Mr.Big Shot is Back!

Chauncey Billups, up until last night was mentioned as a "throw in" in the deal that made Carmelo Anthony a Knick. He was sent out of Denver for two main reasons, to give Ty Lawson more playing time, because he is the Nuggets point guard of the future, and to get the Nuggets under the luxury tax threshold.

Although he is a bit older, this is a guy that won an NBA Finals MVP while playing for Larry Brown, who is notoriously tough on his point guards. He went to seven straight conference finals, that's something only Magic Johnson has done. He isn't a marquee star. His jersey wasn't flying off the shelves when he was with Detroit or Denver, it may not even with the Knicks. But he is a veteran leader. He may not be a Knick past next year because of the possibility of acquiring Chris Paul or maybe even Deron Williams. He is the type of player that every team needs. A straight up leader.

In his first game as a Knick, Billups was seen talking to Toney Douglas and Bill Walker, giving them advice and both responded by having big games. Knicks GM Donnie Walsh said they lucked out in getting Billups. Nuggets head coach George Karl said he was sad to lose Chauncey which at the time I thought was a snide remark towards Carmelo Anthony, but now I'm thinking it was genuine.

Last night, he had a game in which the box score wouldn't tell you he was good, but, if you watch the game he was definitely a difference maker. He was balling out of his mind. He hit several big shots. One 3 pointer that begun a 16-0 run to closeout the first half and two bug shots within the last three minutes of the game. He had two big steals during that time as well.

I do miss Raymond Felton and wish him the best in Denver and anywhere else he goes, but, before him, the point guards for the Knicks were Stephon Marbury and Chris Duhon. Billups is a general on the floor. I may be speaking a little early but my bro, Chris, said to me this morning that the Knicks might have their own "Big Three".

Melo and Stat also had big games. Anthony put up 29 points and played great defense on LeBron, which is something he is not known for. Amare had 16 points and 10 boards. He also may have had the play of the night by blocking James's layup with 7 seconds left. The bench came up big with strong play by Shawne Williams, Anthony Carter, Toney Douglas, and Bill Walker.

The game last night has me excited for not only the rest of the season but also the playoffs. This team does not look like the easy first round exit analysts project them to be.

Duke's passing reminds us of an old era of great baseball

Duke Snider passed away yesterday. He was the "Duke of Flatbush" when the Dodgers played in Brooklyn.

For the first half of the last century New York had three different franchises. One in the Bronx, one in Harlem, and one in Brooklyn. The Yankees, Giants, and Dodgers once ruled baseball, New York once ruled baseball. There was once a fifteen year stretch where at least one of those teams were in the World Series. Prior to both the Giants and Dodgers leaving New York in 1957, these franchises won the last eight series before that year.

There was a great debate as to which team had the best center fielder. The Yankees had Mickey Mantle. The Giants had Willie Mays. The Dodgers had Duke Snider.

Even though I am a Yankees fan, I have always been fascinated with the fact that New York once had three great baseball teams and are now only left with one (and it's surely not the Mets). We are left with great moments such as the "Shot Heard Round the World", "The Catch", and many others. The Dodgers have had great success in Los Angeles and the Giants finally won the World Series since leaving the Polo Grounds. The Giants also did a great gesture in having Willie Mays bring their World Series Trophy to Harlem to honor their history in New York.

I do feel though, that both franchises should do a little more in paying homage to their New York roots. Such as wearing New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers road unis when they visit city field or have an interleague matchup against the Yankees.

The Duke lived a great life and was regarded as royalty in Brooklyn. He was a sensational center fielder. He was born in Los Angeles but raised as a great baseball player in Brooklyn and was probably more mad than anyone when the team was moved to his hometown.

Stat and Melo: The Start of the a new Culture taking over the Garden

The Garden has sold out on most nights for longer than I can remember. But, I believe people go to the Garden not to see the Knicks, instead they came to see basketball at the Garden. Basketball at the Garden is one of the greatest spectacles ever. People who actually come to the Garden to see the Knicks didn't see a spectacle but most nights saw a debacle. After the atrocious teams assembled by the likes of Scott Layden and most notoriously, Isiah Thomas, this year's team created by Donnie Walsh is like a breath of fresh air. By breath of fresh air it was like you just came out of a small room where everyone was farting.

