Michael Oher
The Number One Draft Choice of the Baltimore Ravens

Millions of American football fans watched the 2009 NFL draft and listened to commentators rate the choices teams were making. Without question the most important player chosen in this year’s draft was Michael Oher the six foot five inch 300+ pound offensive tackle who played college football at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss).

If you don’t know Michael Oher’s story , you should learn about him. Oher is the subject of a book The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. The book is being made into a movie.

Oher,an African American  grew up in the most miserable of conditions in inner city Memphis, Tennessee. His father was murdered and his mother was a drug addict. He lived on the streets and basically raised himself. He  was  academically deficient but possessed innate intelligence and “street smarts”.

A private Christian high  school in East Memphis accepted Oher and gave him the educational experience that changed his life. A wealthy white family took Oher in and ultimately adopted him. Oher became a member of a real family.

Oher’s story is not a football story nor is it a story about one person’s triumph in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Rather, Oher’s story is a testament to the possibility that the lives of millions of youngsters can be changed with the help and determination of others.

Whether Oher becomes a great professional football player, is not known but what we know is that his story can serve as a beacon for ways to change the lives of thousands if not millions of young people.

A Diamond in the RoughTechnorati Tags: Michael Oher, Sean Touhey, Baltimore Ravens, Briarcrest Christian School

Jerermy Tyler

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Jeremy Tyler ,a junior in  high school in San Diego California, announced that he is foregoing his senior year to play professional basketball in Europe. Tyler a six foot eleven seventeen year old was quoted as saying that high school basketball “was boring and I was not getting better”.

Tyler follows high school star, Brandon Jennings,who skipped college last year to play professional basketball in Italy. Jennings is reported to have earned more than a million dollars this year and is now expected to be in this year’s NBA draft.

A few days before Tyler’s plans were made public, an NCAA committee  announced that it was changing its rule concerning the eligibility of college underclassmen to explore the opportunity to enter the NBA draft but to college return without penalty if they have not hired an agent to represent them.

Current rules require that in order to play in the NBA a USA citizen  must be  nineteen  years old and at least one year  has passed since his high school class whould have graduated . A separate set of rules apply to international players .

The NCAA committee is proposing to change the rules so that college coaches can plan  more effectively for their roster for the following season.

Technorati Tags: NCAA Basketball, Jeremy Tyler, Brandon Jennings, NBA Rules

Aroldis Chapman

The Cuban baseball team was competitive in this year’s  World Baseball Classic. Cuba  was eliminated from the Classic by the  the Japanese team which won the tournament this year  as well as the last  Classic in 2006.

There are a number of very good players on the Cuban team. They are a flashy team with a number of players who might be able to compete in professional baseball in the United States.

I was particularly intrigued with a young  pitcher on the Cuban team, Aroldis Chapman. I watched Chapman fire fastballs to the Australian team that were clocked at 99 miles per hour. He followed his fastballs with 75 miles per hour breaking balls. If you have ever tried to hit a basebal l you know this is a lethal combination.

The Castro government has survived the U.S. policy through the regimes of U.S. Presidents from John F. Kennedy to  Barack Obama.  The quality of life of  most Cubans has deteriorated over the years while hundreds of thousands of middle and upper income Cubans have immigrated to the U.S. and Canada.

Thousands of Cubans have perished or been imprisoned for trying to flee the island nation by sea.

The Cuban government has developed special trade alliances with Venezuela and China among other nations in order to sustain its feeble economy.