THE URBAN I-TIE

Well, almost.  The opening ceremonies take place this evening (6pm Vancouver time; 9pm Eastern time) but there has already been some unfortunate news.  Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, was killed during his luge practice run this morning.  Reporters are saying that he he hit the wall coming around the final bend on the track, which has been deemed the world’s hardest and dangerous.  So, so tragic.  My condolences to his family, friends and fellow Olympians.  Let’s hope the Olympics will bring everyone together during such a sad, sad situation.

Despite everything, I’m looking forward to see what the VANOC people have put together for the opening ceremony, after yearsss of planning.  I have a feeling it’s gonna be kickass.  Wish I could be there as who knows when will be the next time we host an Olympic games…but either way, I’m still cheering, GO CANADA GO!!!

Keep track of the games here:  www.vancouver2010.com

Boooohoooo.  I really am shedding a tear that Kobe Bryant won’t be participating in NBA All-Star Weekend (begins this weekend).  Yet again, the guy got millions of votes beating everyone in the league, but he’s sitting this one out due to injury.  Womp womp.
The randomness with this situation – his substitute is Jason Kidd.  Confused?  Me too.

For those Iverson fans, he won’t be there either since his daughter is sick.  Too bad because he managed to score a spot on the team after all of the hits and misses were happening with AI over the past year.

I’m still looking forward to the dunk contest.  DeRozan better show ‘em all up and take home the trophy.  I’ve heard that he may be recreating Vince Carter’s famous dunk from when he won the slam dunk competition from back in the day.  Regardless, I can’t wait to see what he’s got.

Ohhhh my goodness!!!!  It’s almost time.  Can’t wait!!!   We best be getting the first gold medal of the games in addition to a helluva lot more.

With glowing hearts!!!  GO CANADA GO!!!!!!!!

9 days until the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Go Canada GO!!!

Not sure what’s up with this mini interview, but Manny Pacquiao seems to mess up his words towards the end of chat.  I still would have wanted to see him kick Mayweather’s ass.

One of the best and funniest opinions/perspectives on the whole Tiger Woods drama…so much truth to it as well.  Love it!!!

Hockey – out of all things that Canada usually beats the US at, well tonight, we were unsuccessful – on HOME ICE!

The Junior team lost in overtime tonight to Team USA, 6-5.  Where did our defence go in the third period??  The winning goal for the US — wtf, 3 on 1??  I’m sure the guys are tired, yada yada, we could have and should have won. 

I know, coulda woulda shoulda.

At least there’s still the Olympics….let’s hope we kick some ass there.

◙   Now, I don’t know about you but if I got a Rolls Royce Phantom as a birthday present, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.  But when you’re Lebron James, and Shaq is your friend/teammate, it’s chump-change.  I’m sure Lebron was loving life for a few minutes but I doubt luxuries like that phase him anymore.

◙   Jay-Z and his illuminati-ness continues.  Check out his video for “On To The Next One”… Hot.

Man, where to begin.  2009 has definitely been an eventful, tragic, random and strange year, to say the least.  I know there are dozens and dozens of ‘top 10′ this and ‘top 10′ that, but this is my retrospective on 2009.

◙   The tragic and sudden death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.  This most certainly tops my list for what has happened in 2009, and I don’t care what anyone says.  People are still talking about it and he passed away on June 25.  Even though the rest of the family (ie. his brothers and Latoya) have tried to monopolize on their brother’s death, is tacky and distasteful, it still doesn’t downplay the fact that he’s gone. 

◙   The continuation of the stupid recession aka economic downturn aka tough economic times.  Glad that we don’t hear those statements every two seconds in the media, but it still negatively effected all of us, especially those who lost their jobs and are still struggling to make ends meet.  I empathize with you completely and I hope 2010 treats you much better.

◙   What goes hand-in-hand with tough economic times?  Douchebag fraudsters who deserve all the pain and suffering = Bernie Madoff, for example, or even Earl Jones, who was dubbed the ‘Canadian Madoff’ – he wasn’t as successful in milking billions like Madoff was.  Succkkeerrss…

◙   Whitney Houston’s comeback post-crack-chronic-Bobby Brown. 

◙   The fast-unravelling of Tiger Woods’ life and bag of dirty secrets: the pathetic ‘accident’ he had in front of his house; the few dozen women who’ve come out admitting to their affairs with him, the loss of his big endorsements and his indefinite leave from pro golf.  Hahahahaha another sucker!!  Elin, take him to the cleaners, girl!!!

◙   The neverending steroid saga in baseball….shouldn’t have been a surprise that the Yankees won the World Series this past year.  A-Rod loves steroids and I’m sure the rest of the team relishes in them too.  Woopdeedoooo!

◙   Who could forget (I almost did) the passing of the best ad-man of all time — Billy Mays.  Oxyclean will never be the same without him; frankly no cheesy infomercial is the same without “Billy Mays here!!”.

◙   The volatile and wonky stock market – from hitting record lows to silly highs (can we say Apple or Google stocks??).  If you were brave enough (or had some really good insider tips) and managed to keep your investments in the market throughout the rollercoaster, you probably made some good $$$$. 

