Yeah, it has been almost a year since my last post. I'm fine with that, and you probably don't care to be honest. Just thought I had to acknowledge the fact that I'm aware of those things.
On to the subject at hand. Russell Westbrook has been on a tear the last nine days. "Snapping", "going off", all of the above. He is the only player since Michael Jordan to have four consecutive triple-doubles in the NBA. (Jordan's streak of consecutive triple-doubles is seven, which happened in the 1989 season.)
Westbrook's performance last night is in my opinion the most significant of all four. He was sidelined the previous game due to surgery on a facial fracture suffered in OKC's game against Portland on February 27th. Westbrook came back last night wearing a protective face mask to prevent any further damage. Most people thought that he would break his triple double streak by playing so soon after having surgery, but this did not seem to be a hindrance to Russell.
In the first quarter of last night's game against the 76ers, Westbrook had a stat line of 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. It was apparent from the jump that he was determined to keep this streak alive, and that the mask was not effecting his game one bit. Westbrook finished the game with an incredible 49 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists.
The one main discrepancy in his stat line (according to many, but not myself) is that he took thirty-three shots last night. Westbrook has been criticized throughout the last month or so, while Kevin Durant has been sidelined due to injury, for taking too many shots. Granted, his 12-38 shooting performance in a loss to the Suns does deserve some skepticism, I do not see an issue with last night's shot selection. Westbrook shot 48.5% from the field, scored 49 points, and his team won (in Overtime). I don't think this performance deserves any kind of criticism whatsoever.
We'll see if Westbrook can keep the triple-double streak alive tonight against the Bulls, in Chicago. Might be sort of fitting for the chase of Michael Jordan's record to end in MJ's old arena...
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Monday, April 28, 2014
Donald Sterling Thoughts
If you are a fan of the NBA or professional sports in general, chances are you've heard about the latest controversy surrounding LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling. If you haven't I'll give you the skinny on the situation. Sterling was having a conversation with his girlfriend Vanessa (V.) Stiviano. Unbeknownst to him, the entire thing was being recorded by Ms. Stiviano. The comments that Sterling made in this conversation were racist in general. Mostly revolving around the fact that he did not want his girlfriend making her outings with African Americans public on Instagram. Stiviano, who had posted a picture of herself with a picture of Magic Johnson, is a half African American, half Latina woman herself, which makes the situation even more interesting.
The latest information on the still developing story is that today (4/29/14), newly appointed NBA commissioner Adam Silver will make a ruling on the repercussions of the Sterling audio tapes. This press conference which will take place at 2pm EST is a very hot issue amongst the NBA, and sports community as a whole. This is commissioner Silver's first incident to deal with, and what a heavy initiation of sorts it is. Some who strongly criticize the words in Sterling's tape are hoping that he is removed of his ownership of the team. Some wish for Sterling to be fined, and/or suspended from the league for the remainder of the season. And then there are people who say there should be no repercussions for Sterling's actions because of the first amendment, arguing for his right to freedom of speech.
Personally, I believe that the commissioner should suspend Sterling as owner of the team for the remainder of the season, as well as issue a fine of a substantial amount. Taking the complete ownership of the Clippers away from Sterling (which is valued at around $575 million) is a very hefty fine, which I do not see likely for the new commissioner to issue.
This story is ongoing, and I hope that most parties are satisfied with the outcome of tomorrow's press conference. It is inevitable that some people will be left disappointed after the ruling of the commissioner due to the enormous amount of opinions which have been formed by individuals, like myself.
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EDIT :
The commissioner has officially ruled that Donald Sterling is to be banned from the NBA for life, and is also to be fined $2.5 Million dollars. The ban is effective immediately, however, Mr. Sterling is still the owner of the Clippers for the time being. In order for him to be removed from this position, a 3/4 vote from the remaining 29 owners in the league is required. This vote should be held very soon, and commissioner Silver sounded very convinced that the vote will end up removing Sterling as owner.
