Firearms for Modern Art

Art, made entirely from weapons. A better use for guns than killing each other...

Stop Me When I Start Lying: Guns for Heroes?

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." 

Although Harvey Dent (in "The Dark Knight") was talking about Julius Caesar and his absolute reign over Rome, it became true about him as he transitioned from passionately heroic DA into villainous "Two Face". Although it was a movie, this quote is very true of many situations. With that being said,the recent argument that gun lobbyists are making that to prevent tragedy such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, we must arm everyone with the potential to be a hero in such situations (bosses in office buildings, principals in schools, etc) has even less credibility. What happens when we put arms in the hands of everyone we believe is a potential hero and they stay at that post with no bad guy threats? So we're already assuming that all authority figures (and their successors who will have access to the same weapons) are trustworthy with such power and will step up and be valiant in such a trying moment. Even if we were right about the character of EVERY person we arm, what happens when normal business and normal human reactions take place? People get fired, get laid off, are forced into budget cuts or business decisions they don't agree with, get mad, etc...and we've armed them. We armed Osama Bin Laden and his forces long ago when we shared a common opponent during the Iraq-Iran War. We had a difference of opinion a few years afterwards, nasty words were exchanged, and all those weapons were turned on us; the rest is history. Recently, in many parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia there have been civil wars, coups, and leadership changes with varying levels of international involvement. Often the international community and the population themselves fully support the leaders forging the revolution.They perceive them to be liberating the people from the currently established tyranny; often, only to find that once in power they never want to relinquish it and will install their own brand of tyranny to maintain it. Power is a funny thing in what it can turn even the most ambitious and noble individual into. The liberty of many civilizations has been stolen to thunderous applause. So if you arm that 40 year old general during his conquest to liberate his people from the previous tyrant, how does that make you feel when the 55 year old version of the same man turns those guns on any of his people or any outsiders he considers a threat to his unbridled power? Obviously, the NRA is not talking about dictators, but the same concepts apply. The boss of your company may be less likely to accept outside opinions  from anyone if he knows that he is the one man in the building with the key to the weapons vault. These are things that must be considered before anyone starts handing out guns hoping that it acts as a deterrent; you've laid the seeds for these incidents to turn into full-fledged gunfights. Stop Me When I Start Lying...

Apocalypse Not

Apocalypse Now quickly became Apocalypse Not when 12/21/12 came and went without even an iota of the catastrophic fervor previously promised. I even gave it another day before I wrote this blog entry to allow for a little error. I mean, this was a theory millennia in the making, 24 hours of error could easily been forgiven. But here we are on the 23rd and there are no indications that any of the CGI effects from the movie "2012" will stop me from seeing the start of 2013. I almost didn't buy Christmas gifts because I didn't think the 25th would come. Guess it was prudent on my part resist the urge to blow all my life savings heading to Amsterdam and hoping I could blow it all on women, drinks, and weed brownies before the Armaggedon got me; it would've been a bummer to wake up the next morning had I went through with that plan. As nice as it would be to know the exact date that the world was going to end and plan for it, I'm not entirely sure I could ever truly trust any prognostication of that magnitude. As brilliant as the Mayans, Nostradamus, and so many others were none of the several dates tabbed as the end by different theories have been correct thus far. I know life is short, but I don't need it any shorter. I guess the moral of the story is live life to the fullest but not by someone else's timeline...

Do Better: Cornball Rob Parker

Attention Rob Parker (pictured with headset), u're not only embarrassing urself, u're embarrassing Black men everywhere. Rob Parker, a personality on ESPN who frequently the show "First Take" hosted by Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, has been suspended 30 days because last week he made comments stating that Redskins rookie QB Robert Griffin III (pictured in uniform) isn't Black enough to be considered a "real brother". He instead called him a "Cornball Brother." That's right, Black on Black racism. This is not a topic that should be discussed on National TV...even if he's somewhat right. Look, if this topic comes up in a bar or in someone's living room while we're watching a game, I would have participated because there is a lot to discuss. RG3 in terms of appearance was the Blackest QB we've ever seen. We know that in America if you're to have a Black man as the face of your government, company, team, an award winner, or anything else, he typically needs a universal appeal: handsome, fairly clean cut, and light to brown skinned. RG3 is (pardon my judgement on the man) ugly, has long hanging plait braids (not even Larry Fitzerald style clean cut dreds), and is as dark as the night is long; This ain't Obama or Cam Newton we're talking about. Then he was drafted by "Chocolate City" Washington DC where he looks more like Wale than anyone else...but he's not that kind of dude. Despite being from Louisiana and Texas, it's widely believed that he typically is surrounded by white people. It's reported that he's more politically aligned with the Republicans. He's engaged to a cute but somewhat plain White girl (pictured with Griffin). I could only imagine the looks that he may get walking around with her in DC; hell, he might pass up Adams Morgan, U Street, and more typically Black areas (that Michael Vick or my hometown QB Cam Newton would go if they lived in DC) and instead take her out in Georgetown or something. I say all of this to say that even if I knew him, he might not fit in at my cookouts. He might not roll to the spots we would go to or listen to the music we would. That's relevant socially...but not athletically. So why the hell is this being discussed on  ESPN? I'm not naive enough to believe that people's social lives and professional lives are completely disconnected. But I don't feel like you should report on something on ESPN if it's not directly connected. Is it truly my business that Torrey Smith's brother got killed? Actually, not really. But it was reported because it affects whether he will play and possibly the quality to which he played the game a day or two after his brother's death. I'm a LeBron James fan, I criticize him harshly for two moments of his career; Game 5 of the 2010 series against Boston and his disappearance in the 2011 NBA Finals. That game 5 terrible performance happened the day he found out his teammate Delonte West  had slept with his mom. It's not my business, but I do see how that may affect your performance that night. My mind may have been more on breaking the jaw of this Mother fucker (literally) than being the best basketball player in the world. The fact that RG3 might not fit in at my cookout does not affect my respect level for Robert as a quarterback. Honestly, I don't know if Rob Parker would fit in at my cookout; I don't know him, but he strikes me as a bit corny himself. That's another reason this seemed odd coming from him. As much as he's criticized for his level of animation and occasionally controversy, I'm a big Stephen A. Smith fan because I think we could share some beer and have immensely entertaining conversations about sports or anything else. The same could be said for many sports writers, but not I'm not sure Parker makes that list. Skip Bayless, Smith, and may others say controversial things and express really strong opinions often approaching the line of what's "over the top"; it starts conversations. It gets people watching "First Take" to see what perspective they're gonna take on a hot issue, whether you agree with them or think they're ridiculous. That controversy is fine when discussing sports...not gauging someone's Blackness. So all in all, we live in a society where Blacks have come a long way and are excelling in many facets (politics, sports, music, cinema, etc) at unprecedented levels. Is this really what white people need to see us doing on National TV? Trying to turn us against each other on the basis of someone not being Black enough to be supported by the Black community? Do Better...

