The following short posts are meant to be read aloud in your best Ghostface Killah voice: a real heavy Staten Island, ghetto, authoritative, prison-trained accent that requires lingual dexterity.  You need to stay on your dean to get all that you can out what is on the screen right now.  It's almost 5%, but not really, so I suspect you'll do okay if you can talk like you got some sense and understand how the words should be stressed.

The Foreign Exchange

I forgot to tell you people that I went to the Foreign Exchange show at The Black Cat not too long ago. (I want to say it was March 6.) Normally I’m not that all that thrilled about going to R&B shows, especially alone, but I had to make the trip to see what it was all about. Yeah, great music is something that you have to go and see with or without a date, sometimes. “Something To Behold.” I don’t have any pictures so you’ll have to take my word for it.  I guess you'll also have to take my word that The Foreign Exchange put on a good show.  The opening act was cute.

There were some things there, too, but all bunned. I drank Guinness and called it early.

Guess That Stylist

So Keyshia Cole came to Washington DC to some NABOB event where she received R&B singer of the year. March 19 and a child must have been thinking, “Oh, what to wear? What to wear?” You get the picture. But if you didn’t get the pictures here is how it went down in my mind. We didn’t linger at the NABOB event even though DJ Clark Kent was spinning for the people in tuxedos at the Woodley Park hotel. Instead, Lysa and I went to Dukem on U Street and then to Rudy & Natalie’s to check on the kids. Once again this proved to be the best plan. The McGann’s make it pop off.

And then Tom sent me a text and said that Lysa was looking good in VIBE with T.I. on the cover. (There is a short article on Lysa in that VIBE, too.)  I remember actually who-riding the set because T.I. isn't even in jail yet and his picture alluded to a certain transformation made by one Malcolm "Detroit Red" Little into Malcolm X.  (A transformation that was made while he was currently incarcerated is such a miracle when one considers the American system of justice and how it relates to oppression -especially pronounced in his time.)  Incidentally, I can make the same argument for the transformation made by Malcolm X into one El Hajj Malik el Shabazz.  That is right black knowledge right there.  That's free for the streets right there.  I stole these pictures from Bossip so I feel I have to give a little something back.  Quietly, Bossip is a secret addiction of mine.  Don't tell nobody, though. 

I guess nobody told Keyshia that her dress was a little too short to be on a stage sitting on a stool.  For obvious reasons I'm actually a fan of that move, though.  I'm only mentioning this because there are folks out there that think that my sister's job is to actually select the actual outfit for the artist.  Without giving away her trade secrets, I will merely state that Lysa is more apt to show the world anyway.  I'm going to need to keep my man union card and its already bad enough that my sister has me writing about fashion on my blog.  Is it really that deep?

And NABOB means National Association of Black Own Broadcasters so you need to study on that.

I’m Too Busy Working; Stags Lost at Alhambra; Dream Big

I’m in the midst of major project productions so I haven’t been following the Stags at Alhambra.  As a direct result of my inattention, I believe they lost to St. Francis of Baltimore and they will not be playing for the Championship as they previously had dreamed. I know that it kind of sucks but let’s be honest here for a second: as long as the Stags didn’t lose to Gonzaga I’m okay. We definitely got our shine on this year and nobody can take that away from the DeMatha Stags. Two out of three goals for the year aren’t bad. Naji Hibbert was right when he said that there aren’t that many DeMatha teams that are able to win the triple crown of Washington DC metropolitan area basketball.

This year’s team is certainly worthy of a favorable recording in history having won the WCAC regular season championship, WCAC tournament championship, and City Title. Sure it wasn’t exactly the triple crown that we would have liked, but we also won our game on ESPNU against Bishop O’Connell. That was a big time win, mark my words. DeMatha will be featured on national television again, next year, my friends. The future is looking bright for the Stags. Quinn Cook is coming back.  Victor Oladipo is coming back. Jerian Grant is coming back. Michael Hopkins is coming back. James Robinson is coming back. If this season was about coping with loss, and I suspect it was, then certainly next season is about to be the blossoming of the seedlings.

