Mike Tyson: Last Great Heavyweight Champion

     Maybe it's cause I was raised on Rocky movies, but I lately can't stand boxing. Every time one of those over-priced, over-hyped pay per view events comes around, I am completely underwhelmed. Watching Floyd Mayweather dance around while dodging (insert name of overmatched Latino boxer here), while ducking any fighter who has a chance of beating him, isn't my idea of a good time. I don't really enjoy watching a bunch of middle weights dance around playing patty cake with each other. However, these days you don't really have a choice. The heavy weight division sucks. So they don't promote it. It's full of 7'5 Russians with no hitting power. But back in the day, there were real heavy weights. In those days, a guy wasn't going to the club after a boxing match. He was going to the hospital. When I was growing up, I thought every fight looked like this.

      But as I grew up, I figured out shortly that real boxing matches don't go like that. Nobody was capable of delivering a vicious knockout that leaves somebody wobbly and dazed for hours, if not days. Nobody except one guy. Kid Dynamite. "Iron" Mike Tyson. Watching Tyson hit people was like watching a wreaking ball hit wet toilet tissue. If you never got to see him in his prime, you missed out. I'm not talking about just released from prison Mike Tyson. I'm not talking about Las Vegas nightclub entertainer Tyson either. I'm talking about the dude that used to walk to the arena wearing a cut up YMCA towel with a death stare that would scare the bejeezus out of the toughest dude you know. Tyson was my only childhood hero, that if I saw him in public, I wouldn't ask for an autograph. I would just put my head down and try to avoid making eye contact. The man was capable of violence that was next level in the eyes of guys that were themselves capable of violence. Not only would he destroy people but it was quick! Show up 2 minutes late for a Tyson fight, you probably missed the fight.

  Not to mention that he was the one of the best interviews ever. Between his uniquely high pitched voice, and  his penchant for using big words, he was entertaining. But what made him one of the greatest interviews was that Mike had absolutely, positively no filter. Here's to you champ. There will never be another like you.

The Plight of the Black Man-Child: Part 1- Lack of a Blueprint

       My father, most of the times says a lot of random gibberish that he likes to pass on as wisdom. Occasionally, however, he hits on something that is dead on accurate. He did this once when I was a kid, making a statement that I'm still in the process of understanding to this day. We were talking about growing up and I made a statement to the effect of, "...and when I turn twenty one, I'll be a grown man." And my dad, responds, "Maybe. But being 21 doesn't make you a grown man. There's a lot of thirty and forty year old children running around." He went on to explain that what makes you a grown man is the acceptance of responsibility, and accountability. That being first self sufficient, and then later being able to take care of and provide for your family is paramount to what being a man is. He stressed the importance of having principles, standing for something, and leaving a positive mark on your community and the world as a whole. And most of all, conducting yourself in a way that shows respect for your fellow human beings and demands that same respect from the world around you, is vital to your development as man. (Some heavy sh*t to drop on 8 year old)
      I think about this conversation from time to time, mostly when I see examples of what, by my dad's definition would be considered the man-child. Too many of our adult, and young adult males, devote too much of their time, energy, resources to pursuits that are considered childish and destructive. Too many of our young black men view being locked up as an accomplishment. Too many of our young soldiers feel that getting random hood chicks pregnant is an achievement. So many of our young men have their values so twisted that getting guns and moving weight, are seen as much more practical and attainable goals than getting a degree or starting a legitimate business. But the question remains, why? How did this mindset get so firmly entrenched in the Black community?