Real Talk: The Smoking Guns

July 20, 2012: A 24 year old masked man enters a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" and kills 12 people, wounding 50 more in a Colorado movie theater. December 11, 2012 A man walks into an Oregon mall and shoots three people before taking his own life right before police arrive. December 14, 2012 An autistic 20 year old starts shooting indiscriminately in the Newtown, CT elementary school that his mother worked at, killing 27 people including 20 small children. That may have been the last straw. Let me be clear, I was sad, I'm not anymore...I'M PISSED; A controlled pissed, but pissed nonetheless. These aren't the first school shootings by any means (Colombine, Virginia Tech, and countless others), but the shock and sadness this one causes may just be the straw that broke the camels back he it comes to changing our loose gun laws in America. As well read as I pride myself on being, I have purposely not researched or read much on the details of this incident because of the visceral sadness associated with the death of so many young children. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I'm not a parent; I could only imagine what it felt like as a parent. Two more things hit me as soon as I heard about this incident, a) This is another indication that too many guns are ending up in the hands of the wrong people, b) He just killed 27 people and noone has referred into him as a terrorist. I understand that the 2nd Amendment is virtually irreversible and is widely supported by many states and virtually every rural area. I know plenty of young people who are responsible gun owners (even some that own automatic or assault weapons); they own them, they may go to the gun range and shoot, they're around just in case of the worse but scarcely even get touched. I also know that most rural gun owners have them for the purposes of hunting or recreational shooting only and have never turned their firearms on other people. I honestly believe 90-95% of registered gun owners are not a real threat to society. The problem is that the other 5% of registered gun owners (and those who procure firearms by less legal means) are comprised of people who likely either: lead a lifestyle that increases their propensity for violence, have mental/emotional issues which increase their likeliness to "overreact" to something via firearm. Just like with insurance, law enforcement, and so many other things, the actions of the 5% make things much worse for the more responsible 95%. But rather than complaining, which won't get us anywhere, my thought process (still trying to avoid the emotion that comes with fully turning my attention to the details of this latest tragedy) immediately turns to "What can we do?". The over reactors immediately jump to "Get rid of guns in America", but I'm versed enough to realize that this isn't feasible. In rural America (which by land mass is still the majority of the country), fear that the "city slickers" will try to take their guns is a constant fear and can drive their political views and affiliations. Hell, the NRA and right wing response to this situation is "Guns aren't the problem. He was just a bad apple. If the principal of the school had had an assault rifle in his office, none of this would have happened."( I heard a similar "Arm everyone as a deterrent" from zany ass Ann Coulter in reply to Trayvon Martin's murder; SMH). If more restrictive gun legistlation is passed, their inevitable response will be "Why should I stop buying guns because of a few? I haven't broken the law." Fuck the NRA, we know they have their own reasons for advocating more guns. A friend of mine on Facebook recently very astutely compared this to saying "I'm a law abiding citizen, not a hijacker. Why can't take my knives and box cutters on the plane?". If that argument worked, I'd be at city hall tomorrow saying "I'm not a criminal, I don't want to pay the portion of my taxes that goes to funding the police force. They don't need them for me, I don't like them fuckers, and they don't like young Black men." Let me know when that shit starts to work. And this theory that everyone should be armed to prevent gun violence sounds crazy; raise your hand if gun availability seems like the answer rather than the problem. I won't lie and say I know the whole answer, but although many of my responsibly gun-owning friends won't like the fact that the late rash of violence has made me believe that non-soldiers don't need assault rifles available to them anymore. The process of acquiring a weapon should be tweaked also, maybe it should have a mental evaluation requirement as well, I'm not sure the best way to do it, but something must be done and now Obama and Biden seem to think the same. I hope they get the right people in the same room and come up with something that nudges this issue in the right direction. Feeling how I felt the day that elementary school got shot up is not an experience I was fond of and I'd guess everyone else felt the same way.

