There's Only One Dre Baldwin.

Told Y'all I Been Networking!

2009-04-20T20:15:00.002-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Shout out to the DIME Baller's Network for the post!

http://ballersnetwork.com/p/en/ballers/dre-baldwin-the-journey-makes-the-player/

Bounce Wit' Me

2009-04-01T11:07:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Wow, I remember this one so clearly: Late 2000. My team at PSU Abington had practice on a Saturday morning and it was snowing. I drove my '88 Cavalier to the gym and waited in my still-running car for the coaches to show up with the keys to the building.
This was back when I would rock my hoopin sneaks en route to playin ball, so when I hopped out of the Cav, my feet immediately drew attention from teammates.

"Ahh, you got the 'Boings'?!"

The Nike Shox BB4, b.k.a. the "Vince Carters" back then. I was in love with these shoes (exemplified by my wearing them until they literally fell apart 4 years later). The look, the feel, the image of being like VC (who was The Man among NBA Men at the time), all pulled me in, and there was no struggle to do so.

Ever since I donned the Nike Hyperdunks last July, I had only 2 pairs of bball shoes I'd like to wear when (if ever) resting the Hyperdunks: the Nike Flightposite (with the hard space-like outer shell and zip-hidden laces) and the BB4s.

I found out today through SLAM that the VCs are being re-released on April 18. At last, my love has come along.

Politics As Usual

2009-03-26T13:16:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I need an encore y'all/ you should welcome me back/ you wanna ball till you fall, I can help you with that...

I only write shit when I feel there is efficient or meaningful enough material fro me to put together a good quality post, and it's been about a month since I've had some. I partly blame my use of Twitter. But no matter...

I am in MIA right now, doing a lot of bball networking. I'm in 3 leagues currently and playing pickup when there is a good run to be had (and even in some bad runs occasionally). I may get a team together for some tournaments over the next couple of months; we'll see what materializes.

I have a new Youtube vid that will be going live within an hour of this posting.

One interesting thing about getting to know the bball people around town is seeing a lot of the same players, coaches and referees at different spots as I go to new places. And how different folks see different players really intrigues me.

Personally, I prefer to see a dude play a time or two before I learn "who he is" or where he plays/has played. That way I can objectively decide if a guy is a good player or if he's garbage without thoughts in the back of mind saying, "oh, well he played D1, he must be having an off day," or, "he played pro ball in (fill in country name), maybe he aint goin' hard today." Over the past 12 months, let's say, I've played with/ against 25 dudes who had/ have professional experience during some pickup game, workout, of rec league somewhere in Florida (not considering pro practices or games). Of these 25, 16 were deemed "weak" in my mind before I found out that they play or played in a certain place that, by definition, would deem said player "good." The other 9 were legitimately good players to me at first look, of whom I would, at times, approach and ask where they play at because it's clear that this guy can play. Got it?

This comes to mind now because I have found out, over the past couple of weeks, that some guys I've shared a court with have pro experience or are known around these parts as top-notch performers. You would have to see what I see to completely understand.

Anywho, everything is everything in my world; there are places that I wanna go and I got work to do to get there. You know how to reach me.

All Baskets Are Not Made Equal

2009-02-24T11:14:00.005-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

We all know that there are different levels of basketball one can play at. You know, like high school, college, pro, etc. And we also, rightly, assume that it takes a higher level of skills, talent, and/ or ability to move from one level to another.

Most of us also know that we can only be as good as what we come up against to get what we get. But even I have been guilty of losing sight of that at times. I think writing about it will sharpen my focus, along with, of course, sharing my great wisdom with the world.

The Wire was/ is my favorite TV series of all time, and there is a scene in this show I love that I'm gonna retell right now to support my point. Those of you, who I believe there are many, who are loyal followers of The Wire as I am, bear with me:

Omar is a street thug whose occupation, by his own account is that he "robs drug dealers." Omar is well-known in the streets of Baltimore for his signature long shotgun and fearlessness in his trade, what with every dealer in town knowing what Omar is about and almost all of them wanting Omar dead.

Omar becomes so well feared/ respected for his drug-dealer robbing, he often needn't even brandish his weapon; Omar often simply stands outside of drug stash houses patiently waiting from the temporary hostages to drop their drugs/ money out of the windows just to be left alone by the menace.

One episode of The Wire opens with Omar (who is gay) waking and strolling into his kitchen to enjoy a bowl of cereal, until he realizes that he's out of milk (or maybe it was the cereal that was out?). Apparently Omar's male friend was the one who finished the milk off, and Omar delivers an agitated reminder to his friend before going out to the corner store to get more milk.

Dealers old and young scurry for safety when Omar's presence is noticed walking to the store on this bright sunny day (even though Omar is obviously not looking to do anything but get his milk at the moment). On his way back home after making his corner store purchase, Omar posts up alongside an abandoned house (which we later learn is, at the moment, occupied by dealers hiding from Omar) to smoke a cigarette. In a scene reeking of irony, Omar (whose robbing skills are exemplified by the fact that he is never taken by surprise or "off the clock," so to speak) is startled to see a bag of drugs drop to his feet out of an upstairs window of the abandoned house.

After Omar returns home and is eating breakfast, Omar's partner sees the bag of drugs and appears to be happy with the take. Omar then disgustingly remarks that he doesn't even want the drugs (which he usually sells back to dealers for cash). Omar's partner asks him why that is, and Omar delivers the lines that tie into my point:

"It's not what you're takin', it's who you takin' it from."

(Partner looks at Omar quizzically, Omar sits up straight and leans in for emphasis):

"How you gon' run wit' the wolves come night if you sportin' wit' the puppies all day?"

What all this means... I get approached by players from time to time that wanna ask me to partake in a half court game or want to "shoot around" with me. Good idea by them-- one can only improve when rubbing elbows with better players-- but not in my best interest. I like to play ball as much as possible under the right conditions, and when I step on the hardwood versus a group of low-level performers, bad things can and will happen (namely, injuries and the draining feeling of losing an amount of that non-replenishable resource, time).

To make it to the highest level of any endeavor, the best and fastest way is to show what we can do while in the presence of the people who are where we want to be. Of course, it is not so simple, usually, to round up that audience.

So we get as close as we can; a woman who wants to act on Broadway does some shows off-Broadway to prove her worth. I'm always looking for the best payers around wherever I'm at; players better than I, because that is the only way (besides practicing on my own) I'll get better-- the challenge of stepping up my performance. So even with as much as I love the challenge of a game of 21, I'd rather fight my way of out the pit bull cage than visit the puppy store.

How To Shoot A Jumpshot

2009-02-23T15:13:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Since I've established my presence on Youtube, I have received a plethora of comments, messages and emails from a bunch of young players asking me for advice, ranging from minutiae of the game ('How should I hold my hands when I go for a three-pointer?') to the macro-view of bball ('How do I get confidence playing against bigger players?'). I made clear here that I'm not in the business of advice-giving-- a trainer or coach can tell you what to do and how to do it, not necessarily better than I could, but that's what they, essentially, do. That kinda stuff is like a job in itself. Maybe when I'm 40 I could go into training. But it's obvious to me that some of our young people don't like to think, so I'll break down shooting for you all.

OK, that last sentence was a lie-- hire a trainer or buy a Better Basketball DVD if you need to learn how to shoot-- I'm gonna share an anecdote with you all in hopes that what you read my be able to help you in one way or another.

Hubie Brown is a former NBA coach who now works as an analyst for nationally televised games. Hubie is well know for speaking in the second person. Like, say, the Lakers are playing and Kobe Bryant misses a shot. Hubie may say, "Now you see, this is the way you want to defend Kobe Bryant-- get your hand in his face and make sure you don't foul."

One night years ago, I was watching a game on TNT and Hubie made a great point:

"The question in basketball, as in life, is not 'Can you shoot?' but 'Can you get your shot?'"

Meaning, in layman's terms, it is not about if you have the ability to perform; the more important question is, How will you position yourself for anyone to even know that you can perform?

Having the skills ain't enough-- we still have to create the opportunities to show them off.

Gimme The Loot

2009-02-22T18:08:00.001-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

1. Put your iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your next answer.
3. You must write that song name down no matter how outrageous it sounds!
4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the game as well as the person you got the note from - if you are reading this, and you have a blog or FB page, that means you!

(Note: I kinda cheated on this- I have over 8,000 songs in iTunes and sometimes I download artists' entire albums and don't quite get around to listening to them the whole way through. So if one 'unknown' song was to come up, I skipped to the next song I was familiar with. Okay then.)

IF SOMEONE SAYS, “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
Quit Actin' - Young Jeezy

One of those mixtape leftovers from Jeezy. Song concept is kinda cheesy, which is OK since Jeezy didn't put this on an album.

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
We Fly High- Jim Jones

Baaaaalllliiiinnn'!!!! Great match. This is one of my favorite 'energy' songs.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Sly Fox- NaS

Sounds like a good idea, but this NaS track is actually about FOX the TV network and Bill O'Reilly and the like.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Till I Collapse- Eminem

Couldn't have said it better myself.

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Ride Or Die- Jay-Z

See above. This song is actually a lot more laid back than the title suggests (also in contrast to the Ruff Ryder album song of the same name).

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
You Ain't Ready To Die- Mobb Deep

Yeah, I don't think any of my friends feel that Dre is ready to die!

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?
Bounce- Lil Flip

Hmmm, didn't match well with this one.

WHAT IS 2+2?
Respect- Notorious B.I.G.

This is one of the few B.I.G. album cuts that I routinely skip over. Actually might be the only one (for the record, I only recognize two B.I.G. albums- "Ready To Die" and "Life After Death-" the cut & paste money-grab shit that has came out over the past 12 years don't count against B.I.G.'s legacy. Including the movie).

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
My 1st Song- Jay-Z

Loved the Black Album, right at the beginning of my last year of college.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Let It Burn- Usher

Well-made track by Usher.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
We Don't Give A Fuck- Tony Yayo

Ok... I only like the first verse of this song, done by 50 (..."man up, chump, worryin' is for the weak/ you can hold your own, or get left for dead in the street.")

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
We Go Hard- DMX

A skip-worthy track featuring Cam'Ron.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Comin To See You- Tyrese

I shoulda skipped past this one- I don't even know what this song sounds like.

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
My Calling- Jim Jones

This one too.

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Greatest Show On Earth- Outkast

Good one, iTunes.

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Been Around The World- P. Diddy

Great match!! I like the remix to this song much more, though.

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Louder Than A Bomb- Public Enemy

My dad blasted P.E. through our house during my entire childhood. I still know the words to many P.E. songs to this day.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Party Over- Mobb Deep

I don't know this one.

WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Say- Timbaland

Timbaland's album had some great production, to say nothing of the mediocre lyricism.

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Duffel Bag Boy- Playaz Circle

I don't think I'll die carrying money in a duffel bag. Maybe a briefcase.

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Gettin' Money- Paul Wall

Lol, not at all.

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Bad Intentions- Dr. Dre

Great Dre track! A good club-going song.

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Hot Shit Makin' Ya Bounce- Busta Rhymes

No... nothing makes me cry. Yet.

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Still Tippin'- Mike Jones

I fucks wit this song. ("I'm Mike Jones- Who?- Mike Jones...")

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
No More Talk- T.I.

Not being able to express myself through my Internet endeavors would be kinda weird, huh? Not scary though.

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Imagine That- R. Kelly

Yeah, imagine that...

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
You Can Never Feel My Pain- Prodigy

I'd change nothing.

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Muh Fucka- Redman

Ha, that's what I may yell out if I get hurt.

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Gimme The Loot- Notorious B.I.G.

My dad knows all the words to this album.

Sharing Is Caring

2009-02-05T18:12:00.004-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

* Fist off, as of Feb. 14th, DreAllDay.com shirts will no longer be free. The run has been fun while it has lasted, but anything but free for the DreAllDay staff. so get your orders in while the gettin's good. If you have already sent me an email for a shirt, you will still receive it. After the 14th, I'll be setting up shop for purchasing of DreAllDay shirts.

* On a random note, the Harlem Diplomats group is one of my favorites-- their music painted the walls, so to speak, of my last year and a half of college. While watching a new Cam'Ron music video recently, I stumbled across a clip from the movie "Killa Season." I remember watching this movie for the first time at Wes' crib in North Carolina and us rewinding the below scene about 7 times and laughing hysterically at some of the worst acting I have ever seen (start at the 1:55 mark and watch until the opening credits start!!):

This scene was equally appalling-- and funny!!:

Now back to more serious issues....

Caroline is one of Phu's friends from way back who is a singer. I've met Caroline and we have all hung out-- she was present for the Trivial Pursuit marathon this past summer-- but I had never heard her sing. Caroline has posted some of her skills on YouTube, and if you like hearing a great vocalist, you should check her out here.

Jay Jameson, I met about 2 years ago through playing ball and networking with some fellow players. Jay played college ball at temple and now runs his own training/ workouts/ league/ coaching program out in Landsdale, PA. Jay has more ball handling drills than anyone over ever seen in person, and a very *wet* jumpshot to boot (Wes would co-sign this). From Jay's Facebook profile, he states:

"Don't celebrate holidays or birthdays. I work 7 days a week .. 52 weeks a year.. year after year. I run everyday and i do more basketball drills than any other player on this planet... ( I'm serious about that ). "

Jay's website is here, and his YouTube vids are here. If you are in his area and you need to develop handles or an outside shot, this is the man to see.

27

2009-02-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

In two days I'll be 27 years old. Twenty-Seven. That's... 3 years away from 30. Thirty!! I have had the feeling over the past month of coming to grips with the fact that nothing is lasting forever. One day I'll be too old to play basketball in local gyms with the "young guys." There will come a time that I'm too old to be an active user of Myspace.com. I could one day have to walk into a doctor's office and explain to the doc what kinda help I need "in the bedroom." These thoughts don't scare or spook me; but they make me think more.

I've gone to a few of Wes' Miami Dade College bball games, and, as a player, I always find myself looking at the participants of both squads and thinking how I would match up against them if we were to be on the same floor some day. My bball-player mind, for example, will say, "I'd easily lock him up/ score on him/ be the best player on such-and-such team." Then the part of my mind that wrote this says, "Dre, you're 6-7 years older than all these dudes!" This, admittedly, is somewhat numbing.

I have heard a lot of people who are considerably older than me says things like, 'I thought my life was over when I turned 30... but that was just the beginning of my life!' I damn sure hope these people are right (and I'm aware that I still have 3 whole years to get to 30). And I figure, I'm in great physical shape, God willing, I can live well past my 70s. That means my life isn't even halfway over at the Big 3-oh.

But damn, what will I do when I'm not accepting friend requests or posting on Facebook walls??? I don't have any children to mold in my likeness. I know I'll still be able to spend as much time as I like in the gym, but without the huge carrot dangled in front of me nowadays, will I even want to? How will I feel the first time a 21-year-old refers to me as "Old Head?"

Dre Baldwin has some thinking to do. And Happy Birthday to me.

Girlfriend

2009-01-31T00:01:00.003-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I met Phu (that's my girlfriend, for those who don't know) a little over two years ago when I lived in Philly. We have spent a majority of the time since together, including a lot of back and forths from phlly to NYC, and an epic 20-hour drive to Florida. With Phu, I've experienced some important firsts in my life.

Phu gifted me my first digital camera, and if you follow what I do, you know that my work with cameras plays a big role in my life. That camera, which I still have and use to this day, is the best gift I've ever received from anyone besides my parents.

One of my favorite firsts was my first visit to Miami, the place I knew I wanted to live even before I'd seen it. I remember us walking form 41st & Collins to Johnny Rockets on South Beach (below average food); smarting up and catching a cab back. When wintry weather in the northeast stranded us in Florida for two extra days, Phu had a friend who provided us a place to chill for 48 hours when our other option was to sleep in the airport with the 450 people already setting up camp there.

Phu's ability to connect and make friendly with others is quite underrated, and plays a good contrast to my small-circle-keeping, not-always-so-friendly personality. Maybe one day, some of that will rub off on me.

She helped me find and get a new laptop when my first one began falling apart. That speedy response averted a personal crisis.

Ahh, how can I forget the Blackberry. Phu had a Blackberry when I met her, and though I noticed her emailing and web-browsing over time, having that PDA never seemed like such a big deal to me. My Virgin Mobile camera phone was good enough for me.

Until I had a Blackberry. Now I can't do without it.

Phu has been the sort-of default VP of Merchandising for DreAllDay.com, finding and cultivating a relationship with a good guy at a good company for all the shirts that are out there. Any and all shirts you all receive when I'm away playing ball have been shipped by her. Actaully, the first ever DreAllDay shirt was, in a way, Phu's idea.

She has made life very easy for me, especially with all the travel and don't-know-where-I'll-be-next-month lifestyle that comes with playing ball overseas.

Today is Phu's birthday. I stated before that Dre Baldwin is not a one-man show; Phu has been the silent partner (silent to the outside world, at least) behind me, for good and bad, for the last two-plus years. And I thought you all should know this.

So Phu, Thank You for everything you are and everything you've done. I love you, and Happy Birthday.

Play To Lose

2009-01-26T09:38:00.006-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

DALLAS -- The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he will not apologize "for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

The head of Covenant School of Dallas, along with its board chair, regretted the outcome, deeming it "shameful and an embarrassment." Their statement also added that the outcome was not "Christlike" or an "honorable approach to competition."

Situations like this are why I at times don't understand why some folks even engage in competition. In the words of Herm Edwards, "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!! HELLO?!?!?"

The team on the losing end of said basketball game, Dallas Academy, had 8 players on its roster and hasn't won a game in four seasons. There was a parent who was there who said "spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points." Who gives a damn what the spectators were doing? Should they have been crying for the terrible performance of the Academy? At least according to ESPN, there has not been a statement released by Dallas Academy.

So these muthafuckas (Academy) haven't won a game in 4 years, and now there's a problem with them being beat by 100 points? Why the hell do they even suit up??? And the administration of the WINNING team brings heat on their coach for winning by too much??? This is what I call "Reverse Bitch-Ass-Ness." I mean, if the opponent you're facing is not even fit to compete, what do you do? Roll over and hold your team back from performing at the level they have been taught to perform at?

I'm 100% behind the fired coach on this one. The administrators from Covenant cited Christian principles in their reasoning for the coach firing. I'm not an expert on Christianity, but when there is a game being played-- a competitive one-- you perform at your highest level, and may the best (wo)man win. Right? When a boxer steps into the ring, he is coming to knock the other guy out, not to be just a little bit better than an unprepared opponent.

I'm not surprised that there has been a lot of support for the Academy team for not giving up while being beaten down so badly. And this situation may very well be the last chapter in competitive sports for many of those young women, who would rather not play then suffer this embarrassment again. But dammit, if you're on a basketball team that loses 100-0, and adults are mad at how badly the other team beat you, maybe you should hang up the high tops. Leave the real competition to the competitors.

The Truck Stops Here

2009-01-22T19:46:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Mark McGwire is a former baseball player, who was 6'5" with really big muscles, and hit a bunch of home runs (he held the single-season HR record for awhile before Barry Bonds broke it). Mark retired a few years ago, and when the steroids scandal hit Major League Baseball, McGwire was one of the biggest targets.

One of McGwire's former teammates, Jose Canseco, released a book that claimed to have proof of McGwire's steroid use. McGwire, widely believed to be a steroid user, denied any involvement with steroids on Capitol Hill.

Today on ESPN, news that McGwire's brother has a book he wants published flashed across the bottom of the screen as "BREAKING NEWS." Jay McGwire, who is not on speaking terms with Mark, has written a 'tell-all' book that, supposedly, proves that Mark used performance enhancing drugs. Jay McGwire says his "bringing the truth to surface about Mark is out of love. I want Mark to live in truth to see the light, to come to repentance so he can live in freedom—which is the only way to live."

I mean, wow. I know we call this type of action (which Canseco is also guilty of)-- selling out someone close to you for your own personal gain or survival-- "throwing him under the bus." But damn, you own brother?? We need a unique term for such an action. Throwing him under the mack truck? That works.

Not to mention that Jay McGwire is a former steroid user himself and that no one would ever read this book if Mark's name wasn't prominently involved (and this book likely will still never be published). And, this being a "tell all" book, what new information is shared here? There is already a widely-accepted assumption that Mark McGwire used steroids, so what new info is Jay giving us? None, which is one of many reasons this book should never see the light of day.

My Lakers- Cavs Observations

2009-01-19T22:41:00.011-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- For some reason, the Staples Center never looks as bright on TV as other NBA arenas. But I'm sure the lights are quite strong in person.

- Pau Gasol has very good hands. I love how he always keeps the ball high when he has possession in the paint.

- I'm disappointed when star players at the same position don't guard each other in games.

- Kobe is doubled over with the pain of what appears to be a dislocated finger he got while guarding LBJ... please let Kobe not be too hurt to keep playing, that will render this game somewhat unwatchable.

- Kobe's taping his finger up and looking to keep on playing. This is one of the things that makes him great.

- The Cavs have at least 5 offensive rebounds in the first 3 minutes.

- Kobe really locks up on D, very aggressively when he wants to. Funny thing is when non-star players play this style they get called for fouls more often than Kobe will.

- LBJ gets a step on Kobe and goes in for what was shaping up to be a dunk. Then Kobe reaches in and slaps the ball off LBJ's leg, out of bounds to LA. No other NBA player could have made that reach-in without a foul being called.

- Remember when Sasha Pavovic was the #2 guy to LBJ?

- LBJ does a lot of go-nowhere dribbling.

- Vlad Radmanovic is a helluva spot up shooter. He does absolutely nothing else.

- You know those new commercials with Lil' Wayne speaking and the black background, showing people like Muhammad Ali, MJ, and the Jabbawockees? The ad is centered around "G," which I've learned is the new, re-branded name of Gatorade.

- Andy Varejao and Andrew Bynum are getting physical in the paint.

- Clippers' courtside seat at the Staples Center: $800. Lakers courtside seat: $2,500. Thanks, Craig Sager.

- You know those days on the court, when everything feels really easy and all the wild shots you put up feel natural and they go in or are pretty close to going in? That's how LBJ looks every time he plays.

- LBJ has mastered the timing of the run-from-behind-jump-off-one-foot blocked shot.

- LBJ makes some egregious turnovers with his passing. Guess the game's not that easy.

- My Internet Explorer, then my laptop, crashed, but I'm back.

- This "Taken" looks like a movie I could actually stay awake for. (Phu: Benjamin 'Snooze' Button. LOL!!!)

- Delonte West, in street clothes, looks like a young Hollywood actor with expensive seats.

- Terry Benedict is in the crowd!

- Pau grabs a rebound and characteristically keeps it high, but LBJ rips it out of there and starts the break.

- Ben Wallace doesn't seem to have lost a lot of the physical ability he possessed when he was DPOY. His mentality seems to have change, though. Not as confident in what he does.

- LBJ and Kobe trade forcing each other's turnovers. On LBJ's steal, he gets going with a full head of steam, only to have Kobe D up and slow his drive down. I have never seen a player do that to LBJ.

- Kobe is consistently forcing LBJ away from making his "comfort zone" plays.

- Kobe's pullup J going to his right is uncanny.

- Kenny Smith imparts more great basketball wisdom on the halftime show: A player's demeanor infects his teammates and affects the way they perform. That is a good thought to keep in mind. Definitely explains a lot. I still wonder why, when he wrote for SLAM, so many readers didn't like Kenny's work and SLAM dropped Kenny unceremoniously. SLAMMagazine could use a does of Kenny's good writing nowadays.

- Derek Fisher's biceps are huge.

- Andrew Bynum has been having his way with Varejao tonight.

- Kobe's hurt finger, by his facial expressions (as pointed ut by Doug Collins), seems to be hurting now.

- After Pau makes a nice lefty sweeping hook, Collins asks if there is a more skilled power forward. Yes, Doug: Tim Duncan.

- BTW, the Lakers lead, 62-55 halfway through the 3rd quarter.

- Derek Fisher has had that same goatee since 1996.

- Kobe and Pau have a great pass-and-catch chemistry.

- LBJ crams on Lamar Odom with the left. Sasha Vujacic follows with a quick-release three in LBJ's too-late-closing-out face.

- Kobe hits an unbelievably high-arcing fadaway jumper over LBJ. Lakers by 10, 10 minutes to go. Kobe then hits a runner going to his left and falling out of bounds, plus the foul, on LBJ on the next trip down. The "MVP" chants rain down.

- LBJ receives a hard foul to the kisser from Bynum. LBJ seems pissed about it. Let's see.

- Trevor Ariza robs LBJ of his lazy dribble move on one end then finishes an alley oop from Kobe on the other end.

- Kobe is hell-bent on taking this game over, breaking the triangle offense to get the ball and go right at LBJ. As I type this, LBJ strips Kobe clean on a drive in the lane, then LBJ commits another careless turnover with his dribble, leading to an open Kobe dunk. Lakers up 18.

- The Lakers space the floor and finish off the Cavs with three point shooting and great easy-bucket-producing D.

- Kobe's D makes LBJ look quite unpolished tonight, with LBJ's several mis-dribbles that lead to turnovers, bad passes, and off-balance shots which miss. Yes, LBJ has all the physical ability and bball talent out there, but in terms of technical basketball skill, there is no comparison between the two. Until next time.

- Oh yeah: lakers win by 17.