Mike Jones has sown his garden well and there are only better kids coming like the Kardashians. The league has to deal with at least two guys in every Stag class that want to go out like winners and the varsity is completely stacked up. Can anyone think of a basketball team more balanced than that in any league in the country? These guys could break records. If they mess around and have two more years of 30 wins and minimal losses a National Championship isn’t inconceivable. I don’t know if we have a solid post presence that can steady us for a run like that but if one were to materialize I think that it would be safe to say that the Stags should dream as big as Kim's ass. We haven’t won one since I was in school: 1991, and if you’ve been following DeMatha then you know we’re just about due.

Anyway, keeping it totally real, the Stags did a hell of a job and this was only the beginning.  There will be more girls paraded on this site victoriously.  Monica Sofia, Kourtney and Kim Kardashian are here to show you that your three titles aren't bad.  Sure the photos could have been better, like the football championship, but these still are not completely terrible.  Sure Alhambra would have been nice, but we still have the regular season, tournament and City Title to console ourselves with. We still red, white and blue. 

We're still America's Catholic High School Team.  Stags are going to continue to run this. 

GO STAGS!

Sugar Ray Cooper is a Celebrity

Here’s the part where I tell you that my life is ridiculous and everyone always pretends like their life can somehow compare. I mean people that aren’t my friends. The people that are my friends are just as weird and their lives are touched in some special way as well so it doesn’t really apply to them like that. But anyway in the latest issue of Cooper chronicles Sugar Ray, my sister’s black terrier, was recently caught out on a frozen lake chasing geese and my man Eric had to save him. In an ordinary person’s life, Eric wouldn’t be one of the founding father’s of reality television (Real World New York) and he wouldn’t be stripped down naked swimming in a frozen lake.

No, seriously, I’m totally not kidding. It’s totally true and there are pictures and Internet news stories to prove it. Sugar Ray Cooper is official in the game. I would also like to take this time to tell you that Eric is totally out of control. Once he tried to sell my friend on this pee therapy and he’s always doing a lot of healthy fasting and all that kind of stuff. Two summers ago (the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love) he got into a contest with Dirty Jefe to see who could get the tannest. Eric is always into something super white boy, hippie, but usually with a super healthy slant to it as well. His girlfriend is always smoking hot and super healthy too. They travel the world together holding it down and surfing and looking beautiful while healing people for a living.

I’m not kidding. What the hell kind of life is that? It was crap like this that I was paid to warn kids against when I was teaching biology and chemistry at Xavier and now they are, quite brazenly, my idols. Eric strips down naked and swims in a frozen lake to save my sister’s dog and magically cameras appear and he doesn’t even die in a death defying heroic act. You can’t make this stuff up. An ordinary person tries to do this nobody sees him drown and everyone is talking about how stupid he was to risk his life for a dog at his funeral because he kept his clothes on and froze like a Eskimo pie. Does anyone else see the irony in all of this? Mr. Coconut Water gets to talk about getting in a “horse stance” and “rapid punching” another day when the average Joe would most certainly be dead.

Okay, I clearly got the photos from TMZ, and so is the link above, but you get the general idea.  I don't really promote TMZ like that, but whatever.  There it is.  If I get enough of a positive response on this Eric stuff I promise to show you video of Eric on the surfboard simulator at the Venice Beach place.  That video is gold, I tell you.  Gold.

You probably already guessed by now that DeMatha won the DC City Title Game last night 55-48 over Ballou Senior High School at the Verizon Center. I went to the game with Maverick and Maven so that they could see how Stags lived, so I won’t go into the details of the game.

The main thing is that DeMatha has won a bunch of these titles. Actually they have won over a score (20) of the prestigious titles claiming high school basketball supremacy over the District of Columbia metropolitan area. By my rudimentary count, I have us at 21 City Titles. That is no small feat, people. You see in order to even win one City Title, you would have to win either the WCAC or DCIAA tournament. Of course, doing well in the tournament would probably be preceded by your doing well during the regular season, too.

