God’s Dream Team
It’s been 17 years since the National Basketball Association’s 11 greatest professional players along with one amateur played for the United States’ national basketball squad, steamrolling over the opposition en route to an 8-0 win-loss record and the Olympic gold medal before wildly cheering crowd in Barcelona, Spain.
The US squad, led by Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, slapped high-fives, dished off n0-look passes, shoot three-pointers and dunked over mesmerized oppositions to the delight of the millions of basketball fans all over the world.
The greatest players in the planet were assembled for the world’s greatest sports spectacle. And they delivered telling results.
The Americans beat every opponent in the Olympics by an average of 44 points.
Since the 1992 Summer Games, basketball rose to unparalleled international prominence, sparking tremendous interest among European and Asian nations
The late NBA veteran coach Chuck Daly, who handled the so-called Original “Dream Team”, has this to say about the US Olympic squad: “It was like Elvis and the Beatles put together. Traveling with the Dream Team was like traveling with 12 rock stars. That’s all I can compare it to.”
Their opponents obviously had no chance pitting skills against the Americans.
That’s how God’s kingdom exactly looks like—dominant, forceful and impacting globally.
And here’s the prophet Isaiah’s prophecy, describing Jesus and His kingdom’s global impact in Isaiah 9:6-7:
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, [a] Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.(EMPHASIS MINE) He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
When we allow Jesus to take the prominent seat in our heart, it means allowing Him to rule in our lives—our finances, our careers, our key relationships, our academics, etc.
His rule results to a peace that’s unparalleled. Yes, the “storms of life” may come along from time to time, but having Christ in our lives make us secure, knowing that He is faithful and true.
If God’s kingdom is like a basketball team, Christ certainly is the head coach. His players include those who follow Him.
His team doesn’t require perfect, unblemished, sinless people. In fact, He is looking exactly for the imperfect, those who think they are losers and those who think they are weak.
If you fit in the criteria above, you are most welcome to join His team because Christ is an expert in turning losers to winners—for life.
4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
Photo Source: http://withmalice.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/bird-jordan-magic.jpg
Michael Jordan: The Greatest Ever?
It’s been more than 11 years ago since Michael Jordan retired a second time from active play in the NBA after leading to Chicago Bulls to a dynastic reign in the world’s biggest and most popular cage league.
And 11 years since his memorable game-winning and championship-clinching jump shot over a slipping Bryon Russell, who had the unenviable task of shadowing him in the Bulls-Utah Jazz championship series, Jordan hit the sports headlines once again.
No, it has nothing to do with his plan to return with the Bulls or with the Washington Wizards, but after making it to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, held in the birth place of the sport in Springfield, Mass.
Since being an NBA follower during the 1980s when Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy were running the “Showtime” with the LA Lakers, I’ve always wondered why sports scribes, towards the middle of the 1990s, would label Jordan as the Greatest basketball player ever to play the game.
I don’t really know.
But Art Thiel, who wrote an article that appeared in the Official NBA encyclopedia, mentioned that “Michael Jordan became the universal measuring device for appraising greatness.”
I really wondered what was the basis of the sports scribes, who for decades had been covering the NBA and had more or less seen the countless exploits of legendary basketball figures, before finally seeing Jordan and getting mesmerized by him.
Is it Jordan’s scoring year in year out that began in 1985? Or his passionate game face that triggered the Bulls championship stampede in 1991 to 1993, beating Western Conference’s best teams—the Lakers, the Portland Trailblazers and the Phoenix Suns in that order? Then the 1996-1998 seasons, which saw Jordan leading the Bulls anew to the NBA’s Mount Olympus? Beating squads like the Seattle Supersonics in 1996 and the Jazz in 1997 and 1998?
If it’s scoring, then I think recent Manila visitor and NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the inside track to the “greatest ever” tag because he owns the all-time NBA scoring title of 38,387 points scored spanning 20 seasons, plus he’s in the third all-time rebounding leaders, just behind the late Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
Or maybe his intensity each game that earned the nod of people that eventually made the “greatest-ever” tag sink.
Well, the possibilities are endless when we talk of Jordan and his exploits.
But what about you? What do you think made Jordan the “greatest-ever” pro basketball player of all-time?
Photo Source: http://jefferykrit.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/michael_jordan.jpg
Which Team Will Rule The UAAP in 2009?
Now tied at 3-1 apiece in the team standings with University of Santo Tomas and Far Eastern University, Ateneo de Manila certainly has to start regaining its mental focus if it wants to maintain its consistency in the Blue Eagles’ bid for back-to-back UAAP men’s basketball title this season.
The Blue Eagles, sure, remain the solid favorites to win the UAAP crown, but after their 58-68 shocking defeat at the hands of the lowly UP Fighting Maroons this afternoon, at least, six other UAAP teams now know that Ateneo can be beaten.
Admittedly, Ateneo coach Norman Black said during the post-game interview with the press that his team played a little too overconfident, an attitude that proved detrimental to the Blue Eagles’ aim for a fourth straight win.
Ateneo probably thought that its three straight wins to start the UAAP’s 72nd season has given the team enough momentum considering the Blue Eagles brought down three title contenders—FEU, University of the East and Santo Tomas.
The Fighting Maroons though played a spirited performance against their Katipunan-based counterparts that finally ended the Blue Eagles’ five-year domination in their head-to-head duel.
While it’s still too early to say which team has the serious lock for the UAAP championship, I personally believe, Ateneo is capable of bouncing back from such a stinging defeat.
As long as the Blue Eagles don’t bite into the deadly “Pride Syndrome”, a malady that can easily bring down any powerhouse team at any given day, Ateneo can make another dominant title run this season.
Otherwise, FEU, Santo Tomas, and possibly, UE, could complicate things this season, or perhaps, one of these three teams could steal the crown away from Ateneo.
How about you? Which do you think will rule the UAAP 72nd season?
