Hey Motown, You've Got Some Colorado Gold

Is Allen Iverson parting with Philadelphia to go to Denver one of my least favorite trades in sports history? Yes. Is Chauncey Billups parting with Rip Hamilton to go to Denver one of my least favorites break-ups in sports history? Yes. Is Allen Iverson a Piston? Yes.

Unhappy about the latter? Hell no.

I spent years watching AI represent the city of brotherly love from a bedroom my grandpa, myself and a drunk guy named Levi constructed in my mother's garage in a southern California desert town with less people than a booked Marriott hotel. Good times were hard to come by there so in ESPN I trusted. I kept up with his stats on NBA.com and watched the Jadakiss commercials over and over again when the A5 and A6 shoes were issued by Reebok. One of my best friends of years gone bye was as infatuated with him as I was and that was one of our common bonds amongst each other. My stepdad and I could drink Coronas during some good ol' TNT basketball and mutually share jaw drops when AI would run he floor, dish it along the baseline or sink one of his classic 3-pointers.

You can make the argument that Allen Iverson is my favorite basketball player of all time. Between him, KG and Lebron basketball doesn't get any better professionally. Lebron will win his ring(s) before it is all said and done. KG is a bonafide hall of famer and a modern day Boston legend. And then there's Iverson. With all he has accomplished in his 33 years on this Earth, the one piece of hardware every man wants in their toolbox isn't there. Yet.



I was all over ESPN and ESPN2 when this most recent trade was announced. I even got to hear some "experts" say this trade doesn't make Detroit better. What they don't say is that it doesn't make them worse either. Experts are stupid. Chauncey to Denver is good for the Nuggets, yes, but the Nuggets play in the West and we can all be in a mutual agreement that the Nuggets are not even in the top 5 strongest teams in the West. Too bad Mr. Billups, enjoy the regular season. However, the Pisons, they play in the East. Other than the Celtics there isn't a truly dominant team in the East to give the Pistons a run for their money. I am not waving the Cavs offs I'm just being honest.

There is a lot of basketball to be played this season and I will be doing some praying for Allen Iverson. He is basically a one year rental to the Pistons and can't really think he'll be there any longer if they don't make it to the Finals this year. Joe Dumars is a lot of things, but a bad business man he is not. AI not putting all the pieces to the puzzle together this year assures he won't have the chance to put them together ever again. He is 33, and he is not Robert Horry. His body has taken more damage than anyone I've seen (except Greg Oden, ooh, too soon?) and he will not be the NBA's Wolverine forever.

The best chance he's ever had in his entire career to win it all is now. Detroit is STACKED with talent. Veterans. Winners. Not Nuggets. Not Sixers. He's on a team with true desire to reclaim their reign as kings and Ben Wallace isn't around to hinder an offensive position in exchange for top 10 highlight blocks. The majority of the East can't breathe the same air as Detroit (nor would they want to if given the choice) and Allen Iverson knows a gigantic opportunity to not be the Shannon Sharpe of the NBA has fallen into his lap.

The time is now.

9 Songs: Pure Film Magnificense

It is a rare thing for me to be in blown away and/or impressed with a film. I blame it in part because I have seen so many films on both sides of the spectrum that I go in with a bias that each film will be average in comparison to others in its genre. The other part being some movies are just plain bad. This morning I watched Jamie Kennedy's documentary Heckler and have a new outlook on criticizing movies so when I decide to do so I'll put a little more thought into it than I have in the past. This, however, is not going to be one of those blogs.

9 Songs was released in the UK nearly five years ago. I obtained it via the internet (like always) sometime in the last year and initially put no major thought into ever watching it. A brief overview about the movie drew me in because Franz Ferdinand had a live performance of "Jacqueline" in it but beyond that my interest wasn't peaked in the least. Until today.

Flipping through one of my four 208 disc DVD booklets I came across it once again. Passing over such films as Unbreakable, In Bruges, Flawless, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead and The Wizard of Oz. I had one of those moments where I decided that this movie was going to be watched and kept archived in this case or it was going to be replaced by one of the current movies I am downloading (Eden Lake, Quench, or How To Lose Friends & Alienate People). It was one of the better choices I've made in recent months.



9 Songs solely revolves around Matt (Kieran O'Brien) and Lisa (Margo Stilley). There is no other dialogue from anyone else but these two for the entire movie (other than the the musicians at the concerts). Matt is a glaciologist and Lisa is an American student going to college in London, England. They meet at a concert (song 1) and the movie from there almost primarily takes place in Matt's flat where the two engage in some of the best scripted dialogue I have ever seen. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption are the only other on-screen duo I have seen with energy like this. And the types of energy between the duos is on completely different scales.

Along with the great dialogue throughout the movie, the best real life interpretation of explicit sex between two people is portrayed. Michael Winterbottom immediately moved himself into one of my top five directors simply for how he constructed this movie and put it on film.

We, the viewers, are put into different but awkwardly home-hitting scenarios with Matt and Lisa in between each concert (or song, hence the title) inside of Matt's kitchen, dining area, and bedroom. We see the initial relationship enthrallment, the under belly of love, the soft side of casual drug use, and the inevitable decay of a relationship where one party believes it to be lust and one love. There is an irreplaceable feeling I got while watching this movie of oh-no, oh-my-god and whoa-there that I haven't felt since I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time years ago. This movie is remarkably brilliant in every way possible. A true homage to modern day relationships and human emotions.

It took me nearly five years to get around to seeing this film, but the wait was more than worth it.

Not Different Quite Yet

To take away from the monumental moments the world witnessed and experienced yesterday when we the people elected Barack Obama as America's 44th President is something I intend to not do. I am as happy about it as the next supporter and as cautious about it as any naysayer. Mr. Obama will, in essence, be batting in the 4th position and will hopefully have great success. Not only will he have the backing of the House and Senate but actual support from Americans. Something George Bush had lost years ago.



I must tip my cap to President Bush despite my strong opposition towards him and his politics. Never was a President before him attacked by a terrorist on American soil. Never before him did a natural disaster leave an entire coast in ruins, it's people in shambles. Never before him did we topple down a country's depression. A lot happened to him FAST and he just didn't see it coming. Maybe. Come January it'll be for the history books, and thanks to the land we live in, we will never see either Bush push a White House pencil ever again.

Finally, black parents can tell their children with honest intentions that yes, they can be anything. Even President?

Even President.