Superman needs a cane (WTF?)

This weekend was packed with excitement and fun. I went to an NBA game. I got a new car (one that I had wanted for a while). I had successful production meetings, found out I will be shooting later this year in another country. I managed to find time to spend with a few close friends and family and loved every second of it; however, of all the things I did this weekend, none was more time consuming than tweeting hate messages to the Green Bay Packers fan, screaming obscenities at my television while watching the games and updating my facebook status every fifteen minutes to reflect my train of thoughts about whichever game was on at the time. I laughed repeatedly as NFL legend Deion Sanders rattled off joke after joke as Chicago's quarterback Jay Cutler "claimed" to be too badly hurt to continue playing when his team needed him the most. By the end of the day I had taken myself through an emotional roller coaster solely based upon professional sports. It wasn't until late in the evening when someone asked me why is that I hated the Green Bay Packers so much that I was able to fully understand my and millions of others obsession with sports. My understanding came from a deep evaluation of my answer to the question. My answer was, "because they beat MY Eagles and I just can't cheer for the team that put MY Eagles out. (Now Ive never gotten a check from the Eagles, nor do I own any stock in them but yet somehow I believe they are MY Eagles, silly I know, but I'm not the only one). Once I said that, I sat down at my computer and went to youtube and began watching clips of Michael Vick (The freakishly athletic quarterback for the Eagles). I sat there watching and admiring his athletic ability and took a mini tour of his career. Somewhere around the five minute mark i realized that even though he's a better all around quarterback now than he was in the first part of his career, he is just a hair slower than he was. (Coming out of college he ran a 4.2 40 yard dash and now he runs about a 4.3). A 4.3 is still blazing fast but it's not a 4.2. I will explain the relevance of all this in a minute. While researching Vick i saw a post that said "Virginia Referee that refereed games for both the Vick brothers and Allen Iverson said that Iverson was still the greatest football player he had ever seen!" Anyone who knows me knows that I am Iverson's number one fan! So of course I took a trip down memory lane and spent another hour or so watching Allen Iverson blow past defenders, cross over the greatest Michael Jordan, dunk on a 7 footer, and more. Everything was wonderful until I accidentally clicked on a link that showed his last season in the NBA, 2010. Although he was still faster than most, he was slow for him. He no longer attacked the basket with reckless abandon because his knees wouldnt support him. The greatest small scorer to ever play the game had now been reduced to an average NBA guard. Where he once average over 30 points a game, now he steadied around 15.6. Even Allen Iverson wasnt fast enough to outrun father time. It was right then that I realized why we scream, yell, make outselves sick and manipulate our own emotions over sports, OUR teams and OUR favorite players; because we subcontiously see ourselves in them. Most of us will never be superhuman athletes. Regardless of the picture we paint of ourselves in our own mind, we just arent as good as they are. So we live vicariously through them. If we happen to find a player that we can identify with and they happen to be great, then we feel as though we are great too. In reality, we very well may be great, but not at that particular thing. However, when they score, WE feel that we scored. The reason people live or die with teams opposed to players is because players get old, teams are eternal. But for those of us that somehow feel a "bond" with a player or an era, we have to one day get old with them and let's be honest NOBODY really wants to get OLD. See for me Vick and Iverson represent the supertalented underdogs, the people that come from nothing and nowhere in particular and rise above their circumstance to become LEGENDARY. I can relate that, I was considered to be a child prodigy of entertainment and I also come from "nothing and nowhere in particular," therefore, I feel like I can relate to them. I want to see them win because it somehow makes me feel that I will win too. So when Vick slows down and cant avoid the blitz or Iverson can't get past his defender and to the basket in a blink I somehow feel as though I'm getting older and can no longer do what I use to do. Allow me to take a moment right here to blast myself, and you too if you find yourself doing the same thing. That is Bullsh**! The reason why it is Bullsh** is because I never could do what they could do, just as they cant do what I can do. I will never play in the NBA or the NFL. I have dunked maybe 9 times in my entire life and they all were barely tip dunks from the side of the rim. I can probably throw a football 30 yards at best, and although I was very fast as a child athlete, and relatively fast now, I have never run a 4.2 or 4.3. If you put me in a NFL game right now at quarterback I GUARANTEE you that I will go out on a stretcher moments later. However, I'm one of the most gifted entertainers alive. I have been praised by legends as an actor. I have had people that worked with Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Michael Jackson and more say that as a singer/writer/performer I would fit right in with the legends, Ive done drama, comedy, musicals, etc. I love challenges in entertainment and with each new challenge I discover a new ability and talent. I overcome the obstacles and thrive in MY chosen field. As of today I have not received the international attention yet, but my knowledge of self doesn't come from that, it comes from within. I believe that one day it will come, but in the meantime I still know that I am great at what I do and I am constantly working on getting better. You may not be an athlete,an actor or singer or anything else in the entertainment field but you are something. There's something that you are designed to do. There's something that you do well and you should do that thing with reckless abandon and with you're whole heart. You cant judge your life whether good or bad by someone else's. You can only be you. So Mr. Iverson I release you from my subconscious cage. Go and enjoy the next phase of your life. Spend time with your kids, your family, etc. Mr. Vick I wish you the best in the next few seasons and I hope that Philly gets you a line to protect you so you can stop getting hit so much. As for me, I'm going to do ME and you should do YOU. There's a freedom in being yourself that is unparalleled. Yes your hero's are getting older and so are you but that doesn't mean that you have to get OLD, just get better and smarter. You've earned those years, wear them with pride.