Sunday Reflections

What up peoples! Hope you’re doing well. Its been a good week overall and you know that I have some Reflections.

Music to listen to: Mass Appeal by Gang Starr



No way that you’ll ever make it punk. Second favorite line from the song. The favorite line is you’ll be my son like Elroy. First, anytime you can call someone your son is nice. Second, any reference to The Jetsons is always welcomed.

Wow, two straight rap songs in my “Music to Listen To.” So proud of myself.



Crush of the Day: Sanaa Lathan

I’ve profiled Sanaa before so I don’t have to go over her credentials. While on the road with Belmont baseball last week, I came upon one of her movies, Alien vs. Predator, and it wasn’t that bad. It reminded me of her and therefore, she gets the Crush of the Day.

-I’m currently watching a kick-ass documentary on Neil Young on public TV right now. Man, I need to dedicate an entire post to him one day but he’s a prime example of someone who brilliance and internal struggle makes him such a great musician but also makes him a troubled man.

It’s similar to Dave Chapelle. Some guys brilliance in their undoing.

-So it looks like its going to be Orlando vs. Los Angeles in the NBA Finals. Not disappointed in that at all. First, much respect to Denver for having a good run in the playoffs. I was especially impressed with Carmelo Anthony’s development. Denver is going to be a major player in the future.

But Cleveland, my goodness. I admit. I thought that they were going to win the NBA title this year. However, they ran into the wrong team. Similar to combat fighting, really all of sports, but especially ones like mixed martial arts or boxing, its all about matchups. Orlando just had too many shooters for Cleveland to handle.

Really, for that matter, you have to critique Cleveland’s coaching for several reasons. First, they didn’t have a way to get James on either Turkeglu , aka the Michael Jordan of Turkey, or Lewis on the defensive end. There is no reason that Delonte West should be checking Turkeglu under any circumstances. Also, the “Pass it to LeBron” offence akin to the “Pass it to Will” from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air show shouldn’t apply for a whole series. That crap worked for Game five but was a rap by game six.

Finally, James should have stayed after the game and talked to the media. Everyone else has to do it, win or lose. You have to be a professional in that regard, even though losing is tough.

I’ll have more on this in my NBA Finals preview on Wednesday. Oh yes, they’re will be more.

-I’ve also been keeping a keen eye on the NHL playoffs as well. Stanley Cup finals are set and Detroit is already up 2-0 on Pittsburgh. I picked the Penguins to win this in seven and I stand by my picks but losing the first two is not a good start.

Furthermore, what is up with playing the first two games on consecutive nights? For those of you who don’t know, two games in the finals were played on consecutive nights for the first time since the 1950’s. Why did this take place, because NBC didn’t want to mess with the premier week of the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. More on that later. However, the NHL has such a bad TV deal that they can allow a TV network to determine their own playing schedule. How does Gary Bettman still have his job as the commish of that league?

-I’ve tried Jimmy Fallon on the Late Night show and he’s getting better but I’m still not won over. I’m a huge fan of Conan and spent years going to sleep to his show. I think that Jimmy isn’t that bad, but he just stumbles on himself and needs to loosen up a little bit. However, Langdon told me to give him time and I will. He has until the rest of the year.

As for Conan, he debuts tonight and I’m not sure if his act is going to fly in that city and in that time slot. You would think that doing a show in LA vs. New York and an hour earlier wouldn’t make that much of a difference but it does. The viewing audiences are completely different and the vibe is different as well. LA is all about the Hollywood, the glamorous life, sunny weather while New York is about the working man, sarcasm and the grind of cold weather. Both of them have their benefits but Conan has always been more of an East coaster. It even applies to how you handle the guest and the audience. Its going to be interesting to see.

-I’ve been intrigued by the NCAA Softball World Series this week. Those teams play at such a high level. I’m watching some of Washington and Georgia right now and its been fun to see.

Furthermore, I hate to be a typical guy on here but the “talent” on the field is solid. The west coast schools are ridiculous. Some of the Arizona and Arizona State players are stunning. Washington has some lookers as well. Furthermore you get all types. If you like a tall brunette, they got it. If you’re into a short blonde, that’s there for you too. If you like someone with olive skin or pale skin or even Hispanic or Black, no problems. Fun times.

BTW, I’m taking Florida in two games in the finals.

-The regionals of NCAA college baseball are also underway. Go Commodores tomorrow against Louisville! You knew that was coming. I’ll have some Super Regional predictions around Thursday but I really haven’t watched as many games this year in comparison to the past so I don’t have as much analysis for you.

-I told ya’ll from the beginning that I would have had no part of hiring John Calipari if I was Kentucky.

-I’m not a fan of the show but I’m getting tired of hearing about these Jon and Kate Plus Eight people. If each of them is cheating on each other and putting all of this stuff out in the media, be concerned for the kids. If they were really concerned about their relationship and the good will of the children, they would stop filming the show.

-Crap, Georgia just lost to Washington in the Softball World Series, ending their season and they’re still cheering. Those are some positive women. Furthermore, the starting pitcher for Washington can get it if you catch my drift.

-Its funny how a productive weekend can go to waste when you have a House marathon airing on the USA Network and The Game marathon on BET on during a Saturday at the same time. That ended all plans to go out.

-The amount of time indoors did make me think about my career and where I would like to take it. That will be another post for this upcoming week.

-I’ve been slacking on my MMA Reviews but a good one will be coming this Friday. All I can say for now is that the world is all about Machida and we’re just living in it.

-Tried watching The Hills “Wedding” and the MTV Movie Awards tonight but just couldn’t do it.

OK, that’s all for now. Time to get some rest but this is what you can look forward to this week on the Blog:

Monday: MLB Review
Tuesday: Final edition of What City Should I Move To?
Wednesday: NBA Finals Preview
Thursday: Wildcard
Friday: General Observations on Career
Saturday: Whatever I want
Sunday: Reflections

Until then, good night.

