I’m the first in my family to have my wisdom extracted. You see, I’m an immigrant. So this was more of a cosmetic surgery than a required one. True, the wisdom teeth were quite painful especially in the last couple of weeks, but I suspect the pain would have diminished if I waited another few days.

As you may know, I once walked the hills of the Himalayas. Barefoot. Just to see how it feels.

But the truth is I couldn’t afford sandals.

Anyhow, this extraction event was rather embarrassing for me. I felt like a wuss for embracing Western culture and ideals. Wisdom tooth extraction in Nepal is (or at least was) unheard of. You deal with the pain. It’s part of the initiation process of becoming an adult.

But since I’m lucky enough to have dental coverage, I went ahead with the extraction.

I decided to get all 4 without consulting anyone other than the dentist. It made sense to get all 4 done at the same time since I’d only experience the pain once. Or so I thought.

The process took 10 minutes. Other than the blood, the 4 stitches and the extreme pain, it was okay. Maybe I deserved the pain for acting like a wuss. Local anesthesia takes at least 5 minutes to work. Point well-noted.

The pain only lasted for another 10 minutes. I stayed in the operation room initially because I thought I was supposed to. My ears were ringing and the nurse asked me to leave the gauge in my mouth for another 30 minutes. I thought this also implied I should stay in the operating room for another 30 minutes. After 5 minutes and being weird-ed out by the fact that I was still there, she asked me to leave.

I left. Now I was totally feeling like a wuss.

The rest of the afternoon was rather insignificant. No pain. It could’ve been because I was still under the influence of the late reacting local anesthesia and yeah, I took about 10 pain-killers as soon as I got home.

The next day… I got up afraid to look at myself in the mirror. But this was different from every other morning. I thought I’d look like a chipmunk, miss my playoff game and start my miserable weekend.

None of that stuff happened though. I did not have much pain. No swelling.

I hit a few crucial free throws in the playoff game.

And for the first time in more than 18 hours, I felt good about myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a wuss but not in traditional I’m-out-for-the-weekend-after-a-wisdom-teeth-extraction kind of wuss.

Okay, yeah…

I’m really into sports. Any sport. I love the brotherhood that comes with playing on a team. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The majority of my good friends came as a result of my involvement with sports. Sport brings race, culture, communities, ideologies, religion and individuals together. Seriously. It’s a beautiful thing.

Amateur sport is almost perfect as it is. Usually every city in North America offers several competitive and non-competitive sport leagues. These leagues are usually geared towards adult males and females who are interested in playing sports after work. They’ve become increasingly popular as more individuals than ever become health conscious and want alternatives to traditional methods of exercise. Furthermore, local sports leagues are a wonderful venue for making life long friends, networking, honing communication skills, staying in shape and improving our game.

I’ve been a member of many such leagues in Toronto and have been pleased but not quite satisfied with my experience. I feel the leagues simply create a venue for athletes to play, and let the game itself do the magic of creating a good player experience. This philosophy has worked until now. The issue with this philosophy is that it can be easily replicated. All it takes is the initial hard work of acquiring a good player base and the rest is easy. That is, the game and the competition takes care of the rest. But because of this apparent ease of starting a league, players are now more selective in the leagues they chose to play for. There are simply too many of them. It is not as simple as getting all the best players together, hiring a few referees and crossing your fingers. Players expect more.

I feel the players deserve more. After all, most players pay close $200 dollars per league. That is significant funds for just one game per week for about 8 weeks. I feel the bridge between sports leagues and technology hasn’t been fully explored and it may hold the key to a better player experience. From player profiles, to game previews and recaps to in-game static and dynamic pictures – I feel technology can really bridge the gap and ensure good player experience. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter capture almost every bit of one’s life – but they fail to capture the adrenalin induced moments we remember forever from playing sports. They don’t capture our progression as players, i.e., as we improve from 5 points a game in 2001 to 15 points a game in 2005. These stats are lost forever. This doesn’t have to be the case.

Expect more from The League.

Coming very soon.

Here’s why I usually go on Youtube… at least 50% of the time.

I hear a song. I like it. I want listen to it again. Go on youtube, utilize the suggest search functionality, and find the song. Play it. I like it even more. press play again. And again * infinity + 1.

Can we get a repeat video option so 90 billion people (I made that sh*t up) at work don’t have to click on the YouTube tab, hit play, and then do their business.

