Shawn Kemp's Offspring

Written by Eboy

So here we are....closing in on the last 1/4 of the season....and the MVP race is going to be a major story as the season winds down......SKO needs something new in the mix too, so here we go!!!!

Let's stay straightforward shall we,


MVP

1. Lebron James
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Dwight Howard
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Chris Paul

This is an interesting race.....but not quite as close as some would make it out to be. Here's why:




Lebron James:
Lebron has just been........tremendous. He's made the Cavs into a rock solid group that plays efficient offense and lockdown D night in and night out. He has carried over his otherworldly Olympic play and has lead the (sometimes injury prone)Cavs to the 2nd best record in the league up until this point of the season. Can't hate how he's done it either.....28.4, 7.5, 7......MVP worthy, no doubt! He's beastlike night in and night out and even on his less than spectacular nights he'll still throw up 20, 9 & 9. Time for change starts this season. The Blueprint is finally in the construction phase and we can just sit back and watch the formation with admiration until the project is complete.



Dwayne Wade:
My man, D-Wade.....yeah....he's f*cking good too! Am I being a bit of a homer putting him 2nd? Probably, but 28.5, 5, 7......that
s airtight, and the Heat are respectable after being horrible just a season ago. He's been that guy every night for the Heat and he's showing no signs of letting up. It's great to see him healthy...so I keep my fingers crossed that the McDavid pads stays strong in all the right spots. Plus, the future is getting brighter for the squad and it may be enough to lock up dude for the long haul and to keep his game in the MIA. Finally getting some help in the Jermaine O'Neal pickup is promising....but don't get it twisted, the Heat shine bright or fizzle-out on #3's game.




Dwight Howard:
DaHowitzer.....has been the bedrock that the Magic needed and Orlando is now in the conversation as legit contender because of it. The reason for it? The play of Dwight....rebounding....scoring....blocking shots....dude is doing it all for them. And the Magic seem to have the number of some of the best teams in the league. They're legit 'cause of the 21st century Superman. Losing his point guard for an extended period may shine the MVP light on him just a little more too. And now with the acquisition of Rafaer Alston to fill the void.....the Magic could still pose huge problems for the rest of the league's elite.




Kobe Bryant:
The Defenseless Mamba has been his normal self this season. Solid....sometimes spectacular.....and if the 61 point effort in the Garden was any sign of the future...he might be able to catapult a couple of spots in this race. But for half the season, he hasn't been as valuable as those first names mentioned. The last part of the season may play out much differently though but losing the one piece which may have put the Lakers in the drivers seat for the title may just be too much for Team No-D to overcome. HOWEVA......the rebirth of Lamar Odom has been unexpected and Gasol continues his strong play from night to night....so they still have a solid lock on the West's top spot and if Kobe plays within the system....they'll be tough against anyone.


Chris Paul:
CP3....best point guard in the game and while his team has been less than spectacular, Chris is always just that....spectacular. He needs to be his absolute best night in and night out for his team to challenge any of the West's top squads. Trading Tyson Chandler and then getting him back a day later was pretty uninspiring as well, but might be the best thing for the Hornets in the long run. If his squad can somehow put it together for a strong finish and get hot at the right time....they could be a wild card, but in the meantime.....enjoy this dude. He's in a class by himself.

J.A. Adande has presented an interesting proposition for the NBA: Do away with the luxury tax.

In this era of expansion and cost-cutting, teams are just trying to stay financially secure. Stop taxing teams excessively, or else we'll wind up with an all-star team made up entirely of expiring contracts. Long live Raef LaFrentz.

by Tariq al Haydar

I'll never forget the first time I heard the Wu-Tang Clan's "Protect Ya Neck"; nine MCs flowing sequentially with no hook. It was, to use Wu terminology, raw. I don't think I'll ever feel that way about a song again. I guess it has something do with age.

I was tempted to vent about how nobody is making good hip-hop anymore, but I don't think that's true. Nas recently dropped an excellent album. OutKast make some noise every few years. For all his detractors, I like Kanye. Common. Kweli. Lupe Fiasco. Q-Tip's "Renaissance" is outstanding. And, of course, the aforementioned Wu are still relevant. It's just that a lot of the mainstream rappers who get all the exposure are, well, not very good. So I decided to share some of my favorite artists who will not win a Grammy any time soon. Enjoy:

- Jay Electronica:

You'd be hard pressed to find a rapper who puts more thought into his words than Jay Electronica. Subtle wordplay, allusion, and thematic complexity are all staples of Jay's work. He might go 32 bars with no hook or rap structurelessly over the score of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. He's a monster. Here's a sample:

"So standardized education in this situation is useful/ I mean useless/ Pardon the slippage/ The dead'll probably talk but the jargon is jibberish/Meanwhile, I'm off in the stars warring with Iblis/ You see them atoms (Adams) spinnin/ You see them waves shimmerin/ You see them wisdoms grinnin/ The masculine energy make em feel feminine/ I transform, they start assemblin."

Unfortunately, I've been having a hard time getting a hold of his songs. I lost one of my favorites, "I Feel Good".

- Kidz in the Hall:

This Chicago duo make you feel like it's still 1995. They have this feel-good quality to their work, and punchlines abound:

"She said she like how I take charge like Battier/ But I ain't ballin, baby/ I'm more like a coach/ I'll let you be the judge/ Just like I'm under oath/ And I'm a tell the truth, so help me God/ Let me get inside stuff like Ahmad Rashad"

- Jazz Liberatorz:

Jazz Lib are three French beatmakers: DJ Damage, Dusty, and Madhi. The one album I found, "Clin d'Oeil", is basically a collection of beats over which underground MCs flow. As their name indicates, they try to take hip-hop back to its roots. I wouldn't say their sound is a fusion between jazz and hip-hop. Rather, Jazz Lib bridge the gap between hip-hop and its musical lineage. The result is a laid-back concoction which has a vintage feel.

- Black Milk:

I don't know how to describe the beats on Black Milk's "Tronic". I want to say "electronic", but it's more organic than that. As for Black Milk as an MC, it's not that he isn't lyrically sharp, because he is (To wit: "Who's the best? Heavy like dumbbells on your arm/ I bury you broads by spitting barbarian bars"), but I'd say that Black Milk's greatest gift is the ability he has to manipulate his flow to fit odd beats. "Overdose", "Try" and "Losing Out" are standouts.

- Elzhi:

I love Elzhi for his sense of lyrical adventurousness. He's willing to try anything. "Colors" is a track structured around the use of, you guessed it, colors: "I think it's quite foul while/ I sip the GREY Goose and ORANGE juice/ And twist the WHITE Widow in a WHITE Owl/How first you're painting the town RED/Beneath the night skies/Now you going to trial/For telling little WHITE lies."

"Guessing Game" is pure genius. The "game" in question is a word game in which the listener is asked to guess how Elzhi is going to change the last word of each line:

Now we can really begin
Long as this beat keep the treats falling out of my pen-
(piñ)-ata. Rather slow or faster it's disaster
I come flowing harder than a master-
(mastur)-bator. Now in the streets we a mess, try to test
We drop it, you stop, pop a two in your rest-
(resp)-tory system. They claim they the best
Hey, you ask me I say maybe they were OK, yes-
-terday."

