It's Only Basketball Folks!

First off, let me say congratulations to the 2011 NBA World Champion Dallas Mavericks....Job well done. Yes, I was quietly rooting for the Mavericks to win it all...but probably not for the same reason as sports fans in Cleveland and nearly every where else outside of South Dade County, Florida.

I was rooting for Dallas because I have a soft spot in my heart for teams that have never won a championship.
Miami has a championship. They won in 2006.  They incidentally beat this same Dallas Maverick team...This team that had to wait through a Boston championship and back to back Lakers championships before they got a crack at redemption...

That said....Let me get to the real reason I'm writing this...Since the Dallas Mavericks won, Some people, okay, a lot of people, have gotten on their moral high horses and lost their rabid minds with hatred and vitriol aimed at one man, Lebron James!

I don't understand it...People act as if the Miami Heat's loss was his fault and his fault alone...Newsflash, there are 12 men on that team...Four other guys on the court at all times...Any one of those guys could have stepped up and made plays...It's not his  fault alone that the Heat lost.

Add to that...People are cheering his team's defeat as though it's their personal victory , especially the people in Cleveland and elsewhere in his home state of Ohio...Here are some examples of the extra foolishness that has occurred in just two days since the NBA finals ended...(Even Betty White ,who co-incidentally stars on the hit TV series, "Hot in Cleveland" got in on the act...She roasted Lebron on the David Letterman show Monday night.)

1. The present governor of the state of Ohio.....The GOVERNOR mind you!....got on Television and made a motion that the members of the Dallas Mavericks are now "Honorary citizens of the state of Ohio"  I kid you not...Can you believe that? Hey Gov...aint you got important things to worry about, like Unemployment????

2. In Cleveland...a Deli owner renamed a sandwich that had previously been called a "Lebron James", a "Dirk Nowitski"  Again...This really happened...I'm not making this up.

3. At a downtown Cleveland Sports Bar...All of Lebron James's sports memorabilia has been removed and donated to charity...

Last but not least.....The childish owner of the Cleveland Cavs tweeted his congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks and while not calling Lebron James by name...He took a stab at him by mentioning that Dirk Nowitski re signed with the Mavericks, a team he has played for his entire NBA career and stayed there until he got a championship....That is admirable , but it is also his choice...If he had decided after his contract was up to take his talents to Philadelphia , (where they are badly needed, )I don't think Mark Cuban, (as badly as he has behaved in the past) would have stirred up the froth that the Cleveland Cavs owner has stirred up in Cleveland.

As much as I feel Cleveland's pain....(I live in Philadelphia, so you know I know)....The fans there have to understand this....Lebron James owes you nothing...He played there for 8 or 9 years...His contract was up...He was a free agent...He had a right to go to another team if he wanted to...Athletes do it all the time....in every sport.  Delonte West left, Shaquille O'Neal also left and there is none of the froth, none of the hatred directed at them that I see being directed at Lebron James.

Granted...I thought that that one hour Television special-"The Decision" was the stupidest thing I ever heard of in my life(yet I watched it, like everybody else) and that parade the three of them, Bosh, James and Wade took part in ,in Miami in which one of them (I think it was Lebron James) predicted" six or seven NBA titles" was equally silly...but I'm going to write that off to youth...But if that's all he's guilty of.....I don't get all of the hatred and ridicule....

He's broken no laws, He's not married so he hasn't cheated on his wife ...He only has one child as far as I know, He hasn't been caught with a firearm, or been caught urinating in public or with drugs or sent photos of his genitals over Facebook and Twitter to young girls, so again, why so much Lebron bashing?

I sat with amazement all season and watched all of America boo The Miami Heat everywhere they went...I could not understand it....They're just a Basketball team folks...and a damn good one too...They came very close to winning it all....I may not have rooted for them, but I certainly don't hate the Miami Heat....and they beat my 76ers after all...

America....It's Only Basketball....

Somewhere, a man named Kobe Bryant (who like Lebron ,is also a man without a home) is smiling!

Keith's Favorite Quotes

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”- Maria Robinson

Weekend Humor

Claude is getting into the shower just as Toni ,his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.

Toni quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Drake, their next-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Drake smiles leeringly and says, " Antoinette,‘I’ll give you $800.00  if you ,uh drop that towel.’'

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Drake, He smiles slyly and after a few minutes, Drake hands her $800.00 and leaves.

Toni wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, Claude asks, ‘'Hey,Who was that?’

