Kobe Bryant

 

Out West last weekend, we drove to some places we hadn't been to before.

The Hollywood Sign.

UCLA.

And where Kobe Bryant's helicopter crashed killing him, his daughter and everyone on board.

Crazy time, he was so young with so much to give to the world.

And he was gone in an instant.

Along with all of the other people most of them young girls, what started as a regular day ended leaving many people speechless and sad.

If you get out there, the best way is a path behind a Bark Park in Calabasas...about a mile up a path that is windy, but not too hard to get to, you can be in that area where everyone's basketball world changed.

Where Do Your Kids Get Their Athleticism?

Well, I mean, their mom and I were both multi-sport athletes who weren't too bad.

It didn't just come from out of nowhere.

It's part DNA.

Part not being soft because we won't allow it.

Part being competitive, we taught them to be that way.

Part love; we've always been there for them win or lose.

I'd like to think they got their quickness and jumping from me, and their toughness from mom...or vice versa or mostly all from mom.

But they weren't created in a test tube.

They got it from us.
 

Cali...We Went Back and Cooled Out (IYKYK)

Well, There's That

 

Indiana High School Basketball Needs a Shot Clock

I've changed.

I used to be that guy who would say we already have a shot clock and it's 8:00 minutes long.

Sure it's because I coach at a larger school now, but I've seen a shot clock used all over the world, at the youngest ages and I see better basketball than I do in a lot of games here on a Friday night.

And that's the FIBA shot clock time of 24 seconds.

And my biggest reason will definitely fall on deaf ears of those against the shot clock.

I cannot stand to play really, really good defense for 30, 45, 50, 60 seconds against a team who is trying to patiently score and then make one mistake and that team scores.

Sure, play great defense all the way through the possession, but here's the deal. We did play great defense for 45 seconds and in seconds 46 and 47 the offense is rewarded.

I get it...guard the whole time.

But make the possession end sometime, put some pressure on the offense at some point.

Now...the people who hold the ball out front and the defense doesn't come out and guard....I could care less about that argument.

100% the defense should make them try to score.

Hypocritical?

Maybe, but I'm like everyone else...selfish.

But it's coming.

Not this year or even next season.

But it's coming.

By then, I'll be watching on the sideline listening to people my age talking about the good old days of no shot clock, no NIL, no class basketball, peach baskets, railroad lines for half court, the 5 second mark in the half court, actually tossing the ball up on each jump ball, and on and on and on.

Beauty is Everywhere

Potomac River at Dusk.