Yep, I'm back with that "black man talk". Only today we're not taking about pitbulls (we didn't like them last week and we don't like them this week....I think to qualify as talking "black man talk" as I was accused of doing, you sorta have to like pitbulls? Isn't that the stereotype? LEEEEZZAAA") how y'all crackers doin? Wanna hear my country rap?....well anyhow...

Let's talk about winning in professional sports. You may win a title with a Allen Iverson. You may win with a Michael Vick and you may win with an Alex Rodriquez. But you will win in spite of them and not because of them. Wanna Bet?

Name me a coach who was a free spirit who let the players run amok , be hoodrats, be a distraction by commenting on Purple hairded aids infected yada yada on the subway. Go on. I dare you. OK Barry Switzer. You got me. Won one NFL  title and had to be snuck out of town in a sack because he was lushing it up with the boys and the boys was about to take a trip en masse to Huntsville Prison.

You start with a self disciplined coach who can make sense to his players in his system. Not Tom Coughlin. The guy has as many emotional swings as the Tuna and I do. Someone like oh, Bill Belichek? Phil Jackson? Pops? Tony LaRusso maybe?

After selling his program to the key people, quarterback right? Star player? Best hitter? Pitcher? He sells his program to his core people. Then he has the balls to say to a T.O. "You're either core in my system my way or you're support in my system my way or you're on your way to the Raiders."

Next you gotta have you a Tom Brady or a Tim Duncan. Guy's gotta be bright but not full of himself. Guy cannot be a hoodrat or a thug both whom's very existance is based on insecurity being acted out. Your guy has to be able to be capable of understanding fundamentals win titles. You do it right and you win. It's called execution. Most good teams and bad teams have similar playbooks and you can't say they don't. Then your guy has to be able to be secure in the knowledge that while idiots call him boring he's the man.

Next, It don't matter if your wide receiver is T.O. or Barney Flintstone if he's supposed to run a 5 step out that's exactly what he does. Then he don't have to be wide open in a broken field 12 seconds after the hike. If he's where he's supposed to be then the Qback just has to put the ball where it's supposed to be and 1/4th of a step will do it. 2nd and 2 or 3.

It don't matter if nobody on your offensive line makes all pro or ever scores a touchdown ever lines up as a tackle elgible. EVER. If they can zone block. Don'T give a damn how big guys are or how fast they are or how much they weigh. If they can zone block or run an offensive set correctly or 7 if them can hit .280 without ever  hitting a home run, you're already halfway to a title.

Now, you gotta get rid of the hoodrats again. they're a cancer to a title team. we don't need no Mark Gastinuea dances after a sack, don't need no cel phones in the end zone, no Icky shuffles. What we need is a durable blocking fullback who can carry the ball for 3 yards every time and who don't get hurt. Clone Jerome Bettis n his prime.  A center who can get you a double double without fouling out. A lead off switchhitter who hits both sides well. Forget the hoodrats. We're after titles not 1,000 stolen bases. Ricky Henderson clones need to stay in whereever the cellar dwellers stay. More power to them..

Now what? A running back that can utilize that zone blocking and blocking back. Not rocket science here is it? I don't want some guy who dances 5 feet sideways, 5 feet back...3 feet sideways again and spots an opening and goes 80 yards. You get your offensive linemen out of sync and wear them out before the 4th quarter. These are water buffalo not cheetahs. Get into that hole and get 5-7 yards. That'll open up the pass and it eats clock. Let that light in the loafers running back either prove he's Barry Sanders or let him prove he can hold onto the ball and let him run back punts. NORTH SOUTH. East West don't have civil wars.

Same thing in NBA. I don't need a peja. too inconsistent. I don't need a Jermaine O'Neil, always hurt in the playoffs. I need a warrior who can go off if he's feeling it and who can get you that 20 to build on even if he's tripled teamed and I would like it be about 12 of them I can count on in the fourth quarter.

FUNDAMENTALS FUNDAMENTALS FUNDAMENTALS EXECUTE EXECUTE EXECUTE

Do I have to go into the defense?  Zone and 1. PLAY YOUR ZONE. we don't need no Elvis "toast" Pattersons. Don't need no Larry Hughes. I don't give a damn if you lead the league in interceptions or steals. I don't want your #### playing McGiver and getting burned for it 2 out of 3 times. You  prove to me you can keep you man from the rim or the reception and we'll work on finessing from film as to the position you have to make steals/picks.