Recalling Past Events

2009-01-19T16:40:00.001-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I have heard, several times, about this site called The Onion that posts satirical, sarcastic pieces based on actual happenings (like on Charles Barkley's situation). I have looked through The Onion's site a few times and have it buried somewhere in my bookmarks, but The Onion has never been close to being in my Starting Lineup folder (Facebook, MySpace, GoDaddy, NBA.com, ESPN, Youtube, etc.) and still isn't. But this afternoon, I was just reading a Ryan Jones piece at SLAMOnline-- in which he discussed his whereabouts 8 years ago as Dubya was being inaugurated-- and he linked to this Bush piece on The Onion, posted on January 17, 2001, just before W.'s swearing in. You really should read the above-linked article. Just amazing.

In January of 2001 I was a college freshman, and was probably at a bball game or practice the day of the election. I think I voted, and if I did I'm 10,000% sure it wasn't for Bush. Who was the other guy?

(As a matter of fact, I perused PSU Abington's athletics page, with a 1% hope that there was a basketball archives section, so I could see if we had had a game on that day in 2001-- no dice. But I did notice that the men's basketball team has only 8 players-- one from my alma mater E&S High School and one from King HS, which is in my 'hood-- and that PSU Abington, from Dec. 30 thru Jan. 16, lost 4 games by a combined 204 points. Wow. )

Anyway, today is MLK Day and Obama will officially become President of the USA tomorrow. A great 48 hour span that links one of the great leaders of the past to the Elected Leader of the Future. I despise cliched literature and I don't have any profound insight, at the moment, to share on these events so I'll just mention them and move on. I am happy for America, though.

And as an added bonus, there's an NBA triple header on TNT tonight, and I just might post my running diary of the Cavs-Lakers nightcap. Maybe.

Belief That Is Not Based On Proof

2009-01-18T17:45:00.002-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

We gotta have faith, people.

I am from Philadelphia. I am not a fan, per se, of the Eagles. I am a fan of football in general. But I do Put On For My City and support the hometown team in big games, like the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl.

As the Philadelphia Eagles were getting kicked pretty hard by the Arizona Cardinals in the first half this afternoon, I noticed the pessimism of some fellow Philly natives as I glued myself to Facebook and read status updates. This was in the first half of the game, and I read the requisite trashing of Donovan McNabb, the "it ain't lookin good" comments from Eagles "fans."

(Side note: I don't think I've told the story of when, when I worked at Bally Total Fitness in 2005, I sold a membership to the guy who played stunt double for Donovan in all those Chunky Soup commercials. Looked just like the man too. Maybe later.)

I must admit, though, that I silently pull for Kurt Warner because of the fact that he was playing Arena League Football less than two years before winning the Super Bowl and the MVP trophy. Plus, Bill Simmons reports, Warner (or his wife) told their kids that the kids could get a puppy if Kurt's team won the Super Bowl. That's hard to beat.

And Larry Fitzgerald is, like, the best wide receiver in football right about now. He dominated the game for Arizona. And he went to Pittsburgh University, which reminds me- B. Battles, WHERE THE HELL IS MY PIC WITH THE DREALLDAY SHIRT???

Moving right along, Wes (an NC native) texts me: "Hold that Philly!" when AZ scored that 4th quarter touchdown. My response: "When do the Panthers play?"

I had pulled hard for an All Pennsylvania Super Bowl back in 2002, but the Steelers (Patriots) and Eagles (Rams) both lost in the Conference Championship games. And there were a helluva lot of Steelers fans in Altoona at the time.

Well, the Eagles lost anyway. But dammit, Philly fans, positive energy helps!!

Things I Want To Share

2009-01-08T12:04:00.001-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

There is a rapper named (Mad) Skillz who puts out a Rap-Up track every January that discusses the issued of the past 365. His new one is , once again, a must-download.

If you have a BlackBerry Curve and you download the new software (which gives your Curve video-camera capabilities), you mut have a media card in order for it to work. Guess how I found that out?

I'm starting to like this Asher Roth kid.

In my post about Santa's Enchanted Forest, I know "Forest" was mis-spelled... that's how they spell it.

DreAllDay.com has been viewed 50,000 times and counting.

50 Cent ("Get It In") and Eminem ("Crack A Bottle" ft. Dr. Dre & 50) have new songs out... I'm excited to see if these dudes can do it again. We need it.

Back in 2006 when I was in Mexico, I would read Sohh.com and kept reading about a song that was blowing up on radio in the USA. "We Fly High" by Jim Jones was the track, and I was glad to see Jimmy blowing up mainstream. I hadn't heard the song yet but was very satisfied with it when I got back to the USA and did hear it. In December of 2008, there was a similar buzz going about a song all over the radio and clubs, called "Pop Champagne." Even with all the downloading/ Internet capabilities at my fingertips nowadays (good luck finding wireless Internet in the parts of Mexico I saw), I figured I'd get t hearing this new hit when I returned for the holidays. I heard this song come on at The Fifth in South Beach on New Year's Eve and thought, "This is the hit song out now???" That shit is wack, and it can;t be danced to, to boot. At least Jim Jones had the basketball follow-thru thing to go with his joint.

Kobe Bryant is still the best player in the NBA.

And I just finished watching all of The Wire. Powerful show, and it ended at the right time. Definitely my favorite show of all time, behind Sportscenter.

Back To Life

2009-01-05T22:14:00.001-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I love County Fairs. Amusement Parks. Carnivals an shit. Since moving to Florida, outside of Busch Gardens, there haven't been many opportunities for me to indulge in 3-shots-for-$5 basketball games with the rims that are just big enough for the ball to fit and the World's Smallest horse. I have fond memories of the daily trips I made to the Philly County Fair at the Belmont Plateau in the early 2000s and the multiple big stuffed tigers we amassed shooting hoops for prizes. I missed those days with no such attractions in South Florida.

So imagine my glee when Phu & I ascended on Santa's Enchanted Forest, which is apparently a yearly event in Miami. It's a huge Carnival-type place that fills an entire city park from Thanksgiving to a little bit after the New Year. It's a very visual experience, so I'll enlist the help of photos to tell the story with me:

The entrance was crowded as hell, and the walkway as you entered the park featured several lit-up, colorful visuals:

The obligatory huge Christmas tree:

There were even animals, like Santa's reindeer:

And Seals:

As for the food, I was told by a local to look out for Elephant ears... I saw the stand that sold them, but held off on consuming any.

There were delicious-looking candy apples:

But I decided on sharing some funnel cake.

BTW, do you see the grease those things get soaked in during preparation? Makes me queasy.

I'm older and smarter than I used to be, so I managed to refrain from schilling out to see the Wolf Boy and the World's Smallest Horse.

But I'll always dig in my pockets to shoot some hoops:

There were plenty other games, of course. Have you ever seen those game in which you drop coins into the slots and try to get the coins pushed over the ledge to win prizes? How about those machines having actual money being pushed over the edge? I had never seen this before... Phu and I spent an undisclosed amount of money here.

In conclusion, Santa's Forest took me back to a lost and forgotten time, haha... The hustling men working the games-- $20 in cash nets you $27 in quarters; 4 shots at the basketball hoop for $5-- a welcome and noticeable change from the corporate- run chain parks in America. When i was in Germany looking at the Christmas Markets in wonderment, people always asked me if there were attractions like that in the USA. Well, Santa's Enchanted Forest is our XMas Market. And I love it.

Gotta Go, Joe

2009-01-02T17:59:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

My leading disclaimer to this post is that I attended Penn State University (Altoona, to be exact). So I have nothing against the program or any of its players. I do not read college football message boards, and don't know who PSU's prized recruits for next season are. I can name maybe 5-10 players by name, and outside of the head coach, I can name about .5 names on the coaching staff. So that's out of the way.

So here's what I do know: Joe Paterno should do Penn State a favor and step down as head coach now.

Joe Paterno should step down because he will never be fired. He is a demigod in Happy Valley-- a status he has damn well earned-- and there is no one at PSU who would want their name branded as "The One Who Pushed JoePa Out At Penn State." Similar to Bobby Bowden at Florida State, Paterno has been around too long, accomplished too much, and become too big to have anyone other than himself determine his next move.

So out of respect for the program, he should walk away.

Not because his team ain't good; PSU was one bad conference loss from being in the BCS title game. And they showed that they could be competitive (in the second half, at least) with another top-tier team in the Rose Bowl. A few years ago, when PSU's program wasn't as strong as it is presently, some pundits called for JoePa's head. Some other insisted PSU would bounce back, and here we are-- they have, with JoePa still at the helm.

So the program is strong, no one will ever tell JoePa what to do, and there are likely a lot of other great things going on up in State College that only the most dedicated Lion fans know about.

The reson I say Joe Paterno needs to go is based on one small bit of fact I heard while watching the Rose Bowl: JoePa coached from the booth (not a problem), and he didn't leave the booth to address his troops at halftime (big problem).

A loyal PSU fan informed me of the grad assistants, assistant coaches, right hand men, etc. that basically take all the game day responsibilities away from JoePa. Meaning, based on this person's reasoning, JoePa doesn't have to do much while the game is going on. Oh yeah, except one thing:

Be the leader of the program you are in the position to lead!

In the college and sports world nowadays, staffs have so many extra bodies around the head coach that the head coach has little responsibility-- no calling plays, no worry about defensive alignments, no individual attention to players. We often hear about assistant coaches who are "doing more work than the head coach" or whom the payers respect more and/or go to first when there is an issue that needs resolving. I'm not at all saying this is the case at PSU-- as I stated earlier, I don't follow the program that closely.

But I do know sports pretty well. And I know that when a coach has enough help around him that he can sit up in a booth while his team run like a well-oiled machine, that coach has only one major responsibility:

Be the leader and address your players at the proper times.

This means 1) Before the game; 2) Halftime; 3) After the game. If a head coach, with all he doesn't have to do, physically cannot do these things, he is not fit to be coaching.

And I don't think JoePa was unable to make it to PSU's locker room at halftime at the Rose Bowl-- we have elevators and wheelchairs and crutches nowadays-- I think he knew his assistants and right hand men were more than capable of maintaining order. So does that not, by definition, make this man expendable?

As I said, no one can nor will force Joe Paterno down from his perch (no pun intended). He defied the critics and the odds and has a power program still going strong at his advanced age (Bowden's Seminoles have not been nearly as strong for a long while). Out of respect for the program he has built over the last 42 years, he should walk away on the heels of winning hand.

2008: The Wrap-Up

2008-12-30T17:58:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

(As of 12:02 AM EST on December 30, DreAllDay.com has had its first 10,000- hit month!! Thanks to all of you for your continued support!)

So two thousand and eight is coming to a close. As such, here's a blog-linked review of my year, just for you:

I rang in the new year somehwhere in Herceg Novi, Montenegro, a great town right on the sea on the southern coast of the country. When things didn't go as great as they should have gone, a couple of needed, bold moves by yours truly got me out of there.

I announced my return to the USA by just missing winning a Dwyane Wade jersey on a basketball game at Busch Gardens. I did win a pretty big stuffed tiger though.

Live This Summer Or Die This Summer started in the heart of the spring. Overall LTSODTS helped me get up, get out and put my work in on the days when my body equested a break. And all the Youtube vids helped my Internet prescence dramatically.

I started the No Question series when I knew my blog was lacking for fresh material and I stumbled onto Yahoo! Answers. I think it turned out well, even though I had a handful of answers deleted by the Yahoo administrators for use of foul language.

In May, I started looking ahead to the 08-09 basketball season and made a few new contacts- some useful, some not.

July revelaed the run-up to one of my greatest projects: my site (or homepage, as they say in Europe), DreAllDay.com. Starting it from scratch- no templates, no web designer tips- was more difficult and tedious than expected.

August was an eventful month: Team USA dominated Olympic bball, I got ejected from a summer league game (and created my player classification system), and my site was in full swing. I discovered golf driving ranges in early August, and golf earned a lot of respect from me. I became a licensed driver for the first time in almost 2 years. I ended August by jumping into the Presidential election debate.

I finished my summer league circuit in a Tampa LA Fitness and declared myself to be in the best shape of my life. People started to notice my site in September without me telling them about it, which made me proud. Some folks took offense to me "picking on" players that lacked talent; fuck them.

Some guy I knew in college stole a cop car in October and I had to write about that. I spoke my second and final piece on Obama vs. McCain. My next move was to Germany, which ended up being not how I wanted it to go, then it was, then it wasn't again, then it kinda went the way I had thought it might all along. It'll make more sense when I talk about it after the season.

We all have plenty to be thankful for.

A native German told me that the term "Weltanschauung" wasn't the best direct translation for what I wanted to say, but could offer no better alternatives. Not that I would change it anyway.

So, that's that. In case I don't say so enough, I appreciate everyone who comes through this site, reads it, talks about it, hates it, whatever. I do it for the love, haha!! DreAllDay.com is 5 months old right now and has a long way to go. And without you all out there checking in, I'm just a weird guy talking to himself. So thank you, and stay tuned.

Weltanschauung, Vol. IX

2008-12-22T17:53:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- The steps in one train station had conveyor belts that carried luggage between levels as you walk the stairs.

- In German, "peperoni" refers to green peppers. Guess how I found that out?

- Everywhere I've been in Europe, the European players are always good at kicking the basketball directly to me. Must be the soccer influence.

- If you've ever rode an exercise bike in any US gym or fitness center, you know that most of the bikes come with straps on the pedals to keep your feet secured. The straps on the bikes in one particular gym are so small, I can only strap my toes into the pedals.

- At the Italian pizza place I get my lunch from everyday, the man who works there always gives me the same funny look like he doesn't understand why I keep coming in there all the damn time.

- The train is always on time down to the minute! (UPDATE: I'm referring to the city trains in this instance. A train coming from, say, Stuttgart to Berlin, may not be so consistently punctual.)

-If you are reading this and you can speak German, please tell me how to order a meal of "steak and potatoes (not french fries), in sauce." Thanks!

- The internet café I currently patronize is fuckin' taxing me daily. I spent 2 hours online and 20 minutes on the phone and paid about $10 USD. This is exorbitant.

- At a particular hotel I stayed in for about 2 1/2 days, I received a knock on my room door at around 8:30 AM on consecutive mornings. Being that I was sleeping, not needing any "service," and knowing no German, I yell out something in the form of, "YO!" The person knocking, a woman who presumably worked there, would say something in German, which I ignored, still in bed. She then knocked again and repeated herself. Again I ignored and she went away. So, anyone that knows German that is reading this, email me (Dre@DreAllDay.com) and tell me how to say, "Stop knocking on my fucking door at 8:30 in the morning!" In German. It would be greatly appreciated.

- There's an old-school 'Mel's Diner' in Hannover, menu all in English. The place even has all the old restaurant trimmings, with the red vinyl seats, checkerboard tiled walls and retro jukebox. And the greasy American cuisine to top it all off.

- I've mentioned before how much flak the referees receive at basketball games out here. The fans in Germany yell things at refs, just like in the states. Also, here the refs are super sensitive to anything coming from the mouths of players or coaches (and try not to be the only American on the floor during any game {meaning no American teammates and none on the opposing squad}- you'll foul out in pre-game warm-ups). Refs here like to give warnings of technical fouls rather than calling techs. And the crowd reactions to calls seem to really influence referee behavior, in some cases. This isn't a good thing.

- On December 14, the price for a daily, two-zone train ticket increased from €5,10 to €5,30. This is significant because I walk to the train stop with exact change to buy a pass from the ticket machine. Don't ask what I did when I realized I was short.

- There's a special train here called the ICE that apparently gets passengers to their destinations faster than an average train ride does. I have rode on the ICE a few times and frankly it doesn't seem so fast to me. The ICE trains are, however, very clean and the seats quite comfortable. The announcements are made in German then repeated in English, like on an airplane.
Their are always big crowds at the platforms for ICE trains; naturally, since ICE services the biggest and most popular areas of the country.
Their are special "reserved" tickets that can be purchased for an extra fee that guarantees the purchaser a seat on the train. The way this works: you know how there are stow-away shelves above the seats for luggage and such? On those shelves are small LCD displays that, if there is a destination city/ town shown, reserves the corresponding seat for only a person with a "guaranteed" seat ticket (I found out how this works when I had to vacate a seat on a very crowded ICE train one day; the remainder of my ride was spent standing).
So on a very crowded train car with luggage in hand, I have to not only joust with impatient Germans to get through aisles and find a seat, I also must be weary of the reserved seats that are nothing more than a mirage to a non-guranteed-seating-ticket-holder such as myself.
(I heard that the guarantee option costs about €3-4, and also see that only old folks and pretentious-looking business suit wearers go for this choice. I don't know why.)

- Public service trucks in Germany (garbage trucks, cement carriers) are manufactured by Mercedes- Benz.

- I made a note on my Twitter Feed that my "Indian seatmate officially stinks" before my plane took off the other day from Frankfurt. My dude Aleks apparently read this, and mentioned "the stinky Indian" in an email I opened when the plane landed 9 hours later. My seatmate and an Indian stuardess both stared at me in bewilderment as I burst out laughing on the plane.

---------------------

So that ends the season's first half. I'm actually typing this on my BlackBerry while flying over the Atlantic Ocean (what "all phones off" rule??). I'll be somewhere in Florida by the time you read this, hitting the weights and the hardwood to stay sharp . My January destination is not yet determined; I'll let you know. Just know that you'll want to be watching.

The Grand Finale

2008-12-20T17:51:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

So I stood in line at the USAir Customer Service counter for 90 minutes. I was told there were no more flights to Miami for me Friday night. But on the bright side, I could, however, take advantage of a discounted rate at the Howard Johnson hotel for $77.

"This coupon is unnacceptabe," I told them. "You might as well have given me a dinner coupon to Dennys."

This line of humor didn't work to get me on an earlier flight of a very rainy Philadelphia. I had an average-at-best meal at TGI Friday's, had a run-in with a clueless baggage worker at the USAir offices near the luggage belts, Went back through security (and was "selected by the compters for special screening" for the second time that day), and sat in the councourse writing this while Santa Claus passed by me. And I dutifully went to gate B8 at 5:30 PM to see if I could finangle a seat on the flight. And by the grace of God, I made it.

There were plenty of empty seats on the plane too, as I had the whole set of 3 to myself. At the gate I learned that your place in a stand-by list matters not; you have to go get in the faces of the people working the computers at the gate to get on the plane. A lesson well taken.

The flight out of Philly the next morning would have been my first ever Fist-Class seating. And I'll gladly pass on that for the 80-degree day that awaited me this morning. So Dave & Buster's, here I come! And I saw a carnival/ county fair as Phu and I rode on the highway last night; we will be making an appearance there as well.

(And I'm about halfway through Malcolm Gladwell's newest $28 book, Outliers, so far. Very good work that I recommend. I see I could've gotten it for about half of what I paid at the airport bookstore on Amazon.)

No Place Like... Home

2008-12-19T17:49:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

So after a nice stay in the City of Wind last night, I finally got out of there...

Amidst signifcant, visibility- reducing snowfall...

Which delayed my plane so they could "de-ice the wings" and wait in line on the runway...

Which made us late to arrive to my connecting destination...

Which led to me not catching ANOTHER connecting fight...

Which now has me in Philadelphia, PA at this exact moment.

For those of you who don't know, I am from this city. I planned on visiting in the summer of 2009, not today. And this blog post will be the only word any of my family or friends in Philly will hear of me being in town, since I'm 10th on the stand-by list for a direct flight to MIA in 2 hours. If I'm not on that plane, It's another night in another airport- area hotel. I thougt the travel- heavy days were during the bball season?

In related news, it's nice to be back in the city and endure the rudeness of airport employees. Almost forgot what that was like. Free wi-fi here, though. Good work, PHL.

Born In The USA

2008-12-18T21:53:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Aight, so I am on American soil once again. Good 'ol US of A!!! Now for some good and bad things that have hapened over the past 24 hours...

I flew Air India. Plane departed late, my seat mate smelled terrible (and repeatedly coughed without covering his mouth). Bad.

I was in the USA! Good.

As a result of said late departure frm Frankfurt on Air India, I missed my connecting flight out of Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Bad.

I traversed through the 5 terminals of this very large airport trying to track down my luggage. Bad.

I see NBA basketball on TV. Good.

I encounter rude airline employees who are overwhelmed by the foreigners asking so many questions at the international arrivas gate. Bad.

I discover that there are no more flights on US Air to Miami tonight. Bad.

I get a flight out to Miami!!!! Tomorrow. Neutral.

Air India comps me a hotel room at the Holiday Inn O'Hare. Good.

The hotel room voucher comes with a ticket for free dinner. Good.

After ordering and eating, and while waiting for the check, I notice that the dinner voucher is only for $12.50 towards my $36 meal. Bad.

I sign the meal onto the bill off to be charged to my room- which isn't in my name anyway. Good.

My iPod and Blackberry both stayed strong down to their last bars of power each before I could hook them up to their respetive chargers in my room. Good.

The Holiday Inn O'Hare has free, unsecured wi-fi. Very Good.

My comped hotel room also comes with a breakfast voucher. Good.

My flight is at 7:15AM, meaning I will leave the hotel at about 5AM. Breakfast starts at 6AM. Bad.

I can speak to people in English without wondering if they understand me. Good (no offense, European readers!!)

I had to use the only US currency in my possesion- a single $1 bill- as tip for the guy taking my luggage off the bak of the hotel shuttle. Bad.

I have an ATM card handy. Good.

Shaq just SHITTED on Greg Oden. Good.

I have blog entries written and almost ready to be posted, just for your viewing pleasure. Good.

I flew Air India! Bad. Don't fly Air India.

Sloppy, Indeed

2008-12-08T06:43:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I don't watch hockey at all, ever. But the cable sports channel I get in Hannover shows a few hockey games. It also shows two of my favorite shows, ESPN's Around The Horn and Pardon The Interruption ('Pardon The Interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon...'). And last week, a hockey player named Sean Avery got suspended for making the following statement:

Avery was referring to a player on the team he was set to face that night, and the woman in question was/ is Elisha Cuthbert, who I have heard of but can tell you nothing about. This Avery fellow seems to be, from this clip, the type to say things just for the purpose of getting under someone's skin. (SIDE NOTE: As for the "Sloppy Seconds" term: my theory is, unless you're the first person to ever be with this woman, you are second to someone else, no?)

This didn't evoke any feelings in me- not quite funny enough for a chuckle, not outlandish enough to shake my head or be disappointed or angry. Avery ended up with a 6-game, without pay suspension from the NHL for the above statement.

While watching PTI last week as Kornheiser and Wilbon broached the topic, Mike made a great point: Isn't this the same league that advocates fighting, and promotes it as part of the entertainment that comes with attending and/ or watching an NHL game?

I looked up at my TV screen during a muted NHL game a few days ago to see a fight beginning. If you're not familiar with pro hockey, when two players square off to fight, they drop their sticks, and shake off their gloves, circling each other for a bit before going at it. The referees stay to the outside and allow the fight to happen, separating the combatants only after they've stopped punching each other and the fight becomes a jersey-grabbing match.

After the fight I saw ended, the TV commentators qeued up a replay of the match and analyzed it, noting the finer points of punching someone with one hand while grasping that person's jersey for balance.

What rule, exactly, did Avery break by sayng what he said? I think the NHL should've let the statement go and promote more reckless statements, along with the fighting, by players to hype up the on-ice matchups. Hockey is already far behind MLB, the NFL and the NBA to the fans of American professional sports, why not try a different angle?

Avery used no profanity, didn't name any names, and has first Amendment rights to speak his mind (even though the statement actually happened in Canada). Embrace the dark side, NHL!

Weltanschauung Vol. VIII

2008-12-04T04:57:00.001-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- On a snowy night, I was offered a pair of "hand shoes" (gloves).

- Greeting cards come wrapped in a small, thin plastic bag with the envelope together. Another good idea we should copy.

- I ordered a cheese burger & fries at a store for dining in one afternoon, and noticed an old woman who was working in the back. The grill for making burgers was in the back (the main grill was used for the more popular Kebap and other German specialties). When the woman walked to the front, I watched her cough twice: once without covering her mouth, and a second time covering her mouth, but not washing her hands before grabbing what turned out to be the bun for my cheese burger.

Later in the meal as I was eating the burger (with a healthy heaping of pommes), the woman came up from behind me, patting me and the rubbing me on the back in a friendly matter, asking me a couple of questions before it registered to her that I did not speak German. The interruption of my meal by this old woman slightly annoyed me.

Then the woman approached again, this time with a small cup of tea in her right hand, and two cubes of sugar in her bare left hand. Being that I do not consume tea or coffee, I refused the offer as she attempted to lift the glass onto the table (I was sitting at one of those small, high tables with the stool seats). Only as she lifted the glass, it bumped the edge of the table and hot tea spilled onto my pants.

Slightly annoyed >>> visibly annoyed.

The old woman left me alone after that. And yes, I still ate the cheese burger.

- The crosswalks have signal lights for the pedestrians that turn red or green. And turning cars always stop for a person crossing the street. I routinely ignore red walking signs if there are no cars coming; this draws looks of disdain from the locals.

- Twice in a row, I have ordered a gyro and fries for lunch. Twice in a row, I have bypassed grabbing a plastic fork with my to-go meal because I have expected a gyro to come with bread, in a sandwich-type style (yeah, I'm one of those who leaves the store and goes all the way home before looking at my food). Twice in a row, I've had to eat my gyro with my hands and lick my fingers clean.

- I'm finding that when you ask for "water" in restaurants, homes, etc., the default is the carbonated variety.

- Hannover is the first place, of all the locales I've spent time in, that has row house-lined streets that give me a vision of some residential neighborhoods in the USA.

- There are some waffles sold here that are breakfast food that are made to be consumed at room temperature. They are good as hell too!

