April 13th, Monday/ DAMN! The Obamas are really messing up! A week or two ago, the First Lady put her hands on the Queen of England. OMG! How dare she? The audacity of that woman! Now, in an unrelated trip, the President has bowed down to the King of Saudi Arabia. DAMN! What the...
Are these people crazy? Don't they respect the arrogance that goes along with the job? Haven't they read the President and First Lady Handbook(s)? When America is in a crisis, the President's testicles are supposed to swell up like watermelons (pun intended)and he is supposed to spray other world leaders with presidential mumbo-jumbo while he tries to undo what has been done by the other president, who has sprayed other world leaders with his presidential mumbo-jumbo!
The President's bowing has been described as a sign of weakness as opposed to being a gesture of respect, according to what has been reported. So, now what are we to believe? The election of a black man was a mistake because he has defied protocol? Next thing you know, he will be criticized for putting a basketball court in the White House. Hell, he is already receiving fire from the animal rights people because he did not adopt a recycled dog from the pound. Not that that is a bad thing but why can't he have a new dog? It's funny... When did it become a criticism for a president to choose the dog he wanted?
Get in line folks. The president is Black, he is new, and he is not what you are used to. So get used to it already!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway
April 10th, Friday/ I'm sorry... I cannot do it anymore! I have been doing it for years and now I have to draw the line. I can no longer sit and listen to pro athletes interview for the media. I mean, I don't know what I am listening to anymore? There used to be a time when I could not wait to hear what a popular athlete had to say. Could not wait... Now, what the hell am I waiting for? Do I want to hear Terrell Owens whine about all the attention he is getting for not attending "voluntary" training with the Buffalo Bills, when it is he who manages to be in the right place, right time, when a camera and mike are present? Do I really want to hear that over and over again from him? Change the channel...
Just yesterday I was listening to the sports news and Tiger Woods was being interviewed. I get it! He is the man! Golf was boring until he showed up. So I am sitting there listening to him explain something about his putting or whatever. My freakin' eyes rolled into the back of my head! He just kept rambling on and on... I was wondering when he was going to relate his putting to solving the economics of the globe!
Maybe it's NOT their fault. I remember when MJ was playing. He was never asked about his political position on ANYTHING! Maybe he had an opinion, maybe he did not. Maybe he was reminded about who was paying him and how much his opinion would affect his cash flow if he said yea or nea about an issue. I remember being party to conversation about my race and the expectation of me not repeating it or else.
Whatever. make your deal with the devil and live with it. All I am saying is stop beating "Joe the Fan" over the head with this bullshit. I mean, I do not want to hear an answer from an athlete about anything when I know he/she can be reprimanded and/or fined for "Tweeting" at half time while on the gig. In as much as I understand that there is a question about professionalism, I also understand "plantation" mentality and everyone involved needs to understand their place in it!
Just yesterday I was listening to the sports news and Tiger Woods was being interviewed. I get it! He is the man! Golf was boring until he showed up. So I am sitting there listening to him explain something about his putting or whatever. My freakin' eyes rolled into the back of my head! He just kept rambling on and on... I was wondering when he was going to relate his putting to solving the economics of the globe!
Maybe it's NOT their fault. I remember when MJ was playing. He was never asked about his political position on ANYTHING! Maybe he had an opinion, maybe he did not. Maybe he was reminded about who was paying him and how much his opinion would affect his cash flow if he said yea or nea about an issue. I remember being party to conversation about my race and the expectation of me not repeating it or else.
Whatever. make your deal with the devil and live with it. All I am saying is stop beating "Joe the Fan" over the head with this bullshit. I mean, I do not want to hear an answer from an athlete about anything when I know he/she can be reprimanded and/or fined for "Tweeting" at half time while on the gig. In as much as I understand that there is a question about professionalism, I also understand "plantation" mentality and everyone involved needs to understand their place in it!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway
April 9th, Thursday/ Here's when you know the economy is bad. You and your boys decide that you are going to hijack a ship. You go out on the high seas, find a ship and hijack it. You ransack the ship, find some booty, you're talking smack... Maybe you are a little drunk, you take hostages. You're not thinking straight. You're caught up in the moment. The hostages see an opportunity to overtake you. They go for it. You manage to escape their grasp, with a hostage! You jump into a life boat. you have money, you have a hostage. You got away! Then, BOOM! The life boat runs out of gas and you are left drifting in the ocean with no gas station in sight, a useless hostage, worthless booty and a freakin' American destroyer bearing down on your ass! And at the price of gas these days you probably couldn't buy enough gas to get to where you need to get to anyway! Maybe you should have hijacked the Destroyer that's full of gas. But then you probably could not afford the price of parking!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway
April 8th, Wednesday/ Well... This is a sad day for me. It should be a glorious day but it's not, for me. After watching that sad excuse for a final game in the NCAA Elite tournament Monday night, I slept on it then started to recover on Tuesday. I turned on ESPN and watched them scroll through the sports events... And then I saw it! They showed the press conference for MJ (Michael Jordan) being interviewed about his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. We are talking about, arguably, the highest honor that can be bestowed on a person for his/her respective sport. So, here he is being interviewed and he says the strangest thing...