On down the line. I already solved the problem for everyone in the NBA and NFL. It don't take a genuis. It worked for Vince Lombardi, Worked for Tom Landry, Worked for Pat Riley with the lakers, WORKS.  The difference in Tom Brady;s super bowl wins and {Peyton Manning's failures is not that Peyton is a loser. The difference is Bellichek and Dungy.

 "ya'all come, y'all come, Y'allcome an sit on tha porch fer a spell, ya'all come, y'all come, y'all come n chew n spit and see my dawgs....

Y'all come., y'all come, Y'all come and mebbe after supper we'll saddle us up some hogs"

Thank ya, thank ya very much. Is that "black man talk?" I couldn't say but it is country rap.

Yes they can. Often. But they can be right too. Recently I was reminded of some cliches such as "you can't judge a book by it's cover" in a context that simply was irrelevant to this cliche and I hear "there is no reponsiblity for a blooger to back up his beliefs" (not the exact words but the context was that...my response to that is "true but only if you can't or won't back up those beliefs in which case joining the rank and file of the ignorant, irresponsible and great unwashed is the way to go". And it got me to thinking about how foolish we humans are. Specially when we think someone else is getting over on us or taking us to task.  It's always easier to be stupid and prideful than it is to honest and accept you got beat down. Let's take a look at some the dumbest things I have heard in sports over the years.

I'll go first.

The Magic, Kareem and Worthy Lakers didn't just win titles, they were in the finals and lost when they didn't win almost every year.  The Kareem retired and they had a 40 year old looking raw 19-20 year old ( I forget, this is a blog not a historical document) named Vlade Divac.  I was young and dumb and had respect for no other team except the Celtics and a guy Julius Erving.

Playoffs rolled around and the Lakers ROARED. They kicked butt and took names. When Isiah and the Pistons came to town to open the finals, Magic and the Lakers strolled onto the court 11-0 in the playoffs. You want bad boys? WE got bad boys. Magic and Isiah kissed. Less than 10 minutes later Isiah found a seam and raced to the rim. And Magic leveled him. I high fived the wife, who promptly asked if I was going to spend the whole weekend watching sports and it didn't even bother me. The LAKERS were IN CONTROL.

Then Bryon Scott grabbed his hamstring. OH GREAT. Well no problem Micheal Cooper was our best guard defender anyhow. Then Magic Grabbed his hamstring. We were still in the game at half. Magic came out heavinly wrapped and tried to play about a minute but he was done. Big James couldn't get big again. His legs were gone and age was a sixth defender since the Pistons didn't defend anyone else. Vlade was lost without Magic to talk to him, encourage him and mess with the bigger bad boys who just worked the kid right over.  Pistons swept, next season Magic announces HIV virsus retires and that was that for 12 years.

MORALE:  Nobody is all that a big ole bag of ruffles. I'm not making excuses here. Maybe the Lakers would have still lost but I seriously doubt they would have gotten swept and since they came in 11-0 in the playoffs you'll never feel like the "Bad Boys" were quite as Bad as that sweep made their legend.  Half a million dead Souljahs in Los Angeles. Half a million new Souljahs in Detroit all bragging and flossing about how the Pistons just stomped the Mighty Lakers. They got to enjoy it for two years. And that was that for nearly 20 years.

Noody outside of Chicago and North Carolina liked Michael Jordan. He showboated, he cared more about scoring than winning, he was selfish, he was hated by his teammates, he got Doug Collins fired. That's what everyone said. Everyone that didn't like the Bulls that is. Lengtht arguements raged from sport bar to sports pages where you could find someone without much effort who would be happy to quote you chapter and verse why Dominique Wilkens was better than Michael Jordan. Then came 3 titles. The haters said it was the triangle, Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, David Stern fixed games for MJ with the refs and Jordan was a #### who went off to play basketball because he couldn't have his way in running everything on the team. Or, the other story went, he quit to avoid being banned for gambling. Then 3 more in a row. It was harder to find a Jordan hater than it was to find someone who admitted voting for Nixon. Everyone got on the bandwagon. They held soap box derby  bandwagon races. Princess Cruise lines sold cruises on a bandwagon. The Arayn Brother hood made Micheal an honorary white man.  22 and a half million soljuahs desterted their armies and stood and cheered the conquering hero as he retired the second time. And 14 million of them came back as haters when he put on the Wizard Uniform.  Of course 2 million Wizard Souljahs reported for duty and declared MJ to be the best player in the NBA at over 40. And that was that for the Bulls ever since and it's stll that forever ever more and counting for the Wizard.

