Honor & Honesty / Guidance Gone
by Bryan Espiritu.

(and then this happened…)

Welcome To The Legends League

To celebrate the most anticipated boxing match in the history of the Philippines, Ideall Clothing presents Manila Guerilla – a piece that represents Manny Pacquaio’s position as the modern day Muhammad Ali for Filipino’s across the globe.

Purchase a shirt HERE

This piece is printed on light-weight 5oz. fine jersey tees and has a slimmer fit than our classic sport fit tees.

Quantities are crazy limited and unfortunately it’s impossible for me to keep up with the requests of everyone who visits the site AND everyone who decides to contact me via personal email, so I will not be able to hold sizes for anyone. First come first serve.

The shirts are available in Black, Red, and Royal Blue and are $35 and shipping is FREE until Fight Night, December 6th, 2008.

Here’s a video that my homey Paolo from Inqmnd posted on their blog to get everyone hype.

Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya

I Can’t Find It In Me
by Bryan Espiritu.

Walk This Way
A (True) Story written and recited by Bryan Espiritu.

More to come.

Don’t Be My Saviour by Bryan Espiritu
An early piece on TheLegendsLeague’s first webpage.

TheLegendsLeague: A Piece For RJ
A fundraiser for the recent heart surgery undergone by our homey, RJ Nepomuceno.

TheLegendsLeague will be selling ladies American Apparel baby rib tees for $25/cdn to help raise money for our homey, RJ, who recently underwent emergency surgery to replace a valve in his heart. ALL the proceeds will go towards the costs of the surgery which was performed in California while he was away on a trip.

To purchase a shirt, visit:
www.thelegendsleague.com/apieceforrj

The Details:
Recently, we found out that our friend and extended family member, RJ aka Raymond Nepomuceno needed emergency surgery to have a valve in his heart replaced. The exact details are still unknown, but we’ve been told that this was a result of a form of bacteria that had somehow accumulated in the valve and had been causing minor, unalarming issues for him. While on a trip to California, the situation got far worse, forcing him to be admitted to hospital and have surgery performed immediately. (I was told this morning that he was literally an hour away from death).

He has since been taken off of a respirator and is able to communicate with our homey Hektor, who flew out there as soon as he could to help support him and get him through this time.

About a week ago, I received an incorrect shipment for American Apparel ladies tees that I had ordered for our new IdeallClothing Ladies line. Initially, my plan was to either send them back, or give them to a recommended woman’s shelter through my friend, Maryfelix. After hearing about RJ’s situation, I decided to use the shirts to help raise some money for his surgery and flight costs. The design is TheLegendsLeague broken heart, with a piece on the bottom shaped into the initials RJ. It will be one color, printed in grey on white American Apparel Baby Rib Tees. The cost is $25/cdn +shipping.

After hearing about the situation and my intentions to sell the shirts for fundraising, my printer and friend, Toby, decided he would donate his services and print the shirts free of charge. This is a huge help, and only adds to the funds we will be able to give to RJ and his family. There are limited amounts of each size, so please act quickly.

Your support is greatly appreciated.
Love&Respect as usual,
be.

Shoot The Smile Series #3 – Kanye.
Illustrated by Bryan Espiritu

Just finished.
Again.
Fuck this. I ain’t happy with it yet.

Last time I saw my dude, Garry from LiveStock, he was rocking a pair of these. We weren’t sure when and/or if they were gonna be released, but while perusing HypeBeast, I saw that they’re scheduled for a spring/summer 09 release. I don’t usually post this type of shit, but god – I need these. Bad.

I got a message today about a video I posted of myself reading a piece entitled, “Maybe We’ll Call It ‘Beauty’”.

It closed with this:
“your words lift our generation”.

wow.
Thank you.

(Repeat may be very necessary.)

