Okay, so I accidentally watched Saturday Night Live while I was drawing last night... Charles Barkley was on, and a lot of  it was surprisingly hilarious...

"Philosophically speaking, the opposite of Love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference. You should not carry around hate in your heart, because it takes away your ability to be happy."
-Bill Russell
11 time NBA Champion, 12 time All-Star, 4 time MVP and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Tracy Morgan's gives his fair and unbiased opinion of former half-term Alaskan governor and possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin on TNT's NBA Pregame Show...

 yeah, so I'm pretty excited about the start of the NBA season...

This D. Rose Adidas commercial is my shit...

-gM

guest post and artwork
by Michael Lagocki
"A starring role as a reserve on a title team would have been the quintessential ending to his erratic, yet sensational career. He would get a final chance to score, captivate, and prove that the force driving him all these years was, indeed, winning.
Unfortunately, the same stubbornness which made him so brilliant is also what will prevent us from ever getting to see that happen."

-Adam Stanco
NaismithLives.com

I hope he's wrong. I've always loved Allen Iverson. My Dad first turned me on to him. Dad's a fierce fan of Philadelphia Sports and loved Iverson for his tenacity, his drive, and his willingness to throw his body amidst defenders with much more size and strength. It had an affect on me to see how quickly my Dad became a dedicated Iverson fan, despite the cornrows, tattoos and thug attitude (all things I would typically expect my Pops to despise). At the end of the day, if you played fearlessly, with that much passion, nothing else mattered.
Monday night Allen Iverson will return as a player for the Philadelphia 76ers, in a game against his former Denver Nuggets. That game will be broadcast on NBATV. I've been following the news on AI for the past several weeks. I've been annoyed by a lot of bad sportswriting (many writers I was reading kept bringing up Philadelphia's proximity to Atlantic City- sigh). I've also been struck by how AI's former teamates and coaches from John Thompson, to George Karl, to Larry Brown, to Mello, to Eric Snow all have commented that they think AI should return to the league and can still contribute at a contending level.

I'm happy this story is returning to the city that it started in. Philly has great love for AI. As bad as things have gotten, this is a chance for him to return to a team where he has a legacy, and a lot of support. I'm happy for my Dad. Philly's been loosing a lot of games by one or two points lately. He'll be a lot happier when they start winning those games.
I'm throwing my bet behind AI's success: that he'll improve their game, will stabilize himself, and will still be there at the end of the season (maybe even in a playoff spot). I'm willing to make that bet, not just because it's possible, but because I'd really love to see it happen.
Thinking about all this, I drew this portrait (based on an uncredited photo I found online).
-ML
-Micheal Lagocki is one-fifth of the mighty GhostWerks crew, as well as being the driving force behind the pleasantly notorious art activist massive called ArtLoveMagic, dedicated to overcoming Evil with good art.
-ghettoManga.com
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that dude Jeremy Biggers is back again with another one o' these hand-painted (yeah, i said HAND PAINTED!) fitteds, this time featuring NBA MVP Lebron James. sweat him hard enough and he'll do you one, but he don't repeat himself, so you can't have the same image on your lid unless the one shown here hasn't sold yet (yeah, right!).
holla!
-samax
ghettoManga.com
comics.hipHop.news.art.culture

click the pic to visit PresidentAwesome.com, homey!
-ghettoManga.com

the Image of the Month for January on samaxAmen.com is this sketch of Baby Allah, the lead character of Ballerz, a comic property i've been developing for a while now. Ballerz will follow the exploits of a basketball team that trades for a ball-player with All-star skills but rap star drama. the book will feature an ensemble cast, and non-stop action on (and off) the court.
anyways, there's merch featuring this sketch of Baby Allah in the Ziontific store!
peace,
samax
samaxAmen.com

i spent a lot of the last two years kicking dirt on the name of Devin Harris while he was playing for the Mavericks. i'm not stupid or anything... i saw that he sometimes played well against other team's guards. but he played point, and he didn't do a good job of managing the team, and didn't seem like he would ever become a good leader. when he was traded for Jason Kidd, i was happy to see him go. as recently as early December, i told a friend "He's talented, but he will never be a star in the league..." so now Harris is 6th in the league in scoring and may wind up on the all-star team.
so anyways, i admit he's better than i gave him credit for...

-ghettoManga.com

last night's NBA action...

Carmello Anthony scores 33 in 1 quarter!

-ghettoManga.com

Juicy Juice by Zion I
you're feelin' this, aren'tcha!?! cop the FREE mixtape here
uno.
ghettoManga.com