Diary of a misEducated Black Man

First off, Happy Father’s Day to all the Pops out there, young, old, and in between.  Today is a celebration of manhood.  The bond between a man and his seed.  A day where we thank our Pops for taking us to the ballpark, teaching us how to mack the ladies, shoot pool, and play bones.  At least thats what mines did.

I gotta hand it to my Pops though, out of all the things he did wrong, he did one thing all too right.  When you have six babies by four different women the biggest challenge you face is juggling baby momma drama, finances, and being a father to all six of them.  My Pops had his flaws, no doubt.  There were large chunks of my childhood when I barely saw the guy.  However, from birth, my Pops made sure my siblings and I all knew each other.  We lived miles and miles apart, but on the weekends we’d all get together.  We’d shoot ball, we’d bowl, we’d go to the movies, or we’d watch Pop sleep on the couch watching Sportscenter over and over again.  No matter what though, we knew each other, and for being so far apart with different mothers, we all knew each other well.

That was important to my Pops, and of all the things he failed at, he succeeded at the most important thing.  Because after he’s dead and gone, his legacy will be us.  And we can all share in uplifting it together because of the one thing he did right by us.  Nowadays we’re pretty much all grown.  The last two are bringing up the rear at 17.  And we are all tight, leaning toward success, and blessed to have each other.  Thats the legacy of my Pops.  And I thank him for that.  Happy Father’s Day dad.

On to the next…

I’m done being sappy and back to being my regular pissed off, ranting and raving self.  I want to smack the Black off of Malian referee Koman Coulibaly, for being a totally inept, incompetent, and hopefully infertile, pile of flung monkey dung, referee.  This guy robbed us with no mask, no glock, and didn’t even have the courtesy to put gum on the cameras so the world couldn’t see the travesty.  I’m pissed.  I’m heated.  I’m upset.  But mostly, I’m motivated.

Because to me its all too obvious.  The world is hating.  If you look at the roster of the current US National Team, we’ve got seven players that play for clubs in the English Premier League, one that plays for AC Milan, two playing on top clubs in Germany, one on the Glasgow Rangers, one in the Spanish Premier Division, and six others playing ball at a high level outside of the US.  In fact there are only three players on the national team currently playing in the MLS, widely considered the minor leagues of pro football.  Landon Donovan is currently with the LA Galaxy of the MLS, but was most recently on loan to Everton of the EPL.

In 2006, there were 12 players that were based overseas and 11 from MLS clubs.  Of the 12 based overseas, 8 of them had played in the MLS at one point in their careers.  From 11 MLS players to 3.  This trend indicates to me that US players are starting to get on par with the rest of the world.  The quality US players are now able to compete in the top leagues in the world.  Tim Howard is easily, top five goalkeepers in the world.  He just happens to be American.

To me its obvious that the world is having difficulty accepting the US as a football power.  Its a game thats not indigenous to us.  We are not the inventors, only a small percentage of our population cares about the sport, and they used to be able to say that US players were all minor leaguers.  But now, we’ve stuck out our chest and are right there with the big boys.  And the world doesn’t like it.  Koman Coulibaly doesn’t like it, and he let it be known. But you can’t keep a good Yank down.

..Just a few quick bits…

…I’m happy to see Tiger back.  He looked amazing yesterday.  Best back 9 of his career possibly.  Amazing shot on 18.  Right there in the thick of it…

…I was soooo wrong about the Celtics/Lakers.  What irritates me most is now I have to hear the Kobe/MJ discussion.  Nothing frustrates me more.  He’s good, not MJ…legendary…

…theres a huge oile spill in the gulf, you heard about that?  No really, google’s got a great feature to track it…

…I’m out like a batter facing Stephen Strasburg…

…check please…