April 12, 2007

Chat Today

Come chat with me at 1!!!

And I’ve got a piece going up today on B.J. and Justin Upton and their father, Manny.  That’ll be up soon.

April 10, 2007

Props to Duke

Duke wasn’t too happy with Tip, either.  Now, if they get their $70k back, can they get me back my $25?  Oh, and that was the student rate (still applicable to those with student IDs with late expiration dates).
Let’s be real–does Duke strike you as the kind of place that would just sit back while you got over on them?  I’m with ‘em on this one.  Get that paper, Duke.

And while you’re at it, bring me mine.

April 10, 2007

Running Out of Songs

So I got out of an appointment to be greeted by a text message from my girlfriend saying the world’s about to end.  And why?

Somebody made a song totally about lip gloss.  I’ve never heard it, but we found out it’s by some character named Lil’ Mama.  Surprisingly, someone going by the name Lil’ Mama isn’t Southern.  She’s from Brooklyn.

Here are the lyrics.  Check them out, for they will be relevant for one of my questions.

1.  Have we officially run out of things to rap about?  I’m all for people rapping about what they know…but lip gloss?

2.  In the song, Lil’ Mama says that her lip gloss makes “boys keep jockin.”  Now, maybe I’m not hip to what they’re in to in high school.  But when did the day come when lip gloss is what made dudes try to holla in high school?  I find it strange that, in an age when pretty much any explicit image is one click away, when 16 looks too much like the new 21, lip gloss is what makes dudes get at girls.  Am I missing something here?

Back to my battle with deadline.  I’m around.

April 9, 2007

T.I. and…MAIL CALL!!!

Oh, I forgot to mention that I went to see T.I. at Duke Saturday.  In commemoration of the event, I started a Facebook group called “T.I. Owes Me $25.”

I was pretty upset that he didn’t do any songs from “I’m Serious.”  But you know what?  It was fitting, because he wasn’t serious at all.  I promise you that dude only did one verse of about seven songs, the full “U Don’t Know Me” and “What You Know” and dipped out.  We knew it was a bad sign when he took his shirt off 15 minutes into the show.  He hadn’t even had time to get hot, and he was already ready to pull out the card he had to get the sexy young ladies excited.

He didn’t do “Dope Boyz.”  He didn’t do “Bring ‘Em Out.”  He didn’t do “No More Talk.”  For real, it was straight up booty.  He almost lost a fan, except I wouldn’t go all out at Duke, either.

Speaking of music, here’s a great piece of mail I just received from one of those courageous types that doesn’t leave a name with his or her e-mail address.

You have no qualifications in saying that Hendrix was the best at what he did. Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, and many others after them are better guitarists than Hendrix. He gets a lot of credit for his style, but many good guitarists can easily play a Hendrix song. Now, playing a song by Cream is another matter. Also, if you want  to talk about domination, Roger Federer is a better tennis player than Woods is a golfer, and wins a higher percentage of the time. Tiger is a brat, as evidenced by his smacking his clubs around when he doesn’t make a shot. I think that the real reason that you like him so much is the same reason you think Hendrix is so incredible; because he’s black. Here’s a newsflash: Tiger is a great golfer, but he should NEVER be mentioned near Jordan or Gretzky because he doesn’t compete against people, he competes against the par for the course. Golf is a game, not a sport. That’s why older people can play competitively. Give credit where it’s due, to real athletes who are loved for their skill, not their skin color. 

The Federer argument is a fair one, though I happen to disagree.  I do laugh at the notion that I just love Tiger Woods because he’s black.  You know, black writers can’t form any opinion without it being entirely fueled by blackness.  That’s all we know, yanno?  Only a black man could think that Tiger Woods and Jimi Hendrix are incredible.  Only us.  No white people think that Hendrix is great.

Well, except for the folks at Rolling Stone, and we know what militant Negroes they are.

The funniest part, though, is the notion that I’m unqualified to make such a statement.  First, pretty much anyone is allowed to make a statement about music.  In the Internet era, we’ve all got access to whatever we want to hear.

What’s funnier?  I did work as a music critic for five years.  Done a bit of TV behind it, too.  In fact, I got in with ESPN because of the ability to make pop culture connections with sports, on the basis of my work as a music critic.

