Leave it to a legend in the rap game, Sean “Jay-Z” Carter, to give us all the insight we need to get into the mind of some of the key players in the sports entertainment game.

In his latest album, American Gangster, Jay-Z celebrates success in a song called, “Roc Boys.” He gives a shout-out to everyone involved in making his hustle in the “game” possible, helping him vault straight to the top.

The same song could be used to describe what is likely going through the mind of many players implicated lately in the Mitchell Report — an investigative document pointing out alleged steroid and performance-enhancing drug users in professional baseball.

The professional sports “game” is similar to the “game” Jay-Z speaks to. Both games involve people who would do seemingly whatever it takes to make money, even if rules must be bent every which way.

The Mitchell Report only scratches the surface of what appears to be a very widespread amount of PED use through not just professional baseball, but also in the entire pro sports realm. Players of all ranks and classes have been implicated, showing us that not only are the minor leaguers doing what it takes to get rich, but also, players at the top are trying hard to maintain their already high-end lifestyle.

Just looking deeper into the first verse of “Roc Boys,” we get a glimpse of the modern performance-enhanced athlete’s mind, as it runs a parallel to Jay’s version of his “game.”

Line:

“First of all I wanna thank my connect,
the most important person with all due respect…”

Translated: BALCO’s Greg Anderson, Brian McNamee (former Yankees strength and conditioning coach) and Kirk Radomski (former Mets clubhouse attendant) have all served as a main connection for athletes to gain access to supplies of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs. Without theses connects, there may not have been as much “juiceâ€? to put into the various players’ backsides. The connects were the initial door needed to enter into the long hallway of enhancements that led to fame and success for quite a few players.

Line:

“thanks to the duffle bag the brown paper bag
the nike shoe box for holding all this cash.”

Translated: Know all that money getting placed in the pockets of the users? The money changing hands via FedEx packages or checks to purchase the enhancement drugs? Who knows where they stored it, but cash was more than likely the deciding factor in both ends of the decision to use PEDs — it was needed to access the PEDs, and was the main goal by which the PEDs were supposed to help attain.

Line:

“…boys in box who put greed before the badge”

Translated: This is a shout-out to the owners, general managers, union leaders and anyone in a position of power who turned their head while the steroids flowed like champagne at one of Jay-Z’s 40-40 nightclubs. According to ESPN’s Peter Gammons, from 1995 to 2006, the industry grew from $1.3 billion to $6.2 billion; including the years in question in the Mitchell Report. The one thing we can agree on in this whole mess is that greed motivated people on all fronts, even the watchdogs whose job was to keep the game clean.

Line:

“the first pusher who ever made the stash”

Translated: Chemists, the BALCO lab folks (Victor Conte & the gang) and that initial person who thought that, “Hey, I bet I could make a little change of my new innovation called Human Growth Hormone.” I’d like to see the increase in revenues of those companies! Surely they’re bobbing their head to this song.

Line:

“the roc boys in the building tonight
oh what a feeling I’m feeling life”

Translated: This is the cheer for all the users listed not named Clemens or Pettitte, as well as those listed. The Mitchell Report essentially rehashed a lot of what we already knew about steroids and PEDs in baseball — it exists, and is widespread on all levels of the players of the sport. The report was enough to have the court of public opinion bring down cries of outrage, but no one really knows how to proceed from here, including Bud Selig. He opened Pandora’s Box and now, whatever move he makes to punish players will come back and haunt him.

Line:

“thanks to the lames ni***s with bad aim
thanks to a little change I’ll tear you out the game”

Translated: Thanks to those who tried to stop the steroid game, but failed; those initial whistle blowers who went unheard or ignored. There had to of been plenty of these types around, other than Jose Canseco. Or was it up until recently, when salaries skyrocketed (thanks to all the Scott Boras types out there!), along with game statistics, where people began to allow themselves to take notice? At any rate, greenies, steroids, PEDs and general enhancers to boost energy are around, they’ve always seemed to be around in some way, shape or form, and really, what can the league do to regulate them?

Line:

“bullet wounds’ll stop your buffoonery
thanks to the paster rapping at your eulogy”

Translated: The Chris Benoit situation brings pause to anyone who wants to think of the most extreme link to what could be the downside to using steroids or PEDs. We don’t know enough about the situation to make a direct connection. On this front, we will just say that no professional baseball player has been linked to gunshots related to using PEDs. But because many of the various forms of steroids are considered illegal drugs, we never know how far some people would go.

Line:

“to little kim and them you know the women friend who
carry the work cross state for a gentleman”

Translated: This covers agents, clubhouse managers, and “clubbies” who do whatever they can, as go-betweens, to cover for the actual steroid and PED users. Of course, some of the players mentioned in the Mitchell Report wrote direct checks or used their own personal credit cards to make these shady transactions – idiots. If you’re going to use and abuse, at least have the brains to use a middleman/middleperson so you don’t get burnt if, say, your own professional sports league investigates itself, despite allowing the chaos to run rampant for years.

