Jabari Parker - The Nations Best High School Basketball Player!

Thoughts by: Coach Brown

When I saw Jabari Parker's picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated (May 21, 2012), I said, "Oh no, here is another young man being hyped up." Man was I wrong after reading the article about Jabari! Take basketball out of the equation, and the young man is still an outstanding person, period!

You see, it's very rare for a young man receiving the kind of attention that he is receiving being humble and more importantly, openly acknowledging his focus and commitment to his religious beliefs. After a game when he almost had a triple double, "The other varsity players were out in the hallway, talking to girls by the snack stand," says Flannigan (filmed every in-state basketball game played by Chicago's Simeon Career Academy during the 2011-12 season). "The best player in the city was being the water boy for the jayvee. It's hard to root against a kid like that. He's on top of the world, but he's incredibly humble."

The Sports Illustrated (May 21, 2012) article was written by Jeff Benedict ...

Last season, the 6' 9", 220-pound junior led Simeon to a 33-1 record and a third straight Class 4A state championship. In April he was chosen the Gatorade National Player of the Year, becoming only the fourth non-senior to win the award (after James, Greg Oden and Brandon Knight). Three months earlier USA Basketball had named Jabari its male athlete of the year for 2011, succeding 2010 winner Kevin Durant, an NBA All-Star. Jabari got the nod after leading the U.S. to the gold medal and being named MVP of the FIBA Americas U16 championship in Cancun, Mexico, last summer.

... Jabari belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. "Basketball is what I do," he says. "It's not who I am."

Jabari's father, Sonny, who played for the Warriors from 1976 to 1982, is not a Mormon, but Jabari's mother, Lola, is a lifelong member of the, their four children have been raised as Mormons.


After Jabari completes his first and most likely only year of college, he will have to make a decision about whether or not he serves as a missionary (customary for all Mormons if they choose to do it) and be away from basketball for two years. It will be a tremendously tough decision, but because of his unique maturity at his age and his positive family structure, he will make the best decision possible for his life!

HAPPY NEW YEAR from BAR-RED ENTERTAINMENT GROUP (BREG)!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR from BAR-RED ENTERTAINMENT GROUP (BREG)!!! 2011 was a great year and at the same time presented some challenges. We THANK all of the individuals, organizations and companies that did business with us in 2011, and we thank GOD for bringing us into 2012!

BREG is excited about the opportunities that are coming forth in 2012, and we look forward to helping our current clients and new clients reach their goals and objectives.

In 2012, look for awesome things from Nu Strata Music Group, Chipped Up Entertainment, X-tratainment Inc. & Hustle University! Artists that are bringing new music, live performances and videos in 2012 include Spade Kosta, Da Bad Habbitz, Grizz, Blushe, Chief Scrill, Lady X, Magnem P.I. & Jay L. Also look for new e-books for your Kindle (click on this Amazon.com link) directly from BREG.

We must address our youth of today that are still killing each other at an alarming rate. BREG is looking forward to the day when the tv is turned on and there are no reports of a young person killing another young person. Parents and adults, it is on us to love, teach & discipline our children so that they will love themselves first & foremost and learn to respect & love others. That way they won't believe it is ok to just end another person's life. What actually happens is that two (2) lives are destroyed. The person that has been murdered and the person that goes to jail. Think about it, it's a lose-lose situation. Young people have a responsiblity too! Do not take education for granted because it is your best option for bettering whatever situation you are currently in, and education will bring about positive opportunities for you. You have the ability to understand what is wrong and what is right. Think before you talk, and definitely think before you act; and you will save yourself and your family a lot of heartache and unwanted problems. Believe in yourself, you can do it and have a successful life!

On the political scene, there will be Local, State and National Elections taking place this year with the Presidential Election being the highlighted election. Do your research on the candidates and make the best decision that you can make for you and your family.

So as you have read, BREG is very excited about 2012 and we look forward to connecting with exciting people, organizations and companies this year and beyond! One Love!!!


Yours Truly,

B. Brown

@BREGBrown

Facebook.com/BREGBrown

Instill The Best In Your Children!!! Checkout the Harbaugh Brothers!

*Thoughts by Coach Brown


When a father has an opportunity to share something positive with his children, it is his obligation to do it. We as a nation of people have gotten so caught up in earning money that we have let some basics with our kids go, and that's not cool!

Jack Harbaugh, the father of John & Jim Harbaugh, the respective coaches of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco  49'ers has done his best to instill discipline, harwork, working smart and honesty into his children.

I would say that it has paid off handsomely!

