Blue Chip Collections Presents The Bombers VS The Birdmen

By: Jimbo Brown 

Blue Chip Collection has put a twist to one of their previous designs that was influence the motion picture Above The Rim. BCC believes that the movie shows America that the road for the minority athlete has many obstacles. The athlete has decide whether their going to take the positive or negative route on the journey to success. 

The Blue Chip Bombers & Birdmen jerseys are symbolic of those triumphs and struggles. The championship game of the Shootout Tournament summarizes the film and BCC's collection. No matter what someone says, stay true to your beliefs and it will play out in your favor. 

You can pre-order your jersey starting tomorrow 05/31 at BlueChipCollection.net and receive 20% off by using the code: NutSo. 

Believe. Love. Unite. Empower

5 Things I Learned during the 2014-15 NCAA Football Season

By: Jimbo Brown

SEC Exposed

• For the first time in 8 years the best conference in the NCAA was not represented in the inaugural college football playoff championship game. Out of the 5 power conferences the Pac-12 had the best record. The SEC was second with a record of 7-5, but this record can be deceiving. Three of the five losses were by the SEC’s top teams: Alabama, Mississippi and Mississippi State. Alabama who has won national championships throughout the decade lost in the first college playoff game against The Ohio State Buckeyes. The SEC had a losing record (2-4) against ranked teams this bowl season. In my opinion, the most talented conference didn’t get exposed this bowl season. Teams throughout the NCAA just have been getting better through recruiting. 

Urban “The Greatest Ever” Meyer

• During his 15-year Head Coaching career, Urban Meyer has an awesome record of 141-26. He followed up that great success with a 9-2 bowl record. Urban Meyer has had an winning record at every school he has coached at. When he first arrives at the school he automatically turns the football program around in the first year. For example at Bowling Green University, Urban turn a 2-9 team the year before to a 8-3 record. He finished that season off with beating conference rival the University of Toledo. I believe that Urban Meyer will retire as the greatest to ever coach college football. He has already changed the culture at 4  different program and brought national championships to 2 of the 4.

Talent will be Found

• When I was growing up all the good recruits went to the national headlining schools. They wanted to play on TV each and every Saturday so that NFL scouts will have a chance to catch their talents. The growing demand for college football cause smaller schools to gain national relevancy. This has lead to recruits deciding to play at smaller schools. With schools outside the power 5 conference being shown on the EPSN networks during the week, recruits are considering these schools more often. For example, a 4-star recruit out of Miami chose to go to FIU over local rival University of Miami. In this day and age, Talent will be found no matter what school the student-athlete decide to go to. Lynden Trail, star defensive end from Norfolk State was selected to this years Senior Bowl. He has already been labeled as a sleeper in the upcoming draft. When/if Trail is drafted he will help out Norfolk state recruiting game plan by showing recruits they can make it no matter where they play. 

University of Miami is at the point of no return 

• The University of Miami hasn’t been the same since the devastating lost to Ohio State in the 2002 National Championship game. Since 2003, The U hasn’t won 10 games. It hard to believe that this program isn’t one of the national powerhouses when their is abundance of local and in-state talent. Randy Shannon had to deal with the sanctions handed down by the NCAA. I feel he wasn’t given a fair chance due to his skin color. The hire of Al Golden may be the start of this downward spiral. Former players under the Golden era feel cheated and misused during their career at UM. If you wasn’t recruited by Golden, you usually got put on the back burner for a freshman. This disgruntled the players because the more talented and experienced players wasn’t on the field. To me, the nail in the coffin was when UM signed a multi-million dollar deal with Adidas to sponsor their athletic programs. The Hurricanes was the first team to have a sponsorship deal with Nike and for them to just jump ship over money is a desperate move.

Who is the king of Florida?

• This year we seen two of the states top three programs look like their players still had the high school mentality. UM and UF used to be known as the dominant teams in the state of Florida. While FSU had some success against them and others, they still came second to the two big dogs. Each school has won multiple national championships over the years. Each school created a legendary coach. In my opinion, there will never be just one king of the state. History shows that the #1 spot has a revolving sit. We just have to wait and see who will step up and compete with the Seminoles of Tallahassee.

Should Collegiate Athletes get Compensated?