I'll only use a few sentences about the lack of terrorism profiling. I think defining who's a terrorist and who's a violent criminal gets distorted by narrowly minded regional stereotyping. I wonder if Tim McVeigh (the Oklahoma City bomber), the Unibomber, Eric Rudolph, the Virginia Tech shooter, the Dark Knight movie theater shooter, ESPECIALLY Jared Lee Lougher (He shot a politician for a political reason), would be much more often referred to as terrorist if the same actions were carried out by someone from the Middle East or Africa. When white men commit such crimes, people automatically explore the "Oh maybe he's just crazy" rather than questioning their motives. This is opposite with those from Arab or African descent, there is no regard for their mental state, their intent gets assumed as terrorism, even if the person was born and raised n the US and has no definable connections to terrorist groups. If you're premeditating and carrying out mass murder, you need to be treated like a monster; no matter what you look like. Real Talk...

Real Talk: Recent NFL tragedies

For a second straight Sunday, the National Football League has to hold games on the heels of reporting player-caused fatality. Last Sunday, 25 year old Kansas City linebacker Jovan Belcher (pictured above) shot his girlfriend eight times at their home before killing himself in front of his coach, general manager, and other team officials at their practice facility. This week, Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent was driving under the influence and flipped his vehicle killing the passenger, his teammate Jerry Brown. I heard a quote today which I believe to be an apt description of the circumstances. Former NFL player and present commentator Tom Jackson said that despite popular belief, "The NFL is a microcosm of society." It's easy to view NFL players like their digital replicas on the Madden video games as nothing more than football playing images on your screen with no other purpose or attentions in life than playing up to the expectations of the fans. Ignoring the fact that we are all actually people (and therefore flawed) makes is easy to demonize and criticize them for on field play and ignore the fact that the complexities of life still affect these men off of the gridiron. People have off days, people have days of fatigue of aloofness, personal stresses or emotions can affect professional performance at times, pride often stops people from seeking help they may require. As quiet as it's kept, most teams have personal counselors available for any players who needs them. By all accounts from Chiefs players, Belcher was a model citizen in the locker room and an hard working, devoted teammate. If the rumors about the cause of the murder-suicide events are true, his girlfriend was late coming back from a Trey Songz concert and he became jealous enough to murder her. I can't believe that this level of rage emerged from this incident alone; although it is possible frighteningly enough. By reports, Belcher and his girlfriend were provided counseling by the Chiefs about their "financial and relationship problems." Is it feasible to believe that had they contacted the counselor earlier or been more honest at counseling about their issues that this may not have happened? I think it's possible. But instead this tragedy took place despite the fact that they actually made the hard step to begin counseling. Now because of this murder suicide, a young girl will never know her parents and whoever raises her will have a terrible story about them whenever she becomes old enough to ask. The NFL itself has a comprehensive substance abuse program available for any players willing to use it. Is it possible to believe that if Brent's ego allowed him to join the program, or use the NFL taxi service (yeah, the NFL has created a hotline for this very purpose), or bring a friend as a designated driver, his teammate would be alive and he wouldn't be in custody for intoxication manslaughter? It's a reasonable conclusion. But as with addiction and many other personal problems, it's difficult to admit that you have a problem which could cause death of someone close to you; often to a fault. This is especially true with alcohol, which is legal and often not considered an addictive drug. People use alcohol so casually that it becomes hard to determine what is truly a state of addiction and even how inebriated you are in relation to whether you are able to drive or not. I've wondered about that one and been more conscious of it myself as I've gotten older. Groupon had a personal breatalyzer on sale for cheap and I bought it just so I could examine that myself at home because if you're not 'out of control, world spinning, I can barely stand up' drunk, it can become hard to know exactly where you stand. Sounds crazy, but I did. It's worth the $20 to me to know how I feel at that point and avoid the possible DUI or tragedy which can follow. As a people, we have to be more conscious and deliberate handling our problems before they become the causes of tragedy. Hindsight is 20/20, but when your hindsight exposes you to the realities that your actions could have saved life, hindsight can also be very painful. I wouldn't ever want to have to live with that burden. Real talk...

