Black People Do Camp But we just don't like it...

Me putting up a tent during the DC Avon Walk for Breast Cancer (April 30, 2005)

I was lucky enough on April 29 to May 2 to be a part of the DC Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Four whole days of moving stuff, setting up stuff (Advanced Setup Rocks the World by the way), putting up tents, taking down tents, taking chairs and tables down, sleeping in a tent overnight in the rain and cold. Well actually it was fun. I met a lot of differnt people. Fun people. Got to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while. And at the end of it all, I felt like I accomplished something. The around 2000 walkers and crew raised over 5 million dollars for local cancer research, programs, and charities. Thats a lot of money.

Inner Drive

On thing I have always been amazed with is how some people have an inner drive that makes them do things that others could only dream of. How they can wake up in the morning at 4:30 am to run 5 miles. How they can dedicate hours upon hours of their free time to do something extra for work. I've always marveled at how people who have this gift just keep going no matter what. Probally because I'm such a lazy ass myself I am jealous of them. Hell, maybe I have adult onset ADD lol. Having a wife who is a trained social worker you learn about the coolest mental issues that you could have. Anyhow, here is to mental discipline or a stronger ginko biloba .

Just a thought that doesn't matter - mTony

Being and Adult Sucks

When you get out of high school or college and they tell you welcome to the real world, they are not kidding. If I knew then what I know now I would have tried to get 3 degrees lol. Life is hard. You have death, bills, work, bills, taxes, kids, more bills, taxes (which are a type of bill), and more bills.

Thank God for friends and loved ones. I know if not for my wife and family I wouldn't make it though a day. Now if I can find a way to legalize the shooting of stupid people, life would be perfect :-)

just a thought from somebody who doesn't matter -mTony

Blatent Irony

NBA Superstar Jermaine O'neal thoughs on the perposed league age limit

TORONTO - Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal hinted Monday that racism could be a factor in the NBA's proposal to set a higher age limit for players entering the league in the next collective bargaining agreement.

"As a black guy, you kind of think (race is) the reason why it's coming up," O'Neal told the Indianapolis Star before Monday's game against the Toronto Raptors. "You don't hear about it in baseball or hockey. To say you have to be 20, 21 to get in the league, it's unconstitutional. If I can go to the U.S. Army and fight the war at 18, why can't you play basketball for 48 minutes and then go home?"

NBA commissioner David Stern wants to raise the minimum age for the NBA draft from 18 to 20. O'Neal said he would be willing to listen to arguments for raising the age limit.

"In the last two or three years, the Rookie of the Year has been a high school player," O'Neal said. "There were seven high school players in the All-Star game, so why we even talking (about) an age limit?"

O'Neal made the jump from high school to the NBA in 1996. Cleveland's LeBron James and Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire, who won the past two Rookie of the Year awards, also made the jump straight from high school.

I wanted to write something thought prevoking and meaningful in response to this. I was on all the sports news radio shows and ESPN has been talking about it all day. Of all the aspects of what Jermaine was talking about I think the irony of the comment is worth commenting on.

Jermaine O'neal was drafted into the league in 1996 by Portland. I find it funny that he used two other High Schoolers as examples of why things should stay the way they are (LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire) who have florished in the league from day one. But Jermaine seems to have forgoten that he nearly dropped off the map with the Trailblazers. He was a late bloomer and never fit in with the hundred or so forwards that were in the league at the time. A couple of years in college would have done him well to develop his game at that point. Also a couple of history classes would have done him good to actually know what he was talking about. The point he made about going to war was initially made to justify 18 year old Americans the right to vote. A vote that is greatly differnt than playing in the NBA. But I will give it to him that it isn't a totally invalid arguement.

Second he compared the policies in baseball and hockey with basketball saying that nobody goes after them. Well, baseball and basketball have something that basketball doesn't have. A developmental or minor league system. A system that helps players not ready for the majors develop. Not all players in the minors ever even make it to the majors but it a place they can live out their dream at least to live out their dreams and play the game they love. The NBA does have the NBDL (

National Basketball Development League) it is not nearly as organized as the other minor leagues or college. A better comparison would be baseball, basketball, and hockey to the NFL. A league that does have an age limit and is doing pretty damn well. Is the National Football League raceist because they have an age limit?

Lastly, this might be me just being too sensitive about this topic but it must be said. Do black people, especially young black people , know what it is to be black anymore? What Jermaine O'Neal did, probally without knowing it, is use the race card to justify and validate his existance. Being black (as will any other group identification) is to identify yourself with people who have something in common with you. And with some social responsibility help you make decissions that would benifit your group as a whole. Now should he have the chance to make millions of dollars yes. But should he have a higher responsibility to members of socity that should be educated. Definitly. The truth is that very few people have the ability to get into the NBA. But thousands try to follow there dreams into making it to the league. By getting an agent they totally disqualify themselves from being able to obtain a college scholarship, totally limiting their chances for having a full and successful life.

