Bye Bye Garbo

I must commend Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo for the job he's done with the team over the past season and a bit. Via his personnel moves he has been able to get the team to some semblance of respectability and an Atlantic Division title. Good job!

A significant part of that revival has been the influx of European players onto the Raptors roster.

As an aside though when you think of the invasion of European players into the Raptor ranks you have to at least grudgingly give credit to former GM Rob Babcock for starting the trend by picking up Jose Calderone, Uros Slokar and Roko Ukic a few years back. The flood gates however didnt officially open until Colangelo arrived two summers ago and picked up number one draft pick Andrea Bargnani, free agent Jorge Garbajosa and made the trade with San Antonio for Rasho Nesterovich.

And it has not been a faulty plan. Actually to be honest it was a great move on the Raptors part. Not only because the European players are highly skilled and usually well trained but also because unlike some of their African-American counterparts they have no issue with playing in Canada.

The Raptors over the past have been burned considerably by several myopic US basketball players who grudgingly came but skipped town as soon as possible, complained about playing in Toronto as if we were a third rate Mexican border town, complained about raising their family in Canada as if we were located somewhere behind the old Iron Curtain or who forced management to overpay for their services just cause they were going to be an hour outside the good ol US of A.

In light of that drama it has been a pleasure to have European professionals here who actually want to play here and help build up a good franchise in a cosmopolitan North American city like Toronto.

But if the problem with American players is their wish not to play professionally outside their home country the problem with European players is their wish to play for their home country's squad during the NBA off-season. Even at times when it may have a detrimental effect on their performance for their professional team, the one that actually pays their huge salaries.

Case in point: Raptors and Spanish forward Jorge Garbajosa.

Garbo as he is affectionately called made what can only be described as a bad call this summer. (oh and I called it twice. Here and here. See even a broken clock can be right sometimes.)

He broke his leg late in the last NBA season. Doctors at that time told him it would take approximately six months to rehab properly. Garbo four months later played for Spain in the European Championships against the advice of Raptors doctors who still thought that he needed surgery to correct parts of his damaged leg. Fast forward to yesterday and it has now been announced that Garbo will need to have surgery after all and in all likelihood will miss a significant portion if not all of this season. (Oh and I also read that he had indeed been practicing with the Spanish squad for up to 5 weeks before the actual Eurobasket tournament begun)

Now I'll admit that I'm upset with this. Been upset with it since I first heard he was playing in the FIBA Eurobasket tournament this summer instead of sitting it out to rehab for the NBA season. Look I'm not adverse to a player wishing to represent his country but Spain had already qualified for the 2008 Olympics and this Eurobasket tournament was about nothing more significant than bragging rights. To me it made sense if you were coming off an injury to play it safe and sit out the summer tournament so you could be 100% by the time NBA training camp rolled around.

Maybe Garbo had a right to be skeptical about the Raptors doctor's diagnosis and go against their advice. Professional teams do try to protect their investments and in the case of NBA teams there has been much fuss about international players who play a full NBA season then rush off to play all summer for their home countries. When do such players get a chance to rehab and relax and recharge one wonders? Still if a player thinks he can handle it and its necessary I say more power to him ......once he's are healthy.

Garbo was however by no means injury free and should have sat out this summer's tourney with a view towards being 100% in the fall. The biggest clue to the injury and how it was coming along may have been the fact that the Spanish federation and Garbo had to take out an insurance policy which cost them an exorbitant one million dollars for three months coverage this summer in order for him to play in the Eurobasket tournament. If the insurers thought he wasn't a big risk to reinjure himself or was close to full rehabilitation why was the premium so high?

It seems pretty clear that a never fully healed Garbo rushed back to play in Eurobasket 2007 and in so doing risked his rehab maybe even damaging himself further.

I honestly would like to think that he would have had some more regard for the franchise that pays him and the fans that cheer him here in Toronto and not have rushed to play this summer and then not even last a full month into the NBA season.

Like I said in my previous blog in reference to Garbo back this summer "Now you'll probably get to Raptors training camp and fall apart within a month of the season then have surgery and miss the entire season. All the while being paid by the Raptors. That's to me is like you have just dealt a b* slap to the entire Toronto fandom collective with your actions. Boy and they complain that home grown NBA players are childish, haughty and own way! I do hope you stay semi-healthy so we can trade you but alas I know that wont happen. Enjoy the season on the sidelines."