Are u serious: 138 pts in one game

For those who don't know, Jack Taylor of Division III Grinnell College scored 138 points against Faith Baptist Bible College last week. 138 points, in one game. Sportscenter covered it like crazy when it happened. Kobe, LeBron and others praised the accomplishment, etc...FUCK ALL OF THAT. I don't like it, lemme tell you why. Who the fuck takes 108 shots in one game??? I get that their offensive system puts up a lot of shots. I get that the coach and teammates wanted him to get the record. I get that it's impressivfe becuz of difficulty of keeping your shooting stroke going for that many shots. But even so, that's the most selfish game ever. Seriously 108 shots??? I criticize indiscriminate shooters (Kobe, Melo, Monte Ellis, etc) for taking bad shots in route to 25-30 shots a game in 48 minute NBA games, what did you expect me to say about this dude. Kobe looks like John Stockton compared to this guy. The college game's 40 minutes long, dude averaged 2.7 shots per minute of game time. That's bananas; he was shooting like dribbling or passing get counted as turnovers. 71 of his shots taken were 3's. There is no way in hell that you have that many "good looks" from 3 pt land; especially when you're 5'10" and it's a virtual certainty that anyone guarding you is taller than you. Whether he was open, squared up, double teamed, it didn't matter, he was jacking them up. He's the basketball version of that little dude in the club who don't take no for answer; like "If I take enough of these fast enough, I'll end up doing numbers." If I'm not mistaken, none of his teammates made a field goal the second half. What are you teaching his teammates? I've heard of feeding the hot hand, but when you're hot and start attracting the double teams, u're supposed to pass it to the an with the open shot...not at Grinnell apparently. This dude said "Oh shit double team, gotta get this shot up faster." Having 70 pts and "sacrificing" to get some assists just wasn't enough. And what happens next game? He's been all over the TV and has all this attention. So now, what happens? He's still 5'10, 170 lbs. So next game when the opposing coach says "Body his little ass up, he's not going off like that against us" (that's what I'd say), is he gonna be looked at as a fraud if he only scored 35 next game? You better believe the next team he plays will be trying to punish his ass like the Bad Boy Pistons did Jordan in the early years. Will the rest of the team just be able to 'turn it on' next game? They were standing around so long, they probably needed to stretch again next time they touched the ball. What happens if Jack's not red hot again? Hell, he shot less than 50% from the field when he scored 138. I know a great basketball player once said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" but if I was a teammate I'd beat his ass and tell him "You miss 100% of the shots you prevent your teammates from taking with yo short ballhogging ass." Are u serious?

Are u serious: How Ironic

I don't know if there is a stronger word than irony to convey the same sentiment. But if there is, this would deserve it. He likely woke up with his racist views unaffected.

Veteran's Day...and the unfortunate military genius

Happy Veteran's Day. Although I don't agree with many of the military decision making of our country over my lifetime (and before), I do truly appreciate those who put themselves in harm's way to serve our country. Also (opinions aside) I see the human sacrifice that has been made in defending our country from foreign dangers and can not think our heroes. I was raised by a father who retired as Lieutenant Colonel after 20 years in the Air Force. I also have grandfathers, uncles and other members of my family who have served in the Armed Forces. Although those in my family weren't primarily soldiers with war stories, it was enough to give me a sense of appreciation for what they do. I salute you all. Now, on a less happy note, I do feel its unfortunate that one of the most brilliant minds of recent military history had to resign his prestigious an well earned position just before Veteran's Day. General David Petraeus not only saved the War in Iraq (or at least that's the general consensus I've read), he wrote the book (literally, it's now the manual) on counterinsurgency. He figured out the social aspect of fighting a more complex and tricky enemy when most military minds were still only thinking on terms of battlefield "X"s and "O"s with no regard for the population in place. I haven't dug for all the details of his affair but this news disappointed me as I considered Obama's move to appoint Petraeus as CIA Director and moving the former CIA Director into position as Secretary of Defense was genius because our defense will have to be so intelligence based due to the different dynamic we face with terrorist groups as our main enemies rather than other formal armies. It's a good idea to make intelligence and special operations the focus and it has reaped benefits(Burn in hell, Bin Laden). However, I understand how having any "blackmail" material makes the leader of our biggest intelligence agency vulnerable in addition to a bad example to set; this isn't D-Wade leaving an unstable marriage for Gabrielle Union after all. So while I see him stepping down as admirable and possibly even the right thing to do, I just hope that a proper contingency plan is in place. I've widely heard him considered the our brightest, most influential military mind since Eisenhower. It's a shame to see him go out like this on the eve of Veteran's Day.

Shake It Like An Etch-A-Sketch

Here is a music video thought up, produced, directed, and performed (the lyrics) by a friend of mine. Her name is Bree Newsome, she's a marvelous and award winning director of films and short films. Watch out for the name, she will be force in the industry one day. Google her and contact her if you need a young, hard working production specialist.

