Throwback Thursday [Porch and Mookie Blaylock]

I'd been thinking about opening up Throwback Thursday to more varieties of music for a while. While Hip-Hop is definitely my favorite genre there is a lot of great music from the same era I've been getting my rap tracks that I like just as much. Then when I was thinking about which basketball player to feature in this weeks segment I decided on former Hawk Mookie Blaylock, a fun fact is Pearl Jam, particularly Eddie Vedder is a huge NBA fan, so much so that their album "Ten" was called that to pay homage to Blaylock, because the number 10 is what he wore on his jersey, in fact Pearl Jam's demo tape was called "Mookie Blaylock". After thinking about that I was thinking how much I would like my Throwback Thursday song to be "Porch" from that great "Ten" album, even though it wasn't Hip-Hop. Wether you've noticed or not I like my song of the week and NBA player to have something in common, like Will Smith's "Summertime" and Robert Horry were one throwback entry because they favor each other so much. Or DMX and Latrell Sprewell were in one weeks throwback Thursday because both DMX and Sprewell share anger issues (one raps with a an angry tone, the other choked his coach). So I could think of nothing more fitting to go with with this weeks throwback NBA player better than Pearl Jam, seeing as how much of their early career was named after Blaylock. Also the fun thing is now it opens up Throwback Thursday to pretty much any genre, which personally I'm excited about. 

"Ten" is obviously Pearl Jam's best and most memorable album, while they had great albums since that one none has compared. The first time I heard "Ten" I don't think it left my CD player for several weeks, every song is so great and amazing. It was also a colossal hit with rock and pop radio as well, songs like "Jeremy","Alive", "Black", and "Evenflow" got almost around the clock radio play. While there's no question that those songs are great, at this point I've just heard way to much. However, one of my favorites from that album that never got overplayed as much as I listened to it is "Porch", my favorite song off of "Ten" (to be fair I also really, really like "Why Go" and "Once"). "Porch" for many years was the song Pearl Jam used to close their shows, and for good reason, it's one of the most energetic songs off or "Ten" and one of the most energy-filled songs they've ever made, energy, remind you of anything, a certain Hawks' point guard maybe?

Mookie Blaylock played for 3 NBA teams, the Nets and the Warriors are two, but is best remembered for his time with the Atlanta Hawks, where under coach Lenny Wilkins, Blaylock ran one of the most potent offenses of that era. Blaylock was a speedster who always pushed the tempo of the game running more fast breaks than any team at that time. But as great a passer as he was Blaylock is most known for the lockdown defense he played, twice he led the league in steals. He was also a solid shooter, and is the all-time Hawks franchise leader in 3-pointers. 


With a great coach in Wilkins, and Blaylock running the offense the Hawks had several great years, in 1993-1994 they won 57 games, finishing as the best team in the Eastern Conference, and thought by many to be a serious threat to win the NBA Finals. However, as happened many times before and since in Atlanta, the Hawks would fail to get past the 2nd round of the playoffs, losing to the Pacers. That team was Blaylock's best chance at an NBA Title. Blaylock finished his career with the Warriors, but will be remembered for his time with the Atlanta Hawks...that and that Pearl Jam named their best/first album in his honor.

J. Cole "Cole World: The Sideline Story"

For years J. Cole has been considered one of the most promising up and coming producer/rappers in Hip-Hop. For those unaware, J. Cole is originally from North Carolina, he began writing lyrics in his early teens, but living in North Carolina, a place not known for its Hip-Hop scene Cole had no one to make beats for him, his mother who encouraged his potential rap career bought him an 808 machine and he began making his own beats. At the age of 17 he went to New York to try and further his career, he would have a chance meeting with Jay-Z, whom Cole would try to hand his demo to, Jay-Z at the time wanted nothing to do with him. It was soon after that, that Cole put that demo online available for anyone to download, the demo would be the mixtape called "The Come Up". That mixtape created a buzz around J. Cole, a lot of people, myself included, liked his throwback sounding beats (think Kanye or NO Id) and hard drums, and his story telling lyrical style, which has since become a trademark of his (think Common or Nas). While "The Come Up" gained him fans it wasn't until the 2009 mixtape "The Warm Up" that Cole would become an Internet sensation, and would become regarded as one of the best up and coming rappers, so much so that Jay-Z himself took an interest in Cole, and signed him to his label, J. Cole is even featured on Jay's "Blueprint 3". Since 2009 Cole's first "actual" album has been eagerly anticipated, in the meantime Cole released one more mixtape "Friday Night Lights" and did a series called "Any Given Sunday" where he would give away music from the upcoming album, or unreleased material, or debut music videos, basically his version of Kanye's "G.O.O.D. Fridays" a while back when he was promoting "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy".

Today, J. Cole's first album came out "Cole World: The Sideline Story", the first thing to notice is how much more polished the production is, obviously that would be the case compared to the mixtapes, but only one song has the feel Cole showcased on his previous mixtapes I thought and that was the single "Work Out" which features a sample from Kanye's "New Workout Plan" and Paula Abdul's "Straight Up", outside of that the production is very polished and clean sounding (if that makes any since) and one of the things I like so much about Cole's mixtapes was his production, so the album loses points for me because of that. J Cole does handle the large part of the production which is ably produced, but nothing that blew me away, none of the beats stick out (with a few exceptions), and all kind of blend together after a while.

However, J Cole is not just known for his production, his lyrics are just as big a part of what he does, and for me his lyrical content makes this album. Cole's story teller style is (for the most part) on full display on the album, one song I like a whole lot is called "Lost Ones" it tells the same story about abortion from 3 different points of views, from the man's side, the woman's side, and an omnipresent side, its a really uniquely told track. 

Unlike most Hip-Hop albums out this album has very few features on it, only Jay-Z, Drake, Trey Songz, and Missy Elliott are featured on 4 of the 18 tracks. As rare as that is for any current day Hip-Hop album, that is especially rare for a rookie rapper, the big surprise is J. Cole not only doesn't need the assistance, the four tracks with featuring artists are my least favorite on the whole album as they all seem to disrupt Cole's lyrical style. Particularly "In the Morning" which features Drake, that song almost put me to sleep, and Drake sounds like he's either sick or just doesn't want to be there.

And not to get sidetracked, but what happened to Drake. I was listening to his guest appearance and he sounds bored, or lifeless, like he has no energy. Just the other day I decided to listen to his "So Far Gone" mixtape, and there is so much energy and diversity between each track. "So Far Gone" like "The Warm Up" is a classic mixtape that it really bugs me that Drake has become this flat, lifeless rapper, who's flow NEVER CHANGES from one track to the next, anyone that doubts Drake needs to re-listen to "So Far Gone", I honestly forgot Drake used to be so good. Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to "Take Care"...prove me wrong Drake.

