Friday Night Bay Area

 

Denver Nuggets

38-21, 18-11 AWAY

97

Final

	1	2	3	4	T
DEN	24	26	24	23	97
GS	30	24	32	32	118

118

Golden StateWarriors

30-30, 18-10 HOME

The Hill We Climb - Amanda Gorman

When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

The loss we carry. A sea we must wade.

We braved the belly of the beast.

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.

And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.

Somehow we do it.

Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.

We are striving to forge our union with purpose.

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.

And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.

We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.

That even as we grieved, we grew.

That even as we hurt, we hoped.

That even as we tired, we tried.

That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.

Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.

If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.

That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare.

It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit.

It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation, rather than share it.

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

And this effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.

This is the era of just redemption.

We feared at its inception.

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour.

But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.

So, while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.

We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, become the future.

Our blunders become their burdens.

But one thing is certain.

If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.

Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

We will rise from the golden hills of the West.

We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution.

We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states.

We will rise from the sun-baked South.

We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.

And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful.

When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.

The new dawn balloons as we free it.

For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.

If only we’re brave enough to be it.

George Floyd Day of Resurrection

 

Derek Chauvin guilty of murder, manslaughter in death of George Floyd | CBC News

What the World Didn't See in Me - I Am George Floyd

From the Heavens of the Holy I've watched and waited to see if this killer cop would answer for my death. And here its been almost a year, as an entire nation waits in wonder with bated breath. 

It all happened that first Monday of May, 2020. For on that day, I rose up from underneath a policeman's knee and gained my wings. While ascending I looked down upon a painfully familiar scene; police brutalizing a black body while onlookers unsuccessfully pleaded for mercy. I'd been seeing the same scene since childhood, cops subduing a lone black figure by any means they feel necessary. Only, on this fateful day it's my black neck caught between a racist cop and a hard place.

As I lay dying, I heard mama's soothing voice call to me. She was calling me home in a way only a mama could, with offerings of love and comfort. I couldn't see mama, but her presence was all around me. Suddenly, almost as if I had slipped straight into a dream, I was floating upward, free of all fears, wants and needs. I had no pain, no struggles and oddly enough, no need to breathe. I was rising above it all, becoming a witness to my own execution. And somehow, I felt only sorrow and pity for my executioner. The biblical words of Jesus 'father forgive them, for they know not what they do' were never more clear.

As I continued to rise heavenward, I caught myself praying for the badged boy in blue still kneeling on his dead victim's neck below. Like an uncompromising confederate statue, unapologetic of its rebellious history, he displays misguided honor and anger.

With a gleam of the proud hunter twinkling in his eyes, he knelt over his captive prey like many badged predators have throughout the years. If this were the good ol' boy confederacy of Jeff Davis, a rope and oak tree would be sought for hanging and burning of such strange fruit. 

Just as I am all too familiar with this horrific scene playing out down below, so to is the badged boy in blue. However, he appears euphorically intent on enacting a scene of unjustifiable homicide, triggered by a hellish hatred. He demonstrates a total lack of respect for humanity under civil law, because in his warped ego he is the 'goddam' law (judge, jury and executioner). His victims are doomed to 'ride the lightning' in order to fulfill his own distorted sense of compliance through domination.

And still I rise up. Looking down prayerful for those innocent bystanders, damned to suffer visions of this horrific day for the rest of their earthbound lives. On the sidewalk, an innocent nine-year old third grader who said afterward she felt "sad and kind of mad" watching the badged boy in blue kneeling unmercifully on the neck of a black body for 9.5 minutes. I pray my beautiful six-year old daughter, Gianna, feels my rise and heals from the loss of her earthly innocence. Me and Grandma are always with you baby girl!

Yes, down there is where my black body lies, and still I rise. While this badged boy in blue poses for pictures and video clips atop my graying carcass, displaying his (s)kill. I now see it all and pray for humanity past, present and future. How long will this race of humans, who coin themselves civilized, feel entitled to wipe out anything or anybody they see as a threat to their ideas and/or way of life?

Yes Lord, down there is where my black body lies, and still I rise. Because a soul, minus hate and full of love for all, never dies. To discover one's soul and cherish it while alive is life's prize. So rise up humanity, become a world you hope to see reflected in your child's eyes. Where not by the color of one's skin but by the content of one's character we judge truths, and lies.

Still I Rise

BY MAYA ANGELOU

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Maya Angelou, "Still I Rise" from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems.  Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou.  Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Baseball is BACK!

Yes sports fans, MLB is back in the swing of things, and my San Francisco Giants entertaining to watch once again. As I type this post, they're leading 7-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning. I know, I shouldn't tempt the baseball Gods so openly, but the game has been very entertaining and the Giants appear to have a winning wind blowing behind their bats. 

