Finally A Good Comment

Today, as I typically do, I started the day off by reading a few articles on ESPN.com. I came across anarticle about the sting Kevin Durant is feeling having to be teammates with theLeBron, the man who beat him in the finals. Didn't think it was an overly good article or anything but I enjoyed it. What I enjoyed more was the comments section. Most comments sections are better than whatever is being commented on. This is mostly because of the trolling that goes on. On ESPN that takes the form of outrageously stupid opinions from irrational fans usually with ridiculously handles: "NatsDukesSkins," "Lebron - The Greatest Of All Time - James," "FeartheOlympicBeard" (which I actually like lol) being a few examples. Comments are also great because occasionally you will come across a fan that really knows what they are talking about or at the very least makes a compelling, logical comment. 

Today that came from a guy named "MyWordsSpeakTruthAllDay" (heavy burden to bear). He came up with a top 10 list of players and provided some pretty good info to back it up:

1) Jordan: No explanation needed... 6 Rings, 6 Finals MVP’s, 5 MVP’s, Only Player In History Other Than Wilt To Go For More Than 3,000 Points In A Season (3,041 in 86-87), All-Star every year played (14), 10 Scoring Champ, Scoring Titles 10, DPOY 1, Steals Titles 3, All NBA 1st Team, NBA All Defensive 1st Team 9, ROY

2) Magic: Finals MVP As A Rookie... 3 X Finals MVP, 3 MVP’s, 5 Rings (9 Finals), All Time Leader In Avg Apg 11.2, All-Star 12 X’s, All NBA 1st Team 9 X’s, All-Star MVP 2 X’s, ROY

3) Kareem: 6 Rings, 2 Finals MVP’s, 6 MVP’s, NBA All Time Leading Scorer, 19 X All-Star, All NBA 1st Team 10 X’s, All NBA Defensive 1st Team 5 X’s, NBA Scoring Champ 2 X’s, ROY

4) Russell: 11 Rings, 5 MVP’s, All-Star 12 X’s, All Star MVP 1 X, NBA Rebounding Champ 5 X’s, All NBA 1st Team 3 X’s, All NBA Defensive Team 1 X

5) Wilt: 2 Rings, 4 MVP’s, 1 Finals MVP, In 1962 He Avg 50.4 PPG & 25.7 RPG & Scored 100 Pts In A Game... Next Season He Avg 44.8 PPG & 24.3 RPG, All-Star 13 X’s, All Star MVP 1 X, Averaged 50 Points One Season, All NBA 1st Team 7 X’s, All NBA Defensive 1st Team 2 X’s, NBA Scoring Champ 7 X’s, NBA Rebounding Champ 11 X’s, ROY

6) Bird: 3 Rings, 3 MVP’s, 2 Finals MVP’s, All-Star 12 X’s, All NBA 1st Team 9 X’s, 3 Point Champ 3 X’s, 3 X’s All NBA 2nd Team Defensive, ROY

7) Shaq: 4 Rings, 3 Finals MVP’s, 1 MVP, All-Star 15 X’s, All Star MVP 3 X’s, NBA Scoring Champ 2 X’s, All NBA 1st Team 8 X’s, ROY

8) Duncan: 4 Rings, 3 Finals MVP’s, 2 MVP’s, All-Star 13 X’s, All NBA 1st Team 9 X’s, All NBA Defense 1st Team 8 X’s ROY

9) Kobe: 5 Rings, 1 MVP, 2 Finals MVP’s, Scored 81 Points In A Game, All-Star 14 X’s, All Star MVP 4 X’s. NBA Scoring Champ 2 X’s, All NBA 1st Team 10 X’s, All NBA Defensive 9 X’s... Why so low? NBA records: 1) most missed shots in a game 2) most missed shots in a regular season 3) most missed game winners 4) only finals MVP to not shoot above 50% in a single finals game (9 & 10) 5) worst shooting performance by a finals MVP in history (40% shooting) 6) of the top 10 scorers of all-time Kobe has lowest shooting % 7) there are only 13 games in history where someone shot below 50% to reach 50 points, Kobe is responsible for 7 of those 13 games 8) most missed shots in a series 9) most missed shots in a finals

10) Lebron: 1 Ring, 3 MVP’s, 1 Finals MVP, All-Star 8 X’s, NBA Scoring Champ 1 X, All NBA 1st Team 6 X’s, All NBA Defensive 4 X’s, ROY

  

That's pretty well done if you ask me. It’s kind of hard to argue with his list. What do you think?