The Lack of the Blueprint

     It is inherently important to get guidance and instruction in life. If not, schools wouldn't have guidance counselors, or jobs wouldn't have training. For us all, we know what we know how to do because someone walked us through it.   When it comes to being husbands, fathers, and leaders so many of us have no idea where to begin. When it comes to creating, generating, and sustaining wealth, most of us don't have the first clue of where to begin. I'm not trying to make this into some all encompassing excuse. But the fact is, it's almost impossible to accomplish what you're trying to do without some preconceived template of what success is supposed to look like. Imagine if you were coming home with some IKEA furniture. You dump all the parts out the box Right when you are ready to put the furniture together, I walk up and snatch the instructions away from you. But you still have to put it together. It would be kind of difficult, if not impossible. You would sit there having all the pieces and tools you would need to accomplish your task but without an idea of what part does what or what piece goes where, it would take you a minute to even determine where to start. Without a defined blueprint, you wouldn't be able to chart your own progress. You would stare at the assembly of parts and screws and pegs, trying in vane to mold these random bits and pieces into something that vaguely resembles furniture. This is what our young men are trying to do with life. They got all the tools and bits and pieces that they need to get started but have no idea how to take all that and make some furniture.

  Why there's no blueprint
     At this point, we could harp on lack of fathers in the home as a primary reason. And I don't want to gloss over that like it's not important. If a young man doesn't have a role model on how to conduct themselves as an adult, then how can he be expected to know how to behave when the time comes? As men we have to be more present in the lives of our children, And when we are present, we must be more conscious of what example we are giving our children to follow. Short and sweet, Man up and be the righteous brother you were born to be. However, sisters, I'm not letting you off the hook either. Put more thought into the men who you bring around your children. If you absolutely insist on bringing these bum, thug, ignorant dudes into your life, at least be thoughtful enough not to bring them in front of your kids. And stop running your children's father out your life. There are too many instances of baby mama and mortal enemy being synonymous. Like it or not, you and your child's father are a team and should be working as a unit for the betterment of the child. And if you got a baby daddy that's not worth a damn, then it's your fault for giving that not worth a damn dude some p*ssy.
     I'll delve more into the destruction of our family unit on another occasion. I think that there is something more detrimental to black people developing a blue print to success, and that's the "I got mine" mentality. Maybe because we collectively have an ingrained poor self image. we associate our material success with self esteem. And too many times, when we achieve material success, we lord it over those who don't have it and use it to justify how great we are. But hardly ever, are those of us who achieve success, reach down to those below us and guide them to our level. We will put them down, We will look upon them with disdain. But how much effort do we put into building those same people up? In too many cases, the answer is little to none. We have this continued mentality of " I got mine. Good luck getting yours." I'll give you an example.
     I have a homeboy, that right now is fairly successful. Without dropping his name or what he does, I'll just say that he has a job in media. When he first got the job he has now, it came a little bit out of left field. Not that he had no experience in the industry, just that his concentration at the time leaned in other directions. At the time however, I had studied media arts in school, and had worked in the field before, albeit on a low level. So I inquired to this friend of mine, wondering how he accomplished so much in such a short time and is now working for a company that would be my dream to work for. He not so skillfully avoided my question and acted like I hadn't even asked it in the first place. I began to think to myself that dude just thinks that I may just want a hookup and maybe thought I wanted to come up off of his hard work without putting in any effort on my part. A hookup or recommendation would've been nice but that wasn't really what I was asking for. So I expressed to him that I wasn't trying to come up off his hard work/ I just wanted to know what route he took, so if possible I could do the same. He still didn't answer. I thought maybe he thinks I may come in there and drop his name while looking for employment and somehow jeopardize his new found position or embarrass him some way. I assured him that no one there actually ever had to know we even know each other. I reiterated that I wasn't looking for any help that would require any effort on his part. I just wanted the blueprint of how to make it happen. He still wouldn't tell me. He eventually just deaded the conversation.
     Now what his reason's were, I won't speculate on. It could've been one of the reasons above. Or it could have been that he felt that if I had the same level of success that he did, it would somehow diminish what he had accomplished because it would be a little less special. The why of it is irrelevant. What matters is that, he had the blueprint and years later I'm still struggling along try to figure it out. I still hear from dude, whenever he gets a raise or buys a house but as someone who would call themselves my friend, never gave me the information I needed to get. So if I can't get a friend of mine to sit down and give me some guidance, what can I expect of anyone else. Despite all his faults, he's a good dude, so I don't hold it against him. But what he did, going back to my Ikea example, was figure out how to put the furniture together. But when I walked in and dumped all the pieces out the box, and saw it didn't come with instructions, he didn't impart the know-how. He's sitting there with a completely assembled piece of furniture, having gone through the process of figuring out how to put it together. Yet he would rather watch me struggle try to assemble it, than save me the time of showing me how to put it together myself. If those of us with the instructions, don't show those of us who don't have the instructions, how do we ever build anything? So instead of having a whole dinette set or an entertainment center, all you end up with is one lil old funky chair. But if you taught us all how to build something, together we could build ourselves a house for the future.

