barely a peep comes out of the black men in America's congress. Thank God for our black women. These sisters fight with both hands. Such bravery makes them the undisputed voice of black America today.  

Fight? Black men don't fight anymore? They shoot. That is one thing they excel at:  shooting other blacks. At that, those men are world-beaters.  

There was a time when black men were the scourge of the fight game. Of the top five weight classes in boxing, blacks ruled them all. In the most storied of those divisions - the heavyweights - nine of the top ten fighters on Earth were African-American, including Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman. Recently, Britain's Tyson Fury took on America's top fighter, Devonte Wilder, 6' 7", 245-pound slugger, and wiped the floor with him. Why does that matter? Because fighting matters. Fight reflects a people's spirit - its courage, its will. With his fist, Joe Louis galvanized, not only a race but a nation. Thirty years later, Muhammed Ali inspired a world.  

Blacks in baseball are in worst shape than those in boxing. There are no more Willie Mays' or Hank Aarons in baseball. In fact, there is not a single African-American play in all of Major League Baseball that bears mentioning. You may say, "Blacks still dominate basketball." Yes, but even there, they are slipping. The last three NBA Most Valuable Player awards went to foreign-born men: Giannis Antentekoumpo in '19 and '20 and Jokovic in '21.  

We've changed. Time was when black did not sing like normal folks; did not fight normal, either. Rather, we did it like we had been infused. It was something. I suppose, that steadily coalesced within us - imbued over centuries of abuse - a curious and wondrous compensation called "soul". It peaked in us in the 20th century and manifesting itself in an awakening that bordered on mysticism. The Negro League's Josh Gibson hit baseballs farther than any human in history. A goliath named Wilt Chamberlain set NBA records that will never be broken, like averaging 50 points a game over an 81 game season. And fighters named Jack Johnson and Sugar Ray Robinson sent white men scurrying for answers that did not come for another hundred years.  

Came the jazz men - black musicians who rose like zeniths to make music never heard before. It was "soul", and black folks felt it. We found comfort in our blackness - a sanctuary even white folks envied, and longed to join. Yeah, being black in America was not so bad, after all.

That was then, as they say, this is now. Our "awakening" has soured into our "ineptitude". Black men today can barely pass a baton. They can't fight. They can't sing. 

Black men at the height of their power had white men just where they wanted them - back on their heels, daring not to further prod these ascendant people. Then, came the "ineptitude" and with it our waning stature, and the inevitable loss of respect. That is where the black man is now. He has lost the respect earned over a century of struggle. 

The white man never respected the slave; neither did he respect the sharecropper But, the respected man who could carve out a niche their own terms like the black man did in America. Too bad we carved it in balsam wood and not stone.  

Be Packin'

Lately, the media has been informing us each Monday about the mass shootings that have taken place in this country the past weekend. The numbers are always staggering, and sickening. Then, on cue, they ask: "When will it stop?" And I say to myself, "It won't."

"What will it take," they add, "for lawmakers to take action?" It will take something our lawmakers do not have: Courage.

We don't seem to get it. We call these politicians "leaders", though they follow us. They are a tool of the American people's desires. I suppose that is how democracies are supposed to work, except when the people, themselves, are sick, and the so-called "leaders" are afraid to say, "Enough!"

In America, there are 300 million guns in the hands of 300 million citizens. Why? Put a bat in a person's hand, and he will swing it. Give him a rock, and he will throw it. Pass out 300 million guns, and there is going to be a lot of shooting. 

Guns have a singular purpose: to kill. Even when you target practice with a gun, the purpose is to make yourself a more efficient killer. We have already killed most of the animals in America, (and they are innocent). Now, we shoot at what is left, which is mostly people. After all, we are Americans. We must shoot. 

We the people want guns because we're tired of having to "get along" with other people. To Americans, "getting along" sounds weak. Rather have these killing machines that will make us super-men and super-women, (even super-kids): that will save us from fear, or from having to be conciliatory, or humble, or simply human. With guns, we won't have to teach our children to say "please" and "thank you" Just "Be Packin'."

America's 2nd Amendment right to bear arms is an obvious recipe for disaster. It would be a recipe for disaster for any nation on Earth. Fortunately, no other nation in the world follows our lead. And, the more we tout our vaunted 2nd Amendment right to bear arms," the more the rest of the world shakes its collective head in pity, and wonders. "What is wrong with those people?" I'll tel you: We lack courage. 

The Soul of Osaka

Naomi Osaka is the closest thing the sports world has to a Greta Thunberg, or a Malala Youssafsai. And they do not know what to do with her. Try listening.  

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To understand Russia's Putin, spend some time reading up on Josef Stalin. In the 1930s, the Pope sent an emissary to Russia to encourage Stalin to treat his christians better. Stalin asked the emissary, "Ho many (army) divisions do the Pope have?" Putin is not only a Stalin disciple, he wants to be Stalin.  

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Donald Trump recently asked one of his close advisors if there was a chance that he could be reinstated as President of these United States. This Trump is a marvel of the modern world: A grown man who still believes in the tooth fairy.  

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Lebron James, with four NBA titles under his belt, is the league's premier politician. He religiously stays on good terms with all of the league's other great players. He sees each of them as a potential teammate who could help him surpass Michael Jordan's six NBA titles. 

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There was a time, in the 70s, that I worked in rehabilitation at the Kalamazoo County Jail. From time to time, we'd ask our charges, "Do you want to look good, or be good?" It is still a question we each should ask ourselves. And, while we are at it, we might each want to ask, "Do I wan to work, or do I just want to get paid?"  

If this is the "great nation" it presumes to be, we, as a people, must get both questions right.  

Iron Domes: They Sure Do Work

We watch the Palestinians lob primitive rockets into Israel only to have 90% of those rockets blunted by Israel's "Iron Dome" anti-missile system. Then we see the Israelis return fire - missiles, artillery, smart bombs. Two hundred dead Palestinians to ten dead Israelis. Yet, the Palestinians continue to swing back. If you wonder "why?" then you've never really fought; you've never really faced a bully and committed your soul to standing up to him. 

The Palestinians exist in a 13-square-mile concentration camp called "The Gaza Strip." They are born into this captivity. A land, sea, and air blockade governs their entire lives. You might call it Israel's "other iron done." (Speaking of "iron domes": The two million Palestinians clinging to life in the Gaza Strip equals the number of men and women kept in America's prisons.)

America, which considers Israel one of its closest friends, condones Israel's human rights abuses against the Palestinian people, even as the world community objects. It appears we do not care as much about people's "living free" as we pretend. But, we like those "iron domes." They sure do work.