The Champ Is Here!!!

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Fantasy Football season is here. Yahoo, ESPN, CBS, Fanball, Fleaflicker, whatever. Let’s get it in. Free ‘play for pride’ leagues, money leagues, it doesn’t matter. Capitol Punishment is back to crush jokers again this NFL season. If you’ve got a league and you’re not scared, give me a holla. My email address is located to the right where it says Email Me!!!. Help add to my “The Champ Is Here” bobble head collection.

Peace & Love…

G.Mo

Summertime Crack

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If you’re one of those folks who have been in hibernation since Jimmy Carter went back to his peanut farm in 1981, you may not be aware of what crack is. Before reading this entry, feel free to sign up for Netflix and add New Jack City, Deep Cover & Training Day to your queue. Erol’s Video is no longer around and we have these cool digital discs called DVD’s now. Check your local electronics store to get a DVD player.

Now for my people who know the deal, I will proceed. When you hear the word crack, a few things may come to mind. Let me give a few quick examples. Someone who need not have on something that reveals their partition split along the backside. Could be the plumber working in your house with the tool belt and loose jeans or maybe your neighbor mowing their lawn at 7am on Saturday morning in their cheap sweats. Quite possibly it might be a woman on your job with the muffin top squeezing into something that doesn’t quite fit her. Makes the ‘butt on your back’ reference truly come to life… in a bad horrific way. If you’re at the beach or nightclub you may see something that catch your eye in a good way. I’ll move on from that though. Feel free to use your imagination. In lieu of portraying people, I’ll allow this apple to serve as my exhibit in this case. LOL!!!

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You might reflect back onto your days of drinking alcohol in the late 80’s or early 90’s and something called Cisco. That stuff was so potent that it was considered to be liquid crack. Many folks woke up kissing the porcelain with their heads buried in the commode after a night of Cisco indulgence. It’s not like the stuff was any good, but the lure of it was the cost. You didn’t have to spend more than $5 to get twisted… and sick.

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You may hear the voice of Whitney Houston from an interview with Diane Sawyer in 2002 reminding you that “Crack is wack”.

If you’re a fan of Chappelle’s Show, you’ll recall a brotha by the name of Tyrone Biggums. That dude is a true crackhead. You may have bought a steaming hot TV or laptop off a cat like this around the way for like $50 or maybe a 6 pack of tube socks for 35 cents. Well, not you personally cuz we’re all Christians and don’t buy known stolen goods from drug addicts right? Anyway, this is a guy who said “Y’all act like crack is so bad”. Here’s a brief clip of him in action.

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When I talk about summertime crack, I’m not talking about rock cocaine or drugs. I’m sure most of y’all get that point. I’m basically talking about things that your addicted to. But it’s not a normal addiction. It’s one where you become a fiend for whatever that particular ‘crack’ is. I’m talkin’ bout that Pookie from New Jack City feenin’. Y’all know how bad my man Pookie was. I mean, just look at him. Crack was calling him by his full government name. In his own words “I tried to kick… but it be callin’ me, man… I just got to go to it!”

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The hot weather always brings forth something that we tend to crave with regularity. Generally for me it’s a food or drink that I tend to gouge during the humid days. But it’s not entirely limited to the consumption of calories alone. For you it might be a certain activity or event, maybe a TV series that’s on between Memorial Day & Labor Day. Anyway, I’ve got a handful, but will limit my list to the 3 most prominent. These are things that I will not do without. I gotta have them!!!

1. Rainier Cherries – These things are so sweet, gotta love them. They’re expensive, but I’ve been catching them on sale this summer at a number of grocery store. I eat these things every single day. I drive with a plastic baggie full of them sitting in the center console. Just follow the trail of stems and seeds in the road and you’re destined to discover where I am. I also eat them at my desk in the office. That’s one of my favorite snacks.

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2. Simply Raspberry Lemonade – Liquid non-alcoholic crack!!!! I was already a fiend for the regular Simply Lemonade, but when this hit the shelves in the Spring, I was all over it. I stay on the 2/$4 specials at Giant or Safeway. I must have this in the house at all times. A brotha loves lemonade. The Santa Cruz Organic Mango Lemonade is slammin too!!!! If you’re not up on these lemonades, my condolences.

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3. Häagen-Dazs Sorbet – I started off one week just buying one peach and one strawberry. They were so good that I decided to get some more. Problem was that I couldn’t decide which one or two or three to buy. So I just bought all the flavors that I wanted. It’s nice to have a deep freezer. Now I can just stack the frozen desserts of choice. If you wanna get real jazzy, pour some ginger ale in a cup and toss 2 scoops of sorbet in it. That’s some goodness right there playa!!!

