The Laguna Bombers and their Parents

Family aside, nothing outside of school has done more for my development as a functioning United States citizen than sports. When I look back on my days as an adolescent, all of the memories I cherish most have involve me wearing a jersey, whether it be football, basketball or baseball. Back then, there was nothing I loved more than starting a new season, competing against my friends and just learning something daily that I didn’t know the day before. This may seem odd to some, but the majority of my life’s lessons didn’t come from inside the home, the classroom or the church, I learned everything from bulletin boards in the basketball gym locker rooms, the clipboards of my football coaches and in the dugouts that ran parallel with the first and third base lines, because that’s where I spent the majority of my time – and that’s where a lot of today’s youth spends their time.

I remember all of the friends I made playing baseball, I remember all of the trophy’s I’ve won and all of the ones I didn’t win. I remember snacks after ballgames and pizza parties after the end of a season as well as orange slices before the games and new cleats before the seasons. I remember all of us who had so much fun playing the game we loved so much. However, all of the attention of youth baseball seems to go to the children, not that I’m saying it shouldn’t, but when the Little League World Series runs on ESPN we learn so much about everything the kids have gone through just to play on such a large stage, but what about the parents? What about the coaches? What about all of the brothers and sisters who contribute so much of their time and effort into getting these kids where they want to be? These are the questions we need answered, so I went out and asked a group of people who knew what all of this was about – the Laguna Bombers, the 2007 Babe Ruth 10-under World Series Champions.

Youth baseball has always been special in our country because baseball itself is like your favorite song that’s grown old to everyone else, but will always be in the favorite’s play list on your iPod. Baseball is definitely unique when compared to other youth sports because the camaraderie that comes with youth baseball is second to none – and the Laguna Bombers amity, not just between players, but between players, coaches, parents and siblings alike is what makes this small, tight-knit community of people so special.

I heard through a friend that the 2007 Babe Ruth World Series Champions were going to be playing in a tournament in Bakersfield. I showed up to their next game, a late evening thriller against Northwest Bakersfield’s team. At the top of the sixth inning (the sixth inning is the final inning in this league) Laguna took the field just three outs away from sealing yet another victory up 2-0. Bakersfield got a couple on base with two outs, and the next kid up blasted a John Burke pitch over the fence. This was important for two reasons, A) Laguna was down one at the top of the sixth inning and B) no one on Laguna’s side seemed a bit worried about it, it was almost surreal. Burke’s catcher and the rest of the infield went over to him and told him it was going to be alright, Laguna’s manager had a few words with him, but left Burke on the mound when any other manager would not have hesitated to take him off of the mound and all of the parents let him know that all he needed was one more out and the bats would have a chance to win the game for him.

Burke struck out the next kid, two of Laguna’s first three batters got on base then Carlos Mosley dropped the game winning RBI over the second baseman’s head.

It’s not every day you see a team with so much composure down the stretch, especially not with a group of 11-year-olds. I’m not going to lie to you, I was immediately fascinated with these kids and became a fan of this team, as un-journalistic as it may be, because it’s kind of hard not to like this group of kids. I think, more than anything, the composure of these kids, their collective lack of braggadocio and their talent is a testament to the parents and coaching staff who have sacrificed so much for these kids to come out here and compete. The ‘baseball parent’ (or the parent of any youth athlete) is one of our nation’s most undervalued resources.

Like most parents, the parents of the Laguna Bombers love watching their children succeed. When children succeed, they’re happy, and parents are (more times than not) happy when their children are. The success of a child gives the parent something to brag about at the workplace and, sometimes, the parents get to go along for the ride. It may be enough that the kids love being on the road, enjoying their peers company, but the parents of these youth teams, especially all-star teams like the Bombers, who travel from city to city playing in tournaments, get to enjoy each other’s company too.

When Laguna traveled to Vincennes, Indiana for the Babe Ruth World Series last year, the parents of every kid on the team made the trip. These parents know each other, they look out for each other, and every once in a while, they get to have a little fun. When asked how much fun the parents have on the road trips, Patty Wackman confessed, “at beer-thirty, we’re having a lot of fun,” and everyone in the vicinity of her voice laughed at the answer (and I’ll leave the definition of beer-thirty up to your own imagination).

However, not everything is fun and games for the parents of these kids. In order for any of this to happen, sacrifices have to be made.

“Most of us have more than one child,” explains Mo Mosley, father of Carlos and one of the Bombers assistant coaches. “We have other kids in other sports and we’re taking off weeks here and there. For a lot of us, our vacation time has already run out for the year so these parents are sacrificing their time and their money to provide for their kid to have fun. It’s a strain on you, but you don’t let you kid see it because you don’t know if they’re ever going to get to do something like this again. We all have the mindset of ‘I want to work as hard as I can do what I can for my kid.’ A lot of us set aside money because we know how the year is going to go, we’re use to it now, we’re kind of in a rhythm. If we know other parents are struggling, we’ll help out. We’ll buy dinner for the kids, you know, do something to help out the family.”

The family Mo was talking about was the Laguna Bomber’s family – including the players, coaches, parents and siblings. This is a concept that they’ve all bought into, and it was imperative for the team’s success. Manager, Brett Day, told me that the coaching staff tells the kids they’re brothers, and the kids act like it, but some of the parents will tell you the same things about themselves.

“The social life for us [the parents] is usually pretty good,” said Gay Lynn Kelly who describes herself as a ‘baseball mom.’ “You become a family. We do each others laundry, we eat meals together – and have beer-thirty together. We do it all; we all become a part of each other’s families.”

And like all good families, the Laguna Bombers take care of each other, both on and off the field. In preparation for this regional tournament, their last of the season, the team played four tournaments – and won all of them. Day explained that the team has “a tradition of ‘win and swim,’ when we win we get in the pool and have fun and that’s something we always strive to do.” Along with that, some of the parents who have the pools that the kids swim in (and they swim very often), take turns barbequing just to keep the kids close and to keep the burden of the costs of cooking for everyone off just one person – not that they’d all that to happen in any other circumstances.

It is things like this that go unnoticed to the kids who play on these teams. The parents shield their kids from so much of the outside world’s negative tendencies to keep the kids optimistic. Angie Mardical, a real-estate agent and motivational speaker by day and avid Bomber fan by night, explained that the league didn’t really recognize the kids after winning the Babe Ruth World Series the previous season. There was an article of them in their local paper after their win, but there really was no mention of the accomplishment in any of the tournaments that they played in this year and it was not mentioned in a pre-regional tournament banquet. All of their hard work, and for what, an article in their local newspaper – this of course, was taken much harder by the parents than it was by the kids.

“The only problem I think we have is that we think the league needs to support us more,” said Coach Mosley, explaining some of the things these parents shield their kids from. “We’re returning World Series champions – and I don’t want to bash on our league or anything – but we came down here and the kids were like ‘why don’t we have any state champion t-shirts?’ All of these other teams are out here with their state champion t-shirts and hats and our league didn’t do anything for us when we came down here and that kind of upset the kids a little bit, but they kept their heads up and played hard. As their older family members we take it a little harder because we try to shield them from all of the politics.”

In the end, it’s all worth it. The course of the season may be nerve wrecking, long, hard and expensive, but the good always outweighs the bad – especially when the kid who had struck out his two previous times at bat (catcher, David Mickle) can come up in the bottom of the sixth inning and knock in the game winning run in the Regional Championship Game to end another season on top. So this one is for you mom and dad, and for all of the moms and dads across the country who dedicate their time, effort and hard earned dollars into helping their kids have the time of their lives. The games may be soon forgotten, but the parents never will.

Stay Hideous -PB

(Word count to date: 47,108
45 days and 52,892 words to go)

BLAH!

This is the third straight day that I've written something and ended up completely hating it before finishing it. Today I was working on my article on Little League Baseball and decided, only 1,110 words in that it's way too corny and needs to be re-written. I'm not really forcing anything, I'm just not writing anything interesting.

It's a down time for me right now. Maybe because I have too much other shit to worry about. Or maybe it's just because my hands hurt. I'm going back to the notebook for a couple of days and hopefully I'll have some better shit.

I know it's been a few days since I've posted here, but I've written a lot of words since the 24th and when I complete some of the shit I'm working on, I should be right back on track toward that 100,000. I want to say that I have writers block, but that isn't the case at all since I've been writing every day, I just have good content block. I haven't written anything worth anything in days. It's stupid.

That's all for the day. I just wanted those of you who care to know why I haven't posted in almost a week. There you have it. Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow.

Mother Fucking Republicans

It was recently reported that California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is trying to ruin my life for a mistake the majority of his state’s citizen’s had nothing to do with. Schwarzenegger, because of California’s 15.2 million dollar budget deficit, has proposed lowering the pay of nearly 200,000 state employees to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until lawmakers can figure out how to deal with this ridiculous budget. Raped Again By Mother Fucking Republicans.

So what does this mean? It means that thousands of high school teachers aren’t going to be able to pay the lease on their Nissan Altimas, it means thousands of temporary workers will find their jobs even more temporary than expected, it means thousands of college students aren’t even going to be able to afford a grande meal from Taco Bell during one of those hideous drunken nights – hell, they aren’t even going to be able to afford the damn alcohol. This means I might not have rent on time for a couple of months or I won’t have any gas to drive my car to my 6.55 an hour job! This means that I, along with other men and women across the state who decided to pursue a higher education could be federally fucked.

