BE MAGIC!

That's right: BE MAGIC!

Orlando's marking slogan this year is "Be Magic", in case you didn't know. Tomorrow is media for the Magic Men and for the rest of the week they will be spending time in training camp right before their preseason gets in session on October 5th in Dallas. I really can't wait for this season at all, as my team is fresh off an NBA Finals visit and looking to avenge their loss to the Lakers.

The excitement for this season is definitely high. With a few new key guys in Brandon Bass, Vince Carter, and Matt Barnes, I cannot wait to see how they play with Dwight, Rashard and Jameer.

I love the NBA season because of my passion for basketball, the smack talking with my friends who are fans of other teams, the epic games, the amazing plays, the late West Coast games, and then eventually the NBA Playoffs! The point is I'm a devoted NBA fan year-round and it's busiest time is coming around again.

If you're a fan of the NBA go ahead and follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/chevythecoolest and we can talk nothing but NBA all day!

ORLANDO MAGIC 2010!

Jay-Z & Oprah

I will be the first one to admit that I don't really like Oprah that much. However, I can probably soften that issue of dislike upon her after this show with Jay-Z. It's fair enough that she doesn't like rap music for certain reasons, some of which we both might agree on. I shouldn't hate on that really, so no hard feelings for Oprah.

Now on to the interview (can be read here) and show (watch here), I have to say first off Hov was very humble and outspoken. This is one of the reasons the guy is up there beyond rap artists, celebs and a public and American icon that will live on. Compared to Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac, Jigga's comparison goes beyond his own genre to Elvis and The Beatles. Both Oprah and Jay-Z come from poor urban areas and are now two of America's current icons, so to see them connect is an epic happening as thousands showed up outside of Hov's Grandmother's house where the interview was held. I admire what he has done to represent his city and state. This is a man that can positively represent where he's from and have the support of his home state/city but even more the world.

Beyond music, I didn't know Jay was so passionate about his fashion. Seeing where his CEO headquarters was is inspiring to me because I envision myself at his level some day, maybe not on the rap star side though. Having his office in the heart of his city overseeing it and pictures of of his inspirations around it was also something I admired about the inside look. The guy has taken his success, expanded it and became an American icon for our generation. For that I have a lot of respect for Hov, and (cue a Kanye here) he is one of my favorite artists of all-time! Music wise he's now on 11 number one albums, 7 Grammy's and also he paved the way for Kanye West and Rihanna, two big time artists today that should pay some homage to Hov-almighty.

Shawn Carter is truly a class act and one guy in the books of Americans that should be up there with the Elvis', Presidents, The Beatles' and Michael Jordan's. There will be many compared to him, want to be like him, and try to go against him. Blueprint 3 is on it's third week of what I'm only listening to right now and one I'll listen to in a year from now. To the rap game, we need more like this man, we'd all be better off.

NBA 2009-2010 Pre-Season Predictions

Here are my predictions solely based on how the teams and league is formed BEFORE the season!

FINAL DRAFT!

Teams in BLUE qualify for playoffs, seeds are listed after season records.
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division:
1. Boston Celtics (61-21) 1
2. Philadelphia 76ers (47-39) 5
3. Toronto Raptors (45-37) 7
4. New York Knicks (40-42)
5. New Jersey Nets (32-51)

Central Division:
1. Cleveland Cavaliers (58-24) 3
2. Chicago Bulls (41-41)
3. Detroit Pistons (38-44)
4. Indiana Pacers (36-46)
5. Milwaukee Bucks (35-47)

Southeast Division:
1. Orlando Magic (60-22) 2
2. Washington Wizards (50-32) 4
3. Atlanta Hawks (48-34) 6
4. Miami Heat (42-40) 8
5. Charlotte Bobcats (34-48)

Teams in RED qualify for playoffs, seeds are listed after season records.

Western Conference
Northwest Division:
1. Denver Nuggets (52-30) 3
2. Portland Trailblazers (51-31) 5
3. Utah Jazz (47-39) 7
4. Oklahoma City Thunder (31-51)
5. Minnesota Timberwolves (25-57)

Pacific Division:
1. Los Angeles Lakers (62-20) 1
2. Phoenix Suns (43-39)
3. Los Angeles Clippers (32-50)
4. Golden State Warriors (28-54)
5. Sacramento Kings (22-60)

Southwest Division:
1. San Antonio Spurs (56-26) 2
2. Dallas Mavericks (54-28) 4
3. New Orleans Hornets (50-32) 6
4. Houston Rockets (45-37) 8
5. Memphis Grizzlies (35-47)

Buc'd by the Bills

Wow, well let me say I haven't watched a Tampa Bay game for the season yet. No, not because I don't want to but work has saved me from witnessing the horrific football that's being played by them. Week two, in Buffalo against the Bills and what do the Bucs do? Something similar to last game! I'm surprised the Bucs are putting up 20 points a game but the bad part? Allowing 30 or more. You can assume this starts with the defensive job being played on Tampa's side. A team known for their grueling defense over the years are truly missing Monte Kiffin and some of his defensive schemes.

