I guess we can pencil New England into the Super Bowl. I wasn’t too worried about Donte Stallworth going up there. He gave the Eagles passing game and added dimension, which I liked a lot, but he was also injury-prone. I still think that he and Donovan could’ve been a good combination, but not when one or both of them was on the bench. So when Stallworth left, I was a little disappointed, but not terribly. But now, things have changed. They got Randy Moss. Tom Brady and Randy Moss? I think Randy will find himself interested in football again. And when he does, look out below.

Fresh on the heels of a particularly disturbing spate of gun violence comes an article in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy that demonstrates that the rate of legal gun ownership is statistically unrelated to the homicide and violent crime rate. The article is not yet posted on the Harvard JLPP website, but the abstract is here and a PDF of the full article is available at Professer Mauser’s website.

One of the more significant points in the article is the assumption that if the average person had a firearm, he could, in a moment of intense emotion, get the gun and commit murder. What research seems to show, however, is that the people who commit murder have been working on their criminal tendencies for a long time. To be sure, there are some “normal” people who kirk out, but by and large, killers are not law-abiding citizens with access to guns, they’re criminals with access to guns. That makes sense to me. It’s kinda like what I was saying last time. If I got a Glock for graduation, the possibility that I could shoot somebody would go up 100%, but the probability would be just about as low as it is right now, because I’m just not a violent person - or even prone to violent outbursts.

The question, I think, is not how keep people from having guns, it’s how do we keep guns out of the hands of criminals? I’m all for research that debunks emotionally appealling but factually unsubstantiated ideas. However, the important question is the one that leads to a solution, not a justification of the status quo.

While I understand the thinking behind the move to get schools to replace junk food in the vending machines with more healthy snacks, I can safely say that I don’t think it will achieve its intended goal if it is, in fact, approved.

According to the Washington Post

A prestigious scientific panel urged the government yesterday to ban soft drinks, sugary snacks and other junk food from schools, saying the typical fare available in vending machines, at snack bars and at class birthday parties is contributing to the growing obesity of America’s children.

The Institute of Medicine report, which Congress requested, said less-nutritious items should be replaced with healthier stuff such as fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products. It emphasized adding snacks with more whole grains and less sodium, saturated fat and added sugar.

I don’t have a problem with it so far. I mean, in theory I don’t have a problem with it at all. But when the rubber meets the road, this next part? Nuh-uh.

In place of potato chips, chocolate bars and other popular snacks, the report said, schools should sell healthier options such as apples, carrot sticks, raisins, low-sugar cereals, whole-grain tortilla chips, granola bars and nonfat yogurt with no more than 30 grams of added sugar.

I’m tellin’ you what I know: kids don’t eat that stuff when it’s free. Who’s gonna buy it? And let’s not even talk about the quality of the fruits and vegetables that find their way into school lunches. If they tried to sell some of those apples at the grocery store…

I guess the ultimate question is, what are the vending machines there for in the first place? If it’s about having healthy food, then putting it in a vending machine is probably not the best move, because kids are already prone to go to the store before school and buy the snacks they like. The only thing that would change is that instead of buying unhealthy snacks from the school, they would be buying them from the corner store, like we used to do before there were vending machines in the schools. On the other hand, if it’s about making money, then there’s no cotton’ pickin’ way apples are gonna outsell Doritos. No way, no how.

Now. Should schools do a better job of providing healthy food for their students? Absolutely. Is a vending machine the place to do it? I’m not so sure. Healthy food in a vending machine? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Cuz I know me - I ain’t gonna buy nothin’ out of it. But then, maybe I’m just a regular moron.

I hadn’t been to a memorial service since 1988. That changed today. The departed, one of the students at my school, was born in 1988.

Some things are just not right. I shouldn’t be going to the funeral of an 18 year-old. I mean, I recognize that I’ve been blessed to have a very limited consciousness of death; I know people die - I complain about it all the time - but I don’t know very many people who have died. Being real about it, there have probably been a few instances when my family could’ve been sitting on the front row, and I’ve been spared those too. All that to say that today’s wake was particularly disturbing to me.

