NBA Playoffs, Kanye Concert, Etc.

So the NBA Playoffs are starting up soon. The LA Lakers locked up home court advantage in the west. I hate the Lakers in case you didn't know. I find Kobe Bryant to be an arrogant jerk. Everyone is saying he deserves the MVP this year but no one remembers that he has the most help of any of the other candidates except for Kevin Garnett and he has the best coach in the NBA in Phil Jackson. I do admire Kobe's skills but does a guy that leads the league in technical fouls deserve to get the MVP award? Even though I can't stand him, I do have to admit that the following video is very cool.

Some people are debating if this is real or not. Personally, I've watched it several times (a couple of times in slow motion) and I'm convinced that it is real and that Kobe's an idiot and doesn't care as much about winning a championship as everyone thinks. Chris Paul gets my vote for MVP. As Bill Simmons has said numerous times, Chris Paul is having the best season of any point guard...EVER! If Steve Nash won it the past two years and Chris Paul has better numbers than Nash did those two years during this season, then I think he deserves it. Plus he has basically brought basketball back to New Orleans.

I'm very excited because in a little over 2 weeks, my buddy Zach and I are going to the Glow in the Dark Tour at Walnut Creek. The line up is Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco (see below), N*E*R*D, and Rhianna. I'm hearing that visually this will be the greatest concert in the last 50 years. Kanye has gotten video director Hype Williams to design holograms, Jim Henson's Mumpet Shop to design puppets, and world renown lighting crews to provide lights for the show. You can see some pics of the rehersal at Kanye's blog and I'll be sure to post more after the concert goes down. I'm way excited for that.

I'm also excited because the Carolina RailHawks 2008 Season Opener is quickly approaching. The final cuts have been made and the team is now fully assembled. They've played their last exhibition game. They open on the road this weekend in Atlanta against the rival SilverBacks. That game can be seen on the internet at www.usllive.com. The home opener is Saturday 26 April at 7:30 p.m. I hope to see some of y'all out there.

One other thing. The Roots new album Rising Down, comes out in two weeks. These guys are some of the hardest-working, most genuine artists out there. I encourage everyone who is into hip-hop music to go out and buy their album on 29 April. Don't be a jerk and steal it over the internet. Support good music.

I'm out!

The NBA...Where Rejection Happens

Oh my gosh! This is so funny. I feel bad for this guy but you gotta realize that very few women dream about being proposed to at half court of a meaningless February NBA game. My favorite parts of this video are 1) Tracy MacGrady's reaction and 2) the Rockets Mascot's reaction. This was just too funny not to post.

New Internship

Two weeks ago I started an internship with the Carolina Railhawks. The Railhawks are a professional soccer team that plays in the United Soccer League. They actually have three different teams: the USL team, a women's team, and an under-23 team. I am working on marketing and sponsorships for the 2008 season. So far it has been a lot of fun. The vice president of marketing for the team is my direct supervisor and it has been neat to get to be involved in the process of lining up sponsorships and preparing for the upcoming season. The first game is an exhibition game this Friday against UNC-Greensboro. The Railhawks also play an exhibition game against the MLS New York Red Bulls at the end of this month. I encourage everyone in the Raleigh area to come check out our games. The team plays at Wake Med Soccer Park which is an awesome facility. They actually held the 2007 NCAA Men's Soccer Finals there.

On a more humorous note, Saturday I went to get my haircut. I had been growing my hair out

for quite a while (since before Christmas) and it was getting pretty long. I dropped Ashley off at a dance competition she was going to and then I went to the "hair stylist." I told them that I needed a little bit of a trim but that I didn't really know what direction I should go with my hair because it can be kind of hard to manage. I told them that I'd like to keep it long but that I needed a style of some sort to keep it in instead of the unkempt mess that it had become. So the "stylist" cuts my hair and me not being one to really care that much, I just paid and left. I pick up Ashley and she starts laughing hysterically. She said I needed to go back and just get the "stylist" buzz it all off because it looked horrible. So I did which didn't bother me that much because I usually keep my hair pretty short anyway and it was only recently that I started growing it out. It was just a funny situation to be it. My hair's pretty lame a

nd it grows faster than pubescent boys.

Oh yeah, one other thing. They announced the brackets for the NCAA Tournament tonight. Carolina supposedly got the "Top Overall Seed." They got hosed if you ask me. Sure they get to play their first two rounds at the RBC Center in Raleigh and if they get past that they'll play the next two rounds in Charlotte but have you seen their bracket? Tennessee and Louisville? Come on! How does the #1 overall seed get the toughest bracket? Then Arizona State beats Arizona twice this year and Arizona gets in and ASU doesn't? That's jacked

up. I'll return later this week with my picks for the Elite Eight, Final Four, and Champions.

Kenna Performs on Letterman

If you haven't heard of this guy yet, you need to check him out. Kenna is on Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo's Star Trak record label and is creating a buzz all over the net. He performed the lead single "Say Goodbye to Love" off his album "Make Sure They See My Face" on the David Letterman Show last night. I love this guy's sound. It blends so many different genres of music together and comes out sounding fresh. He's obviously got some dance moves too. Check out Pharrell on drums and Chad on the keyboard too. Enjoy!

Check This Out!

Here's a really cool invention our teacher showed us in business class. It's seems like a good idea and I wonder which car company is going to buy it up first. The funny part of this video is the old school two door cars that they used for the demo. You'd think they could've hooked up a car that was a little nicer. It's cool either way though. Check it out:

Super Bowl Hype

The Super Bowl is Sunday and I'm so ready for it to be over. I hate that they have the Super Bowl 2 full weeks after the NFC and AFC championship games. I think a big problem we have in sports is over analysis. Every afternoon this week you can watch NFL Live on ESPN for several hours and hear so-called experts talk about the same things over and over. Nothing new has happened to either team between today and yesterday! Quit talking about Tom Brady and his boot! We'll find out if the Patriots are the greatest team ever on Sunday; why waste time discussing it now? Just get on with it already.

New Jay-Z Video

Here's the new video for Jay-Z's "Pray" off of "American Gangster." It contains footage from the short US Tour he did right after the cd was released.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1388782973/bctid1390861268

more to come later....