Lin and Let Die.

I promise to not use any name flips or puns in this blog (ok maybe just a few).  The date was February 4th.  My Knicks were 8-15.....the team that many predicted to make noise this year in the East due to supposedly touting the best front court in the league.  We had just lost by 3 and 2 points to the Bulls and Celtics respectively in the first 2 of our 3 games in 3 nights stretch.  For the first time in my 20 years as a Knicks fan (I was a bulls fan the first 4, until I met MJ, and he was a complete jerk to me, different blog/day) I was ready to check out.  You may be laughing while pointing to the ineptitude that was the 2000s after our trip to the lockout finals.  But those years never hurt nearly as much as this.  Those teams were all bad.  I knew it, my pops (the biggest Knicks I know of) knew it, heck the team knew it.  As much as I tried to trick myself into thinking that Shandon Anderson/Howard Eisley/Keith Van Horn/Glen Rice/Michael Sweetney/Clarence Weatherspoon/Dikembe Mutombo (the AARP version)/Penny Hardaway (the post Lil' Penny Version)/Eddy Curry (the heart attack watch version)/Stevie "Franchise" (the post great but pre this----> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/684/512845323.jpg/ version)/and Stephon Marbury (the guy who thought he was the best PG in the league only to get torched by J Kidd version) would lead us to the promised land, I always knew it was fools gold. 

I had to start a new paragraph after ending the last one with all those gross memories.  The 2011-12 Knicks were supposed to be different.  We were supposed to be good.  We got a little glimpse into what we could be the second half of last year.  There were a lot of lumps as the team got adjusted to each other....but there were nights where you could at least sit back and say: "man, we aint perfect, but we're building."  After the first round match-up against the Celtics and the heart that the undermanned/overmatched team displayed, I went into the off-season with a feeling I hadn't had in ages: excitement.  Top that off with us adding the recent NBA Champion winning Tyson Chandler??? A defensive center not named Patrick Ewing? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yea so we didn't have a point guard, but that's not a big deal (more on that later), We got a front line that can carry us, easy.  Then the games started.........The Toney Douglas experiment part deux had the same feelings as part one, only worse, cause last year, at least he would hit rim when he missed.  Shump looked good at the point off the bench, so they started throwin him out there with the starters.  Not sure how he went from looking like a ROY candidate to not even getting picked for the Rookie-Sophmore game....but clearly he wasn't it.  Then there was the B-Diddy watch.  If I got a dollar for every time I watched an interview when I heard stuff like: "i'm close" "i'm almost there" "i'm starting to feel like myself".....yea, he started saying that mid December. 

On February 4th, I was done being emotionally invested.  With our cap situation, and the roster clearly not even good enough to hold down the 8th seed, there wasn't much reason for optimism anymore.  I envisioned something like us going on a random run to squeak into the playoffs, and then having to sit through D'Antoni/Amare/and Melo talk about how "we match up well with the Heat," and "we're gonna be a tough out," before getting summarily blown out in 4 straight games (last year, but worse).  We were playing the Nets...and nothing pisses me off more than losing to the Nets, cause....well their bad...and they used to be disrespectful when they went on their Bridesmaid runs to the Finals (bridesmaids cause they never really had a chance to win).  Then all of a sudden this dude Lin gets in the game.  I was actually at the point where I would rather see us lose with this random guy on the court (provides an excuse) than watch Shumpert try to pretend to be a point guard anymore.  Then what happened next......well......you know. 

I was sitting beside my girlfriend Tacyana :) and we were watching something on my computer.  I had the game on mute.  Saw we were losing and started mumbling some crap under my breath.  My dad got home, and as he usually would when the Knicks were on asked me: "Hey fool (fool is not the word he used, but those growing up in a black home...yea, fill in the one word blank) what's happenin' with the Knicks."  One thing about my Dad is when it comes to the Knicks, he is the eternal optimist/pessimist at the same time.  I remember before we traded for Melo he told me "man....trade all these bums for Melo...who in the world is Mozgov?"  One week later he said, "man.....don't get me wrong, Melo is nice...but we aint got no center, all Turiaf does is flop around....Mozgov was comin' around."  So yea, u get it all from my pops.  8-15 or not, he's locked in.  Sound came on and Lin's stat line flashed.....needless to say I was locked in from that point on.  After every Lin drive and score, my dad and I were fist poundin' and borderline chest-bumpin'.  Yea it was a midseason game against the Nets...but the spirit this "random Asian guy" (no offense meant, just trying to be true to the moment) was something that we hadn't seen in a while.  A spirit that Amare' used to play with before we got Melo (different blog).  You could tell he was a guy who knew he was prolly in the midst of his last chance...and anyone who has been in the midst of a last chance could respect what he was doing. 