MORALE;  No bandwagon is too small to climb on or too big to tear down.

QUICKIES:

Vince Carter won the slam dunk contest. INSTANTLY 1 million souljahs fell on their swords declaring him "the next MJ"and another 4 million lined up behind them declaring him better than Kobe.

Sacramento Kings won their first division title and fans declared Webber to the be the league MVP and the Lakers to be pure garbage. Webber responded with shooting 22% in the playoffs against the Lakers with 4 techinals and an ejection. Laker won the title. 22,000 king souljahs dressed  themselves as NBA championg banners and hang themselves from the rafters at Arco. 19 of them first hung their cows.

Larry Brown is named coach of the year, Iverson is player of the year, McKie is sixth man of the year and Mutumbo is defensive player of the year. The Lakers are declared losers and posers and toast after Philly steals game one in L.A.  Lakers take next 4 going 14-1 in playoffs tieing all time record and 18 million Laker hater souljahs commit suicide leaving a note saying "yeah but AI had no help"

MJ reitres to play baseball. Sophomore Shaqille O'Neil. Penny Hardeway and supporting cast of Orlando sneak by Bulls and strut into finals being declared by sportwriters en masse to be the new dynasty. Hakeem schools shaq,  Nick Anderson goes 0 for 7,000. Penny Hardeway is played to a standstill by a rookie alien named Cassel and 1 million 800,000 NBA pundit souljahs cancel their orders for Lil Penny dolls.

The Celtics battled the Lakers for supremacy for a decade. When the Celtics won it was all about Celtic tradition, Celtic pride, Celtic poltergteists, Bird, Mchale, Chief and the rest were just the latest and there will always be more from they  come from. Always has been, always will be. Lakers were just lucky or the refs cheated for them . The Dallas Cowboys might be America's team but the Celtics were God's team. Bird, Mchale, etc retire taking everything but the time clock, including the poltergeist apparantly.  Irish souljahs are still blaming the British and fencing off the offices of Danny Ainge.Are they trying to protect him or got him on lock until the day of the hanging?

People continue to argue about Pistons drafting Darko over Mello but the all time bonehead "fire that GM!!!" Award goes to Portland for drafting Sam Bowie over Micheal Jordan because "they already had Clyde Drexler". Never mind that either one of them could have played the 3 and probably sixpeated. By state law no newborn child of a Souljah may be named Sam or Micheal in the state of Oregon to this day.

The New York Knicks, without a title in 20 years take on the largest contract of any NBA player in Larry Johnson who promptly is disclosed to have not healed properly from back surgery which the Knicks knew when they took him because he failed the physical. The follow this up in rapid succession in the following years by taking on the largest contract in NBA history for a non starting center in Chris Dudley, pay malconent, near ssi mentally elgible John Starks top dollar to go 1-19 in a 7th game finals, acquire muscle in Anthony Mason who they sign to multi year top dollar contract who rewards them by promptly getting arrested for sex with a 14 year old, sign coach choker, thug Latrell Spreewell to 54 million contract to be with rewarded with 20 ppg avg based on 11-17 shooting nights alternating with 2-24 nights and who smiles twice in 5 years. Logjamed at the two with Spreewell is Alan Houston described by many as the best pure shooter in the game so they reward him with the largest contract in the History of the NBA some 91 million dollars and he rewards them back with never playing a full season due to bad knees afterwards.Their "marquee player Patrick Ewing proves to be selfish, unmotivated and surly.  Knicks take on the bloated contract of Luc Longley who plays five games for them. Marcus Camby proves to be all heart, all talent, all injured. Shipped out he plays more for Denver every year despite still being injury prone than he ever played in two years for the Knicks. Thomas is shipped out for Quentin Richardson who has been hurt ever since. They take on the bloated contracts of two malcontent point guards in Marbury and Francis, take contact of malcontent Jalen Rose along with the Superstar contract of broken down Penny Hardeway. Sign Jerome James to 45 million to play less than you do. AND THIS IS JUST THE CAPSULE VERSION.  GM and coach Isiah Thomas doesn't see a problem, sees a tradition but rumor has it that Spike Lee and the Souljahs are holding meetings in a Jr.  Mints box and plotting a revolution.

