Kobe Bryant's memorial service at Staples Center starts this morning at 10:00.
Vanessa Bryant, Kobe's widow, wisely labeled the tribute "A Celebration of Life."
How else can you deal with the loss of a 41-year-old father of four, all daughters, who served as an inspiration to people around the world?
I feel for every person suffering from Kobe's sudden passing, except for Shaquille O'Neal.
In the wake of Kobe's death, the immature O'Neal has commanded others to better communicate with those you love.
Shaq's words ring hollow and obviously arrive too late.
His last conversation with Kobe came more than a year ago.
Shortly before the helicopter crash in Calabasas, Kobe exchanged text messages with O'Neal's pair of basketball-playing sons, Shareef and Shaqir, inviting them to train their bodies and improve their games at Mamba Sports Academy.
Ironically, Kobe had delivered a similar invitation to Papa Shaq about 20 years earlier.
O'Neal never accepted the invitation.
Kobe ended his NBA career with five championship titles and Shaq ultimately earned four rings, but O'Neal recently claimed, "If we had stayed together, we could have won 10 rings."
Shaq should revisit history to uncover the real truth.
Here's what a sober Shaquille O'Neal would have said and should have said, "Had I been as mature and dedicated and hard-working and competitive as Kobe Bryant, then we could have won 10 championship rings."
It was Shaq who disqualified himself from basketball glory by not staying true to his craft and instead labeling Kobe a "ball hog."
Shaq will continue to hurt emotionally until he undergoes an honest self-evaluation of his life and career.
After all, there's a reason Shaq competed for six NBA teams over 19 seasons while Kobe was a fan favorite during his entire 20-year career in a Laker uniform.
MY BATTLE CRY.....Tell me something I don't already know.
It's one of my favorite appeals to fellow gamblers, especially sports bettors with whom I'm meeting for the first time.
Eye On Gaming contributor MACAU delivered a pair of memorable lines, one from a gambler's perspective and the other from the standpoint of an experienced bookmaker.
MACAU is a no-nonsense gambler with connections to Bet365 who recently discussed his thoughts at a coffee shop near his home in Escazú Village.
MACAU said, "Too many gamblers bet into hard numbers."
As he continued to explain his theory, I avoided eye contact with MACAU, not wanting to get whistled for the foul.
"With the exception of injury information or dramatic changes in weather, do you really want to bet an NFL game in the minutes before kickoff?"
The Irish-bred MACAU also sounded the alarm for free-wheeling bookmakers, "Stop accepting limit wagers from your newest accounts on hard-to-price player propositions."
MACAU divulged, "The accounts may be new but the players behind the accounts are old pros."
ATHLETIC TIP.....It's my favorite piece of sporting advice at football, basketball, soccer and hockey arenas.
You are never more open than when you first catch the ball.
Sounds simple but you'd be surprised how many professional athletes violate this basic principle.
There's the NFL quarterback who holds the ball too long or the back-to-the-basket power forward who is a ball-stopper or the soccer player or hockey star who dominates the ball or puck.
Catch the ball or control the ball and be ready to act instantly.
Too many athletes, especially recreational ones, hesitate before they act and then it's too late.
YO-LEVEN.....The box score for last Saturday's college basketball game between Cal Baptist and lowly Chicago State at Jones Convocation Center listed an attendance mark of 368.
That's NOT the paid attendance.
I attended a men's basketball game last season at Chicago State and counted about 125 people in the stands, including former NBA player and New Mexico State alum Randy Brown.
NMSU defeated Chicago State, 92-58, as a 24.5-point road favorite.
The official NCAA box score, however, showed an attendance figure of 555 in an arena that holds 7,000.
Why the discrepancy?
No matter the official explanation -- distributed tickets versus paid tickets -- the state-funded school wants to avoid the embarrassment of a failed basketball program.
I don't blame them for being embarrassed.
But where's the integrity and transparency?
Illinois taxpayers deserve to see the balance sheet of an athletic department at a publicly-funded university.
And sports fans everywhere deserve player information that includes injury updates, academic progress reports and accurate height/weight measurements.
Little white lies mushroom into dark scandalous secrets like academic fraud or recruiting violations or possibly even point-spread manipulation.
Two simple questions: Why are the Cougars a full-fledged member of Division I basketball and why does Chicago State, located on the far south side of the city, compete in the Western Athletic Conference?
And a better question: Why did Illinois legislators earmark $7 million last November to fix repairs at the Jones Convocation Center, home of the Chicago State Cougars?
It's time to pull the plug on the struggling basketball program and not because the team has lost 29 straight conference games and the Cougars are 2-60 in WAC play over the past five seasons.
The primary reason to abolish the program came straight from the mouth of head basketball coach Lance Irvin.
In Saturday's 95-53 loss to Cal Baptist, CSU center Solomon Hunt scored a team-high 11 points, matching the total number of fans who paid for admission to watch the beatdown.
Eleven points for your leading scorer and 11 paying customers at the turnstile.