In the case of both leagues, sustaining such greatness over such a stretch of time is extremely difficult because we are dealing in the medium of basketball and teenage boys. Now extending this success and stringing it along over a period of years into a dynasty would be almost unimaginable for every team in either league, except for one: DeMatha Catholic High School for Boys. DeMatha is absolutely awesome people. Awesome like finding a freshman the likes of James Robinson to help continue the winning ways. Kudos to Coach of the Year Mike Jones, who has taken on the challenge of polishing this latest rare gem, as well as many others.  The Washington DC metropolitan area has long been a hotbed of basketball greatness.

Every kid that grows up putting a round ball into a round hoop in this town has dreamt of winning the City Title one day. For the majority of those kids it is the longest of long shots, as they have a better chance of making it to the NBA.* Some fall flat in their goal of achieving Chocolate City roundball royalty status and still go on to greater fortunes or as far as that talent could take them. Other kids go to DeMatha and do what the coaches and teachers say and it eventually pops off.

Oh, DeMatha has sent a few kids to the NBA too. I think that DeMatha likes to send  their players along with championships, though. Think of it as a parting gift.

Picture this scene at graduation, sometime in June.

Pan the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine. Zoom in slowly to caps and gowns in red and blue.

Diplomas are finished being passed out and newly minted alumni are filing out towards Michigan Avenue on the campus of Catholic University.

Random alumnus speaks. “Oh did you get your championship before you left, brother?”

Notre Dame Recruit: “Why yes, I’ve got two in football. Do you need one? I have one to spare.”

DeMatha is out of control. I’ve been saying it for years and so I had to finally start documenting it on this web site for the purpose of posterity. Put quite plain and simply the Stags like winning. In fact, they have a tradition of winning. DeMatha just doesn’t train kids like monkeys to win games for high school glory, people. DeMatha is educating kids at how to succeed in the game of life. "You could play basketball anywhere," as Naji Hibbert once said in an interview. If you wanted to learn mental toughness from some of the best that ever did it then you would have no other choice in that matter than to attend DeMatha. If you don't believe me, click on Naji's link and watch him tell it. Kids want to be challenged and getting their mettle tested is in their long term best interest.

Someone needs to tell Ballou's Chris Mozee, named the most outstanding player with 21 points in the loss, that short term thinking will eventually leave you shorter than his "interview." [Go back up there and click on the longest of long shots, please.] The kids that stick with the DeMatha program and apply the principles are all successes on some level, in some field of human endeavor. Life is not a game. The game of life is a metaphor or hyperbole or some shit like that. If you have to drive two hours a day to go to DeMatha you just shut the fuck up and do it. Don’t worry; momma will get you a car or something if you are doing it like that. Me, personally, I took the bus. I remember getting on the 70 bus and changing at Silver Spring station to the F-4. Another kid’s dad was one of the bus drivers on the way home sometimes.

That’s back when I held it down on Sheridan Street. We’re talking 1989 when the dope boys was making serious paper on the basketball courts and shooting each other. (And I’m from New York, so I meant to say “was.”) Ma’ said that the music program was the best and she wasn’t lying but between taking the bus and walking around in the uniform I saw and heard it all. People from all walks of life would comment on what their DeMatha moment was. A lot of it was about sports, but not all of it. Occasionally, someone would say something like, “I wish I had gone to DeMatha.” Or, “I wish I could have convinced my son to stay at DeMatha. Maybe he would have had the chance to make something of himself.”

Those are the things that always stuck with me whether I was wearing the uniform or it was long after I had put it away, forever. These guys have been getting championships like water from a well because the system is proven and working. Kids are getting all kinds of scholarships, left and right, and studying everything from science, art, politics and religion. Sure there are a lot of other schools that could probably say even better things about their academic achievements but if we’re talking whole person and well roundedness then we are all Stags. Anyway, I could ramble on and on about the Stags. I do it like it’s my job. What that says about me, I may never fully understand.

