My #PricelessNY Night with my Dad and the New York Jets! #MC

Disclousure: I am a member of the Social Fabric community. I have been compensated to share my experience with you by Collective Bias and their client, MasterCard

As a guy that was born and raised in New Jersey, I have always had a love of the game of football and an even greater admiration for the New York Jets. From the time that I first put on a pair of shoulder pads at the age of 12, I always dreamed of playing in the NFL under the stadium lights for the Jets, which is only a few miles from my hometown. I used to collect the cards of my favorite players and would often imitate their moves during games. I also played football through high school as well as briefly in college and eventually, I had to reconcile my dreams for more realistic but worthwhile pursuits.  So imagine my surprise when years later, I find out that by simply being a MasterCard holder, I would be given the Priceless New York opportunity of a lifetime to play a game of flag football on the field at MetLife Stadium.

Needless to say, I was beyond thrilled. The event took place this past Tuesday and I was able to bring my dad along as my one man cheering section. It really meant a lot for me to have him be there because well, he is my dad, and he was always my biggest fan and came to many of my games growing up. 

After registration, we did some warm up stretches and broke up into two teams, each of which were coached by Jets legends Randy Beverly and Fred Baxter. Although we were all amateurs, it was obvious that there was plenty of athletic talent on both sides. However, the team I was on, which was coached by Mr. Baxter was able to pull away with a significant lead throughout most of the game. I had a few opportunities to score a couple of touchdowns. Unfortunately, during my playing days I was always a defensive player, and not always the best offensive player. I have to admit that every throw that came my way easily slipped through my hands because of this. But with that being said, I would like to think that my defensive prowess contributed to holding the other team to a minimal score. 

Top Picture: They filmed the game on the jumbo screen!

After the game was over, the MVP for each team was awarded an official team helmet signed by either  Santonio Holmes and D'Brickashaw Ferguson. After breaking down the Jets chant (J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets!), we were all treated to an amazing reception dinner.  It was then that I was able to speak with both Jet Legends and they were gracious enough to sign my football.

Thanks to MasterCard, I was able to share a priceless experience with my dad; it was truly a night to remember.

MasterCard did a great job organizing the event. I was pleasantly surprised to find out via the Priceless New York website that the events they offer throughout the year are not just sports based, but cover a wide variety of interests such as dining, arts & culture, shopping and even music and entertainment. This means not only will I be able to get great deals for the next Jets game, but I'll be able to bring my boys to kid friendly events, like VIP access to a Thomas and Friends live show. Or, I might switch gears by getting a babysitter so I can take my wife to the city for a fun cooking class at the exclusive restaurant, Eatly. After that, we could enjoy some live entertainment from Jazz to the Blue Man Group.  Additionally, it's worth mentioning that you have to be a MasterCard holder in order to be able to take advantage of many of these discounts. Both credit and debit card holders apply. Indeed, no matter what your flavor is, you're virtually guaranteed to find something you or your family will enjoy!

To get information of additional offers and discounts, please visit the Priceless New York Site

You can also follow both Priceless and MasterCard via Twitter

Question: Are you a MasterCard holder? If so (or if not), what types of events would you take advantage of?

Walmart's Unlimited Plans Make Fantasy Football Fun!

It’s been about a month since I raved about the awesome deal I got by signing up for Walmart Family Mobile Plan and so far, it's been great. As I mentioned in my prior post, one of my biggest issues with the smartphone industry is in order to get a deal on a quality phone, you are required to practically sign your life away via multi-year,unlimited plan contracts that threaten you with astronomical fees if you even think about breaking them.  The average monthly bills tend to run on the expensive side too, so either way- leave or stay- it seemed as though as the consumer, we were getting the raw end of the deal. It was from this frustration that motivated me to look elsewhere, so I was ecstatic when I discovered Walmart’s Family Mobile Plan.

  

#FamilyMobileSaves #cbias

  While the idea of prepaid phones certainly isn’t new, it was always an accepted truth that the phones associated with these cheap wireless plans were typically outdated and considered low quality. However, with Walmart’s Family Mobile Plan, you get best of both worlds: The ability to get a top of the line smartphone for a reasonable price for a low rate on your monthly bill. For 40 bucks, you can get unlimited talk, text and web. That basically slashes my current mobile expenses in half. Having two young, but very hungry, fast-growing boys, my wife and I are always trying to find ways to get keep expenses low, so the cost savings of the Walmart plan makes it the best wireless option for our family.

