Gold Finger

You may or may not know who M.I.A. is. However you do know who the NFL is and what they represent, of course they represent (wait for it) "wholesomeness". This is the self-proclaimed platform of the NFL in their lawsuit against singer M.I.A. for her flip of the middle finger during the halftime Super Bowl performance on February 5, 2012.

The NFL is pursuing a fine of $1.5 million dollars (in conjunction with a public apology) from the opinionated singer; a fine that the FCC and NBC decided not to pursue. The NFL did file back in March of 2012 but many of the details are just being uncovered as I found this information on Pitchfork approximately a week ago. The NFL reportedly stated the gesture was "in flagrant disregard for the values that form the cornerstone of the NFL brand and the Super Bowl."

These select details are interesting by themselves, but even more intriguing is that M.I.A. and her lawyer are planning "an all out assault on the NFL's claims of being a brand devoted to high morals" says The Hollywood Reporter. M.I.A. actually states in a video where she appears to be talking on the phone and to the viewer at the same time - perhaps a very heady two birds with one stone play - that while she flips up her finger simultaneously there are high school girls on stage with their legs open, pelvis in the air. There is even an email address that supporters of M.I.A.'s cause can email with examples of the NFL's disregard for wholesomeness. 

Let's start with this, M.I.A. certainly displayed a universally offensive gesture and this could also be interpreted as a breach of contract to uphold elements of wholesomeness. However now we need to surmise why the NFL is so staunch on getting the equivalent of Eric Decker's salary out of this woman. The two main entities who would generally enforce something like this have so far been silent on the issue, which is a verbal "we don't really care". My memory isn't the greatest but I don't remember much backlash (if any) when the incident happened, in fact I didn't even remember the incident. The NFL is claiming that this damages their brand, more specifically the brand of wholesomeness (this is a word you get tired of typing quickly)? Just a little more than a week ago I heard a player in the CBS broadcast of Broncos vs. Giants game tell another player very audibly "I will mother f'n kill your a**!", and let me tell you, that ain't wholesome. It's very hard to claim you're a frog when you're quacking like a duck.

The NFL has gotten so good at being duplicitous it's mind-blowing. It's the most lucrative example of a for-profit business but yet they operate under the non-profit exemption of a 501(c)(6), which means exactly what you think it means. NFL employees aren't even charged tax when they stay in hotels for the Super Bowl. They claim the league does not operate for profit but the teams do. If one of the intelligent readers can clarify how that makes sense it would be greatly appreciated. The NFL also claims it cares about concussions and is doing everything they can to curtail them, but yet the NFL does not have blood testing to find HGH and other performance enhancers that players use to become bigger and faster thus causing even more jarring hits at higher speeds. 

To see the NFL go after M.I.A. isn't necessarily shocking since they have such a history of showing face, but it's hard to imagine whey they're out for blood with this one. I would never condone giving the finger but as you can see in the video it was quite brief (and actually went with the lyrics) sometimes you bring attention to the offense by making all the fuss about it. I'm curious to see what M.I.A. presents and how the NFL reacts, I have a feeling this may not be over anytime soon.

Performance video below: 

The Games of Life

Have you ever thought about the essence of sports? Of course it's big business, top-tier entertainment and all that jazz; but honestly what's the big deal? I sat back with my main man KT and we laughed about the notion of grown men playing Sports. The conversation took place on a Sunday afternoon amidst the heart of football season. We sat and watched commentators sit around in suits and talk about big fat men pushing each other, *crickets*, sounds pretty silly doesn't it.

Its quite paradoxical that grown men get paid hefty garbage bag money to play a kids game. The commentators are dressed in the same garb that CEO's wear. The other adults in attendance, fans, paint their bodies and wear ridiculous costumes to games. The whole atmosphere is astonishing. Stadiums are millions of dollars and the furnishings are the best money can find. Players often come to the venue with their suits on, meditate and ruminate on music and philosophies. I hope the vision is now palpable.

With all that is put into it, perhaps you can see now why people take sports so seriously. Many people who aren't big sports fans will say that its just a game and its not that serious, which is true. But when everything else contradicts that i can see where the signals would get crossed. For kids and even adult athletes that lose tempers and go to extremes to get an edge, i can see why they have become this way. I am reminded of the all the athletes caught cheating with steroids and other methods such as Mark McGuire, Bill Romanowski, and Marion Jones; as a fan I have often sat back and thought, "what could make these people think they could get away with this?" Maybe they didn't think they could get away with it but perhaps the potential gains outweighted the losses for them. Sports are games, but everything that surrounds it is a whole lifestyle and culture. I believe from the moment many of us are introduced to sports as children we quickly understand the grandiose environment that sports create.

With the recent win of the New Orleans Saints a lot was made of how the city could really use a championship to boost spirits and help heal some of the traumatic wounds that still ached a recovering city. Journalist are "story-tellers", couple that with carefully selected images to supplement the story and it makes everyone believe that sports are more than what they really are. Honestly there is very little that a New Orleans Saints Superbowl win can do for such a ravaged city. As a matter of fact it will probably hurt more than it helps realistically. The Saints organization doesn't win and then spend an additional amount of money on housing development or community programs. The Saints win and then they charge more for season tickets and spike prices in general because now the demand is higher. Perhaps there are more patrons from Houston traveling across Interstate highways to get there. T-shirts and jerseys may cost more. Then most of the free agent players demand more money because they think they are better than what they are or deserve more money because they've won a Superbowl.

The point is try to keep sports in perspective. Its only a game but it is entertainment.

Colt .88

GQ is really delivering this year, but im not referring to fashion in the least bit. I read another article that blew my socks off, about former great Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison. The article chronicles the timeline and peruses the details surrounding a North Philly murder that seems to have Harrison's vestige all over it.

