Civil rights issues are at stake again in the south, where african americans have a history of being treated unfairly. Many people in the United States see racism and injustice for particular groups of people as a thing of the past and not the present. Many of those people think that with the efforts of the late great Dr. Martin Luther King and many other civil rights leaders such as Rosa Parks - all is better in the US.
Indeed all is better but there is still a LONG way to go. The recent news of all the protests and rallies going on around the country today in support of the Jena 6 brought to light just an instance of racism and injustice that takes place today. Growing up in the southwest side of the state, I've seen parts of that injustice in terms of the relationship between the cities of Benton Harbor/St. Joe. The relationships between those cities sparked a book called the "The Other Side of the River". Even after the release of the book there was riots in Benton Harbor in 2003 over a high speed chase involving a black man and white police officer. The Jena 6 is kind of a similar situation where a few black kids from Jena, Lousiana ended up beating a white kid who pulled a gun on them. Prior to that the kids were discriminated against when trying to eat lunch at a tree where white students usually ate at. Nooses were tied in the tree reminding blacks of lychings/hangings that took place in the south a while back. The noose incident is unrelated to the beating according to many stories that are on the internet about the Jena 6.
My stance is that while this white kid shouldn't have been beaten to death, but the black kids were exercising self defense. Its ridiculous that the black kids were faced with more sever punishment then the white student in this case.
This story in the Detroit News explains the situation
Other stories: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-jena_chicago_19_websep20,1,3515133.story http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20070919/cm_huffpost/065010 http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2007/09/locals_march_to_support_jena_6.html
When I was in high school and through out my schooling, a desegragation order was in place between the school districts of Coloma, Eau Claire and Benton Harbor. As part of the order students were bused between the districts which created the diversity. With so much diversity there were student forum/human relation groups at each of the schools which helped air out differences and help people understand what is acceptable and not and how everyone can get along.
I think these kinds of things can prevent those situations from happening.
I spent most of my day up in Lansing today where I covered the MHSFCA East-West All-Star Football game at Spartan Stadium on the campus of MSU. Heading to campus marked the first time I'd been on that campus in eons. I was probably there for a campus tour one day as a part of the INROADS program between my junior and senior year of high school I think, and I was also there for a week for Boys State after my junior year of High school
Having not been there in awhile I forgot how nice of a campus it is. The stadium has changed quite a bit since I'd last been inside it for a spring game several years ago. The press box was sweet and had a pretty nice view of the campus.
Overall the area was pretty cool and I got to go around some of it before the game when I saw Sean's crib and grabbed some lunch with him.
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Last night, Sarah dragged me with her to go get the seventh and final Harry Potter book at Meijer. Man were there a lot of interesting people - some in costumes - there to get their books. I was amazed at how big of a deal a fictional character is to some people, but I guess I'll never know.
The line to get the book at midnight moved rather quickly at Meijer. Sarah had her book within 15 minutes, but with so many people there to pick up the book and few cashiers, it made for a long wait in line to checkout.
Today during my morning page shift at work I got an email and call that Michigan wide receiver Mario Manningham was going to be in attendance at a local football camp. So after I had my stuff done and the photographer was free we went over to check it out. Instead of Manningham being there, it was Michigan quarterback Chad Henne which was still cool in itself.
He seemed pretty cool and joked around with the kids and signed autographs for those in attendance. I thought the whole thing was pretty cool for the kids, knowing that with a real strong season this year Henne could potentially ensure that he will be a first round pick in the NFL Draft.
Since I'm on the topic of football, I went to pick up NCAA Football 08 when it came out at midnight Monday night/Tuesday AM and played it a little bit before going to bed and extensively on Tuesday when I wasn't busy doing other things. Most of the time was spent trying to put players names in the game but from what I have played so far I've noticed a few things
- Michigan's defense is absolutely dominant considering they lost a lot of playmakers in Woodley, Branch and Hall. EA Sports must be high on the maize n blue - West Virginia seems unstoppable on the run - which I guess is apparent in real life. In the game, well half of game, I played with them I dominated with a mix of straight runs, scrambling plays or options to kill louisville. - MSU seems to suck. Hoyer did nothing for me. - EMU is rated 119 out of 119, but somehow I managed to beat Pittsburgh thanks to using Jones at quarterback to scramble.
