Girl fight, and Paula finds a friend in the house.

I just got back from New York. (Shout out to Harlem.) As usual, I had a good time meeting my fellow bloggers at the Blogging While Brown conference and learning some tricks of the blogging trade.

Keep up the good work, people.

So anyway, I am a big tennis fan, and I have enjoyed Serena's recent run to the top of the tennis world at the ripe young age of 31.

Unfortunately for Serena, though, she has found herself in some hot water after her comments about the Steubenville, Ohio rape victim.

"World tennis number one Serena Williams has apologized after reportedly appearing to criticise the victim in a high-profile US rape case.

Rolling Stone magazine quoted her as saying the teenager in the Steubenville, Ohio, case "shouldn't have put herself in that position".

Williams has now released a statement on her website saying she was "deeply sorry for what was written".

I am glad she apologized; it's never good to blame the victim.

But this post isn't so much about Serena's comments as it is the response to it by one of her biggest rivals. Actually, I take that back. Serena has owned Maria Sharapova. This is not a real rivalry.

So anyway, Sharapova had some choice words for Ms. Williams, and she makes it personal by taking a shot at her [Serena's] alleged boyfriend for good measure.

 “At the end of the day, we have a tremendous amount of respect for what we do on the court. I just think she should be talking about her accomplishments, her achievements, rather than everything else that’s just getting attention and controversy,”

...If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids,” Sharapova continued.

Ouch! I hate to be messy, but dem there is fighting words.

Although, to be fair, maybe she went there because Serena went there first.

"According to the Rolling Stone story, posted online Tuesday, Williams spoke about what the reporter described as “a top-five player who is now in love.”
Williams is quoted as saying: “She begins every interview with ‘I’m so happy. I’m so lucky’ — it’s so boring. She’s still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it.”

That is followed by these words in parentheses from the author of the piece, Stephen Rodrick: “An educated guess is she’s talking about Sharapova, who is now dating Grigor Dimitrov, one of Serena’s rumored exes.” [Source]

When does Wimbledon start? I can't wait.

Finally, like death and taxes we knew it was coming: Paula Deen's black friend.

"SAVANNAH, Georgia (CNN) - The Food Network announced Friday that it will not renew the contract of Paula Deen after she admitted using a racial epithet – but a black pastor who is friends with the celebrity chef said she "can't be a racist."

 

Deen apologized Friday for "the wrong that I've done," a move that follows revelations this week that she admitted saying the N-word.

But Pastor Gregory A. Tyson Sr. from First Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, defended Deen to WTOC, a CNN affiliate.

"I know her," Tyson said. "My children have been to her house. I've been to her house, I've sat on her furniture. I've been all through her house. What racist would let a black man walk all through her house?"[Source]

Thank you Pastor, you can go back to the house now.

I am so glad that I have the Drop Squad on speed dial.











 

Bolt again, Serena's celebration offends, and another gun related tragedy in America.

Before I start this post I would like to say congrats and big up to my yawdie fam for going one two in the men's 100 meter final in London. Once again a major fail on NBC's part. (This is getting old.)They chose to show us horses and beach volleyball instead of live coverage of the race which is a joke. Yeah I get the whole prime time stuff, but this is Sunday damn it!

And before I leave London I would also like to comment on another fake controversy created by certain people who want to diminish the accomplishments of a truly great American athlete.

Yes, Serena Williams did the crip walk, (Heaven help us, now white folks have something else from black popular culture to obsess over.) get over it, it's a dance. The girl is from Compton, California for crying out loud!

"This was also the extraordinary American tennis star losing control for a moment and Crip-Walking at Wimbledon. Blinded by her joy, she walked all over her crowning moment.

On the podium, the gold medal dangling from her neck as America’s national anthem played, the winds of Wimbledon struck down the American flag from its awning. The crowd gasped. Serena’s eyes got big, and she giggled. The flag fluttered to the ground and was balled up by an Olympic official. Later, Serena joked that the flag was just trying to fly toward her: “It was probably flying to come hug me because the flag was so happy.”
Maybe.