The phone that I got was the Galaxy S4. You know that one in the commercials that does all those cool futuristic things? Yeah, that one. The GS4 is powered by a quad core processor and it is updated with JellyBean (version 4.2.2), the most recent Android operating system. Having all of these extra features makes the web connectivity super fast and the user interface high-tech looking, while still user friendly for the average user. These attributes have certainly been coming in handy, as I’m about halfway through my fantasy football season and I’m doing great.

So far, it has been an unpredictable season full of nail biters, last quarter upsets and season-ending injuries. Being able to reliably receive this information as soon as it occurs to prepare for each weekly fantasy match-up is critical. With so much happening around the NFL, it’s not difficult to miss out on these muy importante updates. But with the right smartphone, like the GS4, I knew that I was always in the loop. Because I’ve been able to get immediate alerts from my Fantasy Football apps no matter where I am, I’ve managed to make adjustments to keep my roster healthy and that is what has set me apart from the rest of the league. It’s no coincidence that the guys in my group that complain the most about their substandard service are the ones who have players who under-perform due to injuries or depth chart adjustments.

Updates come instantly to your phone with the ESPN Fantasy App

Overall, Walmart has the competition with their cheap, flexible rate plans. You have the option to purchase a brand new phone, or you can transfer your phone over. Any angle you look at it from, the customer scores!

If you're interested, I encourage to learn more about account management and information.

Also, please take a moment to review my shopping experience at Walmart via my G+ album

My Very First Time

Do you remember your first time? How it made you feel? Did it change your view of world as you knew it?

I had a first experience that was just like that.

During my preteen years, I lived in an ethically diverse neighborhood in Jersey City, NJ. One day  on the way home from playing in the park with my friends, I decided to stop at the local corner store to buy some snacks. I walked in, greeted the clerk at counter and went to the other side of the store where all the junk food was. I searched for a while,  brought my snacks to the clerk and paid for them.

After paying, I turned to walk out, but before I could, the clerk came from behind to cash register to block my path and demanded that return what I stole. Dumbfounded, I insisted that I didn’t steal anything. He balked at my claims and told me to put my hands on the counter. My heart was racing with fear, but eager to prove to the clerk that I was innocent, I complied. That's when he began searching my pockets and shirtsleeves for the “contraband" that I supposedly had on me.  He was unable to find any and he eventually let me go, but not before saying to me, “I couldn’t find it, but I know you stole something. If you ever come back here again, I’ll call the police!”

I remember walking home after that, my hands were trembling with anger and confusion. The taste of my tears as they rolled down my cheeks made the experience even more bitter for me.

And that's how I was racially profiled for the first time.

Despite it being my first, strangely enough,  it wasn't a foreign concept to me. Even at that early age, I already had an acute awareness of what it means to grow up Black in America. All my life, I've been educated about the struggles our people endured over the centuries and accepted what happened to me simply as a self-evident truth of being born with a skin color such a mine. I knew it was wrong, I knew it wasn't fair, but I understood that there were people in the world that were going to judge me on things that had nothing to do with the content of my character. You simply do your best to not let it bother you, push forward and thrive in spite of those obstacles.

So when I got home and my dad asked me how my day was, I told him it was fine and went to my room. I never said anything about it because I thought, what's the point? Racial profiling has been going on long before me and telling someone about it isn't going to change anything.

That's probably why I never spoke about the instances that occurred later in my life. I never talked to anyone about the times when walking home from school, police cruisers would pull up beside me inquire about my whereabouts. I also never told about the countless times I would walk into a store about would be followed or the white women who would clutch their purses and sometimes even move across the street as I walked towards them from the opposite direction. Did it hurt? Of course. Should I have told someone? Probably. But hey, that's just a reality that  is routine for someone who is guilty of LWB, or Living While Black. .

So when I read the story of Trayvon Christian, a young man who was racially profiled when he purchased an expensive belt from a high end department store, wrongly accused of fraud and subsequently arrested, I had mixed feelings about it. While I was both saddened and angered at the treatment of Mr. Christian at the hands of both Barneys and the NYPD, I was not in the least bit surprised. In our world, prejudice is the norm, rather than the exception. It is a existence that I’ve reluctantly accepted from the time that I was that little boy being patted down in a corner store. However, the fact that Mr. Christian is fighting back, coupled with the large amount of media attention this incident is getting, is encouraging. When he was released from custody he could have easily remained silent and written off what happened as part of the territory of being a minority. But his reaction is an indicator of the times. The only way to combat racial profiling is to not remain silent and be unafraid to speak out against these injustices. Mr. Christian’s actions, however small they might be, gives me hope. Hope for a future where my children can walk in a store and the worker sees only one thing: a customer.

Wouldn't that be nice?