February 29th: Leap Day Babies

Today is special day. Well kind of, February 29th only comes around once every four years so you have to make sure you make it a memorable one. Just think for a moment how many children enter the world today and are gonna have to go through life not being able to celebrate there Birthday on there actual Birthday. Depressing isn't it, well at least they'll have something to look forward to every four years.

Notable Leap Day Babies

• 1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
• 1792 – Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (William Tell, The Barber of Seville) (d. 1868)
• 1896 – Morarji Desai, former Indian prime minister (d. 1995)
• 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer (d. 1994)
• 1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player
• 1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, former president of El Salvador
• 1960 – Anthony (Tony) Robbins, American motivational speaker
• 1964 – Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player
• 1972 – Antonio Sabàto Jr, Italian-born actor
• 1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
• 1980 – Chris Conley, American musician and songwriter/composer

www.timeanddate.com/date/leap-day-timeline.html

Rick Ross NBA All-Star Weekend

Checkout how the BOSS aka the hottest MC in the game spent his All-Star weekend. I love the TNT intro at the beginning of the clip, you also get to listen to some of his tracks from his Rich Forever mixtape.

Checkout the clip below

 

2012 NBA All-Star Game Recap

Last Night's All-Star game gave us a little bit of everything. We saw amazing highlights, Kobe Bryant make history when he passed Michael Jordan for most points in All-Star game history and also a Bryant injury the black mamba suffered a nasal fracture after Dwyane Wade committed a hard foul. D-Wade also had a triple double only Jordan and LeBron James have accomplished that feat in All-Star game history. This year's game was also very lopsided the West jumped out to a huge lead and survived the East furious rally in the 4th quarter to win 152-149 Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder received MVP honors after scoring 36 points and also grabbing 7 rebounds.


Highlights and pictures of the NBA's mid-season classic

Via: nba.com    

 

Team USA Basketball Gear

Check out the Nike team USA gear the 2012 squad will be rockin' in London this coming summer for the Olympics.

Magic Johnson to Launch New African American Channel this June

NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson is gearing up to launch a 24 hour African American channel that will rival BET and TVone. "This is so exciting for me, I'm pinching myself," Johnson said in a phone interview. "This is big for myself, for the African American community and the African American creative community. I wanted a vehicle to show positive images and to have stories written, produced and directed by African Americans for our community. Aspire — that's how I've been leading my life."


Aspire will be available on Comcast beginning June 30th and show a variety of film, TV, music and comedy. I am interested to see how Magic's channel will be different from BET and TVone. Maybe they will create a music countdown show to rival 106 & Park. We will find out soon enough.


Via: latimes.com

Brezzy and Rihanna BACK!

Yesterday on Rihanna's 24th Birthday she dropped the remix to her song "Birthday Cake" featuring none other than Chris Brown. We all know about there controversial past but it has been three years since the unfortunate incident, but by the looks everything it seems like all is forgiven.

On the same day Chris Brown dropped a remix of his own featuring Rihanna "Turn Up the Music." Fans of Rihanna have been skeptical of her teaming back up with Brezzy. My opinion on that if Rihanna forgives him that is all that matters I hope they both continue making good music.

Take a listen for yourself "Birthday Cake remix" and "Turn Up the Music remix"          

Is Oklahoma City Thunder the next San Antonio Spurs or Sacramento Kings?

Throughout the years the NBA has shown us that small market teams can have successful runs in the league. Cities like Utah, Portland, Indiana, Sacramento, and San Antonio have fielded contending teams. Though only San Antonio have reaped the benefits of an NBA Championship. The Spurs won four Championships in a eight year span. The Spurs can make a strong case for the most successful small market team of all time. The Utah Jazz had an unbelievable span that resulted in them making the playoffs for 20 consecutive seasons including two trips to the NBA Finals were they eventually lost to those Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls Teams in both 1997 and 1998. Portland and Indiana could also thank MJ for not being able to win a Championship during his era of greatness, also we will get into Sacramento's tough luck a little bit later. nowadays there is a new small market team on the rise, the franchise formally known as the Seattle Supersonics. The Oklahoma City Thunder.