The latest information on the still developing story is that today (4/29/14), newly appointed NBA commissioner Adam Silver will make a ruling on the repercussions of the Sterling audio tapes. This press conference which will take place at 2pm EST is a very hot issue amongst the NBA, and sports community as a whole. This is commissioner Silver's first incident to deal with, and what a heavy initiation of sorts it is. Some who strongly criticize the words in Sterling's tape are hoping that he is removed of his ownership of the team. Some wish for Sterling to be fined, and/or suspended from the league for the remainder of the season. And then there are people who say there should be no repercussions for Sterling's actions because of the first amendment, arguing for his right to freedom of speech.
Personally, I believe that the commissioner should suspend Sterling as owner of the team for the remainder of the season, as well as issue a fine of a substantial amount. Taking the complete ownership of the Clippers away from Sterling (which is valued at around $575 million) is a very hefty fine, which I do not see likely for the new commissioner to issue.
This story is ongoing, and I hope that most parties are satisfied with the outcome of tomorrow's press conference. It is inevitable that some people will be left disappointed after the ruling of the commissioner due to the enormous amount of opinions which have been formed by individuals, like myself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT :
The commissioner has officially ruled that Donald Sterling is to be banned from the NBA for life, and is also to be fined $2.5 Million dollars. The ban is effective immediately, however, Mr. Sterling is still the owner of the Clippers for the time being. In order for him to be removed from this position, a 3/4 vote from the remaining 29 owners in the league is required. This vote should be held very soon, and commissioner Silver sounded very convinced that the vote will end up removing Sterling as owner.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
LeBron James' Personal Dunk Contests
Over the course of his eleven year NBA career, LeBron James has won four league MVP awards, two NBA Championships with the Miami Heat, two Finals MVP awards, and he is also a ten time All Star. In my opinion, there are only two things that LeBron is missing from his list of achievements in the NBA thus far: Defensive Player of the Year honors, and Dunk Contest participant/winner. As far as the first point goes, James has been on the first team All-Defense the last five years, but has never been the overall Defensive Player of the Year.
But the second point is what I would like to focus on. Fans of basketball have been wanting to see LeBron's name in the field of Dunk Contest participants for years now. James is one of the best in-game dunkers in the NBA at the moment. I would put him and Blake Griffin at the top of that list. James is, what most people refer to as, a power dunker. This is where people may argue that he does not belong in the Dunk Contest since he is not the most acrobatic dunker. However, James has proved these naysayers wrong the last couple of years.
The last two Februaries, LeBron has shown off his flashy dunks to the public. Not during All Star weekend, but in pre-game warmups and practices. Last year, James showed that he had a couple contest worthy dunks in his arsenal. Whether it was his powerful tomahawks, between the legs dunks, or the 360 under the leg self ally-oop, James left fans curious as to why his name was not included in the 2013 Dunk Contest.
In the past two days, LeBron has had some high flying moments that have fans asking this same question. On February 10th, the Heat were in the Phoenix practice facility preparing for the next day's game against the Suns. LeBron decided to show off a couple of dunks in the Phoenix Suns' practice facility. Both of these dunks consisted of him throwing the ball off of a faraway wall in the gym, then throwing it down with authority. On February 11th, James pulled off another astonishing dunk. In the third quarter of the game, LeBron stole the ball and was all alone on a breakaway towards the basket. He took off from just inside the free throw line and performed a very clean windmill dunk that drew some gasps from the Phoenix crowd.
Some have said that these last two Februaries from LeBron have been to show fans what he has to offer for the contest. If he does these kinds of dunks in any other month, most people would give him a pass. It may come back up if he did not enter the contest, but there would not be anywhere near the outcry as there has been this month, and last February as well. Hopefully LeBron will participate in the Dunk Contest at least once in his NBA career, but I believe the last couple of years were the perfect time for him to compete. James is not getting any younger, and if the Heat keep making deep playoff runs as they have the last three years, there are a lot of minutes being put on his legs.
All of this being said, I am still incredibly excited for the Dunk Contest every year. LeBron not being in the contest does not take too much away from the event, but having him in it would add so much more.
