Welcome Back!

America's favorite football retread. Also it's favorite loser.

Nothing says football season like the Dave Wannstedt face. Wanny's powers of suckitude know no foe too formidable, no challenge that can't be conquered. Welcome back, Wanny! Whoo!

And to Jonathan Baldwin, Dorin Dickerson, Shayne Hale, Lucas Nix, Cam Saddler, and any other Panther that actually chose Pitt over a real football team--uh, how's that working out?

Straight Bangin' Straight Blows Lately

I know. Trust me. Update coming soon. And hopefully, posting becomes more regular (and more awesome) as I continue to settle in at law school.

For the time being, know this: the Game's new album can't even count on a Game hallmark, dope production, in its search for quality; that T.I. "Swagger Like Us" joint is fucking hot garbage; more rappers should be getting grimy over Teddy Pendergrass's "Come Go with Me"; these Dilla-dedicated Madlib instrumentals are on in the car a lot right now; I am a little scared to even "buy" the new Jeezy album; MTV Jams is a compelling reason to move somewhere with cable systems that carry it.

A Professorial Visit

I got my guest lecture on over at FD today. Peep game. I have cases to brief...

Meet Marc

Unleash the beast!

This is Marc. He lives in his parents' basement. Sometimes his mom goes down there to bring him meatloaf, but usually he likes for people to leave him alone. He's 28, but living at home is cool because he's got a sweet setup. He has a race-car bed, a lava lamp, a kickin' stereo, some nudie magazines, cable TV, and XBox.

He's really into working out, although he overdid it a few months ago and has to take it easy because he doesn't want to get too big. It scares the femininas.

When he's not dominating on Madden or rocking out to Rush and doing the best Geddy Lee immitation in the world, he's probably working on his bike. No, not that kind of bike. Like, one with pedals. It's bitchin'! He was hanging with Jimmy and some of the other 17-year-olds over by the mall and no one could do as many jumps as Marc.

Ladies, if you like what you see, please send headshots so Marc can decide if he's gonna give you his number or not. He's had three cell phones in the past six months because he doesn't pay his bill and has no money so many ladies hound him. He would need, like, a billionty hours in the day to meet the needs of all the female associates who call him.

Also, please stop calling him during work. He's a high-powered convenience consultant who has to show all the idiots down at Valu-Mart how to work the cash register and other stuff, so he's pretty busy. Oh, and if you stop in to see him, please don't mention what happened with Tracy Hammersmith. It was just one time and it happens to lots of men. Especially when they have so much going on and can't concentrate.

Please don't ask for Pau. That's not cool.

And no, this is not Mike Miller.

U-S-and-A! U-S-and-A!

I hadn't watched this commercial until today. It's dope.

As I watched Team USA this morning, I also had the funny thought that I am rooting for the Americans not because they are from the United States but because they (all) are from the NBA. I am a citizen of the Lig, first and foremost. Their triumph--and really, while playing that style of ball--is one for the Association. That feels good.

Fuck a Brett Favre

Well this was much ado about nothing (so far).

Jay, if you're gonna "lace us" or "hit us" with bullshit, just retire (again) and end it, OK? This new joint is weak. Beat is alright. But the rhymes? Lots of repetitive, lame swagger. This is not cool or fresh. This is just kind of vapid and boring. By the third verse, I can't stop my eyes from rolling. And jeez, there are some really weak bars. "Why you still talking money shit...'cuz I like money, bitch." Really? The fuck. That's the kind of rhyme that impresses the brain-cell deficient, like DJ Khaled.

This blog gets back to b-i later today. I am finally moved in...

- Jay-Z, "Jockin' Jay-Z" (HT: Eskay)

Does Ron Artest Read The New York Times?

Sticking it to Georgia worse than Sherman did ().

If so, he may feel validated (emphasis courtesy of SB):

As Mr. Yeltsin’s tough-guy prime minister, he made a stir by threatening Chechen guerrillas with gutter language: “If we catch them in the toilet, we’ll rub them out in the outhouse.”

"Gutter language" might be the next Tru Warier mixtape. And if this were five years ago, we'd almost surely hear a Dip Set boast about guerillas that would merck you with that gutter language. (Where have you gone, Cam'ron?!) Who knew the Times could keep it so real, even if inadvertently? Take that, Yao.

On a serious note, isn't it kind of eerie that Russia is conquering a neighboring country during the Olympics? That it is just taking over a distinct sovereign nation? As President Bush plays volleyball with Misty May? As nothing seems to be happening in response? This is a scary circumstance. Yes, NATO is meeting today, and Bush is back, but what...uh...what is the protocol here? I don't pretend to know.

Learn to Freestyle

And don't forget step #5: Call it a "freestyle" but make sure your weed carriers can chime in for every punch line. You know, because you just have that telekinesispathy.

R.I.P. Isaac

An all-time classic.

Man, does this hurt.

R.I.P. B

Greetings from the Gateway

Done been moving. More to come. For now, see above. I already like this better than "Dirty Money."

