Monday, June 30, 2008

Back In Stride Again

Taking that from Frankie Beverly & Maze who I checked out this past weekend in Baltimore before the winds and the rains hit.

Anyway, let me figure out where to start this entry. I suppose I'll start with Las Vegas. I was in Las Vegas for an entire week attending Infocomm which is the largest gathering of audio-visual professionals in the world. For those who don't pay attention or could really care less, that's what I do. I run the A/V Operations for a very large organization based in the DC area that has over 20,000 members worldwide.

Anyway, I got to Vegas on Saturday and it was hot. I mean REAL hot... like 105 degrees. I'm gonna be real brief with the recaps cuz #1 I can be long winded and #2 some time has gone by and I've probably forgotten some of the stuff I did.

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Sat: Got there. It was hot. Checked into my room at Ceasars. Enjoyed the view for about 3 seconds. Took a long nap. Woke up at 3am. Walked outside in the heat. Ran into my man Quilly at the the club Tao at the Venetian. He bounced, but we agreed to hook-up sometime while we were in Vegas. I was real hungry. Ate at Denny's. Went back to room and slept.

Sun: Did nothing but watch TV and surf the web. Went to ESPN solo to watch the end of the US Open and Celtics-Lakers game. Ran up a real nice tab over 5 hours there. Celtics lost. Quilly called and said they were rollin' to Body English. I wasn't in the mood to hang out. Went to room and slept. Woke up to find out on the news that Raiders WR Javon Walker had got jacked up after being at Body English the night before poppin' bottles.

Mon: Hooked up with Quilly. We sat down, ate breakfast at some cafe in Harrah's casino and we talked for a while. He had a flight to catch and rolled, but left me some Grey Goose and cranberry juice.

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Went back to room and watched Tiger win the US Open. Went to sleep. Woke-up and met my man Wil at Cheesecake Factory. Kicked it with him for a while. Back to room at reasonable hour since I had a class at 8am the next morning.

Tue: Hot!!! I was sweating more than R. Kelly in a kindergarten class. Missed the conference shuttle and had to catch the monorail to the LV Convention Center.

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Looked around and realized I was overdressed. I had on black slacks, a polo shirt and some dress shoes. Lotta folks had on shorts, tennis shoes and t-shirts. Sat in a class all day on new technology and trends in the industry. Wealth of knowledge, but got redundant. Ran into my man B in the class. We know each other from WKYS in DC since we both worked there. We agreed to hang out that night for the game. B scooped me up in his rental and we rolled to ESPN Zone. Got there. No seats. Was standing in line next to a dude who looked like Spike Lee. He was a Celtics fan too. I called him Spike all night too. Only at the end of the night did I ask him his name.

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We sat at the bar all night and partying as the Celtics smashed the Lakers and won NBA #17. I acted a straight fool all night. Taunting folks. Hollering. Screaming. Lovin' life. We were taking pics with ere'body who was a Celtics fan. I mean, folks from 8-88. White, Black, it didn't matter. A brotha was joyous.

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Left from there and was high fivin ere'body I saw on the strip in Celtics gear until..... I came upon about 15 Cypress Hill lookin' guys all with Laker jerseys on. I toned it down a bit, gave them a head nod and threw up the peace sign. Walked by them and continued the festivities. I aint no fool. Won't be no videos of me being beat down on YouTube. I partied til about 2am and went back to the room and crashed. I'll never disclose how much was bet on the game. Let's just say that I called Celtics in Game Six since March. That was even before the playoffs started. Talk about a premonition. You see that? That's the big sparkling smile on my face!!!!

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Wed: Expo opened. Met with some vendors from major companies.