Seeing the lyrics to "Guessing Game" written down doesn't do it justice.

So listen.

P.S.
This is the 100th post on SKO!

by Tariq al Haydar

"I am going to get back here. I promise you that."

I remember Kurt Warner uttering those words, his eyes glimmering with the sheen of defeat. The Greatest Show on Turf had just been defeated by the upstart New England Patriots.

Now, I'm not going to wax lyrical about how Warner got back to the Super Bowl through sheer determination. I don't believe he "willed" his way back to the Game. There are many variables which determined whether or not Kurt Warner would ever play in another Super Bowl after that ill-fated 2001 edition, and the play of Warner himself was only one such variable. Although Warner certainly fulfilled his end of the bargain.

But this isn't really about Warner. It's about me. Because when I heard Warner say:
"I am going to get back here."

Here's what I thought:

"Fat chance."

I don't know why I thought that. After all, the St. Louis Rams had Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt. They had the makings of a dynasty, but I just felt that I was witnessing the end of a cycle.

Cut to 2008.

I saw the Arizona Cardinals beat the Dallas Cowboys in impressive fashion. I enjoyed Darnell Dockett and the Cardinal defense. I really enjoyed Larry Fitzgerald. And yeah, Warner looked pretty darn good.

And then Wes Welker made those snow angels. On December 21st, the New England Patriots buried the Cards in an avalanche of touchdowns and tears. They beat them down 47-7, and after that blizzard, I wrote off the Arizona Cardinals. "They'll only make the playoffs," I thought, "because the NFC West is an armada of vaginal pretenders." Yes, my private thoughts are both vivid and vulgar.

And yet here we are, 3 games and 14 Delhomme interceptions later, with the Arizona Cardinals thisclose to greatness. Kurt Warner has the chance to cement his place in the Hall of Fame. so will the Arizona Cardinals pull off one more upset and win it all?

Fat chance.

*****I wrote this last season when Zo went down with his injury. I felt it needed to see the light of day again with Alonzo's retirement announcement yesterday. Thanks to everyone who commented on it previously, btw.****
Written By Eboy


In The Warriors Code There's No Surrender,
Though His Body Cries Stop, His Spirit Cries, NEVER!



Last night a legacy and a warriors journey ended in a crumpled heap in Atlanta, Georgia. Alonzo Mourning's long journey could have ended two seasons ago when he was a major cog in the Miami Heat's first championship. The Warrior in him said no.... I need to try and defend what we earned. He was the catalyst for the title. The fire needed in all great teams. He was the firestarter. He was the last line of defense. He was many things in his career. From Charlotte to Miami to New Jersey to Toronto and back to Miami, Zo earned his stripes. Every night. Every Possession. There's not much more that could be said. In today's game, to find a player who plays all out every game may be reserved for only one other player, and he's from the same college alma matta. Zo was a beast. Hated. Beloved. Challenged. Beaten. Destroyer. Enforcer. Champion. All these words can describe him. None do him justice. The critics of his game hated his demonstrativeness, flexing, screaming, pointing to the sky like Hulk Hogan after a title match. This was his make-up. This was Zo. Love him or hate him, you had to respect him. He was the modern Bill Russell on the defensive end. He was the one person you didn't want to meet at the basket if you felt you had a shot to get a dunk on him. He was caught a bunch, but he caught WAY more than he took. Warrior. Who care's if you take a punch, you've got to take one to give two. Warriors don't fear pain, they relish it. They welcome the pain as just another way to push themselves. And he did that 10 fold in his career.




Every basketball fan knows Zo kidney battle. Would have ended lesser men's career's. The Warrior took it as the ultimate battle and......won. Somehow, he beat the odds. That's what all the great warriors of myth do. They overcome. They find a way. Through all obstacles. They come through in the worst situations. It was hurtful to the community of Miami at the time it occurred. They were losing their champion, the face of their franchise and the hero for their environment. If you never visited the Miami Arena in the early years of the Heat in Overtown, you were probably the better for it. A more rundown, decrepit area of the state of Florida was difficult to find. Zo knew this upon his arrival in Miami. And made it his crusade to try and fortify and revolutionize the area. Over his career in Miami, things began to change partly because of his charitable efforts, but more because of his indomitable will and refusal to surrender to suits and bureaucrats that made his goal to revitalize seem like an impossible task. Warrior. Warrior's want the impossible task. It's their life's calling. Tell me no, motherfu*ker, and I will show differently. This was Zo's way and Overtown began to change. By the time Zo returned for his second Heat stint, Overtown was now in full revitalization mode, and don't think for a minute that Zo's imprint wasn't all over the blueprints of the new highrises, rebuilt buildings and surrounding shops and clubs that made the area a place to be seen instead of being a place you wouldn't want to be caught dead in. The Warrior laid the ground work. He kept the fire burning and made an impact that will be felt for generations to come.

As a fan of his from his Hoya's days, and then in Charlotte where he made his bones to his Heat history, I can only say thank you. Thanks for your fearlessness. Thanks for the years of fire. Thanks for the memories. Thanks for being you. There's not enough of your kind left in the basketball world anymore. And it will be missed. The rest of this Heat season, regardless of record and even if they somehow can turn the ship around and right things, won't be the same. Those lowly Wednesday night games against teams like the Grizzlies just won't be the same without you patrolling, waiting and extinguishing. Maybe the boys will rally around your legacy and play hard for the rest of the season, every night, like's it's their last. It's doubtful that that type of intensity can be duplicated, though. But even if they do, it won't be the same without the granite block, the king of blocks, the Warrior. His last act as a basketball player? Going for a blocked shot. Then refusing to be carried off on a stretcher, walking away from the game he loved and the battlefield he navigated, through pain and regret. No tears, head up, fire still burning, hate for the injury that ended his run. RIP Warrior Mourning. Welcome home, Alonzo.

by Tariq al Haydar

Hello all.

I know I've been writing a lot about Palestine, and I know some of you may be getting bored with the whole topic. Believe me, I feel you. It's just important to me is all. And let me just state for the record that I think that Hamas are a bunch of idiots for continuing to fire their measly missiles. But that doesn't change the fact that Israel is an aggressor. In any case, I promise to write something about Kurt Warner in the coming days just to cleanse the palette, but before I do that, I'd like to share with you the Arab Peace Initiative, which was approved by the Arab League in 2002. This is a Peace Offer extended to Israel since 2002, which Israel does not want to even negotiate. Why? Good question.




The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002


Official translation of the full text of a Saudi-inspired peace plan adopted by the Arab summit in Beirut, 2002.

The Arab Peace Initiative

The Council of Arab States at the Summit Level at its 14th Ordinary Session,

Reaffirming the resolution taken in June 1996 at the Cairo Extra-Ordinary Arab Summit that a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East is the strategic option of the Arab countries, to be achieved in accordance with international legality, and which would require a comparable commitment on the part of the Israeli government,

Having listened to the statement made by his royal highness Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, crown prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in which his highness presented his initiative calling for full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land-for-peace principle, and Israel's acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel,

Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:

1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.

