Wooden, Kemp and Jon Weisman

ESPN's Dodger Thoughts blogger, Jon Weisman, ties together his adoration of John Wooden, his mixed feelings on the play of Matt Kemp since becoming Rihanna's boyfriend and some self-reflection on his own life into a readable closer on the Dodgers season. And so much more.

I am 42 years old, but that's a chronological age. Or to put it another way, it's an average of all the ages I feel. Sure, there's some 42-year-old in me, but part of me still feels 9, and part of me feels about 75.

I approach life a certain way. I want to be better, and I'll grind at it, but there's a limit to what I'll do. I work very hard, I feel, but I can't emphasize that limit enough. And that limit can change on a weekly, daily, hourly basis. There always has and always will be a part of me that wants to do nothing more than smell the roses, whether those roses are Saturday morning cartoons as a kid or a nice long walk in the twilight as a grown-up. I like the work I do, but I don't like to work. I accept the process and can even enjoy the journey, but the result is a big part of my reward. I always want my life to be easier; I always want things to go right the first time.

And so that limit of how hard I'm willing to work is a moving target. I suspect that's true for many of us.

Knowing what to do is not the same as being able or willing to do it. It's a hard lesson to learn that the effort that you're comfortable with is not always enough. It's a lesson that might make you rebel. Matt Kemp and I can't be the only ones who wrestle with that. Being paid a lot of money might alter the personal battlefield, but it doesn't eliminate it.

In a separate post, Weisman muses on whether Councilwoman Janice Hahn's suggestion of public ownership for the Dodgers is just a bad idea or the worst idea ever. And he uses a clip from "The Graduate" to make his point.