Stop!

Collaborate and listen.


It's time to put aside my arguably unhealthy obsession with Boston sports and acoustic 50 Cent covers to talk about something much more important. I received an e-mail from my dear friend Kyle Eudailey yesterday, and upon reading it, I thought it important to share it with anyone taking the time to read this blog:

'PJ and the Nefarious Brain Tumor'

So I don't mean to send this email as a downer or even as a legit fund raising call, but I thought I would pass this along to you guys to maybe pass along to anyone you know who may be interested in supporting something truly worthwhile. As many of you know and a lot of you don't, one of my best friends from Medical School, PJ Lukac, had an incredible shock this winter, after several weeks of some very odd symptoms like being unable to understand certain words, hearing indescribable music, and brief seizures (which I can fully explain to you guys if any of you are interested), he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The most unfortunate part is that PJ was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of brain cancer (Stage IV GBM). The rarity of this in a healthy 23 year old is beyond what I can even describe to you guys in an email. The crazy shit is that PJs symptoms developed in the middle of our Neuropathology course while we were in the middle of learning about all of the horrible neurological defects that can present. Since December he has had the tumor removed and successfully tolerated radiation and his first round of chemo. PJ is in fact doing extremely well, as just a couple of weeks ago he made his first trip back to Columbia since he took leave. The even better news is that his first MRI since his treatment was negative which is truly incredible, that being said he is not out of the woods yet seeing as he has an MRI every 7 weeks to check for the return of his tumor for the next year or so.

The reason that I am writing everyone is that PJ and his family have done something incredible over the last couple of weeks. PJ has created a team of over 85 runners to partake in the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) 5K run this Saturday in Chicago (Pj's hometown) which I am participating in with several of my classmates. All I am really asking with this email is to forward this along to anyone who might be interested in helping, maybe if you or your family has every know someone with brain cancer or even cancer, let them know because I feel like this is a truly unique thing. While the money goes to support the research, the even more amazing thing is that this race has lifted PJ's spirits about everything. I also send this to you guys because PJ has been since the start of school one of my best boys and because of that I am doing everything I can to help him out, just like I would for any of you guys. I want to say again, I don't write this as a downer, it has actually been a real lesson in what is important in life, and that is friends and family. PJ is a great kid and people have rallied behind him because of that. He also happens to be as stubborn as you can be. PJ despite continuing chemo treatment still maintains he is going to kick my ass in the 5K and has been training non-stop, he plans to start neuroscience research at Northwestern this month, and he is determined, nay, will be back at school this fall to follow his recent decision to become a Neuro-oncologist.... aka badass. Did I also mention that our team, Team Peej is by far and away the biggest fundraiser by far for this event. Check out the link below for a pretty sweet article on him in the Chicago Tribune, actually you don't have to read it but please click on it to look at his picture..... he looks like such a badass.... I wish the caption read "Fuck you tumor."

Chicago Tribune Article

If you know anybody who would like to donate to the cause, here is PJ's link below:

RunPJRun

Also here is my page for the race... not quite as cool:

Kyle's Page

All the best,

-Kyle "I hope to be the love-child of Prefontaine and Jackie Joyner Kersee this weekend" Eudailey

There's nothing more to be said. Thank you Kyle for passing this along, and good luck to your entire team this weekend. Wish I could be there in person on Saturday.

Ray Ray!

For those who doubted my boy, can you say 28 in the second half? Oh yeah, and a game winner...Boom!



This series is quickly shaping up to be one for the ages. If you need me, I'll be nursing my ailing tailbone as I sit here on the edge of my seat waiting for Game 3.

You Got Me Saying Ayo...

I'm tired of using technology.



Kinda catchy, isn't it?

A big thanks to Justin Seppi for the video, as well as to Milow and 50 Cent for the inspiration.

So You're Saying There's A Chance

That is indeed A Tall Glass of One Percent.

Cheers to having a chance...

Oh C'mon!

KG might be out for the playoffs? Playoffs? Damnit (*banging head on desk).

Bill Simmons: KG's knee injury makes playoffs much more predictable

This is completely my fault (see 'Loser!' post below). You know what, Bango, I blame you too. Stupid Buck. F***.

Pissed off in Madison.

It Was The Summer of '84

And what a summer it was. The world watched as Los Angeles hosted the XXIII Olympiad, George Michael's Careless Whisper topped the charts, Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya performed the first space walk ever by a woman, and the greatest Canadian hair metal band off all time hit the big stage.

What? You've never heard of Anvil? Well, start reading up, because they'rrrrrrre baaaaaaaack:

Loser!

A few weeks ago I went to my first Milwaukee Bucks game, who on that particular Sunday happened to be hosting my beloved Boston Celtics. Sporting a KG jersey to try and fill the void left by Garnett's absence from the team due to injury, I still entered the stadium confident that we (yes, I'm one of those guys who uses "we" when talking about the sports teams I love and adore) would own the day. Unfortunately, for most of the day, we looked like crap, and despite an exciting push at the end giving me just enough hope that the Cs were screwing around for 3 and a half quarters and were still going to pull it out, a Bucks' desperation three as the shot clock expired with about 30 seconds left in the game put the game just out of reach for good.