It might’ve been a little easier to take if the boy had died of natural causes, but he didn’t. He got shot over the weekend. Now I’ve never been a strong “gun control” advocate - I’ve even considered getting a piece for myself - but stuff like this makes me rethink my position a little. Yeah, the constitution says we have the right to bear arms, but sometimes I think we’ve taken it too far. Take me, for instance. I want(ed) a gun for graduation. For what? I don’t really need one, I just wanted one because I could have it. And who knows, maybe once the pain of this wears off, I’ll be back looking for a Glock or a Ruger. But right now? I’m not really seeing it. I know my man, Jared, has the whole issue settled in his mind, but I can’t go on his reasons. They’re good for him, but if I’m gonna do it, I’d better have my own set of reasons. Right now, the only reason I can think of is “because I can,” which ain’t good enough.

But even me owning a gun still doesn’t get at the problem of getting guns out of the hands of people who are going to use them to commit murder and mayhem against the citizenry. My gun, if I get one, will be bought legally and stored securely, and used with safety in mind. That ain’t got nothin’ to do with these knuckleheads out there shootin. Me personally, I’m perfectly willing to have a waiting period to buy a gun, but then I’m not the one who gun laws are supposed to protect people against. Even though they lobby against gun laws as if their lives depend on it, gun laws aren’t even about the NRA. Gun laws are really about the people who use guns illegally. So in a way, that’s an attempt at legislating illegal behavior, if that makes any sense. Obviously it doesn’t, but I’m sayin’.

We know what one side is about. There’s a whole bunch of people who want the United States to go the way of other industrialized nations and permanently ban handguns. Then there are others of us who want no such thing. But just looking at the murder rate in cities, Philly in particular, and being touched especially close to home this week, I’m thinking that the people who advocate the hardest for the right to bear arms need to get up off the principle and show a little interest in what’s going on around us. To me, the 2nd amendment is a lot like the First: yeah, we can, but just because we can don’t necessarily mean we should. So let’s find something between those poles that will actually make life better.

Okay. So the Duke boys didn’t do it. Lots of self-styled conservatives got really hyper and spent lots of time and keystrokes questioning what this travesty meant for justice. When it all boiled down, though, the case never made it to trial. What I’m wondering is, where are all those voices when it comes to advocating for Jerry Miller?

If it’s really all about justice, if it’s not just about picking cases that offer the chance to argue against “the other side,” then this should typify REAL injustice — or at least the potential for real injustice. Not that I expect to see any conservatives, big-name, small-name, or otherwise get out there and talk about the dangers of overzealous prosecutors when the defendant is poor and Black, but I’m sayin’. Twenty-five years?

And yeah, I know, the fact that Miller has been exonerated says that the justice system worked eventually, but how do you begin to compensate a person for 25 years? An apology from the bench? A big oops? My bad? Naw. The real question is how many thousands of dollars should the state kick in for a wrongful prosecution? I don’t see this type of case every day, but I see it far too frequently.

So again, to make it plain: if the sole interest is partisan carping, then miss me with the talk about justice and the implications of some case on the legal system. If it is about justice, then let’s stop riding to the rescue of those who really didn’t need rescuing in the first place.

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense. NO CHEATING!

How do you feel today?
What Do I Have To Do - Marva Whitney

What’s your outlook on life?
Sleepy Shores - Johnny Pearson

What does your family think of you?
Take Up A Course In Happiness - Stevie Wonder

What do your friends think of you?
You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker

What do strangers think of you?
Dove - Cymande

What do your exes think of you?
David and Goliath - Take 6

How’s your love life?
Working Day and Night - Michael Jackson (HAA!)

How will your love life be in the future?
I’ll Be Thinking of You - Andrae Crouch

Will you get married?
Maggot Brain - Funkadelic

Are you good at school?
D.J. On The Wheels - DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

Will you be successful?
What Am I Gonna Do With You - Barry White

What song should they play on your birthday?
After The Fall - Incognito

What song should they play at your graduation?
Any Day Now - James Brown

The Soundtrack of your life?
Grooving The Night Away - AWB

You and your best friends are?
Angel Eyes - Oscar Peterson

Happy times:
In Your Eyes - Ben Harper

Sad times:
Foxy Lady - Jimi Hendrix

Every day:
I’m Knockin’ - Whitney Houston

For tommorrow:
Smokin’ and Drinkin’ - James Brown

For you:
Squeeze 1st - Jay-Z

What does next year have in store for me?
Party Blues - Joe Williams, f. Ella Fitzgerald

What do I say when life gets too hard?
Flippin’ Off The Wall Like Lucy Ball - 3rd Bass

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
Another Star - Stevie Wonder (I sure hope not!)

