Getting Away From It All?

So last week I was away on vacation visiting family in St. Kitts. For those that don't know St. Kitts is a small island in the Caribbean, suffice it to say I had plenty of sun, warm weather and relaxation. Ironically I was blogging more than usual down there... so much for vacation. I came prepared to ball and found numerous courts, but when I was ready to run, came up empty.

With the weather being what it is, I couldn't blame them. Basketball is St. Kitts' fastest growing sport, taking a back seat to cricket, and surprisingly beating out football/soccer, they've also had a few players go on to receive D-2 scholarships. I should have gone to the extent of setting something up, but that would have only led to me playing ball each and every day, not good considering I'm nursing an injury that is taking a while to heal.

I kind of regret it though, there's something to be said about playing on a court and looking to your right and seeing dormant volcanoes with clouds laying at their peak like pillows or looking to your left and seeing the serene Atlantic glow from the sun beaming down on it. Ah, just as well, it would definitely affect my concentration on the court.

Maybe next time...

Cameo Appearance.

You know those times, when you put on a jacket or a pair of jeans and you find $10 in the pocket? Well I didn't feel like I found free money, but I completely forgot I was "interviewed" while waiting for my mom at the Raptors game last month. Court Surfing was on the scene at the ACC asking the people about LBJ. Find me if you can.

Blasphemy.

Nothing more need be said. But I will say it regardless, I HATE THE HYBRIDS. I remember when I was a kid, playing in the street and making concoctions. Mixing gravel, sand, water, grass and whatever elements I could find into a goopy mix. Then after I had my fun with it, I would dump it down the sewer. However, some Victor Frankenstein over at the Innovation Kitchen at Nike decided not to dump his machinations, but throw it on the shelves for everyone to consume this December.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Air Jordan 2.5. While trying to contain the vomit in my mouth as I witnessed the Air Force 1/Jordan hybrid series, Nike takes it one incestuous step further merging two of the best models of the Jordan line, (II & III). FUGLY. I'm not wishing ill on anyone, but we all know how the Frankenstein movie ended as one of the themes of Mary Shelley's original novel, was it's cautionary tale of man or science taking it one step too far and trying to play god. Personally, this is the sneaker equivalent... blasphemous!

Thanks to First Cuts for ruining my day.

2010.

I have intentionally abstained from the "Where Is Lebron James going?" conjecture, not for fear of personal safety, but at this point there are plenty of things that can happen, and too much free time to sit around and speculate on. To top it off, 2010 will likely see the strongest free agent class ever witnessed in the history of the NBA, another wrinkle to the situation.

So as I'm not really engaging in the dialogue, I'll mention that Darren Rovell from Sports Biz over at CNBC wrote a good piece examining the Nike factor, where there is a belief that Nike will pay more to have him in a major market like New York. The real point which Rovell briefly touches on in the story is, why are there talks of incentives for certain cities, after Beijing, I thought global domination was on everyone's agenda?

At least they have time to figure it all out.

Charles Barkley Likes Old Dicks.

Dime Magazine, now look what you done did?

When Bloggers Attack.

The joy and pain of blogging is that while you are able to share your opinion with the world, there are a million other people out there likely doing the same thing. Unfortunately it provides a voice to some who probably don't deserve one.

Take for example MVN blogger Amir Panchmatia of the Cavalier Attitude fan blog, who literally wanted to go American History X on Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski ...literally.

"I wish I could meet Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

You want to know what I'd do? I would bust him in the jaw, throw him to the ground, force him to put his mouth on a curb, and smash the back of his head with my foot.

Yes, American History X style. And yes - I really, really would. Part of this disturbs me. Part of this depresses me because I'll probably never get the opportunity."

What did Wojnarowski do to invoke his wrath? Basically what thousands of other sports writers and bloggers do every day, speculate on Lebron James' numbered days as a Cleveland Cavalier. Hardly worthy of Panchmatia's twisted fantasy, oh and a little extreme? Yes. But what comes next is the best plot twist since Usual Suspects, Wojnarowski called Panchmatia on his post ...literally. He found his phone number, called him up, and offered to buy him a plane ticket so he could come try and kick his ass.

"You don't get to channel "your inner Ed Norton," —-- celebrating a neo-Nazi movie and that curb stomp scene —- and think that I'm sitting that one out. I don't know what this guy's deal is, but because he wrote that he worried he'd never get a chance to live out his fantasy of going all skinhead on me, I sure did offer him up a plane ticket so he could come and give it a shot. Listen, I have no issue with a blogger writing whatever he wants about my work. He can say anything. That's part of the deal. I understand. Hey, there are times the criticism has merit. But when someone is fired up over a neo-Nazi movie and openly dreams of putting his workboot through the back of my skull, well, I'm not laughing that one off."

Personally I don't think Wojnarowski crossed the line. Anytime we put something down in writing we're open to criticism, however this was taken too far. The aforementioned posts by Panchmatia are no longer active, and he's now likely back in his mother's basement acting out how his death duel would have went down with action figures.

Raptor Blog escorted me to the ring, and Deadspin gave me the play by play, who needs Don King?

Fail. The Yao Ming Transformer.

Call me ignorant, but I can't for the life of me figure out how a toy manufacturer based in China, can't capture the likeness of one of their national icons, Yao Ming. The action figure is dope, a basketball (albeit not bounceable), that transforms into an autobot-styled-out Yao Ming.

But in the face? Eeek, he looks more like Michael Dukakis with McGrady's lazy eye than the Mingster. Shame on you, shame on all of you, you just took a well designed toy and made it into... They may have just been better off not letting the head pop up, so they could hide their embarrassment.



Thanks to FreshnessMag for my refills on Energon cubes.