Sorry for the rant, another thing about the guest appearances was how useless Missy's appearance was, any generic R&B singer could have done what she did. I was genuinely excited when I saw that Portsmouth's own Missy Elliott was appearing on this album, so it was upsetting that she delivered so little. 

As the title would suggest this really is Cole's World, this album truly shines on the tracks that only he appears on and there are a lot of highlights. My favorite song is called "Sideline Story", which gives people just becoming introduced to Cole a good backstory of who he is, as I said already "Lost Ones" is a really  great track, if for no other reason Cole's unique story telling structure. "God's Gift", "Rise And Shine", "Breakdown" and "Work Out" are the best produced tracks on the album, and are also really strong tracks. Also, I've never really cared for Intro's and Interludes, sometimes they can be great like Kanye's "College Dropout" but mostly add nothing to the album, but in this case, I actually like the Intro and Interlude, Cole tells a very funny story about the day he got signed to Jay-Z's label in the Interlude.

For the most part the only tracks that don't work for me are "Nobody's Perfect", "Mr. Nice Watch", "In the Morning", and "Can't Get Enough", which as I said oddly enough are the four tracks which contain featured artist, which is really strange, normally those are the tracks chosen as singles that everyone seems to like, not the ones I'll skip the next time I listen to it. Another thing which surprised me is the album gets better the deeper you get, with a few exceptions, most of the tracks I really liked are towards the end of the album.

I will say that I was slightly underwhelmed by "Cole World" if for no other reason than just how great Cole's previous mixtapes are, in terms of Hip-Hop albums currently out, this is just as good, if not better than the majority of them. Not to get on my soapbox, but Hip-Hop needs someone like J. Cole, Cole is a storyteller first, and a rapper second, that used to be the way in Hip-Hop, not to get on Lil Wayne, but Lil Wayne's frantic style changed the game, and made more rappers try to be clever versus tell a story, which at its core is what Hip-Hop is. Game's "RED Album" started to help change that, and "Cole World" and J. Cole's lyrical style is continuing to help change that. Personally I hope he keeps doing what he's doing, and I can't wait to hear what's next.

Rating 3.5/5

Throwback Thursday [I Shot Ya and Vernon Maxwell]

Just a couple of years ago Drake was one of the most talented up and coming rappers out there, everyone was impressed with his "So Far Gone" mixtape and couldn't wait to hear more from him, but instead of becoming a great rapper like everyone thought he became a "ladies" rapper, thats not a diss, every generation has what I call "every woman's favorite rapper" right now thats drake, ten to fifteen years ago that was LL Cool J, when he first started he wasn't that way, he was just a really good rapper, he had a fun rap feud with Kool Moe Dee, some great songs like "Mama Said Knock You Out" "Boomin' System" "Going Back To Cali" etc, but as time was passing he began doing more songs about making love using vanilla ice cream than anything else, which was getting him more woman fans than anything else. His album "Mr. Smith" is the cross over album, it had songs aimed at both his male and female fans, songs like "Hey Lover" and "Doin It" were aimed at women for sure, and then there was "I Shot Ya" which is right up there with "Mama Said..." as the hardest song he's ever made.

Vernon Maxwell earned the nickname during his NBA career of "Mad Max" and for good reason, but there is often dispute as to how that nickname is implied to him. It was created by a commentator for the Houston Rockets because of Maxwell's tendency to go on "mad" shooting streaks, he is one of only 5 players in NBA history to score 30 points in 1 quarter, but as his career would go on, the nickname would become more fitting than anyone would have thought. Maxwell seemed to play the game with a chip on his shoulder at every second, he would fight players, yell at refs, and one time even ran into the stands and punched a fan who was heckling him all night, this incident was before the famous basket-brawl in Detroit. But for all the angry antics Maxwell was one of the great streak shooters in the game, he had the ability to score 50 on any given night. Maxwell played for 9 NBA teams, many felt it was because of his attitude that he kept getting moved around the league, but he had his best years as a Rocket, Maxwell was a huge part to the Rockets winning the 1994 NBA Finals against the Knicks, he had several clutch shots in the deciding Game 7. A year later however instead of Maxwell continuing at the Shooting Guard position the Rockets decided to bring in free agent superstar Clyde Drexler, forcing Maxwell to the bench, the move created a lot of tension between Maxwell and Drexler and Rockets Management. The Rockets would again win the NBA Finals in 1995, sweeping the Magic, Maxwell was not as integral a part of that years championship, and would eventually leave the team that summer. Maxwell would spend the next 6 years moving from one team to another, before eventually retiring in 2001. While he was never an All-Star, or MVP, he is a 2-time Champion, and there are a lot of players like Karl Malone that would trade all of the individual awards for just 1 of his championship rings.

Big Brother---Season in Review

The Big Brother Finale aired last week, at this point I'm sure everyone that wants to watch it already has, so there should be no spoilers, as you've had a week to watch it. First things first, the finale episode was really good, for several reasons, for starters there was a lot to get done in the hour and a half, there was the final HOH Competition, the final houseguest arrive to the jury house, the live eviction, the interrogation, and finally declaring a winner, a lot of times the finales of reality shows are full of fluff making you wait till the last second to find out who won, the last episode of Big Brother however was action packed, really never a dull moment. And of course the other reason I liked it so much, Rachel won!!!!! While Rachel may be unpopular with almost everyone else, especially devoted Big Brother fans, there's been something I liked about her since Day 1, its not a psychical thing, although physically she looks great, I think I liked her simply because everyone else didn't, I tend to do stuff like that. Rachel wasn't just hated by Big Brother fans, she was hated by the other houseguest just as much, if not more so, she was a contestant last year, and when she reentered the Big Brother house this year she was public enemy number 1, and walked in with the biggest target on her back, and yet in spite of being the biggest target for an entire summer Rachel ended up winning, something I was very happy about. One thing I learned this summer though, Rachel makes it really hard to like her sometimes, times like her hiding in a bush crying, or flipping out over small, trivial things, but for every instance of her being unlikable she would follow that up by winning another competition, the girl was dominate when it came to competitions.

Of course the most dramatic and explosive moment of the summer in the Big Brother House was when Shelly turned on Jeff, that led to classic Big Brother drama as Jordan, who is so calm and so sweet went crazy on Shelly, and for good reason, Shelly's actions definitely got the blood boiling. Something interesting that came as a result of Shelly turning on Jeff, one of the most popular players in all of Big Brother, was her family started to receive death threats. While I was on board the Shelly hate bandwagon, I think its safe to jump off now, Jeff won the viewers favorite houseguest award which gave him $25,000 and Shelly was the deciding vote in Rachel's win, as Rachel won Big Brother by a vote of 4 to 3.