A lot of our young people would like to become professional athletes, but as we all know, only 1% or less will actually accomplish that tremendous goal. That leaves room for a lot of people to become head coaches, assistant coaches, videographers, office staff, trainers, field & equipment managers, etc.

Our children can become whatever they set their minds to become, and with our support as parents and adults, our children can and will accomplish amazing and beautiful things!

Young people, the statement I'm about to make is specifically for you. "Be a leader at all times, set short & long term goals, and focus on accomplishing those goals!"

Enjoy the article on the Harbaugh brothers and family. Hopefully it inspires you to do something great!!! 

Patriarch Of Passion: How Jack Harbaugh Raised Two Of The Nation's Best Football Coaches

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 9:47 pm

Written by: Jeff Arnold

The two brothers, separated by only 15 months, sat in the back of their father's 1962 Chevy as it pulled up to an elementary school in Iowa City.

John Harbaugh was 8. Jim Harbaugh was 6.

John and Jim grew up in their father's football environment, starting when they were toddlers transported to practice in a stroller by their mother, Jackie.


But at Iowa -- one of the 14 stops made during a coaching career that stretched from Ohio to California -- Jack's job title included chauffeuring his boys to school.

Because his time was limited, Harbaugh made certain it was meaningful.

Just before his sons would reach to open the door, Jack would turn around, scan his audience and deliver the same 20 words.

"OK, men, grab your lunchboxes and attack this day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind," he'd say.

"And don't take any wooden nickels."

Jack Harbaugh can't remember where the saying came from. The wooden nickels line had been passed down from his own father as a reminder not to be taken advantage of.

But it was the first part of his parting instructions that sank in.

"It had a cadence to it and it kind of built and crescendoed," Jim Harbaugh says, his voice raising for emphasis, "OK Men, attack this day with an enthusiasm UNKNOWN TO MANKIND."
They turned out to be words to live by.

"In this world, you can choose to be positive or you can choose to be negative," Jack Harbaugh says.

"You can choose to see things through a set of eyes that sees good or you can choose to see things in life that aren’t so good.

"At least every day, they were reminded to look at it through a positive set of eyes. Let the lens of your eyes be positive."

Years later, when Jim Harbaugh was introduced as Stanford's football coach in 2007, he was asked what he brought to the job.

Without pausing, Harbaugh repeated the words told to him by his father.

"I was like, 'Wow,'" Jack Harbaugh says. "It had never been talked about. (Jim) never said, 'Wow -- that was really something I thought about or that's something that's been a part of my life.

"It was just something I always told them."

It was something they remembered.

"That's probably the greatest lesson," Jim Harbaugh says. "If you have health, then one day, imagine what you can accomplish."

***


John and Jim Harbaugh have certainly accomplished a lot. Both are rising NFL head coaching stars -- John with the contending Baltimore Ravens and Jim with the one-loss San Francisco 49ers. And both give plenty of credit to father Jack, who spent 19 years as a head coach at Western Kentucky and Western Michigan. Jack, age 72, still watches his sons' game film every week, getting FedEx packages from Baltimore and San Francisco and taking furious notes on everything he sees. But don't think Jack is still telling his sons what to do. He says the game has "passed me by." He even says he wishes he could somehow go back in time with the benefit of what he's learned from his two boys.
What has never changed, however, is Jack's ability to tell his sons, very clearly, what matters. That's something all great coaches and parents do. It's something both Jim and John will be doing Thursday when their teams meet in an NFL game. And it's something Jack's been doing since John and Jim were old enough to throw a football.

***
The Harbaughs always lived close enough to their father's work to ride their bikes and see their dad. Jack often rose before the sun and spent 12 to 14 hours at the office, leaving Jackie to run the house.
Jack refers to his wife of almost 50 years as the best head coach he has ever worked for. He was the assistant coach while his kids -- John, Jim and daughter Joani -- made up the rest of the team.
But Jackie, a former high school cheerleader and school teacher, ran the show.

Part of Jackie's job, she believed, was to give them a window into their father's life. She wanted her kids to see how Jack interacted with his players. How he was tough, but fair. How he wanted them to be good students and better people. How he wanted them to live up to their full God-given potential.
He wanted his kids to learn about discipline. About being on time and about doing the things the right way.

"That's what you talk to your players about," Jack says. "That's what you’re going to expect from your kids."

Jack was all business in practice, ever mindful his children were watching. But he wanted them to be comfortable, too.

At Michigan, where Jack served as an assistant to Bo Schembechler, Harbaugh got the OK to allow his boys to be around practice. They'd stack tackling dummies, help clean up, and even got to spend time with players inside the locker room.



But just like in the Harbaugh household, if rules were broken, there would be consequences.

