Black presidents

Well, since I last posted, the  name of the hardcore punk rock group Black President lost some of its “edge.” I won’t blame them for not thinking ahead, since I didn’t see this coming in 2005 either. I’ll just laugh at them in my head for trying to be hardcore with a name that now packs as much punch as Pink Eraser. Maybe they should have gone with something more fail-proof, like Parakeet President.

Speaking of black presidents and unintelligent decisions: Isiah Thomas.

The first few weeks of 2009 have shown that everyone on God’s green earth was correct in labeling former New York Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas inadequate and ignorant. New Knicks president Donnie Walsh and Coach Mike D’Antoni have done everything Thomas wouldn’t do and everything Knicks fans wanted to do all along. Stephon Marbury was replaced by a pass-first point guard in Chris Duhon, cap space was cleared for 2010, and David Lee was given a starting spot and more minutes. Going into tonight’s game against the Sixers, the Knicks are 19-24. Last season, they finished 23-59. “I can’t expect [the fans] to understand the game the way I understand it or see it the way we see it,” said Coach Thomas last season. Turns out the fans understood the game better all along.

Fortunately, the unintelligent black president was merely the president of  a sports franchise.  A highly intelligent black president is the leader of our great nation.  Everyone – even punk rock supergroup Black President – should be thankful for that.

My better is better than your better

I am loving Wieden & Kennedy’s “My Better” ad campaign for Nike SPARQ (Speed Power Agility Reaction Quickness) Training. The commercials – featuring LaDainian Tomlinson, Hope Solo, Matt Holiday (pictured below) and other top athletes – all make some sort of impression, whether it be a smile or a little motivation.

The first of the series of commercials to catch my attention features a HARD-hitting track by rapper/poet Saul Wiliams (a Newburgh, NY native) and can be seen here. As a fan of (but by no means expert on) intelligent hip hop, I remember when this song, List of Demands, dropped back in 2004. I was hooked. Its intense base riff and just-as-intense lyrics were, and still are, like nothing I have ever heard. Commercials often seem to blend into one another, and agencies put so much time and money into making their spots memorable, but sometimes a stand out track like this is all that is needed.

The SPARQ commercial that really motivated me to write a blog post, however, was this one:

I find Steve Nash absolutely hilarious in this commercial. Everything he does and says (or rather, the way in which he says it) is awesome. I remember reading in some advertising book about how Nike became cool by being cool, not by saying they were cool. The legacy continues.

Going for gold

Wow, I’m really slacking on posting on this website of mine. The most important aspects of blogging are writing quality posts that will interest your readers and writing them on a fairly consistent basis. (I read an article about being a good blogger in the New York Times yesterday; I know my shit.) Well I obviously have the quality part covered. But the second part is what I need to work on, and I plan on doing so.

I have no excuse for not posting this weekend because I have off today for Good Friday, which I have thusly promoted to Great Friday. Be sure to update your calendars with the new name.

Great Friday happens to fall on one of the best sports days of the year, Day Two of the NCAA tournament, which makes the day especially great. Come to think of it, I am in front of my computer with the television off right now. That’s pretty stupid. I need to make sure my bracket does not embarrass itself like the “experts” who picked USC to win the Midwest region.

I was actually up way past my bedtime studying Bracketology on Wednesday night and was ridiculously tired at work the next day, so something good better come out of this. First place in my Yahoo Sports fantasy league would mean a lot to me and would further decorate my Yahoo Sports trophy case with another golden trophy. That is very important to me. My Yahoo Sports trophy case comes second to only family and friends.

GO BRUINS.