But the second point is what I would like to focus on. Fans of basketball have been wanting to see LeBron's name in the field of Dunk Contest participants for years now. James is one of the best in-game dunkers in the NBA at the moment. I would put him and Blake Griffin at the top of that list. James is, what most people refer to as, a power dunker. This is where people may argue that he does not belong in the Dunk Contest since he is not the most acrobatic dunker. However, James has proved these naysayers wrong the last couple of years.
The last two Februaries, LeBron has shown off his flashy dunks to the public. Not during All Star weekend, but in pre-game warmups and practices. Last year, James showed that he had a couple contest worthy dunks in his arsenal. Whether it was his powerful tomahawks, between the legs dunks, or the 360 under the leg self ally-oop, James left fans curious as to why his name was not included in the 2013 Dunk Contest.
In the past two days, LeBron has had some high flying moments that have fans asking this same question. On February 10th, the Heat were in the Phoenix practice facility preparing for the next day's game against the Suns. LeBron decided to show off a couple of dunks in the Phoenix Suns' practice facility. Both of these dunks consisted of him throwing the ball off of a faraway wall in the gym, then throwing it down with authority. On February 11th, James pulled off another astonishing dunk. In the third quarter of the game, LeBron stole the ball and was all alone on a breakaway towards the basket. He took off from just inside the free throw line and performed a very clean windmill dunk that drew some gasps from the Phoenix crowd.
Some have said that these last two Februaries from LeBron have been to show fans what he has to offer for the contest. If he does these kinds of dunks in any other month, most people would give him a pass. It may come back up if he did not enter the contest, but there would not be anywhere near the outcry as there has been this month, and last February as well. Hopefully LeBron will participate in the Dunk Contest at least once in his NBA career, but I believe the last couple of years were the perfect time for him to compete. James is not getting any younger, and if the Heat keep making deep playoff runs as they have the last three years, there are a lot of minutes being put on his legs.
All of this being said, I am still incredibly excited for the Dunk Contest every year. LeBron not being in the contest does not take too much away from the event, but having him in it would add so much more.
Monday, January 27, 2014
While I was gone...
During my absence from this blog, something incredible has been happening in the world of sports. Of course, I am talking about Kevin Durant's performance last month in the NBA.
In the last 30 days, the Oklahoma City Thunder played 17 games. In the 16 that Durant played in, he scored over 30 points in 14 of them. The other two games he scored 21 and 24 points. However, Durant decided to make up for these two 20 point games by scoring 54, 48 (twice), and 46 points. The impressive numbers don't stop here either. Durant managed to shoot over 50 percent from the field over this stretch, and he racked up 4 double-doubles (including one triple double) as well.
This month has all but solidified Durant as the front runner for the mid-season MVP. Before January, it was a two horse race between himself and the Miami Heat's LeBron James. Wednesday night, the Thunder and Heat will square off in what could possibly be a 2014 NBA Finals preview. Durant will be entering this game coming off of a 41 point performance with a game winning shot tonight against the Atlanta Hawks. Will Durant's January hot streak continue, or will James extinguish his flames?
In the last 30 days, the Oklahoma City Thunder played 17 games. In the 16 that Durant played in, he scored over 30 points in 14 of them. The other two games he scored 21 and 24 points. However, Durant decided to make up for these two 20 point games by scoring 54, 48 (twice), and 46 points. The impressive numbers don't stop here either. Durant managed to shoot over 50 percent from the field over this stretch, and he racked up 4 double-doubles (including one triple double) as well.
This month has all but solidified Durant as the front runner for the mid-season MVP. Before January, it was a two horse race between himself and the Miami Heat's LeBron James. Wednesday night, the Thunder and Heat will square off in what could possibly be a 2014 NBA Finals preview. Durant will be entering this game coming off of a 41 point performance with a game winning shot tonight against the Atlanta Hawks. Will Durant's January hot streak continue, or will James extinguish his flames?
Sunday, December 29, 2013
2013 Concerts
As I was looking through my iTunes library, I came across some concert footage that I recorded earlier this. The videos were from the Tech N9ne concert in Lawrence, KS at the Granada Theater. After re-living this experience, it made me recollect on all of the concerts I was able to attend this year.
