Category: Uncategorized

Fall Brawl Updates

  • Things are heating up: 35 teams have signed up. Openings for 29 more max.
  • We’re opening the schedule tomorrow to sign-ups for the first four weeks.
  • LIVE show on Facebook Sunday at 6:30 to discuss our upcoming season. Carl, J Michael and I (with perhaps a cameo from Chip) will make Fall Brawl predictions, bring on various players, discuss Summer Slam, and spin the wheel to determine the topics for our first 5 weeks.
  • If you haven’t gotten your team signed up yet, do so now!

The Friday Five

Skyline View I Love: It just doesn’t get any better than the view from Matthias Baldwin Park. Just a perfect, unobstructed view of our awesome skyline.

Organization I’m Excited About: There’s such a torrent of bad news coming at us these days, it’s easy to overlook the tons of good that is going on as well. One of the groups doing a lot of good is I Will Breathe. They’re organizing community clean ups, marches, and ceasefire hoops tourneys. I attended one last Sturday, and it was really well done. I’d encourage all of you to follow them and support their mission. On a personal level, I used to coach their founder, Nasir Bell, many moons ago, and to see him become such a conscientious young man fills me with a ton of pride.

What I’m Listening To: A couple of months ago, we had Kate Nyx on the Philly Blunt, and once I started listening to her music, I was hooked. Her 2015 album, Sage and Silver Bullets, is absolutely incredible. Her songwriting is sublime. I can’t recommend her enough. If you wanna support a local artist, grab some of her music off of bandcamp. (And as a general observation from talking to some music artists, Bandcamp takes WAY better care of artists than apple music, spotify, etc)

Where I Love Hanging Out: That tree in Rittenhouse, on the northwest side, with the branches that are perfect for a 6 year old to climb, and some great shade to enjoy a cup of coffee.

What YOU Should be Listening to: You should be listening to the interview we did a few weeks ago with lawyer and activist Michael Coard. Seriously. It’s one of the best we’ve ever done, and he’s a really great dude. We talked about some heavy topics at a crazy time, and yet we had a lot of fun talking about them.

“I love it when I see by racist exposed. And by that I mean by that is now I know who you are. I’m really not concerned with them being racist, I just want to be sure that they don’t have positions that can affect me. If you’re a poor white at a trailer park, you can say the n-word all day long. If you’re the governor, or the Mayor, or the CEO of some big bank, I want to know that. I’m concerned about racists who can impose that racism negatively upon black people. If y’all have your little racist crew and y’all doing y’all thing up in the mountains go ahead, more power to you.

That’s why many people say that black people can’t be racist, only white people can be racists. And they say that, and I say it, because white people have the power. I can call a white boy a racist name all day long, but as a systemic thing, I can’t hold him back. But if I’m a white guy with a suit and tie who runs a bank, runs a school, runs a city, I can hold people down. A black person can be prejudiced, a black person can be discriminatory, a black person can be an asshole, but a black person can’t be a racist.”

Live Quizzo This Sunday

Alrighty, folks, we’re going to eaaaaaase into the “returning to real quizzo” thing this Sunday, with a quiz at Frankford Hall at 6 PM. We’ll have quite a few restrictions in place to keep things safe but still a chance for you and the friends in your social bubble to have some fun. Here’s how it will work:

First of all, the quiz is outdoors. (If you haven’t been to Frankford Hall before, it’s a large space and it’s almost entirely outdoors). Teams of up to 6 can play together. Those teams will be separated by 6 feet from all other teams. Anyone getting up to get a drink or going to the restroom will need to wear a mask. You’ll play the quiz on your phones through playbigquiz.com, so no exchanging of papers or pens, etc.

As for specials, they’re going to have $4 half liters and $8 liters of Weihenstephaner 1516. They’ll also have $6 currywurst with fries. (It’s a popular street food in Germany…it’s a curry spiced sausage.

Hope to see you Sunday!

Last Week’s Scores

  1. Expired Walmart Meat 47
  2. Boyz II Menehune 46
  3. Underground Bard 45
  4. Lambda 44
  5. Quick Question 43
  6. Mad Princes 42
  7. Quarantiners 42
  8. Au Bon Pandemic 41
  9. Jawns 40
  10. Meat Sweats 39
  11. Sofa Kingdom 39
  12. Dobby’s Sock 36
  13. L Ron Hubbard 36
  14. Synch Tramp 36
  15. Careless Fister 35
  16. There’s No I 33
  17. TNQQ 32
  18. FFSF 32
  19. Narcotyzing 32
  20. Babysitters Fight Club 32
  21. Pop Fit Studio 32
  22. Below Basic 31
  23. Carole’s Husband 30
  24. Red Dong 23
  25. Drunk Parents 21

RIP Malik B

A few years ago I stumbled across Mr. Green. If you’re a fan of old school hip-hop, you’ll freaking love this dude. He basically records street musicians, samples their music, then gets a hip-hop legend to drop a verse or two over it. His “Live from the Streets” album is an absolute masterpiece. Hooks from Peruvian pipe bands, ukulele players, random people he hears singing in parks, it’s a really remarkable work.


One of the songs on the album starts with him talking to a street musician named Kevin Brown. He sings an original, Green records it, then makes it into a sample. He then adds drums and bass, and takes the beat to Malik B, who as most people in Philly know used to be a member of the Roots. Malik B dropped a verse over it. I love his lispy voice, his verse a free association rhyme that somehow all loosely ties together:

I’m like a horse with it, Darth Vader force with it

I hope the double XL or fucking Source get it

Career a Porsche with it, on the stoop you bullshitted

Nineteen pages I google to hear some more critics

It’s more headaches, pure ridicule gimmicks

Fuck a poor image we ready to get some more spinach

And be fortunate, official and authentic

Meet Trina down in MIA and get lost in it


It makes no sense, which is part of what’s great about it. And if you dig poetry, how can you not to love the rhyming of critics, gimmicks, spinach, and authentic?


The entire thing is as beautiful as it is unlikely, and the video is a love letter to the city of Philadelphia.


Kevin Brown apparently died a few years ago. Malik B. died yesterday. Both lived hard and died young. But before they left they created art. And at a time we need our artists more than ever, we thank them for it.

RELATED: A terrific send off in the Key by John Morrison.

The Office Quiz on July 26th!

There’s no quiz on the 19th, but we’re coming back on the 26th with what’s gonna be a great quiz: a quiz about The Office (American version). Questions about Pam, Dwight, Michael, and the rest of Dunder Mifflin. So if you want people to be afraid of how much they love you, get your team together and sign up here. It’s the next best thing to lying on the beach and eating hot dogs. See ya Sunday!