Top Light-Skinned Backcourts In NBA History

Before the NBA Playoffs began, Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson made a statement that raised some eyebrows around the NBA. He did it again after his young stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson led the team to an upset win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game Two of their Western Conference Semi-Final series:

“I said I’ve got the greatest shooting backcourt that’s ever played the game,” he said. “Call my bluff.”

Are Klay and Steph the greatest shooting back court tandem of all time? That would probably take lots of research and analysis. Perhaps a more appropriate statement  would have been…

So, with that in mind, let’s look back at some of the best light-skinned backcourts of all-time. We’ll let the people decide:

Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry, Charlotte Hornets (88-97)

Muggsy and Dell made the Hive go “Ayye” in the early-to-mid ’90s.

In the early days of the Charlotte Hornets, Steph and Seth’s dad and Muggsy Bouges were two of the more popular members of the team. Before there was Grandmama and Zo, Muggsy and Dell were the face of the Hornets.

Mark Jackson and Reggie Miller, Indiana Pacers (94-96, 97-2000)

They weren’t the most athletic bunch, but Mark Jackson and Reggie Miller were a tough out in the playoffs every year.

Mark Jackson knows a thing or two about great light-skinned backcourts, as he teamed up with Reggie Miller to lead one of the most heady, if athletically-challenged backcourts of the late ’90s.

Jason Kidd and Jimmy Jackson, (94-96)

The inability to capitalize on the talent of Jason Kidd and Jimmy Jackson haunted the Dallas Mavericks until they won the ‘chip in 2011. Oh, and Jamal Mashburn was here for the pic too.

The Dallas Mavericks were awful for the entire decade of the nineties, consequently giving them top ten draft picks pretty much every year. Kidd and Johnson were picked two years apart and teamed with Jamal Mashburn to form a trio that Dallas hoped would lead it to the promised land. Well, that didn’t exactly happen, and as a result, we have the most disappointing duo on this list. (See, we won’t even mention Toni Braxton….Ooops).

Mike Bibby and Doug Christie, Sacramento Kings (00’s)

Before Christie was Jackie’s husband, he teamed with Mike Bibby to form one of the brightest backcourts of all-time.

This pair was an intregal part of those memorable Sacramento Kings squads that had the misfortune of peaking at the same time as Shaq and Kobe’s Los Angeles Lakers in the early 2000s. Alas, Christie will probably be better remembered for being the husband of Jackie Christie than his stellar career as a defensive specialist. 

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors (’12-Present)

This backcourt’s future is as bright as their…well, you get the picture by now.

The spawn of former NBA players, Curry (Dell) and Thompson (Mychal) have provided Golden State with the most excitement since its epic 2007 playoff run.

Mr. Scarface Is Back: Just Like He Never Left

After nearly a year of flirting, I finally made that commitment-I bought Spotify Premium. Two days in, its already easily one of the best investments I’ve made in awhile. So instead of just hoarding this wonderful digitized music, I’ve decided to share with my readers my first impression of some classic albums. First is up is Mr. Scarface is Back, by Brad Davis, better known as Scarface of The Geto Boys.

This underground classic was release in October of 1991, approximately a month from my sixth birthday. Needless to say, I missed it on the first go-around.

This album plays out like a novel. Each song is its own nuanced chapter in the story of a Crack-Era hustler. These aren’t just gritty tales of gangster glorification, though that is a part of Mr. Scarface (see The Pimp). Scarface touches on a broad range of issues that the Black community and America are still dealing with 22 years later. One can’t help but listen to Born Killer and not feel like you’re peaking into the mind of some of the perpetrators of

“My momma did her part/ But it ain’t her fault that I was born with out a heart/ In other words I’m heartless dude/ I don’t love me, how the fuck I’mma love you?/ Thats right, you guessed it/ I’m legally insane, marked mannick depressive/I’m takin all types a medication/To keep me out the mood of premeditatin/ Yo, the log around my lone is worse/ I’m havin thoughts of killin me, but I’m killin you first/ Mr. Kindness talks but I don’t listen”

The centerpiece of the album is Diary Of A Madman. At just over three minutes, its one of the album’s shorter tracks, but perhaps brevity is its strength. As the title suggests, Scarface takes us into the mind of a mentally ill young man whose life is spiraling out of control.

“To myself I’m a stranger/ Walking in the foot steps of danger/ It’s a long path ahead of me/ I gotta get somewhere cause everybody here is scared of me/I had a job but they fired me/ My wife walked out now I’m living in my diary.”

Money And The Power is also another standout track. Scarface takes us into the mind of a dope dealer who pursues both with cold and reckless abandon, even bragging about sleeping with the same woman his brother is involved with. Fellow Geto Boys Willie D. and Bushwick Bill provide an eerily seductive chant that lighten the mood just a little.

