Parents... Are They Really Necessary?

Even little Tommy is skeptical of his pending childhood

11/20/2011:

Reading through the biography of Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs, it is apparent that his mother and father had a strong influence in his development during the early years of his life.  He was able to find success within his passion and had full support along the way while growing up.
Unfortunately for most of us, that is not the case.

The Selfish Gene Theory is something that is discussed in Richard Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene which states that the more two individuals are genetically related, the more sense (at the level of the genes) it makes for them to behave selflessly with each other.  However, is that something that is forgotten when it comes to parenting?  Parents become selfish in their mentoring of children.

How many of us wanted to be non-traditional occupations growing up such as actors/actresses, musicians, astronauts, chefs, writers, or photographers only to be told by parents to pursue more stable or socially acceptable occupations like doctors, lawyers, teachers, service men and women, etc.

The biggest detriment of a child's imagination comes from its parents' influence.  The same influence that will tell them to suppress their creativity and imagination and look to become a clock punching employee instead of a person with the freedom to make their own choices in life. 

And how about the men and women that choose to bear children in the worst conditions possible (single parent, low income, etc) where there chances of success in life amount to the odds of winning a lottery?  Well, that's for another day.  While perception would lead you to believe that a parent is vital for a child's success, the reality is that, more often than not, a parent can be its child's greatest enemy without even realizing it.

11/15/2011 - A Historic Night in NCAA Men's College Basketball

11/16/2011:

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11/15/2011 will go down as the most historic night in the history of a coach within the NCAA ranks of men's college basketball.  In a highly touted game at Madison Square Garden, the Duke University Blue Devils defeated the Michigan State Spartars 74-69.  This game was highly touted due the fact that, with a Duke victory, Bobby Knight's 902 career wins would be trumped.  On a night when 903 was the number on everyone's mind, a man named Herb Magee led his Philadelphia University team to a 71-59 win over opponent West Chester University.  This game was significant because Coach Magee tied Coach Don Meyer to become to all time leader in wins for NCAA Men's college basketball.

One of Knight's players at Army was Mike Krzyzewski, who later was head coach at Army before moving on to Duke and is the winningest men's basketball coach in NCAA history. - Taken from The United States' Military Academy's Men's Basketball's Wiki page

An intriguing subplot to the misinformation reported from a handful of media outlets that I've seen, most notably ESPN and CNN, have placed Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski as the all time leader.  While there is no denying that Mike Krzyzewski is one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history, to say that he is the all time leader in college basketball history is just an outright lie.

To most, it is acceptable to say that Krzyzewski is #1 despite the fact that he is still 20 wins behind Magee for 1st place on the all time list. While perception would lead you to believe that Krzyzewski is on top of the list, the reality is that bronze is not greater than gold.