Response to Relief

ProBasketball-fans.com Writer Tim Glaze's reflection on a perspective-changing experience along with some thoughts on the world of sports

I just got back from a week-long trip to southern Louisiana doing hurricane relief. It was a wonderful, yet absolutely back-breaking, experience. I think, for the most part, that America in general has done a wonderful job keeping the southeast in the fronts of their minds, even almost three years after Katrina and Rita. And their thoughts and actions are still sorely needed; I served in Abbeville, a city about thirty minutes east of Lafayette, and some parts of the city look like the hurricanes came a week ago.

I’m always thinking that I don’t really appreciate the luxuries in my life enough, and selfish as this may sound, this trip to Louisiana was a great, humbling experience for me. For one thing, I hate it when it rains. I just do. Rain annoys me. It puts everyone in a bad mood. Your shoes and pants get wet, and if you’re out in it for even a little bit, you smell like Lake Dallas, which is NOT a compliment. In Louisiana, rain is a way of life. To be honest, I don’t know how that state makes it through a hurricane; it rained on Tuesday night while we were there, and it was a light rain that lasted maybe thirty minutes. The next day, at the work site, you would have thought 15 inches fell—the water had risen a good inch or two above the grass, transforming the lawn we were working on into a literal marsh. It never rained again while we were there, but the water never evaporated fully. Even on the last day, a full two days after the rain, it was still sopping wet.

Looking at that, I could only imagine what it must be like when a hurricane hits, a storm with 60+ mile an hour winds, with literal feet of rain buildup. The entire state, being basically below sea level, is almost always drenched. I don’t know how they do it.

But this is the inspiring part. The residents of Abbeville, the people of that town, were genuinely some of the nicest, most comfortable people I have ever met. They were at comfort with their conditions, just grateful to be alive, and were happy to have what little they did. They couldn’t imagine a place where I come from, where natural disasters almost never happen, where our houses don’t rest on supports to avoid being flooded, where everyone has delicacies like laptops and iPods and nice cars. They couldn’t imagine—and they couldn’t care less.

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Anyways, I guess I’m saying that everyone should take a trip to the southeast and serve. At least once. There are a million organizations down there that will hook you up with a job, and there’s PLENTY to do. I think it’s important that everyone experience the lives that the people down there live, post-hurricane. And hey, if you’re like me, you can even weasel a column idea out of it! Sweet! Some random, sports-related thoughts for you, in response to my trip to Louisiana:

Loved the trip I took, but I HATED missing the entire first round of the tournament. Hated it. Sienna? Are you kidding me? I LIVE for upsets like that. An edit to my above creed: everyone should take a trip to the southeast and serve UNLESS it’s during the first round of the Men’s Tourney. Then you should definitely wait a week. Also, Western Kentucky, the team that beat my school, University of North Texas, in the Sun Belt Qualifying Tournament, advanced past the first round. Go Hilltoppers! I’ve found my 2008 team.
I went away half expecting to come back and see on ESPN that Jerry Jones traded Marion Barber, Tony Romo, Terrence Newman, and our two first round picks for the first overall pick, to take Darren McFadden. Jones has been talking about bringing a ‘wow factor’ to my Cowboys this offseason, and so far, the rumors involving the Cowboys have been trading to get Pacman Jones (which sounds more intriguing the more I hear about it) and trading everything we own for the right to draft McFadden. Really, don’t be surprised if Jones trades away our entire offensive line for the rights to McFadden. You heard it here first.
When I left, the Mavs had won four in a row against bad teams, a mantra that has kept up since they acquired Jason Kidd. While I was gone, the Mavs lost two games—to the Lakers and the Celtics, a mantra that has kept up since they acquired Jason Kidd. We only lost the games by two and four, respectively, but that’s only because we were down by 234898723489237 at one point and the Lakers and Celtics went to sleep. Really, the Mavs have been AWFUL against good teams since they got Kidd, which is no surprise. Kidd can’t guard quick point guards, which means the Mavs will lose to the Celtics, Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Hornets, Jazz, Warriors, Nuggets, Pistons, and Hawks for the rest of the year. Cool. And we have no inside depth since we lost DeSegana Diop in the Kidd deal, which means the Mavs will lose to every team I just mentioned again for the rest of the year. Awesome. You know it’s bad for the Mavs when everyone on that team is praying for a first round matchup against Houston, a team with a so-so point guard and an injured Yao, yet a team that just recently rattled off twenty-two straight wins. I will now go blow my brains out.

One final note before I let you go: I hate what’s happening to the Seattle SuperSonics. I really do. I feel like David Stern is letting the owner (read my thoughts on him in my column ranking the NBA’s worst GM’s) move the team without any real resistance, in turn murdering a sports city that has supported the Sonics for over forty years. As of now, the grant for the stadium in Oklahoma City has been approved, so it’s really only a matter of time before the move happens. But if there is ANY silver lining AT ALL for this situation, it’s that moving a team from Seattle to Oklahoma will prevent the New Orleans Hornets from moving to Oklahoma.

The fact is, from a sports AND community standpoint, New Orleans and the state of Louisiana NEED the Hornets. They deserve it. They deserve to watch Chris Paul throw alley-oops to Tyson Chandler and evolve into the next Isiah Thomas by 2010. They deserve first-round home court advantage in the playoffs this year. They deserve another chance to prove themselves as a basketball city. And finally, they deserve something entertaining, something solid, something mindlessly enjoyable like basketball. I saw a street in Pecan Island, a city south of Abbeville, that had three houses on the same street that had fallen off their risers in the hurricane, shattering the foundation—and people still lived in them. I saw more FEMA trailers housing three to four people than I care to remember. It’s America, people. This stuff shouldn’t be happening. But it is.

So, Seattle, I feel for you. I wish this wasn’t happening to you. But consider the Sonics your gift to New Orleans. Personally, I think that’s an excellent way to serve.

(Also, I’ve been doing a terrible job keeping up with my promise to make the Seattle sports fans feel better with uplifting information, so I’ll catch you up with some gems. - The Seahawks signed Julius Jones!...oh.)

by Tim Glaze
Pro Basketball Fans Staff Writer

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