The album closes with two solemnly irreverent tracks. A Minute To Pray And A Second To Die is a brutal tale of senseless killing and retribution while brilliantly sampling Marvin Gaye’s Inner City Blues and What’s Going On. The album’s finale finds the protagonist dealing with the same fate that many of his colleagues face: Death. I’m Dead  is a humorous take on a grim situation. Wakes up to find that he is dead. His picture is on a mantle with the familiar “Rest In Peace” inscribed on it, his mother and his child’s mother grieving them as they hold his son.

Simply put, Scarface’s debut is still pretty relevant. Its equal parts it’s mostly drama and action, with doses of comedy and maybe a little porn. Definitely worth a good listen.

Bigger Than Baisden

After 10 years on air, The Michael Baisden Show is coming to an end.

The tenth anniversary of the Michael Baisden Show was abruptly cut short on Wednesday. Baisden announced via his Facebook page not only was his show being taken off the air, he says he and his crew were “locked out” of their studio, owned by media company Cumulus. Apparently, the two sides couldn’t agree on a deal, and when Baisden went public with that info, they decided they would use pre-recorded material to fill his 3-4 pm timeslot until March 29.

I remember listening to Baisden in the car with my mother my senior year of high school and laughing at some of the discussions he engaged in with his guests. As time when on, he evolved from talking about dating, relationships and sex to confronting issues such as domestic abuse, bullying and sexual assault. He has also been vocal on social and political issues such as the Jenna Six, the election (and re-election) of Barack Obama, and the Trayvon Martin Case. He also organized a campaign to get more people involved with mentoring young people and has invested time and attention to small business owners.

Baisden is one of those figures in Black America that folks either love or hate. Whatever you think about him and his opinions,  you have to admit he has a powerful voice. By no means am I a Michael Baisden Stan. I disagreed with his views on more than one subject. But I appreciate his willingness to talk about politically sensitive, potentially explosive topics. He was one of the few minority voices in mainstream talk radio with a sizable audience, and that number is steadily shrinking.

Baisden will be okay. He’ll land a gig on satellite radio or end up on MSNBC with Al Sharpton every day.  My larger concern is that we still need shows like the MB Show, if not that show itself. The Rush Limbaughs of the world aren’t going anywhere, but how many mainstream radio shows featuring minorities are there out there that actually address substantive issues at least on a semi-regular basis?

One less more than we started with this week.

Presidential Debate 1: Romney Wins 5-4, Obama Still Leads Series

Random Ramblings: HBCU Graduation Rates and An Inspirational Story

According to a recent report, four of the 11 worst graduation rates in public institutions belong to HBCUs.

Evening people. I’m sure you’re getting tired of my excuses as to why I’ve been away from you for a while, but if you love me, you’ll get over it. For those of you who navigated to this page looking for Part III of Why Women Have Sex, you’ll be comforted in knowing that the rest of the series will be featured on What Black Men Want. You can find it and all my posts under The Fly Young Intellectual.

Also, if you didn’t know, June is Black Music Month. This means you are obligated to check out my blog R&B Essentials. If you don’t, it means you’re racist. Or you harbor a deep self-hatred…..Ok, not really. But please check it out. I put a lot of my heart and soul into that site and I think it shows in the level of content. Besides, it’s heavy on videos, light on words.

Continuing with the Randomness of this post, I want to bring your attention to two stories I came across on the internet today. The first one is a sobering one, dealing with a subject near and dear to my heart: Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). The article named four HBCUs, including Southern (LA) University at no. 1,  in the 11 Worst Public University Graduation Rates. Luckily, my beloved Winston-Salem State University was not among them, but it still made me cringe. I know the original purpose of these schools is to provide a chance at higher education for those who would not otherwise have the chance, probably myself included. But somewhere along the line, we’ve got to find a balance between finding opportunities and meeting higher standards. I could go on, but it’s a Monday night, so I won’t.

So let’s end this on a positive note. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen multiple stories about Black women and weightloss/exercise, most of it non-flattering. I wrote about this topic a few weeks ago on What Black Men Want. Well, meet Earnestine Shepherd. This 75-year old from Baltimore was recently inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest female bodybuilder in the world. Check out her story.

Why Women Have Sex: The Thing Called Love

In my last post, I told you about a book I picked up called “Why Women Have Sex.” Today I’ll share some nuggets I found interesting from the book. The book looks at the sexual motivations of women from multiple angles, such as “What Turns Women On?” “The Thrill of Conquest” and “Barter And Trade.” Today, I’ll focus on the chapter titled “The Thing Called Love.”

