I am soooooooooo happy he didn't go to BYU. That's all we would hear about on local sports if he would have.


>This was a very short hiatus even for me. I realized further isolation is not what I need. I will still try to spend most of my time offline but I don't think it would be wise to leave completely.
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>Part of what keeps me going is that I seem to keep finding things that excite me. The current one is a high school basketball player from Chicago named Jabari Parker.
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>He was big news around here even before he got to high school. People said "You've got to see this kid play." His father, Sonny Parker, played in the NBA as a journeyman, but it was said early that Jabari would outdistance his father. He is a senior at Simeon High School, a storied basketball program. Among the notable alums are Wilt Chamberlain, Nick Anderson, Deon Thomas, and Derrick Rose. He has led Simeon to three straight Illinois championships. If they win again this spring it will be an unprecedented fourth straight. He is rated the #1 or #2 HS player in the country depending which tout sheet you believe.
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>Rose is the relevant comparison because both of them have torn their knees up in the past few months. Rose is still rehabbing and it remains an open question whether he will return with that explosive move to the basket. He is not tall but when he got close to the hoop he hammered it home. I remember telling John "Owes Me Money" Harvey that the guy to watch on that Memphis team was the freshman, Derrick Rose. He took an unexceptional Bulls team to the league's best record and an MVP award.
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>Jabari is a long way from being that kind of player. To his credit, he realizes that. He does not seem full of himself and has said all the way through the recruitment process that getting a good education is right up there with making a living as a basketball player. Great kid.
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>For some months his college selection was huge news here. He narrowed his choices down to five. That was big news. When he announced his choice it was broadcast live on all the local TV channels. He's going to Duke.
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>UPDATE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwDWBfIWDy0

uwDWBfIWDy0