- I went to a gym in which the rule was you cannot bring a water bottle onto the workout floor with you.

- McDonald's in downtown Hannover has a walk-up window called McWalk.

- As I ate in Pizza Hut, I noticed that I was the only patron NOT using a knife & fork.

- For the holiday season, many German cities have "Christmas Markets," large areas in the center of their town with all kinds of stands and merchants selling food, gifts, etc. with all the decorated trees and bright lights to boot. The Xmas market itself in Hannover could house the entire city of Reutlingen (the first place I was in Germany).

Free Stephon!!

2008-12-02T04:36:00.002-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Even though I don't get too bball-intensive in my blogs, a situation going on in the NBA got me to writing the following piece. For those of you knowledgeable about the League, skip down to after the asterisks ("****"). The rest of you, read on.

The New York Knicks have been a mediocre-to-bad NBA franchise for mostly all of the post-Michael Jordan era. New York went out and hired a new General Manager and new head coach this past summer in Donnie Walsh and Mike D'antoni, respectively.

With the highest payroll in the league last season, Walsh and D'antoni outlined a plan to clear salary (so the Knicks can sign better free agents in the future) and make the team more competitive at the same time. With D'antoni bringing his uptempo (read: fast-paced basketball, with a lot of points scored) style of basketball from his last job in Phoenix, the Knicks have been, if not title contender material, at least more watchable with their high-scoring ways.

Now, there's a guy playing in Cleveland name LeBron James that we all know about. And LBJ will become a free agent in the summer of 2010 (presumably; LBJ must choose to opt out of the last year of his contract to become a free agent. It is a close-to-mortal-lock that he will do so). LBJ has publicly stated that NYC is his favorite city, so the Knicks and Nets (who play in The Meadowlands of New Jersey but have a plan to move to Brooklyn in a couple years- and also have LBJ's friend Jay-Z as a part-owner) are both positioning themselves to have the salary cap space to offer LBJ the maximum allowed under NBA rules.

Now back to 2008. New Knicks coach D'antoni previously worked with the Knicks' most talented and skilled player, Stephon Marbury, back when both were with the Phoenix Suns organization. Relations between the two were not so good back then. This, along with the fact that Marbury is the highest paid player on the Knicks' roster (remember that the Knicks want to clear salary space) at $21 million this season, and that Marbury had a run-in with the previous Knicks coach Isiah Thomas last season, Walsh sought to trade Stephon last summer. When he couldn't find any suitors, Walsh met with Marbury and Marbury's agent to discuss a contract buyout so both parties could go their separate ways. An agreement could not be reached, simply because Stephon would not accept a penny less than the $21 million owed to him, and Walsh is fundamentally "opposed to buyouts" (we'll come back to this).

So the offseason ended and Marbury was still a member of the Knicks. D'antoni decided to not use the ostracized Marbury in games, so Stephon, perfectly healthy, has watched the Knicks' games in street clothes. Then the Knicks made a couple of trades last week, and without the traded players nor the newly acquired players who were still en route, the Knicks went into a couple of games with only 8 healthy players (teams usually have 12 in uniform every night). D'antoni reportedly asked Marbury to suit up and play in a game, which (D'antoni says) Marbury refused to do. Stephon, on the other hand, says he was not asked to play, and that he would have if he had been asked to play.

Walsh went on to fine and suspend Marbury for insuborination (without ever speaking to Steph for his side of things), and a meeting was scheduled to happen sometime on December 1st to attempt to sever ties between the team and the player again after they failed to do so in the summer.

*******************

I like Stephon Marbury's game. He's never been one of my top 10 favorite players, but I've always recognized his skill and I know he can still be a factor in an NBA game. Being benched while being 100% healthy, Steph had kept quiet about it all while the circus that is the NY media swarmed around him and the rest of the Knicks organization looking for answers. (He has since spoken out)

Walsh and D'antoni made clear that they were starting off fresh when they came in this past summer, and for the most part, they have made good on that promise (trading your top 2 scorers 10 games into the season definitely speaks volumes). Their only misstep has been their fumbling of the Marbury situation. How could Walsh let this seep into the season? When Walsh saw that no trade was plausible and Marbury wasn't budging on a buyout, Walsh should have either paid Steph what he was contractually owed, or told Steph to stay away from the team but still be paid. By keeping him around at every game in street clothes or on the bench with no chance to get in the game, Walsh and D'antoni only added fuel to the fire that is the New York media daily.

And they also seemed, to me, to be trying to humiliate Marbury into budging on his stance. It was blatant disrespect when D'antoni put players, who hadn't even been practicing, in games while Marbury sat on the bench (in the couple of games he suited up for). Steph didn't budge and it has blown up in the face of the Knicks organization.

If Walsh and D'antoni didn't want Steph playing, why keep him there? They're going to end up paying Steph his full salary as a "buyout," so they will not have a saved penny to show for the sideshow they allowed to go on for a month plus in New York.

The only thing they accomplished was trying to bury Marbury's career by asking him not to suit up for games while it has been clear to everyone that he is/was the best player on the Knicks' roster. There is no question Marbury could help the Knicks, even as a role player off the bench. Walsh and D'antoni gambled on Marbury blowing up and losing his cool, and they lost that bet.

Now the Knicks have a mess on their hands, like a stink bomb they held onto for too long.

Thankful

2008-11-28T10:20:00.000-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I am Thankful...

That my family made it through another year to celebrate another Thanksgiving.

For all the important people in my cirle that make my life fuller and easier, despite that fact that my life at times may appear to be a one-man show. It is not.

For hotels that provide free, wireless internet. A lot more thankful for this now that it has been not-so-available.

For the fact that I CAN'T stop putting in work to get where I want to go, even though sometimes I want to relax.

For the Apple iPod and T-Mobile BlackBerry (thanks Phu!) that has kept me company at times in which I would have been very alone. Haha.

For all my friends in the USA who I keep in touch with, and even the ones I haven't spoken to since last Thanksgiving or beyond. Whatever encounters we had or have has shaped me in some way.

For all my international friends, who sometimes can assist me in ways people an ocean away cannot. I am greatful.

For all the American hoopers overseas, the good ones and the weak ones- you provide motivation for me, even if you don't know it.

For the game of basketball, with which I have a mutual-gain relationship.

For all the musicians releasing new music for me to listen to, when the only English channel I get is CNN.

For America electing a minority as its leader.

For the people that come into my hotel room daily and straighten up, even though they always turn the heat back down. (Stop!!!)

For all the people who have visited and/ or supported DreAllDay.com, I love you all.

To Phu for making friends with the guy who prints all those shirts.

For anyone who has ever made me laugh.

To the Higher Being above and to my parents for giving me life.

For the teachers out there who taught us how to read and write.

For all the long lost friends from time periods in my life that provide me memories that bring a smile.

For 24 Hour Fitness for providing me an anytime-you-want sanctuary.

And there's a lot more, I'm sure, I could mention being thankful for. But you have a hot meal awaiting you. Get off the computer and go eat.

Weltanschauung Vol. VII

2008-11-28T10:17:00.003-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

So we have had a few things going on out here, time for a recap:

My original team has their pockets turned inside-out; i.e., they went broke. Frozen bank account here, my host hotel never received a dime there, yadda yadda yadda. I was ready to begin my holiday break a couple weeks early with the chance that the club would get its shit together in time for my January return, but better, more ambitious opportunities presented themselves.

I won't got into details on it, but I will say that I'm now located in Hannover, DE, and I'm still looking forward to some Miami sunshine. Just not as soon as I was thinking 72 hours ago.

Gotta mention my man Wes, whose name still carries weight in these here parts. And thanks to me for thinking that thought, lol.

So for now, I'll be performing for he eyes of some people who put me in a position to make my name a lot bigger out here; which, in turn, will make my name bigger everywhere. Yes- vague, I know. But just cuz I have a website that's about me doesn't mean I'll tell you everything.

But know these things:

Getting into business with the right people is VERY important in a basketball meat market like Germany.

It still makes me laugh how much and how quickly things can get done (or change) when you can play basketball.

Spontaneity, though sometimes inconvenient, makes life exciting.

There are times in life when it's necessary to cut yourself off from the safe option and burn the bridge behind you. Then you have no choice but to go boldly forward, win or no win. Can't run wit' the wolves come night when you're sportin' wit' the puppies all day.

(Edited).

And now, back to the program.

Weltanschauung Vol. VI

2008-11-23T14:13:00.002-05:00

- The woman who cleans up the breakfast buffet at my hotel laments some of my eating habits. I always eat a few bread rolls, which are soft on the inside and hard on the outside. I despise hard sections of any bread, so I eat the soft middle parts and discard of the hard outer shell. As she was grabbing my plates Thursday morning (mind you, this is a buffet), she says to me, "I'm sorry, but I feel this is really, really bad character."

- I also heard that this woman wondered aloud (to someone other than myself) why I spend so much time on my computer (I use it downstairs, where the HotSpot signal is strong). She is convinced something must be wrong with me.

- Wednesday night, I was in the hotel restaurant eating, and I attempted to communicate something to the non-English-speaking waitress up at the front counter. The whole time I had been seated, there was this Santa Claus- sized man staring at me while I ate. As my conversation with the waitress made no progress, the Fat Man interrupted and, to my surprise, spoke pretty good English. He went on with the requisite questions (where are you from, what are you doing in Germany, blah, blah, blah) and I left after our brief encounter. The next day I saw this same guy driving one of the 3 buses that stops in my neighborhood.

- The final score of a youth league game was 109-14. One hundred and nine to fourteen.

- I rode in a car with someone on a highway whose posted speed limit was 120 (kilometers per hour). The speedometer consistently read at least 200. And yes I was nervous.

- Escalators here are designed to conserve energy in a way our American ones don't: motion sensors at the entrance walkway signal the escalator to turn on, and it turns off when no one is on it.

- Thursday evenings, there is a kid's soccer team that practices in the gym before us. There were a few of us players there early, so we were sitting amonst some chairs and tables waiting for the kids to be done, and I'm dribbling a basketball under my legs while I'm seated. One of my teammates turned to me, and asked me to stop bouncing the ball, because he was working on some assignment for a class he's taking and the sound of the ball was distracting him. There's no more t that story, but I just found it to be odd.

Keeping it short for now; my next entry (which will be within the next 96 hours) will discuss my plans for the Holiday Break (about a month of no games) and any other pithy information that I'd like to share. Tschuss!!

Visuals

2008-11-20T08:21:00.004-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Good Morning! I'm not dropping the latest installment of Weltanschauung yet, but I have something better:

My latest YouTube offerings!

Details of what you see, in words, can be found on my YouTube page or my site Videos page.

Weltanschauung Vol. V

2008-11-13T03:26:00.003-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- Back in Miami, I met an AAU coach named Coach Hicks at 24hr Fitness early one weekend morning; his girls' team used the gym to practice. Hicks invited me to run pickup at a school somewhere in the city; thing is, I left for the season the week before I was set to go up to that pickup run.

I gave Coach Hicks him my info but never got his number. So, if anyone out there knows this man, have him holla at me- I need a quality run in Miami. And Coach, if you're reading this, email me please!

- Josh Millican from Ontario: you gave me an address with no postal code! Email me (Dre@DreAllDay.com) with your complete mailing address, I have a shirt waiting for you.

********************

- At intersections here, a red light will flash yellow for a moment, before turning green.

- Gas: €1,25 / liter. By my somewhat rough mental math, and some formulas (1 gallon = 3.79 liters; 1 euro = $1.27 dollars; ), also assuming that it costs you in the neighborhood of $50 to fill your 18-gallon gas tank (at $2.75/ gallon), it would cost you $108 to fill that same tank in Germany right now. Sheesh.

(€4,74 euros for one gallon of gas... €85,32 fills your tank in Germany. Multiply that by the current exchange rate (85.32 * 1.27), you get $108.36. How did I need to take MATH 110 4 times at Penn State again???)

- Referees here are quite sensitive: They will, among other things, pause game action and approach a particular player or coach and make a direct warning of an impending technical foul (http://www.dreallday.com/blogarchive23.html). One of the refs of our last match told our coach to warn his players to stop saying "And one!" when we made shots near the basket.

('And one' meaning, for those who do not know, that the player that made the shot thinks he was fouled at the same time that he scored. An indirect way, basically, of informing a referee that they should have whistled a foul on the play. )

- Another term for cell phones: Handys.

- Drivers are very courteous here; stopping for pedestrians, switching lanes on highways for a faster- moving vehicle. Always.

- The counterperson at McD's fucked up my order last weekend. Some things do not change no matter where you go.

- Why do some smokers carry ciggarettes with them but don't bother to possess matches or a lighter?

- The trains in Germany have these plainclothes watchdogs who come around, occaisionally, to check for tickets. The trains here are immaculately clean (with small trash recepticles next to each group of seats) and there are fines ranging from €20- 50 for riding without a ticket, littering, or putting your feet on the seats (I almost received that fine).

- Public buses' display signs denote towns or neighborhoods instead of exact locations, like in the USA.

- In German, Aquarians are called "Water men."

- When a bus is sitting between shifts of riding with passengers, it's display says, "PAUSE!"

- The term "Airball" appears to be the same in German as it is in English.

Here and There 11/12/08

2008-11-12T03:25:00.001-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- This vid is of a 6'8" high schooler that dunks a lot... and SHE is dunking with authority. Impressive.

-
The man above is my dude Leon, a personal trainer from PSC that I worked with during this period. I did a plyometric workout with Leon one morning and my hamstrings felt it for days, which is saying something considering the amount of leg work I do. Leon ills himself as "The best kept secret in the tri state (PA, NJ, DEL.) area for health, fitness & sports performance." His website is on the way. Email Leon at xfactorfit@aol.com

- Even our new President is powerless to the NCAA' rules committee.

- Can Stephon Marbury really sit out quietly for all 82 games without causing a scene? My money says no.

- T.I.'s Paper Trail is the latest into my "Play it all the way thru" album Pantheon.

- If you have received a shirt from me, email me a photo of yourself in it to Dre@DreAllDay.com.

- Happy Birthday to my BFF Shawna. Enjoy it!!

Weltanschauung Vol. IV

2008-11-06T03:07:00.002-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- €2.65 for bus fare. And the driver didn't speak English, leading to a confused me trying to slide my €10 biill into a slot that didn't exist. I came to realize that the fare depended on how far you planned to ride.

- There's a store in this town called Louis (it appears to be a clothing outlet) that always catches my eye when I ride but because it's logo looks eerily similar to Krispy Kreme's.

- The last thing you wanna hear, when you're walking around a foreign city at 8PM, with a fellow foreigner who is leading the way, in 30-something-degree weather, is, "Where the fuck are we at?"

- I have just been informed (it's Saturday morning, 8ish AM) that there IS a wi-fi connection available in this hotel: a T-Mobile HotSpot that has to be paid for. I will be making that payment.

- Gas stations here work on the tried-and-true honor system. Remember that? Pump first, then pay? I'm old.

- The employees of a local McDonald's all look genuinely happy to be there (they wear black jeans with the 'M' stitched into the back pocket!!). With some help, I was able to ask the counter lady for salt. She directed me to the stand on the side, which also housed the fountain drinks, napkins and straws (they come unwrapped). I grabbed 2 packets of "Feine Susse" and head out.
After emptying one packet over my fries, I taste a handful and my tongue registers nothing. I find the second packet, open it and stick the tip of my tongue into thr small packet. Let's make sure this is salt.
Turns out I had grabbed two packs of sugar tablets. ("Feine Susse" translates, roughly, to "fine sugar or sweets.")

- The city buses here are the same as the coach buses we took to road games in college.

- It's normal here, for separate parties to share tabes in a restaurant. For example, as I sat alone at a table that could fit seven people, a man & a woman came in and seated themselves at the other end of that same table and ate (they did show courtesy, however, and ask if the seats were taken before sitting).

- Two of the quietest motorbikes I have ever seen rode past me Monday evening.

- While watching CNN International's coverge of Election 2008, they showed a live feed from the Philadelphia Public Library's Overbrook Branch.

- The bus drivers don't wear uniforms- Tuesday's driver had on a Where's-Waldo- worthy striped shirt.

- After some communication difficulties with a counter person at a different McDonald's, the woman asked me if I spoke English (I got the correct "salt" packet this time).

- There are bakeries, bakeries, bakeries all over the place here. Wikipedia says that over 300 types of breads are known throughout Germany.

- On Wednesday, I was asked if we had training that day. When I applied that we did not, the response: "And your coach thinks that is OK?"

- On the bus Wednesday afternoon, there was a young woman that had 3 small kids with her, none more than 5 years old. She had headphones in her ears and her music up quite loud when I was able to make out one song: C Murder's 'Down For My N's.'

- The guy that helped me at T-Mobile to set up my German SIM card was from West Africa and reminded me of T-Pain. I couldn't get the song "Please Tip the Bartender" out of my head for 15 minutes.

- Another random McD's note (yes, every time I mention McDonald's is another time I've eaten there): when the fountain drinks are prepared behind the counter, they do not come with ice unless asked for.

- In all the countries I have been in, almost everyone refers to a cell phone as a "mobile" and text messages as "SMS."

- There is an excitement here for the Americans' election of Obama.

- Meeting my club manager, he told me to wait "In front of the Subway." I went to the train station, he meant the sandwich shop. Go figure.

- At the daily breakfast buffet spread, I sometimes grab a pastry that I haven't had before, to see if I'll like it or not. Yesterday morning I ate about 15% of one, and the woman who works the restaurant in the morning asked me to not waste so much food.

What A Twit!

2008-11-03T05:37:00.002-05:00

www.DreAllDay.com

First things first: we lost yesterday; I believe the score was 70-66. I missed waaaayy too many shots from all over, and that's all I have to say about it. The game was a Cup match (which is a tournament-within-the-season that a lot of Euro leagues have all the time), an doesn't count in our league stats. The local news should do a write- up tomorrow, and maybe there will be some info somewhere on the 'net. I'll let you know. Next game: Nov. 8th, at home.

----------------

I just signed up for Twitter, which is a simple site that lets users write short blurbs (or "twits") about what they're doing at the moment... which is a good idea. You can follow me here, and I encourage you all to sign up and we can all link up; form a society of sorts. Get to it!

I'll provide a quick link to my Twitter profile on DreAllDay.com for easy access. When you sign up, let me know where to find you!

Weltanschauung Vol. III

2008-10-30T06:58:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Vol. II was kinda weak, by my standards. I normally would hold off on posting such a short entry, but I had wi-fi access for the first time since my arrival and didn't want to take too long between posts. But fuck all that. I'm back now, so let's get started.

- As I sit here and attempt hacking into someone's wireless connection from my hotel room, one connection is titled "Bart Simpson." I failed to hack into Bart's connection.

- American- made movies have been popular in every country I've spent time in. I'm steadfastly against watching a foreign-language-voiced-over flick with English subtitles, though. Too much reading.

- I drank what I was told was "fresh squeezed apple juice" the other day. But it was carbonated, and very sweet-tasting. And it reminded me of beer when it first touched my lips.

- Some natives were astonished to hear me state that clothing in size 2XL is too small for me.

- Only in movies had I ever heard pants referred to as "trousers" in conversation. Not anymore.

- Our good friend "Ciao" lives in Germany, too!

- Looking through someone's CD shelf, I noticed the 'Greatest Hits of The Village People.'

- You know how we plug our electric things into outlets in the wall? Well, they do that here too, only the outlets in Europe aren't the same as ours; meaning, your (laptop, phone charger, iPod deck) can only get power if you use a special adapter that solves this problem. If you travel to Europe (in the UK plugs are also different than the US and Euro versions), best buy an adapter at the airport- they are not so easy to find. (Super-electronic store Media Markt carries them- but my local store just so happens to be sold out at the moment. Luckily, I brought one adapter along with me. )

UPDATE: Got one! Had to purchase a 5-piece blow-drying set to get the adapters that came with it, but €6 is a small price to pay to have full use of my gadgets.

- Markets often charge for plastic carrying bags here; I paid €0,15 (they use commas in place of decimal points when writing out monetary figures) for one Monday morning.

- Applesauce: "Apfelmus." And jelly is referred to as "marmelade," but we do that too.
Milk: "Vollmilch. "

- The local newspaper spelled my name "Dray."

- After triumphantly solving the power-adapter issue, I ran into another snafu. No more than 36 hours removed from my euro-adapter purchase, I realized that no one had informed me that an American set of hair clippers was too strong for the local outlets. The subsequent power surge caused an electricity outage that crippled the entire top floor of the hotel in the midst of a day-long snowstorm. Luckily, said problem was fixed with the flick of a circuit breaker. Serves me right for thinking a $10 hair grooming set purchased from Ross was built to last.

- And we thought, all along, that "Bon Apetit" was some made-up Halloween saying to scare the kids (or at least I did). They really say it here; every time a meal is served, as a matter of fact.

Weltanschauung Vol. II

2008-10-26T09:07:00.002-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- At the security scan in Miami, the Latino employee announced that separate bins should be used for "Computers, and large... video game."

- All hail Charlotte's Douglass Airport! After 30 minutes of hiccups, the free wi-fi is up and working properly.

**********

- The lady who runs the hotel I'm staying at offered me a sip from her drink Friday evening as we ate after practice. It smelled exactly like Good & Plenty candy. I passed (not because of the smell, though).

- The hotel I'm staying in is a small, countryside-like place with less than 20 rooms. The suite I'm staying in has the type of heater that's made up of those thick, long metal strips stuck together. I immediately turned them up to the highest allowable level. After napping for 2 1/2 hours, I told my team manager, when he came to get me for practice, that the room was too cold and the heater wasn't working correctly. He told me that since the suite had ben unoccupied it would take some hours for the heaters to warm up. And by then, he said, "You'll be wanting to turn it down!" I'm placing the over/under of me needing to turn the heat down on 13 days.

- My team's coach and starting center are both American. Our manager speaks very good English. I'm already predicting much smoother communication up the chain of command, so to speak, this season as opposed to last.

- With all the worldwide popularity our American hip-hop music has generated, it's interesting that the USA seems to be the only country in which radio censors out American hip-hop music's profanity.

- The vehicle of choice here seems to be either a Volkswagen or motorcycle.

- When spoken, the German version of "What's up?" Sounds like, "What's good?" I think.

Here and There 11/23/08

2008-10-23T12:18:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

*****

Let's start off with Scott Berkun's site, particularly his "essays" section. What drew me in was his essay titled "How To Detect Bullshit." I actively practice a lot of the techniques Scott discussed there, but his detail and clear explanation of the how and why impressed me.

*****

I caught a couple of episodes of Jeopardy! over the last week plus. What I want to know is: how in the HELL do these contestants know so much about so many different topics??? is there a Jeopardy! dictionary with sample topics a la the SAT Prep booklets? i remember watching White Men Can't Jump in the early 90s and Rosie Perez's character went on Jeopardy! She was depicted studying tons of different texts in the weeks leading up to the show and she won. Is that how it's really done- just read and study anything and everything? Does the show give potential contestants a pool of topics to be knowledgeable of before they come on, or is it just random, drawn-from-a-hat, hope-you-know-about-this-stuff questioning? I need to know this.

*****

ShamWOW. This product happens to be made in Germany; I just may bring a couple packs home.

*****

Even though I voted for Obama already, I must commend Sarah Palin for appearing on Saturday Night Live (Part 2). Very nice move. And Amy Poehler's rap was one of the few funny parts of the entire episode. I can't believe this show used to entertain me on weekend nights.

*****

Here's a good analogy i was discussing with a friend recently: I was asked about posting photos on Facebook compared to posting the same photos on MySpace, and I had to explain to my friend the same thing I'll share here: Facebook is church, and MySpace is the club. Think about it. Many of the same characters appear in both places, but there are certain things that are acceptable at the club that we just don't do in church. And I prefer to keep it that way.

*****

There's a Republican ad out now whose main message is that Barack Obama will be facing his first crisis as an Executive once he's elected President. I suppose the Republicans feel that McCain's experience will better guide us through these times. My question is: If having an experienced person around is all we need to turn things around, how in the hell did it happen in the first place? Dubya is experienced. McCain and Obama (and Hillary, and Joe Biden) have been in Washington as this economic situation has approached and hit us. If experience is all we need, why didn't any of our 100 senators do anything to stop it before it started? Or our 435 Congresspeople? As far as I am informed, all decision made by our President must be ok'd via vote by the Senate and/ or House Of Representatives (correct me if I'm wrong on that). So, doesn't all this mean that having an "experienced" President doesn't guarantee anything? And this seems to be the underlying message in all the anti-Obama ads nowadays.

Weltanschauung, Vol. I

2008-10-23T07:02:00.004-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Last season, I posted a weekly entry titled What I Want You To Know that listed random interesting things I encountered in Herceg Novi, Montenegro. For reasons listed below, I'm gonna do things a bit differently this season.

For the uninformed, I'm gonna be in Germany this season, and the title of my entries derives from the German meaning "World View." This title fits perfectly as I strive to consistently remind myself that my life, and my aspirations, are much bigger than just the things I can see in front of me. It's great to have a website, but there are people out there who built their brands from nothing, with larger fanbases than mine. I may (will!)score 30 in a game, and LeBron James also scores 30... In an NBA game. There is always more to do, more places to go, a better story to tell.

This World View does two things for me: 1) It keeps me grounded to know that there are other people out there doing things bigger and better than I- or at least trying to, meaning I cannot rest on my laurels; 2) Reminds me that I have done a lot and nothing at all at the same time, which is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

I also hope to be able to allow some of you to see things through my writing that you may not otherwise see, and I welcome any of you to do the same for me through your communications, whether they be via blog, video, email/ phone call, or what have you.

