The shunning of Rashard Mendenhall.

Rashard Mendenhall has learned the hard way that speech isn't exactly free in A-merry-ca. Exercising his rights given to him by the first amendment of our Constitution is going to cost him big time. It has already started.

Poor Mr. Mendendall, the vitriol that has been thrown his way would leave one to wonder if he was one of the 19 hijackers who came into our country on September 11, 2001, and killed almost 3,000 of our fellow A-merry-cans.

What he said was no doubt dumb, but he had every right to say it. This is, after all, A-merry-ca.

Rashard is a football player, fans of the NFL should keep that in perspective. As long as he performs on the field and doesn't break any laws it should be a wrap. But we all know that it doesn't work that way in A-merry-ca. It's never about the person's actions, but who is doing the acting. We are funny like that.

I blame the people around Mendenhall as well. They should have told my man about the dangers of tweets. Twitter can be a good thing, but it can sink you. It will probably sink this Steelers career for sure, and that's a shame. After the Rooneys let him go he will have a tougher time finding a team to take him than Michael Vick did. (Eagles we could always use a good running back.)

Now, as is to be expected, he is backtracking faster than one of his teammates who plays cornerback. I can't say that I blame him given all that is at stake, but I am afraid that it's too late, the damage has been done. The tweet is out there, and A-merry-ca has passed judgement on Mr. Mendendall.

Rashard, I hope you saved your money. You are going to need every penny of it.

Finally, shout out to Steven D for picking up the Bobby Yates story we posted here and posting it over at Daily Kos. My man is all over the case as well, and I say the more the merrier.

Also, thank you Nancy Lockhart for sending me all the material and transcripts from the case. That is serious FNB by both of you.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers who visit the fields!!!

Some thoughts on the Super Bowl and the Big R.

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Congrats to the Packers! I knew you were for real when you beat my Birds here at the Linc.

Sorry "Steeler Nation", maybe next year. (Meanwhile, somewhere in Georgia, a young lady is saying "Karma is a mother &^%$#@")

Is it just me or did all the commercials pretty much suck this year? (What is with A-merry-ca's fascination with the ABW?) I liked the Audi spot, and the VW spot where the little boy was dressed up as Darth Vader, but that was pretty much it. (OK, Doritos where grandpa comes back from the dead and the home improvement Bud spot both get honorable mention.)

Anyway, I won't be racism chasing tonight, although I could. (WTF is wrong with the po po in Houston? No wonder city officials tried to sit on this video tape for damn near a year.) Rather, I would like to praise a small town newspaper (in Louisiana no less) for doing some racism chasing of their own.

Frank Morris was murdered by the Klan in 1964, and his killing is just one of 100 unsolved civil rights cases that the FBI reopened recently. Good for Stanley Nelson of the Concordia Sentinel for staying on this case for four years. He has now fingered someone in the crime, but 71 year old Arthur Spencer says that he is innocent.

"I feel sorry for his family, but I didn't have nothing to do with it"

Maybe not Arthur, but somebody did it, and if he (or she) is still alive they should be brought to justice.

Finally, there are some things racially related that I won't be chasing tonight, because I really do believe that the Big R is using them as decoys. Confederate art work at a Georgia college? Nope, move along, nothing to see here. The Big R is trying to distract us. The Chinese using a black man (who, supposedly, resembles the President) to sell chicken? Closer, but still, no cigars. Sorry, it's no secret that you Negroes love your fried chicken and there is nothing wrong with that. If you wanted to sell Rose Brand Gourmet Chinese Egg Noodles, I don't think anyone would take issue if you used a Chinese for the ad. I am just saying. You Negroes need to stop being so sensitive.

I'm out.

*Pic taken from NewsOne.com

The cover up.

Some of you may or may not of heard of the allegations of rape against Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. (Big Ben)The woman claims, in a civil suit, that Big Ben raped her some time last year, and that her employer, Harrah's of Lake Tahoe, covered it up because Big Ben is friends with the company's president.

Of course Roethlisberger has vehemently denied the charges and he has vowed to defend his name and his honor.

Now here is the thing: I love sports, and I pretty much have ESPN on one of the televisions in my house 24/7. But I didn't hear about this story on ESPN. In fact, I am pretty sure no one has ever heard this story on ESPN, because they have never carried the story. Not one mention of the alleged rape charges against the quarterback of the Super Bowl championship team.

So, you have to ask yourself, why is that? When Kobe Bryant allegedly raped that young lady in Colorado it was wall to wall coverage until his accuser failed to follow through, and the charges were dropped. So why no mention of the alleged rape and civil suit forthcoming against Big Ben? Oh ohh, here comes field with the racial angle. Nope, there won't be a racial angle to this one. (Although, do you think that if this was "5" and not Big Ben we wouldn't be talking about it at water coolers from California to Maine? Not to mention the 24 hour cable channels who would be giving us constant McNabb chatter) This is about the press and the way that news and information is controlled in this country. They decide what becomes a big story and what doesn't. And the folks in Bristol are doing their best to make sure that this does not become a big story.