This is and always will be the Mecca of basketball. Some people say that it shouldn't be because the Knicks are hardly relevant in the NBA and even if they are the franchise only has two titles, both won when my mom was a toddler. The reason that this is the Mecca of basketball is because this city has basketball in its blood. There's as blacktops in this town as there are McDonalds. This is the home of the Big East Tournament, not to mention that almost everyone has allegiances to at least one Big East team if not all. This a place where St.John's beating top 20 teams on a regular basis means the Johnnies are back to normal. The NIT is played at the Garden every year. New York City is basketball.

Carmelo Anthony, whom some call the best scorer in the game today, is finally a Knick after months of waiting. He could possibly become the best scoring Knick since Bernard King. The trade was finalized today and his first game in Blue and Orange(professionally anyways) will be tomorrow against the Milwaukee Bucks. I didn't it would be done before the deadline. With the luck the Knicks(and other New York sports teams, i.e.Cliff Lee) of getting a big name star such as last summer with LeBron James, I didn't think we would have got him. After buzz about the Nets returning to the picture during NBA All Star Weekend with their trade package that was much better than the Knicks, I thought we wouldn't get him. On Monday, we did get him.

New York has two superstars in Amare Stoudemire and Melo, and if people can call Chris Bosh a superstar because he plays with Lebron James and Dwayne Wade, I will go as far as to call Chauncey Billups a superstar as well. They have a young star in Landry Fields who will continue to get better. The last time there was a young star put beside 3 great players he became an All Star himself. The person I'm talking about is Rajon Rondo of the Celtics. Being around high caliber players make those around them take their game to a higher level.I really like Fields and I am glad he was not included in the deal for Melo.

The sad part of these trades is that you part with some players you liked. Raymond Felton played at a much higher level than he had with the Charlotte Bobcats. For his first couple months as a Knick he played at an all star level but his game started to slip in January. Gallo has a very high ceiling and shows signs of a Dirk Nowitzki type player. The problem I had with him was his inconsistency. He was have good games and very few great games. It seemed as though if his three point range was off, it would throw off his entire game. Wilson Chandler is a great shooter and played like a poor man's Melo, so when you have the chance to get the real deal, he would be the first to go. Eddy Curry and Anthony Randolph who were traded to the Timberwolves never played so it isn't hard to miss them. The best memory of Timofey Mozgov was a funny "tell me how my balls smell" dunk by Blake Griffin over him, so he definitely won't be missed by me.

I don't think the Knicks will win this year but in a 7 game series anything can happen. The goal is to set up a team with player in their prime years to win sometime this decade and to continue contending during that time.

There have been rumblings that this pairing of stars might be bad for the league. I believe it's better to show that the Lakers, Celtics, and Heat won't monopolize the NBA Finals. More teams might start doing this.

At least for the next few seasons, the same hype that I have for the Yankees, Giants, and Jets, I can now have for the Knicks. We have to add a few more pieces to the team before we can think of playing in June but I do think we'll be playing in May, that's something I wasn't sure about before this season.

Quick NBA All Star Reaction...

The NBA does the best job at putting on an All Star Game. Think of it, you tune in Friday to watch the Celebrity Game and the Rookie/Sophomore Game. Saturday you watch the skills competition, 3 point shootout, and the dunk contest. Then Sunday the actual All Star Game takes place. No other sport does it better.

Aside from the celebrity game, which was a sham and further proves the teenage girls and their cell phones rule the world, the festivities were amazing. Some people were not impressed by Blake Griffin's dunk over the hood of a car but it definitely did bring a level of excitement to the contest that hasn't been there for a while. The issues I did have with All Star Weekend were very few.

I didn't like that it was in LA. Los Angeles is a beautiful place to host anything, but, the West has hosted the game for 8 years in a row now. Luckily, Orlando is hosting next year, and NBA commisioner David Stern has said that when Madison Square Garden finishes its renovations, New York will be heavily considered for the game. I feel that the game should alternate from east to west every year like MLB does with the National and American Leagues.

I also didn't like that Kobe Bryant won the MVP. I'm the last person that would campaign for anything,but, Lebron was the MVP even though it would be in a losing effort. He showed leadership on and off the court during the game. HE HAD A GODDAMN TRIPLE DOUBLE. He was amazing. Michael Jordan is the only other player to do it in an All Star Game. I will go as far as to say James's performance was better.

