With or Without You

Sports, Youth

After school programs across the country provide a safe environment for kids to hang out, do their homework, and participate in stimulating cultural and athletic activities. Ever wonder what it would be like without them? Well with the recession, many of these programs are suffering and on the verge of having to close their doors. My boys up in Y-Town Northern Westchester, who I work with once a week, made a comedic video (above) to explore what life would be like without their beloved after school program. Hahaha!!! And below is a behind the scenes “day in the life” style look at one of their crazy kickball games…

Isn’t kickball the best? Support your local after school programs…

Montauk Wiffleball

Sports

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I was going to add this picture on to the post below, but it really deserves its own spotlight. Taken at my cousin CI’s bachelor party in Montauk last weekend by one of his boys. You should’ve seen our night game set-up in the basement of the house. It was insane…

WESTCHEDDAR SPORTS

Beisbol Fever

My Dudes, Sports

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NO MAS HAS BEISBOL FEVER!!!!!! Check the promotion, courtesy of my cuz CI…click the logos below to buy the shirts online, or click here to get to the entire store…

“I’m Calling It Shea”, our response to the corporate naming disaster at the new stadium in Flushing has been a huge hit. Made in collaboration with Uni Watch and the Reverend Vince Anderson, it’s been featured in the New York Times and New York magazine and become our fastest selling shirt ever. 10% of sales continue go to New York City food banks, and we want thank everyone who has supported this project.

The new stadium at 161st and River still has the old one’s name so we have other options for those who worship in the Bronx: a sweat tribute to Cosell and the summer of ’77, a tee celebrating the best candy bar of all time, and No Mas’s first baseball hat–in navy and white of course. Also check out our short on Yankee superfan Freddy Sez.

Beantown, your baseball squad is a sore subject around here, but we gave you some parquet love to ease your playoff pain: a sweat commemorating the greatest championship streak and a tee celebrating Boston’s most famous deadhead.

FOR 10% OFF ALL PURCHASE USE DISCOUNT CODE: “FREDDYSEZ”

NOMAS NYC ON TWITTER

Pot Head

My Dudes, Sports

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My cousin Chris Isenberg over at No Mas NYC just put me on to his new documentary style video of the legendary Yankee fan Freddie Sez. Here’s his description from the No Mas website:

As a tribute to the old Yankee Stadium (or the newer incarnation of the old Yankee Stadium) we made a short documentary last year about Fred Schuman aka Freddie Sez. On the way from his Upper West Side apartment to the Bronx for the Stadium’s last opening day, the eighty-three year old tells tells the story of his transformation into the Yankees’ pan-and-spoon-carrying unofficial mascot. We’ve saved it for this moment, and we hope you enjoy.

Check the video below, and hopefully we’ll see Freddie at the new ballpark…

If you missed my post on Yankee Stadium closing from last October, CLICK HERE

The Finisher

My Dudes, Sports

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My cousin CI has some great new products available from his NO MAS NYC brand. Known mostly for his clever, sports related t-shirt line, he’s now expanded into BAGS. The Finisher Bag, if you take a closer look at the pics above, is made of a vintage Starter jacket!!!! Bananas. Perfect for the gym, a weekend getaway with wifey, or really anything that needs to get bagged.

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NO MAS NYC also has a bunch of new t-shirts and sweatshirts available for sale straight from their website. My favorite is the Crenshaw crewneck above. I’ll let my cuzzie describe it:

In the late 70s and early 80s, Crenshaw high school was a baseball powerhouse of epic proportions. The ’79 edition of the team featured future major leaguers Darryl Strawberry and Chris Brown, and is considered the greatest team never to have won an LA high school championship. Their season and loss in the finals to John Elway and the Valley Boys from Granada Hills is well chronicled in Michael Sokolove’s The Ticket Out. See also Crenshaw native Nipsey Hussle wearing our crewneck in his debut video.

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That dude Nipsey Hussle is pretty nice with it. Kinda reminds me of Snoop Dogg. Check this video of him spitting on Crack Distributors Radio during a recent trip to NYC, he goes in…

Now you go in…to the NO MAS NYC online store…now!!!! Cop something fresh for spring training….

NO MAS NYC WEBSITE AND STORE

Game On!

Sports, The Good Old Days, Youth

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Remember this game above? That’s right, NHL ’93 for Sega Genesis. Man, I used to play this all the time. Of course, video games have come along way since this 16-bit classic. But if you’re interested in playing these old games once in a while and you’re not a game nerd that has the old systems lying around, there’s a couple great websites where you can play any Sega Genesis game you want right on your computer! Seriously, it’s sick. Nintendo too. Last night, I was surfing around looking for some cool games that my young kids at work could play during our holiday break, and I stumbled upon a GOLDMINE. I tried a couple out, and they play pretty well too, you just have to adjust to using the keyboard, but it looks and plays exactly like you remember. I played a couple of my old favorites, and it was a blast I can’t front I felt like a pimply little pimp again. NHL ’93, NBA JAM (He’s on firrrreeeeeee!!!!), NBA Live ’96, Madden ’93, Sonic. The Nintendo games are even crazy too. Tennis?!?!?!? Excitebike. Baseball. Tecmo Bowl. Super Mario Bros pt. 2?!?!?! I’m telling you, these sites have EVERY GAME. And it’s all free. Check these links, then thank me later.