I do know that the DeMatha Stags kick ass though. They also always look cool holding up the number one for the cameras flashing about as they pose with championship trophies. They do it all the time, people. Nothing to see here… move along. Nothing to see here… keep it moving. As for me, I’m ecstatic that the Stags won another title and I thank God that there are some things that just look right in the world or there is no telling where my sanity would be. When I would go out to sea –in the absence of media hype I would check for the Stags. I’ve checked for the Stags from islands that you’ve never heard of. I’ve been stopped on the street wearing a DeMatha t-shirt in Frederiksted, Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam, and Madrid.

Anyway, I had to have enough writing to justify all these photos of the Stags.

They really do look cool, you know? I asked Maverick who he thought the best player on the team was and he said, “Number two. [Quinn Cook] He kept getting to the backboard.”  This Maverick kid is 8 years old.  You would think his parents were black geniuses or something with the way he espouses such right knowledge. 

Maven was too busy being mesmerized by the Ballou Senior High School band and dancers to really care. Even though she’ll never be a Stag she still had the good sense to root for them. That little girl is as smart as they come.

The basketball season isn’t over yet for the Stags. Once again, DeMatha has been invited to the prestigious Alhambra Tournament in Cumberland, Maryland. I hope we win it.

* Means that statistics might not actually be factual, but by all practical accounts in my head there is no way that DeMatha represents more than 1% of the total high school basketball population and more than that percentage are eventually selected to the NBA.  Think of it like this: if DeMatha has won 21/49 City Titles offered, and you didn't even go to DeMatha then how the fuck do you expect you are going to win this motherfucking game in your four chances of trying?  Are you sure that your team is even going?  Hungh?

GO STAGS!

On Thursday, March 5^th the DeMatha Stags won the 2009 WCAC championship in basketball 62-61, over rival Gonzaga. A balanced scoring attack and an adequate defensive effort proved to be just enough for the Stags to stifle the Purple Eagles in a tight contest that featured many lead changes down the stretch. Naji Hibbert (11 pts) was the recipient of an outstanding pass from Jerian Grant (10 pts) and he was able to lay it up in the final seconds of the third meeting of the two teams this season. Gonzaga only managed to win their home game against the Stags, and DeMatha celebrated their second win over the Purple Eagles in style: with a championship.

Freshman James Robinson (9 pts) was definitely impressive for DeMatha, almost becoming the fifth player in double figures behind Quinn Cook (13 pts), Victor Oladipo (10 pts), Jerian Grant and Naji Hibbert. Another impressive feat was the fact that this basketball team effectively lost their leading scorer and a consensus All American from its roster when a star junior guard had to be dismissed for disciplinary reasons. The DeMatha Stags persevered under the guidance and leadership of their outstanding coach Mike Jones and didn’t seem to suffer very long from the absence of a proven scoring juggernaut. With their national ranking intact in two meetings against previously ranked Gonzaga, the DeMatha Stags realized their opportunity at making a name for themselves as a championship basketball team.

Everyone down to the role players on this team like Mikael Hopkins (6 pts) and senior Marcus Rouse (3 pts) did their part to make this season a tremendous success. The DeMatha Stags will go on to play in the Washington DC City Title Game versus public school champion Ballou Senior High on Monday, March 9. Of course, I plan on being in attendance to witness, perhaps, a crowning achievement by what has to be the finest coaching job that anyone has witnessed in a while. It is not everyday in which you can plainly see the success of a program fully exposed as when a coach has his players so heavily invested in the system that they are able to stay the course of winning ways despite losing such a highly regarded asset as a leading scorer. This tour de force is only magnified when you consider that this particular previous leading scorer was named one of the top five guards in the country despite being only a junior.

A serious focal point such as Josh Selby could have been enough to derail most teams trying to gather the necessary steam in order to locomotive through the playoffs. The rumors swirled about and lingered for almost two months, right up until the very last game of the regular season and starting in mid-January. Everything from felonious allegations to an early exit to the NBA was discussed on sports forums throughout the country and yet somehow the surprisingly young Stags didn’t drop a game in the month of February. Coach Mike Jones dropped a game against Good Counsel at home after seemingly bouncing back on January 30, and never looked back. Thirteen wins later Coach Mike Jones and the Stags are vindicated in their decision to put the team above any one player. Can there be any doubt that the kings of the WCAC are still playing the game the way it was supposed to be played?