Montenegro is a place that doesn't see many Americans on a regular basis, save for tourists. My presence (spelled it right, Phu!) there was a huge surprise to even the players on my team. Germany, on the other hand, sees hundreds of American basketball players annually, and there is also a strong US military presence in Germany most of the time. So instead of being "The American," like last season, I'll be the "New American" this time around. And I also feel that I'll have enough talk-about-it experience happening in Germany that I'll be posting volumes of Weltanschauung more frequently than I did last season's once-a-week postings. But only time can tell for certain.

At this moment, I'm sitting at gate J8 of Miami International, waiting to board the first leg of my flight to Stuttgart. I was both happy and concerned when I received my boarding passes about an hour ago; happy because my heavy-ass checked bags weighed in at 41 and 48 pounds each, and concerned because I was convinced that they were both hovering around 60 lbs.- meaning I must be losing arm strength, and that the weight room will be my first stop next off season. Yes, I'm already thinking ahead.

The World Is Yours.

Please Don't Shoot Me Down...

2008-10-20T16:35:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Firstly (is that a word?), allow me to introduce my latest production:

Wes was scheduled to appear in this vid, but the midnight-to-2AM workout schedule scared him off. Next time.

*****

Secondly,

It took me the better part of 7 months, 20 video volumes, more time in the gym than you need to even know about, gallons of sweat, a small amount of blood, and thankfully, no tears, and I'm on my way to Germany Thursday morning. I'll fill yall in with more details once I've established a reliable Internet connection over there, wherever that connection may be.

I was gonna give a list of thanks here, but I think I'll save it for the end of the season. Those who have played a role thus far, no matter how small or large, you know who you are. Stay with me.

(If I know you, or we have ever met, even if only online, you pay a role.You may not know it, but you do.)

Live This Summer Or Die This Summer paid off for me. I stretched a bit into the Fall, I know, but LTSODTS can be put to a permanent, restful sleep now. '08-'09: Dominate Or Die.

*****

Thirdly, Phu & I, being the sly foxes that we are, went to "Early Voting" in Florida City today to punch Obama's ticket... and stood in line for 3+ hours. Barack BETTER win.

My 3 Cents On The Presidential Race

2008-10-16T08:28:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I watched the Presidential debate on MSNBC last night. I, like many Americans, had never, before this year, watched nor gave a damn about a Presidential debate. But this year, with a Black man running, I have followed the process more closely than I'd ever watch two White men go at it. Let's keep it real here.

One interesting part of the debate occurred about 45 minutes in, when the moderator asked each candidate if their counterpart's running mate was capable of holding the Presidential office should something happen to the future President (i.e., could Biden do a good job as President if, God forbid, something happen to Barack; could Palin do the same for McCain?).

About ten minutes prior to this question being posed, the moderator asked each candidate about his running of negative ads targeting each other. Naturally, both McCain and Obama deflected the direct question of, "Why are you running negative ads?" But, Obama reinforced a point he had made back when he was going up against Hillary Clinton: this "Politics As Usual" way of doing things in Washington is typical of your average politician, hence John McCain's campaign strategies.

Now back to the running mate question. Obama was first to answer the query of if Sarah Palin is capable of being leader of our country, should Sen. McCain not be able to fulfill his duties.

Now, we all know that Palin is, of the 4 principals involved in this race, the least prepared to lead the United States of America (if you watch Saturday Night Live you're aware of the light that has been made of her debating chops). Remember the Sesame Street skit, "One of these thing just doesn't belong here, now it's time to play our game"? Palin is that one. She has been ridiculed and ripped by every political opinion-maker, but that is not how I've come to my conclusion on her. My gut feeling through watching her is that she is a small fish jumping into a huge ocean right now. She has not much of anything of substance to say in debate, and seems to be trying to get by on smiles and rah-rah soccer mom spiel. (And, speaking of gut feelings, would this happen to someone we're about to elect as President or V.P.? Ever???)

Barack, however, took the high road and said nothing negative about Palin. He praised several of her virtues and passed the mic, so to speak, to Sen. McCain.

The FIRST thing out of John's mouth? "(Paraphrasing, but quite accurate) Senator Biden is a good man, but let me point out that he's been wrong on several votes in Washington..."

Obama went to his usual non-verbal response when McCain says something that has every Obama supporter yelling at their television screens in protest: tilt his head, lower his eyelids, and smile as broadly as a human can without showing his teeth. It's become a sort of game for me to watch for. When I can predict the Obama Face, it makes me feel as if I'm somewhat knowledgeable about Presidential politics.

Overall, Obama has achieved the strategic position of taking the higher road on every topic that has an opening for mud-slinging. Barack has frequently agreed with McCain in debates; this makes sense because these two men are not on opposing sides on every single issue. However McCain never agrees with Obama; he finds some nugget of negativity to throw out there at every opportunity.

On another note, there have been studies conducted on how people perceive candidates in these debates (also here and here). Facial expression, body language, and voice tonality all play a role in people's conscious or subconscious choice of a President. McCain doesn't look trustworthy or believable to me. I cannot see how anyone could say the same about Obama. I'm convinced it is more fear (of a Black man in office, of a fresh way of politics in D.C., of White men losing their hold on the most powerful position in the Free World) that has earned John McCain his supporters.

I have avoided weighing in on this race for two reasons: 1) I don't really give a damn about politics. I can name exactly 3 U.S. Senators: Obama, Biden, and McCain. And the majority of the questions asked in the debates have no bearing on my life. 2) Once Obama wins, all of the above opinion is moot anyway.

But since this election is the most newsworthy thing taking place in the world right now, and there's a Black man in position to win, and I'm participating in the Presidential election for only the second time in my life, I feel I should say what I feel.

So now, I have spoken my piece on Election 2008.

My President is Black.

Here and There 11/16/08

2008-10-15T09:00:00.008-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I've resolved to step my writing game up with some better thought out and developed posts, but I still wanna be able to share some interesting tidbits and web links I come across every now and then. This section will be know as "Here and There," and this is the first edition. Welcome.

*****

Let's start with a great quote by Ellen Goodman:

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.

*****
Sarah Palin booed while dropping the puck at Flyers' Opening Night.

Yet Fox News says the reaction was "mixed."

*****

Took damn near 2 months, but my ThisIs50.com shirt has arrived!!!

*****

I've followed Diddy's Making The Band on MTV from the beginning of him creating Danity Kane, and I'm glad that the pot at the end of the rainbow was some actual reality television. Seemed like Aubrey was trying to see how far she could go, verbally, with Diddy. I guess she found out. Danity Kane = the new Destiny's Child???

*****

DreAllDay.com shirts are on the way in the near future. All of you who have sent me your shipping info- I have it, and you will be personally notified when your shirt is on its way.

*****

B Battles, where is the photo you were sending me a month ago???

*****

This vid here, is from NBATV's visit to New Orleans Hornet training camp. This vid subtly shows you how much of a man's league the NBA is, and how strong- minded you gotta be to stay alive there. The Black guy doing most of the talking and bet-placing? That's the coach.

*****

Sw-

2008-10-07T19:14:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I had to post about this because it involves some hip hop artists that I'm a fan of. And it probably involves you, or someone you know.

Earlier this week, Jim Jones came out talking shit about Jay-Z's Vibe magazine cover shoot.... Jim is basically saying that Jay-Z stole his swag from Jim Jones.

I like Jim Jones. I liked him when he was just Cam'Ron's sidekick and hype man. Summer Wit Miami is one of my favorite songs to listen to when I drive. We Fly High (Baaaallliiinnn'!!!) had me working on my shooting form. But it seems that Jim, since We Fly High died down along with his mainstream buzz, has resorted to negative talk about more popular rapers to keep his own name in the news. To quote Jay-Z:

"...I'm setting myself apart from rappers who use other peoples names
So other motherfuckers can watch 'em..."

I know, 50 Cent did the same in a way. But remember, 50 came out with a track naming names of rappers (more), had a slight buzz going, fell off the map, came back out with quality material, THEN got back to calling out rappers- but by that point 50 was beyond famous.

Jim Jones also generously used a term in the above-linked interview that is starting to lose fire- be forewarned!!- "Swag."

From Urban Dictionary:
swag
appearance ,style ,or the way he or she presents them selves.
Ex: He got a killa swag.

Swag is a hip-hop- generated buzzword that is on it's way to the graveyard after a very short shelf life of about 18 months. It will join "real talk ("real rap")," "gangsta," "thugged out," "bling (I raised an eyebrow when this word was highlighted in my spell check- didn't Oxford add this to the dictionary? I did some research and found that the dictionary- correct term, however, is "Bling-Bling.")," and some others that I have chosen to erase from memory.

The circle of life for these terms goes like so: A person or group of persons uses the term exclusively, and as this person increases popularity, their catch-word becomes the current fad; The masses begin experimenting with the term to see how it sounds coming off the tongue; The term becomes common in rappers' song titles and MySpace display names; The term's use becomes like eating to much candy, and only lames and dorky white folks are using it from then on. "Swag" is at the tail end of the MySpace stage.

Let your friends know to stop using this word.

I Like

2008-10-07T18:42:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- I saw a commercial for the bush Clinton Capital Recovery Fund two days ago, and I was damn sure that H.W. Bush forgot to put in his teeth before filming.

- I came across a site I really like so far sometime back, called Stuff White People Like.com. They have a book out, a very well-kept web site, everything. And it's entertaining for the most part.

Of course, there was an easy opportunity for a competitor of sorts for the right person, and lo and behold, we got Stuff Educated Black People Like.com (I'm glad the creator of this site put the "Educated" in there... No need for more emphasis on fried chicken, showing up late and Kool-Aid). This site is also well-kept as well, though it is not as thoroughly done as the White People site. Both are worth a read by you, especially if you have time to kill.

A day or so ago, after checking for updates on each, my mind wandered: What other ethnic group could be next to jump on the "Stuff Our People Like" horse? And, dammit, I guessed right! Stuff Asian People Like. Definitely the lowest-quality of the three sites for what it's worth (doesn't really matter), but still a great piggyback idea.

Juiced

2008-10-04T09:10:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I was in 7th or 8th grade. And I remember the day vividly.

First, the back story: Our 6th (or 7th) grade class had taken a trip on the same day as an NBA Finals game, and when I came home that evening my head was spinning once the TV came on: my beloved Knicks (I was a huge Pat Ewing fan) were in a dogfight with the Houston Rockets, and Orenthal James Simpson was driving the speed limit down a highway in LA with 30 or so (estimation) police cars following him.

This part you know: The Knicks went on to lose the Finals (damned John Starks!!!). OJ went to trial and Johnny Cochran became a celebrity.

The trial stretched out for some time, and on October 3, 1995 (I looked it up- my memory is not that good) the verdict was scheduled to be read. At Masterman (my school at the time), almost every teacher and student was excited to hear the verdict, and most teachers actually paused class to watch the verdict on the televisions that were in each classroom.

Except for our bitch math teacher. I don't recall her name, and believe that if I did, it would be printed here in full. So she was going over something on the board when we heard the shrieks and screams from the hallway: OJ had gotten off. Not guilty.

OJ went on to lose the civil case against him, but he moved on as if nothing was even wrong, at least from afar. Wrote a preposterous book detailing how he would have killed his wife- if, you know, he had been the one to do it. Interesting.

Flash forward to today. 13 years to the goddamn day! OJ is found guilty of 12 counts of armed robbery, kidnapping, and is looking at 20 years behind bars. Is this karma coming back to him? I think so, in a way: had OJ been found guilty of the double murders, he was sure to receive life in prison or worse. 20 years is a lighter sentence than life; I'll say the great work he did in covering up the murders and hiring that great defense team was worth something to the Karma Gods.

Feel The Breeze

2008-10-03T08:58:00.003-04:00

Here's a link to a humorous article whose subject is my former PSU Altoona basketball teammate, Mark Librizzi (reprinted below). Read it and laugh. When "Breeze" first came to our campus, another player who knew him from high school told me, "Don't believe anything he says." That has nothing to do with the above story; the story just reminds me of that statement.

************

Officers: Man took police car for a ride

By Sara Ganim- sganim@centredaily.com

BELLEFONTE — A man who allegedly took a joyride in a State College police cruiser with a dog inside waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday on charges related to theft and driving with a suspended license.

Mark Anthony Librizzi told police that the night of Aug. 10 he was drinking at Cafe 210 West, a bar at 210 W. College Ave., and remembers approaching the police cruiser, which had its lights on.

“Librizzi said he messed with the police car,” a criminal complaint states. “He had no memory of how he got home, which is approximately one block from where the police car was located” near the intersection of Corl Street and West Beaver Avenue, court documents state.

The officer who had been driving the cruiser was responding to an incident near that bar, police wrote. She parked the car behind a bus with its lights on, then later saw it pass by the bus, police wrote.

When police found the cruiser, the lights were still on and the dog was still in the back.

A woman who told police she was at Librizzi’s apartment when he got home that night said Librizzi told her he had stolen a police cruiser and then he took her outside and pointed to it, police wrote.

Librizzi told the woman he had heard loud breathing in his ear while driving the car, and turned to find the dog in the back, the complaint states.

Librizzi also told the woman he wiped his fingerprints before leaving the car, according to the complaint.

Police say Librizzi admitted on three different occasions to taking the car. State College police arrested him last week.

At the time, Librizzi had a suspended license for a prior DUI-related offense, police said.

Sara Ganim can be reached at 231-4616.

************

Let's just end this blog entry on that note.

Artwork

2008-10-01T09:09:00.004-04:00

I got a new tattoo done last week at Tattoos By Lou somewhere in Miami (who make you pay before you get in the chair, which I guess is a smart idea). It had been over a year since my last trip to the tatt chair, so the sting of the needle surprised me at first but I made it through without complication. The dude who did my work had, like, 50 tattoos on his body, even a Mike Tyson- like colored tatt on his face. Looking at Mike, Chyloe's (the tattoo artist) tatt is actually bigger. Seeing all the work he had had done on his body, I figured that Chyloe was probably numb to the tattoo needle by now. So I was mildly surprised to his response when I asked him if the face tatt was much pain for him: "Fuck yeah it hurt!"

Chyloe said he had done at least a million tattoos in his career (and he has 3 passports filled with stamps from his travels), which got me to thinking: how many baskets have I made on basketball courts in my life? I think I may be over a million, but there is no way I could ever come close to having an accurate count.

Chyloe said he was from LA, but moved to Miami. He says Miami has more chicks, and that he was tired of the "dumb White chicks" that make up the majority of LA females (his words).

*****

Strolling through a mall in the city, I went into a Finish Line store that had the usual set up, with music playing over the store speaker system. The odd thing was that the profanity in the songs was coming through, loud and clear. I clearly remember working at Kid's Foot Locker back in 2005, with my favorite radio show playing: The Wendy Williams Experience. One day while I had the show playing on our store stereo (I was assistant manager and spent a good amount of weekday afternoons manning the store alone), a Caucasian woman came in with her kids, just as Wendy began talking about how comfortable the bra she was wearing felt against her breasts. The customer turned red and asked me, presumptuously, to turn the stereo down.

*****

One of the worst things that can happen to anyone going through a fast food drive-thru window isn't the order being wrong- it's the food not being fresh and crisp. I've found the solution, though, kind of: Go to these places when there's a line and the store's busy! Think about it: when it's busy, there's no food just sitting under those warmers and heating lamps, waiting for someone to buy it. With so much demand at the busy times, there is constant fresh food being made. Try it and thank me later.

*****

Happy belated 10th birthday to Google!

*****

At Dave & Buster's last week, a girl at the ticket-counting counter asked me if I played any basketball. I told her yes, that's what I do for a living. She looked at me as if waiting for the punch line, like there should be more to the story. "That's ALL you do?? That's it??"

... And 6,500 tickets will buy you this clock (6 feet tall!).

Say Cheese

2008-09-26T17:22:00.001-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

(but you already knew that, right??)

Unbeknownst to me, in early 2008 BFENT submitted some photos of me to a major publication for consideration. And whaddayaknow, they chose me to be in one of their yearly special issues. The shoot took place in early June, and the magazine will be out in the fall. More on that to come.

UPDATE: That soot was with Playgirl Magazine (NSFW), and the November issue will feature my work along with the other guys in this photo:

Here's Another photo.

I will be addressing the question I know you'll want to know and some other interesting things about this experience in a blog as soon as the issue arrives in my mailbox. Here's the video interview I did after the shoot:

See my Modeling Page for more on my modeling exploits.

Squeaky Clean

2008-09-26T09:28:00.002-04:00

I went to the local Target to purchase the Sex & The City DVD (special Target Edition!!) Tuesday morning.

I was surprised to see the guy in front of me was purchasing it as well. I made sure to keep mine shielded by my body when he peeked back at me- not because of embarrassment (I am impossible to embarrass), just to avoid him attempting to strike up a conversation with me. But in this city, I probably had nothing to worry about.

In Ross, I made a trip to the restroom, which was just as disgusting as you'd expect it to be. Then the sign pictured below made it all make sense:

For the uninformed, or those who have never worked in any type of food service or retail business, the above sign can be found inside any restroom in a McDonald's or Burger King. It represents a check sheet for the person who, presumably, checks and/ or cleans the bathroom each hour. The above photographed sign shows that no one ever checks this restroom, or at least never bothers to note that they did so on the sign.

Information for receiving DreAllDay shirts can now be found here.

Opportunity Cost(co)

2008-09-26T09:26:00.001-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

We went to a local Costco today and had some observations...

I have heard of J.D. Power and Associates awards for years, mostly from car commercials touting their products. Today was the first time I actually saw one of the awards in the flesh, though:

While waiting in line at the food stand (10 inch Polish sausage and 20 ounce beverage for $1.60!!), I looked at the workers and couldn't help but to have visions of Fast Food Nation:

Which reminds me of a story:

***

July 2006, Penn's Landing, Philadelphia. Tone and I are at the BK 3 on 3, along with my brother in law Will, waiting to play our first game. with a lot of people walking around nervously before they lace 'em up, a large group of hooopers and observers gather at what looks like the best game going on at the moment. One team features a dude Tone knows. Said dude is chubby, out of shape, and a loudmouth- typical Philly streetball player. Anyway, a teammate of said dude plays in college somewhere in Ohio, and he goes for, and misses, a layup. The team they're playing against has 4 players, so one guy- 5'10", fat, and also 5x better at talking than he is at playing- is on the sideline, verbally supporting his team and trashing the other team.

When the Ohio College Player misses the layup, Bench Guy yells out, loud enough for everyone to hear, "He plays in COLLEGE??? For who, Division 8??!!"

Ohio College Player's retort: "Who you play for? A fucking hot dog stand?!?!?"

Verbally defeated, Bench Guy changes the subject from basketball to money (also a typical Philly Streetballer tactic), and yells out about where he works (some petroleum company) and how much he allegedly makes doing this job ($80,000 per year).

***

I did a great job- one I should be commended for- for resisting the urge to buy this:

On the way out (after VisionWorks, for some reason, had to "go through corporate" to fax my contact lens prescription to Costco, forcing me to leave without said lenses), I noticed this sign:

This sign is basically an excuse for Costco to have employees posted up at the entrance and exit, probably to curtail shoplifting. No way that guy checked everything on our receipt and matched it to the items in the cart. And, excuse me- this guy knows the price of every item just by looking at it?

...And The Cheese Stands Alone

2008-09-26T09:25:00.001-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

I'll start off by linking to a great article discussing the process of gym-joining. I love the part about the employee's promise of hot women:

The gym could at that very moment be filled with a thousand first-class meatheads and the salesmen will assure you that on Saturday mornings, or some other time that is not right then, "the talent in this place is unreal."

*****

Friday evening, I pushed for Phu & I to enjoy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. One of my daily blog-reads, Truehoop, has been hot on the trial of NBA players who eat there for a while. I'm not in the NBA yet, and I didn't see any NBA players there. And the dinner entree was the mediocrity I've come to expect from the Cheesecake factory. And our waitress was not good at waitressing. And the virgin Tropical Punch drink I ordered tasted like it was poured straight out of a Hawaiian Punch bottle.

But for some strange reason, I seem to like going to this restaurant every month or so. The Cheesecake Factory's specialty- which I'm assuming is cheesecake- isn't particularly spectacular to me, and the food, from the appetizers to the meals, suck. The wait staff, most of the time, is pretty good. And the ambiance of the place is very well put-together. And there are always a lot of people there, and there's always a line for seating. And the food is priced as if it is very high- quality. I don't know what it is, then, that allows the Cheesecake factory to maintain this special hold over me. I know there must be some really smart people running that company. I shouldn't be eating cheesecake anyway.

*****

After dismantling some players at 24Hr Fitness, Wes and I experienced more terrible wait-staff service at the Kendall Ale House. Our waiter came to take our drink order (two waters), and Wes called for some chips and salsa. Upon the chips and salsa request, the waiter had to stop in his tracks, pull out his pen & pad and write it down, which gave us a slight chuckle. The waiter proceeded to walk past our table 3 more times before bringing the chips and salsa out. The waiter then made slight blunders on our food orders (I learned that this man was not aware of the existence of "seasoned fries"). When it was time for the bills (which we got separate), I asked Wes what percentage would he place in the likelihood the waiter would fuck up the billing in some way. before he could answer, I remarked that any percentage below "100" would be unacceptable. Naturally the waiter did just that.

I will say, however, that the Ale House hosts did a good job of seating us faster than the stated wait time.

*****

The above is a screen shot from my Youtube account, where I've reached the 250,000 video view (meaning, people watching my stuff) and 400 subscriber plateaus. Thanks to all the viewers out there!

Moment Of Clarity

2008-09-26T09:23:00.002-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Firstly, a few orders of business...

This is a limited edition shirt that will probably not be available for public consumption. Maybe. We'll see.

These Priority Mail packages represent DreAllDay.com t-shirts sent out to early responders. More are scheduled to be mailed!

Eating in a Tampa- area Miami Subs, I caught a glimpse (and photo) of ESPN Baseball analyst Peter Gammons (yes, that's him. And yes, I'm a groupie for ESPN personalities. Not really.):

- I made a phone call to someone the other day, and I heard a statement that I hadn't heard in years as I waited:

"Please wait while the Nextel subscriber you're tyring to reach is located."

**********

Now.

The vid I posted in my last blog entry (reposted here for clarity)

has stirred up a lot of interest, in the form of comments on Youtube. Some people have found it funny. Some say they appreciate the quality of the basketball. Some have applauded me for doing it. There are some folks who enjoy Wes and I trashing the victimized player.

And I love it all. I will respond, however, to the trivial few who feel I was out of line in making light of the kid I was playing against. A few points you should remember:

1. This is Youtube, whose slogan is "Broadcast yourself." Meaning, whatever I choose to upload, as long as it's within Youtube's Terms Of Service, is my prerogative.

2. The kid KNEW we were filming the game!! Before the one on one took place, we had played a couple of games of 2 on 2, with me and the kid matched up. My team won both games, but the kid had made several jumpshots in the second game after it was out of reach for his team (think 14 to 3), and I felt his confidence was a bit too high (even after the two losses, the kid ran over to Wes- who was holding the camera- to watch himself). hence, the one on one game.

3. Some opinion-makers have said I shouldn't talk shit about the kid since he "didn't say anything about me." Well, how would you know if he did? But that's besides the point. My comment about his "parents being from Afghanistan" was a direct play on Wes' blog entry about sub par players claiming to be pros. That is also besides the point. The point is, I called the kid "a garbage player." Well, he was/ is. Calling a garbage player a Garbage Player isn't talking shit, it's merely a statement of fact.

4. A common refrain is, "You are a pro. Why are you playing against these bums to prove a point?" My answer: I am a man of the people. Even though I have achieved some level of success in basketball, I will never deny a player the chance to try their hand vs. Dre Baldwin. If you don't like me beating up on bums, I'll play YOU and post in on Youtube. email me at Dre@dreallday.com and we'll set it up.

**********

Anyway, I'm not excited about the above topic as much as i just felt the need to have something of substance to write about today. As you were...

Notes

2008-09-26T09:21:00.002-04:00

- Happy BDay to my main man and senior year college roommate, B Battles.

- Wes grabbed my camera and captured this gem in 24 Hour Fitness, in return for me filming Wes' triumphant return at LA Fitness 2 weeks earlier:

- I like to point out sites/ blogs of note that have grabbed my attention, and former NBA coach Eric Musselman's blog is a great read for anyone who, like me, loves to read. Musselman reads a goddamn lot; the way he writes about articles and books, it appears to me that he reads 2-3 books at a time.

- I still have not received my ThisIs50.com T-shirt...

- DreAllDay.com shirts are on their way to a few early recipients as of the conclusion of the week. When you get them, take a photo of yourself wearing it and email it to me.

- On another note, I did some work over the summer (non-basketball) that is / will be coming to light over the next week or two. I'd love to share it and the details with you all, but I think I'll hold off on it until my bball deal is done. That is, unless you find out about it from somewhere else...

Site Updates

2008-09-26T09:20:00.000-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Remember how I said I do my best writing whe I'm disucssing a real-life situation that gets my mental wheels turning? Well I did, and I couldn't find the link to the entry.

But anyway, Wes hit me up Wednesday evening and told me about some weak ball payer who triggered a thought in my head about a new item in my player classification system. Click the link to see it.

I've also closed the book (figuratively speaking, of course- anything I left out will be covered in my as-yet-unititled book in full detail) on the Lithuania, Harlem Ambassadors, Montenegro, and LTSODTS sections of the Basketball page. I've also added a section detailing my athletic exploits from before my introduction to basketball.

