sick nasty.

Yanks

three weeks ago, i journeyed out to the new Yankee Stadium. as B and i got off the 4 train, i shuffled my way to the back staircase, as my dad and i always had used that sortie - assessing that it was the quickest. after taking 30 steps or so, it hit me -- the Yanks don't play in that stadium anymore. the new one is the other direction. it was a moment of confusion, but as shawn offered when i made my second trip last nite to the house that someone built, not unwarranted confusion. even inside, the stadium feels remarkably similar to the old one.

on this journey, i brought my trusty nikon. so, for those that have not been - welcome to the new era of Yanks bball..... stadium - awesome. on the field play this season so far, not so much.


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this is a SICK commercial!!!

NBA D-LEAGUE 2008-09 SEASON TIP-OFF

Dan showing his announcer skills! :)

i'm straight volleyballin'

this tuesday, i will once again trek to west 56 street to play go to the Big City Open Scrimmage. each volleyball season, they do a night for people to come and play and try to get together with other folks of similar skill level and create a make-shift volleyball squad. two years, this didn't work out so well for me - i ended up on a team filled with scrubs. then last year, we had a really great team, but we ended up getting ranked at too high a level and got pounded every game. good learning experience watching and learning from our opponents though. so, in a little over 48 hours, i'll go back to well.

i hadn't played in a while, except at my uncle/ aunt's 25th wedding anniversary in the backyard. so, last weekend i went to Central Park, and help my own - i'm happy to say. my jumping ability has fallen off, but i'm going to actively try to rectify that.

yesterday, here in miami, i went to see the beach volleyball championships. awesome stuff. it is soooo much harded to play 2's on the beach than you might expect from seeing Misty May/ Kerri Walsh on tv at the Olympics. enjoy a few shots of central park & south beach bumping-setting-spiking below.

double-fisting ... I mean blogging.

this weekend the NBA Development League hosted our PreDraft Camp in Georgia - giving 200 prospects a shot at playing in front of D-League execs, coaches, and scouts and some NBA former players and coaches as well. I blogged on the NBA D-League site - live from Suwanee, Georgia.

check it out : here.

ballin'

it's been interesting these last 2 and a half months working at the NBA. i feared i may get sick of talking basketball - ya know... that has always been part of what has kept me away from the music industry as a profession. i love music soooo much that i would hate for it to become my source of income, and therefore a necessity, as opposed to a pleasure. but to my pleasant surprise, the job has only compounded my love of the game!

last weekend i was walking around the city with only de la, common, stevie and miles keeping me company, as usual - and decided to go to the new BR Monogram store on Bleeker. dope gear, by the way. on the way, i strolled by the the WEST 4th (cage) courts - a NYC basketball mecca. I remember when my dad and i used to walk around on weekends and stop and marvel at the leaping ability, dribbling skills, and quick temper of the players there. now, as i watch the players in the NBA D-League, i realize that only the TRULY talented make it to the NBA. wow - i thought the guys on West 4th were good... but Mike Taylor was automatic in the NBA Development League Finals friday - lifting his team to their first Championship. better, faster, stronger than those cats in the village and in most every gym around the country.

but, if you think you or your boys got the goods - we'll give you a chance to prove it. we are holding what is tantamount to open try-outs : NBA PREDRAFT CAMP in Georgia. $500, a dream - and legit talent is all you need. last year, 10 players of the 200 who showed up ended up playing in the NBA D-League. not bad odds, right? better than throwing hands with cats in the cage.

only in new york... bike polo

i was walking around in LES (new york's Lower East Side) today with carrie, and encountered the coolest urbanized version of a sport i'd ever seen. men & women on bicycles playing polo with augmented metal canes... like the ones that visually impaired people use -- they affixed a metal piece to the end of it, as a "mallet" - and used a tennis ball. cones were set up as goals. gotta love the ingenuity!

impromptu yankee game

alvarez sent me an sms at 11:30am, as i was getting ready to show patti's apartment (which she found a sub-letter for today - congrats!). the text msg read : "yo - some yankee tickets fell into my lap for today. any interest in going 1pm game?" -- to which i responded, HELL YEAH! it was beautiful day for game - sunny but not too hot - and they gave out commemorative yankee stadium calendars to all in attendance. this is the last season in which the Yanks will play at the current Yankee Stadium. They will open the '09-'10 season across the street - literally - in the 3rd iteration of this, the mecca of baseball.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

hey now - you're an allstar

on my first week on the job, i had a wonderful opportunity to travel to the NBA Allstar Game in New Orleans. the basketball was great - both from the NBA Allstars, and those from the NBA Development League - but hey - i'm biased. :) i also wandered around with afia to experience some of the dynamic art galleries - and encountered a superb photography exhibit - and certainly did some shopping on the Riverwalk.

more important than the play or the shopping, though, was how we banded together to do community service in the new orleans areas that still need help rebuilding as part of the NBA Cares initiative. despite the rain, the work we did was very fulfilling - and i was pleasantly surprised that the star players who turned up actually worked, and did not just stand around for photo opps. Steve Nash and Jason Kidd came to the house we were painting to lend a hand.