Just Writing some more...

What is going on everyone. I was supposed to write this post yesterday but stuff came up so sorry to the loyal fans. Just got back from watching maybe the best Sci-Fi film I’ve ever seen and Cleveland vs. Orlando are on TV, so good night all around. First, some business.

Music to Listen to: When The Last Time by Clipse (possibly NSFW)



First, this may be only my second-ever rap selection in my “Music to Listen to” section so its good to finally enter the 21st century. Second, I was on one of my favorite Web pages, TheBigLead.com, and they had a post about good summer songs and this one came up.

Furthermore, Clipse is signed under Pharrell Williams’ label, which happened to be titled…wait for it…Star Trak Entertainment. It all ties together. Speaking of Star Trak or the inspiration for the title…

Before we get to that, let’s not forget the Crush of the Day



Today, the honor goes to Moon Bloodgood. She’s going to be in the new Terminator movie which I’m super hyped to watch. Furthermore, she was #20 in the Maxim Hot 100 list and to put this full circle, one of her old jobs used to be as…wait for it…as a Laker Girl. You can’t make that stuff up because I’m going to hit on a certain Laker later on in this post.

First, Star Trek. Tremendous movie. I’m not a big fan of the Star Trek franchise but I know who the main characters are. The good part about the movie is that it’s a prequel to even the first TV show, so you didn’t have to be a fan of the show to get it. Here are some quick fire thoughts on the movie.

1) When you’re watching the movie, you think to yourself, “this must have cost a lot of money.”

2) The casting is darn near perfect. Chris Pine does a solid job as James Kirk but the best acting goes to Zach Quinto as Spock. If I envisioned a young Spock, that would be how I would envision him. He should get some Oscar consideration for best supporting actor, seriously.

3) We get to meet all of characters in their infancy which is nice. We meet Leonard McCoy, Scotty played by my main man, Simon Pegg of Run, Fatboy, Run fame. He steals some scenes in the movie, great casting. My boy John Cho is Sulu.

4) I’m profiled her before but Zoe Saldana, she is ridiculously hot in the movie. Knee-high black leather boots. That’s all I have to say. Furthermore, I always thought that she was hooking up with Kirk but she gets down with another main character.

5) Eric Bana is an excellent villain.

I seriously recommend watching it. The plot is good and not too far over your head, even though they did some time-space continuum stuff towards the end that did kind of confuse me. Its also good for the whole family. I’m actually contemplating watching it again.

Furthermore, the movie really shows why Kirk and Spock act like they do. Each of them, especially Spock, have backgrounds that are so developed that each of us can relate to them. When you see their friendship develop, you get it.

OK, finally on to the original motivation for this post.

When I was a young kid, I had two sports heroes, Dwight Gooden and Lawrence Taylor. The one thing that I learned from Gooden was to not elevate public figures, whether it’s an athlete, actor, politician, whatever because they are only human and flawed. Taylor fits into this same category but he is also part of my message.

Whenever there has been a linebacker who has entered the league the past 20 years, whether its Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacker, Shawn Merriman, etc. some of them have gotten compared to LT and it annoys me. I think that there will be no other linebacker who will ever compare to LT. We all enjoyed watching him play but I think most of us have moved on.

However, the same doesn’t apply for Michael Jordan.

This subject came into my focus with the presence of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant in this year’s NBA Playoffs.

I’ve noticed a backlash against James because people feel that the media has hyped him to the point of being the best player ever. I can understand this sentiment. I do think that the media does hype James to a point that can be annoying to a fan. However, a distinction needs to be made.

No one is saying that James is the best player ever. We all know who that guy is. However, I’ve always said since his first day in the league, James has the potential to be the best player ever. His physical makeup, basketball skills, competitiveness to win and overall will are unique. No one has ever had his size, strength, quickness and actual skills in one package. James still has a lot of work to do to become an all-time great.

A player who is already an all-timer is Kobe Bryant. I’m going to keep it real with you. I don’t like Kobe but you have to respect his game. Here are the only players I can honestly think of that were/are better players than Bryant, in no particular order:

Jordan, Bird, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlin, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Tim Duncan, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon.

That’s the list.

Ever since Kobe has entered the league, he has been given that dreaded mantle of “the next Jordan.” To be fair, if anyone has been close to reaching Jordan’s level in the past 20 years, it has been Kobe. However, here’s my message to the world:

LET IT GO!

Why do we feel it necessary in our society to find the next big thing. In acting, every hot young actor is called the next Brando, Deniro, Pacino, Streep, Hephern, etc. In music, every hot rock band or artist is called the next Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, Tupac, Aretha Franklin, etc. In news journalism, it’s the next Cronkite, Morrow, etc. Even in politics, we hear about the next Roosevelt, Kennedy, Reagan, Churchill, Martin Luther King, etc. You get where I’m going with this.

The reality is that each of those individuals listed above were unique in their own ways. Why do we want another one like them?

Why do we want an NBA player to be the next Jordan or Magic or Bird or any other player?

The unique aspect of sports is that we all look for the unique. We want to see teams and players provide us with a visual scenario that we cherish. Jordan gave us moments that we will never forget. Why do we have to place the onus on James or Bryant to do the same?

I think that we should just enjoy the brilliance of each player for what it is. That’s it. Your thoughts are always welcomed.

Just writing...

Hey everyone, its been a few days since I’ve written on the Blog and I really don’t have a particular topic to address, so I’ll hit on some general topics of life. But first, you know what time it is:

Music to listen to: Basique by Little People

I also would recommend Moon from this same group off of the same album, Mickey Mouse Operation.