In the wake of the deliberating, college students, most notably ones who work on campus in state schools are going to have much on their minds to worry about, as if the pressures of term papers, final exams and that one professor who is out to get everyone isn’t enough. They’ll have to worry about not only the possibility of their wages being cut substantially, $1.45 less per hour, but tuition fees are set to be raised again – by a whopping 10%. Students who are employed by their schools could potentially be making less money while being forced to pay more to remain enrolled in the said school.

Is this the way things are going to be? I can only ponder conspiracies by credit companies and loan sharks to keep the future of this damn country in debt. How else can this be explained? I’m going to owe money for the rest of my life, and if I end up working for the state of fucking California (God forbid) I can have the wages I’m going to need to be paying back to these damn credit companies and loan sharks cut at any point without a reasonably fair warning. Our collective lives are going to be ruined. Sure, I may be a little extreme with the conspiracy theories or with the assumption that all of our lives (our meaning the college students at state schools in California who work for their schools, a very small demographic in comparassion to those who don’t work for the school), but this can’t be helping and it’s truly unfair.

Schwarzenegger’s spokes man, Aaron McLear, explained the reason for the wage cuts saying, “the Legislature has failed to produce a budget over a month past their deadline and because we don't have a rainy day fund, the governor is looking at a number of options to make sure the state does not run out of cash."

What I would like to know is what these other options are because I really don’t like this one. McLear also goes on to explain that state employees would receive their full salary retroactively once a budget is signed. Retroactively being the key word here. Federal court case Landgraf v. USI states “a particular rule operates `retroactively' comes at the end of a process,” which means, this process can take as short – or as long as they need it to take. State employees can go without their hard earned dollars for several months if need be, something that can put a lot of us in a really bad position.

Because of this there are two problems that I’m very concerned with. One, why is it okay for the state to force me to lend them my money without interest and two, how does this help, instead of hurt our state’s economy?

I can’t answer the first question simply because I wouldn’t know where to look it up and I don’t have the time or patience to look it up. However, I can offer some insight as to why this not only bothers me, but bothers all who would be affected by this preposterous mandate. If this goes through the wages of some of the most important people in our state will be cut dramatically. I’m not talking about importance as far as title and bank accounts go, I’m talking about important as far as what they’re doing for our community. We’re talking about teachers, fire fighters, health care workers, social workers, garbage men and that bitch at the DMV. Our state is nothing without these people, and they work hard for their God dammed money. In fact, they’re doing their jobs much better than Governor Schwarzenegger, who was supposed to be balancing the budget and not putting us in this position in the first place. Weren’t Californians originally pissed off at Governor Gray Davis because of the budget problem he had? Why should Schwarzenegger be given a pass for doing the job just as terribly (actually this budget deficit is nothing compared to the 30+ million Davis seemed to manufacture, but still) and why should he take it out on his employees? He shouldn’t. What Schwarzenegger should have done is done his job right. Somehow he cost the state of California 15 million dollars, and I know for a fact if I cost my boss 15 million I’d be fired. I’m just saying.

As far as the second question goes, I’m not sure if it helps the state’s economy at all. Macro Econ 101 tells us that the more money is circulated through the economy, the better off it will be, especially in a state so dependent on sales and income taxes. We’re either the most materialistic or the second most materialistic state in the country, we like to spend our money and that’s what makes this economy thrive, how is this money going to be circulated when you’re taking it away from us – especially when people are so reluctant to drive long distances with these higher gas prices and are generally spending less anyway for the same reasons. Gas right now is well over four dollars per gallon, and our governor wants to pay us less than two dollars more than the price of gas per gallon. This is going to set a lot of people back, which in turn will probably set the economy back further than it already is – which could lead to companies raising prices – which would ultimately lead to even less spending and all of a sudden we’re in a fucking recession (again, I’m a bit extreme).

How about instead of giving your people more monetary problems because you’ve created your own, get all of these fucking politicians in a fucking room and have them figure out this fucking budget. Because your plan is over a month over due it does not give you the right to make it my problem too. I live in California, not South Dakota, I need my fucking money.

(Side bar, I’m not a money hungry bastard, but I don’t like when the little money I have is taken away from me. It’s not cool at all.)

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 45,063
52 days and 54,937 words to go)

College Basketball Notebook

So I had to take a week off of the College Basketball Notebook for reasons refuse to tell on this website, but I’m back. Two weeks ago I revealed the Top Five (or six) teams not in the Top 5. This week I have my Top 5 teams to stay relevant after key losses. Every year schools lose big named players who contributed a lot to their team’s success, but more often than not, teams need some time to pick up where they left off. These teams, however, should have no problem getting back to playing well and contending for conference supremacy.

Louisville
By early March of last season I was huge on Rick Pitino’s team. I was sure they would win the Big East Tournament (lost to Pitt in overtime) and were definitely an Elite 8 team (which they were and lost to North Carolina). Like most Pitino teams, Louisville only got better as the season continued, however, their success was due in large part to the return of David Padgett, who had been sidelined throughout his collegiate career with injury. This season, Padgett, along with Derrick Character (transfer), will not be returning next season – four of their starters, however, will be back, including their starting backcourt in Edgar and Jerry Smith. The Cardinals will also bring in the Associated Press high school player of the year in Samardo Samuels, who is sure to be a one and done prospect. Even in the stacked Big East with Padgett gone, Louisville is still in a great position to have another great season with four of their five starters coming back and arguably the best high school player in the nation.

Biggest Question: Will Edgar Sosa be able to play consistently for a full season? After a great freshman season and an up and down sophomore campaign, Louisville is really going to need Sosa to have a good season for them to stay in the top 3 of the Big East next year. After watching Sosa go for 31 on Texas A&M in the 2006 Tourney (one of those games I’ll never forget). After two years playing in the Big East, Sosa should be well seasoned and should play up to his potential (for some reason I see him leading this team like Francisco Garcia did some years ago).

Key Losses: David Padgett (SR); Derrick Character (Transfer); Juan Palacios (SR)
Notable Freshmen: Samardo Samuels (C); Kyle Kuric (SG); Jared Swopshire (SF)

Michigan State
Drew Neitzel has been huge for Michigan State over the last for years, and now he’s gone – and I feel Michigan State will be better off without him. I, along with hundreds of thousands of other college basketball fans, loved watching Neitzel play, but there were a lot of times where I felt that he was a ball stopper. He scored so well that his team depended on him getting his shots instead of taking what was given to them. Next season Spartan fans have Raymar Morgan to look forward to. He really came out of his shell last season, and with Neitzel gone, he should be much more productive. Also, Goron Sutton was much more active on the boards, Kalin Lucas seems more than promising, the Spartans are bringing in one of the nation’s best recruiting classes – and don’t forget that they’re being coached by Tom Izzo. I like Michigan State to be competitive in the Big-10 again, even with the loss of Neitzel.

Biggest Question: With Neitzel gone, how long will it take for the offense to adjust without him? I don’t think it will take too long with Izzo running the show. The first few games will be mere exhibition games and they should have all kinks worked out by the end of the pre-season tournaments, well before league play. Ramar Morgan is going to be one of the elite players in the Big-10 next year and Kalin Lucas appears to be a rising star.

Key Losses: Drew Neitzel (SR)
Notable Freshmen: Delvon Roe (PF); Draymond Green (PF); Korie Lucas (PG)

Wisconsin
Bo Ryan has done an incredible job building this program having failed to win at least 25 games only once during the course of the last five seasons, and a lot of that success can be attributed to the recruiting he’s done. Four years ago he brought in Brian Butch and Michael Flowers, and now, they’re gone. Sure, Butch was a force to be reckoned with inside and all scorers feared the defensive intensity of Flowers (well, everyone except Stephon Curry) but the Badgers will be returning Trevon Hughes and Marcus Laundry as well as one of the most underrated coaches in the nation in Ryan. MSU and Perdue are going to be good, but don’t be surprised if Wisconsin is right in the thick of things contending for another Big-10 title. Keep an eye out for the incoming bigs, Ryan has a knack for recruiting the right guys to fit his system.

Biggest Question: Who is going to replace Brian Butch inside? As of right now, it looks like incoming freshman Ian Markolf may get the nod for the starting position. Scouts say he’s a solid seven-footer with a nice skill set and has the physical toughness to compete in the Big-10. He’s not the quickest guy or the most athletic, but he may prove tough to handle and should be able to block and alter shots with his size, something Bo Ryan obviously values since Wisconsin had the nations best defense last season only allowing 54.3 points per contest.

Key Losses: Brian Butch (SR); Michael Flowers (SR)
Notable Freshmen: Jared Berggren (C); Jordan Taylor (PG); Ian Markolf (C)

Be sure to check out the rest of this edition of the College Basketball Notebook at Talkhoops.net.


Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 43,825
52 days and 56,175 words to go)

I'll be a better writer tomorrow

…Today I’ll have a few words of importance, a few words that aren’t worth shit, and a few words about sports (which will either be words of importance or words that aren’t worth shit depending on which way you swing)…

…I have this thing where it takes me months to finish books sometimes. I finally finished a book called The Emperor of Ocean Park. I thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover. Today I picked up Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. I remember reading a portion of it in a high school writing thing, I’m excited because it’s already super interesting and hilarious. I’ve become a nerd these last couple of weeks. I read too much (or not enough)…

…Today I’ve been listening to Jimmy Hendrix’s first studio album “Are You Experienced?” and I’m pleased. There are very few classic rock albums that I’ll sit down and listen to (like Led Zeppelin’s first album and Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side” and The Doors’ “Waiting for the Sun,”) this will definitely be one of them…

…I had a cheeseburger today and it didn’t go well for some reason. When I swallowed my first bite (no homo hahahaha) I immediately felt like it clogged every fucking artery that’s worth clogging. Sure, it tasted like ambrosia, but I need to eat healthier. Also, I’m getting back in the gym, I’ll have my weight back up to 150lbs by the end of the summer. I’m currently at 146. I have 53 days to put on four pounds – this is much harder than it sounds for someone who is part toothpick…

…I’m convinced if I had a reality show, I’d change your view on their importance within the greater schemes of American society. My show will be that important…

…I remembered another dream last night. My car talked like those cars on those old Chevron commercials. We talked about anxiety attacks and the perfection that is Paula Patton. I don’t know what it means…

…Of course, I have thoughts on the WNBA brawl. What kind of question is that…

…How has no one sampled Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” yet? Snoop Dogg would pay a lot of money for this instrumental…

…For some reason I thought it was a good idea to get text message alerts about all of the Giants games at the beginning of the season, so far, I’ve gotten 58 text messages that have pissed me off…

…Speaking of being pissed off, everyone was all surprised that I was so pissed. Most people actually never see me mad, which I guess, no one did this time, which I’m guessing was the reason for their shock. Who was I mad at? She knows, and if she doesn’t she’s a bum. I’ll won’t be talking about this anymore so stop asking…

…I’m really not excited about writing anymore. I’m just going through the motions until I’m actually inspired by something that’s worth being excited about…

…About a week ago Davion told me that I need to be writing things the way I would say them, that may be the best advice I’ve been given about writing, I just need to figure out how to do that…

…If I had a choice between being thrown in a pit of poisonous snakes and being thrown in an angry Samoan’s tent, I’d choose the snakes every time…

…My sister is probably the only person who can take someone’s bad situation, make a terrible joke about it and be looked at as a comic genius. Yesterday she told me that she thinks my grandfather pushed my grandmother and that is the reason she hit her head and ended up in the hospital. I had tears because of the laughter. If I had said that shit, I’d be considered nothing short of evil…

…Three NFL teams to look out for next year: The Redskins, the Cardinals, and the Jaguars. All three of those teams will make the playoffs. The Cowboys, however, will win the Super Bowl. The Raiders (I’m hoping this isn’t a stretch) will finish at 8-8. No jokes here…

…Sometimes I wish Maurice Clarett didn’t turn out the way he did – but right now, I’m glad he did, I feel better about myself…

…This has been yet another unproductive blog…

…Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow a much better writer. As a matter of fact, that’s the new motto – be a better writer tomorrow. It’s both inspiration to work harder and an excuse. I’m working hard to become a better tomorrow every day, but if I don’t feel like doing shit, I’ll just be a better writer tomorrow. I love it. I’m a genius. I’ll leave with that…

Stay Hideous and be a better writer tomorrow!
-PB

(Word count to date: 42,415
53 days and 57,585 words to go)

The Chief of Dicks: Butt of all jokes

I got up early this morning to take a second shower after my badly needed haircut as I always do. One after the cut, more often than not in the evening, and one the morning after. It is necessary. After rinsing my skin and drying myself off I slipped on a pair of boxers and a pair of basketball shorts that weren’t quite pulled all the way up to my waist, in fact, they fell way short of the recommended destination. As I pulled out my clothes, I realized that desperately needed something out of my car. I slipped on one of my over-sized shirts and walked outside, shorts still sagging to retrieve what was dutifully needed to complete the mornings routines. What I went out to get isn’t as important as the fact that, if I were to do this in Flint, Michigan, I could be arrested if I were seen by a sworn officer.

On June 26th, the Flint Chief of Police released a memo saying, “Due to a significant number of complaints form citizens regarding youths and adults “sagging” wearing pants and/or shorts below their waist and indecently exposing their buttocks, it is necessary that we enforce the law concerning disorderly person(s), only when sworn officers observe this misdemeanor.” What the chief was saying, in a nut shell, is that if you are caught with your pants below your waist, an officer will take action. The memo continues, “Therefore, any sworn officer who observes a person or persons committing indecent exposure (sagging/exposing buttocks) within the City of Flint jurisdiction has probable cause to effect a misdemeanor arrest…”

The reason, as The Flint Journal’s editorial staff feels, is that the Chief of Police “is trying to create is a higher expectation for our youth, and we're not talking about the altitude of their belt loops. We're talking about a generation of young people who have not been taught proper respect for themselves or others, and their anti-social behavior, in the form of sagging, reflects their lack of values.”

As a young African-American male who grew up in this country with the notion that hip-hop culture, including the style of dress, was not only cool, but acceptable when not in the work place (unless, of course where you worked in a place where dressing like your favorite rapper was acceptable) because of this idea that was worked into our countries constitution more than two centuries ago that says that all of it’s citizens has the right to the freedom of expression as long as it doesn’t take away from the freedoms of others. I could be wrong, but I’m almost positive that I have that right. If my pants, or if the pants of any other individual, happen to slide six or seven inches below the point where the belt is most affective, is that necessarily taking away the right of someone else? I don’t think so.

Sagging of pants is every bit as much a form of expression as guys who wear girls jeans, walking around in a polo with your collar popped, having tattoos of swastikas or confederate flags or wearing dirty pants. Sure, I scoff at the people who do these ridiculous things, but because I don’t like them does it mean those people should be arrested for doing them? Absolutely not. This Chief of Police, Dicks, isn’t looking at the larger scheme of things, or at least he wasn’t when he crafted this silly rule because there are three fundamental flaws with this idea that will do more to ruin this city, which isn’t necessarily thriving in the first place, that it will do to help the those who call Flint, Michigan home: A) This hurts teens more than it helps the community, B) this will be viewed as an attack on the black community even though Dicks is an African-American himself and C) there are much larger issues that need to be dealt with in Flint.

This hurts teens more than it helps the community.

The whole idea behind enforcing this law, or at least this is what they’re saying, is to rid their youth of the style that they are assuming is leading them to gang lifestyles. They’re trying to put the youth of their city in a better position to succeed in this world, but they couldn’t be going about it in a worse way. There is no way a teenager can benefit from this repulsive law because there will be mental, social, physical and monitary repercussions just for having to choose between completely changing their chosen style of dress or having to deal with the damn police. The punishment, as it now stands, for being caught with your pants below your waist could be up to 93 days in jail or a hefty $500 fine. Please, by all means, tell me who this is helping. If we want our youth to succeed in this world, the way to go about it is definitely not to throw them in jail for a quarter of a year for choosing to wear their pants a few inches below where you’d prefer to wear them. It makes no sense, plus, they’re not actually breaking any law and the arrest is, as far as I understand, borderline unconstitutional.

The state law in every single one of the fifty states is defined as exposure of the genitals and/or the female breast in a public place and may in some states require evidence of intent to shock, arouse or offend other persons. This, however, does not include showing your boxers. In fact, the majority of the kids walking around with shirts that are 3-4 sizes to large anyway, so to even notice that one of these kids is sagging, an officer is going to have to pull up their fucking shirts. So, not only will these kids be locked for 25 percent of a year for emulating their favorite rap star, missing out, not only on their childhood, but the education they probably could use considering they probably won’t know that them being arrested for ‘not-indecent exposure’ is unconstitutional, or they’ll pay a five-hundred dollar fine neither they nor their families will have considering the economy and poverty rates of the city. How is this helping any? It isn’t. On top of all of this, they’ll carry around the stigma of “I can’t express myself the way I want to but others can” for the rest of their damn lives.

This will be viewed as an attack on the Black community

Probable cause has a certain ring to it, and it means two very different things to two very different groups of people: Black people and police. Probable Cause is the standard by which a police officer has the right to make an arrest – or conduct a search – or obtain a search warrant. Probable Cause is bad news for the teens (and adults who have sadly failed to out grow the trend) because if your pants are below your waist, any officer has the right to search them and take them into custody without question – something that will easily be seen as an attack on the black community. Dicks has essentially given Probable Cause to any officer who sees a young black man of color who might be wearing pants a size larger than it seems he should be wearing. I can only think of the heightened racial tensions that are sure to come, I can only think of all of the youngsters who will be wrongfully harassed for watching music videos, I can only think of Bazaar from D12 being stuck in those cells with fat ass with the youth from Flint, Michigan that will not be given a chance, things that will only lead to the promulgation of the hatred that black men and women already have for the damn police.

It’s no secret that a whopping majority of American citizens who wear their pants below the waist line are black, so why target citizens who do this in one of the most racially sensitive countries in the world. It’s also not a secret that a whopping majority of the same African-Americans who are wearing their pants below their waist feel like racism is still alive and thriving. Why give them the means to justify their thoughts? Not only is this going to give these people a heightened negative view about the powers that be whose skin tone is much lighter than theirs, but now they feel they can’t even get a break from one of their very own, Officer Dicks, or more accurately, Uncle Tom. It’s ridiculous laws like these that never fail to remind us that we really haven’t grown into a more tolerant nation, it’s just that the weight of the lack of tolerance has been shifted around so much that it’s become much less noticeable, much like women who wear girdles to give the appearance of slimmer thighs and waist lines. This country is no less tolerant than it was 20 years ago, and the fact that people are supporting their Chief of Police (at least according to four of the five comments left on the previously mentioned editorial and the poll of over 1,400 readers on the respective website) is reason to believe that it isn’t going to change.