As much as America may hate Rachel, at least she played the game, the other two contestants Porsche and Adam were to of the biggest floaters to ever play the game, but at least Porsche was consistent with her alliance, Adam literally went wherever the power lied that week. Neither were great game players, and both only won competitions at the end of the season, when all of the strong players were kicked out (except Rachel of course) luckily neither of those two won, they didn't deserve it.

Another thing I noticed about this season is Jordan must be the nicest and sweetest person on the planet. As if that wasn't noticeable the last time she was in the Big Brother house, Jordan gave up a call from home (which she really wanted since she had no communication with the outside world) and basically threw in the towel to help Rachel move on to the final 3. Why did Jordan do that? Because Rachel had been looking out for her since Jeff was voted out, that mindset goes against the normal game play in the Big Brother House. Plus I think Jordan had the funniest line of the summer when talking about Porsche, saying all she (Jordan) knew about Porsche was she liked to wear bikini's and host competitions.

Evel Dick was only in the Big Brother House for 5 days, and yet it was his idea to form the veterans alliance, as Dick said, if Danielle didn't turn on her alliance it could have been the most powerful in Big Brother History. Danielle deciding to turn on the veteran's alliance was the biggest move of the Summer, the ultimate goal at the beginning of the season was for the veterans to make it to the final 6, and then fight it out, that would have been so much fun to see, as a result of Dick leaving all of a sudden and his daughter Danielle wanting to make a big game move and turn on her alliance for no reason, what ended up happening was both sides of the house started picking off the strongest players, so instead of Jeff or Danielle in the final 3 we were left with Adam and Porsche. 

As dumb as it may have been to turn on her alliance it was far from the dumbest thing someone did this past season. In week 5 the houseguest were told to choose their nominations wisely, because that person would have a chance to get back in the house. What they didn't know was the 4 previous houseguest kicked out would also have a chance to come back. Lawon was convinced that he would receive some special power once he was evicted and then came back, and told the HOH to put him on the nomination block and vote him out. That's exactly what happened, Lawon was kicked out of the house, and instead of getting a special power, he had to compete with Brendon to come back in the house, Brendon would win that competition, and Lawon was kicked out, it was the first time I'd seen someone volunteer to be voted out.

All in all, this was far from the most dramatic season of Big Brother, and it wasn't the most entertaining, there is no question that if Evel Dick didn't leave this season would have been very different, but it was still a good and fun season. In my opinion the worst season of Big Brother is better than any other reality show. After watching the premiere episode I knew I wanted a veteran to win this year, I liked all of the returning vets, and I was happy that a veteran won, I was happy a floater didn't win, and I was happy that for all the hate and all the targets she had on her back since day one somehow Rachel won. Now its time to start counting down the days as we wait for another season of Big Brother to begin..

Mariano Rivera---The Greatest Closer of All-Time

The Closer Position in baseball is one of the most unique, most difficult positions in all of sports. Its not for the faint of heart, its a pressure-packed position that many Relievers have tried and very few have excelled at, and for good reason, unlike in other sports were the great closers have help, Kobe is by far the greatest closer in the NBA, but if he sees a defense he doesn't like he can pass the ball to Derek Fisher, Peyton Manning is one of the best closers in the NFL, if he sees a defensive package he doesn't like he can call an audible and hand the ball off, these great closers have help if they need it. Such really can't be said about the closer position in baseball, sure they have a catcher and 7 other fielders, but the closer is the only one throwing the pitch, and based off of the pitch they throw will control the outcome of the game, its one man facing the other teams last effort to win the game, and more times than not, the opponents rarely go down without a fight.

There have been Closers in baseball in the past, there will be closers in the future, but Mariano Rivera is hands-down the greatest closer in Baseball history, and it ain't even close. That was a statement that up until yesterday could have caused a minor controversy, while 99% of baseball fans would agree with Rivera as the greatest closer of all-time, baseball more than any other game is a numbers game, and as great as Rivera has been Regular Season and Post Season, one thing he wasn't was the all-time leader in Saves, that is until yesterday afternoon when Rivera recorded Save number 602 against the Twins, passing long-time Padre Trevor Hoffman for the record, a record few people thought Rivera would never break.

Rivera is a career Yankee, his career started in 1995 as a starter, but it wasn't until 1996 when he became the primary set-up man for John Wetteland that his career began to take shape. Rivera and Wetteland were a key to why the Yankees won the World Series in 1996 against the Braves. In 1997 the Yankees allowed Wetteland to become a free agent, setting the stage for Rivera to become the Closer, his first year was a little rocky, he would be a big reason why the Yankees lost the ALDS to the Cleveland Indians, but what would follow in 98, 99, and 2000 (especially in the Post Season) would be one of the greatest displays of pitching, starting or relieving in MLB History, he was dominate, so much so that teams changed their game, instead of planning a 9 inning game, several teams played as if the game were 7 innings, Mariano was that dominate that he was seen as automatic, lots of teams during that stretch almost looked like they had given up after he would come in.

In 2001 Rivera would have another colossal blown save in Game 7 of the World Series, costing the Yankees their fourth straight World Series title. In 2004 in Game 4 of the ALCS against the rival Red Sox Rivera had arguably the biggest blown save in history, with the Yanks up 3-0 in the best out of 7 series, Rivera would come in, in the ninth and allow the tying run to score, the Yanks would lose that game, and eventually lose that series, becoming the first team in Baseball history to blow a 3-0 series lead.

It was around that time when people started to question Rivera and if he could continue as the dominate closer he'd been since 1998, there were a lot of people that thought maybe Rivera was done, and if you read the paper or listened to sports talk radio in New York people were throwing out names like Tanyon Sturtze as a possible Err to the Throne. As a result of just how dominate he was from his stretch from 1998-2004 a lot of people would call him the greatest closer of all-time, but at the time, no one felt like he would pass Hoffman for the all-time Save record. Rivera however would go on to surprise everyone by having excellent years from 2005-2008, and he was as big a reason as anyone else on the team why the Yankees won the World Series in 2009, even now in 2011 he is by far the most dominate closer in the game, so much that, when people talk about Rivera they always talk about 97 in the ALDS, 2001 in the World Series, or 2004 in the ALCS, why? Because there is nothing else to talk about, outside of those 3 exceptions, he has been practically flawless, and how much fun is it talking about flawless athletes.

One of the most remarkable things about Rivera is he's been the most dominate closer of all-time, he is now officially the Best Closer of all-time, and he's done it all with just one pitch, the Cut-Fastball. Every batter knows what they are going to see, they are going to see nothing but cutters there is just no way to hit it. 

