Sunday, September 30, 2012

Stop Me When I Start Lyin: A Crown for the King

The most polarized and scrutinized player in NBA history has won his first ring, at 27 years old. the hate level and salt throwing prevalent right now is otherworldly. You'd think Hitler was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize or something. Like Rush Limbaugh or Don Imus had been honored at the NAACP Awards. Particularly the Kobe fans who are clinging to the thought that the "Black Mamba" will be the best player in the league until retirement no matter how old and one-dimensional he becomes. Some of the arguments thrown out with the intention of discrediting the championship were crazy, like "The refs are so bad that I don't feel like this championship should even count. It gets an asterisk from me." I heard "the league felt sorry for him and gave them this one" despite that face that this would be insinuating that the NBA willingly gave up its most compelling storyline, LeBron's quest for a championship. Or funniest to me "He only won because D-Rose got hurt." I like Derrick Rose, he plays the game with passion, but has as many rings (and playoff victories against the Heat) as I do, and I'm not in the league. Did anyone discredit the Lakers championship in 2009 when Kevin Garnett got hurt for the defending champion Boston Celtics? Next Kobe fan who tries to play that "Yeah, but that's different" line is getting backhanded.  But let me back up and explain the root of all this...

I'm a LeBron fan, have been since about 2005 when I first really really started paying attention. Not a Cavs fan, not a Heat fan, but a LeBron fan. My favorite player in NBA history (not the best, because that belongs to my home state's own Michael Jordan, but my favorite) is Magic Johnson. Magic was 6'9" with overwhelming court vision and the ability to play every position on the floor (see 1980 NBA Finals Game 6). The only player I've seen come along who could do that...you guessed it, LeBron James. And not only did he have that ability and court vision, he's a serious upgrade in athleticism and defense over Magic. He has a Magic skill set but drives to the hole better than anyone in history, what wasn't to love? The only knock on him was that he didn't have a ring for a myriad of reasons (most notably that he played with mediocre talent at best) including the perception that he wasn't clutch enough. Part of assessment was true (he did have inexplicable lapses in some big games), but part of it was a combination of two factors: he's not an indiscriminate shooter at clutch time like Jordan or Kobe, and people have unrealistic expectations based on the idea that he's not worth the hype. Before he learned the value of passing as he got older, MJ never saw a shot he didn't like, particularly at crunch time. Many times taking the shot was a horrible decision for the team; in his youth, he didn't care, he perceived shooting as his job as the team's best player. Kobe, a poor man's MJ through lifelong emulation, also perceived shooting no matter what as his job even when he wasn't the team's best player (Shaq) and he still hasn't learned to pass. Fans are enamored with shooting and often excuse abysmal last second shooting decisions because there's a chance they could see the stud player hit a game winner. If you take many, you'll make some and miss plenty. LeBron follows the Magic Johnson mold. Think about how many games, and close games, the Showtime Lakers won. How many game winners do you remember Magic hitting? One, the hook shot over the Celtics. But every clutch situation, he had the ball in his hands and was trusted to make the right decision, most of the time he would make the right pass and get the assist. Usually Kareem, Byron Scott, Big Game James Worthy, or Michael Cooper would take the pass and score, they'd win and all would be celebrated. With LeBron, opting not to shoot the last shot was seem as giving up and a disappointment. Times when he would take over and deliver in the cluth (last 25 Cavs pts to beat Pistons in 07 Eastern Finals, game winning 3 against Magic, numerous playoff game winners against the Wizards, big fourth qtrs to eliminate 2011 Bulls in Eastern Finals, etc) were quickly forgotten. Times he failed to peform huge crunch time numbered would be most highly scrutinized, even in the midst of overall monster games (losing a series to the Magic despite averaging 35, 8, and 9, losing to the Celtics with 29-14-10 final game, etc). And let's be reminded, he wasn't playing with Kareem, Big Game James, and the boys...he took a squad full of bums to the Finals in Cleveland (Eric Snow?? Drew Gooden???).In his summer of free agency, they did nothing to get him more help, so he left for South Beach. I wish he was still in Cleveland too, but I also wish they would have gotten him one of the 5-6 good big men that were available in free agency at that time. That's when a new level of hate (even jersey burning) started. Then the haters hit the lotto when he (along with D-Wade and Bosh) consistently and inexplicably went ghost at crunch time against the Mavs in the 2011 NBA Finals. I think that level of adversity and scorn was probably the best thing that ever happened to him. Instead of worrying about being liked, he finally could live his life with a little bit more "Fuck It", which I believe he needed; Lord know everyone will need some "fuck it" in their life at some point or another. U see what that allowed him to do, carry his partially injured team to the championship despite hitting hard spots along the way. Also, they had to beat a team that had beat 3 teams with championship pedigree (Mavs, Lakers, Spurs) and had a player seen as "the closer LeBron will never be" in Durant. You see what happened when LeBron turned on that "fuck it" and went beast mode. The rest is history. Honestly, all I want for him is this, judge him for how he plays and the array of skills he has, not what he didn't have. Stop hating long enough to be objective and I truly don't think anyone can honestly look at him as a player and dispute that he is special and will be an all time great. But as a wise man...well, a popular ass hole once said, "there'll always be haters that's the way it is, hater niggas marry hater bitches and have hater kids." Stop Me When I Start Lying...

