Friday column: Long-term plans? Don't bother

Hamlet: What’s the news?
Rosencrantz: None, my lord, but that the world’s grown honest.
Hamlet: Then is doomsday near.
Hamlet — Act II, Scene 2

Last time I looked, the world hadn’t grown honest. But I have my own way of judging the nearness of the end times, and I’m getting a bit concerned. I wrote a positive column about three sports figures less than a month ago — and now I’ve done it again.

Starting with the Terrence Williams.

Williams, sent to New Jersey’s Development League team in Springfield, Mass., after consistently being late to Nets games and practices, was upbraided by the D-League club’s eighth-grade ball boy.

Carlos Gonzalez Jr. told Williams he was one of his favorite players, then asked, “Why would you blow it?”

Recalled Williams: “I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, ‘Why would you want to have an attitude, and be late — the simplest things you can control? And you get to be in the NBA? I would die to do that, so don’t blow it.’ ”

More amazing than a 13-year-old talking to a 23-year-old pro that way is the fact that the pro listened, changed his ways, and is now back in the NBA — albeit with Houston.
“There definitely was an awakening,” Williams said. “It woke me up a lot.”

* * *

Some would say that Keith Fitzhugh must have been asleep when the New York Jets asked the 24-year-old to join the team to shore up their secondary.

The gig probably wouldn’t have been for long, but hey, it still was the NFL, and a chance.

Fitzhugh said no thanks. Why?

He was afraid he would lose his regular job — as a trainee with the Norfolk Southern railroad.

Fitzhugh, it turns out, loves trains. He also loves his aging parents, with whom he lives in Hampton, Ga.

His decision has given Fitzhugh more notice than he ever garnered as a player.

But, Fitzhugh said, “I’m not doing this for fun or publicity or any other reason. I’m doing this because this is who I am.”

* * *

It remains unclear who Ron Artest is, exactly, but for the second time in a month he’s caught my attention. This time, it’s for refusing to allow a reporter to entice him into grousing because his minutes with the Lakers are down this year.

Said Artest: “I don’t be analyzing it, you know what I mean? I don’t be analyzing, analyzing, analyzing.”

I don’t be either.

But if I were, two columns praising Artest within a month of each other would make me think that while the world hadn’t grown honest, perhaps the sports world was beginning to grow wise.

In which case, doomsday definitely is near.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.