There are several records that I'm fully sure will be broken, the single season homerun record I'm sure will be broken, same thing for the career homerun record, but there are some records I don't see anyone breaking, like Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak will never be touched, Cal Ripken Jr's Consecutive Games Streak of 2632 will never be broken, and I'm convinced that River's new record of 602 Career Saves will never be broken. Every season there is some new hot Closer that people are Sure will be the "Next Big Thing" from Brad Lidge, to Joe Nathan, K-Rod, Papelbon, etc. every year the experts want to say Rivera is done, but this new young closer will be the next big thing. What ends up happening is said closer ends up succumbing to the pressure of the position, which has happened often, or more often than not, the closer blows there arm out, most closers throw blazing fast balls, very few closers pitch using deception, that is more of a trait of starting pitchers, but that was one of the keys why Hoffman was such a success as a closer, he pitched like a starter, using deception, throwing a fast ball not much faster than 88mph and a change-up using the exact same arm motion about 78mph, throwing that speed won't burn someone's arm out, outside of Rivera and Hoffman, the career expectancy of a closer these days isn't very long, something I don't see changing in this Win-Now game, which makes me think this is another record that will stand.

Rivera didn't need this record to be considered the best closer of all-time, almost everyone was in agreement of that already, his post season dominance and his success with one pitch is more of a reason why people considered him the best, however in a game that loves its number having the all-time saves record won't hurt his case, but it has opened a whole other can of worms as people are beginning to ask is he the Greatest Pitcher of All-Time? That I can't answer, but he's definitely in the conversation.

Click Here to See Mariano Rivera's Historic Moment

Throwback Thursday [Rebirth of Slick and Mitch Richmond]

At a time when West Coast G-Funk was ruling Hip-Hop Digable Planets came out with an unique sound that fused Hip-Hop and Jazz, and was arguably the first rap group music critics actually took seriously as a result of their unique blend. Their first album which features their most well know hit "Reachin'" is full of Miles Davis references and sounds, while I didn't get it at the time I first I heard it, I liked the album a lot, and many years later can fully appreciate just how good Reachin' really is, simply put, they were ahead of their time with their cross-genre style. The group would release two albums in two years and then quickly broke up after they failed to have another hit as big as Rebirth of Slick, but many artist owe a lot to Digable Planet, not only their unique style, but they brought alternative Hip-Hop to the mainstream. 

Mitch Richmond was drafted by the Golden State Warriors, there he Chris Mullin, and Tim Hardaway formed Run TMC, the most exciting group of young stars playing at that time. They could all shoot, they could all pass, they could all put on a show, and while that Warriors team failed to do anything, they caught a lot of people's attention with their style of play, much like Digable Planet, Run TMC was ahead of its time.

Richmond was then traded to the Sacramento Kings, where he became the first Kings superstar since they moved from Kansas City to Sacramento. Once in Sacramento he became one of the games best shooters, and best scorers, while with the Kings he never average under 20 points a game, and was a perennial All-Star, he even won the All-Star MVP in 1995. He joined the Dream Team III at the 1996 Olympics In Atlanta, which was his second Olympic appearance.

Eventually he was traded to the Wizards for Chris Webber, while it saddened the city to lose Richmond it turned out to be the best move in Kings history as soon after getting Webber the Kings became a force in the Western Conference for the first time, nearly going to the NBA Finals once.

Richmond struggled with the Wizards and would eventually join the Lakers, winning his first and only Ring as a Laker, while he only averaged 4 points while a member of the Lakers, he was the person dribbling the ball while time expired in the 2002 Finals, he would retire that summer, making that his last NBA moment, that's not a bad way to go out.

Fun Fact: While I didn't get or understand the Miles Davis references throughout "Reachin" in the years since Miles Davis has become one of my favorite artists of all-time.

My Top 20 Episodes of the Entire Star Trek Franchise

This past week Star Trek celebrated its 45th Anniversary. As I said in the Dork Trek post (which you can read by clicking here) I love some Star Trek, I also really like list, so in honor of the 45th anniversary I decided to post my Top 20 Episodes of the Star Trek Franchise. A few things before I start, first off, my favorite series is Deep Space Nine, and I think thats obvious when you look at the list. I love The Next Generation, and as far as The Original Series and Enterprise goes, Enterprise was really good, I felt like the show was at its best in Season 3 during the season long arch about the Xindi, however the one downside to a season long arch is none of the episodes really stand-out, Season 3 was like one long episode. Then there is The Original Series, which had some really great episodes, but at times was to campy, when the Original Series hit, it really hit, when it missed, It Missed big time, think "Spock's Brian" arguably the worst episode of any Star Trek series ever.

One oversight that may be very noticeable is there is not a single Voyager episode, that is mainly because as hard as I've tried to get into Voyager, and I've tried on several occasions, I finally realized I just don't like the show, I've seen many of the episodes people say are "stand-outs" and they are ok, but nothing special, certainly not Top 20 All-Time material.

20. "Balance of Terror" - The Original Series
It was the episode that introduced everyone to the Romulans, and one of the many highlights of Season 1. The episode is tense and intriguing, and was one of, if not the first episodes that had a great space battle in Star Trek. Also it featured Mark Lenard playing the Romulan commander, he would later go on to play Sarek, Spock's father.

19. "In A Mirror, Darkly" - Enterprise
This isn't a perfect episode by any means in terms of the Star Trek Universe, and leaves a lot of questions, for example, when Kirk goes to the Alternate Universe 100 years later why hasn't technology advanced, but even with the discontinuity its an outstanding episode, it ties to The Original Series so well, to both "The Tholain Web" and "Mirror, Mirror" episodes, and the theme song is so much better than the theme song for the rest of the series, if the theme song for these two episodes was the one they used for the entire series I would never have to skip it.

18. "Q Who?" - The Next Generation
It should make any list if for no other reason than it introduced the Borg, arguably the best villain in all of Star Trek. The episode has both the Borg and Q, both of whom were great parts of TNG.

17. "Children of Time" - Deep Space Nine
This is a really cool episode, it has time travel as the crew accidently travel back in time (its almost always an accident isn't it) and find that the inhabitants of the planet are their descendants. Its fun with the time travel and all, yet the end is very touching.

16. "Parallels" - The Next Generation
An often overlooked episode, this one is just fun, basically Worf just keeps traveling from one dimension to another as a result of a spacial anomaly, its fun to see the different changes in every dimension.

15. "Storm Front" - Enterprise
This episode has almost everything I like in one show, Nazi's and time travel, the crew travels back in time to World War II where now aliens are assisting Nazi's to try and defeat the US. It also brings to a close the temporal cold war which was a fun part of the series.