There are much larger issues that need to be dealt with in Flint, Michigan.

In the 2008 State of the State address, Jennifer Granholm, Governor of Michigan commended Flint on its 46% drop in crime in 2007. In May 2008, new crime statistics for the city were released, showing some of the most dramatic decreases in crime in decades. Murder had dropped 71%, Assault had dropped 48%. Arson and auto theft also saw drops in the 20% range. All of this is amazing, simply amazing, however, even with their 46% decrease in crime in 2007, they were still reported as being the third most dangerous city in the country by the Congressional Quarterly. If your crime decreases by 46% and you’re still the third most dangerous city in the country, you need to be asking yourself two very fundamental questions. One, Where are the police and two, why do you want these police who aren’t preventing crimes to arrest teenagers who would prefer their pants to resemble the style 50 Cent wears his pants? The answer to the first question can be found in recent articles about the city. 48 officers were recently laid off, nearly 20 percent of the sworn officers. How are you becoming a less dangerous city when you don’t have enough tax dollars to pay these officers? How can you afford to have these officers wasting their time chasing down innocent teenagers with baggy pants when you can have a 71% decrease in murder, and still have very high murder rates? How can you afford to jail these children when you had to close your city jail house because of budget constraints?

Where are the priorities of the city? Where are the priorities of the Chief of Police? Where is the state government and why aren’t they stepping in telling Mr. Dicks that this is a terrible idea? Josh Freeman, A resident, and commenter of the Flint Journal editorial broke things down from a first hand point of view when he said, “You have got to be kidding me. Flint has so many problems facing it and this is the first major announcement from the Interim Chief's office? We have hookers walking the sidewalk on an almost daily basis in front of my place of employment. Come to work early and you have to run them and their customers out of the lot. The lady down the street had her house broken into and she calls 911 at 8:00pm. The police finally arrive at 3:00am. There will be nearly 50 lay offs in the Police Department - nearly 20% of the sworn officers. In the Detective Bureau - there are thousands of cases backlogged because there is not enough people to handle them all.”

There is something seriously wrong with society when sagging pants gets more attention than hookers.

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 41,632
54 days and 58,368 words to go)

I was CLEARLY mistaken

I was under the assumption that everyone knew these things about me:

1. I LOVE sports
2. I am NOT stupid
3. I HATE liars

I was CLEARLY mistaken. It seems that certain people I thought were close enough to understand those three simple facts about me seemed to have thought that two of the three were non-factors. Well, as it turns out, I'm really not stupid, not at all, far from it. Also, I do hate liars, very much. Surprise! When you lie and think I'm not intelligent enough to pick it up it angers me. And when I don't have cable because I just moved into the new apartment, meaning no ESPN, it just adds fuel to the fire.

That is all.

Leave of absence

I've spent hours at my computer with finger tips patiently waiting for my mind to manufacture the words they'd normally be moving onto my flat-screen monitor and just as many hours in bed with my notebook at side, pen in hand, ready to transcribe ideas that just never came since yesterday afternoon -- when I found out my grandmother had been hospitalized, I'll spare the details.

I've tried writing, but I can't. Since I got a text message telling me my grandma was in the hospital (really? I couldn't even get a phone call?) I've written a total of 119 words. 119. Hours of trying to get words out of my system and I was able to get down a total of 119 damn words. Terrible. I've written much more than the 30-something thousand words I've posted on this blog because I really do write every day, I just can't post a lot of it because either A) it hasn't been completed yet, B) it became way too personal and I just don't trust you or myself enough to posr it on a blog, or C) it was just too shitty. I've never gone a day and a half of wanting to write and turned out so little, and what I did write falls under all three of the catagories I just mentioned -- not done, personal, and shitty.

So I've decided that I'm not going to write -- or at least I'm not posting anything on this blog -- until I know she's going to be better, or at least until she's able to leave her hospital bed. It's just not a good time. I've never lost anyone close to me so, suffice to say, the news was a little hard on me. I can't write, for the second night in a row I'm up well past two (for those of you who don't know me I'm rarely up past 12 on a normal night) and, if that wasn't enough reason, I just don't feel like anything I've written over the course of the last three to four weeks has been worth anyone's time.

I'm apologizing in advance if I seem a bit distant to those of you I'm close with these next few days, I'll do what I can not to be.

Get well soon, Grandma. Hopefully I'll blog again soon.

I'm probably going to fail.

Yesterday I made, what use to be bi-weekly trips, my first trip to Boarders, the bookstore down the street from my apartment. As I always do, I walked straight back to the sports section just to see if there was anything new that I should purchase, and after finding nothing that I particularly wanted (this Boarders has the absolute worse sports section of my life), I moseyed my way over to the magazine section and grabbed a few periodicals, the ones I always reach for while at any book store – Esquire, SPIN, SLAM, Complex, Rolling Stone and XXL.

I tend to make trips to the bookstores when my frustrations mount up to become stress and my stress, in turn, becomes unbearable. There is something about being surrounded by some of the world’s greatest writings that sets my mind at ease. Don’t ask why, but magazines, reading writers whose jobs I desperately want but will never have, help to take the pressures of being a 21-year-old college student away – and those pressures, now more than ever, are coming down hard on me for no reason apparent to me.

After picking up my favorites off the racks, I walked over to the table I always sit at while there and opened up the first magazine on the top of my stack, Esquire. As with every magazine I read, I opened straight to the table of contents to check out what features I might want to read. The cover story, a guest column by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert, was on the ‘victimization of white men in America.’ I know he’s not to be taken seriously, and it’s a feature I’d normally read, but with my mind set, I dismissed the idea of reading it knowing it would probably just piss me off, and nothing is worse that stress and fury. However, I did skip to page 98 to check out the Paula Patton feature. I don’t have many celebrity crushes, but this woman has definitely captured my imagination. As I slid Esquire off to the side, I simultaneously moved SPIN in front of me and pretty much closed it just as fast as it was opened. I checked their album reviews and moved on. XXL was next in my quickly depreciating pile of mags. T.I.’s bum ass was on the cover. Under any other circumstances, I would have placed his ass back on the rack but Busta Rhymes name was on the cover. There was a cool story on Papoose but the one on Busta had me much less excited about his up coming album. Fucking reading, man. I grabbed the big magazine next. The cover was nothing but Barack Obama cheesing and the Rolling Stone logo behind his head. However, I didn’t even get to the Obama story, I read this expose on Amy Winehouse (biggest waste of talent since Lauryn Hill) and a Q&A with Nas (hopefully I’ll be seeing him live for the first time on Friday!).

All of this lead me to Complex and an article they had on James McAvoy (actor from The Last King of Scotland and Atonement) and Common. I didn’t read the whole thing, in fact, I didn’t even get through the first page for two reasons: One, I always read the questions of an interview before reading it, and the questions of their particular article were way too corny for me to every want to read it in it’s entirety (if I ever land a gig at some magazine you have full permission to kick the fuck out of my shins if I ever ask something as corny as “What kind of super power would you want?”). The second reason being Common’s answer to a much better question. He was asked what he felt was the value of nihilistic art whether in hip hop or in movies and he responded saying: “I’m an advocate for hope and I always feel like there’s hope; I don’t know why, that’s just what I believe. I don’t know if it’s my spiritual belief that makes me know it’s always hope, but I definitely didn’t feel that Wanted (the movie both he and McAvoy are promoting) left no hope.”

After reading that quote I stopped to think, as if realizing something that I didn’t know, even thought it’s something I definitely knew about myself, but the quote seemed to resonate with me on another level because of my current life situations. Common (and also Nas in his Q&A interview in Rolling Stone) said that the always feels that there is hope, in any situation, and it might be because of his spiritual beliefs (meaning religion) and I realized (again) that because of my own faith (sports) I have become unequivocally pessimistic and normally have no hope in every situation. Christian’s have the ability to gain their optimism from the word of God knowing if you put your faith in Him, good things are sure to come. Unfortunately for me, I put my faith in the Lakers, Raiders, Giants, USC and UNC and well, as much of myself as I put into those teams, things don’t always turn out right. Since I came into this world in January of 1987, there have been 104 different title opportunities for my favorite teams and there and only eight and a half of them have been actually converted into titles (I say eight and a half because USC shared their 2004 title with Auburn). How can one stay optimistic when all of his time and energy is put into something is constantly disappointing him? He can’t – which is why when he is let down by other worldly forces, it doesn’t bother him.

I always assume the worse in people, and I’d really like to not to, but it’s just a habit that has been started by professional and collegiate athletics and has carried over to various real-life situations. I feel like I’m very much alone in this world because my pessimism has turned into distrust (something I generally don’t regret) and me being shut off (something others generally feel I should regret). Sometimes I wish I had hope. I wonder what it’s like having an optimistic attitude toward life in general, but that just would be me. I just don’t, how do homophobe’s say it, swing that way. And because of it, I’ll probably never be successful, but I just don’t think I will be. Everyone I know who has had their share of life successes are all very optimistic people, and this was the most discerning part of my though process while I sat at my table with the latest edition of Complex open right in front of me. I’m never going to be successful – and I thought I was scared of the future before. Maybe, hopefully (there’s that word again) these people are just optimistic because things have turned out for the better for them individually, I mean, maybe if I had a few good hands in life’s game of poker maybe I’d be a bit different. Maybe I should just throw away sports? Fuck that. I need them. I’m stopping now. Stream of consciousness is getting me no where.

