Welcome to Brooklyn

So today LeBron listed New York as his favorite city in the world and Brooklyn as his favorite borough.  Advantage Nets.

To read about LeBron’s visit to NYC with Team USA click here.

ABDC Week 2

Some thoughts on Week 2:

• This was a tough week to judge in my opinion.  All the crews did pretty decent (except SassX7).  There weren’t any performances that jumped out at me and none that were horrible (again, except SassX7).
• SassX7 was pretty bad.  It was just too slow and the choreography wasn’t good at all.  It was very underwhelming.  I’m struggling to decide whether the song choice should’ve helped them or hurt them.  My initial thought was that it should’ve helped them because those kind of girly songs would bring out the best in them but I’m beginning to think it hurt them because it typecasts them into just a girly group instead of dance crew.  Maybe a song not by a girl would’ve helped them to expand their horizons a bit but they probably wouldn’t have done well anyway.  Oh well, it doesn’t matter anymore.
• It’s a lot easier to impress the crowd with a fast paced song than a slower paced song.  Some groups had it easier than others this week but hey, you gotta work with what you’re given.
• Lil’ Mama had some spectacular analysis.
• My friend Anderson brought this point up to me and I agree with him 100%.  The judges were just too nice this week.  They complimented everyone and didn’t really critique.  Even for SassX7 they said “oh that’s what we’ve been looking for this whole time” when everyone knew it was terrible and they were gonna be sent home.  Instead of something being wrong it was “cute.”  That one dude from SoReal Cru messed up several times and they just passed it off like it wasn’t a big deal.  I hope the judges are a little tougher next week.
• I was just kidding about Lil’ Mama.

Onto the Power Rankings for Week 2.  Like I said before, none of the remaining crews did poorly so just because a crew is on the bottom doesn’t mean they are bad.  Also, I am looking at the groups’ performances cumulatively and not ranking just based on this past week.  So without further ado:

1. Super Cr3w (#1 Last Week) – They had a huge advantage this week performing to “Run It” a fast-paced song that the crowd could get into.  Despite going first, they held it down and didn’t disappoint.  The #2 performance this week.
2. ASIID (#3 LW) – I actually think they put on the best performance this week so they move up to #2.  They always bring a lot of energy and definitely show that they want to win the whole thing.
3. Phresh Select (#2 LW) – The best pure dance group.  They just look the best when dancing but they didn’t have any tricks this week or any moments that really hyped the crowd so that left me a little unimpressed.  Fifth best of the week.
4. Fanny Pak (#5 LW) – Surprising yet again.  That was a pathetic flare attempt (especially because it was actually a pathetic windmill) but that’s not them.  They did well and didn’t do anything for me to hate on them as much as I want to.  They’ve been consistent as they had the fourth best performance this episode.
5. SoReal Cru (#4 LW) – Dropping to the bottom half.  Despite creativity in a solid performance, I was disappointed by them.  They have high potential but I was underwhelmed this week.  One dude messed up several times and they had an uncalled for flare into windmill.  Didn’t really see how that went into the song.  Maybe they thought they needed another trick or whatever.  I ranked their performance seventh this week (which may have been a little harsh) but I fully expect them to come back strong next week and make a push into the top 3.
6. Supreme Soul (#6 LW) – The third best performance this week but not enough to improve their ranking.  I still got high hopes for them.  Hopefully they get a faster song next time so they can show what they can really do.
7. Boogie Bots (#7 LW) – Decent at best.  Didn’t do much wrong.  They still didn’t do much of that robotic stuff I thought.  The crowd seems to love them though.  We’ll see how they do in a week.
8. XTreme Dance Force (#8 LW)  – They had a solid performance.  I had them rated just behind Phresh Select and ahead of Boogie Bots this week so I guess I could’ve bumped them up to 7.  Regardless, I think they’re the next to go.

To watch this week’s episode, click here.

Update Soon

So much to talk about.  NBA Draft. Raymond Felton rumors.  America’s Best Dance Crew episode.  I got no time right now though.  An update will be coming soon.

To Catch a…

So I was reading about Brittney Griner, the 6-8 girls high school basketball player who is going to completely dominate.  The author of the article and one of ESPN’s writers that follows girls high school basketball is named Chris Hansen.  Ironic?  No…in the words of my buddy Donn, it’s perfect.