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the wing spot : superbowl edition

the wing spot
Originally uploaded by djtakefive.

i went to dan's place to watch the superbowl in brooklyn. upon arrival - he was headed out to pick up the wings/ tenders he ordered at the "wing wagon" on flatbush ave. ok - so, we walked into the freakin' chaos. probably 50 people waiting for their orders!!! people yelling out their names - numbers - time of order/ time they were told to pick up. some cat named Angel apparently ordered to pick up at 5pm. i know this b/c our friend screamed "ANGEL - 5 o'clock!!!!" every 5 minutes. granted, it was 6:10 and he still didn't have his food....

dan, who'd been told to come back at 5:30, missed the full first quarter of the game waiting to get his wings. (6:40pm) i'll be honest, i don't understand the draw to wings personally, but you gotta admire the dedication.

oh - and GO BIG BLUE!!!!
the Giants stood strong tonight.
congrats to Eli, Plaxico, Tyree and the crew.

let the fun begin!!!!!

NBA SEASON BEGINS TUESDAY NIGHT.

i'm about to watch sooooooo much basketball, it's not even funny!!!!
NBA LEAGUE PASS is the truth.

DMAX :: the one & only

my good friend Darryl Maxwell (D-Max) came to town. he took the train up from DC to attend the NBA Draft. when the event was sold out upon his arrival, i quickly called dan for help. dan, or as i called him "el presidente", was able to get darryl a ticket. Darryl had a fun time watching the festivities - as well as heckling Stephen A Smith. why does he yell all the time? ! we may never know.

anyhow, to give you a bit of history, Dmax and I went to high school around the corner from each other, but never met -- until we both landed at PENN. we were fast friends and have been so ever since that first week in the Quad when we went to WAWA, toured the music shops at Houston Hall and rolled to Gimbell gym to play basketball together. since then, he has gotten a law degree, works at some snazzy law firm doing M&A anti-trust -- and most importantly, found himself a lovely wife.

it has been great to see my friend these past few days. can't believe it'll be our 10 year college reunion soon. brothas are gettin' old!!!

...in development

many of you who read this know my friend, dan. we played basketball together in san fran & became great friends. after graduating from HBS, dan got a job at the NBA. at first, doing CRM work specifically dedicated to retaining season ticket holders and acquiring new ones. he then got a promotion that had him liaising with 9 teams across the league on a number of marketing and operations issues. his dream job. well, last week, he got called into David Stern's office - and offered a new job. David asked Dan to be the PRESIDENT of the NBDL, the development league that primes players to get to the NBA (like the minor leagues in Baseball). this is an awesome opportunity for him. i am so happy to see such a good friend succeed.

Park it here!

this weekend marked the official beginning of spring in new york, not because of the calendar -- but because of the weather. 60s/ 70s and sunny! yesterday, my buddy Dex and I played volleyball in Central Park. there are nice courts near the Great Lawn. the folks were friendly and the level of play helped me gear up for my impending indoor season. after 3 hours of play (4 games) i walked through the park. as you can see, it was really intimate -- me and 50,000 of my closest friends. :)

bump - set - drink!

the new volleyball season is about to begin. last season was underwhelming. i joined BIG CITY as an individual player -- and ended up on a team of mostly people who were a level or two below my level of play. not that i'm a pro-beach player or anything.. but i at least have a grasp of the strategy, placement of players and can perform all the necessary functions of play. anyhow, this season, my one shining light on last season's team - allison, and i decided to construct our own team. so we went to the "pick-up" scene open gym night and grabbed 5 other players. two tall guys, a great all-around playing gal, another good all-around young guy, and a spry asian dude - who is 5' 5" but can jump out of the gym! after our ranking game on thursday, where BIG CITY determines our team's level, we went to a local bar and basically got trashed together! hysterical! a good bunch of folks - looking forward to playing some great volleyball this season.