Line:

“yea, thanks to all the hustlers, and most important to you, the customer”

Translated: The baseball clubhouse unwritten code is what kept the players from outing each other until recently. But even when the issue of steroids or PEDs came up, or became controversial and in the public eye, we fans continued to buy tickets, team gear and watched games on TV. We continue to do so, despite all of the accusations of baseball being “tainted” by superhuman athletes.

Without us, their efforts would be worthless. We have enabled them to carry on in this “arms race” to be the most entertaining at what they do. We, the customer, will continue to because we seem to like watching superhuman athletes take on fellow superhuman athletes. They can do what we can’t. Although we may sometimes ask who’s behind the scenes pulling the strings and causing the amazement before our eyes to happy, in reality, we don’t care. We just want to be entertained.

Which makes this process of playing for a scholarship not the black version of the American Dream, as I had thought eight months earlier, but a cruel parody of it. In the classic parable you begin with nothing and slowly accrue your riches through hard work in a system designed to help those who help themselves. Here, at seventeen years of age, you begin with nothing but one narrow, treacherous path and then run a gauntlet of obstacles that merely reminds you of how little you have: recruiters pass themselves off as father figures, standardized tests humiliate you and reveal the wretchedness of your education, the promise of lucrative NBA contracts reminds you of what it feels like to have nothing in this world. Page 227

This is by far my favorite book of all time. I have read The Last Shot by Darcy Frey about four times and enjoy it more with each read. Anyone who loves the game of basketball will share my affection for Frey’s masterpiece. The true story of Stephon Marbuy and his high school teammates depicts their ultimate struggle to succeed in the projects of Coney Island, New York. The summer before my junior year of high school I attended Five-Star Basketball Camp. A speaker told a story about when Stephon Marbury attended the camp and dove for a lose ball on the concrete outdoor basketball court. The moral of the story was Marbury’s determination, already the number one high school player in the country Stephon could miss every shot that week and still gone to any college he chose. The speaker instructed everyone to buy Darcy Frey’s book when they returned home, because it may enlighten everyone about their opportunities, blessings, and much more. And was he ever right…

The Last Shot is the journey of four young men attending the famed Lincoln High School of Coney Island, New York and their pursuit of a better life through basketball. Entering the 1991-92 school year Russell Thomas, Corey Johnson, Tchaka Shipp, and Stephon Marbury are the core of Coach Bob Harstein’s Lincoln Rail Splitters basketball team. Senior players Thomas, Johnson, and Shipp are joined by freshman sensation Marbury through a long season where their goal is capturing the city title earning Division I basketball scholarships in the process. Darcy Frey’s responsibility is to follow the young men during the school year documenting their experiences with the ills of recruiting, violence and drugs in their community, passing the SATs, and the pressure of making it out of the Coney Island Projects by way of an athletic scholarship that many feel is their “last shot.�

The book is an open window into the lives of the four boys attempting to escape poverty. The young men accept for Tchaka Shipp live in the projects of Coney Island, standing in the middle of the projects is the “Garden,� a basketball court where players hone their skills without interruption from drug dealers, violence, or vandalism. The inner city version of Madison Square Gardens holds the respect of the entire community. Equipped with lights and break away rims “The Garden� is filled with the hope that basketball can be a portal out of the projects. Easily talented enough not all four boys have the high hopes of becoming NBA superstars. You cannot help, but be drawn to Russell Thomas, working hard on his game in hopes of becoming a registered nurse after his college education moving his family out of the projects never to return. We follow Russell through the stress of passing the SATs and the headache of being recruited. Tchaka Shipp on the other hand is one of the top post players in the country determining which Division I school will give him the opportunity to grow into the NBA player he dreams to become. Frey takes the reader on trips inside Shipp’s recruiting visits through the Big East as Tchaka listens to pitches from coaches such as P.J. Carlesimio and Rick Barnes giving best effort to sell the senior their University. He receives letters from the likes of Jim Bohiem of Syracuse ensuring him not to worry about NCAA sanctions against his program for giving players money pushing Shipp to become an Orangeman. Corey Johnson is a head in the clouds young man who is athletically gifted, but does not love the game. His love is his poetry. Oh yeah and there is Stephon Marbury…

The story of Stephon Marbury is an interesting one. Juvenile Starbury is the youngest of four boys. Eric, Donnie, and Norman were all basketball stars at Lincoln High School, but were not rewarded with Division I basketball scholarships and rich NBA contracts so many young men dream of. The weight of the families last shot is on the freshman point guard’s shoulders and he knows it. Memorizing the exact number of seats in Madison Square Garden, dreaming of “milky� Nissan Sentras colleges will give him, and how much Kenny Anderson’s new contract is worth, Marbury allows Frey to bring us along for a ride with the #1 player in his class since he was 10.

