OTHER BITS OF RANDOM NEWS...
Lance Briggs is saying to the Bears; 're$cind the franchi$e tag or trade me, biatch.' We'll see that happens with that situation.
It was pointed out to me (by a radio host, so he wasn't exactly telling me) that, during the wonderful utopia known as the NFL regular season, your team only plays about 48 hours total. 3 hours average game, 16 games = 48. And when you look at it like that...it's really depressing.
I caught One Nut John Kruk on Baseball Tonight discussing the probability of Bonds breaking the record this year. He said it was a lock because "even in a bad year [Barry Bonds] will hit 30 HRs" which is true if you pretend Bonds hit 4 more dingers than his 26 last season. Right on, Kruky!
How about this quote from Cedric Maxwell, the color commentator for the Celtics:
The referee who made this call was Violet Palmer, who happens to be a woman. Cedric Maxwell, the analyst / sidekick on the Celtics broadcast team, proclaimed "Get back in the kitchen!" when she made the call. Max's partner, Sean Grande, tried to throw him a lifeline by pointing out that they had both been previously impressed by Palmer's officiating, but Max continued "Get back in the kitchen and fix me some bacon and eggs!"
Good one. Real witty.
Michael Wilbon's
WaPo Chat House today provided some interesting nuggets:
Rockville, Md.: Mike -- aren't NFL signings pretty much of a joke? There are big press conferences announcing mega contracts, then a good chunk of the players are eventually released or asked to restructure. An excellent example is our own Stephen Davis, who signed a $90 million contract with the 'Skins and then was gone in no time.
Michael Wilbon: Thank you. Of course, they're a joke. They're announced for the benefit of the team, which wants to impress the local populace with phony numbers, and for agents who want to impress potential clients with phony numbers. It's a dog-and-pony show that the media is complicit in carrying out and the whole thing is disgusting and phony and a complete fraud. But the NFL can do anything it wants and people will swallow the thing whole.
True dat. Well said.
Washington, D.C.: I'm constantly amazed at how little love the Mavericks get from the national media.
Michael Wilbon: Yo, the Mavs need to win the championship. That's the way it works in professional sports
Yeah, like Phoenix.
This is where the chat gets interesting with a dumb question receiving multiple dumb answers for a total dumbafied dumbthing.
Rockville, Md.: With all of the stress that the NBA is putting on cleaning up its image, what do you think about the report that LeBron James is expecting his second child? He's old (young) enough to be a senior in college and clearly a questionable role model. Can or will the NBA (or Nike) do anything in order to portray responsible adults as their image other then enact a dress code?
Michael Wilbon: Is LeBron's child out of wedlock any different than Tom Brady's or Matt Leinart's? And if so, why? Because one is 22 years old and another is 23 and another is 28? Why doesn't that mean the NFL has to clean up its image?
A) Nice question you prejudicial dolt
B) Mike always does this when he thinks a question is racist or prejudicial or stupid; he changes the subject. And he always misses the real issue, which in this case is the dude saying "pretty questionable role model" which is an insane thing to say. Because he's got tattoos? But what do Tom's kid and Matt's kid have to do with LeBron. Nothing, I'm pretty sure. Yep, I double checked and the answer is nothing. For the record, LeBron's son is 3 and half and Leinart's kid is half a year old. Brady's kid is still in the
extremely fine oven being baked. And Mike, let me let you in on a little secret; the difference is those guys are white. LeBron? Not so much. The realquestion is: does that matter?
Later in the chat someone says this:
Washington,D.C.: First, to the comment about LeBron's child: He's been with that girl since high school and they are still together.
I don't know what that even means. Maybe if you've done her for a while, you can do it in style; no rubber? Or maybe dating makes the kid not a bastard? Who knows?
Finally we have:
Bethesda, Md. Re LeBron:
Is this guy kidding? Is he living in 1920? This is 2007. Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce. I don't know the numbers but I am sure the number of black kids born out of wedlock is probably only a small percentage higher than other groups. As long as he is going to care for his child what difference does it make if he is "married?"
Michael Wilbon: This is one of a number of comments that say essentially the same thing, so I'm posting this to let the group know what the general feeling is about that one question a few minutes ago. Thanks.
This is the problem with opinions; "I don't know the numbers but I'm pretty sure...", "I DON'T KNOW THE NUMBERS but I'm pretty sure..." OK, I don't know this guy but I'm pretty sure he's a fucking idiot. And Wilbon rewards this douche for just making up some stupid stat that doesn't exist.
You know what's cool about this sort of thing? You can find the actual numbers out. And I did --
Babies out of wedlock: White (25.4%), Black (69.5%), Asian (16.2%), Hispanic (47.9%)
Those %'s are just sooooo damn close, I mean, what the hell is 44 more % right. Like 2 babies? Maybe 4?
And that brings us full circle to the first question and why dismissing things out of hand usurps debate and possible progress: because blacks have more babies out wedlock than any other group, black role models may have a greater obligation to talk about the need to wrap it up. Whites should also be obligated and should do this, but as a black role model LeBron might have more onus on him to promote changing this trend. Maybe not. But worth talking about? Probably.