Crush of the Day: I know that in my last post, I promised the Crush of the Day would be someone who is a volleyball player that most of us know and love and one of my aims in life is to not disappoint my readers. With that, I give you…

Dania Ramirez. She was an excellent player at Montclair State back in the early 2000’s. First, she’s from the NYC, so props for that. I actually remember her from the brutal Spike Lee movie, She Hate Me. Her more current claims to fame are being in one of the X-Men films and is Maya on Heroes, which I didn’t watch but will do now since I know she’s on it.

She came upon my radar because I was watching the unveiling of the Maxim Hot 100 list and she’s on it.

Speaking of that list…

-I need to seriously write a letter to Maxim. I’m a subscriber to the magazine and when I got my copy in the mail I don’t have the Top 100 list!! What’s up with that. Anyway, the list is always entertaining because it’s good debate material for you and your buddies. Here’s the complete list for your interest: http://www.maxim.com/girls/articles/79154/2009-hot-100.html.

You can really tell what type of woman your friend likes just by his analysis of the choices. Here’s my quick-fire opinion of the top-10:

10) Jennifer Love Hewitt: I’ve always been a big fan of hers since Party of Five (anyone, anyone?). I never understood the backlash on her when she gained some weight. She is welcome at the Pourtout household anytime. Also, Ghost Whisperer. Not a bad show. Not appointment TV, but decent.

9) Jordana Brewster: Awesome name first of all. I’m hot and cold on her. Perfect example was when I watched the latest classic, Fast and Furious, and one moment I’m thinking, I would like to impregnate her in a wholesome way and the next moment, I think I’ve seen hotter women walking around Green Hills Mall on a Tuesday afternoon.

8) Rihanna: She’s cute. I’m not going to kick her out of the Pourtout mansion but I don’t get the hype.

7) Adrianna Lima: First, congrats Marko Jaric. Not only were you able to get her to date her while you’re a marginal NBA guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves no less, you managed to get engaged to her and now we find out today that you actually impregnated her, literally. Tremendous work. For those of you who don’t know.

Here’s the lovely couple together:

Moving on...

6) Eliza Dushku: Yes! Yes! Yes! I’ve been harping her praise for years and finally she is getting some love.

5) Mila Kunis: Not only is she in my personal top-five, she is in Maxim’s top-five. Great minds think alike.

4) Malin Akerman: Umm…not as familiar with her work. Actually, she was in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, so now I remember her. She’s cute but she wouldn’t make my top-15.

3) Bar Refaeli: Normally, if someone is good enough for Sports Illustrated to make their swimsuit issue cover girl and for Leo to date, I would co-sign. But if I’m being critical, I can do better.

2) Megan Fox: When I was kicking in Georgia with my nephew Alex back during Christmas, he just said to me, “Uncle Pouchu (yes, that’s what he calls me), Megan Fox, theirs something off about her.” I think that says it all. She’s cute but I’m not ready to give her the crown as hottest woman out there. Until I saw this video, which may be NSFW: http://www.esquire.com/the-side/video/megan-fox-video?bcpid=21913413001&bctid=21845810001

Yeah, she hot.

1) Olivia Wilde: I’m actually shocked that she topped this list. There are some heavy hitters in there. I personally think that she was hotter in the OC with the blond hair instead of the brunette look she’s rocking in House, but congrats to her nonetheless.

-Some other quick-fire thoughts.

1) Heidi Montag is #81. Are you F’N kidding me! Yvonne Strahovski is #94, Olivia Munn is #96, Roselyn Sanchez is #90, Minka Kelly is #84. This list just lost major street cred with this one.

2) Tricia Helfer should be higher

3) Amanda Bynes is solid and has snuck up on me. However, I must give The People’s Champion props for placing her on my radar.

4) How is the future Mrs. Pourtout aka Maria Menunos only #70. Unacceptable.

5) Carrie Underwood is hit and miss for me. #60 is about right. I think she’s too tiny. I would crush her if you catch my drift.

6) Good to see Christina Milian make the list.

7) Taylor Swift is #50. She wouldn’t even make my top-100.

8) Frieda Pinto should be much higher than #49.

9) Shocked in a good way that Lily Allen was ranked #40. Something about her I like.

10) And finally, #20 is going to be my Crush of the Day tomorrow.

I wanted to get into some NBA and other things but its bedtime.

Tomorrow, I will finally try to break down this whole Kobe Bryant vs. Lebron James battle and just like the Maxim list, who you prefer as a player says a lot about you personally.

Furthermore, I’m going to finally see Star Trek tomorrow and also looking forward to the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United. As an Arsenal fan, I have to go with Barca. First, the day I cheer for United will be the day I stop being a soccer fan. Second, I know he’s not a Gunner anymore but I will always cheer for Thierry Henry.

Until then sports fans, good fight and good night.

MMA and General Sports Review

Hey everyone, thanks for the birthday wishes. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate this special day than to write about my favorite subject.

Normally Friday is reserved for my MMA Review and I’ll hit on that but a lot has been going on in the world of sports so I’m going to touch on a variety of topics. But first…

Music to listen to: Down by the River by Neil Young



During a Belmont baseball game, we were talking about the Cumberland River and somehow the subject changed to the best song with the word “river” in the title. This turned into a nice debate. Suggestions ranged from “The River” by Bruce Springsteen, “Take Me to the River” by various artists even though I prefer the Talking Heads version, even “Moon River” got some love. I’m going to stick with “Down by the River” by Neil Young, the acoustic version. Enjoy above.


Crush of the Day: Kara DioGuardi

You know, I was going to go with a certain blonde volleyball player that each of us is enamored with (one day she will actually be a Crush of the Day and you will be amazed) which is actually part of an inside joke with loyal readers of the Blog.