My Book Reccomendations will now feature the book I happen to be reading at the moment.

Photos will continuously be added.

Funny Stories is done through Vol. 6.

They See Me!

2008-09-09T11:23:00.007-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- I've been doing the Youtube thing for about a year and a half now, and I'm at close to 400 subscribers. Very proud of that. Lately, however, there have been some rogue accounts using my name and tags to show their own vids (like this one; though this one would be good for any bored, lonely guys out there. Thank my name for it). Here's one for cars. I must be drawing the watchers in if there's people using my name to get views. I'm happy about this.

- In other goings-on, I came into LA Fitness this morning and was greeted by the two people I see in there every day (though I know neither of their names)- the front desk lady and my man who does maintenance in the building (he is responsible for the much-better condition of the gym floor I discussed here). The maintenance guy stopped me and asked if I had a website.

"Yeah."

"What's it called?"

"DreAllDay.com (this was the first time I've stated that so matter-of-factly, as opposed to the usual tone I use when telling someone of something they've never heard of)."

He went on to tell me that he and a friend were online and came across m site while looking for something else. He said he saw my photo on the home page and said, "I know him!!"

- Adrian Peterson's trucking of Al Harris last night wowed me.

- Where the hell is my ThisIs50.com t-shirt??? I ordered it almost 2 weeks ago. The site store says, "ALLOW 7-10 BUSINESS DAYS FOR DELIVERY." Time's almost up.

Two things about this issue:

1) Yes, I did write here that we should invest in ourselves instead of others' ambitions, goals, or whatever else they're selling. In my defense, i wanted a ThisIs50 shirt back in march, before DreAllDay.com even had a hosting account attached to it.

2) The ThisIs50 store advertises it's shirts for $19.50 + $5.00 s&h. But, when you go to Paypal to complete the transaction (they only accept PayPal), the price of the shirt jumps to $20, and you cannot change it. So they stole an extra 50 cent from me. Coincidence, or another great marketing ploy by Curtis???

UPDATE: from the Store site:

"Due to overwhelming demand, the THISIS50 Store is now CLOSED We are currently processing the unsent orders and apologize for the delay Store will be back up soon with even MORE choice!!!"

How did I KNOW this would happen when I saw that the shirts were finally for sale?!?!

Hopefully I get my shirt on time; i bought one the damn day they became available. And this goes to show just how popular 50 is.

- In contrast to 50, I'm handing out my shirts for FREE; but just like 50, there will be a wait before you actually get it. But it's free, so no complaining.

More News At 11

2008-09-06T17:58:00.002-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

1. My man Wes Pifer briefly came out of retirement last weekend:

2. DreAllDay.com shirts are in production and coming to a mailbox near you, free of charge (email me, and understand that you will wait):

3. There are a couple of moves on the way...

4. I've added four (4) new vids to my Youtube account:

5. Why, when a business opens at, say, 8 AM, do some people stand at the locked doors or gates and stare in at the employees inside until the doors are opened? Why do these people often tend to be over 45? And Caucasian?

Dear Summer

2008-09-03T10:42:00.003-04:00

With a playoff-game loss Tuesday night, my summer of organized basketball has ended. Only workouts, conditioning remain for me; now the threat of twisted ankles and other freak injuries that happen in pickup/ rec league games can be erased from my mind.

I managed to play in at least one game in 3 different leagues; some good, some not-so-much. Overall, my goal in playing in them was to establish my name in the area, and I feel I did pretty well on that. I also, of course, wanted to play well, and have folks say, "dude is nice!" Or something to that degree. I'll give myself a check on that, for the most part (though I showed better in some places than others).

I feel great right now- healthy, in game shape, no injuries or nagging pains. My game is where I planned it to be by now when I started LTSODTS- I can play with any player, any league, and gym, any park, anywhere in the universe, and never look like I don't belong on the floor. Now I'll let the business people I work with do their job, and we shall have liftoff.

Flush Twice For Courtesy

2008-09-03T10:39:00.004-04:00

I love to travel- road trips, visiting friends, vacation weekends. One thing that disturbs me, however, about traveling is the terrible eating habits that seem to be a requirement of being on the road.

McDonald's.
Wendy's.
Checkers.
Room service.
Chicken fingers.
French Fries.
McDonald's again.
Gas station food.

Though I'm in great shape, eating more than one meal of this type of food over any 48-hour span makes me feel like grease is stuck in my throat. Even worse is when I have some sort of physical performance scheduled over the course of this grease-fest. One meal doesn't affect my level of play, but playing well with a Quarter Pounder with Cheese as my body's fuel feels like driving an extra 1,000 miles without an oil change- yes, it worked, but I'm cheating myself. My day always feels better when I eat right.

Anyway, now that I'm back off the road, I can work on flushing my system back to it's normal state- which means 2 gallons of water to consume over the course of the day. And I guess the Papa John's Sicilian Classic pizza I ordered at 10PM last night won't help my progress... 3 gallons.

Even at home, though, for some of us, the artery-clogging stuff I hate to eat too much of can consume much of your day-to-day life as well. That's why it's good to be able to cook (or, as in my case, know someone who does).

Anyone here ever had one of those mail-order meals?

Rent-A-Vision

2008-09-03T10:34:00.004-04:00

I spent this past weekend driving a rented car through the state of Florida. It always makes me think when I drive a rental- why does my everyday car now feel so less powerful and smooth? Even though my everyday car is in great shape, a rented car always seems to show me how much better a level of performance exists out there, even when the current level seems to be well-enough.

If you can't see where this is leading, it's the following metaphor: Even when what we're doing is going well and smoothly, there is always a higher level of output that can be achieved.

For example... I can spend an entire summer in the gym, working out by myself and practicing daily. I see improvements in my performance and I feel myself getting better. Then, i spend a week out of town somewhere, playing, practicing, and working out with some other really good players. Being around these guys, and the memories of my performances against them, stays in my mind as how much higher a level I can take myself and my workouts; just like that rented car shows me how much better a car can perform than what I'm accustomed to in my day-to-day life.

So I can use that most powerful tool- the human mind- to fuel an increase in energy, motivation, and output when it comes to my personal performance.

Or I can buy a new car.

Men In The Mirror

2008-08-31T03:10:00.001-04:00

To begin with, I am NOT into politics at all. I am not one to hold a discussion on foreign policy, healthcare, or how we should get out of Iraq. But here's what I am: educated, analytical, debate-hungry, and voter eligible. And a post by my former co-worker (which I will re-post here for those not friends with him or on Facebook), along with a small verbal nudge from Wes, prompted me to throw my blogging hat into the Obama-McCain discussion.

First, Steve's note, titled "Obama?":

In the wake of the DNC and with comments that some people are making about the Democratic candidate, I wanted to take a moment to express the fear that I feel that anyone would vote to put into power someone as inexperienced as Obama. I cannot understand how anyone can seriously think that he should run our country.
Each time that I have heard Obama speak, he has left me wondering if this guy actually has any policies, realistic strategies, and any legitimate content for a speech. One thing that I can say is that he loves a pep rally. He can get some people really excited about what we all wish could be true right now, right away. The problem is that Obama has no game plan to actually achieve many of the "promises" that he makes and most politicians make.

I am truly tired of hearing "yes we can." All of these promises of change are not sufficient for my Independent vote. Obama is to President of the United States as Branch Sales Manager is to CEO. A simple example of why I would never vote for a political campaign based on promises can be best explained by a hypothetical situation:

I want you to invest your money with me instead of with your current investment company, or if you don't have one, I am your man. Just give me your retirement money, your children's college savings, etc because I promise that I will get a better yield percentage than anyone else. Right now your money is not earning enough for you. It's time to change that. I will give you more money. I understand what it's like to not earn enough on my savings. With your current savings manager you aren't earning enough, and that's not fair. Who's with me to stop the low yields and earn more money?!!

I have little experience in investing other peoples' money. I think that most people would think long and hard about the decision when it comes time to take your life savings and entrust it in a stranger's decisions. Feel free to send me money if you wish. However, many people are really quick to take a side in a political decision like this, that really does affect many aspects of our lives. As we are all getting to the age that politics is becoming relevant to our everyday lives, we need to think about what is ultimately important to us.

Somebody, give me some of Obama's political positions on the important issues. I have read his issues section on his website and it is hilarious. For example, read the section on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict under the Foreign Policy section. I can summarize it: he'll work with them both so that they both get what they want. It's this naiveness that is really scary. I see this guy as another politician that will tell us what we want to hear and deliver nothing. When I feel it is important to waste some more of my time, I will give some really good content on why I will vote for the McCain/Palin ticket.

The fear of Obama's inexperience are the same feelings that got W. Bush to push the Patriot Act up our noses (his dad was a president- so Bush was well-prepared, huh?). Just because the man (Obama) isn't part of the Old Way of doing politics, i.e. Hillary Clinton's mud-slinging in attempting to win the Democratic nomination (a tactic that showed she would rather hurt the entire party than accept defeat); using fear as motivation to move the American people to give up human rights- doesn't mean Obama can't do the job.

Example: In the NFL, many of the head and assistant coaches are retreads- get a job, get fired, get a job with another team. If you look at the list of assistant coaches for all NFL teams, you'll recognize a majority of the names, because the same guys get jobs over and over. Just because these coaches are experienced does not mean they are good at what they do- if they were good at it, they would not be so consistently fired.

McCain has never been President; he has experience in doing other things that will not even be asked of him as commander-in-chief. Think about it- McCain and Obama are both senators- does the President handle tasks that senators are responsible for doing? I don't know the job descriptions of either in full, but I would think not.

As I stated above, I know not much about the policies and Senatorial track records of either candidate, nor too much about their personal histories (though there seem to be too many results of this particular search for a guy who isn't even President yet). Another thing I know is that just because something has been done a certain way for a long time is the absolute worst reason to keep it up.

John McCain representse old way of doing things. The way we have always done them. Obama may not have clearly stated what he plans to do in certain cases, but he has been clear on one thing. One thing that a person with no TV and no internet access can recite verbatim: Change.

McCain is a supporter of Bush. Can we all agree that Bush's presidency has set America back? Can we all agree that what we need is something different from what Bush has brung to the table? There is a need for change. A need for boldness, a different way of doing things. We can all agree that McCain is not bringing change, or anything new and fresh to the Presidency. Can we agree that a change from the last 8 years is more likely with Obama than it is with John McCain?

Yes. Yes we can.

Ask, And I Might Tell

2008-08-28T11:57:00.002-04:00

These FAQs can be found permanately here. I

wanted to also post it as a blog entry to, hopefully, stop some of these questions from being

continually asked of me.

Where do you play?

I play professional ball internationally; outside of that you can

find me in the local gym wherever I happen to be living at the time. I also participate in

local rec leagues, pickup games and such, so let me know if you're in my area. or not.
What's it like to play overseas?

It's fantastic to be able to do what you love for a living- what

better way to live life? Basketball is fun to me, I love the competitive aspects of it, and I

love the attention and responsibility that comes with being a paid pro player.
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Who are your favorite players?

Myself; Michael Jordan; Kobe Bryant; LeBron James; Dwyane Wade;

Allen Iverson; Baron Davis; Steve Francis; Charles Barkley; Gilbert Arenas; Tracy McGrady;

Vince Carter; Amare Stoudemire; Kevin Garnett; Chris Paul; Magic Johnson; OJ Mayo; Shaquille

O'Neal; Gary Payton; Tim Duncan; nd I'm sure many more that I Haven't thoguht of at the

moment.
How did you develop into the player you are today?

Through a lot of practicing, sweating, and hard work. I have, and

still do, spent hours on the court, in addition to the weight room and field/

treadmills/exercise bikes to develop into what is till an unfinished product. Every on-court

experience I've ever had ha played a part in making me into me. The things I give the most

credit to for making Dre Baldwin the player I am are: 1) my ambition- I have always set lofty

goals for myself, and usually find that my peers don't aspire to go even halfway as high as I

expect of myself. 2) competitive instincts- I have both long- term and short- term

competitive natures- meaning that I love the challeng e of a trash- talking player in a

pickup game, and I also always have in mind that guy I know from 10 years ago whom I

must go farther than in basketball just to prove a point. 3) persistence. I could name

at least 10 different times over the past 12 years that i could have easily looked at my

basketball situation and said, "Fuck it. Time to do something else." Or, as many ex-players

like to say, "I gotta be realistic." Well, realistic to me is that that personal trait that I

mentioned in #2 above won't let me stop when there are others I know that I still have to

beat. It would be literally impossible for me to stop what I'm doing now- mentally,

physically, and emotionally, I'm in too deep. Energy and persistence conquers all, and I have

no shortage of either.
Do you think I can make it (overseas, to the NBA, to play in college, to be a

respectable player, etc.)?

If YOU think you can make it, I do too. If you are asking me, then

you need to re-assess your mentality, and it doesn't matter how old you are, what level you

play at, where you live, or anything else. If you don't buy into yourself, nobody else will.
Can you tell me what I need to do to become better?

This answer, of course, is relative- each player has their own

areas of improvement. But as a genral response, the most important thing you need to do, is

GET UP AND GO WORK ON YOUR WEAK- ASS GAME. Any player that is weak any any particular area,

is weak at it because they haven't put in the work to be good at it. Simple and plain.
Can you write a workout program for me to follow?

No. I am not apersonal trainer, and you are not paying me, so I

have no bligation to help you. If, for instance, you ask me a question (as any of you who

have come from Youtube have seen), I will definitely answer it to the best of my knowledge

and i won't mislead you if i don't know the answer. Here's an easy-to-remember workout plan

for ya: get on the court, by yourself, and practice until you're too tired to continue. Go

home, rest, and do the same thing again the next day. Follow this, and eventually, people

will be asking YOU for help.
Who taught you how to play?

I taught myself how to play. Really. By age 18 I had been cut from

3X more teams than I had actually made; never payed a game of AAu basketball, never had any

type of basketball mentor; don't have any older brothers or cousins who play bball; No older

guy from the neighborhood who took me under his wing because he saw potential in me, none of

that. I saw that I could be good at ball if I kept at it, and I have. The rest, as they say,

is history.
Where did you go to school?

JR Masterman middle school;
href="http://www.dreallday.com/bball-hs.html">GW Carver High School Of Engineering and

Science; Penn State Abington;

Penn State Altoona.
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Can you help me get (overseas, into a college to play, on an AAU team, etc.)?

No. Just like I'm not a personal trainer, or any type of trainer

for that matter, I'm not an agent or coach. Nobody handed me a spot in college or the pros.

If it would've been easy for me, then it would be easy for you. If you really want to play at

a certain level, you will.
Who are the best players you've played with/ against?

Alvin

Williams, Anthony Parker,

Cuttino Mobley,
href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/stephen_graham/index.html">Stevie Graham,
href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/eddie_griffin/">Eddie Griffin is the short list.
How did you start your carreer?

Going to a
href="http://www.infosportinc.com/drebaldwin.html">pro camp; using that video to get with

an agency; the agency getting me a deal; networking with other professional players; lots of

long mornings, afternoons and nights in the gym alone.
How did you make it to being a professional player while barely playing in high

school?

Where you play at, where you're from, what team you're on... al

these things can play a role in your development from HS to the pro ranks, but if these

factors are not in your favor, that's no excuse for not making it. I knew I had th skills to

be where I'm at now back when I was 17; I also knew it would take time to develop what I had.

most importantly, I KNEW I would be here long before anyone else would even say I was a good

player.
Someone told me (some training technique or program) (works, doesn't work, will injure

me, etc.)... what should I do?

You should do it and form your own opinion.
Are you going to the NBA?

Yes.
Do you lift weights? What do you do, how much weight? How many situps do you do?

Yes I lift weights. as for the details- I am not a trainer, so

doing what I do won't necessarily be the best thing for you. if you really want ot get your

body in great shape, join a gym and talk to a trainer. That's what they get paid for.
Can you train me?

If I were a trainer, yes. But, since I'm not, no.
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Why do I always seem to not be good enough when I play against other people?

The answer is right in front of you: because, instead of practicing

(or lifting weights, or doing cardio...), you're on the computer while the players that

consistently buss your ass are working on their game. you're garbage because you have not put

in the work.
How much money do you make playing overseas?

Probably the most oft-asked question from adults when they learn

that I play pro ball. The answer, naturally, is none of your damned business. But, if your

daughter is selling some girl scout cookies, I'dlike 2 boxes of Do-Si-Dos.
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You Never Know Who's Watching

2008-08-28T11:23:00.001-04:00

I read Rod Benson's latest entry on Yahoo! this morning, concerning the question of whether an athlete should put his life and thoughts on the internet for public consumption. Rod talked about whether doing so may be a red flag of sorts to teams interested in his services. This of course got me to thinking the same about myself, something that crossed my mind when I opened this site on August 1, 2008: what if a team sees this and thinks I may not be as focused on my career as I should be?

The thought didn't last long. As one of my favorite books states, "It is better to regret what you have done than what you haven't." I'd rather have this site, the creating of which was on my initial 10-year goal list back in 2003, and live with what comes with it than hold back on it in hopes of fitting better into the "basketball player" mold. besides that, Rod just signed in France, according to SLAMOnline.com. A business owner should be able to separate off court interests from on-court production, anyway. And if there's one out there who can't? As Tucker Max would say, fuck him. Or her.

Not that this is a pressing issue for me, at least as far as I know. Rod's blog entry just caught my attention. In other news, I went to the golf driving range yesterday and hit about 70 balls. At around the 40- ball mark, the rented driver I was using blew up- the head of the club flew off and about 20 yards! As I strolled back to the rental counter with the decapitated club, the attendant there, who was talking on the phone, didn't flinch- he just grabbed me another driver and told me- with a smile- that that happened often to the older clubs. During the course of my time on the range, I, at one time or another, almost: injured my shin by hitting a ball into it; threw out my left hip; twisted my ankle. And for some reason (most likely being that I have no fundamental golfing ability), my hands always sting when I hit with an iron.

Phu & I went to the casino and blew a couple hundred dollars in a few hours. The Hard Rock didn't have anything other than slots, and a huge poker room- two games I'm not much for. Phu seemed to be getting into too much of a zone on the slots, though- I may need to call on some of her friends for an intervention.

Order: Restored

2008-08-24T12:38:00.007-04:00

So we (as in the Redeem Team) did it! Took the men's bball gold medal and put it back in it's proper place: The country that started the game and is STILL the best at it: The United States of America.

As recently as my past season overseas, a teammate of mine (who was from Serbia) attempted to discredit my argument on some basketball topic because "USA [wasn't] number one anymore." So even though I wasn't on the 2008 Olympic bball squad, what those men did helps me, in more ways than one.

Kobe Bryant once again solidified my belief that he is the best basketball player in existence right now. KB24 also showed how much of a factor he can be on the defensive end of the floorwhen the scoring load is not all on his shoulders.

Dwyane Wade made my 2008-09 NBA MVP prediction for him look good for the rest of the NBA summer.

LeBron James makes me happy that the most athletic person in the universe is from the USA. LBJ also gave us all a close-up of how much of a leader he is.

Team USA as a whole showed the world that great 3 point shooting is not the real answer to dominating all different types of international competition. The answer is speed, quickness, athleticism, ball pressure, opening the floor up, and overall defensive intensity.

(Let's not forget the women's team while I'm at it, who won their fourth consecutive Olympic gold.)

Finally, Team USA showed that fast (ahem), super-athletic (ahem) players who cover the entire floor, shoot from the outside (ahem), and get to the rim are game- (ahem)changers who can overwhelm the other advantages (size, experience playing together, greater sense of patiotism, better fundamentals, etc.) we previously thought were what made these Euro-clubs better than us.

I stayed up 'till 5AM to learn all this, and it was well worth it.

3 Finger Discount

2008-08-21T20:08:00.000-04:00

A few observations from a trip to the mall this afternoon:

First, a backstory: I used to work at Foot Locker back in 2004; my first job out of college (thanks, Penn State!!) as an assistant manager. The employee discount was, and still is, 30% off any merchandise with a few rare exceptions. Whenever anyone I knew personally outside of work came in to buy stuff, I'd gladly offer them the 30% off. A lot of customers who I'd never met would come in, fully knowing of the existence of the employee discount, and attempt to make deals with me, which I mostly refused. One reason was, I was the assistant manager, not the general manager- meaning someone was above me in that store- and the GM could call me on any discounts I gave out. The second reason was I'm the type to keep a small circle, and there was no way I was giving a discount to some dude (or girl) who played friendly for a few minutes for thier own personal gain. On the other hand, when a person that worked in another store in that mall came in inquiring about the discount, we'd gladly work out a deal for our equal benefit.

I walked into the Finish Line at a mall today that is the epitome of suburb- you know so when a mall features an ice skating rink in the middle of it- and the solitary worker in there announced to me that everything in the store- with the exception of Air Force 1s and Jordans- was an extra 30% off. During my first look over of the store, I hadn't seen a damned thing worth buying, but, with the extra 30% in my back pocket, I gave the store a twice-o this mall over of sorts. With the lack of urban apparel this mall featured, I wasn't surprised to still find nothing worth buying, and left.

Visiting the Foot Locker in a second mall, A dude in pinstripes made a similar 30%- off announcement to me. This Foot Locker, featuring things more up my alley, made a buyer out of me- my only luxury clothing of choice- bball shorts.

Being that I've worked in their positions, I knew that each guy that had told me of the extra discount must have been managers in their respective stores; you've gotta be a manager to be manning a store alone at any time. Anyway, there's no punch line to this, just wanted to share the info.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I was walking through the mall concourse, i noticed an old white guy sitting in a recliner with his head propped back, kinda how you sit when the barber takes a razor to your facial hair at a barber shop. But he wasn't getting a cut. he hadon some dark sunglasses, and had a beam of extremely bright blue light shining into his ajar mouth. At this point I noticed that he was sitting at a teeth whitening station. I had no idea these existed.

Why Do This???

2008-08-20T01:01:00.001-04:00

A side note before I get into this: We're watching the season premiere of The Hills as I type, and Spencer is more of a jerk than I could ever be, even if I made a conscious effort.

I was reading the blog of the Portland Trailblazer Channing Frye a few days ago and he made a simple statement (I'm paraphrasing): I write about my life, and what happens in it. This is the the crux of many people's blogs, including mine. I write about the things that go on in my life, editing out the boring and/ or redundant parts for the sake of the readers, whom I hope to come back to read more.

As the summer has gone on, I've cut back on my blog writing because, as I make clear in my basketball section, my life has recently become Groundhog Day: wake up, work out, eat, rest, work out again, eat, rest, maybe another workout or game, eat, more rest... with a couple of showers mixed in somewhere, along with some dog walking, reading, and a lot of time on my laptop. And oh yeah, time with my GF :).

I had a blog- writing worthy experience Tuesday night in a basketball game that I tore into earlier, and i can't wait till I get on a plane for next season so I can bring more of my life to you. When I'm doing things other than what I stated my life being like nowadays above, trust me, there will be entertainment that you will want to read about. And I'm quite confident I can paint the picture of a situation in a way that you can feel how I felt when it happened. If you're not getting that feeling, be sure to let me know so I can step up my writing.

Until then, enjoy the rest of the damned site.

Let's Get Technical...

2008-08-20T00:07:00.002-04:00

I'm going to discuss some basketball in a moment; namely the LA Fitness league I play in once a week. Before I get into this, allow me to clarify the cast of characters I will be discussing in general. These are the classes of the basketball players I come across on a daily basis:

Professional Baller (PB) This player is a pro, period. A player that gets paid to play somewhere, or is aspiring (and good enough) to be doing so. A PB has the 3 tools necessary for good basketball: 1) Physical abilities; 2) Know-how (how to set and/ or defend a screen, how to box out and grab a rebound, getting back on defense, etc); 3) Heart- not being afraid or nervous in any situation, knowing when to take charge and lead his team. The PB may, however, make the mistake of expecting his teammates to be able to play at his pace/level or close to it, and be very wrong- I am guilty of this often. In the LAF there are two PBs that I know of: myself, and a 7-footer that plays in Lebanon.

College Player (CP) This is a player that is playing in college, recently finished playing college ball, or could play on some college basketball teams if he so chose. Not going to be a professional, but definitely can hold his own on the court against some pros, or step on the floor against some college ballers and not look out of place at all. The CP has the 3 essential tools, but to a lower degree that the PB has them. What makes a CP especially valuable is that he knows his limitations, and is not embarrassed to play within those limitations.The LAF league, with very few pros, has a handful of these college guys, but not as many as I'd like.

Rec League Player (RLP) This is the player you will see the most of wherever you go to play, anywhere in the world. This player doesn't play college ball, and doesn't aspire to move up a level in bball; he just loves to play the game, wherever, whenever. This player is genrally not super- talented, but has the know- how to play in a game with pros and college players without embasrrassing himself. In big cities- like Philadelphia, where I'm from- RLPs will be very good players, who can and will embarrass a PB or CP who plays as if he has nothing to prove. I have seen this many times first hand. Plays hard the majority of the time, but can easily lose confidence and/or effectiveness if he finds himself in a situation in which he feels relatively garbage (i.e., being the only non- PB or CP in the gym). About 50% of the LAF league features Rec League Players.

Garbage Player (GP) A Garbage Player has the same credentials as a RLP, but minus most of the know how, almost all of the physical abilities, and, sometimes, the heart (Note: some GPs are quite brave and courageous- which doesn't help the situation. This is the type of guy who would be ready to fight if you told him he was garbage. If you play pickup ball in any big city, there will be a plethora of these guys.) The worst thing about a GP, however, is that this player doesn't always play within his limits, which leads to turnovers, terrible shots and decisions, giving up easy points for the opponent, and angry teammates (especially if any of them are PBs or CPs). My personal reference is to avoid playing with too many GPs in general, unless there are referees and scoreboards and such. The LAF league features around 35-40% GPs.