The Clippers go to the playoffs finishing one game better than the Lakers last season, lose to the same Suns in the same 7 games. First playoffs in more than 20 years, 2nd in history. Lakerhater souljahs around the country who have never stepped foot in Los Angeles instantly declare Los Angeles to have deserted the Lakers and it is now "Clipper country" and Clippers are annoited to be legitimate western conference champ challengers. Clippers reward them by reverting to form and after 33 games have a solid chokehold on last in the division. 13 million Hater Souljahs join Al Queda declaring Kobe to be an infidel.

Latrell Spreewell after a miserable unproductive malcontent season sneers at his teams offer of a two year extension for age 35 and 36 for 14 million dollars declaring "I can't feed my kids on that". Ends up finding no takers for 5 million yearly mid level exemption, disappears from the radar. Believed to be making comeback on Dennis Rodmans all nutcase souljah team training to be thrashed by the Globetrotters. Kids reported to be doing fine selling flowers at the airport and living healthy rice diet lives with the moonies.

Carmello Anthony survives a bad attitude, no defense, poor shot selection and pot in his airport baggage apparently by hiring Sean Kemps friend who always leaves stuff in Kemps car, to claim he had been responsible all Mello's problems because he had been impresonating Mello all along while Mello was saving baby whales in the sudan from poachers. All was forgiven just in time for Mello to steal the headlines at the USA teams every two year crash and burn fisacos, only to discover that poachers in ####ladesh were now threatening the rare tree elehant with extenction and due to the urgency of the matter hired the same souljah to stand in  for him and this resuted in the sucker punch incident. One can only hope that Carmello has matured and chooses a better stand in to represent him in future situations. God know David Stern wants to forgive him. 15 games for a souljah is love.

What's your best story about being WRONG in the world of homerism, bonehead history and misguided sports enthusiam?

Seems like we wait forever for the NBA offseason to begin then we talk about "it's still early" and then before we know it here comes the All Star game, which means we're beyond the half way point. Here my picks of what should be the East and West Starting All Stars. But I bet I'm not even close to right.

PG:

Steve Nash

 Jason Kidd           

SG:

Kobe Bryant

Dwayne Wade

SF:

Dirk Nowiski/ The Matrix (happy with either one here)

Lebron James

PF:

Tim Duncan

Jermaine O'Neal  (weakest spot in all the spots in my view)

Center:

Yao Ming

Dwight Howard

I would prefer Amare Stoudemaire in the  West Center slot but since we all know that he won't be voted in as a Center and Yao has the Chinese Vote as a lock might well bow to the reality of it all there.

Recently I've been taken to task about the subject matter of blogging about the necissity for athletes and fans to act in a civilized matter. I'm being negative and abrasive and hostile and angry. Ok. And your point is? See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?

A guy who blogs on here whom I happen to respect and like and I talked almost all night the other night while I took my turn watching our little dog sleep and help her to feet and take her basket outside and sit on the grass so she could pee and so on because she had been attacked by a pit bull as I wrote about. Anyhow the wife and I been taking turns and today she ate pretty well for the first time and walked around a bit so that's the good news. Anyhow back to cleaning up odds and ends on the blog. This guy made a statement that is true yet totally wrong. He said "I blame the media". That part is true. The media certainly does give us all the dirt don't they? But why do they do it?

Because that's what we want. That's what sells. Media is basically like selling anything else. In their case they get advertising dollars based on how many people they reach. In every situation just like on this blog there are those who want "happy news" and "positive news". But that doesn't draw viewer or readers in any media. NONE WHATSOEVER. And it doesn't here either. I wrote twice about the thug problems in the sports week and the count was as above. 133 entries. I wrote two good news blogs and the count was 39. Just about right.

Now I want to talk about my motivation here. I been accused of bragging about being rich. We're not rich. Not even close to being rich. We're middle class. We should be at my age I would think and I would think that many bloggers here by the time they have reached retirement age as I have, will have as much and probably more than we have. I just live in amazement at the people who think that after 50 years of working that someone is bragging if they talk about their home or how proud they are of their children turning out good. It's just inconceivable to me that this is considered "negative". Everyone loves their children and are proud of them when they do well.

But I have done my time in the working world and and as a black man I am going to continue saying what I think about my race in sports and the rap generation. It don't matter if nobody posts back. I know people are reading. And the reality is that there are more good black people in this country than bad. WAY MORE. And since a certain amount of people on this blog defend thugism in sports and defend the degradation of women in rap and since the two go together so much these days I'm gonna continue using my time in this forum and anywhere else I can to try and stop the image of what the hip hop generation has done to the black community at large over the past 20 years. WE ARE NOT ALL THUGS AND GANGSTAS. We're fathers and mothers and homeowners and business owners just like anyone else.