Darcy’s book has you forget your reading visualizing Lincoln practices, summer league games, and recruiting visits. You feel you’re are sitting in the car with the boys discussing their parents frustrated mind frames of never escaping the Coney Island Projects along with their own hopes, dreams, and sorrows. A friend of mine has two boys who play high school football and basketball, I shared with him Frey’s book, and now his kids are reading the book. I strongly suggest you pick up this book too.

I am finally understanding the danger that represents in Coney Island. If Corey lived anywhere else- certainly if he had grown up twenty-five miles north, in one of the New York’s white suburbs- he would play the offbeat writer whose poor grades and popularity with girls earn him a four-year sentence at a midlevel school like Colgate, to be served while his classmates all go Ivy. In the movie version, Corey would be played with dashing ennui by Matt Dillion or Keanu Reeves, and he would end up in the climactic scene getting the girl and a job after he learned to stop slacking off. But Corey fools around in an arena where there is, of course, no such thing as a safety school- nor, for that matter, safety nets of any kind- and where the credits usually roll on far less sanguine endings… In Coney Island, however, you deviate from the one and only path to college at extreme personal risk- scholarships for athletes being significantly easier to come by than those for underachievers or ghetto poets. Page 197

“If Coach tells you that I missed practice, then that’s that. I may have missed one practice this year but if somebody says he missed one practice of all the practices this year, then that’s enough to get a whole lot started. I told Coach Brown that you don’t have to give the people of Philadelphia a reason to think about trading me or anything like that. If you trade somebody, you trade them to make the team better…simple as that. I’m cool with that. I’m all about that. The people in Philadelphia deserve to have a winner. It’s simple as that. It goes further than that … If I can’t practice, I can’t practice. It is as simple as that. It ain’t about that at all. It’s easy to sum it up if you’re just talking about practice. We’re sitting here, and I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we’re talking about practice. I mean listen, we’re sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we’re talking about practice. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it’s my last but we’re talking about practice man. How silly is that? … Now I know that I’m supposed to lead by example and all that but I’m not shoving that aside like it don’t mean anything. I know it’s important, I honestly do but we’re talking about practice. We’re talking about practice man. We’re talking about practice. We’re talking about practice. We’re not talking about the game. We’re talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play, you’ve seen me play right, you’ve seen me give everything I’ve got, but we’re talking about practice right now. … Hey I hear you, it’s funny to me too, hey it’s strange to me too but we’re talking about practice man, we’re not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we’re talking about practice … How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?â€?
— Allen Iverson at a press conference on May 8, 2002

“We are talking about practice. Not a game, but practice.� Words written in stone.
This tirade will follow Allen Iverson for the rest of his professional career. Famous for his 2002 outburst, Allen Iverson is notorious for his hip-hop image of corn rolls, crossovers, baggy clothing, and outspoken approach. From the 1993 bowling alley incident Iverson experienced in high school, to the alleged 2005 brawl at a Washington, DC nightclub, controversy surrounds the Virginian who was voted to the All-NBA Team seven times. Allen Iverson ushered the NBA into the new era of superstars. Out the window are the clean cut Larry Birds and Michael Jordans; now we cheer Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, adorned in tattoos and headbands. The Answer proved that being true to yourself does not make you any less marketable to mainstream America. But is it negativity that allows such crossover success?

In the past few months, negativity in the sports world constantly finds the front page. From the witch hunt of Barry Bonds, to the Isaiah Thomas sexual harassment civil suit. Football players Michael Vick and Adam “Pac Man� Jones are currently suspended by Roger Goodell’s new and improved NFL where players are held to a higher moral standard. Even Olympic hero Marion Jones returned her five gold medals because she lied to a Federal Grand Jury about steroid use. In a conversation last weekend, a friend asked me, “is no black athlete safe?� Well Allen Iverson is still striving after 14 years of controversy to prove the stereotypes wrong.

Last month, Eileen Mellon, who attends Roanoke College, and Ashlee Skweres, a student at Old Dominion University, were driving on Interstate 64 in southern Virginia after midnight. While driving, Mellon reached for her cell phone and swerved, flipping the vehicle three times and leaving the car on its side. Spiderman, Superman, David Stern, and Roger Godell were nowhere to be found… No. 3 of the Denver Nuggets to the rescue! Iverson happened to be driving on his hometown’s highway and stopped to help. The former Georgetown Hoya pulled the girls out of the vehicle to safety, waited for the police and ambulance to arrive and suggested the two women get checked out at the hospital. Once the situation was under control, a humble Allen Iverson continued on his way. The 2001 NBA MVP did not wait for any cameras, he did not call ESPN, he thought nothing of his good deed. If not for April Snoparsky, a friend of one of the girls, who wrote a letter to the Daily News about Allen Iverson’s good deed, the event would have gone unnoticed. But surely not underappreciated, which would have been fine by Iverson.

