Ah... Jason Williams, Jason Seehorn... um...

Several years ago the sports world asked the following question: what happened to the white American athlete?
The question came up in response to the emergence of Jason Seehorn as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. He was also the only white cornerback in the NFL. The fastest players in the league, as a group, play corner. There also no white runningbacks (not fullback) and olny a hand full of wide receivers. So without conceding the inherent superiority of Black athletes (Ha-ha), is there something else that can account for the fact that there has only been one white NFL cornerback in, at least, the last 10-15 years?
Looking around, those who asked the question, also noticed that the white American athlete was disappearing from major league baseball and almost extinct in the NBA. Again why? Outside the, you know, inherent superiority of the Black or Black-Latin (in the case of baseball) athlete, the following assertion emerged: the young white athlete had given up, or if the glass is half full, "rebelled"
Amy, Chad, Kore, Holly, Josh, and Kirk had grown tired of the big "3". The over-zealous coach, the boot camp regiment, the senseless competition against the more physically gifted "Black kids"... why not just have fun? You know... Dude chill out?!! Hence, the rise in the so-called extreme sports- biking, skateboarding, snowboarding and the like. Rebel or soft? A friend of mine explained it this way, he said, "Yo Cal... you know why America will never dominate in soccer? Because, in the non-American world poor people play soccer, but in America it's the rich suburban kids". So perhaps this softness, or rebellion is the natural by-product of success. But what does this say about the future of this country? If drive, invention and innovation, come from a lack or need, what happens to a group of people who have so much?

Let's look at the three biggest events of the first week of the Olympics-

Michelle Kwan drops out of the Olympics;
The favored US Men's Downhill team doesn't medal;
Lindsey Jacobellis blows the gold in snowboardcross by trying to do an unnecessary trick on her second to last jump.


Compare these feats against the recent and not so recent past-

We looked on in awe when Jordan fought through a flu and led the Bulls to victory in the NBA finals. We cheer when teams like the Yankees and USC live up to their expectations and jeer teams like the Bills and players like Peyton Manning when they don't. Deion Sanders, Dennis Rodman, Joe Namath, Magic and Jordan put on a show, but they also won, and won big!


On the other hand,

Michelle Kwan begs and pleads to get on the team, then after a fall or two in practice gives up and quits.

The US Men's downhill star and gold medial favorite, Bode Miller, came in fifth in the downhill and didn't qualify for his next race. Assessing his performance so far he said that he didn't care about medals and could walk away from the sport of ski racing at any time without a single regret.

Then you have Jacobellis who instead of winning, tries to get freak on the second to last hill and winds up not only falling but also losing the race (coming in second). She said it was "about having fun" and "playing to the crowd". No! It's about giving your best effort and trying to win.



No rebels here. These cats are soft and the decline of America has begun.


P.S. Go J.J Reddick and Adam Morrison!

Love and Hate...

Prop 1

"Luv N' Haight" a great song by Sly and the Family Stone.
First of all Happy New Year and Bush is a character from Orwell's 1984. Did you hear the State of the Union "double speak"? Terrorism Surveillance? "Another round of Kool-Aid for everybody!" But we're talkin' 'bout "Love and Hate"...

People are stupid. Word is Bond. The willingness on the part of humanity to ignore their lying eyes, knows no bounds. And then cry "mislead" as in "Bush mislead us on Iraq". Democrats are pussies too.

A recent study linked "bias" (codeword for racism) and political affiliation. People who voted Republican tended to have a bias against Black people (cue Kanye West). Check yesterday's Washington Post (1-30-06). For example, images of poor Black people evoked responses of government waste. Not so if the same images were shown without Black people. See that's hate. So where's the love? Love is saying "support the troops" even if it means killing innocent women and children. Love is to ignore the nuanced and to mentally shut down when the conversation gets difficult. So the next time you hear "Support the troops" ask that person what it means. Is it support to send them into a quagmire? Or does support mean to provide soldiers with all the killing machinery necessary to destroy more effectively and completely?

Love is blind. When I was growing up parents would talk about their daughter's new diet. In the street we understood it as crack. Love short circuits the mind. Logic out the door. And if one points out the Lover's "illogicalness" then you're a Hater. But Lovers are the best haters. Germans loved Hitler so much they hated Jews. Born-again Christians hate Jews so much they love them. See because they love Jesus, they need Israel to exist in order for Jesus to return and turn the Jews into Christians. Love or Hate? Preachers at Mega-churches selling sermons for $10.99. Al Sharpton calling for a boycott of the CartoonNetwork for the BoonDocks MLK special. Stop hate-ing Al! Or maybe he just loves the civil rights movement that much. A movement he missed but from hearing the brother talk you'd swear he was right up in the mix. Now I'm hate-ing, but in the best way. Ha-ha.

let's talk about Love and Hate in sports.



NFL stakeholders, fans, media and the like, love Jerome Bettis so much he's become the story of Super Bowl XL. Might as well call it the Bus Bowl. Granted, the symmetry is too big to be ignored. Player plays his biggest and final game before the hometown crowd. Bettis is "larger than average" so it's fitting that he's playing in SB "X-L". He nearly blows it against Manning and the boys by fumbling the ball on the goal line. All this from a part time player, his team's second best running back, and a far cry in terms of importance to Ben Rothilsberger, the reason why the Stillers (not a spelling error) are in Detroit in the first place. See love is deep. Love has the Steelers teammates playing for Bettis instead of themselves. Each other maybe... but for another player... crying and shit about it... Is it love or lack of self-love. Love has seemingly all interested parties talking about Bettis and Pittsburgh and ignoring the... uh... you know the other team. And maybe the other team, whatever they're called, will find the love and want Bettis to win too. Get so psyched out and overwhlemed by love that the Steelers win in a rout and the Bus rolls off into the sunset with the MVP... and everyone will be happy... except for the me. I'd be hate-ing. Sitting at my man's house surrounded by Stillers (Pittsburgh-ese) fans pissed off at the Fates willingness to sell out and go all Republican Pollyana optimistic on a nigga. But don't give in to the love yet... I can feel the green eyed monster slowly rearing its head. Is that Hassleback I see? Or is it Rothilsberger?


Kobe drops 81 and he shoots too much.
However, if LeBron were to drop 80, he'd get a new commercial, a new sneaker (the 80's), and a plaque commemorating the achievement.

Peyton Manning sells out year after year after year after year... and yet he's still considered the best qb in the game. Even after hate-ing, cold dry-snitching on his o-line, a huuuuuge no-no in sports, the media still talks about what the defense and o-line didn't do. Now that's love.

Vince Young single-handedly beats the supposed "if they win" best team of all-time USC Trojans and yet there are still doubts about his impact on the next level. If VYoung played any other position no-brainer, but as a Black Qb? "We have Matt Leinhart rated higher." Knock it off.





Love God, family and friends.
Hate those who don't love Love.
Because, God is Love.

Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On" side A.

Salam