By: Candy Man 

We’ve heard the arguments hundreds of times. Student-athletes receive more than enough from a full scholarship & free education. Student-athletes enjoy perks that regular students don’t have access to. Student-athletes should be getting a cut of the revenues the athletic department earns. Student-athletes should profit off the likeness of their names. Over the last few years, this question has lead to heated debates about how universities profit off their athletes while those same athletes can’t profit off themselves until they go pro. The NCAA itself has been taking heat about the petty rules & regulations they use to govern & restrict its student-athletes off the field. “Impermissible benefits” is a phrase everyone has heard & it has affected many big time college football programs around the country such as Ohio State, Miami, Florida State, USC, North Carolina, SMU, & Auburn.

Many people argue that there are so many cases of illegal benefits in college sports because the athletes aren’t being properly compensated. Combine that with the wild wild west nature of recruiting where recruits are being offered any & everything from coaches to play for their teams. You hear stories about athletes getting free cars to play for this football team or getting paid thousands of dollars for a big play. You hear stories of star athletes that can’t even afford clothes or food, such as Shabazz Napier, who said he sometimes goes to bed starving. And then you see cases across the country where the NCAA penalizes programs over little things such as an athlete receiving some extra help here & there from a coach such as a free meal or gas money and you can see why people have been turning on the NCAA to loosen up their rulebook. Even artists such as Wale have taken notice to the hypocrisy of the NCAA, rapping about it in a song called “Varsity Blues.”

 Some student-athletes consider it a full-time job. They wake up early in the morning for practice, workouts & conditioning. Go to class late into the afternoon. Another evening practice, study hall and then spend the rest of the day finishing up on studying or homework. Some athletes desire to work part-time jobs on the side to earn a little extra income but they’re not even allowed to earn money outside of their scholarships. So it’s easy to see how they end up struggling in college. I honestly think student-athletes will be paid eventually. College football, and college sports in general have become too big of a business for the athletes not to see any of the profit. The NCAA & athletic departments make billions, not millions but billions, off television contracts, sports apparel deals, & sponsorships and some of the top coaches are getting paid more than 5 million every year. The University of Texas even have their own network channel with ESPN dedicated to their athletic program. Student-athletes should be getting more than a scholarship & free gear. I don’t believe in them being salaried employees making millions in college but they should at the least, be able to profit off jerseys being sold with their names on it. That’s another issue that rises if they do end up getting paid, how will they split the profits among revenue-generating sports like football and the lesser sports like tennis & volleyball, and how big of a paycheck should they see? But when you realize that some of the top athletic programs earn more in revenues than professional sports teams, they have more than enough to share the wealth. 

Athletes & Their Business Endeavors

By: Candy Man

Michael Jordan is one of the greatest basketball players of all time and also a talented businessman. It is said that his net worth is more than a billion dollars and he acquired that after decades of a Hall of Fame NBA career and a variety of business deals. He’s had sponsorships with Nike, Gatorade, McDonalds, Hanes, 2K Sports, Upper Deck & a host of other corporations. Those sponsorships included shoe deals, commercial appearances, being a spokesperson, & cover athlete of NBA 2K for a couple of years. He also has multiple business investments. He owns restaurants, car dealerships and is also the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. He has earned millions on the court and even more millions off of it from his endorsement deals and business interests. More than anything, he made most of his earnings from Jordan Brand & his partnership with Nike. He makes more than $60 million a year from his contract with Nike. Jordan sneaker sales are still growing after all these years and generate more than $2 billion every year. Due to the massive popularity and influence his shoes have had, Jordan Brand owns more of the basketball shoe market in America than Nike itself.

MJ is the most influential example of athletes turning their career success into a profitable business of their own. There are so many NBA players today with their own shoe deals including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose & Dwayne Wade. Damian Lillard & John Wall recently joined the competition with sneakers of their own. Outside the NBA, some of the most popular athlete endorsement deals are George Foreman and his grills, and Tiger Wood’s partnership with Nike. While the highest paid athlete contracts come from baseball, some of the wealthiest athletes in terms of endorsements come from tennis, golf and soccer; Roger Federer, Phil Mickelson, Maria Sharapova, David Beckham, Rafael Nadal, Rory McIlroy, Serena & Venus Williams.

