Category: Blog

Following the surprising news of Prince’s death two days ago, I’d like to pay homage to the man for his amazing artistic contributions to music.

Prince’s music had a profound effect on my mine and undoubtedly millions of other people’s lives. I saw him in concert almost 30 years ago at McNichols Arena in my hometown of Denver, and the years have clouded specific recollections from the show, but I’m confident it was highly entertaining. Here is my ticket stub from the performance:

Prince’s music catalog was far-reaching, from his early pop hits from the Purple Rain soundtrack to his song writing for other artists (such as Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U and Alicia Keys’ How Come You Don’t Call Me).

My list of favorite songs includes Mountains, Alphabet St., Take Me With U, 7, and U Got the Look. Of course I enjoy the many top hits like Let’s Go Crazy and 1999, but like any good song that resonates with someone, these particular works inspired me and continue to bring back memories of my life at the times they were released.

Thank you for sharing your talents with us, Prince. Rest in peace.

It’s time to talk a little NBA hoops, and this morning, I’m borrowing a hackneyed football phrase and extrapolating the part about “Sunday” to “night.”

As in, on any given night, a team can hand it to another team, even if they’re 48-4 and riding an 11-game winning streak. Hey, it happened to the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (whose 33-game winning streak ended with a 16-point defeat) and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (who registered a 32-point defeat at New York during their 72-win campaign), so why couldn’t it happen to the glorious 2015-16 Golden State Warriors?

Well, it did.

? NSFW ? https://t.co/NhmrujvobU

— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 20, 2016

The Portland Trail Blazers’ dismantled the Golden State Warriors by 32 points in the Pacific Northwest last night, 137-105.

Damian Lillard of the Blazers stuck it to the defending NBA champions, dropping an NBA career-high 51 points to nearly outscore the amazing Stephen Curry (31) & Klay Thompson (23) duo all by himself.

Yes, folks, the Dubs are human. However, expect Golden State to regroup and rebound from the loss in tonight’s road game against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors haven’t lost two consecutive game since April of last year, and haven’t had a losing streak longer than two games since November 2013.

At the same time, Portland made it clear that they are a team to watch for the balance of the season. The Blazers have won four in a row, and nine of their last 10 games. At 28-27, they may have righted their ship back on course for a 50-plus win season, which would be their third in a row.

If you get a chance, take a look at the summary and highlights of Lillard’s performance last night, the man was scorching.

Back in the day – think 1990s with me – you could say a large percentage of my job revolved around Michael Jordan.

No, I didn’t rebound MJ’s practice shots as a ball boy for the Chicago Bulls.

Actually, as the creative manager of The Upper Deck Company’s NBA basketball trading card sets, I was charged with developing all kinds of cards featuring His Airness.

Upper Deck had an exclusive endorsement with Michael, so the company had an advantage over competitors Topps, Fleer, Skybox, et al. in that it could go past the limit of four trading cards per player with MJ.

Whether it was his annual “regular card” featuring traditional biographical information and stats, subsets, or specialty sets like “Rare Air” or my personal favorite, “23 Nights,” I enjoyed many instances of selecting MJ photos, researching Jordan feats and facts and composing descriptive copy that was to be featured on the backs of these trading cards.

There were literally hundreds of Michael Jordan cards that I had a hand in creating for sports collectors worldwide. It was a fantastic experience being able to pore through the archives of NBA Photos in Secaucus, New Jersey, look up fascinating records about No. 23, review the cards before printing, and finally see the final product reveal itself after opening the foil wrappers. It’s still fantastic to think back on it.

Today is Michael’s 53rd birthday, and it’s kind of fun to think about what creative card I would do today to commemorate the occasion if I was still in my old position. Perhaps something to recall a memorable 53-point game? (I’m confident he had at least one given all of his 50-plus point games). Or maybe it would be a 21st century version of his first Upper Deck rookie card (1990-91) possessing some type of digital or technological feature that would be akin to Michael lighting up an arena with a patented jam.

Reading birthday tributes to Michael on social media today brought back great memories about my days capturing his achievements on the basketball court for Upper Deck. Writing this post elicited even more remembrances. Thanks for the memories, Michael, and happy birthday!

Instead of the usual “Hello World” kickoff to my new blog, I have decided to lead things off with “Hello Seahorse!”

Last week, I stumbled upon the sound of Hello Seahorse! – an alternative rock group out of Mexico City. I heard one of their tracks on the radio and decided to ID the song using the Shazam app.

After getting the info, I queued up their music on Spotify while doing some writing on my laptop. Their sound reminded me of one of my favorite recording artists – Morcheeba. So there you go, post and music recommendation no. 1 in the books.