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Went to my classes on web streaming, HDMI technology and projection. Met with some more vendors. Went back to room and took a nap. B gave me a holla, said he had a hook-up to check out George Wallace since he knew him. We rolled to the show. Just so happened that the entire line-up of sistahs from Miss Black USA were there for the show as well. Wow! The show was funny. George is a wild dude. We stuck around the talk to him after the show. He vented on my man B for calling him only when he wanted some free tickets or something. I laughed. George stopped talkin' to B, called me a series of expletives, gave me an ice grill and then laughed. We shook hands, took a few pics and rolled. It was like 1am and we were starving. Ate at Outback.

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Thu: More expo stuff. More classes on IT/AV stuff, screen technology and aspect ratios. More meetings with vendors. Spent a good amount of time looking at new projection and video walls. One of the companies did the jumbotron for the Celtics. You know I had to take a pic of that.

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Another class on project management. Went back to room. Rolled to MGM to see Cirque du Soleil: KA with the free passes my vendor gave me. The show was incredible, plus they comped all drinks and food at the reception by the pool before the show. B rolled through after the show and we went over the after-party at Studio 54 . It was sponsored and free, so what the hell? I don't know how long we were there, maybe about 4 hours. Interesting club. They were doing all kinda acrobatics up in there. Not a lotta brothas or sistahs though. Had a 'few' drinks. Okay, more than a few. Then messed up by leaving the club and eating at Nathan's. Hotdogs, fries and ketchup don't mix well with Long Islands and Cran-Vodka's.

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Fri: Woke up late and had a stomach ache. Missed the shuttle and the first 20 minutes of class. It was cool though cuz the instructor is based in VA and he comes by my job a lot to assist us with tech issues. He agreed to do a full day class for my techs sometime this summer for free. After that I rolled over to Mandalay Bay to the House of Blues.

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There I met with the sound engineers and the designers of the facility. They gave me a tour of the entire facility and gave me some new technology tips on doing live sound... which is my first love. After talking with them, I discovered that they also did the entire sound design for the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington. You know that was something I was really interested in. They provided me the contact info for the multimedia operations contractor who will be handling the sound crew there for game operations. What's funny is that I joked months ago with my wife about wanting to work at the new stadium. Could it be possible? We'll see. Kevin Garnett said "Anythiiiiiiiiiiiiing is possibllllllllllllllllle". You know I had to throw some Celtics up in here right?




I then took all the email and contact info given to me about the Cowboys stadium construction and put it in my Blackberry. Left from the HOB, said final goodbye's with vendors and folks I knew in the industry and went to California Pizza to get my Jamaican Jerk Chicken Pizza. Yes lawd!!! Lounged around the strip most of the night picking up souvenirs for the wife, my nieces, family members, etc. Didn't really sleep at all. Just walked around all night just enjoying my last night in the sauna. Took some pics of the sights as I strolled by the Palazzo and the Venetian. Now make no mistake about it. I talked to my wife every single day I was there. The time change kinda had me off at times and I'd awaken her out of a deep sleep, but we did communicate each day.

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Sat: Threw on my Celtics #30 Bias jersey, grabbed my stuff and checked out. Got a cab to the airport. While in the ridiculously long line at United to check my bags, I heard a chant of "Beat LA" behind me. It was an older white gentleman who had on a Red Sox hat and said he was a Celtics fan. He then said something that caught me off guard. He loudly and angrily stated "I don't see how you could wear that jersey. Bias cost us many years and the Celtics were terrible after what he did". I calmly looked back at him and said "Let me explain something to you. I'm from Maryland. As a kid, I used to spend my last dollar to see Lenny play at Cole Field House when he was playing with the Terps. Furthermore, I attended Northwestern HS with his brother Jay who also died. I had this jersey custom made myself as a tribute to both of those guys. What you say doesn't phase me or anyone who has those guys in their heart as I do". I then turned back around and didn't say another word to the dude.

