Jul 31, 2009

BRETT FAVRE: HOW TO SPEND RETIREMENT

This past Tuesday it was reported by several respectable sports news outlets that Brett Favre decided to stay retired instead of join the Minnesota Vikings for a 19th NFL season. While the news came as a shock to said sports news outlets, LEEInks would like to congratulate Favre on making a decision and suggest some ways to fill his newly acquired free time.

Since Favre will be spending more time at the Hattiesburg compound, he can work on maintaining his lawn. His various Snapper mowers probably haven’t gotten much use in the past 18 years during training camp time in August. According to the Snapper lawn mower website, Favre enjoys cutting his own lawn, and if his commercials are any indication it’s one of the few times can talk football and not be harassed. But, if the lawn is not enough, LEEInks has some other suggestions.

It’s obvious that Favre just likes to hang out. The beauty of retirement is he now has all the time he wants to do just that without the stress of having to dodge linebackers. His days will be just like his Prilosec OTC commercial … except without the heartburn and it’ll last longer than nine days.

It was reported on Wednesday that Favre is still throwing the football and even though he is retired. This works well with the retirement plan because it will give him more time to chill with the guys while tossing the pigskin. LEEInks wants to know if it gets any better than a game of touch with the fellas in a pair of comfortable jeans. Clearly it does not.

Or, if the heartburn kicks in and Favre wants to get away and contemplate nature, he can wonder the Hattiesburg wilderness with his dog, otherwise known as Remington Country.

Were that not enough to do during retirement Favre could resurrect his acting career. Everyone saw There’s Something about Mary , he was phenomenal. LEEInks sees a bright future for Favre in the comedy genre. The next movie involving Favre, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen is guaranteed to be box office gold.

At 39 years of age, Favre is still a young guy. He has plenty of time to decide how he wants to spend his retirement. LEEInks would again like to congratulate Favre, it takes skill to tick off all of sports media, and leave a bunch of reporters with egg on their face.

Jul 13, 2009

Game Point

I’m interning at a radio station this summer. TOUCH 106.1 FM is a local, black-owned and operated, low-power station based in Grove Hall. It’s been fun because I get to do sports updates and recently have been live on the air on Mondays during the morning show. My internship is wide open in terms of what I’m allowed to do. To that end, I’ve been working with two other DJs to produce a sports radio show similar to Pardon the Interruption. We’ve been working on getting the segments to be played on the air but as of yet we’ve not had any luck. But you can check them out here on my blog. Let me know what you think.


Game Point - 6.12.09.mp3 -

Bay State Banner Suspends Publication

With the Bay State Banner suspending publication I find myself in an interesting position. Since last year I’ve held at least three jobs at once, sometimes up to five. I’ve always been aware of the difficult economic times, but it wasn’t until the Banner suspended publications that the crunch of lost jobs hit home.

As a student/freelance reporter the closing of one writing avenue shouldn’t really slow me down as I am able to write for anyone. Newspapers are always looking for good writers that they can pay freelance rates. The irony is that it never crossed my mind that the Banner would shut down.

Helping edit the Banner every Tuesday allows me to see and read the paper before it comes out and see the length of the paper as well. It might not have been prevalent in my mind, but when the newspaper shrinks from 36 – 40 pages to 20 – 25 pages in a year there are problems.

Owner and publisher, Melvin B. Miller has stated that the suspension is due to financial issues coming from the fact that the paper has sold a diminishing number of ads. Honestly, it’s all above my pay grade.
I do hope the Banner will continue to publish. It’s a staple of the black community, the spiritual successor to the Guardian and one of the few newspapers that covered issues of importance to the black community and still maintained a global perspective.

Plus, I have several stories that I’m still working on and I’d like to get them published in the Banner!

BANNER STORIES AND OTHER STUFF
I know I’m behind in my updates. Some new developments with me have kept me from writing with regularity, but I’ll catch up with my updates and probably talk about the other stuff that going on with me. I appreciate your patience.