Maybe I'm just another fan missing baseball so much he's seeing magic where there really isn't any. Maybe I'm kidding myself about the Giants competitive chances this season. Whatever the case may be, baseball is back and the promise of fielding a winning team in San Francisco is alive and well; at least in the hearts of fans like myself. 

These Giants might not be on par with the 2010/2012/2014 championship teams just yet, but look out MLB, there's an orange and black underdog sniffing at the heels of projected NL contenders. And they're getting cockier with every game.

Bottom of the 9th, two outs with Giants closer Jake McGee on the mound hurling 97mph.

Let's Go G-I-A-N-T-S!

Let's Go G-I-A-N-T-S!

Let's Go G-I-A-N-T-S!

Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful)

 

an italian protest folk song used by partisans againt mussolini and nazis.

also featured in the netflix series “Money Heist”

From A Street I Was Summoned!

Yesterday, while receiving my second dose of coronavirus vaccine, I was mesmerized by my injection nurse. It wasn't just the slight vocal twang from her upstate New York roots I recognized, nor her boogie-down Bronx style she inherited from three years interning at Bronx North Central Hospital. It was her body art that first "summoned" me. 

The upper arm tattoo of a masked nurse was three-quarters hidden by her shirt sleeve. I asked for a look-see and she proudly obliged. As you can see below, the tattoo is engaging to say the least. She explained the artwork was done in the Bronx, NY, and the nurse's face is actually made up of two female nurse faces, one on each side. 

Conversing so effortlessly as we were, I hadn't noticed the needle prick nor withdraw. It was the most unnoticeable injection I've ever had the displeasure of receiving. 

Here was a young nurse who loved nursing patients with a passion. When initially directed to her nursing station, I knew at first glance I was in the presence of a "summoned" soul, born to be at this place, at this hour, serving in this pandemic. 

You could tell from her relaxed confidence that her calling to be a nurse came as a revelation, probably while still a believer in Santa Claus. I picture her easily donning toy stethoscope and head lamp from Hasbro Milton Bradley Co.'s childhood board game, "Operation." 

Of course she would have assisted her older brother in surgery, methodically handing him surgical utensils in their mock operating room. Although she likely mastered the board game with graceful skill as a 5yr old surgeon specialist, something about assisting doctors, attending to patients and performing post-op procedures as a nurse appealed to her giving nature. Something had "summoned" her. 

To hear it told through the words of Chilean poet and Nobel Prize in Literature award winner, Pablo Neruda (1904-1973):

"I don't know how or when,
but from a street 
I was summoned."

Meaning, we all have God-given talents in us; some hidden, some obvious from an early age. When we are beckoned to apply/share our talent(s), it's as if in that instant the "heavens unfasten and open." We come face to face with our soul's purpose and destiny. We are free from choosing because it has chosen us. We are "summoned" to serve humanity.

I felt blessed to witness and receive her gift. Where would the world be without Nurses!

And it was at that age... Poetry arrived

in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where 

it came from, from winter or a river.

I don't know how or when,

no, they were not voices, they were not

words, nor silence,

but from a street I was summoned,

from branches of night,

abruptly from the others,

among violent fires

or returning alone,

there I was without a face

and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth

had no way

with names

my eyes were blind,

and something started in my soul,

fever or forgotten wings,

and I made my own way,

deciphering

that fire

and I wrote the first faint line,

faint, without substance, pure

nonsense,

pure wisdom

of someone who knows nothing,

and suddenly I saw

the heavens

unfastened

and open,

planets,

palpitating plantations,

shadow perforated,

riddled

with arrows, fire and flowers,

the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,

drunk with the great starry

void,

likeness, image of 

mystery,

I felt myself a pure part 

of the abyss,

I wheeled with the stars,

my heart broke free on the open sky.

Pablo Neruda

Critical Thinking best movie quotes

Barret Robbins Heart Breaker

While browsing Raiders free agent information on Youtube, I came across yet another heartbreaking story involving former Raiders All-Pro center Barret Robbins. I just don't understand why the NFL or NFL Players Association hasn't stepped in to get Barret the long-term mental health help that he needs. The man is lucky to be alive after being shot by police back in 2012.

The video I came across is from an incident involving an unpaid restaurant bill in November, 2020. It's just painful to watch anyone, especially a former Raider I cheered and rooted for, unable to maintain reason and full cognition due to mental illness. Unfortunately, sufferers of bipolar and depression sometimes experience disorientation and violent outbursts.

Please NFL, if you come across this post, reach out to Barret and try assisting him in any way possible. Mental Illness does not have an off season. Barret's been battling his disease alone, for far too long.

Barret Robbins Arrested in Del Rey Beach

happymanii

1 second ago

Now here's a Go-Fund-Me cause I'm willing to give support; mental health rescue. I'm a Raiders fan and just don't understand how a billion dollar industry like the NFL hasn't stepped in to help Barret. Like the officer said, "he's nice today, hopefully he stays that way." Where's the NFL Players Association; Come'on Man!

