As most Both Teamsters know, I enjoy the hippity hop music quite a bit. Still, despite all the years of listening and debating, I’ve never been able to chose a favorite MC of all time. But depending on which day you asked me, I would definitely say one of three names: Jadakiss, Rakim or Big L.
Cormega, Scarface, Masta Ace and Sean P have all flirted with entrance into that top tier while Common, Ras Kass and Mos have probably rapped their way right out of the conversation, but the top three remain essentially unassailable at this point. Mainly this is because (a) Jada is Jada, (b) my love for Rakim is mostly based on history and nostalgia anyways, and (c) Big L is dead and no one is ever moving him off the list. I’m not sure if this is a universal sentiment, but I think, like the whole “you can’t lose your starting job to injury” theory in sports, a rapper can’t lose his spot due to death.
Either way, all this prologue is basically just a long way to note the sad fact that today is the 11th anniversary of the day Big L was killed. And the reason this is basketball-related is because, as most of you probably already know, L often spit about the NBA. In fact, I’ve been aggregating all the best NBA-related lyrics of all time for some time over on the NBA Lyric Project page (which needs some serious updating), and by far my favorite one is: “Fuck all the glamors and glitz, I plan to get rich, I’m from New York and never was a fan of the Knicks.”
I aint from New York, but I have now lived here for a decade, and since I have been a diehard Pacers/Reggie Miller fan since the early 90s, you can believe that a lot of my love for that line comes from how much I agree with the late, great Lamont Coleman on this one. So in memory of one of the best to ever touch a mic, below is Big L’s legendary “‘98 Freestyle.” (Highly NSFW lyrics)
I’ll spare you hoops heads who may not care about hip hop any more rapper reminiscing, but my thoughts on where Big L was about to take lyricism right before he died can best be summed up by Jadakiss, who was rhyming about another Big from New York at the time: “I could go on for a year about how it’d be if you was still here.”
He hates the Celtics. You know Vujacic does, but Ariza really does and always has. He even hates the Red Sox and the Patriots. Ariza, 23, and Pierce, 31, are both Inglewood cats who grew up near The Forum and loving the Lakers, and whereas Pierce has made a nice life for himself in Boston, Ariza would rather break his foot all the way through than ever be a Celtic.
And more than just hating Boston, Ariza especially hates Kevin McHale.
Ariza really has a thing for Boston, to the point that he joked he was getting post-concussion headaches again from talking about what I caught him doing before the game in Minnesota.
Ariza had a white No. 32 Celtics jersey and a Sharpie marker in his Lakers locker, and he had gotten Kevin McHale’s autograph on it.
What the …?
No way did Ariza want it for himself. He was just too good [of] a friend to say no to the request for a favor. He was, in fact, too sickened by the whole process to do it himself, so he asked a Target Center locker-room attendant to go get the signature from the guy far more famous for being a Celtics legend than the Timberwolves’ coach.
“I’m ashamed,” Ariza said. “I am. I’m ashamed.
Ironically, Boston-hater Trevor Ariza can likely consider Celtic patriarch Kevin Garnett a compatriot in the “Sickened by the Mere Idea of Kevin McHale Club.”
Latrell Sprewell is not only a member; he’s the player president.
Sports Illustrated just released its 2008 “Fortunate 50” list of the highest earning U.S. athletes, and once again (this is the fifth annual), NBA players monopolize the list. In all, a crazy 26 ballers and shot-callers are featured, including two more (Yao and Dirk) on the “International 20.” (For team sport athletes, the figures are for each guy’s most recently completed season and for winnings-based guys, it is the 2007 calendar year.)
The total sums combine the athletes salary (or winnings) with his estimated endorsements. Here’s how the sports stack up by number of athletes represented followed by the list of the top NBA guys:
3. LeBron – $40.5 million
5. Kobe – $35.5 million
6. Shaq – $35.0 million
8. KG – $31.0 million
12. AI – $27.1 million
13. Kevin Durant – $26.0 million
16. DWade – $25.0 million
17. TMac – $25.0 million
18. Melo – $22.6 million
19. Tim Duncan – $22.5 million
21. Michael Finley – $22.2 million
22. Dwight Howard- $21.6 million
24. JKIdd – $21.0 million
25. Starbury – $21.0 million
27. JO – $20.5 million
29. Baron Davis – $18.9 million
31. Stevie “Franchise” – $18.2 million
32. Vince Carter – $18.0 million
33. Paul Pierce – $17.9 million
36. Matrix – $17.0 million
38. Ray Allen – $16.8 million
39. Rashard Lewis – $16.7 million
40. Antawn Jamison – $16.6 million
45. Big Ben – $16.2 million
47. Elton Brand – $15.8 million
48. Amare – $15.8 million
Writing out that list, my first thought was that teams/ad execs sure are paying a helluva lot of money to people that require me to type their full name for identification purposes. My second thought was that I got all the way to number 36 on the list before a single NBA guy had a decent enough nickname to use that wasn’t just a play of their actual name (okay…The Truth at 33 should count but even after the Finals MVP, I’m still not sure it’s ubiquitous enough. Even counting Pierce, him, Marion and Flash are really the only three. Quick, someone make Tough Juice your spokesman.).
For some better analysis, head over to the post on the SI list by Jones On The NBA’s, who, in looking at how much each player is making in just endorsements, hopes to come up with an NBA player marketing database.
Because all else I’ve got on this is a few Fun Facts:
The entire Boston Three Party made the list.
Steve Francis made $330,909.09 per point this season.
Mark Cuban paid Michael Finley $18.6 million to not play for the Mavs this year.
CP3, Brandon Roy, Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley all made the “Future Fortunates,” which is a list of the athletes SI thinks will be there next year or soon thereafter.
And some non-NBA-related Fun Facts:
The combined earnings of Tiger and Phil (#1 and #2 overall with $127.9 million and $62.4 million, respectively) is more than the combined earnings of LeBron, Kobe, Shaq, KG, AI and Jason Kidd.
No U.S. females made the list, but Maria Sharapova is 13th on the International 20 with $21.8 million.
Four of the ten MLB players featured play for the Yankees (Hideki Matsui, who was on the International 20, makes five).
The Red Sox have won two of the last four World Series trophies.
But don’t fret just because guys like Steve Francis and JO earned more cash this year that you will in your entire sad, sad existence on this planet.Cause you know what they say:
Find out where to play the best online slots by visiting SlotsLogic.com
--------------------
Shoot and score with NBA betting at SBG Global sportsbook! The online sportsbook offers live NBA betting odds, NCAA basketball betting options, numerous sports betting prop wagers, the $250,000 NBA Match Up contest and $500,000 Madness of March contest.