Other than those two things the NBA showed that it definitely is where "amazing" happens.

A tribute to a Grade A Sheff

I'd like to shout out true baseball fans on this post. If you are a real baseball fan you can appreciate this post.


Gary Sheffield officially retired today from baseball and after his play in 2009 and him not playing in 2010, it was a forgone conclusion that he was done as a baseball player.I should also mention he was the nephew of a great baseball player in his own right in pitcher, Dwight "Doc" Gooden.

He played for many different teams during his career including my beloved New York Yankees. He began playing with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1988 and was traded to the San Diego Padres in 1992. Midseason 1993 he was traded to the Florida Marlins, where he started to become a star, won a World Series in 1997. He was then included in the infamous fire sale of the Marlins in the following season by team owner Wayne Huizenga. He was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He stayed there for three and a half years and then again traded, this time to the Atlanta Braves. He spent two years as a Brave and was granted free agency. Sheffield could finally go somewhere of his choice. He choose the New York Yankees. After spending three seasons with the Bombers he was traded to the Tigers where he stayed for two season but was cut and signed to play his final season for the New York Mets.

Over his career he accumulated 509 homeruns and over 1600 runs batted in and more than 2500 hits. That is a great career and he will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2014. Whether or not he gets in is the question. There was a lot of speculation of whether or not he took steroids or other performance enhancers. And even without steroids his career would be what voters would call that of a compiler. That is a player who had good numbers over a long period of time but never had any outstanding seasons. Also with the amount of times he had been traded, voters may think he was never a good teammate or a leader who was so valuable to his team that he was un-tradeable. Truth is, according to baseball-reference.com, comparable players to Sheffield include greats like Mel Ott, Reggie Jackson, Frank Robinson, and the person I believe to be the greatest baseball player ever, Micky Mantle.

What I can discuss about Sheffield is his time with the Yankees. He joined the Yankees after their pennant winning season of 2003. With him batting cleanup behind Alex Rodriguez(whom they also acquired that offseason), the sky was the limit for the Yankees. That October something happened that I rather not discuss but, it did not end in a championship for the Yanks. But, that year Sheffield finish second for AL MVP behind Vlad Guerrero. He mirrored his 2004 season in 2005 but finished 8th in the MVP voting. 2006 began the end of his time with the Yankees. He got injured in May and the Yankees found their replacement for him when they traded for Bobby Abreu. When he returned in September he went as far as learning to play first base to get regular at bats. In the offseason he got into a rift with Yankee GM Brian Cashman and was traded to the Detroit Tigers for three players that weren't even relevant in their time with the Yankees. At that time I was so pissed at that, but today I realize we found a taker for an old slugger with two expensive years left on his contract. After his time with the Yankees he also let out a secret than many other former disgruntled Yankees said after they left; Joe Torre was not an unbiased manager. He said Torre would call out certain players during team meetings and deal with some players differently with others. He took it a bit further by claiming Torre was a little racist in his management, but that part, I completely disagree with.

He will be remembered for his unique batting stance where he waved the bat back and forth as he anticipated the pitch. When in came he struck it with all his might. One personally memory I recall was a game me and my friend Bobbie went to in 2005. He came to the plate and the bat left his hands and headed straight to third base coach Larry Bowa. Bowa luckily wasn't hurt but it it was funny as hell to watch. I also remember watching a game on TV when the Yankees were in Boston. Sheffield chase down a ball near the outfield wall and an a**hole fan took a swipe at his face and Sheffield shoved the shit out of him. That was great to watch but I think we lost that game. Another personal memory was me and my boy LostUno's first game at Citi Field in 2009 when Sheff was playing for the Mets(you know, that shitty team across the bridge). It was at that time I realized Sheffield is pretty much done as an outfielder because the first ball hit to him he dropped. he hit 10 bombs that year, that included his 500th. 10 homeruns for the Mets, playing most of your games at cavernous Citi Field would be at least 20-25 on any other team, I think he had a little left in his bat.

Gary Sheffield I wish you the best for your retirement and hope you make it to the Hall of Fame. Check Sheff's career out here at Baseball-Reference.