MJ is tortured and conflicted and depressed about being inducted into the H of F because it represents his life being over as it pertains to basketball! I could not believe what I was hearing. C'mon Mike! Are you serious?
So I got to thinking... When is it enough? What has to happen for it to be over for someone doing what they like to do, to be satisfied with not doing it anymore? He was actually lamenting his own career because he could no longer "deceive" us common folk who watched and applauded him. He wants more.!
Okay, whatever floats your boat. Here is a suggestion: Arrange pickup games with all of those ex pros who would still like to play. Get the media and Madison Avenue involved to promote the event and find a venue to accommodate the thousands of fans he still thinks he has. Then, have at it! Regardless of the results, I'm sure MJ's ego will be fulfilled. Then, maybe, he can make the "Overtime H of F" and be satisfied with that! I am sure he will get inducted.
MJ is tortured and conflicted and depressed about being inducted into the H of F because it represents his life being over as it pertains to basketball! I could not believe what I was hearing. C'mon Mike! Are you serious?
So I got to thinking... When is it enough? What has to happen for it to be over for someone doing what they like to do, to be satisfied with not doing it anymore? He was actually lamenting his own career because he could no longer "deceive" us common folk who watched and applauded him. He wants more.!
Okay, whatever floats your boat. Here is a suggestion: Arrange pickup games with all of those ex pros who would still like to play. Get the media and Madison Avenue involved to promote the event and find a venue to accommodate the thousands of fans he still thinks he has. Then, have at it! Regardless of the results, I'm sure MJ's ego will be fulfilled. Then, maybe, he can make the "Overtime H of F" and be satisfied with that! I am sure he will get inducted.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway
April 7th, Tuesday/ PHEW! The NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament is finally over and, man, what a ride! The University of North Carolina took the top prize by beating the crap out of Michigan State and all is right with the world. Well... Not really.
For whatever reason, there is a lot of drama attached to the tournament. Maybe there is a general concensus that the games are not enough to create the kind of anticipation the NCAA tournament committee thinks is necessary to make the games a success. Here is what goes into building the tourney: First, the college basketball season has to start. The Division I members are the only division that is deemed important, according to who is in charge of making that determination.(All of the other divisions in college basketball have a tournament!) However, Division I gets all the play!/ There is a pre-conference schedule, a conference schedule, a post season conference tournament, and then the BIG ONE... THE NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT! Taa daaaaaa...
Now the fun starts. First it has to be determined who is going to play in the tournament. There is a set mumbo-jumbo criteria the teams have to follow to be selected. If they meet said criteria, the committee selects the teams. Then there are the brackets. The brackets place the teams in the order of games that are to be played. The drama that goes along with that is stifling. There are the favorites, the bubble teams, the conference winners, the selected teams, the seeds, who gets what seed, what region each team is going to, the 4 regions, who has an advantage who is at a disadvantage, who belongs, who does not belong, what is fair, what is not fair, blah...blah... yap...yap...
Then there is the mystery of the seeding. There is a (dubbed) "Cinderella" team. That is a team that will go deep into the tournament surpassing everyone's expectations. There is the dreaded 12-5 seeding. That's the bracket selection where a #12 seed will beat a #5 seed. How that happens I have no idea. There are the #1 seeds, who are supposed to be better than everybody else. Which brings me to the favorites... Which team is supposed to win? Who the hell knows? It's a tournament! All things being equal, it's a crap shoot. Really?
Okay, all of that being said, it turns out that Michigan State makes it to the finals to play UNC. Michigan State, a #2 seed played Louisville, a #1 seed and beat them to get to the Final 4. Then they beat UCONN, another #1 seed to get to the championship game to play Mighty Carolina who was the preseason pick to win it all! Nice setup!
THEN... Some spin doctor decided to add extra pressure on Michigan State... Michigan State was mandated to save America! That's right! They were told that they were the cloud with the silver lining that would make the people of Michigan feel better in spite of the failing economy, in general, and the crumbling car industry, in particular! Never mind that Carolina was steam rolling over everybody in the tournament and that should be Michigan State's focus. Save the world boys from something you had nothing to do with creating! Help people forget the dire straights they are in for a few days through your representation. HELP!!!
So, here we are... The day after... Carolina gutted Michigan State like a fish! It was surreal to watch the Spartans forget everything they knew how to do and suffer through 40 minutes of pain! Why not just go to the dentist and have all of your teeth pulled out? (Without gas or the needle!)And then... and then... Wake up the next day, look out of your window and realize that the state of Michigan is no better off than it was the day before, you played the worst game of your life on the biggest stage of your life and be recognized as a failure, just like the economy has failed the people you were mandated to represent! DAMN life ain't fair!
