YO BRO IT’S ME LITTY

Tonight marks my 22nd seasons as a St. John’s fan. I fell hard for the team as an 8-year-old kid in 1989. That season the Johnnies point guard Greg “Boo” Harvey hit a bunch of game-winning last second shots. Jayson Williams and Malik Sealy were the other stars on the team. My local newspaper, Newsday, gave the Johnnies a ton of love (this was still in the glow of the Final Four years). I was already captivated by the Newsday sports section so if they were reporting on the Johnnies I was reading. When I learned the college was less than ten minutes away from our house I was hooked. It would take a few years to convince my Dad to take me to a game. We went to the Garden to watch St. John’s face Indiana in 1991. Sealy, by then an All-American in his senior year, was outplayed by Calbert Cheney and the Johnnies fell to Bobby Knight’s Hoosiers. A few years later my 6th grade English teacher learned I was a Johnnies fan (I wore St. John’s gear to school every day) and started giving me her tickets (first row behind the bench at Alumni Hall), which would then become our season tickets.

Back to the present.

St. John’s opens up its season tonight when they host William & Mary at Carnessecca Arena in Queens. The team is ridiculously young and inexperienced so I’m curious to get a feel for what it will be like to root for them this year. I checked out an exhibition game last week and it wasn’t pretty. The Johnnies couldn’t shoot straight and were especially pitiful from the foul line. They were losing for a large part of the second half and seem rattled until their athleticism helped them pull away in the last few minutes of the game.

They do have loads of talent. I’m especially excited by Nurideen Lindsay (scoring point guard who can get to the basket) and Mo Harkless (queens native with smooths style). With a brutal schedule and only seven scholarship players, six of those being first-year players, everything will need to fall perfectly into place for the Johnnies to have decent success. I keep trying to tell myself that I’m going to need to be patient with this team. But deep down I’m already fantasizing about them knocking off Arizona to win the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament and then shocking Kentucky at Rupp Arena on December 1.

For better or worse, I’ve been thinking about how being a “die-hard” St. John’s fan impacts my life. Sometimes, it doesn’t feel real and this is just an escape from the grind of life. I’m a fan. But I also know my excitement level to attend/watch games, time I spend thinking about the team and highs/lows throughout the season will be a big part of the next six months of my life. I imagine most passionate sports fans feel the same way about their team. Very rarely do we step back and reflect on why all of this is so important to us. Maybe there’s no point to doing that. It just is, right?

I have two season tickets for all of the games in Queens and at MSG this season. One of my buddies is taking most of the MSG games and I can usually twist my Dad’s arm into meeting me in Queens. But there are still a bunch of games where I need a wing man. My offer is that if you show up and root for the Johnnies then I’ll cover everything (tickets, zipcar, beers and jersey’s — you get to pick between a Hatten, Omar Cook or Mullin throwback). Let me know if you’re interested in jumping on the bandwagon. There is always room.

Here’s the home schedule

11/9 – Wed – Lehigh (Queens)
11/13 – Sun – UM-Baltimre County (Queens)
11/17 – Th – Arizona (MSG)
11/18 – Fri – Texas AM or Miss St. (MSG)
11/22 – Tu — St Francis (Queens)
11/26 – Sat – Northeastern (Queens)
12/17 – Sat – Fordham (MSG)
12/21 – Wed – Texas Pan American (Queens)
12/27 – Tuesday – Providence (Queens)
1/3 – Tu – Louisville (MSG)
1/15 – Sun – Georgetown (MSG)
1/21 – Sat – Villanova (MSG)
1/25 – Wed – West Virginia (MSG)
2/4 – Sat – Syracuse (MSG)
2/8 – Wed – Cincinnati (MSG)
2/18 – Sat – UCLA (MSG)
2/20 – Mon – Depaul (Queens)
2/25 – Sat – Notre Dame (MSG)
–
Related Post: I wrote a blog post in 2008 with the same headline except it was for Season 19.

A few months back I made an executive culinary decision to invest in a Zoku Quick Pop Maker. This marvelous technological device freezes popsicles in just seven to nine minutes. It’s positively scientific to watch a liquid concoction instantly freeze before thy own very eyes.

Not one to lick my own popsicle, I’m somewhat known to be both daring and risqué when it comes to desserts. So I embarked on an epicurean adventure to create the next great popsicle and avenge my nemesis’s creation of the Big Sexy Pop (now sold at the Iowa State Fair).

I started off using simple ingredients like coconut water, Gatorade, coffee and grape juice. I struck out on the whipped cream pop. My pudding pop was respectable but unremarkable. The PB&J freeze failed to congeal properly. I’m not going to mention my avocado and salsa chilled samba.

The need to create the perfect popsicle became my one obsession. I thought about it day and night. Then I went to sleep and I dreamed about it. I even thought about popsicles as I rewatched the Johnnies exhibition game against CW Post on the internet.

I envisioned form. I contemplated texture. I learned how to mentally convert temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celsius to get a better grasp of how foreign objects freeze.

Then one fortuitous evening, as I was baking kale chips and watching PTI on dvr, it came to me. The Popsicle needs to be about more than just taste. It should be functional. It must be fun. The popsicle of tomorrow would have a physical, mental and emotional impact. It should change the world!

Naturally, I based my popsicle on the one ingredient that has had the most profound effect on my personality, relationships and social life. That would be 5 Hour Energy. If at any point in the last six months you’ve seen me and thought to yourself “boy, that Litty seems quite charming, energetic and lively” it was because I was under the influence of 5 Hour E. It’s just the right mix of B12, Folic Acid and Caffeine and Taurine to lift me out my mopey haze and allow me to absolutely kill it!

