The 2009 NBA... Laugh

From the money-grubbing owners scraping their cash around like low-level drug dealers, to the ever smarmy David Stern announcing the picks to a rowdy New York crowd, to the trifling depth in this pool of players- except Griffin- this years draft was worth a chuckle. After Tuesday night, May 19,the excitement for this year's draft deadend when the lottery was held and the world found out the L.A. Clipper's had the first pick. There was no question of who the best player was in Blake Griffin, and the Clip's management made it clear that they were going to take him number one.
After Griffin was picked the rest of the NBA teams seemed to have no idea what they were doing, making trade after trade for neither players nor picks- but cash. Yes, the owners have also been affected by this recession. Meanwhile, there was the NBA hopeful Brandon Jennings showing up late to his own draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves picking up three point guards-one being Ricky Rubio who now says he will go back to Spain because he didnt like the cold weather in Minnesota- and then there was from pick 15 on kids who you've never heard of. This embaressing lack-luster showcase by the NBA not only shed a light on how bad the the rookie talent is going to be this year but it also showed how college basketball is going to run in the future. There were 10 college freshman taken in the first round, an indicator than all of these 'one-and-done' players are making the collegiate level of play very transient because of the little time that people will see them develop and compete. This development makes for a very poisonous enviroment where you have college coaches caught in recruiting scandles and seedy agents scouting out these prospects at even younger ages. This however is not a laughing matter.

I'm Sorry Mr. Jackson

If you're a coach that doesnt coach can you be the coach? Bottom line Phil Jackson needs to make a decision to either continue with coaching the Lakers or retire. Yesterday afternoon on a Los Angeles radio station Phil suggested that, because of his health condition, assistant coach Kurt Rambis should coach road games next season while Phil would takeover the coaching duties in L.A. like a stay-at-home mom.This impairment to the team would leave the Lakers out-of-sync during the regular season-being coached by two different personalities- and would cause them to fall short of a playoff bid, leaving Phil to blame.Phil: we get it, you're the best at what you do and you just proved it to the sporting world by icing your tenth NBA championship. The world doesn't want you to leave the game in that kind of decline so Phil, save the Laker fans the greif by making this decision in June and not mid-season when you have a team that's dysfunctional and below .500.

Album Review : Relapse

Imagine growing up on the wrong side of Detroit in a trailer park where you are being beaten by your mother and constantly raped by your stepfather. Then somehow you find your niche in the world and figure out that you're really good at hip-hop. You have a baby with your high school girlfriend, while your rap career is blowing up at a fast rate and your fame is spreading like the flu. You put out three albums hailed in the hip hop community as classics, selling tens of millions of records worldwide and then in an instant it's halted. The horid past comes back to haunt you as your bestfriend is fatally shot, you divorce,remarry, then divorce your wife again, and you begin to consume perscription drugs at an obsessive rate. Then you put your life on hold for four years.
This is where one finds Eminem. After an almost five year hiatus from the top of the rap world Eminem is back with his new album Relapse. Like the Eminem of old, for the first single of the album he has hit us with the catchy pop-tune, "We Made You" which in contrary attacks the same people whom he shares a celebrity spotlight with. But despite the single, this is Eminem's most dark and personal release to date. Eminem has laced the tracks behind Dre's mean drums with his classic witty scenic wordplay mixed with his ' rat-ta-tat-tat' syllable stucture to create a tracks like the brutal, leveling "Insane" where he goes into explicit detail of how he was raped by his stepfather as a child and then " 3AM" where Em tells the story of waking up from an overdose on pills to a hospital in which everyone is dead- implying that he murdered them all. The other notable tracks on Relapse are two of his most introspective songs ever," Beautiful" and "Deja Vu".
In "Beautiful" he talks about his depression, his loss of love for hip-hop. This is probably the best song on the album with its tear-jerking chorus sung by Em. Its a perfect fit for a sold out arena on a final tour. Then you have the regret filled "Deja Vu", where Em sees himself blaming Proof's death for his pill addiction. 'So i take a vicodin splash it hits my stomach and ahh/A couple weeks go by it aint even like im getting high/now i need it just not to feel sick ya im getting by/Wouldn't even be taking this shit if deshaun didn't die/Oh ya theres an excuse you lose proof so you use'.
All fans and even non-fans will appreciate the latest work from Slim Shady, fans will be refreshed that he is back and hip hop head will be glad that one of the greatest came back behind the mic.