Digital Jeezus presents: Best Chicago Bulls Dunks Vol. 1

 I know my last post was more on a serious note. So I figured why not lighten things up with a few clips of guys getting dunked on. At some point I will do the greatest dunks in NBA history but for right now I'd figure I'd keep it simple and just do the Chicago Bulls. Why? Cause that's my squad, that's why so lets get started.
(If you can't play these on your mobile device, I suggest you go find a desktop. These are worth watching.)

Scottie Pippen on Karl Malone

I know a lot of people try to disrespect Scottie Pippen by saying he was just Michael Jordan's side kick but plays like this prove Scottie was a star in his own right. Plus, I hated Karl Malone so why not?


Michael Jordan on Dikembe Mutombo

I think what made this great was the fact that Dikembe Mutumbo brought this on himself. You never, ever, ever, tell Michael Jordan that he's never made a highlight out of you. Because if he hasn't, it's just cause he forgot about you. But you don't remind him, stupid!

Michael Jordan on Alonzo Mourning

All I can say about this is, Damn Alonzo Mourning! How do you let Mike catch you twice in the same game?!?

Of course, any Bulls highlights wouldn't be complete without....

Tyrus Thomas on Rasual Butler

I know Tyrus Thomas turned out to be a bust for the Chicago Bulls, but dude was long and athletic as hell. Plays like this actually made me mad. Just when you were started thinking that there was absolutely no hope for dude, he would do something like this. And promptly go back to sucking for the next 30 games.

Tyrus Thomas on Jermaine O'neal

....and 30 games later. See what I mean? Dude was just frustrating.

I know some of you are like where's D. Rose. Fine. Here you go.

Derrick Rose on the Miami Heat

I know the caption says Joel Anthony. But I was watching this game. It seemed like he caught the entire Miami Heat team. Want some more Derrick Rose? Here's one of my all time favorites.

Derrick Rose on Goran Dragic

To this day I'm trying to figure out what in the hell made Dragic jump up there and try to challenge. I watched this happen live, and I knew Derrick was gonna throw the hammer down before he took off. And the Stacy King commentary in the background just makes it better.

Hmmm, how bout some more Scottie Pippen here.

Scottie Pippen on Charles Barkley

I guess this is one of those times that it helps to have a short memory, huh Chuck?

Scottie Pippen on Charles Smith

Scottie Pippen had so many great dunks, I had forgot about this one. I'm betting Charles Smith didn't.

Pip on Travis Best

This was just mean. I mean, Travis is like the height of a tall 8th grader.



Tyrus Thomas on Yao Ming

See what I mean. Dude was just frustrating! Why didn't you become a superstar? Why? (Oh yeah, poor work ethic)

Tyrus Thomas on Josh Smith

Man, F#$k you Tyrus Thomas! F*&k you. We could've had Lamarcus Aldridge.

Tyrus Thomas on Josh McRoberts

This makes me just wanna cry for dude's career. This is depressing me. More Jordan.

Michael Jordan on John Starks

How many of these did Starks catch from MJ?

And last but definitely not least, let's close with two of my all time favorite dunks ever!!!! I don't know which of em was the best, but they both involve Patrick Ewing.

