Carmelo Anthony Officially Announces Retirement from NBA

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

It’s the end of an era for Carmelo Anthony…

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican professional basketball player, the star forward who led Syracuse to an NCAA championship in his lone college season and went on to spend 19 years in the NBA, has announced his retirement.

Anthony, who was not in the NBA this season, retires as the No. 9 scorer in league history.

Only LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal scored more than Anthony, who finishes his career with 28,289 points.

“Now the time has come for me to say goodbye … to the game that gave me purpose and pride,” Anthony said in a videotaped message announcing his decision — one he called “bittersweet.”

Anthony’s legacy has long been secure: He ends his playing days after being selected as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history, a 10-time NBA All-Star, a past scoring champion and a six-time All-NBA selection.

And while he never got to the NBA Finals — he only played in the conference finals once, with Denver against the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 — Anthony also knew what it was like to be a champion.

He was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2003 Final Four when he led Syracuse to the national championship, and he helped the U.S. win Olympic gold three times — at Beijing in 2008, at London in 2012 and at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

His college coach at Syracuse, the now-retired Jim Boeheim, tweeted a “welcome to retirement” message to his former star.

“I am honored to have been a part of your legendary career, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for you,” Boeheim wrote.

Anthony played in 31 games in four appearances at the Olympics, the most of any U.S. men’s player ever. Anthony’s 37 points against Nigeria in the 2012 games is a USA Basketball men’s record at an Olympics, as are his 10 3-pointers from that game and his 13-for-13 effort from the foul line against Argentina in 2008.

“Carmelo Anthony is one of the NBA’s all-time great players and ambassadors,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “We congratulate him on a remarkable 19-year career and look forward to seeing him in the Hall of Fame.”

Anthony will remain part of international basketball for at least a few more months; Anthony is one of the ambassadors to the Basketball World Cup, FIBA‘s biggest event, which will be held this summer in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.

“I remember the days when I had nothing, just a ball on the court and a dream of something more,” Anthony said. “But basketball was my outlet. My purpose was strong, my communities, the cities I represented with pride and the fans that supported me along the way. I am forever grateful for those people and places because they made me Carmelo Anthony.”

Anthony was drafted No. 3 overall by Denver in 2003, part of the star-studded class that included James at No. 1, Hall of Famer Chris Bosh at No. 4 and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade — he gets officially enshrined this summer — at No. 5.

Anthony will join them at the Hall of Fame before long — the Hall of Fame said he will be eligible for the 2026 class. He averaged 22.5 points in his 19 seasons, spending the bulk of those years with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks. Anthony has long raved about his time with the Knicks, and what it was like playing at Madison Square Garden, especially as a kid who was born in Brooklyn.

He was the NBA’s leading scorer with 28.7 points per game in 2012-13, when the Knicks won 54 games and the Atlantic Division title.

“The Garden,” Anthony said in 2014. “They call it The Mecca for a reason.”

Anthony spent his first 7½ NBA seasons in Denver, becoming the third-leading scorer in franchise history. His Nuggets teams had seven consecutive winning seasons and earned seven playoff berths, but they advanced in the postseason just once, ending in that six-game conference finals loss to the Lakers in 2009.

“He wore that Nuggets jersey with pride and did a lot of great things while in a Denver Nuggets uniform, as well as all the other uniforms he wore in an illustrious career,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Monday before Denver faced the Lakers in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, hoping to clinch the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance. “When you think of Carmelo, you think of one of the more elite scorers in NBA history, a guy that from the D.C. metro area goes to Syracuse and wins a championship and comes into the NBA and was just a bucket-getter from day one.”

Anthony also played for Portland, Oklahoma City, Houston and ended his career with the Lakers last season. He went unsigned this year, and now his retirement is official.

He said in his retirement address that he’s looking forward to watching the development of his son Kiyan, a highly rated high school shooting guard.

“People ask what I believe my legacy is,” Anthony said. “It’s not my feats on the court that come to mind, all the awards or praise. Because my story has always been more than basketball. My legacy, my son … I will forever continue through you. The time has come for you to carry this torch.”

J Balvin Signs Management Deal with Roc Nation

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

J Balvin has new management…

The 38-year-old Colombian singer has officially joined Roc Nation as a management client, where he will be overseen directly by Jay Brown and Chris Knight.

Balvin was previously managed by Fabio Acosta and Scooter Braun’s SB Projects. He parted ways with the latter on June 30, 2022, after nearly three years together.

He continued working with Acosta and his company, Akela Family Music, through March. Acosta had managed or co-managed Balvin in some capacity for the past decade. Sources say the two parted on amicable terms.

Balvin, one of the biggest Latin stars in the world, has had a series of management shifts over the past five years. In 2019, he parted ways with manager Rebeca León, who had managed him since the onset of his career in the United States, and signed with Braun.