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Stop Me When I Start Lying: Sexism and Sports, London 2012

I'm still catching up on articles I missed while on hiatus. One topic that I have to touch on is the blatant examples of sports sexism shown during the Olympics. In case anyone forgot, the mass media is controlled by men...more specifically middle aged to old white men in corporate America. Although America is more progressive in terms of women's rights and privileges than any other place in the world, sports are still seem as masculine and more appropriate for women than men. This has somewhat manifested itself throughout the world, including the United States; take a moment and think of how many females you've heard say that women look like men when they start looking athletic. One consequence of this the perception that despite playing sports (a vigorous physical activity), they still need to look uber feminine while they do it. Part of me honestly thinks (well, actually knows) that those corporate fat cats I spoke about have a little bit of "dirty old man" to them. To them, men's sports are about who is the best performer or the most entertaining. For women, they're looking for the right combination of "Oh, she's pretty good" and "She's hot, I'll like to spend all night giving her an 'interview' at my hotel." For instance, in the little known sport of women's basketball, more people know balling beauties like Skylar Diggins (still in college) than Tina Charles (Olympic gold medalist) and Lauren Jackson (multiple time WNBA MVP) who are likely perceived as "butch". Even women who wear their hair in more appealing ways than the standard, "I'm working my ass off" ponytail gain notoriety, especially among male viewers. Hence, the 2012 tales of Lolo Jones and Gabby Douglas:

Lolo Jones

Lolo Jones (pictured left) is bad, super bad, somewhat exotic bad; for those who can't decifer the slang I just used, Lolo has undeniable beauty that transcends races. Those old corporate white men would probably get a stiffy (if they've taken their purple pills) just watching her stretch before practice in her tights. She's also a self-proclaimed virgin (she's 30) who can't seem to find a guy who will take her seriously without getting into her pants; Oh those pigs. She also happens to be a very good 100 meter hurdler who can't seem to put it together in the big meets; she's dominated everything except the big stages (Olympics and Outdoor World Championships). She came into the Olympics in 2008 in the best shape of her life. Unfortunately for her, she was in the lead, hit a hurdle throwing off her rhythm and ended up getting 7th. Cameras flocked to her looks of agony and disbelief and she sit on the track heartbroken over what had just happened; commentators poured out their sympathy for her unfortunate predicament. She was virtually inconsolable during her interviews. By the way, American Dawn Harper (pictured below right) was crowned Olympic champion in that race. In the years between, particularly the building for the 2012 Games, this put those responsible for the media, endorsements, and Olympic propaganda at a cross roads. Track is not a sport that can have many icons (like football, basketball, or others), particularly not two women. Thus, they are faced with an ultimatum who they want to make the female face of American Track & Field: the only American woman to win individual gold in 2008, Dawn Harper, or Lolo Jones, the hottie whom tragic befell in 2008? The champion seems like the easy choice. She rose to the top of the sport despite rocky and unenviable upbringing, like Lolo and others, did and won the Olympics. She won the 2012 Olympic trials, with Jones getting the 3rd and final spot. To the champion should go the spoils, right? Wrong. The word "hottie" would become the determining factor to those corporate decision makers; it's not quite a synonym to the word 'marketable' but it's getting close for women. Dawn Harper isn't some ugly chick or anything and she runs track, so you know she can fill out a dress or uniform. But she's very dark skinned and is not as naturally beautiful as Lolo. That's not an issue for me, but I'm not an older white guy. They don't provoke that stiffy for them the way Lolo does. Lolo Jones is mixed and passes the paper bag test (being lighter than a brown paper bag) which is about where pretty much any race still find Blacks or mixed women attractive (see: Halle Berry, Rihanna, Stacy Dash, Beyonce, etc); White, Latinos, Asians, etc aren't gonna flock so quickly to someone Harper's complexion. Even the
whitest of middle aged white women would call Lolo gorgeous if she was their sons' girlfriend. To make the decision easier for them, Lolo has posed tastefully nude (see pictured at bottom) and revealed the story of her virginity and struggle to find a man who accepts her lifestyle. Now in addition to her looks, she has a combination of sex appeal and innocence/purity that could feed that marketability. So, done deal. Thus she was EVERYWHERE (commercials, magazines, posters, billboards, talk show interviews, etc) for everyone to see while Harper remained largely unknown to the non-track community despite her success in 2008. Then in the 2012 Games, Harper gets a narrow silver, becoming the 8th fastest woman ever and only losing to a woman who broke the Olympic record. Lolo misses the medal stand, getting 4th, no fall, no drama, no sympathetic fan base. Then when provoked in an interview, Harper did what she had resisted doing for 4 straight years, got her feelings about the media decision off of her chest. She felt that despite being one of the more accomplished women ever in her event now, her success and her story had been overlooked for Lolo Jones's, more because of her looks and personal life than her accomplishments. Was it Lolo's fault? Absolutely not. Do I blame Lolo for not saying, "thanks for the offer, but you should have called Dawn instead"? Absolutely not. But does any of that change how Harper feels about it? Absolutely not. Track isn't a sport of massive salaries, you can be a successful track athlete on the track and still not be abnormally wealthy unless you have endorsements. So Harper sees the chick she's beaten at the Olympics and World Championships eating better than her and didn't like it. The media simultaneously highlighted the undeniable legitimacy of the bitterness while calling it a bad PR move for Harper (and bronze medalist Kellie Wells) to demonize her teammate. But hell, if winning the Olympics in 08 wasn't a good enough PR move to get Harper to fame and fortune, what is? Therefore, what does she have to lose getting it off her chest. Heart broken Lolo doesn't understand because the endorsements are nice but she wants the medal that Harper has. She never meant to spite anyone, she wanted to run track and live good understandably. That media spotlight is a bitch, ain't it?




