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.