Through the last seven months my alma mater, Eastern Michigan University, has been in the national news and not for good reasons. The interest in the university has seemed to pick up especially today with President John Fallon being fired for his handling of the Laura Dickinson case.
I was amazed when I went to Google News and saw all the people with things about the story including a TV station in New Hampshire. Who in New Hampshire cares about EMU.
Clearly something went wrong where information was withheld from the public and that is a complete no-no. Jim Vick, who was very popular among students, was placed on leave because of the case much to the dismay of students who promptly created a facebook group calling for him to be reinstated.
Needless to say this is a very messy case with a lot of people to blame obviously for what went on.
Besides the problem of the case, EMU faces more serious problems with the need to find another president to lead the school back on the right path. Fallon seemed to be unliked by many from conversations I've had with my aunt - who works in the Admissions Office at Pierce.
Fallon was supposed to be the guy to fix this. As I was graduating, I remember he was just getting set to be hired in as the new president, taking the reigns over from the popular interim president Craig D. Willis - who might I add was loved by students because he was commonly seen at all kinds of events across campus. Before him, there was the whole drama with Samuel Kirkpatrick and the building of the President's House - or mansion as it is known - located next to Walgreeens and the Convocation Center on Hewitt.
I remember my days as student journalist and the scandal with the funds used for the President's House constantly being in the news. It was such a big deal that Steve Wilson from Channel 7 came down as part of their Problem Solvers series where they so called tried to dig to the bottom of problems.
The bottom line is the past two administrations (not counting Willis) have failed at handling situations which has produced a lot of negative views about EMU - which in turn is bad for recruiting students
This afternoon I was browsing on the comments on the Detroit Free Press story announcing the firing where people were leaving absurd comments talking about how things at Eastern haven't been right since they changed their mascot from Hurons to Eagles in the mid 1990's. WHAT?? i didn't know sports had an affect on this
More pressing were people leaving comments on how they would never attend EMU or send their son or daughter to the school. Or that Eastern has a low graduation rate and is a "ghetto" school because of all the killings or that it wasn't safe at all.
I find it funny about these comments considering I lived on campus for four years and never experienced any kind of problems at all. My final two years I lived a good 10/15 minute walk from the main parts of campus and never had any kind of confrontations. On my walk to campus I passed the Towers (the complex where the murder took place) on a daily basis.
To me there is nothing wrong with the school and its a perfect place to get an education, and I've met some lifelong friends from my experience at the school. Many of those friends have been exchanging emails and links about all the stories coming out about whats been going on.
Granted during my college days I used to promote the school in a positive manner as a tour guide and orientation leader, but that isn't any reason I'm defending the school. The school seems to hasn't handled situations right in the past and lets hope things move forward. Eastern isn't a bad place or "ghetto" and has a lot to offer.
Here are more links to stories on the firing. Many of the sites have in-depth coverage about the whole situation
Detroit News - Updates with information about Vick and Cindy Hall being fired Ann Arbor News - Geoff Larcum's blog about the situation CNN
Before work yesterday I ended up meeting up with my my mom, dad, sister and the rest of my moms family. We all went to Old Country Buffet for lunch which was a cool get-together with most of the family. It was good to see my aunt and grandma doing well too.
After work, I got quite the scare. Sarah and I had made plans that when she got back and when I was off work that we were going to grab a bit to eat at Frickers and hang out whatever. Those plans came to a drastic halt when Sarah got into an accident on her way back when she was about five miles from her apartment.
Apparently a car headed (i believe a camaro) south bound on Rogers hwy was all over the road and passed another car before blowing by the stop sign. To avoid hitting the car Sarah had to slow down quick and after missing hitting the car she lost control and ended up in a field of crops. Luckily she missed hitting a pole and came away uninjured.
She also had help as the people who got passed by the wild driving car stopped to help her. I guess they immediately pulled over to the side and ran to her rescue because they thought she was did.
After getting the call I met Sarah at the scene and waited around for the cops and wrecker with her before taking her back to her house. Her car got messed up from when she skidded off the road and into the field.
