NBA PLAYER: Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin is an NBA basketball player. He plays for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. Prior to the Lakers, he spent sometime with the Houston Rockets, another NBA team. Lin became famous while playing for the New York Knicks. The term "Lin sanity" came about during his time with the Knicks. He had an incredible run with the team that gained him superstar status in the NBA.

Jeremy Lin is a great offensive player. He is good at shooting and driving to the basket. He sees the court very well and it helps in his passing game. He is a point guard and seeing the court well is a needed skill set. He seems to thrive best in a run and gun style of play. He does most of his damage in the transition from defense to offense. If there is one knock on Jeremy Lin, it is that he is not a good defensive player.

Playing defense is an important part of basketball. It is the art of stopping your opponent from scoring or helping some one else to score. It can be very difficult and Mr. Lin is not the only one with difficulty playing defense. To be clear, it is not that Mr. Lin does not play defense. He gets beat off the dribble when his opponents use fakes to go by him. Also, the screens don't help, but that's a problem for everyone. The man Mr. Lin is guarding does three things to go by him. They use a head fake, shoulder fake or ball fake. The ball fake usually entails a cross-over. As stated earlier, Mr. Lin is not the only one with defensive problems. There are many NBA players with the same problem.

The solution is very simple. The answer lies in what is known as body mass or your center mass. I've watch Jeremy Lin play defense (purely as a fan of his and of the game). He has a tendency to focus on the opponents head, shoulder or ball dribble. By doing this, he is susceptible to fakes which results in him losing his man in open court. What Mr. Lin needs to do is concentrate on the center mass of his opponent. He needs to focus in on the chest area of the man he is playing. A player can fake with his head, shoulders or even the ball but where his center mass goes, so does the rest of him. There is no way around it. There are other factors that a good defensive player needs. But in Mr. Lin's case, This is the most important in my opinion. The opinion of one of his many fans.  

STAR TREK: Farewell Mr. Spock

Leonard Nimoy died on February 27, 2015. He was the actor that played "Spock" on the popular television series, "Star Trek." He was 83 years old and beloved by many. His character was an alien from the planet Vulcan. Vulcan's had learned to control their emotions as a people. It was not that they did not have emotions but rather they controlled their emotions. Vulcan's as a consequence of controlling their emotions appeared to be emotionless. The life of a Vulcan was based on logic. They needed things and wanted everything to be logical. And if they weren't, it did not make sense to them. Spock was the epitome of what a Vulcan was and should be. But because Spock was half human, he struggled with emotions more so than did full blooded Vulcans. On the show, Spock the character was the perfect first officer and the perfect friend.

Can a totally logical person be prejudice? The answer to that question is no, they cannot be. If you accept the premise of what a Vulcan is, can Spock be a prejudice person? The answer would seem to be no, he cannot. I probably liked the character "Spock" on "Star Trek" for that reason. As a child, I looked at him as someone who was not and could not be prejudice. This is the reason I enjoyed the show so much as a child and as an adult. Although at a later age, I realized that even very logical individuals could be prejudice for any given number of reasons.

The show also dealt with topics that pertained to prejudice directly and indirectly. One of my favorite episodes was the one dealing with the creator of Enterprise's ships computer. The creator was a black man and was the engineer that created the computer. Even as a child, I knew how unusual it was to see that man in that role and the character to be of that race. There was another episode I enjoyed immensely. It was about a planet at war. The inhabitants had killed off everyone on the planet except for two remaining survivors. They were hell bent on killing each other. Eventually, they were both beamed to the Enterprise. When they got there, Captain Kirk asked them why they were fighting and trying to kill one another. One of the men said, "Can't you see?" Everyone on the bridge looked at the men and then at each other. They did not understand. The man saw this and said, "He is black on the right side and I am black on the left." The other man he was at war with was in total agreement. They demanded to be beamed back to the planet to finish hunting each other. The captain complied.

It is my hope that Mr. Leonard Nimoy lived a long and prosperous life. As someone who is outside looking in, it appears that was the case. I saw him in other roles as an actor. It always brought a smile to my face because I would always associate him with "Spock." I would not be surprised if hundreds of years from now "Star Trek" was still relevant. After all, it was a show which the creator, Gene Roddenberry, stated was a play on morality. If you look closely, it was exactly that, in my opinion. I am sure that he will be missed by his family, friends and the many fans he has worldwide. I am one of those fans.