Racism & Sports

If you've seen my other columns, you can tell that I don't like steroid users. Especially those that lie or try to cover it up in some way. Well, thanks to Floyd Mayweather Jr., who beat the urine drinker Juan Manuel Marquez (yes he does) this past Saturday. I can no longer hide my disdain for those who bring race into the discussion of why they're disliked so much. It's difficult enough to talk about racism in a civilized way now a days. For those, like Mayweather, who go out of their way to use racism as the reason why they are not liked as much as other athletes of a different skin color sickens me. My reason for this column comes directly from Mayweather's mouth a few days before his fight against Marquez Saturday. He calmly told reporters what he thinks has been unfair treatment from the media and the public, based on his race.

"If you're rich, you're a rich n-----," he said. "If you're poor, you're a poor n----. If you're smart, you're a smart n-----. At the end of the day, they still look at me as a n-----."

He compares race to his last fight against Ricky Hatton in England.

"This country needs to be more positive," he said. "We're already at war. We're in a recession, we're at war and we continue to be negative. The fans in the UK showed me more love than in my own country. That's crazy ... Sometimes I'll sit back, I'll be in my theater sometimes, and I'll think: 'Imagine if I was the same fighter that I am, and I was the same person that I am, and I was from another country. Can you just imagine how big I'd be?'

"But I wouldn't change my life for nothing in the world. There's nothing like being young, black and rich. But there are certain things you think about. If Floyd Mayweather was white, I'd be the biggest athlete in America. The biggest, the biggest. I know that for a fact."

He went on further by saying Oscar De La Hoya never gets criticized by the media.

"One thing you never hear. You never hear anything negative about Oscar De La Hoya," he said. "Anything he do negative, it gets swept under the rug."

He also managed to jab (pardon the pun) HBO Boxing analyst Larry Merchant, "he don't know nothing about boxing," and the worst was to Emmanuel Steward, "He's an Uncle Tom."

Now the most beautiful, and I'm being sarcastic when I say "beautiful," thing about this tirade is the fact that Mayweather just doesn't get it. He never will. When you talk about "I'll be in my theater sometimes, and I'll think." And this gem, "There's nothing like being young, black and rich." What is a person supposed to think when you say things like that and you try to include race into your argument? People don't like you because you come off as arrogant, asinine and selfish. Mayweather did a correspondent piece for Jim Rome and his TV show a few years ago. Here is a quote that will always be played in the back of mind, "You know I keeps a private jet." Yeah, I'm sure you do with a theater in it to.

There are legitimate reasons why they dislike you. The ones I mentioned above plus you play in a dying if not a dead sport. Boxing is gone in my mind. It ended when I saw Mike Tyson bite both of Evander Holyfield's ears off. That was it. It has become too flashy with the weigh-ins and the pre-fight pressers. It's all drama and when the fight actually starts, it bores you to death with the stupid chess game. Guys, it seems to me, go out and try not to ruin their pretty faces. I'm not accusing anyone of throwing a fight, but that's the impression I get watching most fights now a days. If your going to throw racism into the discussion irresponsibly, you will and should get called on it.

Yes, there are those that still live in the Pre-Civil Rights era. It's true, but to put everyone into the same group is just dumb in my opinion. Those that want to blame their trials and tribulations on a different race, look no further than to the President of the United States Barack Obama. He is of color and he is in that position only forty years after the Civil Rights Movement. Some thought it would never happen in this country, but it did. Tiger Woods is probably the greatest golfer ever. He is also of color and is in a predominately white sport. Jackie Robinson changed Baseball and really the entire culture by his play and the way he conducted himself on and off the field. You want an example of minorities making it to the top without race getting in their way. I give you three. I could give you many more.

Mayweather, Milton Bradley who was suspended by the Cubs for his comments about the organization and fans. Saying, "you understand why they haven't won in 100 years here." Bradley has really complained everywhere he has been in the MLB. Most of the time it doesn't include him playing the race card, but he needs to get his act together and realize that's how it works in this culture. You don't perform, you don't get the love. It's not because of your color. If that's what you want to believe that's your problem. Kanye West is another one with his act at the VMA's. I could say that his act was racist because the person he upstaged (Taylor Swift) was white. But I won't. It wasn't racist, just stupid. Would it be brought down on a white person if they upstaged someone of color like that. Absolutely. Legitimately or not. Enough with the branding and blaming. Just perform, keep low and do plenty of good things outside of sports that will outweigh the bad. Example: Serena Williams and her scathing of a line judge at the US Open.

