Budokan of Los Angeles Video

I had the pleasure of making this video for The Budokan of Los Angeles, a massive project headed by the Little Tokyo Service Center. Nine years ago I made a similar video for the campaign as this gym in Little Tokyo has been something that the community has been organizing around for over 20 years.

Please watch and help spread the word about this epic community effort.

NBA X Oscars

I saw these on gotemcoach.com and thought they were genius!

Sportscenter's "Do It For Dylan"

As formulaic and heavy handed as they may be, these tragic stories on ESPN always get me...

ESPN article the non-profit, publicly-owned Green Bay Packers

Why I'm rooting hard for Green Bay on Sunday:
The right way? The Green Bay way on espn.com

The Tillman Story

I'd been waiting to see this film ever since it was revealed that NFL player turned US soldier Pat Tillman had been killed by his own men in Afghanistan. The film exposes the US government's cold blooded cover-up of Tillman's death and the attempts to exploit the mourning felt by Tillman's family and others throughout the country to propagate patriotism and support for escalating the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Tillman Story opened my eyes to the absolute control our government has over the military and media to propagate wars, manipulate it's citizens, then profit in the forms of billion dollar arms contracts, higher TV ratings, and launching political careers. This film has a lot of potential to expose the above realities to a much broader audience, including college and NFL football fans.

Remembering Hank Gathers

Bo Kimble's left handed free throw has to be one of the best moments in college sports. I just got a little teary watching Guru of Go on ESPN's 30 for 30. I don't know how big of an impact Hank Gathers' death had in other parts of the country, but as a 10 year old in LA, it was one of the first times I was really saddened by the death of someone I didn't know personally.

Raider Hater

Ahh, beating the Chargers is the gift that keeps on giving! Niner fans, get your tissues ready!

The Case for Community-Owned Bay Area Sports

"How much longer are we going to take being held hostage by shady, out of touch owners who don’t care about the communities where the teams reside? It’s time to take our teams back. It’s time to talk about municipalization."

The homie Kori Chen teamed up with his friend James Tracy to write a great article titled The Case for Community-Owned Bay Area Sports. Kori loves sports, loves The Town, and is a dedicated community organizer, all of which he exhibits in his article. On top of all that, the brotha gots vision. Hopefully we'll be reading more articles from him in the future.

Netflix Worthy: Facing Ali

Based on the book with the same name, Facing Ali is one of my favorite docs I've seen this year. I might be a little biased since I end up loving most films or books about Ali, but the fact that so much has been done on the legend over the years, makes this film even more impressive. We have heard all the soundbites and seen all the footage before, but it's the personality and vulnerability in the interviews that make this film. I'm convinced there are few things more entertaining than when old boxers talk story.



The use of text and the way the interviews were shot create a style that is both nostalgic and new. Hands down, the best interview in the film is with Leon Spinks. Dude is hilarious! When talking about Ali's politicization and name change he says:
"After Ali changed it from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, everybody else started turning to Muslim. My name is Cooly Clala Cleely or Hooly Hooly or Walla Walla. I mean what the fuck is that? Well, my name's Leon and there ain't nothing white about that."

If your a fan of Ali I would highly suggest reading Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties and watching When We Were Kings. But you probably have already.

Netflix Worthy: The Two Escobars

ESPN Films' 30 for 30 series is one of my favorite programs on TV. What's even better is that most of the films are available on DVD as soon as they are aired so you can watch them without commercial breaks, the way that they were meant to be seen. I think The Two Escobars is the second best film in the series so far, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks is still my favorite.



I loved director Jeff Zimbalist's previous film Favela Rising. Co-directed with his brother Michael, Zimbalist brings the same colorful visual style, drum beats, and social critique to the story of Colombian drug king Pablo Escobar and what is known as narco-fútbol. I still don't know what the hell I'm looking at when I watch a soccer game, but as the most popular international sport, especially in the third world, the political back stories of the game are fascinating.

If you don't have netflix you can watch the whole film on youtube.

Jeremy Lin getting more than just looks.

I'm officially on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon! I had read a lot about the brotha before, but really, I wasn't about to watch a Harvard basketball game. After Lin's performance at the NBA summer league (especially against John Wall) it looks like he's gonna get picked up by the Warriors. As much as I would love for him to be in LA, I would rather see him get more money and the opportunity to play near his hometown in the bay, plus we all know what happens when an Asian brotha gets picked up by the Lakers.