Now, onto the story. About a year and a half ago, I was playing in a winter rec league on a team full of GPs and we were losing a game to a team full of CPs. I felt like I was being a fouled a couple of times in which I didn't get the calls from the referees, and ended up receiving a technical foul (generally for those who don't know: a technical foul, or tech, is what a bball player can get for yelling and/ or arguing with refs and/or other players, or just being emotionally out of control in general. Here's a video clip of Rasheed Wallace earning a tech). Not feeling as if my point had been proven enough, I walked by the tech-calling ref and said a few more (curse) words at him, earning my second tech and being thrown out of the game.

That evening at home, I decided that, as a PB, I shouldn't ever lose control mentally to the point that I'm getting technical fouls in rec leagues that feature non-professional refs and a shitload of GPs. That would make me look like less of a PB.

I've done well by that decision in the 18 months since- I hadn't received a single tech in any game- pros, rec league, anywhere- since that fateful night.

Until tonight.

In our game tonight, I received what is deemed a non-unsportsmanlike tech. These, you can get for things like slapping the ball away after it goes in the basket, hanging on the rim, or stepping over the lines when your opponent is inbounding the ball- things that don't involve interaction with another human, per se. I got mine when I stole the ball on defense and a foul was whistled on the other team. Wanting to give the crowd something to see, I took 3 dribbles after the whistle, and reverse- dunked the ball at the other end of the floor. The crowd liked it, but one of the refs did not- thus the non-unsportsmanlike tech (an unsportsmanlike tech would be for something like arguing with a ref).

I laughed this one off, knowing that some refs occasionally want to make their prescence felt. And this particular ref had warned me about hanging on the rim in a game about 3 weeks ago, so I knew he was waiting for the opportunity. Also worth noting is that the game prior to ours had featured a player getting angry and receiving two techs for yelling at a ref, so these two old white men were somewhat on edge before my game even started.

The game went on without incident, until there was about 5 minutes left in the game. There are two refs in each game, and the ref who didn't call the first tech on me had seemed to swallow his whislte (bball speak for "not calling anything") when I felt I had been fouled a few times. I made a matter-of-fact comment to him about calling foul "just one time" for me, even adding a smile to the statement to show I meant no harm. A player on the other team even laughed and agreed with me when I spoke to the ref.

But this re was not in the mood for any conversation, and he said something back to me, which I didn't hear since I was caling out defensive instructions to my team. i could see on his face, though, that he was under some stress.

A few plays later, I made the second of back-to-back coast-to-coast layups and the ball fell into my hands as it dropped through the basket. In basketball games, refs can sometimes call what is known as a delay of game on a player for even touching the ball after their team has scored, even if the offending player just simply drops the ball to the floor after catching it. A seasoned player, such as myself, knows what to do in this case to avoid this call- simply pass the ball to the ref, who then passes it to the guy on the other team to continue gameplay. I did this, but admittidly had a bit of extra mustard on my pass- I had just exhorted my team for some egregious turnovers on consecutive possesions.

The ref, of course, took exception to this, and called me for my secong technical foul.

There's not much more to this story- we lost this game on what appeared to me to be a scorekeeper's error (though the outcome mattered not to our already-clinched playoff seeding), and I'm still leading the league in scoring at around 30 per, if you were wondering.

That is all. It's now 3 minutes past midnight, and I have a 5 AM wake-up call to get a workout in before catching the USA- Australia medal- round Olympic matchup at 8 in the morning. Live This Summer Or Die This Summer. It aint over yet.

Pull Me Over NOW!!!

2008-08-16T21:34:00.001-04:00

I recently viewed the new movie Pineapple Express starring Seth Rogan of Knocked Up fame. Poneapple Express was one of the worst movies I have ever paid money to see. Being that Rogan was the mastermind behind this, and the fact that I also hated Knocked Up, I should have expected this. But maybe the 40 minute segment in the middle of the movie that I slept through was the good part. I'll never know.

In other news, I am finally a licensed driver, in good standing, for the first time in over 18 months!!! Yes, I received my Florida driver's license Friday afternoon in a calmer- and- quieter- than- I- expected- DMV. The DMV here felt sorta like a nice doctor's office's reception area. The DMVs in Philadelphia have the feel of a jail's visiting room. The Fla. DMV had carpet in the employee area, with the employees havin their desk area decorated with personal framed photos, plants, and personalized name paperweights. The workers there were quite polite and personable, in contrast to DMV folks in Philly who seem to be counting down the minutes to quittin' time. These places in Philly also have a very cold feeling to them, figuratively speaking, and you can feel the tension in the air as soon as you walk into one of them. Chalk one up for Florida!

Patriot Games

2008-08-14T10:39:00.001-04:00

I'm excited right now after watching Team USA crush Greece by 20 something in Beijing (watch it here), avenging their loss to Greece in Japan at the 2006 World Championships. Our (Team USA, that is) defensive efforts are really opening the games up, disrupting the pick & rolls many European teams like to run to death. And our transition/ fast break offense is incredible; if you've watched any games you know what happens when we turn games into open floor contests. This was definitely a statement game for Team USA- many pundits had bet that if we were to lose in the preliminary round, it would be today to the Greeks. USA still produces the best basketball teams; the Spains, lithuanias and Greeces of the world can compete with us if we let them have some success early and allow them to hang around. But, when we bring the intensity, commit defensively and put of feet on the gas pedal, there still is no competition. now for some player evaluations...

LeBron James In terms of physical abilities, LBJ is the best athlete, regardless of sport, in the entire universe right now. If you're reading this, I don't need to explain who LeBron is or what he does, and he has been making some spectacular plays here with his athleticism. His volleyball spike of an Angolan player's shot attempt Tuesday had me hitting rewind on the DVR 5 times. And th way he looked at the guy as he lay on the floor made me double over laughing.

Kobe Bryant Kobe has made clear throughout that he is here, on Team USA that is, to be the defensive stopper, guarding the most threatening opposing player. Kobe's doing pretty well in this regard. The alley oop he caught today off the DWade save-the-ball-from-going-out-of-bounds pass had me yelling. On the inside.

Carmelo Anthony Melo hasn't been the offensive dynamo he had been the past two summers so far, but he's still a viable threat that cannot be ignored by the defense. Plus, Melo's commitment to dominating the glass on both ends is an overlooked aspect of basketball that any young American players should take note of.

Jason Kidd Jason is clearly the 3rd best PG on this team by now, but his experience and leadership are valuable to any team. The alley oop off the backboard he threw today, presumably to LBJ, ended in a hilarious airball that had Coach K biting his lip.

Dwight Howard May be too powerfulfor his own good in this setting, with opposing big men flopping and getting calls from the refs when DHo decides to get gangsta under the basket. I wonder how the hell anyone guards him in pickup games with no referees to appeal to.

Dwyane Wade I've already deemed DWade the 2008-09 NBA MVP, with so many people writing him off because of his injury problems. DWade still isn't much for fundamental defense- unless it's going for a steal or block- and he doesn't box out or close out on shooters very well. But offensively, Wade has been downright dominant, scoring from all over the floor in a very efficient manner. In 3 games so far, DWade is 22-31 (71%) from the floor.

Chris Paul Paul is a magician with the ball, and always finds his guys open in a position to score. his quick hands are very useful ont he defensive end as well. Along with Deron Williams, CP is the reason no team can put any real pressure on the ball for the duration of this tournament.

Chris Bosh Wes and I took turns completely trashing Bosh when USA played Canada in an exhibition game before leaving for Asia. Bosh was fumbling passes, getting scored on at will, and looking lost and out of place on the floor with the other USA stars. But Chris Bosh made me eat my words today, as clearly the best big man on either team in today's game. Rebounding on both ends, and finishing all his opportunities. I'm excited to see Bosh go up against Pau Gasol and Spain on Saturday morning.

Deron Williams I'm slowly becoming more of a fan of this man the more I watch him play. I still remember watching the NBA Playoffs in 07 in Philly with Tone and Wes in my crib in Philly, and this happened. We yelled and screamed for about two minutes. He and Chris Paul will have Team USA in good hands for the next 8 years.

Michael Redd, Tayshaun Prince & Carlos Boozer None of these guys have played much to this point, and, barring injury to any of the men above, God forbid,they probably won't play much as the games become more and more pivotal.

Sofoklis Schortsanitis (Greece) aka "Baby Shaq" (pictured below)

Oliver Miller

Blame It On The Rain

2008-08-11T15:22:00.004-04:00

Have you ever parked your car on a hot, sunny day? Figured the sun and heat would last till the sun went down? Took a nap, and woke up to see gray skies and hearing thunder? Calmly laid in the bed for a few, watching the torrential downpour? Went to your kitchen window and looked at your car, only to realize that you left the sunroof and front windows open because of the abundant sunshine that existed a couple of hours ago? I have.

***

In other news, the opening of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad was quite a spectacle. I didn't, however, like all the jokes about how the performers faced a penalty of death if they were to mess up during the ceremony (stated by certain folks who shall go unnamed). I'm pulling for the Phelps kid to win those 8 golds.

I watched the USA-China men's basketball game intently, and could feel the energy throughout the contest despite our dominance. The crowd was cheering any good basketball play- make a shot, a good pass, dunks, rebounds- by both teams. Kinda reminds me of my time in Mexico. I was kinda disappointed, though, to see Yao Ming raising his fist in triumph as he exited the game with about 4 minutes to go, his country down by about 28. I also wasn't feeling Yao's excited cheering from the bench as the Chinese bench warmers went for their career highs. I understand that China is hyped about hosting the Games, and that Yao is not 100% at the moment as he recovers from a broken foot (even though he looked the same, to me, in this game as he has always looked in NBA games). Putting all these factors aside, we still (Herm Edwards voice) PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!! If Yao, as the leader and by far best player China has to offer, i satisfied and jubilant about what happened in this game, China has no shot at making the medal round.

***

I will be a licensed driver again soon!!!

Vote Or Die.

2008-08-08T23:39:00.000-04:00

Help choose my website's permanent logo.

http://www.dreallday.com/logovoting.html

All- Beef Only

2008-08-05T14:56:00.002-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

The area I live in is a golfer's dream- golf courses everywhere that, in the hood that I'm from, would house recreation centers. I mean, you could play golf at a different course every day for 2 weeks without driving more than 30 minutes each way. We went to a local golf course that featured a driving range yesterday (see the photos page for a shot or two), and purchased two small buckets of balls ad rented two golf clubs for a total of $12. There were about 30 balls in each bucket, and the longest drive I could muster topped 175 feet.

Golf is a much more difficult sport than it looks on TV. Yesterday was my first ever time playing (except for some putt-putt in college), and Phu & I combined for about 30 "air-swings," in which the only thing we managed to hit was the rubber tee. Watching a short clip of myself swinging, I saw I wasn't even bringing the club back as far as I see pros doing it- which probably led me to not reaching my goal of a 200- foot drive. I'll get it though- soon.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm a fan of hot dogs- the all- beef variety. I love them most when they're fresh of the grill at a cookout, but a couple boiled on the kitchen stove works too. One of my problems, however, with the homemade version is that I seem to forget I have them cooking on the stove once in awhile. At the beginning of my senior year in college, I started two dogs on the stove in the kitchen, then went into my room and closed the door (even though I was the only one there- don't ask me why). Only when I saw a lot of smoke from my bedroom window did I remember the hot dogs- the complex I lived in allowed smoking so there were no detectors. I mean, there was so much smoke coming out of the kitchen window I wouldn't have been mad at anyone for calling the police or fire department. Whenever I would make hot dogs at my parents' house, my mother would get mad as hell when I would forget about the hot dogs I had cooking and the smoke alarm would go off. If you've ever seen this happen, you know that the smoky smell fills up the entire floor on which the transgression takes place. And the pot containing the burnt pig scraps gets fucked up. Soak- it- overnight- and- have- a- go- at- it- in- the- morning fucked up.

I almost had it happen to me today- but i heard the frying sound coming from the kitchen and headed off a smelly disaster.

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I saw on ESPN today Brett Favre's comments about how "it's obvious [the Packers] don't want [him] anymore." Really, Brett, you didn't know this? Favr'e did retire months ago, and in the spring told the organization that he was not 100% mentally committed, so he would remain retired. Then, days before training camp began, he decided he wanted back at it. Of course Favre is one of the best ever, and means everything to the Green Bay Packers. BUT, if you give your word that you're out, you don't come back months later and say you want in because you've changed your mind, and then appear hurt because the organization has moved on and doesn't want to deal with you. Favre seems to me like the kid none of the other kids want to play with- and he knows this- but the kid continues to come and force himself on the group amidst the uneasy energy. Just my opinion.

Wired

2008-08-01T18:14:00.002-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

- if you ever happen to be in a mall that has a Nestle Toll House store or kiosk, buy about 4-5 oatmeal raisin cookies. Consume one in my honor, and give the rest to me.

-

No more to be said. We need a few more games, though.

- The constant rain we've been getting here has been fucking with my conditioning workouts. But I did manage to get a nice arm full of dead gnats this afternoon.

- I'm excited for the Olympics, which begin a week from today. Athletes in some sports train for four years with their only goal being to be prepared for the Olympics. And it all comes down to one 2-minute swim or one toss of the shot put. The emotion of the Games is its best selling point.

Speaking of the Olympics, I've been yelling at the top of my lungs as the USA basketball team (aka the Redeem Team) has been on it's pre-Olympic tour, currently in southern China. Deron Williams has shown to be very useful in breaking down zone defenses in the Lithuania game. Kobe is still the best, period, in the world. Chris Bosh is a weak link. LeBron James' athleticism is something you can never get used to seeing in action. Team USA's pressure defense will be what breaks teams, as long as they maintain the energy for a full 40 minutes each time out.

By the way, I've already declared Dwyane Wade as the NBA MVP for next season, and he looks great so far. The alley oop windmill he caught Friday (the last of the game highlights in the vid)pulled me up off of the couch. And it's always funny to watch DWade stare into the crowd after he makes a crowd- pleasing play. And with the bald head, doesn't Wade look like D'Angelo Barksdale?

Let's Get Started!!!

2008-07-31T20:41:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Welcome to my site, officially launched as of August 1, 2008. I appreciate your presence here, whether this be the only time you ever come here or if I make it into your daily website bookmarks folder.

As you can/ will see, I've kept the site pretty basic to begin with, using simple HTML and an easy- to- do layout. Designing this site and the pages within it has been a lot more work than I thought it would be, even for a site that is a s basic as this one as presently seen.

I will be completely overhauling the design of the site in the coming months, and until then you're stuck with what you see. At the end of the day, though, i know that what rally makes a website interesting is not all the flashing lights, bells and whistles, it's the CONTENT. I aim to have (and eventually write, record, and film) a great amount of freshly updated content that will keep you all coming back. You will see that there are a plethora of inks that will take you to my blog site, which is where the movement that is Dre Baldwin began over 3 years ago in the back room of my parents' house on a shared desktop computer. Over time, the amount of new, written content courtesy of yours truly will outnumber the There's Only One Dre Baldwin links.

There are also other features I'll be adding to the main menu of choices here, which include, but are not limited to, Guest Spots from friends of mine, a FAQ page, a comments section/message board, and something new I'll be cooking up when I'm overseas during bball season (in addition to my already established series- shout out to Wes). Plus more that I won't mention at the present moment.

In conclusion, enjoy your stay here. My aim with DreAllDay.com is to inspire you- to smile, to laugh, to write, to work out, or to just to get up, get out and do something that will get you closer to where or what you want.

Now get to reading- you're late!

dreupt@gmail.com

Good Evening

2008-07-29T23:04:00.003-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com......

- while scooping up some of Digger's feces the other day, my hand ripped through the plastic bag and I got a healthy amount of dog shit on my hand. That's what i get for being a good citizen and picking up after my dog.

- Phu & I tried to buy a Nintendo Entertainment System a week or so ago via Craigslist but the seller, Phu told me, never returned a call. In college I was dominant in Madden, but i know for a fact that playing that game nowadays would consume me to the point of "Die This Summer." But I could really fuck with a Nintendo for an hour or so every day. Super Mario Bros.? Duck Hunt? World Class Track Meet? Whooooo, those were the days. I know, I know, I know, some of you that are reading this right now weren't even goddamn ALIVE when NES dropped, so I'm showing my age (I'm probably too young to use that phrase but whatever). But Nintendo was the shit. Anybody selling one with some games?

- My current Album On Burnout (meaning I play it so much that I learn all the words and my girl starts to like it too) is NaS' "Untitled." I didn't like the way NaS bitched up on the original "Nigger" title, but the material on this album is very on point. So this album will go into the pantheon of recent Burnout Albums with Usher's Here I Stand, G-Unit's Body Snatchers series, Jay-Z's American Gangster, and NaS previous release, "Hip Hop Is Dead," just to name a few.

- I like the TV show Run's House, but there are a few things going on in this show that somewhat disturb me. I understand the nepotism exists and all, but wow, is it exploited in the career moves handed to JoJo, Angela and Vanessa. I've never been, and never will, be a fan of anyone being handed something they didn't earn. And a lot of that exists in the world we live in. On Run's House, it's worse because these privileged kids have the nerve to blow off business phone calls, demand magazine covers for their rap groups, and generally have an air of "I have power." It's funny seeing the employees of Simmons- owned companies bowing to the every whim of Run's children, and how they are visibly cautious of disagreeing in the least bit with them. Let's move on before I go deeper into this.

- I love Twizzlers. So much, I never even buy the small, 10-to-a-pack packages anymore, or even the $1.19 packs for those with a "healthy sweet tooth." I only buy the family pack, which has a resealable bag and features about 2 lbs of licorice. One of my quirks, however, is that I like my Twizzlers to be SOFT. I even go as far as to feel up the bags in the stores before making my purchase, and Phu even goes as far when buying a bag for me. I bought a nice, very soft bag of Twizzlers yesterday. Just wanted to share that with y'all.

Crunch Time

2008-07-27T16:59:00.002-04:00

The same day that i walked out of the Pinellas County courthouse with a few hundred dollars in traffic fines, I got into a car accident while driving to the beach for an evening run. Some old White man in a Volvo truck did everything in his power to not allow me into a merging lane, and it worked- his truck has the paint marks to prove it. My vehicle registered so little damage you would never know the fender bender even happened, which is why, even after a 15- second shouting match, I was ready to drive away from the scene. But the White guy made a snide remark to me as I reached for the driver's side door to my car, which prompted me to turn and move in his direction. At this moment, the White guy announced very loudly, "I'm calling the police!"

90 minutes later it was all over, and I had resolved with even more vigor to get my driver's license back intact.

Late Saturday morning, i drove to three are malls before hitting the jackpot in finding the only sneaker I've been excited about buying in the last 3-4 years:

They are really as light as advertised. And they feel great so far. Two more days working out in 'em and they don't appear again until I'm on foreign soil.

My girlfriend has roped me into becoming interested in several TV shows over the past year or so. They have all been good shows, in hindsight- I won't watch a wack TV show (cough, Desperate Housewives; cough, cough, Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew; cough). Sex & The City was fantastic. Friends was hilarious. The Dog Whisperer is historic. The newest show I'm getting interested in is called Flipping Out, a reality show which follows a real estate speculator as he goes about his business. I think that if I hadn't gone to college and had started a career right out of high school, real estate broker may have been a good field to go into.

Now, I'm not a big reality TV fan. The Real World, with it's success and popularity starting in the mid 90s, is responsible for all these new shows attempting to catch just a small part of the fire MTV caught in a bottle. The Real World seems to have jumped the shark, though, as they are running out of places to have the strangers live, and the cast selection seems to follow a somewhat predictable pattern. One thing I do like, however, about the Real World is that the show still consists mainly of real- life things taking place, with a camera just happening to be around to film the goings- on. Too many reality shows nowadays seemed to be staged just for the sake of putting their footage on TV, which makes it not "reality" but "acting." Tila Tequila's show is acting. Flavor of Love is acting. The Hills, though far from my wheelhouse, is good reality.

As far as http://www.dreallday.com/ goes, I have all the pages done, design- wise, and ready to be posted, with a couple of pages not completely filled in, material- wise (read: I have more writing to do). The site will be pretty plain and simple to begin with, as I've stated before. I'll change over to a new format before the ed of the year, which will make it easier for me to post, change, a develop areas of the site. Just looking at what will be my site today, it would look to the untrained eye like it took 5-10 minutes to put together. It really does look like that. But, HTML is no joke. It's not a difficult language to understand and design in, just more tedious than it appears. Trust me.

Prelude To A Website, ...8!

2008-07-24T15:15:00.004-04:00

http://www.dreallday.com

I went to traffic court today, and walked out with, essentially, $250 in court costs for my transgressions of the law.

The court houses in Florida are much cleaner and well-run than the one in Philly by a long-dam-shot, and the people who work in these places in Florida are a helluva lot nicer than the employees in Philly courts. The courts in Fla. also have about 20% of the traffic that the Philly places do.

The court was run nicely: At the 8:30 scheduled beginning time (on thing I like about courts: always on time!), there was a video shown, of the presiding judge going over some basic information. Everyone was then asked to stand and the judge entered the room and delivered a group oath (no bible was used). The judge then spoke on some basic rules, and announced he would go through each individual present (there were about 40 defendants in the room, along with an audience of around 20 folks) by alphabetical order. Jackpot!! Any stragglers who came in after the judge had entered (i.e., "late"), would have to wait until all the on-time people had faced the judge, regardless of alphabetical order (i LOVE this aspect of court, as well). There were only 3 people in front of me: 1 kid with a lawyer (they take precedence over all), a guy who was returning on a previous case (the judge greeted him with a matter- of- fact, "you've been here before..."), and one Latino guy who was late and also didn't speak English.

So I was in and out of there in 20 minutes. And I'm working on getting a Florida driver's license.

Prelude To A Website, ...9!

2008-07-23T13:26:00.004-04:00

brought to you, as always, by the good folks at www.DreAllDay.com

Wednesday, July 23 2008 1:27 PM

i just came from seeing the movie Wall-E at a local theatre. The movie is about a machine- like thing (that bears a peculiar resemblance to Johnny 5) that lives in a world that is absent of human life, and... don't ask me about anything else that happens in the movie, because I don't know (sorry Phu- don't hate me).

I have a short list of things left to do for me site to really be ready for the launch day... but each item on this short list will require a large amount of work. Pray for me.

In the gym I work out at daily, the ceiling is kinda low. Not low like my high school gym, in which the ceilings hampered the games of players with high- arcing jump shots. The ceilings in my current gym has a huge buildup of some kind of dust and grime from years of not being cleaned, so if you ever throw the ball up or slam it down hard enough that it bounces up to hit the ceiling, chunks of solid dust will fall to the gym floor. At this point you have three options: 1) Use the other end of the court and let the next unfortunate sap have to deal with the dusty court; 2) Grab a push broom (the problem is so prevalent now they just keep one laying around in there 24/7) and clean it up yourself; 3) just keep playing and step around the pile of hard dust.

Because of this constant dust dropping, the floor on the court is consistently dusty and slippery, which is the worst thing you can say about the surface of a basketball court (being that bball is a game of constant stops and starts, moving forwards, backwards, and laterally). So I find myself wiping off the bottom of my shoes every five minutes in there. If you recall, the assistant coach from my team last season mocked this practice one day during practice. But it's a necessary evil.

(side note: for anyone who is from Philly and has been inside the E&S building, the computer- generated photo of what the school will look like after renovation in October is mind- blowing. And, as an extra side note, E&S was supposed to have a new building before my high school class graduated. I graduated in June of 2000.)

And I'm gonna give that tattoo another go, remembering my ID this time. Photos forthcoming.

In the complex in which I live, there are several "pooper scooper" stations that provide small plastic bags and trash cans for picking up your dog's droppings. At the last place we lived, these stations also existed, but resident apathy there caused most dog shit to be left wherever it happened to drop out of people's dog's asses. So when we first moved here- a nicer, more expensive development, with more people, more dogs, and more old folks, and more White people (let's be real here- White people clean up after their dogs more than Black folks- I have no evidence to prove this)- I decided I would pick up after our dogs consistently. But the first week we were here, I had just finished walking our dogs when I happened to look out the window and see a girl letting her dog shit in some grass, and continue walking as if it were nothing (basically what I used to do at our last place). At that point, I threw caution to the wind and ceased picking up my dogs' shit 90% of the time- the only exception being when they happened to shit within 10 feet of a pooper scooper station, I do pick it up then. Also not to be ignored is the fact that many pooper scooper stations here can go weeks without the bags being re-stocked, meaning you must bring your own bags with you on your walks. Fuck that.

Two days ago, as I walked Digger & Simba, some guy came up and asked me if I knew where the closest pooper scooper station that was stocked with bags was located. I directed him to one, noticing that he did not even have a dog with him. As I walked back toward my place some ten minutes later, I came across this same dude again, and he joked how his dog had "decided to poop when [he] was nowhere near one of those things."

What a great citizen.

Prelude To A Website, 10 And Counting

2008-07-22T10:44:00.000-04:00

(www.DreAllDay.com)

Interesting to see that T.O. saved an ESPN writer after the writer was hit by a car at an ESPYs after party. I've always been a big fan of Terrell (he's in unbelievable physical shape every season), so I'll happily pass on the good press. USA Basketball's Road To Redemption show comes on tonight with episode 2. After I missed the first episode 3 weeks ago and had to watch it on Youtube, I've got the DVR set up for this one.

