Training: Strength; Stamina; Balance; Rhythm; Control

  Pratlaw states: Any skill position at the next level should  Become An Acrobat meaning become skilled at the art of acrobatics.  Some martial arts would come in handy as well.  Query how many linebackers and safeties would want to try to clock a receiver who was skilled at making someone hitting them so violently injury was probable instead wind up with cracked ribs or the wind knocked out of them?  Turn the worm and learn how to acrobatically and|or martial arts-wise turn energy forced upon you back on itself.

Catching The Ball Across the Middle

Pratlaw states: The Colts Austin Collie had a promising career doing what Dallas Clark, Tony Gonzalez, Hines Ward continue to do.  Catching the ball crossing the middle.  From this naive window the thought continues to arise:  When will these guys learn some acrobatics and MMA and I don't know ... maybe ball up and put some knees in the face mask of someone bringing the wood to them?  For that matter when will a Quarterback being hit scrunch up and kick-flip one of these balls to the walls pass rushers ten feet in the air.  The answer of course is when one of them goes to circus school and learns something about acrobatics.  Ha!

Michael Vick's Redemption

 Pratlaw states:  Passion is myopic and nonsensical to the voyeur who has not experienced something kindred to the passion at issue.  Competitive passion is a must in any competitive endeavor but what differences are there between football, basketball, golf, baseball passion.  Or are they all the same requirements?  I do not think they are the same.  Football involves focus on winning the game, ferocity, calculation of angle, the very things needed to successfully hunt prey.  Basketball is more choreographed, individual and requires quicker feet, balance, restraint, movement.  Golf requires inner calm, repetitive practice, a passion to compete against an internal model created solely by the competitor.  Baseball renders the participant powerless yet mandates an inner competition like golf and repetitive practice.  The further a participant goes into any sport the more the requirement that they know everything there is to know about the game in addition to the natural elements required to physically succeed.  Anyone who has seen Michael Vick's transformation this year knows what this essay is about.  In order to succeed beyond natural ability the mind must be joined in the passion play.  Are you faster?  Are you bigger?  Are you quicker? None of the foregoing matters unless and until the brain gets in the game.  Hats off to Michael Vick.

PRATLAW states:  It is wierd how poor sports reporting is today, Magic, Magic, Magic ... every now and then Kareem is remembered (LOL ~ just one of the all-time greats), never James Worthy who was unstoppable, never "handled" and never, ever, the forgotten Michael Cooper who's off season work on his three pointer was the difference when the Lakers finally toppled the Celtics off the throne.

If you are not subscribed to Esquire ????? Do it today!

   Pratlaw states:  the magazine should be in your mail every month.  A lot it is ehhhh but it has a lot of wisdom and it will inform you of great products and it has great writing.  The September issue for example introduced Levi's 201 and some wisdom from Larry King who is very wise indeed and pretty funny ~ who knew!

OMG: Is Porsche reading this blog or is it more metaphysics?

   Pratlaw states:  mine is the perfect car except for the mileage.  I am 6'2" and I have the driver's seat memorized substantially up from all the way back and I can wear a cowboy hat with about 3" to spare before touching the roof liner.  What sold me on the Cayenne was the reliability and build quality of Porsche.  By an old one if you loose at arbitration.  You won't be let down.

Its Time to go Green: No More McMansions

   Pratlaw states:  it is time to go green.  Just because you can afford a mansion doesn't mean buy one.  You need 2-3 thousand square feet even if you are married and have children.  You want quality, architectural detail not square footage.  Vehicles ~ hybrids or sport.  You are green, be green

Go With A Two Bedroom Condo and Then A Country Place At Home

  Pratlaw states:  How long are you going to be in your city?  You have to have a place there for home games and off season.  Get a condo with a secure door- doorman- and two bedrooms.  Are you running a boarding house/hotel/flophouse.  No if you made it to the next level the only way you are going to stay is to actually increase your efforts and that means stability, peace and quiet, a good diet and most importantly good rest and sleep.  Buy a retreat in your home town county, a hundred plus acres and a nice 3000 sq foot architecturally designed home with out building storage.  Hunt and fish for good eye sight and dexterity.  Put good old Uncle Bob in charge of your retreat.

The Black Mamba Is In A Class By Himself

Pratlaw states:  The Japanese Beef is in a league by himself.  The King is great in part because he is a locomotive in front of which no one is rightly going to sacrifice his body.  DW is a blur but plays in a pout.  Kobie is alone in his supremacy.  He is on a quest from which he never tires:  to be the best.  From this seat he has succeeded. I rank him with Russell; Frazier; Magic; Bird; Jordan; and the forgotten Cowens and Worm Rodman in terms of relentless in their quest to be the best they can be all the time, every play.  They are porsches playing among cadillacs and lincolns ~ after all every player at the next level is well above the average college player.

The Next Level Is All About Footwork!

Pratlaw states:  This guy moves his feet great.  Louis Amundson.  I want Glen Davis to work out with this guy.  Of course I want the both of them to be Hawks and start with Horford.  Glen:  if he had better footwork he wouldn't have caught one of DH's flying elbows [and why is DH allowed to let those wings fly like that anyway???].  Anyway you can't be caught flatfooted flopping in the paint.  Bill Russell to this day has the quickest feet of any big man I ever saw followed by ... Bill Walton ...Wes Unseld maybe ... Bill Cowan? ... Kareem Jabbar had good feet too.  I like how Perkins has come on for the Celtics this year.  He, RR and GD have obviously put in the off season work

RAJON RONDO IS A CELTIC TO REMEMBER

I remember Bob Cousey, a white blur who passed like he had played for the Harlem Globetrotters. Rondo passes like Cousey did. I remember John Havlicek. Nobody played with the energy Havlicek did, on the floor all the time, bird-dogging defense that angered his opponent, sacrificing his body all the time on offense and defense. Rondo plays with the same energy Havlicek committed to his game. I remember Dennis Johnson. Nobody ran a team and played defense like DJ and had the shot when needed to carry the team like DJ. Rondo runs his team with the same intelligence and energy DJ committed to the game. Today, May 9, 2010, RR had a game that is on par with any game any of these true Celtics and in this writers opinion, RR's game today was the best game I have ever seen a point guard play. The mantle that Steve Nash has worn for years has been passed. Rajon Rondo is the best point guard in the game today.