The Art of the Walk-Off Home Run Celebration

As of September 7, 2009 the Milwaukee Brewers were 14 games back in their division and 10 1/2 games back of the Wild Card lead. They were coming off a victory over the San Francisco Giants at their home park. Milwaukee dropped the first two games, but came back in the third to tie and eventually win in extra innings. In dramatic fashion mind you. Bottom of the twelfth, self proclaimed vegetarian slugger Prince Fielder drives a ball to deep right field. It does clear the wall for a game winning walk-off home run. We all get caught up in the moment whether we are the player, fan or broadcaster. It's an exciting moment that I have been present for both as a fan and a broadcaster. I was there in 2002 as a season ticket holder for the Angels when they had that magical season. Many come from behind walk-off wins that year. I was a broadcaster for the 2008 Long Beach Armada team that had four straight walk-off wins in a row. You don't see that very often. There are many unwritten rules in this sport and you don't know how someone will react to the way you celebrate that dramatic win. Many took issue to Mr. Fielder's.

Prince approached second base and began to untuck his shirt. Rounding third he gives his teammates a look and they all began to brace for something. I thought he was going to slide into home like Rickey Henderson did when he set the all time runs scored record with a home run. Nice. Anyway Prince didn't do that. He jumped as high as he could, came down on home plate and the entire Brewer team proceeded to fall down like an earthquake just happened (see above). My first reaction was, "I've never seen that before." My second thought was, "that was very creative." My last, "someone is going to get pegged." Luckily that was the last of a three game series between the two. And luckily for Prince, the last meeting of the season.

Torii Hunter of the Angels said this after being asked about the celebration,

"It's all TV, acting, until someone gets hit with a pitch in the chin. I'm old-school. I could never do that."

Joe Saunders voiced a similar opinion,

"It was original. Fans like to see it. But as a player, it's a little over the top."

Fielder thought of the celebration in a different light,

"It was fun, especially the way the season is going now for us," Fielder said. "It's always good to have some fun."

Now all three are correct in their quotes. Torii is of the old school sector of Baseball that doesn't like an entire team to show up the other in victory. Joe was right that the home town fans will love it, but what about the opposing dugout? Prince is also right. You are playing a game and you want to have fun no matter what place in the standings you are at that point. I had no beef with the celebration, but if I were to do something different, I wouldn't have untucked my shirt going to second. It sounds weird to complain about that, but it just seemed to be too much. You do need to realize that you didn't win the World Series. It was a September game that ended in dramatic fashion that affected the Giants season more than the Brewers. Oh, and a triple play was turned by the Brewers in that game to. You gotta love Baseball.

Football starts with a punch to the face

Well, I have returned from my mini vacation. Re-energized to bring you weekly columns and updates from the mind of yours truly. The NFL season starts in less than a week and College Football got started last night with a few interesting games of note. Utah continued its win streak to 15. South Carolina got their first win over NC State. And Boise State started their run for a shot at the BCS with a win over Oregon. But lost in all that was the unsportsmanlike thuggery of Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount (see above).

The NCAA has encouraged a pregame hand shake before the start of games this season. Fifteen players from both teams did this, including Blount. After the very sloppy game, which saw Oregon's offense produce only fifteen total yards in the first half, Blount was approached by Boise's linebacker Byron Hout. Hout proceeded to touch Blount's shoulder pad and say something to him. Without hesitation, Blount turned and punched Hout right on the chin, bringing him down. Now if that wasn't bad enough, Blount went after a teammate who was pulling him away from the Boise players that wanted a piece of him. Blount made things worse by wanting to "Ron Artest" his way into the stands to go after some knucklehead fans. Blount had to be restrained by police, security and Oregon staff back to the locker room.

Of course realizing he made a terrible mistake, he apologized right after the game,

"I should have handled that situation a lot better than I did," he said. "I apologize. We will never have a game like this again. ... The game, as it went on, just got more frustrating and more frustrating for me in general. I shouldn't have said anything. I shouldn't have done anything."

It becomes a case of should have, would've, could have. You did make a mistake, a stupid one, and now you will pay. Today Oregon suspended him for the entire season. Was the punishment just? Yes I think it was. You don't react to an opposing team like that, no matter what. Get off the field, get on the bus and get out. If that is all he would've done was punch Byron Hout, then he wouldn't have been suspended for the year, I don't think. But the fact that he made things worse by confronting and trying to go after fans warranted the season suspension. The knucklehead in him came out and now he has to pay for it. I don't buy that the Boise player should be punished to. That's what some players do on the winning team. They will say things and it's up to the losing team to conduct themselves in a respectable fashion. Hout should not be punished, but I'm sure that he was told to go about it a different way from now on.

Blount has officially ruined his season and Oregon might not recover from this loss or incident. It's a shame that this is how the Football season starts, but lets be honest, this probably would've happened at some point. The fact that we have to understand is this doesn't happen very often, but when it does the punishment has to be swift and tough so it can possibly be stopped in the future.