It always interests me how easy it is to focus on the negative. If Allen had been the cause of an accident, been arrested for marijuana, gun possession, or had a mistress in his vehicle, it would be on the front page of the sports section and a top story for ESPN. Media outlets would write about another athlete abusing his money, talent and blessing. But because Allen Iverson is the Good Samaritan, who wants to hear about that?

• Good Samaritan’s Roadside Assist by Phil Jasner of Philly.com.
• Samaritan Iverson Aids Crash Victims by Aaron J. Lopez of Rocky Mountain News.

David Zirin’s new book, Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports touches almost every sport genre. It does not matter what sport you follow for this book to be enjoyable. If you are a basketball fan Zirin has a chapter entitled, “The NBA and the Two Souls of Hip Hop.� International soccer fan? “Soccer: The Perilous Practice of Political Projection.� And one of my favorite chapters for you baseball fans out there obsessed with steroids, “Barry Bonds Gonna Git Your Mama: When Steroids Attack!�

Zirin looks beyond sports in his book and dives into the social aspect these “games� have on our lives, nations, and communities. I learned about a Hispanic civil rights activist named Roberto Clemente who happened to play baseball. Clemente fought has hard as any African American against the laws of Jim Crow. When told by a waitress, “We don’t serve Negroes,� he responded, “That’s okay. I don’t eat Negroes.� Clemente helped sponsor the Black Panther morning breakfast program and probably did as much for baseball as the storied Jackie Robinson. Zirin praises Clemente for everything he accomplished on and off the field before his untimely death.

Want to know why the MLB is about 40% Hispanic? In the chapter titled, “Beisbol: How the Major Leagues Eat Their Young,� you will find out. Zirin informed us about the horrible baseball farms the MLB uses in Central and South America exploiting impoverish young kids dreams strictly for financial gain.

Unleashing the power of the World Cup, Zirin attempts to unveil meaning behind sports and how it feels to represent your country. To the United States soccer is David Beckman, Posh Spice, and Fifa 2008 on Xbox 360, but to the world soccer is a political stage. Zirin dives into the 2006 World Cup recalling what the games meant to different countries. He explains why people of color are seldom seen in the stands for fear of safety.

In the chapter, “The Olympics: Gold, Guns, and Graft,� it was interesting to see how the Olympics coincide with social change. How an eighteen year old Cassis Clay gave his 1960 Olympic boxing gold medal a home at the bottom of the Ohio River after being turned away from a whites-only restaurant in his hometown of Louisville. Zirin writes how track stars Tommie Smith and John Carlos changed the world view of American segregation with their proud fists raised high in the 1968 games. Zirin explains hosting the Olympics can cripple a city’s economy as it did Greece in 2004 and how the Olympics caused social backlash by the way the cities less fortunate are violently shoved to the side in tragic story of Tlatelolco, Mexico. Zirin also introduces us to the racist Avery Brundage, former president of the International Olympic Committee.

Whether it is Don Imus, John Amechi, Pat Tillman, Sheryl Swoopes, Jim Brown, Lance Armstrong, or Etan Thomas, Zirin leaves no stone unturned in his book. If you couldn’t already tell by name, he also touches on Katrina and the Superdome. This book is a great read and if that’s not enough to convince you… The foreword is written by Chuck D. I rest my case.

Since we have yet to score any notable interviews — most likely due to not actively reaching out for them as we remain rooks to this online sports talk world — it only seems fit to point out other interviews that took place by folks with better connections who put in the work.

Today’s group of interviews are interlinked in some way, shape or form. You’ll notice early. As we round up more, we’ll post more “Interview This” spots through the summer.

(If you have any noteable interviews you’d like to point out, go ahead and drop a comment off or send us an email us at mindritesports@gmail.com)

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jason Whitlock via TheBigLead
This interview, once it moved down the line from web reader to web reader, proved that even the largest powers-that-be do, in fact, read your blogs. The boys at TBL squeezed this interview out of the self-proclaimed “Big Sexy” and the rest is history. Already having removed himself from ESPN’s Page2 for what he viewed as greener pastures with AOL Sports, ESPN removed Whitlock from their network TV shows (The Sports Reporters and guest-spots on PTI… although the most recent rumor was that he guest hosted Rome Is Burning a week or two ago).

His riff with Scoop Jackson and hip hop music was nothing new, but in this interview he was very candid with both, as well as adding that his fellow coworker was “bojangling” — a word that makes people of all sorts, especially big networks, uncomfortable. He’s since taken to a higher platform, appearing on CNN and Oprah, accusing people across the country of bojangling. Also, let’s clear this one thing up — Whitlock is not “the voice” of Black America. Rather, he is “a voice” of Black America. His views are just one of millions but he seems to make the most noise by calling people out — rightfully or not — from his sports platform, either by way of his Kansas City Star post or AOL Sports.

