Deeper Than Sports!

Athletes have become more than just players on the field or court. We grew up wanting to shoot, catch, and run like them for years, now we can even dream to emulate them off the playing field. Athletes are proving themselves to be more human than ever pushing for more success just as do we. Aside from the die-hard dedication given to their own devoted sport they are making plays in the board rooms.

Once I saw Serena Williams “twerking” in Beyonce’s new anthem video “Sorry”. I knew there was nothing she couldn’t do. Seriously, we are coming to see more and more athletes venturing into other avenues and we’re here for it! Of course a feature in a video has been done this not her only endeavor.  Williams has been serious about branding herself. Delving in fashion she has her own clothing line and her collections have been seen at critically acclaimed fashion shows.  She is part owner of the Miami Dolphins and has done voice overs and appearances on multiple television shows. All while dominating the tennis court. See any signs of Serena Williams slowing up? …. 

Boy BYE!

Serena is not the only athlete that we know holding it down on and off the court. Many athletes are using their initial sports recognition to take them down other paths.

 I asked Siri how many sources of income the average millionaire had and dozens of articles read "seven or more". I think some of these athletes asked Siri the same question and got the memo. Endorsements are nothing new to the sports world but they are not relying on those alone.

Sports do not last forever and though the case may be true for former Laker Kobe Bryant, he’s not done working. It is said that he will be trademarking the name “Black Mamba” and has founded Kobe Studios. He intends to bring the story of others’ to life through an assortment of media outlets. 

Stories of athletes going further and pushing the limits are important because they are idolized by our youth. Kids want to be like Lebron or Curry more than they do FAMU graduate and Microsoft Chairmen, John Thompson. 

Having any of those individuals as an idol is great but letting the youth know not to set limitations on themselves is the ultimate lesson and best example they could give. 

Lets talk about athletes doing more than just their first job and show the world brains and bronze can be the perfect recipe. The boundaries to our creativity and passions can be endless so why limit ourselves? Athletes have shown us how perfecting our craft can take us to higher places but once your there the climb does not end. We have to strive to be better and allow ourselves the opportunity to manifest multiple opportunities and showcase all of the many talents we possess. Challenge yourself to be more than just enough. I'm more than a striving college student. What are you more than?  

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

Highlights of NBA All-Star Weekend

By: CandyMan

Last weekend was one of the better weekends for the NBA All-Star weekend in recent history. Every event was fun, engaging & competitive. The weekend started with the celebrity game where Kevin Hart won his 4^th straight MVP. There were more deserving candidates though, as his East team lost to the West 57-51. Mo’ne Davis probably had the play of the night after driving down the lane with Hart in her face and hitting him with a spin move that opened up an easy layup for her. Next, there was a new format in the Rising Stars Challenge. Freshmen & sophomores from the USA & international countries would compete against each other. The World team beat the U.S. 121-112 as Andrew Wiggins (from Canada) scored 22 points and won MVP. Victor Oladipo & Zach Lavine were the leading scorers for team USA with 22 points each.

Saturday night started off with the first ever fashion show in which JR Smith, who just got traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, finished in first place. The Shooting Stars competition got off to a fast start with all 4 teams finishing und^rd straight Shooting Stars win. Next up was the Skills Challenge with a new tournament format where 8 players competed against each other 2 by 2 side by side. Patrick Beverly won the event after struggling with the chest pass in the last 2 rounds, but came from behind & hit his first 3 point shots with ease against Jeff Teague in the semifinals and Brandon Knight in the final round. 

er a minute. But only 2 could advance into the second round, Team Westbrook (Russell Westbrook, Penny Hardaway, Tamika Catchings) & Team Bosh (Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins, Swin Cash). Team Westbrook couldn’t make their half-court shot after using up the whole minute & thirty seconds. Team Bosh came out on top after a half-court shot from Wilkins with just under a minute. It was their 3

The 3-point contest itself was an All-Star roster and ended up meeting expectations as one of the best 3-points competitions ever. The roster included James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kyle Korver, Wesley Matthews, Marco Belinelli (last year’s winner) & JJ Redick. Matthews scored 22 points in the 1^st round but it still wasn’t enough to get into the 2^nd round as Curry, Thompson & Irving all scored more. Curry finished with the title after scoring 27 points and hitting 13 straight shots at one point. Many consider Curry to be the best 3 point shooter in the game and he solidified that status with this win. The final event of the night was the dunk contest. Everybody knew Zach Lavine was going to win and he did just that. He had two perfect score dunks in the first round that brought the whole crowd on their feet. Honestly, they were his best dunks of the night and there was no competition. The Greek Freak was hyped up coming into the event but failed to finish a dunk which basically knocked him out. Victor Oladipo had an impressive first dunk and advanced to the 2^nd round but couldn’t keep up with Lavine.

Now on to the main event on Sunday night. A few stars missed the game due to injury including Kobe Bryant, Anthony Davis & Blake Griffin (all starters for the West). DeMarcus Cousins & Damian Lillard got to play in the game at last, after being snubbed when the initial roster was announced. It was the usual All-Star game: fast-paced, little defense, plenty of turnovers, many 3-pointers and a lot of highlight plays. The West’s stacked roster beat the East 163-158. Westbrook was very explosive from the start and scored 41 points for the West and won MVP. LeBron James scored 30 points for the East and finished 2 points shy of tying Kobe for most career points in an All-Star game. The West is 4-1 against the East in the last 5 All-Star games.