I've been called racist by virtually race there is including my own. That's laughable. First of all it's impossible to be racist against your race. Racist by defination means you hate a particular race in it's entirity for no other reason than their race. I openly hate the rap culture. Does that make me racist? Not at all. That's absurd. All blacks are not in the rap culture and not all rap culture are black. So just knock off that ####.

Do I hate all whites? Not at all. I don't really know that many whites out of the whole population any more than the rest of you do. But I sure hate those that brand me as less than them because of their race. And that is the truth that many whites are still racist in ever part of the country. But that doesn't mean the next white that a black meets is going to be racist. I was accused of being racist against Latinos for saying L:os Angeles has had a severe problem concerning Mexican teams playing soccer in Los Angeles at the professional and world cup levels. We have had those problems., At one time the city had to stop allowing it and schedule games out of the county because of the level of violence behind it. Does this make me racist against ALL Mexicans because of it? Absurd. My wife is L:atina and my in laws are Latino. The word racist is used far too easily by every race when people can't defend their own ####. Here's an example of real racism. This was said TO me on the Blog. Not by me but TO me.

"it's because ur an angry black man"  is racist without deniability. A non racist would simply say "you're an angry man". What does COLOR have to with it?

THEN THIS PERSON COMES BACK WITH:

" Dusty. I've read your posts...you talk about thugs, pit bulls, death, gangstas etc....you talk the talk of a black man, you make no bones about it."

This is probably the most racist statement I've ever read on this blog. I do oppose thugs,gangsters and drive by shooting involving thugs and gangsters and I do talk about it. So that makes it the "talk of a black man" then I have to wonder what is its that this white person who lives in the most racist white county in california, Statistically speaking, the county that has the most crime every single year against minorities by whites, the county where five white kids beat an asian to death for simply "looking at them", how this person can claim they are not racist?  WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO HOLD THESE PUNKS RESPONSIBLE IF THE BLACK COMMUNITY DOESN'T HOLD THEIR OWN RESPONSIBLE? To be honest about it whites can't do it.  they will be called racist instantly. Neither can any other race deal with the problems of another race because of that same thing. This country has become a country where nobody has to be responsible because all you have to do is scream racism and that takes care of that.

  And I did write about an Asian Lady's Pit bull attacking our little terrier. THAT is the "talk of a black man"? Nobody any other race every had a pit bull attack their child or them or their dog? WHO KNEW?

This person closes by saying I am racist against all races. It I am against all races (which I am against Skin heads, La Famila, Crips/Bloods, thugs and hoodlums of all races equally) then by defination I can't be racist because if you don't like any race then you're not racist.

Here's the bottom line. The person I like and admire and sat up chatting with most the night was someone I didn't know their gender, race, age or location in the country prior to our conversation. He told me he was  white and part of the country that would be considered "hllbillies".  I sure couldn't have told you that. The stereotype of hillbillies is that they can't even possibly be computer literate. But he is. He taught me a lot about his part of the country and his views on a lot of things while we talked. And I never once got a sense of him being racist or even slightly stupid because he's country. One of the best conversations I've had in 14 years on the net.

'Here's some definations for you from Los Angeles and what they mean in my world:

"Cracker"...has nothing to do with region of country nor does it mean hillbillies or hicks or anything else except for meaning a racist white person. Doesn't mean to imply that all white people are crackers. They're not.

"Border Brothers": I learned this one from a Mexican American guy who is a born here citizen. Means someone here illegally. Simple as that. Doesn't mean to imply that all Mexicans are illegal. They're not.

"####" The most hated word in my world there  is. It was almost exterminated at one time but the rap culture brought it back. It used to be "####" or whatever but it's back to the same thing and the same meaning as when a cracker uses it. It means poor, uneducated, violent, thugish, gang related hard criminal types. Of course those that would have you believe that are, are  not always what they would have you believe but it's just simply a STUPID word used by STUPID people. I have used it with others who use it and regret it instantly every single time. To lower myself to that level is a self humiliation. Most blacks do not use that word. Only the rap culture.

Thanks for your time. 

We've all seen the videos on TV and read the stories. Pitbull kills kids. Pitbull kills half the neighborhood pets. Pitbulls in a pack.

And what do people say? Same thing they always say about everything. Half say they're born killers and will always go bad. Half say it's how they are raised. I lean to the second thought. I had two pitbulls in my lifetime and both were given to us at weaning age. Actually palmed off on us cause the owners were gonna put em in the pound and nobody in my family has ever been hard hearted enough to send a dog to a pound.