This initial TBL interview was, in my opinion, life-altering. But he has since done multiple interviews, including one with Michael Tillery (first appeared on BlackSportsNetwork.com but now available on MichaelTillery.com).

Etan Thomas via TheStartingFive
Not a big fan of Whitlock, Etan Thomas is one of those athletes who isn’t afraid to speak out about his feelings of societal issues. More athletes should follow suit and take Etan as a shining example. He writes for SLAM magazine online, and at one point wrote an open letter to Whitlock addressing the Don Imus issue and how he felt Whitlock’s methods were hurting Black America (my words, not his). Athletes are on a unique platform to speak out and be heard and Etan risks hearing the infamous words, “don’t quit your day job,” by separating himself from every being called a sterotypical jock, but instead shows off that he has no time to bite his tongue — he has a world to save.

Dave Zirin via TheStartingFive
Zirini knows how impactful Etan Thomas is — he sang Etan’s praises back in ‘05. Of course, mixing sports and politics makes people uncomfortable, but so does mixing politics and air. Zirin is a white man who deals with issues combining sports, society and politics — an atypical assortment of topics to constantly focus on for for the typical white journalist. Zirin’s no average journalist, as he has written a number of books, including “Welcome To The Terrordome” and “What’s My Name, Fool?” He can also can be found at The Nation or his own site, Edge of Sports.

Scoop Jackson via TheStartingFive
Jason Whitlock seems to hate this guy. A lot. Called him a “bojangler” even. What did Scoop do after reading the aforementioned hate in the TBL.com interview? He wrote a wonderful, tame yet thoughtful piece in his ESPN Page 2 spot, called “The importance of being civil.” (unfortunately, it’s insider-only) Among all of the words he spoke, my favorite were: “Regardless of how I personally feel about another brotha, I understand that the first step in creating a Civil Rights Movement is being civil.”

He’s disliked in circles both black and white for his unorthodox writing voice that is definitely his own, but he’s been around the writing game for many, many years, notably moving from a big-time spot at SLAM magazine notably before he moved over to ESPN.com. Say what you will about Scoop’s presentation or laid back, conversational style of writing, but he does have his own voice. Much of the debate surrounding him tends to be whether or not he is a “representative” of Black America, or if he’s being stereotypical by adding an atypical voice to a very popular network’s site. He’s unorthodox and although he may not be universally loved, he does his thing regardless of any dissenting opinions.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Until I read otherwise, the biggest interviewer right now is Michael “Mizzo” Tillery, currently of TheStartingFive. He’s scored some of the best, most insightful and mature interviews seen anywhere in the sports world. Among notable the noteables: David Aldridge, John Cheney, Dan LeBetard, Jason Whitlock, Scoop Jackson, Dave Zirin, Jemele Hill and the Christies (Doug and Jackie). You can find them all at his personal website, MichaelTillery.com and TheStartingFive where he currently posts.

Welcome to the dog days of summer! The world is without NFL and NBA action for the next few months so I find myself reading about them educating myself in the world of sports and how it interacts with society. For the next few weeks MindRite will be letting you know what sports books to read while you’re on the bus, metro, or subway in transit from work or in the car or plane in between vacation, or when your significant other makes you sleep on the couch and have nothing better to do.

Black Planet; Facing Race During an NBA Season, written by David Shields is an interesting book as the author follows the 1994-95 season of the Seattle SuperSonics. Shield attends every home game, watches every road game, and listens to every Sonics sports talk radio show. The book is written in diary form throughout the duration of the season making the book easy to follow. The reason this book is so intriguing is the brutal honesty in which the author writes. Shields does a great job of “saying it how he sees it.� Throughout the book Shields discusses how he views race and cultural on the NBA landscape. The book is about cultural interaction having basketball as a backdrop. Because you do not have to be a basketball fan to enjoy this book, I recommend to any sports fan or anyone interested in race or class.

Shields lets you see deep into the mind of a middle aged white man who is an obsessive Seattle SuperSonics fan bored with everyday life. Throughout the book Shields notices racism within the NBA and in his own life and shares his prospective with us. My description cannot do the book justice, so I have including the, “Author’s Note,� along with a few passages, enjoy!