Also, I’ve decided that if I’m going to be a better sports journalist, or just a better journalist period, I need to start writing more in a journalistic style. In fact, I haven’t written anything that I’d put in my newspaper (Ed in Chief in the Fall! For some reason, I’m excited about this now, we’ll see how I’m feeling about this in August) aside from that piece I wrote on Jordan. Speaking of that piece on Jordan, I should be writing another basketball article using a communication theory soon, either on the fan-superstar relationship, the loyalty the fan has with the superstar and the hatred of other super stars in the league, or why the Knicks didn’t work with Isaiah Thomas running the show (something that should be written quickly). I just have so much I want to write about, so much I want to accomplish, so many things I want to experience but I just have the stark feeling that these things just aren’t going to happen for me. I just don’t see a successful future, at least not in what I want to do: write about sports, the reason I don’t think I’ll be successful in the first place. Ironic, isn’t it?

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 39,084
61 days and 60 ,916 words to go)

I don't want Brett Favre to leave Green Bay

(Sorry, I have to say, before I get into my whole Brett Favre spiel, let me just say that watching Miss USA fall on her ass pretty much made my night yesterday. Thank god my friend told me it was on because it would have sucked major eggs to miss that. Pure comedy. Oh, and Miss Venezuela was about as dumb as a bucket of hammers.)

Just minutes after Brett Favre announced his retirement shortly after the 2007-2008 NFL Season ended, everyone wondered whether or not Favre would actually stay retired or would he want to come back for another season after being just one game away from the game’s ultimate prize with a young talented team. After months of telling journalists across the nation that he was finally done for good, Favre decided just about a week ago that he still had that “itch to play” and asked his former team for one more shot. After not feeling like he was welcomed to come back to Green Bay, Favre has asked to be released so he can let another team in this league (gasp!) take advantage of his services. After hearing the story, I have to say that I’m more than disappointed in the Green Bay Packers. Not that I don’t understand their wanting to move on as franchise, but their not being open for Brett Favre’s return just makes no sense (to me) on so many different levels.

Reason 1: Brett Favre is a better quarterback than Aaron Rogers
The Packers are extremely confident in Aaron Rogers, and as a franchise, I like to see them having so much confidence in their young quarterback who had to know it would take a life time before he actually got the starting job after being drafted to Green Bay, but the fact remains that, when Brett Favre is on your roster, he is your best quarterback. Of course, the Packers need to start developing the youngster, but why not do it with Brett Favre on your roster? What’s wrong with going a little NCAA on these NFL teams and letting Rogers take a few series ever game to give him that much needed game time experience? Especially knowing that when he fucks up, you can always go back to Favre. No pressure for Rogers and Favre gets his last hoorah. Without Favre, you’ll see a whole lot of Rogers handing the ball off to Ryan Grant until he gets use to the speed of the professional game.

Ultimately, this comes down to the whole ‘we’re in this to win Super Bowls’ thing, and Favre gives you a better chance right now. The NFC is going to be as tough as it’s been in a long time in this upcoming season, and if I’m a Packers GM, I’m going to want to put out as competitive a roster as I can next season, and replacing Rogers with Favre just takes away from that competitiveness.

Reason 2: It’s going to be weird seeing him in another jersey
I’m not a Packers fan in any shape or form, but I do not want to see Brett Favre in another jersey. Ever. Can you imagine him going to Minnesota? The number four and the name Favre on a fucking purple jersey just doesn’t seem right. What about Favre in Baltamore or Tennessee or San Francisco? That shit would be gross. I just don’t see him throwing touchdown passes to Benard Berrian. Nor do I see him throwing them to mark Clayton or Justin Gage or Bryant Johnson, not if they’re not clad in green and yellow jerseys. No one wants to see that, no real football fans at least. It’s sickening, and it’s a phenomenon that football fans from other teams have experienced before, and we never like it, we never get used to it, and we never want to get used to it. A few recent (since the turn of the millennium) examples of record holding players moving to another team after spending their whole career with one include, but are not limited to, Jerry Rice traveling across the bay to catch passes for the Raiders (even as a Raiders fan, I could never get used to that shit), Emmit Smith going to the desert to take handoffs in for the Cardinals and the worst of all (well, the worst for me) was when Tim Brown traveled across the country to play for the fucking Buccaneers after losing the fucking Super Bowl to John Grueden’s fucking team (more on this later). What I’m trying to say is, it never works for the fans of the game, and it’s just not fans of the said team who don’t like when this happens. I don’t think it’s good for football, especially when some dirtbag ass fan wears the jersey of the player for the new team. It’s disgusting.

Reason 3: The Packers Fans
It’s hard to imagine any sports franchise loving a player more than Brett Favre is loved in Green Bay. Only transcendent players get love like Brett Frarve gets loved. We’re talking the Magic Johnson’s, the Larry Bird’s, the Michael Jordan’s, the Joe Montana’s, the Wayne Gretsky’s, the Babe Ruth’s, the Ozzie Smith’s and the Cal Ripkin’s of the world. We’re talking about some of the most loved athletes to their respective teams, and Favre is definitely in that class. There, I’m guessing, is nothing much to do in Wisconsin except to cheer for the two colleges (Wisconsin and Marquette) and to cheer for Brett Favre while they gnaw down on their fucking cheddar. When you take Favre away, you take away the best thing to happen to the state since Vince Lombardi. For a lot of the younger citizens in Green Bay, it would be taking away the only quarterback they’ve every known and letting him throw a football to some receiver unknown to them wearing a jersey that isn’t green and yellow. It’s hard to fathom for me, I can only imagine how the Packers fans must feel (and I know it’s terrible because of this story on ESPN that says that the fans want him back). I’ve experienced this twice in my life (the first time was when Al Davis fucked Marcus Allen and allowed him to play football and retire in Kansas City, but I know this is a different situation, I just write about it every chance I get because I'm still bitter as shit, I wasn’t old enough to solve for variables yet, but I sure as hell was old enough to understand that my favorite running back of all time would never put on a fucking Raiders jersey again. The second time, as mentioned earlier, was when Tim Brown, the greatest Raiders receiver of my lifetime, and a top 3 of his generation (I only rank Jerry Rice and Chris Carter above brown as far as receivers from the late 80s and 90s go, and I’ll argue point for point with anyone who disagrees with that shit, anyone, even you Rich Eisen!). I almost cried watching him catch is 100th mother fucking touchdown pass, for the fucking Buccaneers – against the mother fucking Raiders!! In the fucking Coliseum. 99 with the fucking Raiders, the mother fucking 100^th with the fucking Bucs (Sorry, bad times garner bad language). No one in Green Bay is going to want to experience that, especially is Favre succeeds. There is nothing worse than watching the best player to ever grace your franchise (or at least the best in your lifetime) play for another team – and do well. I feel bad for Packers fans, I really do. They’re losing a legend, a football icon, a first ballot hall of famer who just want’s one last hoorah. Give it to him. Please, give Favre one more season. Not for me, not for football, do it for Green Bay.

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 37,679
62 days and 62,321 words to go)

Random Thoughts and Links...

...Sometimes the words are forced, and today is a perfect illustration of that. There are a few good links, a few bad links and a few thoughts I wish I wouldn't have shared. I just didn't feel like writing anything today, but my pace for 100,000 is getting terribly close to 1,000 words per day, every day until September 15th. I need to stop taking weekends off...

...Today is a freshman orientation, and when they need to print something, they come to me. I usually just release the print jobs on the printer right next to my desk, but this fat girl asked for a print job and I made her walk to the furthest printer from my desk. I've done my good deed for the day...

…This morning I stumbled upon Sports Illustrated’s “Greatest Individual Sports Rivalries.” I really didn’t have a problem with the list because, for the most part, they were some damn good rivalries. They had the likes of Magic-Bird, Federer-Nadal, Nickalus-Palmer, Ali-Frazier, Evert-Navratilova, and Brady-Manning amongst others. When I got to the fifteenth rivalry, however, I was bothered. There is no way that the hot dog eating rivalry between Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut should be amongst the greatest sports rivalries, especially when ones like Jordan-Wilkins, Kareem-McHale, and Lawrence Talor-Drugs were left off…

…That Miley Cyrus bitch can’t lip sing for shit. Worst music video of my life -- oh and she can't sing and she's ugly and her show sucks and I heard she's a whore and she's stupid The seven things I hate about her…

...Unfortunately, I spent most of my Saturday inside my apt, cleaning that shit getting ready to move. A lot of that time was spent watching music videos (something I haven't done in years, not an exaggeration) and I learned that A) I actually like a Lil Mama song (!) and B) it's featuring T-Pain (!!). Maybe because I think the beat is crazy, or maybe I just really like it. That shit is ill and I'm ashamed that I like it. Whatever, it might be on my myspace a little later...

...Speaking of myspace, I also watched part of VH1's "Best Celebrity Reality Show Fights" and one of them was between Flava Flav and New York's mom, Sister Patterson. While arguing, Sister Patterson pushed Flava Flav and this nigga proceeded to say, "Don't disrespect me in my house! This is my space, you in my computer." Needless to say, I laughed for about 11 minutes...