Prelude To A Website, 12 Days

2008-07-20T16:38:00.000-04:00

Sunday, July 20, 2008 4:10 PM

www.DreAllDay.com

I just finished a toaster strudel as my "breakfast." Last night we had a couple of friends over-

Caroline and James. Phu prepared a fantastic meal (some of it pictured below)...

And we planned to play a few games for entertainment to break night. After a couple games of Apples to Apples and attempting to play Guesstures (between the four of us, we got exactly one correct

answer before deciding to move on to other avenues), we took a 1:30 AM trip to the local Wal-Mart to et some more

games. We ended up with Trivial Pursuit and Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? James also got a game

whose name escapes me; we started to play James' game first before the complexity of the rules frustrated some

people and we moved on to Trivial Pursuit. We played 2 rounds of this, during which time Caroline passed out on the

couch. When our last game ended, it was well past 5 AM. Yes, 5 AM. And James won it.

I have been unsuccessful in finding some available high bleachers to run all summer. It seems all the

high bleachers that exist around here belong to high schools, and their fields are never open to the public (at

least the one's I've researched- and I've researched a lot of 'em). So fr now I'm stuck to the flat lands of Florida

for running and bike riding like the rest of the earthlings.

Prelude To A Website, 13 'Till Kickoff

2008-07-19T10:40:00.002-04:00

Saturday, July 1, 2008 7:32 AM

Im eating a small bowl of pasta as I get ready to head out to the gym on this beuatiful Weekend morning. I have started to watch The Wire via Netflix and I must say it's great. Depending on how long it is, Let's see how much of it I can get through before I leave for the season.

www.DreAllDay.com

Prelude To A Website, 14 Days

2008-07-18T17:43:00.001-04:00

www.DreAllDay.com

Friday, July 18, 2008 10:18 AM

I almost got a tattoo yesterday... Until they asked me for ID. And being that I drive around without ID every day, because, you know, my license is suspended, I had nothing on me and they wouldn't do it without identification. Sucks. In related news, my court date for driving without said ID is a week from yesterday.

Congrats to Jen on her new business venture!!

I plan to enlighten you further later on today. I'll leave you with a photo of what $8.31 will get you in a Citrus Park Mall candy store. Now back to work.

Prelude To A Website, 16 And Running

2008-07-16T20:41:00.001-04:00

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 7:58 PM

First things first, we lost last night in LA Fitness' in-house league. I'm not going to get into much detail about any of these summer league runs; what takes place is not relevant to the big picture (i.e., my pro bball career) so that's that (and it doesn't matter the outcome- we won by 30 last week and I kept it short then, too). I will say I should've scored more.

I managed to get a good conditioning workout in today at the field before the rains came on this overcast day. Sometimes running out on the field makes me think I coulda been a(n American)football player... then I think of the fact that those guys purposely slam their bodies into each other over and over again as part of the game, and I let that football player thought go.

If any of you have ever tried riding a bike or going for a run of running around in a field an hour or so after rain has fell out here in Florida, you probably wouldn't want to do it again. Right after rain falls here, there are these small, black gnats that fly around EVERYWHERE outside. They have no regard for their own lives, and will gladly die in your mouth, hair, or eyelids (yes, eyelids). And if you're sweating, swatting them away will make it even worse, as they'll stick to your sweaty body and you'll wear them home until you jump in the shower as fast as you humanly can. It's really disgusting.

Prelude To A Website, 17 To Go

2008-07-15T17:05:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 4:25 PM

For anyone with a website or blog that needs a simple hit counter with a shitload of information about who's visiting your site, check out Statcounter.com.

Here's something I forgot to write about from this past weekend: I was at Bahama Breeze Friday night with my gf and two other friends, Caroline and James. We waited about 30 minutes to be seated on this busy night, and ended up at a table a middle space, not a booth up against the wall. You know what I mean, right?

Anyway, there was a really large party who ended up being seated around us. This party consisted of about 20 adults and 20 children either teen-aged or under, and took up probably 6 tables. They weren't loud or anything, but about 30 minutes into their time at the tables, all of the adults grabbed a piece of silverware and began tapping on this drink glasses with them. everyone looked around to see what was going on; I thought someone was about to make a toast in the middle of the restaurant. Apparently, this glass- tapping signaled for a young couple- a boy and girl both about 15 years old, who were at a both alone- to kiss, which garnered a huge ovation from the remaining members of the party. I had no problem with this, as the restaurant had plenty going on and the noise of this large party wasn't any louder than the normal buzz of popular indoor- outdoor restaurant on a Friday night. It was only that they repeated this glass- tapping ritual about 6 times.

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I have been looking high and low over the past 24 hours for a way to add a message board/ forum page to my site. I have found plenty of information, but no the kind of easy to understand information that has lead the the message board/ forum being created to be added to DreAllDay.com. I'll probably purchase a website building program sometime down the road and use one of the templates they offer, even though this would go completely against my initial feeling from when I first purchased this domain. I figure i am a pretty creative, original person- creating a website would be right up my alley! A blank slate that I can design any way I want, with no constraints? My site will be unbelievable! Only that the language of website development is like being good at basketball- it's definitely not something you can learn in a month or by asking tons of questions to people who are good at it. You have to live it and learn it. And I don't have the time or resources (energy, willingness to be a great web-developer) to become good at it- playing basketball is my priority. I am, however, still pretty dam smart, so I will figure some things out and make great improvements over time as I gain more knowledge of this shit. But I understood a long time ago that it was better to devote yourself to one thing deeply than to have shallow abilities at a lot of things.

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You never know how much rest your body really needs until you turn off your alarm clock. Not that I have turned off mine, but I have been getting 8 hours of sleep, exactly, for the last 5-6 days, with no midday naps. But with a summer league game tonight, I set my alarm for a two hour nap today. The nap stretched to about 2.5 hours, and my body could have slept another 2 hours easy; I can feel it. I've been working out every day in some form for about a month straight now, and I guess I'll add more napping into my daily plans and less time wasted in my computer chair, which is not really rest for my bones. In other news, I'm predicting a bog scoring output tonight.

Prelude To A Website, 18 Remaining

2008-07-13T21:05:00.002-04:00

Sunday, July 13, 2008 6:20 PM

I went to my barbershop in Tampa today. It's about 30 minutes from where I live, but being that there aren't any good ones near me, it's worth the drive. A few months ago, I drove to Dunedin after seeing a shop on Google Maps- Sonny's Barbershop. Turns out Sonny was the only barber at Sonny's shop. With 3 people in front of me, there was no way I was gonna sit around and wait for this guy, who, being that he was the only barber, probably didn't need to be at his best every day since there was no competition for potential lost customers. Plus, the place I go to in Tampa has 3 different guys whom I have no problem with getting a cut from, meaning my wait time is always short. Today, my time in the chair was dam near an hour. I don't think I've had that long of a haircut session since I was going to Aaron at Hard Knocks at 11^th & Walnut in downtown Philly. But I must admit, I look good. I'll spare you the photos.

While driving back from the barbershop, I got a call from my man Jason about playing a summer league game at the Clearwater YMCA. He said the team needed one more player for the game, and the league was free to play in (often summer leagues charge a fee to each participant for uniforms/ referee fees).

The entire spirit of the Live This Summer Or Die This Summer theme was for me to 1) work harder than I ever have this off season to make next season my best by far; 2) play in enough summer leagues/ pickup games/ gyms that my name and face would be known in the area as one of the best. So, being that I hadn't ever played in this YMCA league, let alone even been inside the building, I happily agreed to play in the game, which started at 4:15 PM.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I could hear players yelling and referee whistles, which doesn't really mean anything, but still makes me feel good that there's some basketball being played. The game being played before ours featured two teams that actually looked like they had been strategically put together, with players that knew each other and a good distribution of men at the requisite positions. But as i looked up and down the sidelines at the players warming up for the next game (the one I was in), my excitement waned. There was one player on the sidelines taller than me (and I'm 6'4"- a "small guy" by pro basketball standards)- this player also happened to be my teammate from the Pro Am.

Jason gave me the back story on how he came to call me about playing in this league. Jason was playing pickup ball at a park not far from my crib one day, and a female that works at the Y pulled up to the courts and made an announcement: The Clearwater YMCA had a basketball league starting on Sunday., The entire league had been sponsored by some company, so there would be no charge for anyone to participate. on top of that, there were a couple 6 teams whose rosters needed to be filled, and there were no players, to that point, to fill them! So basically she was offering an open invitation to anyone to come out and play in this league on Sundays for free. All the players who showed up would be randomly placed on teams together.

I have always stressed in conversations with Wes that any summer league team which would place me in the position of playing center (think Shaquille O'Neal, or Kevin Garnett, or Tim Duncan) was likely not worth my time to partake in. An exception could be made if the players on my team played within themselves; i.e., knowing what you are (and aren't) capable of, and not stepping out of those bounds. What transpired over the next 40 minutes drove this point home even further. Our team had 8 players, so I volunteered to come off of the bench, since i knew once I got in i wasn't coming back out. Our team featured myself, Jason (who is about 6'3"), some random Black dude who was about 6 feet with no game, some older white dude with no ability or know- how, and 4 teenagers who all played as if they felt they could dominate the game (they were all mistaken, none of them even college ball quality). The team we faced wasn't much better, except that their 5 teenage players were better than ours. As the game started, the random Black dude (he, Jason and me were on the bench) noted that the Older White Guy had "hops" (meaning jumping ability, athleticism). After watching about 30 seconds of gameplay, I retorted, "Nigga, that White dude cannot jump over a goddamn paper bag." Jason doubled over laughing as this observation was head on, negating the credibility of both the White Guy and the Random Black Dude. I'm not sure if either of them scored a single point in the game. Actually, I'm pretty sure they combined to score zero.

I seriously considered leaving the gym before the game even started as we did our layup lines, that's how whack i knew this game would be. But since I had told Jason I'd play, and I could see that this was somewhat important to him, I stayed around. By about the 10:00 minute mark of the first half, I knew I would not be playing another game in the Clearwater YMCA League. We ended up losing, by the way, despite my 20 & 10 performance. Our teens were responsible for at least 20 turnovers, on terrible drives to the basket, horrible passes, and plain old bad basketball. The refs in this game were two females, and they were not good at their jobs. they missed about half of the fouls that took place, mis-called shooting fouls to be taken out of bounds at least 5 times, and just overall sucked. This is in direct contrast to the professional- ready refs of the Bay Pro-Am (they are all being reviewed to be actual NBA game referees), who catch the defensive 3 second call every time (a call that only exists in the NBA) and are on top of every off the ball foul. Also worth noting is that placing a team in the Pro Am costs one thousand dollars per team.

You get what you pay for.

I got to keep my jersey from the league, however, which is a reversible black and yellow mesh top of pretty good quality. In a double stroke of irony, the game I played at LA Fitness last week (next game is on Tuesday) required me to buy an $8 yellow tee shirt from Walgreen's and use marker to scribble a number on the back to match the team colors. The number of the good quality mesh jersey I go from the Y? Number 6, the same number I wore in Montenegro last season.

While in Blockbuster Video this evening, I took this photo:

I mean, my parents wanted me and my sister to have toys and things to play with, but if the video game system of the moment cost $500 back in the late 80s, We suredly would not have had it. And this is the sale price! Wow. I'm getting old.

Prelude To A Website, 20 Days...

2008-07-11T10:05:00.002-04:00

Wednesday, July 09, 2008 7:44PM

I'm currently in the coffee & lattes section of a popular book store... only I'm looking around frantically trying to see the store's brand name on something and I don't see it anywhere. Interesting. I do know, however, that I'm either in Borders or Barnes and Noble. I think it's Borders. this store did not have free wi-fi, so I am currently using a t-mobile hotspot wi-fi day pass which cost me ten bucks. Time to find a new book store to hang out in.

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Friday, July 11, 2008 9:55 AM

It gets very humid very early in the day in Florida. Wowzers. I love it though- training outside is even more challenging when you can almost taste the moisture in the oxygen you breathe.

Last night I had a first- I saw a guy riding a bicycle... while smoking a cigarette.

In this area, there's a company called AMSCOT that is some kind of super-hood store. By hood store, I mean the place in your neighborhood that cashes checks, sells bus passes, money orders, lottery tickets, stamps, notarizes letters, does cash advances, etc. AMSCOT does these things at a very low cost (or so they advertise), many of them- money orders, for example- for free.

Needing a money order the other night, i enter an AMSCOT with exact change to get one quickly. I am asked by the counter person if I have ever done business with AMSCOT before. Then I'm asked for ID (which I refuse to supply). Apparently, AMSCOT has introduced some new policy in which they take all this personal info (name, address, SS#, employer, type of job, why you need a money order)from each person who gets a money order. There's no dam way I'm giving all that info up to a hood store, even a super-hood store. I end up at old reliable, trusty Wal-Mart, which just so happens to not charge for money orders anymore.

(DreAllDay.com)

Prelude To A Website, 22 Days Left!

2008-07-09T12:24:00.002-04:00

It's nearly noon and Phu just stepped out to lunch. I've set up on the couch with my feet up and my computer in my lap as I get to typing. I normally would be in the gym working out at the moment, but I had a workout yesterday afternoon and a game at 8PM, so a couple hours of recovery time is in order. Digger and Simba (our two dogs- Pocket Beagle and Pomeranian, respectively) are laying down beneath me...

I wish someone was here to take a picture. Being that it's 22 days from the grand opening of DreAllDay.com, I've resolved to put more time into the humongous amount of writing I'll need to do to have my site up and running when I said it would.

Any who, I played a game in the LA Fitness league last night. This game was at the Tampa LAF, not the Clearwater one where I do my workouts everyday. Since I used to live in Tampa and work out at Carrollwood (the Tampa LAF), I knew a lot of people in there, and I could tell by the looks on their faces that they wanted to know what the hell I was doing there with basketball shoes in my hands. I was on a team with Sean, who played college ball in Vermont and works at the Clearwater LAF. Long story short, we won (by a lot), and we'll have a game every Tuesday until I'm gone for bball season.

I'm gonna get a bike ride in today, down to the park to get some field sprints in. Then, it'll be LAF to get a lot of jumpshots up within an hour or two. I have a Pro-Am game tomorrow night but I haven't decided if I'm gonna even bother playing any more games in that league. The game play (for my team) has been sloppy and lacking of cohesion. our team has too many ball handlers and zero big men, meaning no one can really get into a good rhythm or even break a considerable sweat out there. Most importantly for me, we have about 9 players. if you've ever played summer league basketball, you know that every player on the team past number 6 is just an extra headache, because nobody comes to summer league games to sit on the bench, no matter how bad a player they may be. I consider myself to be a very good player, so playing anything less than 30 of a possible 48 minutes (the Pro-Am goes by NBA rules) in any of these games equals a waste of gas money and time to me. Last week, in two games, I played about 13 minutes in one (a game we lost by 20- this entire situation was completely unacceptable) and we only had 3 players show up for the other. So as of now I am leaning very hard towards not playing in tomorrow's match up.

As far as the site goes, I'm working today on finalizing some pages for the launching, and making the heading consistent throughout so you can at least get back to my home page at any time. I'm dancing right now to Chubb Rock's "Treat 'Em Right" and Digger is waiting for me to pet him. Man, why can't life always be this easy? Time to get to work.

Bball Blog, Entry 7

2008-07-05T20:57:00.003-04:00

- Do NOT go to play basketball at the LA Fitness in Clearwater, FL on Sunday afternoons unless you wish to partake in some terrible games.

- the "lemonade" from McDonald's tastes like urine... Not that I've ever tasted urine... You know what the hell I mean.

- speaking of piss, don't you just HATE the smell of piss that has been sitting in a toilet that someone didn't care to flush?

- for the first time all summer, I've got invites to two different leagues... And the games are at the same time. (Summer bball aint as plentiful as, say, Philadelphia.) There was actually another league to get in, but I've been told it's not even worth the cost of gas to drive there.

- doesn't it suck when you drive an hour to a summer league game and only two of your teammates show up?

- halfway through 2008... Reaching your goals?

- i spent the 4th of July at a BBQ of somefolks i didnt even know; they were the friends of the sister of my gilrfriend's friend. anyway, we ended the night at 1AM after playing a very entertaining game- onw which is new to me, called CatchPhrase. great game fro when you have a large group.

Bball Blog, Entry 6

2008-06-29T14:33:00.000-04:00

- after 15 straight days of workouts / games, Thursday will be free of strenuous physical activity. Except for maybe... I'll leave that out.

- I've been meaning to mention this for awhile but it kept slipping my mind: the food at Cheesecake Factory is no better than average.

- I despise when restaurants don't have specialty drinks created especially for the non-alcoholic crowd. I don't like having to order stuff and have it "made" non-.

- My waiter at Lee Roy Selmon's restaurant Wednesday night looked like the dude from the Real World who had the drug / alcohol problem.

- When did KFC start selling these small-ass pieces of chicken?

- I got a new ball- the Nike 4000 Tournament ball. Feels like a dream to my hands.

- Wal-Mart inquiry: what is the difference between "Drinking Water" and "Spring Water?"

- remember how, as kids, we could ride our bikes with no hands easily? I seem to have lost that ability.

Dre Baldwin
1-267-970-6628
sent via Blackberry by T-Mobile

Bball Blog, Entry 5

2008-06-25T01:38:00.000-04:00

- This past Sunday, a summer league team I'm on had a game in Orlando, 2 hours away. Naturally, that morning, several players popped up without a ride to the game. I received a call from a player who, along with another dude, needed a ride from me to Orlando. Yeah, I told him, yall can ride- it'll be $10 each gas money.

They got a ride from someone else.

- Ahh... 3 hours of pickup ball on concrete brings back memories of Philly.

- at the courts I played at Monday night, there's a button you can press to turn on the sky lights for playing late into the night. That's a big contrast to my home playground in Philly- the lights were controlled only from the office in the rec center building. And if the guys who ran the building- they played out there too- felt sour about a particular pickup game loss, the lights wouldn't come on that night.

- Thank You to Shaq for giving us some (somewhat) basketball- related things to talk about with his Kobe-dissing rap. I didn't like, however, Shaq's copping out and not standing behind his actions when the video surfaced. Keep it real, Shaq!

- stepped out of comfort zone Tuesday evening, and went to Target wearing my flip-flops and NO SOCKS. No one stared.

- just finished the longer-than-it-looked The Last Saeson by Phil Jackson. Next up: Power, Money, & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life by Deion Sanders.
Dre Baldwin
1-267-970-6628
sent via Blackberry by T-Mobile

Bball Blog, Entry 4

2008-06-22T16:25:00.000-04:00

-the Big Bike Ride was postponed due to torrential downpour.

- as I got dressed in the LA Fitness locker room pre- workout, a guy who looked like PTI's Michael Wilbon, minus 25 years, walked past me.
- I feel my foot quickness and reaction time returning with my bike riding and lighter- weight weight lifting.

- I played a few games of 21 (a game which we call "Rough House" in Philly where I'm from- we also play to 45) with a guy from California who asked me multiple times if I could dunk. I told him that I indeed could. He then tried to show me his ability to "throw it down." He was unsuccesful.

- great story by Stephen A. Smith, via the new issue of ESPN Mag: before Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Spike Lee approached Lamar Odom of the Lakers:
Spike "Where are you from?
Odom "Brooklyn. " (Stephen A. says Odom is actually from Queens)
Spike "Well dam! Act like it!"
(Odom went on to dominate the early stages of this game, which LA eventually lost. )

Dre Baldwin
1-267-970-6628
sent via Blackberry by T-Mobile

BBall Blog, Entry 3

2008-06-20T14:55:00.000-04:00

-started the day with an eight mile bike ride and burning thighs.

- now that the NBA season is completely over, I can dedicate more time to reading. I just finished Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point, and I'm now 60 pages into Phil Jackson's The Last Season, which I began after watching LA fall to Boston Tuesday night.

- even though the NBA season is done, it doesn't stop... The Bay Pro-Am features a strong collection of current, former, and future League guys (like me). Every July in Orlando, there's a week-long NBA-sponsored league. Between 5 and 8 teams send their rookies, young veterans, and fee agents hoping for a training camp invite to participate. I'm aiming to hustle my way into a roster spot there, but if that doesn't come thru I'll still be in attendance for a day or two to see what these guys have that I lack.

- an envigorating Thursday morning session ended with me burying some White guy 16-6; 16-7; 16-4; 12-16 (I decided to begin this game by attempting 6 straight 3-point shots; I missed all six and fell into a 7-0 hole. My plan was to 'flip the switch' and storm back to victory. The plan didn't succeed, which means I have work to do); 21-11.

- two new YouTube vids posted! www.youtube.com/dreupt

- I have an ambitious 15 mile bike ride scheduled first thing Saturday morning.
Dre Baldwin
1-267-970-6628
sent via Blackberry by T-Mobile

BBall Blog, Entry 2

2008-06-17T23:29:00.000-04:00

-as of 3PM, I have no idea when our game is to begin. Or where.

-aha! Game is at 7PM.

-our first game ended in a 8 point loss, in which I went into Kobe-in-Game-5 mode; i.e. not aggressive enough (except, unlike Kobe, I lost). Best thing about this one is that we have another on Tuesday.

-the gym floor at Hillsborough CC might as well be made of concrete. My 26-year-old knees notice these things. I don't have any problems dunking, long as I'm warmed up and moving. No more layup-line dunking for Dre.

-this league features some NBA players and even more overseas dudes, which is exactly what I've been looking for.

-in other news, join my FaceBook Fan Page!

-Lakers will win Game 6.

-i got pulled over and ticketed for driving w/ a suspended license last week, with a court date on July 4th. Courts are open on Independence Day? (note to self: re-schedule court date.)

-we pulled out a win Tuesday at the Bay Pro-Am. Despite the NBA rules and 48-minute clock (albeit a running one), the scores of these games have been low- in the 60-70 point range. But a win is a win.

-as I write this, the Lakers are down 30 to Boston. Turiaf, Ariza, Farmar, Vujacic, Odom are the Laker five. Congratulations to Boston for the 2008 NBA title. I am very disappointed to see Kobe going out like a beeyatch in Games 4, 5 and 6.

-when do the Olympics start? I wanna see DWade play again. DWade for 2009 NBA MVP.

BBall Blog, Entry 1

2008-06-16T09:11:00.002-04:00

Since it's mid-June and I'm about 2- 2 1/2 months from starting a new (and my most important to date) bball season, I will be keeping written updates of the goings-on thru summer's end. And when I hop off a plane on international soil? What I Want You To Know, Vol. II (check my archives) begins.

-Wes came up to Palm Harbor for a day, and I managed to get two Wes-directed workouts in (for the record: 4 games to 2 in HORSE in my favor, and 2-2 in one-on-one before Coach Pifer retired Saturday evening). We got a break at LA Fitness Sunday afternoon when I noticed, approaching the doors, that no one was at the check-in counter. So we saved the $10 we woulda had to pay to get Wes in. After two hours on the court, we managed to get outta there before the competitive pull of a gawd-awful 5x5 got to us.

-Phu prepared a second fantastic meal for us on Sunday before Wes headed back to MIA. I spent the next several hours laid out on the living room couch and our bed, rooting for Tiger at Torrey Pines and awaiting Game 5 from LA.

-the Bay Pro-Am was rumored to be starting today, but neither I nor anyone in the know has any relevant information at this point. (UPDATE: begins this week!)

-i took today off from bicycle riding; my ass feels a lot better. And I have a new, soft seat cushion.

-watching the final round of the US Open, I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly the final round moved, with all the moving from player to player and shot to shot of the contenders. And it's interesting to see how there really are no 'bad guys' in golf; the fans root for everyone.

-Tiger Woods is CLUTCH!

- I'm pulling for the Lakers in the Finals. And I'll state oce again: The title is not won until a team wins FOUR games in the Finasl series.

Life Stories, Pt. 3

2008-06-11T15:58:00.001-04:00

A colorful taxi driver shared a couple of great stories with me ...

- he asked me if I worked in the area. Then he told me of a Black guy who was a drug dealer in a neighboring town, who woud stay in a motel (the same room each night), and take a taxi home every morning.

- the taxi driver ran off a list of the places he'd been: Biloxi, Dallas, Orlando, Atlanta...
Me: "How much was the ride to Dallas?"
Driver: "$4,500."
Me: "why did they take a taxi?"
Driver: "man, you can't smoke and drink as much as they did. "

Taxi Driver then tells me of the occupants of the Dallas trip: a man who went to Dallas, picked up his fiance, and rode back to Florida. They "drank beer like water, and stopped me a hundred times to go to tha bathroom."

Taxi Driver drove the entire trip with the rear windows down because the couple chain-smoked professionally.

The couple had also had sex in the very backseat I was presently occupying ("don't worry though- it's been sanitized. "). The male had even offered some of his fiance to Taxi Driver.

- As my trip came to a conclusion, Taxi Driver informed me that he was selling a Kia, with 60,000 miles on it, for $400 because "I just never use it. "

I'll be taking a look at it this week.
Dre Baldwin
1-267-970-6628
sent via Blackberry by T-Mobile

Life Stories, Pt. 2

2008-05-27T09:21:00.001-04:00

I was sitting in the waiting room of an auto repair shop while my engine was being flushed. I had almost completed reading ESPN.com's Bill Simmons' 4-hour chat transcript when some guy walked in, immediately addressing the man behind the counter, concerning his car that had been being looked at.