14. "The Visitor" - Deep Space Nine
This episode shows what would have happened if Captain Sisko would have died in an engineering accident. Things would have been very different, obviously. I liked the way this episode expanded on the relationship between Jake and Ben Sisko.

13. "Little Green Men" - Deep Space Nine
This could arguably be the funnest episode in Star Trek history. Quark and Odo travel back in time to Roswell, New Mexico and as it turns out they were the aliens that crash landed in the 40's. It has the perfect feel of a 40's science fiction movie. Futurama would go on to make a similar episode, which was funny, but this one is superior.

12. "Cause and Effect" - The Next Generation
Another fun episode, you know its going to be a fun episode when the Enterprise blows up in the first 2 minutes of the show. This episode was Groundhog Day, before that movie even came out. The crew relive the same day over and over without an knowledge that they were, all they have is a since of deja vu.

11. "Mirror, Mirror" - The Original Series
A classic Trek episode, the first of many Trek episodes that featured the Alternate Universe. Kirk and the crew accidently beam to an Alternate Universe where the federation is evil and ruthless, and most importantly, Spock has a goatee...a clear sign he's evil.

10. "Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast" - Deep Space Nine
This episode set the tone for all of the episodes of DS9 that would follow. It was a tense and thrilling episode, in which you learned so much more about the characters.

9. Image in the Sand/Shadows and Symbols - Deep Space Nine
This is the type of episode why DS9 is so great, it ties in to so many of the other episodes before it, like "Far Beyond the Stars" it gives a lot of answers of the series, and brings up even more questions, and continues telling the story of Dominion War. It was the season opener after a tragic season finale in season 6, and closes that story well while opening the season so well.

8. "Yesterday's Enterprise" - The Next Generation
The Enterprise travels through a space anomaly and is in an Alternate reality, instead of being at peace with the Klingons the Federation is still at war with them, and its not going well. None of the crew is aware of this, and Tasha Yar is back.

7. "The Search" - Deep Space Nine
A great DS9 episode, it introduces the Defiant, the first federation ship with a cloaking device, it also has the introduction of the Founders, a group of shape shifters to which security chief Odo belongs.

6. "In Purgatories Shadow/By Inferno's Light" - Deep Space Nine
Everything that had been building for the first 4 and a half seasons all came together in this two-parter. This episode answers a lot of questions, but builds more mysteries.

5. "Best of Both Worlds" - The Next Generation
The best cliffhanger I've personally ever seen, the end of the first episode is so intense, but the entire episode is brilliant, its so well structured and told, both parts. Michael Pillar wrote the episode with no resolution in mind, since he was leaving the series which created a tense situation, when he ended up coming back to write the second half the solution was a natural resolution to the story.

4. "The Inner Light" - The Next Generation
This might of been one of the more emotional episodes of Trek ever, but its a great one. Patrick Stewart is at the top of his game. The part at the end of the episode with Picard and his flute should have won him a slew of awards.

3. "Far Beyond The Stars" - Deep Space Nine
This episode walked a fine line between being great Science Fiction and an After-School Special, yet it was so well directed by Avery Brooks, who also delivers a top-notch performance, and so well written that it comes out as a classic Trek episode.

2. "All Good Things" - The Next Generation
I only wish every series finale could be this good, and I rank this as the best TNG episode. It brings the entire series full circle so you can actually see just how far these beloved characters have come in the 7 year run. The episode has caused some debate as a lot of people feel Q (who is featured heavily) is the reason for the anomaly in the first place, but in my mind there never was anything at stake, the episode was Q once again putting Captain Picard on trial to see just how much he'd grown in 7 years. The episode closes the series out so well in fact, that it almost makes you wish TNG ended on the note this episode sent them out on, instead of the way they went out in "Nemesis"

1. "City on the Edge of Forever" - The Original Series
I loved Star Trek when I was younger, rediscovered it in my teens, but for the most part got out of it for about 10 years or so, and then one night I was switching the TV around and saw this episode for the first time, and then, I was back in, I went on to watch every episode (with the exception of Voyager) over the span of a couple of years, it was the episode that got me back in to Star Trek, and for good reason, its the perfect Star Trek episode, everything thats great about Star Trek can be found in this one episode. Its a perfect cross between time travel, science fiction, and social commentary, and unlike some Trek episodes, the social commentary isn't heavy handed or overbearing, its the perfect episode.

When Baseball Saved a City After 9/11

Ten years ago the United States suffered the greatest tragedy to happen on American soil. It was a life changing event for just about every citizen, and while a lot of people today will focus on how America has changed since then or recount their day on that fateful morning I'm gonna talk about baseball. 

Some people will want to spend this day watching the History channel, viewing the various specials about the 9/11 attacks, especially this year being the 10 year anniversary, but I saw all I needed to that day, if I never see anything else on September 11th I'll be fine, not that I'm indifferent towards the attacks, quite the opposite actually, I'm comfortable living in denial, I know thats a problem, and in this case I'm ok with it

Back to baseball, what does baseball have to do with 9/11? A lot actually, there was a really good documentary made about how the New York Yankees post season literally lifted the spirits of an entire city, this time it wasn't just about the Yankees winning another Championship, it was about putting a city on their collective backs and winning a World Series if for no other reason than to allow the City forget for a brief second about everything that took place. 

Yet, as dramatic a World Series as it was, it was so close to never happening at all.

Baseball like all sports would suffer a delay as a result of the attacks the first game back for both the Mets and Yankees was full of emotion and drama, this is a city that loves its baseball, and it served as a distraction. The Yankees would make the Post Season, facing the Oakland A's in the first round, a best 3 out of 5 Series. Going into the Post Season, Yankee great Right Fielder Paul O' Neill said he would retire at the end of the season. The A's were stacked, they had three of the best offensive players in the game in Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi, and Eric Chavez, their starters were young and talented, an their bullpen was deep.

The Yanks however were starting to hear that they were getting too old to compete, they had just won three straight World Series, but many doubted with age being such an issue if they could compete for a fourth in a row.

And like the nay-sayers said in the first two games the Yanks looked old and sluggish, the young A's had their way with the Yankees starting pitching, and the talented pitching of the A's simply baffled the Yankee hitters. The Yanks would lose the first two games at Yankee Stadium, a lot of people thought the series was over, and for good reason, the Yanks had to go back to Oakland and win two games in a row just to have a chance to go back to New York to play Game 5 at the Stadium. 