Recently Amy Jacobson, a Chicago television news station, was caught swimming in the pool at the house of a man who was a source for a story she was covering. Apparently the man's wife is missing and he could be a suspect in the case and she was spotted in a video tape with her kids swimming and hanging out in his pool. Earlier this week she ended up leaving her job.
Which brings up a good column I read in today's Chicago Tribune regarding the inequal treatment and how persons in the media often walk a finer line than those who are worshipped by many and looked at as a role models for several people - whether it be Paris Hilton, Kobe Bryant or any athlete for that matter.
Granted she shouldn't have been at the pool and made a mistake, but the above mentioned people have made so many mistakes and still continue to do what they are doing.
A television reporter at the NBC affiliate in Chicago has been fired because she went for a swim at a news source's home.
Fired, not suspended.
Interesting.
If you are a Chicago Cub and you throw a punch at the face of another baseball team's employee, you don't lose your job. You get a few games off.
If you are a Chicago White Sox employee and you call a representative of another company a "fag," you don't lose your job. You get suspended for one day.
If you are a Chicago Bear, get arrested on multiple occasions and even serve time in jail, you don't get fired. You get an invitation to rejoin your employers after a suspension as long as you don't get into any more trouble.
Amazing how this works.
A newspaper journalist in New York committed a serious breach of ethics, caught in the act of flagrant dishonesty. He was fired.
A baseball player in Chicago committed a serious breach of ethics, caught in the act of cheating with a corked bat. His employers defended him as a good fellow who made a mistake. After a brief suspension he was welcomed back to the team.
Where is the dividing line?
A radio personality in New York described a team of female athletes as "nappy-headed hos." It cost him his job.
A radio personality in Chicago described a woman on the air as a "bitch." He isn't going to lose his job over it, which only goes to prove that some public slurs are tolerated more than others.
A television news anchor in Los Angeles has been discovered to be having a personal relationship with the mayor. She has been placed on leave while awaiting word as to whether she will lose her job. The mayor won't lose his.
Which punishment is appropriate for which crime?
A hockey player ambushed an opponent, giving him a concussion and cracking vertebrae in the man's neck. He was suspended by the league but not permanently, and just last week he signed an $8 million contract with the NHL's championship team.
A star NBA player was accused of sexual assault and brought to trial, but he was not fired from his team. He was given a chance to redeem his good name.
When should you be given a second chance? Or a third or a fourth?
A number of players in the NBA went into the stands during a brawl and threw punches at fans. Most were given time off for bad behavior. Not one was fired from the team that employed him.
A football coach in the NFL was caught scalping his Super Bowl tickets. It was a breach of ethics, but it did not cost him his job. A disappointing record did.
Numerous baseball players have been caught in violation of an ethical obligation pertaining to substance abuse. In most cases, the player is suspended by the league but not kicked out of the organization permanently by his employer.
What about you?
If you got into an argument at work, then punched a colleague in his or her face, would you be suspended briefly without pay? Or would you be told to clear out your desk and never darken this doorway again.
There was an NFL player who punched a teammate at practice, shattering an orbital bone and jeopardizing that man's future. He received a brief suspension but eventually was welcomed back to the team.
Could you imagine going for a swim that gets you fired?
Not reassigned. Not reprimanded.
Not given a two-week or a two-month penalty and then a fresh chance, but a pink slip and a permanent goodbye.
Was the TV audience so astounded and offended that it couldn't condone a reporter who made an error in judgment?
This same public that can adapt and move on if a president lies about his infidelity or pardons a felon, it wouldn't be able to accept a TV reporter's future work from a crime scene because of an improper swim?
What, no "don't ever do that again" or "three strikes you're out" -- you're just gone?
Be an athlete and you can get away with murder. Or at least assault.
Be a part of a sports team and you can do or say almost anything. Your coach and teammates will tell the whole world what a good person you truly are and how deserving you are of a little compassion.
Swim with your kids at a news source's house or have a fling with the mayor, however, and you run the risk of being burned at the stake.
Attack somebody, verbally abuse somebody, commit a crime or get caught cheating at work. You will not be suspended, believe me. You will be fired.
