Introverts
get a raw deal in our society. When they’re not overlooked, they’re often undervalued.
We give them little attention and usually
less appreciation.
Today
we make room for a remarkably narrow range of personality styles,” author Susan
Cain writes in “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop
Talking.” “We’re told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be
sociable. We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts – which means we’ve lost sight
of who really are. Depending on which study you consult, one third to one half
of Americans are introverts.”
And
they have a new champion in Kawhi Leonard, who in his entire career has shared
fewer public comments than LeBron James uttered after becoming a Laker.
In
terms of media profile, Q-rating and public persona, Leonard is the proverbial mouse
wetting cotton. But on the court, Toronto’s superstar has loudly inserted himself
into arguments about the NBA’s top player.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
“This is the best important open job in all of
sports right now.” – owner Ted Leonsis on Wizards’ GM vacancy.
It’s
quite possible that no else in the world agreed with Leonsis when he made that
statement on April 3. And there’s good reason to wonder how much he truly
believed it himself.
“Open”
is the only part of the job assessment that was universally accepted as
accurate.
Eight
weeks later, nothing else has changed. The position remains unfilled and (to candidates
with options) unappealing.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Once
again, it’s time to check off some items on my “TIDU List” – Things I Don’t
Understand:
*I
don’t understand why the local NFL team is so injury prone.
Reuben
Foster’s torn ACL – on a non-contact play at half-speed – is as freaky as suffering
separated ribs after sneezing. But such is life for this franchise, “celebrating”
its 20th anniversary of Dan Snyder’s ownership. Washington led the league with 27 players on
injured reserve last season, eight more than it posted the year before.
Big
investments on rest-and-recovery equipment are no match for karma.
*I
don’t understand why the NFL is foot-dragging on weed.
California
in 1996 became the first state to legalize medical marijuana. A year later, the
New England Journal of Medicine called for reclassifying the drug to acknowledge
its medical use. The NFL is finally coming around, teaming with the players’
union to study the substance’s use as a pain management tool. It’s about time.
The way the
NFL pushes opioids, it must own Big Pharma stocks.
*I
don’t understand how the Nationals can overcome their start.
The injury
bug has slowed down, and the schedule is easing up. But the wretched bullpen, shoddy
defense and deplorable baserunning remain in full effect for the Nats, who on
Tuesday dropped to 10 games below .500 for the first time since September 2011.
Manager Dave Martinez is a super-nice guy and the Nats are a very good
franchise.
Both
parties deserve better than they’ve received from the other.
*I
don’t understand how we forgot about Steph Curry.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The New York Times)
Colleges claim to care about the students. The NCAA claims to care
about the athletes. Coaches claim to care about the players.
But the evidence often suggests otherwise. Adults at too many
institutions have caused and/or ignored too much abuse suffered by too many young
people.
Leadership at Penn State looked the other way for decades as assistant
football coach Jerry Sandusky committed atrocities for at least 15 years. The
administration at Michigan State did nothing for two decades while Larry Nassar
violated more than 300 preteen and teenage gymnasts. Officials at the University of Southern
California disregarded complaints for nearly 20 years before finding that school
gynecologist George Tyndall sexually harassed some of his patients, who
numbered in the tens of thousands.
Now comes word that Ohio State also aided and abetted a serial sexual
abuser, failing to act against Richard Strauss, who retired with honors nearly
a decade before killing himself in 2005.
According to an independent investigation released last week,
Strauss “abused at least 177 male student-patients,” many while he worked as a
team doctor in the athletics department. Even worse, investigators determined
that “University personnel had knowledge of Strauss’ sexually abusive treatment
as early as 1979.”
The case is much like the others, with one huge exception: Preying
on boys (Sandusky), or girls and young women (Nassar and Tyndall), is the norm
in such headline-grabbing cases. But
Strauss has destroyed the stereotype by sullying some of society’s
shiniest examples of strength and virility.
An attorney representing more than 50 former victims told The
Associated Press that most of his clients played football at Ohio State, and
some later played in the NFL.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Tuesday
was a bad night for Knicks fans.
Which
makes it no different than most other nights since 1973.
Fans
went to bed Monday with visions of Zion Williamson dancing through their head. But those images evaporated less than 24 hours
later, disappearing in a flash, like the misplaced hope that arose when Phil
Jackson was named Knicks’ president.
Yes,
there are longsuffering franchises with no championship banners (Phoenix) or lengthier
championship droughts (Milwaukee). But New York is the only perpetual also-ran that’s
also an NBA cornerstone playing in its city of inception. It’s also the only
one that hosts visiting teams in the so-called “Mecca of Basketball.”
Tuesday
was supposed to represent the start of a new era, a three-step reset after
losing a league-high 65 games. 1) Win the lottery and select Williamson. 2) Sign
Kevin Durant after the Golden State star notches another NBA Finals MVP. 3) Add disgruntled Boston guard Kyrie Irving (though
I’d prefer a different NYC point guard – Charlotte’s Kemba Walker – who offers
slightly less as a baller and much less as a drama king).
