Topic of the day: self-esteem and entitlement

I learned very early in my life that it is a competitive world. You study hard and you get ahead. You achieve something and you get rewarded for it.

These day, our world is no less competitive (if no more) but things seems to be taught differently: No matter you study hard or you slack off, you won't be left behind. Nothing seems to be more important than protecting kids' self-esteem (and their fragile little ego) If they play games, no one wins or loses. Everyone got praised for participation. As a result, I've seen kids got really upset when they lose in a game.

And I have seen a worse trend. Everybody thinks they deserve a lot before they have achieved anything. Cases in point:
1) American Footballer Michael Crabtree, the 10th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft, refused to sign with the team that drafted him (San Francisco 49er) because he thought he deserved more money than the 7th pick (since he thought he was a better player) Well, I think I am a better player than David Beckham and some teams need to offer me better money than him to sign me.
Nevertheless, I hope this saga continues because (1) 49er is screwed by not having the player whom they need to contribute right away and (2) judging from players who made troubles before like Crabtree, they never live up to the expectation. I have a personal bias against him because his catch ruined Longhorn's season last year!

BTW, he reminded me of J.J.Stokes, another 10th pick by 49er, who was expected to be a great player (and wasn't close to becoming one) And I was not the only one.

2) Spainish basketballer Ricky Rubio, the 5th pick in NBA draft, also refused to come to the States to play for Minnesota Timberwolves. He is staying in Spain instead. Read what he said:

Going to Minnesota would have just complicated my life a lot. It was a risk and I didn’t see it so clearly...... My priority was the NBA and it was impossible for the Minnesota Timberwolves to pay my buyout clause, so I wanted to stay home......When the season ended, I entered the draft with the intention of going to the NBA, but some things happened that kept me from being ahead of the rest and I ended up No. 5, which I was happy with, but it didn’t allow me the chance to go to the NBA. I tried, but in the end it wasn’t to be.

Nothing happened that kept him from being drafted higher than No. 5 (except the 4 other players whom other teams considered as lower risks) If he really wants to play for the Wolves in the NBA, he would have found a way to pay his buyout clause. It just sounds like he wants to play for a better team and have more money! I don't really care if he comes to NBA or not. There are lots of exciting players to watch already.

Book of the day: The Dead Sea Scroll Deception

While I visit ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto earlier this month, the main attraction was the Dead Sea Scroll exhibition. It was indeed intriguing to read about text written two millenniums ago. Of course we only skimmed through the exhibit (and managed to look at each of the scrolls in display) because the kids lost patience quickly. The first thing I did when I'm back home is to find some books about it. And I figured it would be more interesting to read the conspiracy theory about it than the official version. And indeed, this book was a good read. The official theory is that the community that created the Dead Sea scroll was a peaceful group that was isolated from the mainstream of Jewish society. However, the authors of this book argued (based on other scholars' research) that this community was very connected to the mainstream and they were armed to oppose the Roman, which ruled that region at that time. In addition, what they documented was the early history of the Christian community and the church. The most important point was what Jesus preached was not much different from the Jewish tradition. It was his disciples who broke away from the tradition and started a whole new religion in the name of Jesus. While I wasn't completed convinced by the way they came up with this conclusion, I totally believe this is a possibility. (Just like any religion. The founder is very unlikely to come up with everything. Indeed, the founder might not have realized s/he has started a new religion!)

Anyway, the authors did mention a noble intention of writing this book: they wanted to show that the Judaism, Christianity and Islam have more in common than we thought. Hopefully people will get this point and learn to coexist peacefully in the middle east. Sadly, the book was written in 1991 and there was no improvement after almost 20 years.

Game of the day: the finale of the Giants-Rockies series

By defeating the Rockies in this game, the Giants swept the series and tied with them for the wild card lead. I don't care if they could make the playoff eventually. Seeing them playing meaningful games in late August already made me happy enough.

It might not have been the most exciting sports competition during the weekend though. That title could belong to one of the 2 auto races: the indy car race in Chicagoland and the NASCAR Nationwide series race in Montreal. Both races featured winners who came from behind in the last seconds. Both were indeed dramatic victories.

On yeah, the MotoGP races in Indianapolis on Sunday morning was not bad either.