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The first step in therapy is admitting to the addiction. I’ve done that and definitely feel better about getting that off my chest. The mic is now yours. Feel free to talk about whatever your summertime crack is…

Peace & Love…

G. Mo

Only My Folks…

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I celebrated my 37th birthday this past Saturday. As with most birthdays and Christmas holidays, I tend to open cards and gifts later on in the afternoon or evening. I don’t know why I do it, it’s just a habit. I had a birthday card from the wife, a card from grandma in NY and a card from my Dad who lives in North Carolina. The cards that came from NY & NC via the mail had been sitting for a few days prior to my birthday. Well, I totally forgot to open my cards on Saturday as we weren’t in the house too much until late evening. Sunday rolls around and we went to church as we do each Sunday. We arrived back home and I threw on some appropriate gear to check out a kickball game out Walker Mill Park. Came back home and decided to lounge for a minute. I still hadn’t opened the birthday cards.

Ma and her husband come by the house later in the afternoon. I gave them a quick tour of the nursery area, offered them some Simply Raspberry Lemonade and we all sat down in the family room. As we’re sitting down on the couch, Ma comes over and hands me a card. At this point my wife reminded me that I hadn’t even opened the ones that had been sitting. So she brought all of them over to me. Since Ma had just given me hers and was sitting right there, I opened that one first. It read as follows…

Son, there are so many things I want for you – so many wishes in my heart as I watch you grow into your own life… I wish you a world of adventure and experience ~ and also the serenity that comes from listening to your inner voice as the world rushes around you…

I wish you the strength to face challenges with confidence – along with the wisdom to choose your battles carefully… I wish you the satisfaction of seeing your goals achieved and also the true contentment that is born of simple things ~ work well done, friends well-loved, moments caught and cherished.

And my greatest wish is that you will always remember how much you are loved – for you are a good and caring person… a man I am proud to have for a son.

Happy Birthday

I thought it was a pretty nice card. I placed the Panera Bread gift card and cash on the end table next to the couch and read it once again. Once I completed reading, I thanked Ma for the card and them jointly for the gifts enclosed. I then went to the next card in the stack which was from my wife. She gave me a cool card that had a pretty funny message. I’ll leave it at that. 🙂 Next in the stack was the card from Pops. I removed it from the envelope and began to read it…

Son, there are so many things I want for you – so many wishes in my heart as I watch you grow into your own life… I wish you a world of adventure and experience…….

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa… Awwwwww maaaaaaaaaan!!!” I hollered. All three of them looked over towards me to see why I was laughing hysterically and shaking my head. At this point I held up both birthday cards. The cards given to me from both Mom & Dad were exactly the same.

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Now folks, you have to understand that Pop lives in Carolina and has been there since ’84. My Mom has been in the MD-DC area my entire life. Aside from significant events that surround me, I’m pretty sure that they don’t communicate directly. I immediately reflected back to my graduation from Howard when my folks have another one of those “Awwwwwwwww maaaaaaaaaaaaaan are you serious?” moments. Once I received my degree and stepped from the stage, I was greeted by my Dad. He had just flown in from National Airport, was fresh out of the taxi cab and still had his suitcase in hand. He was wearing a red golf shirt and black slacks.

(yes, I went through my graduation video last night & took the still images… lol)

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As I maneuvered through the crowd, I saw Ma. She had on a black blouse, red jacket and black pants. When she saw what my Dad had on her jaw dropped. I busted out laughing.

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Trust me on this. There’s no way in the world that either one of them would’ve coordinated with the other in a fashion sense. We all still shake our heads til this day on that one.

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The whole thing with the birthday cards, took me back to fun memories I had as a kid. Although my parents divorced when I was very young, I still recall moments where they did things similar. As an adult, I look in the mirror at times and remind myself how I am like them in various ways. I guess these funny situations only add to the mystique of the similarities that our parents have and things we acquire from them as life moves forward. It’s great to have ‘shake your head’ moments that you can reflect and laugh about as you get older. Ma says she went through a handful of cards before she picked that one. When I called Dad and told him what happened, he couldn’t believe it. He swears up and down that he spent forever in the CVS until he found the card that was perfect. What can I say? Being the common denominator means something I guess. If nothing else, I know that my parents both love me and are proud of my accomplishments. Trust that I love them and appreciate all their love and support over the years.

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I know I can’t be the only one who has funny stories of parents who did in a similar fashion… by accident. If you got any, feel free to share.