Damn I wish I had been wrong.

Guess this just goes to show that athletes can be idiots regardless of where they are from despite what some folks may think.

There are terms written into players contracts forbidding them to ski or ride motorbikes or engage in other slightly dangerous hobbies that may injure them. Maybe there needs to be terms written in forbidding injured players from playing in tournaments that can cause them to lengthen their time on the injured list. Or just clauses about using common sense to determine what events to engage in during the off-season.

Personally I think Garbo owes us Raptors fans an apology. Maybe he owes the franchise some money too but for sure he owes us an apology for risking his ability to play for the Raptors leaving us a weaker team in his absence.

ps: In terms of responsibility why isn't Garbo getting more heat on this? Vince went to his University graduation the morning of a playoff game but returned to play in that game and was widely pilloried as letting down the team. Garbo plays all summer on a bad leg and then comes to the season injured. He has let down his team too. Actually in my opinion more than Vince did. Shouldn't he be hearing it from the fans for letting us down?

Forget me not

Today was Thanksgiving in the US but here in Toronto it was the first day of winter. Not officially mind you but seeing as today was the first winter storm of the season to hit the City of Toronto and the snow actually stuck around for more than an hour I declare it the first day of winter.

Its also the day when the collective memory of the city draws a blank. Huhhh! The day everyone forgets.

Happens every year but yet when the temperature drops and that white fluffy stuff falls from the sky or worse yet the hard frozen pellets that make everything slippery fall for the first time for the season its like our brains rather than our bodies are frozen and we forget how to act in winter.

We forget how to shovel snow properly. The TTC forgets how to run buses on a schedule. Drivers forget how to drive in bad weather and the accidents pile up on the highways. Some folk forget that you need proper footwear for this weather and that you cant run or walk as fast as you would when the ground isn't all slushy. Some drivers forget that they cant be speeding on the roads as they will splash pedestrians. Some pedestrians forget that they shouldn't walk near the sidewalk's edge if possible as they will be splashed by crazy drivers.

Lots of memory lapses today. GO-trains forgot their schedules, business forgot to raise the heat for their staff in their offices. Folks forgot what they did with those gloves and that scarf and those boots and that jacket. The body forgets what it feels like to be bundled under the heavy layers of clothing keeping you warm but weighing you down.

The collective "Duhh what was I supposed to do here again" struck again today.

Bonds

I take a bite out of crime
wash it down with some juice.
East Coast - Das Efx

Sigh its going to be hard to stay retired.

Read about the Barry Bonds indictment yesterday. Well its about time isn't it! Took them only 4 years to finally get the info they needed to indict him. Day duz run til night ketch it ya hear.

Well its good to see that our law enforcement folk have got their priorities set straight. Time to get that scumbag and menace to society off the streets. Society is going to be so much safer. Maybe he can be cellmates with that other despicable athlete and criminal Mike Vick. The world will be a better place and we can all walk around singing Kumbaya and holding hands. Om!

But wait a minute Bonds isn't a menace to society, the scumbag part could be argued though.

I woke up this morning to a female radio announcer with a bit more than a little glee in her voice celebrating Bond's indictment. Finally he gets his comeuppance she basically said. Apparently his arrogance and disdain for the media was her argument for why he needs to be punished. Without directly saying it I interpreted her words as its time they wiped that smugness off his face and took him down a notch. Who does he think he is? Time that surly attitude was dealt with. Take that you despicable criminal!

But I tend to look at this a bit differently. Bonds is neither war criminal, despot or genocidal maniac as much as the media would beg to differ. He hasn't killed anyone, he hasn't robbed anyone, he hasn't stolen anything (besides arguably the home run crown from Hank Aaron and that's for Major League Baseball to decide) and he isn't any sort of violent offender, unless you count him putting a beating on baseballs.

Yet here he is facing 30 years in jail for allegedly perjury and lying about taking steroids. Damn. That's like getting publicly stoned for allegedly lying about stealing a cookie.

Look its not like Bonds is the shoe bomber. Its not like Bonds lied about supplying arms to the Contras or he lied about disclosing state secrets to the enemy. Put this in perspective. Even John Walker Lindh only got 20 years in jail for fighting with Al Quada against American forces!