NBA Finals Preview

So the NBA Finals kick off tonight, finally.

Unless you live under a rock you know that its the Oklahoma City Thunder going up against the Miami Heat and LeBron v. Durant. It's going to be a very interesting and entertaining series. The battles of two prolific big 3s. The young, full of energy Thunder are high octane. The Heat, with LeBron and Wade can be equally as exciting. LeBron v Durant matchup will be epic.

For the Heat to Win:

It will mostly come down to how much the big three will do. I think LeBron will bounce back after a horrible finals last year. He is on a roll right now and I don't see that stopping. I can see him averaging 30-11-7 for the series and playing strong defense on Durant at times throughout the series. He must play well in the 4th though for them to win. Wade will play well offensively as he typically does in Finals. Defensively, he will draw Westbrook at times and Harden in the closing minutes of the 4th. He will have to play strong defense against those two when he gets matched up with them. Bosh was the difference in the series against Boston. He may not be fully healthy and whether he is or not he will be facing a tougher defensive matchup then he did against Boston: Serge Ibaka and/or Nick Collison. He will have to play as well as he can for Mia to be succesful.

The big three alone won't be able to beat OKC, someone from the rest of the roster will have to step up. For me this really means Chalmers, Battier or Haslem. I don't see any of them performing well for the duration of the series, but if each of them can have a good to great game at any point during the series they could be the difference in a few games. Mike Miller and James Jones may see some action this series and they have to hit the threes they will get. The Heat "big" men: Bosh, Haslem, and Anthony must do a good job rebounding. The Thunder are a jump shooting team. They can't make all your jumps shots. If the Heat can pull down some of those rebounds and turn them to points on the other end they can win.

As a team the Heat must capitalize on turnovers, which they do pretty well. OKC isn't the strongest defensive team and are prone to lapses, especially on the perimeter. Miami needs to be ready to take advantage of those lapses and knock down open jumpers. I'd like to see Miami run some pick and roll, which San Antonio used effectively at times. Miami needs to play with some fire in their eyes. After reaching the Finals and not playing well last year, this shouldn't be a problem. They must stay focused and hungry throughout the series. Obviously for Miami to win the series they will have to win at least one game on the road. The best chance might be in game 1 if the catch the Thunder overly excited. If they win one of those 1st two game on the road they have a great chance to win the series.

For the Thunder to Win:

They have to do what they've been doing which is getting great production from their big three and steady production from their role players. Durant has to be ready to put in work this series, some of which will match him against the best defender he will face this playoffs: LeBron. He can't be timid, as he sometimes is, this series. When the game is in the balance he needs to step up and demand the ball and rise to the occasion. Westbrook has to make good decisions and limit his turnovers. Plain and simple. Harden must do what he has been doing, coming off the bench playing solid on both ends. He may have to play more minutes this series so he needs to play at the same high level throughout.

Serge Ibaka has to play big this series, all series. On the defensive end he will have to guard Bosh but also have a presence in the paint when Wade and LeBron drive. Offensively, he has to be ready to knock down some jumpers and/or get some easy buckets in the paint. Not really sure we will be seeing a great deal of Kendrick Perkins because of the Heat's lack of big men but when he plays he needs to patrol the paint as he does, and pick up a few of his patented "Who me fouls" to put some fear in Heat players. Former Bulls great Sefolosha must play great defense throughout the series, mostly on Wade but at times on LeBron. He also has to be ready to knock down a few threes when his number is called. Collison and Fisher will be the main people coming off the bench with Harden. Fisher must play decent defense when he is in the game. While with the Lakers he was weak against younger, quicker PGs so he can't let Chalmers get going.

As a team, the Thunder have to remain poised. This is their first finals appearance since relocating. The crowd will be super hype. The players must stay calm and under control especially early. Avoid poor decisions and bad shots which Miami can flip into easy buckets and get going. They also have to remain confident. They have played so well throughout the playoffs mainly because they haven't been scared of anything, knocking off the Mavs, Lakers and Spurs. Finally, the Thunder must continue to play well at home (8-0). Obviously, if they win out at home they will be champions, but if they can have a strong first 2 games and win convincingly they will will put all the pressure on Mia, which they don't typically play well under.