Its pretty hard not to get caught up in just another piece about DeMatha winning another championship because the Stags do it so much, but I want all of you out there to know that there is something to it. Kids that go to DeMatha usually want to win pretty badly before they even get there, but after that they are still subject to superior coaching. Mike Jones is just the latest example in a long list of capable leaders that continually make successes out of our young men on the courts, fields and most importantly, in the class rooms. Out of all of the rankings everywhere, I bet that you won’t find a school more dedicated to producing quality individuals regardless of the sport that is being ranked. And despite all of the undercurrents of foul play, misguided priorities, diploma mills, and racially exploitive tactics that are typical labels associated with the powerhouses on such lists, DeMatha has always risen above while enjoying success. That is the astounding part.

Let’s be completely honest. I had another outstanding weekend. As you may know, from a historical perspective this weekend meant a lot to my family because Lysa decided to move back to Prince & Crosby. (You know the place where Lysa used to team up with Ellen Von Unwerth and have supermodels coming through like, “what?” Well its back on.) I don’t want you to think that she’s leaving Rose Avenue or West 11^th & Bleecker, though. Lysa, in typical Lysa fashion, is going to hold down Venice Beach and the West Village too. My sister isn’t made of money, and we’re all doing our parts to make it work, but after six years it’s going down. My job was to help Lysa move into the brand new old digs that she held down for 14 years, and to stay on at West 11^th and Bleecker with Joel and the Sector 9 crew.

As you can see the guy with the sweetest deal is, once again, me. I could do this in my sleep.  Supervising movers and partying with Joel is what I do, people. Lysa couldn’t have found a better man for the job. So the breakdown is like this now: girls are going to be at Lysa’s place at Prince and Crosby and the boys will hold down the West Village from now on. (I know –big surprise.) Lysa & Tori together with Fresh Clean Media (Shelby), versus Joel & I together with Sector 9 (EG) is how its popping off. The rotation is New York City, Los Angeles, and Oahu. Maui, San Diego and Washington DC are added by default. Obviously franchising your icon status and aligning yourself with a profitable corporate sponsorship has a lot to do with making something like this happen.

2009 is really getting hype these days because there seems to be a lot of big plans in the works. I have no idea what Lysa has up her sleeve for NoLIta / SoHo but I know that the West Ville is going to be all about boards. Kookbox Surfboards is in full effect and I’ll be blogging them from The Purple Room in exchange for free reign and holding it down. This time Joel is determined to do this surfboard company right, so we’re keeping everything in-house and tightly circled. The idea is to have multiple cities to launch urban surf culture. Most people don’t think of surfing as an urban sport but Kookbox is out to change all of that. When I tell you that it is about to jump off, it is really about to jump off, so you better start getting your psyche prepared. The talent level of this crew is so thorough; I do not believe that it will fail.

So with most of the pieces coming together this past weekend we did what any other thorough crew would have done in New York City. We partied. Or rather, I should say, that Lysa made us all help in the move and then after we put her house together somewhat, we partied. When I first got there, I saw The Purple Room in a state of boxes and Danny Fuller was watching American Gangster on the long purple couch while Tori was in the bedroom. I couldn’t believe that all Lysa’s stuff was ready to be carted away the next day when the movers arrived, or that I would be willing to do it. By the time that Joel and Lysa arrived back to the killer pad on Friday night it was 11 PM and I was drinking Glenfiddich scotch rather heavily. Not long after, Lysa went to one of her girlfriend’s houses and Tori went out with her friends. Joel was talking about hitting up Goldbar, so we bounced and left Danny Fuller there by himself to his own devices.

