Andy 'Stuck' Stuckenschneider, one of my best friends, tweeted a link to 'us' about this commercial: 1800 Tequila Best Buddies. The concept is about people valuing their digital friends they may or may not have instead of focusing (In this case...Taking Tequila Shots) on friends that they communicate with regularly and have developed in-person relationships between each other. This particular group of my friends have been fortunate to have weddings, reunions, football weekends, benefit/charity events, etc. that have brought us together. However, I like to think that when we are not together... Email and Twitter conversations have made things more entertaining and brought us closer together.
There is one person in particular over this past year that has brought us together. In fact, it's clear through the Audit that just concluded that he is very much the core person responsible for this league's financial progress and success during the 2010-2011 season: LeBron James. Because of 'The Decision', his unmatched athletic ability, his inconsistency to take over the game when most needed like his idol (MJ) did in his career, and now maintaining the title of best player ever in any major sport not to win a title, he is the most polarizing athlete of my lifetime. You've heard it before if you have lived above surface since July 2010... He broke the City of Cleveland's heart, stomped on it, and drowned it in the Atlantic off the coast of South Florida where has taken his talents. However, that city united as one when the Cavs beat the Heat in Cleveland this year forcing Dan Gilbert to tweet 'Not in my garage'. I find it ironic that he brought my friends closer together because most of my friends favored college basketball over the NBA, but I think that has changed this year because of our discussions.
I thank LeBron. Tuesdays are not regular Tuesdays anymore. There could be a mid-morning discussion that takes you past lunch and all of a sudden 55 emails later... You're already at the end of the day and have accomplished your work goals. In between that time, you know more about a subject than you did before the day began because of your friends' contributions via email or twitter. For 'us' as Dayton grads, we thrive on community. We love that feeling of connecting with friends instantly and feeling like we are in our living rooms in college all over again. Topics range from sports, solving our nation's economic and education problems, discussing Warren Buffett's tax situation: Warren on Taxes, Kanye's album release, Lil Wayne's ability to rap without writing anything down... The list goes on and on. The feeling never changes... We love defining what people are... What people aren't... Why it is they make those decisions or can't make that play to win or why a person will never succeed because x,y,or z factors... We may be more critical within our circle, but if you can't be real to your best friend. Who can you be real with? So, we find ourselves talking about what people are and what people aren't!
As a person who engages in social media at the level I do, it's actually a shame that I'm starting my blog this late. One of my passions is to serve as a Varsity Assistant Basketball Coach at Clayton High School (Saint Louis, MO). For those who couldn't share in my seasons on a week to week basis, I wanted to keep people informed. 2000 word emails were the norm from time to time, but I wanted people to feel like they were in the huddles during the game with me or observing/critiquing practice. I have been fortunate enough to coach one of the best 6 players in the state of Missouri during the 2010-2011 season in Christian Thomas, 6'5 210 lb 18 year old wing player at Loyola Chicago. I wanted people to feel what this kid was going through as the best athlete the school had seen in sometime, but yet he may have been big time in his community, but he didn't know where he was attending college until April. CT struggled with understanding for him to get to where he wanted to go at the next level that it's not just about his personal stats, but he needed to carry his team and the personal goals will come. 4 year starter, two-time all-state, Conference and District Player of the Year, 2nd Team All-Metro, and most of all 2011 District Champion. See you in September, CT. The recipients of my email may not have met CT, but they definitely were intrigued with the person he was during the season and the man he has become.
I got the itch to blog about our season and keep the players anonymous or release all my posts at once post-season, but it never came to fruition. It may have been time, maybe afraid that my content wouldn't have been satisfactory or appealing to readers. Between 'us', we dive into so many interests; it's hard to concentrate on one topic when so many experiences have shaped our mentalities. I wasn't going to be one of those writers... I am involved in many different things; Hell, I've had jobs in government, public relations, human resources, marketing, sales and branding so it's not like I'm without knowledge of many different areas plus the knowledge passed around from 'us' is phenomenal all around.
Here's a list of people that stimulate my mind with their writings: Bill Simmons, Jason Whitlock, Roland S. Martin, Donna Brazile, Michael Wilbon, Jemele Hill, Peter King, Angelique Chengelis, Karle Rove, and Ann Coulter to name a few. They are all very different. However, they provide amazing content, get paid to do it, but their purpose is larger than that. I strive to be as influential to others as they have been to me. I'm not afraid to fail anymore when it comes to blogging. I'm not an expert, but I'm confident in the content I will contribute will get a reaction and keep you entertain. Of course, I want to be relevant; but most of all when these fingers hit the keyboard I'm going to mean what I type.