My dad and I hadn't been this excited/in awe after a Knicks game since Allan Houston fist pumped that stunned-looking front row of Miami Heat fans.  For most of my life, some of the most connected moments I have had with my pops has occurred in front of Knicks/Yankees games.  As for the Yankees, we've obviously had a lot of ups.  But in front of those Knicks games.....talking about how bad we are, and looking forward hopefully to the day that we could be proud of that team again.  I don't know what the rest of this season is going to hold.  But what I do know is this, I'll be locked in, my pops will be locked in, and when the day comes that we finally do get that 'ship we've been so hungry for, we'll be together to savor it together.  So this blog is about J Lin, but in a different way.  The run he's going on is not only infusing life into NY and the country at large, it is, at least in my case, bringing Fathers and Sons back together to take in a Knicks game, and talk about life, and look forward to the day when our constant devotion will all be worth it.  Thank you Jeremy Lin, God bless.

Inconsistent Haters.

"They're all fake."  There are 3 things that at this point in my 24 years of life I have gained a good amount of knowledge about: Sports, religion, and haters.  When it comes to sports, you can just see the blogs below or my rants on twitter.  I care about sports way too much....WAY too much, but somehow for me that's not a problem, it's a solution to other problems [another blog, another day].  As far as religion goes, I grew up in the church, have four people in my family who are pastors [including my pops], and after a lot of personal soul searching I've come to know Christ for myself.  I'm not out here holding revivals, or baptizing da' homies at the local Y', but I'm serious about my faith.  Now to the real topic of the hour, haters.  We all know them, see them, hear them, entertain their horrible views on everything this life has to offer, etc.   Some of y'all reading this right now have already thought of about 3-5 things in this blog to hate on [that makes you a hater, don't deny it, it makes you look worse, accept it].  My main gripe with haters is not what they say, how often they hate, or even how nonsensical it usually is.  It's how INCONSISTENT they are.  That stuff literally drives me crazy.  For example, when a hater starts hating on religion [in this case Christians], one of the first things they will say is, "man G, them Christians are all fake, if they were real, I'd be down."  Then literally 5-seconds later, when they are confronted by a Christian who isn't fake, they say, "so you think you're better than me now cause you believe in Jesus?  Stop acting like you ain't a sinner too, be more down to earth!"  My thing is, those two comments cannot co-exist.  Which has led me to the conclusion that the problem does not lie in an actual belief in what the hater is saying.  The problem is, a real, thoroughbred hater cannot be reasoned with, and have an "argument" for everything.  Another thing I hate is how every hater has what I like to call some "last-ditch feces" to throw your way when they don't have anything else to say.  It will sound something like, "Well, I would believe in God if He appeared to me right now and said wassup".  Trust me, I'm not trying to denigrate real questions from people who are really seeking to understand something, rather than trying to make you feel lame.  But, from here on out, if you're a hater, and you don't have anything real to say and just wanna throw "last-ditch feces" at me just to make you feel better about you, save it.  I'm not interested in it, I want no part of it.  The reality is, there r a lot of people out here that know they shouldn't be doing 90% of the stuff they're doing, and acting like God doesn't exist is what helps them sleep at night.



By now you're probably asking what does any of this have to do with sports.  There is no person/athlete that symbolizes the colliding of these three worlds [sports, religion, hate] than Tim Tebow.  I remember back in the day a lot of the hate that was thrown at his feet had to do with his throwing motion, and the overall ugliness of his game as a QB.  If I'm being honest out here, I have to say that initially I could care less for Tebow and his antics while at Florida.  Just seemed like another great-white hope/hype story that would have never been possible if the dude was black.  In my opinion at the time, if Tebow was the exact same guy but black, he'd go un-drafted, or he'd be a fullback/tight-end/h-back, whatever that bull is.   When he got drafted in the first round I laughed out loud hysterically.  Then his post draft interview happened, right there in his house, he uttered these words: "they're gonna get my heart and my soul, and everything that comes with me."  I had heard about his Christian beliefs in the past: the memory verses on the eye-black [which got mysteriously banned], the whole pro-life Super-bowl commercial with his mom, and him being a virgin, etc.  I had also heard about athletes in the past who were gonna make it their mission to use their platform to save souls for the kingdom [for example D Howard....but it only took a couple hip shakes from Royce to switch up the agenda].  So I honestly wasn't sure if he would live up to bringing "everything" that comes with him.