Going into Game 3 in Oakland there was as lot of doom and gloom in the air for the defending champs, all of the hopes rested on the right arm of the big free agent acquisition Mike Mussina, Mussina  has two nicknames, one is the cute and kid-friendly Moose, the other however is more appropriate, "Mr. Almost" he almost threw a perfect game, he almost won a World Series, he almost won a Cy Young Award, he was a great pitcher no doubt but on the fringe of excellence. It was up to him to extend the season of the Yankees. Also the lefty Barry Zito was pitching for the A's which meant Paul O' Neill would be sitting out for what could be the final game of his historic career. What would happen during that game had to be seen to be believed, it was one of the greatest pitching duels in post season history, the Yanks got 1 run, Mussina was making that 1 run stand putting together a masterful pitching performance. However in the 7th with two outs and Jeremy Giambi on 1st, Terrance Long would get a long, deep hit to the outfield, Right Fielder Shane Spencer would throw the ball in,  the throw overshot a waiting Jorge Posada, and it looked like the run would score, tying the game. Except for some reason, Derek Jeter was in no man's land, playing behind Posada to his right, Jeter was able to get a hold of the ball and flipped it to Posada. It silenced the crowd and commentators, no one had ever seen anything like it, the play known as "The Flip" left a lot of questions, biggest of all, what was Jeter even doing playing there, I mean, playing back-up to the catcher is a long way away from his shortstop position. Jeter said after the game, that they practiced that before, but whatever the reason, the flip saved the run but more importantly, saved the season for the Yanks as they would win the game 1-0.

The Yankees would go on to win Game 4 rather easily forcing a Winner take All Game 5 at Yankee Stadium, there was a feeling in the stadium that night that the Yanks would win this thing, and the Yanks didn't disappoint. It wasn't a breeze, but the Yanks won, moving on to the next round to face the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners had just picked up one of the most exciting players to ever play in Ichiro, he was causing a stir throughout the league. The Mariners set a record for the best regular season in MLB history, breaking the record set by the eventual champion Yankees in 1998, as tough a task as they had beating the A's a lot of people felt, myself included that this was going to be far more difficult.

However, the Yanks won the first 2 games in Seattle rather easily, the Yanks had the momentum on their side. When the series shifted back to New York the Mariners won Game 3 easily, in that game the Mariners looked like the Mariners of the regular season. Game 4 was crucial, Seattle manager Lew Pinnella made a promise the series would go back to Seattle for Games 6 and 7 and the Mariners would win, and to his point this was the hardest fought game of the series. It was a tense and tight pitching duel, both starters where strong, both teams would threaten to score, but neither team did. Brett Boone would score the first run in the top of the 8th hitting a solo homerun. In the Bottom of the 8th Bernie Williams would hit a solo shot himself. Marino Rivera would pitch in the Top of the 9th keeping the score tied, and in the bottom of the 9th Alfonso Soriano would hit a 2-run walkoff homerun, winning the game for the Yanks and giving them the big advantage in the series. The following night the Yanks would win very easily, the Mariners looked deflated, and the Yanks and Andy Petite capitalized, winning the game, and against most peoples predictions going back to the World Series for the fourth straight year.

Their World Series opponent was an unlikely opponent, the Arizona Diamondbacks where in their first World Series in team history. Where the Yanks were extremely well rounded, in their starting pitching, bullpen, and hitting (most of their runs were scored via the homerun) the Yanks were your typical American League team. The Diamondbacks personified the National League, they were a scrappy team, they scored their runs simply by putting base hits together, stealing bases and bunting. They also had the two best pitchers that season, both of whom had their personal best seasons that year, in Curt Shilling and Randy Johnson. Shilling said before the series he would pitch 3 of the games, Johnson would pitch 2 games, which meant the Yanks were going to see the 2 best pitchers in the game 5 out of 7 games.

The first two games were played in Arizona, the Yanks struck first in Game 1 against Shilling, but the rest of the Game would belong to the D' Backs as they would win in blowout fashion. Game 2 was a battle of talented lefties Randy Johnson vs. Andy Petite, but the result was the same for the Yanks, the D' Backs would again win in blowout fashion.

Game 3 was must-win, and everyone knew it, Roger Clemens guaranteed a win, but he had to win, the Yanks finally had the pitching advantage as they faced Brian Anderson, the game was close but the Yankees eventually won the game, cutting their deficit in the series in half.

Game 4 was played on Halloween night, for the first time ever. The pitching match-up favored Arizona immensely, as it was Curt Shilling vs. the struggling Orlando Hernandez, the game was nip and tuck the entire time, the Diamondbacks had a 2 run lead going into the bottom of ninth facing the D' Backs closer Byung-Hyun Kim, who had been supremely reliable the entire post season, with their backs against the walls, Tino Martinez hit a 2-run homerun in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, forcing extra innings, after a scoreless top half of the inning Derek Jeter would come to the plate, soon after the stroke of midnight, for the first time ever, there was November baseball. Derek Jeter would take the Kim pitch and drill it into the seats in right field, winning the game for the Yanks, and earning himself the nickname Mr. November. The atmosphere in the stadium was unlike anything I'd ever seen before at any baseball game, the 9/11 attacks seemed to loom over the entire World Series, from former President Bush throwing out the first pitch before Game 3 to former Mayor Rudy Gulliani sitting in the front row during every single Post Season game, yet at this moment, for many New Yorkers that was a distant thought, the only thought on that night was the Yanks had just evened the Series in frantic fashion. But what would Game 5 have in store.

Coming into Game 5 Mike Mussina was hoping to rebound from his poor pitching performance in Game 1, unlike Game 1 he wasn't facing Curt Shilling, he was facing Miguel Batista, the game was once again a nail biter, but to the surprise of everyone as good as Mussina was on this night Batista was even better. In the top of the 9th the Yankee Stadium fans began to show their appreciation to the hard work and incredible play of Paul O' Neill as 50,000 plus all together chanted Paul O' Neill's name, it was one of the most touching moments I'd ever seen during a game as the appreciation rained down the entire inning, and its moments like that, that make me happy to be a Yankee fan, as bad as our reputation may be, Yankee fans are classy about that type of thing, not trashy like those Red Sox fans. Despite the Yanks trailing in the game by a run, the fans knew this would be the last time they would see Paul O' Neill playing, it was the type of moment in sports that I'll always remember.  The Yanks however, for the second night in a row entered the bottom of the ninth down 2 runs, there was a little more optimism in the Stadium that night, after all the Yanks had just come back in the same situation the night before, but rarely does lightning strike twice. However 3rd baseman Scott Brocious would hit a homerun once again forcing extra innings, the miraculous happened again, the Yanks would again win the game in extra innings, again there was pandemonium at the Stadium, and again as close as the tragedy of that fateful September day hit, it seemed miles away at that moment. The Yanks had their first lead of the World Series, and two chances to win it, the scene however was shifting back to Arizona, but after the October and November magic of the past few days Yankee fans were confident they would take the series. 

