Archive for October 2011
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NBA 2011-12 SEASON MIGHT GET CANCELED IMMEDIATELY,MARK CUBAN PROPOSED TO REMOVE SALARY CAP
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW WITH BILLY HUNTER THE NBA'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION. SOURCE:1HR PODCAST INTERVIEWNBA PLAYERS ASSOCIATION HEAD BILLY HUNTER JOINED GRANTLAND'S BILL SIMMONS FOR A HOUR-LONG PODCAST TODAY.
THE TWO GOT INTO THE NITTY-GRITTY OF THE NBA LOCKOUT. HERE'S WHAT WE LEARNED:
• MARK CUBAN FLOATED A PLAN HE CALLED THE "GAME CHANGER" THAT INVOLVED NO SALARY CAP. THE PLAYERS LIKED IT, SOME OTHER OWNERS LIKED, BUT IT GOT SQUASHED BY THE MAJORITY OF OWNERS. THE PLAN ESSENTIALLY INVOLVED A LUXURY TAX MODEL THAT MLB USES. THIS PLAN WOULD "ELIMINATE ALL THE CONCERNS AND ISSUES" ABOUT MID-TIER PLAYERS BEING OVERPAID AND STAR PLAYERS BEING UNDERPAID. SOUNDS LIKE HUNTER REALLY LIKES IT.
• HUNTER SAYS THE CLASH BETWEEN OWNERS OVER REVENUE SHARING IS THE PRINCIPLE OBSTACLE TO A DEAL. "IT'S MORE ABOUT AN INTERNAL BATTLE THAT'S BREWING BETWEEN THE BIG AND SMALL MARKETS MORE SO THAN PROPOSITION WE'VE SUBMITTED TO THE OWNERS."
• ONLY FOUR OWNERS (MARK CUBAN, JERRY BUSS, JAMES DOLAN, MICKEY ARISON) "DEMONSTRATED A WILLINGNESS TO MAKE A DEAL."
• INTERESTING POINT BY HUNTER ON HOW NEW BUSINESS-SAVVY OWNERS ARE MAKING NEGOTIATIONS TOUGHER. "DAVID [STERN] HAS A NEW CROP OF OWNERS. THEY JUST HAVE A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE. THEY WANT THE FRANCHISES TO TURN THE SAME TYPE OF PROFIT AS THEIR REGULAR BUSINESSES."
• HE SAYS TALKS WERE GOING GOOD LAST WEEK, AND THEN PAUL ALLEN BLEW THEM UP. "PAUL ALLEN CAME IN TO DELIVER THE MESSAGE FROM THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP OF OWNERS. THAT THEY THINK THEY'RE GIVING UP TO MUCH, AND THEY'RE DUG IN, AND WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO ACCEPT IT. AND THEY'RE PREPARED TO BLOW UP THE SEASON."
• THESE SMALL MARKET OWNERS ARE PREPARED TO SIT OUT A YEAR. "I THINK THAT THERE MAY BE SOME OWNERS IN SOME OF THE SMALLER MARKETS ... WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY DUG IN."
• THE PLAYERS HAVE MOVED DOWN TO 53% OF TOTAL REVENUE (FROM 57%). THE OWNERS WANT AT LEAST 50-50. LATER IN THE INTERVIEW, HUNTER SAID THAT HE PROPOSED A "BAND" BETWEEN 50% AND 53% AND GUARANTEED THE PLAYERS WOULDN'T DIP LOWER THAN 50%, BUT OWNERS REJECTED IT.
• HUNTER FRAMED THE SITUATION AS CONSISTENT WITH INCOME INEQUALITY THAT'S GOING ON THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. "THE FOLKS AT THE TOP WHO HAVE THE LEVERAGE AND THE POWER BEING ABLE TO IMPOSE ON THE WORKERS OF THE WORLD."
