I can see Lamar Odom right now: face down, his head in the pillows, with rain drops sliding down his window, slow jams playing from his iPod dock, and his old Dallas gear wrinkled up in the corner. When you’re as talented as Odom and you end up basically being banished from basketball, something is wrong. Over the lockout this summer, he struggled with the murder of his 24-year-old cousin, and just days later was also a passenger in a vehicle that collided with a motorcycle, killing a teen pedestrian. Death and tragedy have followed Odom wherever he’s gone, like a dark curse that’ll never stop blocking the sun. Read More »

Deron Williams has officially earned his wings.

Immediately following a Nets game in New Jersey last week, D-Will was scheduled to hop on a Red Bull helicopter in NJ to fly over the west side of Manhattan for a party being thrown in his honor by Red Bull to officially welcome him to the family. But havoc created by torrential rain and winds forced D-Will to find other means of making it to his own party. This is what went down: Read More »

If Duke played all of their games out in Maui, they might end up as the greatest college team ever. Yesterday they added to their all-time perfect record (14-0) there and clinched a spot in the championship game, beating Michigan 82-75. Living and dying by the three is the way of the college game now, and however unpredictable it might be, Duke is the best at it. It came through for them again. Michigan needed a perfect night of basketball, but they certainly didn’t get it during the first half. Tim Hardaway Jr., for all the praise we’ve been giving him, was terrible for most of the night. The Devils shut him out in the first half and built up a double-digit lead that withstood any comebacks the Wolverines countered with in the second frame. Read More »

Excuse Mobb Deep for being cliché with the release, but this Friday is about to get really black. The Queensbridge duo is turning Black Friday into Black Cocaine. They dropped their newest five-track EP yesterday, and this Friday they’re dropping a deluxe edition on the biggest shopping day of the year. Finally, after years of waiting, Prodigy and Havoc are back together again, bringing that gritty New York sound into a game worshiping Lex Luger beats and Drake harmonies. As long as this release isn’t Blood Money, their last release five years ago that was nearly complete garbage, I’ll be hyped and willing to go spend my $10 instead of hitting the net. Read More »

Back in high school, the warm-up mix always had to be on point. We used to argue over the songs, sometimes had trouble landing edited versions and even had one kid constantly try to sneak his own tape over to the guys running it. It was a never-ending argument. I still remember coming out my senior year to T.I.‘s “Bring Em Out” which would seem appropriate, except that I never liked that song. It didn’t get me hyped at all (if we were gonna have T.I., I argued, it better be “What You Know”). Read More »