What I can definitely say now is that Tebow wasn't joking.  He brought his faith, character, and lifestyle with him and he doesn't switch it up for anybody.  ANYBODY.  To me, I feel like if you're real, then how can you knock a dude for trying to be just who he says/claims to be?  Is Tim Tebow perfect?  Nobody is so no, and he doesn't profess to be.  Is Tebow the only Christian athlete who has ever been hated on? No, but the hate has never been more inconsistent than it is with him.  If you want to criticize his game, by all means go ahead.  I personally still don't think he will ever be an elite QB [whatever that means], but people need to stop acting like Q's like Brady/Brees/Manning/Vick/Roethlisberger grow on trees.  The dude is good enough to play on Sunday's and we've seen/tolerated a lot worse out there.  Now that dude is winning, the attacks have gotten more personal.  Former Broncos QB Jake Plummer [bust] gave the classic "I'm not hating on your beliefs" preface to a rant in which he hated on Tebow's beliefs.  Really Jake?  How 'bout you tell us why you really mad?



Tebow is an inconsistent hater's worst nightmare.  You can try to hide your hate behind critiques of his game, or what you think his on-field ceiling will be, but at the end of the day we know what it's really about.  A hater usually hates on something that indicts their own personal character.  Tebow is that dude that everybody knows in the back of their head they should be like, but make 100 excuses as to why they never could.  The sad thing is, in the event that Tebow makes some sort of mistake in the future, there will be 1,000,000 people who feel justified in their belief that "they're all fake."  Last ditch feces.

Class...

Hey whats up everyone, been doing this law school thing as of late. I just got this blog app for my phone so this is more of a test case than anything. I'll be posting a blog on here soon, stay tuned, God bless.

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This is It: Put up or shut up.

We have reached the moment that we have all been waiting for.  11 hours (time of publishing) from the beginning of one of the most important Free Agent periods in NBA History.  Soon and very soon, teams will not be able to feed their fan bases anymore bologna.  It's either you get it done, or your franchise is done.  Toast.  Finito.  Ballgame.  As many of you already know I am a New York Knicks fan.  Since 2008 I have been sifting through blogs, rumor mill websites, magazine publications, and press conference innuendos to try and get some sense or idea of what I could expect from my team on this date.  We've gone through the absolute liquidation of anyone on the roster who makes more than a dollar going into next season (except for Eddy Curry...thanks Zeke).  We are currently going through 3 years (I include this year cause Jordan Hill is a joke who is no longer on the team) of no first round talent in the draft, after giving away our next two picks to the Rockets to clear more cap room.  Most people have compared this free agency period to a game of poker.  With the moves that the Knicks have made through the draft (none), free agency (slim to none) and trades (fire sale) we have pushed all our chips to the center of the table.  D' Antoni said, "We have put all our efforts and focus into this summer, and we aren't bluffing."  Now I have no problem going all in when I play poker, but there is a difference between a poker player of my skill (amazing) going all in and the Knicks going all in.  The difference is, I know whats in my hand before I shove.  What I have been trying to figure out for two years is, what is in the Knicks' hand? 

Lets look around the table.  The Heat have D Wade already in their grasp.  Sure he could leave, but lets face it, he isn't.  They pretty much re-named Dade County "Wade County."  They are also one deal away from equalizing the one advantage the Knicks had going into this: The ability to offer multiple max deals.  We're talking not just two but 3.  He could add any combination of 2 from a list of Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Lebron, Dirk Nowitzki, and Carlos Boozer.  You can even go after guys like Ray Allen and Pierce who may not cost the full max.  The point is going into this game they have a card that other teams can't boast: A Championship winning Dwayne Wade who is willing to share the spotlight and will most likely go on recruiting trips.  Even if they do strike out, conventional knowledge suggests that they keep Wade and even if not, guys will go down there to live, party and (o yea) play in Miami/South Beach.

The Bulls probably have the best young core for these stars to work with.  In the suddenly point guard driven league (to an extent) you have one of the best up and coming ones in Derrick Rose.  Joakim Noah is that scrappy young horse that will do the dirty work (pause).  Taj Gibson shows promise, and if they trade Deng they can open up even more room for players to come and help fill out the roster.  Once again, if they strike out, they still have that young core to continue to build around through the draft and with other lesser-tier free agents.  They are in on this thing, but they wont lose it all if their cards get trumped.