With the Series now in Arizona Andy Petite would get a chance at redemption vs. Randy Johnson. However, this game was never close, the Diamondbacks beat up on Andy Pettite, hitting him all over the place, meanwhile Johnson was in firm control, the win forced a winner take all Game 7

Game 7 was a match up of two of the greatest to ever pitch Roger Clemens and Curt Shilling, the night had a historic feel to it before a single pitch was hurled. The Yanks for all their dominance of the Late 90's Early 2000's didn't play a Game 7 in any of their World Series. Chuck Knoblock set the tone for the game early when he hit a routine double and tried to turn it into a triple, it was going to be that type of game, every inch of every play would count. The Diamondbacks would strike first, soon after the Yanks would get a run. This game wasn't going to be a blowout, both pitchers were on their game. In the Top of the 8th Alfonso Sorino hit a solo homerun giving the Yanks a 2-1 lead, it was up to Clemens and the rest of the bullpen to hold the lead to give the ball to Marino Rivera, and wrap this World Series up.

Marino is the greatest closer in MLB history, that isn't just my opinion as a Yankee fan,  it's the consensus opinion, the position was there before him, but he's the person that made the closer position what it is today, he redefined it, and is almost automatic, at Yankee Stadium they play the Metallica song "Enter Sandman" when he enters the game, for several reasons, he puts the hitters bats to sleep, it's time to wrap of the game when he enters, and if you think you have a chance of winning put on you pj's because you're dreaming. Long story short, the guy is automatic. A lot of people feel during the Yankees dynasty of that era he was their MVP, and for good reason, the last time the Yanks lost a Post Season game with Mo pitching was in 1997 against the Indians.

The Yanks turned to Rivera in the Bottom of the 8th, which was not uncommon, the Yanks often went to Rivera earlier than most teams will go to their closer. Rivera breezed through the Bottom of the 8th. Shilling was still in the game and dealing, eventually however, he got in trouble. 1 run was going to be hard to come by against Rivera, 2 might as well be impossible. So manager Bob Brenly went to the previous nights starter, Randy Johnson. Johnson came into the game with it starting to rain, he would finish the Top of the 9th without allowing any of the runners on base to score, which meant the D' Backs were going to the bottom of the 9th trailing by 1 run. Personally at that time however, 1 run was plenty, I was already singing "We Are the Champions" and "New York, New York" the bottom half of the 9th was a mere technicality from the inevitable Yankee World Series win.


Rivera had struck out the side in the 8th, the heart of the order to be exact, it seemed like he could breeze through the bottom of the 9th in the same way. Such was not the case, Mark Grace led off the inning with a single. Damian Miller would follow, and it was clear he was going to bunt to get the tying run in scoring position. The next thing that happened lives in baseball infamy, Miller would lay down a bunt right back to the mound, Rivera would pick up the ball, and instead of throwing the ball to 1st to get the sure out, Rivera tried to get the lead run at 2nd, and misthrew the ball into Centerfield, putting runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs. 


This was the moment when I stopped singing "We Are the Champions", it was the moment when I started to freak out, and it was the moment when I realized, the Yanks may not win this thing, it wasn't looking good. The rest is somewhat a blur, Rivera would get one out when Arizona would again try to bunt, he threw the ball to 3rd to get the first out, but there were still runners at 1st and 2nd. Tony Womack was the next hitter, he would get a double scoring 1 run, tying the game, and blowing the Save for Rivera. But more importantly there was a runner at 3rd, just 90 feet away. Luis Gonzales would hit a soft single, just over Derek Jeter, just hitting the outfield, scoring the winning run, thusly giving the Arizona Diamondbacks their first World Series. I can only imagine the crowd went crazy, but to this day, I don't know what happened. I remember turing off the TV and sitting in silence for an hour if not more, trying to figure out what went wrong, the Yanks were so close to victory, only to blow-up when it mattered most, something that didn't happen during the Joe Torre regime up to that point. For the city of New York, it was another major tragedy, certainly it was significantly more superficial than the attacks on 9/11, but for a city that loves its baseball, it was another tough blow. But what was so amazing about this World Series, and the entire playoff run of the 2001 Yankees, was after Game 7, people in New York weren't talking or thinking about 9/11, everyone was talking about the Yanks, and how they could blow the game. 9/11 had been an eerie backdrop of New York City everyday since it happened up to that point, and after Game 7, it wasn't quite as tough to deal with, the city of New York got what they needed, a distraction, something to take their minds off of the tragedy of that day, and the Yankees did that.

Looking back at that World Series, I would say (and a lot of people agree) it was the best World Series of all-time. Granted there were 3 blow-outs, but 3 of the games contained some of the most compelling and dramatic moments ever seen in sports, while the outcome wasn't what I would have wanted, or anyone other Yankee fan for that matter, it contained some of the great moments in Yankee history, from Derek Jeter becoming Mr. November, to the salute to Paul O' Neill, to the back-to-back miracle comebacks, the series contained so many iconic Yankee moments, and more importantly helped a city forget the worst tragedy to ever happen on US soil, and at the end of the day that was more important than the Yankees winning. (although it would have been nice)

Throwback Thursday [Shimmy Shimmy Ya and Keith Van Horn]

There's no question that the Wu-Tang Clan is one of the greatest groups in Hip-Hop History, and personally they are my favorite group of all-time. After the success and response of their first album "Enter the 36 Chambers" several members went solo, most notably Method Man, Ghostface, and Raekwon, all of whom were incredible rappers without the group, they all could carry the weight of a song or album without the assistants of the other members of the Wu, but then there was the Ol' Dirty Bastard. ODB was no question the most entertaining member of the Wu, I always liken him to the Sammy Davis Jr of the Wu, maybe not the best singer, but the most entertaining (Sammy Davis Jr. was entertaining in a completely different way of course) ODB's shenanigans were always good for a laugh, wether it was taking a limo to pick up his food stamps or storming the stage at the Grammy's when Wu-Tang didn't win, he was a character to say the least. While much of his debut solo album "Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version" is unlistenable (listening to 60 minutes of ODB's frantic rapping style is way too much) the second single "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" is a really fun, catchy song, by far the best solo song ODB ever did, also its one of the better and more entertaining songs ever done by a Wu member. Sadly ODB died in 2004, but his great moments will never be forgotten, Shimmy Shimmy Ya was definitely one of them.

Keith Van Horn is one of the most reluctant superstars to ever play the game, Van Horn was immensely talented, there was never any question about that, the guy could shoot, he had great range, he had an impressive back to the basket game, and he was an incredible rebounder, the one thing that was always questioned with Van Horn was the last thing most athletes ever want questioned, that was his heart. Many people always felt that as great a natural talent as he was his heart was never fully in the game. But there was no question that he was a natural talent, in my opinion with his size, range and scoring ability, if his heart was ever fully in the game he could have been Kevin Durant, before Kevin Durant, his natural ability was that good. 