2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:

I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.

II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.

III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:

I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.

II- ESTABLISH NORMAL RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS COMPREHENSIVE PEACE. (Emphasis mine)

4. Assures the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries.

5. Calls upon the government of Israel and all Israelis to accept this initiative in order to safeguard the prospects for peace and stop the further shedding of blood, enabling the Arab countries and Israel to live in peace and good neighbourliness and provide future generations with security, stability and prosperity.

6. Invites the international community and all countries and organisations to support this initiative.

7. Requests the chairman of the summit to form a special committee composed of some of its concerned member states and the secretary general of the League of Arab States to pursue the necessary contacts to gain support for this initiative at all levels, particularly from the United Nations, the Security Council, the United States of America, the Russian Federation, the Muslim states and the European Union.

P.S.

I'd like to thank my fellow blogmates, especially Alan, for setting up the Gaza Relief Fund. That means a lot to me. Thanks. You may now resume consuming Guiness and raw potatoes.

Written by Eboy

In keeping with the the middle Eastern theme this week here at SKO, I figured "why not lighten it up" a little with this song from the legendary Queen.

Also, if you notice in the upper right hand corner of our main page, there is a link that allows those of us who can, the opportunity to donate to the horrors that occur to the youth of Gaza. Please, even if you are unable yourself, put the word out to others who can to help out those who cant help themselves.

Thanks and enjoy the song. My favorite part of the video comes at 1:21 to 1:23, where the camel gives me the comfort of thinking of my man Tariq.

I was thinking about writing something about the wacky NFL Playoffs, about how happy I am that the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens are in their respective Championship games and how I hope they collide in the SuperBowl. I wanted to write about how moving it was to see Brian Dawkins cry after the victory over the Giants, but really... during this time I feel that sports are so inconsequential; who really gives a crap if Donovan McNabb finally gets a ring or if Kurt Warner makes it back to Super Sunday? Not me. At least not now. So instead I thought I'd share this article:
-----------------
How Israel brought Gaza to the Brink of Humanitarian Catastrophe
-----------------
Oxford professor of international relations Avi Shlaim served in the Israeli army and has never questioned the state's legitimacy. But its merciless assault on Gaza has led him to devastating conclusions

Avi Shlaim
Wednesday January 7 2009
The Guardian


The only way to make sense of Israel's senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. British officials bitterly resented American partisanship on behalf of the infant state. On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a gangster state headed by "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders". I used to think that this judgment was too harsh but Israel's vicious assault on the people of Gaza, and the Bush administration's complicity in this assault, have reopened the question.

I write as someone who served loyally in the Israeli army in the mid-1960s and who has never questioned the legitimacy of the state of Israel within its pre-1967 borders. What I utterly reject is the Zionist colonial project beyond the Green Line. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the June 1967 war had very little to do with security and everything to do with territorial expansionism. The aim was to establish Greater Israel through permanent political, economic and military control over the Palestinian territories. And the result has been one of the most prolonged and brutal military occupations of modern times.

Four decades of Israeli control did incalculable damage to the economy of the Gaza Strip. With a large population of 1948 refugees crammed into a tiny strip of land, with no infrastructure or natural resources, Gaza's prospects were never bright. Gaza, however, is not simply a case of economic under-development but a uniquely cruel case of deliberate de-development. To use the Biblical phrase, Israel turned the people of Gaza into the hewers of wood and the drawers of water, into a source of cheap labour and a captive market for Israeli goods. The development of local industry was actively impeded so as to make it impossible for the Palestinians to end their subordination to Israel and to establish the economic underpinnings essential for real political independence.

Gaza is a classic case of colonial exploitation in the post-colonial era. Jewish settlements in occupied territories are immoral, illegal and an insurmountable obstacle to peace. They are at once the instrument of exploitation and the symbol of the hated occupation. In Gaza, the Jewish settlers numbered only 8,000 in 2005 compared with 1.4 million local residents. Yet the settlers controlled 25% of the territory, 40% of the arable land and the lion's share of the scarce water resources. Cheek by jowl with these foreign intruders, the majority of the local population lived in abject poverty and unimaginable misery. Eighty per cent of them still subsist on less than $2 a day. The living conditions in the strip remain an affront to civilised values, a powerful precipitant to resistance and a fertile breeding ground for political extremism.

In August 2005 a Likud government headed by Ariel Sharon staged a unilateral Israeli pullout from Gaza, withdrawing all 8,000 settlers and destroying the houses and farms they had left behind. Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement, conducted an effective campaign to drive the Israelis out of Gaza. The withdrawal was a humiliation for the Israeli Defence Forces. To the world, Sharon presented the withdrawal from Gaza as a contribution to peace based on a two-state solution. But in the year after, another 12,000 Israelis settled on the West Bank, further reducing the scope for an independent Palestinian state. Land-grabbing and peace-making are simply incompatible. Israel had a choice and it chose land over peace.

The real purpose behind the move was to redraw unilaterally the borders of Greater Israel by incorporating the main settlement blocs on the West Bank to the state of Israel. Withdrawal from Gaza was thus not a prelude to a peace deal with the Palestinian Authority but a prelude to further Zionist expansion on the West Bank. It was a unilateral Israeli move undertaken in what was seen, mistakenly in my view, as an Israeli national interest. Anchored in a fundamental rejection of the Palestinian national identity, the withdrawal from Gaza was part of a long-term effort to deny the Palestinian people any independent political existence on their land.

Israel's settlers were withdrawn but Israeli soldiers continued to control all access to the Gaza Strip by land, sea and air. Gaza was converted overnight into an open-air prison. From this point on, the Israeli air force enjoyed unrestricted freedom to drop bombs, to make sonic booms by flying low and breaking the sound barrier, and to terrorise the hapless inhabitants of this prison.

Israel likes to portray itself as an island of democracy in a sea of authoritarianism. Yet Israel has never in its entire history done anything to promote democracy on the Arab side and has done a great deal to undermine it. Israel has a long history of secret collaboration with reactionary Arab regimes to suppress Palestinian nationalism. Despite all the handicaps, the Palestinian people succeeded in building the only genuine democracy in the Arab world with the possible exception of Lebanon. In January 2006, free and fair elections for the Legislative Council of the Palestinian Authority brought to power a Hamas-led government. Israel, however, refused to recognise the democratically elected government, claiming that Hamas is purely and simply a terrorist organisation.

America and the EU shamelessly joined Israel in ostracising and demonising the Hamas government and in trying to bring it down by withholding tax revenues and foreign aid. A surreal situation thus developed with a significant part of the international community imposing economic sanctions not against the occupier but against the occupied, not against the oppressor but against the oppressed.