Guy: "Please tell me there's nothing wrong with it. "

Employee: "There's nothing wrong with it, but you have a problem. "

***************

Phu and I were turned away from a strip-mall sushi restaurant because of my improper attire: a tee with the sleeves cut off. According to the hostess, this was not a "regular shirt."

***************

Back in 2007, I "worked" (the quotations are for obvious reasons) as a "personal trainer" (because I have absolutely zero certification) for a few weeks at a (at the time) local LA Fitness. One day as I sat at a desk, attempting desparately to get an internet access signal on my BlackBerry, a middle aged Black dude came and took a seat across from me to talk.

(For a visual, this guy looked like Richard Pryor after 60 days sequestered on the Survivor Island. )

So let's name this man Rich. Rich hadn't approached me to talk about fitness or personal training packages. Being from Atlanta, Rich had approached the only Black guy working there (me) to get the scoop on where to find Black women to socialize with, both within and outside of LA Fitness. Being that I was not only not single, but with an Asian woman, I didn't offer Rich much valuable information during our 25-minute talk (80% him, 20% me). Rich did, however, leave my presence determined to taste chocolate. Hell, Rich had even name- dropped a few local nightspots that he was at least 27 years too old to even think about going to.

On my way out of LA Fitness one recent afternoon, I saw an older Black guy entering the building with a Caucasian female companion. About 2 1/2 seconds later, I remembered who he was- but by then I was double-timing it to my car to avoid the possibility of conversation.

Guess Rich said, "Fuck it," and joined the crowd.

***************

Whenever I see a Victoria's Secret store in a mall, I imagine how often women get the who-is-this-creep-that-i-dont-know-that-is-probably-picturing-me-in-these-lace-panties-that-im-browsing-through feeling.

***************

Dre Baldwin
1-267-970-6628
sent via Blackberry by T-Mobile

Let's Talk About Me Now

2008-05-08T11:28:00.003-04:00

aight, so i hope you all have been enjoying the No Question series in which i answer real quedtions from Yahoo! Answers. ive been rewarded with 5 best answers so far, and have had about the same amount of answers removed because of inappropriate language.

but back to business. Live this Summer Or Die This Summer is in full swing, with me getting in conditioning, weight lifting, and bball workouts taking place daily. here's part 3:

parts 1 & 2 can be seen on my Youtube page, with plenty more on the way over the next 4 months.

there's a top-notch (or so ive heard) summer legue beginning in roughly 6 weeks that ill be participating in, and Coach Pifer should be getting me info about another league in his neck of the woods soon (yeah thats a hint, Coach P.- i need that contact info!!).

ive recorded a new intro for my MySpace page, as many of you probably have heard of you're reading this, and if you havent you need to go to MySpace.com/dreupt and check the shit out.

Live This Summer Or Die This Summer. Dre Baldwin.

No Question: 9

2008-05-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

1. Please answer this! winner gets 5 points?
for my english class i have to write a poem. and i really cant. its do tommarow. please everyone is going to laugh if i dont have one. i cant think of one. no about love or girly stuff

Fuzzy Wuzzy

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
so Fuzzy Wuzzy wasnt fuzzy
was he?

2. Can I feed my 5 year old Chihuahuas puppy food?
Someone gave me 24 cans of Eagle all natural canned food for puppies.

Will it harm them in any way?

would you yourself, eat baby food?

dumbass.

3. Boyfriend's parents?
Ok so I've been dating this guy for almost a year, buy last summer, we were at his house (alone) one day and we started fooling around. Well, things happened and we ended up having sex on his pool table. Although we thought his parents weren't going to be home for a while, his mom walked downstairs and totally caught us. She and his dad kicked me out and I'm not allowed back in their house. I'm not quite sure what to do because he and I are still dating and I'm completely in love with him but his parents totally hate me now. His mom is really religious and she doesn't believe in sex before marriage, but I want to patch things up because things are getting pretty serious in our relationship and its been a year since "the incident." What should I do?

you should tell your bf that you want to meet his parents, formally this time. im sure is mother understands that you didnt rape her son; ity takes two people (at least) to have intercourse. and im sure your bf has spoken to his parents about that very incident, so see what's on his mind and set up the meeting with the parents.

4. How can i stop gagging when i give blowjobs?
when i give head (blwo job) i always gag and i hate it, how can i stop gagging?

try adding some flavor to your work- whipped cream, strawberry jelly, ketchup & mustard.

5. How do I handle this drama??
So me and my girlfriend have been together for 9 months... well recently this girl that used to be obsessed with me and in love with me began putting OLD pics of me and her up (as friends) and saying on her MYSPACE how much she loves me and is happy to be with me. Well we WERE never together. My girlfriend of course saw this and it brought on a fight, several fights. Well I finally told the girl obsessed with me to back off and get out of my life and leave me alone.

Well my the girl thats obsessed with me sends my girlfriend a message saying, "i am sorry, but your boyfriend was together with me the whole month of march. we had a good relationship. sorry for calling you psycho." But we were never together.. I explained this to my gf many times

So my gf wants me to call her while my gf is on three way and curse her out and tell her to leave me alone so my gf can have "closure." I just wish my gf would trust my word.

How do I handle it??

first of all, tell your gf to sit her ass down, read a book, and be glad that she fuckin knows you.

then, go to find the old friend. threaten her wih physical, bodily and psychological harm if she doesnt back off and get a life. ask to use her bathroom,and piss all over the floor to show her you mean business.

6. Am I Gay????
I got really drunk the other night and had sex with a guy but I still don't think i'm gay. I have never wanted to before and I never want to again but it's really freaking me out because I never thought I would do something like that. And just to make it worse he knows some of my friends and i'm just really hoping he doesn't let it slip some night when hes drunk

okay.so if you were raped y the guy, you may not be gay. if you had sex with the dude, then dude, youre gay.

7. My friend keeps asking my other friend for sex?
he keeps telling her that he wants to lose his virginity to her since she is a close friend, but she's feeling very uncomfortbale and rather annoyed. his conversation with her keeps getting perverted. i didnt know he was that kind of guy. i feel very ashamed of him. should i do anything about it?

yes- offer yourself to be the one heloses his virginity to (assuming youre female also). that way he gets his cherry popped, so to speak, your other friend is no longer uncomfortable, and everyone's happy.

8. Does this girl like me?
Whenever we see each other in the halls at school she always smiles and says hi to me. She also gives me little nick names all the time. And in class when we sit next to each other she draws on my arm and on my books. Her name is Danielle so sometimes she will write stuff like "I love Danielle." on my arm and my books. According to my friends we also flirt all the time. Do you think she likes me?

of course she likes you! stop being a pussy- grab her and kiss her right on the lips in the middle of the lunch room. then everyone will know what'up. be bold!!

9. OH MY GOD HELP ME please!!!!!!!?
ok, so my mom my mom wants me to get my haitcut. im a guy but i love myself with long hair, it not like caveman long its like above shoulder length. what i was thinking do you think if i help around the house like clean the table and laundry and really give her some extra time to relax would she honor me with respect in terms of letting me keep my hair. would a mother usualluy do that. please help.

man, fuck all the extra chores and shit. she should honor and respect your wishes anyway! she isnt the one wearing the hair, you are! if you do the extra help around the house as a way to help your mother, thats fine, but not inexchange for her to 'allow'you to wear your hair as you feel.

No Question: 8

2008-05-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

1. How can I get lean arms?
I've always felt that my arms are too big for a female, how can I make them look skinnier?

to make any are of your body leaner (ie, reduce body fat in that area), you ned to do cardiovasular exercise (running, swimming, bicycle, etc). lifting weights to add lean muscle will help with definition as well, along with burning more fat even while youre not working out.

or, you can get liposuction.

or, you can get the other parts of your body to be really fat- that way your arms will look lean in comparison.

2. Do you think its wrong for a girl to have sex?
...with a guy who she just met? :/

no, as a matter of fact im all for quick hook ups and one night stands. you should be giving that guy hed at this very moment!! get on your knees!

3. What does it mean if a older person called you a tight litlle package mean?

if its a man that said that and youre a female, he's attrcted to you. talk to him- maybe you can gain a nice little sugar daddy to buy you stuff.

4. I am not a jogger but would love to start.What is the best way to get started?

1. make sure you have the desire to do this.
2. buy shoes to run in.
3. decide where youll run when you get out there.
4. just do it!!!

5. Boy troubles :/?
what do you do when you like this guys and he likes you back but hes a jerk to you around his friends but SUPER sweet when no ones around :( HELP

do the smart thing- only hang with him when his friends arent around. that way youll get the best of him. he doesnt want his friends to know he likes you anyway, so bend over backwards to make him happy.

6. Self harm- is hitting better than cutting and burning.?
I've been self harming for about 6 years now. I'm 18 and am going to-hopefully- get help for it once i leave school in a few weeks.

Untill then i was wondering as an alternative method would hitting be better? What i think is because hopefully it will not scar.

Is there any damage hitting would do? Ive done it before and its bruised and had almost the same effect.
Cutting to hard theres a risk of cutting a vein but hitting...is there anything?

Are there any other better methods? I know ideally not would be bes but untill i get help i need something to keep going. I'm covered in scars-its ridiculous so hopefully something that wouldnt show im the future.

Dont call me an emo..im not.

dont wait until you leave school- ill help you out right now!!! here's a great way to do physical harm to yourself, without embarassing scars on your arms: Icy Hot on the groin. itll burn, baby, burn. youll defeinitley feel the pain for a good while, and you can do it over and over again unitl the tube runs out! theres no better way than this.

7. Butt problems?
After I take a **** I wipe well, later on, my asshole gets itchy, and when i go to wipe it again, its covered in **** - even though I wiped it clean last ****.
What the ****?
Am I shitting my pants or what?

youre a disgusting pig and a complete fool- everyone know that when you have this problem, you get your dog or cat to clean it all up before you leave the bathroom. get a clue!

8. would this be considered a threat and/or harassment?
a girl said to me that she was going to kill me... is this a threat? she also kept spreading false things and verbally hurting another girl... is that considered harassment?

a threat? sounds like a promise to me. get a gun, a knife, or a baseball bat, and be ready.

9. Im 17 and my penis is 4.5 inches do you think it will grow?
And when will it stop growing.And when did your penis growth show at what age?

no, youre stuck with that, sorry. hope youre good with your tongue, for your own sake.

No Question: 7

2008-05-02T15:00:00.000-04:00

1. How short does an adult guy have to be to be considered short?
5'7"?

i believe this is all a relative thing; many females i know prefer a guy to be taller than they are. so a 5'7 guy is fine for a woman who is 5 feet tall. there are sometimes, though, when a guy is with a woman who is taller than she. at the end of the day, if you have enough swagger, it wont matter how tall you are.

2. Kiddie Porn?
4months ago i was bored and wanted to try out my dads new laptop. i was looking for my photo i saved in his computer. i open the file.. i saw over 60+ little kids nude with guys playing with them.. i was shocked/scared/worried and sad. i didnt know what to do! now since today it has gottin out of hand. im 12 and everyone says im a lier. my mom said maybe when he goes to a car website a spam is download on his computer and downloads little nude kids on his computer im like mom get real. he is more into it then i thought he is a truck driver n he downloads more pics n goes to his truck to "Wink" i know what i saw! he never did anything to me other then call me sexy. i lost all my friends because of him :( i even told the police and what happen... lier lier lier some nights i even cry becuase i know that im not lieing and everyone says i am.. what can i do!?!

listen, just calm down. this can be handled rationally... you dad is into fucking little kids!!! you mom supports this habit!!! run!!!

3. Scared to try and get a job?
Im nearly 22 and I have not been in employment for about 3 years as I was signed off sick with depression/anxiety and now I am feeling better and want to go back to work I am scared of what to say in any interviews I go on as to why Iv not had a job for so long do I tell the truth because that might sound off putting or do I lie and say Iv been looking but not had success? Although saying that dose seem like Im lieing as in 3 years you would have thought anyone could get a job if they really wanted a job. Im nervous about it what would you say?

your questions drips in irony. you havent worked because you were depressed/ anxious. now you are depressed and anxious about telling people why you werent working! maybe you arent cured yet; take another year off of working and say you were in college for am even 4 years. thatll work. if you need to produce degree documentation, go to universityofphoenix.com. haha

4. How does Obama's talking about his experience with racism make him a racist?
Since, judging from his book, Obama did experience racism, how does him talking about it and at one time being upset about it make him a racist? Why is he wrong for sharing that the racism he experienced bothered him? Would it be better if those who were discriminated against kept their mouths shut so that the problem can worsen over time?

talking about it doesnt make obama racist; his political counterparts want to try and make that farce a reality to throw mud on obama's name in the current election. this is the way politics work in washington.

5. Add on to this poem!!?
Hope is a coin,
Anyone can flip it anyone can pray for heads or wish for tails
But whilst it’s in the air
No finger can control it
All breath is held and the decision made
Hope is a coin
You can wish all you want but you might not get it.

I need to add on why hope is like a coin. It has to be a metaphor just give me ANYTHING that comes to mind!!!!
Thankssssss

hope is not a strategy, to act is better
like its better to spit in faces than writing mean letters
flipping coins leaves everything to chance
gambling on chagne leaves you out of your pants
so fuck hoping and wishing, just do what you feel
and save that coin for your next extra value meal!!!

6. Ballet dancers: do people stare at you when you're stretching in the gym?

yes, GOD i hate that.i think they just wanna sneak a peek at my crotch. women these days, i tell ya...

7. I am moving to Guadalajara from Atlanta, Georgia?
On sepmtember with my sister (19)... Am (20)... and I was wondering what's life like outhere? ... I am of Mexican Descent, speak fluent spanish... I love starbucks, malls, running, going to the movies, not really into clubbing much, prefer bars, love soccer (Chivas)... what places could I go to? and it's traffic bad there? how about the police are they very strict?

guadalajara has all of the things you like, youll love it! im not too sure about places for running, but as ong as you dont mind running on the pavement, you can run for days in that city! there are planety of clubs/ bars. traffic gets crazy at rush hour, just as it will in any big city so be prepared for that. police are normal as far as i see. as long as oure not black, you wont have to deal with the cops any more than you would normally in the usa. enjoy it!

8. Is there somewhere in Mexico that'd be good for vacation that's safe?
I'm going for my high school graduation and I was thinking about going to Tijuana but I heard it was really dangerous and scary. So I'd like to know if there's maybe somewhere near there that I can go..Someplace fun but safe.. Anyone help?

go to cancun- thats where all the american tourists/ spring breakers go and youll be right t home there. meico isnt the usa; crime is higher and many crimes go unrepirted and unsloved. you can be robbed at gunpoint and/ or knifepoint out in places at night in the small towns and even th big places like mexico city. so stick to cancun, and be sure to smile for the mtv cameras.

9. Is it actually possible to have a large pimple on your butt? Somethings there.. looks like a pimple, it hurts!

YES, ive had that before and it gets uncomfortable. i found the best way to get rid of it is to rub your ass on a surface as if your butt was itching- thatll pop the pimple.

No Question: 6

2008-05-01T07:48:00.000-04:00

1. Does it hurt to think too much?
You do not even know, I think in an outstanding amount. My brain never shutsup. I worry and paranoi myself it gets very frustrating. I think about everything, life, society, myself, other people, everything. Good and Bad. A lot of it is bad. I do not know what to do i think i really have always been like this.

maybe you should start a blog, and empty all your thoughts onto paper (figuratively speaking). that way youll have track of everything youve been thinking about, and you can reflect on those things. maybe there will be something you can use in your everyday life later on.

2. Hillary supporters- what do you think of the fact that...?
We republicans love Hillary b/c shes destroying the democratic party and will ultimately help McCain? Its estimated that if Obama gets the nod, 30% of you will vote for McCain. Im a repub for McCain, but ill tell you right now that youre silly for wanting to do this, and that we repubs are laughing at you. Youre so spiteful that you would rather have a republican, who has little in common with Hitlery, than another Democrat, who she shares very similar views with. My question is, how does it feel to know that we republicans are laughing at you and think youre a bunch of bitter crybabies?

this question touches on something obama said at a speaking engagement. this si the way traditinal pilitics are played in washingtoon- tearing your counterpart down no matter what, even if it will hurt the big picture in the long run. every political election, even at the state and city level, these are the tactice politicians use to win- find any possible negative about the other candidate, and exploit it to the fullest.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FlR9DNfqGD4

3. I wont to learn how to be a stripper?

there are a lot of places that offer amateur stripper classes you can take. and there are some natural talents you should possess to get into stripping- uninhibited, not self conscious about any part your body, able to assume a dominant role when dealing with men (thats how youll make your money!). Ddam, youd think ive been a stripper before....

4. I need a good scene name for myspace...my names jeff.?
ive been trying forever to get a good one, but i cant think of anything cool with the letter j.

J-space
JJ fad
Hey J
Happy Js
Special J
JBC
from J to Z

5. Do you think the love for big butts got so popular because of the rise of hip hop?

not exactly. i think the of big butts gets talked about more nowadays, but this love existed before hip hop music did. and i know youre probably white. why does it always seem that aucasians are always asking questions in this format: "do you think hip hop is responsible for ___________ ?" but i digress.

6. Im so madd and sadd and fustrated. help.?
yeah well i threw a tantrum cause i didnt get chocolate icecream and i got vinilla. i have discharge in my undies and i had cramps yesterday. watts going on. im acting rele mean and moody and i usullay dont act like this.

my first question: are you female?? i hope so.

assuming you are, sounds like 1) youre a bratty bitch; 2) you are having your period.

are far asth period part, i dont know what the procedure is for dealing with those- ask your mom.as for the bitch part- ride with it! some guys like that.

7. POLL: Krispy Kremes or Dunkin' Donuts?
I choose Krispy Kremes because they give out free donuts when the sign is lit, their made fresh, and yummm, they melt in your mouth. If I could live there I would. How about you?

i like KK too... dunkin donuts arent bad, but since thet are franchises there are a lot of locations with terrible customer service and dirty stores. KKs are not as plentiful as dunkin though, so sometimes i spend money at dunkin. KK's donuts are great though, i agree. they ost definitely melt in your mouth. they give out free donuts when th sign is lit? really? ive been to a few locations with lit signs and i have never received a dam free donut.

8. To tell or not to tell?
Im in high school and i'm bi. i have a girlfriend. i want to know if it's better to tell my mom now or wait until i'm out of the house. and if you say that i should tell my mom how would you recommend doing so?

yes you should tell your mom and your gf that youre bi. tell her you wanna talk to her and just be yourself, you know better than me what the best way of communicating with your own mother. if she truly loves you, which she should, shell accept your way of being unconditionally.

and ask your gf for a threesome while you're at it.

9. My Chihuahua's butt is red and swollen. Can anyone tell me why?

hate to break it to you so bluntly but here it is: your dog is gay, and hes been getting fucked in the ass. dont feel bad, to him this is pleasure (or so ive heard). try keeping a closer eye on him when hes in the yard, and dont let the dog out into the streets unattended. i beleive Petsmart sell doggis KY jelly that would probably make things less painful for Fido.

No Question: 5

2008-04-30T15:55:00.000-04:00

1. Do you hit on girls that work at fast food restaurants?
guys...if you see a hot girl working at a fast food restaurant...lke lets say dairy queen..would you hit on her?what would you do?and do you ever tip them

i do not personally, but thre would be nothing wrong with you doing so if you chose to. at least make sure you get some tangible things out of the relationship, i.e. free burgers, drinks, fries, free meal coupons etc. and if she comes to your crib after work, make sure she stops at home first to shower and get out of thise clothes that smell lik efrench- fry grease. ughhh.

2. What should i do??? please reply with a answer please?
i am in middle school and i am only 4ft 10in and every day most of the day i am called a midget or shorty or lepercon or people say why don't you go back to the north pole you elf or the other day i got called short sh$t what should i do? thanks for your time reading this and please answer thanks

what should you do???kick someone's fuckin' ass!! for the males that talk shit, bring a baseball bat to school. next time on eof them makes a remark about your size, smash him in the nuts with the bat and say, "hey, we're the same size now!!" or something to that degree (be creative). and for the females with snide comments, say, "you know what, youre right. i realized i am quite short, because my dick is only 2 inches... from the ground."

let me know if these work.

3. How are you supposed to use the bathroom in a chastity belt?

just slide em to the side, like a thong. no sweat. and since chastity belts were created to prevent intercourse, just go right on top of the belt, fuck it.no one will be close enough to your crotch to smell it, anyway.

4. HELP! My dog wont stop barking?
I really love my dog but she is such a pain! Shes very needy and always wants attention. Me and my sister live in an apartment and we can never just leave her at home we have to take her everywhere! And i know she isnt lonely because we have another dog and a cat. It has become so annoying!
We have tried to stop giving her so much attention (like letting her sleep in one of our beds, or sit on the couch with us) but nothing is working...
if you have any ideas about how to get her to stop, please let me know, we need all the help we can get. :) we were thinking about obedience classes, but they are kind of expesive and we dont have very much money, lol
so preferably we would like any free methods, thanks!

basically you have a dog "with issues." i dont know if youve ever heard of Caesar Millan aka The Dog Whisperer, but he talks about these kinds of things in his books and demonstrates how to work with your dogs correctly on his show.
you need to become the "pack leader" to your dog, so she knows that she id to follow your directives and not do things that symbolize that she is running things, ie barking uncontrollably when youre not around. more exercise and regular walks (done correctly) are also very important for a healthy, balanced dog.

5. Do I Have an Upturned Nose?
I get told that my nose is Round, fat, big, a ski-jump nose, wide, and turned-up all the time but I just want to know for sure. My nose does stick out pretty far and you can see up it from the front but I just want to know for sure

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w170/warg_bucket/191018.jpg

i would say that yes, your nose is slightly upturned, but thats not the 1st thing that sticks out (un intended) about it. i would say that yournose remnds me of an isoceles triangle, or a big slice of pizza. ive never been skiing before but id be quite scared if the jumping cliff was shaped like your nose. whoa...

6. Do black girls in general suffer more neck problems due to ???
when they get mad they move their head all over the place???

HAHA, had to laugh at this one, as i think this is a serious question from you. anyone who reads this question will envision a black female doing this exact thing. but, not all lac females do this, as a matter of fact, only a small percentage move their heads like that when speaking. funy question, still.

7. How can I beat this jealousy?
So someone new started working with me a few months ago. It is a small restaurant we work at and he rose to the top and has made better friends with the people that were originally my friends. I don't like him (not just because I am jealous of him but for other reasons too). How can I put this jealousy aside and resolve this issue?

jealousy is a weak emotion, so you should work quickly to overcome this problem.
the best way to get over your feelings is to build a relationship with this person, so the two of you get to know each other better. maybe then youll see that you dont have many reason not to like him in the first place.
then maybe you can be les of a prick,so your 'friends' wont become closer with another person as soon as they meet him.

8. Fart Etiquette?
When you have to fart & you are in public, in a crowd or at the dinner table, what is proper?

do i walk away & if so how long should i wait before returning so it don't follow me back?

I actually enjoy farting around "other" groups or tables as I walk by

i think the best strategy is to fart as you are moving from an area you dont need to return to, that way you wont experience the smell, no one can trace it to you, and you can avoid the potential embarassment.

in a crowd in which you are staying put,hold it in- thats just nasssty.

at dinner, hold it in- thats just nassssty.

9. Me in my tanktop...will the chicks behave??
So it's real nice out here in mpls, and that's a great thing for the chicks. Why? Because I'm gonna be enjoying the great weather in my new tanktop. And hey, "tank" top isn't a joke, because I've got some "guns", that's for sure. It's no normal tanktop at that. I found a "No Fear" T-shirt on ebay and I cut the sleeves off. So I ask, will the chicks behave??

they will behave... as long as theyre not fanatics for the circus, because you are most definitely a clown.

You Vs. Me

2008-04-19T14:19:00.001-04:00

Watching the first of 10 hours of the first round of the NBA Playoffs that I"ll be watching this weekend, I got to thinking about competition, the "me against you, one winner, one loser" mentality that exists inside all of us.

Of course, each of us has a different level of competitiveness in us. Some folks, like, say, your church pastor for example, outwardly shun mano-a-mano situations, prefering to partake in activities in which all involved can stand victorious. On the other end of the spectrum, a person such as Bill Gates gets a high from the prospect of victory. The average human lives somewhere in between- happy to avoid head-to-head encounters, but with enough awareness to know when it's time to strap up.

Fact is, competition exists, and we all partake in it more than many of us even realize. In a lot of these, you have no say in whether you wish to compete or not.

Those of us in relationships are constantly competing for the attention of our significant others over the many human distractions we come across from day to day. Often, problems in relationships can arise when, consciously or not, one or both members stop competing for the other.

In our business lives, applying and interviewing for a job is a competition in which we rarely even know who our adversaries are. Sometimes the competition for a job isn't a person- it's a standard. And once you're in a career or job, there's always someone working to take your spot, no matter how great or insignificant you think that spot is. If you're in the realm of choosing employees, you are competing for the best in the talent pool.

A bar or nightspot? I know, not all of us are looking for a new love/ lust interest/ video extra/ wifey/ huzz-band. But we always make sure we look our best. Why? Because we know we're being evaluated.

We go to salons. Barbershops. We get our nails done. We lift weights. Wash our vehicles. Put on makeup. Use TAG body spray. All to throw our proverbial hats into the ring.

So embrace the battle between yourself, and what you have to offer, and the individual to your left. They may not say it and you may not notice it, but they're in it to beat you. Might as well battle back.
Dre Baldwin
1-267-970-6628
sent via Blackberry by T-Mobile