It was just as well. We didn't deserve to win.

Now, I'm not about to go off on a rant about how we didn't try, or how they wanted it more, because I'm not actually convinced that either was the case. We were off, but off in the way that Ray Allen's shots just wouldn't fall (he was 2/11 from the field). It's not that he looked lackadaisical on the court; his shots just didn't consistently find the bottom of the net as they have a knack for doing when leaving his hands much of the time. Think Ray Ray's performance in the early half of the 2008 playoffs if you're having trouble picturing his shooting for this particular game. Even my boy my Pauly was off, going 4/15 from the field, leaving the Celtics to rely on Kendrick Perkins and his eventual 26 points to keep them in it from a scoring perspective.

And no, I'm also not about to chalk up the loss to just plain bad luck. We did deserve to lose that day, but it wasn't the fault of the players, it was the fans' fault on this one. I'm actually embarrassed just thinking about the incident.

It was the first half during a timeout and the Buck's faithful mascot, Bango, entered the crowd to pull an unsuspecting Celtics fan out onto the court, sporting Cs jersey and all. The crowd booed, and rightfully so, as it seemed (at least to a Milwaukee outsider) that this Celtics fan would get to participate in a beloved on-court tradition that should be reserved for home court fans. The tradition appeared to be a spectacle in which the crowd participant would stand blindfolded, getting to hold a stand that the ball would be placed on, while the mascot, or some other trickster would leap off of a trampoline, grab the ball mid-air, and slam it home. So, there we sat and watched as the trampoline was brought out, and the Cs fan was placed on the foul line and blindfolded. Predictable enough. However, at that moment Bango, instead of handing him the stand to hold, placed a sign (which to the blindfolded eye would have felt the same per the shape of the rod being held) in his hand reading: "Loser!" The crowd was then instructed per signals from the center scoreboard and flashing lights to start cheering wildly, which they obliged to gleefully, as the trampoline was wheeled back off and the Celtics fan was left alone and blindfolded on the foul line holding the Loser sign.

For those who know how seriously I take my sports teams this may be hard to believe, but I was laughing pretty hard as the entire spectacle unfolded. I mean, you gotta admit, that's pretty damn funny. Go Milwaukee on that one.

Anyways, after a seemingly wicked long time, Bango returned to the Cs fan's side and lifted the blindfold. I honestly expected him to have a similar reaction to mine, a kind of: "Really? Okay, okay, you got me. That's actually wicked fuckin' hilarious. I mean, we're still going to beat you in the game, or at the very least we won't be seeing you in the playoffs as we make a run for the championship, but I'm glad you guys are still trying having a good time."

Oh, how wrong I was. I haven't seen a look of anger in somebody's eyes like that (per a nice Jumbotron zoom) since I saw my own after Boone launched that ball into the seats in 2003, as the Cs fan stormed back into his seat. Really, dude? You can't find any humor in Bango's move? You have a dominant sports team in all 5 major sports (yes, I'm including the MLS, where the New England Revolution tend to land in the finals about every year...you should pay more attention to that) and you can't even crack a smile. I realize that's easy for me to say, guy who sat and watched somebody else be embarrassed from the comfort of his own nosebleed seat. Really though, this is just one scenario that is indicative of a much larger problem, which is that, like New York fans, we take ourselves way too damn seriously sometimes when it comes to sports.

Before any of you fellow New Englanders start throwing things at the screen, realize that I fully admit that I'm as guilty of this as anybody else, and doubt I'll really be able to change. I mean, you should have seen me throwing things at the TV screen like a three year-old as I watched Tom Izzo coach his team into beating the Huskies at their own game well after I had come to the conclusions above in regards to the Bango joke. Like I've said since watching the Spartans destroy the finals of destiny that should have pitted two of the greatest NCAA Men's basketball teams that I've ever watched in UConn and UNC; Tom deserves Lupe Izzo like Michigan St. deserved to win that game: they both worked their asses off to make it happen (realize I actually have no idea how Tom actually landed Lupe...one can only assume that his genius, as much as I hate to admit it, can't hurt the situation...either way, Go Tom). And don't try using Michigan St.'s home court-esque advantage as an excuse. UNC sure didn't.

I digress. There was just something to be said about being able to enjoy a game for a reasonable price, being able to easily walk down and sit in seats close to the court without being questioned during the final quarter, and even getting to walk on the court after the game (yes, I was kicked off fairly rapidly, but the "kick-off" was still with a smile). These are some of those little things that are a little harder to experience when you're the fan of a big-market team. Just ask Yankees fans, who are expected to pay $2,500 for front row seats in their new stadium (that's per game for those keeping track at home). Since they have commitments for all of their front row seats this season, I suppose it's our own fault as fans though, isn't it? I just hope those poor suckers who actually bought the tickets get some free Cracker Jack and a hot dog for their expenditures. Actually, I take that back. Clearly, they can afford to buy their own.

Back to the spectacle at hand. On March 15, the joke was on us. I'm hoping that come June, the joke is on the rest of the NBA instead (although another fan base may well deserve to be on top this time around. All I know is, if that does happen when it's all said and done, I just pray that we're not looking at Kobe holding up another trophy. That would be a crime).

Hypocritically criticizing in Madison.