It was dope. Period. And all that. We had some of the greatest seats (or standing spaces) I could have ever imagined. I was literally 5 feet away from Meth and Red! There were periods which weren’t very nice that I could tell you about but not here. Too many people read this!

But overall a great experience. I will definitely go to this again next year. Security was a bit tight so I couldn’t bring my camera but some people did manage to sneak in theirs. Here’s a bit that I really liked. This dude named Supernatural is pretty ill with the freestyle.

It was indoors btw which was nice because it was pouring on Sunday.

Rock the bells: I missed it last year in NYC. This year they are coming to my city. No way I am missing it. This will be my first concert since I saw Talib Kweli at TUMF.  Btw: Dilated Peoples are in town this year for TUMF. Hit me up if you want to come with me. I’ve never seen Dilated Peoples live and they were one of my favorite bands growing up.

Rock the bells is tomorrow. I am hyped even though it is supposed to rain. Mos Def, who is lyrically out of this world, will be showering us with lyrical bombs (and rain). Can’t wait. We’ll try to get there as early as we can with lots of fluid (water, :P) because that’s the only way to get good seats and survive the wait. It starts at 11am and ends at 10:10pm. I doubt I’ll last that long, but I really do want to see Tribe Called Quest and they are the last act. We shall see. I might take pictures and possibly post it here since I am post-facebook. No, I don’t think I am too cool for you (possibly intended for Ara - I know you still read this.).

It might not be too late to get tix since people in Toronto don’t listen to real rap. Flow 93.5 is not rap. At least, it’s not every good rap. So hit me up if you are coming!

I am really excited about the lineup; Mos def, Meth and Red, Tribe Called Quest, Nas, RAKIM!, and De La Soul! Omgoodness.

the lineup (in case you aren’t already drooling):
http://www.guerillaunion.com/rockthebells/settimes/SetTimes_Toronto.pdf

Something tells me people still care about what I have to say. That’s kind of cool. So I will take out one hour of my life every week and write about whatever. You can expect two posts per week.

I watched the latest installment of Chris Bosh’s “this is what I’ve been up to y’all” video on Youtube last night. Please watch:

I know what you are thinking. I am thinking it too. He is higher than [insert your favorite "high" analogy here]. Nothing wrong with being high but putting yourself on Youtube high is next level. I mean, dang, …! Like the Marines, Chris Bosh is among “the few, the proud” after that video. Thats all I got. Neverthless, the point I am making is that I am liking the confidence Bosh has in himself to put out a video under the influence. Mad props for almost pulling it off.

Imagine if Garnett put out a video. Period. And you thought the post NBA finals interview was PG-13 rated… Scoop Jackson did a piece on Garnett after the Finals. Jackson was basically saying Garnett ’s the man and he finally got his after 14 years. What’s funny is that Scoop modified every quote to make Garnett sound human-like. I mean, the man was literally swearing every other word. Why? You just won the NBA Finals! Yell! Go nuts or something. But cut that swearing sh*t out. Word. Now that’s what going on a tangent means.

In other news. There is no other news, stupid. This is significant.

Wow, its been a while since I last told you about my life. I haven’t done anything too crazy actually since my hiatus so already I’m having a hard time thinking of what to write. As I write this, I am thinking about how this piece could be considered “reality” writing. That is, I am making stuff up as I write. Hopefully it beats watching that reality show, you know, so you think you can dance? Bill Simmons from espn.com does this well enough to make a living. That’s pretty cool. I wish some one paid me to write about why professional sports is BS. I don’t remember who the NBA champion was 10 years ago, I doubt I’ll remember the Celtics ten years from now. The point is, it doesn’t matter who wins. Professional sports is about money. The players don’t care about their team, they care about money and personal accolades. There is nothing wrong with that. I don’t blame them. It’s just very sad that we are passionate about our teams when it the end, it doesn’t really matter. It’s about money. I will not watch it unless of course the Raptors make a blockbuster trade and land Kobe.

Everything is business. From stupid presidential debates to drugs on our street. It’s all business. Someone is making money and probably the only reason for the occurrence. I always wondered why there is so much drugs on the street. Is it really that hard to monitor our borders? Or is it because a narcotics officer still needs a job tomorrow? I don’t know man. I can get any drug if I tried. That’s a bit too easy, don’t you think? Kind of sad the way this world works.

Good thing there is beer.

THANK YOU, FRIDAY! You are absolutely awesome!

It’s 1am. Dark as… *ck at Algonquin Provincial Park. We are Awake. Moonlight guides our path to…uncertainty. Four people, three flashlights. We trek. We do not know the path but we know…it must lead… it must lead; it must lead to something beautiful. A cliff is the pinnacle, the zenith of our climb. The view is mesmerizing. Its pitch dark. But I’ve never seen this much. Vivid. Its clear but it’s not. It’s not clear. It’s perfect. Nature is. Flickr could not capture this. Arundhati Roy could not capture this. Planet Earth could not capture this. The wind is just right. It’s like the monsoon wind in India. We’ve trekked one hour. I want to lie down on the edge of the cliff. Be the catcher in the rye. It feels right. Youth. It’s a funny thing. I want to grasp it. I can’t. It’s like the sun that set a few hours ago. It’s gone. I left it. For better things. The moonlight. The moonlight. It’ll guide me…. to uncertainty.