Prediction:

My head is telling me that the Thunder will win, almost rather easily. They are a better team and have depth. They have home court advantage and they are playing with such confidence. Mia doesn't have much depth and hasn't played typically well under pressure. LeBron will be great but he will be tired, especially mentally, when it may count. My heart also leans with the Thunder simply because I like them more than I like the Heat. They have 4 of my favorite players and one of my favorite beards: Westbrook, Durant, Perk and Harden and his beard. I'm getting a gut feeling that the Heat can pull this thing out. They are in their second consecutive Finals. Do we really expect them to lose two in a row? They might be a little more hungrier than the Thunder because of all the pressure that is on them. On top of that I really think the Heat can get one of the 1st two games in OKC. I wouldn't be surprised if they won game 1. If that's the case, they can go home and win 2 of 3 and come back for games 6 and 7 up 3-2.

All that being said, I'm going Thunder in 6. I'm going with my head and heart. Going to be a great series though.

No Hitter

After 50 seasons and 8,019 games my New York Mets finally had their first no hitter. The man who pitched it? Johan, or as everyone is saying "No-Han," Santana.

My ESPN Scorecenter app sent the buzz to my phone around 7:06pm letting me know that the Mets game had just began. It was another fairly regular Friday night at Citi. The drama around this game was Carlos Beltran's return to NY after his 7 up and (mostly) down years. He would actually be involved in something more dramatic as the night became historic.

I get updates after the 3rd and 6th inning as well as the end of the game. After 3, Mets were up. After 6, Mets were up. I thought:"Cool, were doing out thing. Bout to get this win." Then I got another buzz. "Johan Santana has not allowed a hit after 7 innings." Then another "Johan Santana has not allowed a hit after 8 innings." Then another "Johan Santana enters the 9th inning with a chance to throw a no hitter."

Can't tell you how excited I was, but also nervous. I would have jumped to the closest TV if I could but I was at a play with Grandma so I just had to hoped for the best. Finally, I found out what happened as I got 3 more buzzes from my phone. Scorecenter let me know twice via the end of the game update and the baseball headlines update. New York Times let me know too: "Johan Santana throws the first No-Hitter in Mets history."

We finally did it. Johan "You know who big" Santana did it.



It's so awesome! I'm happy that it was Johan. He has been a beast the whole time he has been a Met. We could never give him enough run support in his first few years, years where he could have won Cy Youngs. Nonetheless he always pitched well. Unfortunately, he was shutdown in September of 2010 and had shoulder surgery. He missed all of last year due to rehab and returned this year. He is no longer the dominant (pitch speed wise) pitcher that he used to be, but he has been very good this year and now has the 1st no hitter in our history.

The no-no didn't come without controversy though. Beltran hit a sharp liner down the 3rd base line in the 6th the was ruled foul. It actually was fair, as it hit the chalk. It would have broken up the no-no and prevented history. But it was ruled foul and no-no attempt went on. It's kind of sweet that Beltran didn't break it up, payback for him not coming through when we needed him the most: final at bat of game 7 of the 2006 NLCS.

Johan didn't do it by himself. Queens native, and life long Mets fan turned Mets player Mike Baxter gave up his body to help preserve the no-no in the 7th.

Thank you Mike. Thank you Johan. Thank you Mets. History. Proud to be a Mets fan!

A Couple Jay Arguments

Memorial day weekend typically marks the beginning of summer, day drinking, outdoor partying and arguments with friends over drinks or after drinks. This weekend was full of that for me. On Sunday after a beer brunch (get those mimosas outta here) me and my boys went to this outdoor party thing in Brooklyn and ultimately ended up at my boy @JJolley's crib for more brews. During the course of the night I made a few arguments that I couldn't successfully defend because of my drunkeness lol. The first was something rather simple that can't really be argued, we just have to wait for the outcome. I said to my boy Luckose that the Thunder will beat the Spurs. I tried to make a few points to defend my pick but eventually I just settled on the bet and saying "we'll see what happens." We'll see what happens with that lol.

