There will be much more said about these latest sports stories since they are just breaking as I write this. It's hard to say which one is worst - quarterback Michael Vick's federal indictment on dog fighting and cruelty charges, or basketball referee Tim Donaghy's resignation amidst accusations of gambling, in particular on the games he refereed, and his apparent controlling of game scores to beat the point spreads.
Predictably already, the sports pundits are working overtime to put out their spins on the stories. In the Vick case, the massive invectives and vitriol already being levied against him, makes it hard to say whether it comes from the outrage of true animal lovers, or the hidden racism of the sports public, who only recently and reluctantly accepted Blacks in the position of NFL quarterback, but who still hate the thought of any Black athlete having a $100 million+ contract. Most want him to be summarily fired, even as they disingenuously mouth that 'he is innocent until proven guilty.' Even ex-klansman, Senator Robert Byrd of Virginia, just called for his 'execution' - presumably by lynching as the klan used to do. And I just heard one prominent sportscaster call him a 'knuckleheaded, sadistic son-of-a-bitch' on his radio show. It's hard to imagine him referring to White quarterback Peyton Manning that way, before he even is tried and convicted in a court of law.
The Donaghy case in my view, is much more serious in that it challenges the integrity of ALL the NBA games that he and other dirty referees were involved in. This could go back a number of years and involve hundreds, maybe thousands of calls, that could have been made to alter games during the season and post-season. Stern and his NBA, thought their problem was just unruly Blacks who had to be controlled. Now he is drowning in the waters of his worst nightmare - that some, many, or all NBA games in recent years, may have been in some way compromised and fixed by the gamblers and their referee proxies on the basketball court. Stern's draconian savaging of Ron Artest for his part in the Detroit-Pacer fight, may yet prove to be a false-flag decision, because the refs did not move quickly enough to stop the fight, as the Detroit Pistons contended. Looking back now, why did Donaghy and his fellow refs not stop the fight sooner, was it to possibly affect the final score by selectively evicting those players they needed to get rid of first? Or was it ?????????? or ?????????? or ??????????. Take your pick - every aspect of, and decision about that game, is now in question.
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4 comments:
Well, once again, reading your blog is like going to school. Thank you for keeping us informed and putting it in perspective. (And I'm going to have to break out the dictionary for "invectives" and "vitriol", but I appreciate that too because it keeps me up on the word game.)
As for Michael Vick and the referee, like everything else in America, race is definately an issue at some level. Most times it's the main underlying heartbeat of the issue. And it's no different in these cases. If the referee had been black, he would be CNN's main story every night, like Mike Vick.
As disgusting and wrong as the sport of dogfighting may be, watching Michael Vick enter that courtroom in Va. amongst that lynch mob brought it right on home just what this is all about, and the racial hatred that abounds. They were ready to hang that young brother from the nearest tree, and damn with the dogs. They could have been eating on a fried dog leg while they tarred and feathered Vick...But at least that high-falutin black boy who made millions having the audacity to be a quarterback was going to hang for SOMEthing...and dogfighting was just as well. It don't hurt that it's a crime that emotes passions from a self-righteous do-good-er group like PETA. (Nothing much against PETA, but Vick's case is also a self-serving money maker for them as well.)
Don't get me wrong, I truly can't stand the thought of dogfighting. And I can't stand that this is yet another low-conscious offspring of the modern hip-hop generation. I know that it started with white aristocrats, but like everything else that destroys us, it ends up as another self-destructive, animalistic thing that destroys our communities and our young men's/people's minds. (And we surely don't need any other thing to cater to that.) Not to mention the small children that are getting mauled in our communities by these pit bulls that reside in our midst, yet have been bred to fight.
But back to Michael Vick...Yes, there is so much hypocrisy in this whole situation that it's ridiculous. BUT, ain't that America. And, true, ain't it just idiodic for Vick to engage in such a past time. But keep in mind that though wealthy and a sports superstar, he is still just a young black man that is the sum total of what has been sowed into him in his upbringing and environment...although he is still innocent unless proven guilty, so I will keep an open mind to the facts of the case.
And as for Atlanta's local reaction, I haven't kept up a great deal with the local pundits or news always. I do know that he has his share of supporters, mostly in the black community, with a few specks of salt sprinkled in with the pepper. There was a sports festival this weekend, and a number of Vick supporters turned out wearing their jerseys, mostly black folks. Also, the local NAACP has lent it's support against the media smearing him and rushing to judgement before any trial. And their doing so has caused a rift in the black community. I caught the tail end recently of Joseph Lowery speaking against the NAACP so strongly supporting Michael Vick and not other black, worthy causes. But by and large, I think the average black person in Atlanta tends to think he is being treated unfairly before a trial...and like white folks, their sympathy would go toward defending him any way (just because he's one of us) vs. not. And there are also those that are just passionate against him as well, simply because of the charges.
I agree. As a people we must be careful and fully aware of things that go on within the sports world. It is important for us to scrutinize every word and memorize every line and pay full attention to what is fed to us because without our own will to learn more we beleive whatever they want us to beleive. Its alot deeper than it appears to be to the un trained eye. Thank you for helping us be informed. I am a nephew of Ezra Bufford.
Note: The above comment was posted by Victor, Uncle Ezra's 18 yr. old nephew, but was posted in error under Cousin Kim's account.
Thank you Kim and Victor for your comments. I just talked to your uncle Ezra last night - I'll have to make sure he reads this article and your insightful comments. Thanks again!
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