...My pre-season college football top 5 is: Georgia, Ohio State, USC, Florida and Oklahoma. That OSU-USC game on Sept. 15th and the Florida-Georgia game on Nov. 1st will be epic games. I think all five teams have a legit shot at the title, and I don't think we've had this many GREAT teams in the top five in a while. I'm excited...

...This morning this lady came in to get an ID card. Her name was Stacy Sue Box...

...I can probably bake a turkey in my car around 4:00 p.m. in Bakersfield. In the words of Celia, "It's hot as ten bitches out here..."

...Speaking of hilarious quotes, I was talking to my friend Carole last night and I told her that I choreographed all of the dances for America's Best Dance Crew and she said, "That explains why Mario Lopez is so gay." I laughed for 8 and a half minutes...

...Elton Brand looks like he's on DK mode on Nintendo 64's Goldeneye. That big ass head and those long ass arms did it...

...I know if I did this, my mom would have murdered me -- actually, I would have been dead long before he slapped her. Fucking fat kids man. I'm glad she didn't kill him though, it made for a great youtube clip. Dr.Phil is a fool...

...Speaking of birth control, Dathinline's second segment of "When Niggas Act a Fool," is just another reason for me to keep it 'wrapped up.' I'm not ready for that...

...Shot out to Wayne!...

...I'd like to introduce you to my next favorite point guard, Ricky Rubio straight outta Compton, Spain. Okay, so there's no Compton, Spain, but the dude is way too ill. Spain is taking over the sports world, and Ricky Rubio is going to be one of the main reasons why. Just remember, I called it first, when he's in the league, I get to use him first on NBA Live...

...John Sally said Baron Davis looks like Idi Amin and his dunk on AK74 was almost as good as a Funkadelic Record! It's too bad that Sally has been regulated to the Best Damn Sports Show Period because he could make one of the bigger networks a lot of money. I put him right up there with Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith on the comedy level -- in fact, I'd love to see him on the show with them. Oh, and Baron Davis is pretty damn hilarious himself...

...I obviously don't feel like writing anything with any kind of substance today...

...And this isn't even remotely worth reading, well, except for that fat kid slapping his mom...

...I think I'm done for the day...

...Oh, go Fanny Pack. They're beasts on America's Best Dance Crew...



Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 36,365
64 days and 63,635 words to go)

Nas: Untitled Review (8.9/10)

It’s been two years since Nasir Jones proclaimed Hip-Hop lifeless, and now, the world waits for the release of his most anticipated album since Stillmatic. Untitled is set to be released on July 15th, and the album features some of Nas’ most thought provoking song titles and lyrics that we’ve seen from him in some time, not to mention the original title of this album, (and also the original title of Hip Hop is Dead) Nigger. Pundits wondered if the album title was pseudo-device to garner attention for his album instead of a conscious attempt to address some of the bigger racial and social issues in Hip-Hop. After the release of his mixtape, The Nigger Tap, it was known that the Queens Bridge MC was taking this “nigger movement” seriously. Untitled proves to be Nas’ most intrepid album to date. The album, other than a couple misses, is a great one and is truly a gift for life long Nas fans. It’s not his greatest album (I’d rank it fourth behind Illmatic, I Am and Stillmatic), but that’s what makes his legacy what it is. Only a few artists can release albums lesser than their best and still have it received as great.

The album begins with ”Queens Get the Money” which features poignant riffs from the keyboard of Jay Electronica that Nas uses to set the tone for the rest of the album. He uses the time to address his critics who are “Talking that ‘Nas done fell off with rhyming, he rather floss with diamonds,’” and rapper 50 Cent when he raps, “Take 27 emcees, put them in a line and they out of alignment/ My assignments since he said retirement/ Hiding behind 8 mile and The Chronic/ Get's rich but dies rhymin, this is high science,” all while keeping with the “Nigger” theme as he goes on to call G-Unit porch monkeys.

The second track “You Can’t Stop Us Now” was produced by one of Nas’ favorite producers, Salaam Remi, who uses the a popular sample of Barrett Strong/Norman Whitfield song, “Message From a Black Man,” a sample first found on Mos Def’s “True Magic” album and most recently on RZA’s latest single, “You Can’t Stop Me Now.” Nas touches on ideas of American patriotism and the African American culture that has been proliferated throughout the country over the course of our nation’s history. He explains that African American’s have influenced this country’s culture more than that what history books will tell us when he raps, “Octoroon skin tones/ Slave food turned to soul food/ Collards and neck bones/ Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag/ Bet she had a nigga with her to help her old ass.”

The album moves on to a J. Myers produced track, “Breathe,” one of the few tracks Nas could have done without on this album considering what he left off. It has the feel of one of those high synthesizer singles that was left off of Nastradamus. On Breathe, Nas raps about nothing but material things. He has money, he has cars, he has a yacht. We get it. I guess every album has a one “drugs, money, hoes” cut quota. Breathe is a whole lot of “Intense hustle/ It's pain like a pinched muscle 'Til it rains and my Timbs stain my socks/ 'Til I dodge enough shots and the presiding judge Slams a mallet and says 'life', I'ma guap/ Then I cop, then I yacht, then I dock.” I could have done without it.

Nas keeps things going with another miss on this album in “Make The World Go ‘Round” featuring The Game and Chris Brown. The Cool & Dre beat (with co-production from the Game) has a poppy, R&B feel with an array of synthesizers that would make Pharrell blush. For me, this song is hard to listen to. Nas, for the second straight track, is still on his materialistic flow (and he wonders in “Queens Get the Money” why critics say he’d rather “floss with the diamonds), the last thing I needed was a second Nas and Game collaboration and Chris Brown still can’t sing. I almost vomited when Nas ended the final verse with a line that moved from hilarious to disgusting in two bars flat: “My plaque's from album sales/ Y'all is ringtone platinum/ But .99 cents adds up/ I don't hate 'em, I congratulate 'em/ The new young Prince with young Mike Jackson on the same track.”

The fifth song on the album is “Hero,” featuring Keri Hilson. This is going to be the song people who don’t buy the album remember it for. Keri Hilson may not be able to sing, but she sounds good on this Polow Da Don produced song and definitely helps to make a catchy chorus. Nas, once again, continues his drugs, money, hoes theme for the first two verses of this song. The final verse, however, he talks about the reason he switched his album’s title from Nigger to Untitled, when he spits, “It's universal apartheid/ I'm hog-tied/ the corporate side/ Blocking y'all from going to stores and buying it/ First L.A. and Doug Morris was riding wit it/ But Newsweek article startled big wigs/ They said, Nas, why is he trying it?”

Stargate’s production on “America,” sounds like a synth remix to a few of the tracks off of Nas’ “The Lost Tapes.” It’s a cool track to listen to, but I wouldn’t have put this song after “Hero.” It’s usually hard for listeners to songs with a solemn after listening to songs with hooks as catchy as Hero’s is. The social commentary in the third verse is shocking as he calls out the patricidal American system and criticizes the sexism that has been socially imprinted into our cultures since biblical times when he raps “If I could travel to the 1700s/ I would take a wheel barrel full of dynamite through your covenant/ I would love to sit on the senate and tell your whole government ‘ya’ll don’t treat women fair’/ She reads about herself in the Bible believing she’s the reason that sin is here/ You played her”

The social commentary continues in the Stic Man produced “Sly Fox.” This is one of two songs on this album I feel could crack my list of top-10 Nas songs. “Sly Fox” is a tale about the proliferation of the biased mass medium, with the majority of the shots being taken at Fox News. He explains how these large media outlets aren’t telling us what to think, but they’re telling us what to think about. Nas’ word-play is ridiculous throughout the song, especially when he spits the line you’ll probably find in every review of this album, “The Fox has a bushy tail/ And Bush tells lies/ And Foxtrots/ So I don't know what's real.”

In “Testify,” a track produced by Mark Batson that sounds like it should have Jaheem’s voice on it, Nas calls out his so-called fans. He asks if they would stand “with a United States murder” after he talks about chocking out red-necked bigots with their Confederate Flags. In the song he calls out downloaders who he feels compares him to author William Cooper, saying that he exposes shit like Cooper did in his book, Pale Horse of the Future. I think he was high when he wrote and/or recorded this song. It’s interesting though.

“N.I.G.G.E.R (The Slave and The Master),” is a lesson on how we, as African Americans, seem to feel the need to downplay our own culture, something you’d think was blatantly obvious, but Nas makes the listener feel like this is a topic new to philosophy when he raps, “It's not unusual, To see photos of dead homies' funerals/ Aluminum foil on t.v. antennas/ Little TV sit on top the big TV eatin TV dinners/ Girls die they hair with kool-aid/ They gave us lemons we made lemonade/ But this nigga’s paid.” I’ve heard a lot of people saying that Nas could have done without this D.J. Toomp produced track, but I feel the smooth strings really add to the feel of the song.

In his album titled song, “Untitled (Louis Farrakhan),” we get glimpses of the Nas form Illmatic and Stillmatic with stories that dazzled us. In this song, Nas compares himself to Louis Farrakhan, and tells us that he’s a revolutionary escaping assassination attempts. Were placed where the story is being told and as he raps, we can actually see bullets whizzing past his head when he raps, “Another bullet passed by--missed me/ Wondering who plotting to get me/ Alphabet boys still plotting against me/ To hush me up and stuff me in the pockets of history/ You won't remember why they came to clip me/ When time go by, you'll soon forget me.” Stic Man of Dead Prez produced “Untitled.” The heavy bass line, light drum pattern and smooth horns add to the intensity of the first verse. Although the story of this song doesn’t even crack his top 15, the song is still enjoyable. Well done.

