Newz Forum: OTHER: THe Sports Curmudgeon on the Bears, Latrell Spreewell, MNF intro skit plus more..

I tried to avoid commentary on the infamous "MNF Introduction Skit", but Tony Dungy's statement that he found that skit racially offensive made me think. Obviously, I am not an African-American so I cannot view this through the "prism of race" in the currently socially acceptable manner.

But I wonder why this is racially offensive as a stereotype of the Black athlete and not gender offensive as a stereotype of the woman as a slut. Have Martha Burk and NOW been asleep at the switch? Once again, this is a case where someone can take offense if one is so disposed but the thing I find most offensive about that the skit is that it wasn't all that funny because the outcome was pretty much known along the way.

CBSportsline carried an article saying that Eldrick Woods is upset that his buddy Mark O'Meara was not named Ryder Cup Captain. Eldrick thinks that since the match will be played in Ireland, O'Meara should have gotten the assignment "because of the heritage of where he's from". I will merely observe that making decisions about who gets a certain job on the basis of their heritage and where they are from has often resulted in racist decisions. It isn't the right thing to do; it should draw severe rebuke from social activists - but it won't. Here's what I hope happens. I hope that Eldrick decides to boycott the Ryder Cup matches to show his dissatisfaction with that choice. That can't hurt the US team too much because Eldrick's Ryder Cup record is a cumulative 7-11-2 and the US has lost four of the last five Ryder Cups with him on the team.

Oh, for the record, Eldrick made that statement from a tournament in Japan where he is reportedly getting a hefty appearance fee. That's the reason he could not attend the induction of Charlie Sifford into the World Golf Hall of Fame. So much for the value of "heritage"...

Four basketball players at the University of Memphis live together in an apartment and it was burglarized. According to Jeff Gordon in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, here is a partial list of what was reported as stolen:

Mink coats $40,000
Shoes $ 6,000
Pants $ 5,000
Custom shirts $ 4,000
TV/Videogames $ 1,450
Computers $ 1,300

Evidently, the value of the stolen mink coats has been significantly reduced as the investigation unfolded which raises three points:

1. Isn't this how Maurice Clarett's troubles started at Ohio State when he filed a false insurance claim after someone robbed his car which turned out not to be his car...?

2. If any of this list is true, where are the NCAA bloodhounds because these are not the contents you would expect to be in the dorm of the typical college student - - unless of course there might be some "special considerations" given to these students because they are budding scholar-athletes?

3. If there is even to be a pretense of "student activity" among these four guys, wouldn't you think the computers would be more valuable than the TVs and videogames?

Last week the Bears beat the Titans in OT on a safety. That made the score 19-17. The Bears got one TD on a punt return and another TD on an interception return. The offense contributed a field goal. Maybe the Bears' offensive game plan this week should have a variety of quick kicks in it?

I am happy to tell you that there is hope for Planet Earth. According to Jerry Greene in the Orlando Sentinel, a surfing company recently did a Web poll and released the results. One question was, "What is better, surfing or sex?" They got more than 11,000 answers to that one and 53.75% said surfing was better. That gives me hope for Planet Earth because that will make it less likely that these goofs will procreate. Darwin wins!!!

We've all had plenty of time to scoff at Latrell Spreewell and his asinine statements about the difficulties he might have feeding his family on an eight-figure salary. Here's an NBA player who has some real family concerns. Andres Nocioni is a rookie with the Bulls and his wife gave birth to a son recently in his native country of Argentina. (That's why you don't recognize the name and why you're wondering where he played in college.) He won't "reveal" the location of his wife and son because it is not uncommon in Argentina for the family members of rich folks to be kidnapped and held for ransom. He is arranging for passports so he can move his wife and son to Chicago as soon as possible.

Memo to Latrell: Now that is a reason to be concerned about your family's well being...


Finally, here is a comment from Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post:

"All right, so call me a bleeding-heart optimist. Now that the Red Sox have reversed the Curse, I'm thinking the Rockies winning percentage in 2005 will be higher than Ichiro's batting average..."

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...


Copyright The Sports Curmudgeon

Originally posted by SportzWriter
We've all had plenty of time to scoff at Latrell Spreewell and his asinine statements about the difficulties he might have feeding his family on an eight-figure salary. Here's an NBA player who has some real family concerns.

Being that I live in Minnesota, this has annoyed serveral of us. But we have decided to give Latrell a break, and are going to start a food drive for him. So those of you that don't make an eight-figure salary, see if you can find it in your hearts and pocketbooks to help Mr. Spreewell out.

Just let me know if you are interested in contributing.

Originally posted by crayon

Originally posted by SportzWriter
We've all had plenty of time to scoff at Latrell Spreewell and his asinine statements about the difficulties he might have feeding his family on an eight-figure salary. Here's an NBA player who has some real family concerns.

Being that I live in Minnesota, this has annoyed serveral of us. But we have decided to give Latrell a break, and are going to start a food drive for him. So those of you that don't make an eight-figure salary, see if you can find it in your hearts and pocketbooks to help Mr. Spreewell out.

Just let me know if you are interested in contributing.

Who do I make the check out to, where do I send it?