The only issue I have with 5 Hour E is that sometimes I’m so enhanced that I want to ensure peak performance while never experiencing the effects of time (300 minutes is always ticking away) or aging. Plus, while I’m projecting greatness out to the external world I also need to allow my internal systems to neutralize free radicals. It’s essential I get my daily dose of antioxidants like anthocyanins and falvonoids.

Enter the Acai berry. The superfood cultivated in the Amazon is an antioxidant powerhouse with fascinating nutritional benefits. It’s not only supports native jungle tribes but it also generates millions in multi-level marketing scams!

When combined and frozen, the 5 Hour Acai-E popsicle has awesome mystical powers. It also tastes great and is fun to eat!

You might ask why does this potion need to be frozen and molded into a pop. I might answer why does water need to be frozen and shaped into a cube.

I think back to everything I’ve ever accomplished in life and try to imagine how much better it would have been if I had first consumed a 5 Hour Acai-E popsicle. Imagine watching the Johnnies go up by 25 at halftime against Duke at MSG on a 5HA-E pop! The only way I can actually imagine it is if I indulge in said popsicle!

Last weekend I went to Bloomingdale’s and bought a sports jacket. If I had first consumed a 5 Hour Acai-E Popsicle I would have sewed one myself!

This is just one example. You try it.

The other day I went —— and did ——. If I first snacked on a 5HA-E it would have been even more amazing!

I bet you didn’t know that the drugs in the movie Limitless are based on an 5 Hour Acai-E pop. David Freese enjoyed a 5 Hour Acai-E in the dugout after he dropped the flyball in Game 6. Yup, this pop gives a whole new meaning to juicing! Herman Cain was licking on a pop when he thought up his 9-9-9 tax plan! When Super Mario gets the star and becomes invincible he’s really just inhaling 5HA-E (albeit in gaseous form).

Suck on a 5 hour Acai-E pop and you’ll be soul cycling your way through your entire day!

Ingredients

Directions
1) Freeze your Zoku Pop Maker for 24 Hours
2) Pour 1 oz. of the 5-Hour Energy into the Zoku molds.
3) Wait 120 seconds
4) Add the Sambazon Acai juice
5) Let freeze for 314 seconds
6) Use the “Super Tool” to easily remove the pop

It’s that simple. A few easy steps and you to can be the best you that you can ever be!

I’ve mentioned a few times in this blog that I’m not a big fan of the present day news media. They have an uncanny ability to make a mockery out of just about anything. True to form, the media has been all over the place in their coverage of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Despite the incessant reporting, I still had no clue what was actually going down. So on Saturday I took a stroll down to Zuccotti Park to see for myself what this is all about.

I wasn’t planning to blog about my visit but in conversations over the weekend people seem pretty interested to hear about it. I appreciate getting thoughts and views from people I know on current events and issues so I figured I would do the same for you.

I’ll keep this simple and share my “notes”.

• Zuccotti Park is awfully small and is more of a plaza than a park. It’s tucked in between a bunch of large buildings. It isn’t the most spacious area to start a mini cooperative community. Everything is densely packed together. If you’ve never been to the park it is probably much smaller that what you’ve imagined or have seen on television.
• The park is in the shadow of Ground Zero, which is one block to the west. It is an eerie juxtaposition as Ground Zero always stirs up emotions in me every time I walk by.
• On Saturday there was lots of activity along the perimeter of the park. There were barricades, cops, protesters and people flowing by to check out the action. It’s a bit intimidating to actually go into the park. I felt like an outsider to their little society and that I might even somehow be the enemy. Everything in the park is covered in blue tarps and tightly packed together.
• The Occupy Wall Street operation has significant organization and funding. The occupiers were handing out an oversized newspaper flyer called The Occupied Wall Street Journal. There were lines for food stations, a first aid tent, and a people’s library. The occupiers have formed “working groups” for food, medical, facilitation, graphic design, donation and outreach. At the front of each tent was often some kind of table or setup with some type of message/protest.
• It felt like the fact that the occupiers had formed their own society (and seeing how long they can keep it going) is actually their goal. They view Zucotti Park as a beacon of hope/protest/voice for the entire repressed world.
• The main protests/messages are around anti-war messages, environmentalism, wall street greed and government corruption. It seemed like each person had his or her own personal issue or hot topic that they were protesting.
• It doesn’t seem like there needs to be a specific list of demands or more organization around messaging. This is not a political protest as much as a societal protest.
• Some of the protesters are jarring in their radical beliefs. I wasn’t up to try to engage in conversation, as it seems like they are in such a different place it would be awfully hard to relate.
• I’ll classify the people who were out there as counter culture. Lots of tattoos, piercings and unique styles. I could see how a less thoughtful observer might classify it as a “freakshow”. Much of the 99% of America might be shocked or uncomfortable with some of the occupiers.
• The “we are the 99%” slogan is misleading. The occupiers in Zucotti Park seems to be the small percentage who refuse to conform to society norms or mainstream public opinion. There protests also seemed far more radical than the desires of 99% of Americans.
• There’s an amazing energy to civil action. Everybody there seemed pretty proud and certain that they are doing something meaningful. They seem to have a spirit and determination to keep this going as long as possible. There may also be some people that are just there for the experience. It did have a bit of a Burning Man type feel.
• It does seem like the demonstrations are reverberating throughout the nation and the world. Interesting to witness the epicenter of it.
• The thing that really got me thinking is that it seems like people who don’t participate in mainstream society are protesting mainstream society. More than anything it seems like they just want to be heard and to be recognized. Maybe this is at the core of protesting.

