Hey World! Alright the whole world isn’t reading my blog, so hey Mount! Lol. Anyways how’s everyone doing? Summer is near, so I can’t imagine why anyone would be down. In case anyone was wondering why I write this blog, the reason is not only because I get paid but also because I can somewhat be a voice for the students of MSJ and also because I feel I have something interesting to say, every time I blog, that I think the people of the Mount might be interested in.

So this past Wed. March 24^th, 2010, I attended a scholarship luncheon hosted by the Mount in the Corona room for individuals whom received scholarships from the Mount’s generous donors. I expected the luncheon to consist mostly of students, but to my surprise sisters, faculty, adult students, and more were all at the luncheon. It was a great experience and very inspirational. While there; I met sisters, faculty, adult students that came back to school to get their degree and other young students like myself whom all received scholarships from the Mount. During the luncheon two students spoke and both of their short speeches had an impact on me. One of the students, who was handicapped, spoke about how his struggle in high school to fit in led to him having a subpar GPA and a loss of hope of attending college. Nonetheless, the Mount took care of him and changed his life by giving him an opportunity at their institution with a scholarship.

This luncheon really made me grateful for the financial help the Mount has given me while simultaneously giving me a chance to meet other individuals who received scholarships. With this being said I would gladly appreciate it if the Mount would award me an additional scholarship because I have had superb academic success since my enrollment at the Mount. So if you are a high school student or anyone searching for a good education and you’re considering the Mount I say go for it because their generosity in awarding scholarship is indicative of their generosity to help their students in the classroom and just in general. And before I go I have a quick example of this generosity. The other day I was having trouble opening my mailbox, and a janitor, who always has a great attitude despite having to clean up the ridiculous mess that some students make, stopped what he was doing to help me open it. It’s the little things like that, that make the Mount the institution it is. Alright I’m out for now but I will be blogging again soon, because I feel like I’ve been neglecting all my readers. Until then peace.

What’s up everybody? It’s that time of the year again, when on a daily basis you can expect jaw dropping upsets, where a Cinderella team emerges. You’ll experience heart stopping, game winning shots that hang in the air for what seems like an eternity before it torches the net. And last but certainly not least it gives millions across the nation the chance to be NCAA tournament gurus in regards to filling out brackets for how they envision the NCAA tournament will play out.

Now if you’ve read my blogs before, then you know how much I promote and brag about Chicago basketball players being so good. Well now I have evidence to make me credible. The best player on three of the four number one seeded teams , in this year’s 2010 NCAA Tournament, are from Chicago. And amongst the field of 64 teams, we have a copious amount of players from Chicago making us very well represented. Just to give you a quick list of the names of the Chicago ballers in this year’s tournament, we have: Sherron Collins of Kansas, the number one seed in the Midwest region, we have Jacob Pullen of Kansas State, the number two seed in the West region, John Scheyer of Duke, the number one seed in the South region, and Deandre Liggins of Kentucky, the number one seed in the East region. In addition to those players, we also have Evan Turner of Ohio State who is in the race for Player of the year and DJ Cooper, who is a young up incoming impact freshman for Ohio University.

So when you fill out your brackets, remember what I’ve been telling you about Chicago basketball players and you might be surprised how accurate your bracket turns out. Alright I’m out y’all.

What’s up my MSJ fans? This is your main man Najeeb signing in to drop another intriguing blog. If you don’t know already I am from Chicago, a city that literally breeds phenomenal basketball players. The reason is because growing up all we do is hoop and for some individuals in the inner city of Chicago, basketball is the only way out of the “hood”. I’ve seen some amazing talent in Chicago so to say that Michael Romes, a Kentucky baller, has really impressed me like no other is really a bold statement. For those of you who don’t know who Michael Romes is, well let me just say he is the greatest player to step foot on the courts of the Harrington Center.

Romes is from Villa Hills, Kentucky and is Beechwood high schools finest. Michael is an Athletic Training student like myself and he has aspirations of becoming an orthopedic surgeon. That’s just a little background information to show what kind of focus this guy has. What many people don’t know is that despite playing at a D3 school he has offers to play basketball professionally overseas and after a whole season of practicing with him and watching him abuse other teams during the season, I think he should continue his basketball career and pursue a professional career overseas in Europe. Michael is a 6’4 215+ SG whose game is extremely crafty. His jump shot is pure and his work ethic shows that he is the hungriest player to win every game bar none. So if you see Michael Romes tell him he should go overseas to hoop and if you have a facebook page join my fan page for Michael Romes. That’s all for now folks until next time peace.