Michael Jordan defecates on Patrick Ewing  

I don't really have to explain this one do I? Just watch and enjoy.

Scottie Pippen teabags Patrick Ewing

This...was just...filthy. Not only does he embarrass Ewing, he lets him know about it. And the rest of the Knicks players. And the coaching staff. And the referee. And Spike Lee.



Well that will do it for know. But Ill do another one of these later. Plus if you want me to put together a best of collection for your team, I'll except that challenge. Just leave it in the comment section.

Miss Me With The #Hashtag Revolution

      Normally on this blog, I try to keep everything basically lighthearted. But I gotta take a pause for the cause and address something. Ever since Trayvon Martin, I am usually quiet publicly on the subject of race relations. Honestly, this dates all the way back to Hurricane Katrina and the horrendous handling of that situation that led to the loss of countless lives. But as they say, those that ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat that self same history. Which brings me to the Mike Brown situation and the Ferguson "riots". I put riots in quotation marks because, anytime people of color tend to stand up and refuse to knuckle under to the system of oppression that subjugates them, it's categorized as a riot. As I watch this situation play itself out, I find myself consumed with the same thoughts I had after the Trayvon Martin murder and the George Zimmerman trial. What are those thoughts? Simply put: F*#k the Hashtag Revolution and the Hashtag Revolutionaries.

What's the Hashtag Revolution?

     When I refer to the hashtag revolution, what I am referring to is people who see injustice and oppression, consciously recognize that this injustice affects their people and community, and then limit their form of protest to social media. For those of you who are unclear what I mean, allow me to elaborate. When Trayvon Martin was killed and the Zimmerman trial began, I remember that I could not step outside my house without coming into contact with a Black person who went out their way to tell me how outraged they were. I thought to myself "America should be really careful with how they handle this." I thought in the face of all this outrage and public outcries for justice, if the system doesn't give us justice, then the people might go take it. Then at some point, someone came up with the idea of going on social media, and everyone changing their profile pic to themselves wearing a hoodie, symbolizing a form of silent protest and support for his family. Almost overnight, damn near everyone I know was rocking the hoodie profile pic. And I thought, wow, in the face of all this organized social media based protest, the legal system has no choice but to give us the justice we want.
     However, after the trial, and Zimmerman going free, I realized how wrong I was. There was no justice. There was no uprising or some form of further protest. Everyone seemed to take the attitude of, Hey, We tried to effect change with the profile pic and nothing happened. I waited to see what would happen in the wake of the Zimmerman trial. Surely this man couldn't go unpunished. If he did, what does that say about our justice system? But more that even that, what does it say about us if we allow it to happen? Last, time I saw Zimmerman, he was signing autographs at a promotional appearance. I'm going to let that sink in for a sec. He was signing....autographs.

   Now, Ferguson

      And now we have the situation in Ferguson. When the Mike Brown killing happened, and the social upheaval in Ferguson kicked off, all of a sudden my timeline was flooded with pictures of people on their knees with their hands in the air as a show of protest of the situation. Every Uncle Tom Attention Whore So Called Wannabe Black Leader came out the woodwork to put their two cents in and grab some of that good CNN shine. Including this guy.

Now understand this. I don't condone violence. This is not my way of saying Let's go get the guns, and start the revolution. What I am saying is this. Social Media is a tool. You can organize and kickstart a protest with it. But social media isn't the platform for revolution. Nobody is changing the real world through Facebook. You actually got to get out there and get your hands dirty. When America shows you that African American life has no value, and you protest by changing your profile pic, and everything remains status quo, what is the next move? What is the next form our revolution will take when lawmakers and politicians and politicians allow the Police Officers (Overseers) operate in our community with impunity and no reciprocity? What do we do when the myriad of Facebook posts amount to zero community change? Start posting on Twitter?