  Finally, I’ll leave you with the knowledge that two different people made positive comments about my St. John’s hat. That really got me pumped up. A few more comments and I’m ready to join their tribe.

  Hopefully my perspective helps you better understand Occupy Wall Street. Hit me up if you want to share your take. I’d like to hear it.

The weekend before last, two buddies and I decided to venture out and explore the islands of Lake Titicaca in Peru. Perhaps faintly familiar to you for its lewd sounding name, the highest navigable lake in the world has much more to offer than a few giggles. At 12,500 feet above sea level, the lake is both optically and pulmonaryily breath taking.

For the average gringo tourist the allure of the lake lies in its different islands. We hired a guide and commandeered an awfully slow boat to hit the high seas and discover new worlds.

Our first stop was the floating islands of Uros. The islands, and just about everything on them including their houses and boats, are made of totora reeds. Every forty years or so this becomes a bit problematic since the reeds sink into the lake at that point. The islands were originally created to isolate the Uros from enemies. If attacked, they could simply move their lands away from danger. These days the main rationale for living on a Party Island made of reeds seems to be purely for tourism.

I can’t remember what’s supposed to imitate what but Uros is more of an amusement park ride than a civilization. Native islanders share just enough information about their home before they aggressively hawk their handmade crafts. The females serenaded us with a stirring rendition of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”. After paying off a bunch of other natives (all you tea party people out there would be outraged) we were on our merry way.

After a uninspiring few hours on Taquile Island (they wear their woven hats sideways to show when they are sad) we inched on along to Amantani. This island is about 6 square miles containing a few thousand people within multiple villages. If the tv show LOST was filmed in Peru, instead of Hawaii, it would be on this island. Terrace farming is the main occupation as small plots of land are worked by hand. There are no cars, machines or hotels. Not much electricity either. There are two dogs.

We arranged to stay with a local family for the night. Our patriarch Angel and his 9 year-old son Wilbur met us at the dock and took us back to their home which had amazing views of Pachamama (mother earth). One of the family’s livestock (five goats) had birthed a new goat earlier in the day. Between the miracle of life and the visit from the tres payasos it was a pretty exciting day for them. Then we showered our family with gifts of grain, sugar, cooking oil, pasta, coco leaves and Oreo cookies. We even brought a soccer ball and toy dinosaurs for Wilbur and his sister. Check out the regalos giving ceremony!

We decided to go for a hike on the island with Wilbur. As we were walking around we ran into Wilbur’s amigo Oliveres who quickly joined our crew. Apparently, the word spread because within minutes we had a slew of rambunctious kids following us. It was time to play some Futbol.

We split into three teams. I named my team after the daring Peruvian striker Jefferson Farfan. I butchered a bunch of Spanish words and terms to my Quechuan speaking teammates. They laughed at me. I played my hardest and stole the ball from my little amigos as much as possible. I chided my sweeper Jose for eating his boogers instead of paying attention on defense. We all had lots of fun.

After soccer we crossed the hill to the school house and taught the ninos about the birds and the bees. It was a one-room schools where every kid between the age of 5-17 learns together. Horace Mann would turn over in his grave. I read Goodnight Moon (Buenos Noches, Luna) out loud in spanish but then struggled to get through the Magic Autobus.

After a long day of living the simple life it was time to eat. Angel’s wife made us pourage and some kind of omelet that Jon couldn’t or wouldn’t eat. The dining room was actually a bit drab. No windows, one candle. Angel and his family ate on the floor while we sat at their only table. To break the ice and lighten the mood Jon sang some of his favorite songs.

Finally, it was time to party. We put on our costumes and went right back to the school house to listen to the sweet, soothing sounds of the native Amantani band. Yes, the Peruvian flute was played. We drank, we danced, we lived!

The next morning I awoke early at dawn and bumped into Angel on my way to the outhouse. We had a pleasant conversation in which I didn’t understand much of anything that he said. I did ask him about the status of his baby goat. A bit later we ate breakfast. I thought it was biscuits, Adam believed it to be potato latkas and Jon was pretty sure it was chicken nuggets! We bid adios to Angel and his family and hopped on our boat back to modern society.

I leave you with these final words of wisdom. The people of the island follow an old ancient Inca saying of ama sua, ama llulla, ama qhilla. The meaning: Do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy. Sounds about right to me.

You may or may not care that the NBA is in the midst of a work stoppage that might wipe out the entire 2011-2012 season. Bill Simmons cares. He recently went all sports guy on us by explaining how the president guy in the movie Dave would be able to solve this lockout. I would also be remiss not to mention my digital buddy and surgical resident Todd Hannibal Lecher. He really cares.

The thing that Simmons doesn’t get is that neither the owners nor players seem to care. Errybody’s down to “Do the Eddy Curry” and take the entire season off.

Although the bloggers are reporting recent signs of negotiating progress, here’s what my people are telling me…

Owners: Many teams are operating at an annual loss. The market to buy NBA teams has also dried up so franchise values aren’t as inflated as they once were. In order to both turn a profit and prop up franchise values the league needs to drastically change the economic structure of the league. A new agreement is the perfect opportunity to fix all of this. The owners are willing and prepared to wait this out.

