Don't Be a Swine

With college basketball practices underway and the NBA season starting, it seems like the H1N1 virus (the virus that causes Swine Flu) has been in the sports news as often as a box score.

The flu has hit lots of teams already, including Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans , the
Washington Huskies , and even Lebron and Company .
Face it - in the US, basketball (H.S., college, and NBA) is a Winter sport and the flu usually rears it's ugly (congested) head around this time of year.

In my opinion, every team should have a flu vaccination policy similar to the Gaucho players pictured above. While flu shots have been available for a while now, it's still not too late to talk to your local doctor about getting vaccinated against "regular" seasonal flu as well as against the H1N1 flu this year.

I wrote about the importance of Taking Your Shot this time last year, but the Swine Flu has added a few wrinkles about what to do.

For an update on recommendations from the US Centers for Disease Control, click here.

And make sure you cover your mouth when you sneeze.
And wash your hands.
And wash your hands.
And wash your hands again.

Here's hoping that the only time you'll ever think about Swine on the basketball court is when you're playing P-I-G.

Hoops at the House

No, I didn't vote for Barack Obama because he plays basketball, but it didn't hurt.

You can learn a lot about a person by the way they act on the court.
Are they a good teammate? Do they have a shoot-first or pass-first mentality? Are they more interested in their own stats than winning? Do they yell at their teammates (or themselves) when things go wrong?

Michelle Obama, our new First Lady, knew this when she asked her brother to report to her how the then-Mr Obama acted when they played pickup ball. The report then was good, and the rest is history.

Now that President-Elect Obama is heading to Pennsylvania Avenue , chances are good that there will be a lot more ball played at the White House. And if they want to play some real pickup (even 4v4) they'll need to get rid of the horseshoe pit and add some length (and another rim) to the the old White House basketball court .

Looking forward to hearing more about the pickup games to be played there and, if asked, will be happy to serve my President (and country) if he needs 1 more for a game.