“During the 1994-95 NBA season, I attended nearly all of the Seattle SuperSonics’ home games; watched on TV nearly all their away games; listened to countless pre- and post-game interviews and call-in shows on the radio; talked to or tried to talk to players, coaches, agents, journalists, fans, my wife; corresponded with members of the Sonics newsgroup on the Internet; read articles and articles and articles. Although I’m a passionate basketball fan and Sonics fan, when I was writing the book I wasn’t interested in the game per se-who won, who lost, the minutiae of strategy. I was interested in how the game gets discussed. By the end of the season, I’d accumulated hundreds of pages of often illegible notes, the roughest of rough drafts. Over the last three years, I transformed those notes into this book- a daily dairy which runs the length of one team’s long forgotten season and which is now focused, to the point of obsession, on how white people (including especially myself) think about and talk about black heroes, black scapegoats, black bodies
What John Edgar Wideman calls “our country’s love/hate affair with the black body� can be seen nowhere more clearly than in the National Basketball Association, which is a photo negative of American race relations: strong young black men have some of the power, much of the money, and all of the fun. The NBA is a place where, without ever acknowledging it- and because it’s never acknowledged, it’s that much more potent and telling- white fans and black players enact and quietly explode virtually every racial issue and tension in the culture at large. Race, the league’s taboo, is the league’s biggest subject.
Listen:
Auother’s Note

“Virtually every NBA team has a white coach and (out of three assistant coaches) one black assistant coach, who acts as mediator between players and coach. Paul, my friend and former graduate student, calls these black assistant coaches “lawn jockeys.� The Sonics’ new black assistant coach, Dwayne Casey, “who got hired to baby-sit Kemp,� recruited Kemp to the University of Kentucky for a brief time Kemp was there before leaving� Everything Else Is They (p31).

“Kemp and New Jersey’s Derrick Coleman are remarkably deferential to each other, talking, laughing, kidding each other, helping each other up, barely playing defense against each other. They played together in Toronto this summer on Dream Team II. Fans want to think it’s us against them (Seattle vs. New Jersey, say) and that the players on “our� team are in cahoots with us, in some difficult-to-define way- difficult to define, since their contempt for us is so manifest. One of the things I’ve felt at the games so far is how bound together the five Sonics on the floor are with the five players on the floor for the other team, like boxers, and how the opposition is really the noise of the everything else- coaches, refs, cameras, commercials, mascots, especially fans. The players are the ones sharing the jokes together at the foul line. Fans always want to ask Player X what he was saying out there on the court to Player Y. Player X always deflects the question, since it is, in a sense rude to question. It’s tantamount to asking lovers the content of their pillow talk: it’s our camaraderie, not yours� Everyone Else Is They (p36).

“11.24.94- Robert Parish, a former Boston Celtic playing this year with Charlotte- asked by reporters what he meant in a Boston Globe article last week that quoted him as saying, “Boston is a white town; they like white heroes�- replies, “I said this town is a white town that appreciates their white players. It caters to their white heroes. It has nothing to do with race. I don’t want to get into that racial thing. It’s not about race. It’s just a fact.� What interests me is not what Parish says, which is a bromide- working-class Irish Catholics don’t embrace black athletes- but that he feels compelled to pretend to undo what he’s saying even as he’s saying it, thus enacting the weird code in which this discussion almost always gets encrypted.� Everyone Else Is They (p41).

“Laurie and I and our friends Karen and Ross go see Pulp Fiction, which Laurie and Karen and Ross like a lot more than I do. To me, Pulp Fiction just comes down to Tarantino’s getting to play the only white character in the history of the movies who is cool enough to say “nigger� to a black man and use it- mean it- as black vernacular.� Proof Of My Own Racism (p57).

“12.8.94- On the George Karl Show, a caller asks about the progress of a rookie with the perfect name of Dontonio Wingfield (Cf. Angela Davis: “I think we can have an obsession with naming ourselves because for so much of our history we were named by someone else.�) Karl replies, “Well, it’s kind of unfortunate, because with a coach and a rookie in the NBA a lot of negativity tends to build up, and so he becomes sort of a whipping boy.� He immediately corrects this. “A whipping post. But Dontonio is coming along.� Karl’s enlightened enough to know that he shouldn’t say “whipping boy,� but not so enlightened that the phrase didn’t come, unbidden, from his mouth.� Proof Of My Own Racism (p61).

“In the NBA, as nowhere else in America, white people are utterly beholden to black people, and they’re not about to let us off that easily; it is kind of very mild payback for the last five hundred years.� The Beautiful and the Useful (p91).

“1.7.95- Driving home from work, a white female colleague in the English department picks up a black male hitch hiker in order to prove to herself that she is not racist. She tells the hitch hiker, “I picked you up to prove to myself I’m not racist.�
The hitch hiker says, “You’re a fool. I could have killed you.�
Converting our Self-Loathing to Hatred (p103).

“Payton hits a 3-pointer, and as he runs back down the court along the sideline, a fan offers him a high-five, which Payton quite pointedly refuses; then, just as pointedly, he high-fives Kemp. I ain’t your fuckin’ plaything, I feel Gary telling the fan, I ain’t your buddy, you don’t know me, don’t think you can slap my palm.� An Agony of Enthralldom (p149.)