But
the ping-pong balls went awry Tuesday, making Knicks fans long for the days of (alleged)
frozen envelopes and Patrick Ewing. The Georgetown legend represented New York
onstage at the draft, but the magic that made him No. 1 in 1985 shifted to New
Orleans, where the Pelicans are celebrating a shot at Williamson and a renewed
shot at keeping Anthony Davis.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
The
weekend brought us a first glimpse of Washington’s would-be hero at
quarterback.
Tuesday
night will either raise our hopes or deflate them regarding a potential
liberator for the Washington Wizards.
Dwayne
Haskins was as impressive as a passer can be in an NFL rookie minicamp, which
indicates his future success less accurately than cloudy crystal balls. Among
multiple observers enthused by Haskins’ showing was coach Jay Gruden, who noted
that the Ohio State product “can really spin it.”
Maybe
Haskins should represent the Wizards onstage during the NBA draft lottery and wear
his No. 7 jersey for good luck. The basketball team needs all kinds of fortune
to rise above the sixth pick, where it currently sits.
(Remind me again why pushing for the playoffs was so important. Had they won 22 games instead of 32, chances of landing game-changers Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett or Ja Morant would be much more reasonable. Considering the pall cast by former general manager Ernie Grunfeld, the Wizards would do well to avoid picking 10th, their worst possible outcome.)
On
one hand, Portland’s Damian Lillard was the No. 6 pick in 2012. He’s a
four-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection who just led the Trail
Blazers to the Western Conference finals.
On
the other hand, sixth overall picks since then, in order, are Nerlens Noel,
Marcus Smart, Willie Cauley-Stein, Buddy Hield, Jonathan Issac and Mo Bamba –
not exactly franchise-altering talents thus far.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Ladies
and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting edition of America’s favorite sports
pastime, The Blame Game!
Today’s
contestants hail from the Washington Nationals, whom several prognosticators picked
to reach World Series. When we last left
the Nats, they were coming off a disappointing 82-80 season in Dave Martinez’s
inaugural campaign as a major-league skipper.
Now
in his second year at the helm, Martinez is a favorite to win MDB honors – Most
Deserving of Blame. Also in the hunt are the Lerners, general manager Mike
Rizzo, and the injury bug. Each has played a key role in Washington’s 14-21 mark
entering Wednesday, the NL’s second-worst record and the Nationals’ worst winning
percentage since September 2011.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
With
all due respect to No. 2-seed Denver and No. 3-seed Portland, there’s a sense
that the Western Conference finals are underway as we speak, even while the aforementioned
teams toil to advance.
The
Nuggets and Trail Blazers have produced a scintillating back-and-forth in their
semifinal matchup, particularly Game 3’s instant-classic, four-overtime
thriller. Neither squad has won consecutive contests and neither has protected its
homecourt, with Denver’s road win Sunday knotting the series at two games
apiece.
Great
stuff.
But
most attention is focused on the other Western conference semi, featuring
three-time champion Golden State and would-be nemesis Houston. Denver and
Portland have plenty of talent between them, but not the star power of Kevin
Durant and James Harden, nor the teams’ recent history and bad blood.
In
Durant and Harden, we’re witnessing the reigning MVPs for the NBA Finals and
NBA regular season. Durant is staking his claim as the league’s best player and
Harden is right behind him, pushing like he did when they battled in practice
as Oklahoma City teammates.
“Hopefully,
he pulled a couple of things from me, but I probably pulled way more things
from him than he got from me,” Durant said via The San Francisco Chronicle.
A
rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals, the Warriors-Rockets series
was looked forward to with great anticipation all season. Unfortunately, Denver
won 54 games to Houston’s 53 (clinching the second seed), while Portland also
won 53 games (securing the third seed on tiebreakers), leading to an
earlier-than-expected reprise.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Substances
and athletic competition go back a long way. For all we know, the ancient
Greeks cultivated a mix of “special” olives to help Olympic runners go faster. If
nothing else, doping was evident in the 1964 Tokyo Games, when East Germany’s national
program began to bear fruit.
Since
then, the use of assorted supplements and steroids have occurred in baseball,
cycling, football and weightlifting, among other sports. Athletes turn to such
regimens because they deliver results in many cases, the same reason governing
bodies forbid certain substances.
But
Wednesday’s ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport could be
unprecedented.
CAS
didn’t announce a new ban on performance-enhancing drugs. Instead, it issued a
mandate for the use of performance-DIMINISHING drugs.
In
support of rules imposed by the International Association of Athletics
Federations, CAS says South African track star Caster Semenya has done nothing
wrong. She just has to lessen her natural state.
Semenya
is believed to have an intersex condition, giving her levels of testosterone
that are substantially higher than most women. Now, the three-time world
champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist must take medication to suppress
her testosterone in order to compete.
Eat
right and train hard. Work on your form and get proper rest. Develop the single-minded
focus and determination of a champion.
And,
oh yeah: Ingest these hormones to decrease your edge.
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