2013 was a great year in terms of concerts for me. Between seeing Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar in Kansas City, Baauer and RL Grime in Saint Louis, and seeing Crizzly & Figure, as well as Tech N9ne in Lawrence, I'd say it was a very good year.
The Kanye and Kendrick show was incredible. I purposely use the term "show" here instead of concert because it was so much more than just a normal hip-hop concert. Kanye's "Yeezus Tour" for 2013 was incredible in terms of music played, lighting used, stage set-up, and energy brought by the performers. Having Kendrick Lamar, one of the most talented hip-hop artists at the moment as the opening act, was the proverbial icing on the cake of the show. After seeing Kendrick perform all of his hits and rocking the 4500 person crowd ( pretty sad, I know), Kanye came out and made his presence felt immediately. The stage set-up for Kanye's performance was amazing.
The picture on the left shows the mountain and stage set-up that Kanye had on the tour
The picture on the right shows the stage which was able to be raised up 45 degrees
This was my second time seeing Kanye in concert. The first time was last year on the Watch The Throne tour in Kansas City. Jay-Z accompanied Kanye on that tour, so the Yeezus tour was my first time seeing Kanye live by himself (aside from an opening act). Of course Kanye performed all of his hits, including the entire Yeezus album. This was my favorite show of the year, but not by far.
Now, I do not want to bore you by writing multiple paragraphs on every single concert I went to, so I'll limit myself to describing one more show.
Seeing Tech N9ne for the first time was an exceptional experience. I had heard so much about how great of a live performer he is so I decided to buy myself a ticket. The show ended up selling out, so I am glad that I purchased the ticket a little early. The night of the concert, I arrived to the venue 45 minutes before the doors opened in hopes of getting a good spot to watch the show. After waiting outside in the freezing Kansas winter weather, I was finally able to get a decent spot inside the theater.
Below is a picture of Tech N9ne and Krizz Kaliko from my point of view:
After sitting through a couple of opening acts, including the Ces Cru who is signed to Tech N9ne's label, it was time for Krizz Kaliko and Tech N9ne to perform. Let me tell you, these two guys really know how to control a crowd. At first, they alternated performing some of their solo tracks, and then moved on to some of their hits that they performed together. Tech probably had the most energy of any performer that I have seen live. The only two that come close to him would be Lupe Fiasco, and Kanye. After the show was over, Krizz and Tech stayed and signed autographs at the merchandise booth which is one of the reasons they are such popular live performers. In fact, Tech N9ne is the number three hip-hop artist in terms of touring sales behind Kanye and Jay-Z.
So after seeing all of these great shows, I figured it was only right that I made a post near the end of the year recapping a couple of them. If either Tech N9ne or Kanye are ever in a city near you, I would definitely recommend catching the show. I know I look forward to seeing both of them again, hopefully in the near future.
2013 was a great year in terms of concerts for me. Between seeing Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar in Kansas City, Baauer and RL Grime in Saint Louis, and seeing Crizzly & Figure, as well as Tech N9ne in Lawrence, I'd say it was a very good year.
The Kanye and Kendrick show was incredible. I purposely use the term "show" here instead of concert because it was so much more than just a normal hip-hop concert. Kanye's "Yeezus Tour" for 2013 was incredible in terms of music played, lighting used, stage set-up, and energy brought by the performers. Having Kendrick Lamar, one of the most talented hip-hop artists at the moment as the opening act, was the proverbial icing on the cake of the show. After seeing Kendrick perform all of his hits and rocking the 4500 person crowd ( pretty sad, I know), Kanye came out and made his presence felt immediately. The stage set-up for Kanye's performance was amazing.
The picture on the left shows the mountain and stage set-up that Kanye had on the tour
The picture on the right shows the stage which was able to be raised up 45 degrees
This was my second time seeing Kanye in concert. The first time was last year on the Watch The Throne tour in Kansas City. Jay-Z accompanied Kanye on that tour, so the Yeezus tour was my first time seeing Kanye live by himself (aside from an opening act). Of course Kanye performed all of his hits, including the entire Yeezus album. This was my favorite show of the year, but not by far.