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I finally was able to check my bag, make it to security and made my way to Hudson News. While in line to pay for my magazine, I heard a voice say "Classic jersey man". I looked behind me to see a Black dude who was accompanied by former NBA baller Charles Oakley. Again he said "You gotta classic one right there man". I gave them dap and went onto catch my flight. Now you know had my camera not been deeply buried in my carry-on bag, I'd a whipped it out real quick and took a pic. I wasn't exactly prepared to see anyone of note at the gate though. Lemme say this. Oak is a big dude. He's got a lotta gray, but still looks like he could hit the court tomorrow and rough up a few cats. Aint that somethin' though. Two separate stories related to one jersey. I'm not even gonna try and make it a Black vs white thing. I had plenty of white guys dap me up or ask me where I got the jersey from. But it was still kind of weird that day to experience two different outspoken views within minutes of each other.

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Caught the flight and made it home safely. But one more thing... United's TED sucks. That's what I flew to and from Vegas. I should've just stayed with Southwest. They've never let me down. Never.

That's about it on the recap. I reserve the right to add pics when I feel like it aiiiiight. For now I need to get to these questions that fellow bloggers have been asking. That might take a while. Do y'all think I'm the Black Dr. Phil or somethin'. Gracious!!! A lot of relationship/marriage type questions. But I will answer them all.

Peace-N-Love...

G. Mo

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Overwhelmed

Aiiiight. About a week or so ago I figured I'd be settled back home enough by this time to sit back and write a new entry detailing my excitement over the Celtics victory, a re-cap of my trip to Vegas and answering questions posed by fellow bloggers. Wrong!

- The office is crazy as I'm trying to catch up from a week gone. The number of meetings I've been in the past day or so has been ridiculous. Most importantly, I've got a lot a of deadlines and a proposal to complete by COB Friday.
- Every vendor I met at the conference is calling me for one thing or another.
- I'm still feeling the effects of the west coast to east coast transition and am kinda sleepy.
- I've got so many pics of stuff from my trips and all of my nieces birthdays, I haven't had time to upload them all from my camera to my web space.
- We received the 1100 or so original wedding pics on a disk from the photographer and now gotta find a way to make copies of pics for family members. I'm making contact sheets, so they can pick the ones they want. But it's like 25 pages of 40+ pics per page.
- My car is actin' up and wants to play "I don't wanna start now" games occasionally. Plus, I gotta slow leak in my driver's side rear tire.
- The kids in the neighborhood are out for the summer and think our cars are cool places to sit on, rub their dirty hands on and bounce footballs off of. So I had to play the mean old man a day after I got home.
- Ere'body in the world is lookin' for tickets to somethin' and I'm tryna re-adjust to being in 'Hustleman' mode.

Did I say that I've been tired as hell? Anyway, I'll be back. Hopefully in the next few days. The most likely scenario is for me to return with an entry on my trip and my Celtics winning, followed up with another entry a day or so later with answers to the Ask G.Mo segment. I might need an entire week to answer ones already posed. Good gracious, some of y'all are serious!!!! So for those who haven't asked anything yet, go on ahead. I've got a few emails on top of the ones posted here and I might need more time to answer them all with proper detail. I do get long winded and am not real good with short answers. What can I say? That's just me. Last chance to get into my brain cells if you wanna know something. Trust that with the questions I've already been asked, that the entry in response will be a very long one. I'm gone til prolly Friday or sometime this weekend most likely.

Peace-N-Love...

G. Mo

Monday, June 16, 2008

Ask G.Mo

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Yes... you can ask me whatever you want, but first things first.

I'm out here in Las Vegas on business. It's hot. I mean it's blazin' past 100° degrees!!!! I stepped off the plane Saturday afternoon and started looking for an oxygen tank and a gallon of ice water. Whoever said that the high dry heat on the west coast was easier to deal with than the humidity of slightly lower hot temps on the east coast lied. I mean, before I left I had a joker tell me that Vegas 103° would be close to DC's 85°... wrong! Both are bad, but right now I'm truly feel like I'm in a fiery furnace.