As so often in the tragic history of Palestine, the victims were blamed for their own misfortunes. Israel's propaganda machine persistently purveyed the notion that the Palestinians are terrorists, that they reject coexistence with the Jewish state, that their nationalism is little more than antisemitism, that Hamas is just a bunch of religious fanatics and that Islam is incompatible with democracy. But the simple truth is that the Palestinian people are a normal people with normal aspirations. They are no better but they are no worse than any other national group. What they aspire to, above all, is a piece of land to call their own on which to live in freedom and dignity.

Like other radical movements, Hamas began to moderate its political programme following its rise to power. From the ideological rejectionism of its charter, it began to move towards pragmatic accommodation of a two-state solution. In March 2007, Hamas and Fatah formed a national unity government that was ready to negotiate a long-term ceasefire with Israel. Israel, however, refused to negotiate with a government that included Hamas.

It continued to play the old game of divide and rule between rival Palestinian factions. In the late 1980s, Israel had supported the nascent Hamas in order to weaken Fatah, the secular nationalist movement led by Yasser Arafat. Now Israel began to encourage the corrupt and pliant Fatah leaders to overthrow their religious political rivals and recapture power. Aggressive American neoconservatives participated in the sinister plot to instigate a Palestinian civil war. Their meddling was a major factor in the collapse of the national unity government and in driving Hamas to seize power in Gaza in June 2007 to pre-empt a Fatah coup.

The war unleashed by Israel on Gaza on 27 December was the culmination of a series of clashes and confrontations with the Hamas government. In a broader sense, however, it is a war between Israel and the Palestinian people, because the people had elected the party to power. The declared aim of the war is to weaken Hamas and to intensify the pressure until its leaders agree to a new ceasefire on Israel's terms. The undeclared aim is to ensure that the Palestinians in Gaza are seen by the world simply as a humanitarian problem and thus to derail their struggle for independence and statehood.

The timing of the war was determined by political expediency. A general election is scheduled for 10 February and, in the lead-up to the election, all the main contenders are looking for an opportunity to prove their toughness. The army top brass had been champing at the bit to deliver a crushing blow to Hamas in order to remove the stain left on their reputation by the failure of the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in July 2006. Israel's cynical leaders could also count on apathy and impotence of the pro-western Arab regimes and on blind support from President Bush in the twilight of his term in the White House. Bush readily obliged by putting all the blame for the crisis on Hamas, vetoing proposals at the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and issuing Israel with a free pass to mount a ground invasion of Gaza.

As always, mighty Israel claims to be the victim of Palestinian aggression but the sheer asymmetry of power between the two sides leaves little room for doubt as to who is the real victim. This is indeed a conflict between David and Goliath but the Biblical image has been inverted - a small and defenceless Palestinian David faces a heavily armed, merciless and overbearing Israeli Goliath. The resort to brute military force is accompanied, as always, by the shrill rhetoric of victimhood and a farrago of self-pity overlaid with self-righteousness. In Hebrew this is known as the syndrome of bokhim ve-yorim, "crying and shooting".

To be sure, Hamas is not an entirely innocent party in this conflict. Denied the fruit of its electoral victory and confronted with an unscrupulous adversary, it has resorted to the weapon of the weak - terror. Militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad kept launching Qassam rocket attacks against Israeli settlements near the border with Gaza until Egypt brokered a six-month ceasefire last June. The damage caused by these primitive rockets is minimal but the psychological impact is immense, prompting the public to demand protection from its government. Under the circumstances, Israel had the right to act in self-defence but its response to the pinpricks of rocket attacks was totally disproportionate. The figures speak for themselves. In the three years after the withdrawal from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. On the other hand, in 2005-7 alone, the IDF killed 1,290 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children.

Whatever the numbers, killing civilians is wrong. This rule applies to Israel as much as it does to Hamas, but Israel's entire record is one of unbridled and unremitting brutality towards the inhabitants of Gaza. Israel also maintained the blockade of Gaza after the ceasefire came into force which, in the view of the Hamas leaders, amounted to a violation of the agreement. During the ceasefire, Israel prevented any exports from leaving the strip in clear violation of a 2005 accord, leading to a sharp drop in employment opportunities. Officially, 49.1% of the population is unemployed. At the same time, Israel restricted drastically the number of trucks carrying food, fuel, cooking-gas canisters, spare parts for water and sanitation plants, and medical supplies to Gaza. It is difficult to see how starving and freezing the civilians of Gaza could protect the people on the Israeli side of the border. But even if it did, it would still be immoral, a form of collective punishment that is strictly forbidden by international humanitarian law.

The brutality of Israel's soldiers is fully matched by the mendacity of its spokesmen. Eight months before launching the current war on Gaza, Israel established a National Information Directorate. The core messages of this directorate to the media are that Hamas broke the ceasefire agreements; that Israel's objective is the defence of its population; and that Israel's forces are taking the utmost care not to hurt innocent civilians. Israel's spin doctors have been remarkably successful in getting this message across. But, in essence, their propaganda is a pack of lies.

A wide gap separates the reality of Israel's actions from the rhetoric of its spokesmen. It was not Hamas but the IDF that broke the ceasefire. It di d so by a raid into Gaza on 4 November that killed six Hamas men. Israel's objective is not just the defence of its population but the eventual overthrow of the Hamas government in Gaza by turning the people against their rulers. And far from taking care to spare civilians, Israel is guilty of indiscriminate bombing and of a three-year-old blockade that has brought the inhabitants of Gaza, now 1.5 million, to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Biblical injunction of an eye for an eye is savage enough. But Israel's insane offensive against Gaza seems to follow the logic of an eye for an eyelash. After eight days of bombing, with a death toll of more than 400 Palestinians and four Israelis, the gung-ho cabinet ordered a land invasion of Gaza the consequences of which are incalculable.

No amount of military escalation can buy Israel immunity from rocket attacks from the military wing of Hamas. Despite all the death and destruction that Israel has inflicted on them, they kept up their resistance and they kept firing their rockets. This is a movement that glorifies victimhood and martyrdom. There is simply no military solution to the conflict between the two communities. The problem with Israel's concept of security is that it denies even the most elementary security to the other community. The only way for Israel to achieve security is not through shooting but through talks with Hamas, which has repeatedly declared its readiness to negotiate a long-term ceasefire with the Jewish state within its pre-1967 borders for 20, 30, or even 50 years. Israel has rejected this offer for the same reason it spurned the Arab League peace plan of 2002, which is still on the table: it involves concessions and compromises.

This brief review of Israel's record over the past four decades makes it difficult to resist the conclusion that it has become a rogue state with "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders". A rogue state habitually violates international law, possesses weapons of mass destruction and practises terrorism - the use of violence against civilians for political purposes. Israel fulfils all of these three criteria; the cap fits and it must wear it. Israel's real aim is not peaceful coexistence with its Palestinian neighbours but military domination. It keeps compounding the mistakes of the past with new and more disastrous ones. Politicians, like everyone else, are of course free to repeat the lies and mistakes of the past. But it is not mandatory to do so.

Avi Shlaim is a professor of international relations at the University of Oxford and the author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World and of Lion of Jordan: King Hussein's Life in War and Peace.