Gabby Douglas

Gabrielle Douglas, the 16 year old sweetheart gymnast from Virginia Beach makes it to the Olympics and wins two gold medals. Her mother, who's sacrificed and scraped together money to get Gabby into some Olympic school in Iowa, is there at the Games to see her sacrifice all worth it as her daughter succeeds on the biggest stage. But all anyone has to talk about is her hair? See the foolishness to the left as an example of the foolishness that popped up online. The sexism comes into play here because (just like the successful basketball players we mentioned earlier who don't get as much attention), you being great at your sport isn't good enough in women's sports; you have to be good and you have to look the way they want you to look. If somebody likes their women with their hair down, long and flowing (you've seen all the teen movies where the girl is ridiculed for being geeky and ugly until she takes off her glasses and magically is the most beautiful girl in school all of a sudden), then that's how they want women to look while competing too. This isn't very practical in the world of sport. Unless your sweat glands are as blocked as Rush Limbaugh's arteries, you're going to sweat if you're strenuously competing. Furthermore, long hair, if not pulled back or put up, will inevitably get in your face while you try to compete. If you're a gymnast (making running, flipping, spinning, and jumping part of your competition), it's especially important to keep that mess under control. In the midst of her two gold medals, Twitter lit up with people mocking the greased back pony tail with many hair clips that the girl wore while winning two gold medals for America. Had I been on Twitter (you can check on old article citing reason why I decided against it), I would've made it my mission to ridicule everyone trying to ridicule her. Stuff like "You haven't done anything strenuous enough to sweat out your hair since the Clinton administration, I don't expect you to understand" or "Oh, I'm sorry, remind me again: What did you hair look like the last time you made history?" all over the place. To an extent I get some criticism for the straight hair populations, because they just don't understand. Black hair changes texture and volume when wet, so all those clips and that grease was needed to keep it under wraps when you're competing everyday. Plus, she now lives in an environment where she's the only Black girl at the gymnastics facility where she lives and was the only one on the Olympic team. Who understands her hair enough to do it for her while they're at competitions? Nobody she's traveling with. So while to an extent, I get why they don't understand, I think they should stop sweating the petty shit and appreciate her successes for her country. If the history of her sport serves as reference, even at 16 years old, this may be her last Olympic games (08 Olympic heroes Nastia Luikin and Shawn Johnson failed to make the 2012 team at ages 22 and 20). But to the Black community that was insulting the girl, your actions are deplorable and indefensible. Beyond the fact that she's the first Black woman to win the All Around gold medal, one of the two she won, SHE'S 16. While you were sitting at home getting fatter, you decided it was a good idea to attack a 16 year old in the midst of competition. You're scared to work out too hard or get freaky in the middle of the week because you don't want to ruin the $60 you spent at the salon getting your hair done, but you can't empathize with a Black girl trying to keep her hair as 'harnessed' as possible until the Games are over. If she showed up on the talk show circuit with her hair looking crazy, I'd understand. But she didn't, the competition was over and she got it done (see pictured below). So until one of you salt-throwing motha fuckas shows me how to make it throw Olympic competition without sweating enough to ruin a prom-like hairdo, politely shut the fuck up and recognize someone for what they do. Even though it was both women and men criticizing, it's sexist because it doesn't apply the same to men. Joakim Noah isn't badgered as badly as Gabby was and he looks like he doesn't even shower, much less worry about anything other that putting up his hair up. On a good day, he looks like Sideshow Bob from "the Simpsons". But it doesn't matter cuz he's a guy and we get over it. Stop Me When I Start Lying...










