In my day, teams were teams. They could play offense and defense. Players came off the bench who had played professional football before. If another team took your manhood, you had the common decency to ask before accepting an illegitimate playoff berth.

Years ago, in trying to close the chasm between the haves and the have-nots (okay, the Steelers and Cardinals), the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE adopted a hard salary cap (limit) on players, which has helped achieve the competitive balance they sought. But at what price AT WHAT PRICE?!?!!? Now, instead of the better teams and league officials stockpiling talent and pulling away from the inept ones, they’re forced to share the riches, which artificially stalls the great and props up the mediocre. It’s like business with a curve. As a student who relied upon the curve, I know how awesome it can be, but I should never be put in charge of anything. I can’t run a good franchise on Madden. It’s not for everybody.

We wouldn’t accept this in any other walk of life. We would never level the female playing field. Let’s ban physical fitness and make-up so Star Jones can compete. We can’t all look like Kerry Washington, so let’s all bring it down to Whoopi Goldberg. Don’t get me wrong, I would love if women’s expectations were lowered from Boris Kodjoe to Forest Whitaker, but I wouldn’t enjoy looking like that any more than he does.

Come Get Some

The league’s thirst for parity (and therefore profit) has thinned the talent pool to the point where a 9-7 team with no running game and a suspect defense, who got emasculated by 40 in December, sits on the threshold of a championship. I don’t hate the Arizona Cardinals, I just hate what they stand for. They stand for a level playing field that couldn’t be raised to accommodate the best, so it was lowered to accommodate the worst. They stand for a watered down league that forces teams to choose which side of the ball they don’t want to stink and hope the opposite side doesn’t kill them. They stand for the Snuggie. They stand for John McCain.

I understand why the NFL, sorry the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, wants every team to be the same. More competition means more interest, which means more money. But, when you get rid of horrible teams, you also get rid of the truly great ones. Detroit went winless despite the NFL system, not because of it. They got a 50 meter head start in the 100 and managed to lose by 80.

Perhaps that’s why I was most devastated by the Giants victory in last year’s Super Bowl. Of course, we probably won’t see another 18-0 team but it’s just as questionable if we’ll see another truly great one. We’re definitely moving in the wrong direction.

Weekly Schadenfreude

The CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) wants Obama to put more chocolate in the Cabinet. They’re calling for the appointment of John Thompson to be placed as Commerce Secretary.

“Thompson is chairman and chief executive officer of Symantec Corp, the software security company best known for its Norton computer protection products. He is expected to step down in early April.

In a letter to Obama, the caucus members stressed that Thompson is the only African-American leading a major technology company.

The letter, sent last week and obtained Thursday by The Hill, also lists the seven black Cabinet members chosen by President Clinton during his two terms. Obama has selected four African-Americans for Cabinet positions. ” - The Hill

Um, guys? It’s term #1. His seat isn’t even warm yet.  He’s JUST GETTING INTO THE GROOVE of things. Plus, have you not noticed that the MAN IS BLACK? We don’t have to continue yelling for mo’ black from the black guy. Should he just hire an all-black cabinet? Screw it. Why not? Let’s make Chocolate City reeeeeally Chocolate City.

Why don’t we all relax for a second before we start demanding more black folk be thrown into the situation? This isn’t a hook-up, folks.

But if he appoints Thompson that would sorta rock. Just sayin’.

So after a couple of weeks of technical difficulties, week 3 has finally brought us a solid tech issue free (virtually) show! Elon James and Bassey had the honor to speak with Keith Price (Sirius OUTQ) and chopped it up about various issues and his position as one of the only openly gay black entertainer on Satellite radio.

The House of Representatives approved President Obama’s $819 billion stimulus bill yesterday, without a single Republican vote.

Included in the package are $211 billion in tax cuts and $608 billion in government spending. On the President’s shopping list: “$43 billion for transportation projects, $19 billion in water projects, $21 billion for school modernization projects, $32 billion to fund a so-called smart electricity grid, $6 billion to bring high-speed Internet access to rural America.” Obama believes the package will create 4 million jobs over the next two years.