Unless you play a sport, in which case you might have to take a week off.
So far this summer/baseball season I've made it to several games at Comerica Park A recap so far
Tuesday, May 1 vs. Baltimore - Detroit 5, Baltimore 4 (Polanco goes 4-for-5, Tigs score twice in eighth for win)
Friday, May 18 vs. St. Louis - Detroit 14, St. Louis 4 (Andrew Miller's first career start - he throws six scoreless innings. Maggs and Sheffield homer for the Tigs, Pujols hits meaningless homer for the Cardinals)
Saturday, May 19 vs. St. Louis - Detroit 8, St. Louis 7 (Sheffield late home run turns out to be the difference. It was also his 463rd career HR, moving him past Jose Canseco for 30th on all-time list)
Sunday, May 27 vs. Cleveland - Cleveland 5, Detroit 3 (Tigers are swept at home by Indians on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, Maroth gives up four HR is opening inning and takes the loss)
Thursday, June 28 vs. Texas - Detroit 5, Texas 2 (Kenny Rogers makes his 2007 home debut against his former team, improves to 2-0, Sheffield homers)
Sunday, July 1 vs. Minnesota - Detroit 1, Minnesota 0 (Thames hits solo HR in eighth, Bonderman improves to 9-1)
Hopefully this list grows over the final few month of the season
The past two Sundays Curtis Granderson has made great game changing catches. His catch on Willy Mo Pena's possible home run proved out to be the difference in the Tigers 6-5 win Sunday. Last Sunday my dad and I were at the Sunday Night Baseball game when he robbed a Twins player of a hit with a great diving catch in center field.
The catches he has made this year have been pretty amazing to say the least Go Tigs!
With the baseball season at its midpoint its time to take a quick look at my fantasy teams. the good thing is I'm within striking distance in all of my leagues and in the top half of the standings.
In my yahoo leagues I'm second and fifth In my boy Nate's (who is gettin married in a few months here) league i'm second out of 10 teams. That is probably one of my better teams. The highlights besides my 150-107-23 record are owning Soriano, Victor Martinez, Russell Martin, Granderson, Ichiro , the Young Brothers (Dmitri and Delmon, Bonderman and Zambrano. I'm 9.5 games out of first place and the next closest team is 19.5 games out. But things can change so quickly.
In the other league, which is run by my friend and mentor Corey I'm fifth out of 12 teams, but am only 9 games out of first. My record is 66-63-11
In my three ESPN leagues I'm doing decent. In the league i'm in with mostly work peeps I'm first but have Lad and Sarah closely behind. In the other two leagues I'm third and fifth out of 10 teams respectively.
With all my success I was tempted to see if I could freelance for some fantasy games website or magazine I came across on a freelance site. But I wasn't sure if it was legit or if I even qualified to be able to do it.
Yesterday was my day of work and I didn't do too much exciting. Laid around most of the day and played baseball on the PS2 with Sarah and stopped at GameStop to reserve the game I look forward to every year - NCAA Football 08. The day after it comes out is like a holiday to me more so than Madden because I'll play that game all day. And plus I'm better at the game than Madden. But thats all beside the point and off topic
Anyways last night Sarah and I ended up going out to Ann Arbor and stopped at the mall briefly before going to Damons to see the last part of the Tigers game and play the interactive trivia game. Damons has to be one of my favorite restaurants and I enjoyed it a couple weeks ago when I went there with my aunts and uncle after going to church.
After leavin Damons we hung out at Pinball Petes in downtown Ann Arbor for a bit and played air hockey, skee ball (my favorite), basketball and a driving arcade game. Sarah beat me 2 out of 3 games at air hockey and made more baskets, but I was better at the other two. All in all, it was a pretty fun night.
This morning I got a bit of bad news when my mom called me and told me that my favorite aunt and grandma have cancer. The good thing is my aunt's cancer was removed with a surgery and my grandmas is treatable which is good.
As part of something my dad and I try to do together every few months, we ended up going to the Twins-Tigers Sunday night baseball game last night. With my dad working two jobs and myself staying busy we only see each other every few months so its cool to see him when I can.
