Lorenzo Charles

Even though I wasn't even born back then and even though I'm a UNC fan, I still have a lot of respect for Lorenzo Charles and one of the great moments in college basketball history. He was the guy who took Dereck Whittenburg's "air ball" shot and turned it into the dunk that gave Jim Valvano's underdog NC State team the 1983 National Championship. Today, I was shocked to hear that Lorenzo died in a bus accident right in North Carolina. Apparently he was working for a charter bus company and crashed the bus he was driving on the highway.

I just wanted to say thanks to a great player in the game of basketball who was just in the right place at the right time and solidified his place in sports history. As Dick Vitale tweeted: "Lorenzo THANKS 4 a super moment in the history of the NCAA - Your DUNK created magic 4 hoop lovers -will be treasured by many forever- RIP!"

Wishy-Washy

You know, I'm getting sick of people who are criticizing Pres. Obama on his war plan in Afghanistan. I mean, there were people who blamed the president about being there in the first place (even though he was not the president who started this war) and now they're blaming him about his troop draw down plan. I believe the president said it best during his speech saying that it was "time to do nation building at home." He's right. We need to start building up our nation here at home and become even stronger.

In addition, the troop draw down doesn't mean that every single soldier is coming home. The ones coming home in the near future are only a fraction of the troops who are in Afghanistan. The entire process will not be completed until 2014. Plus, this will cut the spending on the war, saving the country some much needed money. I don't see why this is such a big deal.

I would like to tell those people who are criticizing Pres. Obama, "if you think he's doing a bad job with it, why don't you get up there and do something about it?" I bet I wouldn't have too many takers on that one. Anyway, the bottom line is people need to be patient and see what this does first before just automatically bashing it. I may not have agreed on every single decision the president has made but I'll be voting for him in the next election not because of his political beliefs or party affiliation but because he's tried harder than any other president I've seen under these circumstances! 

Super 8

I normally don't like those thriller/scary movies a lot but something about "Super 8" made me want to see it. So I did today and, let me tell you, it was well worth the $23 I paid to see it! I got to see it in IMAX which made it even better and I was impressed by it so much that I have to say it was the movie of the year for me!

I won't give too much away but I will say that the big "secret" of the movie is revealed as we see what is wreaking havoc in the town. Even though this movie will scare you multiple times (almost to the point of peeing your pants) it has a great story line between two of the kids. Alright, that's all I'll say. If you want to find out the rest, go see the movie! Like my prediction with District 9 a year ago, I believe "Super 8" will win an Oscar.

Too Much Celebration

You know, it's natural to celebrate after a huge win, especially for the Mavs after beating the Heat in the NBA Finals. However, the celebration seemed to have gone a little too far with one of the players. DeShawn Stevenson was found not knowing where he was at an apartment complex in Irving, Texas.

After field sobriety tests, he was arrested and charged with public intoxication. I tell you, it's great that the Mavs won the championship and all but it really is ashame that this one thing can put a damper on the excitement in Dallas. Not a very smart move!

Not Gonna Happen

Many people thought the Miami Heat could win an NBA Championship...well multiple championships when they put together the "Big Three" of Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Lebron James. Well, let's just say that didn't happen. The Dallas Mavericks beat the Heat last night to win their first NBA Championship in franchise history. I only thought it was perfect because of all Lebron did to his previous team on the way to his new one. In case you didn't know, he basically had this whole primetime TV event to announce whether he would stay at Cleveland or go to another team. As you can see, he went to another team, the Heat, leaving many (if not all) Cleveland fans angry to say the least.

Now, I don't really care a whole lot about the NBA but, as a person, I didn't like how Lebron did a whole primetime TV special just to announce what team he was going to. I mean, no other player in the NBA did that or would do it for that matter. Not even Michael Jordan himself who, in my opinion, is the best basketball player of all time. Seriously, who cares about that? I don't want to watch some kind of primetime special with all that crap; just tell me his decision! Even though all the hype was about the Heat, the Mavs still had the will and heart to win and they did!

Great Start To Summer

College can be a really fun time for anyone but it can also cause lots of headaches. One of these is paying for it. I was very fortunate last year as I received enough financial aid (all grants) to pay for my entire tuition. The only thing I paid extra for was my meal plan. This coming year will pretty much be the same but there will be something different. Instead of all the "awards" being grants, two are loans. The loans aren't a tremendous amount but this still upsets me because I had planned to go through college without loans. I guess that won't be happening now.

What really makes me mad, though, is you have people like me who struggle to pay for college (or worse) while there are people like my friend who had enough financial aid to pay for all his tuition and get a check in the mail for a substantial amount of his aid money that was leftover. I personally think that isn't fair at all! Unfortunately, I can see why a lot of people drop out of college. Both our federal and state governments need to make college more affordable for us all!

Weiner In The Doghouse

Courtesy: The Washington Post

Sorry for the cheesy title, but Congressman Anthony Weiner is the winner of my Oops Award for the week. His situation is just the latest in a fall from grace for politicians. First there was Arnold Schwarzenegger, then the continuing fall from grace for John Edwards (that's a whole post in and of itself) and now Weiner.

In case you've been living under a rock for the past couple weeks, Congressman Weiner tweeted out a photo of himself to a college student and publicly lied about it. He later came clean and told ABC News that he has "engaged in 'several inappropriate' relationships with six women over the past three years." What's more? This guy just got married not to long ago.

Come on man, really? You are a public figure in the public eye 24/7. Did you actually think you were going to get away with this? That's one drawback of social newtork sites (and the Internet): you always have someone watching your every move. It's ashame but that's how it goes nowadays. It's just flat out RIDICULOUS that we can't even trust our own politicians!   

New Favorite Show

After watching a couple episodes I've become a fan of America's Best Dance Crew on MTV. First off, the dancing is incredible and, second, it's the dawg Randy Jackson's creation; so you know it's good!

If you watch it you'll know who I'm talking about but there is a crew on there named ICONic Boyz and they are just flat out incredible dancers. I heard about them a month ago on Twitter and pulled up vids of their dances.

I was hooked to not only them but the show itself. What's even more awesome is the members of that crew are the youngest on the show, ranging in age from 10-13! And they're dancing like that? That's crazy!

The finale of the show is this Sunday and the ICONic Boyz, from Jersey, are facing off against iaMmE, a culturally diverse (and very innovative) crew from Texas.

I watched the first part of the finale tonight and I was wowed by the dance battle between the crews at the end of the show. I decided to post the video of it below...

Death By Mentos

This by far gets my Oops Award for the week...