"You lived with knowing that at any time they could do something and they were going to get snapped at," Jack says.

During one drill, Jack was watching the defense while Schembechler ran the offense. Without warning, a ball sailed over Jack's shoulder and onto the field. Jack cringed.

"I said, 'Please don't let that be one of my kids,'" Jack says.

When one of Jack's sons ran onto the field to retrieve the ball, Schembechler stopped practice.
"Get those kids off the field," Schembechler growled in his slow and steady cadence.

But Jack's sons stayed, and they saw the way their father worked. They saw the way players listened.
They also saw how he dealt with failure.

Throughout his coaching career, Jack's life was a roller coaster. He was fired from his head coaching job at Western Michigan in 1986. He was on a Michigan staff that lost three Rose Bowls in the seven years he worked for Schembechler. His Western Kentucky program endured crippling budget cuts even though the Hilltoppers won the 1-AA national championship nine years ago.

In every instance, good or bad, Jack wanted his kids to learn how to deal with life.

But he wanted them to learn for themselves, living by words he once heard from Ohio State coach
Woody Hayes: Don't do for your kids what they can do for themselves.

"That's the way we kind of looked at it," Jack says. "We didn't understand what it meant at the time but let them do for themselves what they’re capable of without trying to mask things or sugarcoat things or make it look better.

Jack told his kids that life wasn't about what happened, but how you dealt with it. That, he believed, defined you as a person.



"You want them to be competitive -- I want them to understand that everyday is a fistfight in life," Jack says. "You’ve got to battle and you're going to get knocked on your can, but you’re going to get back up if you're competitive."

It's a side of Jim that Jack and Jackie saw earlier this season after a 49ers victory in Detroit.
After the final seconds ran off the clock, Jim celebrated with his players, sprinting across the field to meet Lions coach Jim Schwartz. Harbaugh delivered a forceful handshake and slapped Schwartz on the back.

Words were exchanged.

Jack and Jackie watched the whole thing unfold on television back in Milwaukee.
Jackie smiled. That was a passion unknown to mankind, for sure.
Jack understood the moment as well, but knew that in a media environment much different than the one he coached in, his son would take some heat.
But he loved his son's competitive enthusiasm.
"You've got to be yourself and if you're not, you're a phony," Jack says. "It comes shining through if you're not careful."

***
Loyalty has always been a bedrock of Jack Harbaugh's make-up.

Jack always made one thing perfectly clear: If you need something, Jackie and I will always be here for you. That bled through his entire coaching staff and down to the players.

Michigan coach Brady Hoke learned the lesson first-hand.

Working on Harbaugh's Western Michigan staff, Hoke was sent to Fort Wayne, Ind., to finalize the recruitment of a quarterback Harbaugh wanted to sign. In an era where home visits were critical in building relationships, Harbaugh had sent his assistants out to oversee the signing of every recruit's national letters of intent.

Hoke left Kalamazoo on Valentine's Day, intending to make the short drive to Fort Wayne and return home. Instead, Hoke encountered a blizzard that had paralyzed Fort Wayne, closing the city's schools. As conditions worsened, the young assistant coach found a pay phone to inform the recruit's mother he had run into trouble. The response he got wasn't one he expected.

"Have you talked to Jack Harbaugh?" the mother asked. No, he hadn’t.

"You need to talk to Jack Harbaugh," she replied, giving Hoke a telephone number he didn't recognize.

Turned out Hoke's wife, Laura, was in labor -- three months early.

Harbaugh rushed to University Hospital in Kalamazoo and sat in the waiting room with Brady's and Laura's mothers.

"Jack Harbaugh took charge," Hoke says. "But that's just the person he is. He's tough, but he had a great personal side to him."

Kelly Hoke was born that night, weighing 1 pound, 14 ounces. With Hoke stranded in Fort Wayne, Harbaugh was one of the first people to see Kelly.

"You could hold her in the palm of your hand and her little hands and arms were hanging down," Harbaugh remembers.

For the next 19 years, whenever Valentine's Day rolled around, Jack Harbaugh placed a call to Kelly Hoke, wishing her a Happy Birthday.

Hoke never forgot it.

"You felt such a loyalty to him you wanted to make sure you coaching your tail off for him just because of how he and Jackie treated you as a couple," Hoke says. "You always felt close to them."

***


The phone conversations between father and sons take place on a regular basis.
Rarely, if ever, do they revolve around football. And haven't this week, either.
Jack and Jackie Harbaugh have lived the coach's life enough to understand what game week entails and about the challenges each day bring.

Jack never places a call, never forces his opinion where it’s not wanted.

