Question for the Day…
August 27, 2008
The LPGA is requiring its players to speak English by the end of the 2009 season. Of the 121 international players from 26 countries on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour 45 of the women on the Tour are South Korean. It appears the policy-mandat is aimed directly at them. Tour officials said it will suspend players who can’t pass an English oral exam after two years on tour.
Is this fair?
Why Jericho Scott Can’t Pitch for Your Son’s BaseballTeam
August 27, 2008
Nine-year old Jericho Scott won’t be playing any more baseball this year. The young black boy, a pitcher, was banned from the Youth Baseball League of New Haven (Connecticut). Why?
Because league officials deemed that ‘he throws too hard.”
Scott throws a 40 mile per hour fastball. His team was headed to the playoffs. Officials for the three-year old league fired Wilfred Vidro - Scott’s coach - because he refused to banish Scott and split the players up among the other eight teams in the league. They even attempted to manipulate the press, saying Vidro resigned rather than telling the truth.
U.S. Open Tennis: Days 1 and 2
August 26, 2008
The first two days of the U.S. Open produced few surprises. Rafael Nadal began play as the world’s number one with a tough straight set win over qualifier Bjorn Phau, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 7-6 (7-4). Nadal was up to his usual antics, switching rackets just before an important Phau service game in the first set and later call for the trainer to attend to an “overly hot foot” - not blisters - during a changeover before Phau served. “Raffa” was obviously a bit shaken by the play of Phau and the fact that the New York crowd was squarely behind the qualifier. Nadal served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, hit some nervous shots, and was broken. But Nadal came through in the tie-breaker.
Number nine seed James Blake barely escaped a first rouynd upset as he staved off #99-ranked Donald Young. After taking the first set 6-1 in 18 minuted blake seemed to let up just a bit and Young took advantage, winning the second, 6-3. Blake then got into the type of groove where he can beat anyone in the world and demolished Young 6-1 in the third set and lead 2-0 in the fourth.
At that point Young dug in, held his serve after facing a break point, then played a long game where he had seven chances to break Blake’s serve before finally converting on the eighth break point opportunity. Young continued to surge and the level of play from both players picked mup considerably.
Dem Convention Day 1: Michelle Obama Saves Day
August 25, 2008
Democratic convention officially kicked off at 5 pm. I’ll be adding my random thoughts throughout the night. Here are my first two thoughts:
1) Howard Dean kicked it off and then there was an opening prayer (not Dean) with multiple Jesus citations. Okay, I know that Republicans have hijacked the religious vote putting anti-gay rhetoric over feeding the poor, but this one surprised me a bit. Definitely going for some of those those evangelicals…
2) I also saw a news update of John McCain standing with freakin’ Daddy Yankee. McCain even dropped a reference about Gasolina. Firstly, do you think McCain listens to Daddy Yankee? (BTW, will Daddy Yankee get some reggaeton version of “Dixie-Chicked”?)
Okay, Dems touting Jesus? McCain shaking his old ass to Daddy Yankee? What the fuck is going on here? Its going to be strange week…
3) 8:30 pm: Nancy Pelosi’s speech was very wooden. I wasn’t expecting MLK or anything, but she could have practiced that shit in the mirror a couple of times. Pelosis is followed by Barack Obama’s sister…
4) In a video Jimmy Carter reminds folks that the aftermath of Katrina has not gone away… maybe we could siphon that Iraq money to something that might be productive. Later on, in an interview on PBS with Jimmy Carter, he is refreshingly candid about the role race plays in this campaign amongst many white voters.
5) 8:45 Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is the first speaker to liven things up. Nothing too special here, Jackson Jr. should have been the first speaker…
6) Caroline Kennedy-Schlossberg pays tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy and Obama. Yeah, she also seems pretty wooden. She makes the analogy to the hope and inspiration that her father JFK once brought and Obama today. Then she introduces a video tribute to her “uncle Teddy”.
7) 9:33 Ted Kennedy gets out of his hospital bed and pulls the cancer version of a Willis Reed! TK promises that he will make it to January to see Obama sworn in. After championing universal health-care and the ideals of Obama, he ends with “The work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on.” Read closer and the buzzwords of “begins anew”, “hope” and “dream” channel JFK, Obama, and MLK. Maybe just a coincidence…
10:10: Jim Leach — a former Republican congressman — talks about America’s terrible standing around the world. TV cuts away.
9) 10:20 - Senator Claire McCaskill from Missouri champions policies of Obama. She was a great choice for no other reason that Senator McCaskill looks just like the stereotypical midwestern “white mom”. Perhaps many of those former Hillary supporters who just can’t seem to let go might be moved because McCaskill looks like them. This is a stupid statement on the surface — but people are stupid — and racist too…
10) After a video retrospective on Michelle Obama, she is introduced by her brother Craig Robinson who is the coach of the Oregon State men’s basketball team. At Michelle’s request Robinson once assessed Barack’s character from viewing his game on the basketball court. The result? ”confident, but not cocky”, “a team player”, and “won’t back down from any challenge”.