Bonds allegedly lied about whether he, himself, one man took steroids or not. And while taking steroids is apparently a crime he's not currently under threat of punishment for the actual deed but rather about lying about the actual deed. He faces 30 years in jail for a crime that in the most part effects him more than it does society.

I know some folks disagreed with my argument against the Mike Vick case but this Bonds case reminds me a bit of that. Its just with so much real crime and threat of crime out there is this really a big deal? I mean its not like Bonds was even a distributor of the steroids. He just allegedly took them and allegedly lied about it. Big deal! Who has he hurt besides himself? Oh yea and the American past time baseball.

How much law enforcement hours in the past four years do you think have gone into dealing with this Barry Bonds threat? Sometimes you would think the cat was Al Capone or some other mob figure.

Look I hesitate to use the words witch hunt here and I truly think Bonds can be an ass more times than not but just like that announcer's glee on the radio this morning I cant help but think this is more about knocking the smile off the face of a smug son of a .... than about any sort of justice. If Bonds was a nicer guy, like for argument sake say Mark Mcguire, aside from having more public opinion on his side the question is would Law Enforcement be going after him as diligently as they are now?

Guess we can only surmise.

A fact though is that Bonds has been labeled difficult (y'all know what I mean), he's not the smiling jolly sound bite giving star athlete and it could be argued that some of this again I hesitate to use the word persecution is about a negative perception of him.

But then I guess bad guys can finish last sometimes.

Dun that

Time to put this blog to bed. Nuh setta long talk no drawn out farewell tour. Thanks for the support to all who read, commented, emailed. Hopefully it was interesting while it lasted. Met some good people made some new fam, new friends (and I mean friends not in the facebook friend way). Good to see an increase in my Caribbean people representing.

Peace and one love.

Jdid

ps: I do reserve the right to come back occasionally and write some crap here if I feel like but for the most part its all over.

Random

Ok a few stories that caught my attention.

- The MinnesotaVikings fined one of their players for missing a game two Sundays ago because he had to attend the funeral of his grandmother. His grandmother who raised him as a kid. Damn that's cold.

- While I feel for Kanye's lost I just think its so senseless that she died during elective surgery.

-kid gets killed for brandishing a hairbrush. damn! reminds me of that Michael Moore skit where he said black men shouldn't carry dark colored wallets

-Man in India marries a dog. No no no, fa real I mean a actual female dog, no fa real no insult the man marry a real mutt. Seriously. Ah hell no one will believe me anyway.

-Remember the judge who sued the dry cleaners. I blogged about it a while back. Well he lost his job. Cuhdear!

-Black girl suspended for purple hair. Good for her, she feel she name Prince or what. Oh wait he had purple rain not hair my bad.

-Michael Jordan's divorce is costing him 168 Mil. Van Dammmmm!

Seriously there was more but I cant remember where it went. Oh well enjoy.

You must learn

It seems to me that in a school that's ebony
African history should be pumped up steadily, but it's not
and this has got to stop
See Spot run, run get Spot
Insulting to a Black mentality
A Black way of life or a jet Black family
So I include with one concern, that
You must learn

You must Learn - Boogie Down Productions

Oh man, I dug in the crates for that quote today. That song is about 20 years old.

Black Schools. Its all the talk now in Toronto after this article appeared a few days ago. Now I'm pretty sure this was on the table a few years ago and I blogged about it back then as well but I just can't find that old post so here we go again. Oh and my thoughts might have changed in the ensuing two years so in case you find it don't hold any old posts against me.

Anyway black schools or rather 'African centered alternative schools' are in the news here in Toronto with suggestions that we institute some of them to assist in keeping black kids from flunking out.

My thoughts are all over the place on this. Its quite a volatile topic actually.

First off though, just to get it out of the way, and I might lose some friends over this, I'll say that I cant support African centered schools being funded by the provincial government. I give the same reasoning I gave for not supporting John Tory's faith based schools. I just don't see why the government should foot the bill here when the regular public schools are already suffering from lack of funding. As a taxpayer, if I wasn't black I'd be pretty pissed at having to pay for this special interest group's schools. Sorry that's just my opinion on the funding.

