This is why I love this big m-f's candor, analysis, straight-up balls. In an age where blacks dominate many sports, we still have few black coaches, managers, trainers, owners. But the real travesty? You can count the number of trained professional black sports journalists out there on your fingers and toes. Worse, we are not cultivating huge crops of keen young black minds in English and Journalism departments of colleges and universities. That fact makes dudes like Michael Wilbon and Steven Smith deans of American sportswriting; I actually look forward to Bryant Gumbel's closing op-eds and interviews on HBO's Real Sports, and I used to hate Bryant Gumbel! Y'all can take these comments as hateration on the three guys I've named if you wish. hahahaha. But notice I didn't say these men aren't trained, experienced pros or bad writers. In a perfect parallel anti-matter universe, however, they'd just be garden-variety average sports reporters at the Daily Bumfuck. Indeed, when you look at the extant universe of white sportswriters/reporters, once you cancel-out the hacks, sychophants & fools, you might have a galaxy almost as small as what the bruthuhs have now! Well, in any parallel universe or dimension, Jason Whitlock is our HL Mencken, and God bless him...Regard, the wages of thugdom, hoedom, greed and hypocrisy in his article "Mayhem Main Event and NBA All-Star Weekend"
10 comments:
He has a chip on his blubber shoulder and he ought to keep his mouth shut. I'm glad he's no longer on EPSN.com.
You were wrong for showcasing this. If I didn't know Jason, I'd say Rush Limbaugh wrote this column.
My only agreement is your comment that there are too many hacks in this business.
But check out what Whitlock said about the League. He calls them out over their greed, and the "celebrity"-focuses b.s. with the usual stars. So you have mixed messages from the League and Vegas officials. They are just as much to blame for this carnival as the homeboys and gangster girls.
If Rush Limbaugh gets any "currency" or "purchase" from this--I love using big words like Chris and the rest of you urbane, not urban, authors--then we folk must address it. It happens and it shouldn't.
But Chris, I like Michael Wil-bald and Tony Korn-holer. Lay off them and Steven Smith. It's show-biz, brah.
Now let's talk about my man Barry Bonds out here in the almighty Bay Area.
I was returning hoping to fins more information on writer Eisa Nefertari Ulen and instead I see a sports post! Lordy don't we have enough of sports posts on other blogs!
Young man not to be undone I have a "blurb" from my son in law about the weekend NBA game. He's a Nashville native.
I can't begin to know how to do html so I will just cut and paste it:
"Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones witnessed but wasn't involved in a shooting at a Las Vegas strip club that injured three, his lawyer said.
Jones, who has faced charges in other nightclub arrests in Tennessee, was only a witness to the triple shooting early Monday that left two critically wounded, attorney Worrick Robinson said Tuesday.
Robinson said Jones was in Las Vegas to attend the NBA All Star game over the weekend and was invited to the Minxx Gentleman's Club, where the shooting occurred in the parking lot as Jones was leaving."
Yeah my man Jason is a classic house-negro with some serious insecurity issues. Still, it doesn't excuse ignorant ass behavior by young knuckle heads.
You have to believe though that some of the fears were blown out of proportion and unwarranted; "The nig***s are coming the nig***s are coming! Reminds me of when we had the Greek Picnic here in Philly. White folks would lose their minds the weeks leading up to it. Most vacations were planned around that time than any other, and stores would always close early to avoid the... ahem, ahem, "crowds"
Wow, I'm surprised by the criticism directed at Whitlock. I suspect that folks prefer Wilbon's half hearted criticism and general fawning over athletes, teams, and leagues. But, I understand that folks may have an affinity for Wilbon as he has reached celebrity status. Oh well!
Or maybe, folks like Scoop Jackson's buffoonish antics and sloppy reporting rife with urban and hip hop sayings so as to appear to be with it. I prefer Bobbito to Scoop any day. At least, you get the feeling that it's genuine and not like product placement as with Scoop.
Let me say this about Whitlock. Whitlock is of the Ralph Wiley elk. He not only does his best to hold athlete's, especially black, accountable beyond the box scores, but he also takes aim at the systems (leagues) that perpetuate the buffoonish behavior. There are few that do so. Let's see. You have Stephen A. Smith who even though he's on ESPN continues to keep both in his scope of constructive critcism. You have John Saunders who is the Anchor of the Sports Reporters. In a business such as sports reporting where black writers/reporters remains marginalized, Whitlock pushes the envelope...
BTW, he's no longer with ESPN.com because he criticized the network and Scoop Jackson who compared himself to Wiley. Also, AOL gave the the opportunity and latitude to report as he wishes. If anything, it's a loss that he's no longer with ESPN who at this point has a monopoly on sports reporting. Of course, we could continue to praise Mr. Booyah himself, Stuart Scott for his overtop reporting of highlights.
I have to do something I don't often do, and that's disagree with Field Negro and agree with the last anonymous post. Scoop Jackson, not the Walrus of Sport, is the House Negro. I think he hit it right on the money with that column, and indeed he didn't just target the thugs and bammas. The fawning ESPN idiots, the greedy City fathers, the greedy NBA and the likely greedy hotel clowns and City officials in New Orleans are all culpable.
However, I know the deal here is that a lot of folks don't like Whitlock. Field, he's no less a iconoclast than Mr. Holland in the world of Blogdom, yet you vehemently defended Mr. Holland. I see this as analogous in so many ways, including the paucity of black sportswriters as likened to to the paucity of blacks blogging on important issues.
I could go on re: the details and other sports news personalities like Wilbon and Smith, but anonymous seemed to touch on all of the topics.
The NBA All Star Game is another example of something that black folks ran into the ground….if cheap travel to Hawaii ever happen…we’ll pimp out the Pro Bowl too! Come on my fellow colored folks let’s be original let’s not all flock to the same place and front like we got dough!
I am not doubting that All Star Weekend in Vegas was not the premier showcase for the best and the brightest the human race has to offer..... but are there any stats from Las Vegas Police to support the criminal activities detailed in Mr. Whitlock's column?
...about Freaknik
it wasn't the raping and the lawlessness that killed it...because if that's the case, then you would have to shut down every single Spring Break Week from Florida to Lake Havasu...naw, we all know what killed Freaknik, really...the fact that black folks were the primary participants.
great man, thanks for mentioning him on your blog
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