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2009

I have nothing but love in my heart for this beautiful Jewish man:

Written by Eboy

****I was planning on writing the first ever game notes from an NFL contest on the SKO site today, but since the Dolphins played like the NFL's equivalent to the Oklahoma City Thunder yesterday, I've decided to play out my experience in images. Enjoy. I will have game notes later today on the Heat/Nets game from Saturday night, which was a more enjoyable experience.****

I know a lot of you probably don't know or don't care that hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israel during the past week. I just wanted to share some images with you that you definitely will not see on CNN or Fox News or MSNBC. Enjoy:

Written by Eboy

So another year comes to close.....news happened.....things changed.....and the world is a different place then it was just a month or so ago. So now it's time for your boy to put his favorite things on full display for you.....my people....to be educated from and brightening your minds with my good words.

Sports Team Of The Year:Miami Dolphins

"They did it.....they really did it.....damn."
I must have said that about 20 times last night after watching that wonderful dismantling of the Dolphins most hated rival. What can I say? A true team....in every sense of the word.....never took the negativity from the media, fans and the like and let it bother them....never let their sudden success get to their heads. They just played ball. Hard nosed football. Winning football. The Architect, Bill Parcells, created the mold, Coach Tony Sparano molded it, and that outcast(sorry Mr. Mangini, I am for real)quarterback, Chad Pennington, led them every week, good or bad, with a chip on his shoulder and fire in his leadership.

Back in August, I wrote these words here on our wonderful blog:

"Leave it to an old school genius to get things back on track and the futures of the franchise seem WAY more solid then it did just a season ago. With Bill Parcells running things, the Dolphins fortunes are capable of being cemented with a championship pedigree and the promise of strict discipline (something they have needed)to begin solidifying their position of relevant NFL franchise again. No, they won't be hoisting a Super Bowl trophy this season, but it's exciting to think that the ability to have a team capable of it isn't too far away. Ridding long time mainstays Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor show the commitment to change and give the other players on the roster the fuel to move at a heightened rate because no one is safe if they are underachieving. Gotta love old school initiative."

I knew the improvement was going to be there, but not like this? Not winning the division? Not hosting a playoff game? (I'll have the first ever SKO NFL gamenotes Monday morning). They made Brett Favre look like the used up talent he is, they shut out the other waste of an NFL franchise, the Patriots, from being in the playoff picture, and most of all, they validated themselves. It's been a great ride with these Dolphins....lets see just how deep they can go in the playoff ocean now.

News Story Of The Year:The Disappearance of Caylee Anthony

I'm not going to be like every other blogger with a keyboard and a DSL line and pick Obama winning the election as the story of the year. First, there are too many others to compete with, there have been many others written by people with much more insight into his campaign than I had, and three, I'm just bored by it. I'll give the dude some pound starting in January if he starts changing things. Until then, I'll wait on the parades and the inauguration lottery.

No, I'm actually taking a truly heartbreaking story as my pick of the year. This might be in my mind because it's a local story to Floridians. Yes, it's only about the plight of one single little girl, but it was heartbreaking to me, and made me realize just how lucky I am to have my son in my life. Yeah, I'm talking about the disappearance of Orlando, FL toddler Caylee Anthony, who's mother, Casey, has been the focus of every law enforcement divisions case file since the case came to light. She disappeared back in June of this year while with her mother (supposedly), wasn't reported missing until a month later (because the mother was scared to tell anyone) and then for the next 6 months, a huge hunt for the missing girl went on, to no avail, until just two weeks ago, a meter reader out in an overgrown field, found the remains of the little girl in a plastic bag. Through DNA testing it was verified that it was Caylee, and now her c*nt of a mother sits in a cell waiting on her trial for murder.

There's so many questions left unanswered, and will take months to sort through, but the life of the little girl was taken for no reason and it burns me to think there are so many other young children that go through abuse of some form in their day to day lives.....and just happen to live through their torture....instead of being so young and so defenseless that they can't fight for their chance to live.


Blogger/Commenter/Madman of the Year: BETCATS

To bring the content back to the funny, this dude is a source of constant amusement and occasionally, brilliant content. Sure he never met a Spellcheck he liked, and sure, he cheers for one of the NBA's worst teams, but that doesn't stop him from being a verbal machete and an idiotic introduction into the mind of 16 year old kids everywhere. I wrote a tribute to him on his birthday and his use of images to describe his words is his best talent. All I can say is....Ride on Black Stallion, Ride On.

Movie Of The Year: IRON MAN

Don't play, you know that's my shit. Nothing further. Put it like this....in the real world, who ya got your money on in a battle, Iron Man or Batman? Thought so.

Movie Of The Year: Runner Up: The Wrestler

I don't know if the uneducated can wrap their minds around this, but Mickey Rourke put on a tour de force performance in this movie, like very few have done before. Incredible. I remember the first time I saw the dude in a movie was in the early 80's in a movie called "Pope Of Greenwich Village" (rent it if you like good cop/mob films). Dude was good then, got crazy in the 90's and is poised for a Robert Downey-like career rebirth with this stunning performance. Catch it in a theater, see it on DVD or Blu-Ray when it's released, but just make sure you see it. Trust.

Album of the Year:Chinese Democracy-Guns N Roses

I refuse to put lousy hip hop in this title spot.....so, I'll go with something else....Chinese Democracy. This is an album that will take the average fan several listens to pick out something that is truly "theirs" but if you were a fan of the band in their heyday, then you will find a song or four that will be in your mental playlists for a long while. For me the song "Better" does it for me. It's not old school Guns for your uncle's that used to have a mullet and a beer gut and would tug themselves to Kelly Bundy, this is a modern sound....but still with that trademark Axel swagger in his lyrics and vocals. Is it the best Guns N Roses album ever.....well no, but it has been 20 years since we've heard something from them, so this previously aborted baby has been given life and is still making good noise in the sea of shit music that is all around us.

And because we revolve around basketball:

Basketball Story Of The Year:The 2008 Draft Class

Incredible talent, franchise players, draft night steals, and an all-around feel of a "special" group of players making up this years class. Years from now we'll be looking back on this group, counting the All-Star appearances, titles, and great battles. For now, watching the young guys find their way is almost as great as the '03 class....almost.....but Mr. Rose, Mr. Beasley, Mr. Oden and Mr. Mayo have a lot of work to do to be on par with Mr. James, Mr. Anthony, Mr. Bosh and Mr. Wade. I'm just glad we're lucky enough to see it.

So, to my blogmates, I wish you all the best, to our extended cyber fams, stay happy and healthy, and to everyone else, 2009 will be better.........it better be.

by Tariq al Haydar

Where does Shaquille O'Neal stand?

Shaq has something I would like to possess: The ability to retire. Imagine how cool it would be to quit your job and do nothing but watch movies in your 50-seat home theater. But let's go back...

For many years he wept on the nights he got swept. More than a decade ago, he didn't have the wisdom to to step to Hakim. When he bolted, Pennyless, to the city of dreams, they said he didn't want to win. It might seem strange in retrospect, but, for years, he was slept on.