Now, I do not want to bore you by writing multiple paragraphs on every single concert I went to, so I'll limit myself to describing one more show.
Seeing Tech N9ne for the first time was an exceptional experience. I had heard so much about how great of a live performer he is so I decided to buy myself a ticket. The show ended up selling out, so I am glad that I purchased the ticket a little early. The night of the concert, I arrived to the venue 45 minutes before the doors opened in hopes of getting a good spot to watch the show. After waiting outside in the freezing Kansas winter weather, I was finally able to get a decent spot inside the theater.
Below is a picture of Tech N9ne and Krizz Kaliko from my point of view:
So after seeing all of these great shows, I figured it was only right that I made a post near the end of the year recapping a couple of them. If either Tech N9ne or Kanye are ever in a city near you, I would definitely recommend catching the show. I know I look forward to seeing both of them again, hopefully in the near future.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Something pretty disturbing was brought to my attention yesterday afternoon.
As some of you may be aware, the Jordan 11 "Gamma" is releasing on the 21st of this month. Yesterday in my hometown of St. Louis, Champs Sports at the Galleria mall had a ticketing system for this sneaker release. The process involved people lining up outside of the store, telling the employee the size shoe that they wanted, and then they would be called next week if their size is available to be picked up.
Exhibit A:
This image of a line outside of a sneaker store in order to receive tickets for the chance to buy a shoe may be disturbing to some of you. If this is the case, you are in for some worse news...
Exhibit B:
Yes, this is a door that has been broken off by customers who were going to get in line. Not much else needs to be said because as they say, a picture says a thousand words. If you feel like you need to break off an automatic-opening door to get into the mall quicker, please re-evaluate your priorities/life in general.
(Pictures courtesy of twitter.com/SirEddieC)
As some of you may be aware, the Jordan 11 "Gamma" is releasing on the 21st of this month. Yesterday in my hometown of St. Louis, Champs Sports at the Galleria mall had a ticketing system for this sneaker release. The process involved people lining up outside of the store, telling the employee the size shoe that they wanted, and then they would be called next week if their size is available to be picked up.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
(Pictures courtesy of twitter.com/SirEddieC)
So this is what it has come to...
I decided to start up this blog for a couple of reasons. The first of which is sharing my passion for certain topics. Whether that be sports, music, sneakers, or anything else I feel like talking about on a given day. The second of which is to attempt to have something to show to a possible future employer (if I ever get the chance).
See, at this current moment, I am a Senior at The University of Kansas who is majoring in English. So naturally the question I get a lot is, "Oh so you want to be an English teacher after school?!". My answer to this question is no. I want to be a journalist, and more specifically I want to be a sports journalist. Prior complications in my college career have stopped me from obtaining a journalism degree, so I decided to go with (what I saw as) the next best option, English.
Having given you all a brief background on why I started this blog, I hope I am able to provide some sort of content which you will enjoy, and hopefully this gives me some sort of platform later on in life.
P.S. - I apologize in advance if I am not the most active blogger in the world. I have a life.
I decided to start up this blog for a couple of reasons. The first of which is sharing my passion for certain topics. Whether that be sports, music, sneakers, or anything else I feel like talking about on a given day. The second of which is to attempt to have something to show to a possible future employer (if I ever get the chance).
See, at this current moment, I am a Senior at The University of Kansas who is majoring in English. So naturally the question I get a lot is, "Oh so you want to be an English teacher after school?!". My answer to this question is no. I want to be a journalist, and more specifically I want to be a sports journalist. Prior complications in my college career have stopped me from obtaining a journalism degree, so I decided to go with (what I saw as) the next best option, English.
Having given you all a brief background on why I started this blog, I hope I am able to provide some sort of content which you will enjoy, and hopefully this gives me some sort of platform later on in life.
P.S. - I apologize in advance if I am not the most active blogger in the world. I have a life.
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