Looking at a 4 min highlight clip the minor miscues the Bucs made is what cost them a good chance of winning the game. The defense got some nice interceptions but missed tackles and coverage. The offense looked pretty solid for the most part and Leftwich made some pretty good passes. If the Bucs can get it together they could do better than I expect them to. Week three brings the red hot Giants and Eli to Raymond James Stadium though, we'll see how that goes.

Terrible Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

So it's one week into the NFL season and I really don't give a damn about it! I will admit it has something to do with my Magic being a top team in the NBA, but that doesn't mean I should neglect my Buccaneers in rebuilding mode.

I honestly didn't have high expectations for the Bucs. I mean who can blame me when you release Derrick Brooks (One of my favorite Buccaneers of all time) and then overthrow the coaching staff after last season's horrific ending. The Bucs have not seen a franchise Quarterback in years, which produced one Super Bowl victory at the least.

I didn't get a chance to see week one against Dallas, but from what I heard and saw was that Romo tore up the secondary while Leftwich was sub-par and the running game was the best part the Bucs had all game.

I'm not really giving up on my team, as I'll root for them all season long, but it's going to be a long season and one I really will dare myself to watch. I say the Bucs will win 5 games max, not being a sell-out but sometimes you've got to be real about your team.

As for my NFL predictions I'll have to get back on those soon!

GO BUCS :/

Jay-Z: Blueprint 3

HOV! He's back as the messiah of the Hip-Hop game. Nothing better than installing a 3rd (and FINAL?) edition to the Blueprint series. Now I'll be honest here, I didn't really dig this CD until about the 3rd-4th listen. I first felt the CD would be over hyped as people claimed Jay-Z would come as his classic top hit albums. I can't really say where this album is on the list of his overall productions but that's another discussion!

Production wise I loved "Empire State of Mind", "On to the Next One", "Hate" and "Already Home". Those songs caught on to me faster than others did. Lyrically Hov did it again, there is no question in that of course. I wasn't a big fan of D.O.A. really, I thought it was too much of a gimmick and something he wanted to sell records with. As I always say lead the way don't bitch about the game! Besides D.O.A. I can't really complain although I would of liked to hear Lupe Fiasco and Nas featured, and was surprised Drake got a feature (Although not a verse). The second single "Run this Town" sort of got me interested in hearing the album although I also took a while to get into the song.

"A Star is Born" is one hell of a song. I'm feeling Jay on this one all the way. Giving "shout-outs" to those successful in the rap game from their respective areas. "On to the Next One" had some dope lines from Jigga, and it's a bit similar to the next track "Off That".

Overall I'd give a solid 9/10 and it will probably recognized heavily through the next few months and year with different awards. Much love to Hov and his accomplishments, and I will never believe this guy will retire...

Kanye's Stunt and the Upcoming NBA Season!

Ok so this is a pretty big 'hot topic' that is even receiving comments from our very own President Obama. My views are solely based on the fact that MTV is crap, not Taylor Swift or Kanye West.

I really have no interest in any award show that MTV puts out there really. I mean did you see how some of these people come in dressed? I agree that artists and celebs should at least have an informal fun type of award show here and there but recently MTV has become worthless. That is just my feel on them.

So with that said I feel like Kanye WAS wrong for what he did but at the end of the day, the VMAs and controversy from past shows simply made this little incident another one for the books. It was overblown and a one day thing that probably didn't need to reach the President's office.

When it's all said and done: Taylor Swift is rich and has fans, Kanye West...the SAME! Do I feel for both of them? Not really but Ye is still one of my favorite artists.

NBA 40 DAYS AWAY! (From Sept. 17th, 2009)

Well last season was hella exciting for me. My Orlando Magic went through the whole Eastern Conference to only LOSE in the Finals :(

I'm counting down the days slowly, but I do have some predictions I'll share on this blog and see how I do later...so here we go:

1. Washington Wizards will be the 4th best team out East. I think they are serious this year and long over due. Especially with Arenas, Jamison, and Butler finally healthy once again they'll be hungry enough to lead this team. Their supporting cast is pretty decent and Coach Flip Saunders should be a big key to improving them this season.

2. REVISED: Since Tracy McGrady is expected to be 100% healthy by the Preseason start, the Rockets will make the playoffs but hold on to the 8th seed. All of the teams that made the playoffs in the West will make it again this year with different positions on the seeding.

3. Blake Griffin wins Rookie of the Year. Obvious, but I think he's got this one locked up pending injury. I saw his footwork, shooting touch and overall game and I was impressed. I don't think any rookie will come close to the numbers he puts up.

4. The race in the East from 5th seed and beyond is going to be a bit tough. The Raptors and Wizards will make the playoffs which means two teams from last year won't. I'm going with Detroit and Miami not making the playoffs. Detroit may struggle with a thin frontline and Miami will be the odd one left as Toronto takes their spot.

5. Trade deadline blockbuster: Amare Stoutamire is out if he doesn't produce like the Suns want him to.

That's all I have for now but as the season draws closer I will have more to discuss about the 2009-2010 NBA season. Again I can't wait!