http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tGcPV8znLs&feature=related

Man that Shaq is a beast yo!

I love movies. No really, I looove movies.

My favorite movies of all time are:

#10. North By Northwest

#9.   Do the Right Thing

#8.   Contact

#7.   The Color Purple

#6.   Pulp Fiction

#5. Artificial Intelligence

#4. Platoon

#3. The Wiz - Quincy Jones joint featuring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson before he lost his damn mind.

#2.  City of God - If you haven't seen this movie...see it.

#1. Kung Fu Hustle - The movie that defines life and nature through hilarious charachters and martial arts.



Kung Fu Hustle? You say.


Yes, Kung Fu Hustle.

The movie opens with a  mob boss terrorizing the local police who he evidently has in his pocket. The Boss' vengeance is short lived however, as upon leaving the police station he finds himeself a victim of the up and coming 'Axe-Gang', the new thugs in town.



I won't divulge any more of the film. but I will try to explain how I saw the film as opposed to the many critics who were suffice in trying to critique the movie by comparing it to other films of it's genre as well as Hustle Director Stephen Chow's first film Shaolin Soccer

Most critics missed the point of the movie, which was no matter how good you think that you are, there is always someone better.

In life, the most snug and secure of us are many times those of us who have managed to procure the guilty pleasures and comforts of life. We parade around our homes, cars, clothes, spouses and even faith as status symbols to the rest of the world, always looking to improve our standing on the social ladder of society.

As intangible and fleeting as that social ladder is, many of us cling to it not just to remind the world how how great we think that we are, but even more so to justify our greatness in our own minds.

Yet the most humble of us, those among men who sacrifice the most and own the least are ususally the ones who are more in tune with the ebb and flow of the actual universe as they understand one premise more than most of us; you can't take none of this stuff with you.

When you die they will stick you in the ground and maggots will eventually eat your flesh. Yes, that is true for each and everyone of us that doesn't choose to be cremated. Now, you may sitting at home singing and dreaming of a better place in Heaven, Hell or the next life, but maggots will be chewing on your body here.

In Kung Fu Hustle we watch as levels of so called superior kung fu fighters are humbled, always by individuals who on the surface appeared to be those who possessed the least and as such, were held in disdain.

Eventually the hero turns out to be the individual who has indeed suffered the most and it takes the brutality of evil of the worst kind to launch the hero's inner strength, which allows him to then protect the innocent who have been victims of society's vultures.

While watching China put on a superior artistic display during the opening ceremonies last week, I was thrust into this thought, they did it better than we did in Atlanta.

In fact it's almost a consensus that China's opening ceremony was far and away the best the world has ever seen. Did new technology have a lot to do with it? Yes, but only to a point. The vision and pride of the Chinese people is what was really on display last week. All this coming from a nation that is perceived as a country still growing economically and culturally on the world stage.

Of course we Americans collectively look down on the Chinese government as barbaric when compared to ours. We think their economy is second rate, when compared to ours. I mean we're the home of Brad and Angelina, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey and freakin Bill Gates!

Yet, we could never in a million years muster up the type of pomp and circumstance that the Chinese offered up to begin these Olympic games, primarily because we are always too busy stepping all over each other to get what WE want, who has time to do something in the interest of the nation? (military personnel aside)

What this Olympics will show the world is that while we are sleeping on China, China is certaily not asleep. Not by any means.

And if Kung Fu Hustle does represent the nature of things in the universe and it's moral code does indeed hold true, then it's only a matter of time before we see the true might of China.

Something I read on Bleacher Report, it's getting contagious.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/46489-james-gist-gone-spurs-lose-another-draftee-to-europe#comments

The Miami Heat trade Shawn Marion to the New York Knicks for Zach Randolph, Nate Robinson or a 2nd round draft pick.

Whoa Nellie you say?

Here's why the deal makes sense.

The Heat are not going to give Shawn Marion an extension but with D'Antoni in New York, the Knicks might.

Although the Heat just drafted Michael Beasley as a PF he's probably a better SF in the NBA and they do have Udonis Haslem on the roster.

Concerning Haslem, he has two seasons left on his current contract and is scheduled to make $7 million in the 2009/10 season, which is an expiring contract the Heat can use in a trade when the huge free agent crop comes up that summer.

Randolph's contract will expire the following season but until then the Heat would now have a solid 20/10 guy to play alongside Beasley, Chalmers and depending upon what D Wade decides to do in two seasons Wade or some player to be named at a later date (Nash...Gordon...Hinrich?).

As for Marion, he fits more into what D'Antoni wants to do on the court and it's funny how both of them managed to exit Phoenix in essentially the same season. The Knicks don't want Randloph in their new system and the Heat don't want to commit to Marion.

The last time Marbury and Marion played on the same roster, with D'Antoni coaching no less, the Suns made the playoffs and both Marion and Marbury were Western Conference All-Stars. In fact, the last time Knicks SF Quentin Richardson was relevant was when he was playing for D'Antoni in Phoenix when he led the NBA in 3 pointers made.

By landing Marion the Kinicks end up with three players that had their most superlative seasons under D'Antoni in Marbury, Richardson and Marion. The Knicks have to throw Robinson or a draft pick into the mix to give the Heat something for picking up the remaining three years on Randloph's contract.