Other treats you’ll find in the goody bag:

• A $500-per-worker ($1,000 per couple) tax cut for two years for anyone making less than $100,000 a year ($200,000 per couple).
• A $1,000 per-child tax credit for workers who right now pay no income taxes.
• $2,500 in new tax credits to for couples making up to $160,000 a year, to pay for college in 2009 and 2010.
• Laid-off workers will qualify for Medicaid, no matter how high their previous incomes.

Fingers crossed.

Source: Daily News

At what point is killing your wife, small children and yourself not only an option, but what you settle on as the best solution? How do you go from “We might have to sell the house and move to a smaller place,” to “We might have to have the kids stay with some relatives for a while,” to “Or, I could kill them all”?

Los Angeles officials say Ervin Lupoe, despondent that he and his wife had lost their jobs at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center, shot his wife, Ana, and his five children before killing himself. Found in the home with the bodies of their parents were an 8-year-old girl, 5-year-old twin girls and 2-year-old twin boys. Some were shot multiple times.

In his suicide note Lupoe claimed he and his wife had mutually agreed that killing themselves and their children was their best bet. He wrote, “So after a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone’s else’s hands.”

The Lupoe case is the fifth mass death of a Southern California family by murder or suicide in a year. Said Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner: “It’s just not a solution. There’s just so many ways you find alternatives to doing something so horrific and drastic as this.”

Source: CNN, AP

It seems that with the Obama Presidency, and the pride that a lot of us feel, comes a new question to ask ourselves. Would you do that if Barack was watching? And now a website asks that question. That’s right.  Would you? Would you steal that sandwich out of the office fridge? Would you use that racial slur that you and your boys consider a term of “familiarity”? Would you spit a hot 16 about how you bust shots on any negro who steps to you and how you spend inordinate amounts of money on jewelry plus how you make it rain on dem’ hoes?

If you say “YES, I WOULD” to any of the things above you should stop it. Forget Barack, you just shouldn’t be a dumbass.

President Obama appeared on Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based television network, to “offer a hand of friendship” to the Muslim world.

“My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy,” Obama said. “We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect.”

President Obama also said that “the United States will start by listening, not dictating, and then a response will be formulated after consultations with all the major parties involved.”

The interview was widely watched in Pakistan and has reportedly received a generally positive response.

Source: CNN

Apparently Michael Jackson’s classic video for “Thriller” is on its way to the theater.

“I love the idea of making ‘Thriller’ a musical,” said producer James L. Nederlander, who has acquired the rights to a stage version of the video. “Girl meets boy, they fall in love, boy has big secret, now what?”

The stage show will include songs from the “Thriller” and “Off the Wall” albums. Clearly it’d have to open with “Wanna Be Startin’ Something,” peak with “Thriller” and close with the melancholic yet hopeful “Human Nature.” Still, who will they get to play Paul McCartney dueling with Michael on “The Girl is Mine,” and will audiences care that they already know Michael will be the victor because he has to take the Jheri-curled, capri-panted and high-heeled female lead to the movies where she will get scared and run out of the theater? The languid strut Michael and his love interest take past the cemetery will have to be adapted for the stage, but would it even be possible to make them mosey slower than they already do in the video? And will the dramatic twist be that Michael’s nefarious underaged ex, Billie Jean, is trying to pin her half-werewolf baby on him?

So many questions.

Source: AP

The Vatican, headed by Pope Benedict XVI, has expressed deep disappointment over President Obama’s lifting of a ban on federal funding to international family planning groups that “promote or provide” abortions.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella was unmoved by Obama’s aim to reduce the number of abortions performed while still providing women with access to them. “On ethical questions, you can’t play with words,” said Fischella. “Hiding behind sophisms isn’t worthy of he who has a responsibility towards citizens. People want clarity.”

The Vatican’s criticisms of President Obama’s abortion policies come as no surprise to the world’s one billion Catholics, though they view the Pope’s reiteration of Catholic convention as a mere formality since Catholics do not engage in sex outside of marriage.

