I'm Not The Only One With A Blog

Introducing Rick Maese ladies and gentlemen. A young, coddled superstar writer for the Orlando Sentinel sports department and one of my main dudes. Below, you will find a link to his blog...but, before I tell you why...first let me tell you a little about him. Here's what I wrote about him in my unpublished blog about my four months in orlando...

Rick Maese: This was my other main dude. The entertainment coordinator. Whenever somethin would go down, Maese was the dude that set it up. He reminded me of my boy Jeremy at AF&PA in that way. And Rick did a lot of event planning. If not for him, my stay in Orlando wouldn't have been nearly as fun. And he was one of the most generous dudes I've come in contact with. He knew I was working for pennies, so if I was low on funds, Maese was they type of dude to look out for me...on more than one occasion. Kyle was like that too.

Maese is my age and he grew up in Albuquerque. Surprisingly, he's semi-hip...Although nowhere near as hip as many of his co-workers believe he is. He's the star of the sports section and probably the paper. Which says a lot about him and the paper. Young writers always read things about the advantages of being a big fish in a small pond. At a larger paper, Maese would just be Maese. He'd be respected and most definitely valued, but not coddled and deified like he is in Orlando. And he loves it. He's definitely not arrogant or high post (he was the first dude to call me and take me out when I got to Orlando), but he is definitely aware of his stature at the paper. And to be honest, he deserves all of his awards and much of his praise, but the worship is downright comical to me at times. It's like, "One question"

But homeboy is cool as an ice cube. A skinny dude that'd probably get the snot beat out of him by 6 out of 10 girls, with a younger brother that would probably zip him in game of basketball up to 11. But without possesing or displaying the usual machismo that bonds most men, he's still a cool dude and probably the most interesting, like-minded dude I met in my four Floridian months. Great people.

Anyways, here's his link: http://rmaese.blogspot.com/

I'm linking to this site because he's been doing a weeklong Top 10 list (Top 10 Asians, Hispanics, Whites and today, Blacks) that has been entertaining me as I sit here at work with nothing to do. Bear in mind that he's a sarcastic, jerk-like, overtly provocative SOB...so don't take him seriously. He also has a post about his indignance and resulting vengence for getting stood up by a minor league baseball player for a scheduled interview. I think everyone should read it. So go visit his joint and try nnot to be too harsh, he gets enough of that from me.

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One other reason I'm posting his link is because of his Top 10 black list. Now granted, there is an obvious air of levity with his list, but it makes me think about many other white analyst/experts...i call them "judges", whether they are music critics, sports historians, etc. that try to become authorities on black culture. My first reaction is, "Who do you think you are".

Like one time I read this sports column on the movie He Got Game and this white dude from Boston was trying to rip Spike for how he portrayed playground basketball in NYC. ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!! HOW DARE YOU!!! And then tried to admonish Spike for not using more hip-hop in his score...because of course, black people are defined by hiphop. But what made it so bad is that the great black jazz trumpeter, Terrence Blanchard, provided one of the most deft, appropriate, evocative scores ever. That's just one example...it's like, "Who gives you the right?"

You don't see me counseling spanish people on merengue do you? Or telling a Native American who were their greatest tribal chiefs.

Think about that and I'd be interested to get your feelings..not only from blacks, some white perspectives would be nice too.

Meanwhile...go check my dude Maese's blog and have a couple laughs.