This is comical.
(excuse my chuckling.)
Those of you who have been following for awhile (and ALL of my college associates) may recall this post from Fall 2008 about one Mr. Mark Anthony Librizzi. “Breeze,” as we’ll call him — all according to the copy & pasted article from the Centre Daily newspaper — had drunkenly stolen a police cruiser from outside a bar, drove it home, and told a friend exactly what he had done. He was later arrested for the offense.
Anywho, we owe Breeze an applause — the charges have been dropped!! This is, according to Sophie Lily Weinstein, the Founder and “Cheif” Creative Officer at Synergy Media L.L.C. Sophie holds a B.A. in communications from Penn State (Hey!!), according to her (apparently self-written) LinkedIn profile.
Ms. Weinstein emailed me recently:
Dear Mr. Baldwin,
I am writing to you in regards to the Friday, October 3, 2008 posting involving my client M. Anthony Librizzi. on the ‘There’s Only One Dre Baldwin’ blog. The subject matter is slanderous. All charges against Mr. Librizzi have been dropped. Legal action will be taken if the post is not removed within 48 hours. A defamation suit against you will be filled ( <<< I can’t make this stuff up. -Dre) with Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Google and other said parties will be informed of the objectionable content.
Please resolve these issues swiftly.
Sincerely,
Sophie Lily Weinstein
C.C.O. Synergy Media, S3M, L.L.C.
(201) 563-8364
Sophielilyweinstein@gmail.com
(laughing at how far I can really go with this…)
On a serious note, I’m actually very disappointed in this email. Disappointed that Sophie had the idea that she could send me an email posing as a lawyer and that I would actually buy it. A back-handed-bitch-slap in the face to my intelligence. Disappointed that Sophie has no idea what “slanderous” means. Disappointed that “Founder” Sophie Lily Weinstein’s name is not mentioned on the Synergy Media L.L.C.’s website. Disappointed that Sophie is the founder of a company and doesn’t even have an email address at the domain of the company (feel free to friend Sophie on Facebook. Breeze too, while you’re at it).
(shaking my head at myself for even writing this post…)
I’m even more disappointed in Mr. Breeze. Disappointed that the Catherine Bateson quote on his profile (“Storytelling is fundamental to the human search for meaning“) is almost as ironic as this Sports Illustrated cover from March 2000. Disappointed that his professional resumé states that he was at West Chester University from 2002-2006 when Breeze PLAYED 17 BASKETBALL GAMES FOR PSU-ALTOONA IN 2003 (as they say on Twitter, smh). Disappointed that Breeze doesn’t know that I have some personal experience, pertaining to Breeze, that would embarrass him worse than anything I have ever blogged about in 5 years online — that is, if he wants to take it there. Or maybe Breeze does know, and he’s just stupid.
(my stomach hurts from giggling.)
I wouldn’t say this about Breeze, but, being that she’s a PSU grad, Sophie Lily Weinstein is probably smart. So, to Sophie:
As you asked, the issues you mentioned have been resolved — swiftly — by Yours Truly. The smart thing for you and your client would be to digest this post and then forget that this ever happened. I will do the same. Since we’ve never met, Sophie, allow me to share something about me: I have a penchant for taking things too far. I also have a bad habit of, one way or another, embarrassing people who come at me the wrong way (and it seems to have gotten worse with age). You can be smart or you can be stupid. Do your client a solid, and make Penn State proud.
Sincerely,
Dre “DreAllDay” Baldwin
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago at 7:30 AM. 5 comments
NYE party,
Did the ball drop? I was drunk.
New Year, two-thousand and ten.
Posted 8 months, 1 week ago at 4:00 PM. Add a comment
The living room of Wes’ crib on College Ave in State College on another night of the infamous ’07 Blue White Weekend. That apartment was more junky than the background of this photo suggests. And the bottle I’m holding here was 3X the price of the average bottle we normally drank in the college days. Banker’s Club, anyone?
