Happy Monday!

As you know, I haven’t followed the NBA since my all-time favorite player Charles Oakley retired from the game. The one exception came a couple of years ago when I, without doing any research, went out on a limb and predicted that the Boston Celtics would win the championship... and I was right. This season, I have decided to follow my Cleveland Cavaliers. I had a chance to watch them play against the Charlotte Bobcats in an exhibition game in North Charleston last Saturday night. I was impressed enough that I am ready to predict that they will win the championship this season. Call me crazy, but I think that LeBron fella might turn out to be a pretty good player when it’s all said and done.

So I almost died this past Friday. Well, I didn’t almost die... I didn’t even get hurt. But I felt like I might die. You see, I rode my bike to check on my friend Auburn (he’s a dog). Auburn’s parents were out of town. Where, you ask? They were in Atlanta, which is where I was going to be before the Great Atlanta Compromise kept me from going. Anyway, I was looking after Auburn and decided I would ride my bike to his house to get a little exercise. Until I turned 16, I used to ride my bike all the time. I remember it being a fun way to exercise. So I rode my bike over there at what felt like a very slow pace with my legs fighting me the whole way. It took me 27 minutes to get there, but it felt like 27 hours. How bad was it? Bad enough that I didn’t ride home... I walked. It took me 1 hour to walk back home but I felt like I could have walked for another 10 hours. Anyway, I walked back home, got my truck and went back to get my bike. Seems I’m going to have to take baby steps with this whole biking thing.

Word on the street is the First Lady hasn’t visited this great state because there is a hostile environment here. I don’t think that’s it. I mean really, if this seems like a hostile environment, then maybe politics isn’t for the President and the First Lady. Does anyone remember what George W. Bush had to deal with? Compared to that, President Obama doesn’t know what hostile is. Maybe she just doesn’t want to come here. I’m ok with that. We can still be friends.

Having said that, I do think that some people could use a reminder on good manners. You don’t have to agree with someone to treat them with respect. It seems that respect is something that has been missing in politics for some time now. I know the last president didn’t get much of it. Even if you don’t want to respect the person, at least respect the office. That’s why I don’t like calling a president by their first name (while they are in office). This doesn’t mean people have to always agree with each other... just treat each other with respect. Oh, and I’m all for people making fun of presidents (and other public people). Some might take it too far... but for the most part, I’m all for humor. Some of the best SNL skits have been about presidents.

College basketball is right around the corner......