"My Fabulous Five Friends"

Grant Hill Goes in on FAB FIVE...and Rightfully So!

The Story (ESPN/NY Times):  Former Duke basketball star Grant Hill called critical comments by former Michigan guard and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose "sad and somewhat pathetic" in an open letter published Wednesday by The New York Times.

Rose, as part of an ESPN Films documentary "The Fab Five" that aired on Sunday (Rose was an executive producer), said Hill and other black Blue Devils basketball players recruited in the early 1990s were "Uncle Toms."

"I hated Duke and I hated everything Duke stood for. Schools like Duke didn't recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms," Rose said in the documentary.

Here is an excerpt from the letter:

I come from a strong legacy of black Americans. My namesake, Henry Hill, my father’s father, was a day laborer in Baltimore. He could not read or write until he was taught to do so by my grandmother. His first present to my dad was a set of encyclopedias, which I now have. He wanted his only child, my father, to have a good education, so he made numerous sacrifices to see that he got an education, including attending Yale.

This is part of our great tradition as black Americans. We aspire for the best or better for our children and work hard to make that happen for them. Jalen’s mother is part of our great black tradition and made the same sacrifices for him.

I caution my fabulous five friends to avoid stereotyping me and others they do not know in much the same way so many people stereotyped you back then for your appearance and swagger. I wish for you the restoration of the bond that made you friends, brothers and icons. I hope you reach closure with your university so you will enjoy all the privileges of its greatness.

I try to live my life as a good husband and father. I am proud of my family. I am proud of my Duke championships and all my Duke teammates. And, I am proud I never lost a game against the Fab Five.

The Analysis:  You know what Jalen Rose, I hate Puke as well.  I hate Puke because Coach K can...well... coach and he's good at it.  He teaches defense like no other.  He consistently PAYS gets what he wants from the refs.  He always has a shooter (JJ, Langdon, Curry) that does just that...shoot lights out!  They seem to win a national championship right around the time UNC wins so we don't have bragging rights long enough to keep the Jersey Crazies off our backs and finally, he actually looks like a  BLUE DEVIL.  

I can care less of the "Uncle Tom" statuses of their African American Athletes.  Some of them are actually very smart individuals including Jay Bilas (lawyer and ESPN analyst and Grant Hill whose open letter to the New York Times made Jalen and his fab five cohort look uneducated and lacking family structure. 

However, to Jalen's point, they were teenagers when they made those comments.  If you ask me to repeat half of the things I said when I was a teenager about the things I disliked, you might think of me differently (sorry mom and dad).

Nevertheless, you have to give The Fab Five credit because as Grant Hill point's out, "they represented a cultural phenomenon that impacted the country in a permanent and positive way."  But let's also credit Grant Hill for not backing down.  He's been one of the best from a sportsmanship standpoint and he handled the criticism of that documentary very well. 

"This is How you Dunk Over a Car"

Dude make Blake Griffin dunk look average.

"Opening the Flood Gates"

Pondexter sorry for tweets, so is BING

The Story (ESPN):  New York Liberty guard Cappie Pondexter has apologized after causing an Internet uproar with comments on her Twitter account that were deemed insensitive toward victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. On Saturday, Pondexter tweeted: "What if God was tired of the way they treated their own people in there own country! Idk guys he makes no mistakes."She later tweeted: "u just never knw! They did pearl harbor so u can't expect anything less."

Pondexter also used used the racially derogatory term "jap," when referring to someone who was offended by her comments. Cappie Pondexter drove right into controversy over the weekend via Twitter.
On Monday morning, Pondexter issued an apology on her verified Twitter account "cappa23."

The Analysis:  I blame all the negative press on the Japan Earthquake on twitter, more so than facebook, and other social media sites.  They are at fault b/c without them, Pondexter and others would not be apologizing for comments that were made in good faith.  Or were they?  Now they are out there for the world to see.

In the midst of a great weekend, I was reminded that life itself is precious and should be cherished at all times.  The 5th biggest Earthquake to ever hit has left a nation of people in shocked.  Japan faces rebuilding that will last 2-3 life cycles, if not more.  They will rebuild from vanished villages however families have been broken and lost.

Many people will donate what they can.  Musicians will donate hundreds of thousands of dollars, as well as athletes, and colleges and universities will lend their support as well. 

My message is simple to the likes of 50 Cent, the New York liberty point guard, BING (turned around and donated 100k after apology), and others who may or may not feel as though their comments were out of line...sometimes saying nothing at all is best.  But how can you when twitter tempts you at everyone moment. 

Do you think her comments were that bad?

"What a Clown" - Larry Drew gets on MIC, disses Tar Heel

I thought I had heard it all of the Miami Heat's coach calling out his players for crying (not owt), but how about Larry "you're not missed" Drew II going off on his fellow team in a...RAP, you got to be kidding.

Big ups to my colleague KL for sending this to me.  WRAL (click title) has the full article.

See the lyrics to his diss below.   If one didn't know any better, you would think he was a Puke fan...

He could have at least came stronger than that and talked about how he how much he turned the ball over, his dad's influence kept him in the starting the lineup, how Kendall Marshall was probably busting his a** in practice everyday, how his jump shot never improved, and how he didn't get a long with his teammates (ok, so I made that one up), but who cares...you're suppose to kick a person down when they are in a slump, not when they've lost one game since you left the team.

Drew even took the stage and did a freestyle on the mic.

Everything that I'm hearing is untrue. The media? They talking but they never confront you.

I mean the last three years I can't undo, but now I'm making all the moves I want to.

Pick & rolls, I'm crossing [expletive]. Just felt like I got more game than my height showed.

They tried to tell me just to play my role, but who's really trying to stick to a script that's filled with typos?

Like a horror flick, they made me out to be a monster. [expletive] [expletive], I should have won an Oscar.

It ain't over 'til the fat lady sing, right? I brought the whole opera.

It's like Biggie, 'who shot ya?' But who who shot them? I'm so not them, but in the end I think that's what really shocked them.

I refuse to be another robot, slim.