I was introduced to Jose Gonzalez by my good friend, Gavin Sheppard – my brother, whom I miss very, very much. This song has since been the conversation piece and background for talks at work with my boss, friend, and mentor, Ben Shirinian, and the motivation to go see Jose perform live with my old friend, David Guenette. (We missed the show, Dave. But we’ll enjoy the view from the crowd sometime in the near future). It is a song that makes me think about old friendships that I wish to revisit, a new brotherhood with my boy, William Nguyen, and the growth that has come from my relationship with my lady, and love, Stacey. It’s the song that makes me feel the warmth of sharing laughter with my daughter, Saren-Sol, seeing her grow, and learn, and become the greatest teacher I’ve had. It plays the music that crushes my heart when thinking about Kevin, about crying at his funeral while Andrew held me tight, and sobbed out, “why”, while we watched 4 caskets pass at Josip’s funeral – his mother, his sister, his father’s funeral, all on that summer afternoon. It is the music of us, at 14 and 15 years old, questioning this world, and again, wondering why our fathers were as they were.. and not like theirs. It speaks to my love for my sister, Zaki Ibrahim – how she has always spoken to me directly, with nods, and stares, on the front porch and rooftop, staring into the ‘why-the-fucks’ of our frustrations and coming out with only this – ‘I need you to remember to love yourself as much as I love you. Okay?’. yes. (say yes). It’s what makes me remember waking up to you, tubes and machines hooking me up to something alive, and you saying – ‘I thought I was never going to see you again. Not like this’. And you won’t. I promise. It’s what makes me saying “I’m glad I don’t have to lie about the good words I put towards him as a man, and I won’t have to lie about missing him” hurt a little more inside. Because I know that is what we all meant. Not only on that afternoon in April, but everyday he was with us. It’s what makes me understand what having Jay around means. And what makes me realize that I may never know Junior again. It is me in your father’s bathroom, on the floor in tears, because Loyan was not just everyone else. It’s me crumbling to the floor when I saw you on the news. When I got the phone call from Jay and said, “….no…..not Mikey“. And when we finally spoke on the phone. I only needed to know that you were okay. It’s what makes me feel young knowing that he’s free, and we grew up side by side.. until I went away at 12, and finally met him. Thank you, Aaron. It’s me saying, “I am sorry”. For the corkscrew in the elevator, the kick in the face in the parking lot, and choking him at the bar. I am sorry. For the crushed ribs, and strangling her on the freeway. For robbing your father because I needed money for alcohol. For stealing his jewellery to run to the pawn shop. And for watching it all turn to dust. I am sorry. It’s what makes me remember the feeling of Chris‘ couch, us sitting, reading poetry that we both knew would someday be published and celebrated by the world. His mother asked us for a sip. And we shared. It’s me walking in the center of the road, tears in my eyes and 2 pints in my hands, and speaking with an officer who was concerned more about how I felt than taking me to jail. It’s not wanting to be home, in thousand dollar outfits, slumped behind fences in back alleys trying to find sleep. It is the music that speaks to the father I now have, who not only raised me with a firm hand, but has learned when change is important, and that truth is what hurts the most – and heals the best. It is the fact that I don’t know what to say of my mother. It helps me remember having a day pass, and you hugging me, crying, and telling me you missed me when they took me back. I love you too. It is us together in the basement. And me walking 5 hours to your house at 11 years old, when you moved. It brings me to every place I need to be when I am looking for inspiration, to every moment that meant anything of influence in my life. And it carries me through every emotion I need it to. But most importantly, it brings me back to you. It is what helps me say, I am sorry, but this is over. Because it doesn’t feel right. It is what helped me say, this needs to begin.. because I am tired of feeling wrong.

When I think of everything that has happened, I am never at a loss to create. I am never at a void or sensation of emptiness. My experiences, my life – it is full. It is the motivation for why TheLegendsLeague is important to me. It is the people, the experiences, the lessons that I have learned, all wrapped into everything I write, draw, design, and present to you.. in hopes that you may be able to learn, relate, but most importantly, share with others. And for this, I am grateful. And I thank you.

Love&Respect as usual,
bryan.

if your name is not mentioned and you feel disrespected, it probably means one of two things – you need to hear it to know that I care, or it should not have been mentioned in the first place. where do you stand?