Van Horn was drafted in 1997, he played his first 5 years as a key component to the New Jersey Nets massive turnaround, the Nets went from a perennial loser, to a team that competed in the Eastern Conference for several seasons. In 2002 the Nets won the Eastern Conference Championship, in fact it was Keith Van Horn's game winning shot against the Celtics that got them there. The Nets would eventually get swept by the Lakers, and Van Horn would get traded to the 76'ers that summer, Van Horn's numbers would dip, and he would start to move around the league, he did have a resurgent year in 2006 as the sixth man for the Dallas Mavericks, that Mavericks team would eventually lose to the Miami Heat, but Van Horn was a major factor of the Mavs winning the West that year. Van Horn would essentially retire after that season (he said he was taking just 1 year off to be with his family but never returned) it seemed like he still had a lot left in the tank after his resurgence with the Mavs, but it was an all to typical move for him. Van Horn finished his career averaging 16 points and 7 rebounds per game, those are really solid numbers, but we're left wondering how great could he have been if his heart had been  in the game.

Fun Fact: Anytime I need a good laugh I watch the video of ODB storming the stage at the Grammy's, it makes me weak still to this day, his speech is one of the funniest things I've ever heard, if you haven't seen it, watch the video, immediately if not sooner.

The Summer I Became A Nerd

While September 21st is the official end of Summer, for many people Labor Day marks the end of the season. Personally I'm a reflective dude, I like to look back at a time or season and get an overall theme of that time. So on this Labor Day I'm marking the end of the Summer Season by reflecting on the Summer I Officially became a Nerd. 

Sure before this Summer I'd seen the Star Wars movies once or twice, but who hasn't? Yeah, I've always been a pretty hardcore Star Trek nerd, but with the most recent movie becoming a mainstream sensation liking Star Trek isn't really that big of a deal. This Summer Season however, I've done a few things that not only have I never done before, but never thought I would do, for starters, I think I saw every Comic Book movie that came out. That's not too big of a deal seeing as how I'd seen comic book movies in the past, mainly a couple X-Men movies and the Iron Man movies, this Summer I made it a point to see them all, Thor and Captain America I saw at the midnight release, I even saw Thor twice I liked it so much. 

Before this Summer not only had I never seen a Harry Potter movie, I had never planned on seeing one, this summer I actually watched them all on DVD, and eventually went to the theater to see the last movie.

All of that is pretty incriminating but not to much of a concern, literally millions of people enjoy Harry Potter and comic book movies, so it's not that far out of the norm, but it gets worse.

I made my first two trips to a comic book shop of my adult life this Summer, the first time I felt out of place, the scary thing for me though was when I went back the second time I oddly felt like I knew a little more about the different comic books there. I still don't completely understand the game a guy and a girl where playing, dice where involved but outside of that I had no clue what they were doing.

Speaking of comics I actually learned how to read a comic book during my nerd-tastic summer, I always had a general idea, but wasn't sure what meant a thought or when they were talking, now I do, and not only do I know how to read a comic, I'm actually reading two trades and one comic right now, I'm reading an Avengers trade and a X-Men trade, the X-Men trade was written by Joss Whedon, who I now know will write and direct the Avengers movie coming out next Summer, which I am all of a sudden extremely excited for, the comic book I'm reading is called 41 written by Dork Trek member Bob Frantz, you can read more about the Dork Trek podcast by clicking here

I've also updated my wardrobe to fit my new nerdish leanings, no I haven't gone out and bought pocket protectors and glasses with tape on them, but I did buy a Captain America shirt and hat as well as an Avengers shirt. I now have an opinion about who is better between Marvel and DC and can speak somewhat eloquently about why I like Marvel better.

What I've learned this Summer is that being a nerd doesn't have to mean you look like Comic Book Guy or Milhouse from The Simpsons, I think me and my group of friends prove that you can make being a nerd sexy, sometimes being the exception that proves the rule is a lot of fun. 

My final point for this being the Summer I Became a Nerd is simple, I started blogging, I mean C'Mon, nothing says ragging Nerd like blogging, and bloggin often. It's one thing to have opinions on movies, music and sports, but you share them with your friends, it's my new nerdish leanings that make me feel compelled to share the way I feel with the rest of the world, and after a Summer loaded with comics, Harry Potter, Star Trek, and blogging, all while being extremely good looking and ever so humble, I can safely say it was a Summer well spent.

Throwback Thursday [Back That Thang Up and Rasheed Wallace]

So, "Tha Carter IV" seems to have disappointed everyone (I actually liked it) but I thought today I would take a look back at Lil Wayne when he was first starting out. Before he ever released an album he was constantly featured on many of the Cash Money songs, and this was the first monster hit Cash Money had, off of the Juvenile album "400 Degreez" which was actually a really good album throughout, and brought the Cash Money sound to the mainstream. In the years since, Juvenile would have numerous finical problems, but Lil Wayne has become arguably the biggest musician working right now, of course when people build you up, eventually they have to tear you down, I think we are witnessing that with Wayne right now. This song however is just fun, and you if throw it on even now girls are lining up to back their thangs up.

Rasheed Wallace was one of the most controversial players of All-Time, like all great players he changed the rules of the game, his record of 41 technical fouls will never be broken as a result of a rule change were now if you get over 15 technical fouls in a season you will be suspended for a game, and no one wants to be suspended,  that Rule Change was all because of Wallace. Wallace has been called many things, a poor sport, a thug, a bad role model, a jerk, but some things he doesn't get called enough are great team player or Winner. Seemingly every team he played for, outside of his first few years in Washington were with teams that were all legit contenders for the title. The 2000 Blazers team he was a big part of was a 4th quarter meltdown away from a possible championship, and would remain contenders throughout his time there. In 2004 Wallace would join Ben Wallace on the Pistons and win an  NBA Title against the Lakers, the Pistons were a perennial threat to win a Title every year in the Eastern Conference. Wallace would have another chance at a Title in 2010 when he join the Celtics, again that team was a 4th quarter meltdown away from a title. Wallace was never the biggest part of any team, but he was a great team player and found ways to contribute, when he couldn't  be a dominate low-post player anymore he became a very good outside shooter, that was the type of person he actually was, tightly wound and angry, definitely, but he would do whatever his team needed him to do to help his team win and that's the Rasheed Wallace that doesn't get talked about enough. Wallace retired last year, while he won't he a Hall of Famer, he will go down as a great all around player and even better team player.

Fun Fact: A Technical Foul can be given for a number of different reasons, but are most of the time given out for poor sportsmanship, like yelling at the refs or players or getting into fights.