Kawhi Leonard: The Hero We Needed

The great Gotham City PD Commissioner Jim Gordon once said "Not the hero we deserved, the hero we needed" and I feel as if he were talking about Kawhi Leonard. The 2018-2019 NBA season saw the media go overboard with clickbait and growing number of NBA fans hated this and little did we know that Kawhi Leonard would be the introverted star to humble the national media.  The NBA media covered off the court drama or social media personalities in a way that would make TMZ blush instead of giving attention to actual on court happenings.  Prior to the NBA postseason all national pundits talked about were Lebron who isn't even in the playoffs, Warriors inevitable 3peat, Celtics flipping the switch (LOL), Embiid-Simmons dynamic, and Giannis Bucks resembling 2015 Warrior.  Kawhi Leonard's Raptors garnered very little attention despite the 2nd best record in the NBA, with Damon Jones being ridiculously enough to pick the Orlando Magic to beat them in round 1. Safe to say Raptors made quick work of Orlando.

Beginning the East Semis, our hero Kawhi started expanding his reputation as he was willing his squad to a tough 7 games against the star studded 76ers & bullying Ben Simmons games 1-6.  With Simmons in captivity, 76ers other star Jimmy Butler was cooking Toronto, so of course Kawhi switched onto him for game 7 & the end result was a 5/14 16pt performance.  Kawhi wasn't done there he capped off an epic 2way series by nailing a series ending shot over the outstretched arms of NBA social media king Joel Embiid. 

Riding off thoroughly dismantling the dysfunctional Celtics the Bucks were being compared to the 2015 Warriors as they overnight turned into a top 5 offensive and defensive team with a media darling MVP leading the way.  Through 2 games it appeared as if the Raptors with Kawhi as lead dog had hit their ceiling to most as he was now hobbled and the Bucks crushed them in game 2.  Game 3 Kawhi on 1 good leg decided to change the series by becoming the primary defender of Giannis. The Bucks unstoppable player suddenly became ordinary & was airballing awkward 8ft turnaround jumpers.  With Giannis in check now the Bucks offense crumbled and the Raptors ran off a tough gentleman's sweep in route to the NBA Finals.

After winning the toughest Eastern conference in 2 decades a large chunk of the attention was thrown in Golden State's direction as majority of pundits and Las Vegas had them as heavy favorites despite Thanos (Kevin Durant) being absent.  Media went lazy & decided to use the history of both teams to come up with narratives while ignoring Kawhi Danny Green and Marc Gasol giving pre-Durant Warriors all types of hell in the past. Kawhi came out stiff in game 1 yet led his team to an impressive game 1 win that was immediately shrugged off as GS being rusty.  Game 2 again featured a stiff legged Kawhi and GS managed to squeak out a late victory and the national media going overboard with GS love and stupidly questioning the heart of Kawhi's team (looks over at Paul Pierce).  Game 3 saw the return of spry legs Kawhi as he was efficient and dominant as his teams smoked GS despite Steph's 47pts  but the attention was then on Steph all of a sudden being elite (c'mon man) & GS not having Klay.  Klay Thompson returned for game 4 on fire in front of a loud Oracle crowd.  Warriors jumped all over the Raptors but Kawhi wouldn't let GS runaway as he scored 16 1st quarter points.  GS led at the half the patented Warriors 3rd quarter was predicted but Kawhi came out with a 3 over Draymond a steal then another 3 over Draymond as if he were saying"NOT TODAY".  Raptors admittedly sparked by Kawhi went on to dominate the rest of the game.  Now up 3-1 the national media is teary eyed having to give Kawhi and his squad their just due after blatantly ignoring them in favor of page clicks. Kawhi's epic playoff run should culminate in a championship very shortly and it should be a lesson to the media to stop ignoring on court play.  All hail King of the North Kawhi Leonard who is in a rush to give up his crown like his throne counterpart Aegon Targaryen.

Why the praising of the NBA for Social Stances Makes Me Cringe?

I love the NBA but I cringe every time some big time media member, a player, or sadly a social activist heaps praise on the league in contrast to the NFL.  Late December 2018 Lebron James (2nd best player currently) said on his HBO show "The Shop", "In the NFL they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality,". “And it’s like, ‘This is my team. You do what the fuck I tell y’all to do. Or we get rid of y’all." followed by praising NBA commissioner Adam Silver.  I immediately yelled "no just no" at my tv screen out of disappointment.  Since Colin Kaepernick started protesting in August 2016 and his subsequent *coughs* alleged blackballing, James statement was just another one in a long line of those ridiculous statements overpraising the NBA.  

