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Rasheed Wallace Does the Work
There’s a lasting image I have of Rasheed Wallace. Think back to arguably the most chaotic scene in sports history, the Malice at the Palace in November of 2004, when a drunk idiot threw a beer at Metta Sandiford-Artest (then Ron Artest), hit him in the face and instigated a brawl near the end of…
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Quit Using Flint to Score Social Media Points
A group of local artists in Flint painted a Black Lives Matter mural on Martin Luther King Boulevard over the weekend. That in itself isn’t particularly noteworthy outside of Flint — people around the country have painted similar murals on public streets or other prominent spaces as rallies continue to force the country to finally…
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The Joys of Letting Kids be Inappropriate
Co-parenting under any circumstance has difficult moments, but in one household, even when parenting styles are misaligned, there is usually motivation by each parent to occasionally bend on at least some values in the name of preserving a semblance of a peaceful and united parenting front. When marriages end, a parade of therapists, court system…
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Raising a Justice-Oriented Sports Fan
I was 12-years-old the first time I fought with my dad about sports. He grew up in rural Michigan, rose every day at 4 a.m. to head into his maintenance job for a General Motors parts supplier, and rarely missed a day until he became too physically weak to turn a wrench. He proudly boasted…
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The Most Powerful High School in America
Draymond Green is synonymous with Saginaw, but more accurately, he’s synonymous with Saginaw High. There’s a difference. Compared to most high-level athletes, Green looks rather pedestrian. But put him on a basketball court, with his combination of IQ, instincts, and barely controlled passion, and he makes perfect sense. The first time I spotted Green live…
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I’m Trying to Delete my Babiez off the Internet
“How many likes? More than Isla?” My hyper-competitive 9-year-old son Oliver breathlessly asked that question every time he realized there was a photo posted of him on my Instagram page. And … I mean … of course you didn’t get more likes than your sister. You’re cute and all son, but have you seen her…
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Facebook’s Political Stance
Earlier this year, I deleted my personal Facebook page. I don’t have a highly detailed explanation for why. At the macro level, the company is just flat out evil. They are in no small part responsible for getting the literal dumbest person alive elected president by creating a platform that allows racist conspiracy theories and…
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When Laughing is All You Have
“… Are you funny?” I’ve always loved standup comedy. I’ve also always been timid and risk averse, which has led to varying levels of regrets from every period of my life for things I’ve been interested in but talked myself out of trying. I’ve spent the better part of the last three years trying to…
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Kofi Kingston is the Pipebomb
One of my earliest memories as a kid was watching Superstars with my dad, uncle, and cousin, crowded around a 20-inch tube TV with rabbit ears that sat on top of a non-working dryer (that was for some reason in the kitchen) at my uncle’s perennially under construction house. More accurately, wrestling was on in…
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Black Panther And The Power Of Siblings
Writing in Rolling Stone this week, Tre Johnson had the following line about Black Panther: Like anything black in America, Black Panther will be politicized for being black, which is to say for being and for announcing itself as a having a right to be here and to be heard. Johnson is right, of course. There are dozens of Google search results…
Patrick Hayes 