That carries over to the film sessions in his basement in the days leading up to each game.

Jack limits his film reviews to minimum details, limiting them to the notepad that sits on the chair-side table. He stops and starts the video, taking notice of the movements of the offensive and defensive linemen, gifted enough to know what’s coming next.

He pauses the video from a 49ers-Giants game when his son's team is about to run a play on third down and short.

"This is a situation when Bo (Schembechler) used to say, 'It's time to grind the meat,'" Harbaugh explains.

He lets the play run before stopping it again with his coach's clicker.

"They didn't grind it very well, did they?," he asks the reporter sitting next to him.
Most observations stay in the basement.

On the off-chance John or Jim inquire about what he's seen on that week's coaches cuts, Jack passes his observations on, preferring to keep the conversations about family and other topics.
But even when the conversations include football, there's routinely a lesson imparted.

"Pretty much everything I learned, I learned from my dad," John Harbaugh says. "You get a chance to talk to him after games and you put it in perspective in terms of remembering what’s important."
There are times, Jim Harbaugh acknowledges, when Jack's expertise is required even though Jack prefers to stay out of his son's business.

"Any time I've got a problem or an issue or a decision that's really tough, all I’ve got to do is call him," Jim Harbaugh says. "Something that would take me three hours and give me a massive headache, I just ask him and 30 seconds later, I've got the perfect solution."

Jack always makes sure any decision comes not from what he thinks is right, but what his sons know is.

Last winter, when Jim Harbaugh pondered leaving Stanford, he called his father. The options seemed endless. Harbaugh's name headlined several prominent job openings, including at his alma mater at Michigan along with NFL vacancies in Miami, Carolina and San Francisco.

Harbaugh called his father in Wisconsin, seeking guidance.

Jack was careful not to overstep his boundaries.

As they discussed Jim's options, the son kept asking his father what to do. Jack told him what he thought didn't matter. Jim kept pressing.

Again, Jack told him he had to make up his own mind.
Finally, Jim snapped.


"Damn it, I called you because I want your opinion," Jim told his father. "Just give me your opinion. I'm not telling you I'm going to go that way and if I don't want to go that way, I won't go that way.
"But I called you because you're my dad and I want an opinion." Jack smiled.

He had always encouraged his children to speak their minds.

"I took that as one of the great complements," Jack says. "Every once in a while, you have to express yourself and you have to be who you are."

But Jack didn't relent. Jim had to decide on his own.

***

The expectation growing up in the Harbaugh home wasn’t for the sons to follow in their father’s footsteps. Jack and Jackie Harbaugh simply wanted their children to be happy.

He gave them simple advice: Don't lie. Don't cheat. Don't steal. Those were game-changers and would lead to compromised relationships.

While Jack preached enthusiasm for each new day, he didn't look too far ahead. Coaches simply can't afford to.

"You never think about what life's going to be like five years down the road or 10 -- you just go though the day and try to make good decisions," Jack says. "Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. You just hope this day will be a good day.

"Pretty soon it's a week, then it's a month, then it's a year -- then it's way down the road."
Joani, born five years after Jim, also spent time with her father, learning to hot-splice game film by the age of 10. She would fall in love with a coach, marrying Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean while he was an assistant at Western Kentucky. She was selfless, but every bit the leader her brothers are. She just wasn't a leader who appeared on TV.

John played defensive back at Miami (Ohio) while Jim became a star quarterback at Michigan before moving onto the NFL.



Did they compete with each other? You bet. There's a great family story about how the boys each tried to throw a football over a tree. And not just any old tree -- a towering Colorado spruce. Jim, always taller, tried and tried until he could finally do it. John, never quite as good an athlete, could not. The elder brother was always quieter, but he burned just as hot inside. That's how he got to the NFL.

John watched practice at Michigan and paid close attention to the way Schembechler ran his program.

"You can't have a better childhood," John Harbaugh said when he landed his first NFL head coaching job with the Ravens. "When you grow up in that environment, part of your life values and the things you learn are three important things.

"No. 1 is the team. The second important thing is the team. The third most important thing was the team. That's what it's all about."

When Jim was introduced in San Francisco, Jack visited the 49ers facilities and saw six words boldly painted on the wall.

The Team, The Team, The Team.

After a Thanksgiving meal one year, when Jack and Jackie visited Baltimore, John informed his family they were going for a ride. They traveled to a downtown homeless shelter where the Harbaughs served meals to the less fortunate. There were no television crews around, no reporters -- just the coach of the Baltimore Ravens and his family.