‘It was Drake that guy from next door,'’ she replies.

‘'Kool,'’ Claude says, "Did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?’'

Hotter Than July

Man, it's hotter than July....and it's just the second week in June...Not even summer yet...Not officially, but today it sure felt like it...apparently , it's not just here in Philly either ..it's..well..It's everywhere...A brief but intense heat wave set or tied several records across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Wednesday.

Baltimore and Washington hit 99 degrees, breaking high-temperature records for a June 8 that were set in 1999, according to the National Weather Service. The normal high for the date is about 82. Philadelphia hit 97 degrees, breaking a 2008 record of 95, and Atlantic City, N.J., tied a record of 98 set in 1999. Chicago reached 94 by mid afternoon.

I'm no weatherman but It felt even hotter with high humidity and a ridge of high pressure parked over the East Coast and Southeast states today through Thursday...
Public schools here in Philadelphia and parts of New Jersey and Maryland cut their days short. But Baltimore students were disappointed to find a public pool closed when school let out early. The mayor later ordered the pools to open. The Mayor here should do likewise and open the pools.

In Oklahoma, where temperatures have reached 104 four times so far this month, the Salvation Army said more people are seeking help with high utility bills earlier in the season, and paramedics responded to more heat-related illnesses.

All this and Summer hasn't even started yet! In the District of Columbia, trash collection will begin an hour earlier than normal because of the extremely hot weather forecast. City officials warned residents not to open fire hydrants to cool off because it reduces water pressure and hampers firefighting...Yeah? Try and stop that!

I'm wondering if this extreme weather is because of global warming...The same Global warming that the Republicans tell you is a myth!...I can't say, but I just took a shower and the sweat is running off of me...Of course if I would shut this computer down and go to one of my air conditioned and comfortable rooms..I wouldn't have this problem....I've got a pitcher of sweet tea  awaiting me! Stay cool and hydrated if you can.

I Upped My Game!

Okayyyyy, Sunday, My wife and I joined the 21st Century.....Yup, we upped our phone game...I got tired of this young girl who works in my building ,laughing at me because I was pulling out my flip phone to make calls.  She would look at me and giggle everytime I pulled it out...

That phone pictured above isn't exactly what my wife and I had, but it was close to it. I purchased it about three years ago and I actually thought it was pretty cool...I felt pretty cool pulling it out, flipping it open and making a call.Kind of felt like James Bond. It was only three years old and in just that short of time, it had become obsolete...The girl in my building said to me..."Mr. Keith, when you gonna up your phone game man?"  See, That right there is proof that I'm officially old....When people I work with start referring to me as Mister.   I am old enough to be her father...This girl in particular is a few years younger than my daughter...

So, after much hemming and hawwing and gnashing of the teeth...My wife and I enjoyed a delicious post anniversary brunch Sunday afternoon and then promptly walked across the street from the IHOP to our wireless provider....Wireless provider....Wasn't that long ago that it was Ma Bell and it was the phone store.
Was the 1980's and 1990's THAT long ago...I mean, for real???

Anyway....Long story short...We got some of the best customer service I've seen since I went to the car dealership and informed them that I was paying for my car lock stock and barrel in cash...That's a time , when I don't mind being called "Mister"   ("They CALLL ME MISTER TIBBS!" One of my favorite movie lines from back in the day.)


My wife and I wound up buying his and hers HTC-Androids , exactly like the one pictured above...We can go on Facebook, Twitter and Blogger....I'm writing this blogpost on it.(I'm kidding, no I'm not, but I could if I wanted to or had the patience, which I don't.) It even has You tube and Google...I get the time and the weather and of course I can download music and take photos and send photos....I can even Skype..

My wife and I are still learning the basics though and I'm sure we'll have it mastered in a few days...much to our daughter's amusement... I can remember when I was the hip one who was introducing new things to my amazed family, like the CD player, The DVD player, The Ipod....Okay, I talked about the last one, I didn't actually purchase it...Now I've appeared to have fallen off.

Today in the elevator, I showed off my new Android...I casually pulled it out and went to my Facebook page while we were going up....That smart alec girl got on and saw it and you should have seen how her eyes just lit up....

"Mr. Keith, you upped your phone game...You got a droid....alright!!!!!" she said..

I proudly smiled and showed it off....Sad thing....I know that in two or three years , this will be obsolete and I'm wondering will I accept an upgrade? Will I still want to learn a new thing?  Will I care?? Stay tuned.....You know, The Temptations had a song out called , "Don't Let the Joneses Get You Down"...It might be good for me to give that a listen.