• HUNTER REJECTS THE NOTION THAT HE "BEAT" DAVID STERN ON THE LAST TWO LABOR DEALS. THIS IS ONE OF SIMMONS' PET ARGUMENTS, BUT HUNTER DIDN'T BUY IT.
• DAVID STERN AND BILLY HUNTER ARE FRATERNITY BROTHERS! HUNTER AND STERN WERE BOTH IN SIGMA ALPHA MU AT SYRACUSE AND RUTGERS RESPECTFULLY.
• LARRY ELLISON WANTED TO BUY THE NEW ORLEANS HORNETS AND MOVE THEM TO SAN JOSE. OLD NEWS.
• HUNTER DIDN'T APOLOGIZE FOR MID-TIER GUYS TAKING HUGE, TEAM-CRIPPLING CONTRACTS. THEY'RE NOT THE ONES OFFERING RASHARD LEWIS MAX DEALS, AFTER ALL. SIMMONS SAID ON TWITTER AFTERWARD THAT HE WENT FROM 100% PESSIMISTIC TO 75% PESSIMISTIC. WE FELT A LITTLE BETTER TOO. BUT IT SEEMS LIKE THE SMALL MARKET OWNERS (HEY, PAUL ALLEN) ARE REALLY TORPEDOING THIS THING.
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Facebook Is Better Than Sex
A thoroughly scientific study by sociological journal Cosmopolitan says 20 percent of women prefer Facebook over penis-in-vagina activity. This number sounds low to me. In our era, Facebook's made almost everything enjoyable and worthwhile about sex obsolete. Let's get poking.For all of time, sex has been about you. Of course, both partners (or all five, whatever, do it how you like it!) are supposed to be in touch with the sexual needs of one another. Put it where it belongs, not too hard, etc. Communication! But, biologically speaking, you're in it for you. Millennia of evolutionary impulse compel you to orgasm—if we weren't inherently sexually selfish, we'd have died off as some sort of amphibious monkey thing a long time ago. But sex isn't just about the o-face—it's an affirmation of the self. The afterglow. The conquest. Sex puts the you in euphoria—the rest of the world peels away.
Facebook does you better.
Whatever self-love you get from someone giving you good lovin', Facebook does faster and easier. And that's because it was built to make you feel great—not just connect you to dipshit high school friends. Sam Lessin, the guy in charge of Facebook's new bodacious Timeline profile, said it himself: "We want you to be proud of yourself...Our whole goal here is to help you be proud." Pride. Feeling good about yourself. The joy of self-reflection, of posturing, of status. Timeline is the lushest garden of digital self-indulgence ever cultivated by man, spanning years and faces. It transcends breakups. You tell your own story. There's no erectile dysfunction or disappointing performance. There's your life as you frame it, in resplendent high definition.
Facebook is a self-worship that we've never known, a means of satisfying primal urges through the LCD. We want to be seen, be liked, be loved, gain attention. The joy of the shining Facebook presence knows no limits, and gratifies our biological necessity to be liked and gazed upon. And if we run into any problems, we can fix them ourselves. Can you say the same thing about sex? Of course not—it's the most complicated, convoluted thing we can do with our brains and bodies. Sex is a serious, serious hassle.
It can kill you. It can ruin friendships. It can ruin lives. It can create inconvenient babies. It can be used as an act of violence. Sometimes it's hard to do when you're really drunk. Sometimes you'll regret it for the rest of your life. It can be hard to come across, and even harder to maintain. It requires money—if only indirectly. It can be tiring. Sometimes you're just not in the mood. It requires setup. It's rarely on demand. You usually have to shower afterwards. It feels good, but it's complicated. It's an old way of feeling good. We have new ways of feeling good.
