State of Shock.

It's been 2 days now since Michael Jackson passed away. I can't shake the funk I've been in since then. I've watched the marathons of his videos last night and today. Not too mention, playing his music on my computer and on my iPod in my car. I went to the mall today. The record store at the mall was playing Michael Jackson music today. "I Want You Back" started playing...I just couldn't take it and I walked out of the store. I guess I never knew how I would react to something like this. He wasn't the same person that he was to me 25 years ago, but I guess that doesn't really matter. Part of me would love to just go find a club that was playing his music right and dance the night away. I went to the beach tonight. It was too crowded for my tastes tonight. I would have really liked to spend some time there alone. Tonight wasn't the night for it. There has been a bright spot in the past 24 hours for me, so I have been thankful for that. More on that later.

Gone Too Soon.

Like a comet blazing 'cross the evening sky...gone too soon...Those were the opening words of the Michael Jackson song "Gone Too Soon" from his 1991 album "Dangerous". I am at a loss right now. Not sure what I am feeling right now. In early 1983, I remember listening to AM 800 CKLW which was out of Windsor/Detroit. I was almost always assured of hearing either "Beat It" or "Billie Jean" being played. At this time, a transistor radio was all I really had to listen to music. Although I may have inherited an old record player/stereo from my sister who was in college at the time. I eventually asked for a walkman cassette player. My Mom bought me one and the first cassette tape I asked for was Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album. I remember sitting at our kitchen table doing my homework and listening to the album on my walkman. It was always a little spooky for me hearing "Thriller" in my ears with my headphones. I then saw Michael perform on the tv special "Motown 25". He performed with his re-united brothers and then did a solo performance of "Billie Jean". It was a lip-synched performance, but it was his dancing that got everyone's attention. Michael unveiled his "Moonwalk" that night. It was that night that set his career on fire. Well, his adulthood career. People could not get enough of him. My best friend and I were 2 of those people. We would play the "Thriller" album at his house, either in his bedroom or his basement. We would play the entire album and either make up dance routines for each of the songs or attempt to mimic the dance routines from Michael's videos. We had both gotten very good at doing that, although no one ever knew that. At least, not until a short time later.
Fast forward to the Spring of 1984. My Mom and sister were invited to go to the local dance bar, "The Brewery" on a Friday night. Those of you familiar with Adrian, MI. now know it as the "L.A. Cafe". My Mom was allowed to bring me along with them, providing that I left the bar at 9:00 because it was 21 and over after 9:00. I had never been to a bar, which is no shock, since I was only 14 at the time. That night, I had dinner at The Brewery with my Mom and sister and some of their co-workers. At 6:30 or so, the DJ started playing music. My sister and her friends went out to the dance floor, while I sat there watching from our floor-side table. My sister then said, "You can come dance with us if you want to." I proceeded to dance with my sister and her friends. The first song I remember dancing to was "Let's Hear It For The Boy". When the song finished, the DJ said "Let's hear it for THAT boy!" and he pointed to me. Everybody went crazy. I was a little surprised. The next song he played was Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." I started dancing, doing all my best Michael Jackson moves that I had been secretly doing at my friend's house. My sister was shocked. That night was the beginning of my 15 minutes of fame, which lasted for about one year. After sweet-talking the owner of "The Brewery" during one of my nights there, I was allowed to stay at the bar past 9:00. I was always with my family when I went. I spent much of that year going to The Brewery on Friday and Saturday nights. I was known as the little kid who could dance like Michael Jackson. I would walk in the bar and people would say "There's that kid that dances like Michael Jackson." I know this sounds hard to believe, but it's true.
Billie Jean was always my favorite Michael Jackson song to dance to. I had 2 Michael Jackson posters on my bedroom wall. One of them from the "Billie Jean" video. Kinda like the one Theo Huxtable had on his bedroom wall. In August of 1984, I went to my first concert. It was the Jackson's "Victory Tour" at the Pontiac Silverdome. That was the one and only time I ever saw Michael Jackson in concert. It was cool to be a Michael Jackson fan back then. I know that his popularity faded over the last 25 years. Scandals and money problems plagued him. But, the music he made will live on. It's kinda hard to believe that he is gone at the age of 50. But, in a way, I sometimes found it hard to imagine seeing him as an older man. I just hope that everyone will put all the negative behind and remember the greatness he blessed tht world with for much of his life. R.I.P. Michael.

The End of the Innocence.

I went to a "Let's Celebrate Life..." party for a cousin of mine this past weekend. My cousin has been battling ovarian cancer for awhile now. The party was in part to celebrate her life as well as a belated birthday party for her. Cancer is so very difficult to understand , unless you are very close to someone who has battled it, or unless you've battled it yourself. What I mean, is when you are distanced from it, you don't realize what people go through when fighting cancer. My cousin has had 4 rounds of chemo and none have had any effect on her cancer. She has recently started a new drug. Right now, she is hoping for a miracle. She said she has good weeks and bad weeks....good days and bad days...good 1/2 days and bad 1/2 days. She just turned 54 earlier this month. It's a really sobering thought when you realize that someone you know is fighting the battle of their life. I made it through Father's Day, although I must say that I am glad that it is over. I did visit the cemetary where my Dad is buried on Saturday. I didn't want to do anything for Father's Day, but I went to my sister's house for a cookout. I guess I'm just glad I didn't go to any public restaurants yesterday. I also learned yesterday that the Mother of a friend of mine from high school died from cancer. I was very sorry to hear that. Well, that's all for now.