Instead I’m going to go with Kara DioGuardi, who showed the goods in the finale of American Idol. I meant to hit on her a few weeks ago, but tremendous upgrade by the American Idol producers bringing her to the table. I honestly haven’t watched an entire season of this show since Ruben beat Clay Aiken in the finals but if I would flip the channels to AI and Kara was on, I would at least watch and acknowledge.

Plus…



Yeah, that’s what I thought.

What the heck, this is my birthday sports post so I need to show some love to another one of my subjects, the ladies…



Carmelo Anthony. He went to Syracuse (Orangemen represent!), is having his best playoff season in his career and he’s apparently cute to the ladies. At least that’s what my friend Amber tells me. So, for the ladies, I give you Carmelo Anthony.


I’m actually writing part of this from the pressbox at the Atlantic Sun baseball tournament taking place here in DeLand, Fla. So shout outs to Matt, Amanda and Eric from the A-Sun office kicking it here with me while we wait during this rain delay. When this tournament is over, I’ll write in my Sunday Reflections how much rain we’ve seen here since Tuesday.

Lets get to some sports!

-I’m intrigued by UFC 98 on Saturday. Of course you know I’m hyped about seeing Matt Hughes face Matt Serra. I’m an unapologetically huge fan of Matt Serra so I will be pulling for him big time. However, unlike Serra, I don’t have a personal dislike for the opponent. Hughes is a legend of the sport however his time has come and gone. I don’t think that Hughes has advanced his skills enough to continue with the evolution of MMA. Furthermore, Hughes is dealing with a rehabbed knee, a major injury. But its not as if Serra is a world beater himself. He is dealing with a bad back and hasn’t fought in a long time. Both of these guys are tough, will bring maximum energy and truly dislike each other so the fight will be strong. I have to believe that Hughes will find a way to overpower Serra with some vintage wrestling and ground and pound. However, I’m going to take Serra to win the fight by submission.

The main event is of course Rashad Evans vs. Lyota Machida for the light heavy title. This was supposed to be Rampage Jackson vs. Evans but this is the matchup we will get and this may arguably be the tougher matchup for Evans. Machida brings his unique karate style to MMA that not many people have been able to comprehend. Some call it a boring style and I understand that. His style included a lot of defensive posturing, counter striking and other non-stylistic fighting styles for most fans. However, I don’t find him as boring, especially if you have someone who will be aggressive with him like Thiago Silva was.

Evans has elevated his game to an amazing level. When I saw Evans on The Ultimate Fighter show, I thought that he would just be a wrestler who would try to just by on takedowns but his standup has improved so much that he’s just as big of a threat on his feet then anywhere else in his game. I think that his style will work well against Machida. The key to beating Machida is patience. You can’t be too aggressive fighting him because the counters will frustrate and ultimately beat you.

So who do I take in the fight? I’m going to take Evans by decision. I think that he will show enough activity and not get caught up in the quagmire that is Machida to earn the win.

-The NBA playoffs have been entertaining at times, tedious in others. I guess the best way to do this is to do a quick review of the teams that lost so far.

Utah: Needs to let Boozer walk.

Detroit: Good job lying down to Cleveland in the final game of the series. Just blow that thing up.

New Orleans: Nothing went right for these guys all season. I would be seriously concerned with the financial state of the team. I say the chances of them keeping Chris Paul is at 30%.

Miami: Tremendous year by Wade but nothing else. I thought that he was guaranteed to stay in Miami his entire career, but now, not so sure. Beasley needs to improve some more.

Portland: Are we overvaluing their talent? Roy is legit and I like Aldridge and Fernandez. Everyone else is iffy. Oden is not the answer and I’m shocked if he even makes an All-Star game, let alone a championship. Need a point guard.

Philly: Nice effort to make the playoffs but Brand hopefully will get healthy for their sake.

San Antonio: Their championship window has closed.

Chicago: Game effort against Boston. Rose will lead them to a championship one day. That was the best I’ve ever seen Noah and Thomas play.

Dallas: Good job of getting out of the first round but this is their peak.

Houston: Great effort against the Lakers, especially with Ming out. I love the fire that Artest brought. Let McGrady walk next year when the contract is up and hopefully continue to build around Yao.

Atlanta: Good job getting out of the first round. That is all.

Boston: Garnett getting hurt ruined their chances of repeating but the improvement of Rondo and Davis has to be encouraging.

OK, on to the conference finals.

Orlando vs. Cleveland: At this moment, game two is at halftime and Cleveland is leading by a decent margin. I’m still taking Cleveland in seven. LeBron will make them win the series. Even in game one, Cleveland had a terrible game and still were a Lewis three-pointer away from winning that contest.

Los Angeles vs. Denver: This has potential to be an all-timer. I’m going to keep it real. I don’t like the Lakers. I don’t like the fans and their elevated sense of self (I feel the same about Boston fans, just to be fair). I don’t like how the media continually kiss their ass and wants to anoint them champions when they haven’t won anything. Finally, Kobe is one of the best dozen players ever but he’s not the best player in the game anymore. Lebron is. More on that later. However, in relation to this series, I like that Denver is going to stand up to them and make a challenge. Honestly, if I trusted the mental makeup of Denver, I would take them to win this series in a heartbeat. The Nuggets are a better team overall. Love the emergence of Carmelo Anthony into a complete player. He is the best pure scorer in the league and he is becoming a serviceable rebounder and defender. What the heck, Denver in seven.

Here are two rants Lebron-related:

1) He’s the best player in the game right now. Has he had a better career than Kobe? Absolutely not. Kobe has three rings and is one of the best players ever, we all know that. However, Kobe is wearing down and isn’t as consistent as James. I hate when people keep saying that Kobe is the better player.

You have to make the distinction between who is the best player is right now and over a career. In their respective peaks, who would I take? I would say Kobe because we’ve seen it. Who is the best player? LeBron.