For whatever reason, there is a lot of drama attached to the tournament. Maybe there is a general concensus that the games are not enough to create the kind of anticipation the NCAA tournament committee thinks is necessary to make the games a success. Here is what goes into building the tourney: First, the college basketball season has to start. The Division I members are the only division that is deemed important, according to who is in charge of making that determination.(All of the other divisions in college basketball have a tournament!) However, Division I gets all the play!/ There is a pre-conference schedule, a conference schedule, a post season conference tournament, and then the BIG ONE... THE NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT! Taa daaaaaa...
Now the fun starts. First it has to be determined who is going to play in the tournament. There is a set mumbo-jumbo criteria the teams have to follow to be selected. If they meet said criteria, the committee selects the teams. Then there are the brackets. The brackets place the teams in the order of games that are to be played. The drama that goes along with that is stifling. There are the favorites, the bubble teams, the conference winners, the selected teams, the seeds, who gets what seed, what region each team is going to, the 4 regions, who has an advantage who is at a disadvantage, who belongs, who does not belong, what is fair, what is not fair, blah...blah... yap...yap...
Then there is the mystery of the seeding. There is a (dubbed) "Cinderella" team. That is a team that will go deep into the tournament surpassing everyone's expectations. There is the dreaded 12-5 seeding. That's the bracket selection where a #12 seed will beat a #5 seed. How that happens I have no idea. There are the #1 seeds, who are supposed to be better than everybody else. Which brings me to the favorites... Which team is supposed to win? Who the hell knows? It's a tournament! All things being equal, it's a crap shoot. Really?
Okay, all of that being said, it turns out that Michigan State makes it to the finals to play UNC. Michigan State, a #2 seed played Louisville, a #1 seed and beat them to get to the Final 4. Then they beat UCONN, another #1 seed to get to the championship game to play Mighty Carolina who was the preseason pick to win it all! Nice setup!
THEN... Some spin doctor decided to add extra pressure on Michigan State... Michigan State was mandated to save America! That's right! They were told that they were the cloud with the silver lining that would make the people of Michigan feel better in spite of the failing economy, in general, and the crumbling car industry, in particular! Never mind that Carolina was steam rolling over everybody in the tournament and that should be Michigan State's focus. Save the world boys from something you had nothing to do with creating! Help people forget the dire straights they are in for a few days through your representation. HELP!!!
So, here we are... The day after... Carolina gutted Michigan State like a fish! It was surreal to watch the Spartans forget everything they knew how to do and suffer through 40 minutes of pain! Why not just go to the dentist and have all of your teeth pulled out? (Without gas or the needle!)And then... and then... Wake up the next day, look out of your window and realize that the state of Michigan is no better off than it was the day before, you played the worst game of your life on the biggest stage of your life and be recognized as a failure, just like the economy has failed the people you were mandated to represent! DAMN life ain't fair!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway
April 5th, Sunday/ What the hell is going on in the NFL? Mike is getting out of jail, Plax is going in...What has the Penal system become, Motel 6?Not only do we have a disgruntled QB demanding to be traded because... Well, he found out that he might be traded! What the...? We have dog killings and self-inflicted gunshot wounds... When was the last time a pro(football) player wanted to stop playing football in mid-season, left the team, went to a club and shot himself in the leg? I guess it was not exciting enough to collect a check big enough to buy a house in one felt swoop every two weeks? Man, what I could do with a 3 or 4 hundred thousand dollar check right about now(?).
Carrying a gun to a club or killing dogs cannot be the mindset of a clear-thinking individual, is it? I mean, I have heard a dog owner say, in a fit of rage to his dog,"I will kill you!" I even heard a friend say, after his kid spilled juice on his white carpet, "...If I had a gun, I'd... (thinking)... I'd... shoot myself!" (No specific place was mentioned and no child was harmed.) (This just in: Oklahoma's women's basketball team just lost in a semi-final game against Louisville! I want to see the camera pan to her father, in the stands, writing the check made out to the University of Oklahoma for $64,000.00 for repayment of her scholarship!)Hey, I don't make this stuff up!
Is the pressure of bigtime sports too much for fragile thinking athletes to the point where it makes them say and do weird things? There have been days when I thought, "I could just kill myself for doing something that stupid!" But I never pulled the trigger! NEVER!
Carrying a gun to a club or killing dogs cannot be the mindset of a clear-thinking individual, is it? I mean, I have heard a dog owner say, in a fit of rage to his dog,"I will kill you!" I even heard a friend say, after his kid spilled juice on his white carpet, "...If I had a gun, I'd... (thinking)... I'd... shoot myself!" (No specific place was mentioned and no child was harmed.) (This just in: Oklahoma's women's basketball team just lost in a semi-final game against Louisville! I want to see the camera pan to her father, in the stands, writing the check made out to the University of Oklahoma for $64,000.00 for repayment of her scholarship!)Hey, I don't make this stuff up!
Is the pressure of bigtime sports too much for fragile thinking athletes to the point where it makes them say and do weird things? There have been days when I thought, "I could just kill myself for doing something that stupid!" But I never pulled the trigger! NEVER!
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