Boots and Bandit were too happy for their own good. Never met a stranger. Boots got tore up once by a Collie if you can belive that. Boots didn't know there was a fight until he was bleeding profusly. Bandit was so goofy he could have collected mental disability but he had a heart of gold. Loved to learn things. Took him a year to learn sit down but he was proud. he lived bout 10 years and he would learn a trick a year and he'd make sure you didn't forget it.

I told you that story to tell you this one.

When my second wife and I were married along with her came a little 12 lb cairn terrier, a female named, "Scruffy". Pound dog. Another one who could collect SSI when it comes to thinking process. She's about 5 now and she still can't be taught to sit. But she taught herself to beg and walk on her hind legs and do a backflip.

 Last Monday afternoon my wife and a neighbor woman were out walking in the late afternoon,  took Scruffy along and the neighbor was relatively new to the neighborhood and we have some pretty cut up streets in the canyon so Carmen was doing her 3 miles by showing her where to catch some feeder streets out of the hills to one side of the valley, and so on.

They're walking past this house and a car is backing out of a double open gate and alongside this car comes streaking a male monster pitbull. He was on Scruffy before anyone realized what happened. Now Carmen is not your typical "oh my god" (unless she's checking out my to do list)  type woman and she lit into the Pit bull Kicking it and punching it.

The neighbor lady grabs the pitbulls tail and starts yanking on it. (LOL...I'm just glad I get to write this blog to tell you the truth).  Two women pile out of the car and start yelling at Carmen and the neighbor "don't kick our dog". Which they ignored since the two car women were not doing a damn thing to get their dog off the little terrier. Now I wasn't there and I'm taking into account that people say things when they're excited but someone somehow or the other (being a guy I figure Carmen must have got a kick to the nuts in)  did something and the  pit bull let go of Scruffy and ran back inside his gate. Carmen calls me on the cel and I go pick them up and Scruffy has blood everywhere. She's got a gash wide open from the top of her back, all down her right side, clear to her sternum which is laid wide open. The Pit just flat almost bit her in two.

We ripped down the hill to a pet emergency and they rushed her in and we waited a day. You know how doctors and vets are. "well we can't say, we'll have to see."  Scruffy has over 70 stitches in her. Today she took her first step again and it was a very wobbly step. Just one but that tail is still wagging.

That was the second recorded attack by the pitbull and he's no longer with us.

I grew up in an era when there was basically only three types of kids in school.  You had your "brains" or what are called Nerds today who dominated all the academic awards, they were the kids in the lead roles in the school play, they were in band,  and on and on. But they weren't popular as popular went in those days. They were. for the most part, invisible, to the popular crowd.

Then you had the smallest group of all which was the "hoodlums" which were the guys and the occasionaly female. The ones who hung out between classes by the shop classrooms. The ducktails, the brylcream Elvis hair. And in high school they smoked. Oh yes back then the schools allowed them to lounge like a jr grade Elvis and smoke right out in the open.

The popular group or "clique" if you will, was the jocks/athletes, cheerleaders and any girl who had a boyfriend who was a starting sports star in the school. The backup jocks and their girlfriends were basically your "foot soldier" for the army of the popular.

Being black myself I was somewhat of a curosity back then because in high school integration hadn't happened yet in most states and schools and I was one only 8 blacks in my school. Although I am mixed race and my hair looks more like Indian hair there was no way my mother was going to allow a ducktail and for me to smoke so being a hoodlum was definately out. I was a borderline B student with a couple of C's usually managing to sneak in from time to time so I couldn't be a brain. Thank God I was somewhat decent at a number of sports as it turned out because otherwise they were going to have to create a new solid "nothing but a negro" category for me.

I started all three years on the varisty football team and on the baseball team and was a backup point guard/shooting guard sixth man on the basketball team. That got me into the popular crowd. That and along with I have carmel #### skin, thin nose and lips and straight hair which confused the whites mostly in retrospect. I was "black" but I didn't look black the way they thought black should look,. And since I was one of their legitimate "stars" in two sports they let me in.

So what's my point. I KNOW how sports have changed over the years and the biggest THUGS of ALL SPORTS  TODAY are the FANS. From little league/pee wee football to sports bars to even a good half of the bloggers on this blog, FANS are IGNORANT, UNSPORTSMANLIKE, RUDE, ABUSIVE, HATERS AND IMMATURE BEYOND BELIEF. Not all fans (and if this is not you please don't come screaming, tearing my head off because I am talking about the 70-75% of fans today.)

