A Must Read

Continuing in the vein of inspiration derived from recently viewing HBO’s “Costas Now” special on sports and media, I have to say a few words about Jason Whitlock. He is a columnist for the Kansas City Star and a guest columnist for FOX Sports. I have been reading him for about a year now and his columns are “must see” journalism. (You can find links to his work on this site under columnists) Whitlock is not afraid to be controversial in his writing, particularly when it comes to race in sports. Although he is black, Whitlock is not afraid to criticize his own race in the search to get to the truth of race relations in sports. Of course, this stance does not always make him popular in the mainstream. He has used terms like “black KKK” (his words, not mine) to describe how black athletes are kept under control in the sports world and that white people are blamed for this when the problem actually lies in the black community. But Whitlock is no black-biased racist. Far from it. He was banned by ESPN from its “Sports Reporters” show a while back when he went on and defended Barry Bonds in the midst of the steroid controversy. He suggested that the problem was more widespread than just Bonds who, at the time, was the lone poster boy for steroids. He mentioned names like Clemens and McGwire before they were chic but apparently that didn’t sit too well with the “suits” at ESPN who love pandering to the athletes they cover. It is because of incidents like this that Whitlock is a must read. And for those who think he is just sucking up to the white dominated media machine just know that on the HBO special he indicated that his writing style was gleaned from a white newspaper columnist- Mike Royko (now deceased) of the Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune, who made a career out of writing about race and sports. Whitlock consistently produces some of the best work I’ve ever seen in print. He deserves the attention he gets for his work. He gets to say things we all want to say because he is black and has the vast resume to get away with it. He uses his experience for the greater good and that can only be a good thing. Check out some of his work under the links on this page.

Dana and Kelly: Two Dumb Broads

In thinking about ESPN anchor Dana Jacobson and the Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghmann, I can only come up with two words to describe them: “dumb broads.” If that’s an insult, then too bad. These two morons should have thought first before they opened their pie holes and started to spew out nonsense. In case you missed it, Tilghmann was the genius who suggested on the air that rivals of Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour should lynch him in order to stop his dominance in the sport. As for Jacobson, she decided getting piss drunk and shouting F— Notre Dame, F— Touchdown Jesus and F— Jesus at an Atlantic City roast for those two irrelevant colleagues of hers, Mike Greenburg and Mike Golic, was a good idea. It amazes me how stupid people, especially those in the media, are in this day and age. Now look, I am not against speaking your mind and I believe in telling it like it is and being true to yourself. I especially hate political correctness. But come on. You also have to be smart about what you are saying and when you say it. There’s a big difference. These two idiots are lost in space when it comes to knowing that difference. What really amuses me about these two is that they are women working in what is still, no matter how much you say different, a man’s world- the world of sports media. They should both know better. They should realize that what they say will be scrutinized and possibly thrown back at them to make them look irrelevant in their field. Predecessors like Gayle Gardner and Lesley Visser worked tirelessly for years in the industry so “daddy’s little girls” like Dana and Kelly could someday have a chance to work in the field and this is how they reward them? With idiotic comments like this? People like Visser and Gardner are the ones I’d like to hear from. They’re the ones who should speak out against these two idiots because Dana and Kelly’s comments give women covering sports everywhere a bad name. These two geniuses should have thought of that before saying what they did. But again, making the edgy comment is bad-ass these days. I guess in Jacobson’s case she couldn’t help herself. After all, ESPN is just one big frat party everyday anyway based on the attitudes of the anchors on their shows. It makes the channel irrelevant to true sports fans. Ask anyone who follows sports closely if they watch ESPN anymore and the answer is probably no. I know it is for me. What’s the point? I’m not 18 anymore so the thrill of cutting edge escapes me. The bottom line for me is that Tilghmann and Jacobson should both be fired. Not for WHAT they said, but because they were stupid enough to say it knowing it was probably going to cause the PC meter to jump off the charts. Fire them not because they weren’t PC but because they made ridiculous choices. Make them examples of what happens when you are too stupid to know what the right thing is and maybe next time somebody wants to act like a moron they will stop to think first. Boy, would that be a novel idea!