Do Better: Jim Crow Conservatism

Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly (to a lesser extent surprisingly), Ann Coulter, anyone who works for FOX News, Sarah Palin, Karl Rove...Karl Rove, each of these people make me cringe. I'm talking cringing in a different manner than my usual "I don't like politics" cringe. I'm talking about a deeper "I hope they don't believe what they're saying because it sets America back to the '30s" cringe. The previous article about election day illustrated my thought on Obama and Romney, but that's not what I'm speaking of right now. I'm speaking more broadly on the ideals of conservatism and how its base is shrinking in America. After Obama's re-election, many of the personalities mentioned earlier had similar messages to explain the disappointing (to them) results. There were common themes amongst them all: the white establishment is lo longer the majority, traditional America is no more, young people expect entitlements from the government, Latinos are only worried about amnesty and immigration, Blacks and women want to be given "stuff" by the government. They say these things with such confidence not seeing how a young, intelligent man (leave the Black out of it for now) reads between the lines to see what they're actually saying. They have singled out and badmouthed the perspectives of every demographic but one: Old...White...men; the traditional "American establishment." They have had ALL the power so long and don't see that the country has changed. They like things how they were 100 years ago when white men (whether smart, dumb, good, evil, etc) held all the country's power, achieved on the backs of the demeaned "little people" working but making virtually nothing and having no chance for upward mobility; let's just call it the Jim Crow dynamic. "Yeah, women should still make 77% of what men make; that's just good business." "These border-jumping illegals should work as cheap as the Chinese to save the jobs here; they're lucky we let them stay here." "Blacks went from being slaves to being criminals.""We don't need abortion under any circumstances because you can't get pregnant if it was truly rape, it was God's will for you to have that rapist's baby." "Gov't and gov't regulation are always the problem. Privatization is always the answer. What, you don't trust corporate America?" "We liked Bush, Obama is a retard though (courtesy of Ann Coulter)". It's 2012, these perspectives all sound remarkably backwards in today's America. We are a nation full of Immigrants, the only real Americans are Native Americans (now commonly referred to as 'Indians' since Columbus (who was not the first here by the way) missed his intended destination by 8000 miles and couldn't figure it out." Europeans showed up to a place with cultures intact and decided that this was their land to take over; and we have an entitlement problem? How do you argue you're more American than me (an "African-American")? We came on the same ship, it just so happens that you were lucky enough to be in the VIP section while my ancestors were confined like luggage inhumanely below the decks. Despite your actions, we were called 'savages', but it didn't stop you from raping our women thereby spreading previously European STDs to another population. Your plantations, your building, much of pre-Civil War America's infrastructure was ALL built on the backs of dehumanized slaves or other disenfranchised populations (see cartoon above). After the war, the same could be said of indentured servants (paid just enough to not be called a slave), then up to the present minimum wage workers. Then you have the nerve to say "You are weak, you need help prospering. We did it all by ourselves without help". That's the mind state of a place that we all knew existed but Jon Stewart finally named "Bullshit Mountain". On Bullshit Mountain, taking financial/tax loopholes and tax breaks makes you a smart business, but filing for Social Security or food stamps or disability if you qualify makes you a moocher. College is only for those who can afford to pay the tuition with a check book, which is why pell grants and scholarship programs should be slashed. Also, Viagra should be covered by health insurance but contraception should not. There are a million more examples. On the mountain, anyone who doesn't love or pray the way 'the Christian white establishment' wants you to has forfeit their right to reap the benefits of "the American Dream."  verall, what conservatives call "being principled" seems now to be holding on to previously acceptable bigotry. To be fair, I know all conservatives don't think the same. But as long as Limbaugh, Imus and others are the voices of the movement instead of Rubio, Christie, or someone who can truly explain their principles with a modern context, they will NEVER have National Appeal. Fuck all the bigotted talking heads I named at the beginning of this article. You are the reason that conservatives look like yahoos and I could never entertain the possibility of seeing things your way. America's better than than, you're not evolving with it. Do Better...

99 Problems

This is dope. Let me first admit, I was on the Nas side of the beef with Jay-Z. Although, I like Jay-Z, I think Nas is killing him on the basis of lyrical and substanceful music. I wish I could see how Jay would've turned out had he not decided to go commercial like he admitted on "Moment of Clarity". But the man's exponential explosion of wealth, power, and influence while avoiding hurtful stereotypes is remarkable. This guy has catapulted through every glass ceiling that a drug dealer turned rapper turned businessman would ever face. He got the Nets moved to Brooklyn, he's a half billionaire (plus another quarter bil from his lady), and he's got Obama brushing his shoulders off in pictures and this t-shirt is an amazing capstone to the election that just ended. I respect his hustle and business saavy. He's set the sky as the limit for musicians turned businessmen. Can't lie, he's living the American dream. I salute you sir.