Facebook removes all the bother out of self-gratification. We have hundreds of partners, myriad ways to gain their praise, and an unlimited amount of time to let it make us feel appreciated. That fuzzy feeling when a link you post blows up. Flattering words about your new picture. A clever status update. It all makes us feel pride, good, and gratified, with only clicks and swipes required. Most of the ego-orgasm effects of Facebook will take care of themselves. You're tagged by others, commented on by others, friended by others. The good vibes flow toward you. And it's instant. It requires no planning, no courtship, no condoms. We can wade into photo galleries, admiring ourselves, smiling about fun things we used to do, and blocking out the present with a cathedral of well-curated JPEGs. And if you really need that physiological oomph, there are always pictures of your exes online. Y'know.
There's just one small caveat: it might destroy our entire species. As we retreat further and further into our own heads, neglecting personal relationships that are so much harder to maintain in the flesh than on Facebook, we may lose sight of sex entirely. It's just so much easier to add a friend than a fuck buddy. Why consummate when we can comment? And besides, staring at ourselves in boundless beautiful mirrors of our own making is an ecstasy that no other human can match. We might just die off, mouths open at our friend count. Oh well!
SOURCE0
Last year, A record 601,055 people were stopped and questioned
by the NYPD. Yesterday, hundreds of NYC teens fought back by marching across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest against the NYPD’S stop & frisk policy. These teens feel they’ve been racial profiled & unfairly judged based on their ethnicity.
Amanda Mullen
Hundreds of teens who say they’ve been targeted for questioning by cops because of their ethnicity marched over the Brooklyn Bridge Wednesday to protest the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy.
One marcher said cops have stopped and questioned him some 20 times.
“I have been given many different reasons,” said Romale Johnson, 20, an organizer with Make The Road New York, a sponsor of the march.
“They say, ‘You fit the description,’ or ‘You looked suspicious,’ or ‘This is just part of a routine.’”
Organizers with the Campaign for Just and Fair Policing complain that blacks and Latinos are nine times as likely as whites to be stopped, questioned and sometimes frisked. Recent NYPD stats show that only about 12% of these stops have led to an arrest or a summons.
“The police are harassing people for no apparent reason,” said Tyrice Peeples, 19, a Brooklyn high school student. “Cops stop me and my friends for no reason.”
Police brass say the practice drives down crime.
“Violence is still disproportionately centered in minority communities,” the NYPD’s top spokesman, Paul Browne, said in a statement. He noted that 97% of shooting victims last year were black or Latino.
Protesters Wednesday used plastic buckets as makeshift drums as they marched over the bridge’s pedestrian walkway under a drizzling rain.
After rallying outside City Hall, marchers lobbied City Council members for legislation to curb stop-and-frisks and create stronger oversight of the NYPD’s use of the controversial tactic, which has brought the department under criticism from various civil libertarian groups.
The marchers were joined by City Councilman Jumaane Williams, whose brief handcuffing by cops during the West Indian Day parade is being probed by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
“Our community is under siege,” charged the Brooklyn Democrat, who marched with Kirsten John Foy, a top aide to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
The pair were detained by cops during the Labor Day festivities for trying to pass through a restricted area on their way to a parade reception.
Williams, who is black, has previously said that cops wouldn’t have bothered him had he been white.
But on Wednesday, Williams said he joined the march because of his opposition to rampant stop-and-frisks, though he admitted the parade flap has given him an axe to grind.
“I would have been out here anyway,” Williams said. “What happened on Labor Day makes it even more personal.”
He said he is currently drafting legislation to limit stop-and-frisks.
A record 601,055 people were stopped and questioned last year, NYPD stats show, and the department is on track to top that this year.
NYDailyNews
Teens March Across BK Bridge To Protest NYPD’s Stop & Frisk Policy
Last year, A record 601,055 people were stopped and questioned
by the NYPD. Yesterday, hundreds of NYC teens fought back by marching across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest against the NYPD’S stop & frisk policy. These teens feel they’ve been racial profiled & unfairly judged based on their ethnicity.