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:26 AM. Add a comment
From my Grand Finale Blue-White Weekend at Penn State in April 2007. I believe this club is called “LuLu’s,” and it was quite poppin’ that evening. That’s my friend Kisha sharing a shot of Lords-knows-what… I became much more drunk later on this particular night.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:20 AM. Add a comment
Ahh, The Harlem Ambassadors. More off-court enjoyment than I can remember off the top of my head. I do know, however, that this photo was taken somewhere deep in the state of Oklahoma, with my teammate Tasha being cropped out of the photo, in winter 2006. I got drunk that night. As you can see I’m wearing my favorite shirt at the time as well.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 2:34 AM. Add a comment
Wes came thru to Philly one weekend and we took the one-hour drive to West Chester University to party with these breezies that Wes knew from somewhere. West Chester was one of the Whitest college campuses I have ever seen, with only a small handful of Black dudes on the scene that night- most of them clowns to the third degree. We had a few drinks but not much- the parties we went to weren’t poppin enough to have me take too many sips. And it was cold as hell that night.
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 7:55 AM. Add a comment
Posted 1 year, 4 months ago at 1:03 AM. Add a comment
Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 11:19 PM. Add a comment
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago at 10:27 PM. Add a comment
Here’s a link to a humorous article whose subject is my former PSU Altoona basketball teammate, Mark Librizzi (reprinted below). Read it and laugh. When “Breeze” first came to our campus, another player who knew him from high school told me, “Don’t believe anything he says.” That has nothing to do with the above story; the story just reminds me of that statement.
************
Officers: Man took police car for a ride
By Sara Ganim- sganim@centredaily.com
BELLEFONTE — A man who allegedly took a joyride in a State College police cruiser with a dog inside waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday on charges related to theft and driving with a suspended license.
Mark Anthony Librizzi told police that the night of Aug. 10 he was drinking at Cafe 210 West, a bar at 210 W. College Ave., and remembers approaching the police cruiser, which had its lights on.
“Librizzi said he messed with the police car,” a criminal complaint states. “He had no memory of how he got home, which is approximately one block from where the police car was located” near the intersection of Corl Street and West Beaver Avenue, court documents state.
The officer who had been driving the cruiser was responding to an incident near that bar, police wrote. She parked the car behind a bus with its lights on, then later saw it pass by the bus, police wrote.
When police found the cruiser, the lights were still on and the dog was still in the back.
A woman who told police she was at Librizzi’s apartment when he got home that night said Librizzi told her he had stolen a police cruiser and then he took her outside and pointed to it, police wrote.
Librizzi told the woman he had heard loud breathing in his ear while driving the car, and turned to find the dog in the back, the complaint states.
Librizzi also told the woman he wiped his fingerprints before leaving the car, according to the complaint.
Police say Librizzi admitted on three different occasions to taking the car. State College police arrested him last week.
At the time, Librizzi had a suspended license for a prior DUI-related offense, police said.
Sara Ganim can be reached at 231-4616.
************
Let’s just end this blog entry on that note.
UPDATE: Breeze’s professional resume, sent to me by an anonymous reader.
Posted 1 year, 11 months ago at 11:57 PM. 1 comment
- starting off strong with vocabulary: “opa” means “wow!”
- our ex-assistant coach (the one accused of being drunk during training) was in attendance at our games this weekend. He sat in the stands. And the ‘drunk’ accusation is 98% confirmed true at this point, according to my sources. The scary part is no one in the organization seemed outraged at this drunkenness, and everyone knew about it.
- we went 1-1 in the two- day tournament we hosted; apparently a huge accomplishment here. The entire organization went out for drinks Sunday night, and a big team dinner is planned during the week.
- at the cafe we went to Sunday night (Bristol in Igalo), the whole team is urging me to have a beer (I haven’t touched a drink since getting here). The waiter sees this and plays along; I ask for a Fanta, Sprite, Coke? Negative. If they serve anything non-alcoholic: “No.” After 3 sips of a Tuborg beer, I turn around and see a case full of soda, and the side wall completely covered with the Coca-Cola logo.