    Understand, police gunning down young black men in this country is not a new thing. The new part about it is it's happening in a digital age where the world is now a smaller place. Years ago, if something like this happened in Ferguson, you had to be in the same region as Ferguson to know what was going on when it happened. Now we live in an era where I can get real time updates from anywhere on the planet. But the racist policing of the African American community isn't a new idea. The gunning down of Black men isn't some new trending topic. This has been going on for a long long time. Don't believe me, ask Malcom X. And as you listen to the excerpt, think about how some of these same issues, and same problems still exist today and then ask yourself the question, what's your protest worth. I'm angry too, brothers and sisters. I'm outraged as well. I want to do something about it as well. Just miss me with the weak ass hashtag revolution.

One final thought:

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Why I Have A Hard Time Watching the WNBA

        I'm trying very hard to not write this in a way that sounds sexist. First off, understand, that I am probably in the 99th percentile of basketball fans on Earth. I will watch any game that I am either fortunate enough to catch live or is broadcast on TV. I don't care who is really playing, I'll watch. Whether it's the Public League 8th Grade City Semi-Finals or some random pick-up game, if there is a game going on it gets my undivided attention. I have this feeling regardless of whether it's men's or women's basketball. I mean this sincerely. It's due to my sports upbringing. I'm a proud graduate of Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. On top of it's many other achievements, Whitney Young has one of the premier women's basketball programs in not just the state, but the country. So early on I got to see some supremely talented female hoopers. I remember how dominant I thought Dominique Canty was. I remember watching Natasha Pointer, and Clarissa Flores routinely run 2 on 5 fastbreaks with ease, and when that got boring, take turns dismantling a teams half court defense.
      That's where my appreciation for the women's game began. From there, I really started paying attention. I actually became fans of particular players. I remember watching Ivory Latta at North Carolina and thinking she had nasty handles. I remember thinking Candace Wiggins had one of the best jumpshots I'd ever seen. I remember watching Candace Parker play and saying out loud, "Hold up. Is she playing point-center?" I remember that Olympic team when they had Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie, and my homegirl Dawn Staley. Shortly after that, I remember the debut of the WNBA and honestly believing it was a good thing. I thought this will relieve my basketball addiction during the NBA off-season. Except for one thing...it didn't.

     I watched the first few games and never got into them. I wasn't sure why that was. I had been watching women's basketball for a while and up until that point, found myself fairly interested in the game. So why when there was finally a professional women's game, was I totally not interested. I remember one of my boys saying he could never get into the WNBA because there was something about knowing that every play was going to end with a layup, no matter what, that makes the game uninteresting. To be fair, he had a point. But it wasn't that for me. I was used to the difference in athleticism. Keep in my mind, I'm a basketball purist. I can appreciate the fundamentals of the game. (I still will insist to this day that Diana Taurasi is one of the game's best passers...ever). Yet every year, I say I will actually watch some games this season. Then I sit through a quarter and a half of a game and never cut it back on. I convinced myself it was simply because Chicago didn't have a team, and me being a hometown guy, I  needed something to root for. Then the Chicago Sky debuted and it didn't make a damn bit of difference to me.This was starting to bother me. I'll admit I am sexist when it comes to certain things. I'll probably never vote for a woman president. I tend to take female police officers (or most female authority figures for that matter) a little less seriously than their male counterparts. But basketball and rapping were two things where I did not have a gender bias. Yet I found all the WNBA games to be boring and mundane. Unless something like this happened.

Other than unsportsmanlike incidents like these, I found the games monotonous, low scoring, and boring. Yet occasionally I would still watch a woman's college game. So the problem had to be with the league itself.