Stanford Triumphs

NCAAW

Okay, as a SF Bay Area resident and fan, I'm proud of the Stanford Cardinals NCAAW championship this Sunday. But for me it felt like a bittersweet victory due to some bad calls or no-calls that went Stanford's way throughout the tournament. 

I felt the Cinderella Arizona Wildcats had the look and heart of a champion against a bigger, deeper Cardinals team. I'll put it this way; when the Cardinals were clicking it seemed some luck was involved, when the Wildcats clicked they looked athletically dominant and unstoppable. Just my opinion. The Cardinals did beat the Wildcats twice during the Pac 12 season, which made this showdown even more intense.

But for a ball or two bouncing Stanford's way, an underdog #3 seed could've hoisted the 2021 championship trophy. And that's why they call it March Madness. I take nothing away from the Cardinals. They went out and earned a title, their first since 1992.

Congratulations Coach VanDerveer and her Stanford Cardinals Women's Basketball team on bringing home an NCAA Championship!

British Formula One Racer X

Driver: Lewis Hamilton

Car:    Mercedes Formula 1

Track: Bahrain International Circuit

Pos:    1st

Time:  1:32:03.897

Pts.:    25

Hamilton won his record 8th world title race and extends his record wins to 96.  As I watched highlights of the race, I was reminded of car races featured on ABC Wide World of Sports as a child of the 70's. Seeing Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen go at it down the stretch was classic race car competition with skilled professionals behind the wheel. 

Though March Madness has most of us sports fans glued to NCAA college basketball, it does a fan good to step away from the hardcourts, frozen tundras and ballparks to take in a competition of power, precision and speed. Grand Prix Formula 1 takes you to a place where team consists of lightening fast pit crew, driver and race car, doing battle against cocky competitors and challenging tracks. 

Gentleman, start your engines!

 

Lewis Hamilton on Motivation - 2018

Tai Chi Philosophy

 excerpts from "The Tai Ch Journey" by John Lash

Tai Chi seeks to help the student establish himself in his Tan Tien, or Chi center. It is at this point that we are one with the universe and can draw upon all of the energy and love of the Tao. This is the unending source of love that allows the Tai Chi person continuously to give of his love and compassion.

They do not believe in humility, but always try to be first. This is certain death

In any form of competition, only one person can be the first. All the others who strive and compete must be losers. This is a terrible waste of resources and energy. And it is certain death' because conflict and competition are a sign of separation from others and from one's own nature. If everyone co-operated and harmonized their efforts and talents, all would be winners. Humility is the renunciation of the desire to be first.

Mercy brings victory in battle and strength in defense

If you are having an argument with someone who feels deep love towards you, it is not easy to remain angry with them. My wife always wins arguments with me because I can always see the love in her eyes. Thus, mercy (compassionate love) brings her victory. And, in defense, love gives strength. A person will find the strength to sacrifice, even his life, in order to protect those whom he loves.

It is the means by which heaven saves and guards

This deeply felt love for all things that lies at the center of us all is the means by which the Tao guides us upon our journey to Oneness. It is the essence of the Tai Chi person's life and his only way of helping the world. v67

A good soldier is not violent

It is the soldier who must pay for the conflict between peoples. To be violent only increases the chances that conflict will develop. Thus the Tai Chi person, trained in self-defense, does all that he can to avoid conflict by sustaining within him the qualities of non-violence and non-aggression.

A good fighter is not angry

When all the ways to avoid conflict have been exhausted and the Tai Chi person must defend himself, he must maintain his tranquility and compassion during the struggle. Once control of the emotions is lost, it will be impossible to concentrate and the ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances will vanish. The Tai Chi person only does the bare minimum in order to protect himself and his health. Since he does not lust after victory or fame, self-preservation is all that is required. But to become angry is to lose this restraint.

A good winner is not vengeful

Winning causes resentment and bitterness in the loser. To be vengeful in victory only increases this resentment which, in turn, increases the chances that the conflict will be renewed at a later time.

A good employer is humble

To use power, whether financial or physical (or political), to force others to your will, or to lord it over them, causes a feeling of separation and arouses resistance. Power used with humility and for the benefit of all brings forth feelings of love and respect. 

This is known as the virtue of not striving

Non-competition is essential if one wishes to be one with others and to avoid conflict in life. v68

That which shrinks
Must first expand.
That which fails
Must first be strong.
That which is cast down
Must first be raised.

