Rod and Justin discuss Justin mentoring a kid, kids in an alleyway, Summer Camp, baby sitting in the summer, the NBA Awards show, Pose, Basketball Wives, Claws, no more WestWorld jokes, listener feedback and reality show news.
Pre-Game: (Protected Content)
What’s popping fellas,
It’s been a while but I had to write in to tell you about this shit that happened at school yesterday. I’m in graduate school and some of my colleagues like to get together every Thursday at noon to play basketball. I’ve never played with them because the atmosphere is too random. Everyone is out there for different reasons and it is bound to cause issues. When I go to a court I like to know how serious it is out there. Are we just playing some very relaxing ball or is everyone trying to win? I know everyone hates the niggas that ignore the mood of the game and are way too intense or goofing around too much.
For example, about a month ago there was a basketball camp for kids whose ages ranged between 12 and 15. After their camp was over during the day, some of them would stick around and play pickup ball. Most people with common sense would realize these are kids and know they don’t have to go all out. This one dude was playing like there were scouts in the stands. He did let the kid he was guarding touch the ball.
So, yesterday I was out getting lunch while my colleagues were heading to the gym. I didn’t have shit else to do so I decided to each lunch in the gym and watch them play. As soon as teams were picked, I know that some fuckery was bound to happen. Two professors were picked on opposite teams and people started groaning. Apparently, these dudes are super argumentative and the only way to games to work is to put them on the same team. As soon as the game started, I noticed why that was the case.
The first professor name is Heng-Chi. This nigga was way too intense for a pickup game where the majority of the players on the court are garbage. A few of the dude got together last week to practice how to make layups. That’s the level I’m talking about. He spends most of his time on the court yelling at his teammates and spends the rest of his time yelling at his opponents. And he be getting in their face with it. I’ve never hooping with this nigga because he’s on my thesis committee and I know we’ll have a falling out over that one day.
The second professor name is Alex. He’s the tallest person on the court and he’s a decent player. His problem is that EVERYTHING is a foul. We all know that you’re going to get more contact if you play in the post and we adjust accordingly. Alex doesn’t give a fuck and he has no integrity. He’s going to call a foul if foul if he doesn’t score. It doesn’t matter if someone touched him or not. And he makes up fake rules. One student was guarding him and sitting on his right hand so he’ll be forced to go left. This nigga says “you’re not allowed to guard people from the side.” I was dying laughing in the bleachers.
At some point doing the game, they started guarding each other. Alex called a foul and Heng-Chi didn’t respect it and just continued the game. The next time up the court, Alex does a spin move and elbows Heng-Chi in the face. It wasn’t an accident at all. Of course, Heng-Chi is upset and people rush in to make sure nothing happens. After a minute or so, the game resumes. Alex walks up to Heng-Chi, pats him on the head and says “you have to be careful, little men get hurt down there.” Heng-Chi just takes it and nothing else happens the rest of the game.
I was completely blown because that shit would have gone way differently at every other place I’ve played basketball. And that’s why I’m never hooping with them niggas. I need everyone to get serious or everyone to calm down. It doesn’t work when the attitudes are mixed.
Peace out,
PrinceLeron
Hey Rod and J Aubrey Graham and maybe Karen
I followed Justin’s advice and finished Luke Cage despite the bad Jamaican accents The story was compelling enough for me to neglect them. Episode 11 (the contractually required Netflix Marvel flashback episode) was good because since it was in Jamaica they used actual Jamaicans so those accents were authentic. That episode and the one with Danny Rand were the higlhlights for me. I’ve seen people online say we’re just finding things to get mad at when we complain about the accents which seems like a very hawhite thing to do but I digress. All in all the blackness and the story redeemed it in my eyes.
I can’t wait to start Pose now. I have 3 episodes in the PVR clip so far so once the World Cup is done I’m going to jump on that.
Peace
Amil
What up Rod and J Daniels. It is pretty clear you only have energy for Mo’Nique. Thank y’all for putting me on Pose that show is so dope. Seems like VanderBeek is trying to win for pettiest white dude ever. As for queen sugar it’s good to see Micha morph into Micha P. Newton. As for Darla she ain’t shit. Her being angry at Ralph Angel was spider man pointing at spider man. Has she forgot she had Blue living out of not a crack house but a crack trailer. It seems like the writers are writing Darla as the character of the aint shit parent who is always leaving but the kid blames the parent who is around and carries the burden of picking up the pieces. I think that is a dope role reversal. What do y’all think
Hey Rod and J-Trill,
I had a good time watching Luke Cage. I didn’t see any issues with the the jamaican accents. I’ve heard worse! I believe the best part of the show was Misty Knight BAE. I hope the showrunners are thinking of a Misty Kinight / Colleen Wing spinoff.