       It wasn't until a year or two ago, when Brittany Griner, Elena Delle Donne, and (my newest crush) Skylar Diggins got drafted into the league that I realized what the problem was. These were three of the most dynamic women to hit the league at the same time in the WNBA's short history. This should have been the defining turning point for the league. The same way the NBA took off  from a marketing standpoint when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird came in, these three young ladies should have had a similar impact on their own league. Then the WNBA had a promo and were marketing Griner. Delle Donne, and Diggins as " The Three to See". And I remember thinking, " that's the dumbest, weakest, marketing tag-line I've ever heard. That's the best they could come up with?!?" And then it hit me. I could stomach the fact that the league isn't that athletic. I could deal with the low scoring and the excessive layups. I can get past the fact that some of these young ladies look a lil.....rough and tumble. I can tolerate the fact that they put ads on the uniforms now and they got these ladies looking like race car drivers. (The press conference pic of a player holding up a jersey loses a lil something when the jersey has the Boost Mobile logo on it.)  I could muscle through the boring commentators, analysts, and sideline reporters. But when you take all those things and combine them with horribly thought out marketing strategy, it becomes unbearable.
       See, what I understood was this: the WNBA has basically said to hell with me. Once I started paying attention to the ads and the marketing, I realized that the reason I felt no connection to this league, is because, to paraphrase the great Ice Cube, they either don't know, don't show, or don't give a damn about marketing to my demographic. If you understand anything about marketing and advertising, watching the average WNBA telecast you realize that there are two groups that they are marketing very hard to and ignoring everyone else. The two groups are women who like sports (not the biggest demographic but not as small as you may think) and the LBGT community (with an emphasis on the L). And they wonder why the league is not as economically viable as you hope,
       WNBA execs, allow me to give you a piece of advice. You can't have a successful sports league without marketing to one demographic especially: the male heterosexual sports fan. We are and will always be the biggest consumers in the sports world. Not to say don't market to other groups, but your league will never have the profitability that it should unless we feel included. We will buy the jerseys, the dvds, the tickets, and whatever else you can sell us if you can figure out how to make us passionate about the sport. And FYI, going to a Monistat 7 commercial every time out doesn't help your cause. I watched a game once and thought Why do they run a gazillion breast cancer awareness ads every two seconds. Because this sport isn't for me that's why. Throw me a freaking bone here! I'm not saying that the WNBA should only draft sexy women or come up with new tantalizing uniforms (some of these girls should stay covered). But give us something. Maybe only hire sexy female eye candy as sideline reporters. I'm sure we can find another way to utilize Rebecca Lobo, and her horse like teeth. I would suggest a dunk contest but considering how you only have three women in the whole league that can dunk with any kind of consistency, that may not work. Besides Brittney Griner would just win every year. I dont have all the answers. I'm not a marketing genius. I'm just a dude that loves every kind of basketball.  Except yours.

Why There Aren't More Black Baseball Players

    I was killing time on Bleacher Report the other day, when I noticed an article about the fight to save Black Baseball. Over the last couple of years, there has been a dramatic decline in the amount of African-American players in Major League Baseball. This phenomenon has mystified the powers that be. After Black players fought so hard to get in the league, which had a long history of racism, why would they abandon the prize guys like Jackie Robinson, and Pumpsie Green fought for. The Bleacher Report article goes super in depth into the history of the game, and what socio-economic factors play into the decline of available Black players. While it was a completely well researched and well written article, I felt it over-complicated what in my eyes is a pretty simple matter. When it comes down to it, I feel as though there are only about three or four reasons more young African-American athletes don't go into the sport. They are as follows.

BASEBALL IS BORING AS S&*T

Just kidding....or am I?