The Nets are one of the more interesting players at the table.  I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the 12 wins was an aberration with Brook Lopez and Devin Harris being hurt a lot of the year.  Those two boys can flat out play.  The Derrick Favors pick is solid too, and I think he will develop more going forward, as will Terrence Williams.  The looming Brooklyn project (intriguing), the Jay-Z factor (illuminati), and this Prokhorov owner guy (think Mark Cuban International) gives them some street cred and appeal.  If they can plug in a max guy or two with that existing core, watch out.  The "supposed 2 years at the most" Newark Project throws a slight wrench in the plans.  But if guys are thinking big picture, this might be a serious consideration.  Once again if they strike out, they still have a decent core to build around with some randoms that can fill out their rotation.  They wont contend for a title like they've been saying, but down the road when they get Brooklyn jumping, they can make real moves.

There are a couple teams that are looking to go the sign-and-trade route.  This sounds a lot more complicated and sketchy at first, but the team that is most likely to do this is probably Dallas.  They like Miami are the odds on favorite to keep their guy.  Once they re-sign Dirk, he can help them recruit a side kick, or a guy that makes him the best side kick in the league.  They have some attractive pieces to move; Beaubois (spelling), Dampier (Expiring contract), Caron Butler (solid), and Shawn "I used to be the Matrix" Marion (could be good).  If say LeBron wants to leave in good faith and not hang the Cavs out to dry, this would be the most likely suitor.  Think occasional home games in Cowboys stadium with 70,000+ screaming your name (pause).  I'm not saying its likely cause the West road to the Finals is definitely a lot more dicey, but it still has to be an consideration not just for LeBronMelo anybody?).

In conclusion we'll deal with my Knicks.  I have come to the conclusion that we truly are all-or-nothing in this high stakes poker game.  I am excited about the prospects/opportunity of getting two franchise changing players in our uniform.  But as I look around the table I see contingency plans...we supposedly have one but it is over paying and signing Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire.  In other words the Phoenix Suns of the East without Steve Nash.  Why Amare would even do that is a whole 'nother issue.  So where we are now, it really seems like we really don't have a contingency plan.  Lets look at our hand right now: Galinari (great shooter, promising future, but useless on a bad team), Wilson (great all-around player, but again if we're bad it won't matter), Toney Douglas (the jury is still out but could be a great back-up in the league...he's our starter), Bill Walker (an after thought in a Nate Robinson for Eddie House trade...but could be the best player out of that deal, is that saying much though?), Edward Curry (.....), and an unsigned David Lee (he's not worth max money and will prolly ask for more from the Knicks than he's worth while we wait on some max guys, then he'll end up elsewhere, its sad, hope we keep him somehow).  That is it, that is what we are working with.  So we are selling that and some combination of MSG (world's most overrated i mean famous arena), The Empire State Building (didn't know Knicks players got part ownership of that), Some of the greatest eateries, clubs, parties in the world (which he already attends), Mike D'Antoni's system (Great if you don't care about defense, and Celebrity requests (i'm still sort of in the dark on their role in all this).  So on the eve of this monumental day, that is what we have to work with.  I have come to the sad conclusion that we have pushed all our chips to the middle of the table in order to receive what everyone else at the table seems to already have: some meaningful cards.  Lets call this the reverse poker strategy.  For the sake of mine and all Knick fans sanity, and for the sake of the jobs of all the front office people involved; I hope they know something that I don't. 

or else its back to the good ol' days....and i aint talking the 90s:

Walking the Tightrope

 This video will serve as the backdrop for the blog which will follow, enjoy. 

The guys name is Dean Potter... and to sum up what I think about what he just did i'll just state my humble opinion: HE'S CRAZY.  When asked about why he does what is called "soloing" he had this to say: Soloing for me is about being completely in the moment, not worrying about the past or future, but just being right here, right now. That’s why I do it.

I am just going to try and unpack what we just saw in this video.  Dean Potter is not your average person.  As you saw, he gave two attempts at walking the rope with "protective equipment" on and he fell off the rope both times.  I mean your trying to walk across a 100 foot rope, which is 7,800 feet in the air so I don't mind you having something to ensure your safety.  Then this man does the unthinkable.  After failing to walk across the entire rope with his protective mechanism, he decides that THIS is the time to shed himself of his self-made protection and try to walk across this rope without it.  At this point you are probably thanking me for stating the obvious in your mind.  Bear with me as I start to unpack this.

