Good Times

Singer Janet Jackson and an unidentified companion watch Game 6 of the NBA basketball Eastern Conference finals, Friday, June 2, 2006, in Miami. The Miami Heat beat the Detroit Pistons 95-78 to advance to the NBA Finals. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Hey everybody,

Maybe it was just me, but that cutline by the Associated Press made me laugh too much…maybe the AP just doesn't acknowledge rap moguls…who knows.

At least they knew Penny from Good Times, though…and discussion of this particular pic and cutline around deadline on Saturday night brought a little laughter to the newsroom…

Know what? I really haven't told you guys much about my folk in the newsroom, ha? Well, for one thing, I like working Saturday-Sunday because it's a lot looser, and the news crew is a lot more fun.

One of the guys that works Saturday is the guy I call G ... who I've also started play pick-up hoops with in an attempt to get back in shape. He's a cool cat; we have similar interests, he's in to sports, and like the writer of this blog, he's uber-competitive. I like meeting cats like that, because I always feel like people that have (tempered) pride in themselves will give their all in a situation.

J's a guy who left us about a month ago…and where G and I have similar interests, I feel like J and I were separated at birth. Like the same music, like the same football team, pretty much a spitting image of each other…guy just got married, so he decided to make some adjustments to accommodate his cherie amour. Good stuff.

V's a great person; sweet person, and was the one that actually started going off into song when she heard about the cutline…

Keeping your head above water
Making a way when you can…
Temporary layoffs
Good times
Easy credit rip-offs
Good times
Stratchin' and survivin'
Good times…

Jack's the new cat…the Kobe Bryant fan just touched down in the newsroom about 3 weeks ago, and he's cool enough…we trade a lot of jokes and mischief…just all around good times.

(!!!PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BLOG!!!)
Not that it's really important, but three out of the a-four-mentioned (hyuk) are White. Not that it's really important, but you know that the writer of this blog is African-American.
Those of you that know me know that I've met enough people from all backgrounds and races, and I understand that the transcendant factor in meeting people are just learning more about them, and enjoying being around them…and hopefully being a factor in their existence in some way.
I guess what I'm saying here is that eventually, hopefully on a world front, we'll be able to get past the BS and be there for each other.
(!!!PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BLOG!!!)
(REMIX!
REMIX!
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:-)

Oh…but back to this pic. Man, Janet and JD were at Game Six of the Heat-Pistons game…and I gotta talk about the Finals here.

You have the Heat-Mavericks in the finals…and I saw the Mavs there. The Heat? I don't know…I mean Pistons rhymes with fishin', but I did not see DET laying an egg in the Eastern Conference Finals. Oh well.

On the West Side of things, I know my homeboi Iceman is hurting, because he was rooting for the Suns. Well, Iceman, joke's on you…you know a team that doesn't have any semblance of a defensive mindset-smirk- in place isn't going to make the show. Just isn't happening.

Anyway, because you're my friend, Iceman…I decided on something to make the summer go by a little faster…

Iceman's Soliloquoy

My Suns, why hath thou forsaken me?
My heart melteth in the wake of your downfall
I hath midsummer night's dreams
Of rings and things
Celebrating with peers
But now I am only left with mine tears
My Suns, why hath thou forsaken me?

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night.

Hmmm…anything else? Let's see…

Oh yeah, I was talking about the Mavs-Heat final with a friend of mine last night, and I had to give this cat the breakdown on it like I was on ESPN…I will save you guys that breakdown, but my friend was saying that I should be a coach…

Not a bad idea. Truthfully, I've thought about it before, and I was a basketball coach of one of my church teams once that made it to the finals (we lost, arrrrrrrgh…). Thing is, I would rather coach girls than guys…for this simple reason.

Girls listen, guys don't. Ok, let me not be that vague; sound that ignorant.

I just think girls are more adept at grasping to the team concept, and I blame society for why guys don't do the latter.

Truth is, all the And 1, isolation-plagued American hoops have forced the fellas into a situation where they'd rather take it down on a 1-5 break, spin baseline, throw down a one-handed jam, land, and then snap their fingers, then lean and rock while their opponent goes down the other end of the floor for an uncontested score.

Yeah, the kind of thing that makes a coach want to go and grab a player off the floor like your momma did back in the day when you was talkin' back to her.

With the young ladies, it just seems a little easier to look at a player and say, "Look, we both know that you can score, but it would be more important to us if you made sure that the other team's best player doesn't SCORE A SINGLE POINT.
"Truth is, you're pretty athletic…you play hard on defense, and I'll make sure that we find you in transition." See that would work…
Or, you take say a hard-nosed player that's used to taking all the shots…scoring like 25 in her church league, and running 1-on-5 practice drills so that player can understand that it's not all about scoring a bunch of points, but creating a rapport with teammates and being an unstoppable fist instead of a pointing index finger.
Truth is, five will always beat one, and eight will always beat two. It is what it is…

Hey, maybe I should be a coach…

And hopefully, my friend LeBron here will bring back the proverbial Fun Police, so that folks will understand that court vision is so much cooler than any jumpshot or dunk.

Alright, one more thing, and then I'm throwin' deuces…

One of my closest friends and fellow blog writers had this to say recently:

I gotta get to another level...I got something I gotta do and I don't know how to let it out...I don't even know exactly what it is, but I know it's there...

To that, I think I might have found a solution…

Luke 9:23 - And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

As this friend of mine said, the path to following God isn't that easy, but this is what I'm choosing to do. The way I see it, if I'm all for God, why not do what He wants first, then see what he has for me. It's likely that what he has for me far exceeds any existence I can think for myself, and judging by what gifts he's given me, I'm only shorting myself by trying to do things my way.

I figure that's the solution, to get to another level, and to have more of the good times.

Ain't we lucky we got 'em.

The Good Doctor