BASEBALL LOGISTICS IN THE HOOD ARE IMPOSSIBLE

     For the sake of argument, lets assume that most African American professional athlete's are originally from an inner city background. I could explain why this is true, but that would just take too long and would force me to digress from the topic. So, just for now, assume this is true. Now when a young kid from the inner city is first starting to get into sports and trying to figure out which ones they are good at, several practical issues steer the kid away from baseball. First off to play baseball you need space. A baseball game requires a good amount of open space to play. Without it, you end up with a lot of broken windows and pissed off neighbors. However, if you drive around the South Side of Chicago, you will notice a lack of public parks that have space for a baseball field, and have had proper upkeep. Not saying there aren't baseball fields, just it doesn't seem like the park district puts the resources into maintaining their upkeep as they used to. So without proper space, where are you supposed to play.
      But lets say hypothetically, that we got all the fields in the city in tip top shape, the amount of Black inner city players would increase only slightly. Here's why. If a young kid wakes up and decides that he wants to play a game of baseball, he immediately has a problem. One of the reasons that kids gravitate toward football and basketball in the cities, is that those games are adaptable. See, you NEED 18 people to play a baseball game. Football can be played in any combination of ways, (two-hand touch, tackle, flag) with easily adjusted rules to compensate lack of proper equipment, or proper amount of people.  Basketball also has the same flexibility. You can play it one on one, three on three,  a game of 21. You can play full or half court. Baseball however doesn't give you the same flexibility to alter the game. You need 18 guys to play an actual game. Have you ever tried to get 18 of your friends to do the same thing at the same time? It's impossible.
     The other advantage of Football and Basketball: the lack of need for equipment. What do you need to get up a quick football game? A football and some space. What do you need to start a basketball game? A ball and a hoop. Hell, growing up half the time we didnt even need the hoop, if we could find a milk crate. A few times we even went without the ball, using a balled up sheet a paper and a trash can. What do you need to play baseball? A bat. a couple of balls, some bases, mitts, and preferably gloves and helmets. The odds of you having all this equipment AND eighteen people willing to play? Slim to none.

LONG ROAD TO THE MAJORS

     For those of you that dont know there is a significant difference in the path of becoming a professional in Major League Baseball versus other sports. In Football for instance you are required to do a couple of years of college before you can go pro. In Basketball, you have to do at least one year of college. However, in baseball, you can either be drafted out of college or high school. So on the surface, from the athlete's perspective, this should be a good thing right? Why wouldn't a young athlete jump at a sport that allows you to a professional right away? The sooner you go pro, the sooner you get paid, right? Well the answer is not necessarily. See there is a gap of time between when you get drafted by professional baseball and when you start actually playing professional baseball.
     See. the reason football and basketball make you go to college first has nothing to do with getting these kids an education, though that's the excuse they give. The real reason that they send you to college first is because they use college sports as a developmental tool, so that when you turn pro, you're a more of a finished product. That way they can spend less time teaching you the game, and more time making money off you. The reason baseball can draft you out of high school is because you're not going to the pros right away. In fact, you're not going pro for quite a while. Before you can become a major league baseball player, you are going to spend years, toiling away in the minor league system. A player spends the first few years playing in small, obscure country towns, usually for very minimal play. Some guys spend their whole careers playing Single A, Double A, or Triple A baseball without ever sniffing the pros. That's a whole lot of work, for no guarantee. Considering most African American athletes' desire to get paid as soon as possible to financially help the load on their families, most dont have several years to wait for their hard work to pay off.

YOU GOTTA CHOOSE EARLY

    We live in an era of sports specialization. Gone are the days of multi-sport stars like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders. In today's sports landscape, kids are forced to declare early. often when they start high school, what sport they are going to specialize and focus on. These days, in the era of sports science, teams come up with all kinds of specialized workout and weight training programs. Most are tailored to their particular sport. So a kid is forced to make a choice at a time in his life, when baseball is probably the sport he's played the least amount of time, and isnt wholly familiar with. Why would he pick baseball if he hasn't developed the necessary skills or love of the game at that point?
     I say all that to simply say this. The reason why there aren't more Black baseball players is simple. The solution however is not. This is a systematic issue, and won't be resolved unless it's looked at from a big-picture approach. Or else, the numbers of black baseball players will keep dwindling. So yeah, Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player. Question is, have we already seen the last?

Dear 8lb 6oz Baby Jesus: How Bout Those Bears?

