When it comes to sports, I'd rather play than watch.
Except for the Little League World Series.
The LLWS is sportsmanship at it's purist and best.
The LLWS exhibits the work ethic, emotion, poise and class to which professional athletes can only aspire.
The LLWS is ... fun.
This year's American finals had four of the five teams I had my eye on during the regional qualifiers. (Lake Charles, Louisiana was eliminated earlier in the tournament.)
Philly had a girl pitching, Nevada was repping the West, Pearland was from my newly adopted home state and Chicago had an all-Black team.
But in this post-racial world with Obama being the POTUS, Hip-Hop being accepted as a valid musical genre, racial slurs and/or comments no longer being acceptable speech by team owners (At least not in public - or if being recorded.), and all - why would I like a team just because they are all-Black?
I sucked at baseball.
I couldn't hit,
and fielding was boring.
I liked the movie, "The Sandlot".
Maybe that's why I followed Chicago in this year's tournament.
Maybe these kids brought to mind the patchwork of regular kids from that movie who squared off against the more affluent kids and won.
Maybe I like people and teams who succeed where they are not expected to. (Think; Jeremy Lin)
Maybe I like the underdog.
In all honesty, maybe I like the all=Black team because I am Black.
I don't get the chance to volunteer as much as I used to - the club is doing a bit too well.
Maybe I'm a bit too far removed from a subjugated society to understand some things.
Maybe I don't know what it's like to be a victim.
It may be that I cannot speak on some things because
I will never understand some things...
The recent shooting deaths of Ezell Ford, Kenneth Harding Jr., Kimani Grey, Kendrec Mcdade, Victor Steen and Oscar Grant (all while unarmed) by police officers and the Trayvon Martin murder at the hand of a neighborhood watch volunteer leave me with mixed feelings about the events in Ferguson/St. Louis.
I'm not sure what would cause one to burn and loot his own neighborhood.
I don't know how a town that is more than 60% minority has so little political and institutional representation.
I don't know how it feels to live a life of hopelessness.
When I first saw the story of Michael Brown's killing, I just thought it was another case of some young brotha' being a victim of 'Keeping it Real'.
My dealings with law enforcement have, for the most part, been those of one who is treated as a tax-paying and law-abiding citizen.
Police officers have; driven me home from nights of excessive drinking, internal affairs has taken action against officers involved in theft and prostitution at my rental houses, promptly responded to calls, and I have been dealt with in a way which is common among respectable citizens any times I have had problems.
I have no frame of reference when it comes to police misconduct.
When and if an officer gets out of line, I just go through the formalities and wait for the D.A. or one of his superiors or a judge to clean up the mess.
I deal with a lot of people whom other people probably should not deal with.
A lot of these people often get themselves into situations that they cannot get themselves out of.
A phone call or a lunch often initiates a process which helps these people along a more fair representation and/or dismissal.
Maybe police departments should take a cue from those in Rialto, California.
Why waste resources on MWRAPs and assault riffles to PROTECT and SERVE a domestic population when a better trained and more competent police force could solve many of the problems people have with officers.
Wouldn't a Go-Pro camera be an even more efficacious use of resources?
(As an aside; What's the problem with bringing in the National Guard? Didn't Kennedy and Johnson do the same in order to protect law-abiding citizens from corrupt local law enforcement?) (And I'm not joking... The town in which I currently live was one that the officer involved in the case was considering coming to in order to avoid the media. Our local media caught wind of this and reported on it. This may be The South but this town is ripe for a racially motivated explosion as our school board has been taken over by the state. Many see the move as one that was racially motivated - even though many on the new board of governors are minorities.)
The West does well in it's efficient use of energy and water - yet California residents could still be fined $500 a day for excessive use of water? I guess Mulholland's dream may be coming to an end.