Election Night for an Overjoyed Panthers Fan

Election Night 2012 was a victory for me, but not necessarily how you'd think. Although there's always trepidation when an incumbent (particularly one in polarizing and difficult economic times) is facing possible replacement, but a year ago I thought to myself "None of these clowns deserve the White House over Obama"; I'll get into the reasons why in a minute. So subconsciously I expected him to win. I can say that now but I was significantly less secure in that the last few months, especially when facing a candidate versed in saying whatever is necessary (and I mean whatever) to sway the crowd he's in front of. What had an effect on me that I didn't expect to is "The Redskins Rule." The rule is if the Redskins win their last home game before Election Day, the incumbent wins. If the Redskins lose, the challenger beats the incumbent. Since 1940, this had been correct all but one time. The Redskins lost their last home game on Sunday...to my hometown Carolina Panthers. I'm not even overly superstitious, but how would I feel if I spent Sunday cheering Cam Newton and the Panthers on to a victory that would put Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in charge of our country? I may have been borderline suicidal. The picture above of Cam standing beside the President would have been burned like LeBron's Cavs jersey when he leave for South Beach. I like RGIII, I only cheered against him because he was playing MY team. Luckily, I don't have that dilemma today. Since many of my readers don't know me personally, let me clarify some things about my political views. I hate politics, I despise politicians in general. I think most of them were born into power and money and become politicians more to feed their egos and have their hands in those powerful decisions at the top more than to truly help those constituents at the bottom. Even those like Obama who are born from more meager beginnings and started out of a genuine desire to help people and communities can transform as they rise through levels of power and have to deal with inevitable political aspects like fund-raising and playing party lines. Presidential elections are often about selecting the lesser of two evils because politicians are somewhat required to be at least part snake charmer or double talker. But even in this political climate with my cynicism for politics, I see Obama as more morally down to Earth than most politicians and Romney as less genuine/honorable than most, which fueled my bias in this debate. How in the world do you go from Liberal as governor 10 yrs ago, to moderate as a candidate 4 yrs ago, to all out conservative now? Sounds like u're trying to roll with what will get you elected. Obama is a politician and he's far from perfect, he's made plenty of mistakes in his first term. He spent too much money trying to address issues that help the "little people" who aren't typically seen as important enough to dominate the platforms of many politicians; as you can see, they are not the ones who control the media, so rich political analyst demonize him all day instead. First time home buyer programs help ppl (including my brother). Increasing pell grants and scholarships helps ppl get better lives. Medical bills are one of the biggest causes of bankrupcy, Obamacare will help little people. The combination of Social Security and Medicare keeps many elderly peoples afloat. Also, living overseas as I did (in Muslim Southeast Asia for 1.5 years), I've seen what his election and policy have done for the international perception of America abroad. Despite all the "the US is the laughingstock of the world now." The world's perception has gone from "I hate the US, fucking violent imperialists" to "I hated Bush and Cheney, but the US is ok" with the exception of certain nit-picky and pessimistic European countries (hello, UK). He has to do something about the debt (which he's been trying for two years but can't get the GOP or rich ppl to help him out), but I remember when the country seemed to be falling into the ocean 4 yrs ago; Recovery has been slow but undeniable if you put ur partisanship aside and simply look at the results. Now, I could see why someone like Romney doesn't see things the way I do. His dad was a auto big shot and governor, his dad could write a check for his tuition to Yale. He made a fortune thought private equity (he's the real life Gordon Gekko trimming down, liquefying  outsourcing, reorganizing, etc). Since a child, he has had the best healthcare money could buy. He went to the best private schools and probably doesn't know where the public schools are even located. He makes $20 mil a year and hides enough to avoid paying average taxes, he doesn't need anyone's help on anything. He's a man of balance sheets and instant results who "enjoys firing people" who don't deliver instantly and think 47% of Americans can't take responsibility for anything. His budget...well, his budget is hardly defined but coincides with Paul's Ryan's scary budget. How can I expect him to understand how detrimental his cuts to public education, Medicare & Social Security, college assistance, planned parenthood programs, and more would do to those who didn't come from the background he came from? When I see a bill saying women should only make 77% of what men do to work the same job, I see some outdated backwards hypocrisy; he sees an opportunity to save 23% on their salaries, which aids company profit. I have no doubt that if he became president, he would do things that would help the country's "balance sheet" (reduced gov't spending, decreasing deficit) but just as with big corporations, it almost always happens at the expense of the little people. Who gets fired first, despite the fact that they didn't make the bad decisions that led to reduced profit? Whose benefits get cut first when those at the top decide it's too costly? He'll find a way to keep the tax cuts on the rich though, so he can keep paying a third what I do on my taxes. He'll keep powering our military industrial complex too. The little ppl are consistently deemed expendable and unimportant by many corporate tycoons; which is why corporate tycoons are the only ppl I distrust more than politicians. That's the world Romney came from and he was probably a great businessman which I can't take away. But I don't elect businessmen, I have a vote for president. And let's not even talk about how he pissed off allies and others alike at every stop on his world foreign policy tour. How do you put ur foot in your mouth in every country when it's not even a confrontational visit? The entire point of your trip is to prove you can handle it, you should be on your best behavior. So, even through mistakes, adversity, crisis and everything else, I believe Obama has something a President needs, which many politicians lack, and which is a sin in corporate power circles -- a moral compass. That's why I'm riding with him, flaws, missteps and all. So before anyone starts chattering about how I'm just another young Black male voting for Obama because he's Black, shut the fuck up and read this before you try to insult my intelligence. Your disrespect will not be tolerated. I know "I've Been Called Worse" is the title of my blog but what thing I don't tolerate being called is ignorant...

Halloween 2012

First and foremost, yes, I know. That picture is absolutely disgusting and the person wearing it paid to present themselves this way. Since I've been an adult, I"ve found Halloween to be an interesting time of year for lots of reasons. It's not exciting for other reasons that don't involve shopping bags full of candy that end up being savagely consumed in about a week. As an adult, this time of year is both a relief and a source of comedy. The process of making a costume is a way to let your hair down as an adult. You can even get frustrated because your costume isn't exactly how you want it to be (Ex. I had to settle for a cigar rather than a pipe to complete my Hugh Hefner outfit because I refused to use a corn cob pipe when I was going more for the Sherlock Holmes pipe look). Also, when you go out to grown up Halloween parties, there is usually no shortage of two things: unorthodox costumes made of some combination of ingenuity/convenience/douchebaggery (see tampon costume pictured above), and typically women trying to use show off their sexiness. The Halloween party I attended Saturday night had a little bit of both but not in optimal ways. Some of the costumes in the building included an Afrocentric demon, Pai Mei (the old Chinese kung fu instructor from "Kill Bill" with the white hair), and the one that beat me out for "Funniest Costume", the half naked squatter. Literally, he was in the party wearing nothing but black underwear briefs and black socks. Imagine how uncomfortable it is to be sitting on a couch and a dude sit beside you wearing nothing but drawls and socks. What if his thigh skin makes contact with me or something? That's not cool, I show up for parties looking to make inappropriate contact with women, not men. His exposed banana hammock was making me uncomfortable. As for the women trying to show off their sexiness...they tried to missed badly. The main women trying to show off their sexy were the ratchets. One was dressed as a nurse, the other a gangster, each with a lot of skin showing in a way that made you wonder if they were strippers from a low budget brothel and a shameful bachelor party was about to break out; those costumes may have fit each 20 lbs prior. It was quite shameful. Quite possibly my favorite part of this time of year though is the endless stream of horror movies; mostly terribly unrealistic or predictable. I find them hilarious in several ways. There may or may not be extra low budget camera work, there's terrible acting, worse decision making by the movie's characters, etc. Despite the fact that they're being chased by a murderer who doesn't run or move fast, they always find a way to fall, start crawling, pick an obvious hiding place/run upstairs where the stairs are the only access, become easily distracted and/or loud, etc and meet their demise. And these slasher killers...they don't eat, don't drink, don't shit, don't sleep, they don't even get women. And of course they don't die, meaning if I was in one of those movies, instead of shooting them or stabbing them a time or two and turning my back, I'd be cutting heads off and burning them... movie over; hence why I they'd never base a horror movie character on me. The horror movie industry wouldn't survive if the young Black male (typically first to die) gets smart and kills and dismembers the killer 28 minutes into the movie. I was watching these movies the entire time Hurricane Sandy was dumping rain on my house. So all in all, despite the fact that it's become commercialized to the poing where people have lost sight of its true origins (like Christmas), I enjoyed my Halloween fun and I hope everyone else did the same. Enjoy the holiday and stay safe from the hurricane.