Those of you who consider yourselves a part of Bears Nation, please grab the hands of your nearest neighbor and bow your heads, as I lead us in prayer:

Dear 8lb 6oz Baby Jesus,
                            We come to you today in a spirit of humility. As today marks the first pre-season game for our beloved Chicago Bears, we come to you for our pre-season blessing, oh pre-natal savior. But first we come to give you thanks. Thank you oh 8lb 6oz Baby Jesus, for finally giving us an offensive line last year. You knew in your chubby lil infant heart how tough it was becoming to watch Jay Cutler take the snap, glance over at the weak side, and instantly start running for his life. Rather than be subjected to Cutler running out of the pocket and either throwing the ball to quadruple teamed Brandon Marshall or chucking it up there off his back foot because he's just trying to make it through a game without a ruptured spleen, we got to see an offense. Thank you for giving us actual wide receivers with actual wide receiver size. Oh, tiny infant savior, it was rough. It was rough trying to watch a wide receiver core whose average height was 5'10. I mean, I like Devin Hester and Johnny Knox as much as the next guy, but it doesn't do any good to have receivers who have blazing speed but aren't tall enough for all the rides at Six Flags. But you delivered us Brandon Marshall through a trade and Alshon Jefferey through the draft. You sprinkled your Magic Baby Jesus dust on them and made them the best Wide Receiver tandem in the league.
          However, we do come to you oh 8lb 6oz Not Even on Solid Foods Yet Baby Jesus. For we do still have troubles and concerns, and if we can't bring those troubles to you, the all powerful toddler, then who? These are strange, strange times. For years, we Bears fans have toiled and struggled, watching a team that defensively, could kick the ever-loving snot out of anybody but couldn't score against a high school junior varsity team. We bore witness to more 9-7 losses than any fan base should be subjected too. Then last year something changed. Suddenly we weren't losing games 9-7 anymore. We were losing them 28-24. Suddenly, we could score, but we couldn't stop the other team from scoring. So this off season, we revamped our defense. Please lay your hands on our new defense. Bless them not to be so....horrible. We ask that you bless our linebackers with maturity and our defensive backs with ball-hawking, play-making skills. We pray that anyone not named Chris Conte will be the starting safety this year. But most importantly, we pray for this guy:

Jay Cutler is our quarterback. Never in the history of the position have I seen a more consistently inconsistent qb. One second, he's throwing a breathtakingly beautiful pass down field. The next, he's passing with the accuracy of a second grader. Now, last season we were blessed. When Cutler went down with his usual bi-annual injury, we had Josh McCown come in and play like Joe Montana. This year however, our backups are Jordan Palmer and Jimmy Clausen. I'll say that again. Jordan Palmer (whose biggest career achievement is being Carson's little brother) and Jimmy Clausen (whose next biggest play at the pro level will be his first) are our back-ups. We pray to you. oh all knowing, all powerful, not yet potty-trained infant savior, to wrap your chubby little baby fingers around Cutler and keep him healthy. Just wrap him in the sweet bubble-wrap filled cocoon of your love. Surround him with decent pass protection, and in the event that he does get slammed to the turf, may it have the softness of memory foam. Especially, seeing as how we invested goo-gobs of money into this mopey bastard.
         We pray to you to keep our team, healthy and performing at the highest possible level. We pray that all the new off season additions come to the team and make a positive impact. We pray for the continued resilience of guys like Matt Forte and Charles Tillman. We pray Adrian Wilson has something left in the tank. We play Shea McClellan finds a position and develops at it. We pray for our return game minus Devin Hester. We pray that when Julius Peppers comes back to town with the Packers that he doesn't look like Pro Bowl Julius Peppers, and more like the shell of Julius Peppers that we released in the off season. We pray for health, production, and prosperity, and mostly that '85 wont be the last championship I see in my lifetime. We ask these things in your holy baby name, Amen. And Bear Down!

(p.s.- If you could smite the Packers, Vikings and Lions that would be great.)

Note: By participating in this prayer, you have automatically committed your life to 8lb 6oz Baby Jesus, effective immediately. 

Discussing Hockey with Richard Sample