The next few things I argued about were not as simple and were something that everyone who listens to rap has an opinion on: Jay-Z. As we were sitting there watching the game and talking about whatever, Jay-Z came up; in particular Kingdom Come. First @TheUnjealous commented on how Kingdom Come sucks, which I disagreed with.

I like Kingdom Come

One of my supporting arguments for Kingdom Come was that two of Jay's top ten songs are off Kingdom Come: "The Prelude" and "Beach Chair". When I said that, @Run_GMC jumped in to question my top ten Jay list. Meanwhile @TheUnjealous tried to discount "The Prelude" because it's an intro, saying intros don't count. I discounted that because one of my favorite Jay songs is an intro, the "Dynasty Intro" to be exact lol. More on that later. Soon we were all reviewing Jay's discography to find ten tracks better than "The Prelude," naturally starting at Reasonable Doubt which everyone said had 4 or 5 tracks in Jay'z top 10. This led to my other major argument, that Reasonable Doubt is great but not all that great. Yea I said it.

Great no doubt, not his best though.

So there I was in the midst of 3 arguments regarding Jay-Z:

1) Kingdom Come doesn't suck
2) The Prelude is a top 10 Jay song/On my top 10
3) Reasonable Doubt is not all that great

Couldn't quite defend it how I wanted to on Sunday night. So over the next few posts I'll try to since I'm sober.

Let me take on 1 and 3 first because defending those are easier than compiling my top 10. There are certain things that we as "Hip-Hop lovers" are supposed to do or believe or else we are looked at as fakers. There are commonly held opinions about certain albums/songs that are used to gauge one's understanding of Hip-Hop. Some of these opinions are on point and tell the truth (Illmatic is a classic) but some have gained so much popularity that people think they're true. In my opinion "Kingdom Come sucked" falls into this category. It's almost as if people have to say it sucked or else other people will say they don't know anything about hip-hop. Similarly, people have to say Reasonable Doubt is their favorite and/or Jay's best album or their Hip-Hop head status is questioned. Well, I'll step outside the norm on both.

I'll admit KC is not a great album, especially not the type of album we were used to from Jay-Z. It was his first post retirement album, following The Black Album, arguably his greatest album. That was a lot of pressure and expectations. Honestly, it didn't live up to the expectations but there was no way it could. It certainly hurt but it doesn't mean that the album sucked. It did have some bad songs though. "Anything" is certainly a terrible ass song, which most people probably remember this album for. Then of course there is "Hollywood" which unless you're a lady and/or a dancer you hate. "Trouble" and "Dig a hole" are pretty bad as well. I'll say that "Oh my God" is no better than average. So by my count that's 5 songs that are skip worthy. Out of 14 songs that's a lot, especially for Jay, but fairly normal for most albums.

On the flip of these bad songs are the great, and I mean great, ones. No denying how great "Beach Chair" "The Prelude" "Lost Ones" are. On a slightly lesser note there is "I Made It" which get vastly overlooked. Those 4 are great. "Do You Wanna Ride" is a very good tribute/story telling track. The title track is pretty dope too because its a reference to the graphic comic of the same name in which an older, retired Superman, comes back to show young "super heroes" how to do the damn thing. In the 2 1/2 years he was gone he saw the foolishness that was going on and decided that he had "to take off the blazer, loosen up the tie, step inside the booth, superman is alive." I'd say those two are very good.  Then there is "Minority Report" which is tough to listen to because of the tragedy it covers but if you get past the heartache its really a damn good track. 4 great tracks, 3 very good ones and then "Show Me What You Got" and "30 Something" which are cool enough to listen to without skipping. 9/14 doesn't suck...not great...but doesn't suck.