The Thunder arrived in Oklahoma City in 2008 and in there inaugural season only won 23 games. Led by emerging superstar Kevin Durant they made a tremendous leap the following season and won 50 games which earned them the eight seed in the Western Conference and earned them a date with the eventually champs Los Angeles Lakers. Even though the Lakers won the hard fought series in six games OKC earned the respect of the Lakers especially Kobe Bryant who went on to say that the Thunder were a team on the rise and they were only going to get better, and so they did. Kevin Durant continued to grow as a player and another emerging star was born in OKC as well because Russell Westbrook propelled his game to an All-Star caliber and Head Coach Scotty Brooks had his team rolling on all cylinders. OKC went on to win 55 games which gave them the fourth seed. They defeated Denver in the first round and beat Memphis in seven games. Just like that Oklahoma City was in the Western Conference Finals basically with the same nucleus that won only 23 games just two years prior. Even though they went on to lose that series to the eventual 2011 Champion Dallas Mavericks, OKC had put themselves on the list of elite teams in the NBA.

The question was whether Oklahoma City is the next San Antonio Spurs NBA Champions and are still perennial Championship contenders to this day or the Sacramento Kings who were once upon a time perennial Championship contenders during the early 2000s but suffered through a bunch of tough luck and eventually fell of the map entirely. If you are a true basketball fanatic like me you would quickly answer San Antonio Spurs solely because of the way OKC is managed. Not to mention OKC General manager Scott Presti  is also a product of San Antonio's front office as well. Unlike the Kings OKC has shown that they are prepared for the future as they continue to breed young talent. OKC's best 3 three players Durant, Westbrook, and James Harden are all under 25 years-old. Sacramento seemed like they were only interested in winning for the now and there time frame lasted from 1999-2005 and they started to decline after that infamous trip to the 2002 Western Conference Finals when they lost game seven on there home court to the Lakers. Also Sacramento's stars were already during the latter half of there primes. Chris Webber was a great player but injuries started to heap on him after the 2002 run. Peja Stojakovic and Mike Bibby were great role players but were one dimensional players and Vlade Divac and Doug Christie were towards the end of their careers. Compared to OKC's starting five Westbrook, Durant, Thabo Sefolosha who is the defensive perimeter stopper, all energy shot blocker Serge Ibaka, and the defensive enforcer Kendrick Perkins. OKC definitely has more balance in there starting line up compared to the Kings and every starter including sixth man Harden are all under 28. My last point is the front office moves primarily in the draft and trades. Most notably the trades for Chris Webber and Mike Bibby come to mind because each trade propelled the Kings. When it comes to the draft the Kings did not draft any players during there heyday that contributed to their run. The Spurs on the other hand have done a phenomenal job in the draft. Of course David Robinson and Tim Duncan jump out both were 1st overall picks and the leaders of Championship teams. Now Tony Parker was drafted 28th overall in Manu Ginobili was a second round pick 57th overall YES 57, 57 out of 58 picks that is amazing. The Spurs have also looked to the future with young players Dejuan Summers, Gary Neal, Danny Green, and Tiago Splitter who will most likely take the mantle sooner rather then later. Durant, Westbrook and Harden were all top 5 picks mainly due to the rebuilding years. Those were excellent picks, Serge Ibaka was the 24th pick of the 2008 draft. They took sharp shooter Reggie Jackson out of Boston College with the 24h pick in last year's draft which fills a need for OKC. When it comes to trades Sefolsha  and Eric Maynor arrived to Oklahoma City via trade and have provided great contributions. The Kendrick Perkins trade showed that OKC is for real because they knew that they needed a big man and went out and got themselves a big man that will anchor there defense for the foreseeable future, something Sacramento didn't look forward to.

I'm not saying OKC will win a Championship, but what I am saying is Oklahoma City has put themselves on the same road to success as the San Antonio Spurs. Now it is up to them to put it all together. So far they are doing just that as we approach the All-Star break they have the best record in the Western Conference, but Championships are not won during the regular season this is a question that can only be answered during the playoffs so we will wait and see if Oklahoma City is the next San Antonio or Sacramento?