Lebron was championed for his words throughout social media for "speaking the truth" but I saw it as another statement being thrown from the NBA's glass house.  The NBA beats its chest about it being so diverse and not tolerating ignorance at all unlike the NFL but its indeed eerily similar to the NFL.  The NBA is 75% black and the NFL is 70% black yet both share a combined ONE majority owner.  With so many black players one would think that hiring coaches and execs who looked like the players would be trendy as they would be able to relate to them but the NBA only has 8 black head coaches out of 30!  The executive ranks in the NBA is worse as there are only 5 black general managers and 3 black president of basketball operation.  Those numbers don't look the most diverse to me.

The NBA will throw out those WNBA commercials where the NBA players are glowingly talking about the WNBA in an instant despite it being so disingenuous.  Let's keep it a buck people don't give a damn about women in basketball circles.  August 2018 the Los Vegas Aces https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/08/sport/wnba-las-vegas-aces-forfeit/index.html had to forfeit a game due to travel issues. A forfeiture sounds unfortunate till you realize: 

1) That professional athletes were flying coach in 2018, what legit league does this? Seriously

2) The league wanted them to play despite traveling for 25hrs. That's a glaring player safety issue.

The NBA and media like to spew "the NBA doesn't support abuse of women and very sensitive to racial issues" rhetoric whenever the NFL does something stupid (which is pretty often).  They point to getting rid of Donald Sterling often while ignoring how Sterling kept the team for the longest despite losing a historic lawsuit for housing discrimination and oh just a few sexual harassment lawsuits as well.  For his troubles Sterling is two billion dollars richer.

In the NBA's most recent case of not giving a damn is the slapping of the wrist of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban after a long standing culture of sexual misconduct was made public.  Instead of real punishment the league largely just made Cuban throw money at a few women organizations and called it a day

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Now I hope people realize now why I cringe whenever it is suggested that NBA is some sort of Liberal Utopia.  It's just another enjoyable glass house. 

Lebron James vs Steph Curry: Who is the Real Underdog in the NBA Finals

The 2016 NBA Finals will feature the league's two brightest stars in Lebron James and Stephen Curry.  The James led Cavaliers vs the Curry led Warriors is sure to move the tv and dvr ratings to near record highs.  With such a highly anticipated matchup there will be plenty of old lazy narratives to resurface in order to describe the teams and individual matchups that I will either loathe or like.  The socially tone deaf narrative of Lebron seen as a chiseled 6'8 260lb uberathletic man who was predestined for greatness while Curry will be viewed as a frailly built, under recruited hard working sharp shooting underdog who slays in a league filled with Goliaths will be 1 of the top narratives used throughout the Finals.  Can we take a step back and examine who is the true underdog in this matchup between star?

The underdog Steph Curry, is the son of a valuable NBA role player and ex division-1 volleyball star.  As a child Steph would often accompany his father Dell Curry into NBA locker rooms, thus receiving the privilege to see the inner workings of professional basketball.  Most stars today are forced to push the business aspect of playing basketball to the forefront in their mid teens due to their families being in terrible financial situations.  Curry's married parents were well off and this allowed Steph to just focus on having fun while playing basketball and develop at his own rate.  This provided Steph the luxury of staying in college for 3yrs to enjoy the atmosphere like a normal kid by in large unlike most other stars who leave after their freshman or sophomore years to chase NBA money,

The physical specimen predestined for greatness Lebron James, was born to a poverty stricken single mother.  Throughout his preteens Lebron bounced around from house to house resulting in him missing close to 100 days of school in the 3rd grade.  He was an unknown child living out season 4 of The Wire in real life.  By his teens he found some home stability as his name started to dominate basketball media. The media spotlight on him was intense in addition to adults exploiting him for free.  ESPN was airing his high school games and sending their best pundits to cover them and Adidas enjoyed a nice spike in sales as a result Lebron wearing their shoes most of his senior year.  The media was so Lebron crazy that they dug into his families finances that got him temporarily suspended when his mother purchased him a hummer for his 18th birthday .  The hummer fiasco brought up the old coded conversation about whether amateur athletes should be paid and how it was bad for the guy who makes everyone else money to actually receive money *stares at Dick Vitale*. 

After reading this post it's pretty clear that the guy who fought through poverty and other non ideal situations on his way to becoming a self made millionaire is the real underdog in this matchup? If anyone still thinks Steph is the underdog and Lebron is one who was destined for greatness after this needs to reevaluate how they view society and check their own insecurities.  Ladies and gents the broke kid with the nappy fro named Lebron James is the real underdog.

Black Women: Everything but Women

Seven years ago this happened

Well that may have been an isolated incident from an out of touch elderly white man. Think again

http://fansided.com/2014/11/04/comedian-artie-lange-tweets-racist-comments-espns-cari-champion/
https://twitter.com/TheBorno/status/530161456759586816
Hmmm after being called a bitch.