I have been a fan of Toronto Raptors basketball ever since I moved to Toronto in 2001. I was never a die hard fan though and I never cared enough to be a fan during the hard times - although that would imply we are out of the hard times now - we are not. Nevertheless, the Raps have grown on me over the years. In the season that just passed, I can safely say that I watched 60% of the games. That’s about 50 of the 82 games (Yeah, my math skills are impeccable.). Without a doubt, Chuck Swirsky, the play-by-play broadcaster of the Raps, made many of those game memorable. His personality is intriguing. He has an uncanny ability to put a positive spin on any negative situation. He “lights up the room” if you will. I admire his optimistic views on Raptors and most importantly, life.

The news broke yesterday. After 1o years with the Raptors organization, Chuck Swirsky has decided to leave the Raptors and head to Chicago for personal reasons related to his family. It is shock to me because it was so unexpected. Frankly, I still have a hard time coming to terms with it. Chuck was the face of the Raptors. He lived and breathed Raptors basketball. His blog, which I read daily, is a perfect example of his passion and love for Raptors basketball and Toronto. He will surely be missed even by his haters who disliked the very thing I liked about him: his optimism.

I know the Raptors paid his salary and so in a sense, he may have been required to say nice things about them, but I felt a lot of things he did say were things he truly believed in. He loved Toronto and Canada. At every opportunity, he promoted our city. He was a leading member of the Raptors Foundation that is assisting at-risk children by providing them with support programs and support initiatives. His blog (mentioned earlier) paints him as a carefree, outgoing and ever-happy human being with the bigger perspective in mind. Family is important and I totally respect and even admire his decision to leave Raptors because I know he felt at home in Toronto. My dad and I will certainly miss all his catch phrases. We have enjoyed watching him this past year, and simply get very excited whenever he brings out the “salami and cheese” catch phrase. It’s been fun. He’s certainly a great personality.

So long, Chuck. Like you’d say, “it’s been a pleasure.”

I have taken the liberty of pasting most of the catch phrases Chuck has coined through out his years here (coutesy of galeon110 of realgm) just so we all can reminiscence.

• “Are you kidding me?”
• “Onions Baby, Onions!!!”
• “Sick, wicked, and nasty!”
• “Get out the umbrellas; it’s raining treys!” (when the Raptors make several three-pointers).
• “Nothin’ but nylon!” (when a Raptors player hits a shot ).
• “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, ya gotta love it!”
• “Ka-Bosh!” (exclaimed when All-Star Chris Bosh dunks the ball)
• “Oh my Bosh!” (exclaimed when All-Star Chris Bosh makes a play)
• “Kaboom!”
• “You can ring it up from downtown <insert>, this one goes out to <insert>” (When the first Raptors’ three-pointer is scored.)
• “Oh baby, what a play!”
• “Oh no!” (exclaimed when an opposing player makes a scoring play in the clutch)
• “My goodness, Leo.”
• “Always a pleasure talking Raptors’ ball”
• “Rimming..rimming..no.”
• “(Raptors player) has got the mojo goin’!”
• “ He just gave (Name of player) an NBA facial!”
• “A shameless plug!” (Every time Swirsky mentions MLSE in his daily blog)
• “(Name of player) is showing us a little somethin’ somethin’!”
• “(Name of player) shakes and bakes” (When a player crosses over on another)
• “T-Mac to the rack!!!”
• “Vincent Lamar Carter!”
• “(Name of player) has the feel and the flow here at the ACC” (When someone is playing well) * “That’s an MP3 download!” (When Morris Peterson makes a 3-pointer)
• ” A Three ball from Parkerville!” and “A 3 from 18 parker street” (when Anthony Parker scores a 3-pointer)
• “(Name of a player that got blocked) just ate some Spalding!!!”
• “Bam!” (referring to a big-time shot)
• “(Raptors player) filling it up.”
• “To the rack and a dunk!” (exclaimed when a player drives in and dunks it hard)
• “GET OUT THE SALAMI AND CHEESE MAMA! THIS BALL GAME IS ‘OVER’!”
• “RAPTORS WIN! RAPTORS WIN! RAPTORS WIN!”

I have an exam tomorrow so naturally I have been voraciously reading every article on realgm. So much that I actually read an article on Ronnie Brewer from the Utah Jazz. Apparently he is very excited to be guarding Kobe Bryant. Don’t ask me why but I hope he’s not doing it to prove the world wrong. Didn’t Raja Bell try that last year? It’s getting old. No one can guard Kobe. I don’t think Kobe can guard Kobe. But for whatever reason, the man is excited and he is looking forward to the match up. Fast forward a few hours since the article was published, Ronnie, as you may have guessed, did not shock the world. Kobe went on to drop 38 points in their game 1 match up.

The author of the article made it clear that Ronny is aware that “he’ll be facing Kobe Bryant, the soon-to-be-named MVP, and not Coby Karl, the rookie with the similar first name.” But I am not too sure. A smart move by Ronnie would be to retreat on what he said about facing Kobe and claim he’s excited about facing Coby. And this way he can go on to claim that he shut him down to 0 points, 0 rebounds and 0 assists for the whole series.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695276284,00.html 

If there is one thing I could be better at it is phone etiquette. It’s not that I am rude (I’m very nice….) but I have a bad habit of not returning calls. I don’t quite know why or how this came to be. Maybe its the fear of saying no or maybe I am too busy. But whatever it is, it’s not justifiable and it’s got to stop. So next time I don’t return your call, please slap me.