Watch What You Post

I initially was going to leave this alone....I mean I have already written a post about Republican, Arnold Schwartzeneager's sex scandal and that French Diplomat's sex scandal..So I figured I should leave this one alone...But I guess it wouldn't be fair if I left a liberal democrat other than John Edward's sex scandal out of the loop.

This isn't so much about what they are calling Weinergate than it is about watching what you post on facebook and twitter.  I notice that a number of mostly young women are posting profile photos of themselves clad only in T-shirts a or bras and panties staring seductively at themselves in a mirror holding their new android... I wonder why they do this because it usually gets them more attention than they might want...Or maybe that is why they do it..To get the attention they feel they are lacking.

Apparently , grown men , old enough to know better like to sext as they call it or place photos of their genitals on facebook, twitter and their phones and send them to young ladies....(at least I hope that's who they are sending them to....

Senator Anthony Weiner

Bishop, Eddie Long

Case in point...By now...once again, unless you've been living under a rock you've heard about Gennette Cordova,(The young lady in the photo above) the 21-year-old college student who received the penis shot at the center of this week's so called Weinergate scandal ,suposedly from newly married Senator Anthony Weiner, (Democrat, New York)

Gennette told the New York Post that she's exhausted by the media attention she's received, since she was identified as the recipient of his photo. He says that his system was hacked into and that he can't be sure if that's a photo of him or not.
Hmmmmmmmm! This brings me to my point...People should be careful of what they post, what they write and what they photograph on all of these forms of the internet...This stuff never truly vanishes and it can be brought up and used against you later...Plan on having a future? Beware of what you post today...

Of Gennette's new found internet celebrity she said- "I'm just collateral damage," She believes the photo (which the congressman can't say "with certitude" isn't of him) was intended for someone else -- perhaps stripper and porn actress Ginger Lee, who Weiner followed until recently.(Wonder who canceled who's account?) But she doesn't expect an apology and says she simply wants to get on with her life.

"I haven't slept much," she said. "I've just been constantly monitoring what's being said about me. It's crazy." Some of the pictures have been really bad -- just me out partying and stuff," she explained. "My grandparents have been seeing this. It's so embarrassing."

There's more than enough embarrassment to go around as this scandal continues to unfold. If nothing else, it's provided a wake-up call to everyone from congressmen to college students to use more discretion, or at least tighten up security and privacy settings, before posing (clothed or not) and posting.

Like I said...If you plan on having a future...watch what you post today!

Weekend Update

Friday marked 22 years. 22 of the best years of my life....It marked 22 years of marriage. We celebrated by going back to where it began...Atlantic City...We honeymooned in Atlantic City back in the early summer of 1989.

Friday, we made a pilgramage back to the city by the sea...and enjoyed a nice stress free day that wasn't too hot walking the boardwalk, doing a little shopping and enjoying the pleasurable company of each other. I have never been lucky at anything, (except marrying well)..so I did not play any games of chance. My wife however ,who has had a little luck in the past did partake in the one armed bandit....I don't think her luck held out this time. LOL.

We did however enjoy one of those great all you can eat buffets..( In my best Homer Simpson voice)

I missed out on the funnel cake....(better luck next time) this year and because I'm taking pain-killers..I did not partake in the Party on the beach bar either...(There is always tomorrow..lol) but it wasn't about any of that...Yesterday was all about me spending a day with the person who has always made me feel like the luckiest person alive...

Weekend Humor

Alvin calls home to his wife and says, "Boo, I have been asked to go fishing this weekend out at Cape May with my supervisor and several of the guys from work. We'll be gone for a week. This is a good opportunity for me to get that promotion I've been wanting, so would you please pack me enough clothes for a week and set out my rod and tackle box. We're leaving from the office and I will swing by the house to pick my things up. Oh! And please pack my new blue silk pajamas."

Alvin's wife thinks this sounds a little fishy but being a good wife she does exactly what her husband asked. The following weekend he comes home a little tired but otherwise looking good.

Alvin's wife welcomes him home and asks if he caught many fish. He says, "Yes! Lots of Walleye, some Blue gill, and a few Pike. But why didn't you pack my new blue silk pajamas like I asked you to do?"

The wife replies; "I did, they were in your tackle box."

Today, My wife and I are celebrating 22 great years of marital bliss...Have a great weekend everybody!