Throughout both deals, Acosta remained part of his management team and worked in partnership with SB Projects, helping bring in groundbreaking deals and partnerships. These included his celebrity menu collaboration with McDonald’s — a first for a Latin act.
7/14 – Tenerife, Spain – Ritmo del Mundo
7/15 – Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal – Meo Mares Vivas Festival
7/21 – Byron Bay, Australia – Splendour in the Grass
7/23 – Melbourne – Margaret Court
7/25 – Sydney – Hordern Pavillion

Houston Astros Rookie Jeremy Peña Named American League Championship Series MVP

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

He may have just missed out on the American League Rookie of the Year Award, but Jeremy Peña is celebrating another title.

The 25-year-old Dominican professional baseball player and shortstop is returning to Houston as the American League Championship Series MVP.

Peña punctuated his epic four-game run in the Houston Astros’ sweep of the New York Yankees with his third homer of the postseason during the third inning of a 6-5 win in Game 4 at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.

The big blast spoiled an early Yanks’ lead, took the ticketed crowd of 46,545 out of it and served as the proverbial turning point in the final game of a series that was never really close.

“It’s surreal,” Peña said. “You dream about this stuff when you’re a kid, and shout-out to my teammates. We show up every single day. We stayed true to ourselves all year. We’re a step away from the ultimate goal.”

Peña finished the ALCS 6-for-17 with two homers and two doubles, good for a .353/.353/.824 (1.176 OPS) slash line.

The finishing touch featured the shortstop pummeling a middle-in slider from Nestor Cortes after the Yanks’ lefty led off the inning with walks to Martín Maldonado and Jose Altuve for a massive blast down the left-field line.

Statcast measured the homer a projected 408 feet and 104.8 mph off the bat.

With one epic swing — hands in, hips torqued — Peña tied the game at 3 after the Yankees took an early lead against Lance McCullers Jr., the first time that Houston had trailed New York at the end of an in-game inning in 11 meetings this season. The only other times they trailed were via walk-offs from Aaron Judge during a series in June.

It was an impressive sequence of making a mid-at-bat adjustment. Cortes, who exited immediately after the homer with a left groin injury, wouldn’t throw Peña a fastball, instead attempting to jam cutters and sliders inside, with one changeup way off the plate. So, on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Peña went hunting for offspeed ahead 3-1 in a hitter’s count — and he feasted when he saw the hanging breaking ball.

Peña knew he got all of it, transferring the barrel to his right hand as he paced out of the batter’s box, watching the ball sail before pinwheeling the lumber down the first-base line and breaking into a stride. As he rounded third base and glanced to the visiting dugout, he smiled toward his teammates and broke into a shrug, akin to the one that Michael Jordan made famous during the 1992 NBA Finals.

It was also another moment illustrating how well Houston has thrived with Peña hitting behind the leadoff man Jose Altuve. When Peña hit in the No. 2 hole during the regular season, the Astros went 42-7, and they entered Sunday undefeated this postseason with Peña hitting in that spot in every game.

“Jeremy has done a lot of good things,” Altuve said. “If I start talking about him, we might be here two hours. He’s a great player and I love the way he’s handling everything.”

Altuve and Carlos Correa had a relationship that Astros manager Dusty Baker likened to Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, so the words from Altuve — the 2019 ALCS MVP — carried weight.

“I think it’s important that Carlos passed the torch to him because I’ve seen some players don’t pass the torch,” Baker said. “They pass some dynamite. But Carlos passed the torch and he was a mentor to him. This is what baseball and life is all about, rooting for somebody else, because there’s a lot of jobs out there. We wanted to keep Carlos. Carlos wanted to stay but [we] couldn’t get things together. But the organization also felt that Peña was the right guy for the job, and he’s exceeded expectations.”

Aside from Sunday, Peña also put the Astros squarely on his shoulders with a solo homer in the 18th inning of their marathon ALDS Game 3 win in Seattle, the only run of what’s easily been Houston’s most tense game in these playoffs.

Peña’s 22 homers in the regular season were tied for sixth among shortstops and ranked second among first-year players to only Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez, who was named the AL Rookie of the Year Award winner. But Peña, who is good friends with fellow Dominican Rodríguez, will probably be fine with that given that his team is headed to the World Series.

Myke Towers Returns to His Roots in Third Studio Album “Lyke Myke”

Posted on April 24, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Myke Towers is giving fans something to lyke…

The 27-year-old Puerto Rican rapper, singer and songwriter has released his third studio album Lyke Mike.

On the opening track, Towers drops a dramatic trap where he simply tells his haters: “Look at me now.”

Lyke Mike, an ode to basketball, el barrio and, his biggest inspiration, Michael Jordan, is a comeback to the sound and lyrics that made Towers a household name: the underground rap scene.

An ultra-personal production, with an album cover in the front of his childhood home in Puerto Rico, Towers narrates his struggles and successes as heard in “Cuando Me Ven,” “Joven Leyenda,” “Roncarme,” “Niveles” and “Maldita Envidia,” to name a few.

Unlike his sophomore set Easy Money Baby, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Latin Albums chart, Lyke Mike steps away from commercial reggaeton and Latin R&B sounds and navigates the roots: hip-hop, trap, and drill.

