The Blinside

This movie was pretty good. Often, I find sports movies like these that are ticketed as "heart-warming and inspirational" pretty annoying because the directors dramatize the little things and completely distort the sports aspect into just plain stupidness. But they did a good job with this. They decided it was gonna be about a black kid's story who just happens to play football instead of a football story that includes his story. The only reason I say a black kid's story is that is how Michael Oher, the person who the movie is about. It was definitely a quality film where the fact that he is black is almost an after-thought as opposed to it being over-emphasized in most sports movies that somehow involve a black or minority character.

Thanksgiving Football

Brockton High football is pretty much a stable of every Thanksgiving here in the city. However, the starting QB, Kicker, and an offensive lineman were suspended for this year's Thanksgiving game along with their first round playoff game because they were caught drinking, obviously underage, and driving around a Stop & Shop parking lot ramming their car into shopping carts. My issue is that a few years ago the coach threw two players, who were both black, off the team for possession of marijuana. Yes the two infractions are different but this happened in the beginning of the year so those kids missed 8 or 9 games and never played again. The players this year were white. It was talked about a little on the local radio as "boys being boys." I'm not accusing anyone of being racist or anything but isn't it clearly obvious there is at least a huge double standard here?

World Cup

Countries have just finished up their qualifying for the World Cup and it has started to bring up a lot of issues. As many people know, apartheid was a huge issue in South Africa, the site of the long-anticipated 2010 World Cup. Thierry Henry, a star French player who is also black, expressed some trepidation in an interview about playing in a country with such a long-standing reputation for violent racism. He talked about some of the things he has dealt with playing in England and he worries that it might be worse in Johannesburg next summer. A few other minority players have questioned the selection and it was interesting to me because it shows the contrast in sports internationally versus here in the U.S. Here players get heckled. In some countries, like South Africa, players are killed literally for own goals and the like. It is startling.

Black Santa

As the holiday season rolls in, and certainly not fast enough, I was thinking about and hoping he comes to my house. But how come there has never been a black representation of Santa? I'm sure someone has used a black male as Santa but certainly it has never come anywhere near catching on in the mainstream. I guess I want to ask the basic question of why? Santa is completely socially created so why have we excluded all minorities from this? I understand there is a story behind St. Nick but we could have at least altered it to make it more inclusive. We can have flying reindeers but not an African-American Santa?

Vince Young

Vince Young is having a resurgence as QB of the Tennessee Titans. He was a golden boy at Texas and won them a national championship in 2006 in one of the greatest college football games ever played against USC. However, last year he had some depression issues after he struggled during games and it all became very public. However, he was called a headcase and another "one" who couldn't make it. It was interesting to me because at the same time Matt LEinart, a white QB, was struggling yet was not getting anywhere near the level of criticism. A lot of commentators kept saying another "one." Leads me to this question: Is anothe rQb who failed or black quarterback who failed? Certainly they mean two different things.

Fort Hood

This story out of Fort Hood is horrifyingly sad. Whatever end of the political spectrum you are on, this is the definition of a tragedy. Condolences to all the families of the victims. One of the general's involved, General Casey, has said that, “It would be a shame -- as great a tragedy as this was -- it would be a shame if our diversity became a casualty as well.” Look I understand diversity in the military and with the Islamic faith viewed with skepticism by some. I don't think it is right at all to portray all Muslims as radical extremists or terrorists. But this case is different. Major Hasan was a terrorist. He did kill innocent Americans and committed a crime. Diversity and everything has to be pretty low on the list of priorities in this situation. Why are we more worried about offending other people instead of helping the victims of this shooting and helping the families get through this tragedy. Seems backwards to me.

Nas & Controversy

Continuing on the subject I touched upon with Jay-Z, Nasir Jones, better known as the legendary rapper Nas, stirred his own controversy last year when he realized his new album. Originally, he wanted to title it "Nigger" in order to break the perception that this word carried the same meaning it once did. He was trying to remove it from that list of forbidden words and put it on the one that says it is outdated and no applicable. But the outcry, from "experts" like Bill O'Reilly, and the general public was a concoction of shock, dismay, and outrage. For a few weeks, Nas held firm saying that he was doing this to convey his message. However, a couple weeks before the album was dropped, he relented and changed the title simply to "Nas." He was attempting to show that the way it is used is simply stupid now and calling attention to it would help erase it from our current vocabulary. But the public said that we aren't ready to do that and that is simply a shame.

Jay-Z & Oprah

As some people may know, on September 11th Jay-Z, one of the greatest rappers ever, realized his anticipated album "The Blueprint 3." On the same day he also performed a benefit concert for the families of 9/11 victims. This connects to Oprah because recently she talked about how great some of his songs are but she really is "disappointed by his use of the word 'nigga.'" And Jay-Z took some heat because he said that that is Oprah's right to not listen to his music then. Oprah really portrayed him as just another rapper saying it to get attention. In reality, Jay-Z is very well spoken and unlike many rappers, there is a lot of substance behind his lyrics. I'm tired of people generally criticizing the use of the word. Jay-Z uses it in a different manner, not to draw attention behind himself. There is a difference between "nigga" in the sense that Oprah has a problem with and how Jay uses it. She should know that.

Tru Life

So I somehow was suckered into watching an episode of Tru Life on MTV about single mothers. The most startling thing waqs how the show clearly followed the "scripts" and "stereotypes" that we so often see in society. We have the 21 year old white girl who goes out and parties while her mom and sisters watch her daughter. Then there is the black mom who had a baby at 20 and her fiancee is locked up for drug possession. Yeah, stereotypes are often based on reality. But MTV consciously picked these girls and their stories for a particular reason: they just happened to fit into a nice, neat stereotype.

Athletes and Thugs

There was recently a player on the University of Florida football team who was suspended 2 quarters for eye gouging an opponent. Brandon Spikes is a good player but did a pretty stupid thing. Eye gouging is one of those "unwritten" things you just don't do. But I heard a lot of analysts describing his behavior as "thuggish." It got me thinking to why the majority of black athletes who do something stupid are "thugs" while white athletes often are referred to as only "dirty players." Granted, there isn't a positive to either description but is it race related? Think about Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, and Stephen Jackson, all black players involved in the brawl at Auburn Hills in a 2004 game between the Pacers and Pistons. They were villified as thugs yet the white fan was "classless." He was never a thug. Pretty interesting to me.