The World Is Watching

Well, I went to another Hawks game tonight. We played the Warriors. I'll save you the play-by-play analysis by telling you that the highlight of my night was copping an old school, Wilkins & Willis era, McDonald's colors warm up jacket from the team store. I'm never going to give up on my team but gotdammit man!

Anyways, in between the timeouts, they have contests and stuff where they get fans from the crowd involved. Most of them are pretty cool, but sometimes, the stuff you see on that jumbotron really makes you scratch your head.

For instance, around the 3rd or 4th quarter they do this thing called the "Kiss Cam" when they cut on Marvin Gaye's "Lets Get It On," put the camera on random couples in the crowd and encourage them kiss each other. Sometimes its cute, sometimes its entertaining, sometimes it catches you off guard because they might just mess around and put the camera on your ass if your seats are in the camera's view. I got caught in the "Kiss Cam" one time with a girl and we kissed. I warned her ahead of time about it so she wouldn't embarrass me and give me the cold shoulder. I've seen that happen to other guys in the crowd and I can only imagine that its not as funny as it looks.

When you get caught in the "Kiss Cam" everybody sees you. As soon as I kissed the girl I was with, I got like 5 text messages either saying "I see you nigga!" or "she's cute." Before then, I didn't know I had so many friends going to Hawks games, makes you kinda cautious about who you roll to the games with, ya feel me? Lord knows you don't wanna be seen with someone you have no business being seen with.

That said, there must be a whole bunch of dudes going to the games with women they either don't expect to be seen with or don't want to be seen with. Because more often than enough, dudes be on some Homies Over Hoes shit when the "Kiss Cam" gets put on them.



I know folks don't go to basketball games to play kissyface, I know that. I understand that no one wants to be put on the spot, especially all my playas out there. I also understand that some people go to the games on some straight up platonic shit, but still...When I see these cats pulling away from the female on the "Kiss Cam" it really makes me scratch my head sometimes. Its bad enough that Atlanta already has a rep for dudes not loving the ladies, so having the image of a dude frowning at the idea of kissing a woman is negative PR for the city dawg.

I mean, you don't have to just slob the girl down or gently caress her jawbone, just peck her on the lips brah. What's the harm in that?

Another sight that bothers me on the jumbotron is when they do the "Dance Cam." This is the part when they put the camera on random (usually drunk) people and try and get them to dance to what ever song the fans voted to hear in the previous timeout. Whoever generates the most crowd response wins a prize. Just like with the "Kiss Cam," sometimes its cute, sometimes its entertaining, sometimes you just shake your head at what you see.

Alot of times they will put the camera on a group of kids who just jump around off beat. Other times they'll put it on grown folks. See, when I see grown folks acting a damn fool on the screen, I don't really think nothing of it. They usually have at least a bit of sense. They don't flash body parts (sans the occasional beer belly guy) and they don't dance too suggestively (save for the occasional cougar who likes to drop it like its lukewarm). But the young girls? Oh my god! They are off the damn chain.



4 out of every 5 teenage girls they put on that "Dance Cam" dances as if they are auditioning for a Magic City promotional video. I don't care if its Justin Timberlake, Cupid Shuffle or even that "Hey Now, You're an All Star!" song, those little girls are shakin' their T&A's. The crazy thing is the crowd be egging that shit on, so, they usually win the prize. What kind of message do you think that sends? I know: "if i shake my ass hard enough, people will give me free stuff." We know what that usually leads to. I guess I can't be too too surprised, after all shake dancing is Atlanta's unofficial favorite pastime.

That's about it, I just had to speak on that because I know I'm not the only one to have thought of this shit.

Special shouts out to:

Brandon a.k.a. DJ Quiet Storm a.k.a the Hawks DJ for hooking me up with good ass seats here and there.

JBoogie for the hook up on the Warriors tickets (Marcus Thompson too)

K-Lock for the tix to the Spurs game

Demarco for the tix to the Hornets game

Rob for the tix to the Nets game

And my pockets for the rest of the games I've been to this season