2) I like Lebron but I’m also tired of people like Skip Bayless and others who continue to critique James by continuingly comparing him to Michael Jordan.

Look, Jordan is the greatest player of all-time. We get it. However, his career is over and we need to move on and stop the comparisons. I don’t know anyone who is comparing those two. When you are praising James, it isn’t a personal insult to Jordan. You have these Jordan worshipers who get testy whenever another perimeter player is given praise. It happened with Kobe and now with LeBron.

GET OFF OF JORDAN’S JOCK AND MOVE ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-I’ve enjoyed watching the hockey playoffs as well. Good to see Chicago doing their thing but Detroit is too experienced. Pittsburgh gets past Carolina to set up a repeat Stanley Cup finals, which isn’t a bad thing.

-I’ll hit on baseball next week with a review.

OK, that’s all for tonight.

Who has two thumbs, the swagger of a tiger, the tenderness of a baby seal and the knowledge of an owl? E. Marcel Pourtout!

Wow, 28 years. 28 years ago today the spawn of Barbara and Marcel was born at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital. He was named Etienne Marcel Pourtout, even though if he had a vote in the process, Lucious Lightfoot, Czar Johnson, Bucky Edgardo Rodriguez, Constantine Guadalajara or the clubhouse leader for future name change, Roberto Zeblo would have been considered options.

Since that time, this young man has played the life, lived the dream and continues to inspire generations of children of South Carolinians and Martinique descendants.

As I reflect on my life on this glorious day…

OK, enough about me. Yes, today happens to be my birthday and for that I’m grateful. People die everyday from literally millions of ways and for me to make 28 years is a blessing.

I’ll get into some birthday thoughts in a second but as usual, business has to be taken care of:

Music to listen to: Pushit by Tool and the entire Mars Volta concert at the Lowlands

I include the Tool because around the time they came out was when I started to embrace music as a major part of my life so respect to that. I include the Volta because honestly, you know how much I love them and they should be included in the celebration.

Crush of the Day: Ashley Judd

Could it be anyone else?

Ok, just as if I’m receiving an award, first all praise goes to God and the Jesus. Next, much love goes to Barbara and Marcel for having me.

My family has been tremendous to me over the years, more than I even deserve. I try to live by the statement of no complaints and no excuses and the main reason for this is because I have the best support system anyone can ask for. I find inspiration from everyone.

It will always start with my mother. Words don’t do her justice. Her constant faith in me is amazing.

My siblings are awesome as well. Troy, Denny, Aline and Angie are all important parts of my life and always been there for me.

I have so many uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews that are a big part of my life as well.

In the past year, my family has lost some but we lost our two matriarchs in the past year, Mary McGraw and Marion Washington. We still miss you Grandma and Nana.

I’ve had the fortune of making so many friends over the years back in the NYC, Charleston, Atlanta and of course, Nashville. The past two years have been such a growing period for me and all of them have been a part of it.

I’m glad that Mr. Grumpy hasn’t made an appearance today

I’m thankful for my health. Never, ever take that for granted.

When you’re a kid or even a teenager, your birthday represents a time for you to party and celebrate with some friends, family, and some tremendous cake. Scratch that, some awesome pie and punch, sweet, sweet punch.

However, by the time I reached 25 and didn’t ever have a birthday party, that was over.

Now I reflect on my life and look at it from a positive light. Were there some benchmarks that I thought I would be at by now? Sure. I really thought that by this age, I would be married, kicking it with the wife, on two kids and eating stale cake. That’s the stage that everyone else in my family was at by 28.

However, I’m proud of the path that I’ve taken. Its been different but its my own. Personal ownership is essential to personal development. You can quote me on that.

In the end, accept your faults, acknowledge the consequences and dominate.

I tell people that life is full of depression and random moments of happiness. This is true. However, the key to enjoying your life is to value the happiness more than the depression.

Ok, those are my quick thoughts. I have a baseball game to prepare for. I’ll be back here later today for a sports post.

Oh, one more thing. Thank you for reading my Blog. It means a lot to me that you take time off from your day to read my writings. Much love goes to The People’s Champion, Mr. McMahon, Mr. Kansas City, Langdon, Meggie, Jared, Erica C., Joel, Dafnos, the Tennessee Tornado, Belmont baseball’s BK, Sarah T., Bari, Erica C., Jackie, Daniel L. and the countless others who have visited the site. Of course, thanks to Kenisha as well for inspiring me to start the Blog in the beginning.

Sunday Reflections (on a Tuesday...sad, I know)

Hey everyone, hope you’re doing well out there. Once again, sorry for not posting more consistently. It was a busy few day for me with graduation, preparing for baseball, etc.

Furthermore, I had some technical issues with my computer but hopefully that has been fixed as well.

However, its time to get to some business

Music to listen to: Prayers for England by Massive Attack



This is another classic that I love to play when I’m reflecting. Enjoy


Crush of the Day: Alyssa Milano

I figured that since I haven’t written on the Blog in a long time, I would make the Crush an oldie but still a goodie. We all started to feel her on Who’s The Boss and subsequent movies, however two things brought her back to my light.

First, there’s that ESPN commercial about their Web page and the end shot is of Alyssa making trades on her fantasy baseball team. First, props to her for getting in on her own joke. When you date Barry Zito, Brad Penny and Carl Pavano, three starting pitchers, you are a cleat chaser. Sorry, it is what it is. At least she sorta acknowledges it. Second, thank you ESPN because she’s hot.

The other thing that reminded me of her was flipping the channels in our hotel room today and coming upon Charmed, an underrated show that I wish I got into more. Plus, she’s from Brooklyn. That gets her major points.

Some Random Observations for you:

-Wow, graduation weekend was interesting. The ceremony was great for two reasons.

