Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Gay NFL Player? / Is Fighting In Sports Black and White?

What up? Wats da talk at the 'Shop today? Its gotta be gay! Did you hear what some teams are asking players at the NFL combine? One player from Colorado says he was asked about girls. What's next, his favorite position? The question smacks of potential discrimination depending on how the person answers, but does it also connote a rung in the ladder of social evolution.?


Here's a link to a CNN interview with a player who says he was asked by an NFL team about his sexual orientation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tnjFmQVys4M

The CNN anchor called it sexual preference. I'll bet you a million dollars she/CNN got a million people correcting her.

How many times have you seen a hockey fight? Very few of the brothas at the barbershop unless you saw one on sports center. Tuesday night, Golden State Warrior David Lee, pushed and got pushed. Dr. Hibbert, (Dr. Julius Hibbert is the Simpson's doctor) I mean Roy Hibbert of the Indiana Pacers was the other participant. It wasn't that big a deal. No one got punched, no rollin' around on the Fieldhouse floor. But the NBA thought it was a big deal. Dey handed out suspensions like parking tickets on street sweeping day. But back to hockey. The NHL LETS hockey players fight! In fact, some teams keep players that a better fighters than players. So why is it that fighting in the NBA is treated like a felony and in hockey its part of the game?


Here's the link to the, ahem, fight.
http://nba.si.com/2013/02/27/roy-hibbert-david-lee-shoving-match-suspensions-nba/?sct=hp_t2_a3&eref=sihp


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Bill Russell Is Bad (Even In The Sexy Sixties)

Hey ya'll.

Everyone, and with good reason, likes to talk about the revolution Michael Jordan brought to basketball. One of Jordan's most memorable feats, was leaving his feets at the foul line and completing a slam dunk during one of the first slam dunk contests at an NBA all-star game. In the clip you're about to watch, Bill Russell does something that was unheard of, at the time. You don't really need to know the year. You can see from the quality of the video, which was taped the film of the actual event that it was a long time ago. So, by those standards, this Russell replay was to Jordan what the guy who invented the first jump shot is to the modern game of basketball.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

At the Barbershop goes to a 'shop' in Berkeley to talk about Oscar Pistorious. Some in the media are comparing this case to the O.J. Simpson murder proceedings. Both had troubled cops as prosecution witnesses. Only in the Pistorius case, I'm betting more people will tend to think him not guilty of murder, (you know why!) although like O.J., Pistorius also has a history of domestic disputes.



Thursday, February 21, 2013

Cheerleader Makes Impossible Half Court Shot

Last night, I showed you a guy making a mural with nutin' but a wall and a bottle of water. A seemingly impossible way to make art. Tonight, I've got video of a Mississippi cheerleader. What she does is also seemingly impossible, but also a work of art.




Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Water Art and the iVideoStick

OK, this is one thing I would only talk about "At the Barbershop" if it was off the hook. And since I'm talking about it, you know its off the hook! I'd gone to the California College of the Arts to talk to someone about the iVideoStick. But like last summer, the folks there still didn't realize the opportunity I'm trying to give them. Something about me still owing them money from the last time I was there, I don't know. While I was being escorted off-campus by several security personnel, I see this guy standing next to a drawing on a wall. The drawing wasn't there on my way in so I, cleverly, deduce that this dude drew the drawing.
But its not like he had an easel, or one of those flat boards with a space for the thumb and a semi-circle of colored paint around the edges of the board. No. He didn't have any of that. Then I notice it, all this guy is holding is a bottle of water!
Oh hell no! He did not just draw this elaborate dog, on top of a piece of sushi (that's what he said it was. I think it looks like a fish ) on top of a samurai guy with water, did he? Marcus Lee says he's been doing this since he was in high school. He says its tough to pursue his passion in drought years.
Check out the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0iJn2vsq0E

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

On Sunday night, the PAC-12's leading scorer was shoved around on the basketball court. But it wasn't USC's basketball team that did the shoving. It was Allen Crabbe's own coach. Today Mike Montgomery apologize for doing something that was "completely out of character" for him. "There's no place in sports that you can basically put your hands on one of your student athletes, said Montgomery. Or a place where you can lose yo' damn mind. 
 Montgomery did not apologize for his shove of Crabbe after Cal's 76-68 comeback win over the Trojans. In fact, Montgomery said the whole thing was all part of his plan. "Worked, didn't it?"
Crabbe scored 14 points after the shove and led the Bears back from a 15-point deficit to win.
Apparently, Cal's athletic director and the PAC-12 weren't basing their public reprimands of Montgomery on whether the means justified the ends. And State Senator Leland Yee, called for Montgomery to be punished. "I urge the university to take swift disciplinary action of at least a one-game suspension," said Yee.
But that's basically where the outrage ended. None of the major sports media websites, SI.com, ESPN.com or CBSSports.com had this story on their front pages, or their NCAA men's basketball front pages. Can you imagine if a player touched a coach? Oh wait, we don't have to imagine.
Remember Latrell Sprewell? The former Golden State Warrior became a villain  and a criminal in the eyes of the media when he put his hands around the neck of his head coach. There are conflicting reports of just how serious an incident this was, but like they always do, the media chose to report the worst case scenario, especially since it represented a chance to really stick it to the hated Sprewell. (Not saying he's a great guy, but I like objectively with my media reporting the way some people like milk with their cereal) Much later, there were some reports about coach P.J. Carlisemo's  belittling of players. Some said it was enough to drive a player to, as Wayne Brady once said, "choke a bitch." 
There are those who will say what happened to Crabbe and what happened to Carlisemo can't compare: one guy was shoved and the other guy was almost choked to death. But ask yourself one question; isn't it worse if the person doing the shoving is the one with the power? Racial or sexual harassment doesn't work if the one doing the harassing doesn't have the power. If they're doing it and they're not powerful enough to fire you for complaining, then you're just dealing with a stupid person. What Montgomery did was a thousand times worse than what Sprewell did. Montgomery completely embarrassed a young man barely 21 years-old in front of the 100 or 200 people who attend Cal games and the 500 others watching on TV. A day later, 50 million people saw Crabbe physically, and mentally embarrassed. Crabbe had no power. No ability to fire Montgomery and make him pay for the assault. All he could do was sulk and walk it off, which made him look even worse, right? I mean if a coach discipline's a player, the coach must have a reason? Crabbe is the leading scorer in the PAC-12. The one bright spot on an otherwise mediocre team/program. Crabbe suffered a humiliation no apology will ever let him forget. What will Cal do to Montgomery? The Bears have won 5 of their last 6 games including wins over highly ranked Arizona and Oregon. What do you think Cal will do to Montgomery?