Ardent and even some loosely involved sports fans will recall Marvin Harrison as a very quiet and robotic individual, never said much to the media, and now we know to include his teammates among the shunned. A small excerpt reads "...through all this, his teammates claimed they didn't know him in the slightest. "He's like Batman," linebacker Cato June told Sports Illustrated." By most accounts he was a very tidy man and kept things in order as one should. But back in home in North Philly things got sloppy quite fast between Harrison and local drug dealers and childhood rivals. I won't divulge the story but its a fascinating lesson for some and a melancholy reminder for others of how ones upbringing and environment can haunt them. Unfortunate upbringings can be sticky webs to get out of and this is the epitome of that.

Click here to read Dirtiest Player by Jason Fagone

Game Brain

This is an article published in the October issue of GQ Magazine that i found captivating. Its a bit longer than most web articles but i was so engrossed i didn't even notice. You can read the article here to be well informed as you continue reading what will ensue.

The NFL has been very reluctant to succumb to novel research that suggest their players are at an extremely high risk of dementia and other related problems that can affect players immediately after their playing days. Including their insidious attempts to have scientific articles removed from publications. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry that has thrived for so long on the insatiable appetite of fans to see the violent collisions and incredible velocity that they can't or won't attempt to do themselves. The NFL works like insurance companies when it comes to distributing money to former players for disability. They give the most egregiously disabled retirees the minimum amount of money, when in fact they deserved the maximum. All in all, the subtext reads "we are worried about our profits and not the players". Putting money into cures would seem advantageous but that hasn't been the strategy. It looks like strides are being made but the NFL has put this off for so long they may end up with a larger fight then they intended initially. This should be interesting to follow.

Props to Common for putting this up on his blog, thinkcommon.com/blog (that's how i found it)

Culture Shot

Yesterday Jacksonville Jaguars DE, Richard Collier was shot near downtown Jacksonville and was reported to have life threatening injuries. He was sitting in a car with another former football player waiting for a lady to come out of her apartment. The shooting reportedly happened around 2:45 a.m. in an upper-middle class neighborhood.

It seems that lately more and more sports players have been getting attacked. Just earlier this summer Raiders WR Javon Walker was abducted and beaten unconscious in Vegas as he was simultaneously robbed. Apparently they tracked him to his hotel room. I won't detail everybody but look at Eddie Curry, Antoine Walker, Sean Taylor, Sebastian Telfair and Darrent Williams as well. I was just talking about this type of thing with Record and it just so happens that i saw this report. The portentous obstacle that we need to hurdle is the mindset that alot of victims as well as attackers have. I read a comment on one of the boards that said "that's what these guys get... where im from you can't wear it if you can't keep it, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN". A lot of people have this mentality. Despite whoever you may think you may be and your status, there are folks out there that are going to "try you" for it. They don't care who you are. Im not saying that any of these athletes are in the wrong places or anything like that because that's not the case. But i think it would behoove you to know how the goons think. There is also two sides to every coin, that admiration you get for having the luxuries of life is great but those things can get you the same amount of envy or ill-will. There is a level of responsibility and awareness you need to have when you are drawing a little more attention to yourself.

I think it is unfortunate just as many people do, but you have to understand the game if you want to play it. I also understand that every situation is different but overall I just hope that these violent acts calm down but i guess we will have to wait to see.

This ain't Football!

There is certainly an excess of downtime in the summer for the sports media as is indicated by the ubiquitous coverage of Brett Favre. The sports population is so inundated with irrelevant and occasionally bogus facts about Brett Favre by the media behemoth ESPN that it is extremely transparent their infatuation has turned into obsession. In their anxiety to report anything, ESPN reported for multiple days that Brett used a company issued cell phone to call another team, well that was incorrect. When I speak of the media here I am referring to ESPN (ESPN2 or ESPN Radio basically all of its subsidiaries). They have talked about this approximately every week day in the month of July.

Where is the discernment? All of this stuff is not newsworthy. We get reports like there is a charter plane booked to leave Hattiesburg, MS therefore Brett might be heading to Green Bay. We get things like Brett SIGNED his letter of reinstatement, now keep in mind it hasn't been processed or sent in to the league office at all, he just put his john hancock on a piece of paper. They told us an approximate time his plane should land in Green Bay-for what!? Let me know when something really happens. This is pretty much a reality show and the Plushredsofa constituents know how i feel about reality shows. ESPN2 show First Take has deemed this a soap opera (appropriately) and has leterally taken the time to show pictures of actors who they would cast to play differnt roles in this story. They really have to find more topics. What ever happened to no news is good news?

What you nervous about?

I was just reminded of this so it is slightly past due, but not really. The NFL draft just passed and during the time leading up to the draft plenty of players are interviewed and participate in national television appearances. Most of the potential players that are publicized are relatively sure-fire 1st round pics and maybe an early 2nd rounder.

I am confused as to why the players always talk about how nervous they are and things of that nature. How can you be nervous when you are CERTAINLY going to be selected on the first day of the draft. One of the reoccuring questions is "what if you slip back from maybe a 5th pick to like a 20th pick". I don't think it matters if you slip back 15 slots because you are still getting an opportunity to live out your dream. Approaching situations humbly is usually the way to go. These players just need to be grateful that they are in this situation and not be worried about where they are selected, just as long as you are selected. When selected you are going to be making exponentially more money than you were prior to, so why sweat it?

The main thing is you have to work hard in order to retain your position anyway, there have been some high draft selections that did not bloom and were bounced from the league within maybe three years, and on the contrary you can be selected in the late rounds and forge a path and nice career for yourself.

I guess the guys feel how they feel but i find it rather awkward for the fortunate to be worrying about matters so trivial. ( I had to use my LSU guy as the picture, time to get busy Dorsey)