First, it was good for the family to come up to Nashville and see me in that moment. The past two years here have been challenging and difficult. However, through this I’ve grown so much as a person and going to school has been a big impetus for this. I wanted my family to see the culmination of this.

Second, it was the last time that I would be in the same room with all of my classmates who have become some of my best friends here. I will miss them. We all went through the same experiences together and they will each have a major part in the rest of my life.

For many years, it was a struggle for me to find other people who shared the same interest as me both personally and professionally. Going to school gave me a network of people who did this for me.

The ceremony was bittersweet in that regard. I was of course very happy that I was getting my degree and school was finished. However, I will miss having time with them in the classroom.

-I’m picking the Nuggets to beat the Lakers in seven and Cleveland to beat Orlando in six.

-The past few weeks, I’ve been getting back into watching the WWE and enjoying wrestling again. I know that its staged and its acting, but the entertainment value is always high.

This actually started a few weeks ago when I did a group project on the WWE for my finance class. Over time, I began to start watching Raw again and loving it again.

-Michael finally woke up on General Hospital. This has some potential.

OK, that’s all for tonight, just wanted to post something up on here. I’ll try to have a sports specific post tomorrow. Until then, good fight and good night everybody.

Random Observation: Prom

Hey everyone, time for some blogging. First, respect goes out to Meggie for critiquing my last post in relation to the Bill Simmons article on Manny Ramirez. She made an excellent point. What was that point? Well, you are going to have to go back to the post and look at the comments section.

Music to listen to: Youth by Matisyahu






The message of this post makes me think back to my olden days back in the NYC and Matisyahu represents it very well.

Crush of the Day: Sarah Shahi

Yeah, you’re welcome.

Actually, some more background info on her. She was born in Texas, starred on two solid TV shows, The L Word and Life, was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, yada, yada, yada…



What more needs to be said?

OK, so on to the subject of tonight’s post.

This story peaked my attention last week. A young man who attends a fundamentalist Baptist school that doesn’t allow dancing, rock music, hand holding, kissing and probably everything else you can imagine is forbidden from going to prom at another school. Here’s the article for your review: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090508/ap_on_re_us/us_school_dance_flap

Do I think that the guy should go to the prom? Of course I do but this reminds me of a post I did on proms in general exactly one year and a day ago. This is what I said about proms in general, especially my own:

This past week, The Early Show on CBS was reliving the proms of all of the hosts of the show because its prom season. Everyone was reunited with their dates and friends from high school and it was a good time. So you know what that means. I had to reflect on my prom experience, not so good.

I disliked the concept of a prom because I thought it was stupid to have to dress up in clothes I don’t like for an event I don’t want to go to. If I had my choice, I wouldn’t have gone to it because I knew that I would go and get depressed and that’s exactly what happened.

I actually had a deal on a tuxedo, so I didn’t have to pay for that, so that was good. However, I didn’t have a girlfriend at the time and no girls liked me enough to go as a friend, so I had to go to the damn prom alone because I planned the event and I was required to attend.

While planning the whole event, I was extremely lonely and depressed that I had to plan for an event everyone else would have fun at accept me.

So the day of the prom comes and I was actually going to just hop on the subway, literally go to the event for like 10 minutes and go home and cry my eyes out. You know, a typical Friday night during high school.

But bless my mother’s heart, she had other plans.She knew how sad I was and decided to rent some town car from a car service to take me. I just accepted it because I didn’t want to make my mother mad. So I get into the car and just feel sad that I have to act happy at this event when I just want to stay home.

So I arrive at the event, everyone is having a good time and I put on a happy face because I don’t want to bring the mood down. I see some of my good buddies like Carlos and John, who managed to find dates. So much for hanging with the boys.I’m about to leave the prom but I’m convinced to go to a post-party at my friend’s Curtis’ house. I decide to go and everyone is there with their dates accept me.

There was no alcohol, which sucked because at least I could’ve gotten drunk to feel better, but that wasn’t possible. Everyone was cool at the party even though I hardly knew anybody.It ends up being around 2 a.m. and I just leave. I hail a cab and just head home.That was probably the saddest I’ve felt in my life at that time. Sitting in that cab ride knowing that every time I think of proms, that memory will come back.

I have no pictures from that event, I rarely speak about it to anybody, and I honestly can’t tell you the name of the place the event was at even though I planned it. I’ve pushed this event away from my memory because it was too painful for me then.

Everyone in college would always talk about their prom in a great light. They went with their partner, hung out with friends, and had some fun and wild stories to last a lifetime. I have that cab ride home feeling that no one ever liked me and never will.So, when I see all of those teenagers out there now going to their proms, I actually get a little emotional about it. I don’t cry as often thinking about it, even though I almost teared up just now typing this.

During college, even the mention of a prom would make me an emotional mess the rest of the day.Its not that I’m jealous that other people have enjoyed their events, I’m happy for them. I’ve never wished the bad emotions I have to be passed on to someone else. I just sometimes wonder why I have to go through painful events like my prom when they hurt me.I guess I look back on that event and try to figure out why it happened. Even in my lifelong relationship rut, I have to believe that all of this is happening for a reason. I have to emerge from it stronger mentally.This is why I don’t think about proms. That emotional feeling is coming back now. So I’ll just end it on this. I honestly wish that I didn’t go to it because it would have been much cooler to ditch it and not have gone through it. But I went to it and it’s now a part of my life that has to be accepted.It is what it is.

Do I still feel the same way about my prom experience? I actually do but I’ve also learned that everyone’s experiences in life are different and to just let them be. Furthermore, I think going through that night gave me a grounded prospective that I have now.

It would have been great to have had gone with a girlfriend, gotten liquored up, had sex with her, preserved all of those memories for eternity. But that would mean looking back at my past as my peak. In most cases, if high school was your peak moment of your life as an adult, your adult life must be struggling.

