The Starting Five

I’m honored to be a part of The Nation’s second sports issue. The mag is now available where mags are sold or my piece can be viewed here. A few months back Dave Zirin (who edited this edition) asked me to write a piece on the state of the Black athlete for what is truly a remarkable issue. The variety of writers allows readers a view rarely seen in sports journalism and should shake things up a bit. This opportunity lets me branch out and show the mainstream what The Starting Five is all about, my intentions as a writer and to also give the The Nation’s readership a perspective provoking no holds barred thought and all inclusive creativity. Hopefully, folks will begin to see sports journalism with a little more objectivity than the 24 hour news cycle allows.

Read more »

Can you feel the love?

The NFL returned to a sports community in dire need of its presence. At times it looked as if the season would be shortened if there was going to be one at all. But in the end, I believe the players and owners both walked away satisfied and able to see eye to eye one some things and a mutual respect for the players that preceeded them.

 With the future of the NBA in worse shape than David Stern cares to admit, the country’s most popular sport returned with free agency as it’s first order of business.  As the NFL returns, so does the weekly Q&A…

Read more »

This Saturday night in Las Vegas, Amir Khan will face Zab Judah in a junior welterweight fight from Las Vegas. To be clear, despite the promotional literature telling you it’s a title unification, it’s not for the Ring magazine title which is universally accepted as the real championship belt. But Amir Khan is using this fight as a chance to make a name for himself, and to see if he can maybe bait top-ranked Timothy Bradley to step in the ring with him and settle that specific championship vacancy.

So here’s the question for Amir Khan: Can he make that climb from a guy who is on the pound-for-pound outskirts to a guy that can create a mandate for himself?

But for Zab Judah, the question is different, but no less important. Can Zab Judah, a guy who has always been marked by what he hasn’t been able to do as much by what he has, finally make that step up to a great fighter? Or will he sink back down to a gatekeeper?

Read more »

When Deron Williams made it official that he was going to sign with Besiktas of the Turkish league it seemed to spark the interest of other players throughout the NBA. Everyone from Kobe Bryant to Dwight Howard has been rumored to be headed abroad this fall/winter. With the encouragement of the NBA players union to continue making a living and little resistance from the opposition - NBA  players are only fulfilling the vision of  David Stern for a Worldwide Basketball Association.

Without possibly seeking a more effective alternative.

Read more »

 July 8th, 2011

Kobe and his peers would go from 40 Million Dollar Slaves to billionaire owners

First things first, rest in power forward professionalism Armen Gilliam. I hope we all go out doing something we have forever loved just the same…

Now…as basketball fans world wide brace for a NBA work stoppage, my agent/manager/brother/friend and I proposed a solution to end the lockout: Take the top 80 players and form a new league…the National Players Association…

Read more »