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!

The Status Faction! Silverlake Spring/Summer Champs 09!

Ok. Right off the bat i just want to say congrats to my peeps on T$F. Leroy, Lilly, Mike, Brandon(s), Nate, Kellen(I guess):Well done, well done. Last night you guys outplayed us fair and square and it was honestly one of the most exciting championship matches I've ever played in. Two teams evenly matched going at it on the dball court, the crowd going wild, the Rocky heme on the P.A., an entrance tunnel with fog and lights?!? What?!? I seriously thought I was on WWE Monday Night Raw. But I digress. You guys killed it and I'd much rather be taken out by my friends than some deep v-neck cool dudes. Like this guy:So that bring us to the beginning of the West Hollywood summer season tomorrow, and if the Jamboree was any indication this season's gonna be a bloodbath! DodgeFathers, Reignballs, and Le Dodge are back and better than ever. The Mellencamps have disbanded to form the new deadly Baywatch Afterparty. Who will survive and what will be left of them? For sure mark your calendars for this one. TAWS Jam! July 29th 9pm. Save the date!

This has been a TAWS Sports presentation.

I did not attend Coachella.

I'm a little upset that I missed Mastodon, Atmosphere, The Bloody Beetroots, other cool stuff I don't yet know about, etc. So what was I doing instead? Working and recovering from the flu! Hanging out with Whoopi Goldberg! That's right she was ALL UP IN The Paul Frank Store. Much better than watching a former Beatle, right? I know. Today was the first day all week that I didn't feel like crap so I went to Open Gym in Hollywood.After we started adding our own silly play-by-play commentary to our matches a la Jason Bateman from the movie, it got me to thinking about another one of my favorite blogs, LOL Jocks. You know, like LOL Cats but with sports athletes instead. Kinda ridiculous. Anyway, I was looking at the L.A. Weekly photos from the Burt Reynolds Dodgeball Tournament and Mustache Expo this past Easter and I couldnt stop laughing at some of the pics! Check the link for some familiar TAWS faces! Only thing is, they were missing the witty captions. That's where THESE come in.
I mean think of the possibilities if we had an official TAWS sports and tomfoolery photographer (helloooo Lilly ;) )? Dodgemon! gotta catch 'em all? Dodgeball: The Gathering? I could do this all night! But I'm sleepy. So I'm stopping now. See you guys on the court. Happy captioning!

This has been a TAWS Sports Presentation.

2009. Year of the Dodge. (aka An Introduction)

Ok. I guess I should introduce myself to you all since its my first post. I'm Kei. Born and raised here, I work at the Paul Frank Store blah blah blah. I've never had or been part of any kind of blog, so...yeah. Here goes nothing. The one you call Leroy invited me to contribute a while back so here I am!

I'd now like to let you all in on Los Angeles' best kept secret, though it won't be for very long. I'm talking about the dodgeball. Yeah like in elementary school. Yeah like the movie. But all growed up and very, very real. The Los Angeles Dodgeball Society has leagues all across L.A. (Hollywood, West Hollywood, Silverlake, and Westwood) so you're always close by no matter where you're at. There's even a tasty Paul Frank vs. Johnny Cupcakes employee battle in the works. As if they could see us. My team is a 2 time champion, undefeated in West Hollywood fyi. Yeah you, Kellen.

If you want your dodgeball cherry popped or just want to see what it's like open gyms are going on all over the place. Open Gyms are pretty much free play before the actual season starts. If your new years resolution was to get in shape or even just try something different then you should for sure come out. 3 or 5 bucks gets you 2 hours of hilarious groin shots and the best and worst music ever! Go to L.A. Dodgeball Society for info on when they go down. I'm at the majority of them. Also, registration opened this morning for all of the upcoming seasons starting late this month early Feb. Hopefully I'll see some of you out there!