They refuse to acknowledge that another team just might be better than their team. They have done it on this blog over and over about Florida STILL SUCKS, OSU just had bad luck, didn't get any cals, blah blah blah blah blayh (pick one or make your own blah reason).

It happened repeatedly with Michigan fans about the BCS,. I think that now we are done with all for another season, the BCS did a pretty damn good job last season.

This ignorant immature behavior of the majority of the fans manifested it's self when the Nuggets and Knicks fought. One side found NO reason whatsoever to hold their own Carmello Anthony responsible for his IRRESPONSIBLE behavior. Even justified a sucker punch. The other side made it ALL George Karls Fault. But what did happen on most of both sides is VIOLENCE WAS RATIONALIZED AND JUSTIFED IN ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

In my day you didn't fight on the court/field. We had an all state as a jr tackle named Larry Easterwood who in the second game of our senior year took off his helmet and clocked an opposing player with it in anger. He was immediately banned for the rest of the year, not by the league, not by the state 4A governing body but BY OUR COACH. And should have been.

When we lost we accepted the responsiblity that we had lost because we weren't as good as the other team and our coaches allowed no such thing as blaming the refs and the reason they didn't? If you can't beat them badly enough to overcome a bad call or two you're not doing your best. There were NO excuses for Losing other than you got beat and if you got beat that meant we hadn't played as we should have. IT'S CALLED PERSONAL AND TEAM RESPONSIBILITY.

Parents didn't run onto the field and hit refs or opposing players. Parents didn't beat up someone on the homefield side of the stands for wearing the other teams colors or jersey. People didn't fight in sports bars over a game for christsake. It was SPORTS.

And those of you who are sports THUGS need to  take a long hard look in the mirror at YOURSELVES. YOU are the reason we have T.O.'s, the reason so many players are thugs and hoodlums today. You the thug fan will accept ANYTHING just as long as your team wins and worse you'll accept anything just HOPING it will make your team win. Winning is not everything. Winning with honor is everything.

Just kidding. I play Texas Holdem no limit and who doesn't?  I played poker when I was a teen just like everyone else and usually lost my #### to the smoothie older players. I hadn't really played in nearly 35 years but like many got hooked on watching TV poker.

Now try and keep up with my scatterbrain here but I loved watching it but was never able to get it out of my mind all the times I had been fleeced when I was kid. I just assumed I was a terrible poker player. Then after taking a couple of different online I.Q. tests (not to be believed at all since they say I'm 40 points higher than I actually tested years ago) but both said I was bright (real I.Q. test said 126, online says 167, not how likely is that?) anyhow both said I was a "visual mathametician". WHAT? my worst subject was math. But my mind said "well maybe you're more capable at poker today than at 17". Ya suppose?

So...I went to an online site, got a thousand free chips and played for play money. After a week I had 400 chips. Then I started climbing and in 90 days had 100,000 chips. Now any real poker player will tell you that play money ain't real money but I was encouraged.

Opened a real money account with 200.00. Took me about 10 days to lose it.  And my main problem was that I got nervous and started having flashbacks in tournaments I would beat 500 but once it got down close to finishing in the money all you had to do was bet and I'd crumble.

Put another two hundred in. down to about 40.00 and one night out of nowhere I won a tournament of 800+ plus people for 710.00.  Now we're talking series of poker right? Sure. Wanna buy a bridge? Emboldened I ran that 750.00 right back down to a 100.00 faster than you can say "I call".....then I qualified to play in a an online million dollar tournament. Haven't a clue how. One of those nights.

But then something happened. I started playing halfway decently. I started understanding a little. Nice thing about online poker is you kick back in your own home, drink tea, laugh with a friends, and on and on. Bad thing about online poker is some #### will almost always call your three aces drawing to an inside straight and hit it. And as bad a bet as it is,  there are so many of them doing it one of them is bound to hit.

Then ole GW Bush the second #### and the Right Wing Christians dealt me what they thought was a death blow.( Jerry Falwell must have gotten told Tinky Winky was playing online poker) The Liberal facists jumped right in with the Chrtistian facists. (have you ever noticed the only time the feminists and the religous right agree is when it come to taking away something that might resemble fun?   No more online poker. "Kids must be protected". They can't do #### about downloading music by the millions, can't do #### about porn being dowloaded, can't do #### about kids ordering booze, cigarettes and drugs online but they can stop Online Poker. Did the thought ever cross anyone else's mind that every damn person in America is being penalized a dozen different ways to "protect the kids" EXCEPT THE PARENTS?  How many kids have credit cards and if they steal their parents that should be between them and the parents.