*Intimacy + Passion + Commitment = Love
That’s the books formula for love. Intimacy is defined as the experience of warmth to another person related to feelings of closeness and connectedness. Passion is intense romantic feelings of sexual desire for another person. Commitment relates to decision making. No argument here.

* The book cited a study in which, when asked to describe acts that demonstrated love for their mate, only 8 percent of women referred to “having sex” as an act of love. Thirty 32 percent of men equated love with sexual acts. This was a surprise as most people would think women were more likely to align sex with love than men. It seems that men are more likely to see sex as a defining feature of love. I can believe that, simply because of the importance most men place on sex.

*In another study, there were no substantial differences between college-aged men and women regarding how often they had sex to form a stronger emotional bond with their partners.  I kinda feel like calling bullshit on this one, but we’ll move on.

*The authors categorized four main triggers for sex in women:
1. Explicit Erotic Cues: Reading sexy stories, talking dirty or sensing that her  body was aroused.
2. Status Cues: Seeing or talking with someone powerful or famous
3. Romantic Cues: Dancing closely, laughing together
4. Emotional bonding: Feelings of connectedness

The book has a lot to say about a chemical called oxytocin. This chemical, which is released during sex, increase feelings of trust and generosity. One scientist quoted in the book hypothesized that frequent release of the chemical through sex with the same partner can increase the connection a woman feels to that partner. According to this theory, a woman who continually sleeps with a man she is only mildly interested in may soon find herself feeling deeply attached emotionally simply through the repeated release of the chemical with that man. Suddenly “Mr. Aight” becomes “Mr. Can’t Live Without Him.”

Again, the thing I really like about this book is that it just doesn’t throw a bunch of studies and statistics at you and leave your head spinning. They also use real examples of real women (under the condition of anonymity).

There’s alot more just in this one chapter, but I don’t want to overload you guys with science-speak. Plus, if I give it all to you now, why would you come back later!

 

Summer Reading: Why Women Have Sex

Why do women have sex?

Anyone who knows me off the internets knows that I love to read. It’s more like a compulsion than a hobby. It started when I was young, reading a from a 1970s-era volume of The Encyclopedia Brittanica at home during the summer (I can’t tell you how bummed out I am that they won’t be printing them anymore) and quickly morphed into me reading Slam Magazine when I was supposed to be paying attention in class during my free time at school.

So with that said, it should come as no surprise that one of my favorite places in the world is the library. I usually go at least twice a month, and generally pick up more books than I should. I’m the type of person that gets bored pretty easily, even if I like a book, so I tend to read three or four books at a time. Since I currently have two books I’m not ready to return, I limited myself to just two books tonight.

One of those books was “Why Women Have Sex.” Being a heterosexual man, it immediately caught my attention. The book takes a scientific and emotional look at the underlying sexual motivations of women using a series of professional studies and interviews with real women. The combination of candid responses and scientific evidence has made  for an interesting first chapter so far.

The first chapter deals with factors that contribute to sexual attraction. On the surface, it’s nothing too earth shattering. Women like tall men who smell pleasant, have masculine faces, deep voices and wide shoulders. But this is where the research fills in the gaps, adding analytical pieces about why women are physiologically resistant to men whose chemical balance closely resembles their own. Pretty heavy stuff.

As I continue to delve in the book, I’ll share my thoughts. But in the meantime, share yours with me. Ladies, why do you have sex? Be candid, there’s  no judgement on this blog. Speak up!

Backyard Bigot Barbeque

The front page of today’s Statesville Record & Landmark.

This is the front page story from my hometown newspaper, The Statesville Record and Landmark. As you can imagine, it’s elicited quite a response in the community and on social media. This “White Unity” event is ironically set to take place in a small town called Harmony. I guess they forgot to poll the Black folks.

Growing up in that part of the country in the 1990s and 2000s, I can’t say that I ever saw any explicit Klan activity. Every now and then the old folks would talk about the Klan marching downtown or something, but it seemed like something from the history books. But as they say, history repeats itself.

Some are angry at the paper for placing the story on the front page, above the fold. They say it’s as if the paper is endorsing the rally. I can see how someone would look at this on the front page and think that, but inside the paper there is an editorial titled “Evil in our midst can’t be ignored,” which states the editorial opinion that people need to see what hate looks like in 2012. I totally agree.