Earlier this year, when the 49ers visited Washington to play the Redskins, Jim took his team to Arlington National Cemetery. There, Harbaugh took his players to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, telling a story about loyalty and sacrifice -- two staples of the lessons Jack and Jackie Harbaugh passed on to their sons.

"You ask me what my dad means to me," Jim Harbaugh says. "He took me to ballgames. He played catch with me. He believed in me.

"My whole life, even from a young age, making my dad proud of me has been really important to me. I hope I never grow out of that."

***
On Thursday, Jack and Jackie Harbaugh will travel to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, where John’s Ravens will face Jim's 49ers.

A day earlier, they will visit their oldest son at practice before attending the 49ers' walk-through.
While the Thanksgiving night game will bring family members from around the country, Jack and Jackie won't stay for the game. They will pose for a family photo on the field long before kickoff, reuniting their three children for the first time in three years.

Then, Jack and Jackie will retreat to John's suburban home to avoid becoming part of the focus.
Jack still doesn't know what Thursday night will be like. It will be an emotional scene, but he doesn’t know what kind of emotions he'll feel as kickoff approaches.

Jim Harbaugh expects the night to be a blend of joy and pain for his father.

Greg Mattison, who worked as Jack Harbaugh's defensive coordinator at Western Michigan and as John Harbaugh's defensive coordinator with the Ravens, expects the night won't be easy.



Not by a long shot.

"It's going to be really hard," says Mattison, now the defensive coordinator at Michigan. "I've seen him up close and the pride he had and how emotional he got after we won a big game.

"Now, he's got two of them and one of the people he loves and one of the people he brought into this profession isn't going to be successful in that game."

Despite that, Jack Harbaugh insists Thursday night won't be about him. It's part of the reason he and Jackie will watch the game in solitude.

"They're going to look across the field and see that guy they grew up with and they were raised with and that’s going to be interesting," Jack says. "But once the ball is teed up, it's a three-hour game and you're trying desperately for your team to win the game."

The Ravens-49ers game has changed the way he communicates with his sons. When Jim was at Stanford, he mentioned nuances John was running with the Ravens.

That all ended when Jim was introduced as the 49ers coach. On the occasions he has met with his sons' coaching staffs, assistants have jokingly reminded colleagues to watch what they say, knowing Jack remains in contact with his other coaching son.

Many aspects of this game week will be different than any other. But in some respects, the routine will remain the same.

As always, Jackie Harbaugh will call both of her sons the night before a game. It's her way of letting them know that she’s thinking of them.



Her message, like any other week, will remain the same with John and with Jim.
Good luck, we're supporting you and we’re pulling for you.

"I can't root for one or the other," Jackie says. "If it would end in a tie, I would be the happiest person in the world."

After the game is over, the families will come together and share a meal, thankful for all they have been given.

Then they will celebrate another major accomplishment. Friday is Jack and Jackie's 50th wedding anniversary.

"We all have a lot to be thankful for," Jackie says.

And a lot to be proud of.

A High School kicker hits a 64-yarder!!!

Thoughts by Coach Brown

I do not know about you, but when I was in high school playing football, I don't believe I could have kicked a 64-yard field goal. I was an above average (All-County/All-Region) Cornerback/Safety in a great program, but there was no way in the world for me to fanthom the kickers on my team or any other team that we played against kicking a 64-yard field goal!!!

When you read the article below, you will see that Austin Pacheco did just that; he kicked a 64-yard field go with little bit to spare!

The great thing about the story is that Austin received props from the other team! Great sportsmanship, great kicking ability and what a gutsy call by Austin's coach!

Congratulations to Austin and his team, and I hope Austin continues to kick the ball well because it looks like he has a bright future!

Enjoy the article! One Love!

Statistically speaking: Kicker hits incredible 64-yard field goal

By Cameron Smith

On Friday night, Carson (Nev.) High placekicker Austin Pacheco did something at the high school level that no one has ever done in a competitive NFL game: He hit a field goal from 64 yards out.

As reported by the Associated Press and Carson City Nevada Appeal, Pacheco drilled a 64-yard field-goal attempt with 27 seconds remaining to lift Carson to a 27-24 victory against Bishop Manogue (Nev.) High School.

"I'm still in shock," Pacheco told the Nevada Appeal. "I knew it was good as soon as I hit it. The snap was perfect and the hold was perfect. The wind was blowing to the right and I played it perfectly.
"I wasn't surprised that coach let me try. He told me before the game that anything 65 and under we had a chance. We did what we could do."

Pacheco's kick stands as the second longest in Nevada state history, behind a 1985 68-yard effort from Reno (Nev.) High kicker Dirk Borgognone which stands as both the Nevada and national high school record. Pacheco's kick was also long enough to tie for the fourth-longest field goal in high school football history.

