Tag Archives: Words

The Next One | Andrew Wiggins

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Oak and Oar

The hype surrounding Canadian NBA hopefully Andrew Wiggins continues to snowball. We asked our good friend Alex Paterson to shed some light on the Canadian hopeful. Through 2011-12 Alex focused his Master’s Research Project at Carleton on profiling the wave of young Canadian basketball talent migrating to prep schools in the United States. ______________ If there wasn’t enough hype surrounding 17-year-old Canadian basketball phenom Andrew Wiggins before, there certainly is now. Look no further than the front pages of Monday’s Globe and Mail and Toronto Star newspapers, or segments on Canada’s two largest sports networks, TSN and Sportsnet. Wiggins has officially arrived on Canada’s radar. People in basketball circles around the world have known about Wiggins for a few years now because of the numerous YouTube clips that show his highlight-reel dunks and scary athleticism. But until recently, he was largely unknown in his native country. That all changed when he arrived with Huntington Prep (his high school team in West Virginia) to play an exhibition game in Hamilton, ON Sunday against a regional all-star team from the Greater Toronto Area. The meaningless game had the makings of a high-profile US high school contest foreign to Canadian basketball fans. The bleachers were packed. Hoards of Canadian media were on hand. People cared. And they should. Wiggins is a once-in-a-lifetime basketball prodigy. You watch him play and you get the sense he was put on this planet to play the game. Just look at the genetics. His dad played in the NBA, his mom ran track in the Olympics. He’s 6-foot-8 with an imposing wingspan and wiry frame. He’s gangly, but not awkward like most high school boys who don’t know where all their parts go yet. In fact, he’s the opposite. His talent is a smooth balance of power and … Continue reading →

Common vs. Drake | Canada Dry Reference

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Oak and Oar

Rap beefs crack me up, well at least ones that don’t involve guns and knives. The verbal exchange of name calling and metaphorical innuendoes have had their place in rap well before I was born. You’ve had East Coast vs. West Coast, Bad Boy vs. Death Row, NWA vs Ice Cube, LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee, Ja Rule and 50 Cent, and the more laughable ones like Eminem vs. Mariah and Soulja Boy vs. Ice T. This week Common, over “Stay Schemin”, decided to take a shot at Drake by comparing him to former Canadian based beverage, Canada Dry. My initial thought, after I picked myself up off the floor from laughing so hard, was that some jokester tucked away in the corner of his dorm room tweeted something like “Wouldn’t it be funny if someone compared Drake to a carbonated beverage?” and then some how this spiraled through twitter becoming a trending topic. But after a quick goggle it turned out that in fact Common had made the comparison. So here is the Cole’s Notes version of the Drake vs. Common beef… Common calls Drake soft on “Sweet” the third single from Common’s ninth album supposedly because he is bummed that Drake has befriend his former lady, Serena Williams. I know I didn’t believe it either. I could see if it was over Jess Stam or Kate Beckinsale but Serena Williams? Sorry guys I’m just not seeing it. Maybe it is just me, but I prefer a girl that can’t crush my mid section with her quadriceps. Drake tells media during a concert in Las Vegas in December that if Common has an issue with him to come and say it to his face. I don’t want to take sides but that makes sense to me. Common confirms on … Continue reading →