As the Truth sees it…

Plano West High School star Jackson Jeffcoat announced Friday that he has committed to play football for the University of Texas next year. Jeffcoat, who is the son of former Dallas Cowboy Jim Jeffcoat, is the No. 2 ranked prep player in the country.
Jeffcoat chose the Longhorns over the University of Oklahoma and Houston, where his father on the coaching staff.
I had held out hope that Jeffcoat would become a Sooner. At 6-foot-5, 225-pounds, the defensive end would have added to a defensive line that is about to take a hit with the loss of Gerald McCoy. He would have been the jewel for what should be a solid signing class. His twin sister, Jacqueline Jeffcoat, has already committed to play basketball at Oklahoma. Many thought this gave the Sooners the inside track. But he decided to stay near home in the Lone Star state.
“I felt most comfortable at Texas,” Jeffcoat told ESPN. “It’s not that I didn’t feel comfortable anywhere else; everywhere else was great. That’s why it was such a hard decision and it took so long,” Jeffcoat said. “All these schools are great schools. I just felt right with Texas.”
The Class of 2010 can sign national letters of intent starting Feb. 3, National Signing Day. Unless there are a few surprises, the Sooners will rank among the top 10, but it will not be in the top spot. That honor will go to Florida, which seems to have wrapped up almost every 5-star recruit in the South and East coast. But that doesn’t guarantee success.
Regardless, Wednesday should be exciting as a bunch of 17 and 18-year-olds make the biggest decision of their lives.
Michael Kinney

I stayed up all night watching the Australian Open. Ten years ago, if someone had told me I had would have held off sleep to watch womens’ tennis, I would have laughed at them. Does this mean I have changed or has the sport changed?

Every morning I have a routine. After getting up around 5:30 a.m. and going to the gym for an hour, I spend the rest of my morning preparing for work and tuning in and out of Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN 2. While I may skip workouts, I rarely miss watching the show.
However, Monday, I did miss a large portion of it. Because the Dallas Cowboys were destroyed the day before, I really wasn’t in the mood to watch analysts and critics tell me what I already knew, that the Boys choked.
It wasn’t until Wednesday that I found out the biggest piece of news coming out of the show’s broadcast, which happened to be a holiday. As Co-host Mike Greenberg was thanking listeners and viewers for joining them on “Martin Luther Coon Jr.” day. He quickly realized his mistake and corrected himself by saying Martin Luther King Day.
After the correction, Greenberg went on with the show as if nothing had happened. And his Co-host, former NFL player, Mike Golic didn’t say a word.
It wasn’t until later the day that Greenberg posted an explanation on ESPN MediZone, and not on his own show, and apology for his mistake.
“I just came home from the Knicks game and found out about the mess that was created by my garbling a sentence on our show this morning,” Greenberg said in a statement on ESPN Mediazone. “I apologize for not addressing it sooner. And I’m sorry that my talking too fast — and slurring my words — might have given people who don’t know our show the wrong impression about us, and about me. I feel horrible about that, because nothing could be further away from who I am and what our show is about. I would never say anything like that, not in public, or in private, or in the silence of my own mind, and neither would anyone associated with our show, and I’m very sorry that my stumble this morning gave so many people the opposite impression.”
I understand saying the wrong thing. Things often come out of my mouth by accident. The difference is, they are words I commonly use. I can’t think of a time that something has just slipped out that was not a regular part of my vocabulary. So for Greenberg to state he would never say “coon” in public or private is hard to believe.
Are people not making enough of this or should we just accept the apology and move on to the next gaffe?
Michael Kinney

President Barack Obama announced that the United States has pledged $100 million in the recovery effort for Haiti and its citizens of Haiti as they suffer through one of the worst disasters in recent history.
“I have directed my administration to respond with a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives,” Obama said in a statement. “The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble, and to deliver the humanitarian relief — the food, water and medicine — that Haitians will need in the coming days.”
In the past, this would not be an issue. When there is a tragedy, the United States is usually the first one there with offering money and support. However, with the U.S. going through one of its worst recessions, high unemployment, massive foreclosures and bankruptcies, there are those who say we can’t afford to give. That we should give, but let the rest of the world shoulder most of the burden as we take a backseat.
“… we’ve already donated to Haiti,” radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said. “It’s called the U.S. income tax.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the Haitian Red Cross estimates the number of deaths at between 45,000 and 50,000. But most media outlets believe that number will rise to more than 100,000. Those numbers should trump any hesitation or pettiness we may have in giving to Haiti.
As bad as we may have it, the worst day in the United States is still 10 times better than the best day in Haiti.
“America stands with you,” Obama said to Haitians in a short statement. “You will not be forsaken, you will not be forgotten.”
Michael Kinney

