The Winner of the 2014 Super bowl is?

Super Bowl time and everyone is revved up like they need a gallon of Pizza and a barrel of Beer for themselves.This is the time of the year were we find ourselves in front of the wild advertisements and the players who will either win or loose. Peyton Manning looks like a 24 year old and Russell Wilson seems to have a lot of success so far. I want to see Richard Sherman go ham out there I know that for sure. I will feel for the Denver Broncos receivers; they might get beat up by Sherman and his secondary. Should be a good game I got Seattle based solely on the Madden 2014 commercial where a young Russell Wilson was shown training in a space aged throwing simulation machine. He was like 10 years old doing crazy #### like that so I am going with him.  I am picking the Seattle Seahawks to win the Super bowl. In case that was apparent by the picture at the beginning of this blog posting -Thegqlife

Black History Month is so live

Every year people get highly snorting when black history rolls around. Or they are very celebratory and wear traditional African garb go see the latest Kevin Hart movie and listen to Beyonce's "Drunk in Love" on repeat. Ok maybe all of that stuff regarding the celebratory stuff is me.  I love being "black" although I didn't always know I was black. I tell this story while doing stand up when I have at least  thirty minutes of stage time. I will try to keep it tight. Like I said I didn't know I was black until I was 4 years old. My mom and I went to Northland Mall right outside Detroit in the then affluent suburb of Southfield. It was 1984 and I was out with her shopping. I really loved to go shopping with her because I got lots of treats and a pizza lunch with a Mickey Mouse sundae for desert, if I didn't touch anything or cut a fool like I did when I was at home. So there we were in the department store waiting for someone to help her after she had an item to return. I was playing under the clothes rack when all of sudden my mom said, "lets go"! I was like what about my lunch she said we would go somewhere else where they would treat us better. I get to the car and she said they wouldn't treat us like that if we weren't black. Black I thought was a color not us. I told her I was caramel colored not black. Then she started to tell me about how we got to this country and how people used to own us and we couldn't go places because our skin was darker than white people and all this other stuff. By the time she was finished I thought the Ku Klux Klan was going to kick in our door and drag me away. It didn't help when I found out who Malcolm X was and who Martin Luther King was and how they died. From that day forth my world change I thought if you didn't like someone you just didn't like them. Not because of their skin color, I embraced being black that day. I embraced all thing African American actually from the hard hitting truth of Alex Haley to Wacka Flocka Flame's loud trap heavy lyrics. Black history month is a means to celebrate who we are our history. It is very live to me, I know people feel like we just go back to not talking about being black after the month of February is over, not so we always talk about we live it everyday. I just can't wait for the day when someone doesn't have to explain prejudice and racism to their 4 year old. -thegqlife 

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

Raise your hand if after hearing Kanye West you heed the call to do your ##########ing THANG!!!!

Kanye West has been all over the radio talking about his ambition. He wants to not just play in the sandbox he wants to own and build and not even call it a sandbox! Oh blasphemy! Heretic! How dare he!

What people don't get is that he takes on defying convention is really challenging people to obliterate all barriers and carve out new paths. Too many people have said that Mr. West is too arrogant. Sorry he isn't, sorry you must not know what the definition of arrogant is. The definition of arrogant is: "an exaggerated sense of importance". Is he exaggerating saying he is the dope rapper that influences not just music but fashion, film, and other forms of entertainment? No he isn't. Just heed this call if you have it in you! 
Kanye West is just speaking to those who know that their destiny lies in a world that has not been yet lived in. Say what you will but I know "Jesus Walks" take from that what you will.-thegqlife

Best Man Holiday- the "unmarried man review"

The lights go down and here we go! Best Man Holiday starring Taye Diggs, Sana Latham, Morris Chestnut and a host of others. Set years later, (Lordy their kids are like ten in this movie shows what has happen to these twenties somethings that are now late thirties somethings. The movie focus to me was on of how life just kind of moves along and how some people in your life have the same motivations but might not be getting the same results that they thought would happen. That's life though right. In the movie we see how Taye Digg's character is struggling for his next big book and try's to go and do an autobiography about his NFL star friend,(Morris Cheatnut). Hilarity and drama ensues as one of the main characters has an major issue that I won't spoil. It was a great movies one that is an instant classic. I had a warm feeling watching this movie. I say many of my wonderful friends in this movie.

I was convinced I may have more in common with a certain character than I'd like to admit. 

Go see this movie with your crew that you have known for a lifetime or at least 5 years and tell me the nostalgia and memories won't flow. This movie made me realize marriage seems to be about managing the changes life brings and depending on those in your life to bring you through it. -thegqlife