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I don't have any meetings or anything til tomorrow morning at 8am, so I've been chillin'.. literally. The AC in my hotel room has been between Alaska and Antarctica since I arrived. Thus, I'm maintaining. I closed the curtains to keep the heat out and it's worked thus far. I got a decent room here at Caesars and a decent view of the strip and of Toni Braxton's legs at the Flamingo. Not like being at one of the premier hotels that I've stayed while here before, but I am on company dollar this go round ya know. I should be happy they didn't throw me in some roadside inn or budget joint huh?

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Haven't done a lot to be honest. I've walked around a lot just trying to reacquaint myself with a place I haven't been to in about 6 years. Even though my trip is expensed, I'm not one to drink $4 bottles of Aquafina water provided by the hotel. So I took a walk to CVS and Walgreens. Yes I went to both. They're across the street from each other and I do price check stuff. Anyway, while there I got a full six pack of the same water for less than $4, some chips and popcorn, some cans of Arizona tea, some sugar snacks and a mirror. Yeah, a hand mirror. I forgot mine at the crib and I do cut my own hair. Having one was necessary since I have both my clippers and liners with me and I do want to look presentable for my vendors and clients when I see them this week. My professional gear is all set. Polo shirts and dress slacks. Aint no way in the world I'm wearing a suit and tie while on broil out here. You gotta be crazy!!!!

On the way back from my drugstore venture, I caught the water show that the Bellagio does. I don't know what they call it, but it wasn't exactly something I was gonna sit around and watch as my skin started melting. I took a quick pic of it and moved on. Some promoter type dude tried to hustle me into getting passes and drinks from the clubs out here on a discount pre-sale basis. Then this 50+ yr old Black dude wanted to talk about the oppression of Black folks and how the 'Peckerwoods' have kept us down. At least I was entertained as I strolled back to the hotel. I gave the brotha man some dap just to keep it real.

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I walked to ESPN Zone at New York New York hotel last night to catch the Celtics-Lakers game. You know I was rockin' my Celtics gear right? Of course I was sorely disappointed at the results and took some ribbing from the west coast folks who were rooting for the Lakers. It's all good though. Two more games to clinch and I hope they win tomorrow night. If not, they're gonna interfere with the free passes one of my corporate connects gave me for Cirque du Soleil: Ka. The show is like 7pm... 7pm west coast time, 10pm east coast time. The NBA Finals Game 7 starts at 9pm EST. See the conflict? Don't even ask me what I'd do. Being a die hard Celtics fan, I'd just have to see the circus another day. I hope it won't come to that though. I'll be nice at least pass the passes to someone else though. I'm supposed to get some more tickets to check out Wayne Brady and some other magic show on the strip . I'll let'cha know how that works out.

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Although I've got my laptop here in the hotel room with a great wireless connection, I probably won't be on much until I return home this weekend. So I figured I'd use this time away to see if anyone out there in the Blog World has any questions for me. This will give me material to blog about when I get back as well as my Vegas wrap-up. Now, I contemplated for a sec whether I'd come back to crickets chirping and no one actually asking me anything, but what the hell. I'll risk it. If I come back and I see that not one person has at least one thing to ask, I'll probably just stop blogging and shut it down altogether.

Sike!!!! I aint shuttin' down nothin'... even if you jokers never come back again. I love writing too much for that. I'd write in a pitch black room on a piece of sandpaper with a single BBQ flavored Cheeto if I had to.

Anyway, I'm tryna decide how to do this. Should I have folks ask questions via email or let y'all leave comments and ask questions there? Whatever. As Digital Underground said in '89, Doowutchyalike. If you choose to email me, the address is in the column to the right under the Archives. I'll most likely be absent from blogging until next week this time.

Peace-N-Love...