You may ask yourself... Why was he worried about that? Where did he find that final motivation? I play pick-up hoops and play in about 4 leagues on average throughout the year. I'd say I'm a Pass First-Shoot Second Point Guard. I am always talking on the court trying to motivate my team, but outside of 5-7 people (Division I or High Division II players) at the Missouri Athletic Club, I'm the smartest person on the floor. I have studied the game and been a part of some good staffs in two different states of high quality basketball. So, I know what I'm talking about on the floor. I'm usually controlled when it comes to it, but I do play with emotions. My emotions come out even more when others on my team are taken advantage of by either the ref or bullied by an opposing player. I try to turn my game into Eff You Mode a la Bill Simmons. Well, sometimes my 'email group' gets in Eff you mode. I've done some analyzing of our emails and the basis comes down to as I mentioned: We like to talk about people aren't or what we are, what they are, and what they've done. It's not personal attacks that we make, but we attempt to make educated call-outs about each other or each other's beliefs. Little did I know, there was an incident that would hit me in a way that I wasn't prepared for in the least. A general theme of our emails was about saying what people are and what they aren't: On a recent Saturday in Saint Louis, I got approached at a bar downtown and a 21-25 yr old Caucasian male approaches me and says to me: You know you're not white, right?!?!? There it was...my motivation.
For some quick background, I kicked this guy in the behind twice thinking it was one of my friends...and did it twice because I didn't have his attention. My friend Eric Erdman thought the guy might think I was 'hitting on him'. I looked at this guy and saw before he approached me talk to his friend next to him asking if he had his back I presume... He came up to me and couldn't come up with anything better. He wanted to say something hateful=check. wanted a response=check. However, he wasn't ready to act on that response and he retreated out of the bar when I charged after him. Let's get into why he possibly made the remark: I wore a button-down shirt, jeans, and a Red, White, and Blue Visor with my glasses as USA was playing Mexico. Side note: We can write a separate blog on this, but now that Freddy Adu is of age to where it wouldn't be creepy to rock his jersey. He will be my first USMNT jersey purchase. Why did he say this? Did he see me hanging out with my friends? If so, yea, I was hanging out with my Caucasian girlfriend, Caucasian friends from college...
In an intelligent discussion, I would have told him that I was born in Washington, D.C. and went to a Catholic K-8 that was predominately African-American then went to a middle school in Michigan where I was one of six African-Americans in the school and then to a high school (U of D Jesuit) that the level of competition for succeeding inside and outside the classroom rivaled the rat race in New York, but it was also a melting pot in terms of the diverse community that I was in. From there, I went to the greatest Catholic University in the nation where 92 percent of the people were Caucasian. Albert Einstein says, "The only source of knowledge is experience." I indeed am what I am because of my experiences.
As you get close to making some transitional decisions in your life regarding relationships, jobs, locations, etc. you start to reflect on those experiences. Instead of pouting about his ignorant racist statement, I flipped the script and it's part of my intro for my blog. That ignorant person and poor excuse of a man got under my skin, but he's helped me in more ways than one. He's allowed me to introduce myself to people through my written word. What he observed was me hanging with 5 other Caucasians that night, God willing with the future mother of my kids. So, he's probably the type of person who has only been around black people from what he sees on TV and downtown Saint Louis. I called him ignorant and a racist because if he had other black friends he wouldn't have made that comment to me. Questioning one's ethnicity or manhood is one of the most hateful things you can do. I truly love interacting with people on this Earth. This blog could have gone another way where I may have felt the need to defend my heritage and how proud I am of that heritage, but I won't be giving him that satisfaction. However, his ignorance does indicate that our nation and the communities within have a long way to go still.(Foreshadowing of a Future Blog).
I'm not sure what entirely the blogosphere has in store for me. I just know that I'm not afraid anymore. I've been reading tips, trying to nail down a style that fits me, and reading other blogs of friends and others' work that I admire: Shoutout to my girl Katie Butler in Philly and Lisa Kelly in STL.
This PILOT of blogs for me if you will, covered a lot of bases. My content is going to cover an array of topics, my 'email group' is a great source of that content, you now have some background of a couple of my experiences, and most of all, you know my motivation that put me over the edge to share my world with you. It's a shame that situation had to happen. However, like I thank LeBron for bringing my friends together through sharing of opinions and feelings, I thank that ignorant bitch ass coward for giving me a real situation that I had to get off my chest and to share with my readers. Here's what I am: I am a confident, educated, motivated, 27 year old African-American male resident of Saint Louis who is passionate about the community he lives in and serves his alma mater in any which way he can. I'm strong in my faith and am thankful to live each and every day as I know it's a gift to wake up every single day. That's what I would have told the ignorant bitch ass had he known me or sat down and had a conversation with me.
By the way, the answer is Yes. I do know that I'm not white. Look at my skin, sir. Wanna ask me that again before I knock you out!
Welcome to my World, friends... The World of ML!
No comments:
Post a Comment