Sorry to have missed Jay with 'Ye. Good thing I got to see him do "Black Republicans" with Nas last Sunday. The review is coming...

Rock the Bells!

I finally get to see the group that made me love hip-hop.

It's only appropriate that I spend my last day in New York immersed in the hip-hop experience. So today I'll be checking out Tribe, De La, Nas, Pharcyde, Ghost, Rae, Meth, Red, Kidz in the Hall, and many more at Rock the Bells.

Best. Day. Ever.

Barack Obama Offers a New Rhetoric, Not a New Politics

Captain of Team Disappointing

First he lied about FISA and then voted for a bad bill.

Then he said that the Supreme Court's retrograde Second-Amendment decision was the right one.

Then he said he wanted to extend faith-based initiatives programs.

And now he has said that expanded offshore oil drilling is what's best for America, and a price we have to pay in order to move forward.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Barack Obama unmasked by The New Yorker a few weeks ago. He's a good guy, and in most ways, he's a liberal. But above all else, he's a calculating politician who says what he thinks will help him achieve his ambitious goal of becoming President. It makes him like anyone else who harbors the same dream. And I guess that, really, is what's so disappointing. He's promised us something more. That and the fact that on so many of these reversals, he's opted for the greater of evils.

For example, here's what Barack Obama's campaign said about offshore drilling as recently as July 14 (emphasis added):

If offshore drilling would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence, it would be worthy of our consideration, regardless of the risks. But most experts, even within the Bush administration, concede it would do neither. It would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for 30 years. Senator Obama believes Americans need real short-term relief, which is why he has proposed a second round of stimulus with energy rebates for working families. And over the long-term, Senator Obama understands that our national security and the survival of the planet demand a real strategy to break our dependence on foreign oil by developing clean, new sources of energy and by vastly improving the energy efficiency of our cars, trucks and our economy. He is ready to lead such a transformation.

So what's changed? This smacks of political expediency. Further, where is the cohesion in Obama's position? He (stupidly) rails against oil-company profits in his ads, he attacks John McCain for supporting drilling...and then he supports drilling?

Back in June on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, American Petroleum Institute President Red Cavaney defended the oil industry's failure to drill for oil on roughly 80% of the land for which it already holds leases by whining that there aren't enough drills and that each additional drill would costs $1 million to produce. If Obama wants to "stand up to big oil" and boost short-term production, why doesn't he quit with the grandstanding and environmental degredation and instead demand that the oil industry exhaust the land to which it already has access. ExxonMobil, alone, made $50 billion in profit last year and spent 80% of that money buying back stock, so surely the industry could afford a few more drills.

That's the kind of pragmatism and leadership Obama needs to display. This pusillanimous hedging is unbecoming. And, it's something that this Missouri voter will have to keep in mind as the election approaches.

The Loathsome Bowl

Please find a cave somewhere so that we can seal it with a boulder and end this.

I've wanted, quite dearly, to fully abstain from comment and allow the latest installment of "Brett Favre Is a Selfish Baby" to play out. No need to add fuel to a wasteful conflagration. However, something so historically idiotic has come into play that I can no longer, in good conscience, remain silent. So...

I am tired of him. I am tired of his tearful press conferences, the supposed emotional agony that accompanies him in and out of each NFL season, the fawning media that treat him as though he's of some higher species. You know what? Brett Favre is an aging athlete who was once great and no longer is. He's a football player who hasn't won anything important in a decade. He's a football player who benefited from being a white quarterback and was afforded a pass for his drug addiction while someone like Josh Howard was cast as a pariah for admitting that he smokes weed. He's a narcissist who shames his much-discussed devotion to the game by using it as an excuse to wedge his way into the public each year. What a graceless, embarrassing way to end a career. I respect how he has played, but off the field, Favre has not behaved in a fashion that allows for any enduring warmth.

As you might imagine, I've not experience any sympathy for him during his latest episode of vanity. I have been riding with the Packers--get out, Brett. Or, at least go away. But therein lies the problem: the Packers are inept. They can make Favre go away easily. They can trade him. They can cut him. I realize that the organization's hands are bound by a constituency that views Favre as sacrosanct, and that to discard him would be a public-relations problem which may also bring economic fallout and significantly mitigate the warmth that colors Packer culture. But still, do something! Make this end!

And for Christ's sake:

DO NOT PAY BRET FAVRE $20 MILLION TO STAY HOME.

That is unquestionably the most embarrassing, gutless thing I can recall a sports franchise attempting. It is beyond unacceptable. And how can that cost be justified to shareholders when no-cost options that could potentially bolster the team are not only available but most sensible? This is the ultimate in sports cowardice, and should this deal be consummated, the Packers should be banned from sports. Just don't play, don't show up, don't do anything. Because no one could possibly respect such a ridiculous organization.

Athletes hold teams hostage all the time, and teams figure it out. They don't cry in a circle, form support groups, throw up their hands, and then open their checkbooks and pay for the problem to live quietly in Mississippi.

Jesus.