If Black sorry African centered schools are needed I say lets get the Afro-Canadian community together and do this privately. There are privately run schools for other special interest groups why don't we get together and do this too? Alternatively some ethnic communities have their Saturday school where kids are taught their heritage and the language of their ancestors. We could get together and do something like that. I'm all for West Indian school on Saturday. Ya need a teacher, I'm there son! I even have some friend dem that volunteer to teach how to chupse, give cut eye and slam dominoes.

Naa but in all seriousness maybe Saturday school might be a way to start. Teach the children about their heritage and give them some self esteem. Its a start.

Now back to the issue. The fact remains there is an issue with black kids performance in school here. They just seem to under-perform their peers and drop out at an alarming rate. This under-performance though cannot be viewed in a vacuum. One has to take a look at the socio-economic and other factors affecting these youth. As one commenter said on the Star's page we already have black schools ie schools in neighborhoods where the majority of the students are black so why not try getting them to work first before trying to have a separate new African centered school.

Now a bunch of thoughts run through my mind at this point.

(1) Our public schools in general are not up to par. Hence one would expect that the public schools in the more depressed areas of our society would be even more so under par. This is probably a factor in many black kids under-performing.

But the under-performing also seems to cut across socio-economic boundaries in the black community too. That is disturbing. That says maybe there are other factors at work here. Maybe the system is broken. By the way pardon me if it seems as if I'm making an elitist claim that poor kids will/should do worse in school. I don't subscribe to that belief at all. I'm just arguing that schools in the poorer parts of the city are probably more run down and badly run than schools in other parts of the city and this might lead to the skewing of statistics showing that black students perform worse than others.

(2) Third grade teacher reading and talking about I knew he's amount to nothing
Definition - Talib Kweli

I've heard enough stories about black kids being thrown into special ed with the quickness , a hell of a lot quicker than similarly performing kids of other races. I've also heard of smart black kids being streamed to the technical areas and being told not to think about going to university because teachers have this built in bias that says black kids are only good at certain subjects and athletics. There seems to be some sort of systemic racism in this school system. Is the issue then about curriculum or is it about perception of the students?

(3 or is this 2 1/2)Now from my own recollection and experience and I'll admit I was forced to really think about this after some of the interesting comments traded with Clarabella over at JahWorld a few weeks back I realize how really important teachers are to learning. You can be the smartest dude and if you go into a class with a piss poor teacher or a teacher who doesn't motivate or impart energy to a topic, or a teacher who has already reached the conclusion that you will be a failure before you've said or written word one in that class, it will affect you negatively. No doubt about it. Especially at a young age. My own experiences and those of others I know bear that out without question.

In the case of black kids here in Toronto and elsewhere in North America I think some teachers come into the system with these pre-conceived notions on black folk in general which they quickly apply to our younger generation. They believe these young black men and women have no future that doesn't include drugs, guns, rapping, sports or a job on the lower end of the paying and talent spectrum and either consciously or subconsciously these teachers tend to nudge these kids in those directions. Its like that passage from the Autobiography of Malcolm X where he tells his teacher he wanted to be a lawyer when he grew up and the teacher tells him that's not a realistic goal for a black kid. That was like 60 or 70 years ago but the same thing is still occurring in our school system if not as openly and blatantly stated.

(4) There is also a case for a fear of black youth. In my opinion all youth need a strong hand to keep them on an even keel. I think some teachers are afraid of being strict with their young charges especially when they are black. Fear of a black planet you can call it and you know what some of these young black kids know that their teachers and society in general fear them and use it to their advantage to get away with all sorts of lawlessness. I could site example after example of that from just riding around on the bus on the way to work in the morning. Can't blame the teachers singularly here for not trying though as it does appear that the rules enforced by the school board also leaves some of their hands tied when it comes to discipline. All that to say that lack of discipline in school has an effect on the black black youth in schools.

(5) And lest it seem like I forget the parents let me just say they are far from blameless. That discipline mentioned in the previous point must start at home. Parents also need to stress the necessity of a good education. Not sure what happened between my parents generation and mine but somehow I think the parents of this day and age don't emphasize education to their children enough leading to some slack behavior by our children. Some argue that the parents are busier now and have little time to impart instruction to the kids but to me I really don't see them being any busier than our parents. I think that's just a weak excuse.