G.Mo

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Day in the Life of a True Celtics Fan - NBA Finals Edition

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(yes... I know the Lakers won last night... Celtics still up 2-1 in the series)

Last November I took a
trip to Boston with my wife to see my Celtics home opener. It was the first official game that Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen played together and they spanked the Washington Wizards in that game. After that night I had visions of my squad making an appearance in the NBA Finals. After a regular season which the Celtics won 66 games, I definitely anticipated the possibility. My man Juice and I had talked trash since last summer when we both debated on whether KG would get traded to the Celtics or the Lakers. Well, we all know who won that sweepstakes. However we made a pact around the time of the NBA All Star break that if our squads made the NBA Finals versus one another, that we'd find a way to go. We made good on that promise.

Destination - NBA Finals Game Two - Lakers @ Celtics
Location - TD Banknorth Garden, Boston MA
Time - 9:00pm

Sunday June 8, 2008


  • 5:45am - Awoke to the sound of the alarm of both my cell phones going off and the phone ringing. I obviously was making sure that I got up and using 3 methods including Verizon's reminder definitely did the trick.
  • 6:15am - Left the crib with my backpack for BWI airport.
  • 6:55am - After almost hitting a deer while driving on the parkway, I arrived at BWI airport.
  • 7:24am - Got through security, took seat in front of gate A11 and wondered if there would be any other Black folks on the flight cuz I saw none in the seating area.
  • 8:03am - 9:07am - Flight departed. Some guy talked me to death on the plane cuz I was wearing my Paul Pierce #34 jersey. I ate my home packed powered donuts in a Ziploc bag and a fruit leather and drifted off to sleep. I was awakened to dude running his mouth again. The plane arrived at Providence with a hard landing that gave me an instant headache.
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  • 9:16am - Got to the Budget Car Rental counter. Had to stand in the line forever due to the fact that the fools in front of me want to argue with the only agent that is there. Finally given keys to my car... a bright red Ford Fusion.
  • 9:20am - 10:36am - Drove the 48 miles to Boston. Got lost for a minute in the city. Saw the big mural on side of TD Banknorth Garden and drives in that direction. Headed across the bridge to the Residence Inn.
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  • 10:52am - 1:41pm - Found a parking space on the street. Got out of the car and it felt like a sauna. Hollered at my ticket hustle partner who's set up shop in his hotel room. I sat and watched the ending of the French Open and then Reno 911 on Comedy Central while he wheels and deals on the phone. I snacked on remnants of snacks that he swiped from the breakfast buffet. He offers me a Coors Light from the fridge, I declined. I got a text from my man Juice saying his flight from Orlando is in. Me and my hustle man Big G headed for the Bulfinch Hotel.
  • 1:46pm - Passed by TD Banknorth Garden again and captured some images from the NBA Finals display outside.
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  • 1:58pm - 3:11pm - Hit up the hotel. Dapped up my man Juice and my other man Sly who's chillin' in the room. They're both Laker fans so we talked trash for a minute. Well, the trash talkin' really last all day. After a while went outside into the hot oven and walked the streets. Grabbed some bottled water from the 7-Eleven on the corner to stay hydrated. We ignored the cats on the streets begging for money. Hit up the NBA display outside of TD Banknorth Garden and took a rack of pics.
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  • 3:12pm - 3:23pm - Rolled to the Celtics store inside the arena. Those two jokers saw no Laker gear and stood outside. I promised to get a T-shirt for my Pops and I did that.
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  • 3:24pm - 3:29pm - While leaving the Celtics store I spotted a reporter from ABC6 in Boston. He saw me in the Pierce jersey, walked over to me and asked if I'd like to answer a few questions. He asked me some stuff about Paul Pierce, his playing status for Game Two, whether I was attending the game and where I was from. He then interviewed Juice who did nothing but pop nonsense about Kobe this and Kobe that.
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  • 3:37pm - 4:06pm - We headed toward Government Center where the NBA Nation festivities were going on. They had some cool ESPN displays and intractive stuff. I saw a Modell's tent and copped more Celtics and NBA Finals T-shirts and a hat for souvenirs. Then I took a pic in front of this huge Beat LA T-shirt. I should've taken a pic of a glass of ice water and had it in my phone. I was sweating like Marion Barry out there in the 95 degree heat. You see the towel don't cha?
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  • 4:21pm - 6:42pm - Walked around Quincy Market. All of us were starving so we decided to hit up McCormick & Schmick's to grab some grub. I dined on steak and coconut shrimp knowing full well I'm allergic to shellfish and didn't have any Benadryl on me. I was only like 8 pieces of shrimp though. I survived.... lol. More trash talking ensued as Juice decided to get the waitress involved in the mix. She wasn't even a Boston native and her response was wack. While we were sitting around eating with some friends, Sly revealed that some chic once said that he looked like the Black Stifler (American Pie) . I swear that I couldn't stop laughing for like 15 minutes and I didn't even have a drink. All I had was a ginger ale. You gotta see the comparison though.
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  • 7:05pm - 7:56pm - We walked back to the hotel as the heat simmered down a bit. Showered up and changed into game time attire. Sly decided to videotape us on his digital camera trash talkin' this go round. Some folks are gluttons for punishment I suppose. He kept referring to Cleon from Dead Presidents and saying that the Lakers beating the Celtics was like that head being buried in the movie. You gotta know Dead Presidents to understand it... lol. From that nonsense we walked over to TD Banknorth Garden and stood in a crowd of folks for about 5 minutes. I got wise and circumvented the massed and walked right to the side near the front and made myself fit it. The fellas followed. We shaved off about 10 minutes of waiting with that move.