Our lives are like tightropes.  We walk this thin-line from the time we are born between what feels "good" and what we know is right.  Between what we want, and what God is telling us we need.  Most of us are currently standing at the beginning of that rope.  There are people of many different ages standing here.  The side we are standing on consists of several things.  It could be what we have been taught to be true our entire lives.  It could also be our sins and personal habits.  It could also be our legalistic mindset which could include our worship preferences, holier than thou attitude, or our "don't judge me" my life doesn't need to show my Christ attitude.  We all are at the beginning of this rope for different reasons.  Before we move forward, I want you to be thinking about what your current condition is and why.

Now we get to the point in our lives where we are sick of the place we are at.  We hear a good sermon, get an emotional high during praise & worship etc and we decide a change needs to be made.  Christ gives us simple instructions: "Leave your condition behind, keep your eyes on Me and keep walking towards me, I am at the end of the rope."  This sounds cool and all and we definitely want to change....but these instructions are CRAZY!!!  You want me to walk across this rope??? I've been in control of my life this whole time and your trying to tell me that I haven't even really started living yet?  How could I still be stuck at the beginning after all these years?  All you get in response to these questions are the same instructions.  But what about all I have been through???  All the pain and suffering that i felt when I lost my father.  The pain of my divorce.  The guilt of my sins, and the shame it has caused me.  I am supposed to leave that behind???  At this point we make the all too familiar choice.  We decide to start walking across the rope, but we strap ourselves with the safety harness of our current condition so that just in case we fall we have our old ways to fall back on.  Yea God, a compromise, that'll work right???  I'm still walking towards you, but You really expected me to do that with no safety mechanism?  

We embark on our journey, getting a little farther each time but always finding a way to fall.  We get to the point where we travel all the way back to the beginning and are on the brink of giving up.  We pray and pray to Christ and He responds with these simple instructions: "Let go of the safety harness."  But God that is who I am, I can't leave all these things behind...I won't be able to make it.  Many times in the church we get caught up in the box that we have placed God in so much that we feel like He is only capable of doing things one way.  If God were to confront us on that "box" that we have created, our whole entire world would shatter.  God is telling us to shed ourselves totally of what has kept us at the beginning of our walk with Him for all these years.  So we finally get on the rope, no safety harness, past behind us, not fully understanding why He said what He said.  But our eyes are on Him, He's at the end of the rope, and with each step He begins to reveal to us a little more about Himself.  Things we only could have learned by taking that first step of faith on the rope with him.  We learn that He is our shelter in the time of storm because even the winds and the waves obey Him.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, He was with us as we were stuck in our beginnings and He will be with us when we make it to His intended end for us.  He lets us know to not worry about falling because since we have decided to put our past, present, and future in His hands, He has become not just a harness but our safety net.  We find a new comfort with Him in the middle of a thin rope with no visible harness that WE DIDN'T have when we were standing at the beginning of the cliff in control of our lives.  The truth is that if you have surrendered your life to Christ you are currently on this rope.  Things will get wobbly from time to time, but if we keep our eyes on Him we will make to the end of the rope and walk into eternity with Him.  

I am not sure how religious if at all Dean Potter is.  I would like to conclude by analyzing what he said when he made it to the other side of the rope:

"Its as pure as it gets, there is nothing but my stripped down body walking my path.  I feel like I'm climbing out of a darker place, one of the deeper lows I've been in in my life.  And I was kind of resentful of being divorced, getting dumped and stuff, but the whole world is kind of opening up to me ya know?"  

 God is calling us to strip ourselves of those darker moments in our lives and walk the path He has planned for us.  He only asked that we have faith and trust in Him and keep our eyes fixed on Him.  Be encouraged family, God bless.  

Glenn Beck Attacks Me!!!!

ok so not really, but check this out, got an actual blog coming later this evening.



thats wild aint it!

Meaningless- Anthony Evans

This is one of my favorite artists.  This is from his previous album, but this song always speaks to me.  It really captures the heart of our Christian walk and what is really important.  I hope you are blessed by it as we draw closer to the Sabbath hours.  God bless.

I hope you enjoyed the song and its message.  I won't always be "super-religious" in the blog but my faith is important to me.  Blog on the Healthcare Summit/Debate and some other pertinent sports issues coming soon.  Spread the news on the blog if u like it, leave comments at the very least click the box that says interesting lol, 1.