What's In a Name?

I’m sure by now that you’ve noticed the moniker I’ve been using on here since I started this little site, so I thought I would shed some light on how and why I chose the name I did. I’ve had surprisingly few nicknames over the years, so there wasn’t an automatic choice. Of course my Fraternity brothers would likely bring up one that, despite their best efforts, never quite stuck, at least to my face. It had to do with certain lapses in judgement on my part at a few of our parties but, needless to say, wouldn’t exactly be what I would consider appropriate for an online identity.

Inspired by the rather clever title of Paige’s blog, C’est What? (Yes, I’m mentioning her site again; deal with it.), I decided I needed something catchy. That’s when it hit me: Al B Sure. I would now like to apologize for the disappointment I’ve been causing fans of the 80s R&B singer who occasionally surf by, hoping for news of their beloved artist. As you can tell, I’m not him. I get a little extra traffic out of using it but since I’m not making any money off this endeavour, I think the gods of trademark infringement will cut me some slack.

Truth be told, I have been called Al B Sure in the past. It was back in the eleventh grade, if memory serves. Chris’ uncle Bob had rented out a local elementary school gymnasium with a few old friends in order to get in some exercise, so to make things more interesting, he invited out his sons and nephew, which then led to me joining in on the fun. I think that regular readers of my blog know that basketball is a passion of mine, well this how my illustrious playing career got started.

I’ve never been one to massage my own ego (or ID or super-ego for that matter), so I’ll admit it: I’m not a good basketball player. I never learned the basic fundamentals in a team environment, so at that point I was far less coordinated than someone who’d been playing for years. My shots would have so much backspin on them that the guys would swear they could hear a buzzing sound after I let the ball go. I like to think I’ve improved a fair bit since then, though I would probably still be the 8th man on a high school basketball team. Every team needs someone who can deliver the hard foul, after all.

I was a pretty sharp contrast to Chris’ cousins and their friends, who each played basketball at some level prior to our weekly battles. I’m not sure if it was Mike or Todd who gave me the nickname Al B Sure. Just an FYI, Mike is Chris’ cousin and Todd was a buddy of his from grade school. Looking back, I shudder at the handle Todd gave himself: Darkman. Good thing he came up with that one himself, otherwise we’d all be in a heap of trouble. Imagine a group of white kids naming the only black player “Darkman”? Geez.

At any rate, I was Al B to them. Come to think of it, the name may have come from repeated exasperation at my poor on-court decision-making. “Al! Why the hell are you taking that shot?!? BE SURE next time!!!” Ah well. At least I had fun, right? So it’s with these fond memories in mind that I took up the mantle of Al B Sure and named my site Al B Here For You. So there you have it… til next time!