Kate Upton - Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Cover Girl

Last week the annual SI Swimsuit Edition cover was unveiled on the "Late Show with David Letterman." The cover girl for the 2012 edition is the sexy popular supermodel Kate Upton. The 5"10 19 year-old Upton jumped on the scene a couple years ago and is quickly making a name for herself. In 2011 Upton was named rookie of the year of the swimsuit issue, and in one year she is already the cover girl.

Take a look back at some of Upton's 2011 SI pictures to get a sneak peak at what's in store for this year's issue.

                                                                                               

Wale - Chain Music

Straight Gecchi on her... Nice video great concept. Wale "Chain Music"

Just sayin..

LIN FOR THE WIN

Yesterday I posted a blog on Jeremy Lin and he followed it up with this...

You would think the Toronto broadcast team would be bummed out that the Raptors lost on a last second shot even the Toronto crowd went crazy. I guess everyone is amazed by Linsanity.

LINSANITY!!!

Just what the sports world needs fresh off Tim Tebow mania the NBA has its version to the NFL phenomenon that was "Tebow Time", and instantly took the league by storm during the past season. I couldn't leave this story alone, though I personally wanted to wait until Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire rejoined the starting line up before I judged Jeremy Lin's performance. But his recent string of games played could not go unmentioned. No other player in NBA history has scored more points in there first four career starts yes that includes Michael Jordan, then Jeremy Lin. Lin has been exactly what the doctor ordered for the New York Knicks a true point guard. You can say he has single handedly saved Knicks Head Coach Mike D'Antoni's job because if the Knicks had continued to struggle he would of definitely got the ax sooner rather than later. This has been a great story but the main question that's on every basketball fan's mind is how will the new and improved Jeremy Lin led Knicks mesh once Melo and Amar'e get back on the court.
 
Stoudemire will be just fine he's only played with one of the best PGs of this generation in Steve Nash and had major success, not to add that D'Antoni was the coach of that team and this is when the Phoenix Suns were at the peak of there run, the question is how Melo will adjust. Melo has played with true PGs before. Chauncy Billups and Andre Miller come to mind and when both lead guards were teamed with Melo on the Nuggets and for half a season with Billups on the Knicks, Melo's teams made the playoffs every season. The problem is not  Carmelo Anthony the problem was the Knicks never had a true PG this season, that is before Lin hit the scene. So of course Melo and Lin will be able to coexist not only because Melo knows he will hear it from the Garden faithful if he can't make this work. Melo only needs to figure out when to defer to Lin and allow him to make decisions on his own. That includes not forcing Lin to get him the ball in bad situations. Okay Lin went to Harvard right? I think he understands that he has one the the best jobs in the NBA right now. Feed the ball to two all-stars, he won't have any problems deferring to Melo or Amar'e so lets just get that notion out of the equation.

Lin's run of historic basketball play which included 38 points and 7 assist against the Los Angeles Lakers last Friday earned him NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week. Not bad for a guy that was cut twice in December and even played in the D-League this season. The reason why Lin is getting this much hype is because his story is truly amazing. From Harvard to the pros is amazing enough but from were Lin was just a week prior the end of the bench to starting PG. We have never seen anything quite like this before, and to do it in New York City. Madison Square Garden the Mecca of basketball you can't write a better script. Linsanity is for real.        

Suspect

I swear the Illuminati is real. This is the guy who's running the rap game? I respect the fact he was the first to publicly put on A$AP but Drake is just, well...Drake. He dislikes:

1. People telling him to get the dutch.

2. Losing the rubber ducky in the tub.

3. Running out of Fluff.

4. Beautiful groupies.

5. Going to the bathroom by himself.

Snow Bunny

Kate Upton.