What I've Learned

1. Feed your faith and all of your doubts will starve to death.

2.No matter how high in life you get, there is always one more tier higher you want to go! (or at least you should!)

3.In eating and drinking as in life, it's better to finish something off than to leave it hanging around.

4.Setting limitations for yourself isn't weakness...it's maturity!

5.Whenever something bad happens or is happening to me..I always say- "One day you'll look back at this and laugh." So far, I've been right!

6.Ever notice how everybody is just having sex until they either fall in love or get married...then it's called "making love"?

7.You gotta trust somebody.

8.You really don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows!

9.Every Man Needs an Arena.....Blogging has become mine.

10. Work Hard, so you won't feel guilty when you're playin hard!

Peace!

Bridging The Great Social Networking Divide

Here is a rare spice of life story for you.   It seems there are people who get paid....(Yes there is always someone somewhere who gets paid) to watch Black social trends are saying that Black folks are increasing in numbers as far as users of Facebook , Twitter, Blogger and now Tumblir is concerned.  If you catch the drift of my title...We are bridging the gap between the great social networking divide baby!!!

According to no more than two articles I've read on the subject ,the influx of Blacks on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook is increasing day by day and like music , sports and other art forms, it seems as though we are adding our creativity and cultural tilt to it.

There is the constant well of verbal creativity. It's not what you'd call great writing, by a long shot. But that's not the point. Not all that we write is actually quote unquote classic or great writing. This is why worries about what email and blogging are doing to "writing" are misplaced; Emailing is really speech, except with the fingers. A little humor there...I know...Very little.

Needless to say, Facebook ,Twitter (and even Blogging to some extent) is more of this new written speech, and even more like speech in its restriction to 140 characters (Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr)It's casual speech that comes in packets of seven to 10 words. Face book and Twitter are now home to dazzlingly articulate speech, and if that's by more black people proportionately than one might expect, then this is even better.

I could just hear one of my old high school english teachers now..."OH My God..Inappropriate capitals, no apostrophe in "its," funky punctuation. No, no -- If we are going to understand this new part of our culture and by that, I'm not just talking about Black culture, but culture period..then we have to begin by expanding our sense of just what language is or has become.

(I think this blog post is beginning to read like a Facebook status update or a tweet!)See, even in the case of the missing apostrophe -- This conveys that this is a real person living and talking to you right now, quite germane to this willfully humble little scene. Even if they left the apostrophe out by accident -- and the person probably did -- I, if "editing" the Tweet or status update, would make sure it stayed out. There is a kind of art here if you look for it. Twitter and Facebook means black people being articulate with one another, live, nationwide and 24-7. I say go for it...I love it..

Remember a few years ago people (the same folks that get paid to study black trends)were saying that black America was getting left on the wrong side of the digital divide? Have you noticed that this has started to sound a little 1993? Twitter and Facebook as well as Blogger can be seen as the official end of this take on black America.

There was an article in the Atlantic Monthly in 1999 that earnestly argued that technology "has not been black people's friend," and history has made us shy of it. Even then, the legions of black people cherishing their VCRs and Discmans would have been surprised at this gloomy conclusion.It was just another gloom and doom message that has since been proven untrue, but yet is marketed as the truth over and over by whoever gets paid to study and speak on black trends...You can bet that these people aren't black...and therefore they sometimes taint their findings with their own personal agendas....I'm not sayin that they lie, I'm just sayin....

It is true that Black Americans (myself included) were getting online a lot less than their white counterparts, but Economics(money ,honey)  had a lot more to do with this than culture, and we've come a long way since then -- Laptop ownership is now about even among the races. And now we have a concrete smackdown to the notion that there is, or ever was, something anti-technological in being black in the 21st century. With Twitter and Facebook we now have something quite "technological" that black people are more into than anyone else. Or so it seems...

Not only are black people using Facebook and Twitter a lot, but the black comedy style and phraseology of the times is calling the tune to a considerable extent, catching on among all Social Networkers. This is part of something that has happened over the past 20 years and is little remarked upon, the African Americanization of American language.

I remember about ten years ago when I was still in the Air Force...I was in Japan..I was out on a street corner and these Japanese teenagers were dressed like the homeboys on 52nd street in my native, Philadelphia...They were quoting Jay-Z, 50 Cent and other popular hip hop artists or that time verbatim....So see, Black Culture has already spread worldwide...thanks to MTV, VH-1, BET and cable networks that are watched globally...The reason why I bring that up is because ...that was 2001...Those Asian teenagers are adults now...Wanna make a bet, when they're not at work and having a beer..they're still talking and jiving each other just like that?