What do you want as your career?
The Stomp - Ol’ Dirty Bastard

Your favorite saying?
Ain’t Nut’in’ Changed - Bell Biv DeVoe

How will I die?
Just A Closer Walk With Thee - Venice Beach Boys (now that was a good one)

Knucklehead - Grover Washington, Jr
I’m Not The Same - Walter Hawkins
A Woman, A Lover, A Friend - Otis Redding
Love’s In Need - Fred Hammond, f. Musiq
He Can Hear Me Sing - Milton Brunson
I’ll Never Do You Wrong - Joe Tex
All Right, OK, You Win - Joe Williams
Rock-A-Bye Basie - Count Basie
Poison - Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
Honeysuckle Rose - Fats Waller
Dolphin Dance - Ahmad Jamal
17 Days - Prince
Right Here [Human Nature Remix] - SWV
The Phat Kat Ride - Masta Ace
Shake And Dance With Me - Con Funk Shun
I’m Only Out For One Thing - Ice Cube, f. Flavor Flav
Infinity - Shelly Manne
Let A Man Come In And Do The Popcorn - James Brown

Once again, student-athletes from Philadelphia Public Schools come to the rescue.
ment
Athletes in fiery rescue

By TED SILARY
This was a track meet with no ordinary highlight.

The best performance, by far, did involve running and jumping and teamwork, though. Along with wonderful bravery.

Three shot-putting members of Germantown High’s track team, along with an opponent from West Philadelphia, yesterday saved a woman from a house fire that broke out shortly after 3 p.m. on East Gorgas Lane near Baldwin Street, across the street from Germantown’s track-football stadium. Fire officials said the one-alarm blaze, which produced heavy smoke on the second floor of the home, was brought under control in about 15 minutes.

Stephany Tate-Yancey, who coaches the Bears’ boys’ and girls’ teams, said the four youths - Dwyne Hall, Sherrod Graham and Jerome Plant of Germantown, and Kyle Young of West Philadelphia - were just beginning competition in the southeast corner of the stadium when thick, black smoke could be seen pouring out of the house.

For as much bad news as there is coming out of Philadelphia these days, it’s nice to be able to highlight some good news. Some really good news.

Congratulations, guys.

I had a post all ready to fire off about the whole Imus situation, but then I guess I talked about it too much. I got sick of seeing stuff I had already said several times over. Moreover, I had spent so much time playing devil’s advocate that I just got completely bored with the whole discussion. Except one part. How did the print media come to the decision that “hos” was the appropriate spelling? I always spelled the singular “h-o” to differentiate from the garden tool, but I always spelled the plural “h-o-e-s.” I’m lookin at these jokers talkin about some “hos” and I’m like…what’s that?

At any rate, that whole topic, as played out as it was, served to add some additional texture when I watched Roots over the weekend. Living in the 21st century, being used to the technological innovations in film, Roots is not necessarily all that impressive. Moreover, being used to hearing stronger language on a regular basis, the dialogue seems somewhat stilted. But you know what? It's still a powerful, powerful series.

One thing hat holds it back, particularly looking back on it from 30 years hence, is the casting. It's nothing major-major, as in it could ruin the show for me, but some things just don't add up. Like the fact that Chicken George is darker than Kizzy. I'm sayin - just going by the descriptions in the book, certain things just ought not be. That's one of em. That prompted me to wonder what Roots would look like if we casted it with actors from today.

I'm not actually gonna do it today, this is just to get the brains percolating.

According to Dateline NBC, a test suggests that even today, people operate under unconscious racial biases. Well duh.

I’m fairly hesitant to apply natural science to social situations, but it seems as simple as inertia. Unless acted upon by an outisde force, people’s prejudices will continue unabated. And that’s just the ones that they’re conscious of. The hidden biases? No chance of changing. So again, I’m left looking at Ward Connerly and his people, wondering what they’re talking about. Studies like this (and the resume name project, which we ain’t even gon’ talk about again) lend themselves to the conclusion that racial bias may be at play regardless of whether or not it’s intentional. Which means that, yeah, while affirmative action might need some tuning up, or maybe even a complete overhaul, it’s not unnecessary. Not entirely. I don’t think.

Chuck D is my man 100 grand and all that, but on this point? I think he’s slippin. From an interview in Mother Jones:

CD: The responsibility of artistry, the projection of black images, consistently being dogged and ragged. My advice was that there is something we can do. Black America needs access. The Civil Rights era was based on a “we” agenda, as opposed to “I.” Now, we have individual successes that do nothing for the “we.”