I wanna be productive. Can I be productive, YouTube?

Peace.

…that Jake Voskuhl, who was signed December 14th, 2008, is first off the bench on a good defensive/offensive sequence for the Raptors. Chris Bosh makes $175,738.793 per game (that is if he plays all 82 games). Jermaine O’Neal makes $260,396.341 per game (or more because he hasn’t been fit enough to play every game in this young season). Jose Calderon makes $90,707.536 per game. If these players don’t want to play in Toronto… cool. If no players want to play in Toronto: freakin’ amazing. Don’t play. We don’t want to pay a sorry ass team that doesn’t have the will to win. It’s a freakin’ recession… I feel sorry for all season seat holders.

Can we boycott this sorry ass team? I don’t really want to pay Chris’, Jermaine’s or Jose’s salary… do you?

OR

Simple choice. Although Hotmail is still good for my junk mail.

“One plus one is two, all day long, and it’s never gonna change. And that’s factorial.” -Stephon Marbury

As much as I hate the fact that Stephon Marbury cannot construct a sentence that has both a subject and a predicate – I cannot help but sympathize with him for the way the New York Knickerbockers have dealt with him this NBA season. I do not know all the details nor do I think it’s significant enough to google them. What I do know is that he’s arguably the most explosive scorer on the Knicks roster – and he isn’t getting any burn. Now that is disconcerting to me. I want to see the best players play. I want to be able to pick up a pair of Starbury’s from Steve and Barry’s for $7 and wear it with pride. At this point, my $7 Christmas investment from last year is collecting dust. With a recession at hand – I really wish I had invested that $7 on something else. Btw, add ‘recession’ to a list of words I never want to hear Anderson Cooper saying again.

But in all seriousness, why isn’t he playing for the Knicks? This is not some soap opera. This is the NBA, a business. I don’t care whose feelings Starbury has hurt, but if you’re good, you play (*cough* Kobe *cough*). It doesn’t make business sense. Don’t want to pull an Allen Iverson here, but this is a business. I mean the man is making max money and you’ve exhausted all possibilities to move him and he’s better than almost everyone on your squad – you play him. It’s makes simple business sense. (Now I am closer to understanding why the US is in a recession.)

The future looks dim for Starbury. No one is willing to take on his hefty salary of 21 mil a year. He’s aging – these were supposed to be his prime years. He’ll slowly be forgotten as an exciting NBA player. But that’s probably not what he wants to be remembered for. As good as Starbury is at basketball, he might still be a better business man. From owning his own athletic apparel company (Starbury) to breaking the status quo by solely dealing with NBA general managers, Marbury, unlike Kanye, is not waiting ’till he gets his money right. He’s got it right already.

With money in hand, Starbury is leaving the Big Apple. He is seeking stardom. What better place to start than the City of Angels.

It’s been a little less than 5 months since I last updated. Wow. I’ve tried logging on to WordPress.. writing a few sentences here and there but never enough to warrant a post. It’s easy to get distracted when you have a lot on your plate. Work has consumed most of my life in the last bit. I’ve put in more time at work than ever at school (I mean  basketball).

Life has been good though. I cannot complain: the Raps are one a two-game winning streak. Everyone is happy on RealGM… which, in turn, means I am happy. (I am addicted to this site. I must at least check it 10 times a hour on a weekday.) I am liking the new Raptors under Jay Triano. The defensive set against New Jersey last night was really good. At one point, I almost associated Raptors defensive matchups with the words; “makes sense.” It was pretty intutive defensive matchups. Jose can’t guard anyone. Kenyon dooling doesn’t really get touches. Put Jose on Kenyon. Put Joey and Jamario on Harris. It only makes sense. It’s not some genious scheme, it just makes sense. This is no knock on Mitchell, but his inability to make sense really cost him his job. At one point… “more shats” is not going to cut it. You need to know x’s and o’s. Yelling at and yanking players once they make a mistake works sometimes because it keeps players honest but it surely shouldn’t be your only method for motivation. Essentially, you can’t gain respect by just being tough with Joey. I hated it when he sided with Bargnani when he played poorly…. I love BC because he brings the “win now” mentality but his pick, Bargnani, is a bit suspect.

Nevertheless, the recent success has gotten me really excited.

Check again tomorrow. Peace.

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!