NBA All-Star Reserves Announced

Eastern Conference                                        

PF/ Chris Bosh- Miami Heat              

SF/ Luol Deng- Chicago Bulls                                               C/ Roy Hibbert- Indiana Pacers

SF/ Andre Igoudala- Philadelphia 76ers
SF/ Joe Johnson- Atlanta Hawks
SF/ Paul Pierce- Boston Celtics
PG/ Deron Williams- New Jersey Nets

Western Conference

PF/ LaMarcus Aldridge- Portland TrailBlazers

C/ Marc Gasol- Memphis Grizzlies

PF/ Kevin Love- Minnesota Timberwolves

PG/ Steve Nash- Phoenix Suns

PF/ Dirk Nowitzki- Dallas Mavericks

PG/ Tony Parker- San Antonio Spurs

PG/ Russell Westbrook-Oklahoma City Thunder                                               

     

Deng, Hibbert, Iguodala, Aldridge and Gasol make the All-Star team for the first time while Love and Westbrook make it for the second time in there careers. The coaches also made sure to show appreciation to some veterans as well, Pierce makes the team for the tenth time in his career, Bosh for the seventh and Johnson for the sixth. Nowitzki gets in for the eleventh time and for Nash its his eight selection. Rounding out the reservers point guards Williams and Parker were both chosen for the third time.          

Who do you believe got snubbed this season? Rudy Gay comes to mind as an All-Star snub. More snubs from the West include Monta Ellis, Kyle Lowry and Pau Gasol.  Looking at the Eastern Conference Josh Smith definitely deserved to be included on the team Rajon Rondo was left out, Danny Granger is also having an All-Star caliber season as well. Who else deserved an All-Star nod? 

The reserves join the starters that were announced last week. The Eastern Conference starting five consist of Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose, the Miami Heat tandem of guard Dwayne Wade and forward LeBron James, New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony and Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard. The Western Conference starting five includes point guard Chris Paul and forward Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers start at shooting guard and center respectfully and forward Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder rounds out the starters. The 2012 NBA All-Star Game comes to you live from Orlando FL, on Sunday February 26th.    

                                                                                                                                                               

THROWBACK THURSDAY

This Thursday I'm taking it back to 2001. Remember the days when over sized clothing and rockin' your favorite athlete's jersey was in style, and you can't forget about the Harlem shake either the dance craze that took over every middle school.

                                                     
                                                  Fabolous "Young'n (Holla Back)"

Despite what happened Sunday (still haven't watched ESPN) Boston is Title Town. Greatest fans in the world. Not Hollywood. Not South Beach. Certainly never in a fucking trillion years, New York.

Penny Hardaway's Highlight Mix

Even though Penny's injury history tarnished his NBA career. He built a pretty impressive resume during the early portion of his career. Many fans find it amazing that his number 1 jersey isn't hanging in the rafters of the Amway Center because Penny was a huge reason why Orlando found major success in the mid 90's

Here's a clip of some of the best plays of Penny's career. In Orlando he teamed up with Shaquille O'Neal to create a young dynamic duo that took the league by storm. Together they led the Orlando Magic to the 1995 NBA Finals.

 

Penny showing a young Kobe Bryant that he still has game. Who knows? If Penny stayed healthy during his career he could of rivaled Kobe for best player in the league.

"Tryna cop that Benz wagon"

I've been wanting this since I saw Manny Ramirez rolling through Fenway years and years ago.

New Rick Ross Music Video "Yella Diamonds"

New Rick Ross music video off his Rich Forever mixtape "Yella Diamonds"

Paul Pierce Passes Larry Legend

Heading into last night's game against the Charlotte Bobcats Celtics captain Paul Pierce needed 10 points to surpass Larry Bird and take the second spot in points scored in Boston Celtics history. Pierce let some suspense build, but he only needed three more points heading into the 2nd half he promptly hit a three point shot further more cementing his legacy in Boston Celtics lure. Congrats Truth.

     

   
Paul Pierce passed Larry Bird for 2nd place all time for most points scored in Celtics history with a 3 point field goal in the 3rd quarter of Tuesday nights game against the Charlotte Bobcats. 

Now Pierce trails only John Havlicek on the Celtics all time scoring list, and even if he never passes "Hondo" he will one day have his number 34 jersey hanging in the rafters along with the other Celtic legends.