◙   From Lady Gaga, Drake, Adam Lambert’s steamy AMA performance, to hearing more crappy Miley Cyrus songs on the radio, and who can forget Kanye’s “Imma let you finish” moment….the music world has seen some definite action this year.  Drake, hurry up and release your album already – we’re all patiently waiting, friend; the mixtapes aren’t cutting it anymore.

◙   Oh, as much as I want to forget this – the ‘big 3′ automakers asking for their ridonculous and uncalled-for bailouts.  We taxpayers will be paying for that crap for the next 20 years…..bureaucracy democracy!!!

◙   Susan Boyle made waves with millions and millions of hits on youtube and setting records for album sales in the UK and the US.  Another lesson to Simon Cowell and the rest of the world – don’t judge a book by its cover.

◙   The television world had some new life breathed into it with ‘Glee’ being brought to the airways.  Alongside the last episode/series finale of The Sopranos, and ‘Glee’, they both contributed to “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, becoming the most downloaded song in iTunes history.  Personally, I think The Sopranos had more to do with it…..

◙   Ellen DeGeneres finally joined Miss Oprah Winfrey on the cover of ‘O Magazine’, being only the second person to join Oprah on the cover (after First Lady Michelle Obama, of course).  Congrats again, Ellen!!

***Dang, how could I forget – honourable mentions, so to speak:
- Balloon Boy:  it’ll never be referred as the Seinfeld character anymore…
- Chris Brown & Riiiihanna draaaaama : hit her again, and slap some steak on it!  or did she hit him too?  Draaama.
- The passing of numerous stars: Charlie’s best and original angel, Farrah Fawcett, and one of the coolest US politicians ever, Edward “Ted” Kennedy…In addition to Patrick Swayze (I’ll heart Dirty Dancing forever!) and Natasha Richardson, most famous for her role as Lindsay Lohan’s mother in The Parent Trap.
- President Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize??  Still scratching my head on that one…

NBA player Gilbert Arenas (Washington Wizards) is under investigation for bringing an unloaded gun & storing it in his locker at one of his games.  Wtf???  Maybe he was going to sell that off to someone or he bought it just before going to work.  Either way, it’s completely wack on his part.  I’m sure he’s not the first one to do it but still, just foolishness.  Check out the vid below for more. 

◙   Ahhh, the ‘Balloon Boy’ saga continues.  Richard Heene will be spending 90 days in jail and Mayumi Heene will be serving 20 days of community service.  Womp, womp.  I’m sure they thought they would be getting away with it – NOT! hahaha

◙   How did Time magazine come up with the idea to name Ben Bernanke the ‘Person of the Year’?  He didn’t save the economy; such a sham!  He’s the head of  the Federal Reserve, which in case you didn’t know by now, is a private company (not the government), run by a few really rich men, who decide the fate of the US.  He shouldn’t be praised for nothing.

◙   Dave Matthews Band is the Number One most grossing concert tour of the decade.  Hellllll yaaaa!  For all those DMB haters, you have no idea what you’re missing out on, until you see Dave and the boys live.  It’s no wonder they are ranked number one because they have such a huge following..and their music is amazing.

◙   Serena Williams has been named Female Athlete of the Year by The Associated Press.  Meh…

◙    Ohhh, the joys of having a Blackberry.  The uber popular smartphone experienced it’s second server outage in less than a week.  Either upgrade your systems RIM or get your crap together.  People pay really good coin to have and utilize a bb; I don’t blame people for questioning RIM’s reliability and credibility. 

◙   Susan Sarandon and her long-time partner Tim Robbins are splitsville.  Too bad, because they were together for something like 20+ years.  I guess if they’re not happy it was the best thing. 

◙   Another rockstar/celeb who’s gone in and out of rehab.  Steven Tyler has entered rehab again, this time for a pain killer addiction.  Yikes.

◙   I really didn’t think ICQ was even in demand anymore, or for that matter, still in use.  I remember the good old days of repeated “uh oh’s”; ICQ was crazy popular back in the day, wayyy before MSN was even a thought.  Looks like AOL may be selling the service to a Russia-based company for around $300 million.  Wowwowweeewow. 

◙   Oh ya, in case you didn’t hear, Tiger Woods is leaving the world of golf indefinitely.  Only he knows if he’ll ever return.  Also, he lost endorsements with Gillette, Gatorade and Accenture.  Boooo freakin hoooo.  His lame statement he posted on his website bothers me – why should we feel one ounce of empathy or compassion for him?  Paaa-leez.  His family are the ones who deserve it, not him.  On the bright side of things, he can feel proud about being named Athlete of the Decade by the Associated Press.  Which lady friend will he call to celebrate??

◙   Starbucks may be offering free Wi-Fi in their stores to compete with McDonald’s, since they’ll be offering it for free; while McDonald’s is trying to compete with Sbux to become a cool, hang-out spot. 

◙   Christmas is 9 days away!!!!!!!!

◙   Roy Disney, the nephew of the late Walt Disney (the founder of Disney) has died at the age of 79.

◙   Roy Halladay, is officially leaving the Toronto Blue Jays to head to the Phillies.  Too bad that he never won a championship with the Jays – but I guess they never worked around his amazing talent after all these years.  Good luck Doc!!

For all the wrestling fans out there, the Samoan was very well-known.  Fatu passed away on December 4, from a massive heart attack at just 36 years old.  Too young to go that’s for sure; very sad story.  Rest in peace.