End result was the million dollar tournament was cancelled because the web site is barely hanging on without American players dollars.  I  wrote my senators,  idiots both and pointed out that Card Casinos are legal in California but several times various ones have been closed down when oraganized crime was found to be running them. They open right back up. The California Lottery runs half a dozen games a day, scratchers, you name it but they had a director found to be skimming billions. Didn't shut that down. California has Indian Casinos run by Vegas Casinos. Didn't shut that down. California has horse racing and off track betting. One of the most corrupt betting industries there is. Didn't shut that down. But they are "worried about the kids"

Long story short, when they shut down Americans on online gambling I had slightly over 2,000.00 in my account which they sent me a check. I tried card casinos but with my back and knees a 6 hour tournament is a killer. Maybe 7 tournaments never got close to cashing in.  My long awaited retirement leaving me playing online poker and trying to get good enough to make 50,000.00 a year in time was destroyed. 60 years old and my government is going to tell me that I can gamble on damn near anything but I can't play poker from the comfort of my own home. Great Job. BACK IN THE USSR

BUT I'M BACK!!!  The beauty of the internet is everything a corporation or government tries to shut off from  average people from doing something, someone will find around it.  Found a site that will let you play for 24.95 a month and you play tournaments for points and when you have enough points you can play for a thousand or five thousand or twenty thousand. Been playing about two weeks . Got a first, two seconds, four thirds, two fourths.  I passed up the lower cash tournaments and waiting for monthly 20,000.00 to come around. It's not the same but it's damn sure better than nothing. Now if I can just figure out how to stop those IDIOTS from calling my all in with kings and queens and them needing a 7 for an inside straight (shaking head) .Calling an all in before the river trying for an inside straight is the single worst bet you can make in poker but they do it and they hit it. Twice it cost me a first. 

But they won't be doing that when I get good enough to go To Vegas for the World Series and sit at the final table with Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Daniel Negrano, Phil Ivey and the boys will they? See you there.

Nobody ever said it would be easy. It wasn't easy for Martin Luther King, wasn't easy for Medgar Evers, Wasn' t easy for Jackie Robinson. When I wrote the blog saying I was sick and tired of being a black man who had raised three kids and not a one of my family has ever been arrested, ever been in jail, ever been anything but a typical working class American and that I was sick of pro atheletes who are constantly involved in fights, shootings and killings in strip clubs and rap clubs I had no doubt I would gagged.

It's always easier to take the low road. No risk, brag on yourself, diss white people and pretend you're an online thug. When I said I would rather see these out of control rappers and athletes get shot than I would for the 80% of the black community to continue to suffer under the racist stereotyping of us as worthless, ignorant, selfish, welfare cheats who can only "succeed" as blacks by being hoodlum rappers an atheletes, I was gagged. Gag me again, it doesn't change the fact that the guy who got killed from Denver was a problem person, was fined just before his death for conduct detrimential to the team, was with 11 other guys (no woman I read about) in a thug club.  Got into an arguement, left, shooting takes place shortly after. And everyone mourns like this guy was Barry Sanders or Walter Payton. He was not. He was a childhood thug, he hung out in thug places.

This goes on all over America. MY race of black young thugs engaging in violence as tho it is something "normal". As Chris Rock says it's gotten so bad "hip hop club opens on wednesday, close on thurday...18 dead".  And who usually dies in these "macho man" thug shootings? A baby behind a wall.  A 4 year old in a yard. A mother trying to reach her kids to pull them under her cowering body in her own home. That's who.

When Fox gags a black man raging against black rap/athelete violence all they do is support those thugs and thug culture. People like me are more normal for the black community that the thugs. And Fox is WRONG for gagging my statements.

Incidentally Fox needs to get on the bandwagon and see the handwriting on the wall. Out of Billboards top 50 selling singles in America this week 9 are country, 11 are rap songs and 4 of those are Chris Brown, little kid rap. Only two could be considered "hard". Rest are typical of the real world. Pop, Pop R & B etc. Thugs and the thug culture is not in charge any longer. These athletes and these rappers who so terribly paint all the rest of us as being like them because of their violence and irresponsibility are not mourned by many when they die. Now gag that.