The Great Urban Meyer

By:Candy Man 

​Ohio State just won the first College Football Playoff National Championship. Before the season, many people counted the Buckeyes out when their star quarterback for the prior two seasons, Braxton Miller, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Then they lost their first game of the season to Virginia Tech. But since then, backup quarterback & Heisman candidate J.T. Barrett led his team to 10 straight victories before he went down with an ankle injury during the Michigan game. In came the 3rd string quarterback, 6’5 250 pound Cardale Jones. Never before getting a chance to step ontothe field for Ohio State, he finished the season with a win in the B1G TEN championship game over Wisconsin, the playoff semifinals over Alabama & the national championship this past Monday over Oregon. It was an improbable season for Ohio State full of adversity and many people thought they were still a year or 2 away from reaching the championship game. When the playoffs committee picked them as the #4 seed in the playoffs over TCU & Baylor, it was a controversial decision and the general thought was that they didn’t deserve a spot. But with a coach like Urban Meyer, anything is possible.

​Meyer, who already won 2 championships with the Gators, will become a legend in the state of Ohio after winning another one at his alma mater. Urban Meyer got his Master’s in sports administration from Ohio State and also started his coaching career there in the 80’s. His first head coaching job was Bowling Green where he took a 2-9 team to an 8-3 season in 2001. He left after his second year to coach at the University of Utah. He won the MWC Coach of the Year award in his first year after winning 10 games, and followed that up with the first undefeated season at Utah in his second year. He then jumped at the chance to coach the Florida Gators where he won 2 championships in 2006 & 2008. He left the University of Florida in 2010, took a year off, then was hired in 2012 to become the next Ohio State football coach after a disappointing 6-7 season the previous year. In his first year, he went undefeated but couldn’t contend for the national championship because of NCAA violations that resulted in a bowl ban and a loss of scholarships. His second year started strong but ended in 2 straight losses in the conference championship game and the Orange Bowl. He then went on to win the conference and national championship in 2014. So in summary, he went undefeated at 3 schools and won national titles at 2 of them. It only took him 2 years to win one a title at Florida and 3 years to win another title at Ohio State. So you can see why many people and the media are already calling him the greatest of all time and even better than Nick Saban.

While Ohio State fans were celebrating Monday night, Gator fans were reminiscing to the good ol’ days when Meyer was theircoach. Many of them are grateful for the 2 titles that he brought to Gainesville while there are others that would never forgive him for how he left UF high & dry to suffer in the years after he stepped down for “health and family” reasons. Despite that, nobody can doubt his coaching success. He’s on his way to starting a dynasty at Ohio State and could be even better than Woody Hayes, a legend in Ohio who won 5 titles as the Buckeyes coach in the 50’s, 60’s & 70’s. With a young team that is returning most of its starters including the national championship MVP and possibly all three quarterbacks, Ohio State will have the best odds of winning the 2016 CFP National Championship.

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! 

Rams Silent Protest

By: Candy Man

This past Sunday during the St. Louis Rams & Oakland Raiders game, five Rams players (Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook & Chris Givens) walked out the tunnel during pregame introductions with their hands up in support of Michael Brown. People all over the nation have protested with the phrase “hands up, don’t shoot” after witnesses claimed Michael Brown had his hands up when he was shot & killed. Despite that, the cop that murdered Brown wasn’t indicted by a grand jury. The decision not to indict him led to more protests around the nation & riots in Ferguson.

Not only did the Rams players show their support, fans of the team have also been vocal. There was another protest during a Monday Night game against the 49ers where fans protested with chants & signs and their hands up. The five players made a silent but major statement through a simple gesture. African-American athletes in general have been criticized for not taking a stand and speaking up on certain events that have affected the Black community so this was encouraging and shows that they are actually paying attention. Athletes are subject to harsh criticism, fines, suspensions and threats to their brand & image if they say or do the wrong things under the eyes of the media. I respect them for taking a stand and a sacrifice that other athletes won’t take. There are many instances in sports where athletes took a stand on issues in our society such as the Miami Heat posing in hoodies in support of Trayvon Martin, the black power salute in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics when Tommie Smith & John Carlos raised their fists in a silent protest against racism in America, and Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War in the 1960’s.

Despite their courageous act, there have been organizations that opposed the Rams protest and want the NFL to punish the players such as the St. Louis Police Officers Association and a local bar that decided to boycott the NFL and are no longer serving happy hour during Rams games. The NFL recently came out publicly with a statement saying the Rams players won’t be fined. The country is divided on the grand jury decision and there are many people and organizations that are still pushing for an indictment of the officer and felt that that the grand jury process was unfair.

I applaud Bailey, Austin, Cook, Britt & Givens for their demonstration and hope to see more athletes be more vocal about issues that affect them and their communities. As role models and popular public figures, they have the influence and spotlight to have an impact and enforce change with their actions and opinions.