Also parents have to stay involved in their children's education. Not only in making sure they do their homework but parents should also try to build a rapport with the teachers. That's one way to get the teachers to realize hey this kid has people pushing him, supporting him, people who love him, people looking out for him. Sometimes I think that makes a difference in teachers interaction with the students.

I could go on about that but will leave it there.

(6) Now some people say this African centric school thing is voluntary segregation. They say we work hard hard for integration of schools and now we saying we want out. Plus we living in a multicultural society. Dem issues we trying to hide our children away from still going come back and bite them in the tail later in life.

Well maybe later in life is better than earlier. Maybe they need a strong set a guidance from early without the added systemic racism. I can site the case of black West Indians who went to school in the Caribbean before immigrating here. I think we have a different perspective on things and handle and view racism from a different perspective than folks who had their primary education here. We also seem to do better in some cases too. But maybe that's just a general thing cause you cant look at our education i the Caribbean and separate it out as an individual thing. You have to look at it within the context of the different society we grew up in. Not only were the schools different but so was that society.

(7) The proponents of these African centric schools don't seem to be saying its the overall system including discipline, teachers, teaching environment that needs changing etc they are saying our kids need a new curriculum. If you say that then you are saying our kids are somehow different in the way they learn. If you are arguing this then can you really argue against someone non-black oh lets say a James Watson who comes out and says black people are different and then goes on to say derogatory things about us? Yes I know I'm stretching a comparison here but its not that big a stretch.

(8) Going back to the Star's initial article on the proposed schools Donna Harrow one of its proponents stated ."For us, it's important to try something else," said Harrow. "Many parents from the Islands or from Africa, they've actually gone through an Africentric way of teaching" back home which includes using mentors from the community. "It's building up students' self-esteem by showing them that there are other black people in the neighbourhood who are successful, who are doing well and who will care for them in a supportive manner."

Now my question is why cant the mentoring and the building up of students occur in a regular school setting? Why cant black professionals , university students be brought in to give speeches to some of these kids. From personal experience I remember we had two programs at University back in the day (big up the old WISA crew) that tried to bridge that gap between black university students and black high school students and brought in successful entrepreneurs and professionals to show these kids what was possible. It was on a small scale granted but isn't it possible to keep doing similar things like that without having a separate African centric school?


In conclusion I still digesting the issues and I think I've missed a few things but there are lots of things to think about here. I think we have to look closely at the root causes of these black kids failures before proceeding. The school cannot be analyzed without looking at the society in general. That doesn't mean necessarily that we do nothing about the schools when we find they aren't working as is. It just means be wary of thinking that African centric schools will have a great impact if that's all that's changing.

I'll leave you with a passage that I read this summer.

But the little boy listening to Buntin, who sit down there telling every boychild who come in that he, the child, is a prince, showing where it say in the Bible ... Ethiopia shall stretch forth her wings unto God and Princes shall rise forth out of Egypt.... Have Reggie coming home walking straight and tall without the goods I send him for, telling me he is a prince. But as I tell Reggie, and I will tell this to anybody, this ain't Egypt. And you could come from all the kings and queens of Egypt and Ethiopia put together, you still have to eat, you still have to get a job, and if you don't want to dig dirt for a living or pick coconut on Richardson Estate, you have to learn what they teach you in school.

The Wine of Astonishment - Earl Lovelace

Signs

They say signs that the end is near
I wonder can I walk a righteous path holding a beer
Resurrection - Common

Is just reality.....

Yesterday while channel surfing I caught a glimpse of one of the newest reality shows entitled Shot at Love. In case you haven't seen it (and I really couldn't recommend that you go out of your way to watch) its sort of like the Bachelorette but with a twist. See the bachelorette seeking love in this case is one Tila Tequlia, apparently a pretty popular personality on myspace, who is bisexual. So instead of this being a straight case of Tila looking for a man, she is looking for either a man or a woman.

Lawd come fa ya world!

Reality TV! Sigh! Now I wont get on my high horse and play like I don't watch it every now and then. I did watch Tyra's Top Model and the Amazing Race and I'll even admit that I watched last season's College Hill once I realized it was set in the Caribbean but I mean seriously I just don't get this whole Reality TV thing sometimes.

Has anything ever been so aptly misnamed before? I mean just call it shows without SAG actors and be done with it but there is very little reality in reality TV.