Not that it takes a serious critic to make that observation.  A St. Bernard can tell you that Hendrix is incredible.

April 9, 2007

BET…Huh?

Business…to me, Tiger Woods is Jimi Hendrix.

Two things have disturbed me in the last 24 hours.  Today, my buddy Ernesto and I have been talking about the new Redman record.  I’m giving it the first run through, and I like it.  He loves it, as does my brother.  Anyway, his AIM away message says that people need to check out Red Gone Wild.   The response he got from a few people?

“Who still listens to Redman?”

Oy.  A little part of me died.  Reggie’s one of my five favorite rappers ever.  Out of his mind, creative even when he’s repetitive, and unquestionably an all-time great.  Gracious, he’s been doing this for 16 years now and still bangs hard.  His delivery is unmistakable, and his flow is always on point.  I preferred back in the day when he flipped a zillion styles, but I still love what he brings.

But now, folks are talking about Reggie like he’s Johnny Mathis.  That hurt.

But not as much as BET’s countdown of the greatest dancers of all-time.  I watched that with my girlfriend, who’s a dancer.  She must have watched that like I check things on writers.  The difference, of course, is writers evaluate writers, so the opinions offered are pretty much on point.  I may not agree, but I can see where they’re coming from.

However, I can’t see how in the world Puffy is the 24th greatest dancer of all-time.  Even the absurdly ranked 25, Ciara, should have been offended.

When Usher hit the screen as something like 11, my girlfriend hit the floor.  Literally.  Off the couch and on the floor.  And she’s fighting some illness.

But nothing, and I mean nothing, could have prepared us to see Chris Brown at 4.  That put him higher than Alvin Ailey.  Alvin Ailey’s pretty good, if you didn’t know.

I actually like Chris Brown.  I doubt I’ll buy any of his albums for a few years, but he’s talented as all get out.  I respect his hustle.

However, if he’s the 4th best dancer ever, I’m the 4th best writer ever.  You had to be kidding me.

I don’t know much of a lick about dancing.  I admit that.  But I know better than that.

It was a strange countdown because there were only like three dancers doing commentary.  Seriously, Godfrey, the dude that succeeded Orlando Jones as the 7Up guy, knew more about dancing than most of the people doing commentary.  He’s a friggin’ comedian, man.  And it’s not like he’s a comedian/dance critic.  He’s just funny.

Oy.

I recognize that there was supposed to be great emphasis on music performers because those are the people that hook the audience.  I get that.  But are you serious?  Omarion was so high on that list that I wondered why he’s not already in somebody’s hall of fame.  Absurd stuff, man.  I was just happy my girlfriend got off the carpet within five minutes.  For a second, I was worried that she’d passed out.  Nope.  She was just blown away.

And I was, too.

April 5, 2007

New piece, music, and Duke

Business…here’s a look back at Eddie Robinson through the lens of the role HBCUs play.

Two thoughts, totally unconnected to one another.

1.  I honestly can’t think of a single time in ‘07 I’ve been excited about an album or more than intrigued buy a song on the radio.  I’ve avoided jumping on the “music just ain’t what it used to be” bandwagon, but it’s getting hard to do.  Music has been at the center of my life for a long time.  Now, it’s not, and it’s kinda sad.

2.  The Duke Basketball Report recently decided to say a couple of things about me, which is their right.  I’m not keen on using this site to respond to what people have to say about me–I criticize for a living, so I’ve gotta take it–but I do take umbrage with what was written.  To save you time, I’ll excerpt the part about me.

ESPN also employs Bomani Jones, who could moonlight at the Nation Of Islam blog with statements like this:  “without question, I’d say that Duke is a white supremacist institution.”In fairness to Jones, he goes on to say that every college is a white supremacist institution, including traditionally black colleges.  Al Featherston had some words for Jones as well when Jones called Christian Laettner’s “stomp” “one of the most vile things ever done on a basketball court,” terming it” unforgivable. 

First, it’s worth noting that I watched a bit of the Selection show with Al Featherston, and this never came up.  I don’t hold that against him.  There’s a chance he hadn’t read the piece by then.  Further–and even more likely–he had no idea who the hell I am.  For that, I don’t knock him.  I’m pretty anonymous and don’t complain about it.

