Beijing

With the Olympics set to begin in less that two weeks, we're poised to see some breakouts from some old favorites (Track & Field, Basketball, etc), but also I'm sure a plethora stars being born in surprising categories (Fencing, Gymnastics and more). Make sure you do yourself a favor and check out what will be heartfelt stories and dreams coming true.

All Star 08'-Post New Orleans

Took a couple of days to shoot down to New Orleans for this years NBA All Star festivities. First of all, the city is ready. Minimal problems with a high flux of people, events and mostly good weather. Get back down there if you haven't been or if you haven't been-it's a must do this year.

As usual a lot of stars, athletes and aspirational lifestylers. One thing that stuck out was the adidas presence everywhere with it's "Basketball is a Brotherhood" mantra. You could not but help how they'd integrated itself in every subtle crevice of the city. I just told someone earlier that it's a great campaign that I believe has a lot of potential legs in terms of becoming viral and engaging the consumer.

The game itself was also pretty entertaining this year. King James re-emerged and took home MVP after dunking on a few players from the West early on. Dude is a monster, believe me, I saw some things in person against the best in the league and he's going to only get better for a long time to come.

Next, let me just say Dwight Howard has so much marketability in his future as a big man. His progression on and off the court since his rookie year was purely illustrated as he donned the Superman cape and brought the dunk contest back from flat-lining. I think even Soulja Boy would have to admit that he can't match the pagentry Howard brought out the phone booth.

I'm predicting a rise in NBA viewership going into the second half of the year and continuing into the playoffs this year, much higher than the last 4-5 years. Why? One, the West has long been the weighted most competitive conference, but now with Boston, Detroit and a young Orlando led by the aforementioned Howard and we have some balance. Don't forget Cleveland, trading deadline isn't over yet. And speaking of trades...JKidd's back in Dallas and the West just got even more interesting. Who is not going to be watching NBATV this year? With a set of moves that now calls for three reconfigured teams (PHX, Dallas & LA) along with the others and we have something to look forward to. Combine that with young Portland and Seattle and the NBA has set itself up nicely (and lucratively) for the next 5-10 years. Not to mention the recent announcement that there will be five additional European team, plus whatever becomes of the teams in China.

Mark it down, the NBA is now officially, NBAE (E is for 'entertainment').

Let the games begin.

News

CNBC's piece on Nike ran tonight and covered some great topics-iconic athletes, labor practices, action sports and the emerging Sneakerhead demographic. Crazy, I've known sneaker heads since elementary school; anytime a parent would come and pick up a 6th grader to go cop the new Jordan's and bring him/her back to class so they could be fly, sounds like a sneaker head to me.

Shaq still will be waiting for the first game in a Suns jersey, which I am sure will soon be a top 5 seller with the quickness since he has a new team and the Phoenix area is clamoring for a title. Look for him to inch past Kobe and KG and probably settle around the 9-12 area.

ESPN has an outstanding article up in honor of Black History Month in regards to the Iowa State University stadium be named after an African American athlete (Jack Trice), certainly worth a read.

Someone finally noticed that most hits over the last 18 months in the hip-hop music genre usually encompass a dance move instructional. From Soulja Boy, Fat Joe, Lil Mama, and more most evenings at the clubs are spinning these tracks multiple times a night-but it doesn't stop there. You Tube has countless imitators, fans and unique individuals taking part, from the suburbs to the Sudan, North Dakota to North Korea the infectious, simplified lyrics and physical gyrating inspired illustrations are everywhere. Seems like the quickest way to a deal or at least a look at one right now.

Hitting NBA All-Star weekend starting Thursday, so expect some analysis and a story or two post that trip.

Headed into overtime....

Toilet Paper

Politics are everywhere you turn...the job, dating, parking spots, pretty much anywhere we are these days, could be political. Now whether it be a democracy, dictatorship or something else is unique to each situation.

With politics, things can get heated, emotional-dare I say, um sh...y. For those situations, you usually want to have some TP on hand, your Charmin's, Scotts, etc. What I don't get however with this is when the stuff starts flying, then you know the politics are serious, the issues have taken a back seat, but strategy is in full force and lines are drawn, battle upon us.

Take Bob Johnson, overall wealthy African American male, endorses said Caucasian female candidate and verbally rebukes a candidate some may have felt deserved Johnson's endorsement regardless. He recently was quoted questioning the candidates background based on statements from his memoir.

Tavis Smiley recently had an overall excellent breakdown in his weekly commentary imploring minorities to fully examine their needs and the issues being addressed by all candidates and not blindly handing over their vote to anyone-including someone who looks like you. Seems like Mr. Johnson was doing just that-while his style might have been abrasive to some who took notice. I do however believe it's neither here nor there, but as Mr. Smiley stated, more important to address how while in Iowa none of the candidates addressed the issue of the overwhelming disproportionate number of African American males in prison and Iowa is one of the top 5 states for male incarceration. But hey--it's politics, no one's going to address that on their own right?

A wise man once said, "...it's only entertainment" and you better believe the founder of a media station with that very word included in it's acronym and billionaire is entertaining...but not as a show, but as the audience.

If you missed the underlying contexts of this one, sorry it got a bit complex, you might need a re-read.

Around my way, when things got um, you know, we had the TP handy and either some air freshener or incense...with super Tuesday just a few weeks away, they might want to stock up out there on those trails.

Heard T.O. once say to get the popcorn ready...we'll seeing as how he's done for a while, he may want to take his own advice and get ready for the coming weeks to unfold...we may be about to see a show like none other.

Let me have extra butter on that...

Dang

Going so fast you move at fractions of a tenth of a second...not anymore.
A judge today told former Olympian champion Marion Jones she's going to be spending six months in prison for crimes including steroids and check fruad scam.

Once a darling of the media and public, Jones has had a hard fall from grace in recent months. While unfortunate, as she exuded many positive qualities for our young women in America and across the world, she still I am sure is held in high regard by her two young children she will soon have to seperate with to serve her sentence. Keep ya' head up Marion and know that you have support systems in place.

Pardon me while I reflect-

Life

Most often, we don't realize how very precious the thing we all awake to each day-that present called life. You have to maximize it if you don't want to feel minimized; every so often someone arises and illustrates just how much potential each one of us truly possesses.

Here, a man who has done truly wonderful things in the lives of those playing football and those who do not. His book is an outstanding read, check it out. Whether he leaves or stays, he's made a huge impact.

Same league, similar opportunities, but I often hear, NFL stands for "...Not For Long".

With record sales lagging, alternative streams of sales have ringtones being one of the best ways music recording artists to come up and get paid equally...if you know anyone under 15, then you know Soulja Boy. Young cat is out here with a plan, all I can say is viral marketing at it's finest whether you're a fan or not...learn a thing or two about knowing your demographic and core customer base, he mos def does.

Dave Stern is pressing forward on maybe the greatest privatized investment known. Trust me when I tell you, the NFL only has a few more years as the number one sport in America. While soccer won't be derailed, this move is going to put the NBA in a place even the U.S. can't do.

If you wake up tomorrow, you get 86,400 seconds-hope you maximize em'.

props to sohh, espn and the wall street journal

2008

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