Valentine's Day: The Suggiie B perspective

I would like to shout out James K., a fan of the blog who suggested this post.

Since I have not posted in nearly a week people have been asking me when is the next post coming out. The idea of a Valentine post was brought up and has been anticipated. I will tell you how I feel about the holiday, and you might just be surprised.

You know how the day goes, some people plan this thing out over a few days, even weeks. One of my friends went the extra mile to make sure that he and his girlfriend had an amazing Valentine's Day together. He took her to a nice dinner, bought a card, and wrote her a poem on top of him buying her some nice gifts.

I thought this was very nice for a guy that really and honestly loves his girl. I feel that on V-Day you should embellish someone you love or deeply care about. Your actions should reflect how you feel about that person and should not be measured monetarily.

With that said, someone should not over think or over plan on someone they might have just met or have invested a great amount of time with and their feelings are not reciprocated. Instead, you should take this holiday reassess the current "it's complicated" situation you are in. If that person calls you and Valentines Day and the first thing they ask is "what are you doing for me today?", you may want to get out of that situation.

Those of you with crushes, who are too shy to reveal feelings to a special person: Do not choose to do it on Valentine's Day. It is not the day. You should not go off things you see in movies and TV. Instead you should explore your options and see what's available first before you set you heart's desires on a person that may not even feel the same way you do, and you will be devastated if that is the cast. But, that should not stop you from trying to win the affection of that special someone. If you have many options it makes letting someone know how you feel about them a lot easier.

Singles! This is not as bad of a day as you think. Go out and hang out at the same places you go to meet people. They are obviously single or close to be if they're not with anyone on Valentines. You may meet someone to spend this Valentine's Day with and maybe the next one too!

Finally, one thing that always gets forgotten. This is a day for love, all love. So embrace the love of everyone, including friends and family.

I leave you with two poems written by me, enjoy:

The Truth about Kings

What has been dealt is a 2, 4, and a Jack

Of Spade, Heart, and Spade

She’s sitting on a Queen and 8

Both dressed in Black

I sit on a King and 9

Both dressed Red

Just like me

They wear their hearts

Bleeding from their sleeves

Another Jack is dealt

This time wielding a club

Our eyes connect

In hope of a slight revelation

Stakes have been raised

She waits for me to fold

Though I have already won

I wait for her to fold

The final card seals my victory

Because it is a King

Draped in red jewels

In my hand are two kings

A greedy king with all his diamonds

A loving King with plenty of heart

But, what is a king without a queen

The Things She Brought

She brought the morning with her

When I did her wrong, She got cold

In the night she brought winter

Our relationship could not last through that weather

When it was hot, I was sure we could make it

Things stopped feeling new, slowly it got old

This was summer, I could have been mistaken

Our love was more than I imagined

The end was more than I anticipated

This is one of the best love songs ever:

Tiger! Just tell the world to f**k off already!

This post is dedicated my friend Marcello. You happy now? You got a dedication!

Dear Tiger Woods,

This is Suggiie B talking to you. Tell the world to f**k itself. You're not going to make them happy. I'm sorry. People are pissed off at you and you did nothing to them. Take a page out of the LeBron Book and say "eff it, I guess I'm the villain now. Let's see why people are mad:

Golf fans are mad because you win all of the damn time. Which I don't get at all. Why is winning a bad thing? What do they want you to do if you're too damn good at something? You have been a great golf player and people should celebrate you for that and not take that away from you. Black women hate you because you married a white woman and cheated on her with other women, none of them being black. Some black men hate you because you are not "black enough", which happens to be a reason some black people don't like the first black president, Barack Obama, so I guess you can easily ignore that.

Right about now I feel like the only people who should be mad at you are your ex-wife, Elin and your two daughters. I know one set of people that aren't mad at you, the porn industry. Being that of the forty women you had affairs with, roughly thirty-seven were porn stars. Those girls who were nobodies now have DVD's with the tagline "She f*cked Tiger" pushing up sales.

The reason I wrote this is because while watching ESPN today I saw something about Tiger spitting on the course at a PGA event. Tiger issued an apology about the matter and I said "enough is enough". He spit on grass, so what! I'm pretty sure football players spit on the gridiron and clearly baseball players spit all over the field.