11) Michelle Obama clearly gives best speech of the night. Given the comparison to other “first lady” speeches, I thought she has done extremely well. After the first couple of minutes she seemed very comfortable (Pelosi should take notes). The title of the speech was called:
“Convincing Bitter Older White Female Hillary Supporters that Feminism Applies to Black Women too”
Some notes:
– She discusses her father’s medical bouts with MS.
– She said Barack knows “the world as it is”, but knows how “it should be”.
– She referenced the 88th anniversery of women winning the right to vote, and the 45th anniversary of MLK’s speech on the 1963 March on Washington speech. The references were clearly defining not only unity, but times that preceded her opportunities as a black woman.
– She pays homage to Hillary Clinton and the “18 million cracks in that glass ceiling.”
– She expresses ”why I love this country.”
– She also expresses how she has “given back” to the country including that she left a job at a law firm for a career in public service.
– “Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago.”
– “We committed ourselves to building the world as it should be.”
– A very strong closing was followed by a videotape greeting by Barack.
Summary of Night: Most of it was pretty weak, but Ted Kennedy’s Willis Reed moment, and Michelle Obama’s speech made it a successful night. Of course, we are grading on a curve here that takes into account “convention standards” which are little more than pandering rah-rah events.
Finally, if media could stop talking about this Barack/Hillary divide for at least 5 minutes, it would be nice…
2008 Olympics: Racism 101 in Black and White
August 25, 2008
If this article is posted Monday morning, we can safely say the sporting press is generally racist. We can also say that certain black sportswriters and columnists are little more than shuffling, scuffling, buffoons; house slaves who love “Massa” more than they love themselves. You see Thursday evening just after 10:30 p.m. EST defending 400-meter gold medalist Jeremy Wariner finished a disappointing second in his event to fellow American LaShawn Merritt. Wariner, in fact, trailed Merritt, who posted a personal best time of 43.75 seconds, by nearly a full second (44.74) at the finish line.
But that was not the entire story of the Men’s 400-meter event in Beijing.
Not even close.
The real story was Wariner’s pitiful finish. With only 20 meters remaining in the race Wariner looked to his left and saw Merritt ahead of him. Instead of pushing himself to the end, Wariner, realizing there was not enough track left in the race to come back against his countryman, gave up.
Jeremy Wariner, the gold medal favorite in the 400-meter dash, gave up on his primary Olympic event before the finish line. He jogged to the tape and nearly cost himself a silver medal.
But as despicable as Wariner’s lack of effort was, that is only part of the story.
2008 Olympics: Redeem What Exactly?
August 24, 2008
(I couldn’t help myself … I had to write this)
It appears a battle is raging … and it is a battle for your mind. Early last week Jemele Hill appeared on ESPN’s 1st and 10 portion of its morning show, First Take. On 1st and 10 Hill talked about the “Redeem Team’s efforts and her belief that a gold medal would be some sort of pride-boost for that great monolith, “The African-American Community.” Dana Jacobson, the segment host indicated that Hill had written a piece about that very topic to be posted on ESPN.com later that day.Well, the shoe did not drop until Saturday (when it is all but assured that the US Men’s Team will win the gold) … and drop it did:
But considering how, until recently, Team USA has been vilified for being selfish, noncompetitive and fundamentally inept, it doesn’t surprise me that African-Americans view the gold medal as a special vindication.
The previous failures of the national team brought a strong sense of embarrassment to both African-American fans and players.
Wrong. Vindication for what, exactly? Vindication for malfeasant acts by the press and shock jocks, including those of ESPN Radio, who used the losses of the 2004 US Men’s National Team in Athens as their personal race-bait pulpit?
Hoping A Shoe Drops
August 23, 2008
I have a post written Thursday night readied for Monday. The event that took place that evening has not been touched upon by any media, mainstream or otherwise, though it was televised globally. However, I am giving everyone, mainstream or otherwise, ample opportuinity to discuss the happenings of that night before dropping my article.
The televised event was clearly shown at the time and there was no mistaking the acts. That it has, predicably, escaped perusal by those who would normally create ceaseless “programming” segments around it illustrates that racism is prevalent in our society, that it is prevalent within sportswriting, and that racist reporting equal profits. And unfortunately the lack of writing about “the event” shows that black reporters and columnists suffer from myriad ills that allow them to miss what should be obvious to the journalist’s eyes.
See you Monday.
Tiki Busted Using the “C” Word On National TV
August 21, 2008
Damn, he did!… more tomorrow.
Gene Upshaw Dead at 63
August 21, 2008
Gene Upshaw, Hall of Fame offensive lineman with the Oakland Raiders and Executive Director of the NFL Player’s Association for the past 25 years, is dead:
In 1983, he became executive director of the players’ association and guided it through the 1987 strike that led to replacement football. By 1989, the players had a limited form of freedom, called Plan B, and in 1993, free agency and a salary cap were instituted.
Since then, the players have prospered so much that NFL owners recently opted out of the latest labor contract, which was negotiated two years ago by Upshaw and then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
Upshaw was criticized by some for not being tough enough in negotiations with Tagliabue, a close friend of the union head. He also was blamed by many older veterans for not dealing sufficiently with their health concerns.
The Sports Writing Blues: Confessions of an Angry White Fan
August 20, 2008
