The Indiana Fever deserve your support

First appeared on October 19, 2012
in The Lebanon Reporter

This October basketball fans face some tough choices. The Minnesota Lynx say they deserve to be WNBA Champions for a second straight year, but can they really be trusted? After all they’ve been champion for an entire season and are you really any better off now than you were a year ago?

The Indiana Fever are an exciting team that shares the basketball and plays smothering defense. This October the choice is clear. If the Fever become WNBA Champion, they won’t rest until there’s a chicken in every pot and a basketball hoop on every garage.

Haven’t we had enough of the Minnesota Lynx? After all, can we really count on a team that relies so heavily on just two players? America deserves a champion that has more to offer than just four time All American Maya Moore and former WNBA Rookie of the Year Seimone Augustus. The Indiana Fever on the other hand are a true team in every sense of the word, boasting a roster of talented players including the NBA’s top defensive stopper in Tamika Catchings and a sharpshooter in Katie Douglas (currently nursing an injured ankle).

Leadership. The Fever have two spunky guards (Briann January and Shavonte Zellous) that are proven leaders and solid decision makers. Together they’ve worked hard to prevent the damaging turnovers that can destroy a team’s chances. The Minnesota Lynx say they’re a good team, but they averaged a disappointing 13 turnovers last year.

Teamwork. Indiana knows the value of teamwork that’s why the Fever guards have demonstrated their willingness for bipartisanship by reaching into the lane to work with the forwards all season long. Hard work. Bruisers Eriana Larkins and Jessica Davenport understand the value of hard work and their dedication and loyalty to the American people are the backbone of this great nation of ours (and both are capable of scoring inside and protecting the glass which doesn’t hurt either).

Americans deserve a candidate who is strong on defense but the Minnesota Lynx’s record show they are too soft. This season the Lynx allowed a startling 76.7 points per game. This is the most important time in history and now more than ever Basketball fans deserve a champion who can get stops when you need them most. The Indiana Fever have a proven record for being tough on defense, holding their opponents to just .415 shooting from the field.

We can’t afford another year with the Minnesota Lynx as champions. An independent study revealed most voters believe the Minnesota Lynx park in handicap parking spaces, scare babies and steal candy from children. This October the choice for WNBA Champion is clear. The Indiana Fever are the most exciting and most qualified candidate so do America a favor and give them your support. This message is not, but most likely would be, approved by the Indiana Fever.

© 2012 Eric Walker Williams

Stay Chuckstrong Coach

First appeared on October 5, 2012
in The Lebanon Reporter

Life is strange. You scratch off a fifty dollar winner and race out to collect only for your foot to discover Fido from next door has left another steaming surprise in your front yard. The insignificance of this turn of events is soon brought to light when your wallet is forced to come to terms with the fact the Service Engine Soon light has just come on in your car.

Sundays are the closest thing we have to the days of the Roman Gladiator. Men larger than life, some for weighing over three bills and others for doing seemingly impossible things, all running into each other with enough force to break bones and jar the brain matter of the strongest men history has known. They appear superhuman to the guy who lounges his Sundays away in the Lazy Boy lamenting the Junior High coach who elected to hand the ball to Jimmy instead of him. From Seventh Grade on he had no shot. It was over before the band even had a chance to play.

And while we perceive those in the NFL as leaders of charmed lives, the recent news of Colts Head Coach Chuck Pagano’s impending battle with Leukemia should serve as a clear indicator these men are in fact human beings not unlike you and I. There is no transcendental message here other than life is short and often has a way of surprising us when we least expect it. This holds true whether you’re paid to knock the paint off Jay Cutler’s helmet or scrape the grease out of the fryer at McDonalds.

The battle Pagano and so many others are forced to wage should serve as inspiration for those struggling to face another day with their overbearing boss or obnoxious cube mate. Lost in the hectic nature of a 21st century life and holiday traffic is the fact that every day you put your feet on the floor with a clear mind and good health is worth far more than any winning lottery ticket.

Now is not the time to critique the forces of nature or probe for hidden meaning; that is best left to someone with a much more impressive resume and an eternity to work on it. Your time is better spent sharing a smile with the people in your life. Cast aside the jaded predilections Coach Wannaputuonthebench fostered in you and stop to look at the moon or bask in the happiness your dog gets from peeing on a tree.

Of course the Colts have no choice but try and move on. And though the boys in blue will have had much to process in 7 days, Green Bay is still going to try to put 100 points on the scoreboard Sunday no matter how shattered Indy’s spirit is. After all, given the events of two weeks ago, the Pack can’t afford to lose another game they should have won.

The Hollywood in all of us expects to see the Colts use Pagano’s situation as fuel for a ride to the front but the cold hard truth remains Indianapolis won’t win every game left on their schedule or play for a Super Bowl this year. Interim coach Bruce Arians made it clear the Colts need to keep their focus and can’t afford to be “over-hyped about trying to do something extra”; but he never said they can’t go out and play with the heart, guts and toughness Pagano will no doubt display during his biggest battle. Stay chuckstrong Coach.

© 2012 Eric Walker Williams