Give it up. Tiger is a great golfer. People should stop vilifying him for what he did in his personal life. This is a person that believes Dennis Rodman is a weirdo, but also a hall of famer. I remember OJ Simpson for his murder trial but also because he was a great running back.

We as fans need to be able to separate athletes from their actions but still understand that what they did was wrong without making them pariah's.

Who started the fire?

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Chris Weise.

No, this story is not about the Crab Rangoon incident, so if anybody posts a comment about that matter it will be deleted. This post concerns many of the ongoing stories in sports and certain stories in the past that most likely have led to what is going on today.

Fire: The Albert Pujols/St.Louis Cardinals Negotiations

There are many different starts to this fire but I'm going to point to two.

The first being Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod gets blamed for a lot of things but one thing in particular is the outrageous contract given to "franchise players" in baseball.  After becoming a free agent in 2000 , A-Rod left the Seattle Mariners for the Texas Rangers after being offered a then record 10 year $252 million contract. Then in 2007, Rodriguez opted out of that same contract now with the New York Yankees. The Yankees caved after initially ending negotiations with him and signed A-Rod to an again record 10 year $275 million deal, plus incentives that can bring that number to $300 million . A-Rod's going to be 42 and the end of that contract.

Now on to Pujols. Albert Pujols is currently negotiating with the St.Louis Cardinals on a new contract because he is set to be a free agent this coming offseason. The hold up now is that he wants the same deal as A-Rod got in 2007. Like Rodriguez, Albert is going to be 41 at the end of his proposed deal and feels that he should be accommodated as A-Rod was. Pujols presents the same resume as A-Rod if not better; Both own 3 MVP awards and consistently produce 30-40 even 50 homerun and 100 RBI seasons. But unlike A-Rod, during his present negotiations he has already been to two World Series and won one with the Cards and is a consistent triple crown threat.

Pujols has set a deadline for negotiating an extension which will be the start of spring training. He will not accept any trades because he has played ten years and at least five with the same team. If a deal is not reached before the deadline he will test the free agent market. What may be the reason for this deadline is perhaps Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer's negotiations last year where he signed a 10 year extension just before the start of spring training. Pujols might be feeling that he should be dealt with in the same way.

Fire: Frequent questions of players statuses with their NBA teams

This not only concerns the Carmelo Anthony situation but also Deron Williams, Chris Paul, and Dwight Howard. Those players cannot become free agents until 2012, but their futures in their respective small market cities are now being questions. The fire was started by Chris Bosh and LeBron James. LeBron left the Cleveland Cavaliers high and dry without leaving them a building block for the future(unless you consider the atrocity that the Cavs put on night to night this year that will likely become a top 3 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft a building block). The Toronto Raptors went through the same thing with Bosh. They did not think Bosh was much to build a team around and thought to trade him before the 2010 trade deadline. They even thought to trade him to the Cavs, which might have led to James staying in Cleveland.

Many people believe that due to Deron Williams rift with Jerry Sloan, the legendary coach resigned for the betterment of the franchise. Some feel that Jerry Sloan "old-school" style of coaching would keep Williams from re-signing with the Jazz. Chris Paul made a well publicized toast at Carmelo's wedding saying that he and Melo would join Amare Stoudemire in New York and form their own "Big Three" (in reference to Miami and Boston). Mix that with rampant talks about the Hornets perhaps not staying in New Orleans as well as the NBA operating the franchise (and if you would like to know the outcome of what happens when a league operates a franchise, look up the Montreal Expos), the chances of CP3 staying in the Crescent City are bleak at best. Finally, there is Dwight Howard. Dwight over the last few years has become famous outside of the basketball world and some cast comparisons to another center whom the Orlando Magic picked with the first pick in the draft, Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq left the Magic Kingdom for Hollywood and hasn't looked back since. The idea now is that Howard will do the same thing. All of these players will certainly be on the trade block this time next year because their respective teams will hear rumors and fear becoming the Raptors or even worse, the Cavs.

Many sports stories today are fueled by sports stories of the past. The outcome of these situations can reveal who started the fire.

Check Out these blogs

My friend Matt is here to let all know about what's happening around Pittsburgh and locally in Greensburg here at Pittsburgh and Greensburg Beat.

UPG Guy is here to let you know the happenings at Pitt-Greensburg as well as some other great reads here.