- you know how, when people are drunk they encourage everyone around them to drink too? Sunday night, I had a glass best described as “triple-shot-full” of a clear liquid that smelled like vanilla extract. One of my drunk teammates actually discouraged me from drinking it. Not that I was anyway, but how strong must that shit be for a drunk person to tell me NOT to drink?
- “jebiga” = sucks
- I just found out that the guy I clowned for his hideous coat and disgusting haircut is the son of the coach. I will now pause so you can laugh at that. (hopefully I don’t get fined for making this public knowledge… Hell, I think I’m the only person who DIDN’T know this)
- how do you say “bullshit” in Serbian? I also need “crazy” and “shut up.” Thanks.
- the news in this area has done a great job of playing up the Hillary-Obama race in the USA. But, as I can assume by the statements & questions I’ve heard from folks here, the ex-Yugo media has failed to inform everyone that there will also be a Republican candidate for President, too. So Hillary or Obama will have to win another race, besides the one vs. each other, to become the next U.S. President.
- rare bball note: I mentioned this indirectly before, and I will discuss it again: the sport hall we play/practice in does not employ heat.
One day during practice a few weeks ago, the coach had implied that I was moving too slowly during a defensive drill, and I had retorted that it was “cold as a muthafucka” in there (I mentioned this in part 2 or 3), prompting raucous laughter from the team.
The town I’m in (called Herceg Novi) is right on the sea so it does not snow or get below-freezing cold. In the morning it usually gets down around 40F. Now consider playing basketball outside when it’s maybe 5-10 degrees warmer than that. Not so pleasant. This only becomes a problem when we have early trainings at 8:30AM, which is usually twice a week. To top it all off, our coach has this long Nike cost he wears every day, and even while running practice, he keeps his coat on. I have asked him more than once to go through our 90-minute practice without his coat to see how it feels. He has repeatedly declined.
Now, this next part is 100% true story: that same afternoon a few weeks ago, I prayed to God that He show me a way to deal with the freezing cold gym. We had another training that same day at 6PM. I walk out onto the floor… And there is heat blowing onto the court, I lie to you not. I was the first player on the floor, and as my teammates entered the gym, they were all looking around wide-eyed like Jamaicans seeing snow for the first time.
That was 3 weeks ago. There has not been even a hint of heat in the building since, even for games. But like I said, it’s only a problem in the mornings.
- Thursday morning I went to then weight room, and there was what appeard to be a soccer team there before us. Now, a soccer team is bigger than a bball team- there were at least 25 players from their team in there at once. Remember I told you this weight place is small, when it’s just my team inside we often get in each other’s way. While the soccer guys were in there, you’d hear a whistle blow every minute or two, and the players would move to another piece of equipment. I could never be a part of a system like that- I’d feel like a damn robot.
- after a late training Thursday night, our pre-packaged dinner from the restaurant has been stepped up to a hot chicken sandwich. (rating: 6.5 / 10)
- I saw a girl walking with an iPod Friday afternoon. It was the first time I’ve seen or heard anything iPod related since arriving here.
- while eating lunch Friday, the restaurant was empty, save for myself. A couple of cooks came and sat down at an unoccupied table. One of the cooks (two women) let out a sneeze so loud and hard, the table she was sitting at lifted completely off of the floor and SLAMMED back down.
- I took a taxi across town Tuesday around 11AM, and the driver started the meter at 2€. Maybe the rates are different for different places or times, but I have had complete taxi trips that cost me 2€, with tip included. Someone fill me in on whether or not the man ripped me off.
- a player on my team has a vehicle whose driver’s side door doesn’t work. If you’ve known me long enough, you would recall that I had a car with a similar problem- but mine had a non- working passenger side door. Call me crazy, but I’d rather have a broken passenger side than the driver’s side door. And one day, when we’re all rich, we can all have cars where all the doors work.
- in the internet cafe Saturday, there was a kid playing a soccer game onthe computer next to me with headphones on. He kept yelling, “Beckham, David Beckham!”