Players: Unlike other sports leagues the NBA only has 350 union jobs so it’s easier to keep the players united. Players also have an option to play overseas (or go down to the playground) so they don’t seem as desperate to get back to work. In fact, I bet some players would gladly take just half their salary each year to play a two-month regular season (The Roger Clemens), try kinda hard in the playoffs and then tweet away during a nine month off-season. Besides Derek Fisher and Roger Mason Jr., I’m not sure how many players actually want the season to start on time.

Turn on Sportscenter, go to your local park or check ya twitter feed. The players are chillin. They are going abroad (ESPN overseas tracker) at a higher rate than AEPi dudes from Long Island. Durant may possible have joined the new 21st century version of Harlem Globetrotters. Artest, er, Metta World Peace is now a comedian. The foreign guys are playing ball all over the world in the European Championships and Olympic qualifying. It doesn’t seem like anyone is worried about the NBA in the same way as NFL players were this summer.

Combine this with my theory that one day all athletes are going to unite and rule the world (as soon as they develop HGH for intelligence). First, they will pool their salaries together to buy their own teams. Between their earning power, media presence and physical prowess they will then dominate all other races, political parties and business leaders. Maybe my boy Curtis Granderson would be their leader!

My point here is that the players are in an amazing position. They are united and are not that desperate to work. All they are asking for is the status quo so they have the media and fans on their side. Furthermore, they may not even need the NBA.

The players have the perfect opportunity to form their own super league or tournament. Here’s how I see it working.

The Pro Sweet 16
The Pro Sweet 16 would be a single elimination basketball tournament played in the fall. All games would be in Las Vegas. Players will form their own teams. The sixteen teams that ante up the largest entry fees will compete (anybody is eligible). Sponsors can pledge the fee on behalf of a player/team. The 15+ tournament games (plus consolation games) would either be televised through Pay Per View or the global broadcast rights will be sold to media companies. The entry fees, event and media revenues will be pooled together and distributed to teams based on performance. It’s so beautifully simple.

This is actually already kind of happening without the high-level marketing genious and organization. Melo helped organize a game in Baltimore that featured a duel between Lebron and Durant in which Durantchala went for 59. This was a few weeks after Durant put on a shiw in NYC playgrounds including 68 at the Rucker. The Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas is putting together “competitive training sessions” with over 40 NBA players this month. Even Jimmer Fredette is putting on an exhibition tour in Utah.

The allure of the Pro Sweet 16 would be the players, teams and match-ups. Judging by fantasy spots and last summers Melo trade debacle we know that fans love player’s moving from team to team! Fortunately, Littyhoops has your team projections and seedings. Damn kid, get psyched, posts like this are why you read all my lame pseudo-intellectual entries about the internet. Buckle up!

#1 — Team USA
Always self-conscious Kobe brings together a bunch of egomaniacs under the USA flag as former national players, all-stars and veterans unite to form the most formidable team in the world.

Captain: Kobe Bryant
Team: Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, Tim Duncan, Jameer Nelson, Kevin Garnett, David West, Rajon Rondo, Andre Igoudala, Chauncey Billups, Danny Granger

#2 – Nike Swooshes
Nike finally surrounds Durant with players who let him do whatever the heck he wants….which is Score!

Captain: Kevin Durant
Team: Amare Stoudemire, Kevin Love, Stephen Curry, Zach Randolph, Al Horford, Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony, Rudy Gay, Marcus Camby, James Harden, Eric Maynor

#3 – CAA All-Stars
Led by World Wide Wes, CAA puts together the biggest sponsorship package and buys the rights to the music video and documentary!

Captain: Carmelo Anthony
Team: Chris Paul, Rip Hamilton, Jonny Flynn, Rodney Stuckey, Eric Bledsoe, Andrea Bargnani, Carlos Arroyo, DeSagana Diop

#4 – Wasserman, Tellem & Associates
Casey Wasserman and Arn Tellem’s players are led by a dynamic back court of D.Rose and Russell Westbrook. Not sure if this helps bring Football to LA though.

Captain: Derrick Rose
Team: Russell Westbrook, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, Tyreke Evans, Antawn Jamison, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kendric Perkins, Jordan Farmer

#5 – Emerald City
Not sure how Seattle became a basketball hot spot but it has. These dudes are super tight and mad proud of the 206.

Captain: Jason Terry
Team: Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson, Marvin Williams, Aaron Brooks, Brandon Roy, Jon Brockman, Brian Scalabrine, Terrence Williams,

#6 – Lebronmates
We know Lebron performs best when playing with scrubs who aren’t gonna boink his momma. Here he is with his best buds. This is More Than A Game. Even Mav Carter gets all up in the video.

Captain: Lebron James
Team: Mike Conley, Greg Oden, Zydrunus Illgauskus, Dru Joyce III, Romeo Travis, Willie Mcgee, Sian Cotton, Maverick Carter

#7 – The Excelerators
Jeff Schwartz is one of the best agent in basketball. He signs great character guys and builds long term relationships with them. He also stays out of the press. His people will do a nice job organizing this squad.

Captain: Paul Pierce
Team: Deron Williams, Al Jefferson, Emeka Okafor, Devin Harris, Jason Kidd, Charlie Villanueva, Blake Griffen

#8 The Iron Curtain
Back in the day, these guys would have been called the USSR. I kind of wish the Middle East could field some amazing sports teams so we can have some Cold War type rivalries.