To read the article, click here.

Shaq Freestylin’

I guess I gotta post this.  Shaq dissin’ Kobe while freestylin’.  He’s actually not terrible.  Who knows if he was serious or not.

(Btw…no one in the NBA would diss LeBron in a rap.  Okay so DeShawn Stevenson might so let me rephrase…no one important would.)

Undefeated or Bust

The US Men’s Basketball Team was announced today for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Representing the good ol’ red, white and blue will be LeBron, Kobe, Melo, D-Wade, J-Kidd, CP3, Deron Williams, CB4, Dwight Howard, Carlos Boozer, Michael Redd and Tayshaun Prince. With all the attention that has been paid to international competition lately (and how the US blows at it), if Team USA does not go undefeated then it will be a total disappointment.

This team is the product of a three year plan run by Jerry Colangelo, though to be honest, any casual fan could’ve predicted at least 10 of those guys would’ve been on the team.  I mean you can’t argue with the guys.  There’s some controversy over picking Tayshaun over Tyson Chandler (just a worse version of Dwight Howard) but Tayshaun’s versatility should be more helpful then Tyson’s defense and rebounding.  International players don’t play much in the paint so having a big man clogging the lane on offense and defense wouldn’t be too helpful.  Prince gives them another perimeter defender who can guard those soft international bigs (see Dirk Nowitzki) in the post if need be.  If it was up to me though, I probably would want to replace Prince with Shane Battier and also replace Kidd and Boozer but it doesn’t look like they had many other options.

(There’s also a bit of criticism having Coach K coach the team over Gregg Popovich but I just read that Dean Smith gave Coach K his full endorsement so if Dean Smith says Coach K is good, then I say Coach K is good.

Bottom line is, is that it doesn’t look like this team has the same problems as the previous (losing) teams had.  Hindsight is 20/20 but this squad doesn’t scream youth and inexperienced like those teams did.  Paul and Williams are the most inexperienced but they have proven themselves to be elite point guards in the League and more importantly are playoff tested.  You could make an argument against Paul but you could also make a case that he was the best player on the planet this past year.  I worry a little bit about Dwight but he dominated at the FIBA America’s Tournament and hopefully he can bring that same intensity in China.  Everyone else has played at least five years and are playoff tested.  Maybe most importantly, judging from watching these guys play in that Tournament and hearing them talk about the Games, it seems like they all want to go to Beijing.  This is the third summer they’re “sacrificing” and if they come home without the gold, disappointment would be a giant understatement.  And so with that said, if the USA doesn’t go undefeated this summer, then it’ll be a total disappointment in my eyes and I’m not really sure what can be done about the team formerly known as the Dream Team.

Hopefully this year’s Olympic team can play more like these guys.

Why LeBron?

He just beat Tom Brady in the Spike TV Guy’s Choice Awards for Top Fantasy Leaguer. Anytime you beat a Patriot at anything, it’s a good thing.

World’s Greatest Athlete

Okay fine.  He was actually determined to be the world’s second greatest athlete.  The Wall Street Journal did some study on finding the world’s greatest athlete and LeBron was #2.  Who was #1?  Roman Sebrle, a 33 year old Czech decathlete.  He’s also the reigning world champion.  I could live with this except for the fact that the WSJ said Bron scored high in every category except speed.  Huh???  Really?  LeBron is one of the fastest players in the NBA, was an All-State wide receiver in high school and supposedly ran a 4.2 40 in high school.  Not fast?  Baloney.

Click here to read the article.

Could’ve been in the NFL.

Interview With LeBron

No I didn’t get to interview him (one day…ONE DAY!) But Sam Alipour of espn.com did.  It’s a fun read.  Check it out here.

Hopefully He Doesn’t Mean It…

Some bad news out of Cleveland…

Bron was giving an interview to a radio station and…

“I’m dedicated to bringing a championship to this city,” James told Mark “Munch” Bishop during an appearance later Wednesday on ESPN 850 WKNR to promote the upcoming King for Kids Bike-A-Thon. “I’m bringing a parade to this city. I love this city. I love Northeast Ohio. . . . Right now I can’t see myself going anywhere else.”

You don’t mean it LeBron.  You don’t mean it!

Click here to read a different interview with LeBron.