Posted 2 years, 6 months ago at 8:22 PM. Add a comment
I received an idea from Wes about maybe doing a running diary of what goes on out here; after about 12 hours of tossing the thought around in my mind, I decided the best way to do it was to jot down some interesting things over the course of every week and make it a weekly thing (uh, when i get to it). I am literally typing things to myself when they occur or directly after, so I wont use links, and will probably be somewhat off-target on quoted facts. but you’ll figure it out. Let’s get started.
- in case you didn’t know, I’m in the country of Montenegro and a city called Herceg Novi. Montenegro is a part of the former Yugoslavia along with (off the top of my head) Serbia, Macedonia, Bosina & Herzegovina. I’m sure I’m forgetting one or more countries. Herceg Novi is more of a town than a city; no fast food restaurants, little police presence/ crime and some other small- town things Ill get into later. HN is right on the Adriatic Sea, more specifically a bay whose name escapes me currently, so the winter temps stay between 48-62 F. Spring and summer in this town rivals Miami’s South Beach during Spring Break time. Or so I’m told.
- the native language here is Montenegrin, which is the same as Serbian, which is very similar to Russian (think the Spanish- Italian relationship). The hello- goodbye word here is “Ciao,” which I previously thought was French or something.
- Phillip & Danny are two teammates who take considerable joy in teaching me Serbian terms, like numbers, some bball terms, etc. I’ve decided to get by for the next 6 months with English and demonstrative body language with those who don’t speak “American. ” both the head coach and assistant coach fall into the ‘No English’ category. So far I’ve learned “wassup,” “chicken,” and “fries. ”
- Monday before training (Euro speak for “practice”) a teammate of mine, Zoran, mentioned out of the blue to me that he had recently seen 50 Cent’s “Get Rich Or Die Tryin’” film, and that he liked it. He wants to see it again.
- we had training at 8:30 AM on Tuesday. I go back and forth to the sport hall with my 2 neighbors, Danny & Phillip, and 1 other teammate has come with us the last couple days, his name is pronounced ‘Sasha’. So, as we are walking, Danny asks me if I’m tired, to which I respond, “na. You?” Danny says that he is not tired, but “dead. ” we had just completed to percreding training session about 12 hours prior, so I understood. Sasha, whom I had yet to hear say anything in English except “yeah,” refers to Danny as a “Dead Man Walking. ”
- you know how, when you have basketball practice in a gym that has a slippery floor, and you have to wipe the bottom of your sneakers with your hands at every opportunity? Well at Tuesday night’s training our assistant coach went on a 5-minute semi-rant about this. I couldn’t understand his words, but I could tell by his mock-shoe bottom-wiping what the topic was.
- after Tuesday night’s training, a disgruntled Danny told me that our assistant coach was drunk during practice. I have no way of confirming this. Even though Danny’s English is great, it may just have been a saying that got lost in translation; kinda how we will call a person “retarded” or “high” when someone expresses a viewpoint that we highly disagree with.
- we got a new player on Tuesday night, he’s from Bosnia and his name is Eli. He speaks pretty good English- he says he just came from Atlanta, Georgia playing in the ABA. Eli has a cell phone the plays music out loud like a radio. He asked me if my phone could do so, and when I told him no, he decided to show off his (not that I wanted him to. Seriously). His phone begins to (loudly) play “How We Do” off of The Game’s first album. Mind you, this is all happening as we are walking through the town square, and is beyond annoying. It’s like his personal boom box. I think Eli soaked up a lot of American culture, just not the correct parts. (update: Eli repeated this the following night after training- even as we sat down in the internet cafe (!)- and ended up not being kept by the team, so he’s back in Bosnia. Not that the music- playing cell phone had anything to do with it.)
- I use the internet cafe that’s next to my apartment daily, which reminds me of the one thing I really dislike about public internet places: people looking over my shoulder while I’m on a computer. And it’s even more pronounced when you’re the only Black person maybe in the whole country right now, and people are staring at you anyway. I guess the fact that I like to shorts & a hoodie outside on 50 degree days may draw attention, too.