Good Stuff!

Be A Good A Sport!

There was much made of LeBron James recent show of unsportsmanlike conduct. If you were living in cave recently, LeBron's team lost to Orlando on Saturday night and they were knocked out of the playoffs. LeBron made a quick exit off the court after the game. Leaving without congratulating the Magic on their series victory. LeBron also left the Cleveland lockerroom and boarded the team bus without speaking to any reporters. This left his team to answer all the questions for him. A day or so later, LeBron explained his actions. He said that he was "a winner". He wasn't about to congratulate a team that just beat him. Whaaaaa????? There are a few memorable images/moments that I will always remember from the conclusions of some playoff series in the past. In 1988, the Detroit Pistons finally defeated the Boston Celtics in a hard fought 6 game series to advance to the NBA Finals. At the series end, Kevin McHale of the Celtics met Isiah Thomas at mid-court and shook hands with him. He encouraged Isiah to "take care of business" against the Lakers. For as much as the Celtics and Pistons didn't like each other, it was a classy move by McHale. In 1991, the Chicago Bulls swept the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. The Pistons did not handle the defeat well. Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer led several Pistons in walking off the court without shaking the hands of the Chicago Bulls. But, Joe Dumars of the Pistons stayed behind to shake hands with Michael Jordan and the other Bulls. As he put it, "Jordan had shook hands with him 3 years in a row and there was no way he was gonna leave without shaking Jordan's hand." People are comparing LeBron's actions to those of the Pistons. When I was in high school, I played a set of tennis against a friend of mine during tennis practice. My friend was a very competitive person. I won the set 6-4 and at the end of the match my friend simply walked away without shaking my hand. Not very sportsmanlike, but I knew how my friend was. We had a 5 minute team meeting with our coach after the set we played. After the meeting, my friend said to me, "Nice match." I said, "Thanks." Nothing more was said. My friend just needed some time to calm down after our set. I realized that. We moved on. But, as a professional athelete, LeBron needs to realize that there are many people (kids especially) who watch everything he does. A few minutes of congratulating the Magic and answering reporters questions would have said volumes about his character.

For The Sake Of Arguments.

I've been taking a break from politics. Eventhough there has been big news lately. The California Supreme Court upholding the ban on gay marriage....Obama nominating a latin female to the Supreme Court and even here in Michigan with the state house passing a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, but not Indian-run casinos. The state Republicans support a complete ban, but the Democrats want to still allow smoking in these casinos. The news story on this in the Detroit Free Press has elicited many comments. Some political issues can touch off firestorms on both sides of the issues. Sports is much the same these days. I saw Jiri Hudler of the Wings get laid out by a hit a few weeks ago. Anahiem players and coaches simply said, "Hudler was admiring his pass." That's why Hudler got drilled by a nasty open ice hit. It was a clean hit. The ensuing penalty that the Ducks player received was excessive and not warranted. Against Chicago, Niklas Kronwall of Detroit knocked out Martin Havlat of the Blackhawks. He was kicked out of the game, just as the Anaheim player was when Hudler was clobbered. Chicago fans screamed bllod murder and they wanted Kronwall suspended. As did many other hockey fans who hate the Red Wings. If you wanna look at things in a common sense manner, there are many times in hockey when one player hits another and that player gets hurt. Nobody ever says, "You know that guy could have decided not to hit that player and just skated by him." Chicago's coach went nuts after he found out that a player on his team had been called for a 2 minute minor penalty after the 1st period in game 4. He said, "I think we just witnessed the worst call in the history of sports!" REALLY? I'm sure Joe went to all the major sports cities in America and asked dieshard sports fans what the worst call in the history of sports was, that minor penalty wouldn't even make the top 500,000.

You Make Me Want To...

Tonight, I went to see Luke Bryan in concert at a bar in Grand Rapids. Luke had two opening acts. "Small Town Sons" and "Dew South". Both bands had rocking shows. "STS" mixed some country music and rock music together during their 45 minute set. Including covers of "Folsum Prison Blues" , "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Old Time Rock 'N' Roll". Dew South played a similar style set. Playing covers such as "Bitch", "Long Train Running" and "All Summer Long". Both opening bands kept the music umtempo and rocking. The crowd was pretty wild tonight. Ready to party. Luke Bryan played some of his hits including "Country Man", "Baby's On The Way", "Good Directions", "We Rode In Trucks" "You Make Me Want To" and "Do I". He threw in some country classics including "Mountain Music" and other country favorites. He closed the show with his hit song "All My Friends Say". The crowd screamed for more and he and his band came out for a 2 song encore. They began the encore with the Brooks & Dunn smash "Play Something Country" and they closed the night with Luke's party song "Take My Drunk Ass Home". It was a fun concert!