At my job, I listen to a group of 20-something white males having drinks after work on the rare occassion that I join them.. You wouldn't mistake them for black men if you couldn't see them -- but close your eyes and listen and they don't sound anything like their equivalents on Mad Men, either. It's about more than speech -- it's communication in general. Watch the way they hug when greeting one another or taking leave. Among this demographic, the handshake now comes off as a bit stiff. And these guys' favorite music is just as likely to be hip hop as anything else. It cracks me up...They give each other dap and they fist bump just like Barack and Michelle. (Thing is...Me and my partners were doing that years before Barack and Michelle made that a national phenom!)

But I've gone all willy nilly on you...All of this is just  black "flava," if you will, in folks who would be perplexed to be told of it. That is, it's the real them -- their subconscious, spontaneous way of being. America talks blacker now than ever before. Hell,  America is blacker now. What black music did for America is now happening with language -- so much so, that it is only predictable that  Facebook &Twitter's toastmasters are disproportionately black., Or so they say....

It does seem like in the past few years, everybody and their grandmother has gotten a Facebook page and or a Twitter account...I just find it all fascinating and amusing...but then I would...We crossin the great digital divide baby! One tweet, status update and blogpost at a time!

Weekend Update- (Memo To Myself)

Although I love my two grandchildren dearly ...and how could I not? I must remind myself that my body is no longer as young and durable as theirs....

This past Saturday, My wife and I took them to Smith Playground and we got on that large sliding board.(.See photos below) While coming down a little faster than I anticipated, my body twisted and I hit my head...I sprained my neck and shoulder as a result.   Being the man that I am...I attempted to tough the pain out...but after much prodding by my wife and two nights of very painful sleep...I went to a doctor...After I finish this post...I'm going to be taking Vicoden (for the pain) and muscle relaxers....to relax those strained muscles..

It has been said that what one loves will kill you.....Indeed!  In this case...almost!

Rest In Peace, Gil Scott Heron

                             Gil Scott Heron                                                              

                                            (April 1, 1949-May 27,2011)

My wife and I had just gotten home from the movies...We had gone to see "Pirates of the Carribean"...Upon getting home...I went on Twitter and Facebook and to my horror, I discovered that Gil Scott Heron, Poet, Singer, Writer, Activist had died... 

It was listening to Gil Scott Heron as a teenager that inspired me to write and critique the political spectrum the way I do today...

Gil Scott-Heron made a name for himself as what we would now call a spoken word soul performer in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He is best known for the critically acclaimed “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” first recorded as a spoken-word piece for his album “Small Talk at 125th and Lenox.”

He also co-wrote and produced more than a dozen albums with jazz and funk legend Brian Jackson. The fusion of jazz, blues and soul in these albums is credited with influencing hip hop and neo soul.

Known as “the godfather of rap,” Gil Scott-Heron’s music was a mix of poetry and politics. His lyrics, full of social and political themes, often is associated with black militant activism.

He performed at the No Nukes concerts, held in 1979 at Madison Square Garden. The concerts were organized by a group called Musicians United for Safe Energy and were protesting the use of nuclear energy following the meltdown at Three Mile Island. The group included singer-songwriters such as Jackson Browne, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt. Incredible company indeed.

Gil Scott Heron's song, “We Almost Lost Detroit,” written about a previous accident at a nuclear power plant, is sampled on rapper Kanye West’s single, “The People.”

Gil Scott-Heron’s 2010 album, I’m New Here, was his first new studio release in 16 years. The album’s remix, “We’re New Here,” featuring reworking by English music producer Jamiexx, was released earlier this year.

As a child, Gil Scott-Heron lived with his maternal grandmother (Ironically, just as I did for a little while), Lillie Scott, in Jackson, Tennessee, before moving to New York, aged 13, when she died. The first song on I'm New Here is the ironically titled, "On Coming from a Broken Home", which is an ode to Lillie, according to The Guardian.

Gil Scott-Heron battled an addiction to cocaine and other substances for most of his career and spent time in and out of jail on drug possession charges. He was HIV positive.

The cause of  Gil Scott-Heron's death has not yet been reported at the time I'm writing this. “He’s one of my heroes, an incredible source of energy, power, and truth in the world,” Rapper Mos Def told New York Magazine. I couldn't have put it any better myself.