But what is the third city? Oklahoma City. Yes, Oklahoma City.

Why Oklahoma City, you might ask? It provides a contrast, a touch of drama if you will, a fine protagonist in this tale of money, hype, and out-of-this-galaxy egos.

For those who have recently been devoid of any media whatsoever (because it would take complete and total isolation on a desert island to have avoided this story), King James – otherwise known as LeBron James – has left the building. And his current throne. Well, he’s left the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland at least. LeBron, in search of the promised land (and his first NBA championship ring) has headed to Miami. Along the way, he joined Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade to create a sort of hypothetical-on-paper “Dream Team”. James and Chris Bosh signed six year contracts, each worth $110.1 million, and Dwayne Wade re-signed for $107.5 million for 6 years. That’s is a whole lot of money being spent for a net total of one championship ring (for Wade) in the 7 years since they were all drafted in 2003.

With Wade and Bosh and James, the Heat will be so tight on the salary cap that they will have to start the janitor and hot dog vendor in the other two starting positions. And one can only guess who is coming off the bench at this point. Beyond that, it will be interesting to see if the egos all fit on the court at the same time.

This is far beyond being a story of money or championships. All you have to do is look to Oklahoma City for the tale of, well, another city – and another player – that puts this all in perspective: Kevin Durant.

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I have written a series of posts and created a number of podcasts over the years entitled “Consumer’s Guide To Health” (CGH). The long-term goal has always been to promote consumer awareness, provide resources for competent self care strategies, and to gradually shift our system of health and the accepted standards of care towards evidence-based principles. It has also attempted to debunk many health myths.

These myths exists in clinical practice: in the assessment and treatment of patients. They also exist in the coaching and training world, where many training “theories” continue to have little to no relevant sports science at their root.

The live streaming CGH podcasts will resume on January 19, 2012. I will also be focusing a series of episodes and posts specifically on training myths. Here is an abbreviated list of some upcoming topics that will get you thinking:

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The first half saw more yellow cards than shots on goal. And the game went into extra time, tied 0 – 0. It certainly wasn’t a particularly memorable game. Spain had many great offensive opportunities, most of which were nullified by the inability to pass to the open man (or hit the broad side of a barn with a free kick). Further drama ensued as the Dutch team played the better part of 15 minutes with 10 players after a red card ejection.

But at 116 minutes into the game, Andres Iniesta secured his place in Spanish sporting history to give La Furia Roja the win. This was their first World Cup championship, putting them in an elite group of just eight countries that have won a World Cup.

The World Cup is always a spectacle. And it certainly has a way of keeping the world’s attention for a full month.

For all of the beautiful, elegant play, we were also witness to some ridiculous (though elegant) dives and flops from the players. And it was intriguing to see that soccer, on the international level, has it’s share of over-rated players and teams. In that way, it is very similar to professional football on this side of the Atlantic. Case in point: none other than Wayne Rooney and England’s soccer team. At one point in time, they were amongst the favorites to win the World Cup. Rooney was considered one of the primary scorers for England. After 4 matches, what were his statistics? Zero goals and zero assists. And once again, England was over-hyped. Of course, we’ve never witnessed any NFL team being over-hyped, have we?

But wait, there’s more.

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It is that time of year again – time for people to make New Year’s Resolutions. Most will resolve to become happier and more productive in the coming year. But for many, New Year’s resolutions end up becoming "health resolutions".

At this time of year, you will often hear the refrain of "I am going to lose a little weight” or “I am going to eat healthier”. I am sure we've all made resolutions along those lines, and I am sure that many of us have failed in our attempts.

Many times, we are unsuccessful with our resolutions because of the strategies we use to accomplish our goals. The problem can lie in using the same unsuccessful approach year in and year out. As they say, “if you do what you’ve done, you will get what you’ve got”.

With that in mind, here are three interviews from “Consumer’s Guide To Health” that will help. They examine health resolutions and the basics of both fitness and nutrition. Make 2012 the year when you set reasonable goals and put effective strategies into place to make them a reality.

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