  • 7:57pm - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... I see the golden gates. Security pats me down and the attendant validates my ticket. This was the moment I'd been waiting for my entire life. I mean, besides kissing my wife at the altar when pronounced husband and wife... "Hey honey". *waves*
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  • 7:58pm - Look at those championship banners. All that history and Celtic Pride.
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  • 7:59pm - 8:45pm - Me and the fellas walked around the facility soaking in the moment. We walked around, gave high fives to other fans in our respective colors and pointed out celebs that we saw. Went to our seats and chopped it up with the folks in our section. Of course I was berated for bringing along two knuckleheads. I assured the hometown people there that when the Celtics reign of terror began that those two cats would get silent.
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  • 9:02pm - 9:07pm - National Anthem, Player Intros and Tipoff.
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  • 9:09pm - Game begins. The arena is crazy loud. Celtics fans are pumped up.
  • 9:21pm - After taunting Laker fans about Gasol being weak and calling him Ga-Soft loudly, Pau does a baseline move and dunks on Garnett ferociously. Every Laker fan within earshot gives me the business.
  • 9:38pm. Both squads come out ballin'. Lakers lead after the 1st quarter 22-20.
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  • 9:59pm - Paul Pierce for Threeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

  • 10:18pm. When Rajon Rondo had that block and one handed dunk I was in stands doing the Rodeo dance and they caught me on the Jumbotron in the arena wildin' out. I was hee hawin on all dem Laker fans! Which reminds me, I need to see if the arena videotapes all the game stuff with the fans. I need that classic moment of myself. Then again, if you saw me dance you might have a heart attack. Nevermind, if I do get it I won't post it.... lol.
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  • 10:23pm - Halftime. Celtics 54 - Lakers 42.
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  • 10:36pm - Came back to my seat after getting my Coke from the concession. The kid next to me flashed his camera phone and there's a picture of him and Magic Johnson. I asked him where he got it and his dad told me the story of how Magic came through our section 3 minutes after I left my seat and how everyone was shaking hands and taking pics with him. Yep... I was mad.
  • 10:49pm - After a Leon Powe dunk + 'and one' I started doing more of my dances. Those included the Cabbage Patch, the Running Man and the 'Raj' from What's Happening. I was really feeling it cuz my squad was doing work on the court. I was advised that I was on the Jumbotron again. I didn't see myself that time.
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  • 11:25pm - End of 3rd quarter. Celtics are killin' em 83-61.
  • 11:26pm - 11:48pm - I can't tell you what happened. One minute I'm celebrating, the next I was on the edge of my seat. All I know was that my victory speech was already prepared. I witnessed the Lakers make a crazy comeback and almost take the lead. I was not ready to have to live with the fact that I was witness to seeing one of the greatest comebacks in NBA Finals history and my team was on the short end. I think my heart was about to come through my chest. It was that intense up in there.
  • 11:50pm - Game Over. Celtics Win 108-102!!!! *wipes sweat from forehead*