Captain: Dirk Nowitzki
Team: Beno Udrih, Hedo Turkoglu, Marcin Gortat, Goran Dragic, Vladimir Radmanovic, Zaza Pachulia, Omar Asik, Timofey Mozgov, Andrei Kirilenko, Enes Kantor

#9 – Big East Alumni Network
Yup, we actually created something better than the Big East Tournament. Gotta have some Johnnies in our dance.

Captain: Ray Allen
Team: Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, Ben Gordan, Hakim Warrick, DeJuan Blair, Ryan Gomes, Kemba Walker, Wesley Matthews, Marcus Hatten, Dwight Hardy

#10– The NATO Warriors
First Europe unites to support the Libyan rebels and now they all ball together. Led by the Spaniards, this might be the prettiest team to watch…

Captain: Pau Gasol
Team: Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon, Boris Diaw, Nicholas Batum, Marco Belinelli, Johan Petro, Tony Parker, Danilo Gallinari

#11 – MJ’s Carolina
You know MJ is licking his chops for any excuse to play competitively. His fellow alumni are probably the only guys to follow him. Larry Brown will coach these guys.

Captain: Michael Jordan
Team: Ty Lawson, Raymond Felton, Tyler Hansbrough, Ed Davis, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Brandan Wright, Danny Green Wayne Ellington

#12 – The City
I love NYC ball but shouldn’t there be more talent here?

Captain: Metta World Peace
Team: Lamar Odom, Sebastian Telfair, Stephon Marbury, Lance Stephenson, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Jamaal Tinsley, Rafer Alston, Royal Ivey

#13 – Role Models
This team is smoking!

Captain: Gilbert Arenas
Team: Michael Beasley, OJ Mayo, DeMarcus Cousins, DeShawn Stevenson, Glenn Davis, Allen Iverson, Delonte West, Javaris Crittenton

#14 – The Dukies
Gonna be fun to watch them lose. Batteir and Grant Hill are pissed he lost the Presidency to Curtis Granderson. Coached by Steve Wojciechowski

Captain: Grant Hill
Team: Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, Luol Deng, Chris Duhon, Shane Battier, Kyrie Irving, JJ Redick, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Nolan Smith

#15 – The High Flyers
The official team of the Tea Party, Kenny Chesney and Talladega Super Speedway.

Captain: Steve Nash
Team: David Lee, Chris Anderson, Kirk Hinrich, Chase Budinger, Landry Fields, Kris Humphries, Kyle Korver, Gordan Haywood, Steve Blake, Jimmer Fredette

#16 – Team Zeros
I never understood why a guy would want to be a zero. But apparently these guys do. And they understand each other. And they are going to match their win total with their uniform number. Maybe they will be sponsored by NASA or Mircrosoft or Yah00.

Captain: Mike Bibby
Team: Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden, James Johnson, Jeff Teague, Gary Forbes, Avery Bradley, Darrell Arthur, Spencer Hawes, Chad CeroYcero

What team would win? What team would you like to see form?

Here’s a highlight video of Durant lighting up the Rucker. This is the type of ball you’ll see in the Pro Sweet 16.

I’ve been hung up lately on the idea that college, especially private schools, are a financial rip-off. I am having trouble understanding the actual direct value of a $125K (and increasing) undergraduate degree. Even if there are real benefits, I haven’t met many students that realize them.

I’m not a big fan of traditional, structured education. I didn’t buy into it as a student. I never felt like it correlated to the real world. I thought that the best way to learn and get ahead was to do worthwhile projects outside of the classroom. I still do. I’m also an avid reader and feel as though I’ve learned the most from good books. Perhaps this is why I’m now in a profession that isn’t really dependent on scholastic achievement.

Education hasn’t changed all that much in generations. 1) Do well in high school 2) Go to the best college 3) Move on to graduate school (depending on the career path). The cost of law school or business school is also high but at least there is an easier way to quantify its value by calculating the post-grad school options. But do you really need an expensive undergrad degree to enroll in these programs? Seems like we can pack all the fun and education into 2-3 years, save our youth some serious time and money, and get on with life.

That’s not the only thing that should change. Technology moves so fast that people need to stay more educated and learn new skills throughout their career. Education should never stop. I’ve never understand why school and learning is just for young people. I’ll happily defer part of my college education till later on in my life (when I’ll need it more).

Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder, hedge fund manager and venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, believes we’re all in the midst of a higher education bubble because it is “overvalued and intensely believed”. The education bubble is about security and insurance against the future. Pay to go to a good college and you will be set for life. Premiere colleges don’t focus on their level of education but rather at their level as “prestige” as a way to rationalize ever-increasing tuition. Thiel is taking aim at these institutions by launching the Thiel 20 Under 20 Fellowships. The fellowships are granted to the most talented students under 20 years of age and pay them $100,000 over two years to leave school and start something instead.

Here are some other cool new developments in education.

If you happen to be so chic as to find yourself in the women’s shoe department at Bloomingdale’s in SoHo this week you’ll be able to check out the new J.Litvack footwear collection. Fresh from the docks of Portugal, the footwear line is also featured in NYC at Lord & Taylor and other boutique stores (view list).

For those not in the know, the Litvack clan made their mark in the new country as cobblers. I’ve blogged about the rags to riches story of my Grandpa Saul who founded Erica (named after America) Shoes. At some point in the 70’s my father took the baton and the company soared like Al Bundy rising from the couch to grab the last buffalo wing.

My Uncle Jay is now the last remaining Litvack in the shoe business but that hasn’t stopped him from ambitiously creating his own new line. After successfully launching brands for Me Too Footwear, Steven by Steve Madden, Boutique 9 for Nine West he decided it was time for him to do his own thing.

