Jason Whitlock is the True Buffoon

I was browsing online tonight when I stumbled across another slanted article on Fox Sports from the "Honorable Jason Whitlock." In his article he basically talks about how the black athlete is destroying sports and how they are buffoons because they, as he likes to call it, shuck and jive on the field. He is of the opinion that football should be played as if these professional athletes are in corporate America wearing a suit and tie with little or no emotion. In the same breath he talks about the guys being payed to play a game. I pose this question to Mr. Whitlock, if they are playing a game are they not to have fun? What is wrong with a little playful teasing as long as there is no malice or intent to show someone up individually? He goes on to make the argument that the Colts and Patriots are the most successful teams in the NFL because they not coincidentally have more white players than any other teams in the NFL; as if to imply that in order for a team to play well or be successful, one must have more whites or non-black athletes as he so cleverly tries to put it, to makeup for the incompetencies of the undisciplined, heartless and ignorant black player. He is falling right into the trap from the 60's where it was universally accepted that the black quarterback and athletes in general lack discipline, heart and intelligence, and were only able to function when being directed by their white counterparts. Now I truly understand why there are so few Black Head coaches in college and professional athletics even though blacks or non-whites make up close to 70% of the athletes.

What enrages me the most about his article, besides the choice of words that he chooses to use such as buffoonery, bojangling etc, is the sheer ignorance and venom that he speaks with. He is looking at the end results without understanding or addressing the true problem.

Let me state for the Record that I am Not going to make excuses for bad behaviour as we all have to understand right from wrong, but lets put this in perspective. Imagine if you grew up your whole life dirt poor, the family next door was dirt poor, the family down the street, also dirt poor. Daily you are surrounded by drugs, unemployment, domestic violence, murder, robbery, dilapidated buildings as you grow up. Now imagine waking up one morning at the age of 21-24 with $250 thousand to $2 million dollars in your bank account. What kind of person would you be? Wisdom at 40 or 44 years old is easy, life has a way of helping you gain understanding and retrospect, but at the age of 21 or 23 just how much retrospect and life experiences do you have to draw from? Can you really talk to someone from your old neighborhood about how to handle your new found wealth when you could very easily gather all the people from your old neighborhood together and would not be able to accumulate or have over time accumulated at any point in their combined lives, half the wealth these athletes are gaining overnight.

Imagine growing up seeing your mother work two to three jobs and still having the power cut off, no cable, having to eat cereal with water instead of milk. That "hood life" can be a double edged sword when you wake up rich overnight. One side of you will never want to be poor again so you will do any and everything you can possibly do to protect your riches. There will still be that other side that will want to enjoy all the things that in your wildest dreams would have never been available to someone from your background.

We need to quit being naive and foolish enough to think that once someone gets money all the problems and past experiences that has driven these individuals to succeed and fail will just disappear. If anything the money makes it worse as the problems are never truly addressed, but overlooked by the money as it relates to the athletes, and the talent as it relates to the NFL organizations and fans. I challenge Whitlock and any other person that thinks like him to actually get down on the ground level to help fix the problem instead of talking about it and blaming hip hop from the friendly confines of his office desk as he sips on his tall Starbucks Latte. One thing Pac Man Jones, Mike Vick, Tank Johnson, and all the other athletes he loves to bash and label as buffoons, have in common is that they have overcame personal tragedy and lived in some of the worst environments and family lives that one could ever imagine. Drug abuse, death, and prison, all things these "troublemakers" grew up with impacting and shaping their mentality. Instead of reveling in the trials and tribulations and scolding them, get out there and teach.

Here is the article for those interested: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7343980

They Frown When You Up

I have tried my best to not re-hash any of the million other stories relating to the infamous Michael Vick, but after countless stories on every eye that he bats or step that he takes I wanted to write something. Not about him, but about the people that claim that he is the worse person to ever walk the face of the earth. You can go to ESPN, Fox Sports, CNN or any other website and read countless posts in the comment section about how death is to good for this man and how he is a coward, punk or whatever the people can think of to say about and describe him. I can't get down with what Vick did in the least, but I was always told to be careful how you judge someone else as that is the same stick that you will be judged by. I have heard many others make this same statement, but I also truly believe that all the people that are so hateful to a guy that they have never met, would not and will not have any impact on their lives outside of maybe their Fantasy Football season have lost some of their own humanity and self respect in their reactions toward him.

I read an article where a minor league baseball team in Minnesota handed out dog toys made in the resemblance of Vick for all in attendance on fan appreciation night. Here in Atlanta a sports bar planned on clearing out the parking lot, dumping all the Vick paraphernalia that they could find and inviting all dog lovers and people who own dogs to bring them down so they can "let nature call" on all of the items placed in the lot. What is so wrong in your life that would make you feel the need to do this? Will this really change what has taken place with this man? Is this what you really need to feel better about your own life? Even the Animal Humane Society got in on the act using all the Vick jerseys they could find to line the dog litters. This is a professional and corporate entity, shouldn't they be above the stupidity and pettiness to work on the same level as a person that has been called "barbaric," "primitive" and "animalistic?" Above and beyond the extortion tactics of stating in Atlanta's own AJC that if Vick were to give them 20 million dollars they would not petition the NFL to keep him out of the league after his time is served!

I can remember growing up listening to UGK and they had the phrase, "They Frown when you up and Smile while your Down, and if you change for the better shiest friends stop coming around!" I have always taken that phrase to heart but never have seen this to the extent that I see it in the world today.

I understand that people love their animals and what Vick did was inexcusable. He is now and will be punished for what he has done. I just beg everyone else not to lose their humanity in the madness of this all! When news of the Vick fiasco first hit, all over the radio you had concerned parents claiming they were distraught because now they had to go and explain to their kids how much bad a person Vick is and how terrible a thing he has done, but the words and reactions of people in the public are just as damning to a child as anything this one man could have possibly done. What do you say to your child when you put a shirt on them with the words WE HATE? So you teach your kids to hate a person now? He is not Stalin, He is not a politician! We always claim that atheletes are the bain of society, while constantly ignoring the scandals on Capitol Hill. For every Michael Vick, there is a Senator Larry Craig, a Tom Ley, a Karl Rove; these are supposed to be the educated ones who affect the lives of all Americans and are assigned to represent the values and moral compass of our nation to the world. Vick is known for having fast feet and a strong arm, he didn't major in Political Law or Ethics 101.

Most of America wants to believe that atheletes are dumb jocks playing a kids game, but we cry with so much outrage when they make bad, sometimes very bad decisions. Where is the logic in this? While Some are rejoicing and some are crying, I task each and every one of us to look within ourselves and not others for what is right or wrong in our lives and to focus on us and not rejoice in others downfalls.