he will often mockingly chant the name of an opposing player. this player is almost always black. yesterday, it was torri hunter, a good player and better guy who never did anything to warrant the treatment. hunter ignored the chants, and hit a game tying single. unfortunately, the angels lost the game and the series. the whole name chanting thing started in the 86 world series, when the sox played the mets, and a certain guy with the last name of strawberry, was given the treatment.
the boston sports fan is a clueless homer with no sense of fairness. once, i was watching a patriots game at a sports bar when they clearly got the benefit of a call against the raiders. a guy sitting next to me said this made up for a bad call the patriots had received against oakland in 1980. 1980! bill buckner had to leave the area after his error in the 86 series. lately, people have talked how we should "forgive" buckner. hey, a ball went through his fucking legs. it ain't like dropping bombs on people. the boston sports fan has yelled at kidd for being a "wife beater" but said nothing about bird having nothing to do with his daughter, parish throwing his girlfriend down a flight of stairs, and dennis johnson pulling a knife on his wife. in 1981, a number of celtic fans put sheets over their heads and called themselves "the ghosts of celtics past." doctor j said, "i thought the klan was at the game." bobby jones, a young boston pitcher from a couple years back, gave up three walks in a game. he was booed loudly. the young black man with a good fastball was never heard from again. in the 80's, black pitcher dennis boyd was known as "oil can" boyd. when bill russell tried to move to a suburb of boston in the 60's, his house was broken into, and someone even took a shit on his bed. this was uncalled for, as there was a bathroom in the master bedroom.
often times, in these parts, i will hear angry, talentless whites bemoan the state of sports today. supposedly, today's athletes "have no fundamentals," "they aren't as tough as the athletes in the past, "they can't shoot," "they have no respect for the game," and "the inmates are running the asylum." and it often gets weirdly personal. i don't know how many times i have heard sam cassell mocked for his looks. he "looks like an alien" people comment, the same people who have never commented on the looks of a white athlete. if a player sweats a lot, we hear about it, if the player is black. for example, many a line has been uttered about kevin garnett and kendrick perkins sweating. the patriots used to have a receiver with big eyes. this was also a constant source of amusement for the local white and uncle tom fan base.
nat hentoff referred to boston, the city of his youth, as a "hateful place." i'm sure former celtic dee brown would agree with him. brown made the mistake of driving while black through the streets of wellesley, a local suburb. he was pulled over and manhandled. we heard about it because he was dee brown, not because he was brown. regular brown men get fucked with all the time, and it ain't news. if you mention it, you are paranoid, "too sensitive," perhaps even living in the past.
more from the local sports scene. in the mid 80's, dave henderson was a hero in these parts. he hit a huge home run in the 86 alcs, helping to turn that series around. shortly thereafter, a story about henderson came out in the boston globe magazine. in it were pictures of the black henderson with his white wife. henderson was gone in no time. a couple of years later, lee smith, one of the great relievers of all time, was in the clubhouse when the red sox wanted to put him into a game. smith likely had to take a shit, but no matter; the black pitcher was not heard from in these parts again.
much of the crap is media driven. black dominican jose offerman was referred to in the globe as "a piece of junk." manny ramirez was often referred to here as a "hitting savant," which was another way of calling him an idiot. after he was traded, the herald ran a front page headline which read "trash removal." this about a player with 527 career homeruns who helped the red sox to two world championships. after the trade, a local writer said "that while latin music used to be heard in the sox clubhouse, we are now hearing country again." yes, us whites have our team back again!
the economy will continue to crumble, but somehow, we will still have money for war. as always, there will be money for certain things, and not for other things. for you see, the "economic crisis" started for the average iraqi quite a while. but he doesn't play the market, you see. so fuck him. he doesn't count. as far as the economy goes, why don't you ask those starving children from the infomercials how the economy was doing before the "crisis." crisis is the norm for many. it's only when those who count get concerned that it becomes an issue.
mccain is getting scared. palin even mentioned rev wright and bill ayers again. it looks like desperation city, but we should not make light of it. in 1988, bush was trailing dukakis by 17 points before he started running his ad claiming that dukakis was soft on crime. he even showed the picture of an individual black man, willy horton, who got out of jail in MA and committed a crime. somehow, this was the fault of dukakis, who ended up losing big to bush. so yeah, mccain and palin will get dirty. the fact that wright is still being mentioned is amazing. it is okay for right wing politicians to stand with, and be endorsed by, the likes of pat robertson and jerry falwell, and no one in the major media says a word about it. as always, a conservative white man can say whatever he wants in this culture, but a progressive black man better watch what he says. also, palin referred to ayers as a "domestic terrorist." ayers a terrorist? he is a respected educator. yes, he was once with the weathermen, but the last time i checked, they never invaded countries in the service of imperial power. yes, there are terrorists among us, like all of those who chose to fight wars in other lands. we like to think of them as heroes, but surely, to the vietnamese peasant, to the iraqi child, and to many more, they were international terrorists of the highest order. of course, obama, and no one else in mainstream culture, will say something like this. in fact, neither will i in a public setting.
and so, it will go on as before.
bill, i just wish they would stop putting on ayers.
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