P.S. I saw that immediately after Gabby got her gold medal, NBC ran a commercial with a monkey doing gymnastics too and I didn't appreciate that covert racist shit neither. But that's a story for another day.

Playing Catch Up: London Olympics 2012

Anyone who knows me personally or has read this blog much knows that I'm a rabid sports fan. Despite my love for many sports, my primary sport coming up track (ultimately becoming an All-ACC track athlete in college and paying for my education that way). That shit is in my soul. Therefore, the Olympics will always hold a special place in my heart because it's the only time that the entire world is paying attention to the sport I love. The Olympics mean even more now as I have many friends who are Olympians and would have competed in the Olympic Trials in 2008 had I not hurt my hamstring months before; before anyone asks, there was virtually no chance I would have made it, but I still wanted to be there. So quickly (since I'm months behind), here is my take on the track portion of the 2012 London Olympics:

I'm ecstatic for:

  • Sanya Richards and Allyson Felix (pictured above) for catching their white whales (both have dominated their events for years but didn't win the Olympics until this year). Plus I'm still waiting on one of their boyfriends/husbands to slip up to I can capture one of them as my boo.
  • Justin Gatlin for coming back after 4 years suspended to run historically fast and win a bronze medal, 8 years after original Olympic glory. Track is an easy sport to give up on when you're forced to sit out what are probably the prime years for your event, 100 runner are usually like running backs in the NFL, hard pressed to compete after about 30.
  • Britain's track program. Plainly stated the UK has a history of talking big shit (in their butchering dialect of the language I thought they invented) and underachieving in sports (I'm talking shameful disappointments), but some of their 'poster children' - Mo  Farah, Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford, etc - held it down and they got plenty of hardware for the host nation. Jolly Good Show Lads.
  • All my friends who made it to the Olympics, especially the many who went for the first time. On another note, Fuck y'all for making me jealous posting all the Opening Ceremonies pics with various athletes I'd love to meet
I'm heartbroken for:
  • LaShawn Merritt, who due to injury was not able to make it through the rounds to defend his Olympic title, opening the door for a non-American to win the Olympic 400 for the first time in a long time.
  • Tyson Gay, the fastest American ever happens to have terrible luck with injuries (hamstring in 08, hip in 2012 in Olympic years. Despite his American feats, he may be somewhat forgotten historically because he never got a chance to compete at full strength in the Olympic Games. At least u got that Gillette money.
  • Angelo Taylor, my personal friend and fellow Georgia Tech alumni, who did not have the story book ending that I know he would've wanted to end his Olympic story with; I doubt he'll still be competing in 2016. He's won the Olympics twice and his legacy is set, however, you'd like to leave on a better note than he was able to create this year in the hurdles and relay race. I know he had plenty of beautiful female company to make him feel better though, so I know he was still winning in the end.
  • Dwight Phillips and Terrence Trammell (pictured above), two more friends of mine who were unable to make the trip and continue their Olympic successes due to injuries in the months leading up to the Games. They are the same age as Angelo and have likely competed in their last Olympic Games. They're still the pride of the East Side of the A
  • Dawn Harper...this is a strange case as you ordinarily would not feel sorry for someone when they just won silver and ran a historically fast time. However, she was overlooked in terms of marketing and endorsements in 2008 when she won gold, and she likely will be again due to the reception of her outspoken criticism of how the media flocked to the more attractive but significantly less successful, Lolo Jones. Truth be told, she was right, but it was received as spiteful.
I was impressed by:
  • Kirani James, who became the first non-American to ever run under 44 seconds in the 400 meters and also the first ever Olympic gold medalist from Grenada. Oh, and by the way, he was only 19 years old the day he won gold.
  • Aries Merrit and Jason Richardson (pictured to right), these two American hurdlers dominated college track but then lagged in the professional scene for a few years; even on the brink of quitting the sport. This convinced many, myself included, that they peaked in college and would never be spectacular on the world scene; how wrong I was. Now, Richardson is World Champion and Merritt is Olympic champion and World Record holder. Well done Mr. Merritt, easiest way to deflect attention away from people trying to guess if you're gay or not is to perform so well at ur craft that it has to be talked about instead.
  • Ryan Bailey. He's an afterthought in a field of 100 meter runners that contained the fastest men in history (Bolt, Gay, Powell, Blake, and Gatlin), but 23 year old Ryan Bailey has come from nowhere and run times that would dominate the event and any other point in history. Medal or not, I'm impressed.
  • David Rudisha. I can't imagine a cooler story than coming to your first Olympics, taking control of your race early, and breaking your own World Record with the entire World watching.
  • Manteo Mitchell. In the most impressive tangible display of "The Olympic Spirit" that I can remember, my friend Manteo broke his fibula halfway through his leg of the relay and not only gutted through the pain to finish, but ran an impressive split because he refused to let his team and his country down on the Olympic stage. Many old men lie and exaggerate these kinds of stories ("I ran on a broken leg cuz they needed me too"). Well, now Manteo has a such story which is 100% true and proven.
  • 4x100 relays. The US women broke the world record by a half second (an eternity in track), the Jamaicans broke the world record, and even in defeat the US men broke the old world record and broke the American record (held by Carl Lewis and crew) by almost half a second. It was crazy.
I was disappointed in:
  • The media's aforementioned crowning of Lolo Jones as the American Olympic poster girl despite being the last 100 meter hurdler to qualify for the games. How you gonna ignore the American 2008 Olympic champion who runs the same event as Lolo? I'll speak more on this in a forthcoming entry on sexism and media reception of female sport.
  • Wallace Spearmon (pictured to left). 4th at the Olympics is a tremendous accomplishment...for most. But this dude has proven to possess all the tools to run historically fast and get the Jamaicans trouble. But he won't because he's trying to over-strategize a race that you should just get out and run, it's a little disappointing. Do you truly believe you're gonna jog the curve and then run down Usain Bolt? Spoken how a mother would say it "Boy, stop pussyfooting dun run the whole damn race."
Final thoughts:
America did their thing. Some of our bread and butter events (men's 400, 400 hurdles, 4x400 relay, etc) didn't live up to our prior standards. But we still had the most gold medals and the most medals overall. No complaints here. My only everlasting complaint about the Olympics is that I wait four years, watch every night of the Games while they're on, and they over so quickly. THEN IT'S NOTHING BUT DAMN BASEBALL ON TV UNTIL FOOTBALL SEASON. I'd rather risk overdose force feeding myself sleeping medicine to fall asleep early than to watch regular season baseball on TV. Baseball is the single reason I think TVs should still have the Picture in a Picture. u can leave the baseball game on the small screen and watch something more interesting on the larger one...like static. Am I being harsh to America's former pasttime (u can't convince me baseball is more popular than football)? It's possible, but whatever I've Been Called Worse...

P.S. If there's someone or something I discussed and you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it. We live in the Age of Technology, use it.

Mike Vicking it...

As Cool J would say in 1991, "Don't call it a comeback". I've been away too long. Upon getting back into the country I had to re-establish my new life (new job, the move, new city, etc). What I didn't predict is that when u get out of the habit of pouring out your thoughts on here even just a week, it can become a month, then 2, and then 6-7 months. All of a sudden you realize, I've been trying to cram some of your thought process into a Facebook status or 140 characters worth of Tweeting. I don't know what I was doing; it wasn't me. But I'm back like Mike Vick in Philly with the haircut...and these cats still can't tackle me.