The Super Bowl/ Open Letter to Steeler Fans

What a night in Dallas. Our Super Bowl Champions are revealed to be the Green Bay Packers led by Aaron Rodgers. In this post I will cover everything as far as the games entertainment, commercials, and the game itself. I will also issue my declaration of a truce with the Pittsburgh Steeler fans.

The game was pretty entertaining due to a second half performance of the Steelers. Early in the game Ben Roethlesberger threw an interception that turned into a pick 6. That made the score 14-0. Big Ben played his team out of the game in the first half, leaving the score at 21-10. But, he played his way back in to the game bringing the Steelers back within  three. Aaron Rodgers played a terrific game and won a well deserved Super Bowl MVP award. If it weren't for a bunch of dropped passes he could have thrown for at least 400 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Initially after the 21-3 lead and the overall gameplay of the Packers as compared to the Steelers, I thought this game would end up being a blowout. Key injuries to the secondary of the Packers left the door open for the Steelers to claw their way back in.

It was clear that the Packers were the better and more complete team. Green Bay had a better QB, linebacker group, d-line, and had secondary not based on the success of one player. The Steelers defensive backfield has many holes. Troy Polomalu is the heart and soul of their secondary. When he doesn't have a good game, the entire back field has a bad game. Polomalu did not play well last night.

Great win by the Packers and congrats on your 13th NFL Championship. Big ups to Title Town.

Now on to the non-football items concerning the Super Bowl.

Yup, Christina Aguilera butchered the national anthem as if it were a freestyle session. She fumbled the words for to lines and I'm pretty sure she added a line that wasn't even there for the like 200 year history of the song.

Halftime was pretty good. I don't really like the Black Eyed Peas, but if this was a start to an effort of the NFL to bring in more current acts to perform at halftime as opposed to the dinosaurs they've been bringing out since Janet Jackson's nipple came out to say "hi", I'm all for it. I enjoyed them bringing out Slash, but, damn I think Roseanne with laryngitis could have sung "Sweet Child O' Mine" way better than Fergie. Usher coming out to perform was an incredible addition to the show.

The commercials this year were decent at best. There were a few that made me laugh and there were some that tried to make me laugh. The one's that stood out for me were the ones that appealed to emotions. The Chrysler ad featuring Eminem with the tagline of something like, "luxury imported from Detroit". It should have been uplifting to a struggling city like Detroit and it also displayed the beauty of that town. The other commercial I enjoyed was the one with the montage of some of the best TV shows and their characters wearing the clothing of teams of the area the show was based.

I was hyped to see the trailers to "Pirates of Caribbean:On Stranger Tides", "Captain America: First Avenger", and "Transformers: The Dark of the Moon". All of them look pretty good. They need to have more of trailers and better commercials so you don't have to flip the channel and miss part of the game.




Now...This is my open letter to Steeler fans

Steeler Fans,

Any venom I have spewed this week about the Steelers was not influenced by the Steelers team, history, or the Rooney family. I actually really respect Mike Tomlin, and should the Steelers have won I would have been really happy for him. It was towards you Steeler fans. You have got to be  the most over zealous gathering of fans in any sport. I thought Red Sox fans were the worst, but I mean you guys take the cake. People think Yankee fans behave the worse. I don't think it is even close. We have 27 championships to fall back in, you have 6, and we've been dominating the sport for almost a hundred years and we don't act the way you do, neither do Celtic or Laker fans or any team who has been dominating their sport for years.


Oh yeah,  since you guys only want to count Super Bowls, do remember that should the Cowboys or 49ers win a Super Bowl any time soon you will be tied for the most Lombardi's again. And if the Niners win on their next try they'll be a perfect six for six something you're not.

You know before coming out here, I was like "Oh, cool, Pittsburgh, nice blue collar town" then you come and live in Steeler Nation, and it's like wow these guys are assholes, well not all of them. It may be because I'm from a town that has two teams for every sport, but why the hell is everybody here a Steeler fan. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT!

Somebody went as far as to tell me Super Bowl XLV was fixed by the NFL? Really? You lost! Get over it!

I should mention that if you read this and get mad, yes I am talking to you. But, if you read this and say "yeah,we lost and we'll get them next year, I don't give a shit what this SuggiieB asshole's talking about, but yeah we do have a shitload of bandwagoners that don't know shit about football buying Steeler shit", then I'm speaking for you.

