NBA Ref Screws the Suns!

As some of you may know, I am a born-again NBA fan. I converted to the Phoenix Suns during the second game of the Suns/Spurs series. Diaw, Stoudemire, Nash, Bell, Barbosa, my starting line-up. Anyway. If any of you followed the series you might have noticed how dirty the Spurs (not Tony because Tony is very BFF with my Diaw) played throughout the whole series. Freggin' Bill Bowen and freggin' Manu Genobli can kiss my Sun. And who can forget Robert Horry (Spurs) who thought that he was playing a football game when out of nowhere and for no reason tackles Steve Nash. Stoudemire and Diaw were suspended after that game after they left the bench to check on Nash. The Suns got screwed by David Stern and the NBA's stupid rules, and it doesn't stop there. Apparently Tim "Dirty Ref" Donaghy, one of the Ref's in the series, was betting on the games that he was refereeing. A big no no. He's going to lose his job and he might even do some time (see here). So not only did the Suns get screwed by Stern, but they were getting screwed by the Ref's too. And this was a really tight series. We are talking 1 and 2 point games. I love me some TP, but I freggin' hate the Spurs and this further proves that somebody was out to get the Suns. But I'm not worrying. The Suns' theme for next year is as my favorite would say "revanche."

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans

New Orleans was awsome. For the first time in more than 365 days I met up with some of my closest friends. Me, Maki, Surayyah, Deanna, and Kassidy kicked it hard at the 2007 Essence Fesitival in New Orleans. Got to give a shoutout to Kassidy for hosting us and driving us back and forth from Algiers to the "French Quarters" more than twice a day. Essence was beautiful, I hadn't seen so many black people together in one place in a long time. And the brothers, so many, so handsome, so Chocolate City (not MIT). And I've got to give another shout out to DeAnna and her mother for getting us backstage to meet so many stars. Thank you Mama Evans! We met Common, Anthony Mackie (drunkard), Lyfe Jennings, and Dr. Cornel West. This was my 5th trip to New Orleans. I fell in love with the place when I was 8. My mother went to a Law Librarian's conference and she took me and my father. I was dazzled by the beads and the street performers. I couldn't believe that what I was experiencing was actually "America." I love that about New Orleans it seems so foreign at times, but then the South comes out and your like this is part of my culture too. In many ways New Orleans and the South in general reminds me of a Latin America. The poverty, the music, the ability of it's dwellers to find happiness in any situation makes it seem like New Orleans was misplaced. Like it should really be in Cuba or Brazil. The city is clearly still recovering. We were reminded of this when even the 24 hour Wal-Mart no longer stayed open for a full 24 hours. The trolly no longer ran through the Garden District. And the city was full of empty/semi abandoned buildings. I wonder what New Orleans will look like in 20 years, or even if it will exist. I know what it means to miss New Orleans, and it would be sorely missed if it were gone. Enough of the sentimental stuff, Kassidy almost...almost convenced me to get a fleur-de-lis tatoo. Almost. But as I imagined how cool it would have been to have one, I thought about the next few weeks that I would be spending with my parents and all the crap I would have gotten. So I'll wait. If I still want it in 6 months then I'll do it.