PLAY NINTENDO FREE ONLINE

PLAY SEGA GENESIS FREE ONLINE

Now I know you can get lots of old games on Nintendo Wii, and of course the new video games blow these away. I mean, Guitar Hero is crazy. Have you seen NBA 2K9 for PS3? It’s unbelievable. But for the pure nostalgia and accessability of it all, these internet sites are great. And the games are so fun to play. Trust me, I see the games these little kids like to play in my lab up here at the BGC, and they’re not that rad. Some are cool, on sites like miniclip.com and gamegecko.com, but I think once I put them on to these old Sega Genesis and Nintendo games they’re gonna be hooked. By the way, what’s your top 5 favorite video games of all time? Let me know in the comments section if you dare…

I got next!

Jam Session

Sports, Youth

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Our boy Nate Robinson from the Knicks, who runs a summer camp for the kids up at the BGC in Mount Kisco every summer, took home the 2009 Slam Dunk Contest first place trophy this past weekend. He definitely had a couple sick dunks, including the last one where he jumped over Dwight Howard for the win. Check the video below for the recap…

Watching this made me think back to the good old battles between Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins. The video below offers a nice summary of the rivalry…classic.

And yo, you have to watch this Top 10 Michael Jordan Dunks countdown. HE STRAIGHT YAMS IT ON CATS!!!! Unreal!!!!

I wonder who the next great dunker is going to be? I’m sure there’s a bunch of young ballers out there practicing. In fact, take a look at some of my young boys, the same kids who attend Nate Robinson’s summer camp up in Mount Kisco where I work, practicing their dunks. Two of them boof it over a couple 2nd graders (with the help of a tramp!), still it’s pretty nice…

Ballin!!!!!!!!!!!

Big Ballin’

My Dudes, Sports

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I used to bust John Halas up in one on one back in the day on Ogden Avenue. Sure, I was five years older than him (and 10 inches taller), but still, we would play all the time growing up. Our houses shared a driveway that had a hoop in the back over his garage, and we would battle after dinner or on weekend mornings all the time. And I would always win. He’d drive to the hoop and I’d swat his shit into the nearest shrub. That is, until the day I came home from college and he was suddenly just as tall as me. I couldn’t believe it. Little Johnny Halas is 6′ 3”?!?!?!

I never really gave him a chance to beat me at one on one. It was enough that he was on his way to play college ball at Trinity and raining half court shots at our local Highlands courts like they were layups. The kid was nice. I figured I’d just stick to rapping and let him carry the b-ball torch for our block. And that’s what he did. Now, he plays professionally in the Premier Basketball League for the Rochester Razorsharks.

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But what exactly is the life of a PBL player like? It’s not the NBA, but from what I’ve heard, the Razorsharks get treated like celebs up in Rochester. And hey, he gets paid to play basketball, which is pretty sweet. Recently, John Halas, who we from Ogden Avenue call YNOHJ (pronounced EEEEE-NODGE, his name spelled backwards…stupid but fun), started blogging for the league, giving us a courtside view of his life as a Razorshark…

Inside Scoop with John Halas

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Oh, and doesn’t John have a striking resemblance to the Jason Street character on Friday Night Lights? Ha!

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Friday Night Lights is a great show. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. Seriously, it might be the best TV drama out there right now…Stay tuned for more updates from John Halas…hollerrrr…

Roundball Classic

Events, My Dudes, Sports

Next Saturday December 20th is the 10th Annual Roundball Classic, a holiday basketball tournament at St. Bernard’s Church made up of local guys from White Plains. Ten years ago, when the tournament first began after a night of friendly shit talking at the local bars between rival crews, we were all young college guys. Now, a decade later, we are made up of teachers, firemen, young professionals, husbands, fathers, etc., and we’re all about 20-30 pounds heavier in weight. The actual basketball games are painful to watch, though it does get exciting at points and some dudes manage to pull off some nice plays. It gets competitive, as each team battles for the 1st place trophy and bragging rights for the year (that’s my team above, PU CLICK, from last year celebrating our first ever win). And the after party is a guaranteed good time, and full on WP reunion, where the winning squad takes turns drinking out of the trophy. Check out the promo video for this year’s tournament, “Roundball Moments with Matty B”, where he reflects on past RBC’s and looks ahead to the upcoming game…featuring a special appearance from his personal dietician and a little acoustic guitar from the man himself…

and check these other two, “Roundball Moments with Tic” and “Roundball Moments with B Duigs”…hilarious…

See you at the game!!!

What’s up Doc?

Events, My Dudes, Sports

My cousin Chris Isenberg of No Mas NYC interviewed Dwight “Dr. K” Gooden this week at a special Nike Sportswear Hall of Fame event celebrating New York City legends. Gooden was the man when we were kids, though he got himself in a bit of trouble with the law on more than one occasion. Still, winning the World Series with both the Mets and the Yankees (he pitched a no hitter for the Yanks in May ’96), a Rookie of the Year award, and the Cy Young Award, definitely earns him NYC legend status. Check some guerilla footage from the interview shot by an attendee…