Sports as in business and maybe even to a greater extent life is all about surrounding yourself with good people and pushing yourself to achieve everything you can. This is why we are one of the greatest Softball teams in the history of Red Bug Lake park and come to this site to be surrounded by winners......(We are the Greatest but Red Bug Lake won't recognize this quite yet).

This is why we love to follow our teams but usually put a face to our favorite franchises or teams that we love even more......see Derek Jeter, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, MJ, Etc....... The greatness that is all of the aforementioned leaders is their ability to push others to greatness and jump on board with them on their path to being champions. One can argue that their have been better players than some of the greats but they were missing that certain something to help push their teams to the next level...(See A-Rod, Charles Barkely, Drago, etc...).

My point of all this is that recently Kobe came up short of winning his first NBA title since Mayor Shaq left L.A. and his chance to put to rest of comparisons of him to MJ or prove he can without Shaqdaddy.

After reading an article by Stephen A. Smith it got me to thinking. Here is a quote that started it all:Kobe was right about something. "I'm not Michael Jordan," he said. "There's only one Michael. There is no other." Gotta give the man credit for telling the truth. Not just about himself, but about all these other athletes not named MJ who always seem to shrink when the moment demands they come up big.

Now that Kobe is on the record as saying that he never wanted to be nor warranted being compared to MJ, we are obliged to agree with him. Kobe's skills are spectacular, but his legacy is stained by his inability to squeeze some heart out of his teammates. MJ never got blown out or flat out embarrassed in an NBA finals game, he simply would not have tolerated it from him or his teammates.

"Real knows real," Shaquille O'Neal once said. "You don't teach that extra something someone has inside their chest. Leaders come in a variety of ways, but you always can see it when it's really there. At the end of the day, it's not just all about you. It's about your ability to pull the max out of someone else, to inspire them to be all they can be because they are around you. Any true champion at some point has done it." Just like Capt. Tucci is going to do with the Cobra Kai.

Do you think on any given Friday night you could put back 20 beers while slamming 8 of them in record time sitting at home with your significant other? Or do you need the support and prodding from your team to accomplish such a feat? I know I couldn't do it without my teammates pushing me.

This also comes back to Koko's favorite player Derek Jeter and his other idol A-Rod. Derek Jeter while many could argue not as talented as A-Rod was kept in place at SS over A-Rod and is the Yankee captain mainly because he has that extra something while A-Rod lacks it. Jeter has a ring, A-Rod does not, and while he is probably the greatest baseball player of our generation he has not done much in the win column and has left behind 2 teams (Mariners and Rangers) after thinking he would lead them to the promised land. Juan can tell great stories of A-Rod's struggles even in High School not being able to lead his team to a championship because of his mental errors.

For $300 million, A-Rod is supposed to be the face of the franchise, the personification of Yankee Pride. However, he is not a leader he is a follower. If the news of his alleged affair and impending divorce from wife Cynthia is to offer anything more than interesting reading it's just that. . Alex Rodriguez doesn't know who he is, or what he's supposed to be, and that's why he is out there cavorting with Madonna who is a few days shy of her 50th Birthday. Now, this is not an attempt to bash Koko's man A-Rod it is just an interesting thought that came to me after reading a few different articles. It is more a bash at A-Rod and Kobe's inability to lead.....Koko come on now I gave props to Jeter so don't turn this into a mudslinging thing.


I am just trying to make a comment on true leadership.......and how poignant Shaq's statement was about "Real Knows Real"....and I just don't think A-Rod can lead the Yanks to a title much like KG did with the Celtics by getting every last player on his team to give everything they have for the team. A team wins championships not just players.

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