My dad and I sat in infield box seats behind the Tigers dugout which were my treat to my Dad for fathers day. I didnt get a chance to get home for Fathers day and haven't since I've worked in Adrian because the NASCAR race at MIS is always that day.
The Tigers-Twins game was awesome with Marcus Thames solo home run in the eighth inning lifting the Tigs to a 1-0 victory and improving Jeremy Bonderman's record to 9-1.
Before the game was cool because they announced the Twins and Tigers plaeyrs who were named to the All Star team. The Tigs had 5 with Placido Polanco, Maggs and Pudge starting and Verlander and Carlos Guillen making the team as reserves.
It was Magglio Ordonez bobblehead day. but those were looooong gone way before we got to the game. I taped the game with my DVD-R and it was cool to hear and see Ernie Harwell do some play-by-play.
My dad reminded me as we were walkin out the ballpark that the game was similar to the game we saw on a Sunday last August. We saw Wilfredo Ledezma (who is now an Atlanta Brave) pitch the Tigers to a 1-0 victory over Cleveland and C.C. Sabathia.
But it was definitely cool to spend time with the pops.
Its nice to see Dmitri Young back swinging a good bat again and seemingly with his career back on track for the Nationals. For awhile he was one of the best things the Tigers had going and valuable to the community until all the incidents from last year. Anyway Tim Kurkjian had a good story about him on ESPN.com
Its too bad he won't be a National long because I'm sure a contending team could use him around the time of the trade deadline next month.
Here is part of Kurkijian's article
Tigers manager Jim Leyland sought out Dmitri Young recently, shook his hand and congratulated him on the way he was playing and, more important, the way he was living his life. It was Leyland's Tigers who released Young last year. It was not something Leyland wanted to do, but he told Young last week, "It was the best thing that's ever happened to you."
Leyland was right.
"Jim told me there were issues that I had to deal with," Young said. "Now I'm having the time of my life. Believe me, I know, after what I've been through on and off the field."
In straightening out his life, Young has resurrected his baseball career that began with such promise 11 years ago in St. Louis. He is hitting .338 -- third-best in the National League -- with seven home runs and 36 RBIs, batting in the middle of the order for the Washington Nationals. Since May 17, he has hit .431, the best batting average in baseball in that time. He has a chance to make the All-Star team. And, chances are, around the trading deadline, contending teams will want a veteran switch-hitter who can really hit.
Today I spent part of the day in Ann Arbor to go to my cousin's graduation party. My cousin just graduated from Ann Arbor Community High and is continuing his football career at Western Michigan in the fall.
At his party in addition to most of my family being there, I ran into Melissa Gordon, a girl I know from college. Melissa lived above me my senior year in the Village. When she wasn't busy with golf practice she sometimes would come down and hang out and we'd play Donkey Konga. Plus she was also a part of the First Year Mentor Program with me.
In my mind one of the best things about attending a sporting event is the music you hear when there is a break in the action. If I wasn't a journalist, I definitely think being a stadium DJ would be one of the coolest jobs to have.
It seems like it could also get you in trouble based on the PA announcer. Well only if your that PA announcer from that minor league team that was ejected from the game for playing the sound byte of Bob Uecker saying "Personally I think we got hosed on that call"
Here are some links to the story about the announcer being thrown out and then having to serve as a third base umpire as punishment. Las Vegas Sun Reno Gazette-Journal
Despite that the job would still definitely be cool. And that kind of inspired me to take note of different players songs I've heard at my adventures to sporting events.