Until Tuesday I had no idea how bad it was in Haiti. I knew they were one of the poorer countries in the world, but not to the extent of the hunger that runs rampant through the region, which I didn’t find out about until after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Tuesday night.
The story that sticks with me the most came when CNN’s Anderson Cooper was talking to Rep. Maxine Waters (D -Calif.) He said the country is so depleted of food and structure that mothers mix mud with salt for their children so that they will have food to put in their bellies. These are called mud pies. And that was before the devastation of this earthquake has turned cities to rubble and taken the lives of thousands of Hatians.
More than half the people who reside in Haiti live on less than $1 per day. And every year, an estimated 38,000 children under the age of 5 die because of malnutrition.
You never know how bad a situation is until tragedy strikes. And this is as bad as it gets.
“This is a catastrophe,” the first lady, Elisabeth Préval, told the Miami Herald. “I’m stepping over dead bodies. A lot of people are buried under buildings. The general hospital has collapsed. We need support. We need help. We need engineers.”
For those who are looking to help, below are a list of groups that you can donate to in order to help save lives and build the country back.
• Wyclef Jean’s grassroots organization: Text Yele to 501 501 to donate $5 via your cellphone.
• American Red Cross
• Action Against Hunger
• AmeriCares
• American Jewish World Service
• CARE
• Beyond Borders
• Catholic Relief Services
• Direct Relief International
• Childcare Worldwide
• Doctors Without Borders
• Feed My Starving Children
• Friends of WFP
• Haitian Health Foundation
• International Medical Corps
• Hope for Haiti
• International Relief Teams
• Medical Teams International
• Meds and Food for Kids
• Mercy Corps
• Oxfam
• Operation USA
• Partners in Health
• Samaritan’s Purse
• Save the Children
• UNICEF
• World Concern
• World Vision
• Yele Haiti

Michael Kinney

Wednesday night, Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely by Commissioner David Stern. More than likely, that will be increased to the rest of the season. Once again, we have a man in charge who is more worried about making an example than being fair.
For those who have not heard, Arenas was accused of pulling a gun on a Wizard teammate after an argument over a gambling debt. The accusation then changed that Arenas brought three unloaded pistols into the locker room as a joke. But Arenas said he never threatened or even pointed a firearm at anyone.
While no one outside the Washington players knows exactly what took place in the locker room, Stern has decided after hearing Arenas’ comment on the incident that it was time for him to step in. That included seeing Tuesday’s pre-game introductions in Philadelphia, where Arenas’ teammates circled him and he put his thumbs up, index fingers out and pretended to shoot them.
While that may have been a little much, it’s no reason to suspend someone for an entire season. If the law wants to take the case on, that is their decision. But Stern has once again decided that the league’s image is more important than due process.
However, like in most cases, people like to get on their high horse or soap box and condemn people for making a mistake. That includes members of the media, civic leaders and politicians. If we could ever get them out of the way, then maybe we can handle situations without turning it into a three-ring circus that forces people like Stern to overreact.
I am not saying Arenas’ actions were not incredibly stupid. But being stupid is not a crime.
Michael Kinney

Like many people, when Jan. 1 rolled around I jotted down the 2010 version of my New Year’s resolutions. In all, there were about 15 of them. Seven that I planned on keeping at least through the spring and three hopefully well into the summer.
But then I decided to take an entirely new direction. Instead of trying to stick to some promises that will only cause me pain and failure, I decided to make resolutions that I know I will have no problem keeping. The idea being that success breeds more success. So when the year is up and I have kept all my resolutions, I will take it to the next level in 2011. Or not.
Regardless, here are a few of the resolutions I will try to keep this year:
1. I will watch massive amounts of ESPN, South Park, True Blood and NCIS: Los Angeles.
2. I will continue to drive a SUV even though I believe in global warming.
3. I will Pay my rent two days late just to upset my landlord.
4. I will Disagree with everything FOX’s Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck spout off about even after they starting crying.
5. I will Send out more than 5,000 texts every month, with half of them just to bother friends throughout the day.
6. I will not wear parachute pants when I hang out in Bricktown on the weekends.
7. I will continue to wait for Halle Berry to ask me out on a date.
8. I will Laugh at Oklahoma State football fans everytime they say “This is our year.”
These are a few of mine. What New Year’s resolutions have you set for yourself?
Michael Kinney