"YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME"

Baseball player Elijah Dukes was recently fined $500 and benched for the game after showing up five minutes late to pre-game batting practice. Dukes had a good reason. He was attending a little league game as part of charity work. But Washington Nationals Manager, Manny Acta said that the law had to be laid down and enforced, even under Dukes' circumstances.

You win some, you lose some. Right? Rosie Perez has this line in White Men Can't Jump where she says, Sometimes when you win, you actually lose. Sometimes when you lose, you actually win. And sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie. And sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose. The first time few times I heard Rosie say this, I was like, uhh okay. Thinking about it now, it's pretty true.

We play all sorts of games in life, from those on the field to those in the classroom. And since I brought up Rosie, let's not forget the good ol' game of relationships. We have all this stuff going on around us and when the temperature hits 101 in the Spring time in LA like it is now, breaking all kinds of records for this time of the year, I'm forced to remember to slow down, enjoy the ride, and keep on playing -- win or lose.

I'm glad Dukes is giving back to his community and I hope this event doesn't stop him from doing future community service work. Five minutes late is five minutes late but in this case maybe there was just too much going on in the guy's life and though it appears he was penalized for his actions, I'm sure he actually won and won big with the folk he visited in the community.