There comes a time each day when I need to take a break from basketball.
On Tuesday night, there was no better time than after watching the battle between Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving in Cleveland, an absolute thriller of a game that ended with Lillard sinking his eighth 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to improve the Portland Trail Blazers to an NBA-best 22-4.
So I shut down the telly, reached the for latest issue of Time Magazine, and learned that Pope Francis had been named Person of the Year.
Edward Snowden came in second.
Memo to Time Magazine: You got it wrong. Is Gary Washburn the new managing editor there? (Sorry, Gary. Cheap shot. You know I love you, man).
Now let me make something clear. I have no problem with Pope Francis. Seems like a nice guy, wants to move the Catholic Church out of the dark ages, wants to make amends for decades — if not centuries — of wrongdoings that were cloaked in a false layer of legitimacy because God was supposedly the church’s guiding force. I wish him the best of luck. As a post-Catholic, and a product of eight years of Jesuit education, I’ll be watching closely from the sidelines. Gotta root for the first Jesuit Pope, ya know?
But the Pope is merely making promises. Snowden took action.
Snowden risked life and liberty to expose the level of deceit being practiced by the U.S. government, which is monitoring every keystroke of this column as I type it, I can only assume. Thanks to the information that Snowden exposed, I already know that the NSA has made a record of the three text messages I sent earlier this morning, and you should know that the U.S. government is keeping track of the fact that you are reading this column.
And I ask: What kind of freedom is that? We are living in an Orwellian world, and we wouldn’t know the extent of the U.S. government’s spying on its own people if not for the actions of Snowden.
So Time Magazine got it wrong with its MVP rankings. I will try not to do the same with my MVP rankings, which means no more leaving out guys who belong in the Top 10. Yes, I’m talking about you, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving. Welcome back to the party. My apologies for treating you the way Kim Jong-Un treated Jang Song-thaek. I acknowledge my mistake.
Can President Obama do the same with Snowden, a true American hero and patriot? I wouldn’t count on it. I voted for the guy twice, and he has done nothing but disappoint me as our country has become even more polarized than it was a decade ago. The Constitution has become a document that is held in disregard by the highest levels of leadership, whether they are Republican or Democrat. I’m just hoping I am not taken out by a drone strike for writing this. What has become of us, my fellow Americans?
OK, enough on politics. Let’s keep it light from here on out. And I’ll endeavor to get it right. Unlike Time Magazine.
So on to the rankings we go, with a new No. 1.