Amanda Mullen
Hundreds of teens who say they’ve been targeted for questioning by cops because of their ethnicity marched over the Brooklyn Bridge Wednesday to protest the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy.
One marcher said cops have stopped and questioned him some 20 times.
“I have been given many different reasons,” said Romale Johnson, 20, an organizer with Make The Road New York, a sponsor of the march.
“They say, ‘You fit the description,’ or ‘You looked suspicious,’ or ‘This is just part of a routine.’”
Organizers with the Campaign for Just and Fair Policing complain that blacks and Latinos are nine times as likely as whites to be stopped, questioned and sometimes frisked. Recent NYPD stats show that only about 12% of these stops have led to an arrest or a summons.
“The police are harassing people for no apparent reason,” said Tyrice Peeples, 19, a Brooklyn high school student. “Cops stop me and my friends for no reason.”
Police brass say the practice drives down crime.
“Violence is still disproportionately centered in minority communities,” the NYPD’s top spokesman, Paul Browne, said in a statement. He noted that 97% of shooting victims last year were black or Latino.
Protesters Wednesday used plastic buckets as makeshift drums as they marched over the bridge’s pedestrian walkway under a drizzling rain.
After rallying outside City Hall, marchers lobbied City Council members for legislation to curb stop-and-frisks and create stronger oversight of the NYPD’s use of the controversial tactic, which has brought the department under criticism from various civil libertarian groups.
The marchers were joined by City Councilman Jumaane Williams, whose brief handcuffing by cops during the West Indian Day parade is being probed by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
“Our community is under siege,” charged the Brooklyn Democrat, who marched with Kirsten John Foy, a top aide to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
The pair were detained by cops during the Labor Day festivities for trying to pass through a restricted area on their way to a parade reception.
Williams, who is black, has previously said that cops wouldn’t have bothered him had he been white.
But on Wednesday, Williams said he joined the march because of his opposition to rampant stop-and-frisks, though he admitted the parade flap has given him an axe to grind.
“I would have been out here anyway,” Williams said. “What happened on Labor Day makes it even more personal.”
He said he is currently drafting legislation to limit stop-and-frisks.
A record 601,055 people were stopped and questioned last year, NYPD stats show, and the department is on track to top that this year.
NYDailyNews0
After a group of locked-out NBA all-stars took part in a charity game last weekend in South Florida, Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony said he wants to hold a similar game in New York. And on Tuesday, while promoting his new basketball shoe, Anthony’s Knicks superstar teammate Amar’e Stoudemire said the locked out players are mulling the idea of starting their own league.
“If we don’t go to Europe, we’re going to start our own league, that’s how I see it,” Stoudemire told reporters in Manhattan, where he was promoting the release of his new Nike shoe. “It’s very serious. It’s a matter of us strategically coming up with a plan, a blueprint and putting it together. So we’ll see how this lockout goes. If it goes one or two years, we’ve got to start our own league.”
Well, if either Anthony or Stoudemire gets his wish and the locked out players need a place to play, the Prudential Center would be willing to host them, according to Robert Sommer, a spokesman for the four-year-old Newark arena.
“We can do it,” Sommer said of hosting barnstorming NBA players in games. “And we would love to host Carmelo.”
The Nets are renting dates at Prudential Center, which is controlled by the NHL’s Devils, for the 2011-12 season before a planned move to Brooklyn and the new Barclays Center next fall. So, while a building like Madison Square Garden — which is owned by the people who own the Knicks — wouldn’t stage games featuring locked-out NBA players, the Prudential Center is free to entertain any act, or show, that can pay the rent.
Source
NBA: Prudential Center Would Love To Host Carmelo Anthony NY/NJ Exhibition Game & Other Games
After a group of locked-out NBA all-stars took part in a charity game last weekend in South Florida, Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony said he wants to hold a similar game in New York. And on Tuesday, while promoting his new basketball shoe, Anthony’s Knicks superstar teammate Amar’e Stoudemire said the locked out players are mulling the idea of starting their own league.