Uncontested ratchetness.

Upon further review, I met with the council (it consists 3 members: me, myself, and I) and have determined that the trio I shared an elevator with in Atlanta may have been the most ratchet group I've ever been in the presence of. Here's the kicker...nothing dramatic happened. Usually when you think of ratchetness, someone is being loud, ignorant, belligerent, inappropriate, etc. 90% of that didn't happen. I was riding the elevator down to the hotel lobby with a friend and we stop on a floor where three individuals enter the elevator. As soon as the doors open, the smell of weed (possibly with something extra involved as well) and just a little bit of cheap "smell good" (possibly Axe) punch me in the face like a quick jab to the nose...on an elevator. It takes me 10 seconds to remember that's it's not even lunch time yet. That's what Snoop used to call "the wake and bake" I guess. As they have a calm, louder than normal but not yet inappropriate conversation about their respective choice of drug to help them sleep soundly through a long plane ride, I take a closer look at them one-by-one. There are two women and one guy, all in about their late 20s or early 30s. The guy has on a smedium V-neck white tee, keeping the shirt simple so the jewelry on his neck and wrist can steal the show; also to put the interconnected tats covering his arms, chest, and neck on display. The belt on his jeans is keeping them secured right at the very bottom of his butt, entire ass full of drawls on display because of aforementioned smedium shirt. He has a flame like design on the side of his head, the type you probably couldn't wear to a good job because it would be seen as unprofessional. The first woman I see is a thick chick (a lotta woman) who is wearing an outfit she clearly bought 30 lbs (12 of those in the stomach) ago. Her weave was either 6 weeks old, or was only worth about $6, I'm not sure which. It looked like recycled roadkill.  The other visual catastrophe from where I was standing (behind her) was the colorful yet indistinguishable tattoo running from one shoulder to the other. I couldn't figure out the motivation of it...or the purpose. The second woman was about as thick but slightly more dumpy. She had the official hoodrat "I want hair down to my butt but bangs to my eye lashes in the front" weave; which she was scratching profusely with her acrylic nails. Her clothing selection seemed to be an attempt to taste the rainbow; I couldn't establish which colors were dominant and therefore which colors didn't match the others. She had "unprofessional piercings" (I'm a fan of sexy piercings on sexy ppl, on her, it just looked nasty) and her tattoos likely numbered in the dozens. One tattoo in particular caught my attention and may have been the most ratchet in my memory. She had the Louis Vuitton pattern going from her shoulder to her elbow area. Not one symbol, not one strip of it, her entire upper arm had the pattern of a handbag. I'm glad they never turned around and saw me, I was stuck between contemplating a laugh and a look of awe from what I was witnessing. They were putting an all out assault on almost all of my senses; the smell was so pungent that I felt like they would taste terribly as well. It was simultaneously entertaining, informative, and embarrassing as a young Black observer of this. I never thought I'd see that level of ratchetness in calm situation. U learn something every day I guess. Am I being overly judgemental? Maybe. I've Been Called Worse...