Ya know what too? Its going to be sad if those Hollywood writers go on strike cause the networks will beat us till we're silly with new reality shows. All I know is that if the writers go on strike my DVD will be getting a serious workout cause I not looking to watch all this reality sillyness. I can watch one episode or so every few months cause is preferable to watching grass grow but not me and that on a regular basis.

Still back to this shot at Love thing. Every time I see them push the boundaries with the slackness of these reality shows I keep going back to Arnold and that 1987 Running Man movie.
How far fetched is it now that we've seen Dog the Bounty Hunter and Scare Factor and Cops and shows like that for us to see the day when we'll be seeing them execute folks on TV. Yea I'm making a bit of a leap but that leap isn't as big as it was once upon a time.

Wicked Selector!

ya say ya number one wicked selector
Sound Boy Bureill - Smif n Wesson

I tried writing a blog about DJs a few years back but it just got way too long. Just found the draft maybe I'll post it some other time. I just cant help myself from gushing about music and by extension a good DJ. Actually one of the reasons I quit going to clubs back in the day was cause the new breed of DJs just couldn't cut it , pun intended. I know good dj'ing and when I hear a bad dj it just drives me to distraction. I just start getting agitated and wishing that someone would reenact the KRS Prince Bee scene on that DJ.

lik wood mean forward the gunshot mean rewind

But anyways I feel a long winded tirade coming on so I'll strive to keep this short. A good DJ can sell you on a tepid song, they can sell you on an artist and they can sell you on a lukewarm party. And I'm not going to get on my high horse about vinyl vs. CD or mp3 this time but lets just say a DJ has to know what to play, when to play it and how to cue it up. Those to me are the key components along with blending and scratching and if you got that down then you can and will be able to rock both turntables and the crowd.

Soun bwoy time is longer than rope but tonight tonight we gine cut ya throat

A good DJ will make you remember a song, make you remember when you heard it and what the jam was like when he was playing it. Thats a good DJ. I can still remember the first time I heard Brooklyn Zoo in a jam, I can still remember the first time I heard Lauryn come in with 'Its funny how money changes situations' , I can still remember the first time I heard a DJ cue up Take it Easy by Mad Lion. It wasn't just about the song it was about how the DJ introduced it.

Sending kids back to the lab for more practice the only way they'd win is if we battle to see who was the wackest.

A lot of cats these days do not know how to blend songs, how to play a snippet to get the crowd hyped before you bring it in, how to scratch it in, how to slowdown or pick up the tempo so the song blends flawlessly with the preceding tune. Nope instead a lot of DJs get their hype men to shout their little ad-libs at the point where they are doing a terrible job of matching the records and bringing in the song. I personally cant stand that. Ok I'll let it slide if you do it once or twice but every single song come on man, that ridiculous.

In the event of a real emergency, You would have been instructed
On which jams to play, And how loud to blast your radio and now....

As a dDJ you also have to know when to play which jam. I find a lot of DJs these days after struggling for a bit will finally get the party warmed up but then 5 songs into the jam they kill the vibe by changing up the tempo or the genre. If you are killing calypso and the floor is packed don't switch to rnb so quickly. If you are playing dancehall and the place is ram do not switch to house or dance music. If you got a nice old school hip hop session going you could try to slip in something new maybe just maybe but dont bring in three crunk songs when we're waiting for Erik B for President or Aint No Half stepping. Dont do that! I aint mad at you wanting to play CeCe peniston but yo dont play that after flipping Bounty's Poor People Fed up or right after Spragga Benz sings "No bwoy can play Dolly House wid me gal". Oh no no no! See if the crowd is feeling you and continue the vibe. I know sometimes you want to clear the dance floor so the club can sell their 5 dollar watered down rum and cokes but let the people dance for a bit man. Just chill.

It's a certain special skill, that takes much practice. I got it good; apparently you lack this.

Its all about getting a cetain rhythm. Ya gots to have skills. Just because you can find a song on limewire or napster or 1000 songs by that reasoning does not mean you're a DJ. I could go on but I'll leave it there. Lets just say take the game seriously and practice. Stay in your room and blend some tunes together, figure out what goes with what, work on those sloppy scratches, learn how to feel the tempo of the record how to match those bpms. To all the real DJs much respect. The frauds get your game right.

The turntables might wobble but they wont fall down