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  • 11:51pm - 12:12am - Hung around the arena. Gave a few high fives to other Celtics fans, but was just happy for the win. Took some more pics with the fellas. Saw a rack more celebs and athletes hanging around as well. Those included Donovan McNabb, Bryan Westbrook and Brian Dawkins of the Philadelphia Eagles, a rack of current and former Patriots and Red Sox players, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Rick Fox, Allan Houston, Jeff Green, Al Jefferson and a whole bunch of others I can't recall right now.
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Monday June 9, 2008
  • 12:26am-1:43am - Kicked it with the fellas in the streets for a while. Talked more trash since my squad won. They were encouraged by the comeback, but the disappointment was obvious regardless of what they said.
  • 1:44am - 3:17am - Sat up in the room and rapped to Juice for a while since it had been over year since we had seen each other. I see Sly in DC, so it aint no thing. That cat was dead tired and knocked out in like 5 minutes. All that complaining about the refs probably made his soul weak.
  • 3:18am - 4:15am - Left the hotel and did the drive back to Providence airport. I took it easy and relaxed as I tried to find a decent R&B/Hip-Hop station on the radio.
  • 4:16am - Stopped at the Exxon next to the airport and gassed the rental car. Maaaaaaaaaaaan... gas is high as hell. Cost me like $25 for like a 1/4 tank. Picked up a glazed donut from the Dunkin' Donuts kiosk inside and killed that joint. I was hungry.
  • 4:27am - Returned rental car to Budget. There was an agent there, but she gave me some nonsense about leaving for the night, told me to do the drop box and peeled off. So I had to do the whole fill out the envelope thing which I hated doing and I didn't even have a pen. Eventually I found one laying on the ground. Fools didn't even have a pen on their counter.
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  • 4:34am - 6:25am - Two hours before my scheduled flight. Got through security with ease since there was hardly anyone in the airport. Went to the gate and watched ESPN for about 30 minutes since I hadn't seen any highlights of the game. After that I attempted to catch a few zzz's. Within 10 minutes I was awakened by some clown who saw my NBA Finals bag and started talking my ear off. He was joined by about 4 more 'friends' who made me wanna duct tape my eyes and ears.
  • 6:43am - 7: 36am - Flight got up in the air. I curled up and went to sleep for about 3o minutes. Then the older man who was from Hawaii next to me asked me about the game... and this fool didn't even know who was playing or anything about basketball. He was just making conversation. Why me maaaaaaaaaan... why me???
  • 7:52am - Arrived home safely at BWI. But the adventure didn't end there. I get my car from the airport parking lot, battle rush hour traffic and be in my office in DC by 11am. But before I did that I did take time to stop by the elementary school for my nieces kindergarten graduation. Uncle duties don't stop with being a true fan y'all....
The End.................................

Peace-N-Love

G. Mo

Monday, June 09, 2008

Back from Boston with a Celtics Victory



I can't even lie... I'm dead tired. Flew back to DC this morning from going to Game Two last night in Boston and am sitting here in the office trying to focus. I'll do a complete recap of my 24 hour journey to the NBA Finals shortly as I've done in previous game trips. However here's a few pics/vids in the meantime. Yes, I did act a complete fool up in the place.