But then he wrecked Pippen's solo career and beat Reggie in the Finals. Shaq joined Mikan, Kareem and Magic, who all had banners hanging in the rafters. The year after, he only allowed one playoff game to go unAnswered. And then, against the Nets, he was the one who swept.

And then the empire crumbled.

The Man With No Name remained, but Big moved from the Left Coast to South Beach. For a minute they said a fourth ring was out of his reach, but he supported Wade, and in the end they prevailed.

And now he's winding down in Arizona.

So where does he stand?

And all this got me thinking: You know what? I wouldn't trade places with Shaq. I know he's rich and famous, and I know he's set for life, but I don't know whether or not he's happy. I am. What I do know is this: Shaquille O'Neal is the best center ever. Right?

By TADOne

The year of 2008 was trial of up’s and down’s. Quite a few ‘firsts’ happened and lots of people around the world showed their true colors. With sports being a huge part of my life, I can say that it was quite an interesting year and also very entertaining. I have a ton on my plate for 2009 that is feeding into a lot that happened this year, so I’m going to get the stories that most interested me in the year of 2008 so I can have a clean slate of thoughts going forward.

YES WE CAN!:




Yeah, I parlayed this story WAY too much, but it truly was a monumental moment and feel that the selection of Barack Hussein Obama into the White House will have lasting effects for this generation and the generation of our children and grandchildren. While I don’t expect miracles, I do anticipate results that will positively affect a number of people in the US and also around the world.

Yeah, I don’t ask for much.

Anything Is Possible:

Yeah, Kevin Garnett is one of my favorite NBA players and watching him finally winning a championship was great to witness. It doesn’t appear he is done at 1 either.

Rising Down:




I’m a bit upset that my favorite musical group EVER will no longer be touring. I’ve lived off The Roots tirelessly doing tours, rocking crowds, blessing masses, and never doing the same routine twice. My first time witnessing this eclectic group was in the summer of ’92, a year before my junior year of high school, at the University of Delaware. I knew nothing of them and had actually went to watch a hiphop show that included Gangstarr, Group Home, Jeru, and Biz Markie. Little did I know that this group from right up the road in Philly would capture my heart and my long-standing fandom. Over time, I have seen them live almost 30 times, been to an impromptu jam session in South Philly on a hookup from a friend, and purchased every album ever done.

However, The Roots have officially announced they are no longer touring because they will be the house band for the new Jimmy Fallon late night show that is supposed to debut in 2009. I’m happy for their new success, but sad that I no longer can sit in a frenzied crown while they put a trance on all in attendance. They will be missed.

The Dark Knight:



Heath Ledger R.I.P. One of the best movies……EVER.

Perfection missed:

Eli Manning and the New York Giants put an end to an improbable run at perfection by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. From my perch on a barstool at a packed sports bar that was evenly split 50/50 among fans, I rooted for the underdog Giants and they didn’t disappoint. Amazing game. Amazing season.

End of an Era:



I am unabashedly a University of Michigan football fan, so the retirement of Lloyd Carr and the hiring of Rich Rodriguez was a big deal in my world. Different coaches, different personalities, and totally different philosophies on the football field. It was hard to watch one of the historic football programs struggle in ’08 during this transition. I’ll be expecting much more in 2009.

The Olympics:

From USA basketball winning gold, to Michael Phelps and his fish-like existence, to Usain Bolt toying with track records, to China putting on a historic showing…..this was a truly great Olympic year. 2012 will have a hard act to follow.

What is this, the 1930’s?:

Yeah, we are officially in a recession. So, while I would love to continue this list, I’m preparing my paperwork for Canadian Citizenship and updating my resume just in case.

Written by Eboy

Don't be confused......the title of this piece is solely meant for the villans of these notes.....those blowhards from the West......the Lost Angeles Lakers. A more unimpressive team with an overblown record that I've ever seen in my 25+ years of NBA watching. For one of my blogmates who is one of those "new" Lakers fans....all I can say to you is, I hope you can live off of the memories of champions past....because this squad is surely not making anyone forget the fantastic historical teams the Lakers fielded in years gone by. Not even close. Not quite. Like a Kobe attempt to try and win a game late.

So let's get to the game......a warm Friday evening....a highly anticipated matchup....what should amount to be a blowout if all things go as they should. Your boy is not worried though, I'm in the building and I'm ready for war.

I settle in to my lower bowl seat around 7:15p for the 8:00p start, and I'm struck mostly by the truly different appearances the two teams give off in their warmups. The Heat....pretty stoic....dudes working on footwork and pick and roll D situations, basically working on all the things that keep them from being an elite team at the moment...and they know it. It's like a high school teams practice....except these guys are pocketing millions to be mediocre. I have hope though....they look like they want the game.

The other side....well, lots of loosey goosey one on one stuff....impromptu horse games and yes....part of the reason I have such dislike for this team...the most gay bench player in the league....Sasha Vuckovic, is using a basketball like a soccer ball, bouncing the ball to and fro, from one foot to another. If it went on for a few seconds I could stomach it....but as I continued looking at my watch and keeping track of this moron....a few seconds turns into a few minutes and finally after 10 full MINUTES (no exaggeration)one of the Heat's ballboys grabbed the finally fumbled ball and scoots off with it. Sasha looked like his mom died. What a waste of a contract. Perhaps that's why dude can't do anything more than shoot wide open shots or is able to be beaten of the dribble by most anyone in the league....because you know....they isn't a soccer ball rolling across a pitch that he wants to chase and he really sucks at all the other aspects of basketball. (I promise to never write pitch in reference to a soccer field in any of my piece's again}.


Let's see what else? Well, pregame there was the obligatory Pau insults in Spanish I promised. Let's just say, I think he heard them (I was about 28 feet from him and the arena was barely filled during warmups)but he did well to stay even keeled. Oh yeah, I forgot, he's a pussy. BTW, he is easily the ugliest player in the league not named Shelden Williams. Horrid.

Got a couple words in with D-Fish and wished he and his daughter and family a healthy, happy holiday. Dude seemed genuinely touched and was cool as hell for the 2 minutes I spoke with him.

I know Udonis from a few meetings in different places around the area and I had a quick minute with him....told him I have a blog that could use an interview, and he laughed and said "I hate blogs...and you're doing that sh*t now?". I hope to see him again before the end of the year.

Kobe was overly confident, pounding his chest pregame looking all smug and basically avoiding all contact with even Lakers fans that were courtside. Senor Douchebag in full effect. D-Wade was doing some stupid-ass chin ups on the net prior to the tip....just play ball kid, your arms look fine.

I had an ongoing war of words (what...you Eboy?...never that?)with a little bitch of a Lakers fan a row back from me....reminded me of B. Long...except his hair was a little more manly. His favorite insult went something like "D-Wade, you can't win without Shaq" my retort was..."At least he doesn't rape without him". Don't fu*k with your boy on his home turf. He was visibly shaken when I stood up at one point, walked towards him like I was Ron Artest in the Mo and when I got in front of him and looked at him dude slunk back and I said "you need more people around you, this sh*t ain't working tonight" as I continued on to get my big pretzel while I laughed like the Joker going down the corridor. Little bitch.