I know the current NBA is a much different league than it was in the 1940's but the JA in me would like to take this opportunity to remind folks about Wat Misaka. Not only was Misaka the Knicks' first round pick in 1947 but he was the FIRST PERSON OF COLOR TO PLAY IN THE NBA!

Let's Go Los Suns! Yeah, I said it!

For me, the most interesting events are when the world of sports and issues of social justice collide. For this reason, Dave Zirin is by far my favorite sports journalist. So when Arizona signed SB1070 into law during the NBA playoffs, I knew Dave would not disappoint me.

I've hated the Phoenix Suns for so long that when I heard they were going to wear their "Los Suns" jerseys in protest of SB1070 I thought it was just a PR gimmick since they had already planned to wear the same jerseys because of Cinco de Mayo. But after reading Dave's article A New Era: Here Come The Suns, I gained much more respect for the whole organization, from management to the players.

"I think the law is very misguided. I think it is unfortunately to the detriment to our society and our civil liberties and I think it is very important for us to stand up for things we believe in. I think the law obviously can target opportunities for racial profiling. Things we don't want to see and don't need to see in 2010." - Los Suns' Steve Nash

In his follow-up article Los Suns Also Rise, Dave explains the significance of Phoenix's win over San Antonio and the larger meaning it had for the sports world. Now as a Laker fan, I compare Nash's quote above to what Phil had to say on the racist bill...

"If I heard it right the American people are really for stronger immigration laws.... I don't think teams should get involved in the political stuff." - Laker Coach Phil Jackson

The Lakers are still my team, but that doesn't mean I can't criticize them. Phil's conservative statements on SB1070 was the deal breaker for me. I'm not turning my back on my team forever, but in support of Phoenix's actions and in disappointment for Phil's blatant criticism of that action, for the 2010 Western Conference Finals only, I will be rooting for Los Sun!

John Wall & Derrick Rose Beasting in High School

Since Kentucky got bounced I've had to get my John Wall fix through these High School highlight tapes. It's reasons like this that I LOVE youtube!



Derrick Rose in High School ain't too bad either...

Daisuke!

Congrats to Daisuke Takahashi AKA Japanese Prince for coming back from surgery to win the bronze medal becoming to the first Japanese dude to win an Olympic medal in men's figure skating.

Mamba!

Just in case you missed it yesterday...


This wasn't as exciting as the one against Miami, or the Kings, or in Milwaukee but it felt the best because it was against the Celtics in Boston!

Bigger, Stronger, Faster*

Yesterday Mark McGwire finally admitted that he was on that juice when he broke the home run record. The actual interview of McGwire with Bob Costas is kinda entertaining but everytime I hear the word "steroids", sound bites and scenes from Bigger, Stronger, Faster* flash in my head.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster* really changed the way I see the whole steroid debate. Things like comparing the small number of steroid deaths versus the ginormous number of alcohol deaths and then highlighting the fact that while watching any sports event you will be bombarded with beer advertisements or sit in a stadium owned by a beer company. The film also brings up questions like "what is considered a performance enhancement drug", if a musician takes a beta blocker before a performance, if a CEO of a company takes anti-depressants, aren't these all performance enhancing? Watch the film if you're a sports fan, if you don't trust the US government, or if you want to see the biggest fuckin biceps in the world.

Here's the trailer:

Is a $2 Mili Laker Parade Worth It?

as happy as i am that the lakers have once again reclaimed the nba title, i can't say that this nba season (as great as it was) has gotten my mind of our plummeting economy and cali's ridiculous $24 BILLION state deficit.

i agree that LA desperately needs something that we can collectively celebrate and the lakers championship couldn't come at a better time. but $2 million for a 3 hour parade? i still don't know how i feel about this since our tax money is supposively only paying for half of the $1 million that the city is responsible for (2 hecka rich white men are paying for the other half). read more about the issue here and here.

sportswriter dave zirin gives us another reason why we should celebrate the lakers victory as he exposes the crookedness of the magic's owner and billionaire richard devos.

-tadillac