Peace & Love…

G. Mo

“Next time you write about Steve McNair, drop your stone”

“…Next time you write about Steve McNair, drop your stone. Next time you text somebody, drop your stone. The next time you Twitter, drop your stone.”Bishop Joseph Walker III

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I think at this point we’re all aware of the circumstances surrounding the death for former NFL QB Steve McNair. I don’t think I need to expand upon that any further. I decided to watch his memorial service on my laptop last night. While watching the it, the words from his pastor Bishop Joseph W Walker of Mount Zion Baptist Church of Nashville really hit home in so many ways. If you’re familiar with the story in the New Testament of the Bible, religious leaders brought an adulterous woman to Jesus and suggested to him that she be stoned. The story can be found in the 8th chapter of John. Read the 7th verse of that chapter where Jesus responded to them “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone”. That aint nothing but the truth folks.

I kinda reflected for a moment on my life. None of us are perfect and we’ve all made mistakes. Sadly the ones made by Steve McNair ended with tragic consequences. God forbid any of us have our lives put on display and salacious activities we’ve promise to take to our graves are revealed.

I didn’t know Steve. I had never met him, but he always seemed to be smiling when shown on TV. From the testimony of friends at the memorial service last night, he was a good brotha. He did a lot to help folks from contributing time and money to the Boys & Girls Club to assisting Hurricane Katrina victims. It is very apparent that he touched many lives in a positive way.

From what I saw on the football field, that brotha was a warrior. I still recall a Tennessee Oilers vs Baltimore Ravens game I went to in ’98. McNair ran for a 40 yd touchdown in that game. He had many TD’s runs like that exact one throughout his entire career. It was something to see live from the 20 yd line. Back in the days when I used to wear jerseys a lot, I copped a Titans #9. Best believe I rocked it. No one can deny the man’s contributions to the game of football.

I figured I’d share the web stream I had saved from my computer from the memorial service and uploaded Pastor Walker’s eulogy in its entirety. I had to break it up in 4 parts to adhere to YouTube standards of 10 min or less. Anyway, here it is. Listen to the words that were spoken.

The circumstances of what led to the death of Steve McNair aren’t good… but God is still good!!!!

Read Proverbs 3:5,6 & then holla at me….

Peace & Love…

G. Mo

Let’s keep the party going…

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For the last several months, I’ve contemplated a retirement from blogging. I actually pre-wrote and entry entitled ‘Grand Finale’, but never published it. Then again, how does one retire from blogging? I mean, it’s not a job or something I’ve done for a long time for income. The thing is, I still have the passion to write. I remember writing in my first journal in the 3rd grade and have been writing ever since. However, the time and energy devoted to posting regularly doesn’t allow me to really write online as much as I’d like to.

I started my first weblog on Thu Mar 11, 2004. It wasn’t on Blogger or my own website. It was on a messageboard forum that had a thread for those who wished to blog. If you’re one of those SOHH or EBL folks, you’ve seen a lot of growth in a brotha that has changed in so many ways over the years. I talked about a lot of crazy stuff back then. To be honest, my life was kinda unstable at that time in so many ways. I look back on those entries and reflect on how far I’ve come in just a shade of 5 years. Writing is therapeutic. I love it. As a kid it helped me deal with issues and drama in my life. In a way it helped me express my emotions.

When discussing my desire to stop writing online, I was met with more folks against it than I could believe. I mean, do folks really read stuff I write? I was kinda surprised. Then again, I recall some very personal entries that I shared with the world that touched people. The one that stands out the most is the reflections of my best friend I penned entitled Tribute To A True Friend where I discussed his suicide in ’95 and the effect it had upon me. That might’ve been the most difficult one to share. That was a very traumatic event in my life and I never liked to talk about it a lot. However I received hundreds of emails afterwards. Some from folks who also lost close friends and family to suicide. Some emails from those who felt down on their own lives who contemplated suicide and somehow came across my entry which made them re-think taking their own lives. I’m still astonished at the random emails I get til this day where someone will just say “thanks” for sharing your pain about your friend and what you went through.

The other entry that was written is more of a funny one where I discuss having crooked pinky fingers entitled Crooked with the fact that I had no clue that there was even a medical term for it called Clinodactyly. I swear I’ve gotten at least an email a week from someone who probably happened to Google the phrases ‘crooked fingers’, ‘crooked pinky’ or ‘curved pinkies’ and came upon my site. It’s cool to know there are so many other folks out here who share the same oddity that I do and it kind of makes us the ‘crooked’ family so to speak. I mean, I get emails from all over the world. Hell, there’s even a Facebook group for folks with crooked fingers.

So through the encouragement from family, friends & random emails from folks who were touched in some way by words that were penned, I’ve decided to continue. I’ll do my best to at least give an update a week, but no promises. A brotha is extremely busy these days. But since I’ve been absent for quite a while, I do have some exciting news to share and opinions to express about what’s been going on in the world these days. I suppose I can’t ride into the sunset without tipping my hat with a smile.

Peace & Love…

G. Mo