Hey there, College Playoff Committee..

I decided to chime in on this new College Playoff Committee. I was excited about the idea for a playoff system to determine the national champion in college football. I would have set it up a different way but that is another post waiting to happen. When I heard there would be a committee that would decide each week who was in the top 4, I gave it shot. It's like After last night's selection, this committee has lost credibility in my eye. Florida State, while not blowing teams out, is undefeated on the season so far. The fact that this committee jumped an one loss Oregon team is ridiculous. They say it's because the number of quality wins against top 25 opponents. In their shortsightedness, the committee forgot that Florida State has beaten three top 25 teams this season(the same amount as Oregon). You can't hold it against FSU that Louisville dropped out the top 25 after they beat them a few weeks ago. Hold on, that's right now exactly what is happening now. Even though you have the same amount of quality wins through the season, the deciding factor would be..HOW MANY LOSSES YOU HAVE! The committee's view on this issue is like them saying "Well, we just don't like the way you win". Are you kidding me?!?! No one questioned how ugly Auburn won last year. That is just one of the issues they bring to the table. I'm sure Alabama and Baylor fans are just as upset about the rankings. If they are going to screw up this bad, wait until the end of the year to make the selection like college basketball. If not, get a better system in place to remove the "sexy" aspect from the equation. Thank you for making me cherish the AP and Coaches Polls.  

May I have your attention please..

 More
By Chuka McCoy

There are so many different people on this world
 We have different beats and notes we groove to
We have different loves, hurts and experiences
Most of us wish to have someone to connect with
Someway or somehow
Just something to connect to in this world while we are here
To share a moment
To feel
To smile
 To know that you are part of something bigger than yourself
I am ready to be more
To do more
To be more than myself
I hope you will too


Thank you for reading my poem. I'm starting up a personalize poetry service and wanted to invite you to give me feedback on if you are interested. This is where if you want a poem made for either a special occasion or you need one to help you through a moment, you can put in a request. You would just give me some details on what you want the poem to include and I would personalize it for you. Please let me know your thoughts.

Thank you for listening,
Chuka McCoy

Writing to my mom

My Letter to Mom

By Chuka McCoy

Dear Mom, 

           First of all, I want to tell you that I love you. Sometimes, I go for long periods without saying those words to and to others. That is something that I am working on every day now. I was always scared to say it or thought that they knew already so I didn’t have to. You, and everyone, deserve to hear that from the one that love you and you love as well.

            I love your cooking. I would love to be half of the cook you are but I know I need to be my own chef. I don’t get to cook much these days, other than survival mode. I don’t have anyone to cook for yet but it will come one day.

            I saw that there were times where you looked stressed and overwhelmed. I should have instinctively given you a hug and make you laugh. I wasn’t quite there in my path through life to do that. I think you would be proud of me now (not like you weren’t before). 

            Thank you for always being there for us and for being that shining example of what we should strive to be like. Thank you for showing your children and others in your life how to smile, laugh and love. Thank you for being you.

I love you always,

Chuka

Processing Things

I don’t know how. This is the answer to the question that I asked myself in the last month. I lost a friend of mine less than a month ago. Her passing was a shock to me and all that knew her. I went to her funeral and met some very nice friends of hers. I thought that the grieving process was almost over. I can start to remember the moments we shared when she was here on Earth. Then, three days later, another person that I knew and loved died. This one happened in my own family. How do I process two deaths of important people in my life in such a short time frame? This is where my answer from earlier kicked it. This is something that I never had happened to me before and I didn’t know how to deal with it. Every emotion in me is wrapped up so tightly that I cannot breathe. I realized that being a person during these situations is hard. From a perspective as a man, guys have been taught since almost from day one to be strong. Your emotions are held in check and you got to be the rock of the family or in general. I, for one, didn’t have a father in my life to show me how to be a man. I know others have had the same experience of having to be a man with no knowledge of how to be. I tried to work twice as hard to be that strong, reliable individual. So, with all that in mind, how do you cope with situations like this? I locked it down and tried to work it out on my own. I was in pain so much but kept it mostly under lock and key trying not to seem weak. I am supposed to be strong so I can handle this. Survey says…..X.  I realize now that this thinking will leave me broken down and alone in life. I took a few days away to try to come to grips with this. I really was crying out for help but at a small whisper. I urge people, men and women out there, not to go in emotional lock down mode. It doesn’t help at all and you should not have to. Connect with your faith and with the ones you love.  If you have someone to lean on, lean on them. I know that I can be strong and still show emotion when something affects me in life. It’s time to connect with others and breathe again.