On to Reasonable Doubt. It is a great album, certainly a classic. I don't think its so great that everyone must call it their favorite Jay album, or his best. People do though, mainly because its one of the things we're supposed to do as "hip-hop lovers" as I mentioned earlier. For me, as a relatively young cat, I can't do it. I feel like it's an album you had to have been able to listen to and understand when it dropped in '96 to truly appreciate its greatness. You had to have been "of age." For me, the time when you hear a song/album factors into its greatness. If you are in a place in life were you can vibe to it because of experience then it will add to its greatness. That's why I love The Black Album more than Reasonable Doubt. I can remember when it dropped, I went to a record store and bought the CD. I remember everyone talking about it and applying songs to their lives. I remember how those joints hit me. The album was like watching Jordan live, as opposed to just on video. The fact that I can say "I remember that" makes it better for me. I have similar feelings and memories regarding The Blueprint. Shoot, I even have very vivid memories of Vol. 3 and The Dynasty. Truthfully, I didn't listen to RD until 11th or 12th grade maybe. It's hard for me to say RD is better than other Jay albums I listened to (and understood) before it. Retroactive listening lets me see its greatness but it still won't let me put it above other Jay albums. That being said, they are only a few songs from RD that I truly love love and can remember all of the words of. Again, the album is certainly a classic, certainly great, not his best and certainly not my favorite. I wish more people would admit they feel the same way.

It's whateva though. Just my opinion but I'm still a true Hip Hop Lover though, I'm also a warrior too. Let that be known.

My top 10 Jay songs deserve its own post so...

Throwback Thursday: Netscape

Crazy story about how I got to this.

Finals been crazy, well school in general of late. I haven't been able to watch much TV. Last night after closing a final out I decided to catch up a little. My DVR was at 97%. I watched the last few episodes of New Girl. Good show, don't know if you watch it but you should. Anyway, Nick was dating an 18 year old and Schmidt said, "man she doesn't even know about Netscape." 

I died! It was way to funny.

Netscape was the less popular internet browser in the late 90s. Everyone was dialing up their AOL but a few of us had encounters with Netscape. It didn't last long and eventually got bought by AOL.

Aww #the90s

Oh and if for no other reason watch New Girl For this:

#Snookup #DT

#HelloBrooklyn

The Brooklyn Nets have unveiled their logos...

The Shield of Brooklyn

Half Court Logo

I absolutely love it! My fan hood has officially begun.

We are the [Undefeated] Champions

Remember how I was in a fantasy basketball league? I went undefeated and won the championship. It was my first time every playing fantasy basketball too. #Beasty

Now I just gotta get the rest of the dudes in the league to #PayUp

Throwback Thursday: 1998 NFL Draft

This is a little to obvious but whatever. Tonight is the NFL Draft, which as you know I love for multiple reasons. The Colts have the number 1 pick, which they will be using to draft Andrew Luck, after a nonexistent some debate about selecting Heisman winner Robert Griffin the third. The last time they had the number 1 overall pick they selected Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf. We know how that turned out lol. I'm hoping the same doesn't happen this year where one of these dudes (Luck, RG3) turns out to be a bust because I like them both. I'm especially rooting for RG3, despite him becoming a Redskin, because he's a Black QB.

Anyway, the '98 draft was pretty good. When you get past the Manning-Leaf thing you see there were a lot of great players in that 1st round. At 4 the Heisman Winner, perhaps the greats combined college and pro player our generation has ever seen, Michigan Wolverine great, and my favorite player ever: Charles Woodson was selected.

This was also the draft were Randy Moss slipped down to 21st. A lot of teams were feeling real stupid, most notably the Titans who took Kevin Dyson instead. Moss would have gotten them that 1 yard in that SuperBowl...

There were so many great picks in that draft: Fred Taylor at 9, my brother in Blue Hines Ward at 92, Az-Zahir Hakim at 96 and Brooklyn's own Lance Schulters at 119.

Full '98 Draft recap here.

These Streets Are All I Know

Throwback Thursday: Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud

Going further back than #the90s this month. I'll be posting things from Black History since it is Black History Month and all. Today were going back to #the60s

No better way to start than with James Brown's anthem celebrating our race. This is a video of him performing it on Soul Train, the iconic show created by Don Cornelius. That show helped promote black culture into the mainstream. Yesterday, Don Cornelius died, apparently he shot himself. Don't feel like that's true and I hope we find out if something else happened.

Don Cornelius is a great person in our history for his promotion of our race. Thanks Don and may you rest in peace.

This song by James Brown let everyone know that we were proud to be black and we were going to let everyone know it.Thanks godfather, may you also rest in peace.


He shouted out Don too.

"I'M BLACK AND I'M PROUD!"