“If we don’t go to Europe, we’re going to start our own league, that’s how I see it,” Stoudemire told reporters in Manhattan, where he was promoting the release of his new Nike shoe. “It’s very serious. It’s a matter of us strategically coming up with a plan, a blueprint and putting it together. So we’ll see how this lockout goes. If it goes one or two years, we’ve got to start our own league.”
Well, if either Anthony or Stoudemire gets his wish and the locked out players need a place to play, the Prudential Center would be willing to host them, according to Robert Sommer, a spokesman for the four-year-old Newark arena.
“We can do it,” Sommer said of hosting barnstorming NBA players in games. “And we would love to host Carmelo.”
The Nets are renting dates at Prudential Center, which is controlled by the NHL’s Devils, for the 2011-12 season before a planned move to Brooklyn and the new Barclays Center next fall. So, while a building like Madison Square Garden — which is owned by the people who own the Knicks — wouldn’t stage games featuring locked-out NBA players, the Prudential Center is free to entertain any act, or show, that can pay the rent.
Source0
Yesterday we posted the audio from when Drizzy stopped by Funk Flex’s show to debut his new song “Make Me Proud,” now today we have the visuals of how it went down. Check out the video below of Drizzy Drake taking over Hot 97!
Source
Drake Visits Hot 97 on the Funk Flex Show; Talks Serena Williams, Pusha T Subliminal Shot, Rihanna Romance; Wayne’s Jay-Z Diss and More
Yesterday we posted the audio from when Drizzy stopped by Funk Flex’s show to debut his new song “Make Me Proud,” now today we have the visuals of how it went down. Check out the video below of Drizzy Drake taking over Hot 97!
Source0
BET AWARDS RECAP, BET CYPHER OCTOBER 11TH, 2011
ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OVER AT The BoomBox ::: The 2011 BET Hip-Hop Awards offered bars upon bars from some of rap's finest MCs. From T.I., Young Jeezy, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean to Heavy D and more Young Jeezy, 'F.A.M.E.' & T.I., 'I'm Flexin'' Young Jeezy came out of the shadows, decked out in all-white everything and shades, commencing the 2011 BET Hip-Hop Awards with a performance of his new hit, 'F.A.M.E.' With fire lighting up both sides of the stage, the trap star heated up the center floor with his rhymes. A surprise was the song's featured MC T.I., who came out of the shadows dressed in a grey Gucci sweatsuit. "What's up, world?" he shouted before moving into his verse. The formerly incarcerated rapper closed the set with his new Big K.R.I.T.-produced track, 'I'm Flexin'.' "A-Town, we back!" Tip stated before exiting the stage. Wiz Khalifa, 'Taylor Gang' Featuring Chevy Woods A shirtless Wiz jumped around the stage with more stamina than the Energizer Bunny. Rocking khaki cut-off shorts and knee-high tube socks with his sneaks, the slim-waisted rapper performed with his 'Taylor Gang' collaborator Chevy Woods in front of a backdrop of flashing lights and flames. Wale, 'That Way' & Meek Mill, 'I'ma Boss' Featuring Rick Ross With a growing empire, it only makes sense that Maybach Music Group's logo would boast the power color of red as its signees and label boss took the stage. Before Waleand Meek Mill took their turn on the mic, veteran R&B singer El Debarge crooned a few lyrics, though he sounded rusty and in need of some more vocal practice. The 'Ambition' creator, donning a denim jacket and Nike Air Mags, then graced the stage to perform his hit 'That Way,' preceding