Jordan-Era players that weren't Jordan

Michael Jordan. 99.9% of all sports fans would say he's the greatest of all time, right? Right. While I agree, this sucks for sooo many awesome NBA players of the late 80's and the 90's; It wasn't just MJ that made me fall in love with the game of basketball as a young lad. I mean he was never in NBA Jam yet you loved that game. After a visit to And Still La Brea today, I was inspired to do a post on the forgotten, but still talented players of my childhood. This is my tribute...to the other guys. Kei remembers you.

"Sir" Charles Barkley

Who else do you know that has both an Olympic gold medal and an Emmy? Big enough to overpower small forwards, but small enough to be quicker than power forwards. Not only was he a savage on the court, he was probably one of the funniest dudes in the league off the court. (See Space Jam and his current job as a TNT commentator)

Larry "Grandma-ma" Johnson

First ever SLAM Magazine cover. Best non pro-wrestling or comic book inspired alter ego EVER. Starred in an episode of Family Matters. Was also in Space Jam. Need I say more? I hope not, cause that's all I've got. But I still loved him.

So Many Guards.

So, it's one thing to play in the same era as Mike, but to also play the same position is like begging to be forgotten. There's at least 2 for every dream he shattered, but these are my faves.

Latrell Sprewell

Reggie Miller
John Starks(dunking on Jordan AND Horace Grant)
Dominique Wilkins(probably one of the greatest dunkers ever)
Gary Payton

and last(sigh),
Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway

This is where I start tearing up. Penny isn't just my favorite basketball player ever, he's my favorite athlete ever. Period. He made me proud to be akward and skinny and in junior high and high school I idolized him. Rookie of the Year. 4 time all star. Olympic Gold Medalist. He'd probably be retiring right about now with at least a couple of rings to his name, but then the devastating knee injury. Then the betrayal by Shaq that I'm still bitter about. His career was never the same. Whether you care to admit it or not he was the prototype for the best players in the league today, LeBron and Kobe, just ask them! His were also the second most popular Nike shoe line in history still, behind you know who. Miss ya, Penny. Anywho...done reminiscing for now. Celtics in '10 baby!

TWITTER!!

We jumped on the wagon. @teamtaws Follow us on Twitter for updates from the T.A.W.S. camp.

Good to see him again

Dodgeball

Silverlake season starts sept 14, if you're interested in playing, give me a shout. Visit www.dodgeball4ever.com for more details on stay puft dodgeball.

Lost Picture in San Francisco!

Got to SF last night, after not seeing some awesome friends we thought it be best to get super drunk and go about town. Reminder, when in a different city guys will approach you and hand you lots and lots of beer and cigarrets . . also, don't fall sleep on the bus at 2am going home. I did.

In reference to may 12 post...

Hey folks,
On May 12 I made a post about wanting to see the John Lennon exhibit at the Annex in NYC. Well, I just happened to be in that part of town when it was still going on. I had made that post pretty much knowing I would probably not be able to see it, and this bummed me out as I am a huuuuge John Lennon fan. And by fan, I mean that I almost feel like i knew him. He died the year before I was born, I've always loved his music and have over 20 biographies on the man, his life, his music. Very fascinating. I cry when i watch documentaries on him. He's brilliant, thanks to my Dad for enlightening me with his music! So anyways, I was with some friends and family driving into NYC, when we were looking for a place to park and get out to troll around the city. Weirdly enough we just happened to park right across the street from the Annex! I didn't even notice the John Lennon posters saying the exhibit was up for one more week! I walked right on by, cell phone in face to trudge around getting lost and shopping most of the damn day, and picking up some food at bar 107. As we headed back to the car in hopes to run into something fun going on, I saw the annex signs. I almost passed out and couldn't believe this was still going on! i begged my aunt and my best friend Matt to go with me to see this. They all said yes right away, knowing how much this meant to me. We walked through with headphones on, picking up a little info on each artist through rock n' roll history..nearing the end, I see the opening to a pure white room. That must be it! It looked just like the white room he used to play piano in, that I had a huge poster of while growing up. As I entered, there were films playing...photos and films of when he got shot, newspaper headlines, the work he did for the peace movement, tv bits, starving children he visited, etc. It was pretty much impossible to not get emotional while viewing all of this, especially because we were wearing headphones that played "imgagine" over and over. I could have stayed for hours viewing all of the things i had never seen before, and never even knew about that were on display here. Reading about and seeing alot of things he produced, including music, art, and poems was absolutely the best experience i had had in NY all day. Toward the end of the room, I saw it. The bloody clothes. I wanted to run over there and push everyone out of the way, and then again I wanted to not view it at all because it made me feel sick to the very core of my stomach. I looked around for Matt, nowhere. I walked up to it by myself as everyone cleared out. And there it was.. a brown paper bag full of John Lennons bloody clothes from the day he was shot at the Dakota building in NY. My reaction was a surprise, even to myself. I started crying...and couldn't stop. I looked around and other people were crying too...This was probably the most sad moment I've ever felt in New York, almost comparable to viewing ground zero after the 9/11 attacks. Emptiness, sadness, wanting to know why someone would do this??? There was a simple note under the clothes. Since Yoko had gathered it for the display, the note read, "John came back to me in a paper bag". After fighting back a few tears, I looked to the corner of the room where there was a white rotary telephone. There was a note under that as well that read, "if this phone rings, pick it up, Its Yoko". And It made me remember when i used to watch her and John on live tv shows calling random people just to say, "i love you", and how great of an impact that was for that special person to be on the receiving end of that call. The phone on the wall didn't ring. I left after I noticed all of my friends were waiting for me in the lobby. Overall, it was a great experience and Yes I would definitely go see it again. I think its all torn down by now, with some other musician replacing John in that room..

STOLEN BIKE

it was swooped right out from under my nose on saturday at Johnny Cupcakes. if you happen to see anyone riding this bike, run em over.

note: there will be a follow up post if i do get it back. dont worry about running me over.

Keep an extra eye out people. Thanks

-The BARBICUTIONER !!