MJ: What are some examples?

CD: Oprah and Bill Cosby. What does that do for the average person? It’s like saying, “Who are the great white people of America?”

Now, come on. Black celebrities that have an ‘I’ as opposed to a ‘we’ agenda, and he comes up with Oprah and Cosby? Not Baby, with his 450K grills? Not Flav? NO rapper? Yeah, alright.

DarkStar has been settin it off lately, particularly with his STSS (set them suckers straight) posts on the fact that “Black leaders” have been addressing the linguistic shortcomings of hip-hop for quite some time now. To look at it on television, however, you’d think that they’ve been totally oblivious to it.

I’m sayin’ - jokers should just come clean. If you don’t like Al, you don’t like Al, but don’t let that blur your vision.

It’s early April, which means that baseball season has just started. That means it’s time for another spate of articles lamenting the scarcity of American-born Black folks playing major league baseball. Which means that it’s time for me to once again ask, what’s the big deal? It would be different if this were evidence of some form of discrimination. It’s not. We know it’s not. It’s evidence of a preference of sports with more action. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Baseball is said to be a statisticians dream because essentially, it’s all about the numbers. Some people look at numbers like the ones mentioned in this article by George Curry, and get nervous. Looking at the numbers might make me nervous too, if I didn’t look at the text in between.

And even on teams that have African-Americans, they tend to be “stacked” in certain positions. They are underrepresented in certain so-called “thinking positions” - especially pitcher, catcher and third basemen. For example, only 3 percent of pitchers and almost no catchers are Black. By contrast, 28 percent of outfielders, a position that relies on speed and quick reactions, were African-Americans. That’s nearly three times the African-American representation in professional baseball.

Though few people expect Blacks to again make up 27 percent of major league baseball, many feel the numbers can increase if more emphasis is played on training, recruiting and nurturing Black players when they are young. After all, that has been the key to attracting so many Latino players south of the border.

While some bemoan the loss of African-American players, the combination of Black and Latino players reached 40.5 percent last season, just shy of the 42 percent high in 1997, the 50th anniversary of Robinson debut.

As major league baseball keeps striking out with Black players on the field, it is hitting home runs, in some cases, when it comes to Blacks and Latinos in the front office. This season, 20 percent of major league baseball’s managers are people of color: Willie Randolph (New York Mets), Ozzie Guillen (Chicago White Sox), Ron Washington (Texas Rangers), Lou Pinella (Chicago Cubs), Fredi Gonzalez (Florida Marlins) and Manny Acta (Washington Nationals).

Of the 30 major league teams, African-Americans were 16 percent of the coaches in 2006, up 1 percent over the previous year.

Whites still dominate as team physicians. From 2005 to 2006, White team physicians increased from 93 percent to nearly 95 percent. African-Americans decreased from 4 percent to 3 percent.

In radio and TV Broadcasting, Whites continued to hold 79 percent of all positions. African-Americans held 3 percent of those jobs last year, down 1 percent from 2005.

There are still no Blacks serving as CEO/President of any major league team. Except for one Latino, all team owners are White.

Baseball is called America’s pastime. It is past time for major league baseball to do a better job of developing tomorrow’s Willie Mays, Hank Aarons and Frank Robinsons.

A couple things. First of all, I don’t think it’s really accurate to differentiate between American-born Black folks at the beginning of the article, and then lump Blacks and Latinos together later on, when it’s more convenient. I understand that the point is to include all “minorities,” but if you start out making a distinction, that distinction should be made throughout, otherwise the numbers are skewed.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, I disagree with the idea that it’s major league baseball’s job to develop the next crop of great Black baseball players, any more than it’s the NFL or the NBA’s responsibility to develop the next Jim Brown or Magic Johnson. The truth is, great athletes are going to develop and play in the sport of their choice. Now, I do think that it may be in Major League Baseball’s best interest to find and develop more talent, but if the people want to play football or basketball, then it’s going to require something more than a historical argument about how great some of us were at playing it.

Now to be honest, like I said before, if I had a son who was bound and determined to be an athlete in one of the four major sports, baseball, basketball, football, or hockey (really?), I’d steer him towards baseball. The money’s guaranteed and there’s less chance of a life-interrupting injury. While I wouldn’t necessarily mind my son being the next Earl Campbell when he’s young, I’d rather him be the next Reggie Jackson when he’s old.