Why? Well it depends on which story you believe . Apparently Big Ben is really close to the folks over at ESPN, and he even has a reality show in the works with ABC which owns; you guessed it; ESPN.

Now this story might or might not be true. The woman could be making the whole thing up. But even if she did, an allegation has been made. Shouldn't it be reported and we, the public, decide how valid we think the story is? Hey, the story is out there, a lawsuit has been filed. Since when is it a news organizations job to decide the validity of a story and not run with it because they want to protect some jock who they happen to like?

Hey, all I am saying is that if this was Pac Man Jones or Michael Vick.....oh, sorry, I promised that I wouldn't play the race card tonight. *putting them down and going off to bed*

Another White House snub.

I am not impressed with celebrity. I have had the opportunity to meet some pretty famous people in my life and I have spurned the opportunity to meet others. Nothing against them, their fame is not their fault. It's just that it's not in my DNA to get hyped over certain things, fame being one of them.

But then, I am not in a profession where one of the rewards for my success is meeting the president of these divided states. If it was, and I did reach that pinnacle, I doubt seriously if I would turn it down. I mean there are famous people and there are FAMOUS PEOPLE. The president of these divided states qualities as a famous person with capital letters.

Which brings me to James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This ignoramus refuses to meet with the president of these divided states with the rest of his Steelers for the lamest of all
reasons:

"This is how I feel -- if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, he [Obama] would've invited Arizona if they had won."

James, with all due respect, you are a fucking idiot. Not only is Barack Obama the most powerful man on earth but one could argue that he is one of the most important historical figures --even at this early stage-- in the history of these divided states. He is just not a famous person he is a famous person with capital letters. You, as a black man, should be ashamed of yourself. Where is your sense of history? (For the record, you were just as dumb to pass on meeting W with your teammates) It would have been something to tell your children and grandchildren; the fact that you visited the White House and met the first black president. Don't you get that? What a shame, all that money you make from playing ball and you can't even buy a clue.

You are not hurting the president by not accepting his invitation, you are hurting yourself. His O ness has met many famous people and he is famous himself, you taking some kind of righteous stand not to visit the White House just makes you look stupid.

Oh field, stop it. If this was a republican president and the guy had refused to meet with him you wouldn't even have posted about it, but because it's a black president and a black football player dissed him, you are all up in arms. Isn't that true field?

Well, yes and no. I would be up in arms and posted about it if it was a black republican president. (What's the chance of that ever happening?) Because James Harrison should have a sense of history and he should understand the historical importance of having the first president of color in the White House, whether he agrees with the man's politics or not.

Oh well, just one more reason not to hold these athletes up as role models for our children. They continue to do great things on the playing field, but dumb things off it. As if this wasn't bad enough. Harrison's stance on visiting the White House should get him flagged for unnecessary stupidity.

The Big Game.

It's halftime of the big game, and I have some thoughts:

First, can someone tell me why Matt Millen, a man who built a team that just went 0-16, is an analyst for NBC Sports? I mean honestly, which executive at NBC does he have pictures of? And Jennifer Hudson's anthem damn near had me in tears. Girlfriend has some serious pipes.

And I love the "Bus", I really do, but come on Jerome, it's time for a new tailor.

I loved the piece on Larry Fitzgerald, and it's always nice to see an athlete who can articulate himself without sounding like.....well, an athlete.


Oh, and so far (except for the e-trade one with the two babies) all the commercials suck.


And is it me, or does the Steelers linebacker, James Harrison, look like James from "Good Times"? Oh, and James, that was a hell of a run.

Alright, I am going back to the game now.......

........Okay I am back. That, my friends, was a great football game. That catch by Holmes to win it was terrific. I think it's right up there with Clark from Montana. Oh, and Fitzgerald is a beast. I was having NFC Championship game flash backs after he broke for that touchdown to give Omar Epps and the Steelers the lead.



So Obama's guy won and McCain's guy lost. The Rooneys (who own the Steelers) are huge Obama supporters, and they gave him their time and money during the campaign. The owner of the Cards, on the other hand, is a McCain guy all the way. Of course that's not surprising given that the team is based in Arizona. So one more victory for his O ness, I swear that guy keeps a four leaf clover in his pocket.


So to sum up this year's Super Bowl I would say that the entertainment gets a A plus, the game itself gets an A plus, and the commercials a D minus. (Although I saw a couple of good ones in the second half. I think it was the mobsters in Denny's and the Bridgestone tire commercial with the astronauts.)



I sure wish my birds could have been there. Oh well, there is always next year. I still can't believe that Steeler nation now has six Lombardi trophies, and we can't even sniff one. Life can be so unfair.