Perhaps most strikingly, Pacheco's kick actually came from farther out than any NFL kicker has hit from in a professional game. Raiders place-kicker Sebastian Janikowski connected on a 63-yarder in his team's season-opening victory against the Broncos to tie for the longest in league history, but that kick was still a full yard shorter than the one Pacheco hit on Friday.

While everyone on the Bishop Manogue sideline was stunned to see Pacheco line up to attempt the game-winning field goal, his own coach said he never doubted his decision to attempt the field goal then and there, rather than go for a first down with his team facing a fourth-and-13 situation.

As you can see above, the kick would have been good from even farther back. 70 yards? It sure looked like it had a chance.

"I don't know what to say," Carson coach Blair Roman told the Nevada Appeal. "You might have to wait a minute.

"That [field goal] broke the NFL record. I know it was off a tee and I know it was wind-aided, but it was a great kick. It was fourth-and-13, and we're not a fourth-and-13 team. I knew he had the leg to make it."

After the game ended, even Bishop Manogue coach Paul Mills was still struggling to come to grips with the fact that his squad had just lost out to a 64-yard field goal. In fact, he was still stunned that Carson even had the gumption to attempt one.

"We knew it was going to come down to the wire," said Mills. "One of the kids on the sideline said the tee's out there and I was thinking the tee from the previous kick. Then I'm looking out there and they're lining up for a field goal.

"The kid nailed it. My hat's off to him. That's a great job in a very pressure-filled situation. Wind-aided or not, he got the job done and there's a lot of variables when you're kicking that far."

BRIA SANDERS WINS THE WOMEN'S DIVISION OF BLACK ENTERPRISE MAGAZINE'S 2011 GOLF TOURNEY

By: Coach Brown

When you receive great news, it feels really good! My brother from another mother, Mike Sanders, texted me last Wednesday, August 31, 2011 after receiving my text that my new daughter was in the process of being born and my wife and I were at the hospital. He texted me back and said, "Hope she looks like her mama. We are on the road to Miami, FL because Bria is playing in the Black Enterprise Golf and Tennis Tournament."

My reply to him was "No doubt, she is beautiful! Tell Bria to win the tournament for her new little cousin! Be safe on the road and we love y'all!"

On Monday, September 5, 2011, I received this text from Mike: "Bria won the Women's division of BE Golf at Doral, FL I have the Trophy and she also won the Purple Jacket that will be shipped FedEx. She made Memphis and MBCC proud."

God is great in every sense of the word!

Bria Sanders currently attends The Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy, and she is on her way to accomplishing some amazing things in golf and in life in general!

I am very proud of her, and I wish her all the best!!!

One Love!

Visit Bria Sanders' Websites:

http://www.briasanders.org


http://www.briasandersfoundation.org

Truly Having A 2nd Career Is Beneficial!!!

Thoughts By: Coach Brown

When I checked out the story you are about to read, I was thoroughly impressed! This young man not only took advantage of his college scholarship to Alcorn St., but he has kept his nursing license current while he has been playing in the NFL! Young people, this is what I am talking about! A young man understanding and believing that he should get his degree and secured his a degree in a growing field is awesome!

You see, education is something that can never be taken from you. Once you learn something and you are able to apply it, it usually sticks with you for life! Your education and degree is something that no one or no thing can take away from you. Life has an amazing way of humbling us and we must understand that the only thing that is constant is change. Young people that are Blessed enough to earn academic and/or athletic scholarships should always do their best to graduate and take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to them because of their above average skills. We must all use the gifts that God Blesses us with on a daily basis.

Nate Hughes, I tip my hat to you brother, because you are living and setting a great example for other young people to follow! Keep up the great work and make the Detroit Lions team this season so that you don't have put on the hospital scrubs uniform this year!

One Love!

Meet the Detroit Lions wideout who’s also a registered nurse

By Chris Chase

In between playing football and earning All-America honors on the track, Detroit Lions wide receiver Nate Hughes(notes) got a nursing degree during his college days at Alcorn State. Other than the multiple classes, long days of practice, longer hours studying, three weekly eight-hour shifts at the hospital and the 70-mile roundtrip he had to make between nursing school and the football field, it was a breeze.

The NFL hopeful kept his nursing degree active during three seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars by taking continuing education courses. In his 2009 rookie season, he had five catches and one touchdown in his rookie season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Hughes spent last season on injured reserve before getting signed as a roster longshot by the Lions.
During this summer's lockout, Hughes took a job as an on-call nurse in his hometown of Macon, Miss. He plans to go to anesthesiology school whenever his football career ends.