Or maybe it was the Royal Gods of Wimbledon, giving Queen Serena a proper British slap on the wrist for her moment of innocent, though unfortunate, American celebration."

Give me a break! She is a tennis player! The republic will survive. I dare say that we have more serious stuff going on in these divided states of America than a damn tennis player dancing for her sister and sharing a moment from their childhood.   

Finally, speaking of serious things going on in America, I would like to acknowledge the horrific shooting that took place in Wisconsin today in that Sikh temple. (I see you Wayne LaPierre)

I am going to reserve saying what I am thinking until more facts come out, but right now it is being called an act of "domestic terrorism."

I will say this, -because I try to educate on this blog- Sikhs are not Muslims. They are members of a totally different religious sect. They are often Indians and not Middle Eastern, they do not worship Islam, and they are disciples of Guru and not Muhammad.

Sikhs have been targeted for harassment ever since 911 in this country, because most of the people who do such things aren't smart enough to figure out the difference between the two.

But anyway, here we go again, I will probably have more to say about this tomorrow. Probably.

       
   

I am shaking in my boots.

"If you go there with the race card we will destroy you"

That was Andrew Brietbart, Matt Drudge's right hand man, drawing a line in the sand in A-merry-ca's ideology war.

Andrew, I have a news flash for you: The only thing that you should be trying to destroy is that gut of yours. You are a little piece of shit with zero credibility. So enjoy your 15 minutes with these Acorn stories. (BTW,I hope the authorities in Maryland prosecute your minions to the fullest extent of the law. Taping an individual in that state without their permission is a crime)

But let me stop, I am starting to succumb to all the incivility and racial tension in the age of Obama. Let's see now; black mother -and a soldier no less- beaten in front of her daughter by racist white man. ( Black people, stay away from Cracker Barrel Restaurants. It's called C-R-A-C-K-E-R Barrel!) White student beaten on a bus by black kids while some of them cheered. (Rosa is turning in her grave. She didn't refuse to give up her seat on the bus for this. ) Of course Drudge led with that story today. Matt and his boy Andrew, who say that no one should be playing the "race card", sure don't seem to be practicing what they preach.

So where is the love here in A-merry-ca? I guess there is nothing like a little recession to bring out people's true colors. (Pun intended) Sometimes, of course, the shit is more subtle ,no recession or black president is usually needed when that's the case. It's just that having Obama kind of gets some people fired up. No racism? The leader of the Tea Bagger movement called the president an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug" on national television. Sorry Andrew, I think I might have to drop a race card for that one. I mean if this is the leader of the tea bag movement, just what the hell do the people that are following him think?

Anyway, throw in Kanye, Joe, and Serena, and I am sure that we can all see where this is heading.

Andrew, you should be heading to the gym.

Temper temper.

Field, why are you black people so angry? Even when you make millions of dollars and have a career other people would die for, you still can't control your anger.

I wasn't going to blog about Serena's outburst last night during her match with Kim Clijsters, because most people, unlike me, really don't care much about tennis.

But what happened last night was pretty unbelievable. Imagine playing a pivotal match in the semi finals of a grand slam, being the victim of a bogus call, and then losing the match due to your misconduct. (Misconduct, in this case, means telling they line judge that you are going to introduce her to your tennis racket. "Dropping the f-word liberally, Williams said, "I swear to God I'm [expletive] going to take this [expletive] ball and shove it down your [expletive] throat, you hear that? I swear to God.")

What you have to understand about tennis is that a foot fault at this level is rare, and when a line judge calls it they better have pretty damn good evidence that the players foot is touching the service line before the ball leaves their hand. That call last night was a bad one. William's foot did not touch the line. So I don't blame her for being pissed.

Still, as with my man, the football player from Oregon, she should have kept her cool. I know she was having flash backs of her youth in Compton and being shaded in the neighborhood grocery store (think about it) but going South Central on that line-judge only gave casual tennis fans reason to buy into stereotypes.