Some random notes:

Lamar was horrible all game long....dude needs to move....for real.

Trevor Ariza is pretty good.

Sasha is useless.

Bynum is truly a 3rd rate center. Joel Anthony kicked his ass. Google Joel Anthony....actually, you may not find anything...skip it. Just take my word for it.

While both D-Fish and Farmar are both solid points, neither one of them is at Rondo's level....or Tony Parker's....or Chauncey Billups...or Chris Paul's...or Deron Williams. That spot may be the ultimate shortcoming of this year's Lakers squad in the playoffs. Remember my words. Last year I told you they didn't have the bigs for it...this year it's the smalls.

Pau is a solid player, but is never a game changer. That's where my compliments end for dude. Oh and bitch, hit a free throw.

Chris Quinn looked like his normal self...slow, out of sorts, not as good as me.

UD had an off night, but his block on Kobe was MY personal favorite play of the evening.

Luke Walton is almost the same player he was 5 seasons ago....makes a few good plays....then tries to do too much...and still has shitty hair.

Michael Beasley had an off night too, way too rushed, sloppy, he's having about 2 of these per week currently. Dude is starstruck at times.

Mario Chalmers is all heart. That's my dude.

Phil Jackson got outcoached by Eric Spoelstra. Nuff said.

Alright, on to the action....

It was really an exciting game in person.....not sure how it played out in front of a tv. Dwyane was.....well....once again....the best player on the planet (pardon his missed free throws late)and while a certain Mr. Bryant played particularly well.....well he was just a little behind the current owner of "Best 2 Guard In The World"...you know, cause that's how he do's! You know, he doesn't get dunks pinned against the backboards or misses pressure packed shots. Maybe you all need to read this....just because.

"According to Elias Sports Bureau, Bryant's miss at Friday's buzzer wasn't an anomaly. Since the Lakers dealt Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat in 2004, Bryant is 8 of 36 on shots taken with 24 or fewer seconds left and the Lakers down by three or fewer points. …"

Well, we actually need to change that stat and lower his percentage a little bit more since he rimmed out yet another game tying miss up Interstate 95 Saturday night in Orlando. Basically, stay the fu*k out of Florida boys....you don't belong here.

Can you tell I'm enjoying this?

The last few minutes were intense.....D-Wade hit some really tough shots....UD blew three free throws....Dwyane missed a couple....leaving the door open for the Lakers...and their superstar...the opportunity to tie it and get to overtime, and yes, I feel my screams of hatred and disgust caused that shot to miss. Seriously. I know it worked. It was a Christmas miracle. GOD bless us....every one.

The Lakers hearts are in their prettiness. They are very similar to the Mavs of 06. Plenty of talent, will win a ton of games, will be out "manned" in the playoffs by a more hungry, maybe not as talented team....unless it's the Celts (if the Lakers luck into the Finals) and they may win a single game this time. They better hope they don't see the Jazz early, 'cause they'll be pick and rolled right out of the playoffs.

The Heat? Well they won another close one last night against the Nets, and Dwyane was killing it again, so the possibility of them winning exactly half of their games is a really viable option at this point. They're so small, but they play defense hard and they hustle....if the Lakers played that way...they could be frightening....but alas, they don't and will not...so they'll stay.....not quite.

by Tariq al Haydar


2008 has been an eventful year for me: I started a new job, I got engaged, I'm close to getting a book published, I drank plenty of root beer. Really a banner year all around. So now I'll list a few things that captured my attention during the past twelve months:

1- The Wu-Tang Clan's "8 Diagrams" and GZA's "Pro Tools":


Technically, "8 Diagrams" was a 2007 release, but I spent much of the past year listening to it. Interestingly, both Method Man and I are "trying to bring the sexy back like Timbaland and Timberlake." As for "Pro Tools," it was released the day before I spent 14 hours on a plane from DC to Riyadh, so we spent a lot of quality time together right off the bat. We have since become very good friends.

Other musical highlights include The Roots' "Rising Down", plus the discoveries of Kidz in the Hall, Elzhii and Jay Electronica. I'd like to get my hands on the new Kanye, Guns n Roses and Q-Tip.

2- Heath Ledger's The Joker:

I'm sure the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor will end up in the clutches of Sir Ben Kingsley for his role in "The House of Sand and Fog 2: Reflections on the Human Condition Through the Prism of the Eighteenth-Century Clergy" or some other such crowd-pleaser. No matter. We all know The Joker was the greatest character of 2008, and that Heath Ledger was a bad, bad man. My only criticism of The Dark Knight: You can't have popcorn in an IMAX theater.

3- Lionel Messi:



I know a lot of people think soccer is boring. Well, soccer is a lot like rap: %95 of it is crap. You just need to find that elusive %5. In world soccer, 3.7% of the %5 = FC Barcelona. Watch one game. Watch them beautifully destroy the opposition. And most of all, watch Lionel Messi, the diminutive Argentine they call "The Flea." It's amazing how it seems nobody can ever take the ball from him. Ever.

4- The Final Season of The Wire:

If you haven't seen every single episode of The Wire, you're a stupid person. Sorry, but it's true.

5- The Los Angeles Lakers:

In the summer of 2007, when Kevin Garnett was traded to Boston, I felt joy. Finally, I thought, KG may be able to get a ring. And so, for the entirety of the 07/08 season, I was praying that the Boston Celtics could somehow win a championship for Garnett. Prior to Game 1 of the Finals, I felt the same way. I was very happy when the Celtics went up 3-1.

And then I went through one of the strangest experiences of my life. I can't share all the details, because it's something you can't quite communicate. If I tried to describe what I went through, you would think that your boy Tariq had gone bonkers. That's how it would seem from the outside looking in. I CAN tell you that I had a very strange experience which had SOMETHING to do with the Los Angeles Lakers, which is in itself very odd. Also, this experience I went through in June directly led to my meeting my wife-to-be on July 9th. In a way, the Lakers played a role in my getting married. Crazy, right?

So I guess that makes me a Laker fan.

Happy 2009, everyone!

by Tariq al Hayder

What you see up there is the cover of "Helat al Abeed," my debut novel. They'll add my name and some text on the back cover, but that's essentially it. I hate to read my own work, so it was excruciating to go back and re-read the thing. Hopefully, it won't be as painful for readers.

Initially, only 2000 copies will be printed. If they sell all 2000 copies, MAYBE I could potentially get paid.

The irony is... my writing is actually better in English. The way I see it, if I managed to get published in Arabic, then I have the potential to get published in English. So if Moose or Hursty or someone is secretly a publisher, you best give me a contract to translate "Hellat al Abeed."

I mean, in 2008/09, with the War on Terror still ongoing, one small advantage I have is that people are actually interested in the Middle East. I believe "Hellat al Abeed" gives people the opportunity to see the Saudi Arabia I live in. I wonder if people would actually like to see it.