He told the Detroit Free Press:

"I think part of the reason why I've been able to succeed on the football field is because once I get to football practice, it's my avenue to let all of that go. [...] Football is my happy place, so when I got to football practice it's like, 'OK, I'm free of all the work, I can just go have fun.' It made me look at football totally different. I didn't look at football as work, I looked at football as play. I looked at nursing as work because you'd have times you'd have to read 12, 13 chapters a night and have a test on it the next day."

Twelve or 13 chapters a night? I'd feel safe wagering that a number of NFL players made it through college without reading 12 or 13 chapters in total. (NFL bloggers too.)

Hughes told the newspaper that his teammates in Detroit don't know he's a registered nurse but that players in Jacksonville would often call him in the middle of the night to diagnose their ailments.

Despite a touchdown in the Lions' first preseason game, Hughes is considered a stretch to make the team's final roster. Given the team's rash of injuries this preseason, perhaps they could find another way to utilize one of his many talents.

High School Star uses Social Media the Wrong Way!

Thoughts By: Coach Brown

When a young person believes their athletic ability is their pass to do whatever they want to do and the adults around them encourage or support the behavior, many problems may arise!


This is the case of Tony Wroten, Jr. that tweeted about how he was chillin' in a three (3) - person class that really never really met and wasn't an official class as part of his school's curriculum.

Now, I know you're saying, "Why would he do that?" Well, the answer is quite simple if you have spent any significant time around teenagers of today. A lot of them, definitely not all of them, have a terrible understanding of what accountability is and the unbelievable power of cause-and-effect. I always tell young people to just think for at least a minute before you say something or do something because usually you will make a better decision if you just think before you speak or act. Try it, it really works!

So when Tony Wroten, Jr. sent out his tweet, he didn't even think about the consequences of his actions and actually caused a major stir in his school district. Again, adults have a responsibility in this too because we cannot treat our star athletes a certain way that is going to cause them to believe they are above the rules and laws of the land. Haven't we seen that outcome already? It's not a pretty picture and it's usually not a positive ending either.

Checkout the article below, it's something to chew on. One Love!

Top recruit’s Tweet leads to athletic director’s firing

By Cameron Smith

It's become common wisdom to remind everyone to be careful what they transmit across social media. Consider this Tweet sent out in January 2011 by superstar hoops recruit Tony Wroten Jr. exhibit A in what can happen when one isn't quite so careful:

"just me and my 2 bros. we got a 3 person Spanish class. #Niccceeee."

Not surprisingly, officials at Seattle Public Schools, which oversees Wroten's Garfield (Wash.) High, were none too thrilled to get surprising notice that Garfield had established a three-person Spanish tutorial class, particularly as budget cuts force more and more students into crowded classrooms. Soon thereafter, they discovered many more academic irregularities, including the fact that Wroten Jr. and a classmate had been given passing grades for a non-existent class led by the school's athletic director.

According to the Seattle Times' terrific high school sports reporter Mason Kelley, SPS launched a formal investigation into what led to the class being established, eventually finding that Garfield athletic director Jim Valiere had set up the course in conjunction with Garfield principal Ted Howard for Wroten and fellow senior Valentino Coleman, in large part as a way to ensure Wroten would qualify to attend the University of Washington, to whom he has signed a scholarship offer.

Yet the only reason why Howard signed off on the course was because Wroten and Coleman were allegedly given passing grades for a completely non-existent Spanish class led by Valiere in 2010, though both students said the athletic director never formally taught them and rarely did more than offer occasional quizzes in the hallway between classes.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Valiere was fired after the conclusion of the investigation, officially notified of his termination on April 11. The longtime athletic coordinator is still fighting his dismissal and has requested a formal hearing into the matter to come.

"The investigation they had going was just to find more dirt to try and bury me," Valiere told the Times. "I was really trying to teach them Spanish. I really wanted them to learn."

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Christian Caple, Wroten Jr. didn't seem to have learn his lesson from the publication of The Times' investigation, as he took back to social media shortly after the publication of Kelley's story to respond ... in a rather inadvisable way. Shortly after Kelley's story was published Thursday, Wroten Jr. responded publicly with this Tweet:

"Lol this guy @masonkelley be lying. Lol we r retarded now? Lol yea OK. I guarantee it wouldn't even b a story if MY name wasn't in it. Lol Its koo though cause you will NEVER get another interview with me. Never again. Now retweet that. Lol."

The superstar recruit has since deleted that Tweet and fired off a series of social media communications telling the world how important Spanish is as a language, insisting that that he fully intends to continue learning Spanish. Evidently he'll do that last part quickly so he can still enroll in Washington in September.