See, it's like this: John McEnroe can do that kind of stuff and it's considered cute. It's just his competitive nature taking over, just John being John. When someone who looks like Serena does that kind of thing, it takes on an entire different meaning. A-merry-ca is not cool with you Negroes getting angry. If Joe Wilson was a black man and George Bush was giving that speech the other night, he would have been taken out of there in handcuffs. (But I am a U.S. Congressman, take your hands off me. Put your hands behind your back, nigger....let me stop.)

But I saw this coming. I knew the Williams sisters were feeling a little disappointed leading up to Serena's match. I saw how Venus got no love against Clijsters in their match. This is A-merry-ca, right? And Venus was the A-merry-can and Clijsters is from Belgium, right? And they were playing in New York, right? Well how come no love for the A-merry-can? Clijsters was the crowd favorite in both matches. Interesting.

But I am not going to dwell on the dissing of the Williams girls. With all due respect to my man Common, I hear they are a bit housish. (My word.)

So go back to work Serena and try to get Clijsters the next time you hook up. The girl has some serious game, and she is going to be around for awhile. If you want to catch Billie Jean's 12 grand slam singles titles you are going to have to get past her, not to mention the A-merry-can crowd.

Double fault!

Black folks we can't win for losing can we? You all know the old joke about hiding stuff from black folks by putting it in a book. Well, it seems Serena was shattering that stereotype for all the world to see at the U.S. Open, when the Chair Umpire called her out for reading. Yes, you heard right, reading. It seems that during her match with Verna Zvnareva, Chair Umpire Damian Steiner, called out girlfriend for reading. Now frankly, Steiner ought to be public enemy number one in my book. Well, actually, public enemy number two where tennis is concerned. (More on that in a minute)Because the last thing anybody should be doing is discourage a young black person from reading. I don't care if she is a tennis superstar.

Seems there is a rule in tennis that you cannot be coached or get instructions while you are playing. So if a ball boy, for instance, were to pass Serena a note from her Dad, it would be a problem. But that wasn't the case here. Girlfriend was being a good role model and showing the world that black folks can read. And not just not any black person, an athlete no less. To me, that's a beautiful thing. I can hear the folks in the stands now: "Do you see that honey, she can actually read? Wow! Those Williams girls are talented and smart. "

But thankfully, cooler heads prevailed at the Open, and Serena was allowed to continue reading. "He told me I couldn't use my notes. I was like, well, it's not like I'm Harry Potter and my Dad can magically give me notes to read. What if I were to take a paper on the court and write something, what's the difference?" No difference Serena. In fact, you would show the world that black folks can read and write.

Now for public enemy number one in my book. As you might or might not know, the folks at the U.S. Open were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first African American-who happened to be Althea Gibson- to win a tennis tournament. They planned to have a lavish celebration at center court, and an opening night tribute to Gibson. Now that's a good thing, so far no problems. In keeping with this, they sent out special invitations to the kids at the Althea Gibson Tennis Center here in Philadelphia. The center is in a poor section of Philadelphia, and the kids that go there are from mostly underprivileged backgrounds. I know a thing or two about this center, and they do a great job in the community. They have produced public league tennis players who will no doubt go on to receive college scholarships, and have kept countless kids off the streets. So this was a beautiful gesture by the USTA, and it was to be a great night in the lives of these kids, many of whom had never even left Philly. They were going to share the center court with stars such as Aretha Franklin, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

But alas, it wasn't to be. Sadly, the invitations to these poor kids were revoked, and the bush league USTA blamed it on poor planning. "We had an overwhelming response from celebrities who wanted to participate in the broadcast" That's what the U.S. Tennis Association's Chris Widmaier said. Well Mr. Widmaier, if you think this would have meant more to a bunch of jaded "celebrities" than to these little kids, you and your organization are totally clueless.

That's not what Althea would have wanted.