Apparently, Microsoft really likes
LeBron James
. After the company recruited him to be the first athlete to promote Microsoft products, they are now giving him his own website at
http://LeBron.msn.com. (
Note: As of publish time, LeBron's site was down for maintenance.) The website is nothing but LeBron James 24 hours a day, seven days a week. From stats and latest news to off-the-court interests, charities and events, the site will cover anything having to do with King James.
Former VIBE Magazine editor,
Emil Wilbekin is the official reporter and blogger for LeBron's world and will update the website and LeBron blog at least on a weekly basis. He'll also travel with LeBron and report on his experiences on the website. The site will also feature exclusive off-the-court video that you can't get anywhere else.
"I've always wanted to have a place where kids can see all aspects of my personality -- where I can really talk with them about where I came from, what I do and how I achieve my goals," James said. "Working with MSN on
LeBron.msn.com allows all my fans across the globe to share in my journey. My goal is to inspire people to achieve their goals and be part of something bigger than themselves."
Hey, yo Carmelo, if you want to do something similar, holla at us! You know you have to keep up with the Jameses!
Dr. J Buys a Golf CourseFresh off from coming home last week's All-Star Weekend,
Julius "Dr. J" Erving
announced that he and business partner
Chuck Watkins bought the Heritage Golf Club, a golf course in Atlanta, Georgia. There's no word on how much the good doctor dropped to get the golf course, but it was once named "Best New Golf Course" by Golf Digest when it opened in 1996.
"It's a fabulous location," Watkins told the Associated Press. "We want people to be glad when they come to play here and feel good about their experience when they leave. It's a very underrated golf course. Over the years it's never reached its full potential. So many people don't know where the golf course is. It's amazing."
Erving and Watkins plan to revitalize the location and raise the profile to get more folks out to the course. It's an 18-hole course with a 20-acre lake and a 23-acre lit practice facility. Fifty-seven year old Dr. J has been doing pretty good business since he retired from the NBA in 1986. He's been living off of his Coca-Cola bottling franchise in Philly and serves on the board of directors for Converse, Saks, and The Sports Authority. We can't wait until we retire.
Drip D-Wade from Head-to-ToeSomehow we missed this last week, but
Dwyane Wade launched an athletic clothing line designed by his people at Converse. Along with his new shoe, Wade 2.0, his clothing line will include T-shirts, performance shorts, fleeces, warm-ups, shooting shirts, track jackets, hats and bags.
"It's a great honor to be a part of the first apparel line Converse has developed for a professional athlete, especially when you consider the athletes the company has worked with in the past," said Wade. "I worked closely with the Converse design team so the entire line and the
WADE 2.0 signature shoe are truly a reflection of me and my style."
Look for Wades 2.0 shoe to hit shelves in May starting at $100, and the clothing line will roll out at Foot locker, Finish Line and Champs stores on March 3. Prices start at $25 for hats and t-shirts and go all the way up to $85 for fleece jackets. At least Wade will have some new gear to sport while hes out tending to his busted shoulder.
Who is Eli Freez? Freestyle Soccer at its FinestOn Sunday, New York's Webster Hall was host to the finals of the Red Bull Futbol De Calle soccer freestyle contest. For those unfamiliar, freestyle is the art of juggling a soccer ball with your feet, legs, head, back without the ball touching your hands or arms or letting it hit the ground, basically inspiring hacky sack play (check out the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn2Ewosql0s). At competition, the freestylers performed their best moves over hip-hop beats and were judged by the likes of hip-hop pioneer
Grandmaster Caz and New York Red Bulls players
Jozy Altidoreand
Todd Dunivant. The event was hosted by Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew and Bobbito Garcia and Cosmo Baker kept the crowd moving behind the turntables.
While most of the world has the freestyle soccer thing on lock, this night was for the North American freestylers such has
Eli Freez (Steve Elias),
Jayzinho (Jason Quezada),
Conejito (Noe Cornejo) and
Angelo Storms who all have street fame similar to And 1's street ballers. Eli Freez came out the winner as he beat Angelo Storm in the finals and was crowned as North America's King of All Freestylers and given the title of "Maestro". According to ESPN's Jen Chang, one of the hottest moves Freeze pulled was a slick move where he flipped two balls on top of each other and juggled them simultaneously. To see some Eli Freeze clips, check out http://www.freestylesoccer.ca.