Opposites cannot be separated. There cannot be high without low, good without evil, rich without poor. Tai Chi teaches the student to avoid extremes in life; not to go too far and get the opposite of what he seeks. By not raising himself up on his toes, the student cannot be cast down. By not being strong and forceful, he cannot become tired and spent. By not being held high in the opinions of others, he need not worry about being cast down. The Tai Chi person seeks the middle point between opposites. In this middle point, neither of the opposites dominates the other. It is a place without high or low, good or bad, success or failure. In other words, it is a place of harmony. v36

He who can hold to his center passes through trouble untouched and unharmed. v34

He who knows he has enough is rich. v33

Be an example to the world. 

Know honor 

Yet keep humility. v28

What is a good man?     

A teacher of a bad man. 

What is a bad man?       

A good man's charge.    

v27

March Madne$$

Billion Dollar Industry: Moran Bill enables college athletes to profit off of likeness. Its a beginning that will hopefully lead to a share of overall NCAA sports profits going toward the athletes. These young, talented individuals continue to be taken advantage of financially by a wealthy organization comprised of professional hucksters.

If you ask me, the federal government should step in and force these non-profit schemers to put aside monies for every athlete's post-collegiate endeavor; perhaps putting money into an earning trust. 

The NCAA has been tax-exempt since 1956. They must answer to somebody for their actions of excessive greed; for their neglect and exploitation of those young adults under their care. Whatever happened to "it takes a village?" When the village elders personally pocket profits made off children, as opposed to reinvesting those profits into children's futures outside the village, change is necessary. Instead of the village raising the child, its robbing the child blind of his/her youthful talent and marketability.  

Names, Images and Likenesses Matter

The old adage that student athletes on scholarship are getting a free education just doesn't wash against profit distribution stains on the pockets of collegiate administrators. Many student athletes are cheated out of an education when colleges place success of their sports programs over an athlete's scholastic studies. The lesson becomes one of an economic nature, but with no guarantees; "dig first, money later." 

“- Abbè Faria: Define Economics.

- Edmond Dantes: Economics is a science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of commodities.

- Abbè Faria: Translation?

- Edmond Dantes: Dig first, money later.”

quote from the movie The Count of Monte Cristo

If you wanna see what greed and privilege look like under the hood, just browse online for information about unpaid student athletes and NCAA earnings and wealth. The village is being run by pimps.  Straight Cash Homey!

The NCAA brings in a billion dollars a year, here's why it refuses to pay it's athletes

The "Me So Horny" Defense

Headline: - Atlanta spa shooting suspect's 'bad day' defense and America's sexualized racism problem - by Nancy Wang Yuen

Tuesday, six Asian women were shot dead at three spas in the Atlanta area. Two other victims, a white man and a white woman, were also killed. Investigators said the white male suspect told them that he has a "sex addiction" and targeted the spas to "take out that temptation."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nancy Wang Yuen has written an article addressing the problem of hyper-sexualized racism in America. It is an educational piece of journalism that brings to light the historical mistreatment and racist denigration of Asian women in western society. 

When Nancy discusses the hurt she felt from a white Georgian male shouting "me so horny" and "me love you long time" at her in Atlanta's airport, she opens a Pandora's box of abusive behavior and victimization Asian women in America have been subject to far too long. In today's "Me Too" era, it's time we address this hurtful form of racist behavior disguising itself as a complimentary gesture and/or come on. 

Many American men like myself, watching the Vietnamese hooker scene from the 1987 film "Full Metal Jacket," were young, innocent consumers of a war movie, unaware it was "part of a long history of cultural depictions of Asian women as prostitutes." When popular music artists dubbed the hooker's voice into songs featuring lines from the movie (Me so horny/Me love you long time) it heightened the hypersexualized racism toward Asian women. 

I myself, must own up to the fact that those songs played a small part in how I began viewing "Some" Asian women at that time. I never thought of my views as anything more than an awakened awareness of the sexuality of Asian women. Unfortunately, not all American men are willing to separate the antics of a fictionalized cheap hooker from a beautiful, respectful lady of like culture or race. 

We can partly blame American stereotypes and Hollywood, but much of the burden rests on an individual's upbringing and exposure to different cultures, as well as, education. There was a time, not long ago, that white men caught dating African-American women were ostracized, and both charged with a criminal act against society. During that time, African-American women were depicted by white society as low-life, dirty, evil, diseased, witchcraft-voodoo women who preyed on good white men. These lies (and laws) were meant to frighten young white males away from women of color and chase them into the waiting arms of so-called soul-saving white women. And more times than not it was the women of color who needed saving from the white wolf.

Our society is changing, but not fast enough. The six Asian women who died at the hands of a white male shooter will not see a world where all women are treated with kindness and respect. We owe it to them and all victims of sexist violence to remove the stereotypes that lead to abuse of women and continue to change our perceptions of women and race.

Today I removed an old post that shared my thoughts and memories of the "Me so horney/Me love you long time" film scene and music.

We must be accountable as a society and protective of our most vulnerable. If one is victimized, then all are victimized. And the one could be your mother, sister or daughter.

Prayers for the 8 victims and their families