Miami can use a consistent low post scorer with the departure of Shaq and the impending retirement of Mourning. Chalmers is the PG of the future for the Heat and it's way too early to know what Wade will decide to do when his contract expires after next season, but having Randolph's contract when that happens will be good leverage if Wade decides to bolt for Chitown.

Both teams have made it clear that they are entertaining offers for the two principles in this trade scenario, they just need to call each other.

Of course the Heat could just sit on Marion's contract until next summer and hope to land a big name free agent like LeBron James or Kobe at that time, but having a disgruntled Marion on the roster for an entire season would not bode well especially because Marion wants more touches (which he'll get in New York) and Wade is certainly going to miss an extended part of the season with his yearly injury. Plus it's hard to see Kobe leaving L.A. now and I think it's a forgone conclusion that LeBron has his eyes on Brooklyn's new arena.

If the Heat endure another bottom feeder season that only increases the liklihood of Wade leaving.

Now that Artest, Brand, Maggette and B Diddy are off the radar, teams like the Heat and Knicks have to roll the dice and get creative in finding ways to tweak their teams and make themselves contenders.

The Celtics and Pistons are still the teams to beat in the East and currently, neither the Knicks' nor the Heat's players and coaches compliment each other's styles.

Something has to give.

You may not see it now....but the NBA is headed for obsolete-land.










Show me the Money!


1. High school star decides to play basketball in Europe after he is unable to achieve satisfactory SAT test score for admittance to college and the professional basketball league says that he can't be drafted until he turns 19 or he has been out of high school for at least one year.

1 (a). Is it just me or do you all not see the it is ridiculous to care what a kid's SAT score is when everyone knows that he's going to be in school for one season and then leave. If the rationale is that all students should have to meet a qualifying academic standard to be admitted to an institution, then like all other students  shouldn't said athlete be allowed to work and make money like all the other students? Oh that's right he doesn't have time to work because he's spending 14 hours a day with the basketball team that is, by the way, selling a jersey with his name for it at $59.99 a pop in the student center and the kid's face is plastered all over local television networks as they advertise their "season packages" for viewers. My bad...he is getting a free education after all...yeah...for one season....and if his education is free then how does the balance sheet work out when you factor in television contracts, sneaker contracts and salaries for coaches...(don't forget those American Express commercials Coach K!) and seasons tickets going for several hundred dollars a pop. I wonder if you subtracted Michael Beasley's tuition from all of the revenue lowly Kansas State made off of him last year, how much money would the school owe Beasley.



                      Thanks David Stern!

1 b.  Doesn't the NBA have a development league for this kind of athlete? What the hell is the use of the NBDL?








See you in Europe Peja

2. Key member of young up-and-coming NBA playoff team, unhappy with contract negotiations, decides to bolt for Europe. The player makes the decision to go overseas so abruptly one has to wonder if that was what he had desired to do all along and spent the entire season hoping for bad contract negotiations.

2 a. Houston (Atlanta) we have a problem. What player doesn't want to play in the NBA? Well obviously Josh Childress...but wait there's more, Tiago Splitter, Boki Nachbar, Carlos Delfino, Primo Brezec among others. Many Foreign born players are drafted by NBA teams and either never come to the states to play or after receiving limited play for limited pay decide to go back to Europe. Two of the last three NBA MVP's have been foreign nationals and two seasons ago the Finals MVP was a Frenchman. Not only has the world caught up with the US in hoops, it's extremely possible they may have passed us.

2 b. While a high school player bolting for Europe may seem like a novelty, an established player in the prime of his career leaving is something for the NBA to be concerned about. As we waited for the floodgates to open concerning high schoolers, the real concern may be the James Posey's, Eddie House's, Nazir Mohammed's and Brent Barry's of the world. The role players who are as integral to the success of championship teams as are their superstar counterparts. 

3. Could the NBA lose it's standing as the best basketball league in the world? Of course. Not only is it not far fetched, it would take only a minimal logistical effort to pull it off. While watching Men's Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics (not the terrorist part that is almost inevitable in China), try to imagine how each of the national teams would fare against NBA teams and imagine a World League where teams like Argentina, France, Greece, Russia and China would suit up against the best US players on a regular basis. A league like that would make teams like the Clippers, Knicks, Bobcats, Bucks and many others completely irrelevant.



                                                       For real...it's not about the money!


I have a cousin that is a huge college basketball fan, not me, screw college basketball. Who needs it?. Personally I'm only interested in college hoops when it's tourney time and then only because it means that the NBA Playoffs are not far behind. I like watching the best players in the world play basketball, period. To hell with all that rah rah, win one for the team (i.e. the multi-millionaire coach who makes more money that the school president) and the students (who complain about your free ride every day after they awaken from a drunken stupor when you upset the #1 team in the country).
























Who needs this crap

Well guess what? Many of the world's best players are not from the United States, and if you gave me a network that allowed me to watch the aforementioned national teams line up against each other on a regular basis, why the hell would I watch the Charlotte Bobcats play the Milwaukee Bucks?



3 a.  In a global market where communication and media that spans across continents is as accessible as sliced bread the glamor of the US version of hoops has lost some luster, especially if we continue to get mauled in international competition. In the last two major international basketball competitions, the U.S. has finished in third place, which suggests that foreign players feel that USA basketball is no longer all that it's cracked up to be. Obviously, US players are starting to feel that way as well.