CRAP/ My Journal by Al Brathway

June 15th, Friday/ Watched the NBA finals and final game. What is all the buzz about LeBron James? I mean even if he was as good as advertised, no one basketball player is better than five who stick together. I don't get it... LeBron's shoes, LeBron's ficticious family (The LeBrons) LeBron drinks Sprite (or Fresca or 7Up or whatever) Lebron is the king, LeBron, LeBron, LeBron... (Is this the NBA's version of the Brady Bunch?) The kid is good but he ain't that good... yet! And, fuck that wish to become a "global icon" shit! That's media bullshit that no player should even utter from his or her lips. The only "global" LeBron felt was that warming on his ass from the broom the Spurs used to sweep him and the Cavs out of the arena in four games! It's not luck; It's know-how. The Spurs "know-how." One day Lebron might feel the warmth a championship brings./ I'm sure lebron will get over the bad feelings he might be having right now. Hell, he's probably over it already. Somehow having a lot of money and being called the "KING" trumps any bad feelings one may have about losing a game... CRAP!

CRAP/ My Journal by Al Brathway

June 8th, Friday/ Last night I watched the first game of the NBA Finals. It was a good game... Both teams played hard! LeBron James did not fair too well against the Spurs defense but I imagine that he will figure it out during the course of the series. Having said that, I think the Spurs will win the series because they are my team. I just don't understand why they don't get the attention they deserve?/ So, I'm sitting there, watching, and I had this eerie feeling come over me. I was starting to identify with the Spurs in some zen like fashion. It felt like there was a ghost in the room with a Spurs jersey on or something. Everytime the Spurs had the ball on offense or they did something great on defense, I felt this... this something pass by me or go through me or hover around me. At first I thought it was just a draft in the room but as time went on the feeling was more pronounced. It wasn't cold or hot... It was just... There! And it felt soooo gooood too! I felt myself getting real happy... Giddy in fact!/ So I'm watching the game and, now, I'm starting to reflect on my high school days when I played basketball. I remembered being on a predominately white team, yet I was the best freethrow shooter. Here I am, 6'3, 185lbs., playing forward, averaging 15pts. and 10 rebounds a game, taking all kinds of punishment from the opposing team's power forward... Going to the foul line and sinking foul shot after foul shot after foul shot at an 85% clip... My memory is getting more and more vivid. I'm starting to remember all kinds of things I've done that helped the team win... Then, all of a sudden, things started to go BLACK! I wasn't feeling so "giddy" anymore. Tears started to stream down my face... The game ended and the Spurs won but I wasn't feeling all that great anymore. I was having the same feelings I had when I played high school basketball. I was instrumental in winning games for the team but... I didn't feel like "the man!" And then it hit me... It was my moment of truth. I started to understand why I identified with the Spurs so much! It wasn't because they won or Tim Duncan or the coach or any of that type of shit. I liked the Spurs because, like them, I was great and hardly received any recognition too, and now I'm sitting there, watching, and being reminded about how my sorry and painful adolescent life unfolded!/ CRAP!