That is all for now.

When Manny Being Manny Includes Fertility Drugs and Why Ovechkin is Good for the NHL

I’m going to talk about Manny Ramirez and Alex Ovechkin but its time to take care of business.

Music to listen to: Untitled Song by The Mercury Program



The People’s Champion asked me I pick so many instrumental songs for my music choice on the Blog. Its not intentional but that seems to be the type of music that I listen to when I’m lounging here writing. Usually I have the Pandora Web site going with my music and the stations that I have tend to lean towards this. When I’m home at night, I don’t like to blast the heavy rock that I usually play during the day. So that’s a long winded way of saying enjoy The Mercury Program above.



Crush of the Day: Lynn Collins

Saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine tonight. Good movie, solid action but I was blown away by Lynn. Tremendous talent.

OK, on to the subjects of tonight’s post.

1) So Manny was pinched by MLB for taking a performance-enhancing drug. The integrity of the game argument has been stated by almost everyone. Yes, taking PEDs are against the rules and should not be tolerated but why are each of us acting shocked that this is taking place. Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada, Andy Pettite, Juan Gonzalez, Alex Rodriguez, etc. All of those men are part of a short list of people who have either tested positive or are accused strongly of using PEDs. Ramirez isn’t the only guy to do it and he won’t be the last.

Every sport has had cheaters. Its an unfortunate result of having athletes compete for a common prize that is substantial in nature, whether its money, fame, glory or the general belief in winning.

What does this mean for Ramirez? Honestly, not much. He’s still going to make the Hall of Fame. You can’t have a Hall of Fame with maybe only Ken Griffy, Jr. and Jeff Bagwell from this era. I think you have to look at how players did relative to other players of their particular period. What this means is that we know that PEDs are an element in baseball that didn’t exist as much 30 years ago, so trying to compare Ramirez to Reggie Jackson doesn’t work.

If people can get their heads out of their behinds and realize that PEDs are a part of baseball for the rest of eternity and move on, we will be better.

Furthermore, f*ck the Hall of Fame anyway. Its an old building that honestly only about a quarter of baseball fans care about anyway. Its similar to the steroid problem. The media, particularly baseball writers, try to elevate things like the Hall of Fame and the steroid problem when the reality of it is that many people don’t care about it.

Fans will still show up to Dodger games and cheer Ramirez when he comes back because its what fans do.

One more thing, screw your kid as well. I’m sick and tired of hearing the “think of the children” argument. Bill Simmons, who I enjoy 95% of the time, wrote one of his weakest articles in some time, when he did a hypothetical situation when he was talking to his son five years from now along with his own father celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 2004 World Series win of the Red Sox. Check out the article here, I’ll wait: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090507&sportCat=mlb

The article was weak because we treat children like they are some innocent commodities. People suck, bottom line. The earliest a kid can learn this the better. Sports is a great metaphor for this. I learned as a Mets fan back in the late 1980’s that Dwight Gooden was taking drugs and that was hurting himself and the team. He was an a-hole, I learned this at eight years old, it didn’t scar me for life and I moved on.

You want to know how this conversation would take place in the Pourtout household? Glad you asked

Little Elliot or Ashley (yeah, I named my kids already): Papa, what’s up with this Manny Ramirez stuff?
Me: He took a performance enhancing drug to filter an illegal steroid to perform better.
Kid: Is that legal?
Me: No, its cheating, he has been suspended.
Kid: But he’s my favorite player and he helps our team win.
Me: That’s true but you have to realize that people aren’t perfect, make mistakes, do things to cheat and shouldn’t be idolized.
Kid: This is so sad (the kid starts to cry)
Me: You need to stop that or I’ll give you something to really cry about.

End scene.

See how easy that was. Child raising at its finest.



2) The NHL playoffs have been extremely entertaining for so many reasons. The revitalization of Chicago and Boston. The continued excellence of Detroit. The spunk of Anaheim. However, the one part that has caused the most intrigue for me has been the Pittsburgh vs. Washington series.

Let me say first that I like Sidney Crosby as a player. The guy may be the best overall player in the game today. However his pussy…cat ways have rubbed me the wrong way over the years, especially when he complained about the Capital fans throwing too many caps on the ice during one of the earlier games in the series when Ovechkin had a hat trick. This isn’t the first time that Crosby has criticized Ovie.

But I think that Crosby represents the old guard of NHL fans, particularly Canadian ones, who see Ovechkin as a threat. A threat to what is what I want to know.

Ovechkin is an extremely exciting player who likes to celebrate his goals in an exuberant way. He’s physical, charismatic and makes me want to watch hockey. Honestly, he’s been a major reason for me getting back into watching hockey.

However, you get guys like Crosby and old figures like Don Cherry mocking down Ovechkin’s antics. What these guys need to realize is that the old, humble and silent type of hockey player act is nice and appreciated but is also a major reason that the NHL is struggling.

The NHL lacks color and I don’t mean racially, even though you can make a case about that, however, another time and another place.

The league DESPERATELY needs more players like Ovechkin to elevate the sport with the masses. What guys like Crosby and Cherry need to realize is that while their sport may be watched in Canada, its dying here in the USA and if that continues to happen, in 40 years, the league doesn’t exist anymore.

I’m not saying that Ovechkin is a saint but lay off the dude.

That’s it. Good fight and good night everyone.

Sunday Reflections

What’s going on everybody! Man, it feels so good to post on Pourtout Pancakes again after taking a break. I was going to write something on Friday but pushed it back to my Reflections. First, some business

Music to listen to: Soft Tempest by Symbion Project



You know that I had to come back with some chill music.

Crush of the Day: Zoe Saldana

First, she is in the new Star Trek movie that I really want to see. However, if you come up to me giving me the Vulcan salute, I will live long and prosper while kicking your ass. I don’t play that.