Then there's the question of why https://twitter.com/__Mo/status/530188528785702912

Guess who was arrested and not http://youtu.be/GJunFdk94PM

 

According to everything I have been reading lately (well most of my life but who cares) black women are only good for birthing entertainers and athletes anything else should not be praised.  In lieu of Artie Lange's despicable tweets and Carlesha Freeland-Gaither's abduction this has not been the best week for black women.  Artie Lange's stupid twitter rant about wanting ESPN First Take moderator Cari Champion to be the slave that he impregnates 8 times only reminded people of the ugly past of white men forcibly raping and impregnating black women.  Stuff like that only reinforces that the US has not progressed as much as we think it has.  Seeing a black woman who is in the public eye like Cari degraded as such just makes the stomach turn thinking about black women with a lesser profile.

Speaking of lesser profile black women Carlesha Freeland-Gaither's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ant7WexmDcQ  abduction showcased to the world why black women a lot of times fear walking around neighborhoods.   Men can be outright filthy to black women when they walk down the street if they turn down them down.  "Fuck yo ass ugly" "Stuck up ass bitch" and "hope someone beats that black bitch ass" is all the things black women constantly hear once they turn guys down.  I for one cannot image the feeling of being possibly degraded every time I tell someone no or refuse to give the smallest bit of conversation. 

 

As time has passed I have grown increasingly sympathetic to the bullshit black women suffer through.  Like seriously what other race of women has to put up with their children being killed by police, having to stay down for the boyfriend or husband due to a broken justice system, and be systematically underpaid? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/wage-gap-african-american-women-infographic_n_2568838.html

 

I am far from a simp, but seriously we have to grow up and stop ignoring the plight of black women.  In the US black women along with black men influence so much of pop culture yet remain at the bottom of the totem poll. A recent example of this was Snoop Dogg "attacking" pop star disguised as rapper Iggy Azalea.  Snoop Dogg has been notorious for calling women bitches throughout his 20+yr career but it was no big deal until he called the Australian musician a bitch then the capes flew left and right.  It was all fun and games when Snoop was calling Uncle Luke's mother "a Frisco dyke" on a track from Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" album, but attack a white woman it becomes "oh Snoop should be ashamed for attacking a woman like that".

In short I challenge people to treat black women with the same respect instead of saving the damsel in distress act for their white counterparts.

In closing I LOVE y'all black women and never stop being the strongest humans on this planet.

 

 



Black Males Daily Paranoia



https://twitter.com/LaJethroJenkins/status/498284661639245824


The United States of America is the perfect place to live for all races. After all the U.S. is extremely biracial, complete meritocracy, and everyone is treated the same.  People are very straight forward with no hidden agendas and the government is totally transparent. *Dumps bucket of water over the author's sleeping face* OK PEOPLE THIS IS NOT THE U.S. African American males lives in.

The America black males live in is far from the biracial Utopia mainstream media tried to paint after President Obama was elected in Nov. 2008.  Black males wake up everyday paranoid by things that other races would deem ludicrous.  No other race of males has to be told at a very innocent age what to do in order to stay alive.  If a black man does not live a certain way or avoid doing certain innocent things like buying a bb gun, wearing a hoodie, or god forbid reach for their ID to show cops he may be gunned down in cold blood.  As black men have seen those MENACING tasks can *coughs coughs* lead to an untimely death.

Media portrayal of black males is another cause of their paranoia.  The Three-Fifths Compromise was repealed over 100yrs ago, yet media members tend to look as young black males as super human characters.  Most tragedies that happen to blacks the media asks did the black man provoke the situation instead of putting the spotlight on the killer http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/police-ferguson-teen-struggled-over-gun-before-being-shot-to/article_f9d627dc-e3c8-5bde-b2ab-7f0a3d36a083.html.  Bill Belichick the head coach of the New England Patriots wears a hoodie and he is considered a genius and profits from it http://nesn.com/2012/10/bill-belichicks-latest-cutoff-hoodie-available-from-patriots-pro-shop-for-75/.  On the other a hoodie led to young Trayvon Martin's *side eye* deserved death and this media portrayal http://patdollard.com/2012/03/was-trayvon-martin-a-drug-dealing-gangbanger/.

After all of that has been digested into a black man's psyche he eventually has to pass down his paranoia to his innocent son https://twitter.com/DragonflyJonez/status/490682084856307712.  He will have to stir up all kinds of old emotions and memories recounting  injustices of innocent black males. How will he be able to make an innocent boy understand that police are more like to oppress him rather than protect him? How 18 yr old  Mike Brown was unarmed and gunned down? How Trayvon Martin was stalked and gunned down for wearing a hoodie on a cool damp night? How Oscar Grant broke up a fight and police killed him? How John Crawford was killed over a bb gun in Walmart?

Those are the questions the parent will have to answer even though he has no clue why blacks are hunted like deer and treated as being inferior to dogs.  When will the generational paranoia end?