Were moved from a story of a revolutionary to the second song on the album in “Fried Chicken,” that I would consider placing in my list of top-10 Nas songs. I like every element of this song, the use of the metaphor of how fried chicken is just like everything else black men indulge in that will ultimately kill them (i.e. women, drugs, and well, fried food as illustrated when he raps, “When we done, I need rest/ Don't know a part of you that I love best/ Your legs or your breast/ Misses Fried Chicken, you gon' be a nigga death/ Created by southern black women/ To serve massa, guest/ You gon' be a nigga death”) the collaboration with Busta Rhymes (always a good choice) and production from one of my favorite young producers in Mark Ronson that sounds like it jumped right off of Ronson’s album, “Version.” The horns that Ronson lay down every 32 bars of this song gave me goose bumps. Suffice to say, I loved this song.

Nas continues his metaphorical theme with the Eric Hudson produced “Project Roach,” featuring the Last Poets. Hudson was able to capture the feel of some of those Gil Scott-Heron tracks off of his “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” LP. Nas compares African-American’s to roaches in the sense that they’re simply hard to get rid of, and for the ones trying to get rid of them, he’s letting them know that they’re everywhere when he rapped “You can't win/ You cant stand the crunchy sound I make if you squash me/ Learn to live with me/ How much your roast motel costing/ You and the city/ But yo we everywhere/ Check your house I bet we there.” I don’t think Nas knows how many legs insects have and the guy from the Last Poets, as if the title of the song wasn’t blatant enough, tells us that “Niggas are like roaches.”

In “Ya’ll My Niggas,” Nas talks about how he has no apologies about how he gained everything he has by glorifying “drugs, money and hoes.” He uses this song to question his materialism and to question why his fans have made him famous because of it when he raps, “The rhetoric of Martin King just saint around no more/ Dave Bowie ain’t here James Baldwin neither/ They all were leaders/ But they ain't help me get this Porsche two seater/ A lawyer left the hood he never looked back/ To be a Fortune 500 CEO it took rap/ So what if my pants sag with my hat turned back/ The same swag got our merchandise flying off the rack.” This is another J. Meyers produced track, much better than the first one, but I’m still not really a fan.

In “We’re Not Alone,” Nas continues to question himself and some of the topics he’s rapped about in the past as seen when he says “I used to worship a certain Queens police murderer/ 'Til I read the words of Ivan van Sertima,” a reference to his song “Get Down” where he stated that he admired Pappy Mason, a man who is serving life in prison for killing a police officer. Also, I feel that Nas believes in life off of earth, because this is the second song where he makes a reference to UFO’s (the other was when he referenced William Cooper’s book, The Pale Horse of The Future), which is interesting considering the song’s title is “Were’ Not Alone.” Stic Man, for the third time, got the credit for the production of this song. The looped piano riff along with the deep, but soft synthesizers give this song an eerie feel, the production is effective.

The Album concludes with “Black President,” featuring Johnny Polygon, a song with looped Tupac and Barack Obama samples. Although he had good intentions, the beat of this song is just as corny as the lyrics are. I love the message, but I feel like the song was half assed. Nas talks about his unequivocal support for Obama and how America is ready for the change an African-American president can bring for this country when he says, “Y'know these colored folks and Negroes/ Hate to see one of their own succeeding/ America, surprised us/And let a black man guide us.”

After a couple of albums that weren’t received well within the Hip-Hop community, Untitled is truly a gift for a genre that has been down for the last seven to eight years. Untitled should be received well because of its honesty and its thought provoking lyrics. Unlike his previous two albums Untitled should be one of Nas’ career highlights.

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 35,490
66 days and 64,510 words to go)

Tila Tequila’s Tears Of Joy

For those of us who watched the season Finale of MTV’s A Shot At Love (don’t judge me, I’m spending this summer consuming as much commercial popular culture as possible), we saw the show’s unequivocal star get her heart broken for the second time, this time by a woman. I know what you’re thinking, “it’s another one of those bum ass reality shows, who gives a fuck?” and honestly, I’d probably be asking the same thing if one of my friends had written a blog about Survivor or Big Brother 73 or Milf Island. The thing is, I feel that the stars of these reality shows are genius, and I’ll explain why.

Lets assume, just for the sake of me being able to make my point, that all 32 contestants who showed up for the first episode really wanted to fall in love with Tila Tequila. Let’s also assume that the contestants who were on the show long enough to even begin to have feelings for her, actually genuinely felt what they portrayed feeling while on camera. Let’s take it a step further and assume that there was nothing scripted about this show except for the challenges (hell, let’s say that the challenges were completely spontaneous) and Tila herself had feelings for these guys and girls. Let’s assume that A Shot At Love was completely real. With these assumptions, it’s hard to imagine Tila’s tears being tears of joy when the girl of her dreams, Christine or Christina, I can’t remember, turned down her key – but they were.

The thing is, Tila knew exactly what she was doing. Sure, she was probably in love with Christine or Christina, but Tila knew that she wasn’t ready to take that giant step and place her faith in an ugly Asian girl. Tila also knew that Bo (or Beau? I’ll go with Bo because it’s faster to type; also, I’ll be using Christine also) really wanted to be with her. Why does this make sense, you ask. Because turning down Bo and choosing Christine, who she knows will ultimately turn her down do to a lack of readiness and experience in a lesbian relationship, would open up the door for her to have another television show – which is genius – and it’s exactly what professional athletes do. When faced with the option of choosing between love and money, they’re taking the money every time. In fact, it’s they’re love of the money that keeps athletes moving from city to city (read: Elton Brand) and it’s what keeps reality stars on television.

Look at the formula – one created by The Bachelor – you have a guy (or girl) that a plethora of girls (or guys or both) are going to compete over. This in itself is fascinating to the American public. MVT and VH1 have taken it a step further and have chosen celebrities to be the ones searching for love – and when they don’t find it, they come back for another season. Flavor Flav, Bret Michaels and Tila Tequila have worked the system to perfection, and it’s genius. They’re making they’re money by breaking hearts looking for love. This shit happens every day – and this is why New York is the most intelligent reality star of all time.

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 33,768
67 days and 66,232 words to go)

College Basketball Notebook (7/2/08)

(Before I get into the notebook, I just want all of you to know that Nas' new album "Untitled Album" drops a week from today, make sure you all go out and BUY that. Sure, I just downloaded it [album review coming either tomorrow or Thursday], but best believe that I'm taking my happy ass over to Best Buy and coping that album.)

College Basketball Notebook (7/2/08)

Not everyone can be in my pre-preseason Top-5; however, there are other teams across the nation who can potentially be Top-10 teams next season. The following teams are teams that I expect to have great seasons next year, and area all teams that aren’t major market teams. They’re all respectable schools, but they’re all schools who play in the shadows of the larger schools of their respective conferences. With that being said, here are my Top 5 (or six) teams to watch out for the 2008-2009 college basketball season.

1. Arizona State
Arizona State should have been in the NCAA Tournament last season. Well, at least that’s the nice thing to say. I think they’re trip the NIT was the right one, but if they live up to their potential, they should be replacing that NIT bid with an NCAA Tourney one. James Harden (17.8 ppg) and Jeff Pendergraph (12.4 ppg), two of the Pac-10’s leading scorers will be back, along with Ty Abbot, one of the leagues many standout freshmen that no one in the country was talking about. I like the Sun Devils to finish in the top three of the Pac-10 next season. If they’re role players and bench can step up, look for them to contend for the Pac-10 title.

Biggest Question: Will their play be more consistent in the Pac-10? Definitely. Last year’s Arizona State team, although talented, was very young and struggled to score against some of the better Pac-10 teams. With a more experienced roster and a much weaker conference, the Sun Devils should finish much better than .500 in the conference and should be able to compete with the likes of UCLA and Arizona.

Key Losses: N/A
Notable Freshmen: Taylor Rhode (PF); Jonny Coy (SF)

2. Miami
This was a team that was picked to finish last by ESPN and talkhoops.net (actually myself) – they surprised conference rivals and pundits alike when this team finished fifth with an 8-8 record in the conference. Jack McClinton (17.7 ppg), along with the rest of this core, James Dews, Brian Asbury, and Dwayne Collins will all be returning for the ‘Canes next season. The loss of Anthony King is going to hurt, but Collins and Asbury are only going to be better inside next season, plus DeQuan Jones, an incoming freshman, should be a nice addition to this team.

Biggest Question: Knowing defenses will key Jack McClinton, where will scoring come from? McClinton will continue to get his shots off when he wants, but he’s definitely going to need help – especially in conference play. I like James Dews to help him out on the parameter and Dwayne Collins to be more productive inside with King gone. Also, freshman DeQuan Jones is said to be incredibly quick and a great finisher.

Key Losses: Anthony King (SR)
Notable Freshmen: DeQuan Jones

3. Oklahoma
I really liked the way Oklahoma played toward the end of last season. They finished March with a 5-2 record, with their only two losses coming to Texas and Louisville. Jeff Capel really had this team competing last season – even when Blake Griffin went down with an injury. With Blake, along with three of the other four starters returning, the Sooners look to be in a position to finish in the top two or three in the conference. Tony Crocker and Austin Johnson will be key to this team’s success because great parameter play was a staple to the top two teams in the conference last season (Kansas and Texas). Blake Griffin could be the Big-12 player of the year and his brother, Taylor, should be getting more minutes and production should rise.