Besides endorsements, another popular option for athletes to increase their net worth is through franchising. Many athletes partner with corporations to own & operate their retail stores. Peyton Manning owns multiple Papa John’s stores in Colorado. Former NBA player, Jamal Mashburn, owns many stores across a variety of businesses including Papa John’s, Outback Steakhouse, Dunkin Donuts & a Toyota dealership in Kentucky. Junior Bridgeman, who spent most of his NBA career with the Milwaukee Bucks, owns about 160 Wendy’s & Chili’s restaurant franchises around the country. Many professional athletes are also franchisees in Wingstop restaurants. Wingstop has become more popular due to Rick Ross rapping about their lemon pepper wings and all that good stuff. He and his sister, Tawanda Roberts, opened 6 new stores across the South and Rozay heavily promotes their chicken wings in his music.

If you’ve seen the ESPN 30 for 30 “Broke” documentaries, you know how fast athletes can make money and how fast they can lose it all. Athletes like MJ realized their power and influence and took advantage of it. With so many athletes going bankrupt and blowing their money away on gambling, splurging, or domestic issues, Jordan is a role model in the business world for developing the knowledge and network to turn his name into a billion dollar company. Many of today’s athletes are following his lead and creating their own brands. I just highlighted a few athletes but there are many more that are successfully building their own companies after retirement.

               

         

Miami’s Urban Dance Scene Influence the NFL

By: Jimbo Brown 

“Its peanut butter jelly time, its peanut better jelly time,” came blasting through the speakers during my 4th grade dance. If you are from Miami you know that this is one of the dances of our generation. If your not…you maybe know the song from different commercials or that one episode of Family Guy when Bryan had on the banana suit. LOL! This dance and others was the best part of elementary school dances, birthday parties and family events. The Ice Cream and Cake, Do-Do Brown and the Cry Baby are just some of the dances created in the inner city of Miami. You eventually seen the dances being done in the pop warner games growing up. As the times and the dances changed, the kids in the middle of the dance circle grew up to play sports and never to forget their roots. 

As a child, I used to day dream about playing in the NFL (when that was a thought), I envisioned myself scoring a touchdown and doing the Drop for about 15 yards. Thinking how cool that would be to put my Hometown on the map. Even though thats not my reality right now, I still seen my vision come to life. During the 2014-15 NFL season we have seen the evolution of the celebration. The Smurda Dance is the newest one that has emerged onto the NFL stage. Since entering the league, Pittsburgh Steelers own Antonio Brown has done exactly what I day dreamed about. Around that time a popular dance called the Beanie Biggle Wiggle was created by a security guard at Norland High School named DJ PA Teezy. This was the school Brown career began and ended. Since the first time he touch the end zone Brown did this dance for his celebration. More Miami dances have gotten exposure this year by William Gay, a cornerback for the Steelers. The Bobble Walk the hottest dance in Miami is getting all type of national love. He even gained the attention of Super Bowl champion Terrell Davis, who did the dance on NFL Network. Miami players shedding light to their hometown of Miami. 

It feels good to know that I probably wasn’t the only one who had those visions. To see them come true is the biggest pleasure of it all. Every time I see one of the dances it reminds me of when life was so innocent. Nothing mattered but playing football and having a good time with your peers. Thats what motivated me to do this tribute to Miami. Ricky Jean Francios aka Freak, former LSU Tiger and Carol City Chief, won Dancing with the Starters this morning with his celebration after a sack. Guess what dance it was? “Its peanut butter jelly time, its peanut better jelly time."

Carol City Football was Everything: The Dynasty that Never Happened

By:Jimbo Brown 

It's the 1st day of summer practice at Miami Carol City High School and your a freshman trying to find your way on a talented JV roster. The year is 2005 and I was that freshman in high school who didn't know nothing about Carol City football besides they won state a few years earlier. If it wasn't for my mom I would have been at Miami Northwestern. Schools outside of Carol City was the landing spots for most of its talent from 2005-2012. Due to the old school mentality of legendary coach Walt Frazier and the dictatorship of his predecessor Harold Barnswell,  the football program at CC hasn't returned back to their once elite status. 

From the class of 2009 and up Carol City has seen talent come in and out of the school and having success in other programs. NFL stars such as Kayvon Webster and Stedman Bailey both were freshmans with me. Webster who later became a dual threat for Pace was tricked into helping the team by being stuck in a position he didn't want to play. This lead to him transferring to neighborhood rival Miami Norland. Norland that year and helping them end our 6-year streak of undefeated seasons. Stedman on the other stayed at CC until the end of his incredible sophomore year. He left to join Geno Smith at Miramar High School, a school that inherited a lot of the talent from Carol City. The youth had a bad stigma about CC that made them run away and find homes elsewhere.