According to the story on the website (The unc was unavailable for an interview) the collection is casual, sporty, cool contemporary and more about “attitude and all the details” than “covering all classifications”. Almost sounds like he’s describing his very cool nephew! Can’t wait till he comes out with the Littyhoops knee high pump! Here is a interview of Unle Jay describing the new line on City Soles TV.

I’ve been following along from the start and rooting for him over the last 18 months. Like any bootstrapped startup company it’s taken a tremendous dose of grit and tenacity (and an understanding wife) to get the venture off the ground. He recently told me a ridiculous story about hiring a local Portuguese lawyer he found on Google to help solve an international dispute… and it worked! Like any small business owner he’s problem solving all day and all night and quickly iterating and improving the business. I get a kick out of hearing him and my aunt describe their exploits in the digital world getting the J.Litvack website and social media strategy (Facebook) going. He has yet to take my advice though to pronounce the brand Jay Dot Litvack.

I’m proud of Uncle Jay (and I’m sure Scruffy would be as well). He’s going 100 miles per hour these days. This week he’s in Vegas for the big FN shoe convention. The first orders of J.Litvack have shipped and hit stores as of this week. It’s a big accomplishment. Hopefully he can stop for a second to appreciate this milestone. Plus, it’s another feather in the cap for us Litvack’s. Might I add that I have yet to hear about a Galitziana shoe brand (unless they were the guys behind Starbury’s).

Below is a picture of my cousin Samantha modeling the shoes. The photo is so striking that you might think Sam was a professional model but in truth she’s just a recent college graduate (Go Blue!) who still lives at home with her parents and is dying to move to Murray Hill. To be clear, my intention here is NOT to embarrass her. That would be awkward. Did you know that Sam and her sister Jackie are the inspiration for J.Litvack!!!

In my little social sphere Spotify has been killing it for quite some time. Hopefully, the rest of you ignorant Gringos have stopped listening to Grooveshark by now and have jumped aboard the Spotify soul train. It sure is moving fast as Spotify has reportedly amassed 1.4 million users in less than one month.

he skinny: Spotify is an application that can be downloaded to your computer or mobile device. It allows you to easily and instantly access and stream almost any song or album on demand for free. The money feature is that you can share your music with your friends (Facebook connections) as well as view and play their playlists. If you upgrade to the premium service (I have for $10/month) it allows unlimited access, no ads and offline and mobile access for Android and iPhones.

I’ve been using Spotify for a few months and it’s drastically changed my music habits.

• I no longer use my iPod. I either use Spotify on my laptop or my Android phone.
• I’m eager to tryout new music. As soon as I hear about a new band I’ll find them on Spotify. I’ll also fish through my friends playlist (Props to Rosen whose been my #1 music discovery engine for years). Today my ears experienced new music by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Cool Kids and Mango Kisses by the great Oren Masserman.
• I no longer see value in owning music or in iTunes. The offline functionality for Spotify is magical. Still not sure exactly how it works but it does so beautifully.

As I’m putting together this blog post I’ve learned even more cool stuff (btw, it’s kind of confusing to figure all this stuff out). Spotify offers a simple way to import music files from your computer which allows you to keep all of your music in one place as well as sync to a mobile device. I also found a bunch of web applications, plug-ins, blogs, news sites, playlist sites, bang etc. that make Spotify even more fun.

You might be wondering how such an awesome new music service came about. It almost didn’t as the music labels were slow to sign agreements. But ultimately this is the future of music (check out VC Fred Wilson’s blog post on music business) and the music industry has learned/beaten into submission that it can’t fight its destiny.

Let me know if you need an invitation to join Spotify or a really, really good pitch why it’s mint condition. I think I know just the guy that can help you out!

The cool kids in the digital world have been pumped by the innovations in social media and mobile apps over the last few years. There’s a big wide web full of friends, followers, circles, deals, apps, likes and +1’s. Us social media gurus in the know are often quick to preach to the digitally unenlightened on how platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Android are changing the goddamn world.

I’ve been moping around the digital block for a quick minute. Hopefully that gives me a bit of context and insight into what’s the next big thing. Actually, it’s being calculated as we speak. That’s because it’s Data.

I know. I know. The meaningfulness of data falls somewhere between a mid-afternoon snoozer and the name of the little Asian kid in The Goonies. Leave it to the 1999 Great Neck North math team co-captain to proselytize the power of numbers. For most, data is something for the database marketing guy to crunch, research nerd to dive into or Mathematics professor to compute.

But here are two of the experiences that smacked me upside the head and made it apparent that data is the future.

In March, I attended the MIT Sloan Sports and Analytics Conference in Boston. I met lots of really smart people using data in professional sports to influence strategy, scouting and coaching. All these nerds are convinced they are way more right than the norm and the results are starting to show. Moneyball, by Michael Lewis (and soon to be a major motion picture), brought this concept to the sports fan and that sports analytic has now permeated throughout pro sports. The NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks are big believers in data mining and statistical analysis and give their own “stat geek”, Roland Beech, a seat on the bench. Most NBA teams now have their own analytics departments. It will be more impactful than when sports teams first started to watch game tape.

I recently had the good fortune of attending Darren Herman’s Silicon Alley Invitational tournament. The high-caliber group of advertising executives is focusing on how to solve advertising. The consensus of some very brilliant people all seem to focus on how to utilize data to create more effective and efficient marketing campaigns. This is generally referred to as Ad Tech and the smart money believes it is the future of advertising. Its not a far stretch that an objective and sophisticated model can outperform a 24 year old media buyers who may be influenced by factors other than campaign performance. The advertising industry shouldn’t be dominated by “sales”, it should be dominated by results. There’s a reason why Google controls 40% of the total digital marketing pie.