Unfortunately for Valiere's hopes to have his own penalty reversed, there are a number of extenuating conditions that seem to undermine his contention that he was ever licensed to provide an independent study period for the students, let alone help set up the two-student tutorial, which Wroten and Coleman are still partaking in. Howard insisted that Garfield did not ever offer independent study credit, and that he never signed off on any agreement for Valiere to teach the duo himself. In fact, Howard claims that he was the one who initiated the unique Spanish study group for what he considers to be altruistic reasons.

"I felt like we owed those kids and parents credit and also an education," he said. "The question that became a really big issue at Garfield was: How were the kids going to get the credit and not be penalized?" Howard told the Times.

The solution was certainly a unique and virtually unprecedented one, though it's also one that Howard and Valiere almost certainly would have preferred to keep quiet. Unfortunately, Wroten foiled those plans himself in the blink of an eye with one simple Tweet.

Student-Athlete Gives Away $40,000.00!!!

Thoughts By: Coach Brown

It is a beautiful thing when our young people step up and make great decisions!

The article you are going to read below is about an outstanding high school basketball player that is also an outstanding student! Since he had already earned a full scholarship to attend college, he gave the prize that he won to the rest of his classmates in the competition. He split $40,000.00 between seven other young people. I love it!

Just when you think there is nothing positive happening with our young people, a story like this pops up. Believe me, there are a lot of other young people doing great things too. We must continue to support them and recognize them for their accomplishments!

I salute you Allan Guei for making a decision to help others!



Checkout his story below .......

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The event - a foul-shooting contest for top academic students at Compton High School in Los Angeles - was created with a simple premise: Organizers wanted to show the kids at Compton how to create community spirit with college scholarship money as the incentive.

Allen Geui won in front of a packed house.

Following a tear-jerking gesture from the winner - it appears the true lessons learned were by the adults.

The kids in Compton are more than alright.
Three months after winning the $40,000 top prize, Allan Guei donated all of his winnings to the seven other finalists.
Guei, a star player on the basketball team who is headed to Cal-State Northridge on a full scholarship, said he felt the others could use the college cash more than he could. He wanted to give his classmates a chance to make their academic dreams come true, too.
"I've already been blessed so much and I know we're living with a bad economy, so I know this money can really help my classmates," he said in a release from the school. "It was the right decision."
One that stunned Court Crandall, the man behind the event.


"What he has done is exceptional, just like Allan," he said. "Like any young people, whether it's my kids or someone else's, you hope they are given opportunities to show what they can do. These Compton High grads have a lot of talent. They have a lot of drive, and I wish them all the best."


Crandall, a partner at the Southern California advertising firm WDCW and a hollywood screenwriter whose credits include "Old School," came up with the idea after watching his 16-year-old son play on a basketball team with some Compton students.


Crandall felt foul shooting was something that could unite a community regardless of racial divide. He felt doing it in Compton - a community battling an image problem - could help change those attitudes, too.
"I thought the free throw is a good metaphor in a world where there's a bunch of lines that are kind of dividing us," Crandall said afterward. "The focus became, how do we show the world another side of Compton, that's more positive, beyond the stereotypical guns and crime stuff."

The only requirement for the contest is that the students must have a GPA of 3.0 and above. After receiving nearly 100 applicants, eight contestants were chosen at random. The contest was held in March.

"My hope was that what started as a competition would become a collaboration with the kids supporting each other," Crandall told the L.A. Times. "They did, but in the end they did that to a much greater extent than I ever could have anticipated."

The students were filmed throughout the ordeal as part of a documentary that is scheduled to be released this fall. One of the final scenes figures to be Compton principal Jesse Jones making the surprise announcement at the school's graduation in June. "Allan is a great basketball player, but he is a better citizen than a basketball player," Jones said. "It's truly a blessing."


Even though Guei was a basketball star, Crandall allowed him to enter the contest to reward him for his academic efforts. Guei would have been allowed to keep the money under NCAA rules. The other finalists, who will receive roughly $5,500, are thankful that he will not.


Donald Dotson, who also plans to attend Cal-State Northridge, said Guei is "a very deep, intelligent, and warm person." Dotson figures his gesture will pay forward. "He's going to go really far in life," he said. "Because of what he's done for us, God will bless him. That's what life is all about; stepping forward to help other people."

The irony in this story: Compton's boys basketball team advanced to the Southern Section Division 2AA title game last winter before losing . The team was done in by poor foul shooting.



Free Throw update from Court Crandall on Vimeo.