Sunday, June 01, 2008

A Kid's Dream

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21 years. It's been 21 years since my Celtics squad battled the Lakers in the NBA Finals. That rivalry is definitely the best that I've witnessed in my lifetime. The Lakers (62-20) had Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott, A.C. Green and Michael Cooper, while the Celtics (57-25) had Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson and Robert Parish. The Celtics were coached by KC Jones and the Lakers by Pat Riley. This years total cast of characters doesn't have the star power of that cast, but sure to bring as much by way of excitement. My squad has got Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins filling out the starting line-up. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant who is arguably the best player in the game right now. Who cares about the rest of the squad??? I mean, I know and respect who they are but this is not about them. Best believe I'm up in here pumped full of energy anticipating the opening tip-off on Thursday night.

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Even though I grew up in DC and constantly saw the Bullets, I became a Celtics fan. That's primarily because of my dad and granddad. My grandfolks lived in Roxbury, MA when I was real young. On those winter school breaks as a youngster, pop would take me from DC to Boston to visit the grandfolks for the holidays. Pops aint one for driving, so we always flew. During those trips we would find our way to the Boston Garden. There I was laced with a Nate 'Tiny' Archibald jersey, other Celtic trinkets and quickly embraced the green and white. You figure out what year that was.... lol. I grew up with tons of Celtics memorabilia and apparel. I personally have an autograph book with signatures of Larry Bird, Red Auerbach, Bailey Howell, Cedric 'Cornbread' Maxwell, John Havlicek & a ton other Celtics greats. I got all of those on my own walking various arenas before games when the Celtics were warming up. So understand that this right here is a kid's dream. I've been to tons of Celtics games in my lifetime. I've flown to playoff games in other cities, home openers in Boston and more games vs the Bullets/Wizards than I can count since I do live in the DC area. However, I've never had a chance to even get a sniff of my squad in The Finals. Well, for those who know me... you know I'm going.

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Shortly after the conference finals victory vs the Pistons, I had a pow wow with my crew. At that point I sifted through the real cats and the fakers. Some folks talk about what they would/will do... others act on it. I'm not saying that you can't be a real fan and sit home and watch the game. I'm just not that dude. I've gotta go! So next Sunday at this time, I fully expect to be sitting in the TD Banknorth Garden enjoying Game 2 of the series. I cheered for a Celtics squad last season that won a total of 24 games and now a year later they're contending for an NBA Championship. Talk about the ping pong balls bouncing your way. I was mad when we didn't get the number one pick and a chance to get Greg Oden. Thanks Danny Ainge for the GM power moves, we all appreciate ya. I sure as hell never expected to be cheering for KG and Ray Allen in Celtic green. It almost seems unbelievable. I have to close my eyes and blink and make sure this is all real.

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Getting to Boston from the DC area might be a task since I'll have to fly into Providence, Rhode Island, rent a car and then drive an hour to Boston. But the travel is already booked. My man Juice (who's flying in from Orlando) already has got the hotel hooked up across from TD Banknorth Garden, so we're straight on that. I've gotta be back to work first thing Monday morning for a series of video conference meetings. So everything has to be on point. But it's whatever, I'll find a way. Truth be told at this moment, I don't have tickets for the game. All that hustling and looking out for folks over the years should reward me with something I hope. I have more than a few cats out there who "owe me one". I'm not used to be in the position of the one desperately looking for a ticket. Thus being on the other side of this seems sort of weird. Had this been in DC, then I would be straight cuz 95% of my connects are here. But it's not, thus me not in the driver's seat. I don't know where that seat will be or who will be sitting next to me next Sunday. Hell, I don't even care. I hope my squad can will their way to the title and if that's not achieved then of course I'll be disappointed. Yet, this season has been the greatest. I've had so much fun cheering for a squad that has given me hope and made me smile. I've waiting a long time for this and just being there for one NBA Finals game will be a kid's dream come true.

Peace-N-Love...

G. Mo