Going to baseball games is seemingly the best place for the tunes, since every hitter from the home team has their own song that plays when they walk up to the plate or come in to pitch. Here is entrance music for players from the Tigers
Curtis Granderson - Ain't Nothing but a G Thang (Snoop Dogg/Dr. Dre) / 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted (2Pac) / Dre Day (Dr. Dre) Placido Polanco - Lamento Boliviano (Amarfis y La Banda de Atake) Gary Sheffield - This is Why I'm Hot (Mims) / We fly High (Jim Jones) / Lets Ride (Game) Magglio Ordonez - Out of all the starters, I have no clue what his song is Carlos Guillen - U Don't Know Me (TI) Pudge Rodriguez - Latino Heat (Eddie Guerrero) Sean Casey - Even Flow (Pearl Jam) Craig Monroe - Break em Off (Paul Wall/Lil Keke) / You Ain't Know (Birdman/Lil Wayne) Brandon Inge - Coming Undone (Korn) Omar Infante - Alegria (Merengue) Marcus Thames - Walk It Out (DJ Unk) / Shoulder Lean (Young Dro) Fernando Rodney - Ven Bailalo (Kriz y Angel) Joel Zumaya - Voodoo chile (Jimi Hendrix)
Songs heard at The Palace for the Pistons in addition to the trademark Dee-troit basketball include: Tayshaun Prince - My name is Prince (prince) Chauncey Billups - Big Shot (Elton John) Rip Hamilton - yes sirrr clip
How bout the Pistons. After looking shaky for a second straight game, they found a way to pull out another win to take a 2-0 series lead over the Cavaliers. Two more victories to go to reach the NBA Finals.
And how about the finish to the game. An amazing shot by Sheed off the baseline and great defense by Rip on LeBron. And no it definitely wasn't a foul. Even if it might have been, Cleveland can't say that cost them the game because Larry Hughes had a wide open short shot that he missed following that. The Cavs had their chances but the Pistons were able to get it done. Now lets hope for at least a split at the Q.
Ooooooo ee o Magglio I don't know what has gotten into Magglio but I'm loving his production this season. He has been nothing short of amazing and is producing like he did in his days on the South side of Chicago. From 1999-2003, Ordonez hit 29 or more home runs, drove in at least 99 runs and hit better than .300 every year for the White Sox. His best season came in 2002 when he batted .320 and had 47 doubles, 38 home runs and 135 RBIs.
This season he has been tearing it up and is leading the American League in RBIs (45), runs (42) and doubles (23). He is hitting .361 and is on pace to drive in 161 runs. I wish I had him on my fantasy baseball team. Hopefully he can keep this production up for the entire season.
Michigan is No. 1
And what is up with Michigan being the state with the highest gas price. Michigan has an average of 3.53 which is just higher than Illinois (3.52) and even more than California (3.43) and Hawaii (3.40). Shouldn't Michigan get a break with the gas prices considering we are the automobile capital (well used to be).
After seeing Michigan falter down the stretch and Obio State steal a victory from the Wolverines on Saturday I'm bound to wonder when can I get my NIT tickets. It appears that is where Michigan basketball will once again be headed for ANOTHER year which is another negative. The only positive about the situation is a chance to attend a game since I'm sure Michigan will have a least two home games - barring they win. The only way it seems if the Wolverines can reach the Big Dance is if they win the Big Ten Tournament this weekend.
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The other day I was watching tv and saw my former college neighbor Brian Bixler playing on ESPN. I remember living next to him and a few other baseball players my sophomore year at Eastern and now he appears to be making his way up the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system. He had a good game against the Braves last Friday, hitting a home run and reaching base a couple other times.
Over the past few days, so much has been made about this years Super Bowl matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts. Besides Peyton Manning finally reaching the big game attention has been brought because of the coaches.
Chicago coach Lovie Smith and Indy coach and Jackson native Tony Dungy became the first two African-American coaches to reach the Super Bowl. I'm impressed with the duo making history and being a part of what is being called the "All-Black Super Bowl" I think its great for football and also believe it will open more doors for deserving coaches that aren't your stereotypical football coach.
Smith and Dungy have both experienced a tremendous amount of success with their coaching careers. Dungy helped turnaround the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has won four division titles in his six seasons with Indy. Smith has won back-to-back NFC North division titles with the Bears and helped them have the best record in the NFC. Other black coaches have had success in the NFL, like Marvin Lewis, Dennis Green and Art Shell.
While the race of the coaches in the Super Bowl has drawn most of the attention, it would be kind of nice if it wasn't necessarily a big deal that they were black coaches and that the focus was more on their accomplishments and teams. In other sports whenever a coach that is non-white makes the championship series/game it isn't a big deal at all and that shows football has a ways to go still when it comes to dealing with race.
For now though I'm impressed with the job Smith and Dungy have done and think they are both class acts and are nothing but great for the NFL.