For those who think with an African-American president in the White House we are in a post-racial society, this may come as a shock. For others, this is sad confirmation of the fact that we have a long way to go before all people are truly equal in this nation. For those who only now feel compelled to speak out about , it’s about damn time! But we must realize that the regressive policies currently being instituted by conservatives on the local, state and federal levels are more destructive than any gathering of backyard bigot barbeque could ever be. We progressives cannot fall asleep at the wheel like we did during the 2010 election cycle this year. Not with so much at stake. Stay vigilant and stay up. I’m out…

Job Advice From Mom

Sup folks? Today was the start of a new chapter in my professional life. It was the first day of my new job. The first day of a new job is kind of like the first day of school. You pick out your best clothes and stay up all night long, wondering if you’ll fit in.

Luckily, everything was great. Everyone was really friendly and helpful, and it all seemed very genuine. I think I’m going to be very happy. But if I had to pick the highlight of my day, it was the conversation I had with the HR associate who interviewed me over the phone. She told me that what stuck out about me was how I talked about my former place of employment. She said she’d interviewed several potential candidates from the same job and all of them had plenty to say about the company. None of it good.

“But you didn’t say anything negative about it, and that really impressed me.”

This is not to elevate myself above those other interviewees, because honestly, the things they said were true. I’ve felt exactly the way that they’ve felt many times. But my mother used to always tell me, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” That was one lesson out of many that I try to help guide me on this journey called life, and like pretty much everything else she’s taught me, it turned out to be right. Mother really does know best!

Blacks vs. Gays: The Fight Over Amendment One in NC

Rev. Patrick Wooden of Raleigh’s Upper Room Church of God In Christ talks to reporters about North Carolina’s vote on an amendment banning gay marriage.

So a conservative group called The National Organization of Marriage is trying to capitalize on the wedge between African-Americans and gay rights groups. Any half-way conscious person could have seen this happening as a vote on an amendment to define marriage exclusively between one man and one woman. Especially in the Tarheel State. Below is an excerpt from The Atlantic.

Anchoring the push are pro-Amendment 1 black clerics from North Carolina and around the nation with strong ties to NOM, such as Maryland’s Bishop Harry R. Jackson, who’s also leading the effort to overturn his own state’s recent law granting gays the right to marry, and Philadelphia-based Rev. Herbert Lusk, who appears in one of NOM’s latest video campaigns, “Is Gay Marriage a Civil Right? African-American and Latino Leaders Speak Out.” In April, Rev. George D. McKinney of San Diego helped launched an initiative for NOM with the Coalition of African American Pastors to collect 100,000 signatures around the country on behalf of keeping marriage something restricted to opposite-sex couples in North Carolina.

No pastor, however, has advocated as strongly for Amendment 1 as Rev. Patrick Wooden of The Upper Room Church of God in Christ — a 3,000-member African-American congregation in Raleigh, N.C. Appearing everywhere from NOM-led rallies to its latest video, Wooden — who has an extensive history of homophobic outbursts — has become an eager public face for NOM’s divisive strategy. Along the way, he’s become a sound-bite ready foil for the large number of prominent black pastors campaigning against Amendment 1 — including Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP.

Usually I’m pretty closed mouthed on issues like this. But I have to speak on this one. As a North Carolinian. As a Democrat. And as a Christian.Coming up in church, I was taught that homosexuality was a sin. Everyone around me agreed and there was no debate about it whatsoever. Living in a small, Southern town there were very few openly gay people so my exposure to them was limited until college. Since then, I’ve interacted with many in the LGBT community at work, school and, yes, even in church.

Based off what I read in the Bible, there’s no two ways about it: homosexuality is a sin. Leviticus 18:22 states “‘Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” However, gluttony, gossiping, lying and of course, fornication are also listed as sins. Now how many people can say they’ve never committed these sins? Kinda quiet, huh?

Using the law of the land to legislate morality is a tricky proposition with a spotty history. Especially in North Carolina, where over 7,600 people, mostly poor African-American women were sterilized against their own will. The law officially allowed sterilization for birth defects or mental illness, but more often than not, the reasons ranged from homosexuality to promiscuity. If it happened once, it can happen again. North Carolina has come a long way from being the home of Jesse Helms, but the current Republican legislature seems hell bent on bringing us back to “the good ole’ days.”

If your beliefs about this issue are shaped by Biblical views, than you cannot ignore Ephesians 6:12.

“For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm.”

Sounds to me that the energy being used to fight against the individuals who live this lifestyle would better be used in prayer and showing love to all people. If you feel that the souls of the LGBT community are in danger and are truly concerned about their souls, you must treat them with open arms and allow God to work on them with regard to the changes that they need to make. Politically, I’m far more concerned with how the Republican-led legislature has cut funding in North Carolina’s schools while cutting taxes and gerrymandering voting districts to gain political power. The same people who are in support of this act are the same people who support the politicians that would hurt the majority of the African-American community and tear down the progress that we’ve already made. I’ll leave the soul judging to God.