“Apropos of the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament, which is being held in Seattle in a few days, a white fan calls Rob Tepper (T-Man) on KJR and says about North Carolina’s Rasheed Wallace, “The boy can play ball�
T-Man is very quick to say, “Refer to him as a man. He’s a man.�
Fan: “He’s a man.�
T-Man: “He is THE man.�
Fan: “He’s THE man.�
This is all very sentimental and easy. What’s interesting is the next thing T-Man says: “He refers to you as boy.� Can you feel now what power feels like?� Can You Feel What Power Feels Like? (p163.)

By now everyone has heard radio announcer Don Imus’ racist and sexist comments regarding the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team. People were appalled, disgusted, and disappointed.

You talked to your friends and family about how shocked you were that today, in 2007, people still think like that. Got up on your soapbox at work letting everyone know that you thought he should be fired, never allowed on the radio again. I would bet some of us even joked about being locked in a room with him for five minutes to show Imus some manners. After you voiced your opinion and let your anger be heard what did you do? You turned on the radio and hear your favorite Game song “Wouldn’t get far.�

My point? How can you expect America to take African American culture seriously if African Americans do not respect the culture themselves… ourselves. Although angered, I was not shocked when I heard Don Imus’ comments from a few days ago. America has a LONG way to go when it comes to racism. We live in a society where Paris Hilton can call producers niggers with no backlash from the community. We live in a country where Abercrombie & Fitch can settle out of court for a measly $40 million dollars for discriminated against minorities in 2005 and yet is still one of the highest selling clothing lines amongst the youth. The settlement was not even major news! Last week during my flag football game, I was told to “know my place boy,� emphatically by a white player on the other team. The sad thing about last weekend’s events is that the opposing team was half African American and not one of the black players felt the need to reprimand their teammate or apologize to me. Does America still think like Kramer, who we still can see on television at least three times a day?

Being almost twenty-five in America, I am no longer surprised by racism. I do however hold my family accountable for their actions. I demand that we stop calling each other niggers, bitches, and hoes.

This morning I heard Snoop Dog and Stuart Scott attempting to explain why it is acceptable for black men to call their friends niggers and black women call their friends bitches and hoes. I could not disagree more. On Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio (April 11, 2007) Stuart Scott tried to justify this unacceptable behavior by saying it was a way of turning a negative into a positive, a way of taking the power out of the word. Making these terms words of endearment. I would like Stu to go home and call his wife or mother a bitch or a hoe and see what type of loving reaction he receives and have him give them the same lame excuse to them on why it is acceptable. My father did not take part in sit-ins while in college for his son to call himself and his friends’ niggers. My mother did not get spit on for being the only black person living in her New York City building for me to call black women hoes and bitches. How can I possibly get mad at Michael Richards or Don Imus if I use the same language?

I went to Allegheny College, about an hour north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since my home is Alexandria, Virginia, I was not able to go home often. Easter was particularly hard because I was never able to go home during that weekend. I had a close friend who would take me home with him every Easter and considered him one of my best friends in college. Spending Easter with his family was a big deal to me. We would go over his grandmother’s house, eat, and have Easter egg hunts with kids, it was great! Our senior year of college we were hanging out in my apartment playing Madden before a night of drinking, obviously Redskins versus the Steelers. As Laveranues Coles caught a deep bomb for a touchdown my friend called his defensive back, “a stupid nigger.� I was shocked; I had been to this man’s grandmother’s house for the past two Easters! I calmly told my supposed friend that language like that was not acceptable in my home. His rebuttal was, “Come on Ian, you know we are cool, you guys say it in rap songs.� My response was had he ever heard me call anyone that word, he replied with an embarrassed no. Needless to say, I did not go to his home for Easter that year. The point of this story is what could I have said to him if I used that type of language? How can I hold someone accountable for something that I have no problem doing?

Hip Hop artists need to realize that the majority of their music is bought by suburban white youth. I do not knock Snoop Dog, 50 Cent, and others for trying to support and financially establish their families, I am happy for them. All I am trying to say is, Talib Kweli put it best when he said, “Where else in America can a black man get in front of a microphone and say whatever the hell he feels like? That is a lot of responsibility.�

Jason Whitlock, from the sports media point of view, is the latest whistleblower from the black community. As you can imagine, as with most whistleblowers, he’s catching a lot of heat. As it goes, he knew this would be the case, but what gets lost in the heat is the topic he’s speaking of. People dismiss his argument altogether to personally attack how they believe Whitlock himself is “bojangling” for the white media he speaks to through the Kansas City Star and AOL Sports.

A common misconception tends to be that Whitlock is clearing Don Imus of wrongdoing. This is most definitely not the case. Imus should be (and has been) held accountable for what he’s done. Albeit a slow response, MSNBC removed Imus from his simulcast and hopefully sponsors will continue to drop and WFAN will follow suit.