Where is the obligation. The connection with your fellow African-American, urban, and young brothers and sisters. Easy, there isn't any. With the current system not only with the game of basketball suffer and further erode, but our young people in the urban and impoverished areas of our country will continue to believe that the only way out is play a sport or something worse.

People don't understand that education is not a right, its the law. 100 years ago there weren't any public schools or libraries. Education was the right of the priviliaged and successful. Even eariler than that, your were denied the right of instionalized education because of your race. Knowledge is the only tool all peoples have for empowering themselves. An age limit isn't going to keep black kids from the NBA. It's just going to make sure they have the chance to develop mentally and physically to be better prepared for the league. Then again I ame getting older so I might just need a nap

Just an opinion from somebody that doesn't really matter - mTony

Sony's Dirty Little Secret

I have been a Sony Playstation fan since it's launch in the 1995. I bought a Playstation when everyone though that Sony was crazy for ever going against Nintendo. I waited to buy a Playstation 2 (PS2) when everyone was raving about the Sega Dreamcast and choose it over the Microsoft X-Box when everyone raved about how much more powerful it was than the PS2. And I will purchase a PS2.


Bow and pay your respects to the ultimate in portable gaming hardware.
But what most people have seems to have forgotten is the recent advance in Playstation technology that seems to have been shelved faster than Windows ME. The PS2 Hard Drive!!!


The Playstation 2 Hard Drive was released with Final Fantasy XI, the massivly multi-player online role playing game released by . Gamers had been waiting for this attachment to the PS2 for years. And it sold when it came out, and then suddenly, fell off the face of the earth.


While the hard drive wasn't that big of a drive at 40 GB or fast (I believe 5400 rpm), it was however a very useful addition to the PS2. That is until however Sony seemed to do everything possible to kill it.

Here is what I could come up with to support this:

1. Lack of support for games
   Besides Syphon Filter and Final Fantasy how many games could use it.


2. Release of a new PS2 with not support for the hard disk drive


3. Removal from the Playstation Web Site
   I mean the Linux kit is still even on here

Every system has its failures. But these sound just a little to familer to the Sega Dreamcast History. But reguardless or not, this rant was something to write about. lol

Just an opinion from someone who doesn't matter - mTony

Me and the wife at dinner (18 weeks and 3 days along) 

The Underdog

For as long as I can remember I have loved the underdog. I loved playing Robin when playing Batman and Robin. I watch CHiPs to pretend to be John (Kinda sad now that I think of it). The long and short of it is that I have always wanted to route for the guy everyone doesn't like. Prime examples.... Tigger and Kobe.

Now you may be thinking that there is no way that either Tigger Woods or Kobe Bryant could ever be underdogs. Kobe is usually always the best play on the court whenever he plays. And Tigger is the most consistant player our the PGA tour. And on both counts you would be right. But when I say underdog I don't mean someone who isn't suppose to win. I mean someone who people feel we shouldn't cheer for.

Kobe for all of his childish mistakes I feel is no different than most other players in the league. He just isn't social. I mean honestly, if it wasn't for the rape case how many people would be booing him now. But because it is fashionable to boo him and blame him for running Phil Jackson and Shaq out of LA. Let the record show though that Phil Jackson was at the end of his contract. And to come back he wanted something like 9 million dollars a year to coach. Let the record also show that because Shaq was not considered the most important play on the Lakers and consulted on Phil not coming back he "DEMANDED" a trade. He even gave them a list of teams he would only accept a trade to or he would sit out the last two years of his contract. Why else wouldn't they take him to the Bobcats or Atlanta for a bunch of draft picks. Now do I think Kobe is a great human being or man. No. Do I think he was totally the victim of Shaq's and Phil's abuse in LA. No again. He was too young, too talented, and way to spoiled not to be a pain in the butt. But I am old enough to know that there are two sides to every story and in most stories no one is totally right or wrong.

Tigger is another story. It just seemed like everybody got tired of him being the best. So when his game went south for a minute (a two year minute) they loved saying that he was washed up and would never be that Tigger Woods of a few years ago. I'm sure everyone is rethinking that position after what he did on Saturday at the Masters though.

To make a long story short, THE MEDIA IS EVIL!!!. LOL, no no. Just kiding. But you should always take the time to think of a situation in more than the way that is spoon fed to us at 6 and 11. Unlike the movies, our heros aren't as heroic as we need them to be and our villians aren't always as evil as we feel that they are.

Just an opinion you might not care about -mTony