NBA and HipHop

I read an article this morning in Her newspaper talking about the NBA and HipHop culture. In case you're uncertain, I don't fit well with HipHop culture. In fact, I'll probably unwittingly demonstrate that in this post. Polar bears don't tattoo well for one thing. For another, our fur doesn't lend itself to cornrows. Or might it? Well, I don't *think* it lends itself well to cornrows, but I guess I don't really *know* if it does or not. Baggy shorts? Yeah, I'm down with that. Rap music? Can't say I can dig it. She says she can't either, but she'll make an exception for Jazzy Jeff and "Parents Just Don't Understand" from the mid-to-late eighties. It's the only rap/house song She's ever heard and liked.

I am interested to note JayZ is a potential buyer of an NBA team. I do wonder if these guys (and not just NBA guys) are going to be as fond of their tattoos in, say, 35-40 years as they are now. Body art is a pretty permanent statement. From my observations, statements humans make in their twenties tend to change by the time they're in their thirties and forties. But, it's a cultural thing, and culture does change. Is rap emerging from its early days of thuggery and becoming respectable? It appears so. Is this a good thing? On the business side of things, most likely yes. For what it says about our culture? I don't think so. But people said that about Rock and Roll. They probably said it about Mozart, so I'll concede it's likely to be more a generational thing than not.

The Got Milk? Rookie Challenge was an exciting, offensive free-for-all on Friday night. I've never watched an All-Star game before, so I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out tonight.