A Week of Good Work

It's been an eventful week for me but also a productive one. Even though jury duty abruptly changed some of my plans, I'm still amazed at the level of work I did in spite of it and my schedule being tight.

I know I've been neglectful in sharing my stories here but I hope you'll indulge me for sharing after this week. (Here's a quick link to my non-sports thoughts from Monday on last week's Game of Thrones ep, which I think shows how my TV critiques are getting better)

Tuesday, for Bro Jackson, I tag-teammed with fellow scribe Courtney Cox to tackle the ignorant, lazy comments of Chris "Mad Dog" Russo regarding the lack of Black journalists on his station. As I've written before, media and new media are glaringly White and when comments like these are said, you can't leave them alone because they are dangerous. Courtney set it up so well with her takes that I felt like Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman closing this out in style.

Later that night, I was at a volleyball game with a league title at stake. A three game sweep for El Segundo against South Torrance. 2 straight Pioneer League titles and 2 straight without losing a set.

Rising to the NLCS (The Dodgers and Me)

The only thing standing between the Dodgers and the World Series is the St. Louis Cardinals. The team that’s as good postseason money as anybody with 3 straight NLCS appearances.

But for some reason, I’m pretty confident this Dodgers team’s magical ride won’t end. I feel like it’s 2008 all over again when this was the first trip in 20 years. I wasn’t confident about the 2009 NLCS because I felt like Philly already had our number. This year, I’m feeling much different.

It hit me when Juan Uribe hit that home run in Game 4. I was wearing my Kershaw replica jersey that I kept on from my tutoring gig and I jumped around my living room like I jumped during the two walk-off wins at Dodger Stadium I attended this year. Once again, the excitement around this team is like nothing I’ve seen since 2008.

Analyzing the Dwightmare (D12, The Media and the Lakers)

So Dwight Howard is a Houston Rocket. Just as I expected in May. No real surprise so allow me to break down this whole thing a bit, starting with how this impacts D12. I'll quickly add that I hate calling this a Dwightmare so apologies for the title when really Dwight handled this quite well.

Howard goes to a team where he'll be loved and get what he wants. I don't have a problem with that. He earned the right to decide where he was going and what was a great fit. He earned the right to pick his future at his own pace and with careful thought. It's never easy to make a decision involving that much money and the prime of his career.

If the last three years have taught us anything, Howard's biggest issue is that he wants to be loved and being unaware of how it makes him look. He's a gifted player on the court but offensively, he's not as refined as he is defensively or as a rebounder.

Injured or not, he didn't adjust to a town where he wasn't coddled and had high expectations from Day One. It's not about rings, it's about embracing a mentality of toughness and going all out. I didn't see him as a true Laker because I didn't see that desire all the time.

I feel he wanted the love without the criticism. It's not easy playing with Kobe Bryant or surrounded by hungry veterans who don't have time to clown. Not to mention losing left a sour taste on things. That's why most of the vibe here is good riddance and good luck. Besides it wasn't as if Dwight gave folks a great glimpse of what he can do.

You Don't Know Me And You Never Did (On Aaron Hernandez and the Media Cliches)

I’ve been watching the coverage on Aaron Hernandez and his impending trial for murder for the past week. Haven’t had much to say but in light of the evidence, it appears Hernandez was involved deeply in the murder of Odin Lloyd and perhaps more.

Right on cue, I’ve seen some folks in the media turn it into inaccurate soapbox preaching. Many are blaming the Patriots for not doing due diligence on checking him out. Some are blaming the culture of violence and street cred. Some are saying the cliché of “we really don’t know these athletes.”

I’m trying to avoid being shocked when an athlete does something major and replace it with other emotions. Granted it's hard when murder is involved. I’m more sad that Hernandez threw away all that money and a promising career because he had to keep it real. I’m angry that he wasted an opportunity many would take advantage of.

All the handwringing and pointing the blame are nice but it doesn’t get to the point. So let me say something to for my media brethren as well as us sports fans in the words of that fine rapper Clifford Harris.

Celebrating Shaq's Night (and Shaming Those Who Didn't)

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Tuesday was a great night to be a Lakers fan. Shaquille O'Neal's No. 34 was raised to the rafters and it felt like being at another Lakers parade where the Diesel wielded the mic to the loud applause of the faithful fans.

While most media/Lakers fans rightly celebrated the moment, some chose to still stir up dead embers of his feud with Kobe Bryant. Exhibit A: Bill Plaschke's commentary from last night. Instead of praise and fond memories of an era he covered, he nitpicks what didn't happen between the duo.

Now imagine me yesterday. All day I was thinking about how great it would be to see No. 34 go up to the rafters. Even when I called my girlfriend last night after leaving my youth group, she didn't answer because she was watching the ceremony. That's the kind of love L.A. had for the successful eight years of Shaq.

Plaschke missed the chance to focus on it. Nevermind that Kobe made a video praising Shaq and Shaq mentioned Kobe in his own video tribute. Since 2006, Shaq and Kobe have made peace. They may not be "buddy buddy buddy all up in your face" but they're far more respectful and comfortable than they were before.

A New Site, A New Beginning

First of all, welcome to the EB Sports Report. If you've followed me on Twitter or read my other site - Virgo Gumbo - you know that I enjoy rapping about sports as much as anything else. I've already explained the rationale for this site on the Gumbo so here I want to give some background on me as well as what I plan to do here.

For those who don't know, I've been a sportswriter in Los Angeles since late 2006. I worked at the LA Sentinel from 2006-2010 and was also the sports editor there since 2008. I've written for ESPN HS, Bleacher Report, The Torrance Daily Breeze and others while I've specialized in high school sports as well as covering the L.A. sports scene.

Fanwise? I rep the Lakers obviously and if you want to know the story behind my other faves, check this link out. But to sum it up, I rock with UCLA, Duke hoops, Dallas Cowboys, LA Dodgers, San Diego Chargers and my alma mater, the University of San Diego.

So what's the EB Sports Report focusing on? I'm taking lessons that I've learned from writing at Bleacher and Rant Sports as well as what I've seen from other popular sites. I've shown some concerns about the state of sports media and this is my way to carve my own solution instead of just complain about the modern sports-industrial complex.

I promise you, the reader, a higher level of sports discussion. I'm still tied to my journalistic integrity first and foremost.  I don't believe in talking about the obvious things and I love looking for different angles that few people are talking about. I'm all about straight talk, good analysis and a side of wit. I may love my teams but in the spirit of Chick Hearn, I'm anti-homerism and I'll call everything as I see it.

I'll focus on the L.A. sports scene but I'm not limited to it. I'll post links of my published stories as well as create new content on pro, college and high school sports. I'll try to also do weekly videos as well. I'm glad to add that to my portfolio last year and I'll be bringing that here.

I'm basically doing the same thing here I did at Virgo Gumbo. I paraphrased Rakim in my tagline because that original line from "Lyrics of Fury" describes what a great writer should do. Sit back, observe and tell you what it means to me. So join me here at the Sports Report and I promise it'll be a fun ride.