Biggest Question: Can this team compete with the better teams in the nation? Last season, Oklahoma had problems with tournament bound teams. If you look at their losses (Memphis, USC, Kansas State, Kansas, Texas A&M and Texas [three times], almost all of them came to teams who played in the tourney. They are going to have to win these games if they want a respectable seed and any confidence going into the NCAAs. I think with the added experience, this team is more than equipped to compete with some of the more upper echelon teams in the country.

Key Losses: Longar Longar (SR); David Godbold (SR)
Notable Freshmen: Willie Warren (SG); Ray Willis (SG)

(The final three teams from this College Basketball notebook can be found at Talkhoops.net. Be sure to check it out later on tonight or tomorrow.)

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 33,220
68 days and 66,780 words to go)

Up at 6am

2008 has been very good to sports fans. We’ve already seen some pretty damn memorable moments a little more than halfway through the year, and fortunately for us, most of them have come in championship games or matches.

Football:
Our generation will forever remember Super Bowl XLII with all of its ridiculous sub-plots. The Giants not resting their starters in Week 17 with hopes to end the Patriots regular season with a loss. The Patriots going into the Super Bowl with 18 straight wins, and the Giants going into the worlds largest stage with nine straight road wins. Then the game happened and we’ll all remember the two-touchdown underdog Giants marching down the field, being lead by none other than Peyton Manning’s younger brother on that all-or-nothing drive. Peyton’s kid brother gets the ball down 14-10 with 2:39 left to play and we’re all thinking “this isn’t his territory. This is Tom Brady territory, this is where guts and determination leads to championships.” Oh, but it was. 12 plays, 83 yards, and a go-ahead touch down – and that unforgettable 32-yard Manning to David Tyree pass where Eli willed his way through the arms of Adalius Thomas Richard Seymour and Jarvis Green, who all had a hold of his jersey before he was able to lob a pass in the air that seemingly hung in the air for three minutes to David Tyree – who was able to grab the ball with his right hand, hold it against his helmet as he was brought down by a Rodney Harrison whose chance at grabbing that ball was just as good as Tyree’s. That game will not soon be forgotten.

Basketball:
Fast forward to April. We’ll all remember that NCAA Tournament Championship with Kansas and Memphis (or Stephon Curry’s performance through the first four rounds). With about eight and a half minutes left to play in the game, Memphis’ Derrick Rose pulled up and drilled a three pointer that would give the Tigers the lead, a lead that we all thought they would hold for good. The lead was ironically extended to nine points on a couple of Robert Dozier free throws with about two minutes left to play – and that’s when things went terribly wrong for the Tigers. All tournament long Memphis Coach, John Calipari, was telling pundits that his team would be able to continue to win even if they continued to miss they free throws. He was right, they missed free throws, but they continued to move past teams. Two minutes left to play, with a three possession lead, all they had to do was knock down free throws and they were home free with a mid-major title for Calipari and his Tigers. 1:15 left to play, the lead is down to four after a Darrell Author jumper and a Sharon Collins trey, Chris Douglas-Roberts steps to the line and clanks the front end of a one-in-one. 0:16 left to play, the lead is down to two after another Darrel Author score and Chris Douglass-Roberts steps to the line with the opportunity to ice the game. He bricks both free throws. 0:10 seconds left, lead still at two and Derrick Rose steps to the line with another opportunity to ice the game and misses the first and makes the second free throw. 3-point lead. Kansas ball. With just nine seconds left on the clock, Kansas guard Mario Chalmers pulls up for the game-tying three. Water. Overtime. Kansas would go on to dominate over time. That game will not soon be forgotten.

Golf:
Mid-June. Torrey Pines Golf Club. Tiger Woods vs. his knee vs. 153 other golfers. Tiger Woods wins in Tiger Woods-like fashion. Obviously, we’re beyond the point of amazement when Tiger wins a major because he wins them at such high rates, so, under normal circumstances, we would talk about how great he is for a day, have Skip Bayless and (insert random unsuspecting columnist here) debate weather or not he’s the greatest ever, then it would be over with. These were not normal circumstances. Let’s consider all of the sub-plots of this tournament that mattered before it even started. Woods had a minor surgery on his left knee that forced him to sit out of all competitions for two months, there were questions about his game after his sub-par (no pun intended) performance at the Masters – and he was paired with Phil Mickelson for the first two days of the tournament . Woods first day was shakey, he finished one over and four shots off the lead. The second day he finished three under, and by the end of the third day – a day where he ended with two eagle puts and a chip in birdie – he had a one stroke lead going into the final day of the Open. On that final day, Woods limped around from hole to hole, he grimaced with every shot and allowed Rocco Mediate to take a one stroke lead as he went into his final hole. He birdied it, sending the tournament into a playoff. During the playoff, Woods mounted a three stoke lead over Mediate, but found himself down by one stroke going into the last hole – and again – he drained another clutch birdie. After Mediate missed a put in sudden death, Woods claimed his 14 th Major, and it was one of his most dramatic. That tournament will not soon be forgotten.

Tennis:
This all brings me to the 2008 Wimbledon Final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (best believe I was up at 6:00 a.m. to watch this, I’m a huge Nadal fan). There is nothing better than watching two of the worlds best (in any sport) compete, going blow for blow, on the sports biggest stage because it’s just not something we get to see often (except in Tennis because these two are consistently seeing each other in French Opens and Wimbledons) – and that’s exactly what we got on Sunday afternoon.

I’m a huge Nadal fan, so it was imperative that I got up to watch this Wimbledon Final. After Spain won the UEFA Championship (yes Marcus, I watched the game, I’m a fan of all things Spain for a reason unknown to me) I half jokingly told my friend John, probably the only friend I have who is actually a tennis fan, that Nadal would win Wimbledon because of this momentum theory our friend Ricardo Martinez came up with. After the University of Florida won the 2006 NCAA Championship (bastards), Ricardo told us that Florida would win the BCS Title as well solely on the momentum of their basketball championship. Then he correctly predicted (again) that the Gators would win their second consecutive NCAA Tourney because of the momentum from their football title. There really was no reason for telling you that story other than the fact that I wanted you to know about the momentum theory (something that I may explore in depth in another blog) and that I used it to pick Nadal in this final because he’s Spanish (and so you won’t be surprised when Spain wins more gold medals than every country in this year’s Olympics).

Have I seen better tennis played before this match? Probably, I mean, I did grow up during the Pete Sampras era. But did I enjoy a match more than I loved watching this one? No; and it wasn’t because Nadal won, because if that were the case, I would have enjoyed that French Open beat down much more. I enjoyed this match because there were no easy points, there were no easy sets – this was no easy match. After Nadal went up two sets to none I honestly couldn’t believe it. He was one set away from stopping Federer’s streaks of 65-match winning streak on grass, 40-match winnings streak at Wimbledon and – most importantly – his streak of five straight Wimbledon titles. This was of historic proportions. It was hard to fathom, especially after Federer finally got his first set – and even more at the end of the fourth.

That fourth set tie-breaker and the whole fifth set was the reason I enjoyed this match more than any other. We had this 22-year-old kid (it’s scary that I’m almost old enough to call 18-year-olds kids) matched up against this unbeatable force on grass in a tie-breaker for the title. Not only that, but he’s up five points to two with both of his serves. I was nervous, but he was borderline scared out of his mind. His first serve, double fault. His second serve is returned by Federer to his backhand, something that he’d normally destroy, he lofts it into the net. 5-4 Nadal and Federer has serve. Both men hold on their serves and the score is 7-6 Nadal. Federer would go on to win the tie breaker 10-8. After the match was over I thought this was this was a crucial moment for Nadal. Watching the way he botched both of his service points while leading 5-2 was akin to watching Darius Washington miss two of three free-throws with Memphis down two to Louisville in the Conference USA Championship. Those free throws broke my heart, even though I wanted Louisville to win (I was a huge Francisco Garcia fan then), I wanted Washington to knock down that last free throw, just to send it to overtime, and if Nadal would have gone on to lose this match, I’m sure those two service points would have gone on to haunt him the way those free-throws haunted Washington for the rest of his career (I think he’s in the D-League right now).

The match lasted four hours and 48 minutes. There were two tie-breaks and the fifth set was won 9-7. There were three rain delays, Nadal was bothered by a knee injury and it was on the sports biggest stage. Does it get any better than that? I don’t think it does – well, at least not in tennis. I was riveted by this match, and if it comes on again on ESPN Classic (I’m 100% positive it will), I will watch it again, no matter how much Skip Bayless says it wasn’t even close to be the greatest match ever (which it might not have been, I don’t know) but it was the best I’ve watched (and also the best John McEnroe has ever seen) and it’s been the best sporting event of the year thus far, which is saying a lot considering the three previous events mentioned in this blog and the myriad regular season games that I watched from beginning to end on the edge of my fucking seat. This match was one for the ages. I know most of my friends will disagree simply because they aren’t tennis fans, or will disagree because my favorite player won, or will disagree just to disagree – but for me, and everyone else who watched that match, Nadal v. Federer will not soon be forgotten.

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 31,730
69 days and 68,270 words to go)