Source: Time

President Obama and his team of hotshots are so technologically advanced they actually transported themselves back to 1982:

“Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday, encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts … One member of the White House new-media team came to work on Tuesday, right after the swearing-in ceremony, only to discover that it was impossible to know which programs could be updated, or even which computers could be used for which purposes. The team members, accustomed to working on Macintoshes, found computers outfitted with six-year-old versions of Microsoft software. Laptops were scarce, assigned to only a few people in the West Wing. The team was left struggling to put closed captions on online videos.”

“It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.

We get the whole security issue, but to have the White House in this state in 2009 is embarrassing.

Source: Washington Post

I apologize for the whole Barackberry thing. I didn’t even come up with it and I feel guilty for typing it.

Barack Obama is continuing being first at things like “First Black President” and now “First President who rocks a Blackberry” but not quite.  According to sources (CNN) Barack is getting to keep that cracked out feeling that Blackberrys bring but NOW it’ll be SECURE. 

“There are also concerns that mobile devices such as BlackBerries, which contain built in GPS technology, could be hacked into, revealing the president’s location within a few feet.

But according to reports Thursday, Obama could now be in line to receive a spy-proof alternative to his favorite toy.

Writing on his blog for the Atlantic magazine, Marc Ambinder reports that the National Security Agency has approved a $3,350 smartphone — inevitably dubbed the “BarackBerry” ”

To me this sounds like just a big challenge to geeks across the land.  ”Hmm, I wonder could I hack the Presidents phone? They say its HACK proof. Now I gotsta do it.” I expect we’ll see a few arrest in the next 4 years of idiots who needed to feel super smart and track down President Obama.

I’m sorry. Thats the first time I typed that. PRESIDENT OBAMA. I’m sorry, I think I have to go lie down. That felt toooo good.

After heading down to DC and never having reliable web access, This Week in Blackness is BACK. The world has witnessed one of the biggest triumphs of a people ever and now its time for us to get back on the horse and deal with whats to come because this will not be a picnic. We here at TEAM BLACKNESS™ (Yes, we call ourselves that, what of it?) are primed and ready to continue bringing you information and entertainment about all things black. Except when it refers to Emos. Thats not really our bag.

LET THE BLACKNESS BEGIN.

PHOTO: ELON JAMES WHITE – Yes, I was there at that ungodly hour in the freezing cold.

As both a New Yorker and defiant member of Red Sox nation, I’ve been in many a drunken debates, and even a few sober ones, and I must say, ignoring the popped collar, frosted tips, fake tan, and broken English, Yankee fans are among the most knowledgeable and sensible fans anywhere. In fact, they’re often much more relatable than other Sox fans, many of whom take pride in their ability to panic at a moment’s notice. How is it then, that NY Giants fans can be among the most myopic, ignorant and short-sighted in all of sports? Aren’t these the same fans?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToFybSsikDQ

I set my alarm clock to NY sports talk radio, because my disgust at the garbage coming out of the speakers forces me to get up just to restore my sanity. Whatever’s going on today is the greatest thing ever and yesterday was a bum. Last weekend, I overheard on Michael Kay’s show, who by the way works as a broadcaster for the YES network, so his Yankee coverage couldn’t be more biased if he was Dominican (have you ever met a Dominican Met fan?), that if the Giants win another Super Bowl, coach Tom Coughlin’s resume would surpass that of Bill Parcells. You know, Tom Coughlin, the same guy who just 15 months ago was just waiting to get fired and took every paycheck as a gift—the way you do unemployment. Parcells, on the other hand, resurrected a dead Patriots franchise and handed it over to Bill Belichick to start this decade’s dynasty, brought decency to the terrible Jets with nothing more than Vinny Testaverde, set up the Cowboys to win multiple championships that Wade Phillips and Tony Romo have successfully thwarted, and just this year, made the one-win 2007 Miami Dolphins into a playoff team. This was all after his second Super Bowl win with the Giants.

