Echo

Derrick Rose is a professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls. On April 28th of last year, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during a game. In the ten months since his surgery, he has, by all accounts, done his rehab like a madman to get back on the court. In fact, his doctor has termed him fit and ready to play again.

But to hear Derrick Rose talk, he still seems to be miles away from returning.

In a interview last month with USA Today, he said he was in the "high 80s" as far as being back to 100 percent healthy. But a month later, he didn't want to put a percentage on his recovery. "It could be tomorrow and I feel like I could play the next game," said Rose. "Nobody knows but God." Rose, 24, reiterated that he had no date in mind after which he would consider it too late to come back this season.

The reason this hit home with me was in relation to the injury I had back in May of 2010 in which I popped both of my quad tendons. I had the surgery and put in the rehab work (sometimes three-a-days sessions) like WeeBay from the Wire. Around the same time period, my doctor declared me ready to return to the working world.

Physically.

When I hear DRose talk, I hear echoes of me in his language. He has said that he doesn't want to come back until he was 100% healthy. I said the same thing to my doctor. While he put up with me for a little bit, he finally gave me a metaphorical kick in the pants and urged me to get to back onto the playing field of life. When I went back to work, it was rough the first couple of weeks. But soon thereafter, it got better. The mental part kicked in. I told my doctor like Neo told Morpheus on the movie "The Matrix", "I see what you're tryin to do."

I got it.

Now I understand that the stakes are higher with Rose's legs than mine. I get that. But at the end of the day, the toughest defender you may go up against (in life) is yourself.

Let's start the Dance...

My fellow Americans, it's that time again...

 

Midwest: My pick is the Louisville Cardnals. On a serious roll after winning both the regular season and Big East Tournament. Have solid guard play . Very experienced. Will beat Michigan State in the regionals. No real upsets here.

West: The Cards will play Ohio State. Really a ho-hum region with not much pop in it. Gonzaga will lose to Kansas State. I know, I know, this Gonzaga team will go farther then the teams in the past. How many times have we heard that?

South: Now it gets funky. While my sentimental favorite (G-Town) is in this region, they will fall to a solid Florida team. How about other potential funky matchups such as Kansas/NC, then Michigan/Kansas, then Florida/Michigan in the regional finals? My pick? Can you say Wolverines?

East: Can it get funkier? Also very wide open. Hoosiers can win, the Cuse can go. My sleeper team in this region is Butler. The main reason that I like them is their mascot. But at the end of the day, like my boy said in the movie Hoodlum, "it's a new day." My pick is the Miami Hurricanes, who has my favorite guard in the tournament, Shane Larkin.

 

See you at the Final Four. Or maybe not.

#2

I admit that I haven't read anything sports wise lately that has inspired me to blog. College basketball, pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, not even the Heat's current 19 game winning streak has inspired me.

That all changed when I was awakened this morning to a report that the Boy's Club at 128 M St. in Northwest DC was going to close at the end of the month.

Talk about a wake -up call.

This Boy's Club can't get no nearer and dearer to my heart. It's where I got the sports competition bug. I can still remember, more than 40 years later, getting my baseball uniform from Mr. Wise. The funny thing is that I didn't play much on that team. But it didn't matter. I was part of something. And it was positive. In addition, it helped me to develop my other athletic skills. I learned how to play checkers there. It was one of the few places that my mother would let me go to hang out in my single digit years. To sound corny, it did provide me a safe haven and alternative to the streets.

Writing this blog now for some reason brings tears to my eyes.

Clubhouse 2 is the oldest of the Metropolitan Police Clubs and former home to Sugar Ray Leonard, John Thompson, Jr. and John Thompson III.

In listening to Lonnie Duren, brother of John Duren (former Dunbar and Georgetown standout), he says that it doesn't make sense to close this place now, especially when the weather is starting to improve.

I don't what I'm going to do, but I'm going to do something. While I'm not going to say something overdramatic like the Club kept me off the streets and out of trouble, it did.