his MMG colleague Meek's anthemic track 'I'ma Boss,' of course which spawned an assist from Ricky Rozay, who was dressed in a sateen navy tracksuit. DMX 'Get at Me Dog,' 'Ruff Ryders' Anthem,' 'Party Up (Up in Here)' DMX brought it back to the old school with a rap medley of throw-back jams. The recently-released-from-jail rapper came back strong with three of his classics, the first two from '98 and the last from 2000, while sporting a puffy vest, low slung jeans and silver studded black T. Lupe Fiasco, 'Words I Never Said' Chi-town's conscious rhymer performed his 'Lasers' single, 'Words I Never Said,' sansSkylar Grey, but instead, brought out a woman cloaked in a black mask to sing the hook. As Fiasco rapped through the political tune with a full band behind him, he rocked his mic -- decorated with a flag representing Palestine -- to and fro. His eyes stayed shut during his entire set, even when rocking out during the mysterious woman's -- she turned out to be Erykah Badu -- crooning. The song's lyrics displayed on a screen behind the rhymer, who was decked out in a black T-shirt decorated with the words "occupy" to pay homage to the recent Occupy Wall Street protests. Big Sean, 'I Do It,' Big Sean & Roscoe Dash, 'Marvin and Chardonnay' Jean vest, black leather shirt and red hoodie-rockin' Big Sean did his thing with 'I Do It' while black-and-white animation rolled on the jumbo TV screen in the background. Sean was joined by a bicep-flashing Roscoe Dash, who donned an army green zipper-clad vest with a silver "R" screen printed on the back. The two performed their Kanye West-assisted 'Marvin and Chardonnay,' but no appearance from Yeezy himself for this stage collab, the guys held it down as a twosome, all the same. Heavy D 'Nuttin' But Love,' 'Is It Good to You,' 'Now That We Found Love' Featuring Tyrese The 2011 BET Hip-Hop Awards took viewers on a trip down memory lane when late '80s rap star Heavy D grabbed the mic for a special show of his classic hits. Opening his set with a medley that included the famed 'Teach Me How to Dougie' dance, Heavy proved age is nothing but a number as he kicked off some dance moves like a rhymer half his age. He eased through his famed tracks 'Nuttin' But Love,' 'Is It Good to You' and 'Now That We Found Love,' which brought out an all-black everything sportingTyrese to sing the hook. Hip Hop Awards '11: Maybach Music Group Cypher Cypher: Rick Ross, Wale, Pill, Stalley and Meek Mill Hip Hop Awards ’11: International Flow Cypher Cypher: France’s Soprano and Houston’s Lecrae. Nitty Scott, MC and R&B' Estelle Hip Hop Awards ’11: Chris Brown & Friends Cypher Cypher: Chris Brown, Ace Hood , Kevin McCall, and Tyga Hip Hop Awards ’11: Shady 2.0 Cypher Cypher: Yelawolf,Slaughterhouse(Joe Budden,Crooked I,Joell Ortiz,Royce Da 5’9), Eminem Hip Hop Awards ’11: Indie Meets Mainstream Cypher Cypher: Big K.R.I.T.,Tech N9ne, Machine Gun Kelly, Kendrick Lamar,and B.o.B. Hip Hop Awards '11: Uncut Cypher—Busta Rhymes, Ludacris & More Cypher: Busta Rhymes, Reek da Villain, 2 Chainz and Ludacris Hip Hop Awards ’11: Survival of the Illest Cypher Cypher:Lady of Rage, Blind Fury, Dom Kennedy and Mad Skillz SOURCE: http://aol.it/nfk6iq & www.bet.com0
@BIGSEAN PERFORMANCE VIDEO FOOTAGE @CLUBOLENJ 10/7/11 #CLASSIC
LAST FRIDAY BIG SEAN TITLED CLUB OLE, 1300+ IN ATTENDANCE FOR THIS PARTY, SPECIAL GUEST HOST HOT97'S ANGIE MARTINEZ,MODEL ANGELA ROSADO, HEAVY HITTER'S: DJ WALLAH & DJ KASTONE, DJ NASTY, DJ SHY, DJ DOUGHBOY HELD IT DOWN ON THE 1'S & 2'S
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