- 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, and Eminem are very popular here. Most of the hip hop that gets thru to here, however, is several years behind the USA. Except for 50′s latest album (‘Ayo Technology’ is a big hit).
- our assistant coach sometimes runs entire practices, and sometimes comes to training but never utters a single word.
- there’s a freshwater lake close to this town, so I can safely consume one of my favorite drinks: tap water!
- there are no barbers out here suitable for me, so ill be buying a new set of clippers and handling hair-cropping duties myself. Ill let you make your own punchline.
- before Friday evening’s training session, our coach spoke for about 5 minutes about… I don’t know, he was speaking Serbian. When he does this (often), I watch him as if I’m understanding his words. But today he looked directly at me at one point, pausing as if awaiting a response from me. Usually when / if this happens, I answer with a head nod or a raise of the eyebrows, but this time I responded, loudly, with the Serbian term for “wassup” (pronounced “schtaima”). Everyone doubled over laughing. Glad I was able to break the monotony.
- at first glance, I believed our home gym, in which we train and play our home games, seated maybe 300 fans. Then I counted the seats, and there are over 1,000 seats. And there’s enough space around the playing area to hold another thousand that don’t mind standing. the place just opened a month or two ago, and there is still constructon going on on things on either sideof the building (known in Euro speak as ‘Sport Halls’).
You may leave a comment, question, or say nothing at all; I won’t be offended.
See you next time.
Posted 2 years, 7 months ago at 11:01 PM. Add a comment
In the summer of 20004 after graduation, i was in altoona playing ball, working out, etc. and Wes was around as well.one week i got word from Shawna that she was gonna come thru to altoona for a day to see old friends and have a night out in altoona. great!
Shawna met Wes & me at mansion park where we had been doing some shooting around, and we all went back to college park, with the obligatory stop at the liquor store mixed in. i think we had a mix of… hell, i don’t remember.but i know that Shawna had been a bartender before so she seemed eager to display her drink- making ability. i had about 3 cups of whatever concoction she came up with and we were on our way out.
our first stop was some bar even more hick-ish than altoona itself, a friend of ours named chasey happened to work at the bar there. we went in the dam near empty place and sat the bar for about 20 minutes, all the while chasey did me a “favor”by giving me waaay more than the normal shot of Bacardi 151 , which, according to wikipedia.com,
As with all beverages of this proof, consuming the rum by itself (“straight”) is
not recommended.
i mean, she was filling the glasses that normally hold mixed drinks with 151 straight. (note: not that i was complaining at the time, i was just thinking, “whoa.” we routinely downed straight shots of 151 in college, which we affectionately called the ‘tune changer’, because of 151′s ability to change the tune of anyone claiming to be prepared for long night of drinking. oh yeah, and because of Wes vomiting on a sink full of his own dishes at his birthday party.) i had 3 of these while Shawna talked and Wes bagged a couple of trailer- trash chicks smoking cigarettes at the pool tables. from then, off to our destination for the night- the castle pub in ebensburg.
(by this point, i dont even remember what the hell was going on. Wes was driving, and i had/have no recollection of the 45 minute drive from chasey’s bar to ebensburg. )
so, we’re in the surprisingly- popping pub, Wes is playing the star role, getting beers toasted to him as soon as we show our faces. i ignored every face i saw; i do know that all i wanted to do was sit the hell down.
fast forward i the story… i later found out that while Wes was mingling, mike persio (brother of TP, who we hooped with at altoona, and a star in ebensburg in his own right) had approached Wes and said, “yo, man, you better get Dre. he’s asleep at the bar, they’re gonna kick him out!”
i remember us outside in the gravel parking lot, Wes is holding me up with Shawna trailing behind. i heaved, hard, right in front of Wes‘ whip and lost my chain at the same time. Wes turned on the headlights in his whip and somehow found my chain in the darkness (one of the great rescues in history).
all i remember is waking up on the couch the next morning.
thanks for a great night, Shawna. you “got me drunk.”
Posted 2 years, 8 months ago at 7:49 AM. Add a comment
