So this seems like a good way to start the day — a story about a former NBA first-round draft pick who rides around in a HumVee. Not too impressive, until you realize the vehicle is located in Iraq, and the former baller in question — Tim James — has been deployed there in the Army since July.

James was the Heat’s first pick in the 1999 draft (25th overall), and played for for Miami, Charlotte and Philadelphia before going overseas for fives seasons, playing in Japan, Turkey and Israel. His uncle, Sam McDonald, spent 22 years in the Marines, and he enlisted in Sept. of 2008. Once again, using your powers for good, not evil. That’s a +1. Read more…

With all the discussion this summer about things like health care reform, cash-for-clunkers, and our country’s faltering economy, it might be easy to forget sometimes that the men and women of our armed forces have been fighting wars in two nasty, inhospitable countries far, far away for the better part of eight years now. As hard as people think it might be to give up salary for unpaid furloughs or other hardships Americans have had to endure lately, it pales in comparison to getting shipped halfway around the world to get shot at in 130-degree heat.

It’s hard to believe that someone would willingly choose that as a job, yet millions of heroic Americans who believe in their country and what it stands for voluntarily sign on to keep our nation safe from our enemies. It’s especially hard to believe that people would give up seemingly everything to do it, but that’s exactly what former Miami Heat first-round draft pick Tim James did.

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