There are venture capital firms that focus on “big data”. There are hedge funds that only make trades based on data. I’m not exactly sure how flash trading works but I’d bet on it beating out the slick rick at the brokerage. There are now computers that can beat grand masters at chess and quirky dudes at Jeopardy.

Data is becoming the superstar.

It’s easier than ever before to collect, organize and process data. Technology is creating new input devices and therefore new data. At Sportsvite we like to share the idea that soon every little leaguer will have their stats computed from their first t-ball game and know their career batting average at any point in their life. At the same time, technology is also allowing for more powerful computation of extremely large and complete data sets. Technology makes data more manageable and useful. Because of digital their is more data waste but it now can also be recycled into the fuel.

Don’t just think of data in terms of numbers. It’s information. Twitter is an amazingly complex and unstructured data stream. Think about the secrets that lie within that aggregate stream if analyzed and computed properly. Here is one take on what it all means from a data guru. You have the inner monologue of the world!

Data is about to totally upheave entire industries. Humans created most business processes, market places, strategies and marketing metrics and principles. Over generations those original processes have evolved incrementally. But data has no regard for feelings, upheaval, paths or “politics”. It is brutally honest.

Let’s go back to sports for a simple example (one that is covered in Moneyball). Since the game was invented, Baseball used the Batting Average statistic as a measure of a player’s offensive ability. Talent was valued, acquired and compensated based on this data point. In the last decade, a bunch of smart people crunched some numbers and realized that On-base percentage was a much more accurate statistical measure of offensive productivity. All professional talent evaluators in baseball will now use OBA as a more accurate measurement. They’ll readily admit that for over 100 years baseball was wrong in valuing batting average as an important statistic yet the concept was hardly ever challenged until now. I wonder what else baseball has got wrong over the years? Maybe there is a better way to position players on the field. A manager would never have the audacity to reinvent positions but a computer model would!

Sports are just an example. Try to extrapolate how data can transform health care, government, urban policy, Wall Street, education, etc. One idea that excites me is how every body function will be measured, calculated and analyzed at all times. Some little chip will be implanted in your wrist and it will be equivalent to being hooked up at all times to every machine in the Lenox Hill emergency room.

But data has some issues it needs to sort out. It has really bad marketing.

For the most part, the evil and inferior humans are afraid of data and try their best to oppress the numbers. Data is a byproduct that goes by the wayside far too often. Executives will talk about strategy, relationships, their “gut” and every other which way to describe their own importance in their business. Data also often gets manipulated to reinforce a bias rather than drive the decision. As someone who likes and trusts numbers I still find myself dumbing down my data. I’ll find and use stats that “sound good” to back up my argument. I’ll reject most business stats (that I don’t compute myself) because I’m weary of their accuracy or how they’ve been manipulated.

Data can only be tamed by the right people. It’s not you or me. It’s the engineers who study and work with large, structured and unstructured data sets. It’s the Navi warrior who can tame that weird flying dragon that the Navi flies around on.

Also, how much better does data have to be than the status quo for people to take notice? In many industries, both the buyer and seller have incentive to keep on doing it the same way. Only if data forces their hand, by being so much better than the status quo, does it eventually pick up. Again, Google is the great example. Their products (mostly all automated with a fluent marketplace) owns 40% of the digital advertising market. They benefit (better and more trackable ROI) is just too good to ignore.

As the cool kids recognize the power of data they will begin to use it in new ways. I also think data will become friendly so anyone can analyze it without getting bogged down in numbers. Cool things are about to happen. Start giving numbers the respect they deserve!

Although my resume says I’m a college sports aficionado, I’m no recruiting guru. Many college sports fans are though. I suppose the allure is to get the inside scoop on future stars. It’s a warm cutesy feeling to discover a player, or at least knew about him from the very start. My buddy Lil Daddy told me he wakes up every morning at 5am for two reasons — to feed his baby and to check the Michigan recruiting blogs.

The whole recruiting business is kind of creepy. Grown men fawn over teenagers attributes like their “length” or “motor”. It’s so hard for me to be a fan of recruiting since it’s unclear what I’m following. I’m not watching basketball games. It doesn’t actually matter who wins the meaningless high school or summer league games. Instead recruiting fans spend their time reading scouting reports, sharing rumors, keeping fingers crossed the recruits pass all their classes and getting aroused by watching crappily produced Youtube video highlights (DMX soundtrack undoubtedly).

Recruiting junkies like to brag to all the normal (below average to them) fans how much more he (I’ve never met a female recruiting guru) knows about their program than you do. Recruitiniks make it seem like they all just came from, or are about to, grab a beer with the coaching staff. They’ll say stuff like “This kid we got can straight up fly and has the softest hands since Chris Carter. He scored eight touchdowns a game in his sophomore season and he would have had more if the coach didn’t sit him. Ohio State and USC wanted him bad but he wanted to go to a “clean program”. He is such a good kid. The only questions is if he should line up in the slot or out wide.”. All this bravado even though there is a good chance nobody has even seen the sixteen year old kid play ball in an actual game.

Recruiting is to college sports what US Weekly is to Hollywood. Why watch the actual event (sports game=movie) when you can gossip about it instead!

As I said. I don’t get it.