As for my statement that Duke is a “white supremacist” institution, I said that on this site a year ago today.  You can find the post here.

That line was taken as a statement of my Duke bias and place as a radical rabblerousing Negro.  Pretty funny stuff to me.  For one, I always laugh at how people limit the definition of white supremacy to include terroristic acts instead of looking at it as a mindstate.  Guess I shouldn’t expect people to look at it on that level.

I can, however, expect people to responsibly extract quotes if that’s the route they’re going to take.  This is what I said.

Without question, I’d say that Duke is a white supremacist institution. It’s hard to imagine such a concentration of rich white people–or rich any people, really–without there being a palpable air of white supremacy. But Duke shouldn’t feel too singled out. I feel the same way about the University of North Carolina, a school that I attended and that also has slave owners and Klan supporters’ names on different buildings on campus. And I’d say that many black colleges suffer from white supremacy, with their curricula frequently more about teaching black people how to do things instead of cultivating their students’ ability to think and create new scholarship.

White supremacy is everywhere, folks, lurking deeper than most people are willing to look. It’s in white people, it’s in black people, it’s in everybody. It’s so insidious and it is an unavoidable characteristic of American life.

And Duke is not immune.

Not quite me pickin’ on poor ol’ Duke, now is it?

As it relates to basketball, I’ve been pretty open about the fact that I don’t like Duke.  It’s fun stuff, really.  That’s what sports are, the way I see it–fun stuff.  That said, I think I’ve always been pretty fair to the team and its players.  You can read what I have to say about the team and see that I don’t bag on them when it’s not warranted.  I give them props when they’re earned.  I treat them no differently than I treat Carolina or any other school.  I think my archive page backs up that assertion.

So let’s be real about things, shall we?

Oh, and I sure as hell think Christian Laettner putting his foot on someone was unforgivable.  If you grew up in my house, you would feel the same way.  To me, that’s about as disrespectful as spitting on someone, and I think that’s unforgivable.  There is no circumstance where putting your foot on someone prone is cool.  It is foul as all get out.  I dont’ care if Timberlake got up clapping or not.

That ain’t bias.  Let Dean Smith or anybody else come up to me and put his foot on me.  You’ll see just how vile I think it is.

April 2, 2007

Barbershops, then a tangential left turn

Business…here, I talk to my unborn children about the two teams in tonight’s championship game.

So I went to the barber shop this morning in preparation for a formal event I’m going to with my girlfriend.  Might be late getting to the house for the game, but that’s why The Man made TiVo.  Anyway, the barber shows up late.  That’s never good, especially not today.  When you’re the only shop around open on Monday, you should know that all parties involved need to get that cut fast.  We’re not conditioned to get cuts on Mondays.  When we do, it’s a bit of an emergency.

I get there, and dude gets me in the chair fast.  But while he’s edging up the front, it becomes readily apparent why dude was late–he was gettin’ lifted.  I mean his fingers smelled like straight killa, and this was after he thoroughly washed his hands.  No wonder the cut took like 40 minutes.

I do look rather fly, though.  Very important on a night like this.  Decreases the possibility of some enterprising young man hittin’ my girl with the Morris Day, “what’s your phone number?  I gotta be cooler than this cat you’re sittin’ with.”

That line’s always thrown me off, too.  What’s cool got to do with crazy, buddy?  In fact, the best case scenario when approaching someone like that is that he’s the coolest dude on Earth.  That way, he’ll just kinda post up and not trip.  If he ain’t cool, something tells me you’ll get the glass shampoo from his bottle.  Or maybe that’s just me.  I dunno.

Either way, I hope I serve as my own pimpin’ repellent.  I always say that, when buying engagement rings, men are trying to get something that will serve as pimpin’ repellent.  Yanno, something dudes will see and instantly recognize they have no chance.  I’ve been shut down by a few rings in my time.

Since I’m not at the ring point yet, I gotta do the job myself when I’m around.  Root for me.  Or just root that I don’t have to snatch that glass.  Root for my happiness.  And root that I stay outta jail.  Can’t blog from the clink, I don’t think.  I get the feeling the WiFi in there is booty.