Whitlock’s argument is meant to get people to focus less on Imus as the ultimate, end-all problem. Imus is one of many “shock jocks” who gets his popularity by speaking his ignorance and bigotry. For every Imus there are many, many others waiting in the wings to overtake his old “throne” on-air (Not to mention the countless others without radio time).

It would be more ideal for Whitlock to sit down in an open forum with various other well-respected journalists and leaders and discuss the issue at hand. He had this forum at the World Wide Leader (WWL) but following his interview with TheBigLead.com, he was removed from the best current sports forum.

Another common argument I’ve heard has been that Whitlock is voicing his outrage through the wrong medium. He’s on a popular, national stage with AOL Sports, as well as the KC Star, where he repeatedly writes about how he things the gangster culture is destroying the black image. People in hoods and impovershed neighborhoods cannot always access his work.

Whitlock is speaking through the medium that will access the most people. His medium speaks to many of the leaders and idols kids look up to. He’s speaking a lot to those players in the league who work side-by-side with those 2% of trouble-makers giving the rest a bad rep. Athletes and leaders of communities who have access to Whitlock’s work can make a difference. More importantly, his focus is specifically at the persons who he is particularly angry at — the media who chooses to cover that 2% with all their resources. Why are they giving coverage to these few bad seeds?

The answer is simple: Consumers love to hear about it. We pay more attention to lead stories covering more wrongdoing than charity work.

Whitlock stepped up and takes the heat from the black community as the lead whistleblower. Because of this, he’ll catch heat from various persons and groups, but after more Imus-like issues arise, people will begin to see the light. I don’t doubt he’s went to hoods, suburbs and all types of communities to speak his message, but it doesn’t matter. People will ridicule him and say he’s not “down” enough and hate will follow. And, just like with the Imus, everyone will again stray from what should be the primary focus.

Have a better method for what Whitlock is trying to do? If so, feel free to let the rest of us in on your solution. Sometimes the bold method, with a whistle in hand, is the right path to take.

Don Imus isn’t smart enough to understand the wave his ignorance started.

But do realize that this is not a new issue. For years now, and most notably ever since his interview with thebiglead.com, Jason Whitlock (Kansas City Star, AOL Sports) has been the ring leader for the main issue people are just now starting to focus on.

The terms Whitlock use to make his argument, however, tend to make people of every race, religion and color extremely uncomfortable. When a person refers to a group of people as the “black KKK,” expect for hate and insecurities to follow. JWhit just simply refuses to bite his tongue — ironically, much like most shock jocks — pointing out that it is the black community who should be looking inward and not outward in searching for a way to start solving racial inequality issues. The same issues we keep focusing on when idiots like Imus show off their inner bigot.

And the leaders first to lend their voice for the community in cases such as this one, when ignorance is heard ‘roun the world, are more than susceptible to losing focus on the real issues at hand.

Which is why, using his AOLSports stage, Whitlock calls for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to step down.

From his Kansas City Star platform, Whitlock pointed out the most overlooked issue: Don Imus isn’t the real bad guy.

Leave it to JWhit to say the words no one else has been willing to say. And, not to overplay the cliche but, no truer words have been spoken.

What started as a few ignorant words over the airwaves became a complete storm overnight. Rightfully so.

The issue at hand is larger than a decaying old radio voice, and can only be solved with the cooperation of not only black society, but the all others. People who support and celebrate rappers and gangsters who degrade their own culture are in the wrong. Hip-hop culture, specifically, needs to reassess itself.

More importantly we, as consumers of all types of degrading mediums, need to have higher standards for what we support. Years ago, when Imus first uttered ignorant remarks, people should’ve been outraged and demanded his ouster.

Instead, we see everyone just now catching up and showing outrage for an issue that, as Whitlock has repeatedly said, should have been addressed long ago.

Here are some selected, related Whitlock columns:
*Note: Most of these are from AOL Sports, but his KC Star collection can be found HERE*

• End Welfare for Non-Revenue Sports
  
• NBA, NFL and NCAA Must Get on Same Page
  
• Pro Football, Basketball Drawing Line
  
• Basketball, Football Rotting As We Watch
  
• Vegas Backlash Misses Point
  
• Time to Stop Looking Past Black KKK
  
• Hip Hop Serving Up Plan for Failure
  
• Mayhem Main Event as NBA All-Star Weekend
  
• Black Community Must Combat Gun Violence
  
• Vick Standing Pat With Enablers at His Side
  
• Irvin Joins Ranks of ‘Bojanglers’
  
• ‘The Wire’ Calls Out Destructive Culture
  
• Welcome to Real Talk With Jason Whitlock
  
• 10 Rules for Rolling With Big Sexy