What’s up everybody? I first have to apologize to all my MSJ fans and others reading for being M.I.A (missing in action). Things have been hectic with my hard academic schedule and the stress from our basketball team’s losing streak, however; that is no excuse. But anyways I wanted to talk to you guys in this blog about the barbershop. And I’m not talking about the barbershops in Delhi, Ohio that the people of Cincinnati are accustomed to. I’m talking about the Chicago style barbershop that usually caters more to the African-American population but will accept anyone. Some of you all may have seen the movie Barbershop starring Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer. If so this movie, based in Chicago, was a very good depiction of what the barbershop is really like. For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, the barbershop is the black man’s country club. It is much more than a place you go to get a haircut. In the barbershop, barbers are cracking jokes all the time on any and everybody. If you don’t have thick skin, then the barbershop is not the place for you. You can always count on the local street hustler to stop by selling “CDs DVDs”. Old men are playing chess daily and constantly telling young guys like me how good we have it and I bet you’ll hear them say “back in my day” lol. As far as the barber is concerned, he’s more than just a guy that cuts your hair. As Cedric the Entertainer put it in the movie Barbershop; “See, in my day, a barber was more than just somebody who sit around in a FUBU (for us by us) shirt with his drawers hanging all out. In my day, a barber was a counselor. He was a fashion expert. A style coach. Pimp. Just general all-around hustler. But the problem with y'all cats today, is that you got no skill. No sense of history. And then, with a straight face, got the nerve to want to be somebody. Want somebody to respect you. But it takes respect to get respect.” And that is why I like going to the barbershop because the experience is one of a kind. So next time you go to the barbershop think about everything you’re missing out on and consider looking for a new barbershop where you can experience this. Look out for more interesting and intriguing blogs from your main man Jeeb soon to come. Thank God every morning for waking you up to live another day. Deuces.

What’s up everybody? This is your main man Najeeb, here to drop my last blog of the semester. As stressful as studying for finals may have been the past couple weeks, it’s all over and the month long winter break that we all have anxiously been awaiting has finally arrived. This blog I’m going to do something I’ve never done before in a blog. In my previously blogs I’ve given key advice, shared hilarious college experiences, and touch on many other topics that were important to me that I thought you all would be interested in reading. But now it’s time for a change. Many of you all, including my fellow College of Mount St. Joseph  bloggers, probably would not expect this move that I am about to make. This is a bold move I am about to make and if it wasn’t for my Chicago swagg I probably wouldn’t have the confidence to make this move. So what the hell am I talking about? I know the suspense is killing you, so I guess it’s time to tell you all. I, Najeeb Abdur-Rahman, challenge Betheny Herr (the Communications Specialist for the Department of Marketing at MSJ and coordinator of MSJ blogging) to a one-on-one game of basketball in the Harrington Center once 2^nd semester resumes so that any student that is interested in seeing Betheny get demolished, will be able to. I also want to wait till 2^nd semester so that Betheny can get some extra time to practice because I guarantee you all that she will need it. So mark your calendars everybody, one day 2^nd semester if Betheny doesn’t chicken out, it’s going down. Have a great break and happy holidays to everyone.

What’s up my MSJ people? I know you all are probably really stressed right now studying for finals in all, but just remember that we will be out of school shortly and won’t have class for a month. My last blog, I gave what I thought to be key advice to problems that future college students might encounter once they embark on their four year journey. But now I have a dilemma of my own. Since enrolling at the College of Mount St. Joseph, I have struggled to find a barber with the expertise to cut hair well. Before attending college I would go to the barbershop roughly every three weeks to get a haircut. With the lack of transportation to barbershops in Cincinnati, I find myself going months without a haircut. Now I was fortunate to find a guy who played on the football team that could cut hair pretty well but tracking him down is like trying to find ‘Waldo’. Perplexed as to what I should do, I asked my fellow African-American teammates on the basketball team what they do for haircuts and they told me that they go home for haircuts. Seeing how my home is five hours away, this was not a viable option for me.  We have been in school for three and a half months and I have had only two haircuts in this span of time.  Now I could be optimistic and say that my inability to find a consistent barber has saved me money, which is important being a college student, however; there, have been several occasions where I really could have used a haircut. For example, when I was taking a headshot for my passport a month ago or when we took our team picture for basketball. I wouldn’t be surprised if my identity was questioned on my passport due to my mini-afro that I had and still have. So if anyone has a solution to this problem I am facing, please let me know asap what to do. For it will be greatly appreciated.

Wednesday, November 11^th the day I had been anxiously awaiting for the longest, the day I dreamed about daily, the day I could prove all the doubters wrong. What day am I talking about? The day The College of Mount St. Joseph Men’s basketball team had its first scrimmage against Wittenberg. In case you don’t know by now, I love basketball with a passion. The same way smokers love to smoke, I love to play basketball. With this being said, stating that I was pumped as we warmed up for this scrimmage would be an understatement. The Mount’s Men’s basketball team had a disappointing year last year but we have high expectations for this year. We have all the pieces and we’re more than just a team, we’re a family. I played Junior Varsity in our first scrimmage as the entire freshman class did, but this did not in any way knock my excitement.

Being from Chicago, it’s almost expected that you eat, sleep, and breathe basketball is that makes any sense, hence the many Chicago born players in the NBA. Anyways back to our first scrimmage, as we warmed up the music was blasting loud on the intercom, and I was in the zone, for it was go time. All the hard work over the summer was about to be displayed.  We won the game 63-61 in a game that came down to the wire. I had 9 pts and 5 assists, but the most important thing is that we won and that I had fun. At the conclusion of the JV game our JV team went to the front gym of the Harrington Center to get a little varsity action and the fact that there were a good amount of fans got my adrenaline pumping and I knew it was ShowTime. So I was bringing the ball up the court; I signaled for a high pick and roll at the top of the key, I drove hard right, pulled back with a dazzling D.Wade crossover that got the crowd excited, then I proceeded in shooting a three-pointer in my defenders face that hit nothing but the bottom of the net. It was then that both Wittenberg and the crowd knew that this was no longer a game… it was business.