If I told you guys that we had Teddy Bridgewater for a hot minute, would y'all believe me? Yeah he was practicing but because of an executive decision from moms he headed to Northwestern where he became arguably the greatest quarterback in their history. That happened a lot with the talent at Carol City. Either the off-season workout was too much for them, the philosophy was to demanding or other schools was a better destination. A big part of the problem was that Carol City wasn't putting their players in college. Even the talented ones who stayed was looked over because the coaches didn't do their jobs. 

For the pass decade Carol City football program has been in the middle of the pack. How potent of an offense we would have had with Teddy at QB with Sted and Allen at receiver. Or think about how many shutouts we would have had with Kayvon and Robert Sands on our defense. Class of 2009 had the best chance to make some noise but was oust from the playoffs by one of the luckiest catches in football history. Carol City is heading back in the right direction. With the help of the flakey business with Miramar head coach. Talent will be returning back to its home and hopefully we can get back to a national powerhouse. Chief Pride! 

High School Cheerleaders Defy Ban of Prayer

By: Jimbo Brown

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of Tennessee sent out letter last year banning school lead prayer over the pa system before the start of sporting events. Up until September no one really reaction to the ban. That changed the first week of this years football season, the Oneida and Watertown high school cheerleaders joined hands when the announcer signaled for a moment of silence. They began to recite the Lords prayer. Shortly after the crowd joined in and the prayer was heard a crossed the stadium. Faith has played a strong presence in their community and going hand to hand with Friday Night Lights. They were executed this perfectly because they dodged legal trouble. 

When this was brought to my attention I felt that the ACLU was hurting the students and communities across Tennessee. I remember reciting the Lords Prayer before and after games ever since I started playing sports. It gave the team assurance that when things go wrong we had extra spiritual help. On the other hand, you have to consider the people who are big on religion and how uncomfortable they will feel during the prayer over the PA System. I believe if the teams will do this privately by themselves then its okay. Even the bible states that prayer should be conducted in private. Matthew 6:6, But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. This bible verse made me changed my mind on this topic. How do you feel?

Candy Man's NBA Bold Predictions

By: @yachtclubrandy aka Candy Man

East playoff teams: Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors

West playoff teams: L.A. Clippers, San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Portland Trailblazers, Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks

Eastern Conference Champs: Cleveland Cavaliers

Western Conference Champs: Los Angeles Clippers

NBA Finals Champs: Los Angeles Clippers

Most Valuable Player: Lebron James...teamed up with a supporting cast just as good, if not better, than the one he had with the Heat. With Kevin Love & Kyrie Irving, he will produce all around numbers that won him the MVP twice during Miami’s championship run.

Underdog: Blake Griffin

Anthony Davis blocks Zeller shot with ease.

Defensive Player of the Year: Anthony Davis...just 21 years old & coming into his 3^rd season, you can say that he is already a top 10 player in the league. Averaged about 21 points, 10 rebounds, & 3 blocks last season. Skilled, productive, & a threat in all statistical categories; he’ll improve on all of his numbers this year. Off to a great start this year and one of the best big men in the NBA.

Underdog: DeAndre Jordan, Serge Ibaka

Rookie of the Year: Jabari Parker...unlike other high-profile rookies that will most likely settle into a bench or rotational role, Jabari Parker will be the main man in Milwaukee on a team with not much talent. Good enough to start every game for the Bucks and will play over 30 minutes a game with plenty of opportunities to handle the ball and put up shots.

Underdog: Andrew Wiggins

Sixth Man of the Year: Jamal Crawford…obvious choice, 1 of 4 players in NBA history that have won this award twice. One of the most exciting players & probably has the best ball-handling skills in the league. A good bet to win his 3^rd Sixth Man Award..

Underdog: Isaiah Thomas, Taj Gibson

Reggie Jackson wants to continue to improve this season.

Most Improved Player: Reggie Jackson…productive & underrated player that is off to a great start this year. With Durant & Westbrook out for a significant time, he’ll be the main man & go-to scorer.

Scoring Champion: Stephen Curry...he best pure scorer along with Kevin Durant & Carmelo Anthony. Has the ability score in multiple ways & get a shot off from anywhere on the court with long range & accuracy. Just set the record for most 3-pointers in a season last year.