Yours Truly,

Green & Yellow

SuggiieB

Skins: OMG! Teens having sex!

Damn! Every time MTV comes out with out with a new show it catches hell. When Jersey Shore came out people felt it was offensive to Italians. I wonder where the uproar is every time that Keyshia Cole show or 106 & Park comes on on BET (No, I don't think they're offensive to black people, they are offensive to intelligent people). Come on people we have worse things to worry about.

Teens having sex is nothing new, I mean, you do know there's another show on this network called 16 & Pregnant with a spinoff called Teen Mom? It's clearly evident that teens have sex. Now I've taken a look at this show "Skins" and to be honest with you, it's nothing new to me. That Canadian show "Degrassi" (you know the one Drake used to be on in a wheel chair) has been doing this for years. As a matter of fact it's been on for ten seasons now and it's like Skins,Teen Mom, and Beverly Hills 90210 mixed into one. I'm pretty sure they've been recycling storylines too. I should mention that it's on a Nickelodeon network.

Like I said Degrassi is from Canada which isn't as uptight a society as the US is. I used to go up to Toronto during the summer and I was watching the news in my hotel room. Right after the news I'm pretty sure porn or something pretty close to it came on. Skins is adapted from a show of the same name in the UK. I have the original UK version on my Netflix, so I'm going to take a look at it to see how it compares to the US adaptation. Even the US version of The Office seems to be a bit more tame than it's UK predecessor.

Skins is two episodes in and this is what I took from it. It's centered around a group of teens in an unknown city in the US, although you can clearly see that it is filmed in Toronto. The main guy on the show is this dude named Tony, who is very scrawny and weird looking, but somehow he is "the dude"to the people around him. There is this lesbian chick whose dad is apparently in the mob. She's pretty good looking too. There are a couple other kids in the group but there's nothing much to talk about them, but I'd assume we'll learn more about them as the show progresses. There are some pretty good storylines concerning the lesbian chick. I also feel that for a show with a young cast there is some really good acting. Acting usually doesn't come along with teen dramas, especially if you recall "One Tree Hill" and "The OC". The only problem is that they don't have a black dude, but I mean none of these shows ever really do so I guess I could live with it. If they ever need one, you know, I'm available...just kidding!

If anyone's going to criticize MTV, why not make it about the fact that they don't even play music except during the hours of 3am-6am? It's called Music Television. Play some damn videos! I'm tired of going on YouTube to see videos. Those snippets of videos they show during the credits for shows are also annoying.

Give "Skins" a chance. It's a really good show. This is coming from a dude that had it implanted in his head that he would hate this "Degrassi-esque" show. I'm not even sure if I really like it, but I sit and watch the whole damn thing for an hour. Then I wait anxiously for the next showing when I miss an episode.

Cory Gunz: The next great rapper from the home of rap

The Bronx. The birthplace of hip hop.

Since the early 90's there have been only a few good rappers from the boogie down. Off the top of my head, I can only name Big Pun, Fat Joe, and I'll go as far as to put Remy Martin in there as well. Big Pun is dead and may he rest in peace. Last I heard, Remy is in jail. That leaves Fat Joe, or Joey Crack as the only popular rapper from the Bronx.

But don't worry, help is on the way. The young, future superstar Cory Gunz is definitely on the come up. Gunz is the son of Peter Gunz, half of the tandem Lord Tariiq and Peter Gunz who put out what will forever be a Bronx anthem in "Uptown Baby" in the late 90's. Cory Gunz represents what some call the South Bronx, hailing from 174th St. I call it mid-Bronx because I consider 180th St to be the median of the Bronx, but that's a story for another day.

Some of you who have heard Cory Gunz may have heard him for the first time featured on Lil Wayne's track "6 foot 7 foot." You may have heard him rhyming over the beat to "A Millie." Cory Gunz's style is not one to sleep on. Listen to some of his earlier recordings such as "Body Bags" with Cassidy, "Here You Go" with Tyga, and "Shake freestyle."

Lil Wayne signed Gunz to his Young Money label. If Weezy can work the same magic with Gunz as he did with Drake and Nicki Minaj, the sky will be the limit. Gunz has a fast flow that includes a lot of word play that could remind you of some of Jay-Z's earlier work.