No one’s profile has benefited more from Giant myopia than Eli Manning. The guy whose drafting was considered a fireable offense two years ago. Now? According to NY’s own Max Kellerman, he’s even better than Peyton. You know, Peyton Manning, the 2008 NFL MVP. In fact, when the Giants won the Super Bowl last year, my first thought wasn’t how dominant the offensive and defensive lines were, or how great a game I just witnessed, but how awful Giants fans were going to be and how a game won in the trenches would be spun into the legend of Eli Manning.

Giant Fans Will Defend This

It can’t be easy to be a Giant. Or a Jet. Or a Knick for that matter. NY sports fans are spoiled by the rich success of the NY Yankees, so much so that any season without a championship is considered a failure. That’s really not fair though, when you consider that those other teams operate with a salary cap, leveling the playing field and giving the Knicks same chance to win it all as the Charlotte Bobcats and the Giants the same chance as the Detroit Lions. If all things were equal, the Giants and Knicks would only win every few decades. Of course, all things aren’t equal, and New York attracts the very best, from general managers, to coaches, to chefs, to strippers, except for Lace. It’s not the Yankee advantage, but it is a start. Even so, it’s a rough life when your fans expect you to consistently beat teams that parity dictates are as even as possible. Is that what makes Giants fans so crazy when they win? Does their utter devastation when they lose, make them completely irrational when they win? 

Whatever the reason, I was happy the Eagles won last weekend. Not that I love Philly. I just wanted Giants fans to see what everybody else sees. 

Weekly Schadenfreude –The KO is good, the laughter is great, the ref is fantastic (thanks Jake).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG3xEIbptWU

The New York Times featured an article called “Talk About Race? Relax, It’s O.K. ” discussing the new found conversation that has arisen in the United States due to the election of Barack Obama.

“There’s a more readily accessible conduit into the conversation about race if it begins with Barack Obama,” said Mr. Rice, the executive director of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials — International, a professional law enforcement group. “In my experience over the last few months, it’s easier because it’ll begin with who he is, the differences between his parents, what he had to deal with.”

Easier? No. Yes, we’ve definitely been forced into a race discussion but I, personally, don’t find it easier at all. Maybe white people feel all comfortable since they have their brand new black friend Barack and so now the can say all the stuff they’ve had floating in their head. That’s not easier for ME.  At this point I’ve just become an official emissary for blackness where ever I go. People start with  conversations with me about anything. Rap Music, white women, fried chicken. They say what they want and then I clear up the nonsense.

The article also speaks of the supposed “transcendence” of Obama over race.

Some said the president-elect’s sheer star power, their growing sense that he is viewed by whites as an individual who transcends race — a Michael Jordan or an Oprah Winfrey — would do little to improve race relations.

I disagree with this concept of “trancendence” in its entirety. No one transcends their race. Why would it ever be neccessary to do so? Why can’t he just be brilliant president Obama who is black? I feel that this is a specifically white idea. I never think that a white person trancends race.  I never “NOT” see color. WHY WOULD I? And when did Oprah and Jordan trancend race? I see Oprah, I see black billionare, which makes me feel warm on the inside. Erasing color is a major issue. How will the very idea of black and what that entails ever change if when a black person does something great its like “I don’t see their color.”

I bet you’d see the color of the dude mugging you at the ATM. How about the dude who just came home with your daughter?

One of the “Jena 6,” Mychal Bell, attempted suicide in December after catching a shoplifting charge in Monroe, Louisiana. Two years ago, Bell was one of six black teenagers charged with attempted murder and conspiracy in the beating of a white classmate in Jena, Louisiana. The incident touched off widespread protests and Bell’s charges were eventually reduced.

In an interview that will air tonight on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Bell said, “People were … just waiting [for me] to mess up. People were preying [on me]. ‘Just mess up, just mess up.’ There was a lot of pressure on me.”

You know what’s a good way to mess up, Mychal? Shoplifting $370 worth of clothes from a Dillard’s, which police say was caught on surveillance video and which Bell soon admitted. He was so “devastated” by the ordeal that he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest December 29.

When asked what would have happened had he shot himself in the head, Bell said, “I would have hurt my family, my friends, my classmates and everybody who supported me.”

Bell is still recuperating from his wound.

Like Elon James White’s mother says: Don’t do dumb shit.

Source: CNN