You can't make it up.
Vanessa Bryant, Kobe's widow, wisely labeled the tribute "A Celebration of Life."
How else can you deal with the loss of a 41-year-old father of four, all daughters, who served as an inspiration to people around the world?
I feel for every person suffering from Kobe's sudden passing, except for Shaquille O'Neal.
In the wake of Kobe's death, the immature O'Neal has commanded others to better communicate with those you love.
Shaq's words ring hollow and obviously arrive too late.
His last conversation with Kobe came more than a year ago.
Shortly before the helicopter crash in Calabasas, Kobe exchanged text messages with O'Neal's pair of basketball-playing sons, Shareef and Shaqir, inviting them to train their bodies and improve their games at Mamba Sports Academy.
Ironically, Kobe had delivered a similar invitation to Papa Shaq about 20 years earlier.
O'Neal never accepted the invitation.
Kobe ended his NBA career with five championship titles and Shaq ultimately earned four rings, but O'Neal recently claimed, "If we had stayed together, we could have won 10 rings."
Shaq should revisit history to uncover the real truth.
Here's what a sober Shaquille O'Neal would have said and should have said, "Had I been as mature and dedicated and hard-working and competitive as Kobe Bryant, then we could have won 10 championship rings."
It was Shaq who disqualified himself from basketball glory by not staying true to his craft and instead labeling Kobe a "ball hog."
Shaq will continue to hurt emotionally until he undergoes an honest self-evaluation of his life and career.
After all, there's a reason Shaq competed for six NBA teams over 19 seasons while Kobe was a fan favorite during his entire 20-year career in a Laker uniform.
MY BATTLE CRY.....Tell me something I don't already know.
It's one of my favorite appeals to fellow gamblers, especially sports bettors with whom I'm meeting for the first time.
Eye On Gaming contributor MACAU delivered a pair of memorable lines, one from a gambler's perspective and the other from the standpoint of an experienced bookmaker.
MACAU is a no-nonsense gambler with connections to Bet365 who recently discussed his thoughts at a coffee shop near his home in Escazú Village.
MACAU said, "Too many gamblers bet into hard numbers."
As he continued to explain his theory, I avoided eye contact with MACAU, not wanting to get whistled for the foul.
"With the exception of injury information or dramatic changes in weather, do you really want to bet an NFL game in the minutes before kickoff?"
The Irish-bred MACAU also sounded the alarm for free-wheeling bookmakers, "Stop accepting limit wagers from your newest accounts on hard-to-price player propositions."
MACAU divulged, "The accounts may be new but the players behind the accounts are old pros."
ATHLETIC TIP.....It's my favorite piece of sporting advice at football, basketball, soccer and hockey arenas.
You are never more open than when you first catch the ball.
Sounds simple but you'd be surprised how many professional athletes violate this basic principle.
There's the NFL quarterback who holds the ball too long or the back-to-the-basket power forward who is a ball-stopper or the soccer player or hockey star who dominates the ball or puck.
Catch the ball or control the ball and be ready to act instantly.
Too many athletes, especially recreational ones, hesitate before they act and then it's too late.
YO-LEVEN.....The box score for last Saturday's college basketball game between Cal Baptist and lowly Chicago State at Jones Convocation Center listed an attendance mark of 368.
That's NOT the paid attendance.
I attended a men's basketball game last season at Chicago State and counted about 125 people in the stands, including former NBA player and New Mexico State alum Randy Brown.
NMSU defeated Chicago State, 92-58, as a 24.5-point road favorite.
The official NCAA box score, however, showed an attendance figure of 555 in an arena that holds 7,000.
Why the discrepancy?
No matter the official explanation -- distributed tickets versus paid tickets -- the state-funded school wants to avoid the embarrassment of a failed basketball program.
I don't blame them for being embarrassed.
But where's the integrity and transparency?
Illinois taxpayers deserve to see the balance sheet of an athletic department at a publicly-funded university.
And sports fans everywhere deserve player information that includes injury updates, academic progress reports and accurate height/weight measurements.
Little white lies mushroom into dark scandalous secrets like academic fraud or recruiting violations or possibly even point-spread manipulation.
Two simple questions: Why are the Cougars a full-fledged member of Division I basketball and why does Chicago State, located on the far south side of the city, compete in the Western Athletic Conference?
And a better question: Why did Illinois legislators earmark $7 million last November to fix repairs at the Jones Convocation Center, home of the Chicago State Cougars?
It's time to pull the plug on the struggling basketball program and not because the team has lost 29 straight conference games and the Cougars are 2-60 in WAC play over the past five seasons.
The primary reason to abolish the program came straight from the mouth of head basketball coach Lance Irvin.
In Saturday's 95-53 loss to Cal Baptist, CSU center Solomon Hunt scored a team-high 11 points, matching the total number of fans who paid for admission to watch the beatdown.
Eleven points for your leading scorer and 11 paying customers at the turnstile.
You can't make it up.
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