“The lyrics I wrote come with the same amount of heart I put into them when I first started on this journey,” Towers expressed in a statement.

Collaborations on Lyke Mike include Mikey Woodz, Ñengo Flow, Jon Z and Sahir.

Pitbull Becomes Part Owner of New NASCAR Team Trackhouse Racing

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Pitbull is dealing with a new type of track…

New NASCAR team Trackhouse Racing has brought on the 40-year-old Cuban American rapper/singer, known also as Mr. Worldwide, as an ownership partner for the organization, which will make its debut next month at the Daytona 500.

Trackhouse made the announcement with a video on Twitter in which the Grammy winner is featured dancing to an “I believe we will win” chant. He also holds signs that say: “Knuckle Up,” “Fight Hard” and “Buckle Up.”

Pitbull joins NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan as celebrity owners entering NASCAR this year. Jordan is a part owner of 23XI Racing with Denny Hamlin.

“I’ve been a fan of the NASCAR story since the movie Days of Thunder,” Pitbull said in a statement. “We are going to show the world NASCAR is not only a sport but a culture.”

Trackhouse was launched late last year by former driver Justin Marks, who struggled to find a charter that guarantees entry into every Cup Series race on the schedule. He ultimately leased one from Spire Motorsports to get his organization on the grid.

The team has hired Mexican driver Daniel Suarez for the No. 99 Chevrolet, but it will not be NASCAR’s first pairing of a Latino driver and team owner. Juan Pablo Montoya, a Colombian, drove for Chip Ganassi Racing when it was part owned by Felix Sabates, a Cuban.

Daddy Yankee Releases “Don Don,” a Spanish Reimagining of Sisqo’s “Thong Song” Featuring Anuel AA & Kendo Kaponi

Posted on September 12, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Daddy Yankee is putting a Spanish spin on another ‘90s classic…

The 43-year-old Puerto Rican rapper/singer has joined voices with Anuel AA and Kendo Kaponi to release “Don Don,” their Spanish reggaeton take on Sisqo’s 1999 hit song “Thong Song.”

In the reimagined song, Anuel AA sings the “Thong Song” melody during the chorus. It’s a nifty gimmick, but “Don Don” is more beguiling than its familiar hook: Daddy Yankee is a stick of dynamite on the track, his flow compact and rewarding. And make sure to keep your ears peeled for a nod to the Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance, as well as Daddy Yankee’s intensity balancing out Anuel’s suave demeanor as they both invite listeners to the dance floor in their own way.

Daddy Yankee scored a hit last year with “Con Calma,” which revived Snow’s 1993 hit single “Informer” and featured the singer himself. And then he later released a remix version of the song featuring Katy Perry. The song, which passed two billion views on YouTube, recently won the iHeartRadio Music Award for Latin Pop/Reggaeton Song of the Year.

Miranda Proves He’s a Freestyle Genuis on the “Tonight Show”

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda has massive (free)style…

The 35-year-old Puerto Rican composer, rapper, lyricist, and actor stopped by the Tonight Show last week to discuss Hamilton, his smash hit Broadway musical that features a diverse cast performing hip-hop about American history.

Miranda first outlined the eventful life of Alexander Hamilton, the founding father who was an immigrant, established the country’s treasury and was killed by fellow politician Aaron Burr in a duel.

“The vice president shot him! Dick Cheney was not the first VP to shoot his friend!” he joked to host Jimmy Fallon.

The Hamilton creator and star, who recorded Fallon’s outgoing voicemail message, then discussed the viral phenomenon behind the chart-topping soundtrack, produced by The Roots‘ Questlove and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter.

Prior to that, “musical theater and pop haven’t been friends for so long, they don’t know each other anymore,” said Miranda, who recently partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation to offer student tickets to the production’s matinees.

Miranda then helped Fallon debut the Tonight Show “Freestyle Generator” for a rap battle opposite Black Thought.

In the first round, he managed to spontaneously mention “rainbow,” “pancake” and “slam dunk” between references to Drake and Michael Jordan. A second round had him effortlessly connecting “dinosaur,” “pumpkin pie” and “Darth Vader.”

Meanwhile, Black Thought waxed poetic about Mars, hot pockets and Channing Tatum.

Herrera Tabio to be Inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Ruperto Herrera Tabio is a baller for the history books…

The 65-year-old Cuban former basketball player will be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Herrera Tabio won the bronze medal with Cuba’s men’s national team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

Basketball’s governing body, the International Basketball Federation, announced Friday that Herrera Tabio will be part of class of nine players who will be enshrined on September 19.

Herrera Tabio will be joined by Michael Jordan, who won two Olympic gold medals.

The rest of the class includes players Sarunas Marciulionis (Lithuania), Anne Donovan (U.S.), Vladimir Tkachenko (Russia/Ukraine), and Antoine Rigaudeau (France); coach Jan Stirling (Australia), technical official Robert Blanchard (France) and contributor Noah Klieger (Israel).

They will be honored in Lille, France, then presented at halftime of the Eurobasket championship game on September 20.

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