Written by Eboy.....*sorry for the disappearing act....this last month has been off the wall, Michael Jackson style.*


Back in the mix..... back to reality. At the start of this NBA season, being a Miami Heat fan made the prospects for this season as being the butt-end of many uneducated (at least in knowledge of basketball) associates and fellow NBA fans seem like a harsh reality that I lived for the last two seasons. I tried to be optimistic in their chances of being slightly respectable, but never really gave off the actual feelings I had about the team if all things went well for most of the season. Through the first 21 games, let's just say, they're doing me proud.

First and foremost, I want to take sole credit for the Dwyane Wade resurgence. Yes, me, sweet little, lovable Eboy, the purveyor of all things good and unholy. I think my constant chiding of him and his "I'm D-Wade and I like to sell things for money" attitude over the last couple of seasons got him to focus in on what's important.....his game. Allright, not really, but it really is a pleasure to watch dude ball each and every night this season. He is undoubtedly the best player in the game at the moment from games 1 to 21. No doubting from any morons who may dick ride the Kobe/Lebron skin boat. Just look at the numbers..... then shut the fuck up. League leader in scoring at 28.9 per game, 7th in assists at 7.7 per, 11th in blocks at 1.75, 3rd in steals at 2.4 per. Should I continue? Nah...why be a prick. Dude has made the game seem easy every night, he's playing his best ball ever (yes I've seen every pro game in dude's career, he's off the charts right now)and lastly, he's made the team respectable. Pretty big accomplishments for a dude most of you.......well, pretty much all of you, shitted on for the better part of the last 18 months. Nothing like quieting the doubters by shoving well placed tomahawk dunks down the throats of simple minded dum-dums (I see you Emeka).

It's not so much the numbers Dwyane's putting up, it's more the WAY he's doing it....driving the lane like Barry Sanders cutting through the Viking's D in 1992, making jumpers from all angles, shooting threes with consistency and still drawing fouls and making free-throws at a high clip. It's how he should play....it's his game...and this season....it is HIS game. Is there still a twinge of uncertainty whenever he goes to the ground? Sure, but you can't live your life waiting on something bad to happen, can you? Dwyane is THAT dude.....and that's pretty fucking great for anyone that cheers for the guy.

As for the state of the team itself.....they're not world beaters buy any stretch of the imagination....but they are a legitimate team that can give a run to any team in the league on any given night. Sure, they haven't played the Lakers or the Celts or the Cavs yet, and once they do, there can be a proper barometer of where they really stand, but in the meantime winning games, playing hard and having a new culture in place is exactly what the team needed. Props to Eric Spoelstra for getting the guys to buy in to the frenetic, small ball style they HAVE to play with the current roster they have. He's got all the Riley mannerisms on the sidelines....hopefully that's where the similarities end.




Sure, Shawn Marion is still stealing minutes from Michael Beasley, basically doing nothing but missing the most G.O.D. awful-looking shots in the league. I think Spoelstra feels obligated to give the bulk of the SF minutes to The Busted Matrix, and Beasley has played admirably off the bench. Beasley is beginning to get his niche in the game right, and I'd say by midseason, he will solidly show why he WAS the number 2 pick and not just a shadow behind Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo. His skill set is phenomenal and compared to the two forwards the Heat start, their talent comparison is like comparing me and TADOne in our SKO photos, one guy looks terse, a little out of sorts and grumpy while the other looks cool, calm and sexual. Yes, I am Michael Beasley to TAD's Shawn Marion. Coincidentally, since Beasley has come off the bench and they inserted the limited in skill, kind of limited in potential, Joel Anthony at center, the Heat are 5-1 and could have been 6-0 with a slight controversy in LA in a one point loss to the Clippers. The roster is balanced in such a way that as of right now, this is the best option they can roll out to be competitive and it's working....so it's hard to argue with it's results.


The other big story is that 2nd round steal, Mario Chalmers is ballin', straight ballin' really, and is one of the top point guards of this rookie class. Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, D. J. Augustin, and Chalmers are going to be remembered for a long, long while as one of the strongest PG drafts....maybe ever. Chalmers is incredibly mature in a basketball sense and runs the team efficiently in his minutes. Plus he's a beast on the defensive end. Backup point Chris Quinn, yes that same Chris Quinn who was the butt of several of my jokes for the last two seasons, who is 10th in the league in three point accuracy, is really playing the role of backup well. In the offseason, when it seemed like the roster was submerged like a sick manatee at the point and the five spot, today, the point is pretty solid, if not spectacular because of the two of them.




My hope is that the team keeps gelling, they make a push for the playoffs, Wade stays healthy and by this time next season, the possibility of having a contending team again will be part of Heat fans makeups. Hey, it took until April to get to 12 wins last season, so it's like Christmas already in the MIA. Thanks Santa, I knew you'd come through. Now can you make that snow on Christmas Day request come true too to quiet my little guy down?

Over here, the weekend begins on Wednesday. So one Thursday a while back I was reclining, as one does, in my La-Z-Boy. Just decompressing after a week of lesson plans and not-too-bright students. And I happened upon the weirdest show...

It was a talk show, like a violence-free, Lebanese version of Jerry Springer or something, and the topic was, say it with me... People Who Had Undergone Exorcisms. They had this wide-eyed Egyptian dude who proclaimed to only eat raw meat because that's what the demon inside him allows him to eat. He even ate a plate of bloody meat on the air. Sensationalism at its finest.

And then they brought on this middle-aged Lebanese lady named Lara or Laura or something. She very calmly explained how she had been possessed by a demon since fifth grade. Luckily, she happened upon a priest some forty years later who "cast out the demon". Then the priest walked onto the stage, where he explained that, with the help of Saint Niccosias (or something) he had managed to beat the devil out of the lady. And they showed some footage of the "exorcism," which consisted of Laura screaming her ass off while a bunch of guys physically restrained her and the priest chanted some bullshit. All very scientific.

Finally, a psychiatrist made an appearance. Exasperated, he told everyone that patients who suffer from bi-polar disorder or other illnesses are actually harmed by these "exorcisms". Of course, the fat priest looked at him like he was crazy.

This all mildly amused me. I watched for about 15 minutes and then switched to SportsCenter. But then something disturbed me: it occurred to me that since 2002, the year I decided to practice Islam, many people have looked at me funny simply because I'm religious. Many times, I've encountered co-workers, fellow students, friends, and even relatives, who have viewed me as intellectually lazy because I'm religious. It seems that one must choose between being an intellectual and a religious person, because the two are mutually exclusive.

The irony, of course, is that I came to my current religious convictions by way of extensive intellectual search.

Now I'm not one of those salesmen who feels the need to badger others about their religious convictions. I really couldn't care less what others believe. You think the world was created by Ronald McDonald and the Hamburgler? More power to you. You find the idea of God or religion off-putting? Good for you.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've been in the situation where people (mostly other postgrads) have asked me about my beliefs, and then nodded smugly when I told them. It was as if they suddenly felt superior to me. Which would be fine, if they took the trouble to ask me WHY I believe what I believe. But more often than not, it's just a case of "religion = intellectually lazy person who is simply conforming to social norms". And I have to say that that sucks for me. But I guess it's understandable in a world where fat priests perform exorcisms for the Lebanese Jerry Springer.