Thanks for reviewing Pose. I seriously think Pose is one of the best, if not the best TV dramas this year. I’m placing it above This is Us. (That’s right i said it). I’m a Bronx native, teen in the eighties. I remember the AIDS epidemic tearing through my community. Hit me close to home when my Sunday school teacher died from the disease. Plus the music, good character development. So it lets me reminisce both the good and the bad times of that period. This show pulls my heartstrings every week.
Also, listen to Malcolm Gladwell’s “Revisionist History” Episode 6 “The Hug Heard Round the World”. Shout out to 3GO Randolph’s solo Woke Files for mentioning it. Wow! Sammy Davis Jr. went through hell with the black community when he hugged Richard Nixon at a Republican convention. And a lot of uninformed black people forgot how much he did for the civil rights movement. Jesse Jackson had to remind them that if it wasn’t for Sammy Davis coming up with the bail money for MLK and Jessie, there might not have been a civil rights movement. Good listen if you have the time.
Have a good one.
Rich
Hello Rod and Justin,
I can relate to being the oldest with a wild-child younger sibling. That shit is exhausting!
Also, y’all was right about Westworld. I was watching for Jeffrey Wright and Thandie Newton and they do great work. But I just want to watch a TV show that wants to tell me a fucking story. I don’t wanna be on Reddit for five hours a week just to figure out wtf I saw on Sunday night. Maybe if I was a gamer I would be more into it.
Re: Kevin Hart on the NBA Awards – Can he really talk about anybody else’s personal lives? Wouldn’t they roast him right back?
I love Pose so much! It’s basically about found family and finding a place to belong, something that I think all people would be able to understand and empathize with. I love that we’re slowly seeing Elektra’s heart underneath all the reads and shade. And Blanca is everything! The best mother one could hope for. I hope that enough people watch so we get another season. Do you think Pray Tell is a little too hard on Candy? Or is she just doing too much? Anyway, Janet Mock wrote two of the latest episodes and she is doing the damn thing! Dancing on my tear ducts at the same time. This show is amazing. Thank you for talking it up!
Claws is WILD. Desna vs. Mama Sheryl Lee Ralph. Quiet Ann still mad about giving up Arlene and watching all these straight women getting they mans. The Haitian Doctor showing off them cakes! Dean reading the fuck outta pro-lifers at the clinic before his girlfriend gets an abortion. This show gives me life!
I thought Luke Cage S2 was pretty strong. The Black women carry this show, especially Mariah and Misty and Claire. The use of music was great. And most of the Jamaicans were supposed to be straight from Jamaica, not Brooklyn or Harlem. I LOL’ed at Cheo Hodari Coker having EVERYBODY on the show say ‘nigga’ this season, after that thinkpiece about the show’s supposed respectability politics regarding the word. They even had Shades say ‘nigga’ and the actor is actually a white Italian guy playing a Puerto Rican. Cheo was like, ‘fuck it’!
Sorry for the long-ass message. None of my friends are caught up on these shows.
Love the show/network!
– Didi
Rod, Just-sittin-there,
Y’all talk a lot about women and men securing the bag. But I have never heard y’all acknowledge the premier bag securer: Marjorie Harvey
After flunking out of college, she went on to marry a major drug dealer. When he went to the bing (for life), she divorced his ass cus fuck riding and dying. In about 1990, she dated Steve Harvey but it ended cus it was long distance. She then went on to marry another drug dealer, who was, allegedly, her first husband’s cousin. The second drug dealer husband also went to jail.
By this time, she had three kids and they’d all grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle. In around 2002-2003, Marjorie, allegedly, got Steve’s bodyguard, a trusted friend of Steven’s, to put the two in the same space knowing he’d shoot his shot cus she was fine and he was Steve Harvey.
Two years later, she and Steve married. Steve legally adopted all three of her minor kids, changed their names, and made them heirs to the fortune, along with the four kids he already had. Most women are just focused on a few good trips, maybe a condo, and some purses. More focused ladies think making a baby with a rich man and living comfortably is top notch goal. But Marjorie leveled up, played the long game (1990 to 2005 to get married), & made sure she and her babies THRIVED.
Cheers!
Ms. Smart
Hi Rod and Justin,
I’ve heard you guys discuss the documentaries you watch and I have a suggestion. Have you seen Long Shot, its about a young man arrested for killing the teenager who testified against his brother in his gang trial. It’s pretty good and it’s only 40 minutes long, it’s on Netflix.