The future is bright for Cory Gunz now that he is with Young Money and is now affiliated with the likes of Lil Wayne, Drake, and Nicki Minaj. I expect him to emerge as the Rajon Rondo to those three's KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce.

Sack Up!

This is a problem that everybody goes through. The problem is sacking up. Having the balls to do something you know is right. Some people just can't do it. Here are some examples.

Sack-less: Philadelphia Eagles

Today I wake up to find that my least favorite team in the NFL has decided to place a franchise tag on Michael Vick and trade Kevin Kolb. Last season you traded Donovan McNabb because you felt you had the next franchise QB in Kolb after great preseason game performances and a two or three 300 yard games. Now they want to trade him because the real franchise QB is Michael Vick. That brings me to my next point, why are you franchising Vick. For those that don't know; when a team franchise a player, they basically keep a would be free agent for an extra year for the average salary of the top 5 paid players at that position. It is risky for both Vick and the Eagles. Risky for Vick in that he could go out there and get injured. Vick gets punished more than any other QB because of his mobility. This could diminish his value on the open market. Risky for the Eagles because Vick could go out and put on a showcase and have a season as good if not better than his 2010 season. He would have suitors way beyond that of the Eagles.

Now here's how you sack up: Sign Vick to a three year deal with not to much guaranteed money. That way you keep Vick happy and fans happy.

Sack-less: Denver Nuggets

Trade Carmelo already damn it! It's no secret that I want Melo to be a Knick but I mean come on, the Nets offered you great deals at several points over the season. You bullshitted and scared the Nets away. Picture this: you somehow get a date with Blake Lively and you stand her up three times. So now you have that chick from Veronica Mars ready and willing to talk to you. She's probably not as hot but definitely better than nothing. The Nuggets may also be trying to save face by not trading Melo to the team of his choice. Hey Nuggets! Do me a favor and look up what happened to the Magic after Shaq left or more recently the albatross that the Cleveland Cavaliers have become after losing LeBron.

Here's how you can grow a pair. Trade Melo to the Knicks. It's no secret that he won't sign an extension with anyone but the Knicks. Do what you have to do to make that happens. Bring in a third or fourth team that you can gain a couple good young players from. Throw a couple bad contracts the Knicks way. Just make it work.







Sack-less:Cleveland Cavalier fans and the owner.

Cleveland, you're a cool ass town. You know with your Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and your Major League 1 & 2, which weren't even filmed in Cleveland. Sure you don't have a team anywhere close to being a title contender and it isn't your fault. I know you've been tortured. But I'm not talking about the Browns or the Indians. I am speaking directly to Cleveland Cavaliers fans. I'm not even going to differentiate between lifelong Cavs fans and those who became Cavs fans after 2003. I also want the owner, Dan Gilbert to sack up. I feel LeBron should have let Gilbert know his intentions prior to his hour long variety show called "The Decsion" I understand he made those horrendous comments out of anger, but, I mean come on, the Cavs are going to win a championship before the Heat will? Please.


Here's a little sack up advice; Cavs fans, before Lebron, had there been another period of time where you had more fun watching the Cavs or being proud of being from Cleveland. He brought you to an NBA Finals and probably could have gotten you to more with the help of legit superstar. Legit superstar as in someone also in his prime not Antawn Jamison(glorified role player) or Shaquille O'Neal(former superstar). Dan Gilbert you made no damn sense in your comments or your moves afterward. Miami offered you Michael Beasley in the Lebron sign and trade, you took a trade exception. You traded for cap space. Why would any legit superstar come to Cleveland through free agency? People forget that it was almost a toss up between Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley as to who would be the number 1 pick in the 2008 draft. He obviously couldn't handle being in a party city like Miami, but he is definitely thriving in a midwest setting like he is now in Minnesota. Therefore, Mr.Gilbert you did not back up your statement through your actions. You could have taken a stud like Michael Beasley or simply refused to agree to a sign and trade with Miami. You gave Miami an extra year to add a title with Lebron while the Cavs clearly may be at best a marginal playoff team.

As a final note to all those reading this, SACK UP! Stop trying to come out to top or not even trying to do some thing you know in your heart to be right. You can't do something that will make everyone happy but, you can do something that can make it easier for everyone to live with.