Then one day Steve Lavin came to St. John’s. That day everything changed. Now I love recruiting. As my hipster friends Marc and Jon would say, it’s Mint Condition Son!

The Johnnies have a huge recruiting class of nine players this year. They’re basically flipping over the entire team from last year’s senior laden yet talent-challenged squad. The amazingness is that the recruiting class is ranked #3 in the entire nation. Only Duke and North Carolina are better. Consider this: Before this season the Johnnies have not had a top 100 recruit since Elijah Ingram in 2002. Norm Roberts just couldn’t land a stud. Now they have five in the top 75. Yup, Steve Lavin can really “Roy” em.

The best part of the recruiting class is that they are such great kids. True, I’ve never seen any of them every play in a game. But I know everything about them. In fact I consider them friends.

The anticipation is lovely. It’s like the nine hottest girls on Facebook just friended me and all agreed to start dating yours truly this fall. That is how I feel right now.

I’d like to introduce you to my new pals. I’m sure you will love them too.

Sir’Dominic Pointer (6-6, 195, Ranked #24)
Sir Dom is from Michigan and chose St. John’s over the Wolverines. When he did I hit up Sitman and every Michigan fan I could find and taunted them. At that point in his life his name was just Dom Pointer but at some point over the last 10 months he must have realized that he should be addressed with the respect that an up and coming Big East defensive stopper deserves. He shuts down his man. I’ve never seen him allow a basket. Pointer is a more athletic and aggressive version of Andre Igoudola. He also has the sickest follow up tip dunks. Sir Dom keeps it real on Twitter (@SirDom1) where he can usually be found “chillin”.

Jakarr Sampson (6-8, 200, Ranked #31)
Jakarr was the first player in the class to commit to St. John’s. He did so after consulting his boy Lebron James who recommended he go to the bright lights of NYC. Jakarr is from Akron and attended the same high school as James for a hot minute and plays on Lebron’s AAU team the King James Shooting Stars. Sampson is long. He is athletic. He is a natural three who can play the four and defend the two. He runs the break and plays above the rim.

Maurice Harkless (6-6, 200 Ranked #38)
Ironically, Mo is actually one of the only guys in the recruiting class actually from NYC thereby making him my hometown favorite. I also like him because he’s bouncy. He runs lanes agilely. No wasted motion. He can knock down the three-point shot and has a sweet mid-range pull-up. Best of all, he decomitted from UCONN before signing with St. John’s. Remember when UCONN got all the recruits. Well, now we know how they did it. They cheated. Here’s some mix tape action. Also, go to Twitter now to be the 937th follower of @moe_harkless.

D’Angelo Harrison (6-3, 180 Ranked #63)
I’m not sure I could have ever imagined the Johnnies landing a gunner from Texas but that’s just what they have here. Harrison is a scoring machine who can put points on the board in a hurry. He shoots like Glenn Rice and scores like Mark Aguirre. He takes big shots. Mad confidence son. No fear. Gotta love that about the kid. Here is his YouTube reel.

Norvel Pelle (6-9, 200 Ranked #75)
Pelle is from the LBC. He is the best Big Man on the West Coast and naturally shunned UCLA, Washington and Oregon to come East. He has a lengthy frame with a pterodactyl wing span. He has an engine likes a Maserati and hops like a Mexican jumping bean. Mad bouncy. He’s more creative on the glass than Chagall. Here he is “in da labbbbb” on Youtube.

Amir Garrett (6-6, 190 Ranked #96)
The only thing holding Garrett back from dominating the Big East is a 96 mile per hour left-handed fastball that just got him drafted by the Cincinnati Reds. He’s the next David Price if he wants to be. The upside on this kid is tremendous. He’s sick on the basketball court also. Garrett has that prototypical wing-type frame for the next level (whatever level you think that is add one more). He has superb athleticism, length, and he plays with reckless abandon. Watch him dunk over a 7′2″ schlub. Just wait till his perimeter skills evolve. If this kids comes to Queens…watch out!

Phil Greene (6-2, 170)
Greene is a shifty, slender combo guard from the Windy City. He has sick quickness and is silky smooth. He attacks. He finishes. A shifty ballhandler, he can either get into the lane and finish or pull up to hit mid-range jumpers. He compares himself to Rondo with a jump shot. Defensively, his length and quickness allow him to shut down both guard positions. His YouTube video is slick (produced by IMG Academy).

Nurideen Lindsey (6-4, 185)
Lindsay is the next Allen Iverson. He can score at will. Nuri is one of the top JUCO ballers in the nation. He averaged 22 points per game last year at Redlands CC. In his first game he put up 49 points and there was talk of him going straight to the NBA. Chad Ford has him ranked as the 63rd best prospect for 2012. He is a streetball legend in Philadelphia, where he averaged 38 points per game as a junior in High School. He then took two years off due to the tragic death of a close friend and his younger brother. Watch Lindsey drilling in this video. He never misses a shot! GHe can be found on twitter (@NurideenLindsey) praising the lor.d

Godsgift Achiuwa (6-9, 220)
Define intervention landed this JUCO All-American post player in Jamaica rounding out the Johnnies recruiting class. “Gift” is a tenacious, relentless paint player with high moral character. Since the Johnnies had recruited five wing players it was essential they get another big guy. His parents are Nigerian ministers who are quite biblical. His brother’s name is Promise, God’s Will and Precious. His sisters’ names are Grace and Peace. Here is Godsgift sharing the secrets of his unique name on ESPN.

So there you have it. Aren’t these guys just great. I can’t wait to hang out with them next year.