Stop Me When I Start Lying: The Illusion of Cristoforo Colombo

I had to work the holiday to celebrate the arrival of Cristoforo Colombo (later made Spanish into Cristobal Colon and then further Westernized into Christopher Columbus) in the 'New World' some 520 years ago. It would've been nice to have an additional day in Atlanta, where I spent my weekend and hell, everybody likes an extra day off. But the truth of the matter is Columbus (like many people in history) gets more credit than he deserves. Did it take balls to leave your home country and ask rival countries to get support to finance his insatiable thirst of exploration? Of course. It took even bigger balls to go out and do it. Kudos to him for that. BUT, his credit stops there for several reasons: 1) He was not the first person from another continent to land there, Chinese explorers, African explorers, and possibly others beat him to North and South America; which was also inhabited by Natives anyway. It's nice how history tends to take your side when your sponsors have more map makers and book writers than the competition 2) Dude missed his target (India) by 8000 miles and somehow couldn't figure that out. I know navigation wasn't what it is today but that was a significantly shorter trip. If I didn't use GPS or maps but planned on driving to California and got there in 12 hours, I'd know I was somewhere other than my destination. Wanna know why it's called America and not "Columbus Land"?? Because Amerigo Vespucci could figure out that he was in The New World instead of India and Columbus was running around calling Native Americans "Indians." Plus we all know the gruesome process of colonization that Columbus essentially pioneered in this part of the world; there came to be a practical 10 step manual --1) Befriend Natives on arrival, 2) Exploit Natives for all useful knowledge (farming, hunting, climate, geography, resources, etc), 3) Kill strongest members of Native culture, 4) Kill children who seem to have capability of growing into future threats, 5) Enslave remaining women and children, 6) Rape Native women therefore passing Euro-based STDs globally, 7) Burn and pillage Native villages, 8) Denounce Native traditions and religions, 9) Oppress Native people with white superiority logic, 10) Take credit for all knowledge gained (which will make it into future History textbooks) and call Native people "Savages." Although Columbus wasn't as heavily involved in all 10 of these steps as other Conquistadors (Hello, Henan Cortez), his hands were dirty enough to be disliked for his involvement. But hey, the spoils go to the victors when it comes to tell the stories of history. So I'd take Columbus Day as another excuse to miss work if I got the option, but I'm not sucking him off like everyone else. Stop Me When I Start Lying...

Read up if you don't know:
http://rense.com/general43/before.htm

http://wn.com/1421_the_year_china_discovered_america?_%7B1_of_8%7D

Are u serious: Dumbest Money Management I've Ever Heard

I often use the phrase "the dumbest shit I've ever heard" usually for emphasis rather than truly believing it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. But (**turns on Katt Williams voice**) "this shit here nigga" actually may be the dumbest thought process about managing money that I've ever heard. My brother works with two young women, one about 24 and the other 22 I think. Each is said to have the same problem, frivolous spending...or in my analytic point of view, the lack of proper self control that an adult needs to stop themselves from spending frivolously. I don't know their names, so even though they are both young Black women, they will be referred to by names I believe Dumb Blondes would have for the purpose of this blog entry. So the first, Cindy Lou, is 24 years old and despite having a decent paying job with career possibility, she didn't feel she was getting paid enough. So she takes it upon herself to get another job as a waitress at a bar. Young lady, sees a problem takes action, sounds like a cool chick, I like her at this point...until the story goes sideways. Well, once she gets the side job, she finds that she is spending too frivolously on clothes and shoes...despite that fact that between her two jobs she never has time to go anywhere. So what would I do at this cross roads I wonder? I'd likely try to increase the amount of money I'm actively saving (extra savings account, start an IRA, high yield, or something) or make a list of meaningful items that I need to buy and make a plan to use the extra money to get those. Everyone doesn't think like me, so maybe the better answer for her is something like dropping the side job (which eliminates some of the extra cash while giving her back some of her social life), right? Wrong. Blonde Cindy decides that she needs another LARGE BILL to eat up her extra expendable cash. So she buys a new car....WTF??? Let's analyze this. She has now in effect locked herself into having two jobs (negating her social life and ensuring her erratic sleep schedule) because it's the only way she can afford her bills and newly acquired car. If she does want to shop for shoes/clothes or take a trip or anything else that may require a large amount of cash at one time, she probably can't because she consciously decided that she is going to swallow up all of her expendable cash. She is likely one of those women who is attractive, has a good job, now drives a nice car, and can't figure out why she doesn't have a quality man; she may claim there aren't any (and I know that there are a lot of "ain't shit" dudes around). As a quality man myself, I'd like to sit her down, put my hand on her shoulder and say "Baby, although u seem like a great catch, ur though process is ridiculous, I'd guess that it's not just limited to money management. This may make you seem toxic and/or too unstable/unpredictable to be true wifey material." It's a lot more polite than what ran through my mind when I first heard this story. So, what? If we were serious and we're taking trips and stuff, I just have to pay for everything for "us" because you've decided that every penny you make will be dedicated to "you"? You working two jobs to not have any extra spending money for anything? And for this reason, I only get to see you once a week or something because your schedule is crazy? I don't play that shit. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, take a moment and try to think of what could make less logical sense that Cindy Lou's idea of managing her spending. Over here behind door #2, Tammy Lynn takes that train of thought to a new level. Tammy Lynn has the same spending issue as Cindy did. It was never explained to me if these two formulated the plans together or what. She decides that not only does she need a new car, but she's going to lease a luxury vehicle, something that should cost her about $700-800 a month to help 'relieve her' of this extra cash that tends to be spent on clubbing, shopping, etc. Here's the kicker, Tammy Lynn (who is about 22) still lives with her parents. Let that marinate a moment...***Elevator music***...Yeah. No wonder she has all this expendable cash, she has a career path job living at home with her parents. So instead of getting her own spot, she's determined to make herself strapped for cash in her parents house. How the hell are you ever gonna make it out of your parents house if you've consciously decided not to save any money? You expect some dude to date you for a little big and then turn Captain Save-A-Hoe like "Don't Worry, Keep ur luxury car, I'll pay for everything"? It baffles me how a fully functioning mind can come to this conclusion as the best solution to a problem. Face the truth, the problem is not that you have this extra money, the problem is that you have no self-control and dont' bother planning and doing something constructive with that money. Get yourselves together ladies. You're making your gender, your race, your family, and everyone else look bad right now. SMH.

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...

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.