Full Moon the day after Valentines Day?!? Hmmmm

Valentines day is coming up and it is so much fun for me every year. It fun because people go nuts for it good and bad. It got me the thinking though this year they are a lot of things going on around that weekend. One thing is NBA All-Star weekend and the other is that there will be a full moon. Oh #### I thought, people are going to be crazy the day after bedlam will ensue. When I was in college oh so long ago I would love Vday. It was like planning a grand heist or a secret mission. In a young man's world it's like this because you either break up and get a gift or you go all in. There was no other options. Now as an older man in his mid 30s it takes on a different form more like the stuff corporations push at us. However it always brings me so much nostalgia thinking back even to the dats when you had those boxes on your desk and you'd be excited to get more valentines than your boys. I was arrogant little jerk back then but I always made out like a bandit. The High School I graduated from I got transferred there on Vday. Always a memorable day for me. As the cell phones go straight to voicemails and the boos get caught up remember to have fun. It's just a day and its cliche' as ####! So have do you if you don't got nobody to do and for the love Beyonce' please don't do "boys night" or "girls night" if you are without a paramour. Go chill and think about how lucky you are to just have yourself as your valentine. -thegqlife 

2014 NBA Draft Update and figuring out your ceiling

I have seen this, someone that will be better than Michael Jordan that has the it factor. When watching homeboy from Lower Marion High School Kobe Bryant I saw it. Watching Lebron James during his freshman year of High School I saw it. Watching Andrew Wiggins at Kansas I see it too. Any sports draft is interesting to me because players are taken for the most part because of their ceiling. Their ceiling is what they will become if they work hard everyday and be the best player they can hope to become. The term draft day bust is when that player never meets their ceiling. It got me the thinking what if people applied that to themselves what would it take for us to hit our ceilings so speak. Think about that as I reel of my mock draft picks.

1. Andrew Wiggins

He has never lost to Jabari Parker, or any other nationally ranked player on any stage, I know people hate to say things like he will be better than Lebron James. He won't be just better but a different type of basketball will be played by him. Evident by his latest outburst of 18 points 19 rebounds.

2. Joel Embidd

Homerun pick if your Orlando or anyone else and yes the Hakeem the dream comparisons are real.

3. Jabari Parker

The freshman has cooled down we are still seeing Grant Hill coming back in a new body.

4. Zach LaVine

The power guard has stardom written on him he is on par athletically with Andrew Wiggins.

5. Julius Randle

Julius would be number one any other year. Enough said however he combines Lamar Odom's handles with Zach Randolph's post game and some hops to go along with all that.

6. Dante Exum 

I penalize Exum for not going to North Carolina or Kansas to go against the 2014 draft class. So he is an unknown I wouldn't gamble just that high on him. However everybody keeps saying he plays like Penny Hardaway.

7. Aaron Gordon 

There are worst things than being a Blake Griffin Clone and that's what Gordon could end up being.

8.  Kyle Andersen 

I see a whole lot of Jason Kidd in his game and after watching Michael Carter Williams this year I think it's safe to say big guards may have finally figured it out.

9. Jeriam Grant

A beast for the Orangemen this year.

10. James Young 

He is always on a tear always, I see a more athelectic Paul Pierce.

11. Wille Cauley Stein 

Reminda me a lot of Tyson Chandler not the young Tyson but the old one

12. Semaj Christion

The wild card but he is a mid major high producing point guard. He will ball as well as Damian Lillard has for the Blazers.

13. Chris Walker 

Has not played a minute for Florida he won the dunk contest beat out Parker, Wiggins, and Gordon. I think you take him here and watch your team have atheletic  Chris Bosh clone with all the trimmings.

14. Andrew Harrison

The run on big guards continues the first Harrison twin off the board.

15. Tyler Ennis 

He has been a delight to watch its like getting a new Tony Parker.

That's my mock draft 2.0, remember before you question these young men about there ceiling question your own first. -thegqlife 

The Garrickys Annual best of the year awards

I wanted to get through the year before I posted the my best of the year awards. I will be doing best hip-hop album, best mixtape of the year, best television show, best movie, and athlete of the year. Okay let's get to it.

Best Hip-Hop Album:

This one was hard because it was so much good music. I wanted to pick Jay Z for his stellar album, Magna Carter Holy Grail. However Drake's Nothing Was the Same edges Jay Z only because we are used to Jay performing at a high level. Drake's album felt like a movie, and it didn't reek of Cash Money it was all his style on display. 

Best Mix tape Artist:

This one was easy, no one else is talking about the truly ugly side of Chicago's youth that are caught in the industrial prison complex better than Keith Cozart also known as Chief Keef. Just listen to Jet Li or 12 Bars and hear the potential in this rhyme sayer don't let your cultural bias stop you from embracing Sosa.

Best Televison show:

The best show was hard this year and I wanted to pick something that wasn't mainstream but should be, the best television show is Arrow. CW Televison superhero drama is one part Batman, one part Lost, and one part Gossip Girl. Add those together and you get to see how Warner Brother is crafting their characters for the new century. Arrow has a rich boy who was trapped on an island for five years as returns a machine for justice. He recently stopped killing the bad guy and we always get answers as to what happen to him on the island. 

Best Movie of the Year:

When I finished watching Elysium it made me confidant that we will have the technology to cure people and yet the price will be so astronomical you'd have to have enough money to live in space. Don't see that happening in our lifetime?Maybe it will maybe it won't be like that in our lifetimes but they way in which the characters were fighting for a place a the financial elite was memorizing. 

Athelete of theYear:

This was an easy pick Lebron James is the best athlete on the planet. His game is fierce and he looks a tad bored. He has a championship last year and looks to get another. There is no one that provides those jump out of your seats moments as Lebron does.

That's my best of list, should be a great year. -thegqlife