Manners

I was sitting in the movie theater watching The Lone Ranger(I'll share my thoughts on that another time). The movie was almost over and the next thing I know, I started to see smoke. For a moment, I thought it was special effect done to make you get deeper in the movie experience. That particular thought quickly passed when I started to smell it too. This is when I notice where it was coming from. There was people in the middle of the theater smoking it up. Really? I am not a smoker but logic would tell you to...SMOKE BEFORE YOU GET INTO THE MOVIE!! Part of this goes back to my original post about how the home experience is affect the theater experience. Your home theater rules don't apply here. The other part of it is just plain and simple manners. We all live in the same world and should be considerate of others. I'm not telling folks that they can't smoke but be considerate enough to not to do it in a closed environment where little children or people with breathing problems might be around. 

My childhood friends

As a child, I was a "keep to myself" type of kid. I had few friends but the biggest one was the television. It gave me an outlet to be who I am and discover what I like. I love the fact that you had different shows from different eras in syndication. It gave me a variety of style to play around with. It also gave me a great appreciation of the history of television. One of the shows I discovered through that time was The Monkees. It was a show that I connected to right away. I was silly, goofy and had heart, just like me. I bonded to with each member of the band and the music that played throughout each episodes. Still, to this day, I have a special spot in my heart for the Monkees. I remember how sad I was when I found out that Davy Jones had passed away. It was like I lost a best friend. I had a chance to see them in concert before he passed and couldn't go. When I found out the Monkees (with the three remaining members) was touring and coming to town, I was so excited. It was a childhood dream come true. I got to meet Mickey Dolenz before at MegaCon(a comic book/scifi/anime convention) in Orlando and he was pretty awesome. Now, I would be able to see the group live. When I got to the concert, it reminded me of a comic book convention. There was so many different people from different walks of life there united with a common bond. I met some very cool people, from the merchant counter to outside the concert hall. There was these two sisters that was there that had brought Monkees bobble heads to get signed. They got Davy to sign it from the concert before. I was so awesome when they let me take a picture with the bobble heads. It's my official picture with the band. The concert was great. The fact that the songs that I have been singing forever I get to see perform on stage was a great thrill to me. It got to see the one video that I always thought was amazing. It was a number from the movie Head where Davy was dancing with Toni Basil. I thought that segment was one of the best edited scenes I've ever seen. I got to sit next to one guy during the concert who was there with his wife(both were cool). The group brought an audience member on stage and announced that the song Daydream Believer belongs to the audience to sing. When everyone in the audience sung the song, it was electricity in the air. It was so emotional that both me and the husband sitting next to me both cried. I will always remember that moment and that night. We were too busy singing to put anybody down.

Letting it go

I got chastised by an older gentleman in a newer model SVU yesterday. I'm the one that was in the wrong in his eyes. Here's the recap:
I put on my turn signal to get in the far right lane. This polite gentleman decided to speed up and not let me over. Luckily, for that situation, the lane I was in was a turning lane as well. So, after calming down off my fifteen seconds rage moment, I zoomed into my lane to get clear on that guy and focus on driving to get to work. When traffic came to a complete stop, that same gentleman decided to tell me from his vehicle that I cut him off in traffic. I laughed in my head knowing that I wanted nothing to do with the man. I decided to tell him the exact truth of the situation(basically what I mentioned here), which some would say is my first mistake. Then, the passenger in my vehicle injected in a no so nice way to the guy. The gentleman's last response to me is that "ya'll are all the same". 

First, don't pigeonhole me in a category when you know me briefly from a traffic encounter. I don't know necessarily what he meant by saying "ya'll".  It would not have been nice for me to say that "ya'll older gentlemen in Kangol hats that drives SVU's are all the same". First of all, let it go and focus on the road (I did after fifteen seconds). Second, if you can't let it go and you gotta say something, be original, funny and/or specific. You could say "hey buddy, where did you learn to drive, at an amusement park?" or the classic "Did you get your license from, a Cracker Jack box"? See, no only did you let it linger for too long but you also put out something that was uninspired. Very lame, sir. I've let it go now.