Joel and I kicked it at Goldbar and sipped free whiskey courtesy of the crew that did the photo shoot of him earlier that day. It was a really good look for a little while, but it was a little crowded so we went to Beatrice. Beatrice really wasn’t much better on what was now early Saturday morning so we went back to The Purple Room and passed out. When I woke up the moving almost started immediately. On no food, fresh off the Blackberry, I commenced to hauling boxes down five flights of steps. Sometimes I really believe that I am super human. The only reason why I know that I’m not is because I almost passed out and had to eat a bacon cheeseburger at The Savoy restaurant, downstairs, in order to complete the job. I also ordered three Little Frankie’s pizzas and shared it with Danny and Tori so they could see how good the variety of New York’s exceptional pizza really was.

I think that they got the hint. My buddy from DeMatha and The Six of Us photo, Joseph Polowczuk also surprised me by coming through shortly thereafter and helped us out a little with his girlfriend Christine. (Incidentally, Joe also helped Lysa in the move from that very same place to L.A. six years earlier, so there was a little bit of a full-circle thing happening.) People flowed in and out of the house like the old days and it brought back memories from when Loosie would roam and Belinda & Willow were afoot. The nostalgia of it all had me choking back the tears and it might have even distracted us from realizing that the move wasn’t going as well as it could have. We weren’t able to get the table in through the window like last time, and it also precluded getting the couch in, but we still wound up partying afterwards. Danny, Tori, Joel and I walked on down to La Esquina for some tacos and even took some pictures for our homeboy who couldn't be there.  I don’t know where we found the energy to go to Goldbar and Beatrice again, but that is exactly what happened.

Sunday, I was on chill. The east coast was anticipating a snow storm and I was already thinking about my responsibilities for the week. Joel and I went to Frank’s Chop Shop and got haircuts before walking to Bread for brunch, and then to Lysa & Tori’s to hold it down. This turned out to be a great plan. I think that I put together a shower organizer or something but to be completely truthful, my memory is a little hazy. I remember buying a bottle of Glen Livet scotch so I could have one over there and that might have contributed to my foggy state of mind. Jah Rib came over and started to discuss his next level plans to do even more Bob Marley surfboards with Joel and to take even more photographs. He also showed a sick video of Joel surfing in Jamaica that was internet ready. Danny Fuller almost topped that by pushing his upcoming photo exhibit downtown (April 2) and for signing with RVCA. Joel took the prize, however, when he said that he was in talks with Dante Ross to do something really spectacular.

I can’t exactly say what it is yet, but let’s just say that A&E is involved, and that it will change the face of the surfing game for a long time to come. I alluded to it in an earlier paragraph when I started talking about capitalizing on iconography. Anyway, all in all, it was a fabulous weekend not because of what we actually did but for the groundwork that was laid. Any good builder knows that it takes a strong foundation in order to hold up a monument that can withstand the test of time. I believe that the crew is coming together in just such an organization. Hip-hop, fashion, surfing, writing, photography, clubbing, skating, judo, jiu-jitsu all go together like we do. March is certainly coming in like a lion. The snow started to blanket New York City right after the sun went down on Sunday but I still went out to dinner anyway.

Afterwards, I went home to pack up the clothes that I never changed into because I decided to leave most of the stuff there, instead. I took a shower and put on my work clothes for the next day and headed to Penn Station to catch the train that would put me slightly ahead of the impending storm and back to Washington DC in time for a full day’s work. When I arrived in Union Station on Monday morning, the first thing that I did was to check to see if DeMatha had done their part of reaching the WCAC Tournament finals, and the Stags didn’t disappoint. It will be DeMatha versus Gonzaga in the finals at American University, on Thursday. (DeMatha and Gonzaga split during the regular season and the Stags beat the Purple Eagles and Saint Johns to close out the season in case you’ve been under a rock.) Of course, I’m going to the game, but I have to weave my way through a treacherous work week full of meetings and proposals. I haven’t decided yet, if I should go back to NYC this weekend for more fun or not. What do you think that I should do? Who do you think is going to win the WCAC championship in basketball in 2009?