Anyway, back to Zoe…

Yeah, she was born in Jersey, but raised in Queens and I could have told you that just looking at her and seeing her vibe. You can tell a New Yorker just by the way he or she carries themselves. I remember seeing her in Drumline and saying to myself, “yeah, I’d like to impregnate her.” My feelings haven’t changed

-I was talking with the People’s Champion on Friday and he found the term “impregnate” offensive, as in I see a girl that I’m interested in and go up to her and say that I want to impregnate her. As George Costanza would say, is that wrong?

-I’m going to hit on this tomorrow, but why is everyone shocked that Manny Ramirez got pinched for taking a performance enhancing drug? Never, ever trust in athletes, politicians and celebrities in general.

One more thing. If I hear one more statement that generally comes back to “think of the children” or “what will I tell my kid,” stop being a pussy…cat and keep it real with your kids. Don’t sugarcoat anything. Your kid shouldn’t be idolizing any celebrity anyway so they won’t be disappointed. Furthermore, your kid needs to man up or woman up and realize that people suck and cheat to get ahead in life. Stop babying your kids and raising a set of pussy…cats. More on this Monday.

-Surreal feeling attending my final graduate school class ever on Thursday. I had a class presentation, finished it and then sitting with my buddy, Mr. Kentucky at Taboulis, it hit me that I won’t be participating in a class again for probably a long time.

I won’t miss the work in so much as spending time with my friends. When you spend as much time as you did with them, you would feel the same way.

It doesn’t feel like I’m finished yet because first, I don’t get my diploma until Friday. Second, I still have at least two weeks of baseball season to complete, hopefully more. Once that ends, I think I will feel like it’s over.

-Its looking like I’m going to be in Nashville for a bit, at least through the summer. That’s not a terrible thing. I can use some downtime and enjoy this city.

-I stayed in all of Saturday and got suckered into watching the entire first season of Tool Academy, a reality show that was on VH1. It was a show about eight terrible girlfriends who tricked their men to go through a boot camp of sorts to become better men. At first, I was saying to myself, “why are these nice women with these losers.” Then, you watch the show and you realize that its not all on the guys. Some of the women have issues as well. Each of the relationships are built on false hopes and promises. By the end, the Tools weren’t always the guys it was some of the women as well. I was intrigued tremendously by this show.

Similar to Tough Love, another show on VH1 that I found intriguing, I was interested in seeing things from the prospective of women. Granted, reality TV isn’t the best indicator of what anyone is thinking based on sex, race, sexuality, etc. but it can give a little insight.

When I was watching the first episode or two of Tool Academy, I was genuinely pissed that assholes like those guys were dating beautiful women when I struggle tremendously to find dates and I’m a good guy with a lot of qualities. But after seeing the entire season, I understand why most of those women stuck with those guys and wanted to see them do better.

-Nothing beats a lazy Saturday at home.

-Quick thoughts on the playoffs of both the NBA and NHL

1) Stop crying like a bitch Sidney Crosby. I’ve been enjoying the Caps and Penguins series very much but when Crosby complained about the Capitals fans throwing too many caps on the ice after Ovechkin got a hat trick, I became a huge Caps fan. I hate bitchiness and complaining, especially in sports and that was an example of it. I definitely think that Crosby is feeling jealously from all of the attention that Ovie is getting.

I think that both guys are excellent and talented in their own ways. I also think that there is some xenoism against Ovie. OK, I know what sexism and racism is but whatever the term is for bias against someone of foreign descent, that’s what some people have against Ovie, especially that loser Don Cherry. Yeah, I said it.

2) Get ready for a Cleveland vs. Denver NBA Finals folks.

3) I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching the NHL playoffs. I was in on a Saturday night watching Vancouver vs. Chicago. I wasn’t doing this two years ago.

-You know, the Tapout has been ok but its been getting ridiculous with the amount of co-workers, friends and other associates in general that are either in a serious, long term relationship, engaged, married and/or have children, starting families.

Its gotten to the point where I have the feeling that I’m never going to have a long-term relationship or be married in a year. It seems like I’m heading towards one or the other.

I always feel that way around my birthday, which is next Friday, especially since I’m turning 28. If you look at my entire family, everyone of them were on at least kid number two by now and starting families. I’m not even close to that. There’s some internal pressure about it, keeping it honest here.

So what does all of this mean? I guess the Tapout is ending.

The lone ranger thing is good and all but I would like to go though this journey of life with someone special in my life.

Each of you from your offices or homes may say Aww right now, I’ll wait…

Ok, back to this. The key to it all is that you can’t force a relationship but you can’t sit idly by and wait for it to come to you. You truly have to be passively aggressive or aggressively passive, which ever one works.

So, yes, the Tapout is over and ladies, be prepared for the Magic, whatever that means.

Furthermore, with graduation, my pool of women has increased and I have more free time. Its on like Donkey Kong in a thong. What? You never said that back in your school yard. Only me I guess.

OK, time to get some rest. Here’s what to expect this week.

Monday: My thoughts on Manny being Manny while using female fertility drugs and why the dislike for Ovie in the NHL goes deeper than you think.

Tuesday: Why proms are a complete waste of time

Wednesday: Cleaning out the links and/or Reflections

Thursday-Friday: Your boy is graduating so I’ll try to have something up on Friday in some form but no promises.
Saturday: A darn proper version of MMA Review

Sunday: Reflections/MLB Review

Until then peoples, have a good fight and a good night.

No Sunday Reflections

Hey, sorry for this but a lot of things are going on personally, professionally and even academically (last week of school ever for me!) so I can't do Reflections for you tonight. I'm going to take a few days off from writing on here to finish strong. You'll hear from me by Friday. Until then, as usual, good fight and good night.