Those of you that know me know that I'm not the type to be jaded by celebrity. I'm not going to tweet happy birthday or RIP to someone I've never met, or pretend that my opinion matters. More or less, anyone could have put "Steve Jobs RIP" on their facebook last week and gotten likes. That's just not my style.
Still, I think certain people have an affect that transcends their lives on Earth, and he's one of them as I learned today. I saw this clip of him tonight at the YMCA speaking to Stanford grads, and it definitely was motivational stuff.
There's a lot there in a 4 minute clip. My favorite quote? "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." I think I share a lot of this philosophy, and Jobs and I would've probably agreed on more than one thing, but sometimes we all need a kick in the ass to remind us that we're living on borrowed time, so make the most of it.
Saw this link about Penn St. students dressing as Virginia Tech shooting victims as Halloween Costumes:
http://ezineblog.org/virginia-tech/penn-state-students-dress-as-virginia-tech-victims-for-halloween-costume/comment-page-3/
I can't even begin to describe how mad this makes me. Obviously, people all over the world are chiming in and angered, but for those of us who like me was close to one of the victims, there's a whole new level of feelings there. I remember finding out that a friend of mine, I guy I went to school with, played ball with and against, and looked up to, Matt Gwaltney, had been killed in that tragedy. I was a freshman at Methodist University at the time. I had just gotten in from an early AM class, and was stopping by my dorm room on the way to the arena to see the trainer for some post season injury rehab. My mom called me and asked me if I had heard what had happened. I turned on the TV and lost it. I had so many friends at VT at the time, people I had know from 5, 10 years. And like so many, I got on facebook and my phone and tried to reach out to them all, one by one. I remember finding out about Matt, and being one of the only people from Virginia down there in NC who understood and was hurt that bad. I made the lonely car trip home that afternoon, and I don't think I stopped crying for 5 minutes on the drive. I'd be offended by this regardless, but if there's a silver lining, I hope everyone that was close to a victim finds motivation in their loss everyday. Miss you Matt.
Moving on, I spent a few hours studying film on one of the big time opponents on our schedule this season at Cosby. One thing I come away with from that is one of my favorite old adages, "Good is good for a reason." One thing that fascinates me right now, is the desire to watch other coaches coach, especially in a practice setting. It's pretty hard to see that kind of thing, so I have to settle for watching game film of those coach's teams play games. We are less than 3 weeks from the first day of try outs/practice, and it couldn't get here soon enough.
In the sports world, the Oakland Raiders grossly overpaid for Carson Palmer. The numbers don't lie, Palmer is NOT an elite QB in the NFL. He's a solid pro, and granted he's played on some bad teams, but he's also played on some playoff teams. I don't think he's worth 2 1st round picks. He may not even be worth 1. Oakland once again will play the goat. Palmer will likely take a while to even get in a game, and how good of shape could he be in right now? Rewind to the last time he played. If he plays at that modest level, is he an upgrade over Kyle Boller? Yes. Does that Carson Palmer make the Raiders a better team? Yes. In a weak division, does he make them a playoff contender? Probably. But is that worth the price of back to back top 15 or top 20 picks? Even if they win an AFC title, I don't think so.
That's all i got for tonight. Thanks for reading
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