Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Latest edition of In My Humble...™ The Split Decision. We welcome Rudy Mondragon to the In My Humble... team. Rudy and Pierre discuss a number of topics to include the Timothy Bradley vs Brandon Rios matchup, Mikey Garcia's expected return, and more. 


Thursday, July 2, 2015

The In My Humble... crew sits down with former NC State point guard, Monica Pope, as she reflects on the influence Kay Yow had on her life.

Monday, May 11, 2015

One Hit Promotions - Showdown Highlights

Video shot, edited, and produced by the In My Humble... crew. A Banks Boy production.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Russell Westbrook: Poster Child Of The New ERA

Webster defines a point guard as a guard in basketball who is chiefly responsible for running the offense. The one, the point, the floor general, and the primary ball handler. Usually when a player brings the ball up the floor, directs the offense, and (most importantly) is listed as their team's point guard he is recognized as one of the before mentioned terms. When most basketball purest think of the point guard position they reminisce on a time when a floor general's first and second option was to pass the ball. A time when 20 shots for a point guard in a single game was appalling. A time when a point guard's fame only came as the result of making their teammates look good. For those fans these are strange times.



The game they fell in love with has transcended, and no position has evolved more than the point. Russell Westbrook is listed as Oklahoma City's point guard, but if you ask most hoops fans he is anything but. His season averages are staggering: a league best 27.8 points, 7.3 rebounds (most among guards), 8.5 assists (fourth in the league). The numbers suggest that he's playing the best ball of anyone in the association, let alone his position. His explosiveness, court vision, and ability to score the basketball is at this point unmatched. His nine triple doubles this season make it almost un-American to leave him out of the MVP conversation. Friday night alone he posted a line of 36, 10, and 14 against the eastern conference's best squad. All this said (or typed), whenever I dare to voice my humble opinion that Mr. Westbrook is the best point guard in the league an alarming number of people reply "but he's not really a point guard."

It puzzles me that Scott Brooks, a former NBA coach of the year and all around great basketball mind, trusts Russell Westbrook to run his offense, but the average fan wants to change the man's position. Those fans site Westbrook's aggressiveness and shoot first mentality as their chief complaints. One fan, who shall remain nameless, once described Westbrook as a "shoint guard," a shooting guard that plays the point. Who would you consider a point guard if not Westbrook? In today's NBA each team leans on their floor general to create, take, and make their own shots. The top assist players in the league, Chris Paul and John Wall, could at any point take over a game. More coaches allow their best playmakers to run the show, which puts their team in the best position to win ballgames. LeBron James can frequently be seen bringing the ball up the court and setting the offense. The reality is that Russell Westbrook can explode past whomever is given the tall task of guarding him on every possession, and his pull up jump shot is among the league's best. I
n his brilliance, Scott Brooks designs his OKC offense to run through his dynamic playmaker who can explode to the bucket, pull up for a jump shot, drive and collapse the defensive before finding an open teammate, turn a rebound into an instant fast break, and way more than you want to read in this blog post.



It seems that most people don't know what to make of Westbrook's athletic gifts. They have yet to see a point guard do the things he consistently does, so in their minds it's hard to categorize him as such. But is it right to say that someone is too talented to play their listed position? Though he has always put up numbers, this season is distinctively different for Westbrook. The reigning league MVP, Kevin Durant, has only appeared in 27 games and will likely be sidelined until next season. As a result, Westbrook has had to shoulder more of the offensive load and is averaging a career high in points. It also seems that the absence of Durant has opened up more offensive options for the Thunder. Westbrook is having no trouble finding those options, and his season assist average is also a career high. The fact is, the loss of Kevin Durant has elevated Westbrook's game to a level that would be impossible if they were sharing the floor. The Durant injury has forced Russell Westbrook to do what you would expect a superstar to do, put his team on his back and carry them to the finish. John Stockton may have been the measuring rod in '96, but at the moment Russell Westbrook defines the point guard position.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

A New Beginning for Broner

He won his first world title in the junior lightweight division at the age of 22. In a span of 18 months he added two more world titles in the lightweight and welterweight divisions. At the age of 23 he was an undefeated three division world champion, and at 24 he showed the world he had just as much guts as he did skill in the only loss of his outstanding career. If you didn't know the name of the fighter I'm describing there's no doubt you would be impressed with his accomplishments, and chances are you would tune in to his next fight. His fan friendly style of standing and delivering with concussive power from the pocket, taking just as good as he gives, would without question earn your respect if not create an instant fan.



The problem (no pun intended) is you do know his name, and it's synonymous with a string of abhorrent acts outside of the ring that detract from his excitement within. This Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Adrien Broner (29-1) will have an opportunity to help bring boxing back to the forefront of the sports world, when he takes on John Molina Jr. live on NBC. There is no shortage of talent when it comes to Broner's boxing ability. Though he is constantly compared to Floyd Mayweather, it's the differences between the two pugilists that make Broner's fights so compelling.  He is an offensive minded fighter who looks for the knockout from round one to round twelve. He is always economical with his punches, but when he throws he's accurate. Each time he lands you could find yourself on the canvas wondering how you got down there. His shoulder roll defense has just enough holes in it to give each of his fights the opportunity to be an instant classic. Even if you tuned in to his fights in hopes that he would be pummeled by the opposition, you would be classified as a liar if you said that you walked away unimpressed with the quality of the fight.


Adrien Broner will take on John Molina Jr. Saturday night live on NBC
Despite of the aforementioned facts most boxing fans, aside from most African-Americans and Cincinnati residents, have a unmistakable disdain for Broner. In fact, ask a boxing fan about Adrien Broner and 80% of them would respond negatively with a laundry list of things that have absolutely nothing to do with boxing. The negative cloud follows Broner so closely that he was ridiculed for weeks by the public for using a "racial slur" after one of his fights when he distastefully referred to his opponent as a "Mexican" (pardon the sarcasm). Those same fans will express absolute joy when it comes to Broner actually boxing, but it comes at the expense of him being knocked down twice and dropping a unanimous decision to Marcos Maidana. Broner hasn't helped his case by doing things like flushing money down the toilet, and releasing a sex tape. But who are we to judge a man for what he does with money that he has earned? And if a man wants to record himself having sex with two women...well I can't really defend him on that one. 

The fact of the matter is that we are all human, and we all make mistakes. My thought process has always been that when discussing a fighter's value, he should be judged solely on his in ring ability. In my humble, Adrien Broner has the potential to lead the next generation of boxing's best into the future of the sport. Recently he has shown a maturity and focus we have yet to see in his previous 30 fights. The only videos of Boner that can be found on YouTube show a more sedated fighter that at this point in his career understands the balance of being an entertainer and a skilled boxer.



Though his accomplishments resemble that of a veteran, Broner is just entering into his prime years in the sport. The timing of his network television debut and opponent couldn't be better. Broner once gave us our money's worth when he fought Gavin Rees, so a tilt with the all-action John Molina Jr. could be a fight of the year candidate. For most current boxing fans an affinity for Adrien Broner is  too far gone, but Saturday night presents an opportunity for a new beginning. Paired with the chance to fight on network television is the opportunity for Broner to expose his bounty of talent to a new demographic; who just may be so impressed with his talent that they become fans before they allow the out of the ring antics he's become known for to overshadow the ability that makes him so special inside the ropes.